In her search for more Pikeakes, she stumbled on a Pikeake that was so determined to continue its movement towards somewhere it was the first Pikeake she had seen that didn't attack her on sight.
Sensing an opportunity, she decided to pursue it, curious about its destination.
Tara was a bit slower than the fish but could keep the fish in her sight long enough that she stumbled upon where it was going.
'I'm fortunate it didn't go far; those Pikeake are swift when they want to be.' Tara thought it was only then that she realised the gap in speed between her and a Pikeake and that she was fortunate that they seemed so aggressive towards other species.
Otherwise, her hunting of them wouldn't have gone down as favourably. Many of the kills she made were significantly enhanced by the momentum of their charge, with the Pikeake assuming she did not have the type of means of attack that {Metal Manipulation} provides her.
Now, being able to observe her surroundings properly, she saw a shocking sight.
Tara found what appeared to be sizeable rocky terrain that had countless caves, forming an underwater cave system.
Bioluminescent mushrooms lit up the area with an eerie blue glow as she saw what appeared to be countless familiar-looking salamanders' eyes twinkling.
'Is that a load of Iron Salamanders?' Tara thought, realising she saw a massive group of more prominent, larger versions of the salamander hatchlings she saw upon birth.
'Is that what I look like?' She thought, recognising a few Salamanders with a similar cultivation to her.
Yet despite the familiarities, she recognised that she was slightly bigger than her counterparts and that her smooth, moist, tough skin was darker and more metallic grey than the other salamanders'.
Tara realised that only the real large ones of the group, who were of significantly higher cultivation stage than the others, had a skin tone similar to hers; she thought this must be related to her advanced traits, with her likely being advantaged compared to an Iron Salamander on a similar cultivation level and comparable if not better than Iron Salamanders who are multiple cultivation stages higher in regards to her traits development.
Tara also noticed that the Salamanders grew out of their tadpole features as they matured, with the older ones with higher cultivation appearing like another species.
Though retaining their gills and the mechanics that made them excellent swimmers, they seemed far more lizard and amphibian-like. They were thicker and far bulkier, appearing more like a strange version of a Komodo dragon rather than Salamanders.
The skin on these Salamanders was as smooth as the others, but the tone of grey was far darker, gleaming like shiny metal.
'The strongest of the Salamanders, ' Tara thought, unconsciously utilising {Insight}.
[Species: Elder Iron Salamander
Cultivation: Qi Gathering 6]
Then she felt a sudden sharp pain in her mind as the information disappeared.
The Elder Salamander fixed its large head on her and stared at her intensely.
Even from the fair distance between them, she felt pressure from a being many times stronger.
'Dangerous,' Tara thought. Fortunately, the Elder Salamander's fixated gaze seemed to soften as it recognised her as one of its kind, yet its eyes widened as she felt fear from it.
'Fear? What can make something that strong scared?' Tara thought, suddenly remembering why she had even gotten here.
'The Pikeakes.' She thought as she saw a large horde beginning to gather; the Pikake she was initially following had already joined up with them as more and more began to gather, surrounding the Salamander's habitat with clear, hostile intent.
However, even with the legion of Pikeakes, that wasn't enough to make a creature of the Elder Salamander's strength shudder; it was the thing leading them.
She saw a creature resembling a giant shark, over four times bigger than the typical Pikeake. Though retaining its torpedo-shaped body, it had an enormous head different from the other Pikeakes. Looking like a hammerhead shark, it had a thick, rigged, bone-like structure like a cephalofoil with its beady red eyes spaced out on either end.
On the centre of that hammer-like head sat a large, beautiful, glimmering cerulean gemstone, which mesmerised her.
Though she was wary after what occurred with the Elder Iron Salamander, she was still too curious about the thing to resist utilising {Insight}.
[Species: Sphyrna Swamp Pikeake
Cultivation: Qi Gathering 6]
Unlike the Elder Iron Salamander, the Sphyrna Swamp Pikeake looked at her loftily with an arrogant, prideful gaze.
It didn't even bother to rebuke her, which she felt it could do. It was as if it was staring right through her like she was nothing.
Feeling her pride yet again trodded on, she felt strangely defensive; that familiar hot-bloodedness began to pour through her body as the stupidly suicidal thought of charging straight at the thing came across her mind.
'Seriously, what is happening to me?' Tara thought she knew she was pretty reckless as a human at times, though Tara always thought she was practical and pragmatic regarding essential life decisions.
Charging at a colossal shark monster was neither rational nor wise, though, and she needed to snap out of this hot-blooded attitude she had going before it ended her new life prematurely.
