The explosions rang out over the Ancient Beast Mountain Range, echoing far beyond the distant horizons. Not only did Aelina's attacks alert the Beast Clans, but the other major powers as well. Both Orthodox and Unorthodox Sects, the Mercenary Association, and various ancient families all had their sights on the Ancient Beast Mountain Range.
Whether this was a good or bad thing, only time would tell, but at this time, it was certainly one of the worst-case scenarios for the Beast Clans. The Primal Ascendence Convergence was a time that offered extraordinary opportunities. If the humans caught wind of it…
The ensuing commotion triggered an extraordinary response among the beastly inhabitants. The explosive roars from the mountain range's center weren't just terrifying, they were like a call to arms.
A mixture of emotions surged within the beasts—fear, awe, expectation—directed at their leaders.
However, there was also bloodlust, anger, and hunger toward the mysterious assailant who dared launch these calamitous attacks. Their gazes, usually filled with primal ferocity, were now bloodshot after listening to those roars.
The beasts' typical neutral yet slightly aggressive stance toward humans was replaced by a desperate need to appease their leaders' anger.
As if answering the call of their leaders, they treaded into the human territories, creating a surge of beast attacks in peripheral settlements where the borders of wilderness and civilization blurred.
The larger Sects and powers were fine, but many of the smaller, weaker cities faced destruction.
Simultaneously, a series of roars, each more terrifying than the last, resounded from deep within the Mountain Range, shaking the entire landmass.
It was as if the mountains themselves echoed the cries of these beastly leaders.
From the barrier, five intimidating auras surged, sweeping across the wilderness and blanketing the area in their commanding presence. They each walked in different directions, while one stayed outside the barrier like some sort of Guardian.
Back in her concealed location, Aelina couldn't help but smirk as she sensed these reactions. "So, you're finally waking up, huh?" she mused to herself. "Good. It wouldn't be fun without a little pushback, would it?" Her preparations were only beginning, and the real fun she anticipated was yet to come.
As night fell and dawn broke, the chaos of the previous day seemed like a distant memory, a brutal dream that had run its course. After a few hours, all the beasts suddenly stopped attacking and retreated back to their homes.
However, the tension was palpable, a storm was brewing, and everyone could feel it.
Mira spent her night engrossed in the alchemical tomes she had received. When morning came, she was greeted by the Sect Master. Aelina, carrying an air of a lively youth instead of an old woman, stood at the threshold of her quarters.
"Ready to leave?" she asked. Mira nodded, with Rhydian and Hana by her side.
In just a few moments, they were no longer in the sect but surrounded by a lush green wilderness, the habitat of an abundance of Rank 1 beasts.
Aelina had teleported them to a place known as the Shimmering Meadows, a relatively safe place teeming with Rank 1 and 2 beasts. A sense of anticipation hovered over them. They had a mission to carry out, one that could potentially alter the course of the future for all of them. But for now, their task was simple: capture these low-ranked beasts for Mira's experimentation.
"Come back when you've finished. If the results are good, we can put our plans in motion when you return." Aelina instructed, then left without a trace. She didn't want to stay out of the Sect too long now that she'd essentially stirred up the hornet's nest.
The Gravity Balls she used to attack should've kept most of her unique aura hidden, even more so after they blew up, but Rank 10 beasts shouldn't be underestimated. The reason she used them was that most of their power came from atmospheric Qi and their collision. Her own Qi was merely the spark to ignite the fuel.
Oftentimes, they were more intelligent and sensitive to auras than humans, so it wouldn't be strange if she were discovered.
She did everything she could to hide herself; now, all that was left was to wait.
After Aelina left, Mira turned to Rhydian and ordered, "Gather up every beast in the area and bring them here."
Rhydian grunted but still complied and left to go gather beasts. Not like it was much work on her part. She just needed to spread out her aura, suppress them with her superior bloodline, and they would effectively turn into her little slaves.
Meanwhile, Hana looked like she was about to break down and cry. "U-Ummm… Mira. Wh-Why and I here?" She asked hesitantly.
Instead of answering her question, Mira tossed a book at her called [Ultimate Strength Training Manual for Mortals]. Inside were hundreds of stances, breathing methods for each stance, timeline, hypertrophy instructions for each muscle, and functional workouts that utilize them altogether.
Aside from that, it went into major detail about each muscle group, how to improve the mind-muscle connection to each one, how muscles interact with the body, and which workouts affect which regions of the body.
It was an in-depth guide to progressing through the Strength-Training Stage in the Body Tempering Realm.
Hana nearly dropped to the ground due to how heavy the book was. Looking down at the title, her heart dropped to her stomach.
"That's your new training routine. You might as well get stronger since you don't want to die so badly. Oh, but don't worry. You'll still age like a normal person. The aging process only slows once you reach the Qi Condensation Realm." Mira said before shooing her off, "Now go put that lazy body to work!"
Hana opened her mouth to say something, but Mira had already walked away, reading a book on Alchemy.
With a deep sigh, Hana could only shuffle to the side, her head lowered, and start looking through the manual.
Mira spent last night gathering all kinds of knowledge from the Sect's libraries, the FLDIL shop, and her own experiences to create this guide. She even examined Hana's body with her Soul Sense to create something that suited her.
She tried searching for a "perfect" manual in the FLDIL shop, but surprisingly, no such thing existed. It was either because such a stage was so inconsequential in the grand scheme of things, or there wasn't a "perfect" manual.
Not that it mattered to Mira. The point of the Body Tempering Realm was to strengthen the body enough to handle Qi running through one's meridians without exploding. As long as one could achieve that, whether they could lift 100 kgs more or not wouldn't make any difference.
Still, since Hana wasn't doing anything, Mira figured she might as well force-ahem… have the girl train every muscle in her body, including all the small, unseen ones. That would keep her busy for a while.
A few minutes later, the two looked up as they heard a deep rumbling noise coming from the direction Rhydian had left.
From the direction Rhydian had taken, a wave of bustling noises and the earth's tremors soon filled the air. The rumble grew louder and more pronounced, and before long, a sea of low-ranked beasts began to emerge from the dense vegetation. From small beasts no bigger than a hand to those larger than a carriage, it was a sight to see.
Seeing the approaching mass, Hana felt a shiver of fear run down her spine. However, she calmed down when she noticed who was before them.
She watched as Rhydian strode ahead of the pack, her commanding aura acting like a beacon, leading them toward their location.
On the other hand, Mira seemed more intrigued than anything, with a gleam of anticipation in her eyes. She walked over to the pack of thousands of beasts and immediately killed two of them: a frog and a lizard of about the same weight.
She didn't know what their species were, but she didn't care.
After she quickly extracted their Blood Essences, she took out a tiny drop of Celestial Nectar and sent the two Blood Essences into it.
Like normal, the Celestial Nectar immediately began purging all the impurities, but when Mira tried combining the different bloodlines into one, they exploded in her face.
'Hmm~ So, combining two different bloodlines, even weaker ones, is a big no.' Mira thought as she recorded her findings on a sheet of paper.
Waving her hand, she killed another two different beasts and proceeded to do the same thing again, but this time, she switched up the process.
'Let's see if I can make it possible!' Her eyes gleamed with curiosity, but it soon exploded in her face again.
Still, Mira wasn't deterred. She was sure there was a way to combine bloodlines. She felt it was possible even if Celestial Nectar wasn't the complete answer.
Thus, started Mira's first experiment in the world of Alchemy.
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