"The Four Great Key Universities." Wang Hao narrowed his eyes slightly, sorting through the memories flooding his mind.
These four institutions stood as the most prestigious and powerful universities for commoners across the Interstellar Federation, yet securing a spot was like crossing a narrow log bridge over a raging river with thousands of other soldiers—only a tiny handful would ever make it across. For those who did, countless unparalleled career opportunities would unfold the moment they graduated.
His own father had graduated from one of the four: Tianbei University. He had been the brightest star in the university's long history, and the most legendary commoner-born genius the entire Interstellar Federation had ever known. But heaven had envied his talent. Seven years had passed, and he remained missing without a trace.
"If I remember right, the old man once swept through the entire Royal Academy with nothing but a spear, beating those noble-born geniuses into utter submission and dragging the academy's reputation through the mud!"
Wang Hao thought it over, and the truth hit him—his expulsion from the Royal Academy had definitely been tied to his father. But if the old man had picked a fight with them and ruined their reputation, they should go after him! What the hell did any of that have to do with him?
"Tch, whatever. Expulsion is expulsion." Wang Hao sighed, then let out a cold snort. "But this isn't over. If the old man could sweep the entire Royal Academy off their feet, then I won't just beat them—I'll tear the whole damn academy down."
…
It wasn't long before Wang Hao arrived at the home from his inherited memories. But the moment he opened the door, his stomach turned. The place was littered with stinking socks and filthy clothes, the trash hadn't been taken out in god knows how many days, and a sharp, acrid stench hung thick in the air.
To make matters worse, when his stomach rumbled with hunger and he dug up a pack of biscuits, he found they'd expired long ago.
"You poor bastard. What kind of life were you even living!?"
Wang Hao rubbed his forehead, feeling a twinge of pity for the original owner of this body. Who would have thought that the son of a revered Marshal would be ground down this badly by those noble families?
With a helpless sigh, Wang Hao tapped the smart bracelet on his wrist. It was a mandatory smart computer for every citizen of the Interstellar Federation, storing the wearer's personal identification information and doubling as a fully functional computer—utterly convenient in every way.
But when Wang Hao checked his bank card balance, his jaw dropped. The poor bastard's total life savings didn't even amount to 500 Federation Credits. In this interstellar age, the population had exploded to unfathomable numbers, triggering massive inflation. Those 500 credits were worth about as much as 5 dollars in his old world.
"Am I really gonna starve to death on the streets before I even make my mark!?" Wang Hao threw his head back and groaned.
"Whatever. Blaming the poor bastard won't do any good. We're the same person now—blaming him is just blaming myself. I should focus on cultivation first." Wang Hao sighed, pulled out the Grade 1 Potential Elixir, and swallowed it in one go, before crossing his legs and sitting cross-legged on the messy bed.
"Martial Glory Heavenly Demon Art, commencing knowledge infusion." The System's mechanical voice rang out.
Rumble!!!
In an instant, a tidal wave of vast, profound knowledge flooded into Wang Hao's mind. Every meridian in his body was laid bare before his eyes, and the deepest secrets of the art's energy circulation were made crystal clear to him.
"What an incredible cultivation art!" A look of stunned awe flashed across Wang Hao's eyes.
With a Marshal for a father, he'd seen more than his fair share of the world, and he knew exactly how to judge the quality of a cultivation art. To tell if an art was good or bad, the first thing to check was how much Heaven and Earth Spirit Energy it could absorb. The second was whether it could rapidly solidify the user's foundational base—if the foundation wasn't stable, the absorbed spirit energy would easily cause the user's body to rupture and explode.
This Martial Glory Heavenly Demon Art didn't just absorb spirit energy at a staggering rate—it also solidified the user's foundational base at an equally incredible speed. Coupled with the Grade 1 Potential Elixir, it would allow him to break through level after level in quick succession, with no need to spend long hours polishing his foundation between each breakthrough.
Boom!
