Hana suddenly turned around and seriously scrutinized Shiro as she suddenly realized about something. It made Shiro felt extremely restless with the penetrating gaze; he felt like his fur had been shaved off, leaving him bare and disgraced.

 

Why did Mom look at me so seriously, this time? Is it because I smell bad? I’ve made sure I washed thoroughly just now..

 

Shiro turned to his own tail and consciously sniffed it again. Hana was the one who smeared smelly things on him before.

 

Or is it something I say which had offended Mom?

 

"Oh yes, Shi-chan, you're saying you're a Glass Mirror fox? What sort of fox is that? I thought you're a giant overfed aardwolf. You know, the one who ate bugs and lived in the Savannah." Hana chuckled mirthfully. "And why did you have 'mirror' in your name?"

 

She had not known Shiro’s species before. Even when she heard about it, she still had never come across the term. The name was quite cool sounding.

 

 Shiro nearly fell down from hearing what the Aunty was asking as three black lines appeared on his forehead. Since when my name got any glass or mirror?! And what are glass and mirror?!

 

With an exasperated expression, Shiro tried to calm himself and smiled awkwardly. He was still getting used to the aunty's trash talking and was trying to focus his thoughts. A faint mocking laughter can be heard at the side, coming from the little black snake, which added to Shiro’s dismay.

 

Ehem, it's Glacier Mirage Fox, Mom. Glacier mirage foxes had the ability to manipulate ice and ice-related vapors. Shiro shook his fur slightly. They puffed up slightly as tiny whitish glittering particles emitted from each end. Upon closer inspection, the tiny particles were tiny ice crystals imbued with spiritual energy. 

 

Mom, look up. 

 

After he explained to Hana, he continuously emitted an intense chilly air from his body. The air moved upwards and enlarged into the shape of a translucent shiny concave. As the sun shone upon the chilly 'air', the concave undulated slightly. Suddenly, the bare sky had been covered with an image of a realistic tree canopy; a carbon copy of the rainforest nearby.

 

"Woahhhh! So OP! So cool! It's a camouflage technique!" To a plebeian like Hana, it was a grand magic show. With this, her worry was reduced greatly. The scenery in the sky was too open as their abode lay in the center without a single cover. What if some other strong animals came over? She had read enough novels about OP divine beasts wreaking havoc just simply because they didn't have better things to do and had found a conspicuous target to toy with.

 

That was why, no outsiders ever seen us. He talked animatedly before his voice in Hana's mind trailed off. Hana could sense his changing mood into a broody one with solemnness, sadness, anger, confusion; all mixed together.

 

Shiro wasn't willing to continue any further as he looked away with dispirited eyes.

 

Hana sighed internally as she rubbed Shiro's head. She immediately changed the topic as she walked forward and squatted down near a large crumply-like shriveled 'cloth', "Is this your molted skin, Ku-chan? Can I have it?" She held it with both hands and used all of her strength to flap it to check the real size and length. Being properly flapped, the skin was tens of meters longs, with burns and gashes at some parts. However, most of it was intact and in decent condition. It was really big and long! Just like a huge roll of unique-textured cloth!

 

Kuro was speechless for a second, but manage to answer, "Sure, Mommy."

 

The aunty took out the clawknife and tried to cut the shriveled skin a little. However, it only left a faint white trace. She deflated while sighing. She then tried to stretch the material with all she got. It was actually quite pliable.

 

A pity... If only I could cut it, I could even turn all this into a simple hammock with leftover materials to turn into swimsuits, innerwear or something... The aunty sighed again dispiritedly.

 

Kuro chuckled amusingly while observing his mommy's antics. Mommy, allow me. Kuro slithered towards Hana's arm which held the knife and spit his saliva over it. Smear it well before trying again.

 

Hana hesitantly used two fingers and cautiously smeared Kuro’s spit on both sides of the blade. The aunty then tried the same thing again on the shriveled skin and found that she managed to cut the material easily this time! Her eyes shone with delight in the midst of her pets' confusion. She then bundled up the shriveled skin happily and put them aside. She could already envision her next project!

 

A few moments later, the aunty started to twist her waist, bend down and touch her toes and twirl her arms seriously. She then cracked her neck left and right and stretched her hamstring in a most exaggerated manner. She did the series of motion trice in front of her pets, who were currently so confused, their mouths were agape, feeling speechless yet again. Once the aunty was done, she made a satisfied nod and started walking to a partially disintegrated uprooted timber as large as three adults holding hands together not too far away from her pets. She positioned herself well and pushed the large timber with all seriousness!

