Immortal Ice Empress: Path to Vengeance

Alicia took a few minutes to digest everything that Mira said as she had completely forgotten about that fact. As they are right now, they really aren't of much use to Mira.

"Investing, eh? Haaa… You really shouldn't say those kinds of things right to someone's face. If it was anyone else, I'm sure they would've been offending, but I guess that's part of the reason we want to follow you. While I can't exactly say you're kind, you're an honest person, Mira. I guess that's just one of your charms, though. Anyways, I swear I'll work those girls to death to follow your instructions! Since you put so much faith in us, then how can we, your subordinates, not meet those expectations?! No, we will succeed your expectations!!" Alicia muttered with a firm gaze.

Although the task Mira gave them wasn't exactly a form of repayment, it's the first order they've received from Mira.

Alicia gazed in the direction Mira had just left and softly said, "Just wait, Mira. We'll show you how amazing the subordinates you chose to invest in are. I'll personally see to it that nobody slacks off!"

***

Mira left her residence and went towards the Mission Hall. She was going to hunt beasts anyways, so she might as well make some Merit Points. Honestly, she'd rather spend her time sparring against Celaine as she felt like that's probably the most efficient way for her to grow until a certain point, but Celaine was also busy with other things, and this Sect is pretty strict.

Sure, they might be able to meet the monthly requirement in a few hours, but that doesn't guarantee they won't be kicked out of the Sect by the end of the year.

Merit Points are also incredibly important in the Sect as they can literally buy anything. If Celaine wants to expedite her growth, gathering as many Merit Points as possible is really the only way to do so.

Mira knew this, and that's why she didn't force Maria or Celaine to keep sparring with her until she was satisfied, but it's not like Mira is any different. She also wanted to earn Merit Points as possible. There are a few techniques she's quite interested in, and she also wanted to learn more about the side occupations.

To do that, she needs Merit Points and a lot of them.

When Mira reached the Mission Hall, she selected a bunch of missions that seemed to be near each other and immediately left to complete them.

The only thing she was a bit worried about was coming across another asshole trying to steal her treasures like that last guy.

However, Mira wasn't so much of a coward that she'd stop doing what she wanted just because someone strong might be out for her life. In fact, she welcomed strong opponents coming to challenge her!

While that last guy may have come at an inopportune time, Mira was still glad that she was able to fight him. She learned a lot through that fight. It was just a shame that she wasn't able to kill him.

Mira shook her head of these useless thoughts and proceeded to hunt anything within range of her senses. While she may have selected a bunch of missions, Mira had no intention of actually focusing only on them.

As long as something appeared near her, she was killing it. If she saw any plants that looked interesting, she would collect them, and if she were lucky enough to find any ores, then she'd mine them.

It couldn't be helped. There were just too many missions in the Mission Hall! It was almost like there was an infinite amount of them. This wasn't only including missions that have been there for a while. No, new missions were also constantly coming in.

Mira found that extremely weird, but she just chalked it up to the peculiarities of the Mountain Range the Outer Court is on.

Based on the things she's heard, this Mountain Range is something even more ancient than legends and myths. Countless mysteries surround it, but for some reason, nobody dares to try and uncover them.

Mira would be lying if she said she wasn't curious, but the constant feeling of extreme danger coming from deep within the mountain immediately washed away all of that. Call her a coward or whatever you want, but Mira knew that she'd be lucky to die if she entered such a place carelessly.

She had no intention of poking a sleeping dragon and could only tell herself that she'll come back and explore this place when she's strong enough.

However, there's another thing that Mira found a bit weird about this Mountain Range as well, and it's that magical beasts and herbs seem to have something like a 'respawn timer'. Maybe that's not the best way to put it, but Mira found it weird that there seemed to be designated areas where one could find a specific type of beast or herb.

That in itself isn't all that weird, but with how many times these beasts and herbs are plucked every year, Mira felt like this part of the mountain range should be a barren wasteland!

But far from being a wasteland, it was brimming with life and potential.

After a week of continuous hunting, Mira finally got curious and asked someone, but all she got was a shrug as an answer.

Apparently, nobody really knows why this is the case. All they know is that it's one of the reasons why the Battle Maiden Sect is able to keep its spot as one of the Continent's top Sect, but that was fairly obvious to Mira.

The Sect literally has a constant stream of resources coming in, thanks to the Ancient Beast Mountain Range.

After that, Mira stopped worrying about unnecessary things and put her entire focus on improving her Scythe skills in hopes of comprehending Scythe Intent.

Just like that, time quickly passed for Mira, and before she knew it, Mira had been a part of the Sect for 2 months!

During this time, Mira did nothing but hunt beasts, spar with Celaine, Maria, Asami, and her subordinates, and focus on comprehending Scythe Intent.

She didn't care about anything else, but it was at this time that she felt like she had hit a wall. A wall that wouldn't be overcome with just simple training.

Luckily, trouble came looking for her just at the right time!

​ ***

A/N: Thank you so much, everyone, for the support! Last month, we made it to the Top 10 of the Golden Ticket Rankings, so here are an extra 10 chapters as thanks for all the support last month!