With the System's knowledge infusion complete, Wang Hao had a masterful grasp of the Heavenly Demon Art. He instantly entered a state of deep meditation, his mind completely clear and empty of all distractions. As time passed, the spirit energy drifting through the air flooded into his body in waves, continuously strengthening his physical form.
In the cultivation system, the physical body was the foundation of everything, and it had to be rigorously polished at all times. Cultivation in the Martial Apprentice realm focused solely on tempering the body with Heaven and Earth Spirit Energy. Once the body had been strengthened nine times, a cultivator could shift from external to internal training, breaking open the meridians within the body to reach the Martial Master realm, and gain the ability to wield hidden force.
Cultivation knew no time. The night passed in the blink of an eye.
Boom!
As the sun rose over the horizon, Wang Hao's body shuddered violently, and a terrifying burst of energy erupted from within him, sending everything around him flying across the room. He opened his eyes, a sharp golden glint flashing across his pupils before vanishing in an instant.
"Level 5 Martial Apprentice. As expected of a divine art from the System—this is incredible." Wang Hao marveled. If he'd been on a higher-tier planet, he could have made this breakthrough in just a few hours, not an entire night.
It was a simple truth: a planet's tier directly determined the density of Heaven and Earth Spirit Energy it held. On a Tier-1 planet like Earth, the spirit energy was pitifully thin. But on the Imperial Planet, the only Tier-6 planet in the entire Interstellar Federation, spirit energy hung thick in the air like a constant drizzle, surrounding you every second of every day.
"Imperial Planet. I'll go back. Sooner or later."
Wang Hao clenched his fists, a steely resolve burning in his eyes. The Imperial Planet was where he'd been born. It held his childhood, and his true home. But after his father's disappearance all those years ago, he'd been thrown out of the Marshal's Mansion like trash. Yet he knew with absolute certainty that when he returned, those who had stolen his family's fortune and legacy would regret ever being born.
"Shit, I'm gonna be late."
Wang Hao glanced at the time, scrambled to his feet, and bolted straight for Number Eleven High School. If he wanted to tear down the Royal Academy, or get even with everyone who'd ever wronged him, he first had to get into one of the Four Great Key Universities. There was no way he could miss today's school assembly.
On the way, Wang Hao learned the full details of how to earn Villain Points from the System.
First: Inspire others' sense of justice, driving them to stand for righteousness and try to eradicate you, the embodiment of evil. Of course, physical violence wasn't required—simply earning the scorn and contempt of the world would also earn you points with ease. The points earned from public scorn weren't huge, but the advantage was that it could be done on a massive scale, spreading from one person to ten, and ten to a hundred in an instant.
Second: Commit acts of villainy. You would be awarded generous points based on the severity of the act, and particularly underhanded deeds could even unlock special titles and other rare rewards. Though… he couldn't quite bring himself to harass people for no reason at all.
Third: Scheme and manipulate like a master strategist. The more powerful the target of your schemes, the more points you would earn, with the chance of even unlocking premium gift packs. But pulling off a successful scheme required not just exceptional intelligence, but also immense patience, and loyal subordinates to carry out your orders. The only downside was that these plans took a long time to come to fruition.
Of these three methods, Wang Hao felt only the first was truly suited to him. The other two could only be used as supplements.
"Sigh. Starting today, I'm gonna become a shameless villain hated by the entire world… all while I'm trying to save it." Wang Hao sighed. He knew he'd have to stay on high alert for every kind of challenge from here on out, or he'd end up burned alive by a mob who saw him as nothing but a monster.
"In the end, we're all just walking different paths. I'm the villain in your eyes, just as you're the villain in mine. And the one who laughs last? That's the one who becomes the true Grand Villain. If that's how it is… then let's tear each other apart."
A sacred, unshakable light burned in Wang Hao's eyes. He had made his decision: he would grow in the face of the world's misunderstanding and scorn, forging a path of self-strengthening that could withstand any storm the universe threw at him…