Aiko woke up, the situation was even more bizarre than before. Now they were grinning and giggling at each other?!
Aiko rubbed her eyes. She couldn't understand how it got to this, but all was well as long as they went hand in hand.
Yawning, she stood up, but she was caught by i. Aiko was still half asleep, so she was more like a stringed doll, still sluggish.
i hugged her gently until Aiko woke up completely.
"How about trying Alchemy?" i asked with a plan in mind. 'If she practised Alchemy, she would not only know about Herbs that could be beneficial for her if collected, but Alchemy also needs to know how to refine Pills. That ans they need to control flas with precision. This precision will be important in purifying her body.'
Aiko thought about it for a mont. She still had to figure out why those pieces of swords felt familiar.
Aiko fidgeted. She didn't really want to drive away the Blood Fox and Umbra Fox, but she couldn't talk about the system in front of them.
"Leave for now." i gestured towards the two.
"I will visit my brother for the Herbs and return tomorrow." The Passion Fox didn't reject Jade Fox's command this ti.
Aiko stared at them blankly, weren't they at war just a mont ago? How did this happen??
They left, leaving them alone.
"i..." Aiko didn't know how to say she felt intimate with the swords.
"Take your ti." i said gently while sorting through so herbs.
Aiko kept sitting as she still felt a bit tired. This was strange as the tiredness ca in waves and she didn't understand why, since she felt alright.
Noticing Aiko's puzzled expression, i said gently. "Because of the poison inside your body. There might be side effects, such as pain, tiredness, queasiness and so on."
Aiko slowly nodded, this could explain everything...
"Did you do sothing with that system again?" i asked, narrowing her eyes.
During Aiko's sleep, she observed her and found strange energy reducing the effects of the poison, but not purifying it. This was incredibly strange to her until she rembered about that strange system.
Aiko nodded sheepishly. "I have purchased [Poison Resistance], otherwise I wouldn't be able to move my arm."
i sighed. This system was too powerful, she was worried that Aiko would rely on it too much, but in these instances, it was nice to have it...
"What did you want to talk about then?" i gently stroked Aiko's silky hair.
"Well... I... feel intimate with so swords?" Aiko murmured.
i paused for just a mont before resuming. "I see, may I see the-" She then realized that Aiko didn't say a sword, but swords. "Swords?"
"Sure." Seeing i puzzled, but still with a non-judgental expression, Aiko was happy and pulled out the remains of the broken swords.
i stared at them even more confused.
Usually one would feel intimacy towards one sword that would fit their needs and could also indicate that they were developing a sword heart, but this whole situation was strange.
She couldn't understand why Aiko felt intimate towards these broken swords.
"May I research these swords for a few days?" i asked gently. She would not deprive her little sweetie of her toys, but it was important to figure out why she felt intimate about them.
It would be bad if those swords had evil spirits in them that would try to possess Aiko.
"Also..." Aiko didn't know if she should ask.
"You worry too much." i hugged Aiko gently like a caring mother. "Just tell your worries and I will help you."
"I have this Divine Ability called [Soul Palace]." Aiko said slowly, but she could already feel i being stiff as a block of wood.
"S-Soul Palace?" i stuttered, she couldn't believe that Aiko earned that Divine Ability from legends.
"Yeah, but it says it's [Undeveloped]. What does that an?" Aiko asked i. She couldn't use her book to find information on it and it didn't seem like i would leave her alone, so she could only ask her.
"It ans you have not built the Soul Palace." i pondered, from the snippets of her mories she pulled a bit of information.
"This is long forgotten Divine Ability. It starts with the passive effect that is depleted over ti. This effect protects your Soul from any kind of interference. It shrouds your Soul in a Palace and the assailant or Ability has to pass through the Palace before having any kind of effect on your Soul."
"As it implies, the passive effect has been depleted and now you need to develop the proper Soul Palace that will protect you." i explained slowly after recovering so information bit by bit from her mory.
"How do I do that?" Aiko asked.
"You first need to condense your outer Soul into a Soul Foundation for the Palace." i paused. "It's a bit too early for you to start doing that since your Soul is too weak, but since you will be staying in here with , we will tackle the Souls and everything. So this might be the best opportunity for you to build at least a basic Soul Palace." i still didn't understand why those Souls scread at Aiko.
When Aiko heard the 'tackle the Souls' she shivered. She didn't want to experience that bullying again.
"It's alright." i soothed Aiko. "It's important for you to learn Alchemy first before anything. Alright?" i devised the plan and lured Aiko into it.
Aiko nodded gently, everything was better than those ugly-looking, bullying Souls.
i nodded, she was happy that Aiko was once again obedient. Then she sends a telepathic ssage to that strange 'Beast Core'.
