The next day, she felt surprisingly well. Normally, after a day without sleep, she would feel miserable, but now she just felt a little bit weird. Too much had happened on the last day and, to be honest, she had completely forgotten that she would have to fight again today.

  She went to eat breakfast. Only eight people remained. It was much more peaceful that day.

  To tell the truth, she didn't feel like fighting anymore, but she decided to give it her all, even if she was going to lose. The only person she knew was Deng Zhifang, who sat down next to her. She felt strange, knowing his biggest secret.

  Of course, she couldn't reveal this, so she treated him as she almost always did. She ignored him.

  Lin Yun told her that the sect has not yet decided what to do with him. May felt a little pity for him. He didn't seem like such a bad person, after all. Even though he was half demon.

  But will they sentence him to death? I don't know what the sect's policy toward demons is. They used to scare me with demons when I was a child, but I didn't believe they existed... Our sect is righteous, so I guess they should get rid of him? But on the other hand, he's harmless and half-human. Well, either way, I shouldn't get involved.

  It turned out that Deng Zhifang was a Cambion. Meaning he was the offspring of an incubus or a succubus with a human. That was all she knew about it.

  Deng kept trying to ask her about the situation in the ring and why Izzy had decided to quit. May felt a little awkward, but she ate in silence.

  These jams aren't bad, but I miss Nutella. Maybe I should buy some from the system? It shouldn't be expensive.

  She missed chocolate products very much. She hadn't eaten them for nearly a decade. And in this world, there was nothing that resembled chocolate. She thought chocolate wouldn't be a bad product to trade. She could make good money out of it.

  “They've announced the next fights!” one of the girls suddenly said, running into the dining room.

  “What, already?” one of the boys asked in surprise.

  “Yes. Everything has been decided in advance, so we have time to prepare.”

  “Who am I fighting?” Deng Zhifang asked.

  “Me.” replied the same girl who had made the announcement.

  May got up from the table and went to see who she would be facing.

  When she approached, she saw that this time she would be fighting as the last one against a boy known as Mao Kun. She knew him, and he didn't seem like a tough opponent. She thought she still had a chance to win. It also turned out that this time they would be fighting with weapons! May was shocked by this. However, she also felt a little more confident, as she had more faith in her spear than in her martial arts skills.

  Of the eight remaining people, four were sword users, two were saber users, one was a bow user, and one was a spear user. May was supposed to fight a user of a saber. To tell the truth, she didn't really want to fight against the archer. Some said she was in a worse position, others said she had the upper hand.

  The problem with the archer was that she had limited space and couldn't gain enough distance.

  May still thought that fighting a long-range fighter would be risky. What if the arrow hit her in the head? Even the healers here couldn't fix that.

  She thought the whole idea of fighting with weapons was stupid. Fortunately, that wasn't her problem.

  Some people contemplate strategies, but such deliberations are pointless. What can one learn in a few hours?

  During her studies, she often prepared for tests the day before, but this rarely worked out. She decided to let fate take its course.

  She went to the arena to watch other people fight. Including her, there will only be four fights. It won't take long.

  This time, the fights were much more intense. Everyone was extremely cautious. No one wanted to hurt anyone fatally, but no one wanted to get hurt either. At the end of the first fight, blood was spilled, but this time people surrendered much faster because no one knew what could happen if the fight went on too long.

  All the matches ended much faster than she had expected. Less than an hour had passed when it was time for May to enter the arena herself.

  Once again, she stood on one side of the arena, clutching her spear. She took the basic stance she had been taught in her first lessons. Although she was still inexperienced, she felt much more confident.

  This narrative has been purloined without the author's approval. Report any appearances on Amazon.

  Soon after, the match began.

  Just like in the first match, no one wanted to start first. However, May felt confident enough to decide to close the distance.

  She slowly began to approach her opponent. She had the advantage of space, and her spear had a much longer reach. She knew that as long as the distance between them didn't decrease too much, she would win.

  Her opponent began to retreat as she approached. He knew he couldn't let her get too far away. He had to get closer to her and end this as quickly as possible.

  And so they began to back away further and further. The tension between them was intense. At some point, the boy had clearly had enough. He ran up and hit her spear.

  I see.

  He wanted to knock the spear out of her hand. If she dropped it, she would surely lose.

  That would be a good idea, but...

  Her strength was far too great. It was unnatural. No normal person would be able to hold a spear struck by such a massive saber as his.

