When Mira and the others entered Celaine's room, they immediately noticed an unknown presence. Mira was the first to look over and saw a beautiful black-haired woman who seemed to be in her early twenties sitting on a couch, nervously looking back at them.
However, when she felt Mira's eyes on her, Asami felt her blood run cold, and a shiver ran down her spine. Her back immediately straightened, and she looked like she was about to prepare for battle.
Of course, Mira wasn't trying to provoke Asami. Her gaze is just incredibly threatening.
Celaine face-palmed looking at this scene as she forgot to tell Mira and the others that a friend was staying with her.
"Whoops. I forgot to mention that a friend was staying with me. Anyways, this lady is Asami Sasaki. Asami, these people are my friends that I told you about. The woman with fox tails is Mira, the blonde is Maria, the blue-haired child is Dominique, the red fox is Vulcan, and the wolf is Rhydian." Celaine introduced them to each other.
"Nice to meet you, Asami!" Maria said and went up to shake Asami's hand.
"...Hello," Dominique said in a slightly timid voice.
Mira just nodded while the two beasts just looked at Asami for a second before doing their own thing.
Mira picked up Dominique, walked over to a chair, and sat down while plopping Dominique on her lap. Then she took off her fox mask, revealing her perfect face to the world. Celaine wasn't surprised by Mira's beauty in the slightest, but she did have to admit that she liked this version of Mira more than the little-kid version.
Asami, however, was gobsmacked when she looked at Mira's face. She literally couldn't take her eyes off of Mira!
Celaine and the others just ignored her and began conversing with each other.
"So, Mira, I have to ask. What happened? You look… a bit different compared to the last time we saw each other." Celaine couldn't hold back her curiosity anymore. She didn't even care that Asami was still in the room.
"Well, it's a bit difficult to explain because even I'm not entirely sure what happened. I guess you could say I died and was reborn into what you see now, all thanks to my Core Formation Recipe and the items I had to obtain. What about you? I can feel something unique about you." Mira said, trying not to reveal too much information. It's not that she didn't trust Celaine or that she was worried about Asami, but the fewer people know about how unique her Core Formation breakthrough is, the better.
By now, Celaine understood Mira's personality quite well and knew that if the answer was vague, it meant it was something that would only harm her if she knew.
"Hehe~ I was able to comprehend Saber Intent and was able to incorporate it into my Core! I won't tell you too much because I want you to experience it first-hand."
Mira's eyes lit up when she heard Celaine say 'Saber Intent', and she knew she had made the correct decision back then to help push Celaine combat prowess further.
Her scythe skills have stagnated for far too long, and since scythe users are incredibly rare, she's stuck traversing this path blindly. However, having a friend who is incredibly talented with a weapon and has high comprehensive abilities is the next best thing. That way, she at least has a direction on how she can progress her weapon proficiency.
"Finally! It's about time my effort has paid off! When we get some free time, you're going to spar with me and show me just how amazing your saber skills are." Mira demanded, but Celaine wasn't bothered by this.
Instead, she smiled and said, "I look forward to it. This time, I feel like I might have a chance at beating you."
"Oh? It seems you're more powerful than you seem. Well, I haven't been slacking over the last two years either. My scythe proficiency might not have risen much over the last few years, but I'm quite strong."
Celaine grinned but didn't say anything. She already knew that Mira was strong. In fact, based on raw power alone, Mira outclasses Celaine by at least a minor Realm. She can also tell that those tails aren't just for show.
"Anyways, what's up with this girl? She also seems quite powerful for someone in her cultivation. Actually, I wouldn't be surprised if she's nearly as strong as you and Maria." Mira asked while staring at Asami.
Feeling such an intense stare, Asami snapped out of her stupor and looked back at Mira for a second before she blushed and looked away. She couldn't help it, okay?! Mira's face and body, combined with her tails, are just too alluring!
Everyone chuckled, causing Asami to blush harder as she tried hiding her face.
"Yeah, she definitely has the potential to be someone strong, but her current self is too useless! That's part of the reason why I wanted to bring her along with me. This girl is definitely a diamond in the rough, but she's too lazy and lacks battle experience. I was hoping that maybe you could give her some 'motivation' to work harder."
Mira's eyes lit up, and the way she looked at Asami began to change. Now, instead of looking at her like she would a roadside pebble, Mira looked at her like a fat piece of meat!
"Oh? It seems you think highly of her." Mira commented.
"Yeah, well, when I found her, she was on the brink of death and was like that for almost a year before she even regained consciousness. She has decent willpower, is strong for someone at her cultivation, and has two elemental affinities, but she lacks the drive a proper cultivator should have! If she had that drive, maybe she'd be able to beat Maria or me in a few years' time."
"Hmmm… We'll see. If you just want me to give her the proper 'motivation' to work harder, then that's something I can do, and I can certainly spar with her every so often to help improve her combat prowess, but that's about it," Mira said.
"Great! That's all you need to do. I can take over the rest. After all, I'm the only one among us who's learned a Weapon Intent."
Mira's lips twitched slightly as it seemed Celaine was going to keep rubbing in the fact that she's learned Weapon Intent before her.
On the other hand, Asami was unsure what to think of this situation, but she knew that if she let the two of them continue, something terrible would happen to her!
"Umm, why are you two making decisions without even consulting me? I'll have you know that I'm only following Celaien because I have nowhere else to go! I have no intention of spar-!"
""Quiet!!""
"-EEEK!!"
Mira and Celaine glared at Asami, causing her to shrink back and stop talking. She started regretting her decision to follow Celaine-no, this demon.
"Hey! You two, stop scaring the poor girl!"
Asami's eyes lit up when she heard Maria's voice, and she looked at the blondie like she was looking at an angel.
"We must first figure out how to ease her into Mira's beat-ahem training. After all, just look at how weak she is! She'd probably lose her mind after only one training session." Maria continued speaking.
When Asami heard what Maria said, now she no longer looked at her like she was an angel and instead gave her a look full of resentment.
Then Celaine chimed in, "You're right, Maria. Although when I found her, she was on the brink of death, she was so useless that she couldn't even stay conscious to try and keep herself alive! She might very well die during Mira's spars if she can't even handle a few cuts and broken bones."
From then on, Maria, Mira, and Celaine began discussing ways they could increase Asami's pain tolerance without the woman actually dying.
Asami wanted to enter the conversation and complain, but something told her that they might start testing out some of their ideas on her right now if she did so. Since she didn't want to be frozen in a block of ice until she nearly suffocated to death or tossed into a pit of darkness full of beasts and forced to kill all of them to survive, she decided to keep quiet.
The three of them kept chit-chatting for a while until Mira began asking Celaine about the Battle Maiden Sect's Main Branch and the Entrance Exams.
