Chapter 97 – Bronze Fox and Aiko 2.0

It was quite warm outside, much warmer than along the way here.

Mei didn't have a nice expression on her face. 'He is already Forging.'

Aiko didn't know much about those things, so she just stared curiously at the blasting heat that escaped through the doors.

Mei knocked on the door and waited outside.

Suddenly there was a silence, Aiko didn't realize that previously she was hearing metal clanging, but now that everything quietened down for real she realized that those background sounds were gone.

"Why are you disturbing me again, bloody hell."

The door blasts open, revealing a Bronze Fox with some charred hair.

"Oh, it's you again..." He rolled his eyes. 'It's her, the one that caused me so much trouble. She wanted so many Pill Caldrons...'

He had quite a large build and bulging muscles, yet his face was of a baby. Aiko's mouth twitched a few times as she was holding in her laughter.

"My little one needs the Sect Token fixed." Mei said with an expressionless face.

The Hunk stared at the squishy Fox next to Jade Fox. "I have never seen her around..." He murmured. "What's wrong with your Sect Token?" He asked gently. He had a soft spot for small Foxes.

"It doesn't work, the clothing option is broken." Aiko said with some apprehension, as she didn't like the cutesy voice he was trying to make towards her.

"..." The Bronze Fox thought for a while. "Let me see."

Aiko placed her Sect Token inside his hand and he looked at it.

'... Vicious Cub...?' His body involuntarily stiffened, especially certain muscles on the lower part of the body.

'She isn't here to take any kind of revenge, right?' He shivered.

Aiko stared at the scared Hunk of a Fox and felt amused. 'I have not done anything yet, why is he so scared?'

"Why do you look so different?" He suddenly asked.

"I have advanced my life stage."

"... That's a new one, alright I will look at it, wait here."

He shut the door behind him and Aiko looked at Mei.

"Is he reliable?" Aiko asked with worry.

"Don't worry, while his personality... leaves much to desire. His actual skills are top-notch." Mei spoke gently. "That is also why there is only one Bronze Fox."

"Bronze Fox?" Aiko tilted her head.

"Yes, it is a nickname for Forging Fox." Mei smiled. "There are other nicknames that are assigned only to one Fox in the Fox Village, Inscription Fox, Runic Fox, Jade Fox, Vicious Fox, Pill Fox, Huntress Fox and so on." Mei explained.

"They call you Jade Fox? Because you are beautiful?" Aiko asked.

Mei's lips twitched, and her face stared at Aiko like she was saying, 'You only now realized that?'. "Yes, they call me like that, but sometimes  they also call me Pill Fox too." Mei commented. Although that was less likely since the only buyers of her Pills were the Sect Leader and other Elders... but since she didn't want to deal with the Elders, it was mostly the leader.

"I see." Aiko nodded. "You smell of Herbs, so it's only natural they would call you like that."

"I don't smell of Herbs." Mei defended herself.

"Yes, you do, but it's a nice smell." Aiko commented.

"You..." Mei had a light blush since most of the time others commented badly on her smell when she refined Herbs.

"I have fixed it... probably." The Bronze Fox barged outside in front of Aiko startling her. "I have adjusted your height, so now it should work, but it has a correction rate of only around 5cm so if you grow more, we will have to tweak it again." He said all of that, with a single breath.

Aiko jumped behind Mei and stared at him. She took the Sect Token with some caution. "Thank you."

"No problem." He didn't mind this reaction, as it happened quite often. He blamed it on his overbearing build.

"We will be leaving then." Mei spoke to him.

"You won't cause trouble this time?" He shielded his body when he heard the Jade Fox talk.

She slapped his back in anger and sent him flying into the room. "Manners! When did I ever cause you trouble?!"

"You just did!" The Bronze Fox retorted, as his room was messed up by his large build when he flew inside.

The Jade Fox clicked her tongue and left with Aiko.

...

"He is a strange person." Aiko suddenly said as she was still taking in what just happened.

"He might be strange, but he is a good Forger." Mei commented lightly, but she wouldn't take her little sweetie over there if she doubted his abilities.

Aiko didn't say anything any more and walked forward.

...

She went to their place and tried to undress, only to fail miserably.

"Can I just rip them?" Aiko asked with a teary face.

"No." Mei sat nearby with yet another amused expression.

"You are enjoying this, am I right?" Aiko glared at Mei.

"You are imagining things." But Mei's lips were raised ever so slightly, and they were slowly twitching upwards.

'Hmpf! Just you wait! I will give you a nice massage!' Aiko glared at Mei's chest.

Mei uncomfortably shifted around, covering herself. "Finish soon, or I might need to hel-"

*Poof*

Before Mei could finish, Aiko took the easy way out by transforming into a Fox. She was much smaller than her Human form but larger than her previous Fox form.

Her tail was also bigger and thicker, while her ears grew only slightly more, but they were still comically large.

Mei's lips twitched, she wanted to tease Aiko some more, but she didn't think Aiko would give up so easily.

Aiko then transformed back into her Human form with a 'tada' kind of expression. She was proud of her ingenuity.

"How are you going to put them on later?" Mei asked, still amused.

"I don't have to~" Aiko hummed. "I have this." She touched the Sect Token, which clothed her up.

"And what about when you become Human?" Mei narrowed her eyes and she had a mean smile on her lips.

