7

Waiting is boring, so Anya decides to practice.

The time where she purposely slowing the Qi process multiple degrees is somewhat tiring but interesting, so she decides to do just that.

Slowly, but surely, yet not overboard because she needs the concentration in case something goes wrong with the journey.

'Well, I am in hurry and somewhat scared before but now that I know there isn't any inherently wrong with my body, I can do the arts with ease right now', thought Anya which without her realizing, the mood she has right now dramatically increase her concentration and perception.

Qi gathering Art is something the daycare unit provides, but not the thing they put as mandatory. That's why, the quality is somewhat lacking, at least that's what the servant people say to her.

After consulting with her parents, Anya decides to postpone her gathering the Qi into her dantian, and only surround her whole body with it until the time she got a better art later.

That's been what she does as long as she remembers so waiting a few more years is not a problem for her.

'Ah, it has almost gotten inside'

When the Qi almost reach her dantian, she stops the whole process, and then restart from the beginning, making her practice really weird if others know what's going one.

It feels as if she took too much time and effort to even try gathering the Qi yet no matter how many times she tried to increase the Qi inside of her, the thing dissipates before even getting in.

Looking at the little girl with black hair that sweetly sleeping beside him, the young master furrowed his eyebrows and thought, 'What a crappy talent' before ignoring her entire being altogether to practice.

Her act of sleeping actually busted right then and there but she didn't realize it yet.

The journey is a success, and they arrive at the supposed destination, the inner mansion a little few ever step foot on.

On a side note, everyone woke up at the same time the carriage passes the back gate and they were surprised after seeing another kid within their mist.

But no one bothers asking him who he was, or more like, the only one who cares is the sweet Litta but she is way too scared to ask.

"Do you have a nightmare?"

"?? I feel like I am but forgotten what it was.", was Litta's answer after asked by the curious Anya about her sleeptalk as she tilted her little head.

With the guidance of the coach, everyone follows him toward a building separated from the mansion, passing some of the working servants that tending the garden, beast, or simply practicing.

The children had their eyes drawn toward a lot of powerful figures and graceful habits the servant had as if seeing their idol from the story, except Anya who wryly smiles instead.

'*sigh, now is the life of being a literal yes man in my second life. Maybe I should get a lot stronger so that I can live on my own?', thought Anya as she lamenting the prepared future at the tender age of 6 while failing to see the coach in the front who sneaks an occasional glance toward her with a mixed expression.

After arriving in front of a certain building, the coach gives a knock with a certain rhythm and another servant takes care of the rest as he walks back, probably to continue his duties for the day.

Entering the certain room, what greets the bunch was another group of children.

The group looking at each other before they are told to sit down and wait, at which the servant left leaving them behind within the empty room.

While looking around in a confused manner, Anya feels a tender hand holding hers, and saw her best friend looking at her with anxiety on her face.

"It's alright", said Anya in a reassuring manner with a kind gaze, while patting her little head gently.

'*sigh I worried about her future at this rate', thought her as she processes the room they are in right now.

There is nothing but a weird ball on top of a desk in the room.

Curious, some of the children tried to touch it, but nothing weird of the sort happens. After ten minutes pass, the mood starts to get worsen.

Doing nothing but wait and sit around is torture for a kid. Without any other explanation of what's going on about their parents, it makes them even more anxious or even irritated.

Thankfully, before the rowdy little children start to get impatient, the next procedure appears for them to follow, which is coming from the ball on top of the desk.

The ball emits warm light with a middle-aged man's voice come out of it.

"Get out of this room within 1 hour, begin"

Before Anya voicing out her confusion, the room was bathed with a strong light for a second, and what was left behind were the kids that fainted, laying the room in desolate silence.

...

Within the room on the upper floor of the servant unit, the building Anya and the kids fainted at, 5 people were reading a report while watching a big screen in front of all of them.

What's written is unknown to the kid and their parents are the compiled info that was read with great relish and concentration by them so it must be really important.

"Hmmm, this kid is a natural. He might quite strong if nurtured properly", said a middle-aged man with a trimmed mustache, short black hair, and a well-proportioned body.

"How about them? They are somewhat weird, but their talent is promising.", ask the ordinary-looking young man around 25 years toward his side.

"Talent is not all that matters, personality is important too. They both lack passion and their dependence on their counterpart are worrying too", answer a great beauty with blue eyes and the same colored long straight hair while creasing her eyebrows as she shows a mixed expression on her tender face.

"Natural, promising talent, and a good personality with passion and independence. I think only the young master has all of that in one body.", said a grandpa with a wrinkled face and gray hair with his back still ramrod straight as he glances at the woman at his side.

"Well, my son is a prodigy that I am so proud of after all!", answer the woman with red hair as she shows a prideful smile while she pointed toward a certain location on the screen.

