1: Chapter 1: The Only Blank Player

Tianhai City No. 3 Middle School, Awakening Plaza.

The air was thick with the scent of hormones and cheap hair gel, as hundreds of high school seniors crowded onto the playground like dumplings being dropped into a pot.

A massive blue holographic projection screen hung in mid-air, with code scrolling across it that was messier than a programmer's hairline.

"Wang Gang, Awakened Class: [Berserker], Talent Rating: B! Initial Strength: 18!"

As the Dean let out a cracked, roaring shout, the crowd erupted.

"Holy crap! A B-Rank Berserker? This guy will definitely be the main tank for dungeons in the future!"

"Initial Strength 18? With stats like that, he could tear a slime apart with his bare hands, right?"

Amidst a barrage of "666" cheers that felt like a flood of comments, Wang Gang walked off the Awakening stage with a swagger that showed he didn't care about anyone.

As he passed Lin Qi, he deliberately bumped into his shoulder, a crooked, villainous smirk on his lips that practically had the word "cocky" written all over his face.

"Lin Qi, it's your turn. What's the use of getting full marks in theory class? These days, your stats panel is the only thing that matters."

Lin Qi rubbed his shoulder, his expression blank.

He was a person who had undergone Transmigration.

More accurately, he was a Transmigration survivor who brought with him the memories of a max-level account from the previous life's "martial arts era".

Three hundred years ago, this world was corrupted by "Data-fication." When everyone reaches adulthood, they awaken a stats panel, killing monsters to level up, allocating points, and equipping gear—literally turning reality into an MMORPG.

But Lin Qi knew very well that those so-called skills, cooldowns, and mana bars were just a pile of flashy garbage in the face of true "Dao".

"Lin Qi!" the Dean urged impatiently.

Lin Qi stepped onto the Awakening stage and placed his hand on the crystal ball, which looked exactly like something bought for nine yuan and ninety cents on Taobao with free shipping.

Hum— A brilliant light erupted.

The entire crowd held their breath. With lighting effects like this, could it be the birth of at least an A-Rank big shot?

The light faded.

The panel projected above the crystal ball was as clean as a plate that had just been licked.

[Name: Lin Qi] [Class: None] [Talent: None] [Rank: LV.1] [Strength: 5 (Weakling)] [Agility: 5 (Sluggish)] [Physique: 5 (Glass Cannon)] [Spirit: 5 (Mortal)] [Skills: None]

A deathly silence fell.

Even the Dean's face, which usually looked like he had chronic constipation, froze.

"Pfft— Hahaha!"

Someone in the crowd couldn't hold it in, and then the laughter spread like a virus.

"No class? No talent? All four stats are 5?"

"This is the legendary 'Whiteboard'! Even the wild chickens at the newbie village entrance could peck him to death, right?"

"Hilarious, first in theory class? Turns out he's just a System bug!"

Wang Gang laughed the loudest, tears streaming down his face: "Lin Qi, your account is ruined. I suggest you delete it and start over, or go to a factory and screw bolts. Though with 5 Strength, you might not even be able to turn the screws."

Lin Qi looked at that miserable panel, but his heart remained calm, and he even felt like laughing.

Stats? Panels?

Deep in his mind, a towering monument to martial arts was unsealing with a roar.

The "Martial Saint" account from the "martial arts era" that once dominated the heavens had not brought over its attribute points.

But the experience from countless life-and-death battles, the force-generating techniques already carved into his Soul, and those peak martial arts insights were now flooding into this weak body like a tide.

Taiji, Baji, Xingyi, Hongquan...

Internal Skill, movement techniques, footwork, the application of Protective Aura...

These things cannot be displayed on the panel. Because in this data-fied world, there is no concept code for "martial arts"!

People here only know how to foolishly shout skill names and then wait for the cast bar to fill up.

"Lin Qi, get down," the Dean sighed, his eyes looking as if he were staring at a piece of non-recyclable wet trash. "Don't block the people behind you."

Lin Qi turned around. Wang Gang blocked his path again, this time even more brazenly, even reaching out a hand to pat Lin Qi's face: "Brother Whiteboard, if you have no food to eat in the future, come be a punching bag for my family, I... Holy crap?"

Just as Wang Gang's palm was about to touch Lin Qi's cheek, Lin Qi moved.

No skill light effects, no System prompts. He just tilted his head slightly—the movement so small it was almost negligible—just enough to dodge Wang Gang's palm. Immediately after, his right hand hooked onto Wang Gang's wrist.

Following the momentum, leading, sinking.

Taiji: Four Ounces Deflecting a Thousand Pounds.

Even though Lin Qi only had 5 points of Strength, and Wang Gang had 18 points of brute force, at that moment, Wang Gang felt like he had crashed into a ball of cotton, followed by a strange Spiral Force drilling into his arm.

"Off you go," Lin Qi spat out two words softly.

Boom!

Wang Gang, who was one meter eighty-five and built like a bear, actually had his feet leave the ground, tracing a graceful parabola in the air before slamming heavily onto the rubber track five meters away.

With a dull thud, it sounded painful just listening to it.

The mocking laughter of the entire crowd was cut off instantly, like a duck whose neck had been grabbed.

Everyone stared with wide eyes at the teenager whose panel was a blank slate, as he calmly dusted off his hands.

"What the hell? What just happened?"

"Wang Gang has a B-Rank Strength talent! He got one-shot?"

"What skill did Lin Qi use? Why didn't I see a cast bar?"

The Dean's eyes were practically popping out of his head; he had clearly scanned him just now, and there were no mana fluctuations on Lin Qi!

Wang Gang struggled to crawl up, his face flushed to the color of a pig's liver, both ashamed and angry: "You... you backstabbed me. You must have used some forbidden item. I'm going to kill you!"

Roar!

A red light flickered on Wang Gang's body; this was the wind-up for the [Berserker] Level 1 skill [Savage Charge].

As soon as the one-second cast bar finished, his speed and impact force would double.

"Cast bar?" Lin Qi looked at Wang Gang, who was posing and charging up on the spot, a playful arc curling at the corner of his mouth.

"Who taught you to cast a spell right in front of your opponent in real combat? Tired of living?"

Before the red light on Wang Gang could fully brighten, Lin Qi had already taken a step.

This step was like shrinking the ground to an inch. Although his physical condition was trash, the placement, rhythm, and center-of-gravity shift of this step were perfect to the extreme, landing exactly in the blind spot of Wang Gang's skill judgment.

Slap!

A crisp, resounding slap.

Lin Qi's palm struck Wang Gang's face with precision, not only interrupting the skill cast but also using the rebound force to help himself retreat to a safe distance.

"Skill interrupted?!" "Silence? Is this a crowd-control skill?"

The surrounding students went completely crazy; this was completely beyond their cognition.

Lin Qi shook his numb palm, his brows slightly furrowed.

"Tsk, my physical body is too weak. I only used one move, 'Flowing Cloud Force,' and my wrist is already a bit sore. Looks like I need to get some 'supplements' soon."

He ignored the stunned crowd and cast his gaze over the wall, toward the trial area behind the school.

That, was the hunting ground of the Martial Saint.