Chapter 381 Talent
Six days went by in a flash, and today is the day of the Battle Maiden Sect's Entrance Exam.
Tens of thousands of young women made their way toward the edge of the City where the recruitment would begin. There were women from all walks of life making their way over to where the Exam will take place. There are even a few different races, such as elves, humanoid beings with red skin, and even those who have beast characteristics.
However, those that had some characteristics of beasts were nothing like Mira. While Mira looked like a perfect union between man and beast, these women were just a bit larger, hairier, and had longer nails than an average human.
Needless to say, this just goes to show that the Battle Maiden Sect is fairly open-minded, at least on the outside.
Mira also felt this way when she made her way toward the area where the Entrance Exam would begin. It also made her realize that this world is much larger and deeper than she originally realized.
Due to her starting out in an environment like Lunar Fox City, which is pretty much isolated from the rest of the world, Mira concluded that humans must have already dominated this world.
'Well, that's also good. It'd be boring if there were only humans and beasts in the world.' Mira thought to herself as she, Maria, Celaine, and Asami walked toward their destination.
They decided to leave Dominique, Rhydian, and Vulcan back at the Royal Maiden Inn because they didn't think beast companions would be allowed, and bringing Dominique along, might welcome unwanted trouble. Not only is Dominique weak, but she is just a little girl. Who knows what might happen to her while they aren't around?
It didn't take long until they reached a large clearing near the city border.
In this clearing stood thousands upon thousands of people! Mira and the rest were stunned by the sheer amount of people that have come to try their luck at the Entrance Exam.
"Are all these people here to join the Battle Maiden Sect?" Maria muttered/
"I know, right? I thought there'd be more." Mira said calmly, and everyone looked at her weirdly.
"What do you mean, you thought there'd be more?! There are already thousands! No, perhaps there are even tens of thousands of people here!" Maria exclaimed, and Celaine and Asami both nodded in agreement.
"Look, I'm not saying it isn't a lot, but how many people live on this continent? At least several hundred million, right? Most likely, the number is in the billions! Yet, there are only tens of thousands of people here for one of the biggest Sects on the Western Continent's Entrance Exam? That doesn't seem low to you?" Mira questioned, and nobody could refute as her words made a lot of sense.
If billions of humans are on the Western Continent, doesn't that mean less than .001% of women showed up for this Entrance Exam?
However, that's when Asami decided to speak up, "Although, in theory, you're correct, it does indeed sound too low, but you have to take in several factors when making this calculation. For one, not everyone has a talent for cultivation. I don't know if you know this, but many people in this world aren't born with any meridians. And even if they are, there are tons of people who are barely able to sense Qi, along with other problems that prevent them from cultivating. That's why there are countless villages full of people who haven't even made it to the Qi Condensation Realm."
"Just the number of people who have incredibly poor talent is immense, but even for those who can cultivate without too much trouble and have decent talent, they are probably already struggling to advance in their own small cities, clans, Sects, or whatever. Just those two reasons alone probably take up the majority of people. Then, there's also the trip here to Snow Maiden City. I'm sure you already know this, but the world is a dangerous place, and anything can happen. Unless you have money, status, strength, or are incredibly lucky, just making it here alive is hard enough."
"You also have to remember that this is a girls-only Sect. Just that alone reduces the number of applicants by at least half simply because they don't accept the opposite gender. Then there's the other Sects, Clans, Families, etc-"
Suddenly, Mira cut off Asami, "Alright. I get it. I guess I underestimated how many people couldn't cultivate. I always figured that every human could cultivate."
Maria also chimed in, "That's what I thought too! Now that I think about it, I always hear people talking about talent, but what exactly defines one's talent?"
Mira and Celaine were also curious about this and waited for Asami to answer.
Asami pondered for a few seconds before saying, "In essence, one's talent is generally defined by how fast you can absorb and refine Qi. However, this is determined by many factors. For example, if you can't even sense Qi, then you'll never be able to step onto the path of cultivation, no matter how good your body is. Though usually, to determine one's talent, we would look at how well your body can take in Qi, how much Qi can flow through your meridians, your ability to sense Qi, how quickly you can refine this Qi and make it your own, and how much Qi can actually be stored in your body and/or Core."
Hearing this, Mira thought about how her new body has so many meridians that she could barely count how many there are. Not only that, but her meridians are extremely durable after being laced with Chaotic Silk. Wouldn't just these two things make her the most talented person in the Mortal Realm? That's not even counting everything else that boosts her talent!
"I see. How interesting." Mira muttered but soon stopped thinking about it. Maria and Celaine also didn't think much about it, though they did feel that trying to determine one's talent seemed quite difficult as so many factors go into it.
After that, Mira and the others stayed silent, waiting for the Entrance Exam to start.
Soon, an hour went by, and the clearing they were in was now full of people. Some people gave Mira strange looks, but they were too busy mentally preparing that they didn't spare Mira more than a glance.
Suddenly, a loud and authoritative voice covered the area.
"Welcome to the Battle Maiden Sect's triennial Disciple Recruitment…!"