Jiangnan City, No. 6 Middle School!
Today was the school's annual ability awakening ceremony. All the third-year students who had turned eighteen were lined up, waiting their turn.
"Cao Shuai, third year, class six!"
"Here!"
A slightly chubby student ran up to a testing machine and stepped inside.
Two soldiers in green uniforms outside quickly shut the machine's door.
"Next, Qin Hao, third year, class six, get ready!"
Then the person in charge said to Cao Shuai inside the machine, "Close your eyes and carefully sense the spiritual energy inside!"
Before long, a bar labeled "talent level" began to light up on the machine's display.
The bar rose from the letter F at the very bottom.
F, E, D, C, B, A, S, SS, SSS, SSS+, epic, legendary.
After reaching legendary, it suddenly plunged and finally stopped at B. Beside it appeared the words "Ability: fire."
"Cao Shuai, third year, class six, awakened the fire ability, talent level B!"
The awakening machine's door opened automatically, and Cao Shuai walked out, his face full of excitement.
"Qin Hao, third year, class six!"
It was finally his turn. Qin Hao shouted excitedly, "Here!"
Then he hurried toward the testing machine.
When he passed Cao Shuai, he gave him a thumbs-up.
"Brother Hao, you've got this!"
Qin Hao smiled and nodded, then stepped into the testing machine.
As the machine's door shut, Qin Hao found himself in a pitch-black space, but he felt perfectly comfortable.
Then, following the instructions given by the person in charge, he began awakening his ability.
Sure enough, he sensed a dense mass of colored lights filling the space around him. They streamed toward his body, nourishing his limbs and bones.
Outside, the light bar on the machine also rose slowly, then rapidly fell, then rose again, all the way to Legendary Rank.
It flickered back and forth more than ten times before finally starting to rise more slowly. It climbed at a crawl, once again reaching the Legendary Rank mark.
Just when everyone thought the bar was about to settle, it suddenly burst into an intense, blinding golden light, and then...
And then nothing. The light bar vanished, and the talent level he received was... none, or rather, "0."
At that moment, the words "Ability: Chaos Dao Body" appeared beside it.
The person in charge looked utterly dumbfounded. How is that possible?
Just now, several times he had thought this was some peerless genius whose talent level was the highest, Legendary Rank, but the light bar just wouldn't settle.
After it finally settled, it turned out there was no talent at all.
Qin Hao alone had taken as long to awaken his ability as ten other people, yet his talent level was "0."
It was the first time the person in charge had seen anything like this, so he was both shocked and utterly baffled.
Judging by the two-hundred-year history of spiritual energy's revival, even the most ordinary person could awaken an F-Rank Talent. That was why no "0" grade had been established.
But starting today, the "0" grade had been born.
"Qin Hao, third year, class six, awakened ability: Chaos Dao Body. Talent level... talent level is... zero!"
The person in charge spoke with a bewildered expression.
"What? No talent level? How is that possible?"
The assembled school leaders and officials from the Martial Artist Education Bureau sitting on the dais stared at the testing machine in disbelief.
"Could there be something wrong with the machine?"
the principal asked.
"Impossible. This is a top-of-the-line testing machine used all over the world. It can detect the highest-grade Legendary Talent. It was tested many times before being put into use, and there were no problems at all. Besides, we've been using it for three years now, and there's never been a problem!"
the person in charge explained.
"Oh, come on! It's not impossible for someone to have no talent. The machine's fine, so that just means this student is trash. Hurry up and bring out the next one!"
an official from the Martial Artist Education Bureau said impatiently.
Qin Hao stood nearby, listening to everyone's discussion. His face was full of disappointment, but even more than that, despair.
"B-Brother Hao, are you all right?"
Cao Shuai hurried over to comfort him.
"I'm fine!"
Qin Hao forced a smile and answered.
"Brother Hao, it's all right. Maybe the machine made a mistake. Chaos Dao Body1—just the name tells you it's not ordinary! Besides, even if you have no talent, it's fine. At worst, I'll have your back from now on!"
Cao Shuai patted his chest and smiled.
Qin Hao felt warmth in his heart. "Thanks, brother!"
With that, he walked silently away on his own.
"Brother Hao, aren't you going to watch the others awaken their abilities?"
"You go ahead! I've got something to take care of, so I won't watch!"
