Cultivation has officially begun. It was, at the moment, much less exciting than she initially imagined. She had imagined tremendously martial arts, training under a waterfall.... But in reality, it was mainly about meditation and gathering Qi.

  This is also, I guess, due to the fact that my parents don't have a lot of ways to cultivate.... My father has a fairly high position for a member of the Outer Court, but he's still just an ant compared to the Inner Court.

  Her pace did not seem to be too fast. She had already been cultivating for two months, but was still in the first stage of Qi Refinement.

  If only I had more money, I could buy something from the system.... Then I would definitely achieve more.

  Meanwhile, her parents have also calmed down. Her pace became normal again. Could it be, after all, that she was just lucky? Either way it was not a bad thing.... At most, slightly depressing. Every parent is dreaming of having a child genius.

  "It's been two months, and you're still not even in peak Qi Refinement" Suddenly, Minnie spoke up.

  She was sitting alone so she decided to speak out loud. "Yes, but I wasted money to get through to the first stage of Qi Refinement. I'm a child so I can't go to work, so how could I get the money?"

  "I know, that's why I'm not rushing you. However, you should know that geniuses are given preferential treatment anywhere. And so far, you are not a genius, but a mere garbage from the Outer Court." She said with a pretentious tone. She provoked her. She kept doing this because she was after her money.

  “I surprisingly agree with you.”

  May said. "I do, however, have a plan for it. Although I planned to do it once I'm older, but it looks like I have no choice. Cultivation will not wait for me. It will be quite risky, but it is risk that I must take."

  "Hmm? Interesting."

  “Show me the price of the Yellow Tallgrass Pill.”

  "Sure." Minnie said.

  "Just as I thought... It only costs 10 mu." She said thoughtfully. After which she turned to Minnie AI. “Can you tell me on what principle those prices are determined by the system?”

  "Hmm. Well I don't know. As you already know I am just an avatar of the system, not the system itself.... Although I often behave like I and system are one.

  "I want to buy 5 Yellow Tallgrass Pills."

  They immediately appeared in a small vial in her hand. Officially, she no longer had any money.

  "The price of these pills on the market from the alchemist is almost 95 mu, which is more than nine times expensive. Your system also calls them ‘not very good’ however, they are widely regarded here as the best available pills for novices."

  "Indeed. I think I see where you're going with this."

  "Yes, I intend to buy cheaper from the system and sell it more expensive. However, I wonder where the price difference comes from." She said, tilting her head. “There won't be any problem with this?”

  "There is no rule that prohibits it. As for the differences in price... Although I do not know how it is calculated exactly I can tell you that it is certainly the most fair price. After all, one thing can be trash to someone and to another a treasure."

  Did she call the best pills in the region trash? Well it probably wasn't a lie. She browsed through the cultivation materials in the shop and they were indeed a rather inferior resource.

  Of course, everything had pros and cons.

  The system also offered to “buy” items.

  In short, if she bought those pills from the alchemist for 95 mu, the system would still only offer her 10.

  This meant that the option to sell items for the system was virtually useless. It was simply unprofitable. It may not have seemed like a big problem, but selling items in a world where the Internet didn't exist was problematic.

  “So now you will sell them for 95 and make almost 500 mu?” She asked. "I think you found a nice bug in the system. At this rate, you'll be a millionaire in no time."

  "Ha, how stupid you are. It can't be that simple at all. If I just started selling them, someone would immediately start wondering where I got them. The first time, maybe no one would pay attention, but if I started selling them in larger quantities there would definitely be a problem." After all, where would a child get so many pills from? Did she steal them? Or does he have a secret teacher? Even if she later changed the item from pills to something else, eventually people would still start asking questions.

  Drawing too much attention to oneself was not a good thing. Especially if money was involved.... 500 mu was a considerable amount. Ordinary people sometimes earned even less per month despite working 12 hours a day all week.

  Even Individuals like her father, the one one standing at the top of the Easter Outer Court, leader of the guards and cultivator of the 9th stage of Qi Refinement, earned about 2,500 mu a month.

  So if a 6-year-old child suddenly showed up earning absurd amounts of money selling pills out of nowhere, it would've been an obvious way to cause trouble.

  She had several ideas, most of them hopeless:

  1. A hidden master-alchemist tells her to sell his pills (High risk)

  2. She is a master alchemist herself (No chance)

  3. She found them accidentally in (...) (Would only work once, high risk)

  4. don't say anything, just sell, with money cultivate as fast as possible and become strong enough so that no one can do anything to you (HUGE risk)

  None of those ideas seemed very promising. Therefore, she decided to find a scapegoat.

