Mira was currently in a series of tunnels hunting down beasts known as Six-Clawed Metal Moles. Just as their name implies, they have six claws made of metal on each foot. Their tails and the crown of their heads are also covered in a metal-like substance as well.
The strength of these Moles was, at the minimum, Low-Stage Rank 7, with quite a few being Mid-Stage Rank 7.
Over the last three months, Mira's strength has improved by leaps and bounds, thanks to the Abyssal Battle Ladder, Spirit Worms, Star Fruits, and the abundant amount of enemies around her.
In her three weeks., Mira spent most of her time hunting down all the surrounding beasts and insects to improve her Qi control and Chaos Body Martial Art. Simultaneously, her comprehension of Hell Scythe Intent and Martial Intent also increased.
After those three weeks, Mira felt confident in challenging the Abyssal Battle Ladder, and surprisingly she was able to beat Stage 6 and Stage 7 all in one go, but unfortunately, she failed on Stage 8.
However, her combat prowess improved significantly thanks to the nearly 20 hours of Psuedo-enlightenment she spent in the Abyssal Battle Ladder.
Still, she needed to consolidate her gains, so for the next 3 weeks, Mira hunted down as many beasts as she could to practice.
Once she felt like she hit a bottleneck, she went back into the Abyssal Battle Ladder and was able to push herself to beat Stages 8 and 9, but she ultimately stopped at Stage 10.
Due to all the fighting and pseudo-enlightenments she's had over the last month and a half, Mira actually gained enlightenment into a Scythe Technique.
After gaining enlightenment, Mira was able to create the first move of her Scythe Technique, the Boundless Scythe Technique.
She thought about calling it the Frozen Hell Scythe Technique, but at a fundamental level, it neither needs her ice nor her Hell Scythe Intent to work.
She called the first move Atmospheric Slash. Essentially, she'll control the Qi in her body in such a way she can control the surrounding atmospheric Qi to increase the power of her attacks. Not only that, but each slash will affect the atmospheric Qi in such a way that each attack will extend beyond her body.
Of course, with how much power Mira has, a punch of hers carries enough force that something several meters away can still feel it.
However, the Atmospheric Slash is different. It doesn't just extend her attacks using atmospheric Qi but empowers them as well. She can also imbue her slashes with any one of her elements.
Now, what's the best part of this move?
It hardly cost any Qi!
Well, that's not actually quite right, but it's not entirely wrong either. See, to gain partial control over the surrounding Qi, she has to circulate her Qi in a similar fashion to when she cultivates.
Because of this, she absorbs quite a bit of Qi, which is then recycled into her next attack. So, in theory, the cost of her Atmospheric Slash is close to zero as long as she doesn't do anything to empower her attacks.
Mira spent the next 2 weeks refining this technique and went back to the Abyssal Battle Ladder to challenge the 10th Stage.
It was a brutal half a day, but Mira was able to beat it.
With her newfound confidence, she tried the 11th Stage, but she couldn't even make it past the first found before she got pummelled so hard she was forced to forfeit.
The reason being? She was forced to fight against a Low-Stage Rank 7 Dragon!
Sure, she's been able to kill many Low-Stage Rank 7 beasts and some Mid-Stage Rank 7 over the last 2 months, but this was completely different! The Dragon clearly had the power of a normal Low-Stage Rank 8 beast, or perhaps higher!
That's just in terms of raw power as well!
So, it's no wonder she lost so miserably.
After that, Mira decided to break through to the 2nd Stage of the Core Formation. She had to eat a few chunks of Spirit Worm meat to help expand her Core to its limit. After pushing it to the limit, Mira then condensed her Qi to its limit, thus concluding her breakthrough.
For the next month, Mira spent her time hunting, in the Abyssal Battle Ladder, and cultivating.
Now that she felt like she had created a stable foundation in the Core Formation Realm, she wasn't too worried about increasing her power in a short amount of time.