Amidst a peaceful sleeping figure among the children, the boy she pointed, the young master that the madam so proud of start so show the sign of resisting as his eyelid twitching and his body drenched in sweat.

"... young master is really amazing. He is only 6 years old, and yet he already can fight back the sleeping art that forcefully imposed on him in a short amount of time."

"At that age, I still dream of becoming a great figure, whereas he already shows that effort since a toddler."

"He is the young master we are so proud of indeed. The best record is 31 minutes, and the one who broke it is... "

"Ridie, the older brother of that little lady's father over there called Litta"

On the other hand, the little lady called Litta still sleeping peacefully, showing her angel-like figure that incites other the feeling of wanting to protect her.

As they converse while reading the report on their hand as 5 minutes pass, the young master wakes up with a start as he gasps in shock.

His breathing seems rough, but he calmed down a few seconds after at which he then take a sitting posture to regulate the turmoil Qi on his body.

After another ten seconds, he takes a look at his surrounding, before standing up and then get out of the room, getting out of everyone's sight.

"Amazing, only took him 5 minutes and 21 seconds to dispel the art at the tender age of 6."

"His intelligence makes him capable of learning anything at a faster rate since young, and that makes him took a couple of steps ahead of others at which adding with his personality...simply wonderful"

"The minimum requirement is around 50 minutes, or 55 minutes if something goes a little wrong. 31 seconds is already half of the supposed to be a young talent beyond rare, and yet he goes beyond that."

"What do you think madam?"

"Of course it is great, though I very much believe that he actually capable of doing more than that!"

"""..."""

Unfortunately for the madam, the four of them simply smile without giving any other response, because it is simply impossible for them to believe.

If it is really possible to be done, they might start to wonder whether the young master already knows how to tell left from right from the time he is still inside of the madam's womb!

As they are discussing things in excitement, they didn't seem to notice that one of the little ladies already open her eyes in a split second before shutting them again afterward.

'...that's dangerous, almost forgot there is a young master taking the test among us!'

That little lady is Anya, who is drenched in sweat as she ponders the gravity she almost commits.

'He is special existence to the point of his rumors keep circulating for the past years. If people know that I wake up at the same time as him...', thought Anya as she hurriedly stops circulating her Qi art, making the foreign spell that wreak havoc on her body that almost dissipates a moment ago to gather again.

'This no joking matter. Different from the time and place, having a talent could be a crime deserving of a death penalty.'

Standing out is necessary, but it's not the thing she can do for the current her, at least that's her conclusion from her experience living in an unruly group as she decides to continue her sleeping posture.

A split few seconds is all she needs to make her fall into slumber again, but she makes sure not to fall too deep.

'Let's practice again while I am at it', decide her as she does the weird Qi practice on her way here from before while being absorbed with the thrill of new discovery of the new way of doing it.

'No, I don't need to make it dissipate and restarting again. I can just circulate it slowly toward my heart, and make it pump the Qi all over my body.', thought Anya with the precious experience she got from before.

While thinking that it might be possible, she didn't know the consequences it might bring, so she is very cautious with trying her new invention.

The normal 3 to 5 minutes of deep concentration was stretched into ten to twelve minutes, making her mind roaring with numbness, but she gritted through it.

The 5 people that's currently finished reading all the reports and decide to observe every candidate seriously...

"What's wrong with her?"

"Who? Oh, she is, constipated?"

"Please don't say such an irresponsible thing toward a young lady!"

"Say, as a woman yourself, could you tell me your thought whether is it right to call her a young lady with such sleeping posture?"

"..."

Ignoring the people around her, the madam narrows her eyes while looking at the little lady, at Anya who is drenched in sweat with her right hand on her stomach, leg completely wide open while folded outward, and drool seep through her lips, very contradicting with the cute and feminine dress she is wearing right now as if that posture really uncomfortable.

If Mama Anya ever saw such a spectacle, she might even faint directly.

Of course, the sudden event might be the reason for her not to correct her in time, but the fact that she does that unconsciously is quite a worrying thing to see.

Especially if you consider that she actually had the chance to do so but she didn't even feel the need, or more like, failed to realize anything wrong with it, her crime of not conducting herself carefully take another increase in severity.

Under normal circumstances, as a woman herself, the madam might even show the same reaction albeit not that exaggerating.

But, she got additional information that the other didn't know, the info from a certain coachman who reports his finding toward her personal servant at which she receives before the test begins.

'What is she planning?'

The spell from the crystal ball is weaker than it was cast directly by a person, and the fact that it was done secretly make it even more difficult to break, and yet based on what she received, the little girl that appears on the screen right now manage to do it without anyone guidance or warning.

