People in Honkai Impact 3rd, Power Leveling.

Chapter 1: Taking an Exam for Someone Else!

In a dimly lit room,

Tap, tap, tap...

The rhythmic sound of typing echoed,

In front of a dimly lit computer screen, a young boy, around seventeen or eighteen years old, was fully engrossed in tapping the keys.

"... Liang Shantai held onto Jack's waist and whispered in his ear: Do you remember that year by the lake... The end."

As he typed the final paragraph, he clicked the publish button.

With no energy left even to flip through the pages, the young boy let out a sigh and wearily leaned back on the chair.

He raised his head and gazed at the dimly visible ceiling, his eyes somewhat unfocused.

The young boy's name was Lei Cang, seventeen years old this year, a visitor who had traversed from his mother's womb...

Unfortunately, after seventeen years of traversing, he didn't encounter any golden finger or cheats. Instead, he had to face the same financial pressure as his previous life. In this modern society, which was highly similar to his previous world, he struggled to make a living with the meager income earned from writing.

"If I knew reality would slap me in the face, I would rather not have traversed at all."

Sighing after enduring seventeen years of harsh reality,

"Oh, heavens, just give me a golden finger!"

As soon as he said this, his cellphone in the right pocket of his pants vibrated,

Taking out his phone and looking at it, his brow furrowed,

[Life-Levelling System Online]

[Do you wish to start taking orders?]

[yes/no]

"... Who's playing a prank on me?"

Lei Cang muttered and initially thought of closing it,

However, after hesitating for a moment, he still clicked 'yes' with sincerity,

"Since I have nothing else to do, let me see what this app, 'Life-Levelling,' is all about."

Unlocking the interface, an app called 'Life-Levelling' appeared before him,

The empty interface had only one message continuously jumping,

[Grasshopper]: I'm going to fail the exam again this time! Urgent! Urgent! Can anyone help me, please? I'll give you all my pocket money for this month!

[Levelling Objective: Help [Grasshopper] pass this exam]

[Enemy: 'Class Monitor']

[Reward: 2000 gold, Newbie Blessing Gift Pack]

"Exam..." Lei Cang pondered for a moment,

With the support of memories from his previous life and his usual diligence, his academic performance was considered excellent in school, good enough to enter a top university.

The employer, nicknamed 'Grasshopper,' seemed to lack intelligence.

"As long as it doesn't involve specialized subjects in university, I can handle it!"

Lei Cang hesitated and gritted his teeth as he clicked 'accept.'

The next moment—

His consciousness suddenly blurred, and he was pulled into a pitch-black space.

Dazed, he raised his hand, but all he could see were faint white shadows,

After staring for a while, Lei Cang's face showed ecstatic joy, but he immediately restrained himself.

He took a deep breath,

"This is actually real..."

After waiting for more than ten years, today, he finally encountered an opportunity to change his life.

The society had long approached class stratification, and even with Lei Cang's outstanding academic performance, breaking through the class barriers was like trying to reach the sky.

Until today, Lei Cang could almost foresee his entire life:

Graduate, attend a good university, find a decent job based on his diploma, start a family, spend the latter half of his life busy with the next generation, abandoning dreams and careers, and finally, like billions of others on this planet, silently walk towards death.

If he was lucky, perhaps he would gain recognition from someone influential and become a high-ranking executive, thereby breaking through the class barriers.

Such a life might be considered stable and happy for some people.

But living this way in two lifetimes, living a whole lifetime like this, wouldn't it be too boring?

However, Lei Cang also understood that relying solely on his own strength, even with the memory of his previous life and his non-stop efforts during these seventeen years, he was still insignificant in this society of billions. The harder he tried, the more desperate he became. Working hard for years would only earn him what others spent on a single meal...

There were limits to human capabilities.

But now it was different...

[Preparation Phase]

[Please choose the ability to use next]

Three cards floated in the darkness, and the snake-like text on them transformed into words that Lei Cang could understand,

[Devil May Cry 4: Nero], [Dungeon: Roaming Gunslinger (Awakening)], [Demon Slayer: Tanjiro Kamado (Pillar Meeting)].

If someone familiar with anime and manga were here, they would undoubtedly recognize the characters on the cards.

But Lei Cang was a non-otaku in his previous life and didn't know anything about them.

Now, he felt a bit confused,

"... What are these? They sound like content from anime..."

Trying to touch the first card slightly, the card immediately flipped, turning into a projection of light and shadow,

In the projection, a white-haired youth wielding a large sword stabbed it into the chest of a white-haired old man. Then he took out a revolver and fired several shots, coldly raising his middle finger at the motionless body on the ground.

"F**k."

This was probably a hint for himself, perhaps representing the abilities of the main character on the card.

Lei Cang silently remembered the white-haired youth using a large sword and a revolver, then moved his finger to the second card,

The projection changed again, but this time it was entirely different,

In a group of goblins, minotaurs, and armored monsters, a golden-haired young lady wearing a cowboy hat was slaughtering them with a pair of handguns. She moved gracefully like a butterfly, constantly firing powerful bullets that tore the monsters into pieces. Despite the large number of monsters, they couldn't even touch her. Occasionally, when they got close, she would strangle them with the chains she threw. Soon, she elegantly and efficiently annihilated all the monsters.

A girl using dual guns...

Lei Cang moved his finger to the third card, and the projection appeared,

In a clearing within the woods, a red-haired youth dressed in traditional Japanese clothing swung a flaming katana like a raging dragon, roaring as he charged at a white-faced young man who seemed to be a spider-human hybrid.

"Fire God Kagura Dance!"

A youth capable of creating flames with his katana...

After observing the abilities represented by the three cards, Lei Cang pondered for a moment and looked up at the dark space,

"Could it be... is there a possibility, I mean, a possibility that this time, the leveling is not about helping someone with exams?"

The space fell silent, but a scene popped up in front of Lei Cang,

In a European-style schoolyard, two girls faced each other,

One girl had white hair tied in twisted braids and held dual guns, looking disappointed. On the other side, a serious-looking girl wearing glasses struck an unknown martial arts pose.

System... or whatever it was,

was thoughtful enough to display their identities above their heads,

The girl with white hair in twisted braids was [Master – Kiana], and the one facing her was [Enemy – 'Class Monitor' Fu Hua].

Lei Cang's eyes twitched,

I knew it, it's not a serious exam.

It seemed that the system wanted him to choose one of the three abilities and face off against this 'Class Monitor' Fu Hua and defeat her.

Lei Cang thought for a moment and pointed his finger at the second card.

The card representing [Dungeon: Roaming Gunslinger (Awakening)] shattered and merged into Lei Cang's body.

The next moment, a familiar sensation surged, and Lei Cang's consciousness was suddenly pulled away.