She felt angry at herself for a while. Why had she saved such a significant sum of money to just give it away to gambling? While it is true that she did not lose all of her assets, a substantial portion of them were squandered.

  She sighed. She couldn't grieve indefinitely.

  "I just have to work four times harder to make up for the losses. And no more gambling for now," she said. "With this wasted money, I could have bought some pretty good skills by now."

  “There is no need to cry over spilled milk. Besides, Potion Shelter is a pretty good skill, so the gamble is quite profitable.”

  Minnie, as usual, tried to convince her to spend as much money as possible. At this point, she had ignored her for quite a while. What is the point of listening to her persuasion.

  However, she was somewhat right. The drawn skill itself was quite valuable. Not enough to make up for the loss, however, it was still pretty good. Normally Potion Shelter would have cost nearly 800 mu. So in reality, she only lost about 300 mu through all the gambling.

  Anyway, from now on I can't repeat this mistake.

  She continued her training. Before she knew it her seventh birthday had passed. And then more months had passed.

  In just a few months she will be eight years old. Then she will have to go to the Eastern Outer Court Academy.

  She lived in a rather remote place. The capital of the Eastern Outer Court - Mount Rotira was nearly a thousand kilometers away. That is where the academy was located.

  Only then will my cultivation adventure really begin. Until now, it has been mere preparation.

  Until now, she has suppressed her progress. She didn't want it to look, too suspicious.

  Since the gambling incident, she hasn't spent a bit of money. She has been saving and investing.

  Still, her progress was quite good. Even without the help of the system. The talent that happens once in a thousand people was still amazing.

  She learned all three basic Qi skills. Her stats were also ridiculous. The average ADULT person had all equaled about 10. She, on the other hand, matched the strength of a mature male at just 7 years old. When she grows her stats naturallly will grow even more. Cultivation really was magical.

  Of course, not everything went smoothly.

  There was a problem with the children. The ones she hired to sell her items.

  However, the problem was not where she expected it to be.

  She was afraid that someone would pay attention to them and start torturing them to discover the source of their items.

  However, the reality can be much stranger.

  The children quickly became rich.

  Until now, they have lived in poverty and with hunger. Suddenly they were earning huge sums of money.

  They wanted more and more.

  She started giving them more and more items to sell. Her earnings also increased, but...

  It wasn't enough.

  They began offering “protection” to nearby stores.

  Sell “magic” happy pills.

  In a word, they turned into a gang. Little Xiao became their leader.

  She didn't expect it.

  I cannot compare the children of this world with the children of Earth.

  The political situation of the world was strange.

  In theory, cultivators and the sect should keep order in town. And they did, but only to themselves.

  Ordinary peasants weren't their problems. In theory, as long as it doesn't involve the affairs of cultivators, they won't interfere in the affairs of ordinary people. Even if they suffer.

  If a cultivator killed an ordinary person it would not be considered a crime.

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  Of course, if someone started mass murdering it would be a different matter. But even then, if that person had a good explanation, he would not face any great consequences.

  Therefore, the rise of the gang didn't concern anyone. In theory, there was a guard for ordinary people. However, it looked like they had been bribed.

  What a strange situation. In theory, I am somewhat responsible for this. However, should I do something?

  After all, they were not only gangs in the city. They were just one of many. Besides, what was she supposed to do? A few words from her will not able to convince them to change their attitude.

  I'm leaving soon anyway. They will lose a rather important source of income, but at least they won't go back to starving. I should probably just ignore it.

  During this time, she made quite a bit of money.

  When she goes to the Academy she will lose her source of income. The Academy is a place closed to the rest of the world, so opportunities to earn money there will be impossible. That's why she was saving.

  What I've earned now must last me quite a long time.

  "System."

  Amazing. I hope it will be enough.

  The amount was absurd. Only powerful cultivators had such savings. In the city itself, where she lived, there were probably only a few dozen such people, such as an alchemist or a couple of wealthier merchants.

  However, on the scale of the sect, this is nothing special.

  After all, she lived in a small town off the Eastern Outer Court. It was a backwater.

  Even in the capitals of other Outer Courts, there were many families who spent such amounts on single items.

  And the Inner Court is something else. There were individuals there who had millions at their disposal.

  Not to mention the very fact that the Island Mountain Sect itself was only a medium-sized sect in the worst area of the continent. And again, the continent itself was of lesser importance.

  Such an amount seemed like a fortune to her, but to others it was pennies.

  In any case, I should probably decide to make a serious purchase.

