Having eaten their breakfast, Yuno immediately returned to her room to start cultivating, since she hadn't managed to cultivate the previous night as she had spent it having fun with Astrid and Ellie.
'I shouldn't slack off, just because we have a roof over our heads doesn't mean that we're guaranteed a nice life. And in this world, where the strong eat the weak, not cultivating for a lowly reason like having fun will get you killed, fast!'
She let out a sly smile having felt motivated by what she had thought. Of course she didn't actually mean it, she was only using that as a means to boost moral.
Getting distracted by useless thoughts, she shook her head before calming her breathing, slowly entering a state of focus and thoughtlessness.
The ambient celestial energy around her was slowly drawn in through her mouth with every breath she took; ridding herself of the old energy in her body with every subsequent exhale.
As more and more time passed, she delved deeper into her cultivation, thin strands of blue colored celestial energy revealed themselves before being absorbed into her body.
When that happened, a the beginning, she felt a crippling cold aura spreading across her body. The coldness it emanated was enough to freeze any grown adult solid within a matter of seconds, but she was different. She didn't even find it all that uncomfortable as the cold only gave her a familiar and cosy sensation.
It was much better than the first time she had experienced this, where she was frightened she was gonna be frozen solid. Thankfully, her fear didn't come through and she soon got over the feeling as she experienced it whenever she cultivated after having her immortal body unsealed.
Circulating the strands of chilling blue energy around her body, she went through a few cycles before directing it's flow towards her dantian.
Like snakes, the strands of energy headed towards her nail-sized dantian thag was half filled with a similar icy blue ocean of qi. The strands coming into contact with the walls of the dantian were instantly absorbed, increasing the levels of the water by a consistent amount.
Her actions seemed to have many effects as she too was now emanating a chilling aura that caused frost to form around were she cultivated. Thankfully, this phenomenon was mild and took a long period of time to actually form, otherwise it would probably have spread all over the entirety of the room.
. . .
On the bed to the side, a squirrel could be seen lazing around as it ate the mound of snacks Yuno had prepared for it. But it seemed like she had grossly underestimated its eating capacity as it went through all those snacks in a matter of minutes, an impressive feat!
Having finished all the snacks, it struggled to get back on its feet due to the small food belly it had inadvertently created. Once it managed to get back up, it turned it's attention towards the girl that kept feeding it snacks.
Slowly, it inched it's way towards her but was halted when it came against the chilling aura that permeated around her body.
Noting that it couldn't ask her for snacks for a while, it sniffed the air before turning its attention towards the door before. With a goal at its backing, it reached the door in no time. But not it was faced with a different problem.
It looked around for any crevices for it to squeeze out of as the door had been shut and locked. Not seeing anyway out, it just started repeatedly scratched at the door, trying to force it open... but that never happened.
Instead, a black shadow extended from its small paws onto the door, creating a small circular curtain that allowed it to pass through as if the door had never existed.
Finally let out, the squirrel headed towards the origin of that delicious scent. As it got closer and closer, the sweet, sweet smell grew stronger causing its actions to be more frantic. At some point the scent had even gained a physical misty form, seeming like something straight out a kid's cartoon.
Frantically following the thick scent around a corner, the squirrel increased its speed before taking the turn, only to be left paralyzed with fear by what it saw!!
. . .
Given how he had some spare time, the main character had been exploring the mansion. Casually walking around, he familiarized himself with all the rooms and their location... except for the once he was told to no go in.
As he continued exploring the mansion, he was forced to experience the tantalizing fragrance of fresh out the oven pastries.
'Dear me, what is that godly smell?!!!'
Left without much of a choice, he followed that scent that led back to the kitchen. But just as he was about to enter, his whole body froze. His heart raced and his breathing quickening! His vision darkened as he felt a sinister aura engulf his entire being.
Sensing the danger, even without his conscious command, the Atlas appeared out of thin air before slowly unsheathing itself. The blinding brilliance fought off against that dreadful aura, banishing it to the farthest reaches of the universe!
Finally released from his fear stricken state, the main character collapsed onto his knees , trying to catch his breath as he wonder what that had been. Since the aura had disappeared entirely, the Atlas returned to its dormant state.
Having recovered a little, the main character turned around, to see what had caused him such a reaction.
Nothing.
There was nothing.
He looked around only managing to spot a small squirrel that stood frozen looking in his direction. Looking at it suspiciously, the main character cautiously said, "I know it was you... Reveal yourself!!"
He had even summoned his staff for some intimidation points but all were for naught. Seeing no reaction, he then slowly neared the still little critter before picking it up into his hands. Staring at it intently, it shivered intently.
Thinking back on the disturbing pretence he had felt, the main character tried his best to connect it to this small animal.
'But it's just a squirrel, how could it possibly give of such a dreadful aura??'
Trying his best to reason he decided to merge his senses with the Atlas, once again revealing his make shift spirit sense.
Directing his new found abilities at the defenceless little squirrel, the main character observed it's trembling body. Scanning through it, he failed to find anything out of the ordinary, except for its rapidly palpitating heart and its shaking body.
Disappointed, the main character dissociated from the Atlas before placing the squirrel back down on the ground as he thought, 'What was I even thinking? Of course, it wasn't the squirrel... Its a fucking squirrel!!!'
Enhancing his senses with his godly essence, he spread them all around his surrounding but was left disappointed, having not found anything...
'Seems like I let the real culprit go... Fuck!! But no matter, i now have the Atlas so all is good...'
Dusting off his hands, he got up before turning back his attention to his initial focus. Slowly pushing the door open, he peeked through, catching a glimpse of a kitchen main taking out a batch of fresh cookies out of the oven.
. . .
Finally having escaped the frightening man's attention, the squirrel scurried away. The moment it had seen the man, an instinctual and primal emotion surged across its body.
The emotion was a mixture of hate and anger as well as some fear, and was potent enough to overwhelm and paralyze it.
So it was obvious that it ran away the moment it was given a chance... Unfortunately for it, its belly was far more powerful than its brain causing it to be drawn by that tantalizing scent once again.
While the small beast was afraid, it couldn't deny it's natural urges, and so it stayed hiding in the shadows waiting to the scary man to leave.
A little while passed when it saw the man enter the room I. A hurried manner before coming back out with a handful of fresh warm cookies.
Smelling the scent that wafted from them, the squirrel even had an urge to charge at the man, but it didn't. It might be gluttonous, but it wasn't a retarded!
instead, the squirrel waited for the man to leave before making a break for the kitchen door! Thankfully, the moment it had reached it, the black smoke from earlier spread from its paws onto the ground, causing it to fall through, instantly jumping out of a similar pool of black that had appeared inside the kitchen.
Locating the origin of the scent to be on the counter, it dashed uo the counter, to the tray of freshly baked cookies before collecting all that had been left behind in its mouth.
The scene was quite outrageous, as its cheeks were inflated like balloons, making it seem like a cartoon character