The rest of the day was just as incredible. She had just eaten the best meal since coming to this world.

  So food from this world really can be delicious after all. Although I think I still prefer fast food over elegant and exquisite cuisine.

  The food was a bit like that served in very expensive restaurants, where small portions are served. Here, the portions were larger, but the taste was unexpected and too exotic for her liking.

  After dinner, they spent some time doing other fun stuff. The place had a sauna and something like a fancy old-school pool, and she was really enjoying herself. She chatted with Senlin for a while before going to bed.

  The next day started early, which was quite annoying for her because she had been hoping to get a good night's sleep. However, they hadn't come there just to eat and have fun.

  Everyone gathered in the dining room to eat breakfast. It was just as exquisite as yesterday's dinner. Finally, the owner of the house appeared.

  “I'll now explain to you how the day will proceed, ” he said calmly. He seemed quite cheerful.

  “First, you need to change your clothes and make yourselves presentable. I have assigned maids to you who will explain all the basics of how you should behave, what you can do, and what you cannot do,” he said.

  It made sense, given that many important figures from the Eastern Outer Court would be attending the event. Not all of them came from the upper classes, and not all of them necessarily knew how to behave. However, most of them came from important cultivator families. People like May were the exception.

  "The first celebration will start around 3:00 p.m., you don't have to do anything there. You can have fun and drink, but if someone talks to you, you should behave with the utmost respect. The main event that should interest you will start around 6:00 p.m., then we will go to the western part of the building where a small tournament will take place."

  The man stood up from the table and gestured with his hand for everyone to follow him. Everyone began to get up from the table and follow him.

  He led them to the place where the main event would take place. It resembled a small Colosseum, except that it was open to the open air. It was made of white marble and had several hundred seats facing down onto a kind of arena.

  So that's where we'll have to fight. Strange. Wouldn't it be better to wait until we have more combat experience? After all, we've only just started learning, and hardly anyone has mastered the basics yet.

  “You may or may not know this, but the main purpose of this event is to present yourselves in the best possible light. There will be many important guests here. When you finish school, you will need jobs, and this is your best opportunity to stand out from your peers.”

  “Wait, so this event isn't just about having fun?” asked a boy.

  "Ha ha ha, of course not. Every successful business needs a cultivator. However, there are many cultivators, but few are good enough to help a company. If you present yourself well, you will have the opportunity to gain valuable resources that will help you cultivate your skills if you place well in the tournament. These are prizes from our partners. Some may also offer you financial support for the duration of your studies at the Academy in return for you working for them after you finish your education. This is an extraordinary opportunity."

  Most people had to find some kind of work after finishing their education. Few could focus solely on cultivation. This was only possible for members of the Inner Court.

  At the Eastern Outer Court, almost no one ever got to become inner member of Sect. That's why finding a good employer was desirable. May, however, wasn't interested because she was confident that she could get into the Inner Court and become a direct member.

  For others, however, it was a great opportunity.

  “What are the prizes?” Jun Chen asked.

  “The prize for first place is a Scarlet Pill of the Lesser Heaven.”

  Most people gasped in shock, those who didn’t react did so because they didn’t know what the pill was. May also wasn’t sure what it was, so she decided to use the system to find out.

  Finally, she understood why so many people were shocked. Every pill she had used so far to increase her cultivation speed had a limited duration of effect—for some, it was two hours, and for others, it was even a whole day, but none of them were able to permanently increase the speed of cultivation.

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  Although this pill only worked at the Qi Refinement stage, that was precisely what made it so valuable to them.

  However, the price is no higher because it only worked at the first stage of cultivation.

  Finally, a question popped into her head, and she wasn't sure if it was appropriate to ask, but out of curiosity, she decided not to hold back.

  “Excuse me, I don't know if this is appropriate, but may I ask how much this pill is worth?”

  Some looked at her with embarrassment, and others even with hostility. It was really quite an inappropriate question.

  The man, however, just laughed.

  “Relax, relax, I can tell you, it's no secret. Almost all the sponsors contributed to this prize. The cost of this pill is about...”

  When she heard the answer, she was surprised.

  35,000? The price is the same? This is the first time that the market price and the system price are the same.

  For a long time, she had been wondering why there was such a discrepancy between the system price and the actual price. She had a hypothesis. According to the description provided by the system, this pill was manufactured exclusively by this one sect, which meant that they dictated the price.

  However, the pills I bought were not limited to one area and could have had many manufacturers. Could it be that the system was choosing the lowest possible price available?

