Tiana had lost the Eclipse Battleground's Tournament in the semi-finals.

The tournament had ended, and the Sixth Prince attained victory in the finals. The audience felt that it was as expected, and some even mentioned that the tournament was fixed.

The rumor that the tournament was fixed began because Tiana hadn't used that mysterious energy in her battle against the sixth prince. And some people thought that she ran out of Ardor too soon.

If she used that mysterious energy, they felt that Tiana could have definitely won against the Sixth Prince. She could have very well won the tournament!

Tiana was pretty satisfied as she had received the Sixth Prince's medallion. This could allow her to form a connection with a Royal Family.

Azaroth had informed her to look for a way to build connections with the Royal Family. This could be considered the first step in that direction..historical

The reward for being in the top eight was not that good. They gave some spirit coins, pellets and allowed Tiana to choose between a treasure or a weapon.

Tiana chose a treasure without any hesitation. Thus, they handed her a couple of necklaces of Ice Beads that enhanced her Ice Element even further and increased her resistance to other elements.

Also, if she was cornered, she could break the beads of this necklace and receive strong Icy Ardor within her body. With that Ardor, she could easily defeat her opponent.

After receiving their respective rewards, they went to Qadville City and roamed in the city.

Christina was busy as she had to meet up with her Sect Elders and her fellow sect disciples. They were discussing when they should depart from this city.

However, Christina promised to meet Tiana in the evening.

Around this time, Tiana was alone. She decided that it was time she focused on her primary objective.

She pulled out her list and began to search for the warriors on her list. The warriors on the list were all women possessing Ice Physique.

They all belonged to different sects, and she was planning to poach them from their respective sects.

Till the evening time, she met up with 9 out of 17 women. They all agreed to her proposal.

They were actually excited to hear that Tiana wanted to recruit them. They had witnessed her battles, and since they possessed Ice Ardor as well, they knew how extraordinary she was.

They had more or less become her loyal fans who wanted to follow Tiana. Now that they even received an offer from Tiana.

However, despite their excitement, they couldn't just shout out that they would follow Tiana. After all, they belonged to different sects. And if they all left like this, their families at home might suffer.

They informed Tiana of these facts. Tiana said after a few seconds of thought, "Okay, how about we take a trip to each of your hometowns? We will take them along with us and then settle in a city near my sect. In this manner, they won't easily disturb your training, and you can meet them whenever you are free."

"Amazing! We can take our families along!" A few women were quite excited by this offer.

Their previous sects had been a bit too far away from their hometown or families. However, beggars can't be choosers. They had to be satisfied with whatever they received.

"What if our old sects pursue us?" A woman asked this question.

Tiana smiled and responded to her, "Let me and my master worry about that. I can assure you that they would never reach you or your family."

"Woah! I agree to join you, Miss Tiana!" A woman among them spoke eagerly.

After a couple of hours of talking to these women, Tiana went to meet up with Christina. They had already decided on a meeting spot.

When Tiana reached that meeting spot, she noticed that Christina was seated there, waiting for her.

She was gazing at the sunset occurring just in front of her eyes.

Soon, Tiana arrived and spoke out, "Did I make you wait?"

Christina nodded her head and pouted, "I was waiting for an entire hour! You don't have any notion of punctuality, do you?"

Tiana sweatdropped at those words as she spoke, "I don't want to hear the word punctuality from you. Why would you arrive before the specified timing?"

Christina suddenly jumped towards Tiana and hugged her tightly. Before Tiana could ask why she was doing this, Christina whispered near her ears, "I will be leaving soon. I just wanted to meet you one last time before returning to my sect. I don't know when we will meet again, but I promise that I will always consider you my best friend, Tiana."

"Mhm~!" Tiana softly sounded, "You will always be my good friend as well, Christina. I loved spending my time with you. It was relaxing, exciting, and fun."

"Let's promise to meet each other in the future!" Christina spoke as she released Tiana from her tight hug.

"En!" Tiana nodded her head in affirmation.

The two soon parted as Christina met up with her fellow sect disciples while Tiana remained at that position.

She felt a bit empty after Christina's departure. She had become more emotionally attached to Christina than she expected.

A bitter smile was on her face as she thought 'I need to get used to this empty feeling. I can't allow this feeling to weigh me down like this,'

Meanwhile, Christina felt like crying as she ran towards her group. She was feeling the loneliness that seemed to swallow her whole.

Even as she returned to her group, this feeling of loneliness didn't go away. These people were her fellow comrades, but they weren't her friends.

They couldn't even hold a proper conversation with her.

Her comrades from the sect also didn't try to talk to her. It wasn't their fault, actually. They opted to leave Christina alone after noticing her troubled expression and the aura she exuded, which suggested she wasn't in the mood to talk to anyone.

They soon departed for the Black Lake Sect.

It was in the opposite direction to the Arctic Summit. Thus, the distance between Christina and Tiana was quite wide.

While Christina was returning to her sect, Tiana talked to a couple of ladies more and invited them to her sect.

Unfortunately, these women rejected her offer.

Tiana remained calm in the face of this rejection. She knew that they must have their own reasons for rejecting her offer. She was already satisfied that she recruited 10 more women for the Sacred Ice Aurora Valley Sect.

She soon decided to contact Azaroth and inform him about how her day went.

Azaroth was indeed a bit startled to hear that the Sixth Prince had given his medallion to Tiana. Tiana had managed to form a connection with the Sixth Prince. Azaroth noted down this fact as he felt that it might be useful in the future.

Tiana further informed him that she recruited ten more disciples for the Sacred Ice Aurora Valley Sect.

She was having their families settle up in the nearest city to the sect.

Azaroth was satisfied with her way of handling things. The expense of these families wouldn't amount to much. The women would remain emotionally stable since their families would be in the distance they could travel to within a day.

"Don't allow their families to step into the sect. Also, don't tolerate any unruly behavior from them. If you tolerate it once, you will need to tolerate it again. Make them understand that this is no republic or democracy. You are the sole leader of this sect!" Azaroth spoke seriously.

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A/N: I hope you like the novel. Vote for the novel.