The Card Cultivation System
CCS-47

Xika looked at the confused shopkeeper who was yelling at her that.

"Ehh...I did not ask for money or bread" he said, scratching his head without itching.

"We can't give you a job. There are currently no empty guard positions. Just look in another store."

"....I also did not ask for a job....."

The guard furrowed his brows and asked,

"Then what do you want?"

"Selling for the Spirit Beast's body of course. I guess this is the shop that sells and buys Spirit Beast body parts, it looks like I was wrong."

Finished saying, Xika turned her body about to leave, but the shopkeeper immediately called out to her.

"ah! You want to sell yes. Forgive my attitude before, you know many children who....."

The shopkeeper looked at Xika's clothes and stopped her speech.

"It's okay. Can you give me a fair price for these things?"

The guard was quite surprised to see that the thing that Xika had taken out turned out to be quite valuable, so he invited Xika into his shop and talked about the price further.

"Come in. We can talk about this inside."

Then Xika followed the guard and came to a room containing a soft sofa with a table of food and drinks on it.

"Sit down while I check your stuff. Ah, this dish you can eat too."

After saying so, the shopkeeper walked out of the room carrying Xika's belongings.

"Wait!"

The shopkeeper stopped with a confused face.

"What's wrong?"

"How can I be sure that you didn't bring my stuff and run?"

The guard dumbfounded for a moment then chuckled.

"Ouch, jeez.... Well, if you're not sure about our store, you hold your stuff first while I'll call my master to check."

Then the shopkeeper put down Xika's belongings and left Xika who felt quite embarrassed for being suspicious of the shopkeeper.

Xika waited for the shopkeeper while eating the dishes available. Not long after, the shopkeeper came along with a man who looked to be 60 or 70 years old.

The old man nodded slightly towards Xika then picked up Xika's item and examined her thoroughly.

Xika replied to the nod with a nod as well, but looked a bit stiff from being confused by the old man's greeting.

After a while, the old man looked at Xika and said,

"This nail is worth 20 silver coins, the canine is worth 95 bronze coins while the eye is worth 7 other silver coins, because there are two then 14 silver coins. In total they were 34 silver and 95 copper coins. But since I heard this subordinate of mine has offended you then I will give you 35 silver coins. How's it?"

Xika actually did not feel offended at being thought to ask for money or work, but because the man gave her a bonus then he did not mind.

"All right."

The old man nodded then handed him a bag of leather containing silver coins.

Xika accepted it and checked the contents, then she stepped away from the store. But the old man called out to him.

"Hey son, where are you going next?"

"I intend to buy new clothes, you know." said Xika as she looked at her clothes and scratched her head.

"Saranku, go to the end of this alley and then turn right twice and left once. You'll find a store that's big enough but has no customers. Tell me that Mr. Qin sent you there, you'll get a discount."

Xika thanked the old man then left and followed the old man's instructions.

The shopkeeper asked his master.

"Sir, why did you send the boy to the gun store? Didn't he say he wanted to buy clothes?"

"You'll know."

After saying so, the old man left the shopkeeper with a puzzled face.

Xika headed towards the shop that the old man suggested.

He got to the front of the store and was stunned to see how big the store was. But as the old man said, this store did not have any customers.

Xika knocked on the door but there was no reply. So he just walked into the store.

Inside, the shop was very dark. Xika could not see anything. If you have never been to the Heiliao black hole, then Xika will say that this place is the darkest place he has ever visited.

Suddenly a voice sounded.

"Who are you? What are you doing here? Who sent you?"

"Ehhh....Mr. Qin sent me here. Maybe I got the wrong shop. Excuse me."

"Old Qin huh..... You're not the wrong shop."

"Eh?"

"Come here."

The lights are partially lit and a table with two chairs is visible.

An old man who was also about 60 or 70 years old was sitting in one of the chairs.

Xika approached and sat down on the other chair. He stared at the confused man in front of him while the man took out a box of cards and shuffled them.

The man did not answer Xika. He handed out the card and took one of the piles, then arranged the card.

Xika followed the man's actions with a still confused look.

The man took out two cards that read the number 3.

Xika looks at the card for a while and then takes out two 7s.

The man took out 2 cards with J written on them.

Xika and the old man were playing at the moment.

After a while, Xika won the game with the old man who still had 5 cards in his hand and one of them had a 2 on it.

He was silent for a moment looking at the card. His eyes widened slightly not expecting that he would lose.

Then he collected the messy cards on the table, tidied them up, and shuffled them again.

"Anu, senior? Why are we playing Capsah?"

But the man did not answer, but simply shuffled the cards and then split them.

They played again with the second round won also by Xika.

After losing, the man shuffles the cards again and again hands them out.

This incident repeated for ten times and Xika won all of those games.

The old man widened his eyes looking at the outcome of the game in front of him.

Finally he breathed his breath and said,

"Hahhh. You're accepted."

"Anu, what's welcome?"

"You are of course."

"Ehhh... Where are you welcome?" xika asked with a confused look on her face.

Now the old man looked at Xika with an equally puzzled look.

"Did that idiot Qin not tell you?"

"Mr Qin only advised me to this store after I told him I was about to buy a shirt."

The man raised his eyebrows next to her.

"Based on that fool...."

He breathed and then his appearance changed. He is growing younger and growing younger.

Before finally the face of the old man was now the face of a young man who was 4 or 5 years older than Xika.

Xika was silent watching the change. He did not know which was the real face of the young man, whether his face was old only he used a pill to enslave himself, or he was young but used a pill that he had taken, or maybe not both.

Seeing the confused look on Xika's face, the young man explained.

"My name is Lian Minjie ( ⁇ ⁇ ). This is my real face. I along with my two other friends formed a group that contains good players. Even so, our activities are not limited to cards alone."

Xika listened to the explanation about the group Lian Minjie formed with a confused face.

"Hahhhh.........you still don't understand either? We're short on members, so we disguise ourselves as old men to find new members."

"Ehhhh...why be a parent?"

"Because young people usually respect parents. Well, I don't really know why either, it's Lin's silly idea. To be sure, stupid Qin suggested you become our new member, so I tested you with Capsah because that is our criterion."

"........Can I refuse?"

"Basic fucking boy! Do you have any idea how many young people want to join us?"

Xika was silent for a while then shook her head.

"Hahhh, anyway, you've beaten me 10 times, so you've been accepted and you can't resist."

Xika scratched her head.

"This, take. Here's your membership card."

Lian Minjie threw a card at Xika who had a four-star image.

"By the way, what's your name?"

Xika was confused for a moment. He suspected that Lian Minjie or the group behind him was a heretical group, but when he saw the smile and twinkle in Lian Minjie's eyes, he was sure that they had no ill intentions.

"Xing Xika's."

Then the image in the card changed, more precisely increasing.

In the first star appeared the writings of Xing, second star Xi, and third star Ka. The fourth star has the number 4.

"Just be good about that card. Now, come with me and get your present."

Then Lian Minjie turned on the lights and Xika looked around her which turned out to be full of weapons.

"Come, choose. You can take the 2 things you want from here. Whatever it is."

"..............."

Xika just fell silent looking at all the weapons around her.