Chapter 6

Waking up the next morning, I was warm and toasty. The bed was so comfortable I didn't want to move, and my fluffy blanket felt great. My mind melted into goo from the comfort, and as I was snuggling deeper into the warmth, I heard a low, deep growl from above me. The sound snapped me back to my senses, and I realised that the blanket covering me isn't a blanket at all, It's Maverick. We both shifted back into animals for sleep, and somehow my small fox body managed to squish in between Mavericks front paws. He's curled up in a ball like most cats do, so I've got his head and chest pressed down on me, but it isn't heavy or unpleasant like you'd expect. It feels like a weighted blanket. However, now that I was awake my bladder, stomach and dry mouth were demanding my attention. So, I squeeze out from under Maverick, who grunts as his head droops, and leave the cave to go about my business. By the time I get back, Maverick has woken up and is waiting for me with a pile of firewood.

"What's the plan for today Mavie?" I've decided Mavericks nickname is Mavie, and although his now human jaw twitches when I say it, he doesn't protest. What a cutie. "We're smoking the meat. To preserve it. While it's happening, we can't be in here, so I'll teach and guide you on how to cultivate nearby, though I can't promise perfection as each species of beast cultivates through their own unique method. While you do that, I'll find some useful things nearby, like berries and sharp rocks." He tilts his head, asking if that plan is okay with me.

"I feel bad, living in your house and eating your food while not going much in return." I feel very rude in doing so, but Mavie doesn't seem to mind. In fact, he smiles when I say as such to him. "Why feel bad? I'm courting you, and you don't have anyone else to rely on. This is what I should do. When you're stronger and able to help more, then you can."

Well now I'm blushing. Despite at first glance seeming like the cold sarcastic asshole, he's actually a warm soft kitty. So good with words, too. If you set him free on the streets of earth, he'd be swarmed by men and women alike. I almost swooned. His words do help ease my guilt at freeloading, and so I get to work piling the wood into the middle of the cave. After shifting into human form for the task, I skittered to and fro with Mavie for a while.

After piling up wood for the fire we had to somehow hang the recently cooked meat up in the air to smoke. Luckily, there was some vine and thick, long and sturdy sticks ready for us to try create solutions with. We tried simply propping the sticks across the wall first, but that didn't work at all. We also tries some elaborate net system to hook across the ceiling, but that was also a major flop. In the end, we got out Mavie's claws and carefully carved out some grooves in the narrower areas of the room to lay the sticks on. We then added the spare stone on top of the wood to keep it there, and draped the slabs of meat on it. The larger more precariously perched pieces were ties down with the vine, and our poor grass bed was placed underneath to stop falling meat from splatting on the ground. Mavie grabbed his two fire starting sticks and started his magic, while I waited outside with the large boulder ready to shut the area off.

As soon as the smell of smoke entered my nose, I got ready to push, and only a couple minutes later Maverick runs out, joining me in covering the entrance. The stones are super heavy, and require a lot of grunt work on my end, though Maverick seems to do it easily enough. The rocks slide over the entrance of the cave and as I step back, panting, Maverick grabs my hand.

"There's another cave nearby we can use instead, come on." He tugs on my hand to keep up and we jog away together, until a smaller cave underneath a lush cliff comes into view. There's less snow here, but instead the air is damp and cold in an unpleasant way. As we head in, I spot an area of dirt nearby on the banks of a small winding creek with a different shade. It's tinged slightly reddish, and as I pass it a stroke of clarity passes over me and I recognize what that dirt is. Clay! I should ask Mavie if there's any sort of pottery technology floating around, because all I've seen him use is carved stone, which is chunky, heavy and overall unwieldy. That's for later though, cultivation comes first.

Maverick lets go of my hand inside the cave, and gestures for me to sit down. I plonk onto the ground rather ungracefully and Maverick sits next to me. "First of all, I should probably explain to you what exactly cultivation is. Cultivation is the act of growing our strength, and reaching for our bodies perfect state. Cultivation lengthens our lifespan and helps with recovery from life changing injuries. All beasts are able to cultivate, but if you don't know how you can damage yourself instead of improving so being taught by clansmen or someone familiar is encouraged." It sounds magical, like all my fantasies come true. I can't wait to start, but patiently wait through all Mavie's explanations and warning.

