Instantly, a massive stream of knowledge about the literary work The Tale of Kieu flooded into Lam Minh's mind.
He felt as if he had spent hours studying it, when all he had done was simply touch a bubble.
Lam Minh slowly backed away and plopped down onto a chair, looking at his small sister before him. "An, do you see anything strange around you?"
Lam An looked around in alarm, hugging her shoulders. "Are you trying to scare me with ghosts? Why would you say that all of a sudden? I don't see anything."
At that moment, Lam Minh was certain.
He had a system, something that only existed in the web novels he often read. Heaven truly doesn't abandon anyone.
He was reborn, and now he even had a system.
Right then, Lam Minh wanted to scream at the top of his lungs: Who can stop me now!
But he held back. Humility. The lesson from his past life reminded him to always be humble.
Birds die for food, and a careless tongue can kill its owner.
"You go on with your studies. Big brother overslept today, so I'm taking a day off," Lam Minh said before returning to his room, lying down with an arm over his forehead in thought.
This system could pick up attributes dropped by others.
Did that mean he could just stand by and collect, reaping the rewards of others' hard work?
Not certain. He would have to test it to know for sure.
Usually, in novels, the system would appear before the user, and only the user could see it.
"System," Lam Minh called silently in his mind.
[Ding! Attribute Picking System at your service!]
[Name: Lam Minh]
[Age: 16]
[Cultivation: Mortal]
[Spiritual Root: Waste Spiritual Root]
[Lucky Novice Spin]
[SPIN] / [DO NOT SPIN]
Ah! The novels didn't lie; it really appeared.
And there was even a lucky spin.
"Damn it, a waste spiritual root."
No wonder he had only managed to break through to the third layer of Body Tempering after two years of cultivation in his past life. Meanwhile, the requirement to get into the Combat University was to reach the first layer of Body Tempering before the age of eighteen.
Surviving on the battlefield without dying was already a stroke of luck.
He recalled his first time on the battlefield, facing otherworldly cultivators who were all at the peak of Body Tempering or were Qi Refining cultivators.
What was his job on the battlefield?
To hold a gun and defend the spatial gate.
With a third-layer Body Tempering cultivation, he wasn't allowed to step through the gate.
Crossing into the other world with a rifle in hand was no different from suicide; staying on this side of the gate at least offered a chance of survival.
He remembered one time when the outpost inside the gate was under relentless attack for days, and manpower was scarce. Someone with a weak cultivation like him was also deployed as reinforcement.
Sword in hand, he charged into the battle formation. Before he could even process what was happening, he was sent flying several meters and lay motionless.
When he woke up, a month had passed.
He had managed to keep his life, but he didn't know how he was saved. He only heard that three days after the battle ended, during the battlefield cleanup, a medic who was collecting bodies discovered he was still breathing.
Recalling that painful past, Lam Minh's heart bled anew.
Alright, a novice gift. It would be a waste not to open it.
With that thought, Lam Minh used his consciousness to lightly tap the word [SPIN].
A large wheel, like those in games of chance, appeared before Lam Minh.
On it were five colored sections, arranged in order of size from largest to smallest: white, blue, yellow, red, and purple.
The purple section was the smallest, as thin as a single thread.
To put it into perspective, the probability of landing on it was about 0.01%.
The size seemed to correspond to the rarity of the item dropped.
The red section was about 3%, yellow about 10%, blue took up a whopping 30%, and the rest was white.
The chances of hitting white or blue were truly high. If your luck was bad, white and blue were pretty much a 100% guarantee.
"Namo, Amen, may the Immeasurable Heavenly Lord bless and protect me, let me hit purple!" Lam Minh clasped his hands in front of his chest, praying silently.
The wheel slowly began to turn. He wasn't praying for yellow or red; all he wanted was purple.
In reality, Lam Minh didn't know what would drop from each section, but he was sure that if he hit purple, his life would reach its absolute pinnacle.
There had to be a reason that section was so thin.
The wheel spun rapidly and then gradually slowed down.
As it decelerated, Lam Minh's heart felt like it was suspended in mid-air. It seemed as if the needle stopping on white would cause him to die suddenly all over again.
This is too nerve-wracking!
He squeezed his eyes shut, truly not daring to look. The success or failure of this life, whether he could start over or not, all depended on this single step.
Lam Minh was incredibly nervous. He kept his eyes closed until a "Ding!" sounded in his head, but he still didn't dare to open them and see the result.
After a moment of hesitation.
Sigh! I have to face it sooner or later. Come what may! Open eyes!
Lam Minh thought to himself and slowly opened his eyes to look at the wheel before him.
RED!
Lam Minh leaped up, shouting and screaming. The joy was simply indescribable.
"Big brother, are you crazy? Be quiet so I can study!" Lam An's voice came from outside.
Suppressing his excitement, Lam Minh sat down on the bed. But his shoulders still shook uncontrollably as he couldn't hold back his laughter.
3%!
There was only a 3% chance of landing on that section, and yet he had hit it.
It seemed that his rebirth had turned him into a child of destiny.
Lam Minh felt a slight tinge of regret for not hitting the purple section.
