Time passed by quickly for Mira, Maria, and Celaine.
They spent most of their days training and sparring with each other, trying to get used to their new bodies.
Mira was also coming up with various ways to utilize the new element residing in her body. She eventually learned that her Yin Magma had various destructive uses. There was one downside to this, though: the various uses she's devised don't reach her current power.
After lots of trial and error, Mira was able to create miniaturized Steam Bombs, but the power from them was sorely lacking. If she were to guess, then she wouldn't use this technique 9 times out of ten. The one way she'd create a Steam Bomb is if it was on a massive scale, but those situations are few and far between.
She's also come up with a way for her Ice and Yin Magma to produce steam which might be useful. She's also found that her Yin Lightning and Yin Magma become very destructive when combined. Not a mass destruction ability, but more of single target destruction.
The target starts to decay at a much faster rate and starts to turn to dust unless it's stopped.
Right now, the technique that gained the most power is her Ice Domain and Ice needles.
Her Ice Domains destructive power was raised and the efficiency of her Ice Needles has exceeded her expectations.
Mira found that when she combined her Magma with her other Ice techniques like Ice Armor, Ice Blades, Dual-Bladed Scythe, and others the efficiency starts to drop as it requires more of her mental energy to control.
While her Ice Domain is essentially her letting loose and her Ice Needles have such a minuscule amount that it's hard to notice the difference between before and now.
The next most useful after those two would be her Ice Blades while the least effective is her Ice Armor. It doesn't provide any benefit to her and only draws power and mental energy from her. In other words, completely useless with Yin Magma and Yin Lightning.
The only big difference that came out of the new element is just the difference in bodily strength, which was more than enough for Mira since her main attacks came from her strong body and her ice. Anything other than that is just extra.
As Mira was thinking about the gains, she heard Maria and Celaine walking towards her.
"Hey, Mira! Are you ready to go back? I feel like it's been around 3 months already, but it's hard to tell since the sky never changes." Maria asked with a mixture of excitement and disappointment.
"I suppose. Though it's a bit regretful that we can't stay in the Secret Realm much longer." Mira agreed, but in reality, she didn't want to leave. This place was just too good!
"I know how you feel, I'm also a bit reluctant to leave." Celaine chimed in and everyone nodded their heads.
Mira got up and left the room, wanting to say goodbye to Kayda while Maria and Celaine followed.
It didn't take them long to find her and Kayda just looked at them with a gentle expression.
"Thank you for taking care of us, Sister Kayda. We are truly in your debt." Mira spoke up first and slightly bowed her head. Kayda just waved her hands, feeling a bit flustered by the sudden thanks.
"No need for such things. We are sisters, aren't we? There is no need for thanks between us!" Kayda said with a slight blush.
Mira noticed her mood was slightly different than usual but decided not to comment and continued.
"Perhaps you are right, though we can only hope that things go the way we want… Regardless, we've come to say goodbye. I think we're reaching the time limit we are allocated to stay inside the Secret Realm so I don't know exactly when we'll be ejected, but I'd like to at least say goodbye." Mira said and before she could say anything else, she was embraced.
Mira immediately frowned her instinct was to push her away, but she refrained from doing so and just let herself be held. In fact, she felt rather calm being embraced like this.
"Mm, I understand that you will be forced to leave, but I want you to know that I've had a great time with you here. I don't know when we'll meet again, but it will surely happen someday so I'll see you later." Kayda whispered into Mira's ear.
Kayda kept hugging Mira for a while before she finally let go and looked at the other two behind her.
"You two have good hearts and I can see how much you value Mira. Please take care of her on your journeys and make sure she doesn't go too far." Kayda said with a light smile while Maria and Celaien could only wryly smile and nod their heads.
They've never once been able to control Mira in anything so she's basically asking for the impossible. If a day ever comes when Mira gives in is the day that Hell freezes over and the sky falls. In fact, they figured that even if something like that did happen Mira still wouldn't give.
