The rune deactivated at the time Miko had set. Certain holes in the tree opened, allowing the warm, morning sunlight to enter her room. Soft bell-like chimes could be heard near the cotton bed Miko was sleeping on. Well, it could be considered a fox alarm clock. The flowers sounding the chimes were swaying side to side, in tangent with the soothing chimes they were producing. Miko stirred awake as she yawned away the last vesitiges of her sleep. She opened her eyes, ready to face the day ahead of her. She activated the rune again to give herself some privacy. Unlike Asura, her hole was much smaller by four times, as the rune grows along with your power. Since Miko was weak again, the rune naturally grew weaker along her. Once activated, Miko shapeshifted into her human form, or rather, that of a half human. When she had fully dressed herself, she stepped out of her hole.
The sun's warm, comforting rays could be felt throughout the forest. Dew dripped off the dark blue leaves of several trees, formed from the night before. Birds were chirping merrily, signalling the start of the new day. Miko trudged along the forest floor, quickly comming to the edge. In front of her was a small hill, with much fewer trees in the forest, cluttering together. Although the sun rays could be felt by all beasts in the forest, it was barely up.
"Perfect time to cultivate!" Miko thought. She hiked up the hill to its very top, the blades of grass swaying in the wind. As Miko arrived at its top, She carefully sat down cross-legged underneath the shade of an apple blossom tree. It was still early in the year, so they were still blooming, their branches singing side to side gently. Miko began swirling her energy and mana around her meraidians, and carefully started absorbing the qi around her. The best times to cultivate would be in full view of the morning and evening sun, as well as at the stroke of midnight, but was rarely done since Kitsunes were not noturnal by nature and prefered to rest then. The results were also significantly lower compared to cultivating during these two times.
Miko concentrated in absorbing as much purple qi as she could. This is because after an hour when the sun has fully risen, the purple qi strands turn into smaller and smaller wisps, thinning down until it was too little to notice even if absorbed. However, she made sure not to bite of more than she could chew, as it absorbing more qi than you can handle could potentially be fatal, damaging, or completely shattering your cultivation base. As she focused absorbing the strands into her ear apparature, Miko felt a familiar presence settle down next to her.
"Working hard as always, I see." The voice chimed. Miko immediately rounded up the remaining qi strands still being absorbed around her, condensing them into pure energy which would be vital in continuing the next step of her cultivation. She fluttered her eyes open, and turned to her side. It was none other than Ryo.
"Man, you must have lost alot of powers if you can't even smell or hear me comming." Ryo smirked.
"What are you doing here?" Miko asked, totally ignoring Ryo's remark.
"Well, same as you of course. Why else?" Ryo replied. Then, he immedately crossed his legs, and started absorbing the purple qi strands from the air. Following him, Miko too started sitting in a meditative pose, the duo both absorbing the qi in the air.
It was nearly eight in the morning when the purple qi strands started thinning down, as if almost completely dissapearing. Both Miko and Ryo felt it, and as such ended their hour-and-a- half long cultivation session. The sun was less soft and comforting now, its rays much stronger.
"Don't you have to work at the human restaurant today?" Miko asked. Ryo simply shook his head and answered,"Your brother is doing that alone today. I took a few days off... to spend time with you, you k'now... since you just woke up and all..."
"Ahh okay then. Then shall we get breakfast? Im getting hungry already!" Miko complained.
"Fine. You are such a pig." Ryo replied back.
"Who are you calling a pig?!" Miko shot back, with a playful-angry look on her face.
Cute.
"You are! Who else?" Ryo talked back. The two continued their playful bickering as they headed around the hill deeper into the forest. These were where their fox town was, with more foxes staying here than any part of the forest. Many foxes gathered here, including divine foxes known as kitsune - foxes with the ability to grow nine tails. As they ventured further down the villages streets, they rounded a corner and entered a small cafe. A fox soon greeted them at the door, gesturing for them to enter.
"Please come in! Take a seat and place your order!" The waitress greeted. She had hazel brown eyes and beautiful emerald eyes which sparkled brightly as she tended to the various patrons in the shop. This was one of the more common types of body colour for foxes. They usually only had more colourful fur such as blue, green, pink and the like when they are born with certain body constitutions that made them divine, as well as their cultivation journey easier. For Miko and her brother, they had the divine sakura constitution, which allowed them to double their mana reserves and absorb and condeses twice the amount of qi and energy at once compared to ordinary, regular foxes. For Asura, she possesed the heavely asago constitution, which allows her to regenerate her mana and recover faster compared to ther foxes. For Ryo, his constitution is the eternal wisteria. For every year of cultivation he gets, he gets an additional amount of cultivation in proportion to how many years of total cultivatuion he has.
Both Miko and Ryo sat down in their bamboo chair, flipping through their menu. Then, they waved the waitress over and placed their orders. Miko ordered a toast with scrambled eggs, while Ryo ordered a set of pancakes.
"Still the same as ever Miko... boring." Ryo commented.
"tsk." Miko replied in annoyance. Ryo chuckled. He did love making fun of her.
After they were done with their meal, it was already nine.
"What do you want to do now? Or would you like to go somewhere?" Ryo asked.
"I am going back to the clearing for sword training." Miko replied.
"Okay. I'll accompany you."
Sword training was a vital skill to have, if not, one must master at least one form of weaponry. In the event if one's powers were suppresed and they were in a dire situation, it would be the only choice they have left to fight their way out. Fighting with weaponry is a skill that can never be taken away, even if forgotten due to muscle memory, and hence neccessary to train.
Miko and Ryo exited the town and entered their village, where a portion of the foxes in town resided. They arrived at the outskirts, where there was a clearing. Miko summoned out her sword, unsheathing it. It shone a silver sheen as it glistened under the sunlight.
"Would you like me to train with you?"