Mira had mentally exhausted herself from constantly draining herself in the Battle Tower. She missed an entire day's worth of cultivation due to this, but it's not like one day would make that much of a difference since she needs a tremendous amount of Qi to advance to the next stage.
But the next morning, Mira woke up and carried out her normal routine of training and cultivating. But while Mira was busy doing her normal routine, her reaching 3rd place at the Battle Tower started to spread across the disciples and even the Elders.
"Hey, did you hear that Mira reached the 96th Floor in the Battle Tower, overtaking 3rd Place? I've heard that most people that make it that far are at least Late-Stage Houtian, but didn't Mira just breakthrough into the Foundation Realm? Is she really that strong?"
"Yeah, I heard the same thing too. I knew she was strong, but to make it to 3rd place on her first try after she just advanced to the Foundation Realm is insane! The Elders really found someone extraordinary!"
"Do you think she'll be going for 3rd place in the Arena as well?"
"I don't know, but I hope so! I really want to see Mira fight seriously! Even though we know that Mira is incredibly skilled, we've never seen just how skilled she is."
Rumors started to spread and the disciples started getting excited about an upcoming fight between Mira and Jade, who was ranked 3rd in the Arena as well. This news eventually reached Jade as well.
"So Mira beat me in the Battle Tower? I guess it's not that surprising. We're about equal in strength and she's probably more skilled than me as well. If we were to fight, I bet I'd end up losing after a hard battle. But I think I heard one of the Elders mentioning that they wanted Mira to reach the Top 3 for the Core Disciples and have a sparring class with some of the other disciples. Seems like it might be true. I guess I should prepare myself for a fight soon." Jade said to herself after hearing the news and wasn't the least bit bothered by it. Mira being better or stronger than her had nothing to do with her. There were tons of people that are stronger than her in the world. If she cared about every single one of them, then she would be dead by now.
This news also reached the Elders and they went to verify this information. As soon as they saw Mira's name at 3rd Place they realized that this was true.
"We just told her this the other day! I thought that she'd have to advance to the next stage to be able to accomplish this but to think she'd be this quick about it. What a monster."
"She truly is a monster. To make it to Floor 96 means she can fight beasts a full Rank above her own. Just how strong is her body?"
"I guess we'll have to get the disciples ready to start sparring with her since things are progressing faster than we originally thought. This might even start next week! But I'm not complaining! The sooner the better!"
Many people were discussing this, but Mira didn't care about any of this. The only reason she's doing this is that it was one of the conditions she made to the Elder. Other than that, she has no reason to participate in the Battle Tower or the Arena. It's not like anybody would challenge her either, so there's no point in even advancing unless she gains extra benefits.
But while Mira and Maria were on the Training Grounds, Maria decided to ask her about the battle tower.
"Hey, Mira! I heard you got to 3rd Place in the Battle Tower! How was it? Was it difficult? Do you think I'd be able to make it to Floor 96 as well?"
"The first 80 floors were rather simple, but Floor 81 introduced Rank 5 beasts which made it difficult for me. Floor 91 through 95 were basically beast hordes that doubled with every stage. I also had to fight a bunch of Rank 5 beasts. If you were smart, you'd be able to make it to Floor 91, but you'd probably have a difficult time after that. Your skills and arts are not really meant for 1 vs many battles. But they are much stronger in one on one fights. Killing 16 Rank 5 Beasts would probably drain you. I'm also assuming that those last 5 Floors get exponentially harder." Mira gave an in-depth analysis to which Maria just nodded her head. She didn't really care too much about the battle tower but seeing Mira do it made her want to try it out.
"I guess I'll have to give it a try tomorrow!" Maria said as they kept training.
After they were done, Mira went over to the arena to schedule a battle with Jade, who was in 3rd place.
The Elder informed her that Jade was currently in the Sect and she could schedule the battle whenever she wanted to. Mira set it for tomorrow at dawn and Jade immediately accepted it and this news spread like wildfire amongst the disciples. They all wanted to see this fight. Mira didn't know this, but the Top 2 in the Sect were currently out doing some adventuring to hone their skills and look for lucky encounters. They'd reached a point where staying in the Sect wasn't as beneficial for them.
