Tara felt her mind slowing as her vision became even hazier.

  She knew she did not have much time, so instead of her usual ption for her levelling process, she had to be swift on this occasion.

  Bringing up the notification, she saw the information she had earlier dismissed.

  [gratutions, you currently have enough experience points to level up. Would you like tress to level 4?]

  Hurriedly, she selected ‘Yes’, feeling her cultivation level increase, providing the familiar warmth and vigour that filled her body from its increase.

  [Your cultivation level has increased Qi Gathering 3 > Qi Gathering 4. All essential attributes increased. Qi capacity enhanced. Select two existing traits to improve. The your mutation.]

  Instantly, she felt her mind groer, and a newfound strength filled her body.

  Knowing she o tihe process quickly.

  She selected the two traits quickly and feeling the most useful in her current situation, she selected {Regeion} and {Poisoion} with regeion to help her recover towards whatever the Sphyrna Pikeake did to her, and hopefully, the increase in the poisohality will give her the edge to finish off the creature.

  She felt a pang of annoyance, with her previous pn of wanting to focus on {Metal Manipution} since she already saw the bes of the trait, yet with her both being desperate and rushed for time, she had to make the choices quickly.

  She mostly had to skim-read the new bes with the following notification descriptions.

  [Regeion {3}: You regee plex limb structures...

  *NEW* Regeion improves further, being more effit and less energy-ing.

  Your healing grows even more enhanced, and you are oep closer to reag the peak of the Iron Samander's bloodline irait regeion limit at the Qi gathering. Your immunity to toxins has enhanced further.

  Trait level: {3} > {4}]

  The trait described what Tara needed in her current situation; to date, it has remained her most sistently used trait.

  She would have long died if it wasn’t for her regeive capabilities, allowio beat ehat were superior in all aspects apart from resilienbsp;

  And the one was {Poisoion}.

  [Poisoion {2}]: An evolution of {Skiion}…

  *NEW* Your poison bees even deadlier and more toxic; its additional effect has improved, making it more effit at draining Qi. This effect will grow more potent the further the trait improves. Your mutation has further influenced your biology, and you are now naturally more resistant to friendly and fn poisons and toxins.

  Trait level: {2} > {3}]

  ‘Friendly?’ Tara thought. The added poison and toxiance alongside her regeion was a helpful enha, but it made her realise she was not immuo her poisons.

  Tara thought that the fact that she never once felt the effects of the poison showed her regeion's effectiveness at purging poisons.

  Or maybe she just avoided the poisoering her bloodstream.

  Either way, she was already rushing through the mutations until she found ohat was most appropriate for her situation.

  There were general mutations that offered slight resistao elemental damage. Yet, she needed something mainst the Sphyrna Pikeake, and a specialised trait that gave her resistance against its most lethal means of attack seemed too perfect to pass up.

  [Ice Qi Resistance {1}]: Your body has formed a resistao Ice Qi. You are better adapted to survive the cold. Your adaptability and survivability in cold enviros have increased. Your body breaks down invading Ice Qi more effitly, and your flesh has grown more resistant to its general effects.]

  Decisively seleg that as her mutation, her mi bnk.

  Meanwhile, the Elder Iron Samanders and the Sphyrna Pikeake tiheir csh.

  The Elder Iron Samanders felt enraged as they witara’s still body drifting away, frozen like an ice sculptor. Her grip on the Sphyrna Pikeake ceased as it froze her body with its Ice Qi.

  Oher hand, the Sphyrna Pikeake leased that it had effortlessly removed the troublesome little lizard.

  Having a weak fledgling Iron Samander hindering its efforts has made it furious.

  The flict with the Iron Samanders has been developing for some time; it was iional and long ing. The small sughter of a number of its kind has only accelerated the iable.

  It has always been full of desire to attack the Elder Iron Samanders, its ideal targets from the beginning, as they are the weakest but most numerical of the beasts around its territory at the sixth stage of Qi Gathering.

  It heir rich flesh brimming with Qi to finally reach the seventh stage of the Qi Gathering.

  The Sphyrna Pikeake thought there should be no problems with aplishing its pns.

  Not only will it be able to remove a potentially troublesome rival that was growing far too swiftly for its liking, but it will also be able to feast upon their carcasses t about an all-about improvement in its kind.

  However, the simple sughtering of the Iron Samanders was awry from the start, yet it has finally aplished its goals.

  Though the loss of the two Greater Pikakes was someainful, it will credit their sacrifice as it sunk its teeth into their flesh to add their strength to itself and its kind.

  It may even have to pay homage to the bothersome little Samander; maybe it will take its frozen carcass to serve as a trophy to its ir, as it allowed it to vely kill two of its kind that would greatly assist its cultivation.

  Its gaping maw began to drool as its urge to e became ravenous, yet it found something irritating.

