Chapter 286 – A Welcomed Change

Chapter 286 – A Welcomed Change

The next day Aiko returned, but for some reason, Mei kept her distance.

That was not to say that she was not diligently teaching Aiko, but it did feel like she created some sort of wall around herself.

Aiko... didn't like that.

While she didn't like the overly touchy Mei, she also didn't like the overly cautious Mei.

Aiko tried a few ways to attract Mei's attention, but none of them worked. She was concerned that something might've happened to Mei, but those thoughts were unneeded.

"That's right. You adjust the strength of the Fire Shard by pouring the Energy from your Beast Core into it." Mei was overly close to Aiko when she was teaching her.

"But it's really hard..." Aiko complained to occupy Mei's mind so that she wouldn't realise it.

"You have two Beast Cores, so it's only natural that you would have more Beast Core Energy, but for some reason, you have even more than that..." Mei sighed. She didn't understand how high Aiko's Beast Core Energy could reach.

This was quite troubling since Aiko had more Beast Core Energy and thus was harder to control. Beasts would usually have one Beast Core, meaning that they would be limited in their output.

But Aiko was not like that. She had two Beast Cores, which could store even more than normal Beast Cores. This made it unnaturally more difficult to control, but it could also mean she could create more Higher-Grade Pills.

Unlike normal Human Qi, Beast Qi had its own attributes. As such, you first need to purify the Beast Qi before you can use it on the Fire Shard. This meant that it would take more Beast Qi to achieve the same effect as Human Qi.

On the other hand, Fox's Divine Sense was much more powerful than Humans, so they were able to tackle harder and more complex Pills sooner and easier. What Humans might not be aware of is the fact that most top-ranking Pill Cultivators are Foxes.

Unfortunately due to the influence of the Fox Village, not many are creating Pills that could be sold or auctioned to others.

Most Humans were also fed up with the fact that Foxes would go to auctions to mingle with others, so they imposed a ban on all Beasts to make them easier to manage.

This naturally enraged the Beast Sect and they had to throw their weight around to make an exception for their Disciples.

Foxes were naturally hated and loved, but the hatred was bigger than the love, as Foxes caused too many disasters.

Their beauty was only rivalled by the other Heavenly Beasts. Beings like the Phoenixes, Qilins, Dragons, and so on. They were the undisputed 'Kings' of beauty.

Yet most would still choose Foxes at the top, thanks to their soft tails that you could cuddle easily.

...

"You can't be so close to the flame." Mei took her hand and wrapped it around Aiko's waist, pulling her back further.

Aiko almost squealed inside her mind, but she suppressed that motion. She can't scare away Mei, now that she approached her willingly.

It was obvious to Aiko that Mei was a hardcore Pill Maker who would ignore most things that were happening around her as long as she could share Alchemy with others.

Mei soon snapped out of her daze, but the current Aiko was different to what she was previously. She learned a lot during the year when she kept re-reading the stories from her companions. She learned so much that it was quite scary...

Just because one had the ability to remember everything, didn't mean that they understood what they remembered. Thanks to the fact that Aiko had to read it again and again, she found out that there was a lot more to the stories than what her eye could catch on the first read.

Mei sat down, but this time she was conscious of her distance. For some reason, she could hear a click of a tongue, but that must be her imagination since she was tired.

"Now I will teach you the hand signs, so that you can extract the Herbs without Divine Sense. I will also teach you hand signs for forming and moulding the juices of the Herbs." Mei explained. "This is very crude, but also important if your Qi or Divine Sense is sealed. You would be helpless. Moreover, if you needed to create a Detoxifying Pill, but the poison was locking your Qi or Divine Sense, you would die before seeing the sun of the next day." Mei sternly explained to Aiko.

Aiko nodded cutely. The bigger form had higher accuracy, while the smaller form was faster.

Mei taught Aiko on purpose when she was in the big form, since it's better to do everything slowly. The small form will be then used to revise the materials and adjust her tempo.

In other words, she was learning twice and sometimes four times as much as her peers thanks to her ever-changing forms.

"These hand signs are easy, but the timing is hard. Unlike the Divine Sense where you can wrap the Pills with it in order to halt its progress, you can't do that with the hand signs. As such, the timing for every Pill changes and depending on their composition, it might also be a drastic change." Mei warned Aiko.

Aiko once again nodded. "So I will have to pull them out slightly or a lot sooner, depending on the Pill."

"Correct!" Mei liked the smart Aiko the best, as it made the teaching much easier.

Aiko smiled from ear to ear, blinding Mei.

Mei clicked her tongue. "You are not allowed to smile like that outside!" It would be bad for everyone and especially for Mei if Aiko went around wooing everyone.

"But I smile like this only for you." Aiko tilted her head, like she didn't understand what was wrong with it. Of course, Aiko understood, but Mei was more used to this 'form' of Aiko.

Aiko was not quite as skilled as other Foxes and she didn't really want to be, but she wanted to be skilled enough to solve issues that might arise from other Vixens.

Mei blushed and scoldingly pinched Aiko's cheeks. "You shouldn't be saying those words too, alright?!"

From her movements, it was obvious that Mei was embarrassed, but Aiko didn't mind, since this kind of pinching didn't hurt her.

"If you won't stop pinching my cheeks, I will pinch you too!" Aiko inflated her cheeks so it was harder for Mei to pinch them.

"Haha." Mei laughed. "Your hands are too short- Aiko!"

Aiko pinched Mei's thigh, since it was the closest thing to her, but Aiko also calculated that this would bring the biggest reaction.

Aiko triumphantly puffed out her chest. "See? I can also pinch back!"

"You-!" Mei completely forgot that she was supposed to take her distance from Aiko and observe her.

That was only natural, since Aiko's 'innocence' was good at guiding others and making them forget that she was still a Fox.

Aiko wrestled with Mei, but that was a fruitless endeavour as Aiko was quickly pinned down and tickled by Mei.

The Grandmaster raised her eyebrow. She was on edge since she read Aiko's mind, but at the same time... She was quite happy that Mei let loose.

She was concerned that Aiko would turn into a manipulative Vixen, so she would have to have a talk about it later with Aiko, but for now... it was better this way for Mei.

Mei needed to open up to others in order to heal her wounds. The Grandmaster already calculated that Mei would not be able to ascend if things went this way. As such, Aiko's interference was very welcome as long as it stayed at this level.

The Grandmaster made a mental memo about talking with Aiko later and left the premises in order to not disturb them. It was definitely not because she was jealous!