  However, thanks to the pills provided by the system, her strength was beyond normal. That is why he was unable to knock the spear out of her hand.

  It was my mistake. If he had been stronger, or I had been weaker, he might have succeeded.

  However, he failed. In a split second, she reversed the situation. She placed her spear under his saber and did what his strength failed him to do.

  She used all her muscle strength. Then, with an energetic movement, she placed the sabre on the center of gravity of the spear and threw it to the other end. He tried to hold it, but he was too weak.

  She quickly put the spear to his throat.

  “Don't move.”

  Everyone was in shock. They wondered where she had gotten such physical strength. The entire arena fell silent.

  “I... I give up,” he said, and the referee immediately stopped the match.

  Some people in the audience began to applaud, but she didn't care. She walked over to her opponent and shook his hand. Respect for others is fundamental. Who knows, maybe one day kindness will save her life. He didn't seem thrilled about it, but he shook her hand anyway. Although cultivators preferred to bow, she was theoretically a half-mage, so she preferred to shake hands. On this continent, cultures tended to mix.

  Then she left the arena, and since it was the last fight, all the fighters became the center of attention for all the guests.

  “Oh, your fight was excellent, I haven't felt such excitement in a long time. By the way, my name is Jang Mouan and I run a well-known alchemy shop called...”

  “Ohhh, you are a role model for all female cultivators... If only my daughter wasn't so useless... Would you be interested in learning about the formation. . .”

  Awareness of her talent became quite widely known, so many famous people wanted to recruit her. Having a good cultivator could elevate any business to a higher level.

  May, of course, wasn't interested in that at all, unlike the other children in the Eastern Outer Court. The spirit had basically secured her a place in the Inner Court.

  Anyway, she listened to all the offers and answered questions, even though she knew she wasn't interested in working for private individuals, as she would join a sect and focus solely on cultivation.

  Some of the offers didn't sound so bad; if she didn't have the system, she wouldn't mind becoming an alchemist, as it would be quite similar to her previous job.

  However, other offers were absurd: Why would she want to work in a mine? Or in a field with Spiritual Rice? Even if her job was to provide protection, it still didn't sound tempting.

  To tell the truth, talking to all those people tired her even more than a day at the academy. At least at the academy she learned things that interested her. Here, she had to listen to complicated explanations about rare minerals found in the mines of South Uye City...

  Just a little more and it will be over...

  She was wrong, and it went on for over two hours. They returned to the estate as it was getting dark. Only the semifinals remained. There would be only two fights. There was a high probability that she would fight Deng Zhifang. She wasn't convinced she could beat him. However, even if it doesn't take first place, the prizes from other places shouldn't be too bad either. Although still much worse.

  They had some free time before dinner. The losers had to start packing for their departure.

  Everyone was tired from the fights, so everyone went to their rooms. May was no exception. She threw herself on the bed. She fell asleep immediately, as the fatigue from the previous night took its toll on her.

  She woke up some time later.

  Fuck, I missed dinner.

  She felt a tremendous hunger in her stomach. She shook her head; it was too late to wander around the mansion. She decided to use the system to get herself something to eat. It was really too convenient. Even on Earth, it would be difficult to get food delivered at this hour.

  Let's think... What would I like to eat...?

  She got a little carried away with her shopping, but she was really hungry. For that amount, a family of four mortals could survive a whole week.

  But I deserved it. I won that fight today.

  But then. A bucket from KFC appeared in front of her, filled with delicious fried chicken. Perfectly crispy fries, a milkshake, a Coke, and a Qurrito. The system had recreated the food perfectly, so it tasted just as it should, and everything was hot and fresh. She really had a soft spot for fast food... She really missed Earth.

  She continued her feast until she was full. She ate the entire bucket of chicken. Cultivators have a much larger appetite and eat significantly more than other people. Of course, this applied to people at lower stages. May had heard that from the Golden Core stage onwards, cultivators were able to survive for weeks without food or drink, although she didn't know how much truth there was to that.

  Of course, she still had to get rid of the food containers. The plastic and strange writing on them didn't seem to belong in this world, so she had to get rid of them. She crushed them thoroughly and tore them up so that not even the smallest piece remained. Then she slipped out of the room and threw them into the fire that was burning in the fireplace to heat the entire estate.

  She only got two more fights. She didn't really want to go back to the academy, but on the other hand, she wanted to get back to normal, even if it meant being tired.

  I'm going to bed. Tomorrow I have another fight.