Kayda easily read their expressions but had nothing left to say. She learned of Mira's harsh and unyielding character very quickly. Whenever Mira said something, it wasn't a suggestion, it was a command. And if she didn't want to do something then she'd take it to her grave without a hint of fear. Kayda's never seen someone so stubborn!
The three of them said their goodbyes and told Kayda that they'll just cultivate until they get ejected and Kayda just nodded and watched over them.
A day soon went by and nothing happened.
Two Days
Three Days
A Week
Two Weeks went by before they started to get really annoyed. It's definitely been 3 months but they haven't been ejected yet.
They stopped cultivating and currently held troubled expressions on their faces. Mira got up and walked over to Kayda.
"I'd like you to search this realm for people around our age and listen in on their conversations. See if they say anything regarding the 'Time limit of the Secret Realm'." Mira told Kayda and she just let out a faint smile. She could only let out a wry smile at the way Mira, who was as significant as an ant in her eyes, ordered her around.
She tried telling Mira to ask her nicely one time, but all she got was a deep frown and a look that clearly said 'Stop messing around and do what I said.'
This happened quite often as Kayda really wanted Mira to learn to speak politely, but she'd either get ignored or Mira would just repeat what she just said with an annoyed expression.
While Kayda was thinking about that she just nodded and spread out her senses.
It didn't take her long to identify people with similar ages and cultivation to Mira.
Most of what they were saying was a bunch of nonsense and it took around 30 minutes before something caught her attention.
"So around 3 months have passed, huh? No, maybe a bit longer? That's true, too short of a time to spend in this Secret Realm. There is just so much to gain here that it's insane! Look, my cultivation also made a breakthrough recently!" One man said to his companions.
"Yeah, luckily that the three months that Sect Master mentioned is only three months in the outside world. In here it's 3 years! Just imagine how far we'll progress in these 3 years! Maybe we'll even be Core Formation Experts by the time we leave! Haha!" Another man expressed his thoughts.
"Yeah, but haven't you guys noticed something strange…" Kayda stopped listening there and looked at Mira with a mischievous grin on her face. Mira noticed this but had no intention of listening to her idiocy so she spoke up first.
"Let me guess… The time we spend in this Secret Realm is much longer than what it actually is. They probably meant only 3 months in the outside world, right? How much time do we actually have in this realm?" Mira said with a sharp glint in her eyes which caused Kayda to pout.
"Geez. You really are too smart for your own good, you know? It's not good for a lady like yourself to be so straightforward and demanding. Can't you just let your Big Sis have a bit of fun? I've always wanted to tease a younger sister and now that I finally have the chance, you won't even let me!" Kayda complained, but Mira just frowned and stared at her.
"And?"
"Gah! Fine! I'll tell you! I heard some people saying that the three months mentioned is only from the outside world's perspective and that you will actually be staying in this realm for 3 years!" Kayda said bluntly hoping to catch a reaction out of Mira, but she only saw her narrow her eyes a bit.
"3 years huh… My guess was either a year or 3 years. I'm glad that I had you confirm my thoughts." Mira said casually after knowing the truth. She wasn't surprised by this answer at all.
"Aren't you surprised? You seem like you already knew this was going to happen. Are you teasing me?" Kayda asked while looking at Mira like she's looking at an alien.
"No, it's just the conclusion I've come to with the knowledge that I have." Mira gave a vague reply, but Kayda wanted to know more. She wanted to know how Mira's brain worked.
"How'd you come to that conclusion?"
"Simple. My Sect Master said we will be in here for 3 months. It's clearly over 3 months and we are still here. One might think, 'Well, maybe it goes to four or five months.' but those people would be idiots. Who would make something so impractical? They'd either make it a year or make each month in the outside world a year in here." Mira said, but Kayda still didn't understand how Mira came to this conclusion.
What she got out of Mira's explanation is basically that nobody would make something that messes with time so annoying if they were able to do it on such a large scale.
She wasn't sure if Mira was a genius or an idiot, but regardless Mira was right.
"I don't really understand, but okay." Kayda said with a complicated look.
Mira just nodded her head and left, really taking advantage of the whole 'no need for thanks' thing.
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