  ‘What is this annoying thing?’ The Sphyrna Pikeake thought. A hostile fn substance has es body out of nowhere.

  Although it reised it as poison from its enters with the poisonous toads north of its territory, it did nnise how such a poison appeared from nowhere.

  Suddenly, its red eyes flickered to the small, bothersome, frozen Iron Samander as it thought, ‘You? How? Iron Samanders do not have poison…’

  The Sphyrna Pikeake has lorded over this territory for an incredibly long time.

  Herds of Iron Samanders like this one have e and goh time, either from being wiped out rating. Iron Samanders are a populous species that ran amok in these ss.

  Although it has entered them frequently, it has never seen a poisonous Iron Samander in its long life.

  It was something that the Sphyrna Pikeake never associated with its species.

  Iigating the poison, it found it was growing and a big annoyanbsp;

  Though reasonably weak, and it could get rid of it eventually in normal circumstahe presence of the Elder Iron Samanders gave it no time to recuperate, and it also utilised much of its Qi during the earlier battle.

  It also found whe took its mind off the poison to trate oing the two Elder Iron Samanders, the poison would sneakily steal slivers of its Qi to empower itself.

  ‘Truly an annoying, unique poison.’ The Sphyrna Pikeake thought, though it did not believe, that it would affect the overall oute of the battle.

  It felt itself trying to press dowwo Elder Iron Samanders, believing it would take them dowually, though at some cost now due to the irritating poison.

  The Sphyrna Pikeake was used to battling for its life as a magical beast and would never shy away from doing so.

  However, the se shocked it. Looking up, it saw that the previously frozen, still body of the believed dead Iron Samander began to glhtly as it suddenly felt the aura on it increase, signifying a cultivation increase.

  That was not all; the Iron Samander's body size began to increase as it wits body's maturity rise rapidly.

  The ges seemed to speed up, and suddenly, the Sphyrna Pikeake found its powerful Ice Qi ed tightly around the samander's body, which began to crack off harmlessly.

  For the first time, it made the Sphyrna Pikeake feel doubt, and with it being a powerful magical beast that lived tless years, the sudden feeling of the pois up with its effects seemed to bee even more potent was the st straw.

  ‘This has been a part of success. Retreat now, recuperate; I will finish these pests when I’m at my stro; o risk myself at my weakest against them. With the two Greater Pikeakes dead, I sider my goal fulfilled. I will return when my cultivation increases; no matter how strahat puny Samander is, it will be no match against absolute power.’ Thought the Sphyrna Pikeake.

  Believing it had enough carcasses for its cultivation, it decided not to risk itself when it was this vulnerable.

  Now that the Sphyrna Pikeake knows about the unique Samaricks, the subsequent enter will not be dangerous.

  It even tried to finish off the annoying Samanders unscious body a few times, but the Elder Iron Samanders were too fiercely protective, so it just shrieked, using the unique Samander as a distra; it allowed its kind to gather the bodies of the fallen, the most important being the o the sixth Qi gathering stage.

  a retreat, the exhausted aed Iron Samanders could do nothing but watch the Pikeakes flee.

  They have earned a hard fought victory with the rulers of the territories retreat, but at what cost?

  Oher hand, Tara did not know anything about this, as her st thoughts were when she found her vision going bd waking up to two ginormous samander heads looking at her curiously.

  She did not think she could be shocked any more until she heard a wise-matronly-like voiter her mind.

  ‘You have awoken my child. Now we have much to discuss.’ The voice seemed to e from the more sizable Samander of the pair, who was female, with her also notig it had a more rounded head than the Samander by its side.

  Tara's mind froze, and she did not know what to do when she saw a massive talking Samander in front of her.

  The rge Elder Iron Samander seemed to quickly notice as it tinued, ‘You o have no worries, my child. We only seek to talk as equals. In a herd, we must delegate with the stro, and you, with that dispy, are worthy.’

  Tara wao reply but found she had no idea how, and it was something the rge Elder Iron Samander seemed to notice.

  ‘Oh, you have no idea how to transmit thoughts through Qi? Where have your elders been? You poor, poor child.’ The rge Elder Iron Samander seemed to bee all motherly for a moment, starting to fuss arouara had no idea why, but she suddenly felt absurdly emotional.

  She weirdly began making a strange hat sounded like a bizarre cry.

  ‘Seriously, a giant Samander had to be the oo make you cry because she reminded you of your Mother?’ Tara thought, feeling annoya the show of emotions.

  She had mao keep a tight lid on such thoughts so far, so suddenly breaking down like this was strange. Despite the human irying to tell her that a samander ot fill her need for panionship, she felt warm and accepted by a group of Samahat were strangers not long ago.

  It was then time for her to open up about herself, though if you had told her she would be telling her life story to a bunch of Samanders oh, she would have broken down in hysterics.