Immortal Ice Empress: Path to Vengeance

Mira kept cultivating and sparring with Maria until it was time for her next class. Dominique also kept following Mira's training schedule and did her best to do exactly what she was told yesterday. She also tried to remember the feeling of pushing her body to the limit like she did yesterday. But Mira was nice enough to spar with Maria during her lunch break so she could still watch.

The training that Dominique was put through didn't seem to get any better the next day as she knew that one mistake might very well cost her life. But she still continued and pushed through so she could get stronger while not disappointing Mira at the same time. Even though she experienced unending pain and torture, these were some of the happiest days of Dominique's life. Working hard to reach one's goal is amazing!

The days went by quickly and it was time for Mira's next class. Even though she really just wanted to charge out of the city and slaughter some beasts, these classes were still mandatory and gave great information. So she kept holding in her raging and overflowing energy, but this only made her seem more terrifying and cold than before. Her aura was becoming unruly and wherever she walked, the temperature dropped significantly.

As Mira and Maria walked to their class, they received a bunch of stares as most of them could feel Mira's terrifying aura.

Once they entered the classroom and sat down, the disciples felt like they were about to freeze over! It was so damn cold! As they waited for all of the new disciples to walk in, almost everybody was shivering and had small ice crystals forming on and around them. Then finally Elder Kendra walked in to which she immediately addressed the issue.

"Mira, is something troubling you? You're turning the room into an ice cube." Elder Kendra asked with a slightly nervous voice as Mira's force of presence right now is immense.

"I'm fine. I'm just a bit pent up after my breakthrough and can't properly control myself right now. I'm trying to contain myself right now so I don't accidentally kill some of the weaker disciples. I'll be going out in a few days to let loose. You can continue with the lesson." Mira said with an extremely cold voice that also had a hint of her killing intent in it. She really needed to just get out of here and go kill something.

Elder Kendra could feel Mira leaking killing intent when she talked and knew it'd probably be best just to not talk to her. So she just let it be and ignored the ice crystals forming in the room.

"Alright class, today I'll be mostly talking about magical beasts. The different types, weaknesses, growth, how to contract your own, the difference between contracts, and some other things."

"First, I'll get into the different types of magical beasts. I'm not going to just stand up here and start listing off every known beast species and if you want to learn more about the different species then you'll have to go to the library and learn these things on your own. What I'll be explaining is that there are 5 main categories of magical beasts. Aviary, Land, Subterranean, Insect, and Aquatic are the 5 main categories of magical beasts. There are also combinations of these as well. For example, a magical beast that can fight both in the air and on the ground. Or an insect that lives both on land and underground. There are also aquatic beasts that can survive on land as well. There are a few major differences that are generally correct among these categories with a few exceptions of course. Aviary beasts generally have weaker bodies but are much faster than most other types of magical beasts. Of course, if you were to look at mythical beasts like Dragons, then you'd know that this isn't correct as Dragons were known to have some of the toughest bodies in the world. Land magical beasts are all different. Some have strong bodies but are incredibly slow some are specialized for assassination and have incredible strength in their legs but their body is rather weak, or some are even specialized in defense and have an extremely durable outer shell. There is the most variety of land beasts than any other magical beast category. Their weakness usually lies in their species. There are very few subterranean magical beasts and they are incredibly annoying. They are almost always underground and also live in small groups. A lot of them are blind, but they have incredible senses and can usually detect when danger is about to befall them. Their strongest body part is their claws and teeth. The rest of their body is generally weaker than most other beasts. Now onto insects. These are a bit rarer than other magical beasts but are extremely hard to kill. They usually have a tough carapace that is hard to break if you aren't stronger than it by a significant margin. Also, if you compare them to other magical beasts at the same rank, then just based on power alone insects are stronger. But the thing that makes them a bit weaker is they have terrible senses. Most of them can't see, their hearing isn't that good, and they can only differentiate strong scents from others though they usually know what blood smells like. The way they see is by feeling the vibrations with their legs and antennas. And their weaknesses are usually their joints, their stomach, or any section that isn't covered by their carapace. Lastly, aquatic beasts. These are similar to land beasts, but they live in the water. Their species vary greatly along with their weaknesses, but generally aquatic species' weakness is land." Elder Kendra paused before moving on.