 

"Urghh! Urghh!" The aunty’s not-so-nice grunting voice resounded loudly.

 

Kuro and Shiro looked at each other in exasperation with a big question mark in their mind. 

 

What are you doing this time, Mommy? They asked together with synchronization; a tinge of helplessness in their telepathic-voices with their Mom's random antics.

 

Nothing. You asked me to gauge my own strength before. Now, I’m just testing my strength while clearing the place a little. I want to make a nice straight path from our house to the river. Don’t worry about it, leave everything to me! Hana answered confidently in between her huffing and puffing. She planned earlier to show off a little to her pets. The big shattered tree trunk was not moving at all. Hana struggled with all her might until her face turned red.

 

Two minutes later, her pets sweated as they saw she slipped and banged her forehead on the tree in front of her. The aunty stood up with a red swollen forehead, and an extra-aggrieved look. 

 

"You guys tricked me. You said Mommy should've gotten stronger." She rubbed her forehead while puffing her cheek. "I thought I've become as strong as Goku(1)." Her voice trailed off as it turned into embarrassment. 

 

Now her whole face had turned red like a melon when she thought about it. To think that I finally had a chance for posturing in front of the kids…

 

Both kids were speechless and nearly fell!

 

Their mommy had really overestimated her own progress. Although she felt very healthy and brimming with power, her previous sloth-like nature had made her actual strength to already hovered below average of a normal woman. At this moment, her constitution had only reached the condition and strength of slightly above a healthy male at his prime age.

 

Instead, her soul had undergone a qualitative change altogether; becoming more tangible within her, with vestiges of soft multicolored light surrounding it. Her soul’s strength had soared to five times more than a normal human being. It was even stronger than some of the average low-leveled spiritual beasts. However, only Kuro could directly see the progress of her soul. Even her other pets were unable to. Unfortunately, this level of soul strength was thousands of miles apart from Kuro’s prowess, but Kuro could see their mommy’s potential in this area.

 

She squatted down dejectedly while drawing circle after circle with her index finger, exhibiting an extremely pitiful sight...

 

...

 

After all the drama, the small family of three worked together until late into the evening. Since the shade of the arboreal trees were nonexistent on their work ground, they had ample amount of sunlight to complete their work on clearing the surrounding.

 

At the end of the day, just before the sun disappeared from the horizon, the aunty did achieve her goal; a cleared up location surrounding her naturally elevated dwelling, although not the way she imagined (Author: Not so soon Hana, you’ve just started, can’t let you be so OP haha). 

 

She had even managed to lay down a tiny path paved with stones directly from her house to her favorite spot beside the stream. The stones were from the shattered boulders in the vicinity, carved by herself and Shiro into pretty flat grayish steps, arranged loosely like an aesthetically pleasing mosaic. The other large debris were segregated according to their type. Most of the tree barks were further cut into large stakes and were made into a loose 'fence', encircling the open area, just like Shiro's little garden beside the stream. The only difference was, it was much larger in space and were loosely placed at the boundary of the destruction as 'territory marks' rather than a barricade to keep animals away. The leftovers were placed at a corner of their 'land' to dry before they will be used as firewood perpetually. From today’s work, she realized how big a difference her strength and stamina had been. It wasn't as exaggerated as her favorite Saiyan idol, but at least she felt that she was as strong as The Rock! Well, minus all the unsavory bulging abs. It was a pleasant surprise for her. At least she could carry a few boulders and a bundle of bamboo poles on her shoulder with ease now; more importantly, minus the back pain.

 

The trio returned to their cave dwelling with a light gait on their steps, with one lady posturing her awesomeness with carrying a bundle of bamboo poles on her shoulder!!!

 

...……...Stats Update ………….

 

Character = Hana (before)

Strength Level = 0.3

Overall Constitution = 0.5

Soul Level = 1.5

Spiritual Level = nil

 

Character = Hana (after)

Strength Level = 1.2

Overall Constitution = 1.2

Soul Level = 5.0

Spiritual Level = nil

 

Note: Stats Compared with one Normal Healthy Male Adult Human (1.0)

 

Author Note:

1. Goku = the protagonist of Dragonball by Akira Toriyama. Mr Mooncat asked Mrs Mooncat to add, incase got readers who didn’t know (I seriously doubt that)