Tara found herself full of ambition to progress further now.
She had increased her level, improving her cultivation and traits, and now she felt more confident handling more dangerous opponents.
Though she was still wary of those turtles, she might have tried something if they had not been in a group. Yet they showed intelligence, and if she revealed her poison, her chance of beating the others would be slim.
She was not foolish enough not to realise that she could only fight above her current level by using underhanded means such as poison.
Perhaps when she enhanced her traits further, this would be different, yet she knew that Iron Salamanders were by no means considered a strong species based on what she had seen.
Therefore, in a fair fight against magical beasts that are many times stronger than her, there would be no fighting on even grounds with her crossing cultivation levels anytime soon.
Only through trickery and adaptability would she be able to defeat them, as the physical gap between them would be massive unless she had weakened them beforehand.
Perhaps she can achieve such things when she evolves her species or something. Still, right now, she knows just how close she came to being killed, even with the advantages she had over the Earthray utilising her poison.
She did not enjoy the close brush with death and would prefer a more stable means of taking down magical beasts. That would mean the use of poison in a way that does not require her to get a large portion of her body bitten off, yet maybe with {Metal Manipulation}, she can try a more direct means.
When she tried to use the trait, she closed her eyes, feeling an instinctive urge to use it like her other traits.
{Metal Manipulation} seemed to allow her to control her own Qi that until now was unattuned, but now the pathways the mutation introduced seemed to attune it to metal. It also allowed her to manipulate metals in general, yet this was far more taxing than using her own Qi. Through the adapted pathways in her body, she can now form metal blades and reinforce all areas of her body with Metal Qi.
She figured the mutation might have come about through her evolving related traits such as {Iron Bones}; perhaps Iron Salamanders always had an affinity for Metal Qi, but the newly formed mutation has allowed her to harness it.
However, she quickly realised that the comment from the system about it being rare for Qi gathering beasts for a reason, since {Metal Manipulation} exerted much Qi and seemed to be usual for beasts of a much higher rank than her, which is why it seemed so costly to her.
She seemed too weak in cultivation to exploit its potential fully. Yet, she was still satisfied because it would allow her to invest early in an evident ability that would follow her through her ascending ranks.
Feeling reinvigorated by the increase in level and all its benefits, she decided to continue exploring and finding more magical beasts to hunt.
Giving the carcass of the Earthray a fleeting glance, she felt full from the influx of energy from the fruits, so she decided to ignore the corpse, already fully healed from the ordeal with the Earthray.
'Thanks for guarding the fruits, big guy.' Tara thought, still a bit shaken by the ordeal from the thing almost killing her in one bite.
Still, the Earthray guarded and protected the fruits that gave her so many benefits, so she had mixed feelings towards the beast.
Deciding to leave before any scavengers, who will sooner or later detect the death of the previous guardian, show up, she left the area after searching around thoroughly, discovering nothing of value other than the fruit she already consumed.
After leaving the area, she soon encountered an oddly familiar target.
'You again. Or one of you.' She thought, seeing the same shark-like fish that tried to swallow her in one gulp when she was recently born.
Deciding to identify it, she saw its information.
[Species: Swamp Pikeake
Cultivation: Qi Gathering 4]
'Not as strong as I figured you would be,' She thought, seeing the large fish snap its head around to her shortly after that.
The fish seemed far smaller than before, or perhaps that just demonstrated her growth; it seemed insurmountable when she first saw it, well over three times her size, yet now it was barely larger than her current form.
Its red eyes looked at her dangerously, revealing sharp, dagger-like teeth. Its large, long, torpedo-shaped body tensed, and its large fins started to build momentum.
Now that she was on a far more even footing with the fish, with it barely having the edge in size, she would not run away scared for her life like last time.
She would not be the same confused, terrified girl; it was time to show this fish who the true predator was; she was not prey, and it would learn from its mistake.
The fish seemed unperturbed by her bravado as it continued to make its way to her, its speed astonishing as it stalked towards her.
It suddenly changed direction as it swerved to go under her before its large mouth opened impossibly wide. Its sharp teeth gleamed with it, trying to bite through her torso.
Though Tara wanted to experiment with {Metal Manipulation} and seemed to sense the perfect opportunity, she waited for the fish to swerve under as she directed her claws towards it and, pumped all her Qi into her claws. Suddenly, they elongated into large spikes of metal. They did this so abruptly appearing right in the fishes path, that it had no time even to change direction as it slammed head first into two large spikes of metal that skewered through its head with no resistance. The momentum from the fish's charge halted as it became motionless.
On the other hand, Tara felt ridiculously empty as she bottomed out her Qi for such an attack, though at least it succeeded, with the notification soon sounding.
[You have defeated {Swamp Pikeake}, gaining 20 EXP. You are now 27/1000 into progressing to Level 4.]
'Glad that worked. Maybe that can be a solution for attacking from range.' Tara thought, relieved she pulled that off.
She knew she could create spikes of metal from her Qi, so she used her claws to direct them in the fish's path, which remained unprepared for such an attack.
Though she still needed to refine her use of the trait, since the impact was mainly caused by the fish's momentum from charging her, resulting in it skewering itself, she could not expect all opponents to attack in such a way. It also wholly drained her Qi, showing its impracticality, but she could still work on adding it to her means of attack.
Looking at the spears of metal formed from her claws, she found that she could detach the lumps of metal as she willed. Knowing she would need to recover from the exertion of using her Qi to form them, she knew she needed to consume the fish to speed up her recovery.
Though the system seems to strip most of its Qi and vitality as fuel for her upgrades, the remnants of the corpse still proved helpful in fuelling her body.
Detaching the metal spears from her claws, she approached the fish and started taking bites to recover her energy.
As she continued her meal, Tara decided she needed some practice with {Metal Manipulation} on magical beasts and also wanted to find more fruits that could enhance her traits whilst she was at it.
With much to do, she could not afford to be idle and wished her Qi would recover fast.
After a while, her Qi recovered to a suitable standard, and she felt prepared to move out again.
'Now let's find some more targets; I'm curious how much adaptability this has…' Tara thought as she went off looking for more targets.