Martial Arts Calendar, Year 2045. Cang Province, Celestial Sea City.

It was the sweltering summer of September, and the entire city was shrouded in oppressive heat.

Rongshan District, Building 4, Apartment 301.

5:30 AM

"BEEP BEEP BEEP BEEP!"

Lin Qi’s eyes flew open. He shot upright and shut off the piercing alarm blaring from his phone on the nightstand.

With the alarm silenced, the only sound was the whirring of a blue electric fan cutting through the thick, stuffy air.

He looked around the cramped bedroom.

It was a bunk bed, with luggage and various items piled high on the top bunk. Beside the bed stood an old, brown wooden desk.

The walls were plastered with posters. The largest one depicted a man with a blurred face and a towering physique, wreathed in golden flames.

Beneath his feet, he was crushing a massive, ferocious, black Dragon Form beast.

The terrifying aura seemed ready to burst forth from the poster.

A line of large, flamboyant script was printed on the poster:

[You can either accept your situation or change it. Change always comes at a price, and hard work is the ladder to becoming the strongest — Emperor Red • The World’s Strongest]

Other than that, there was almost no other furniture, leaving the room simple and sparse.

An open space had been cleared in the middle of the room—which measured less than 15 square meters—and the floor there was covered with deep footprints worn in by time.

Lin Qi stood up and pulled on a faded, short-sleeved school uniform shirt.

He opened his door and entered the tiny bathroom to wash up.

SPLASH! SWISH!

He used the toilet, brushed his teeth, and washed his face in one smooth motion. The grime washed away, leaving him feeling refreshed.

Lin Qi looked at his reflection in the mirror. He stood five-foot-nine with a lean build, sharp, handsome features, and spirited eyes that brimmed with masculine energy. A sternness lingered in his expression.

When he came out of the bathroom, a burly, bare-chested man was sitting on the faded, worn-out sofa in the living room.

The man’s upper body was covered in scars of all kinds.

His left sleeve was empty. With his right hand, he was carefully attaching a flesh-colored mechanical prosthesis.

"CLICK-CLACK..."

After a few adjustments, the five prosthetic fingers began to move stiffly, mimicking a normal arm.

"Morning, Little Qi!"

The burly man smiled upon seeing Lin Qi. He had a resolute face, and every inch of his skin bore the weathered marks of time.

"Morning, Dad!"

Lin Qi nodded.

The burly man turned and walked into the kitchen, speaking as he began to work.

"I’m going to the hospital today to bring your mother home. She just had surgery and should have stayed a while longer."

"But she was worried about the cost and refused to stay, no matter what."

"Today is the first day of your senior year. Train hard in your Martial Arts."

"Do you have enough money on you?"

Lin Zhen rattled on, his hands never slowing as he lit the stove, cracked some eggs, and heated up pre-made buns and steamed bread...

[Balance: 66.6]

"I have enough..."

Lin Qi replied nonchalantly after glancing at his phone’s balance. He then took a packet of black coffee from a box in the corner, poured it into a tumbler, and mixed in cold water.

After stirring it, he tilted his head back and downed it all. The bitter taste that flooded his mouth jolted him fully awake.

A moment later, Lin Zhen came out carrying a full plate of meat buns, a fried egg, and steamed bread.

After quickly finishing his meal, Lin Qi went back to his room, changed his clothes, put on a pair of black sneakers with nearly worn-through soles, and grabbed his backpack.

"I’m heading out, Dad."

"Alright!"

Lin Zhen’s resolute voice echoed from the kitchen, followed by the sounds of him getting busy again.

...

「Three minutes later.」

After leaving the residential district, Lin Qi got on his vintage bicycle and pedaled down the wide street.

"WHOOSH..."

As he rode into the morning breeze, a clear female voice played from his black Bluetooth headset:

"The year 1999 of the Martial Arts Calendar!"

"In that year, terrifying natural disasters erupted one after another across the globe: tsunamis, earthquakes, floods, volcanic eruptions, tornadoes..."

"They caused catastrophic loss of life and severe economic damage to every nation on Earth."

"At first, people everywhere thought they were just ordinary disasters."

"But just when everyone thought the disasters had passed, the real catastrophe began."

"Giant black rifts appeared all over the world, and from them charged countless terrifying behemoths, destroying everything in their path."

