"Hardship and toil! A life wasted!!!"
"If you don't fight for it, you might as well be dead!!!" ×100
"One draw! Three generations pay the price!!!"
"Only by giving it your all can you avoid failure!!!" ×100
A group of youngsters shouted their slogans enthusiastically as they ran past Ye Li.
Watching them disappear into the distance, Ye Li silently withdrew his gaze and prayed for their futures!
They were all members of an achievement-grinding squad!
This was the road he had once walked, too!
Their daily work was to grind out achievements nonstop, unlocking the prerequisites for different traits.
The reason was that the traits awakened at eighteen were drawn from one's past life experiences.
The requirements for a single trait weren't difficult to meet, but this was a gacha game with no pity system!
It mixed together every trait triggered over the course of one's life, then drew from the entire pool!
Traits with negative effects could be drawn, too, like [Idle · White], [Clumsy · White], [Bottomless Pit · White], and [Jinx · Blue].
To expand the pool as much as possible, before turning eighteen, these people spent their lives completing all kinds of records and challenges, hoping only to draw a golden card at eighteen and defy fate!
Life seemed long, but in truth, most people's fates were decided by the time they turned eighteen.
Those who drew [Hardworking] spent their lives peacefully farming; those who drew [Jinx] were driven outside the city to fend for themselves.
Those who drew golden, orange, or purple traits were immediately taken away by powerful factions, their futures differing depending on whether they were recruited, brainwashed, or married into the family.
As for those with middling green, blue, or white traits, they could choose a faction to join.
That was also why, before his memories awakened, Ye Li had rather risk having the tendons in his hands and feet severed than report his results honestly.
It wasn't because he was stupid. It was simply because... he couldn't accept it!
[Fleet Foot · Green]: Run 3,000 steps every day for one hundred consecutive days!
[Cold Resistance · Green]: Spend half a day bare-chested outdoors in snowy weather, for seven consecutive days!
[Night Vision · Green]: Live for a week in an environment without light!
[Skillful Hands · Green]: Take apart and reassemble each of 100 mechanical devices ten times within a year!
[Exceptional Agility · Green]: Recite ten long passages, each over ten thousand characters, consecutively!
For eighteen years, he had gotten up before dawn every day to grind achievements. He'd completed all the prerequisites for the traits listed above.
In the end... he'd drawn water with a bamboo basket.
Forget about high-level traits.
He hadn't even triggered a decent white trait.
The crushing disappointment had swallowed him whole.
Recalling all the attempts and effort he'd put in before his memories returned, Ye Li set aside his tangled emotions. When he came back to himself, he saw that home was already just ahead.
It was a somewhat dilapidated courtyard.
An old wooden gate stood before a woman in her forties or fifties and a girl of eleven or twelve, both eagerly waiting for him.
The older one was Ye Li's aunt, Ning Qiu. The younger one was her daughter, Ye Duo!
He'd eaten and lived here ever since he was little. His parents had died young, and counting his past life, Heaven owed him two pairs of parents!
Seeing them, a smile appeared on Ye Li's face. He waved to them, then hurried over.
"Auntie, little sis, I'm back!"
"How did it go?" Ning Qiu looked at Ye Li with concern. "Everything go smoothly?"
"Oh, Mom, to use Ye Li's words, he went in there with victory already in his grasp!"
Ye Duo struck a pose of tragic, self-sacrificing resolve, then turned and giggled.
Ning Qiu paid no attention to her daughter's antics. She kept her eyes fixed on Ye Li.
Ever since he was little, this nephew of hers had always spouted strange things she'd never heard before.
For example, when thunder struck, he'd say, "Beelzebul, this body allows you to rest for now!"
When he fell down, he'd shout, "Heavenly Motion, Myriad Phenomena!" Even when reading a book, he'd say he was searching for the traces of the God of Wisdom.
But when she asked who Nahida and Beelzebul were, he'd just shake his head in confusion and say he didn't know.
The day before yesterday, he'd just turned eighteen and awakened a trait. Then he'd cried out in a daze:
"Twenty-seven steps are ordained by Heaven; I roam freely against the current on the River of Reversal. When hardship comes, entrust your heart to hope," and things like that.
She didn't know the details, but she had a vague feeling her nephew was hiding something from her.
Ye Li reached into his pocket and took out two taels of silver. "Auntie, the gang gave me this month's three-tael allowance. I'm going to stay at the gang's quarters from now on, and I won't be back until the end of the month. You can take these two taels for now."
"You silly child, how can you do that?"
Ning Qiu looked at the silver he held out. She forgot her suspicions and hurriedly waved it away. "You still need money at the gang. Take care of yourself first!"
"Aw, the gang provides food and lodging. I only need to keep one tael." Ye Li coaxed and pleaded until she finally accepted it.
Now that his past-life wisdom had awakened, Ye Li knew exactly what a lousy person he'd been.
He'd been a streamer in his previous life, and the biological instincts he'd picked up from that had directly affected his brain in this life.
Every so often, a couple of absurd quotes would pop out of his mouth. Milk Dragon, Belia, "Dinosaur Anti-Wolf"—whatever came to mind, he'd blurt out. He was a real handful.
In these turbulent times, it was no small feat that his uncle and aunt's family had managed to raise him.
"Fine." Ning Qiu accepted the silver reluctantly and muttered, "When your uncle comes home from work, I'll give him the money to put away. We'll save it for you to marry with someday."
"Auntie, I'll head back to the gang now."
After gathering the belongings he needed to take from home, Ye Li patted Ye Duo on the head and set off for the gang.
He probably wouldn't be back for quite some time.
On the way back, his gaze fell on his status panel.
Name: Ye Li Realm: Mortal (6/1000) Cultivation Method: Azure Dragon Force "Azure Dragon Force (25/100)" Trait: [Prismatic · World-Shocking Wisdom] ...
Ever since awakening his trait, he'd been practicing this Azure Dragon Force technique.
Each time he completed a full set of Azure Dragon Force, its experience increased by one point. He'd practiced it a total of twenty-four times.
Every time he performed it, Ye Li felt as though more knowledge was appearing in his mind.
It was as if an external brain was helping him think, summarize, and refine.
Clearly, the [World-Shocking Wisdom] trait was at work.
At this pace, he'd probably need only about three days to fully master the basics of Azure Dragon Force.
As for his realm, it was far harder to advance than his cultivation method. It took half an hour to gain a single point.
He needed about three months to reach the thousand-point breakthrough. His natural aptitude was a little better than that of ordinary disciples in the gang, so for now he didn't need to worry about being expelled.
"So my cheat leans toward the status-panel, extreme-path style."
Looking at the panel, Ye Li recognized the essence of his cheat at a glance. He'd read three thousand novels, after all.
There were several kinds of extreme-path novels.
Deep Blue, add points! The Mirror-Breaking Pearl! Heaven Rewards Diligence! They were all variations on the same theme.
And his own [World-Shocking Wisdom] trait was clearly similar to Heaven Rewards Diligence.
"So my top priority now should be joining a martial arts academy, then making my protagonist status official. What's the point of joining a gang?"
Ye Li rubbed his chin and fell into thought:
"Extreme-path novels aren't written like this. I should join a martial arts academy with a beautiful senior sister, then have terrible natural aptitude and get ostracized by my fellow disciples. Finally, I should break through my first realm right before the deadline and earn everyone's contempt."
"Then there should be the outer-sect tournament, inner-sect tournament, city tournament, imperial capital tournament, and the National Destiny Arena Tournament!"