Her strength rose to the 3rd Stage of the Core Formation Realm, and she amassed a total of 4050 points in the Abyssal Battle Ladder.
She had no plans of slowing this pace down either. With so many beasts to test her strength on, she was going to keep breaking through until she ran out of Spirit Worms, and Star fruits were no longer that effective on her.
At least, that was her plan…
Unfortunately, she will have to put a hold on that idea.
As she was hunting the Six-Clawed Metal Moles, a bad premonition suddenly struck her. A feeling of overwhelming danger, similar to what she felt facing the Dragon in the 11th Stage in the Abyssal Battle Ladder, overcame her.
She wanted to run away or find someplace to hide, at the very least, but it seemed it was already too late.
Before she knew it, 5 humanoid beasts/insects, all radiating a Rank 8 level of power, emerged around her.
However, there was something that confused Mira, someone who is extremely sensitive to emotions and intentions.
They weren't radiating any killing intent. Instead, they seemed more excited than anything, like they were looking at a delectable piece of meat or some kind of unique treasure.
This caused Mira's eyes to narrow as she assumed that these beasts were here for a specific purpose, and seeing how they weren't releasing any killing intent, they were clearly here to capture her alive.
'What are they after?'
Nevertheless, Mira wasn't afraid even if they were there to kill her. If they really wanted to fight to the death, she still had her Death Tail, but she wasn't really in the mood to lose even more of her lifespan right now.
So, as to not give anything away, she put on a fearful yet vigilant appearance and asked with a shaky voice:
"W-Who are you? And why are you here?"
Although she said that, she wasn't expecting much of a response. However, to her surprise, one of them answered.
"We're taking you to our Master to be sacrificed! Your bloodline should be incredibly useful to our Master's evolution!"
Mira wasn't given a chance to ask anything after that as one of the beasts grabbed her and forcibly dragged her deeper underground.
Hearing words like 'sacrificed', 'Master', 'bloodline', and 'evolution', Mira partially understood why they captured her and what they needed her for.
At this point, Mira knew it was probably useless to try and struggle. Even if she somehow managed to kill these 5, there was still someone stronger commanding them.
However, that doesn't mean Mira is just going to let herself be manhandled like this without taking revenge.
A plan was already forming in her mind. All she needed to know was how strong this 'Master' was, and she could finalize her plan.
Soon, she was dragged to the room where the altar and giant blood sphere was located. At the end of the room was a massive chimera Peak-Stage Rank 8 beast.
Seeing this, Mira sighed in relief.
'Fortunately, it wasn't a Rank 9 beast or higher.' Mira thought and began finalizing her plan, but first, she was actually quite interested in this 'sacrifice' thing they were talking about.
She assumed it had something to do with the altar and blood sphere, but she wasn't 100% sure.
"Oh! It seems this little mixed breed found himself something quite unique." Suddenly, the Guardian's voice rang out in her mind.
'What do you mean? Are you talking about that altar?' Mira asked.
"Yeah, that thing is kind of interesting. It's actually able to absorb one's blood essence and refine it. However, it's incredibly inefficient, and the refined blood essence isn't all that great, either. It's mostly used to help beasts with lesser bloodlines improve their potential." The Guardian explained.
'Then, what would happen if it were to extract my blood essence?' Mira asked curiously.
"Bah! That'd be a huge fucking waste! This altar can, at most, refine trash bloodlines into something less trash! Your bloodline is a mixture of a 9-tailed fox, Frost-Fire Phoenix, and Golden Empyrean Winged-Wolf! If anything, this altar will degrade your blood essence! This mix-breed chimera would be literally retarded if he chose to go that route." The Guardian raged.
Mira nodded her head and asked her final question, 'I see. Then, here's my final question. Is this thing useful to me?'
The Guardian was silent for a moment, almost as if he was contemplating something.
Then, after a few moments, he answered.
Hearing his answer, an imperceptible grin formed on her face.
