Mira sat in the middle of a massive empty sphere. She was obviously still underground, but her black tail's ability obliterated everything within a few hundred-meter radius. However, this also confused Mira slightly.
Her instincts told her that her black tail's ability was DEATH, but she wasn't sure exactly what that entailed. She thought it could only be used against living beings, but looking at the destruction around her, it seems her tail doesn't differentiate between animate and inanimate objects.
Or maybe, this is just an aftereffect of using such a deadly ability.
Though, it technically wouldn't be wrong to say she didn't 'kill' the stone and minerals around her as they no longer exist.
Mira shook these thoughts out of her mind and focused on her surroundings. Although it was dark in this cavern, she could still see relatively well. So, she was able to make out many small tunnels stemming from the cavern she accidentally created.
Most of them were only a meter or two in diameter, but there was one that was much bigger than the others. It was in that direction that Mira felt a dense amount of Qi emanating from it, but also the most danger.
In fact, she felt certain death from that tunnel. Her instincts, which seemed to be a bit more attuned to death, told her that she stood absolutely no chance if she went in that direction.
Therefore, Mira immediately rejected the thought of going down that tunnel.
Fortunately, her instincts told her that the other tunnels wouldn't lead her to certain death, but Mira knew she shouldn't completely rely on her instincts here.
That chimera creature managed to escape her senses and instincts. Mira was only able to sense it because it killed Number Two and gazed at Mira.
She's always been extremely sensitive to gazes, and thanks to that, she was able to tell that something was looking at her and where. If not for that, she might've really died here in this cavern!
However, Mira wasn't exactly sure what she should do to look out for creatures similar to that chimera. What if the next creature is more mist-like and doesn't necessarily have a 'gaze'? How is she supposed to sense something like that?
Wouldn't she die without even knowing how?
Unfortunately, she didn't have an answer to those questions and could only keep her guard raised to the maximum and hope she could react in time if one of those chimeras decides to attack her.
'Forget it. I'll just keep an eye out for any shadow-like creatures. That last chimera was clearly extremely strong. Combined with its racial characteristics, it's no wonder it was able to elude my senses for so long. Maybe I'll be able to sense them if they're a bit weaker. I guess I'll find out.'
After Mira finished examining her surroundings and sensing no immediate danger, she sat back down and focused on recovering. While her injuries have been healed and her core replenished, her body still felt stiff due to the aftereffects of using her black tail.
So, before she recklessly ran into one of the many tunnels around her, she decided to wait until she reached her peak state.
However, sitting here wasting time like this isn't in Mira's nature, so she took out her scythe and began meditating. Even though she's still facing the backlash of her ability, that doesn't mean she can't try and comprehend Scythe Intent.
Back during her fight with Number One, she was actually able to break down the wall preventing her from comprehending Scythe Intent.
Unfortunately, she got blown up after reaching that state and was unable to meditate further and actually break through and comprehend Scythe Intent.
Thus, now was a great time to do that!
Mira closed her eyes and focused on the fight she had with Number One, along with all the other battles she's gone through over the last few weeks.
These scenes played over and over in her mind and overlapped with the fight she had with Number One.
She recalled the feeling she had when entering that trance-like state. She felt like her footwork was perfect, she had just the right amount of momentum and was controlling it perfectly, and she maximized the power of her attack by utilizing her perfect control over her body.
There were no wasted movements, and she brought out the full potential of her scythe combined with her body.
She grasped onto that feeling and replayed the other battles she's gone through over the last month or so.
Through this, Mira was able to determine the flaws she had made during her previous battles and how she could prevent them.
Still, this wasn't enough for Mira to fully break through and learn Scythe Intent.
She needed to put what she learned into practice!
Therefore, Mira stood up, ignoring the backlash, and began swinging her scythe in accordance with what she had learned.
Quickly, all that knowledge and experience began consolidating until it reached its climax, and Mira felt like she had been enlightened!
A savage, murderous, and death-like aura began radiating around Mira once she reached this point. Subconsciously, this is how Mira thought of the scythe; a weapon used to reap the lives of her enemies in whatever way possible.
Suddenly, the hellish aura emanating from her scythe began to infuse itself with Mira's newly formed Scythe Intent!
Mira subconsciously realized this, but she did nothing to stop it, as she sensed it was anything bad. On the contrary, this would make her scythe and Scythe Intent more powerful!
Mira's enlightenment went on for an unknown amount of time until the aura around her receded, and she opened her eyes.
She looked at the scythe in her hands with widened eyes as she could immediately feel its power had been raised by another notch.
More importantly, Mira felt 'complete' as soon as she learned Scythe Intent. It was almost like her cultivation technique, the Hell Scythe Technique, was waiting for this moment.
Although she knew that the F.LD.I.L improved it far beyond what it was before, she still hadn't examined her new cultivation technique in much detail.
'It seems I'll need to ask the Guardian about my new and improved cultivation technique since it doesn't seem as simple as before.'
Speak of the devil, and he shall appear…
"It's about damn time you asked about your cultivation technique! I know you barely spend time cultivating, but this is quite important, you know? Your new cultivation technique isn't just a means of absorbing Qi to break through the next stage!" The Guardian said in an animated voice.
'Alright, then, can you pass me all the information you have on it?'
Suddenly, Mira felt a prick in her mind, and all information regarding the Hell Scythe Cultivation Technique entered her mind.
She quickly sorted through the information before letting out a sigh of relief. It seems she was actually quite lucky to comprehend Scythe Intent before breaking through to the next stage of the Core Formation Realm.
According to the information she received, her scythe, Scythe Intent, and hellish aura were the foundation of the technique. While she still needed to go through the regular process of filling up her core and expanding it to break through each stage of the Core Formation Realm, she also needed to do something similar with her scythe.
From the information she received, her scythe is almost like a second core, but instead of storing Qi, it stores Scythe Intent and hell aura, or in other words Hell Scythe Intent.
While her scythe will grow stronger just by relying on the Qi in her core, that isn't the true potential of the improved cultivation manual.
To maximize the potential of her scythe in the Core Formation Realm, she's supposed to integrate the Hell Scythe Intent into her scythe until it reaches its limit.
Breaking through to the next stage will then consolidate that Intent while making room for more. She'll repeat this until she reaches the Peak of the Core Formation Realm.
It sounds simple, but Mira knew just how annoying and tedious this would be if she wanted to maximize the potential of this cultivation technique.
'Doesn't that mean I have to constantly increase my Scythe Intent comprehension? What sort of scam is this?!' Mira thought to herself.
"How could you think like that? You should know that there aren't very many techniques like this in existence that essentially allow you to have another separate Core! All you have to do is go fight a few enemies, meditate on your flaws, improve, infuse this comprehension into your scythe, rinse and repeat! I can almost guarantee that you won't have many issues regarding comprehension with this new body of yours!"
Mira shook her head but didn't respond. There was no point in arguing with him as she'd soon understand whether it was as easy as he said it would be or not.
That being said, Mira sat down and started meditation, waiting for the backlash of using her black tail to pass.
***
After an unknown amount of time, Mira finally opened her eyes.
"I guess it's about time to check out what's in these tunnels."
