Chapter 18

Honey Bun

It's now my eleventh month both in this world and as a fox.

Something unusual happened today while I was out hunting. I had tracked down a bunny and was about to finish it off when. .

Bun) 'PLEASE DON'T EAT ME!'

Fox) 'Hm, okay.'

B) 'What? Just like that?'

F) 'Well, if you insist, then ONLY IF YOU SWEAR TO BE MY SLAVE!'

B) 'OKAY! OKAY I-'

F) 'WHOA! That was just a joke! Really, I'd prefer to eat an animal rather than a Beast. And I'm sure Uncle Khan would agree.'

B) 'Your uncle is named after the King?'

F) 'No, I lost my family as a kit and later I adopted a Silver Tiger as my uncle.'

*whump*

F) 'What is it with these guys around here?'

So I finish hunting and eating, then return to the mountain. With a sleepy-head bun resting on my Barrier and following me around like a thought bubble.

Khan) 'What's this, boy? Did you bring me a snack?'

F) 'No I didn't. I found a Tier 1 bun, then she felt safe enough to sleep upon learning of my greatness. I didn't want to leave her out in the open while vulnerable, so I brought her back with me.'

Hung Lo) "Don't you mean she was so shocked she fainted?"

F) 'Yup! Just like Uncle Khan did a few times.'

K) 'I don't faint.'

F) 'You don't remember them, because you always sleep through it. Getting back to what's important, Hung Lo, is there anything else to do before the funeral?'

B) 'Whose funeral?' our guest chose this moment to rouse from her fainting spell.

H) "Mine." And she chose this moment to begin her next one.

K) 'That was fun, but really.'

H) "Since you're now experienced in medical pastes, and you nearly managed to refine a Tier 1 pill, the only thing left is a sealing spell. This will suppress your cultivation Level so you work your way through the Tier once more. Doing so will condense your strength, making you stronger than your peers. An individual can only use this technique once in their lifetime. And the lower your Tier, the higher your Level, and the younger you are before you use this technique, it becomes more effective. I don't think anyone has ever used it both while at the first Tier bottleneck and before their first birthday."

F) 'Well, then I should make sure I'm still at the bottleneck. It's been a month since I last cultivated.'

. . .

This doesn't take long, and we finish up the next day. In the meantime . .

F) 'You know of my uncle, King Khan. This is my teacher, Hung Lo. And my name is Zo Ro (español for foxie¹this is just a personal thing, but I think ***-y should exclusively indicate an adjective, while ***-ie is for fun/sillyness or pet names. for example, a cookie is chewy, but a wookie is Chewie.), what's yours?'

B) 'I don't have one.'

F) 'Would you like one? How about Hun Ni.'

B) 'What does it mean?'

F) 'In this world, not a clue. But in my previous incarnation, pronouncing that as one word would translate as "honey". Which matches your amber-colored fur.'

B) 'Wow, you sure know how to sweet-talk a girl.'

F) 'If you decide to stay here with us, you'll need to know that this area (points) is the herb garden. I'll show you later which plants you can not eat, but you're welcome to anything else that grows among them. In fact, I'd prefer you got rid of them for me.'

B) 'You REALLY know how to sweet-talk a girl!'

. . .

Atop a bluff overlooking both the sect's remains and the nearby waterfall, we dig a hole 6 feet (about 2 meters) deep and long, and about shoulder width for a human. There isn't a priest-type among us, so we opt for a simple ceremony, with short speeches each. In Hung Lo's, he laments for his fallen brethren who were unable to recieve a grave for themselves, then also praises the Beasts he recently met for being better people than many of the humans he had known. Khan's speech is about having made a good friend he wishes to have known earlier, and hoping to know him in his next incarnation. Mine is about gratitude for my teacher, as well as a vow against our common enemy. Lastly, Hun Ni's is simply a vow to make his former home a paradise once more.

Then I lower Hung Lo's corpse into the hole, cover it with about 4 inches worth (10 cm) of dirt, then lay all the personal affects from the storage ring with him. Then I slowly pour the rest of the displaced dirt back.

Next I remove a marker stone I had prepared ahead of time from the storage ring. I fill my blood into all the carved grooves and notches, then place it at the head of the grave and solemnly read it out to activate the Blood Magic.

B) 'What does that mean?'

F) 'That was english, the language from my previous life. It translates as: "Here lies Hung Lo, may he be happier in his next life, and may any who disturb his grave suffer a curse".'