When I Become a Heavenly Emperor, I'll Definitely Give You a Hand!

(The academy arc is only a transition and won't take up too much of the story. There will be lots of daily updates, so feel free to follow along!)

Jiang Chuan stared at the translucent status panel before him. There was only a single lonely line of information on it.

[Basic Dismantling: F-rank. Can dismantle Black Iron-grade items. Success rate: 35%. Upon successfully dismantling an item, can recover up to 27%–42% of its materials.]

He blinked, and the panel vanished. He blinked again, and it reappeared—but the information had changed.

[Universal Extraction: Rule-grade. Can dismantle items of any grade. 100% success rate, 100% material recovery rate, and can grant permanent attribute bonuses.]

He repeated this several times.

At last, he confirmed one fact.

Sixteen years after transmigrating here, his golden finger had finally arrived!

Could I be dreaming?

Jiang Chuan instinctively pinched a thigh.

It felt smooth, tender, and a little cool.

"Huh?"

Something was wrong.

He had clearly pinched that fatso's thigh. Why did it feel so strange?

And besides...

"Gasp!!"

A sharp intake of breath came from beside him.

Jiang Chuan turned around in surprise, still muttering, "Zhang Hao, you fat bastard, when did your skin become so—"

Before he could finish speaking—

He froze.

Standing before him was a breathtakingly beautiful face.

The girl's cheeks were flushed red, her beautiful eyes wide as she glared at him in shock and anger.

Ling Aoshuang.

The number one beauty in the entire school, an awakened S-rank combat talent, a future powerhouse without question.

And his hand was pinching her fair, tender thigh.

"..."

The air froze for 0.3 seconds.

Ling Aoshuang lowered her head to look at that filthy hand, then raised her eyes to Jiang Chuan. Her lips trembled slightly. "Y-you pinched me?"

"No! I... I didn't mean you..."

Jiang Chuan withdrew his hand in a fluster.

Ling Aoshuang bit her lip, shot him a glare full of embarrassment and anger, then turned and hurried away.

Jiang Chuan stood where he was, the smooth, cool sensation still lingering in his palm.

Just then, a short, chubby figure came running over, panting heavily.

Zhang Hao held two popsicles in one hand and had another in his mouth. He stared in shock at Ling Aoshuang's retreating back, so stunned that he did not even notice the popsicle in his mouth had melted.

"Holy shit!!!"

He swallowed the popsicle in two bites, spraying Jiang Chuan's face with spittle. "You touched Class Monitor Ling's thigh just now?!"

"If I said it wasn't on purpose, would you believe me?"

"Believe my ass!" Zhang Hao's face was full of grief and indignation. "I went to buy popsicles for two minutes, and you went and did something so outrageously immoral! How did it feel? Tell me!"

Feeling a little guilty, Jiang Chuan glanced at Ling Aoshuang's already distant figure. He took the popsicle, bit into it, and an unconsciously lecherous smile crept onto his lips. "Like this popsicle—smooth, cool, and refreshing."

"You animal..."

Zhang Hao let out a trembling cry of heartbreak.

Jiang Chuan rolled his eyes at him. "Look at how pathetic you are. It was just a touch on the leg."

"Damn it, you're a useless Dismantler. You still want to have some kind of relationship beyond friendship with her?"

Zhang Hao looked at him disdainfully.

Jiang Chuan said, "Right, you're strong. Stronger than me, you useless Enhancer!"

After saying that—

The two of them let out heavy sighs at the same time.

Dismantlers.

Enhancers.

They were both among the lowest-tier life professions in the Source Realm.

Not because they were weak. In fact, top-tier Dismantlers and Enhancers were indispensable members of any battle group. They could provide enormous support to a team, were highly sought after, and received decent treatment.

But the problem was—

There were more awakened users of these two professions than stray dogs on the street!

During the early stages, both Dismantlers and Enhancers needed to consume vast amounts of resources to level up.

Ordinary families simply could not afford it.

Take Dismantlers as an example.

To advance from Basic to Beginner, one had to dismantle one hundred Black Iron pieces of equipment. From Beginner to Intermediate, one needed to dismantle one thousand Bronze pieces of equipment. From Intermediate to Advanced, one had to dismantle a staggering ten thousand Silver pieces of equipment!

How much did one piece of Black Iron equipment cost?

Even the most worthless kind cost several thousand credits!

That was the total monthly income of most ordinary families!

If a Dismantler could not reach Advanced rank, their material recovery efficiency would always be inferior to others'.

Why would anyone hire you when there were higher-ranked Dismantlers available?

No money, no connections, no background—who would spend money training you for no reason?

Jiang Chuan came from an ordinary family. His father had once been a warrior, but a battle had left him permanently injured. Now, he could only earn money supporting the family by mining in the Source Realm. His mother was likewise an ordinary seamstress.

Together, their monthly income was less than three thousand credits.

The family barely got by.

Zhang Hao's family was much the same.

According to the saying, "Poverty never lasts beyond three generations," barring any surprises, the Jiang and Zhang families would likely be finished completely in their generation.

"Sigh!"

Zhang Hao let out a long, melancholy sigh. "I heard Ling Aoshuang awakened an S-rank combat talent, the best in the entire city! Who knows which powerhouse she'll become the partner of someday? The two of us probably won't get another chance to speak to her for the rest of our lives!"

At this point, he became grittingly resentful again. "You lucky bastard! You actually touched the thigh of some future powerhouse's wife! If I were that powerhouse and found out about this, I'd definitely have someone kill you!"

Jiang Chuan was so annoyed that he laughed. "What kind of powerhouse would be as petty as you?"

"Enough of that."

Zhang Hao bit down on the remaining wooden stick in his mouth and mumbled, "My dad said he can pull some strings to get me into the scrap collection station. I'll see if I can talk him into getting you in too."

The scrap collection station.

It was a place where discarded equipment was recovered in bulk.

To other people, it was a junkyard. But for their two professions, it was a supreme training ground. Countless top Dismantlers and Enhancers had risen from places like that.

Jiang Chuan patted his shoulder and said half-jokingly, "Brother, for that alone, once I prove the Eternal Dao and become a Heavenly Emperor, I'll definitely give you a hand."

"Heh heh."

Zhang Hao could not even be bothered to argue with such nonsense.

By the time Jiang Chuan got home, it was nearly dark.

His parents had not gotten off work yet, and the house was cold and empty.

He casually tossed his backpack onto the sofa, then solemnly sat down before the coffee table and took a deep breath.

He blinked.

The panel appeared.

[Universal Extraction: Rule-grade. Can dismantle items of any grade. 100% success rate, 100% material recovery rate, and can grant permanent attribute bonuses.]

"Good. Looks like I'm not dreaming."

Jiang Chuan nodded in satisfaction, then began seriously considering a grave question.

How was he supposed to explain this to his parents?

To be honest, it was not that he did not trust them.

The problem was that something like this would be too troublesome to explain.

Rule-grade?

A rank that had never appeared in the history of the entire Federation!

If word got out, a sixteen-year-old boy like him carrying such a treasure—wouldn't that be like waiting for all sorts of big shots to invite him over for tea?

No, being invited over for tea would already be polite. He might even be dragged off and dissected!

Who knew whether this world had some way to transfer talents?

If it did—

Then possessing this talent would not make him lucky. It would bring a catastrophic disaster upon his entire family!

"Forget it. I'll keep a low profile and develop quietly for now."

Jiang Chuan muttered to himself, "F-rank is fine. It's not like I'm supposed to be some genius anyway. Mom and Dad should be able to accept it."