"They greedily devoured all life."

"They were walking disasters, and so they were named—Calamity Beasts!"

"They possessed mountain-like bodies, impenetrable hides, razor-sharp claws, and deadly fangs. They could easily tear through steel buildings and shred human beings to pieces."

"Bustling streets were razed as if they were fields being plowed, leaving nothing but ruins in their wake."

"War broke out. Faced with the terrifying Calamity Beasts, humanity had no choice but to unleash its entire arsenal. Every nation transformed into a war machine to combat the beast tides."

"Humanity was forced into a constant retreat against the Calamity Beasts’ onslaught. Countless soldiers sacrificed their lives in battle, and ordinary people were left homeless."

"However, at the same time the rifts appeared, humans discovered that their physical attributes had drastically improved. Some even Awakened Special Abilities, becoming like Supermen."

"In the face of the endless hordes of Calamity Beasts, the ancient path of Martial Arts was revitalized."

"And so began the war between humanity and the Calamity Beasts..."

The streets he rode along were bustling, lined with skyscrapers and tall buildings. Electronic screens on storefronts broadcasted the latest Calamity Beast news.

Meanwhile, Lin Qi silently listened to the audio of his history lesson.

He had heard this history lesson countless times; he knew it by heart.

’I’ve been in this world for seventeen years now!’

Lin Qi felt a little dazed.

He, Lin Qi, was a transmigrator.

This was Blue Star, a parallel world remarkably similar to Earth.

In his past life, he had been just another corporate drone. After a month of nonstop overtime, he had finally died from overwork.

When he opened his eyes again, he had been reborn as a baby into this world.

Before the year 1999, this world had been nearly identical to Earth. But from that year on, everything had been turned upside down.

It transformed from an ordinary world into an extraordinary one centered on Martial Arts.

As a veteran web novel reader, Lin Qi adapted to this new world with surprising speed.

And of course, as a transmigrator, he had a cheat of his own.

As he thought about it, a tattered Golden Banner materialized in a mysterious, dark expanse within his mind.

The banner was covered in cracks, as if it had survived a great battle with only a fragment remaining.

It remained in his consciousness, dim and deathly still, motionless as a scrap of cloth.

Then, six months ago, it had trembled for an instant and shot out a ray of Golden Light.

At this thought, a strange light flickered in Lin Qi’s vision—a golden screen that only he could see.

[Name: Lin Qi (17)]

[Profession: Martial Artist]

[Template: None (99.8%)]

[Qi and Blood Value: 5.2]

[Cultivation Technique: Hunyuan Posture (Great Success), Tiger Form Fist (Minor Achievement), Basic Spear Skill (Minor Achievement)]

[Fist Technique: Tier One 80%]

[Spear Technique: Tier One 60%]

[Body Technique: Tier One 57%]

...

This was the panel provided by the Golden Damaged Banner, allowing him to clearly track his Martial Arts progress.

Looking at the data on the panel, Lin Qi sighed.

He had thought it would be the legendary Deep Blue system, where he could just add points to become stronger.

He had even braced himself for his meteoric rise.

But to his disappointment, the panel’s function was very simple. It only allowed him to view his stats, giving him a clear picture of his progress in Martial Arts.

However, he quickly adapted and abandoned his fantasies.

Being able to see his own improvement at any time was a powerful motivator. That feeling of tangible progress gave him the drive to work hard.

This function alone put him miles ahead of countless others.

In the six months since unlocking the panel, his Martial Arts had progressed by leaps and bounds. ’What more could I ask for?’

As a high school senior, war and Calamity Beasts felt very distant. Those were problems for the future.

For now, he just wanted to train hard, get into a decent Martial Arts University, and earn enough money to improve his family’s life.

As he thought about this, Lin Qi’s gaze returned to one particular line of data.

[Template: None (99.8%)]

There was no description for this "Template," so Lin Qi didn’t know its exact function, but he had a faint suspicion.

Every day after he finished training, he would watch the progress bar tick up bit by bit.

The harder he cultivated, the more and the faster it increased.

After half a year, the progress bar was about to reach 100%.

Based on its rate of progress, he would find out what it was today.

He had a feeling that this Template would be extremely important to him—that it was the key to his future on the path of Martial Arts.

...