The day passed quickly and it became time for Mira and Jade's fight. Disciples had already gathered in the arena by the hundreds to watch this fight. Mira and Jade showed up right at dawn and walked up to the stage. They didn't speak to one another and just took out their weapons. Jade took out a sword and Mira finally revealed her scythe. There was a rumor going around that Mira used a scythe, but they've never seen her use it so they weren't sure if this rumor was true. But this proved the rumor! Most people haven't seen a scythe user fight, so this battle just became even more exciting.
"Fight!" The Elder judging the battle announced.
Jade wanted to keep her distance and attack from afar due to the scythe having a longer reach. Jade shot some casual earth-spikes at Mira just to test her. But Mira easily dodged those and continued to rush at her. She didn't want to use her ice just yet and was also a bit hesitant to use it, since she might accidentally kill her opponent.
As Mira was charging, Jade turned the ground Mira was about to step on into mud, which almost made her lose her footing. This is when Jade decided to attack, but Mira shot a few Ice blades at her and multiple ice needles towards her vitals. Jade was forced to slow down which allowed Mira to regain her footing.
Mira was impressed with Jade since this was the first time in a while she could fight someone who was around her strength and also good at fighting. She decided to take this a bit more seriously and donned her Ice Armor and Dual-Bladed Scythe. She'd wait to use her Ice Domain whenever she gets closer to her as that drains her faster than her other techniques.
Jade also did something similar and surrounded herself with earth, and even made an earth sword which she put in her other hand.
They both looked at each other with respect and dashed in. They were through with testing each other now.
Mira immediately picked up momentum in her scythe and started attacking once she got within range of Jade. Jade wasn't a slouch either and was able to deflect the scythe with one sword and try to attack with the other. She'd also use her feet to shoot ground spikes at Mira as well. Mira would form blocks of ice to prevent these spikes from touching her. But she'd also send ice blades or needles in the opposite direction of Jade's ground spikes. To which Jade would dodge, but Mira would try and capitalize on this dodge, only to have her movement slowed with the ground turning into mud.
The battle became fiercer with each passing second as they both exchanged hundreds of moves. Mira was able to hit Jade a few times with an ice needle, but Jade was also able to hit Mira a few times. They were almost evenly matched, but Jade was slightly stronger than Mira in terms of power. She was a Late-Stage Houtian and wasn't a weak one either. So it was understandable if she was stronger than Mira. She also contained more Qi so her attacks were a lot stronger than Mira's.
Mira knew that playing a battle of attrition is not what she wanted and knew it was time to use her Ice Domain. A Bone-chilling aura was released from Mira, and soon the stage turned into a blizzard. In her domain, ice attacks are easier to make and she can also make a ton of them.
Soon, Jade was surrounded by tens of large Ice Spikes that circled around her and followed her wherever she went. Once Mira was ready, she launched the Spikes at her. Jade formed an Earth Dome around her, but Mira was assuming that Jade might do something like this and already had an Earth-Shattering Fist prepared. She launched her fist at the Earth Dome and the thing exploded. She kicked Jade in the gut, making her tumble away then shot towards her and rested her scythe blade against her neck.
Mira dissipated the Ice Domain so the others could see and Jade just raised her hands in defeat.
"Mira wins!" The Elder announced and the disciples watching cheered like crazy. That was such an epic battle! They were on the edge of their seats the entire time!
Both of them put their weapons away and looked at each other.
"I hear you are going to be sparring with some of the disciples to improve their battle prowess. Is that true?" Jade asked without any expression. Mira nodded her head in the same manner.
"Mind if I join? I feel like we'd both be able to improve if we sparred with each other more."
"I don't care. Just talk to Elder Bridget first." Mira said and Jade nodded. They then both left the stage.
After Mira left the stage, Elder Bridget came up to her.
"It seems like you held up your end of the deal quite fast. I'll gather up the disciples I had in mind and prepare them. When do you want to start?" Elder Bridget asked with a smile. Mira was a lot more skilled and stronger than she originally thought!
"Same schedule as the unarmed combat training. Except for this time, I want to meet at the Training Grounds. Also, Jade said she wanted to join as well." Mira said and the Elder nodded her head and left to prepare.
Mira walked out of the Arena and Maria caught up to her and started chatting with her. They then went about their day like normal.
