Immortal Ice Empress: Path to Vengeance

Mira woke up after a good night's rest and found herself sandwiched between 2 things. Rhydian is obviously the one curled up in a ball in her arms, but why was there another being behind her? Mira turned around and saw Dominique cuddling into her back with a happy smile on her face as she kept on sleeping. Mira didn't really know what to think of this. Normally, she'd just kick her off and tell her not to do this again, but there was a small part of her that felt like this child needed at least this much. Mira could see the love and happiness from that smile Dominique had and she felt a little bitter thinking about ruining that pure and honest smile. Maria also looks like this all of the time, but she's an adult that is just way too positive about everything.

'I guess I can do this much for someone that I took in to teach. It's not like it affects me in any way and I'll probably be spending my nights cultivating or doing other things rather than sleeping.' Mira thought to herself before getting up from her bed and waking up both Rhydian and Dominique.

Rhydian just hopped off the bed and looked at Mira while Dominique slowly opened her eyes and yawned.

"Stay in this place while Maria and I are gone today. I need to make sure it's okay for you to stay here. Also, don't play with Rhydian here. She can't control her power right now and might accidentally kill you. Vulcan, the little red fox is fine for you to pet or play with if you want. When I come back, I will start explaining to you the cultivation world and how I'll be training you to become a cultivator. But first, you are too skinny and weak to even think about training. You are quite literally skin and bones. So before you can even think about training, I will fatten you up a bit. I will leave a bunch of my rations here for you to eat and that's all you need to focus on today." Mira explained to Dominique as she placed a bunch of her leftover rations in the room.

"Okay! I will do my best to gain weight so I can start training!" Dominique said with excitement. Mira just rubbed her forehead as it doesn't really work that way, but just sighed because she didn't feel like explaining it. She just nodded her head and left the room. She found Maria also leaving her bedroom at the same time. Maria gave a big smile towards Mira greeted her.

"Good Morning, Mira! Are you ready?" Maria exclaimed and Mira just nodded like she usually does.

"Let's go." Mira said as both of them left the building and went towards that large hall they were at yesterday. Today, Elder Kendra would be giving them a tour of the Sect. After making it to the hall, they had to wait a couple more minutes for the rest of the new Disciples to trickle in, but after they all gathered Elder Kendra stood up in front of them.

"Alright new Disciples! Today I will be showing you around the Sect along with handing out a few things that will be necessary later on! Please follow me as I show you around the Sect and explain what all of the different areas are meant for." Elder Kendra announced as she walked out of the hall. Everyone followed her as well and she began to speak about some of the specifics of the Sect.

"First of all, I'd like to start off with what our Sect offers. So we have Elders that can teach you about Arrays, Inscriptions, Alchemy, Forging, Magical Beasts, and Fighting. Most of the Elders here use either a sword or spear though so keep that in mind. We do have monthly public classes that you can show up for, but if you actually want to learn more in one of these areas then you will need to find yourself someone to teach you, or go to the library and try to learn by yourself. But other than magical beasts, learning about the other 5 things is much more difficult by yourself. Also, it is up to the Elder's discretion whether they want to teach you or not. So keep that in mind. Each of these arts has its own designated area in the Sect, so let's start off with that first." The Elder said as she brought them to the 6 different areas that are designated for the Array, Inscription, Alchemy, Forging, Magical Beasts, and Fighting Elders. Each area looked extremely similar and was all fairly close to each other. Only the fighting area seemed to be located in a different area as it was closer to the arenas. This is also the last of the 6 places Elder Kendra showed.

"Now I'll talk a bit about the training grounds, sparring, and battling. We have multiple training grounds here that are meant for strengthening the body. We have a total of 10 training grounds. Each training ground has an array surrounding it that applies pressure to the people inside of it. Our Forge Masters have also made special weights for you all to use to make your body stronger. Though this process is a bit slower, Body Tempering Pills don't grow on trees and this is a great alternative. The pressure and weight of everything increase with every training ground. So Training Ground 1 is the easiest and generally for people who just entered the Qi Condensation Realm. While Training Grounds 7, 8, 9, and 10 are all for people in the Foundation Realm. This type of training doesn't usually work for people in the Core Formation Realm, as their bodies cannot even be compared to someone in the Foundation Realm." Elder Kendra said as she showed them the Training Grounds. They were nothing special, just large open spaces with different items like bracelets, leg bracelets, chest weights, and things that looked like dumbbells. They could also feel that the pressure drastically increased with each subsequent training ground.

