"Fist strength, 5270KG!"
"Qin Mu!"
"Apprentice Rank Five!"
Jiangcheng Second High School, Martial Arts Field.
With a solemn expression, Qin Mu left the testing device.
Eighteen years!
Eighteen years!
Still only Apprentice Rank Five?
He is still 5000KG short from becoming a Martial Artist!
Behind him.
One after another, the students passed through the fist strength testing device.
"Fist strength: 6720KG."
"He Hongwei, Apprentice Rank Six."
."Zhou Keming, Apprentice Rank Six."
"Qian Wen, Apprentice Rank Five."
.Bang!
Suddenly, there was a startling impact sound in the Martial Arts Field.
"Fist strength, 10200KG!"
"Ling Qianxue, Quasi-Martial Artist!!!"
After an exclamation from the instructor, the results were announced.
Qin Mu looked to the side, through the crowd, amidst everyone's envious gazes. A young woman with a high ponytail and outstanding looks was leaving the testing device with a faint smile.
"hey, wood stop staring~"
Behind him, his best friend Qian Wen patted Qin Mu's shoulder.
"That great beauty, Ling Qianxue, was already an Apprentice Rank Nine last year. Her promotion to Quasi-Martial Artist is just a natural progression, isn't it?"
Yes.
The Apprentice Rank only tests fist strength with 1000KG per Rank.
Surpassing 10000KG can make one a Quasi-Martial Artist and give them the qualification to participate in the assessment of a Martial Artist.
To become those lofty Martial Artists, Martial Generals, Grandmasters, or even advance to Great Grandmaster, becoming a council member of Dragon Star!
Transmigrated Qin Mu originally thought that he was a Genius.
Yet He lived an ordinary life for eighteen years.
No!
It would be fine if it were genuinely ordinary.
Unfortunately, in this world, where the strong are revered, and the Vicious Beasts run amok. Without becoming a Martial Artist, one remains a Mortal.
There is no such thing as an ordinary life; it is just the miserable life of the lower class!
"By the way."
Qian Wen asked casually, throwing an arm around his shoulder:
"Are you taking the college entrance exam at the end of the month?"
Qin Mu shook his head:
"I'm not participating."
"You know my family's financial situation. How could I afford the terrifying tuition fees of university?"
Tsk!
Qian Wen scrunched up his face and clicked his tongue: "You tell me, my mom named me Qian Wen!
"Obviously Martial Artists are the coolest, but she had to add 'Wen' (culture/writing)! But I don't like academics, I can't get scholarships, my grades are horrible. Even if I went to university, I wouldn't become a researcher, I'd still be a good-for-nothing~!"
On Dragon Star, Vicious Beasts run wild, yet its technological prowess is not low.
Although they cannot contend with Grandmaster-level Vicious Beasts, they are very good at eliminating job opportunities.
In order to get ahead, one must either be a Martial Artist or become an Advanced researcher.
The entire Dragon Star has only twenty-four cities, all of them concrete strongholds.
Outside of the cities, there are only Vicious Beasts.
Each city has at least a hundred million people, while not every city has a university.
Tens of millions take the college entrance exam, but there are only thirty thousand spots at universities.
That's one chance in a thousand!
It's even lower than the chance of becoming a Martial Artist. Except for geniuses, most people have no chance at all.
"Let's just work."
"If I can become a Martial Artist before thirty, perhaps I can still get some fresh meat to eat; otherwise, I really would have to spend the rest of my life eating that Hex Tech meat."
Qian Wen let out a deep sigh:
"I heard the hunting party outside of town is still short on porters. They hunt pretty close by, not deep into the wilderness."
"It's a bit dangerous, but the pay is good: 300 credit points a day."
"Most importantly, you get to be in the company of Martial Artists all day long. You never know, perhaps they'll casually leak a bit of fierce beast meat to supplement you, and you'll become a Martial Artist too?"
No!
Qin Mu waved his hand directly, "That kind of porter job always needs people, yet they can never recruit enough. Do you think everyone else is stupid?"
They die quickly and get paid little; even upon death in action, there is no compensation.
Qin Mu could not accept such a job.
He still had a younger sister at home.
If he wasn't able to make it, at least he needed to raise his sister properly, so his life here would not be in vain.
"See you, I have to go home and cook."
Qin Mu bade farewell to his best friend.
He jogged all the way home. to a forty-story cylinder-shaped building.
Each floor had over three hundred households, with only one communal corridor that doubled as a balcony. Opening the door led to a small 30-square-meter room.
Qin Mu's family of three resided in unit 2233.
That apartment wasn't purchased, but was low-rent housing provided by Jiangcheng, paid on a daily basis.
Beep~ Your rent is 3 days overdue. A late fee of 0.3% per day will be charged. Please note, if rent is continuously overdue for 7 days, the house will be repossessed!
."Damn it!"
Truly, Qin Mu was fed up with this world!
In fact, there was no room left for Mortals to survive.
His father was a Rank Two Martial Artist back then, and their life was quite good. Due to a mission, he died in the wilderness, and because it was a private mission, there was no compensation.
Hence, for the last decade, his mother hardly was able to provide for the two siblings by working in a processing plant skinning Vicious Beasts.
It was not supposed to be overdue.
But his mother insisted that he was about to graduate and take the simulated Martial Artist exam, so he needed supplements~
These supplements were no big deal, but they made the rent overdue.
He went in through the door.
Somebody turned on the light!
It didn't light up~
"Beep, honored customer, your account is overdue by 18.22 credit points as of 17:00 today."
Bang!
Qin Mu punched the wall: "Stop calling!
He tapped the virtual screen on the wall, opened his small savings, and transferred 30 credit points from his accumulated 100+ points into the electricity account.
Everything in this world required electricity.
Without electricity, even the Hex Tech meat would have ice shards in it~
Sizzle!
The light came on.
[Ding! host successfully bound!]
[Ding! Invincible Leveling System Activated!]
"What?"
"System?!"
Qin Mu truly thought he had misheard.
Eighteen years! Do you know how I spent these eighteen years?