Sitting by the flowerbed on campus, Lin Qianyi quietly watched the energetic teenagers around sixteen or seventeen playing in the distance.
Although he was also technically seventeen, his mental age made it hard for him to connect with these kids.
From the moment he got duang-ed by a meteor and was reborn in this world as a war orphan, seventeen years had passed in a blink.
Now, in Lin Qianyi's eyes, one boy leaped more than three meters into the air, flipped over a friend's outstretched arm, and dodged being "caught."
Such agility people in the world before he transmigrated from could never achieve.
This world was different. It had a well-developed evolution system.
In theory, with enough luck and talent, an ordinary person could gradually evolve into a world-shaking powerhouse, a "God."
These people were known as World Masters.
Of course, this was just theoretically possible.
Across the entire land of Taiyi, there were only a handful who could be called true "Gods."
And in the Deep Space Federation, where Lin Qianyi lived within the Thirteenth District of Two Worlds there wasn't even a single World Master.
Still, this didn't stop the Federation from being among the top powers of Taiyi. While they lacked a World Master, they had thirteen Domain Lords, securing their place in the hierarchy.
Speaking of his transmigration, Lin Qianyi didn't start off in a great spot.
War orphans like him were raised in welfare centers. His caretaker was a bionic nanny robot, and all the resources he received education, nutrition, etc. Were the bare minimum.
In this kind of system, unless someone had an extraordinary, rule-breaking talent, the idea of achieving upward mobility was basically a fantasy.
As for Lin Qianyi's talent… well, it was average at best.
Logically, he was destined for a plain, uneventful life—grow up, accept mediocrity, and live out his days in obscurity.
But… he had a cheat!
It came in the form of a farming simulation game that was downloading on his phone at the time of his transmigration.
To be honest, only people who have never farmed before would think farming is fun. Real farmers know how exhausting it is.
Farming? Not even a dog would do it…
What? Conceptual Farming? Any plant seed, just toss it in no fertilizing, no maintenance, it grows automatically, and when the time is right, you just harvest?
Well then, I love farming. Not for any special reason—just for the simple joy of sowing and reaping.
Yes, Lin Qianyi had a conceptual [Farming Space].
Any plant could grow in it. Once the growth time passed, it would mature automatically. Then he could harvest it using the system's sickle.
Back on Earth, this might've just helped him get rich or live healthier.
But here, in a world full of special plants, this was practically a cheat-level golden finger.
With a thought, Lin Qianyi's consciousness entered the farming space.
It was a simple, empty white space, with only about one square meter of land in the center, where a plant called "Marrow Cleansing Grass" had just been sown.
Nearby stood a wooden storage hut, with 1 cubic meter of storage by default. Inside were seeds he had collected and a folding sword he bought on a whim.
Outside the warehouse was the default harvesting tool, a rusty sickle. It could harvest plants and generate materials, which varied in quality. Higher-quality materials had better effects and extra special attributes (affixes).
Right now, the Marrow Cleansing Grass in the soil had only grown for seven months barely two inches tall. It needed five full years to mature.
And under normal conditions, growing this for five years wasn't easy at all.
Which made this space totally overpowered.
Thanks to it, Lin Qianyi had already harvested two batches of the grass:
One was [Inferior] quality
One was [Normal] quality
The inferior one only had 30% of its usual effect and came with no special traits.
The normal one had 100% effect, and even included an attribute:
> [Marrow Cleansing Grass (Normal)]: A herb that cleanses the body's bones and marrow. Direct consumption is effective.
[Perfect Refinement]: Allows the user to fully absorb all medicinal effects.
Thanks to these two plants, Lin Qianyi skyrocketed in power, got special admission to Pisces High School, and later achieved a perfect 80 "Interference Value" on the national exam, earning special recruitment into Tianyue University.
Interference Value: A stat in this world that measures extraordinary ability.
Average adult: around 60
65: Excellent
70: Better than 95% of people
Lin Qianyi: 80 – Theoretical human limit.
That's how powerful those two plants were.
Before this, he'd also planted other types of vegetation, but they were mostly normal. You had to gamble on special traits, and with his current rusty sickle, getting good traits wasn't easy.
