Everybody woke up the next morning and went back to the courtyard for more training. Mira had spent the whole night providing her energy, lightning, and blood to the beast egg, but there were still no signs that it may hatch soon. Mira was seriously wondering what to do as she didn't know if it was supposed to take this long or maybe the beast is just that strong. Mira shook these thoughts out of her head and made her way to the courtyard. She felt a couple of stares on her as she walked through the courtyard but just ignored them.
She then began training them in unarmed combat like she has been for the past week. Mira sparred with Maria, Cole, and Erika along with a couple of other people that she would randomly pick out from the group. At the end of the training, Mira had an announcement for everybody.
"It seems that everybody is able to use the techniques I showed you. While I can't say that you are at the level of amateurs, at least you aren't dead weight. Starting from tomorrow, onwards we will have a tournament every day. Now with so many people, it would take way too long for it to finish. So you all will split up into 5 groups and those 5 groups will spar with each other. The winners of each group will then spar with each other to determine the winner. The people overseeing the groups will be Me, Maria, Cole, Erika, and Vulcan. Cole and Erika will spar with the 5 people leftover. I will not hand out rewards for the winner as that is the purpose of the trial you are going to, but the people not in the top 5, excluding Erika and Cole as they have other things to do, will have to fight in a 1 vs All fight with me after training is done. I do hope that you can keep me entertained for at least a little bit." Mira announced and then walked away as she went to provide more energy and blood to her beast egg.
Everybody spent the rest of the day doing their own thing as a lot of people kept practicing the martial arts that Mira was teaching. Many people found it fascinating and a great stress reliever. Now that there was a tournament, the women started to put in more effort as even the 2 boys that joined in on the training were spending a lot of their free time trying to improve this style of combat.
The next day started and so did the tournament. It wasn't anything official and the girls here were generally trustworthy with who won and who lost so there wasn't much of a reason to watch over them other than them knowing that someone is watching. Mira had each group have 5 pairs sparring with each other at a time as a result of this. This sped up the process by quite a bit.
Soon, the winners from each group were decided, and the sparring for the top 5 began. If Erika and Cole didn't place in the top 5 then none of the women would have to join in on a 1 vs All fight with Mira and no matter what, only a total of 2 women would have to join in on the fight. The women that had reached this point fought with all of their heart, as they really didn't want to fight Mira. Even if she was against all of them, nobody here knew unarmed combat, hell even just general combat as much as her. Cole and Erika weren't expecting them to be going all out like this and had actually lost and got 6th and 7th place. Of course, since they were much stronger than the other, Mira gave the women a bit more of an advantage as they didn't need to knock them out. They only needed to get 5 clean hits in before Cole and Erika lost.
Afterward, Mira gathered all of the losers and had a 1 vs All fight with them. Of course, it was in unarmed combat and not regular fighting or sparring. Even so, Mira still wiped the floor with them. The girls tried to surround her, but it didn't matter because Mira could take each of them down in a single hit. She just stormed through one side before beginning to destroy the rest of the girls. Mira could've defeated them in a single hit, but chose not to. She wanted them to suffer just a little and would often use them as a shield, throw them around or knock them unconscious and use them as a weapon. It was a rather violent and brutal scene as everyone ended with bruises all their bodies and some minor fractures. This was proof, not just of how much stronger Mira is, but her experience in battles as well. These women haven't been able to fight to the death with other people and only with magical beasts. Humans fight much differently than magical beasts.
"What a pathetic display. You had no strategy and just rushed at me. And to think I saw potential in you being a unified group. I expect better performances tomorrow." Mira said as she looked down on all of them and left.
Mira repeated what she did yesterday as she continued to provide sustenance to her egg.
The days and weeks went by similarly. There was a tournament every day and sometimes there were 2 tournaments in a day. Mira would spar with anyone that wasn't in the Top 5 and she would find out if Cole and Erika had something to do after training. If they had nothing, then she would force them to fight in the 1 vs All fight afterward. Mira also tortur-*Ahem* sparred with Maria a lot as well. Maria was incredibly bad at fighting without a weapon. Mira remembered when she was tragically awful with the sword and sighed. Maria sucked at being a cultivator in her opinion, but then again Maria always had a smile on her face like there wasn't a care in the world. Mira then felt like Maria might die at some point in the future due to her carefree attitude and carelessness. So Mira started to train her harder in martial arts. She's already come this far with Maria. The only way for her to have someone to join her at the peak is to forge one herself. She will torture Maria, train her in everything she knows, and increase her battle prowess as much as she possibly can. Mira realized that she would rather not see Maria die, especially not after years of training and effort. If Maria dies, then fuck friends, fuck trying to have someone join her at the top, Mira will just have to accept that being alone is just her destiny.
