Immortal Ice Empress: Path to Vengeance

After Mira, Maria, and Asami entered the Outer Court, they immediately found themselves standing in front of a large courtyard. This courtyard wasn't anything special and was essentially just a large open field with a large ancient building sitting at the end of it.

They assumed that this was the place for those who had successfully passed the Entrance Exam would wait, so they made their way near the ancient building and took a seat.

The three of them didn't say anything for a few minutes, but Maria finally couldn't hold back her curiosity.

"Why did you say all that at the end there? Was it really just to motivate them to get stronger, or were you just bored and felt like bullying them a bit?"

Mira was quiet for a few seconds as she, too, wasn't entirely sure why she did what she did. Normally, she wouldn't care about other people like that, and while she hasn't had a change of heart, she definitely did something a bit out of character.

It wasn't until she finally gathered her thoughts did she answer Maria, "I think… I just don't want people in the same Sect as me to be useless canon fodder. If I'm going to join a Sect, then I want those around me to all be phoenixes among women! How could I join a Sect where the majority of people in it are useless?! From what I saw just now, those people are all useless! Only with proper motivation can they find the drive to turn into something, and if all it takes is a few beatings and a few words to fuel that drive, then I might as well do something. As for what happens after that… that has nothing to do with me."

"I see," Maria nodded her head in understanding. Something similar happened outside of Lunar Fox City in the Branch Sect, though that was mainly because Mira was paid for her services. Still, Mira put her all into training those young disciples, something she didn't necessarily need to do.

On the other hand, Asami was a bit confused by Mira's words as she had no idea why Mira felt so passionate about this, but she just chalked it up to one of Mira's quirks and stopped thinking about it.

Furthermore, she still felt a little uncomfortable hanging around Mira, especially with Maria latched onto her arm.

The two kept chatting for a little while, and soon an hour passed. Over the last hour, more and more people trickled into the courtyard, most of them filled with injuries. These people also noticed Mira and stared her down with eyes full of anger.

Of course, Mira didn't care about them and kept chatting with Maria.

Once the 24-hour mark was reached, the courtyard was surprisingly filled with thousands of people. Mira noticed many familiar faces, or more particularly the bruises that her tails left, and knew that they must've worked hard fighting other participants to collect a token and make their way back up the mountain to pass the Entrance Exam successfully.

This caused Mira's opinion of them to rise slightly as she realized they might not be as useless as she thought they'd be.

Mira also noticed the auburn-haired girl, who she never got the name of, somewhere within the crowd, but she wasn't too surprised. That girl was a talent that would've been able to dominate this year's Entrance Exam if it weren't for Mira and Maria.

Immediately after the 24 hours was up, Elder Sandra sent away everyone who hadn't made it into the courtyard yet and placed them off the mountain. Then she appeared in the sky above the ancient building along with Celaine.

Many were confused to see Elder Sandra appear with a Core Formation girl, while others recognized Celaine and were incensed, but by now, they understood Ender Sandra's temper and didn't say anything lest they get kicked out of the Sect right after entering it.

Elder Sandra looked down at the disciples who passed the Entrance Exam with a satisfied smile and said, "Congratulations to you all for passing this year's Entrance Exam and entering the Battle Maiden Sect. Although this year we may have had some… unique participants, it seems you all have learned or gained something through this experience. I hope that you all can use this experience to learn and grow, but enough about that."

"Now that you all have successfully entered the Battle Maiden Sect and are now Outer Court disciples allow me to give you a brief understanding of what your life here in the Outer Court is going to be like. For one, you will have a quota of missions you must complete a month. The quota is generally four missions per month or one per week, but this also depends on the difficulty of the mission."

"Your ranking within the Outer Court is partially decided by the number and/or difficulty of the missions you take. What is this ranking, you may ask? Well, this ranking is essentially there to show the Sect who among you has the highest potential, works the hardest, and is the strongest. In order to become an Inner Court disciple, other than being in the Nascent Soul Realm, you'll have to be high up on the ranking list."

"As for those who are at the bottom of the ranking…" Elder Sandra paused, then said in a menacing tone that made the disciples gulp, "You'll be kicked out of the Sect! We don't need useless wastes taking away resources from those who are actually trying."

"Of course, occasionally there are exceptions, so if we see you all working hard and doing your best, then we'll talk to you and try and work something out, but that's only if you are trying your best! You have no place here if we see you aren't doing your best and will be kicked out!"

"Other than that, here at the Outer Court, we also require disciples to take on a side profession. Although our main focus is to train warriors, we aren't a Sect full of brutes. Every disciple here should be capable of providing for not only yourself but the Sect as well. Don't worry, even if you are trash at side occupations, we can always use assistants. However, your ranking can also change based on your side occupation results."

"Alright! That's all I feel like explaining to you for now. You'll have to figure out more about the Outer Court itself."

Elder Sandra paused before taking out thousands of white robes and medallions and dropping them in front of each disciple in the courtyard.

"Here are your Sect Robes and Sect Medallion. You should keep these with you at all times within the Sect as they are proof that you're a disciple of the Battle Maiden Sect. Now that all that's out of the way, it's time to move on to the last thing before I let you go. Your residences."

"This may come as a surprise to some of you, but we don't actually have any buildings for you to stay in. Here at the Outer Court, you have to find and build your own home. You can make a house, live in a cave, or live underground. It doesn't matter. As long as you report your residence and its location to the Sect, we don't care where or how you live."

"I think that's about it… Oh! One last thing. Go to the Mission Hall sometime this week to collect your first mission. You have this entire week off to settle your affairs, create a residence, and learn a bit more about the Outer Court, but after this week, you'll have to begin taking missions. Alright, that's about it. All of you may go, and once again… Congratulations, and welcome to the Battle Maiden Sect!"

Many of the new disciples felt their lips twitch listening to Elder Sandra, but there was nothing they could do. They could only listen to her half-hearted explanations and leave this courtyard to figure out more about the Outer Court.

However, there were ten people who weren't moving as they heard Elder Sandra's voice in their head telling them to stay.

***

Thank you, @ArchThrene, for the 5000 coin gift. Here's a bonus chapter for you guys!