Immortal Ice Empress: Path to Vengeance

Mira narrowed in on her Absolute Essence Core.

So far, the Soul Transformation Realm was all about 'merging' her Body, Qi, and Soul together and 'transforming' them to encompass her Dao more.

However, compared to the previous major Realms, she felt that the 'transformations' were rather lacking. Sure, she grew closer to ice, fundamentally, but was that it?

'To put it simply, things are way too complicated.'

With every breakthrough, rather than transformation, it felt like an addition. She created the Absolute Essence Core to house all the different aspects of her being, yet it's not like they became one.

Instead, now she just had another thing to take care of.

'How am I supposed to proceed?'

The Nascent Soul Realm was a little complicated but at the same time, very simple. Accumulate Qi, mature her Nascent Soul, scrape away the darkness, and create a mini realm where ice sits at the top. As long as she had enough Qi, she could break through.

However, the Soul Transformation Realm wasn't like that. She was constantly left guessing how to break through.

'I don't want things to be complicated anymore.'

She felt that if she kept going down this path, she'd eventually reach a point where dissecting how to break through took longer than the actual process.

'So far, I've been too focused on the Soul. I mean, it's in the name 'Soul Transformation', but I'm not the same as everyone else. My Soul is technically already transformed. So, for me, it should be something like Essence Transformation or Existential Simplification.'

Thinking that, the ice that radiated her Dao shone in her mind. Pricking it with her consciousness, she zoomed in as far as she could until, rather than ice, she only saw lines similar to molecular chains.

She had no idea what these were or their function, but she instinctually felt that they were the reason the ice element could exist–or any element, for that matter.

'...In a way, they remind me of those black runes.' The two looked completely different, but the feeling they gave off was similar.

In fact, now that she was observing them, she understood the reason for this. External 'entities'(she didn't know what else to call them) tried to interact with these 'lines', only to repel them, but as the two made contact, the latter absorbed a slight amount of the 'invaders' and spread it out amongst the rest of the 'ice'.

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This happened thousands, possibly millions of times per second in every direction.

As if on instinct, Mira emitted a minuscule amount of Qi and noticed that once it lost any connection with her, those 'entities' were replenished.

After about an hour of observation, she finally gathered sufficient information to come to a conclusion.

'Interesting...…' Her lips curled in fascination. 'So, the elements naturally reject each other and only change under special circumstances. One such circumstance is one's Dao. In that sense, they're actually fairly malleable. Simply due to one's will, they can change properties within their limits. However, doing so takes energy.'

What she found particularly amazing was that her Absolute Ice Dao actually seemed rather accepting yet rigid.

Accepting, in the sense that she could 'merge' elements into one another without much issue.

Yet rigid because it was more like trapping a stone in ice.

The stone didn't become part of the ice; the two were still separate. One was just inside the other, and there was nothing she could do to change that.

For a while, she actually found that this world resembled Physics and Chemistry in her previous lives, only things were much more complicated and 'alive'.

Yes, alive.

It wasn't like her previous lives when a rock was simply a rock, or a planet was just an even bigger rock.

Here, everything could gain consciousness with enough time. Maybe, one day, a rock has the urge to roll down a hill. It might take years, but if that thought persisted for long enough, it might inch closer and closer to its desired goal.

'Is that why there are Elements?' It was just a passing thought, but she felt it made sense.

When viewed close enough, everything was 'alive' in some sense.

The world didn't follow a simple set of rules and is limited to those.

'...Well, that's not exactly true. There's the Heavens, but they're really like a judge, ensuring nothing gets out of hand.'

It was more like there were loose boundaries that ebbed and flowed when needed.

'...Then, a Dao is really like a path of communication.'

Having an affinity grants one the qualifications to talk to the world, but a Dao is the communicator.

In her previous life, an affinity was a cell tower, and a Dao was a cell phone. However, instead of speaking with words, you spoke with your soul.

She couldn't just open up the channel and command her ice to 'Be invincible!'

Her thoughts, or commands, were limited to the hardware, or in other words, her understanding. The better she understood her Dao, the better she could communicate, the more she understood about the world and its elements, the stronger she'd be.

'...So that's why everyone's constantly seeking enlightenment.'

Through that, their hardware would momentarily upgrade and their connection to the world was widened. Even if they didn't understand what was going on, as long as they maintained that state, they'd benefit.

From there, once the line was created, they wouldn't need to open it again.

However, Mira always found this rather unreliable.

'Like I thought, it's much easier to brute force my way through.'

Why search for enlightenment when she could directly find the source of it all and upgrade her Dao that way?

'Hehe~ If I can really find this cell tower of mine and forcefully change the line of communication to expand ice's limits to match my Dao…' Her body shivered in excitement at the thought.

Now, things were starting to make more sense. She still didn't know where her affinity was, but once she found it, she would have a decent idea of where to begin.

With these thoughts in mind, Mira's consciousness traveled even deeper into the depths of her ice as she traced the lines back, following their intricate pathways.

Her consciousness moved with precision, ensuring she didn't get lost. The lines twisted and turned, branching out and interconnecting in complex patterns that made up the fundamental nature of ice and its relation to her.

As she delved deeper, the lines began to shimmer and pulse with a subtle glow, resonating more with her Dao. It was as if they were responding to her presence, acknowledging her quest to understand and reshape them. However, part of her also realized that she wasn't in her Absolute Essence Core anymore.

'...Since when did I…?'

Mira's focus sharpened, but she put that thought aside for now. How she got here wasn't as important as seeing it through to the end.

'If I can make it here once, I can do it again.'

With that in mind, she quickened her 'pace'. As for how fast she was moving, she had no idea. Viewing things at such magnification made every movement seem big, but she might barely be moving centimeters.

In her periphery, all she saw was an endless black. 'It kind of feels similar to when I reincarnate.'

She might never know whether that conjecture was true, but a part of her did feel like she was somewhere in the void.

Eventually, she reached a point where the lines converged, forming a dense, radiant cluster of… something.

Was it ice?

Yes and no.

Her intuition told her that this amorphous object was at least related to ice. It was the core of her affinity, where her connection to ice was most potent. Here, the lines were not just pathways but the very essence of her bond with the element.

Mira paused, absorbing the significance of what she had found. This was the heart of her affinity, the key to unlocking a new level of mastery over ice and shaping it into something that was both completely hers and entirely new.

With a deep, steadying breath, Mira extended her consciousness, gently touching the radiant cluster. She didn't rush to alter or reshape it but instead sought to understand it fully, to commune with it. She felt its cold, its structure, its strength, and… its vulnerabilities.

The thing thumped in response to her 'touch', sending ripples through the lines that connected it to the rest of her being. Mira sensed the depth of her bond with ice, something that had been repeatedly forged over several evolutions and transformations.

'...Good to see you.' She thought as it thumped again.

'Hm? So you can hear me?'

Thump

'...I don't know what that means, but I'll take it as a sign of acknowledgment.'

Thump

'Okay… Anyways, let's see what you're really made of.'

Thump. Thump.

'Oh? Excited, are we?'

Mira didn't know why, but for some reason, she also felt her affinity's desire to grow closer to her. To become part of her in every sense of the word and follow her path.