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Time flowed slowly in the capital city within the laboratory of Kong Mingan. At this moment, the Ice Empress sat beside the workbench. She was very busy and excited. She held a blank spirit ring in her small hands.
She was carefully writing the spirit abilities she knew into the ring. She wore her favorite green and white dress. Her small body was perched on a tall lab chair. Her legs were covered in black stockings. Usually, she liked to swing her legs back and forth, but now they stayed still and proper.
Her golden eyes stayed fixed on the spirit ring. She used her spirit power, which had the extreme ice attribute, to draw lines inside the ring. After a few moments, the spirit ring started to glow with a soft blue light. It looked like the color of ice. When she saw this, the Ice Empress let out a long breath and relaxed. She felt a bit tired but happy.
She closed her eyes for a second to check the contract she had with Kong Mingan. This was the man she sometimes found very annoying. She saw a progress bar that showed her value. The bar had moved up a little bit. A small smile appeared on her lips without her even realizing it.
The Ice Empress had eventually given in to the idea Kong Mingan suggested. He told her about a path to become a god using something called a star ring. It was a very tempting offer, so she signed a contract with him. She was smart, though.
To make sure Kong Mingan was not trying to trick her, she showed the paper to the Snow Empress first. She wanted to be sure there were no hidden traps or bad rules in the contract. The result was good. The contract for the Ice Empress was almost the same as the one for the Snow Empress.
The deal was simple. The Ice Empress would give him soul skill modules. She would also help with his research projects. In return, she would earn value. Later, she could use this value to get the energy she needed to make her star ring. Since she started making these spirit power modules, she had become a little addicted. She liked seeing her hard work turn into something real that she could measure.
Kong Mingan stood next to her. He picked up the spirit rings one by one. He was looking at the soul skill modules the Ice Empress had put inside them. He looked at the first one. It was called the Ice Emperor's Body Protection.
This skill covers the body in ice crystal armor. it gives the user a very strong defense. Kong Mingan thought to himself that this was just like a very hard scorpion shell. He felt it relied too much on the natural strength of extreme ice. He thought the way it used energy was just average and not very special.
Then he looked at the next one. This was the Ice Empress's Pincers. It turned the hands into scorpion pincers to attack and pierce enemies. Kong Mingan wondered why she would use pincers for physical hits. He felt it was not as good as the Snow Empress's skill, the Emperor's Palm. He moved on to the third one. It was the Eternal Frost Domain.
This skill makes the temperature drop in a huge area and freezes everything in sight. He thought a domain skill was okay, but the way it worked was too simple. It was not as clever or strong as the Snow Empress's Emperor's Chill Heaven.
Kong Mingan felt a bit disappointed as he watched her. He had seen many high-quality soul skill modules from the Snow Empress before. Because of that, he expected the Ice Empress to have amazing modules too. But the reality was different.
He looked at the big pile of spirit rings next to him. The Ice Empress had worked very hard to finish all of them. He realized something. She knew a lot of spirit abilities, but most of them were not very technical. They mostly came from her instincts and her talent as a magical beast.
He looked up at her. She was still working very hard. He felt a little bit of pity for her. The Ice Empress felt him staring. She looked up and her golden eyes were full of confusion. She wrinkled her small nose and made a soft sound.
She asked him why he was looking at her with such a strange expression. Kong Mingan just shook his head and said it was nothing. In his mind, he just wanted to buy her some snacks because she was working so hard for so little.
The Ice Empress did not believe him. She kept looking at him with suspicion. Kong Mingan stayed quiet. He looked at how simple and honest she was. She had so much energy and really believed she would get her star ring soon.
He thought about his junior brothers and sisters from his past life. They were just like her when they first entered the lab. They all thought they could change the whole world. He thought she was very simple-minded. He hoped she would stay that way for a long time.
He had a plan before. He wanted to trick her into being his bodyguard. He wanted her and the Snow Empress to be a powerful team from the North. If they both had star rings and used a spirit fusion skill, they might even be stronger than the Great Dragon, Di Tian. If that happened, he could collect rare materials from strong enemies like the Evil Empress or the Holy Spirit Cult. But now he saw that she might not be a top-tier fighter yet.
Kong Mingan thought for a while. He had an idea. He stood up and opened a portal. It led to the Undead Demiplane. He walked inside and came back a moment later. When he returned, he was holding a glowing white bone.
it was the left arm bone of an Ice Jade Scorpion. It felt very cold. The Ice Empress saw it immediately. Her eyes got wide, but then she got angry. She asked him why he had a spirit bone from one of her kind. She called him a bad human and told him to watch out.
Before she could get really mad, Kong Mingan tossed the bone to her. She was surprised and caught it in her arms. She looked at the bone and then at him. Her anger started to go away. Kong Mingan told her that the skill in the bone was the Ice Explosion Technique. He explained that his person bought it at an auction legally. He told her he did not kill anyone to get it. The Ice Empress calmed down, but she was still a bit careful.
Kong Mingan asked if the skill would be useful to her. She looked at the bone. She could feel the energy inside was just like her own. She admitted it was a bit hard. Since she was not a human, she could not just absorb spirit bones.
She said she would need to study it for a long time to learn the skill. When he asked how long, she said a few hundred years would be enough. Kong Mingan was silent. He did not want to wait that long.
He asked her if she was afraid of pain. This surprised her because the question came out of nowhere. She asked him what he wanted to do. Kong Mingan smiled. He pulled out a special knife called the Life Engraving Knife. It was full of life energy.
He told her he had a way for her to learn the Ice Explosion Technique quickly. He said it might hurt a bit. He wanted to do a special surgery on her bones. He would carve the soul skill module directly onto her bones. Then her body would absorb it, and she would understand the skill naturally.
The Ice Empress looked at the knife. She felt something was not right, but she really wanted to learn the new skill. She had already signed the contract, so she decided to trust him. She puffed out her chest and told him to just do it. She said she was not afraid. Kong Mingan warned her again that it would be very painful. He offered to help if she was scared, but she interrupted him. She told him to stop talking and start the process.
Kong Mingan laughed a little. He told her not to beg for mercy later. She sneered at him and asked if he was joking. She did not think anything could make her beg. Kong Mingan held out his hand. The Ice Empress snorted and put her hand in his.
She thought to herself that a little pain was nothing she couldn't handle. She was ready to see what would happen next. Would you like me to continue with the next part of the story?