  For example, if you had one dollar in the United States, you wouldn't have enough to eat. In another country, you could buy breakfast, lunch, and even dinner with dessert.

  May suspected that it might be similar here. In one place, the ingredients for a given pill are cheaper, so the cost of the pill is lower. The system, meanwhile, chose the best possible price for its user.

  Of course, this was only her hypothesis, which was still unconfirmed, but it seemed reasonable to her.

  But what if someone decided to sell something for free? Surely the system wouldn't give anything away for free in that case? Probably it would still be limited by common sense?

  Her theory still had many gaps, but she felt she was getting closer to the truth.

  First place for this pill? It might be difficult, but I could use it.

  Although she had a system, the price was still high for her, so she still desired it

  But...

  Can I really do it?

  It might seem easy for her—after all, I was number one and had the most talent and so on and so forth.

  In reality, however... I have no experience in combat. Although she had the highest level of cultivation among all the children—Qi Refinement Peak 3 stage—the difference between her and the others was not that great. Most of them were talented individuals at stage 3 or at the peak of stage 2.

  Besides, it's not like whoever has the highest level wins. It doesn't work that way. In fact, I'm probably at a disadvantage. Some people have already learned sword fighting or martial arts at home. May only learned the basics of cultivation.

  In short, her situation wasn't as good as it might seem.

  In theory, I still have a system... But I shouldn't depend on it too much.

  The system was useful, but she came to the conclusion that if she used it even for the smallest things, she would eventually become too dependent on it and would not be able to do anything without it. That would be quite risky.

  Using the system for all aspects of cultivation was like cheating on a test and claiming to have learned something. Or like using ChatGPT to write text and claiming that you wrote it yourself. The reliance on this was beneficial in the short term, but she understood that in real life, she would still only be able to count on herself.

  “Aren't you overreacting a little? I personally think you're being a bit dramatic,” Minnie said.

  “I would argue exactly the opposite.” May replied.

  “It sounds like you’ve had it easy so far. There will come a time when you will have to rely on the system completely."

  “That sounds like a threat.” May didn't like her tone. She wasn't even sure if she was serious.

  “Most people would dream of such a system.”

  “So what? I'm supposed to spend all my money? Entrust myself completely to the system and pray to it every day? I don't know what you want from me, but I know you're not going to get it.”

  For some reason, Minnie was an extremely annoying person who nitpicked everything. She was like a pesky imp flying around May's ear, constantly trying to grab her attention. May had no idea what her goal was.

  Usually, when she felt like talking to her, she just ignored her. Sometimes it worked, sometimes it didn't. Sometimes Minnie started talking to herself. May began to wonder if there was some way to report a bug in the system.

  However, she didn't have time for that because she had to go get dressed for the event.

  Although preparing for such events might seem simple, people from the upper classes of this world devoted a lot of time to getting ready for them. The makeup alone could take hours. The only reason it didn't take that long was because they were just kids and didn't have to bother so much. They didn't need makeup.

  Interesting. Even though the main values in this world are stuff like strength, cultivation, and being as powerful as possible, people still care about things like beauty. I would've thought that wouldn't matter much here, but weirdly, it still does.

  The cultivators from the cultivation novels she read in her previous life usually didn't care about things like events or beauty, however, that was real life and it wasn't fiction, so it wasn't strange that not all things had to match perfectly with fiction.

  The banquet hall began to fill with a crowd of people dressed in the strangest colors. Women in dresses of various designs, sizes, and patterns began to circulate throughout the ballroom, while the men were dressed even more bizarrely, some plainly, some wildly in animal skins, others in armour, and yet others in colourful suits.

  It was a mixture of two different cultures. Mages and cultivators. But it wasn't just about that, some wanted to show their ancestry, if your forefathers were hunters, you could dress up in a wolf skin. Things like that were currently in fashion and were not uncommon. It really looked like a mixture of cosplayers from the Victorian era, the Middle Ages, the present day, and traditional Chinese imperial style. It looked absurd.

  May, however, was waiting for the main events. She didn't care much about the banquet. She was enjoying the good food, though. Soon, however, many people started chatting with her, and although there was nothing wrong with that, she has to pretend to be interested.

  Other people might have been happy to be able to establish relationships with potential employers, but May wasn't interested in that at all. However, out of politeness, she had to act as if she cared.

  Other students looked at her with slight envy; everyone wanted to be a legendary genius who had crossed the entire river and had such great talent that it couldn't be fully measured.

  Finally, she managed to get away. She didn't feel like talking to anyone anymore. She decided to wait out the rest of the banquet outside in the garden until the tournament began.