Qin Hao waved and headed toward the teaching building, a desolate expression on his face.
When he reached his seat in the classroom, Qin Hao lay down on his desk, and images flashed through his mind.
"Son, all our family's hopes rest on you now. You have to do your best and try to awaken an ability with a talent level above F!"
"Son, don't listen to your father's nonsense. Don't put too much pressure on yourself..."
Qin Hao's family was very ordinary. His parents were both ordinary people who had only awakened F-Rank Talents. They couldn't become Martial Artists and could only work ordinary jobs.
Not long ago, Qin Hao's mother had fallen ill. A hospital examination revealed she had cancer, and it was already at an advanced stage.
This was the era of spiritual energy's revival, and cancer was no longer considered an incurable disease. A single drop of Spirit Liquid could cure it.
But Spirit Liquid was extremely expensive. A single drop cost a million.
For an ordinary family, that was an astronomical sum.
Originally, because his father had a job, they could have taken out a loan and slowly paid it back through his work.
But a rope always breaks at its thinnest point, and misfortune seeks out those already suffering.
Qin Hao's father was suddenly fired by his company, on the grounds that it had too many employees and needed to cut staff.
As a result, the whole family's hopes rested on Qin Hao alone.
As long as Qin Hao could awaken an ability with a talent level above F, he could become a Martial Artist even if he didn't get into a Martial Artist academy.
And a Martial Artist's identity and status were as different from an ordinary person's as heaven and earth.
As for people who awakened high-grade talent abilities, banks would lend to them unconditionally.
That way, the million needed to buy Spirit Liquid could be taken care of with ease.
But Qin Hao had awakened a trash ability with no talent.
Qin Hao could clearly feel that only his senses had improved; he felt no other power.
Someone with an F-Rank Talent ability could only remain an ordinary person. With a trash physique at talent level zero, he was probably not even as good as an ordinary person.
At that thought, Qin Hao was as desperate as he could possibly be.
[Ding: despair value has reached the activation threshold. System activating]
[Ding: activation successful. Received one newbie gift pack blind box]
At that moment, an electronic voice sounded in Qin Hao's mind, and a screen of light appeared out of thin air before his eyes...
Below are the cultivation realms in this book. Feel free to skip them!
The realms in this book are as follows:
Great Qian Universe and Haotian Universe: Apprentice (tiers 1–10), Martial Artist (tiers 1–10), Martial Master (tiers 1–10), Martial General (tiers 1–10), Martial Marquis (tiers 1–10), Martial King (tiers 1–10), Martial Emperor (tiers 1–10), Martial Sect (tiers 1–10), Martial Venerable (tiers 1–10), Martial Saint (tiers 1–10), Martial Emperor (tiers 1–100), Martial God (tiers 1–1,000), True God (tiers 1–1,000), God of the Universe (tiers 1–100, with tier 50 also called Universal God King and tier 100 called Universal God Emperor)
Zero-Dimensional Universe: Zero-Dimensional, Eternal, Low-Tier Eternal, Mid-Tier Eternal, High-Tier Eternal, King of Eternal, Ancestor of Eternal
Twelve Palaces Cultivation System: Body Tempering (layers 1–10), Qi Drawing, Palace Opening, Dao Comprehension, Creation, World Creation, Zero-Dimensional, Eternal, Low-Tier Eternal, Mid-Tier Eternal, High-Tier Eternal, King of Eternal, Ancestor of Eternal
Primordial Universe: Qi Refining (early, middle, late, perfection), Foundation Establishment (early, middle, late, perfection), Golden Core (early, middle, late, perfection), Nascent Soul (early, middle, late, perfection), Deity Transformation (early, middle, late, perfection), Void Refinement (early, middle, late, perfection), Dao Integration (early, middle, late, perfection), Tribulation Transcendence (early, middle, late, perfection), Mahayana (early, middle, late, perfection), Human Immortal (early, middle, late, perfection), Earth Immortal (early, middle, late, perfection), Heavenly Immortal (early, middle, late, perfection), Mystic Immortal (early, middle, late, perfection), Taiyi Golden Immortal (early, middle, late, perfection), Daluo Golden Immortal (early, middle, late, perfection), Quasi-Saint (early, middle, late, perfection), Saint (early, middle, late, perfection)