Immortal Ice Empress: Path to Vengeance

DEATH!!

That's the only thing that came to mind when Mira thought about her black tail. The aura of death that surrounded her tail was so immense that even Mira, the owner of the tail, felt reluctant to use its ability.

Her instincts were telling her not to use its ability so lightly and that it should only be used in times of extreme danger.

Although she didn't know why she felt this way, that didn't matter. She trusted her instincts.

However, that doesn't mean she can't speculate what her black tail would actually do should she activate its ability.

From what she could tell, there must be some connection between her tail and the black runes that appeared all over her mind, body, soul, and Qi.

Well, that's only speculation, but Mira felt like she wasn't too far off from the truth. Now, what she can do with this information is a different story. She has basically no information on the black runes or what they can do.

She only knows that they can seemingly steal someone else's Qi to replenish her own, but the specifics of this are a mystery.

The only time she truly experienced the might of the Black Runes was when she was helping Elenei undergo her Nirvana. However, she basically did nothing except insert her Qi into Elenei's body. Everything else was left to Elenei, and Mira's not even sure she knew what she was doing.

"Well, I guess there's really only one way to find out," Mira muttered to herself before going in the direction of the nearest beast.

Soon, she reached the beast, which happened to be another boar, and did the same to it that she did to the goat.

She wrapped ice vines around its legs, tied it up, and began using it for testing purposes.

First, Mira went ahead and began trying to test out the effects of the black runes. She used all of her new elements to damage it, created a few cuts with her Qi, and even slashed at it with her scythe, but there was no reaction from the black runes.

Mira was confused by this since they reacted when she helped Elenei, and all she had to do was insert her Qi into her body.

However, now, nothing seemed to work, but then Mira suddenly got an idea.

She cut off the head of the boar, killing it, then inserted some of her Qi into its dead body. That's when something interesting happened!

The vitality and Qi seeping out of the boar's dead body were slowly absorbed by the black runes and transmitted back to her body. Mira felt her Qi begin to refill and even felt the light injuries she suffered when testing out her golden tail's power heal.

It wasn't much, and the efficiency was bad, but she could clearly feel her body returning back to its peak condition. However, there are some downsides to this.

First of all, when absorbing the remains of the boar, Mira could feel that she was basically taking away everything that made its corpse… useful.

Humans use beasts to create weapons, armor, clothes, pills, arrays, formations, etc. In fact, most side occupations revolve around the use of beast corpses. However, Mira is removing anything that makes them useful, which is the dense vitality and Qi contained within every aspect of their body.

If someone were to try and use this corpse to create weapons, pills, armor, or anything of the sort, they'd fail.

Sure, it's great that she can rejuvenate herself by absorbing the energy leftover in corpses, but it feels a bit too niche. Most of her income and livelihood is from killing beasts and bringing them back in a condition that can be of use.

Luckily, it seems she's able to control the black runes, so they only absorb what she wants to absorb, but she also found these black runes to be a bit lackluster. Despite being in every part of her existence, they don't seem to be anything all that special.

At least that's Mira's first impression of them.

However, Mira also knew that anything related to her Core or the F.LD.I.L isn't ordinary.

'Maybe I'm just not strong enough to properly wield these black runes, or maybe my understanding of them hasn't reached a high enough level yet. Either way, they are definitely something unique that shouldn't be ignored. Unfortunately, it seems for now I can only be satisfied with this. Hopefully, everything will reveal itself with time.' Mira thought to herself.

Mira put the idea of testing out the effects of the black runes on hold for now as she felt it would only be a waste of time.

'I'll just wait until Elenei is reborn. Maybe she can offer me some insights on these black runes and what they can do.'

With that those thoughts in mind, Mira left the corpse and began hunting more beasts in the surrounding area.

Her reason for doing this is to see if she can complete numerous missions at once while also getting used to her new powers.

By the end of the day, Mira had a decent understanding of her current prowess and how her abilities affect living targets.

She also learned what's her most effective abilities against beasts. While they are all useful, some are more efficient than others. Her charm ability is probably the most effective against beasts of the same strength or weaker than her. Using that, she barely needs to do anything to slay them.

In fact, once they are under her control, she can even command them to commit suicide, and they'll do it. So, technically, she doesn't even need to lift a finger to kill them.

The other tail she likes the most is her golden tail.

Something about feeling their bones crunch underneath such overwhelming force and seeing them explode into a blood mist is extremely satisfying. Although it's incredibly wasteful when using it against weaker opponents since there is nothing left of their bodies, Mira also felt like her golden tail will be the most useful against beasts.

Beasts often have stronger physiques compared to humans, even in the same cultivation realm, which is also part of the reason that most of them are close-range fighters. They can still use Qi, especially after forming their Beast Core and becoming a Rank 6 beast, but that doesn't mean that they will all of a sudden turn into ranged fighters.

That being said, Mira's golden tail, which is basically a dense chunk of metal in the form of a tail, is great against these kinds of strong bodies.

Normally, Mira would just use her scythe as its weight is nothing to scoff at, but a scythe isn't exactly supposed to be used as a blunt object.

Now that she actually has something that can be used as a blunt object, Mira can fight others how a scythe user should.

Her other tails also proved to be quite useful, though Mira felt like they're better suited for fighting humans. For example, her white tail, the one that can create a blizzard domain, isn't all that useful against beasts, especially ones with lower intelligence.

Sure, they might get disorientated and can't sense her, but then they just become annoying by running around like a headless chicken trying to find her. It might be useful against tougher opponents, but against those that are about the same strength or weaker than herself, Mira found it to be a waste of time and energy.

Her turquoise tail (time perception ability) and the one that increases her ice affinity are probably the most consistent. These abilities never let her down, as they are essentially just a boost to her raw stats.

Mira also felt the most comfortable using these two tails, aside from her golden tail.

She tried using her illusion ability over the course of the day, but Mira also found it to be a waste of time and energy. Putting aside her horrendous proficiency with the ability, Mira still probably wouldn't use it all that much even if she mastered it. At least not against those who have a similar strength to her.

It's an ability that is more suited for fighting humans rather than beasts. Although it might seem like the opposite, a beast's instincts are much sharper than a human's. Unless she's a master at illusions, it'd be hard to fool a beast's instincts completely.

Still, it's part of her repertoire now, so Mira felt obligated to master the art of illusions to some degree.

By the end of it all, Mira had a decent grasp over her own strength, the level at which the beasts on the mountain are at, and the limitations of her abilities. While she still had a few more things to test out, she could do that when she returned to her residence.

For now, she just has to-

Suddenly, Mira's eyes narrowed, and she looked in a particular direction. All her hair stood on ends as her body warned her of incredible danger.

From what her instincts were telling her, she stood no chance of winning against whatever was coming her way.

So, without hesitation, she darted in the direction of the Outer Court. Unfortunately, she ventured pretty far away with all her hunting.

It also seemed like whatever or whoever was near her wasn't there by accident because soon after she started running, an enormous pressure came crashing down on her, nearly making her fall to the ground if it weren't for her incredibly strong body and willpower.

Right after the pressure came crashing down, Mira heard a man's voice enter her ears…