Immortal Ice Empress: Path to Vengeance

Mira and Rhydian landed near the edge of an active volcano, completely aware that the Unorthodox Faction had discovered their actions.

Her skin turned red as the searing heat of the molten magma enveloped them. The tips of her hair burnt to a crisp, and her battle dress began to deform. Without any shame, Mira removed her clothes, standing before a volcano, nude.

Her blood boiled, not just from the heat but because of the innate desire in her body. Years ago, she cultivated the 1st Stage of the Magma Dragon Body back when she was with Kayda in the Secret Realm. Thus, she walked the path of gaining the physique of an actual Magma Dragon.

However, things changed when she was reborn after breaking through to the Core Formation Realm. One of the ingredients needed to break through was magma and a 1,000-year-old Dragon Ginseng; this wasn't done without a reason.

The Technique Kayda gave her was one of the best techniques available in the entire Mortal Realm, especially for Body Cultivation. Dragons have long been known for their absurdly strong bodies. In fact, they probably had THE strongest body out of any species out there.

So, why would Mira's rebirth throw that away?

The answer was: it didn't.

Mira's current physique was built on the one she had before, just better. This not only made her more suited for the Magma Body Technique, but she'd also end up stronger than before.

Unfortunately, everything came with a downside: she'd need more, higher-quality magma to break through to the next stages.

However, Mira couldn't care less about that. Getting resources is just a matter of strength and background, none of which are much of an issue.

"I'm going to take a little bath, Rhydian. You can join me as well, but I doubt it'd be very helpful." Mira said before diving into the magma below. Rhydian gave a low growl, then ran off, probably to go catch some prey.

*bLoOp!*

Landing in the magma, Mira felt a scorching heat penetrate every pore in her skin, trying to melt her into ash, but her skin and physique prevented it from doing so. The Qi in the magma was incredibly dense, more than she thought it would be, but she wasn't going to complain.

'If the rest of the volcanoes are like this, I might not have to suck too many of them dry.' She thought before circulating the 2nd Stage of the Magma Dragon Body Technique.

Instantly, magma flooded her bones, organs, muscles, and every other part of her body, attempting to turn it to ash, but her health regeneration and natural resistance toward the element prevented this, allowing her to make it her own.

'Integrate!' Mira roared inwardly as she drilled the magma into her body, absorbing it and its energy.

While this was going on, with her mind's eye, she began observing the magma, or more specifically, the earth part. With her extraordinary comprehension, this didn't take long, but her Earth Affinity was rather poor, to begin with, so it would take some time to bring it up to a satisfactory level.

'I'm not sure if I'm doing this right. I've never had to do this with my ice element; it just came naturally. I don't think I've ever had to actively try and 'comprehend' something.' Mira thought as she tried digging deeper into what magma is, what makes up magma, and how it becomes stronger.

She knew some of the answers from a scientific point of view, but things didn't work the same here in the cultivation world. The various elements work and play their parts differently. People can essentially create their own Daos, and there's the possibility of becoming immortal.

'I suppose all I can try doing is try and dig deeper into the profundities of the Earth Element and see what comes out of it. Who knows, I might even understand what exactly I need to focus on to increase my comprehension.' Mira thought as she went back to meditating.

She didn't have time to waste on thinking as she only had a week to bring her Magma Dragon Body to the 5th Stage and her Earth affinity comprehension to a similar level of power.

'I'm going to need a lot of volcanoes.' Mira sighed one last time before pushing out all useless thoughts.

***

A week passed by extremely quickly for Mira as she spent all her time meditating in magma. She went from one volcano to another, absorbing everything it had to offer before moving on to the next.

Fortunately, the Ancient Beast Mountain Range has an overabundance of volcanoes, to the point where once you find one, there's a whole slew of them connected.

She must've visited dozens of them, absorbing all their magma into her body, increasing the strength of her body.

While she was doing that, the world around her remained quiet, as if they were waiting for something. Nobody made any significant movements. The Unorthodox Faction stayed holed up, and the Orthodox Sects went about their business like normal.

However, tension brewed in the air like a taut rope, ready to snap at any moment. Since nobody could confirm if the person who actually destroyed a Crimson Slayer Branch Sect were Mira, they kept their heads down, waiting to see when she'd strike next.

But she never did.

A week went by, and nothing happened!

Who would've known that the person they were all waiting for got stuck with her own problems before she could cause any more mayhem?

"Puhah!" Mira gasped as she lifted herself out of another pool of magma.

Now, unlike a week ago, it couldn't hurt her. On the contrary, being in or around magma could heal her! Though, it wasn't nearly as efficient as her own regenerative powers. Still, it was useful in case anything happened.

Her body rippled with muscles that weren't there previously. Her abdomen was lean and slim, but she had an 8-pack of abs. Her muscles rippled with power all across her body; each looked like steel wires linking her body together. She had filled out a bit more, her shoulders were a bit wider, and she looked 'meatier'.

When she stepped on the ground-

*Boom!*

-just the weight of her body alone made the ground tremble under her weight.

"Hmm?" Mira raised an eyebrow, surprised that she had become so heavy.

She clenched her fists a few times, each one releasing mini sonic booms as she did so. Then, she took a fighting stance and threw a few punches.

*BOOM!**BOOM!**BOOM!*

Although she didn't hit anything, each punch caused the ground to shake and the nearby land to be uprooted and destroyed.

"Damn! I've gotten strong!" She exclaimed, in awe of her own power, "This'll probably take some getting used to, though. The 5th Stage of the Magma Dragon Body Technique is really amazing. I'll have to thank Kayda the next time I see her."

That wasn't the end of her week-long magma-absorption sessions either. She obtained a few things from the Magma Dragon Body that she would get into later, but for now, she was curious to see how strong her Earth affinity was!

She covered the surrounding ground with her Qi and, without any effort, lifted a chunk of rock the size of a house.

Satisfied, she nodded, then began trying out all sorts of things. She lifted the ground making giant earth walls, surrounded herself with hundreds of spikes, and summoned a mini-meteor from the sky!

After a few minutes of testing, she was more than satisfied.

"It seems like all my hard work paid off."

Mira could tell from the density of the earth that she used that her affinity had reached a point where it was just about as strong as her ice. Though she was certainly stronger with the latter as she's more aligned with it, they're very similar in terms of raw power.

Suddenly, as she was enjoying the sensation of completing her goals, the feeling of bodily weakness disappeared and was switched to her ice affinity!

Now, her ice affinity had been nerfed, while at the same time, her water affinity seemed to be highlighted!

"What the hell? Aren't they the same thing?" She wondered before the Guardian answered her question.

"Ha?! The same thing?! Absolutely not! While the two elements are deeply connected, they are not the same!!" He roared, offended that Mira would even say something so stupid.

"Okay? But why is my ice affinity nerfed?" Mira questioned, feeling empty inside. Barely having access to her ice affinity felt like a piece of her existence had been ripped away from her!

"Hmph! This one is slightly different. To pass, you must use both affinities interchangeably and seamlessly while raising your water affinity to the same level as your ice."

Mira hummed in thought but felt like this trial was a bit easier than the last. She also had the perfect technique for this occasion, one she received from a crazy mermaid that she had never used!