"Do you get it? If you feel like you're doing it wrong, stop. It should feel natural, and if it doesn't you'll end up hurt or worse. Qiao Ai, you understand?" I nod, and he sighs before finally getting into instructions. "First, every beast has a mysterious energy inside them, this energy is called vitality. It's in your body, and also covers the world. It's in the air, the ground, the water, and the stone. It's also in plants, but most can't access that energy. The only living, moving beings other then us beasts who have it are savages, however they cannot use it the same way as we can. We cultivate by grabbing that vitality from the air and adding it onto our own, before cycling it through our core to make sure it doesn't just leave. The first step in this however, is being able to perceive the vitality in them and around them. Let's start with that."

Apparently, because all beasts can do it, sensing vitality should be pretty easy. Just breathe in a rhythm of three in, three out through the mouth and relax your mind. I settle into place, getting comfy before trying to go into a meditation type state. The only thing on my mind is counting my breaths, and I have no idea how long I'm doing this before my mind becomes sharper somehow. I start to feel a swirling through my body, and when I probe to see what the swirling is, I find a mist through me. It must be my vitality. It's beautiful, the colour a mix of darkest black with pumpkin orange streaks here and there. It's similar to the colour of my fur, and I get the sudden urge to find out what colour Mavie's vitality it.

I open my eyes, excited to ask him about it, only to instead stop, stunned, as the whole world has somehow got brighter. It's moving too, pumping with great swirls, as if a heartbeat of the land. It mesmerizes me, and I turn to Maverick only to see him as he was before, devoid of new colours. I'm disappointed. "Why aren't you colourful, Mavie?" I'm pouting as I ask him, and a smile creeps on his face as he answers. "A beast's vitality is very important to them, so hiding it is the first thing we learn to do once we start cultivating. Yours is creeping out, you might want to fix it before I see it. Try redirecting it into your body and creating a barrier on your skin to stop is from getting out."

I think of doing what Maverick said, and the vitality on the surface of my body withdraws back into me. Instead, a thin film like surface tension of water covers me like a second skin, from my ears to my tail to my feet. "Why should people not see your vitality?" Maverick's nodding as he notices the vitality drawing into me. "Because it's dangerous. Letting a person see your vitality is like showing them your exposed heart. They could very easily grab and crush it, and you'd be dead just like that. It might not even be on purpose, they could accidently touch it while cultivating and the result would be the same." The thought of this scares me, of being so exposed. "Is it only a problem when you cultivate? Does it not leak normally?" He shakes his head,

"If you don't cultivate your vitality stays dormant. It will do only the bare minimum activity to keep you working. Once you start cultivating it starts working it's way out of your body trying to grab nearby energy." Sounds good to me. I listen as he explains how to properly do the next step of preparation for cultivation, finding and getting used to using my core. Every species core is in a different part of their body, and they never tell any other clan where theirs is. Well, except for Maverick apparently. "My core is in the first spot that appeared on my body, but I won't tell you which spot that is." He looked so smug when he said it, but I felt like I was looking at a manchild who hid their partners phone. It's exasperating. "it'll likely be somewhere important to your species, so if you can think of any particular spots check there first."

Mavie's words bring to mind one specific place for me. The tail. The signature feature of a many tailed fox species. I scan my body, quickly heading to the bottom of my spine, and voila! A whirling ball of energy. Mavie said to try stringing my vitality through the core, so I directed some nearby strands towards it. I carefully push the strand into the core, and it goes in smoothly... and then it's gone, I've lost control of it and couldn't get it right through.

Attempt 2 I kept control of it once in there but lost it when trying to move it out. Attempt 3 was similar, but you know what they say, 4th times the charm! I got it through, slow and rough it may be, but it went through and that's all that matters! Besides, practice makes perfect and I'm sure I'll be doing this constantly from now on. Now, I just need to string all the steps together and start cultivating.