'Can you deal with the poison?'
'No. It's too filthy.' The Seed answered, while 'glaring' daggers at i.
'I see... how useless.' i clicked her tongue.
'You are useless! Your whole shitty family is useless! Your grandpa is useless!-'
i ignored the rebellious Seed, she hoped that she would be able to extract it from Aiko's body, so she didn't beco rebellious like that Seed...
Aiko was unaware of what was happening and asked i. "Where do I start?" She wanted to start it, lest i change her attitude.
"Here." i gave Aiko a Jade Slip with the introduction to 100,000 Herbs. This didn't have their effects when Pill concocting, but it had pictures of how they looked and what they did in their raw form.
Aiko took that slip slowly, placing her mind into it. She almost fainted imdiately. "S-so many of them?!" Aiko cried out.
i felt helpless, yet she was also smirking inside. 'I had this exact sa reaction.' She giggled. "It's just an introduction to Alchemy." She shrugged.
Aiko's soul, she had to learn countless amounts of Herbs and yet it was still considered 'just' the introduction?!
Seeing the speechless Aiko, i giggled with glee. 'Who told you to injure yourself.' This was her way of taking revenge. You didn't necessarily need to know about all 100,000 Herbs, but i would naturally not tell her that.
"This is my cumulative knowledge, don't give it to anyone, okay?" i gently caressed Aiko's head.
"A-all of this?!" Aiko was shocked.
"Mm." i gave her a positive answer and Aiko deflated.
"C-can I do sothing else?" Aiko was intimidated by the sheer amount of knowledge.
"Sure, we can return for the Soul-"
Before i could finish, Aiko scread and placed her hands on i's mouth. "I will do it! I will do it!!" Seeing the crying yet serious expression, i laughed in her mind.
She gently patted Aiko.
Aiko went into a nearby corner, doodling with a crestfallen expression.
i let her play around, as this couldn't be forced. She would let her slowly learn and explain to her anything she didn't know. Even if she wasn't able to refine Pills... she could still concoct so useful ones, but the most important part was the precision and fla adjustnts.
'If she learns well, we will be able to slowly burn the poison in her bones...' i nodded slowly.
While this way was very painful, it would allow Aiko to use her hand like before. The more pressing issue was the poison in the bone marrow.
She did seal it temporarily, but that is not a solution. If Aiko got too far from her, the seal would disappear and it would continue to spread.
Aiko was doodling unhappily, but she knew that if she didn't start, i would go with the Soul solution... Aiko was not ready for that just yet.
She picked up the Jade Slip and slowly read through it.
It was very difficult and slow to read, much less comprehend the information in the Jade Slip to the point that she didn't even notice i left the place.
...
i visited one familiar Forging Cultivator.
"Hey! Co out!" i ruthlessly kicked the door several tis.
She chuckled. 'It seems like this bastard reinforced the doors.'
"Hey! Co out or I will kick down your door!" i shouted.
"HAH! Try it!" A laugh drifted from inside. It was the Bronze Fox.
i's lips twitched. 'Just because he reinforced the door a little, he is getting haughty.'
*Kick**BOOOM*
"AAAGH!" The Bronze Fox scread as he was hit by the broken doors.
"What the-Auch." The Bronze Fox didn't understand how such beauty could be so violent.
i walked inside his room and sat down on a chair that looked sowhat clean, this was the only chair that could be considered clean from all the others. "Look over this for ."
i placed a few broken swords in front of him.
He paused, normally she would co in and make him create Pill Cauldrons, but for so reason, she ca in with broken swords today?
"What do you need to do?" The Bronze Fox didn't understand.
"Just tell if there is anything strange about those swords." i snorted coldly.
He shivered and touched the swords, i was looking over the whole process.
Her powerful Divine Sense could not find any remnants of a Soul, nor any kind of Array that would tamper with Mind/Soul. She couldn't understand why Aiko felt so intimate with this lot of gar-
"Ah! A treasure!" The Bronze Fox suddenly yelled, startling i.
"Are they?" i was looking at him suspiciously.
The Bronze Fox ignored that gaze and explained in hopes that he could keep them.
"These swords are ordinary, but the core of the sword isn't. The core of the sword was forged with rare teorite!" His eyes sparkled. "This teorite has different properties depending on the amount of heat you subject it to. As such, it's peerless material for Forging Cultivators!" His breath quickened, if he could get his hands on it, it would be a blessing!
"I see..." i nodded slowly, she had never seen this kind of exaggerated expression from the Bronze Fox, so it must be the truth. "Let's talk about the effects." i smiled like a devil and the Bronze Fox shivered.
He understood that he would never see this kind of material again if he didn't fulfil her wishes...
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