Waking up Shen's master, who was trapped in the body of an unborn phoenix, was somewhat complicated.

In practice, Kierra just needed to wait for the egg to hatch, but this egg was gifted to Kierra right after it was laid, much to her reluctance, and Phoenix eggs could take literally forever to crack—for regular phoenix eggs, that was.

If one thought about it, why would a phoenix lay eggs in the first place? Weren't they supposed to be a truly immortal species who could resurrect infinitely?

Turns out, not quite.

These large firebirds had a secret. A secret so big it would directly threaten their survival if revealed—their eggs were essentially spare bodies. This was the method phoenixes used to 'resurrect' back in Kierra's world. Once their body died, no matter the cause, their soul would automatically be transferred into one of these eggs, thus reviving them.

Kierra once got challenged by one of these birds, particularly their very princess, so she promptly beat the crap out of her, then proceeded to track her way to her nest. Kierra was then bribed with this egg in exchange for her silence, subsequently beginning her strange relationship with the phoenix princess. A relationship that got complicated quite quickly...

''...''

Nevertheless, the egg in front of her should be ready to hatch right now. Normally, only a phoenix's soul could enter an egg, but with Kierra's imitation of the King of the Underworld's magic, shoving a human soul in was possible. It should be totally fine, probably.

Kierra stood up and grabbed the egg, much to the others' surprise. They followed her to the middle of the room, where the archwizard took out a large blanket and spread it out on the ground. When she put the egg on top of it, Tian Yun couldn't suppress her curiosity.

''Kierra, is this needed for the hatching?'' She asked.

Kierra turned around with a serious face. ''No. But if I don't do this, the liquid inside the egg will dirty my house.''

''O-Oh...''

So they watched as Kierra pulled out a banana-looking... stick thingy and raised it above her head. Before Shen could even fathom the archwizard's intention to strike the egg with that thing, Kierra had already pulled her hand down, bringing the banana thing with it.

CRACK—!!

One strike was all it took. The eggshell was cleanly separated, falling to either side lightly and revealing a decently sized bird inside.

The little thing had orange-red feathers that slowly shifted toward white the further they went to the tail. From the outside alone, it was definitely a phoenix alright, just...

''...I see what you meant.'' Yu Chen said, pinching her nose.

There was a weird, sticky liquid clinging to the bird's body, and it smelled quite bad as well. Right away, Kierra lifted the bird with telekinesis and threw everything left on the ground into her trash bin.

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After washing it with water magic for a while, she dried it using wind magic, then left it on a blanket.

''...What now?''

The fox asked as it stared blankly at its supposed master, who showed no sign of opening her eyes.

''Just wait.''

Kierra responded simply before she went to the kitchen for a snack. When she casually came out with four cups of vanilla ice cream, the other three were puzzled.

''Eat.''

Upon digging into this foreign dessert, they were blown back immediately.

(;° ロ°) (;° ロ°) (;° ロ°)

W-What was this cold yet so delicious thing...?!

So Kierra quietly sat there, eating her ice cream, while watching two humans and one fox throw their dignity away to devour the cups of ordinary dessert. Once that was done, the baby 'phoenix' finally moved a bit.

Under the eyes of four people, it slowly got up, seemingly confused about the situation.

''You,'' Kierra spoke up. ''If you understand what I am saying, nod.''

The bird blinked a few times, then nodded.

''Try to talk.''

The phoenixes Kierra met could speak while in their bird forms, so in this case, this thing should be able to—

''Chirp.''

...Maybe not.

Once again, leaving the explanation for other people, Kierra went out to the balcony to watch some stars.

There was no wind out here, but one could barely notice any of that when standing before a whole galaxy in the distance. Now, this galaxy was just a mere illusion, a mimic of the real galaxy Kierra's home planet was in, but it seemed convincing enough to deceive most people.

''...Cosmos.''

Following the archwizard's call, a sun-like sphere appeared beside her. This time, it was a bit bigger and a bit brighter.

''What is your progress right now?'' Kierra asked.

[It is near completion, my friend]

''I see. Do you feel any difference in the quality of the knowledge?''

[Definitely]

''How so?''

[I feel this universe has a higher ceiling than ours if these are indeed entry-level techniques as they are made out to be]

''Hm...''

This meant that there was definitely someone stronger than Kierra in this world. Someone who could match the strongest in the world and even defeat her...

''I like it.''

Kierra smiled. She loved the idea of having to compete for the top spot again.

''Well, if you are almost done with the Lightning Tiger library, then we should move to another one soon.''

[I appreciate your help]

''No problem.''

It was time to visit the Shaolin Temple.

After staying outside for a while, Yu Chen came up behind Kierra.

''She caught up, it seems.''

''I see. Let us go inside.''

When the two came back into the house, they saw the little phoenix already flapping its wings around, inspecting its new body. Seeing Kierra and her dominant aura, the phoenix quickly hid behind Shen.

''What is her name?'' Kierra asked.

''Lan. Her name is Lan.'' Shen replied. ''She is... a bit shy, as you can see.''

Kierra nodded.

Now that she had confirmed the two's survival, it was time to move on. Kierra turned around and told Tian Yun to arrange for someone to take her new pets on a tour of the sect, and she informed them of the necessary information.

''Of course.''

The white lotus responded.

With that, the little party inside Kierra's private dimension had come to an end.

Kierra spent time cultivating that afternoon on the top of a mountain.

'...This is harder than I thought.'

Kierra thought she was ready to cultivate her level further, but it appeared as though her qi had not completely assimilated into her flesh just yet. Kierra suspected her overly dominant mana flow had something to do with it.

Normally, these kinds of problems could be solved by consuming a rare elixir or something similar...

'Wait, what are the artifacts in this world like again?'

Kierra had totally forgotten to inspect them. She was too focused on cultivation. Now, she had read about a few in the library of White Lotus, but those were quite obviously superficial pieces of information. She hadn't had her hand on a real one just yet.

So Kierra quickly got up and began to descend the mountain.

It was time for some treasure hunting.