"We also have several sparring rooms for you to spar with other disciples. There are both closed sparring rooms that have to be reserved and open sparring rooms that are open to everyone. The private rooms are for people who don't want to be watched, but if you don't care about this then that's what the open sparring rooms are for. We also sometimes hold classes in the open sparring rooms as well." The Elder showed them around the sparring rooms, but these were also nothing special and were essentially just large rooms with sturdier floors and walls than some of the other buildings.

"You saw this one before, but we also have an arena. This is what your tournament was held in and also where we host official matches between disciples. This is also part of how disciples can increase their status and move up to Inner or Core Disciple as well. Each Disciple in the Sect has a ranking. This is also split between Outer, Inner, and Core Disciples. Outer Disciples need at least 25 wins and must be placed in the Top 5 to qualify to challenge in Inner Disciple. An Outer Disciple may only challenge the 5 lowest-ranked Inner Disciples as well. Inner Disciples need at least 10 wins and Top 3 to qualify to challenge a Core Disciple. They must also only choose the 3 lowest Core Disciples to challenge. Core Disciples don't necessarily need to fight, but not being in the lowest 3 is probably a good idea so you don't constantly get challenged. We also have special benefits for the Top 3 Core Disciples. You will have access to better cultivation environments, you can choose between more Weapon or Elemental Arts, you will also get the first chance for any lucky encounters we find or have for you, and some other miscellaneous things. You can only challenge those that have a higher rank than you. If you are a higher rank than someone then you can't challenge someone below you. Also, if you lose a match then you will be given a grace period of 1 week afterward. But if you challenge someone during this 1 week, then your grace period ends. And before you start asking questions of what if you are already in the Top 10, but have less than 25 how are you supposed to reach 25 wins on top of reaching the Top 5? This is where the battle tower comes into play." Elder Kendra then started leading them to a location that has 3 large black towers located there.

"The Battle Tower is exactly what the name implies. There are 3 towers, one for each disciple status. There are 100 floors to each Battle Tower. Each floor in the tower contains illusory magical beasts that get progressively harder in the rank of the beast, the quantity of the beasts, and the quality of the beast. Each Disciple that participates in the Tower is also given a ranking. If you are an Outer Disciple and you rank in the Top 5 in the Battle Tower then you can challenge someone in the Top 5 at the arena. Then you can challenge an Inner Disciple even if you don't have 25 wins. This also goes for Inner and Core Disciples as well. But don't think this is the easy way out because if someone is skilled enough to make it into the Top 5 of the Battle Tower then they are most likely skilled enough to beat anyone below the Top 5 as well. We have bracelets that keep track of your Battle Tower Ranking, Arena Ranking, and Sect Points. But I will get to Sect Points a bit later. But I'll hand out the bracelets now. Just drop some of our blood onto it and the bracelet will bind to you." Elder Kendra said as she handed out the bracelets to everyone. They all pricked a finger and dropped some of their blood onto the bracelet. After the bracelet bound to them, it showed 3 things on the bracelet.

[BT: - AR: - SP: 0]

It didn't take a genius to figure out what these abbreviations meant. BT means Battle Tower, AR means Arena, and SP means Sect Points. They all put on their bracelets and Elder Kendra continued walking around the Sect.

"There's not much left to explain about the Sect other than a few things. First I will just show you where our library is. Our Library contains all of the books or scrolls that we have and are open for you to read or examine. Though the material in the Library is restricted by Disciple Status and is separated into 5 floors. The first 2 floors are for Outer Disciples and above, floor 3 is for Inner Disciples and above, and floor 4 is reserved only for Core Disciples. Floor 5 is strictly for Elders and has a barrier around it that prevents anyone that isn't an Elder to enter. You have to read the material at the library and can't take it home with you. It also costs Sect Points to enter the library." Elder Kendra just showed them where the library is but didn't enter inside the building.

