A young man was devouring instant noodles with almost desperate urgency, hunched over his desk while his eyes remained fixed on his phone screen. The bluish light of the device illuminated his face and accentuated the dark circles marked by too many nights identical to that one. With one hand he held the chopsticks and with the other he slid his finger in quick and compulsive movements, attentive to every animation of the game.

  "Ah, shit… damn gachas… 50/50s are trash…" he muttered under his breath when the golden animation faded and revealed something that was clearly not what he expected.

  His expression tightened, but he did not allow himself to stop. The banner was about to end and he still had pulls left, many pulls. He tilted the container without taking his eyes off the screen and the steaming broth nearly spilled onto the desk. He did not care. All his focus was concentrated on the next summon.

  Then the notification appeared.

  Low battery. The device will shut down in 30 seconds.

  He froze for an instant, reading the words as if they were a final sentence.

  "No, no, no, no… not now…"

  He stood up so quickly that the chair screeched against the floor. He began rummaging around with clumsy movements, pushing aside clothes, old cables and empty wrappers until his fingers found the charger. It was old, with yellowed plastic and the cable slightly bent near the connector. Questionable, yes, but it had worked before. More or less.

  Without stopping to examine it and without thinking of anything other than the silent countdown on the screen, he plugged it into the power strip and pushed the connector toward the phone. For a fraction of a second everything seemed normal, as if the disaster were only an exaggeration of his panic-altered mind.

  Then came the spark.

  A white flash exploded in front of him accompanied by a dry crack. The smell of burnt plastic invaded the air while an electric discharge shot through him all at once. His body tensed out of control and he lost his balance, falling backward with the phone still clutched in his hand. The sound of the room seemed to fade at the same time his consciousness grew distant, as if the room were moving several meters away in a single instant.

  As the darkness began to close in on him, only one thought managed to remain clear amid the chaos enveloping him.

  No… shit… I can't die… I still have forty pulls left…

  After that, everything went black.

  Somewhere on the Dongling Continent, within a small sect barely known outside its region, a young man lay on the floor of a modest cabin. From the posture of his body it seemed he had not managed to reach the bed before collapsing; one hand was extended forward, as if he had tried to grasp something at the last instant, but now remained completely motionless. The room was silent, with the air dense and still.

  A flash descended from the sky, invisible to most, passed through the roof as if the wood did not exist and plunged directly into the inert body of the young man. The air trembled for barely a second and then everything returned to calm, as if nothing had happened.

  Moments later, the boy's fingers moved.

  His eyes opened abruptly and he sat up sharply, breathing with difficulty while looking around with absolute bewilderment. The wooden walls, the simple bed, the rudimentary table and the packed dirt floor looked nothing like his previous room.

  "What the hell…?" he muttered with a hoarse voice. "Where am I? What happened…? And more importantly… where is my phone?"

  He jumped to his feet and began searching around with clumsy and increasingly desperate movements. He looked under the table, lifted the blanket from the bed and even checked his own clothes as if the phone might have magically materialized in some nonexistent pocket. It was not there. His breathing quickened and the confusion began to turn into real unease.

  The pain came without warning.

  A brutal lash pierced through his head, as if a burning wedge had been driven into his skull. Fang Li let out a muffled cry and fell to his knees, bringing both hands to his head. The pain was deep and invasive; it was not a simple stab, but something that seemed to force foreign memories into his mind.

  Unknown images began overlapping with his own: the Clear Wind Sect, the Dongling Continent, the body he now inhabited and the life that body had lived until that moment.

  "Ahhh…!"

  He rolled on the ground as the information forcibly settled into his consciousness. Each fragment fit violently until, little by little, the pressure began to decrease and the pain gradually subsided. His breathing grew heavy and silence returned to the cabin.

  When he opened his eyes this time, they were no longer filled only with confusion. There was understanding, and along with it a suspicion that was beginning to take shape.

  "Don't tell me…" he whispered in disbelief.

  Before he could organize his thoughts, a cold and mechanical voice resonated directly in his mind.

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  "Initializing… Supreme System of Domination and Absolute Supremacy."

  Fang Li remained motionless while the voice continued, devoid of emotion.

  "Binding completed. Confirming host identity: Fang Li. Current physical state: critical. Damaged meridians. Weakened internal organs. Unstable Qi flow. General evaluation: body in terrible condition. Recommendation: the host should avoid any immediate confrontation if he wishes to continue existing."

  He blinked several times, trying to process what he had just heard. Supreme System of Heavenly Fate Suppression and Absolute Domination. The name was absurdly long.

  "…Right," he muttered hoarsely. "Because since I died exploding with a defective charger, the logical thing was to reincarnate in a cultivation world with a system that has a ridiculously long name."

  He brought a hand to his forehead and took a deep breath, forcing himself to calm down. Panicking would solve nothing. He analyzed the situation as coldly as possible: he was no longer on Earth, he possessed memories that were not his, and a mechanical voice had called him host.

  "Apparently… I'm now in a cultivation world."

  The pieces fell into place quickly. His name was Fang Li, an outer disciple of the Clear Wind Sect, located on the Dongling Continent. And the most irritating part was how the original owner of this body had ended: he had been killed by some idiots over a few simple Qi accumulation pills.

