Upon arrival, the drones started to spread themselves out around the north pole. Surrounding the giant sinkhole where the mana originated from was strange crystals that acted as conductors of sorts.

  Each of the crystals would amplify the surrounding mana and funnel it back to the sinkhole.

  It was a strange sight as there was this constant cycle of the hole emitting mana, having the crystals amplify the mana then reabsorbing that mana after being amplified.

  Tapping her chin, Shiro furrowed her brows since this was a little strange. While it was true that monsters value mana, it wasn’t to the state of needing this much. Once a monster is born, there is a period where they require lots of mana daily to support their growth. This was seen in Yin when she was just hatched but she decided to embrace that side of her.

  Other monsters tend to stop after a while.

  So since the chances of it being a high level monster is low, Shiro figured that it was probably a monster that hasn’t been born yet. If it required this much mana to support its growth then Shiro didn’t want to imagine what it’s like.

  "Nan Tian, grab your stuff and pick out a few talented individuals. We’ll be setting up a city in the north pole so that we can investigate this further. I’m not sure how long it’ll take so I’ll set up a stationary research city there. The crystals seen in this camera are quite strange since they’re similar to the magic circles that I use but they’re natural. If we can use this in the city, we’ll be able to increase our power output significantly." Shiro said as she jumped up from her chair. Nodding his head, Nan Tian did the same as he stored his laptop into his inventory.

  "What kind of advert do you want me to put?"

  "Something along the lines of research in the north pole and give them some brief details. Prioritise getting some of the stronger medics aside from Silvia to go on this trip since we don’t know what might happen. Having good medics on standby would be useful. We’ll have two platoons of mech pilots stationed to protect this place with Shiina and Maria. Shiina should be good in the cold environment and Maria is a good support for her. These two should be able to handle that place without a problem. We’ll go there for the first few weeks but if there is nothing to be found short term, we’ll put our focus elsewhere and level up since we need to reach level 900 to do the raid. Right now I’m in the 700’s so there is still a lot to go." Shiro ordered.

  "Mn, got it. Yin should be reaching tier 6 soon with the information we received from Misu. Once she classes up, she’ll be able to level up properly as well. Everyone else averages around level 500’s to 600’s. That goes for me too. If we want to all reach level 900, the amount of Exp we need will be ridiculous." Nan Tian said as Shiro nodded her head.

  "I know, hence why we’ll be looking for a high level dungeon on the side. I have the satellites searching for a dungeon right now but most of the time it’s just somewhat high level territories that aren’t worth our time. Now I can see why powerful old geezers are stuck at around the same power for a while. It’s not that they can’t kill the things but it’s a matter of where they can find to kill them." Shiro muttered with a sigh.

  "Well you can try to cultivate but the exp gain is pretty small compared to killing monsters to get Exp." Nan Tian offered with a shrug.

  "True. Speaking of killing monsters to get Exp, I wonder how much Exp I would give if someone killed me. I’m not trying to jinx it but it makes you wonder, you know? I’m a Demi God at tier 6, an Empress as well and the amount of skills I have. If someone kills me surely they deserve quite a bounty of Exp but how much would they get? Would it be enough for them to reach level 1000?" Shiro asked as Nan Tian raised an eyebrow.

  "Not sure but I presume to be quite a lot." He shrugged.

  "True."

  ###

  Sending out a notice for the new mission, Shiro watched as the application came in since most were looking for new job openings anyways.

  While Nan Tian handled the assembly of the new team, Shiro used the drones to create an anchor point for her teleport.

  Opening a portal, she was immediately blasted with a face full of cold air and snow.

  Blinking her eyes in surprise, she breathed out a mouth full of condensation.

  Despite having some resistances, even she felt a little cold in this place. Though it didn’t help that she was in a dress rather than something suited for this place.

  ’With the crystal conductors in this place amplifying the mana, it’s also increasing the cold. I’d say anyone below tier 3 won’t be able to survive more than a few hours in this place and those higher…… might be able to hold out for a few days?’ Shiro mused to herself as she flexed her fingers, creating a dress that kept her relatively warm.

  Since she didn’t have an ’ice spirit’ that became a pseudo demi god, she wasn’t immune to the cold just yet. She had high resistance but not immune.

  Walking around for a while, she was disappointed that everything that could attack her had already fled since they could tell that she was strong. Shaking her head, she walked up to one of the crystal pillars and examined it closely.

  The crystal was naturally conductive and would amplify any source of mana that came in contact with it. The more mana it comes into contact with, the bigger the amplification.

  The smallest increase she had discovered through some light experiments seems to be around a 25% boost to power while it could go up to as high as tripling the mana.

  If she were to design a rifle with this crystal installed near where the bullet was formed, it could become something rather devastating since she wouldn’t need to use so much space for amplification. That space could be used for other effects such as making the bullet multiply itself or target the soul.

  While she could already make something similar, it would be quite annoying since the overall sniper would be heavy and cumbersome. Not suited for the close hand to hand combat that she’s been in recently.

  This wasn’t limited to snipers either, it applied to hand cannons. There were several reasons as to why she had been using swords and other martial weapons over her firearms right now. It was because it was overkill but not in a good way. It was good since it could instantly kill weak opponents but strong opponents like Syradil could sense the large gathering of mana immediately and react accordingly.

  For enemies like her, Shiro would need to use Silvanis rather than a gun.

  However, if she succeeds in making a new prototype with this crystal then it might give her more incentive to use her guns.

  Creating a dagger in her hand, she broke off a small piece of the crystal before shaping it into a small cartridge of sorts.

  Thankfully, even after being separated from the main body, the crystal retained its properties.

  ’If I was to make this a weapon such as a hand cannon, this crystal will be near the barrel since it’s responsible for amplifying the mana. It’s easier to disguise small amounts of mana so by the time I shoot this thing, it would be too late to dodge.’ Shiro thought to herself as nanobots twisted around her hand.

  Weaving together to form a hand cannon, she replaced a few of the compartments with the crystal.

  Activating her skill analysis, she was surprised to see the nanobots harmonise so well with this material. When she combined the two together, she was half expecting it to blow up in her hand and take an arm with it.

  But it was actually improving the stability of the entire weapon as the crystal was not only a great material for amplifying but it was also a good container. When her weapons blow up, half the time it’s because they couldn’t handle the mana. And yet with a single crystal, most of the problems were solved.

  "Interesting…… I might have to harvest some more of this and see what I can do. Perhaps it’ll even improve the mechs and satellites, not just the city overall." Shiro muttered with a small smile.

  With the new hand cannon created in her hand, Shiro thought about it for a moment before teleporting elsewhere.

  She didn’t want to alert anything that might be in this place with her firing a weapon.

  Teleporting to one of the ruined cities that was reduced to a frozen tundra, Shiro glanced at one of the monsters that noticed her immediately.

  It was a level 600 behemoth that had plated armour wrapping its body.

  A quick scan told her that it had impressive defence that put it roughly around the same level as level 700’s to 800’s.

  Inserting roughly enough mana so that it can kill a tier 5, Shiro smiled and pulled the trigger.