A few hours after Mira broke through, she awoke from her cultivation session and started putting away the ice slab and the leftover resources that she didn't use. Soon after, warmth was returned to the room and the ice started receding. It wasn't melting, but literally disappearing, returning the room back to its original state.
Mira was a bit amused by this result, but she didn't pay too much attention to it. That slab of ice was a very magical treasure so of course, its effects would be magical as well.
She put on her red and black dress robes that she received from the mermaids since she doesn't plan on staying in the Sect much longer after she broke through.
Mira walked out of her room but didn't sense Maria nor Vulcan nearby, but she wasn't bothered by this.
She noticed that it was somewhere around midday and assumed that Maria would be back probably around night. Mira didn't feel the need to leave her residence and say goodbye to some of the members of the Sect she helped train. Nor did she feel any sort of sentiment or comradery with other members of the Sect.
It seems that she's back to her normal self again, making things much easier. Mira stopped thinking about that stuff and walked over to Rhydian, who was now around 80 centimeters, about the size of a normal wolf. However, Mira could tell that Rhydian was still in her growth phase and who knows how big she'll become once she's fully grown.
While petting Rhydian, Mira started to sort through her storage rings to organize them into groups of 'incredibly useful', 'useful', 'useful under conditions', 'not useful', and 'unknown'. Even though almost all of the items technically fall under the 'unknown' category, she doesn't need to know what they are to find out if they can be of any use to her. For example, pretty much anything in the Human Grade is useless to her even if it can be used for pills.
However, Mira naturally wouldn't waste her precious time picking up a bunch of Human-Grade treasures and would only grab them if they looked interesting. Most of the stuff she has are Low-Mortal and Mid-Mortal Grade which would only be useful to her under certain conditions, BUT with the amount, she has they'll definitely make her a lot of money. Also, she can give some to Maria to practice Alchemy with and Mira can use the ores to practice forging with.
Mira also has a lot of Late and Peak Mortal-Grade treasures that are still useful to her. Thanks to Elenei's help, Mira has also gathered many different Earth-Grade treasures as well. Unfortunately, Mira doesn't know what they are nor their effects. But what's most surprising is Mira has a few Heaven-Grade Treasures as well. Naturally, this was all Elenei's doing since the beasts that surrounded those treasures had the equivalent strength of a Nascent Soul cultivator or higher.
This just goes to show that the two of them were busy during their little 'looting expedition'.
Day turned into night as Mira continued organizing her storage rings until she sensed two presences entering her residence. She immediately stopped what she was doing and walked out of her room to see them.
Maria's eyes lit up when she saw Mira walking toward her and she couldn't help but notice that Mira seemed like she was back to normal. Although something was bothering her about the current Mira. She couldn't put her finger on it so she stopped worrying about it.
"Mira! Congratulations on breaking through to the Peak of the Foundation Realm! It's about time you've caught up or I might've left you in the dust, hehe~"
Mira ignored her comment and went straight down to business.
"I'm ready to leave. There's nothing left for me to do here."
Maria shook her head at Mira's behavior since she was already missing the moody Mira. At least she talked more…
"Hmph! I've already visited my parents and told them I'll be leaving for the Main Sect near the Central Continent. They were both a lot stronger after going through the trials and they said they'll probably leave to go on an adventure after settling some matters in Lunar Fox City. It'd be nice of you if you went and said bye to them as well. They really wanted to thank you for everything you've done for my family."
Maria said with sincerity, but Mira's face remained stoic as she just stared at Maria.
Mira wasn't that surprised about their decision to go on an adventure. That's probably been their dream, but neither of them was all that talented in cultivation to begin so they saw no point in adventuring. Neither of them was naive enough to think that they would survive with their pitiful strength, but things are different now after going through those trials.
Their cultivation probably skyrocketed, their body and strength soared, and their mentality was strengthened. You could even say that their talent has improved. Considering all of those things, it's not surprising that they would want to make the most of what they were given.
Mira also doesn't feel the need to say goodbye to them. She's wasted enough time as it is and seeing Maria's parents will only further delay her…
Yup, she's back to her normal self again.
Maria pouted seeing Mira's expression and she knew that getting Mira to visit her parents was impossible.
