May's tenth birthday was not celebrated. She was not related to any major clan, and her family were minor cultivators from the Outer Court. However, she was not sad or anything like that.

  “I didn't expect to get anything,” she said quietly to herself, playing with a small dagger she had received as a gift from her trainer, La Xia.

  Suddenly, Minnie interrupted. “It's pretty good, but you should sell it. With the money, you could buy yourself a higher-level dagger.”

  “I thought about it, Minnie, but I'll keep it anyway. I shouldn't sell gifts.” She replied, shaking her head.

  “What about the other things you got?”

  May looked at the pills she had received from Shui Gai on behalf of Ze Yun. They were helpful for cultivation. However, even though Ze Yun was an Elder of the sect, his gift was even cheaper than La Xia's. May found it a little embarrassing.

  “There's no need.” She dismissed the thought.

  She also received a gift from Shui Gai herself. It was a new clothing item. Although everyone at Cloud Academy had a specific uniform, the quality of the fabric, stitching, and other details still distinguished the status of the students. Of course, it was still the least valuable gift of the three, but May appreciated it the most. Shui Gai was only a servant of the estate, but she still spent the hundreds [mu] to give her a present. In May's eyes, she was the one who spent the most.

  “You're broke. And now you don't even want to sell this junk. Do you know what kind of system I am?” asked Minnie, who had recently become much more lively again.

  Pay-To-Win. A hopeless and rigged system. I don't even have quests or levels. I have to buy everything myself.

  “Exactly. But you don't have any money. How do you want to get stronger if you're broke? A few years ago, you had that little business with the homeless kids... It wasn't a very good business, but at least you were doing something. And now? Lazy!”

  May didn't answer. Although she didn't want to admit it, Minnie was right. However, thinking about it objectively, there was just too much going on. Even if she wanted to, she didn't have many opportunities to develop her business.

  Calm down. From what I know, Cloud Academy in the Inner Court is much more relaxed towards its students. Unlike the school in the Outer Court, which focused on discipline and rigor, here I should be supported.

  “Oh. So, you have some plans?” asked Minnie cheerfully. “You’re going to start a business?”

  Inner Court is much larger, trade is thriving, and people have money. May replied. In Outer Court, the financial ventures I’m planning would be impossible. They have too small a population, they are too poor and underdeveloped.

  “Hmm, that's great. But what exactly are you planning?”

  This time she spoke aloud: “You'll find out in due course.”

  “Are you trying to be mysterious?” she asked with a hint of a mischievous laugh.

  May left her room. She didn't have time to worry about Minnie.

  “Hey? Don't ignore me!” she shouted.

  May was in a hurry to get to the city. Participation in the tournament required registration. Today was the last day of registration for people from the Eastern Outer Court. She should have done it a long time ago, but she had put it off until the last minute.

  Minnie, I don't have time for this. We'll talk another time.

  “Mhm. I can already see that,” she replied indignantly. “But whatever you want.”

  She set off in a horse-drawn carriage with a brand new bodyguard. After the last incident, she only got people she had nothing to complain about.

  Finally, she arrived at her destination. She got out of the carriage and headed for the building where registration was taking place. Crowds of people were waiting in line for their turn. Registration took a long time, and there were many applicants. After all, the Outer Courts were on par with some smaller countries in terms of land area. There were many schools there, but also loose cultivators.

  However, May had a way to avoid the waiting line. As long as you had connections, you could get anything done.

  “This way, please,” said one of the ladies, bowing low to her.

  Not bad. I even got a private room.

  She sat down in an armchair, and her bodyguard stood behind her. After a moment, she was served tea with a small snack. While others had been standing in line for hours, May was able to get it done right away thanks to the support of the Yun Clan!

  She may have come from the Outer Court, but with the support of the ruling clan and her extraordinarily high cultivation stage, she was treated as a priority.

  A man with tanned skin, slightly long black hair, and a square jaw entered the room, while smiling exaggeratedly. He bowed low and introduced himself as the administrator of the current registration committee.

  “It is an honor to welcome the famous Cultivator May Shang!” He was sucking up to her. May could clearly see that he was not even at the Foundation Establishment stage. In a word, he was a nobody.

  “Thank you very much for your welcome, Sir…”

  “Lao Bei.” He said, bowing again.

  “Yes. Mr. Lao Bei, thank you for your hospitality, but I just wanted to register for the tournament and—” Before she could finish her sentence, the overly smiling man interrupted her.

  This book's true home is on another platform. Check it out there for the real experience.

  “Oh yes, yes! Of course, but let's do it over tea and sweets? SERVICE!” He shouted, and a dozen young girls ran in with trays full of food. “Help yourself!”

  Although the desserts looked appetizing, she didn't feel like eating anything at the moment. The man wanted to impress her. May had anticipated such situations. Stage 6 before joining the academy? Grand things awaited her, and people like him wanted to take advantage of that and establish connections.

  May took a cookie and put it in her mouth. It was hollow inside, which was a mild disappointment. Ultimately, it didn't taste bad. Sipping her tea, she replied, “So? Can we finally get to the registration?”

  The man wiped the sweat from his forehead and replied, “Of course, of course, but maybe we should talk about...” This time May interrupted him. She didn't care what he wanted to talk about.

  “Excuse me, but can we take care of my registration first? It's important to me, and we can talk about other things later.” She said, forcing a friendly smile.

  The man put down his cup and sighed wearily.

  He wanted to establish a relationship with her. However, it seemed that he realized May wasn't interested. He stopped smiling.

  “All right,” he replied dryly. “Unfortunately, I can’t do that.”