  Was it morally good? Probably not. Still, she was from a civilized world, so she decided to do everything she could to keep her possible scapegoats as safe as possible.

  There were many homeless people in the city not far from her home. There were also many poor children who had nothing to eat. Left behind by their parents. She had already seen a few corpses lying in the street in her new life. It was certainly a different world.

  But it was also a good reminder for her. This was not Earth. No one cared about poor and homeless people who didn't even have a chance to cultivate.

  If some powerful cultivator suspected her of having some secret through which she has access to various goods, he certainly wouldn't care that she was a child.

  Kidnapping and torture were certainly possible. She had heard all sorts of stories.

  Therefore, she had to minimize the risk as much as possible.

  She had been observing the area for a few days. She had to prepare herself and have a plan for every possibility. A mistake could cost her her life.

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  She made sure no one could see or watch her. After all, a lone six-year-old alone in the city was hardly usual. She had a good spot where she could observe the surroundings from a hidden position.

  She found her target.

  The boy has been lying here for a few days. He rarely moves, mostly begging. I've only seen him eat a bun of some kind once. He doesn't talk to anyone.

  Alone, hungry and desperate, without a roof over his head. Starved-out, at this rate he will not live long.

  If something doesn't happen he will surely die during the winter.

  There were more like him. Abandoned children. However, most stayed in groups. Only he, for some reason, was cast aside. Perhaps he was the weakest link?

  He is sentenced to death. Although I'll take advantage of him, it will give him a chance to live.

  It was a pathetic excuse. But she needed strength. To survive. In this world there were creatures capable of destroying entire continents, such as witch from the stars, monsters capable of incinerating hundreds of thousands of square kilometers.

  Yes, she needed strength. And to have strength, she needed money. She had a plan ready. It was risky, but there was no other choice. She left the hiding place.

  She was wearing a cloak, and her face was hidden in the material.

  Normally such an outfit would draw attention to herself, but she specifically chose a time when it would rain. Now it looked like she was simply hiding from the rain.

  She approached the boy.

  He did not look well, severely emaciated, dead eyes, and a strong odor coming from his body. He didn't even look good for a homeless.

  There were hundreds like him. It was impossible to help them all. Well, or at least she - a six-year-old - couldn't help them. But even if there had been someone capable of rescuing them, he probably wouldn't have helped them anyway.

  She pulled out a bun. He didn't even look at it. His situation was worse than she expected. She began to doubt her plan. But it was too late.

  “Hey!”

  She shouted, but in a way that would not draw too much attention to herself.

  He raised his eyes, and immediately seemed to come to life. She handed him a bun. He immediately began to eat it.

  Not too much time passed and the bun was gone.

  She made sure her face was out of sight. Unfortunately, it was impossible to hide her age.

  "If you want to change your life then go with me. With a little luck you won't be sleeping on the street tonight."

  He nodded his head.

  Huh, it went easier than I expected. I guess he really has nothing to lose.

  Or maybe he just wasn't afraid of the little girl who was trying hard to hide her face.

  She took him outside the cities. To a desolate place where no one could hear them.

  She made sure no one followed them.

  “What must I do?”

  "Do you know the travelling merchants? You need to approach them and hand them something. I'll give you more details."

  At first, she had intended for him to visit the alchemy shop. The salesman there could easily verify the quality. Unfortunately, it was located in an Outer Court members-only area. Someone like this boy would never be able to enter there.

  She could have gone in there herself without a problem, but she wasn't going to take such risks. The shopkeeper was inarguably quite trustworthy and was a family friend, but how would she explain that? Too much of a risk.

  However, she managed to track down an interesting person. She overheard conversations in the Outer Court district and learned about a man named Kiura. A mage and traveling merchant, a refugee from the Red Continent like her mother, he was quite an experienced herbalist. He would certainly know the quality of pills. From what she had heard he was also quite friendly and honest.

  "In any case, let's start at the beginning. What's your name?" She asked.

  "Xiao Rongsheng, but some people call me little Xiao." He said with embarrassment. “Oh sorry, I didn't ask, but what's your name older sister?”

  "Irrelevant. You can address me as boss. However, never speak about me to anyone. Even if they torture you. Because otherwise believe me you will face a much worse fate."

  He thought it sounded a bit ridiculous. Even if he wasn't the sharpest, he still realized that this person wasn't much older than he was. However, the person still gave him bread. Even if she was a lunatic, as long as he had a chance to get a little more he decided to do what she said. Even if it wasn't very logical.

  "Now I will explain everything to you. You must do exactly as I tell you."It took him much longer than she expected. She had originally planned to give him an explanation in fifteen minutes or less, but it took over an hour, and she was still unsure if he had understood everything.