When Lin Qianyi focused on the sickle, an interface popped up:
> [Rusty Harvest Sickle (Lv0)]
Can be used to harvest plants.
Current harvest quality chances: Inferior 30%, Normal 70%
"Upgrade!" he commanded.
> [Notice: You need 100 Origin Energy to upgrade. Current: 0. Upgrade failed.]
Yeah… it was upgradable. So was the land (to increase area and growth rate), the storage (to raise limits), and you could even unlock fish ponds, pastures, etc.
But all of that required Origin Energy, and Lin Qianyi hadn't found even a scrap of it.
He was still using the default farming space.
It was already pretty amazing… but the upgraded features made him drool with envy.
In this game, materials were ranked across seven grades:
> Inferior → Normal → Excellent → Epic → Legendary → Mythic → Supreme
Each step up boosted effectiveness 10x and added higher-tier traits.
So a [Supreme] Marrow Cleansing Grass would have 100,000x effectiveness and six traits.
Traits on normal items were already amazing, imagine what those higher-tier ones could do.
In the game, this system was just for selling premium items, but in this world, it was literally heaven-defying.
Sadly, he couldn't upgrade yet, he could only drool for now.
His current status and social rank didn't give him access to many things. For now, he'd have to wait until he officially entered Tianyue University.
As he was thinking, the school bell rang.
Lin Qianyi stood up, hands in his pockets, and began walking toward the school gate.
Since he was already accepted via special admission, he wasn't even required to attend anymore. He just came to check references… and for another reason.
"Senior!"
At the school gate, a short-haired girl in a green T-shirt and baseball cap smiled and waved.
Wang Xiaoyi, a student one grade below Lin Qianyi.
They had only known each other for a little over two months, with no interaction prior.
They met when she was falsely accused of theft by a classmate. No one believed her. A video circulated, and the school, wanting to avoid bad PR, tried to settle things quietly.
Wang Xiaoyi, overwhelmed, went to the roof and tried to jump.
Lin Qianyi happened to uncover the truth and resolved the situation.
The next day, she brought him a homemade meal in thanks.
It tasted good. He liked it.
And that's how they became friends.
"I was planning to wait for you, why'd you come out first?" Lin Qianyi asked.
Sweat dotted Wang Xiaoyi's forehead it was clear she had rushed over.
"How could I let you wait for me, senior?" she said, eyes wide.
"Suit yourself."
Lin yawned, walking over to his electric scooter.
Wang Xiaoyi followed on her own light green scooter.
They weren't moving fast barely faster than walking.
In truth, these scooters only went 20 km/h max just enough for short trips.
"You planning to go to Tianyue University?" she asked.
"Yeah. I'm majoring in Plant Evolution Guidance," he replied.
"Isn't that super obscure? I heard you don't see results until you're like 70 or 80." She looked puzzled.
"Seventy or eighty is the prime of life, what's wrong with that?" he said.
"Then I'll go too!" she declared.
"Girl, don't let hormones mess with your brain. Choose your path wisely."
Wang Xiaoyi didn't reply, but her eyes were full of determination.
Lin didn't push the issue. After all, youth was about passion.
And besides, she was a genius with drive and talent, any path could be a good one.
"Just don't fail the entrance exam. This major has high standards," Lin said.
"I'll pass. Maybe not like you with special admission, but my mock scores are already good enough." she replied.
"Wonderful! I'll be clinging to your coattails soon."
"You can start now," she said, smiling.
"Too skinny. Maybe after you put on some meat," he joked.
As they chatted, Lin Qianyi arrived at his apartment, a benefit from his special admission.
"This goblin is returning to its cave. You should head home too."
"Aren't you going to invite me in?" she asked, eyes sparkling.
"Keep dreaming. Bye!"
He waved and walked upstairs.
Wang Xiaoyi watched for a moment, then left too.
Her parents were divorced. She lived with her mom, who had a new boyfriend and was rarely home.
So her life wasn't that different from Lin's as a war orphan.
Except she at least didn't lack pocket money.
Meanwhile, walking upstairs, Lin Qianyi's phone suddenly buzzed.
He looked at it—it was a message:
> "Do you wish to understand the meaning of existence? Do you wish to transcend it all?"
[Yes] [No]
> "Huh? Huh! Huh!! Huh!!!"