Mira was currently sitting on her bed, meditating. After a while, she stopped and opened her eyes. It was time to go. It's been a month and Mira has spent the entire time doing nothing but meditating and resting. She might not be back in a city for a while and will be trying to brave the dangers of the forest.
She put on her space ring and saw 10 Rank 1 Blood Restoration Pills, 10 Rank 1 Rejuvenation Pills, some bandages, enough rations to last her a month, a week's worth of clothes, a set of Daoist robes, and a black mask in her Spatial Ring. These things barely took up 1 cubic meter with most of it being the rations. Mira decided to change clothes and put on her black Daoist robes and black mask and went to get Maria.
Maria was doing the same thing as Mira. Her Spatial Ring has pretty much the same things, but she had a few extra things. She had 20 more Rank 1 Blood Restoration and Rejuvenation Pills, 2 Rank 2 Blood Restoration Pills, 2 Rank 2 Rejuvenation Pills, a talisman that her father gave her, and lots of Spirit Stones to aid in her cultivation on her journey. Maria's foundation is stable and will probably break through to Stage 2 Qi Condensation soon. After she checked her stuff and nodded, she also changed into a red Daoist robe and went to find Mira.
They met up in the hallway and Maria brought Mira with her to say goodbye to her parents.
"Mom, Dad! Mira and I are going. I don't know when I'll be back, but I will come back safe and sound." Maria said to her parents.
"Okay, Sweetie, as long as you come back alive that's enough for us. Stay safe. I love you." Erika said with a loving smile.
Cole nodded and said, "We love you, Maria. Just come back alive, it doesn't matter if you don't gain any strength on this trip. Strength doesn't matter if you're dead." Then he turned to Mira and said, "Please take care of Maria."
"You do know that she is actually stronger than me right? But I will do my best to at least make sure she doesn't get us both killed." Mira said.
Everyone just smiled wryly since they knew this was just how Mira acted. They also knew that Maria was playful, naive, and gets bored easily, and may very well get herself in trouble if Mira isn't there to reprimand her.
"Anyways, we are off! I love you two. See you later!" Maria yelled.
Mira started to walk away with Maria at her side. It didn't take long for the two to reach the city gate. After exiting the city they took off to the Dark Moon Forest. The first destination was their old cave. It only took them a couple of hours to reach the cave. There was still a faint aura of death and the ground was still slightly red, but the bones and corpses were all gone. The ice in the cave was gone too. Mira looked at Maria and said something that she was already expecting.
"I want us to fight a Rank 2 Magical Beast. Maybe a couple. We need to get used to fighting with each other and coordinating. Plus you need to be able to kill a Low-Stage Rank 2 Magical beast by yourself." Mira said and Maria nodded.
"It's time to hunt!" Mira said and dragged Maria along with her to go deeper into the forest.
They ran through the forest for about an hour before they stumbled across a tiger-looking magical beast. It was white and looked like a refined jade turned into a tiger.
"This is a White-Jade Tiger. It looks like it hasn't fully grown yet. It should be a Low-Stage Rank 2." Mira said and Maria nodded. During the last year that Mira has stayed with the Zaria Family, she would also study the different Magical Beasts.
"You will go in first and fight with it head-on. I will start by supporting you from behind with my ice. We will go from there. This will be a good chance to finally go all out and gather experience." Mia said and Maria just nodded again.
"Go!"
They both came out in front of the tiger and Maria started to charge towards it. The tiger reacted quickly and dodged her blade and tried to swipe at Maria, but Maira retreated a step and the tiger claw barely missed. Right afterwards Maria stabbed her sword towards the tiger, but the tiger had already stepped back. Right as the tiger retreated Mira sent two ice needles towards its eyes and sent an Ice-Blade towards its legs.
The tiger felt danger from the side and immediately dodged, but an ice needle still stabbed into the tiger's leg. It wasn't the biggest deal for the tiger and was just a minor wound, but still annoying. It looked at Mira hatefully.