  He absorbed the memories in greater detail. The former Fang Li had saved for months to obtain those pills in hopes of improving his cultivation a little, but before he could use them he was ambushed by stronger outer disciples. He was beaten, insulted and humiliated until his body could no longer endure.

  "Seriously?" he muttered in disbelief. "He wasn't even a hidden genius? Or the secret heir of some powerful clan? Just an outer disciple who got robbed of a few pills?"

  The mechanical voice intervened again.

  "Additional reminder: the host died due to severe internal injuries caused by physical aggression. Had the system binding not occurred, the body would have ceased functioning permanently."

  Fang Li remained silent for a few seconds before a smile began to form on his face.

  "So… basically, I'm occupying the body of an unfortunate guy who was beaten to death over cheap pills. What a healthy world."

  "Warning: the host currently does not possess the talent necessary to stand out under conventional cultivation methods."

  "Oh, really?"

  "Confirmed. Without system intervention, the probability that the host will reach the Spiritual Realm is less than five percent."

  Fang Li looked at the wooden ceiling and let out a low laugh.

  "Perfect."

  He remained silent for a few seconds, assimilating the information. If he truly had a system, the logical thing was to check exactly what he was working with before going out to do something foolish and die again.

  "System… open my status window."

  A translucent interface appeared before his eyes without making any sound. Fang Li examined it calmly.

  Name: Fang Li

  Age: 15

  Realm: Body Tempering (bone refinement stage)

  Talent: Mediocre

  Physical condition: Unstable

  Beating Points: 0

  It was not exactly promising. In fact, it was depressing. However, as he carefully examined the interface, he noticed an additional section at the bottom that caught his attention.

  Special Function: Gacha

  Status: LOCKED

  His eyebrows arched slightly.

  "Gacha?"

  The term was too familiar for him to ignore.

  System. Explain this function.

  "Special function for random reward acquisition."

  The answer came with the same mechanical coldness as always.

  "And why is it locked?"

  "Special requirements are needed for its activation."

  Fang Li waited a few seconds, keeping his gaze fixed on the interface.

  What requirements?

  The screen did not change. No additional text appeared and there was no explanation.

  "System."

  Fang Li narrowed his eyes, understanding that he would not obtain more information for the moment.

  "How convenient."

  Fang Li exhaled slowly. If it was locked, there was no point in obsessing over it. First he needed to stabilize this miserable body before worrying about mysterious functions.

  He placed his hands on the ground and pushed himself up. Every muscle protested; the sensation was not sharp, but constant, as if the body were covered in poorly healed bruises. His back and ribs hurt, and when he tried to straighten completely a stab shot through his abdomen.

  "Alright… sitting here won't get me anywhere."

  He steadied himself beside the table until the dizziness passed and then walked toward the door with measured steps. He pushed the wood open and sunlight struck him directly. The brightness was so intense that he closed his eyes reflexively and, during that fraction of a second, lost his sense of the ground. His right foot stepped badly, he stumbled without being able to correct himself and fell face-first onto the packed dirt of the yard.

  The impact knocked the air out of his lungs and the dry taste of dust filled his mouth. He remained motionless for a few seconds, trying to understand what had happened, until he felt something crunch beneath his cheek. He slightly turned his head and saw an insect the size of a fingernail crushed against the ground, split in two by the weight of his fall.

  A translucent notification appeared before his eyes.

  [ Host's First Blood detected. ]

  [ Reward granted: +100 Beating Points. ]

  Fang Li looked at the text, then at the insect's corpse, and then at the text again. He slowly pushed himself up until he was sitting on his knees.

  "…What the hell?"

  "Confirmed. The host has caused the death of a living entity for the first time since binding. Condition fulfilled: First Blood."

  "That counts?"

  "It counts."

  "And what are… 'Beating Points'?"

  "Basic system resource. They may be used to strengthen the body, improve techniques or execute special functions."

  He wiped the blood from his nose with the back of his hand and looked at the ground around him. There were more insects, small and slow. He lifted his gaze toward the clear sky and then toward the empty yard before looking at the dirt again.

  A shameless smile began to form on his face.

  "System."

  "Yes, host."

  "Define 'living entity' for me."

  "Any organism with active biological functions."

  He nodded slowly, lowered his gaze toward another insect crawling aimlessly and moved his foot.

  Crack.

  [ +10 Beating Points. ]

  He narrowed his eyes at the modest +10.

  "System… why did this insect only give me ten points and the other one a hundred?"

  "As it was the host's First Blood, the base reward was multiplied by ten."

  He looked at the small corpses on the dirt and understood that the bonus had been unique. He observed another insect crossing in front of him and spoke in a low tone.

  "Well… mosquito meat is still meat…"

  He moved his foot again.

  Crack.

  [ +10 Beating Points. ]

  He lifted his chin and scanned the yard, evaluating the shadows under the eaves, the edge of the well and the cracks in the packed dirt. There were enough. He stepped forward with a satisfied expression.

  "Alright, insects… it's time to farm."

  Notifications began appearing one after another while the sun remained high and the yard stayed empty. Fang Li, outer disciple of the Clear Wind Sect, dedicated the following hours to methodically exterminating every insect that moved within his field of vision.