"I can just use the Sect Token." Aiko shrugged.

Mei chuckled with a mischievous smile. 'Sure, sure you can.' She already made mental plans to assault Aiko when she was in her proper Human form. 'Except you can't use Token as it's tied to your Beast Blood. Without that it doesn't work~' Mei likewise hummed and Aiko shivered for some unknown reason.

...

*Whack**Clang*

The Grandmaster sparred with Aiko again.

'She grew even more powerful...' The Grandmaster narrowed her eyes. 'She once again relies on brute strength more than on technique, it's time to step up my game.'

*Whack**Clang*

The Grandmaster smiled and Aiko had a bad feeling.

*Whack**Clang**Whack**Whack**Whack**Whack**Whack**Whack*

"Au, au, au! Stop! Stop!" Aiko cried out as she was ruthlessly beaten by Grandmaster.

"This will be it for today, we will skip the throwing lessons, once you are healed up visit the Assassination Peak." The Grandmaster smiled satisfied.

Aiko cried and wobbled back onto Mei's lap, passing out.

Mei shook her head, she felt some pain seeing Aiko like this, but that was suppressed by the need to get stronger.

"Let's check those strange Beast Cores." Mei narrowed her eyes.

'1... 2... 3...' Mei blanked. '... 3 Beast Cores?' She couldn't wrap her head around it.

She stared at it again and again, until something strange happened.

The third Beast Core twitched. 'STOP DISTURBING MY SLEEP!'

A voice yelled inside Mei's mind, and she was pushed out of Aiko's body. She also suffered some Soul damage from that scream.

"What the hell." Mei coughed up a bit of blood. She frowned worried about her little sweetie, but then...

'Seriously... one feeds me only lunar energies which upsets my stomach and the other one keeps poking my body.' The third Beast Core twitched in anger.

'...' Mei stared blankly at the complaining Beast Core. She was worried since this never happened before, and she had no knowledge or experience to lean on.

She was deeply troubled by this.

'Aiko should be safe for the time being as it didn't invade her body, but stays close to her Beast Cores, but I should make some Pills to purge that thing later.' Mei thought. She would tell Aiko about that thing.

...

Aiko woke up refreshed and new.

'Hey! Tell that wench to keep her hands off of me!'

And she was immediately sobered up when she heard that voice.

"It's you, the seed..." Aiko frowned.

"Seed?" Mei perked up her ears.

"Yeah." Aiko absent-mindedly answered.

"And who are you calling wench you shrivelled shrimp." Mei snorted towards that voice.

'It's your fault to begin with that I have ended up like this! You are that wench!' The third Beast Core complained.

"How is that my fault?!" Mei frowned, she would definitely purge this bastard.

"Um..." Aiko didn't know what to say, as it was really Mei's fault.

"What is it?" Mei's voice was sharpened.

Aiko slowly explained what happened and that it was really her fault.

...

'Oh... her Soul is leaving her body again.' Aiko felt amused as this Soul looked much more powerful than before and thus was less see-through.

"So... when I found you..." Mei sighed, she messed up again. "I will find a way to purge that thing out of your body."

'I will purge your grandma, you wench!' The Seed spat at Mei. 'There is no way that such a half-assed Immortal can do anything to me!' The Seed inherited Aiko's cursing condition.

Mei frowned. "How do you know that?"

'Hmpf! As if I would tell someone as half-assed as you.' The Seed was 'smirking' at Mei, which upset Mei.

"How do you know it?" Aiko was also curious.

'And why should I tell you?! Do you know how much lunar energy you have fed me?! It almost changed my Element!' The Seed complained.

"But if you won't tell me I will continue." When it came to battles of shamelessness nobody could beat Aiko.

'Ugh. Bullshit! I don't believe you have a-Huh?! Nature Energies?! Huuuh?!' The Seed was promptly shut up by Aiko's new Ability: [Lunar Nurturing Meditation]'s third effect.

'Because I'm someone who can create worlds, and thus I can see the Inner workings of people walking around.' The Seed obediently answered, 'drooling' at those Energies.

'Create Worlds...?' Mei paused to think. "Wait, you have found a World Seed???" Mei grabbed Aiko and stared at her up and down.

World Seed was a precious seed found only in the Immortal World and as the name implied that seed could become a separate World. Where Aiko and Mei currently live was created from World Seed. There are different Grades and Effects of the World Seeds.

One can create an endless night World.Another could create an Ocean World.And so on...

The effects that the Seeds come in greatly differ between Grades. The highest Grade can create an Immortal World, while the lowest one would be the size of a small house.

'Hmpf, don't dump me in those categories!' The Seed snorted.

"So you are not a World Seed?" Mei asked doubting the Seed.

'Who knows.' The Seed shrugged as if it would tell this stinky Fox anything useful.

Mei sighed. "I will still purge you, you are a danger to Aiko." Mei proclaimed.

'You can try, but you will only feed me, stupid.' The Seed shrugged. 'And I have no intention of hurting this little one since she fulfilled her part of the deal... albeit a bit scuffed fulfilment.' The Seed sighed.

"Oi! That was not my fault!" Aiko defended herself.

'Whatever.' Were the last words of the Seed before it went silent.

Mei massaged her temples. She went from one trouble to another, but this time she didn't know if she could solve it.