Immortal Ice Empress: Path to Vengeance

Mira was ecstatic that there was something that would allow her to skip some of those trials that the Guardian talked about. As much as she wants to get stronger, Mira really doesn't want to go through any of those trials if they are going to be anything like what she just went through.

"Oh! I forgot to mention that if you were to lose three times in the Abyssal Battle Ladder, then not only will you be banned from battling until your next breakthrough, but you'll lose all of your current points. Oops! Hehe~"

Mira's face fell when she heard what the Guardian said.

"Why? Isn't the purpose of this place to test your limits? Why put a limit on it? Also, why do you have to take away my hard earned points if I were to fail 3 times? I think it's more than enough to ban my entry in the Abyssal Battle Ladder until I make another breakthrough!"

Mira complained, but the Guardian didn't lose his smile as he explained.

"You're correct that this is a place to test your limits, but it's more than that. You need to be able to properly assess your opponents while also knowing your own limit and how far you can push it. Also, if you could just keep battling the same opponent over and over again until you can predict all of its moves, then it wouldn't really be training would it? Things can't be too easy or else you might be able to unlock everything here without having to go through any trials! That's a big no no!"

Mira wanted to argue, but what the Guardian said made perfect sense. She was just a bit overwhelmed with all the possibilities of this place. In truth, Mira doesn't really have a problem with that limitation.

Clap!

"Alright! Let me take you to the next reward before showing you the final reward! Well, the next thing isn't really a reward per se… but it is available to you right now in case you want to use it!"

When Mira heard that, she was starting to sweat as she had a bad feeling about this next 'reward'. She soon started having flashbacks of a certain wretched set of stairs that almost caused her mind, body, and soul to break.

As Mira's instincts have been honed through countless life-or-death situations and even death itself, she can clearly tell when she's about to run into something bad. Right now, Mira's instincts were not just yelling at her to get the hell out of there, but they even forced her to get as far away from the Guardian as possible so he wouldn't teleport her to that god-forsaken place!

Unfortunately, escaping a near omnipotent being isn't so easy so before she could even move, she was already teleported and was currently standing in front of Abyssal Torment Steps. Her face paled and her body was now covered in cold sweat, but she did her best not to show her fear on her face as she just stared ahead with a neutral look. The Guardian clearly knew what she was feeling, but he decided not to comment on it as even he knew that these stairs are dreadful. To the current him they are nothing, but if he was in Mira's shoes right now he wouldn't be any better. Actually, that first part isn't exactly true as even he is a bit put-off by some parts of these stairs and he's essentially an almighty god! An unparalleled existence!

But of course, he isn't going to share any of that with Mira!

"As you may know, these are the Abyssal Torment Steps. Technically it's called the Tomb of Heaven, but that's only when you reach the bottom. The stairs themselves are called the Abyssal Torment Steps. Now, I don't really have much to say about these steps as I'm supposed to let you figure it out, but I will say that you shouldn't neglect these steps. Not only is this a Core part of the Firmament of Limitless Death and Infinite Life, but descending these steps will train you in ways you never thought possible."

"They might not be able to assist you in increasing your cultivation speed, combat prowess, or even help you learn new techniques, but they can reinforce your willpower and mentality. Also, I'll give you a piece of advice. Although willpower and mentality are sometimes way underrated or even completely overlooked in most of the Cultivation World. This is the case even for Immortals. The truth is that there is nothing more important than those two traits. Talent? Background? Status? Resources? Strength? None of these really matter and will come in due time as long as you have the willpower and mentality to keep going even when all is lost."

"That's why the test for this inheritance has nothing to do with strength because in truth, strength doesn't matter here. As you've seen and heard, this place pretty much has everything you could ever want as long as you have the drive to work for it."

"However, there is one important factor that I feel I should point out about these stairs. Most of the trials for things like increasing the time dilation of the Infinite Garden or maybe you want to redeem a few rare herbs or something, most of those trials actually have a minimum requirement before you can even attempt them."

The Guardian's smile grew a bit seeing Mira's reaction to that last statement and he could tell she knew exactly what he was going to say next.

"Hehe~ That's right! There's actually a prerequisite for how many steps you've descended on the Abyssal Torment Steps! Some things might only need you to make it to step 50 while others might need you to make it to step 10,000 or even more! Hahaha!"

"Truthfully, this is for your own good because some of those trials aren't easy. For example, if you want something but the prerequisite to start that trial is to actually make it to step 999, that means that the difficulty level of that trial is going to be somewhere around step 999. However, that's just a baseline because you might have to experience that level of difficulty for weeks or maybe even months or certain trials instead of just a few minutes like you experienced on the stairs."

"However, there might also be cases where you want to take a trial, but you haven't met the prerequisite number of steps on the Abyssal Torment Steps. In those cases, you can actually take the trial as long as you aren't too far off from the number of steps required. For example, if the prerequisite is 999 steps and you've only made it to step 901, then you can actually take the trial as although there is a spike in difficulty between the two steps, it's not insane like how the difference between step 500 and 999 is. Do keep in mind though that this number may vary. This is especially the case the farther you descend down the stairs because by then, the difference between a single step is actually quite large."

The Guardian stopped speaking after that to allow Mira some time to take it all in. He knew that this might be a bit of a shock to her, but he also knew just how important these stairs are.

Mira, on the other hand, didn't know what to say. She really wanted to curse out loud at how this place seems to be more and more like a scam, but she also partially understood why the Firmament of Limitless Death and Infinite Life would use these stairs as a prerequisite. This place demands nothing more than hard work and willpower and what better place to hone those two skills than these stairs?

Just compare the current her to the version of herself before she even walked into that weird biome. Her current willpower is several times higher than it was before entering this place! It took her hundreds of years and constant life-or-death scenarios for her to hone her willpower to its current state, but after only what? A week? A few weeks, maybe? Her willpower has effectively evolved to its current state!

Not only that, but Mira's survival instincts are much sharper than before and she's sure that if she were to get into a life-or-death fight now, she would definitely be able to learn and grow a bit faster compared to before.

Once Mira came to these conclusions, she calmed down a bit. She looked at the Guardian and nodded slightly. The Guardian smiled and nodded back to her.

"It's time for me to take you to your final reward. Well, it's hard to say that it's a reward because in reality, it's just an item that proves you are the Successor of the Firmament of Limitless Death and Infinite Life. Once you receive and bind this item to you, you'll finally be the true Successor of the Firmament of Limitless Death and Infinite Life. However, this item also brings several benefits to you by itself other than just giving you full control over everything here and its functions. Now, let's go finally crown you as the Successor of the Firmament of Limitless Death and Infinite Life!"