"There are only 2 more major things to point out and after that, you will be free to do whatever you want. The first thing I'll bring up is the Mission Hall. The Mission Hall is one of the ways for you to earn Sect Points. Some missions are posted by the Elders here, some are posted by the Disciples themselves, some are given to us by people who want to commission someone here to work, and some missions are actually given to us by the Main Sect. Every mission you take and complete will give you Sect Points. The Sect Points are determined by the Elders at the Mission Hall and then posted along with the reward that the client is also giving in return for the job. We take a small cut of the reward unless it's not something that can be split. Then we will just reduce the number of Sect Points to make up for the loss. And no, you can't just post a mission to pick flowers and get Sect Points for this. The missions are verified by the Elders here. Disciples can also post a mission to look for a sparring partner and maybe they are willing to give up some of their Sect Points to hire a sparring partner. This is a valid Disciple mission. Other ways of earning Sect Points are doing something or giving something beneficial to the Sect. We will discuss payment and Sect Points based on your contribution. There are also other ways of earning Sect Points, but these are the main ways. Now, I'm sure you're all wondering what Sect Points can be used for. Let me show you the last thing for today, the Treasure Hall." Elder Kendra then led them to where the Treasure Hall is and stopped right in front of a large building that seemed to have many layers of protection around it and a powerful Elder inside.

"The Treasure Hall is a place that holds all of our treasures that are available to you. We have weapons, different weapon and elemental arts, Elemental Essences, lots of materials, armor, clothes, pills, Spirit Stones, and even tokens to allow entry into our Cultivation Caves. We have pills that range from Rank 1 to Rank 6, weapons and arts from Human-Grade to Earth-Grade, robes that are similar to armor or regular metal armor. Anything you could possibly want is in the Treasure Hall, but these things also come at a price. You can't just walk in and grab a Rank 6 pill to buy. The items in the Treasure Hall are restricted by Disciple Status along with costing an equal amount of Sect Points. There is a reason I saved this for last as well. I will now take Nisha, Audra, and Maria into the Treasure Hall to pick out the weapons that I said you will receive for your performance during the tournament." The Elder announced as the 3 of them immediately dashed up to the front and followed Elder Kendra in.

The rest of them waited for around 20 minutes or so before the Elder came back out with the 3 of them. Maria, Audra, and Nisha all had big smiles on their faces as they were able to upgrade their weapons. Audra grabbed her Late-Stage Mortal-Grade Spear. It had a strong yet flexible wood for the pole of the spear with a spearhead made out of some kind of black metal. Nisha's dagger's blades were also made out of the same black metal, but the handle seemed to be made out of sturdy white wood wrapped in tan leather. Maria's new Peak-Stage Mortal-Grade sword had a shade of gold that came off of the blade along with silver metal. The grip seemed to be made out of the same metal and wrapped in black leather. They were all beautiful weapons. The three of them stored their weapons and returned back to the group. The other disciples just looked at them with a bit of envy and looked forward to the day they would get such a weapon.

"This concludes just about everything you need to know about the Sect. We don't have restaurants inside the Sect since we want to help support the people that live in the city surrounding the Sect. Feel free to look around the Sect on your own or go back to your rooms and prepare for the next day. We will be announcing your entry into the Sect along with some other news tomorrow, so please be sure you come to the same hall we've been meeting in tomorrow. Welcome to the Battle Maiden Sect!" The Elder finished as the disciples cheered. They then started to go their separate ways, but Mira and Maria stayed behind to discuss one more thing with the Elder. Elder Kendra seemed to be expecting this and walked up to the two of them after everyone left.

"Is there something else you'd like to discuss?" Elder Kendra asked curiously. Mira nodded at this.

"I forgot to mention yesterday that I'm taking care of that blue-haired child. I'm just asking for permission for her to stay with me. She will not be part of the Sect and I don't want her to be getting any benefits from the Sect as well. The only problem will be our living quarters as she will be receiving the benefit of living in a place reserved for Core Disciples. Just think of her as my servant if you will." Mira said promptly and the Elder just lifted her chin curiously and thought about this for a second.

"I don't really have a problem with her staying here. Just know that she will get nothing from the Sect and will be your responsibility. If she causes trouble, it's your job to clean it up not the Sects. But other than that, there shouldn't be a problem. You are going to be doing the Sect a big favor that this is just a trivial matter." Elder Kendra said with a smile and Mira just nodded and walked away with Maria. Elder Kendra sighed heavily after she left.

'Every time I talk with her, I'm tenser than when I talk with the Sect Master. What a terrifying little girl.' She thought to herself and walked off.

Mira and Maria went back to their residence and Mira immediately approached Dominique, who was currently stuffing her face with food while holding Vulcan in her arms.

"It's time to teach you a bit about the cultivation world."