Chapter 73: Entrance Exam, Beginning
A week went by quickly a Mira and Maria sparred many hours a day and consolidated their foundations as well. They both didn't know what the Exam was going to be about, but one could guess that fighting will definitely be a part of it. It's the cultivation world after all. If you don't know how to fight, then all that awaits you is either death or something similar to slavery. They'd also wanted to be as strong as possible for anything that might come their way.
Mira and Maria were now standing near the entrance to the Zaria Family as they made sure that they had everything. Mira had her space ring that contained everything she had. All of her Spirit Stones, which are around 650 now after cultivating for the last 6 months. All of the rewards she got from the trial, plenty of beast corpses for Rhydian, and all of her clothes. Maria also double-checked her space ring that looked similar to Mira's. She decided to only take the Spirit Stones she got as a reward from the trial which was also around 650 along with all of the items she received as rewards from the trial. She made sure she had her main sword in there along with a backup, some Rejuvenation Pills, and many pairs of clothes.
They both nodded their heads when they saw that they had everything with them. They were also taking Rhydian and Vulcan with them because they didn't know if they'd be coming back here anytime soon. Mira also didn't trust Rhydian to be alone for very long. Rhydian was still a baby, only her tantrums might end up causing massacres.
Maria had already discussed joining a sect with Ariel's father and he said that it wasn't a problem and that a lot of children from the main families actually join a sect. Joining a Sect gives one the opportunity to possibly transfer to the main sect, which is close to the Central Continent. The atmospheric Qi is denser and of higher quality over there, which makes it easier to get stronger.
Maria was extremely excited when she heard this. Maria told Ariel's father that she wanted to join the Battle Maiden Sect and he just nodded his head at that seemingly not surprised. Maria was a very outgoing person, it would make sense she would want to join a sect and one filled with women is the best option for a young and innocent girl like her. He said that he would accompany them to the Battle Maiden Sect Entrance Exam just to make sure nothing happens. Maria tried to persuade him not to because she didn't think Mira would like that, but he wouldn't budge and said that he was coming with her. Maria could only concede at this point and went to go tell Mira after the discussion, but to her surprise, Mira didn't seem to care that much. Mira figured that someone would probably accompany them as Maria is the daughter of the head of the Zaria Family. It would make sense and also be a smart idea for someone to accompany them. Also, Ariel's father is nearing the Core Formation Realm, so he isn't someone weak that any normal person in the city can deal with.
Ariel's father's name was Luke. Luke walked out and saw Mira and Maria together along with their two beast companions. Luke sensed an insanely strong Rank 4 beast nearby and looked towards a small golden wolf with 2 tails standing next to Mira. His eyeballs nearly popped out of their sockets when he saw this. His intuition as a Foundation Realm Expert was screaming at him not to fuck with that wolf. Even though he can fight Rank 5 magical beasts, this Low-Stage Rank 4 beast was actually making him feel a bit of fear. He couldn't even imagine what sort of terrifying creature this beast would turn into in the future. He gulped at this as greed shown in his eyes for a brief second before he noticed that the wolf was staring at him with a menacing look. Gold and blue lightning shot across its body and the lightning bolt pupils were shining brightly. Luke shivered a bit as his back now had a layer of cold sweat on it.
Rhydian looked at Luke like he was already a dead man. She had felt a gaze on her that had a hint of malicious intent in it. She turned around and saw Luke and was about to just kill him where he stood, but Mira bent down and rubbed her head before she could do anything. Mira just slightly turned her head and stared a hole through him. All Luke could see were wine-red eyes staring at him before he felt an overwhelming amount of killing intent directed at him. He started to feel suffocated just from the intensity of the killing intent as he couldn't breathe. Those wine-red eyes now oozed a red haze through the slits in the mask as Mira kept this pressure on him for a few seconds before turning back around.
"Let's go." Mira said as she started walking.
Luke gasped for breath.
'Fuck! How many people has Mira killed?! Thousands? Tens of Thousands?! I can't even tell! Fuck Fuck FUCK! I think I really fucked up. But to think that the little wolf actually sensed that moment of greed that I had. It wouldn't even matter now if I wanted that wolf for myself, it would never listen to me and would probably destroy half of the population in the city if Mira died! FUCK!' Luke screamed inwardly as he sped up to walk in front of them and lead them to the Battle Maiden Sect.
The Battle Maiden Sect is considered part of Lunar Fox City but isn't actually in Lunar Fox City. Each of the 5 Sects has its own territory that could actually be considered a city in its own right. Each Sect is around 100 kilometers away from Lunar Fox City and around 200 kilometers away from the other sects. The area in between is the territory that belongs to the sect. So each Sect actually has around 20000 square kilometers of territory as they own an area of 200 kilometers wide and 100 kilometers long.
