Annie's Otherworldly Adventure

12. Life starts with making money!

Method: Sell konjac snacks!

Because Anne was so preoccupied with her money-making schemes, she almost missed Aunt Mary's closing time.

Back at the hotel, Aunt Mary complained as she handed over the work in the shop to Anne, then dragged her plump body to bed.

Annie dutifully picked up a rag and began wiping the counter and chairs.

Our little dragon Abag transformed into a long-haired dog, its body soaked, rolling and crawling orderly on the ground.

Uh, don't tell me you don't understand what Abag is doing. Yes, it's mistaking itself for a mop...

Gods above, this wasn't taught to him by our protagonist Anne, but rather inspired by Aunt Mary's mop in order to help Anne.

Our Abag is very clever!

Gods above, if the elders of the dragon race knew that the little dragon Abag would be proud of turning into a "mop", they would be furious.

After mopping the floor, Abag transformed back into a squirrel and jumped to the edge of the pool, wiggling its bottom. Little Bean stared at Annie with bright, sparkling eyes. Annie had just finished wiping the tables and chairs, so she reached out and rubbed its head, then tossed it into the pool, scooped up clear water, and poured it over its little body. Abag raised its little head, squinted Little Bean's eyes, and enjoyed this artificial shower.

After washing it almost completely, Annie lifted it out of the pool. Abag looked at the pool with reluctance, shook itself, and let the water drip off its wet fur. What an ugly squirrel! It wrinkled its nose, shook off the water again, and with a "whoosh," it transformed into a hairless beast.

Water gushed down Abag's smooth skin. When it had almost run dry, Annie took a clean towel and scooped it into her arms, wiping its body.

The hairless beast's body is very sensitive. Annie's rubbing made Abag extremely itchy. Looking at his cute little face, Annie couldn't help but deliberately tickle him. Abag twisted his body and dodged around until Annie laughed out loud. Only then did Abag realize that he had been teased by his little master.

With a "whoosh," Abag transformed back into a squirrel, darted out of the towel, and leaped onto Annie's head. His little paws scratched at Annie's hair, instantly turning it into a bird's nest.

"Abag!"

Annie screamed, and Abag immediately stopped what he was doing, lying down in the chicken coop above Annie's head and pretending to be dead.

Annie reached out to pull Abag down, but Abag kept his eyes closed and continued to play dead. Annie watched helplessly as Abag opened his little bean-like eyes a crack, secretly watching her reaction.

Anne gave Abag a good rub before carrying it back to the storage room.

Gods above, Annie, please don't blame our Abag. Like master, like pet. There's a Chinese saying: "If the upper beam is crooked, the lower beam will be crooked too!"

After finally tidying up the hotel, Annie returned to the storage room, exhausted. But she wouldn't rest immediately, because she had to work during the day and this was the only time she could practice magic and meditate.

Based on the idea that everything that exists has its reason and everything has its use, Anne practiced all of her magic, mainly silent magic, as she didn't want to make a loud noise and wake Aunt Mary and the hotel guests.

Of course, Annie's focus of practice was her spatial magic. Unfortunately, she had no teacher to give her authoritative advice, so she could only decide for herself to cultivate the spatial domain first, based on her own needs.

Well, if the Space Uncle were in front of her, he would definitely tell her, "Child, do you know that what you're practicing is the highest level of space magic? That's an advanced magic that can only be practiced after you've become quite proficient in space magic and have a very good grasp of its elements."

Spatial magic is the most powerful and most difficult magic element to master on the continent of Gerson. It is distributed in every corner of the continent, which itself is a space.

Space, or domain, is the key to mastering the mysteries of spatial magic. Once you have mastered the mysteries of spatial magic, you can create your own domain based on the extent of your power. However, creating a spatial domain requires, to some extent, rearranging the order of the surrounding space. In other words, you need to break the laws first and then reshape the domain.

This process is incredibly difficult; one wrong step and you could find yourself trapped in a spatial rift.

This is different from a spacetime rift. A spacetime rift opens up spacetime turbulence, and turbulence—which is itself a space—is what causes you to get lost.

Among them, there might be a chance of survival, but if one fails to grasp the arrangement and changes of space when opening up a spatial domain, one will only be crushed and flattened by the entire space.

For example, a spacetime rift is like a gap in the coastline; falling into it is like falling into a raging torrent. A spatial rift, on the other hand, is more like falling into a crack in a rock. When the spatial arrangement automatically restores and the rock closes, the physical body will be completely destroyed.

It must be said that Annie's life on the continent of Gerson was a grand adventure of the ignorant and fearless.

However, the success of opening up a spatial realm depends on two factors: first, the magnitude of one's own magic power, which relates to the size of the space opened up; and second, the strength of one's mental power, which is an important indicator for controlling the balance when space is torn apart.