"Ugh! I knew this would happen after you went into seclusion! Where's moody Mira?! Bring her back! She would've said goodbye to my parents! Whatever! I'm ready to leave as well. I just talked to Celaine earlier today and she said that she's good to go whenever we're ready. All that's left is to inform Sect Master Jane and we can head out."
"Good. We'll leave tomorrow. We don't exactly have time to waste if we want to become Core Formation Realm experts and make it to the Main Sect's Entrance Exam."
Maria sighed but nodded in acknowledgment. She knew what Mira was saying was true, but she couldn't help feeling a little sad. She's going to miss this place. The Battle Maiden Sect has been so good to them and has done everything in its power to see them advance as quickly as possible.
Sect Master Jane and the Elders were all very nice people who only wished for the best for their disciples. There was no such thing as in-fighting or people scheming behind others' backs. The disciples were all very nice for the most part and treated everyone like a family. Although there was plenty of competition, everyone knew not to take things too far.
Although the information and training for the various jobs were subpar, that didn't mean they were bad. It's just the location of their Sect doesn't have enough resources to constantly train new disciples. However, there was plenty of theoretical knowledge for the disciples to build their foundations.
Maria is also going to miss Lunar Fox City and her parents. Although the City wasn't perfect and crimes happened every day, the people, as a whole, weren't bad people. The City Lord did his best to protect their City and everyone did their part along with the City Lord.
This is also the place where she met Mira. Someone who changed her fate from being a naive little girl who would probably be forced into an arranged marriage to someone that will be able to travel the world and see the Stars.
As a little girl, her parents always told her stories of the outside world and how many amazing things there are to see, and although she may seem a bit naive and clueless about the world, she wasn't stupid. She knew she wasn't particularly talented, both in cultivation and fighting, and she didn't have the courage to overcome this limitation.
Getting into life-or-death battles is scary, after all. What if she dies?! She won't be able to achieve her dream if she dies!
However, that all changed when she was saved by a little girl in a forest one day. She was supposed to die that day. She was abandoned by her companions and her fate was sealed. She could feel it. Deep down, she understood that this situation was inevitable-this was her fate. A naive little girl doomed to die because of her ignorance and blind trust in her companions.
Mira changed all that… She didn't only save her life but reversed her fate. She was constantly pushed to her absolute limits after meeting that little girl who saved her life until one day she was strong enough to hold her head up high.
The naive little girl was no more and in her place was… well… a naive girl, who although didn't quite understand the vicious and brutal nature of the world, was now at least strong enough to fight against it.
Maria started tearing up thinking about all Mira has done for her. Her life, her strength, her fate, everything she has right now is thanks to the ice-cold woman in front of her. Mira might deny it and say that it was because of the hard work she put in, she was able to achieve this much, but Maria knows otherwise.
She would've never made it this far by herself nor if someone else were to train her. Ironically enough, she's only standing here today because of Mira's stubbornly cold nature and lack of morals. Who in their right mind would make a child experience things worse than death over and over again just to prevent her from being lazy? Probably only Mira would waste her time doing such a thing.
However, despite how cold Mira looks on the outside, Maria knows the truth. She knows that Mira is lonely and not just the type of lonely like her parents are dead or she just wants attention. But the type of lonely like she's one against the world. The type of loneliness where death isn't something she fears, but something she can only dream of.
And although Mira never talks about it, Maria knows she's suffering and the only way she's able to keep going is if her emotions are sealed. Just the thought of Mira being forced to do such a thing makes her want to just bawl her eyes out. Even if she knows that there's nothing she can do except getting stronger and be there for her when she needs help.
Maria could no longer contain herself as tears fell down her eyes and she leaped into Mira's embrace.
"Sniff… T-Thank you… F-For everything… Sniff… O-O-One day, we'll break your fate too…"
Mira wasn't sure what was going on, but when she heard what Maria said she froze up for a second however she went back to normal immediately after, but her eyes softened a bit as she looked at Maria crying in her embrace.
She gently rubbed her back in silence as memories of her time with Maria surfaced. She couldn't help but marvel at the growth that Maria showed over the years. Not only in strength but as a person as well.
Mira started thinking about her life before Maria and she knew that the naive and innocent girl in front of her had brought about a change in Mira. She's the cause of a certain feeling resurfacing after being buried for so many years:
Happiness.
'No, thank you for accompanying me on my journey thus far.'
Mira thought to herself…