Tara had no intention of dying and giving that smug Immortal the satisfaction of seeing her as some forgotten failed upstart.
She will not pathetically throw her life away when she eventually has the means to return to Earth.
All she had to do was grow strong enough, and this dumb, arrogant shark would not be the one to take that from her.
Cooling down, she rationalised that fighting an upfront battle with such a superior opponent was not the best idea.
However, that did not mean she could not find a means to intervene somehow; looking at the Elder Iron Salamander, she knew despite the similarities in cultivation level, the Sphyrna Pikeake was a superior magical beast.
Tara felt that the aura radiating out of the Sphyrna Pikeake was denser, stronger, and more intimidating than that of the Elder Iron Salamander.
Tara did not realise that what she felt was a difference in bloodlines; not all species are born equal, especially magical beasts.
A bloodline was essential to a magical beast and could determine your limit and strength in stages. If humans had a difference in their Qi quality due to talent and techniques, then beasts with a more potent bloodline have more substantial, pure Qi, strengthening their traits. The likelihood of them having abilities that enable them to utilise Qi externally increases, and their all-around bodily attributes are enhanced.
The Sphyrna Pikeake was superior to the Elder Iron Salamanders, and both knew it. Even if they were similar in cultivation, the Sphyrna Pikeake outclassed them, similar to how not all dragon species possessed identical strength, with some having a superior bloodline.
As tension increased between both sides, the Pikeake finally initiated the clash, and the tense face-off filled with killing intent began to overflow across the rocky terrain.
Tara noticed among the Salamanders, most were similar in cultivation to her, with a fair amount in the fourth and fifth Qi gathering stages and three other Elder Iron Salamanders alongside the one she utilised {Insight} on.
The Pikeakes, on the other hand, were far superior in cultivation on average, most being in the fourth like the opponents she had been dealing with, a great deal more in the fifth, and the Sphyrna Pikeake was not alone in the sixth either, with their being two more alongside it. These were also no ordinary Pikeakes, being another version of the species.
[Species: Greater Swamp Pikeake
Cultivation: Qi Gathering 6]
At least these seemed far weaker than the Sphyrna Pikeake, with their aura feeling more or less similar to the Elder Iron Salamanders. They didn't even notice her checking their cultivation levels, being too intent on the Elder Iron Salamanders in front.
Yet despite the Pikeake horde being superior in cultivation level, surprisingly, the Iron Salamanders had the numbers.
There was an absurd amount of Salamanders travelling through the cave system in preparation to battle the Pikeakes, with them pouring out in droves.
She thought the Salamanders would flee at the sight of the bloodthirsty shark-like fish that came to storm their territory. Yet, the Iron Salamanders seemed more eager for a fight than the Pikeakes and stared back in complete defiance and unwillingness to lose any ground in their territory.
She knew this was the Salamander's territory, but it made her realise they were not as disadvantaged in the clash as she had initially assumed.
The Iron Salamanders were crazy creatures who constantly fought with their lives on the line, refusing to back down against anything; this absurd recklessness almost made them as admirable as they were foolish.
Yet the Sphyrna Pikeake regarded their bravado and aggression completely and utterly indifferently.
It was then it began to make its move. Before the Elder Iron Salamander could react, a glow came from the gemstone on its forehead. Its glow brightened even further, and wondering what it planned on doing, Tara was flabbergasted as she saw a storm of ice begin to erupt; sections of the water in the surroundings started to freeze as spears of ice began rapidly forming firing like a rapid-fire machine gun towards the salamanders.
The attack did not last long, with even a beast with a reasonably strong bloodline like the Sphyrna Pikeake limited at the Qi Gathering stage; however, even this was enough to end the lives of countless Iron Salamanders who were stages below it.
Thus began the stage that set the start of the battle, with the Pikeake and Iron Salamanders beginning to throw themselves at each other in a fury of teeth and claws.
Tara stared on in shock, close enough that Pikeakes took notice and began to approach her.
'Looks like I can't stay uninvolved even if I wanted to…' Tara thought, yet deep down, she felt she could not abandon the Iron Salamanders even if they shared no sense of kinship as Tara had no interaction with the Salamanders since she was reborn.
Tara couldn't hide the bloodthirsty gleam as the Pikeake approached her after all the things were disadvantaged against her in an upfront fight; they were nowhere near as durable but packed a strong bite.
Despite the situation, she also saw it as a big opportunity. There was more Pikeake here than the eyes could see, and Tara's eyes just saw fish-shaped bags of EXP.
'A girl will go far just to keep up the grind.' Tara thought again as she tangled with the Pikeake in a mess of tangled limbs and gore.