  He is not very smart, but I can't blame him. He's probably just too hungry, I probably wouldn't be in a good condition to listen to some long plans myself.

  The boy was slightly confused. One could also say that he was also slightly terrified. He hadn't talked in a long time. And now he was involved in something strange. He wondered if he was being framed for something. He had heard similar stories before....

  He looked at the objects in his hands. Some strange letter and pills in a glass container. He couldn't read, so he didn't know what was written in the letter. However, it was certainly very long.

  The boy was aware of the uncertainties, but he didn't care. He wanted to eat. Anything. Even if it was some kind of trap, he would face death anyway. Even the slightest hope for a change of life was worth the risk.

  He went in the direction of the city. He made his way to Three Warriors Street. Three statues were located there. He knew the place, it was an area where merchants and tourists gathered.

  According to the instructions, he went to the place indicated by the hidden girl.

  He couldn't find his way around for a while, but eventually found a person who matched the description. An older man with his beard tied. Wearing strange foreign robes with a unique pattern featuring a golden dragon.

  As instructed, he approached him. “I'm sorry...” He said horrified. He felt stressed.

  The man looked at the child and was confused. After a moment, however, he furrowed his brow and said. "Sorry kid, but you shouldn't be begging for money here. This is a decent place, so go away or I'll call the guards."

  "Sir, you are mistaken. I did not come to beg, but to hand over a letter from my... savior. Here it is."

  "A Letter? Let me see." He seized the letter from the boy and began to read. He furrowed his brow. The contents of this letter seemed unbelievable. However, not impossible. When he finished reading he raised his eyes to the boy. Boy immediately handed him the vial. He looked at vial. He took out one of the pills. He sniffed and looked at each side of pill. It looked like there were no problems with them. On the contrary, judging by its appearance, it was of the highest quality.

  However, it is still strange... From the letter, it seems that some cultivation master at the Foundation Establishment stage has been found in the nearby forest.... The boy met him by some miracle, and this master felt sad to see a young child dying of hunger.... Is that why he sent the boy with the pills, to get money for him? This is so stupid that it's laughable.

  “Boy...” He started. He didn't know how to approach it, as for the pills themselves there was no problem, but the situation itself was too strange.

  "Hmm, just tell me what happened. How exactly did you get those pills?" He asked.

  There were a few options, did he steal them? But it was impossible... Such high-quality pills must have cost much more than those available on the market, no one who could afford them would let them be stolen....

  Maybe he found them next to some corpses? No. That would not explain the letter. There is no chance that such a child could read or write such beautiful letters. Could the letter be true... It's downright unbelievable. But I don't see any other option.

  “Oh yes I can tell.” The boy was pleased, it was exactly as he had learned. “I decided to go to the forest in search of food when...”

  "I figured I'd just come up to you, and that's how I got here..." He concluded.

  "I see..."

  The story had a surprising amount of detail. At some point, the boy also began to improvise to give a good shape to the story.

  Hmm, well if there really is a Foundation Establishment expert in the woods it's better not to take the risk.... If he wanted to, he could kill me with one finger....

  "Let's do that boy, you are very lucky. How much money did this mysterious expert wanted?" He asked. As long as the price is not too high, it will not harm him to buy them. There will always be some buyers for the pills.

  "300 for all five."

  "What? Didn't you get something wrong?" He asked confused.

  60 for one? The price of pills on the market is about a hundred, but that's only because of the abundance of herbs in the area. A few hundred kilometers away these pills would be worth more than 150 for one. And that's just the common quality ones. These are perfect quality....

  "Yes, I'm sure. His Excellency also said not to disturb him because he is in an important stage of cultivation. However, he needs money for his needs, so I may still seek your help in the future..." The merchant's eyes shone. If the price/quality ratio is similar then perhaps this is a huge opportunity for him.

  "Yes, give this gentleman my regards!"

  The boy went to the designated place. Undaunted, he dropped the pouch at the designated place. Without looking back he went on as if nothing had happened. About twenty minutes passed. The girl observed her surroundings, and after a while she went out and took a pouch. After calculating the coins, everything came out right.

  She also eavesdropped on their conversation. Everything according to plan.

  It was their first and last face-to-face meeting with this peasant. From now on, their meetings will change their form....

  She took out 50 mu from her pouch. She went to the city and hid the money in three separate places. It should be enough for him for a while.

  She managed to earn 200 mu. It took her a long time, to say the least, but that's okay. From now on, she won't have to think about it as much. She had a trusted person to handle the sale of the system's items.... Of course, she will still have to do it in moderation, but it looked promising.

  With this, earning more money and getting great techniques won't be a problem!