If the system had a mind of its own, it would surely say… Humans are truly creatures of insatiable greed…
[Ding! Congratulations to the host for landing on the Heavenly-Grade Item section!]
[Item Dropped: Universal Upgrade Card (Can upgrade anything +1 level, such as: cultivation, treasures, techniques…)]
[Suggestion for the host: Think carefully before choosing any item to upgrade.]
[The next Lucky Spin requires reaching the ninth layer of Body Tempering.]
Ah!
Lam Minh was stunned. It could upgrade anything, cultivation…
If he used the card now, he would directly step into the first layer of Body Tempering.
Or should he wait until he reached the first layer of Body Tempering on his own, and then use the card to directly advance to the first layer of Qi Refining?
[Ding! That is correct. The card will help the host cross a major realm.]
Oh! A major realm?
If his cultivation was at the Void Interpretation realm in the future, would using the card directly take him to the Hong Hoang realm?
Awesome!
Never before had Lam Minh felt that he was about to make it big like this.
Haha!
But wait, wasn't he getting way ahead of himself?
With a waste spiritual root like his, waiting until he could cultivate to the Void Interpretation realm would probably take ten lifetimes.
It wasn't realistic. Having lived one life, he knew all too well how difficult cultivation was.
Right! He would upgrade his spiritual root!
A good spiritual root was the key to everything. As long as he had a top-tier spiritual root, what realm couldn't Lam Minh cultivate to?
Before you want to build a skyscraper, the first thing is to lay a solid foundation.
"Alright! System! Upgrade the spiritual root!"
[Ding! The host has used the Universal Upgrade Card. The spiritual root is undergoing an upgrade.]
A sudden wave of drowsiness hit him. Lam Minh just had time to grab a pillow and toss it to where he was about to fall.
Whatever happened, he had to protect his head first.
It would be foolish to get a traumatic brain injury from falling while upgrading his spiritual root.
Thud!
Snore! Snore!
Lam Minh fell, his head landing right on the pillow he had prepared.
A faint light flickered in the area of his dantian before vanishing.
…
6:30 PM.
Mr. Dao and Mrs. Mai returned from work. Stepping into the house, they saw that the young Lam An had cooked a delicious meal, already set on the table.
They both smiled warmly, and at that moment, Lam An came running out.
"Dad, Mom," she greeted.
The gentle couple replied, "How was it? Did anything happen at home, dear?"
"Yes. Big brother was very strange today. He skipped school, and then he kept shouting and disturbing my studies. It was so annoying," Lam An reported, her voice trembling with the fear that her brother had gone mad.
Both Mr. Dao and Mrs. Mai were stunned.
"Oh dear, he's usually so diligent about school, why did he skip today? You and I should go check on him, maybe he has a fever and is delirious," Mrs. Mai said worriedly.
Mr. Dao nodded slightly, and the couple slowly approached Lam Minh's door.
Knock! Knock! Knock! The sound of knocking echoed.
"Minh, are you okay? Come out for dinner," Mrs. Mai called, knocking.
Silence…
There was no answer from Lam Minh. A worried look appeared on the couple's faces. They gently turned the doorknob, and the door slowly opened.
Inside, Lam Minh was sprawled on the floor. His mouth was wide open, snoring soundly.
Only then did Mr. Dao let out a wry smile. "He's probably just exhausted from his studies. Are we putting too much pressure on him to get into the Combat University? Minh was never an academic prodigy; the only way for him to shine is through the Combat University." He spoke with a sad and resigned expression.
Seeing this, Mrs. Mai squeezed her husband's hand.
His brothers were all very wealthy.
Back when Lam Minh's grandfather passed away, he had left behind a large inheritance, dividing it equally among all members of the family tree.
He, in his foolish youth, upon inheriting a great fortune, didn't use it to build a business but chose the path of gambling, indulging himself daily despite his wife's attempts to stop him.
As a result, his assets were slowly sold off to pay his debts. He didn't realize his mistake until the very house the family was living in was mortgaged. It was only when the whole family was forced onto the streets that he knew how wrong he had been.
The debt remained, the house was gone.
He took his family to work as laborers in a rather large garment factory.
Fortunately, thanks to a support policy from the company in conjunction with the state, he was given a small house with three bedrooms and a living room.
Now, he placed all his hopes for a better life on his son.
He felt immense guilt in his heart; the two words "regret" were not enough to describe his misguided youth.
But what could be done now?
He and Mrs. Mai could only work hard, not daring to spend frivolously on anything. Everything was saved for Lam Minh.
The family dinner proceeded in silence, with no one saying a word to each other. The difficult life had drained the house of joy and happiness.
Lam An was very perceptive and always initiated conversations to cheer her parents up. Her bright and lively nature was like a stream of cool water, nourishing the souls of the old couple.
Only in moments like these could they temporarily forget the enormous debt created by Mr. Dao that weighed heavily on their shoulders.
And according to Lam Minh's memory, when his small, innocent sister turned sixteen, she too would drop out of school and become a factory worker to earn money for his education, wishing that her big brother would never have to bow down to anyone.
The past life was a series of mistakes. This life, Lam Minh was determined to fix every single one of them.
His sister would never have to suffer again.
His parents would have a life free from hardship and regret.