  Talent Upgrade. It was damn expensive. She would have to use up one-third of her savings.

  Ten thousand. For a talent that happens once in ten thousand people.

  Originally, I thought the 1:1000 talent was enough.... However, I was wrong. The competition is too great.

  It is worth noting that she has learned many things since then.

  The Eastern Outer Court, in which she lived, was the poorest and most sparsely populated of all the Outer Courts of the Island Mountain Sect. However, even here there were more than 3,000 applicants each year.

  In other Outer Courts, the number was much higher. It was frightening in its own way. More than 15,000 people from all Outer Courts should apply to Cloud Academy every year, but only a few will be accepted.

  In terms of population, the Inner Court was ultimately significantly larger than the sum of all the Outer Courts.

  Her current talent was good; however, in the face of such a large population, it was not the best at all.

  May also learned that people who had reached the third stage of Qi Refinement before the age of 8 were considered naturally talented. She thought that with her talent she would be able to achieve this even without the help of the system. Nonetheless, she has been unable to make any progress in her cultivation for an extended period of time.

  My talent is the best in the whole city. But this city is just small backwater town. In the face of all my opponents, it is not that special.

  "Minnie upgrade my talent."

  This is probably the last time I will upgrade my talent. The next upgrade will cost a hundred thousand. I won't get such an amount soon.

  Especially in the academy, where she will not be able to make money.

  "You can always try gambling. You'll then be able to draw it for as little as 100!"

  "No fucking way."

  She sighed. She only had twenty thousand left. The money disappeared absurdly fast.

  However, this was her last chance to enter the third stage before the academy.

  "Since you were so anxious to get 3rd stage of Qi Refinement you could have just bought it directly from the store. It would have come out cheaper and you would have been guaranteed success." Minnie said.

  "Right, but it's also an investment for the future. Besides, if I was buying a breakthrough every time I would never learn anything."

  Buying a breakthrough from Peak Qi Refinement 2 stage to Early Qi Refinement 3 stage cost only 300 mu. However, she preferred to do it on her own.

  It was quite cheap, which suggested that it was already close to breakthrough anyway. There was no point in wasting money on that.

  She had a lot of worries on her mind at the moment.

  She lacked any offensive techniques. Her father refused to teach her martial arts or the art of the sword, claiming she would learn it at the Academy.

  Although it made sense, it still haunted her. She even wondered whether to buy something through the system. The only problem was explaining where she learned it from.

  After all, this was not some novel where everyone is an idiot who will accept any explanation.

  She decided not to do anything for now. Just cultivate more deeply and not worry about anything else.

  Her new talent was amazing. Normally one cultivation cycle took her about an hour of time, but now it only took 40 minutes. She was able to do more cycles in less time. Her progress accelerated significantly.

  In addition, her Qi sensing has increased.

  It wasn't the only one, she felt that all her abilities had become stronger.

  At this rate, she felt that she will not only break through to the 3rd stage of Qi Refinement, but perhaps even to the late stage.

  Even among geniuses, she will be considered one of the best.

  However, being a genius in the Eastern Outer Court is not enough. If she wanted to get into the Inner Court in the future, she had to try harder.

  She stabilized her breath. One and two and three. Inhale and exhale. Energy circulated through her body.

  Her meridians no longer resisted her energy like before. The improved talent did more than just speed up absorption—it refined her control, her instincts. Her understanding of cultivation, of herself, had grown.

  She had already been cultivating for a few hours.

  She opened her eyes.

  Still no.

  With her new talent, her situation was better, but she was still a few steps away from a breakthrough.

  It is not surprising that, from this stage on, children are considered geniuses. Her whole body was in immense pain and fatigue. Even with her talent, it was exhausting.

  It was also boring.

  You really have to be a genius to put up with so much at such a young age. Or a madman.

  As far as she knew, no one in the town in the same age as her had reached Stage 3. Admittedly, there were only around two hundred cultivators children of that age, but still.

  “Minnie how much would it cost to buy advancement to stage 3?”

  “210 mu.”

  “Hmm, the price went down, which means I made some progress today after all.”

  "Hey can you not use the system like that! It's a scam!"

  “Is there any rule that prohibits this?” She asked. However, she knew the answer.

  “No. But you're pissing me off!”

  “So there's no problem.” She said, then went to wash up. She smelled terribly and was all wet with sweat. The stickiness of her body annoyed her profoundly. Truly it is not easy to be a cultivator.

  She entered the wooden hot tub.

  It really hurts everywhere. Only masochists can be geniuses.