'I believe with such a talent, she would be able to break the previous record by a big margin but...'

After 30 minutes of time pass, she has no sign of waking up.

Knowing that the record almost reached, the four with the addition of the madam starts to believe that the previous record, of course after ignoring the impossible to beat of a record the young master just written, might not be broken for a while longer.

But, in the last 30 seconds, Anya opens her eyes as she sits back up with a dazed expression.

The four of the people inside the upper room glance at each other, excitement imminent on their faces.

"...ugh, just wait...catch you..."

"Brother...sister..."

"Wait...forgive me..."

"Food...mine..."

After seeing the little girl walk toward the little girl with a side bun hairstyle beside her and correcting her sleeping posture while ignoring the mumble she heard from any other, she walks out of the room with her head lowered.

All of them, including the madam, hope that maybe the new prodigy at the same age as their young master, albeit not as good as him, might appear on this year's batch of young servants.

...

After walking a bit, Anya saw a board with a word written on it.

-Go to the second floor and enter room number 201 and wait for another instruction.-

Eyes flickering with the knowing light, she then enters the waiting room and found the young master sitting in a crossed leg on the right corner, being silent in concentration.

Ignoring his existence, Anya decides to sit on the left corner in also crossed-legged manner as she ponders her experiment result from before.

'...It's not entirely impossible, but I don't know why it didn't go well as I expected'

Thinking back again, she first guides the Qi toward her heart as planned, but once it enters, it couldn't be pumped toward her entire body.

'I thought that it works just like how blood runs through the vein, but why? Is it just my groundless speculation?'

Unlike blood, Qi is an imaginary but still existing particle that can't be touched, so the idea of using a physical human body part to automatically move it around her body is an impossibility unless she can combine that clashing nature.

'At least that was the only thing I can conclude for now. Well, at least I got to experience how Qi could be gathered onto another place other than my dantian.', thought her while feeling somewhat relieved over her unsuccessful experiment.

"...oy"

While wondering what should be done in order to make that experiment into success, Anya heard a voice from the other corner calling for her.

He has red hair, and the eyes of little children that are supposed to be filled with innocence were glinting with wisdom and intelligence that normally impossible for a brat around 6 years old to have.

Under normal circumstances, she would ignore such a rude way of calling.

But knowing her position, she decides to at least give a proper response, as a way of respect toward the soon to be superior of her.

"...what?'', answer Anya as she glances toward the boy who looks at her with a frown and disgust.

"...You are a girl aren't you?"

"..."

*Sashak

Change Anya position as she sits while facing the young boy.

The boy's eyes attracted downward for a millisecond before going back forward, and then he decides to close his eyes with a *tsked.

Seeing the haughty young master raised a white flag, Anya then smiles in satisfaction as she then faces forward again while creating a new detailed plan for her next experiment.

When the time almost reaches 50 minutes, Rain unexpectedly arrives first before anyone else as he enters the room with a somewhat hurried step...Bam!... and then fall face first splendidly afterward.

With a bloody nose, he then stands up in haste as awkwardly avert his eyes elsewhere after realizing what he had done as his face redden.

"H-hey! Close your leg!", said Rain while pointing his finger downward toward Anya's below while his other hand clogging his bloody nose.

Narrowing her eyes, she then does the same thing she did before and getting thrown a shirt right at her face after.

Taking the shirt from the now half nude young boy in confusion, she tilted her head in contemplation before a light bulb struck her with an uncomfortable revelation after recalling every little weird conduct Rain always did toward her

"...I am sorry, but I don't plan to like you.", and thus she decided to cut down the possibility before things get out of hand

"Ugh!!"

*Spurt!!

'Uhh, even from my standard, I admit that I got reincarnated as a promising cute little girl. But, acting like a bully but caring right afterward won't work on me.', thought Anya as she looks at the now convulsing boy that lay down on the floor with a nosebleed with a knowing look.

'What's with her confidence!? Any boy would get embarrassed after looking at such a sight. How come it becomes me liking her!??', thought Rain in incredulity and anger.

"Who in the---! If you close it obediently, I will give you an expensive pretty hairpin later!", Said Rain as he gritting his teeth while he clutches his nose to stop the bleeding and glaring at Anya.

The little idea he got a while back that he never expected would become of use so early give him confidence, the hope that it will shut her mouth for good and make him a winner on their rivalry that the boy always strives.

'With this, you will---'

Looking at her crossed leg under her one-piece dress, she starts to hesitate a few moments before bitting her lips and said,

"...I didn't want to give you any false hope so...would you like to take a look instead?" while looking at the boy with pity.

What came after was the sight of a fainted purple-haired boy with a pool of blood around his face, and the supposed to be the genius young master with a great personality who got his eyes bulged open with mouth agape in utter shock.