  May took a bite of her cookie and looked at him calmly. Sipping her tea, she said, “Oh, and why is that?”

  She didn’t like it, but she pretended to be calm.

  Was it because I didn't want to talk to him? That would be stupid of him. Hmm... But I don't think he's so clueless as to mess with me.

  “Orders from above. I was informed in advance that you would be coming here. I was instructed to inform you that the Chairman has decided that you will not be participating in the Cloud Academy tournament.”

  May was surprised. “What does that mean?”

  The man took a sip of tea.

  May guessed the reason. Could it be that she didn't have to participate in the tournament because of her current stage?

  Children from the Outer Court had a separate selection process from children from the Inner Court.

  Children from the Inner Court who were at stage 5 could automatically enter Cloud Academy. Those at stage 4 and below had to participate in the selection process.

  However, for those from the Outer Court, everyone had to participate in the tournament without exception. Even those at stage 5, even though if they had been born in the Inner Court, they would have automatically been admitted to the academy.

  Of course, if someone was at stage 5, they always got in, even if they came from the outskirts of the sect.

  However, stage 6 is a different matter... As far as I know, the last such situation took place years ago... People with such talent come along only once every few years. And here we have three of them right now.

  “I was supposed to inform you that in ten days you will take part in a ceremony at the Main Palace of the Three Suns. You should receive an official invitation in a few days,” she said.

  So I was right...

  The Three Suns Palace was the sect's headquarters, located at the very top of the sect's highest mountain and the fifth highest mountain in the region. You could say it was the heart of the sect.

  However, May didn't understand something.

  “But why there?” She asked the man, but didn't expect an answer.

  He replied, “Hmph. Having reached the sixth stage before joining the academy is considered a great talent. In such cases, the sect leader himself always officially accepts the student into the school.”

  May frowned and asked curiously, “Really? The leader himself will be participating?"

  It sounded strange to her. It was as if the president of a country was participating in a welcome ceremony for first-year students at a school because some child had talent.

  “Of course. Why wouldn't he? One of the tasks of a leader is to care for future generations. And especially in the current situation of our sect... Every talented young person is desirable!” He replied enthusiastically, suddenly standing up and shouting. “That's why people like you are so amazing, Young Master Shang! If you need anything, don't hesitate to ask!”

  May grimaced in disgust. “Thank you, but... I think it's time for me to go,” she said, standing up. “And I'd prefer not to be called ‘Young Master’...”

  “Wait, but I thought we'd sit together for a while longer and...”

  “Thank you, but it's really time for me to go. Thank you for your hospitality, it was delicious, but I have to say goodbye now.”

  So she left the place and, without looking back, headed for the city. Her bodyguard still followed her every step. However, she had already gotten used to this situation.

  She headed towards the woodcarver. A few months ago, she had decided to make her first attempt at starting a small-scale business. She had ordered a chess set to be carved! From the information she had gathered, nothing like it existed in this world.

  There were equivalents of playing cards, dice, and a few other games, but for some reason, this famous earthly game of chess had not been discovered here.

  Or maybe it is simply a matter of availability...

  May's knowledge was limited to only one region. The Yellow Mountain Region was additionally isolated from the rest of the world by natural barriers. So she would not be surprised to discover that somewhere out there there is already an equivalent of chess that she simply does not know about.

  “But it doesn't matter. There's no patent law here,” Minnie suddenly interjected, extremely excited that May was finally trying to earn some money.

  True. That's an advantage. But also a flaw.

  She didn't have to worry if chess already existed in this world. On the other hand, she was very afraid that fakes would appear soon.

  Even if chess becomes popular, copies will appear immediately and I won't be able to do anything about it.

  Chess was fairly easy to create, so anyone could copy it. Unfortunately, May had no idea for a business that no one would be able to copy. At least not at the moment.

  However, that was a problem for another time. She entered the store. It was a small shop, currently employing about five men. May greeted them shortly after entering, and the owner immediately stopped working and, brushing off the wood dust, approached her.

  “Respected Cultivator May... Welcome back,” he said politely.

  Initially, he was not very enthusiastic about working with cultivators, but after a few meetings, he realized that May was not one of the arrogant and condescending types of cultivators he was familiar with.

  “Good morning,” she replied with a slight smile. She was quite excited. “I was supposed to come today to pick up my order. I hope everything is ready?”

  “Oh, of course!” he said enthusiastically. “The esteemed cultivator paid more than necessary! There's no way we would dare delay the time of production! Li has been working on it day and night! Li! Come here!”

  May smiled when she saw that one of the men named Li was already preparing a box with chess pieces.

  Suddenly, Minnie interjected, “But you really overpaid... 450 [mu] for one chessboard with pieces? Why didn't you order more? You won't make any money if you only have one...”

  May rolled her eyes.

  It's just a prototype. I can't go straight into mass production without a model of what it should look like. Also I paid more to make sure it was of the highest quality. After all, I'll want to promote it among the proud cultivators at the academy. They won't accept anything below a certain standard.

  Li approached her and handed her the box. It looked just as she had imagined. She opened it and began to examine each piece. It was truly worth its price. Without modern machines, creating identical pieces in such quantities could not have been easy.

  It's the first copy, so it was expensive, but I should be able to lower the production price. However, even if the price is a little higher, it won't really matter. After all, I plan to sell them mainly to wealthy cultivators. This means, of course, that the quality must be impeccable.

  She packed her chess set into her bag. The security guard watched her with interest. He thought May was extremely strange, but he had no intention of questioning her. It was none of his business.

  May returned to the estate with her new acquired item and decided to test the game on La Xia and see how a typical cultivator would react to chess!