"A magical beasts' growth is a little different from a human's. They are separated into 10 Ranks and above Rank 10 for a magical beast is when they turn into an immortal beast. But once a magical beast enters Rank 6 then things like weaknesses I just described blur a bit. Just like how our bodies get stronger the higher in cultivation we go, this is also the case for magical beasts as well. Rank 6 for a magical beast is just like our Core Formation Realm, and beasts that make it this far undergo a qualitative change. Their bodies get much stronger than before, their strengths get stronger and they start making up for their weaknesses. Aviary beasts that generally have weak bodies will have a normal Rank 6 magic beast body in terms of toughness, while their speed vastly increases. A beast that solely focuses on defense will have more powerful attacks along with being able to move faster. When a beast reaches Rank 8 then they'll gain a human form, and their next big change will be when they reach Rank 10. But I couldn't tell you any other kind of changes they go through in these Ranks."

"Aside from this, the way magical beasts increase their cultivation is extremely easy. Much easier than us. Most magical beasts have a limit to what Rank their species can bring them to. But this means that all magical beasts have to do is exist and they can advance in cultivation. But this doesn't mean that a Rank 2 beast will only stay Rank 2. There are ways to bypass their species limitation and continue getting stronger, though it'll be much more difficult. They will have to defeat and eat magical beasts that have a higher Rank than them. But they'll have to continue eating magical beasts that are stronger than them if they ever want to advance. Or they can eat ones weaker than them, but this will take hundreds of times more than if they were to eat magical beasts that are stronger than them. This also brings me to the other way magical beasts can get stronger or grow faster. By eating other magical beasts or even humans. Basically, anything that contains Qi, magical beasts can eat it and turn it into their own, making them stronger. This might sound a bit more unfair, but it's really not. Humans can use weapons, different arts, use their Daos, and can come up with strategies. Though we do have to work harder to get stronger, we have more ways to fight."

"Onto the next thing I wanted to talk about, contracts. There are two types of Contracts, a Life and Death Contract, and a Contract of Equals. A Life and Death Contract is a contract that the beast itself has to initiate since it is their life they are forfeiting to you. If you have this sort of contract with a beast, then you are able to kill it at any time and if you were to ever die then they would also die. But this isn't to say that the beast gets nothing out of this as well. If you're in this type of contract, then you can actually provide some of your Qi to it and help raise its Rank this way. But doing it like this is incredibly inefficient. Just to bring your beast up from Low to Mid-Stage could take months or years depending on their current Rank. Plus you won't be able to cultivate during this period of time, so you'll lose months or years' worth of cultivation time to barely raise the rank of your beast. As I said, it's incredibly inefficient. Now, onto the Contract of Equals, this is a bit rarer and you are the one that actually has to initiate this with the beast and they have the choice to accept or reject it. You have to set your terms for the contract and both sides have to agree to it. Neither of you has control over your lives and the contract only prevents you from killing each other. The contract will generally end once you and the beast have fulfilled what you both agreed upon. If you're wondering how the beasts will know what's in the contract, then just know that even if the beast isn't that intelligent, Heaven will send your intent directly into its brain, so even if it can't understand you it will know what you want."

"Magical beasts are everywhere and are seemingly endless. There are an innumerable amount of species and each beast has its own strengths and weaknesses. But I will end the lesson with some advice. If you ever see a magical beast staying or protecting a place that they normally wouldn't then they are protecting something. Sometimes this might be its child and other times it might be some kind of treasure. But regardless, it might be worth checking out. That's it for today. You're free to go." Elder Kendra said and all of the disciples rushed out of the room as quickly as possible. They could feel themselves turning into blocks of ice.

Mira walked up to Elder Kendra and returned the books and scrolls about Ancient magical Beasts and Winged-Wolves then left to go and cultivate some more. Maria followed her of course.