Maria didn't let this go and she used her Light Sword with 50% power and began charging towards the tiger. Since her blade was 2 times longer now the tiger had a harder time dodging the attacks.
Maria kept attacking the tiger. The tiger was able to dodge most of the attacks or use his claws to block them, but there were still several attacks that wounded its body. This was mainly because Mira was running around the tiger shooting ice needles at its eyes and ice blades at his feet. This was way more annoying than Maria.
The tiger decided to switch targets and charged towards Mira.
"Oh? So you want to play with me, kitty. Very well. Come! Just using your light beams from a distance and look for an opportunity to strike, Maria." Mira taunted and told Maria what to do as the tiger charged towards Mira.
Mira's twirling scythe shot 2 more ice blades at the tiger's feet and head. The tiger blocked the one going for his head as he jumped over the one towards his feet, but Mira shot 2 ice needles towards its eyes. These were hidden behind the Ice-Blade. One of them missed, but the second one hit its left eye. The tiger roared in pain but still kept charging. Maria was shooting light beams at it, but the tiger wasn't going to fall for that nonsense anymore especially when the light beams are easier to see than ice needles. He easily dodged them and leapt towards Mira trying to rip open her neck and chest. Mira sidestepped the leap, but the tiger still slashed towards Mira. Mira didn't let this chance go and used the blindspot in the tiger's left eye to slice off his left foot.
This was the chance that Maria was looking for. She charged towards the tiger while 3 illusory swords formed together into one. She charged towards the tiger as it stumbled back with its left leg cut off and swung her sword down onto its neck. The tiger's head went flying and she left a crack in the ground below the tiger.
"Phew! That was easier than I thought! I used quite a bit of energy, but not enough that I can't fight or run away." Maria said happily. This was her first time killing a Rank 2 beast.
"Well, we did ambush the tiger. Not to mention that we are incredibly annoying to deal with. It would've been much harder if you or I were fighting him alone. Anyways, restore your strength. We are not done hunting. I want us to kill a Rank 2 bird, a Rank 2 insect, and one more Rank 2 beast to kill together. Then I want us to try to hunt Rank 2's by ourselves. Only then will I feel safe enough to brave the various dangers of the forest with you." Mira said, instantly destroying all of Maria's happiness.
Mira stored the corpse of the tiger and they found a quiet place to restore their strength then went on to hunt some more.
It took them a couple of days to find the next Rank 2 beast.
All of a sudden Mira just pushed Maria and blocked a black blur with her scythe. She slid back a couple of meters. She then realized what just attacked her. It was a Rank 2 Night Hawk. It uses the shadows to blend in then dive-bomb its prey. If its prey can't react in time, they will usually die instantly from the power behind the attack.
"It looks like we are the ones being hunted. It's a Rank 2 Night Hawk. They use shadows as cover and places to hide. This one will be a bit troublesome, but they generally have weaker bodies as they are meant for assassinations. Use your Light Sword, that should help illuminate this area a bit." Mira said while Maria just nodded.
Maria started using her Light Sword and the surrounding area started to light up. Mira built up momentum in her scythe and waited for the next attack from the Night Hawk. It took around 3 minutes before the night hawk attacks Mira again. This time Mira was ready. Before the hawk could even reach Mira, she had already smacked it on the side of its body. The hawk tumbled on the ground and Maria used this chance and dove towards the hawk cutting it in half with her light sword.
"That was a lot more stressful than the tiger even though we killed it in 2 moves." Maria said surprised.
"Yeah well, that's why I wanted us to experience this. Not all of our battles will be head-on. Magical Beasts aren't that stupid. If you aren't careful, then you might die without even knowing how. Plus if you have enough experience and can live past these near-death experiences then you can end up building something like a 6th sense for danger. I want us to fight an insect next, but if what we find next isn't an insect then we will take turns fighting them by ourselves until we find an insect. The reason I want us to find and kill an insect is that they are extremely annoying to kill. They aren't as smart as beasts, but their carapaces are incredibly strong." Mira explained why she was doing this.
They then began their journey to hunt other Rank 2 magical beasts.