Chapter 21

Trouble Brewing

After my birthday party died down, I got back to work at Barrier-cultivating. First to get the anvil up to spec like I promised uncle, then later myself.

I had already fully reached the bottleneck into Tier one, 2 months before. Then a month ago with my teacher Hung Lo, a seal was placed on my cultivation up to that point. Since then I cultivated up from the beginning once more. In that month I rose back up to Level 7. I can't say it will take only a week to finish up, because with each rise it takes more time and effort to reach the next one.

Bun) 'Hey, Zo Ro.'

Zo Ro) 'Yeah, Hun Ni bun?'

B) 'You said you got your tail chopped off. Then it regrew.'

Z) 'That's right.'

B) 'So if it got chopped off and grown back again, but you still had this tail, could you re-attach it too and then have 2 tails?'

. .

Z) 'I'm not sure. But it sounds plausible. It would hurt like a bitch though.'

Khan) 'What does a momma wolf have to do with it?'

Z) 'That's why we love ya, big guy. Every comedian troupe needs someone who (airquote) doesn't get the joke.'

K) 'And why are you waving your paws around?'

Z) 'My point exactly.'

And that's when our resident bun decides to roll on her back, kicking her legs while hyperventilating.

ANYway, time to get started

. . .

Even though my cultivation Level is lower now, my strength and control with Barriers is better. So it only takes 6 days this second time to turn an old rusty anvil into a shiny, and as I hear it delicious, lump of Light Steel.

And on the seventh day I rest romp and play.

After another batch of nutrition paste, to keep up practice, I do my regular cultivation. Including my usual 9 fill-and-rests it takes 8 days to reach Level 8.

After a bit more romping and refining, I spend 11 days to reach Level 9. Then another 15 to reach the bottleneck once more. For most, the bottleneck between Tiers might as well be a stone wall. To chip at piece by piece, or hope to bust through in one go. But for me it more resembles some wet tissue paper. This is probably because the purity in my Qi sets me apart even from other geniuses.

The only reason I didn't break through earlier was a vague feeling of 'not yet'. Like a deja-vu warning me against doing so? But now that feeling is gone, so . .

*rumble* *Rumble* *RUMBLE*

*KRAK!!*

With the sound of thunder, I finally broke through into Tier 1. But why did it sound so strange? It was like someone played a soundfile of a lightning strike *sdrawkcab*. With the echoing rumbling growing louder and closer and then the KRAK that started it all.

-elsewhere-

"The tail finally had a reaction!"

"After all this time we can finally track down that damned kit. It's already been over a year."

"It will take some time to organize an expedition, as well as asking permission to do so."

"Then don't waste any time. The sooner that Beast is mine, the better off we will all be."

-else, elsewhere-

"This prize was bigger than we expected, boys!" (cheers)

"That's a real problem for us!" (muttering)

"When we just get enough to drink ourselves silly, the important folks can't be bothered with us! But for this, you can bet your third legs they'll try hunting us down!" (muttering)

"We'll have to go into hiding! Any who want out, go now before we set off!" . . a handful of men start leaving the temporary bandit camp.

(quietly) "Make sure their bodies aren't found."

-and in one particular oval-shaped office-

"The timestamps on these surveilance videos show that it happened at the exact same time, and in twelve different locations. Some over 2,000 miles apart. Furthermore there are another 6 reports of similar incidents in the field at roughly the same time of the same day. And one more from 2 months prior."

"But even if teleportation is real, WHY PIZZA!?"

. . "Why not?"

-back to our main story-

K) 'Congratulations! You are finally a fully-fledged Beast.'

B) 'Yeah, congrats. But why do you have 3 tails now? Did you do like I asked a while back?'

Z) '3? No, I didn't. Why did I grow 2 more tails?'

K) 'It's natural for fox Beasts to have extra tails, with more showing that they're a higher rank. Usually, though, they would only have one new tail grow with each Tier breakthrough or similar event.'

Z) 'So it's a good thing then. Oh, since I had that seal placed, I had to cultivate from nothing a second time. That should be why I got 2. But if it's like that, maybe I should have tried that trick? Then again, I'd never be able to keep a low profile in my life.'

B) 'But you can use a different elemental attack with each tail at the same time.'

Z) 'Why do both of you know more about foxes than me?'

. . .

After sleeping on the decision, I choose to go through with it. But to also finish up in one go. So the first thing to do is finally summon some pain-meds. Based on my body size, I choose baby aspirins to last awhile, and also 1 dose of morphine for this one event. Which should probably be okay? As my Tier 1 body is more robust than a common fox's. However summoning 2 things at once takes a lot out of me, so I do the first right away, and the second when I am otherwise fully prepared.

Since Uncle Khan, and also a certain Hun Ni Bun, used up all my Nutrition Paste leftover after the party, that's the next item on my list. I figure the reason [Minor Regeneration] was so slow to regenerate my tail the first time, besides being minor, was that it need nutrients to do so. Even so, anyone else in the world would be jealous, many insanely so.

So aspirins for if/when I need them. check.

Nutrition Paste enough for 3 months or so. check. and 'yum'.

Fully rested and ready to go . .

. . . *SPOILER:SELF-MUTILATION* if this is a trigger for you, skip to the next chapter. (and if torture is a trigger for you, just stop reading now, I'm gonna start earning that gore warning.)