Once the 5 of them made it out of the city, they ran in the direction of the Battle Maiden Sect and were able to get there by the end of the day.
When they got close to the Sect, Mira and Maria picked up Vulcan and Rhydian and they continued to walk towards the entrance. There were two guards standing by and both were female. They were also both Stage 6 Qi Condensation. One of the guards spoke up when she noticed people approaching.
"There is an entrance fee of 2 spirit stones per person. We will give you a badge that will let the people in the city know that you have paid the entrance fee, but you will have to return this badge when you leave. If you want to come back inside the city, you will have to pay the entrance fee again. Only people that live in this area or are a disciple at the sect don't have to pay the entrance fee every time. There is also a fee for any beast companions, which is 20 spirit stones per beast. We will give you a collar to put around the beast's neck to show that it is a beast companion. The same thing applies to this as well. If you are not a resident here or aren't a disciple at the Sect then you will have to return the collar when you leave and pay the entrance fee for the beast if you decide to come back. Men are not allowed to come here unless they are married to someone that lives here or there is a special occasion happening in the Sect." One of the female guards explained as everyone nodded. Mira and Maria each took out 22 Spirit Stones and Luke took out 2 Spirit Stones. Luke already knew all of this so he wasn't surprised. He was also planning to leave as soon as the Entrance Exams were over.
After the 3 of them paid, they were each given a badge that had a symbol of a female wielding a sword on it. They pinned it to their chests. Rhydian and Vulcan were each given collars that fit their necks. They were bright red collars with a golden tag hanging off of them. After they received everything, they walked into the city that surrounded the Sect.
It was quite the sight to behold as you couldn't see a single boy or man in the streets or roads of the city.
The five of them walked throughout the city in a rather quick manner. There were only a few days left until the Entrance Exam for the Sect and they wanted to find an inn that still had availability. They continued walking as Mira and Maria noticed the layout of the city that surrounded the Sect. It seemed the outer section of the city was the residential area. The inner area was the market area that had food stalls, restaurants, stores, and other miscellaneous things. The Core area is where the Sect is located and where the Disciples stay.
The 5 of them received quite a bit of looks from people as they walked around the inner region of the city looking for an inn to stay in.
They had to ask people for the locations of inns around here and had to check almost all of them before they could find a place that had two rooms available. The place they had found was just a regular inn but was located in a weird location that didn't seem easy to find. This place also accepted beast companions and was 10 spirit stones to rent a room for a week. Mira and Maria shared a room with their beast companions as Luke got his own room. Both of them went up to their room to rest and cultivate until it was time for the Entrance Exam. Mira didn't want to get into any trouble before the Exam started so she just decided to stay in the room for the next 2 days. Maria didn't want to explore the city without Mira so she reluctantly stayed inside their room as well.
***
2 days passed quickly and it was now the morning of the examination day. Mira and Maria decided to rest a bit the night before and woke up extra early so they could go to the examination site to sign up and pay the fee to attempt the exam. They had asked the front desk lady if there was anything they needed to do on exam day and she just said to get there early and they will have to pay 50 Spirit stones to attempt the Entrance Exam. She also mentioned that beast companions weren't allowed since she remembered that both of them had come in with beast companions.
They followed her advice and Mira, Maria, and Luke woke up before dawn and walked over to where the exam would be held but they left Rhydian and Vulcan in their room since beast companions weren't allowed. They were rather shocked by what they saw. There were a bunch of middle-aged women that were receiving spirit stones from hundreds of people as they allowed them to walk to the exam site. When they looked over to the exam site, they were able to see hundreds of people had already paid and entered. They quickly entered the line to pay and waited for their turn.
After a couple of hours, it soon became their turn to pay. Mira was still wearing her black mask, but there were a lot of contestants wearing masks so the middle-aged women didn't mind and just took her 50 Spirit Stones. Mira sighed a bit. She has barely been here a few days and almost 100 of her Spirit Stones were gone. She walked towards the large group of people to wait for the exam to start. There wasn't anything to do and the people around were focused and mentally preparing themselves for the Exam.
Hours went by as it was almost noon by the time they stopped accepting people for the Entrance Exam. There were now thousands of girls and women waiting for the Exam to start. Soon a powerful middle-aged woman walked to the front and started speaking.
"Welcome everyone to this year's Battle Maiden Sect's Entrance Exam!"