Mira looked at the recipe in her hands and noticed she only recognized a few items on the list. That wasn't all as Mira was also shocked at just how long the list of ingredients was. It didn't just include herbs, but also various types of metals, beast blood, and beast cores, there were even some things that Mira didn't even know existed!
Like what the hell was a Dao Comprehension Stone?
She also needed things like Phoenix Blood, Golden Empyrean Winged Wolf blood, and various herbs for almost every type of element she could think of.
Looking at the list of ingredients that definitely exceed over 30, Mira almost coughed up a mouthful of blood just thinking about how much time she's going to have to spend searching for these obscure ingredients. Even if she were to go through the various trials to try and unlock these ingredients, Mira has no doubt that, at the very least, she's going to spend years trying to get these ingredients!
However, there were 2 things in this recipe that caught Mira's eye. One of them being something called 'Orb of Limitless Death and Infinite Life' and the last thing that caught Mira's attention was not an ingredient, but a warning!
It read:
'You have 2 years to gather all of the ingredients and break through to the Core Formation Realm. Should you fail to complete this task within the given time limit, the recipe will be destroyed and Successor Mira XXXX will have her memory wiped of all knowledge regarding this recipe.
Good Luck.'
,m Now Mira really wanted to curse at not only The Guardian but whatever being created the recipe! So that's what she did!
"Fuck! A time limit? Are you kidding me?! How am I supposed to gather all this crap?! It'll take me a total of two years of just travel time to find this shit, not to mention actually getting them? What? You want me to go through all these shitty trials just to get a single herb or metal? Fuck you! Who knows how long that'll take?! I might be stuck doing a single trial for months if they are really that hard!"
Mira started cursing out loud, but there was also another thing that didn't fail to escape Mira's attention. It's that Mira's last name was hidden. Actually, it wasn't exactly hidden, it's just Mira couldn't understand what it said nor could she read what was there.
This caused Mira to think of something that she's never thought about before…
In all her life, she's never had a last name. Or if she did have a last name, she can't remember it. Even when she spectated all of her various lives after one of the trials, she can't seem to recall any of her past or parallel selves having a last name.
Yet, her first name was always Mira…
That in itself was already weird. To always have the same name in every reincarnation, in different worlds, in different languages, and even in different timelines.
Her name has always been Mira and has always been pronounced the same regardless of the language. However, what's even more strange is the lack of a last name. It's not like she was always born in some remote village in a primitive world where last names weren't a thing. Most worlds she was born in, almost everyone had a last name.
However, Mira can't ever recognize having a last name.
She felt a chill run down her spine, but before her mind could keep wandering, she was interrupted by The Guardian.
"No need to feel too shocked about the items on the recipe. Actually, you have quite a few of the ingredients with you already. I think your friends out there even have a few of the ingredients with them as well. Also, it shouldn't be difficult for you to get the blood of a Phoenix and a Golden Empyrean Winged Wolf. You'll just have to look for the more… obscure… ingredients. And before you ask, no, I won't help you identify those ingredients. I'll leave that up to you. I'll only help you with one of the ingredients."
Before Mira could say anything, the Guardian waved his hand and a Pinkish-blue slab of ice appeared in front of them. Yes, it was the same slab of ice Mira used to sit on to cultivate not too long ago.
"This slab of ice is actually a small chunk of ice that was carved out of a piece of ice called Immemorial Dao Comprehension Ice. Honestly, I have no idea how you actually got your hands on something like this. Even if this piece is just a fragment and can't even begin to compare to the real thing, it's still not something that should be in the hands of a Foundation Realm pup. Even Immortals would kill each other for a chance at obtaining a piece of Immemorial Dao Comprehension Ice and although you only have a small fragment that's lost most of its power, it's still not something that should appear in the hands of someone like. However, this is also a good thing as the Core you'll be able to form when you break through to the Core Formation Realm will be even better than before and having this thing also reduces the number of 'pain-in-the-ass' ingredients you'd need to fetch by quite a bit."
Mira was quite surprised that The Guardian had such a high opinion of this slab of ice. However, it made sense because even Mira felt like this pinkish-blue slab of ice was quite special.
"I don't think I need to explain the benefits of you sitting on this thing to cultivate, but in case you don't know I'll explain. It boosts your affinity with the ice element, boosts comprehension speed in both your Dao and any techniques, as long as they are related to the ice element, boosts your cultivation speed, increases your resistance against the ice element, and it also prevents any deviations in your cultivation. However, that's not the best part! The best part is these effects will continue to grow the stronger you get! Isn't that insane?! Instead of this thing getting weaker over time, the effects only grow stronger!"
"If you use something this god-like as an ingredient for your Core, your Core will gain all of these properties as well. Not only that, but using the other ingredients on the list to help form your Core, it'll turn into something that even the real Immemorial Dao Comprehension Ice could only dream of becoming!"
Now, Mira was shocked to the point that she didn't even know what to say. Wouldn't her potential basically be unlimited if she gathered all of the ingredients on this list and used them to form her Core?
Forget becoming an Immortal, wouldn't she be able to turn into a God, or in her case, a Goddess of Ice if she continued down this path? Maybe one day she'll get strong enough where she can even beat the shit out of the guy in front of her! How great would that be?!
"Hey!!! How dare you think about beating me up?! What did I ever do to you?! I've only ever given you good things and this is how you repay me?!"
The Guardian felt his lips twitching as he read Mira's mind. Not only was she dreaming of becoming a Goddess, but she was also dreaming of ruining his beautiful face! He could even see scenes going on in her mind of her pushing his face into the dirt as she dug her heels into the back of his head!
He immediately stopped digging through her mind as he saw more and more scenes of Mira turning him into an ice statue or Mira using him as a test dummy for her ice powers.
He knew this was Mira's way of telling him to stop going through her mind.
"Alright! That's enough with this prize! On to the next one!"
He snapped his fingers and brought Mira to what looked like an arena.
"There are only a few more rewards that are available to you right now and I think you'll find this one the most fascinating! I like to call it 'The Abyssal Battle Ladder', but in reality it's nothing more than an arena where your opponents get stronger the more you defeat. However, there are a few key things that make this place special."
"First of all, this place is based on your cultivation and whenever you have any sort of breakthrough in your cultivation, then your progress will reset."
"Second, there is no limit to the number of stages you can complete. How far you progress will be entirely dependent on your combat prowess. I will warn you though that at some point you will hit a wall that can't be overcome with skill."
"Thirdly, you can earn points here by winning battles here. These points can be used to purchase almost anything and everything Firmament of Limitless Death and Infinite Life has to offer. You want an herb? You can use points to acquire it! You want to increase the Time Dilation in the Infinite Garden? Just use your points! Now, you can also go through the specific trials in order to unlock whatever it is you need, but this is a much more direct way and you won't have to waste your time doing something so annoying."
"The points you earn also increase exponentially depending on how many stages you can win. So for example, if you win 5 stages, you'd earn 62 points! 2 points for the First Stage, 4 points for the Second Stage, 8 points for the Third, and so on."
"Lastly, you get to keep your points even after your breakthrough and the Abyssal Battle Ladder resets. However, do keep in mind that the number of points you'll be earning will reset as well."
Mira's eyes lit up as she listened to the Guardian explain the specifics of this arena!