Another reason Annie chose to cultivate the spatial domain first is that this domain is fixed; once activated, it exists forever, essentially a portable, large package.

Like a newborn calf unafraid of a tiger, Annie, with her powerful mental strength, managed to open up space multiple times without success, but she was also spared from being swallowed by the rift, which was truly a stroke of luck amidst misfortune.

After finishing her magic practice, Annie began to meditate.

Since Annie discovered that meditation makes her feel more energetic than sleeping, she has replaced sleep with meditation. Although this is a great test of her mental strength, our protagonist Annie's only undiminished advantage is her powerful mental strength, the beginning of everything, the source of everything.

At dawn, Anne finished her meditation and began her physical exercise, running, and practicing martial arts and kung fu.

Still thanks to her East-West background, her maternal grandfather forced her to learn Sanda and Changquan, and her paternal grandfather forced himself to learn martial arts. Oh God, the two elders completely forgot that this might turn her into a female version of Tarzan.

Of course, our Annie didn't obediently do intense training on Earth, but she still learned the moves and skills quite well, and her fancy footwork was quite beautiful.

Arriving in Gerson, the solo adventure filled her with immense unease. In this world, strength reigns supreme, power is paramount, and money is everything.

She was a fallen noblewoman, penniless, so she could only desperately improve herself and acquire as many skills as possible, as the saying goes, "a skill is never a burden."

Effort, in any world, is the most basic element that determines whether a person can succeed. So, on a distant continent, Annie, who was struggling alone, worked hard every day.

There was also a little dragon named Abag, who was the least self-aware of a dragon, and he was working hard just like his master, although the direction of his efforts was, well, perhaps a little different from the other dragons.

On a new day, Anne arrived at Old John's shop and began her workday. Anne was different today; she deliberately struck up a conversation with Old John.

During the conversation, she got the information she needed and learned the approximate price of konjac.

As expected, it is a commoner's food. Since konjac is very easy to grow, poor people can use it to fill their stomachs (although they can't eat too much), and magicians can use it to replenish their energy. Therefore, the supply is quite plentiful and not expensive. You can buy a fist-sized konjac for 10 copper coins.

With the addition of seasonings, processing, and travel expenses, the cost of one serving of konjac is 50 copper coins. In the end, Old John sells the konjac for one silver coin, doubling the price.

Old John's shop sells about two hundred items a day, which means he earns about one gold coin a day, and about thirty gold coins a month.

Annie mentally went over the accounts and was instantly astonished at how fast snacks could make money. No wonder the KFC owners on Earth were so rich.

With this in mind, Annie felt much more confident about selling snacks. However, before selling konjac, she needed to test whether it would mutate or taste different if prepared in other ways.

At noon, while Annie was peeling konjac, she secretly ate two... well, our protagonist is getting better and better at these little tricks. Society forces people to be strong, and by the gods, she didn't do it on purpose! The author, her own mother, swears on her behalf!

When she returned to the hotel that evening, she secretly threw the konjac into the closet, and when the time was almost up, she dug it out.

Peel it open, and the rich aroma of potatoes, uh, konjac wafts out. Abag's little eyes dart around, and saliva drips from the corners of its mouth.

Annie looked at the little gluttonous mouse and deliberately held up the konjac to tease it. Abag looked at its owner with grievance and anger, then instantly transformed into a tall storm monkey, reached out to dodge the konjac from Annie's hand, and then quickly turned back into a mouse. It carefully held the konjac, turned its back to Annie, and began to eat the konjac itself.

Annie smiled, peeled open another konjac, and resolutely put it into her mouth.

Hmm, it's so hot, but it tastes good.

Take another bite.

It has a rich aroma, and the magical elements have not changed.

After quickly finishing the konjac, the two stared at each other for a while. Once they were sure there were no strange reactions in their bodies, Annie made her final assessment of the konjac: it was undoubtedly Gerson's version of a potato.

Once food safety has been confirmed, the next step is to collect relevant materials.

This is when our little spy, Abag, comes in. Abag followed old John and found out where he got his supplies. It turns out there was a large vegetable market on the west side of the capital, where all kinds of vegetables and fruits were traded. The shops next to it also sold relatively cheap goods. Abag returned and told Anne that there was lots and lots of food there.

Since there is a large food ingredient trading market, the seasonings she needs should not be a problem. After all, the capital city is an incredibly prosperous metropolis, and the seasonings she needs can actually be found on the entire Gerson Continent. Items similar to tomatoes and chili peppers also exist on the continent, only the usage is different.

With the return of Jack, the snack bar worker, Annie's temporary job at Old John's came to an end.