Mira was thinking about this as they were sparring, well Maria was just getting beaten up. After their training, Mira talked to Maria a bit.
"Maria, why do you want to follow me? Why do you try so hard to be my friend? You do know that you will have to perform unspeakable acts in the future if you want to follow me. I will not allow you to just sit on the sidelines and watch." Mira asked as Maria was a bit stunned by the question.
"I don't really know how to answer that. I just get the feeling that I will not regret following you. And look! So far I've been right! I've gotten so much stronger and so many benefits just from following you. As far as me trying to be your friend, I feel like even though I am the complete opposite of you, you are able to keep me in line and lead me in the right direction. I'm not the smartest person and I don't always make the best decisions. I don't know a lot about the world and am ignorant about a lot of things. I'm also naturally lazy and hate pain or training even though I know it's necessary to get stronger. You can assist me with this and all I have to do is be myself around you! OH! But you also get something as well. You are a terrible person and hate just about everything other than fighting, training, and killing. I can help you become a better person since that's something that I'm good at! Though you don't really listen to me, but if you did then that's what I can give to you." Maria said with a smile on her face.
"I see." That's all Mira said back. That was probably the dumbest thing she's ever heard, but at least Maria was sincere about her thoughts. Mira only wished that Maria didn't suck at anything regarding combat. She has to spend way too damn long trying to get it through that thick skull of hers. Both of them could be utilizing their time better if she just understood things faster. It was like there was still a small child where her brain should be, but even a small child might have better comprehension skills compared to her. Mira just sighed at that idiotic answer and walked back to her room to continue providing energy to her egg.
After a full month of training and sparring in martial arts, the group Mira was training had finally gained her approval as a bunch of amateurs. This doesn't mean that they are as good as amateurs in worlds without cultivation. No, those people are much better than this lot that Mira is training. She is calling them amateurs in her own right. They know just enough to be able to embark on the path of martial arts even though most probably won't use it in the future unless they need to. All they really know how to do is dodge, deflect, and attack properly and barely know the styles that she taught as they can't just be learned and mastered in a month.
"Today marks that day that the training ends. You should have the knowledge and skill to be able to pass the stage in the trial as long as you use your brain a bit. I'm calling you amateurs, but you lot don't even deserve that title. I've only taught you to attack and defend properly as the path of unarmed combat is not something that can be learned and mastered in a single month. I will now give you some knowledge about the trial. The first half will take around 10-11 months if you are able to pass every stage. You will mostly be killing magical beasts in there, but they disappear when killed. Since you are all in the Qi Condensation Stage, then eating isn't that necessary anymore as your bodies are nourished with Qi. Even though that's the case, eating is still plenty beneficial to you and can even be a great stress reliever. If you want food to eat, then you better prepare that beforehand as you will only be able to eat the monsters you kill in the 1st stage. When you reach the halfway point, you should be gifted a ring that has a bunch of rations in it. If you don't have a space ring or can't afford one, then you might just have to wait until the halfway point to eat. Though it's not likely that you will have time to eat during these stages. The next half of the trial will also take a minimum of a year with up to a few months added onto that depending on how fast you clear the trials. You will have food with you by this point, so feel free to eat whenever you can. The trials are brutal and unrelenting, but if you stick with it all the way then the benefits are massive. As for you 500 women. I expect all of you to pass the trial. You will be alone for 2 years, but use this time to create a sense of uniqueness in you and your fighting style. If you all complete the trial, then your bonds with each other may grow as well even though you will be alone for it all. Just know that you will have a very difficult time in the first half of the trial. If you can receive all of the benefits from the first half then the second half will be much easier for you, but if you can't receive the benefits to their max potential then you will have a much harder time. I will come back in 2 years to guide you back to the city or wherever I currently am. By then, I will tell you what you should do next. Now go get ready! We set out tomorrow morning! Feel free to bring all of your stuff with you!" Mira said as the 500 women got down on one knee and yelled.
"Yes, Miss Mira!!" They yelled this at the same time as Mira nodded and left.
Everyone then began to prepare for the next 2 years of their life as even Erika and Cole were going as well. They had already made prior arrangements with people they trust, as well as the previous head of the Family to watch over the family in their absence as they go get stronger over the next 2 years. Maria also felt a bit of melancholy when she saw her parents preparing to leave.
Mira didn't care about any of this and just continued to provide energy and blood to the egg until morning came.
