Innate abilities came in all shapes and sizes, each stranger than the last.
Breathing fire, spitting water, possessing boundless strength, even peeing higher and farther.
They all counted.
There were two sources of innate abilities.
One was spontaneous awakening, though the odds were extremely low.
Roughly one person in ten thousand could awaken one.
The other source was a strange beast's Soul Orb.
Strange beasts were ranked from lowest to highest: F, E, D, C, B, A, S, SS, and SSS.
Usually, only strange beasts of B rank or above possessed innate abilities, which could be inherited through their Soul Orbs.
When a martial artist ate a strange beast's Soul Orb, they inherited its innate ability.
Brother Devour had gotten his through the second method.
"What ability did you awaken?" Qin Ze asked curiously.
"Watch me!"
The fatty proudly straightened up.
One second, two seconds, three seconds.
The fatty suddenly broke out in a profuse sweat and plopped down in his seat.
"So your innate ability is kidney deficiency?" Qin Ze had really seen it all now.
Even a bizarre innate ability like that existed.
"Brother Ze, didn't you see it?" The fatty wiped away his sweat.
"See what?"
"I just teleported! My innate ability is teleportation!"
Qin Ze said, "...Are you taking me for a fool?"
The fatty had stood in the same spot the whole time without moving.
"It's true. My innate ability is teleporting five centimeters."
Qin Ze fell silent.
For a moment, he didn't even know where to start ridiculing him.
"That really is a long way."
The fatty explained, "Innate abilities grow as your qi and blood value increases."
"It's five centimeters now, but it could very well be fifty kilometers in the future!"
Qin Ze asked, "So your qi sea can gather qi now?"
The fatty said, "...No."
Splat.
The fatty slumped onto the desk, filled with endless emotion.
"Sure enough, I'm still trash."
Qin Ze patted his shoulder. "Think of it another way. The fact that you awakened an innate ability means you're a chosen one."
"You have to believe that the river flows east for thirty years, then west for thirty years. Don't bully the young for being poor!"
Ding-dong~
The fatty's phone rang.
After reading the text message, he suddenly perked up.
"Brother Ze, you're right! I really am a child of destiny!"
"My girlfriend just broke up with me."
A useless ability awakened, a fiancée breaking off their engagement-wasn't that exactly the protagonist of a trash-to-genius story?
"Which one?" Qin Ze asked.
"Both of them want to break up with me," the fatty said happily.
Qin Ze gathered his words. "Well... that's pretty good."
During class, the homeroom teacher called the fatty out. It was the entire morning before he came back.
"Brother Ze, I've been directly admitted to a martial arts university!"
"The homeroom teacher took me to the Education Bureau to test my innate ability."
"Then the people at the Education Bureau told me that people who awaken innate abilities can skip the martial arts exam and apply directly."
The fatty excitedly told Qin Ze what had happened that morning.
Qin Ze fell into thought after hearing it.
That's an option?
Come to think of it, I have the innate ability to devour too. Should I go to the Education Bureau for a test?
He absolutely couldn't expose his clones. That was the bottom line.
After turning it over in his mind, Qin Ze decided against it.
His ability couldn't really be brought into the light; he had to devour other people's qi and blood.
Besides, Enforcer Number Three was keeping an eye on him. If he suddenly revealed an innate ability like a strange beast's, wouldn't that be the same as telling the enforcer to come arrest him?
Keep a low profile.
In any case, Qin Ze felt he could pass the martial arts exam on his own strength.
Word of the fatty awakening an innate ability soon spread, and their classmates looked at him with envy.
No one had expected the trash duo who guarded the trash can to both turn things around.
One had cultivated the Fate Reversal Technique to the first level, while the other had awakened an ability.
"Brother Ze, you can have both of these Qi-Gathering Pills. I don't need them anymore." The fatty took out the little black box again.
Qin Ze wanted to refuse, but the fatty stuffed it straight into his hand.
"Go for the top score on the exam."
"Then I can go around telling people my brother got the top score. It'll make me look great!"
Qin Ze smiled. "Good brother."
The fatty said, "For life!"
After returning home that evening, Qin Ze took out a Qi-Gathering Pill and swallowed it.
The moment the Qi-Gathering Pill slid down his throat, a warm current surged through Qin Ze's limbs and bones.
His qi sea immediately filled with qi energy. Qin Ze hurriedly circulated the Lotus Visualization Method, steadily converting the qi energy into qi and blood.
At that moment, Qin Ze felt as though he were sitting on a cloud of cotton, his whole body light and airy.
He had never felt so good.
An hour later, Qin Ze slowly opened his eyes.
As soon as he straightened up slightly, the bones throughout his body let out a series of loud cracks.
Qin Ze could feel that his qi and blood value was now close to a thousand, though it wasn't very stable.
Even so, once it stabilized, it wouldn't drop by much.
Qin Ze didn't take the second Qi-Gathering Pill right away.
The fatty had warned him not to take Qi-Gathering Pills too often before becoming an official martial artist. He had to wait a month between doses.
His body was damp and sticky.
Qin Ze took a shower and went to bed.
There was no moon that night, and the whole city lay beneath a pitch-black curtain.
A girl who had just finished a late shift was riding her bicycle home.
As she passed a corner, a dark figure suddenly sprang out from the roadside, knocking both her and her bicycle to the ground.
"Mmph..."
The girl tried to call for help, but a hand covered her mouth.
"Don't move!"
"I'm just out to make some money, and while I'm at it, ask a female bodhisattva for some pleasure."
"If you make a sound, I don't mind slitting your throat."
The man pinning her down took out a gleaming knife.
The girl immediately fell silent, tears pattering down like beads from a broken string.
"Good girl."
The man searched her for valuables, then dragged her toward a place without streetlights.
"This world is getting more and more hateful."
A voice suddenly sighed behind him.
The man spun around and saw a strange figure in a black cloak standing beneath a streetlight.
"Who are you?"
The man gripped the knife tightly and used the girl as a shield.
"Since you've asked so sincerely, I'll be merciful and tell you."
"To prevent the world from being destroyed, to protect the peace of the world."
The cloaked figure slowly raised his head, half his face hidden in shadow.
"I..."
"Am your daddy!"
The man froze for a moment, then burst into a stream of curses.
"Fuck you!"
"If you want this girl to live, get the hell out of here!"
Whoosh-
A gust of wind suddenly swept past his face.
Out of the corner of his eye, the man glimpsed the edge of a black cloak.
He had just started to swing his knife when his consciousness plunged into a bottomless abyss, all the qi and blood in his body drained away.
The girl trembled as she looked at the man lying on the ground and the cloaked figure standing close by.
"Don't walk alone at night next time."
The cloaked figure walked into the darkness.
"Um... I... can I know your name?"
The girl plucked up her courage and asked cautiously.
He pulled back the hood over his head, revealing a lion mask covering half his face.
"Call me Dark Night Lion King."
The girl bowed and said gratefully, "Thank you, Mr. Lion."
By the time she straightened up, the lion was gone.
The cloaked figure made his way back and forth through the narrow, dark streets, but eventually stopped.
"What a nuisance."
"Like a dog-skin plaster, impossible to shake off."
Whoosh-
A black figure descended from the sky.
"I've finally caught you, Mr. Dark Night Lion King."
The corners of Enforcer Number Three's mouth lifted slightly.