Chapter 1: Dai Li
Translator: Nyoi-Bo Studio Editor: Nyoi-Bo Studio
Dai Li left the exam hall, walked through the crowd, and looked at the people around him. Everybody was flushed with happiness over their success and conversing happily. This made Dai Li even more upset.
"Gosh, I screwed up on the exam! There is no way that I can get into the interview round," he thought. Dai Li rubbed his temple and felt his head getting even heavier.
"Why do I feel so dizzy? Have I got a cold? I shouldn't have gone to see the meteor shower last night - now I did it!" Dai Li thought to himself.
Dai Li was an ordinary undergraduate senior student. As a graduate this year, he had chosen not to take the postgraduate entrance exam. Because his parents were normal blue collar people without any power or influence, his family's financial condition was very average. It had already been difficult enough for them to raise and support a college student. Dai Li was a filial son and he didn't want to burden his parents any more. This was why he had decided to join the job hunting "army" along with this year's many graduates.
The problem was that his major, sports training, was kind of lame. People could easily draw a conclusion on what the students of this major could do after they graduated. The employment prospects for this major was not great. Graduates from the literature or philosophy majors, for example, might also have a difficult time finding jobs, but at least they could aim for something more general such as a secretary or copywriter position to start with. But even those general positions did not welcome students from sports majors.
This year was hard enough for normal graduates, and it was even worse for Dai Li, who came from an ordinary family without any money or network. Moreover, he was not from a 985 or 211 university. These factors, coupled with the fact that he was in such a specific major, made it hell for people like him when it came to job hunting.
That was why he targeted for the Recruitment Exam for Public Institutions. For example, primary and middle schools hired P.E teachers every year. Non-profit sports schools and teams looked for coaches too. Being a teacher or coach was at least a secured job in those public institutions. To prepare for the exam, Dai Li had begun reviewing since the first semester of his senior year. He had also gone to the education and psychology training class that was organized by the Bureau of Education. He had even managed to pass the tests and get the Teaching Certificate.
Today was the day of the recruitment exam, but he had been feeling dizzy since the morning. He had pushed through it and went into the exam hall, but he was too sick to even find the right directions. Because of this, the exam had been like the "hell-mode" of a videogame with an extra "bonus", except the only result for this game was "game over".
He continued rubbing his temple and thought to himself, "I thought I could enjoy not only two days off every week and the public holidays if I became a P.E teacher, but also the summer and winter vacations. Well, that's not gonna to happen now. I guess I'll just go write some online novels. Maybe a novel about an athlete. I even have the title for it, 'All-around Athlete'!"
"I bet nobody is going to read a book with such a lame title. What kind of a nerdy writer would write such a boring novel like that?" said a voice that suddenly popped up in his head.
"What? Who is talking?" Dai Li looked around and found that no one was talking to him.
"Don't bother searching - I am in your head." The same voice talked to Dai Li's again.
Dai Li suddenly had goosebumps all over. He was terrified by that voice. This was quite understandably a normal reaction for any normal people who found out that someone, or something, was speaking in their mind.
"Don't be afraid. I'm not going to hurt you," the voice claimed.
"Who the hell is that guy? What is happening?" Dai Li thought to himself.
"Don't call me 'that guy.'" The voice now made an echo in Dai Li's head.
"He knows what I am thinking about!" Dai Li thought to himself, surprised.
"Of course I do. So you can communicate with me just by thinking," said the voice.
"So who on earth are you?" Dai Li thought silently. He was not used to this form of communication.
"I am your guide, and also part of the Coaching System. My mission is to help you get used to this Coaching System and make the best of it," the voice answered.
Dai Li immediately thought of the so-called "Systems" in the online novels. It was almost like cheating; if you had this kind of "Systems", the world would be your oyster. You could go from being a loser one second to on top of the world the next. Everyone would throw themselves at you. Dai Li had never imagined that lucky things like this could ever happen to him.
"Coaching System? It sounds like a system related to a personal coach, like having someone outside of the game help you without notifying other players. Is it like cheating?" Dai Li asked.
"Exactly. It can be a cheating system for your life!" The voice read Dai Li's mind again and said, "this Coaching System not only can help you become a coach, an excellent coach, the best in the world, but also it can lead your life all the way to the top! This system is almighty. The fact that you have this Coaching System makes you the luckiest person in the world."
"An almighty Coaching System? Deposit one million yuan into my bank account and I'll buy your word," Dai Li said, challenging the system.
"I cannot do that," the voice answered, "but you could easily make one million, ten millions, and even 100 millions with the help of this Coaching System."
"I don't think I want you in my head," Dai Li rejected the system subconsciously. He felt uneasy about this thing that had suddenly entered his head.
"No way," the voice said determinedly. "I followed the meteor for a very long time and finally found a place to settle. It took me all morning to match with you. It's too late for you to say no."
"The whole morning? So it was this guy's fault that I suffered from the dizziness the entire morning!" Dai Li complained to himself.
"I have to match your brain waves to communicate with you. It might be the reason you feel a little bit dizzy!" the voice admitted quite honestly.
"A little bit dizzy? You ruined my exam! You are the reason why I won't get a job now! Do you have any idea how difficult it is to find a job? Do you have any idea how long I've been preparing for this exam?" Dai Li felt so angry now that he knew who was responsible for what had happened.
The voice said carelessly, "All you could have been is merely a P.E teacher in a middle school even if you pass the exam. But with me, it's possible for you to be the best coach in the world and lead you to a unparalleled, successful life. A P.E teacher in middle school means nothing compared to a world-class coach!"
"A world-class coach," Dai Li repeated. "No, I don't need that. All I need to do is earn more than ten thousand yuan per month. I just want to have enough to buy a house and to get married. That would make me really content."
"Only ten thousand yuan monthly salary? Come on. With my help, you can become the best coach in the world, even if you are an idiot," the voice followed immediately.
"So are you like an instructor for a newbie?" Dai Li asked.
"Something like that. If there is anything you don't understand about this Coaching System, feel free to ask me. I'll give you some reasonable proposals," the system said.
"Alright. Then you have to tell me what to do now." Dai Li finally gave in.
"First, you need to get into the Coaching System," said the System.
"How?" Dai Li asked.
"Use your mind," the system answered.
"Use my mind how?"
"Use your mind, stupid!" After the System answered, Dai Li used his thoughts to direct what was happening. He suddenly found himself in an infinite starry sky, with all the stars surrounding him.
"Am I in the system? Why do I feel like I'm in the endless universe?"
A golden projection suddenly appeared in Dai Li's vision. He looked carefully and identified that it was someone's head. But it was very blurred—he could only see its facial features. It was hard to distinguish its specific appearance.
"Newbie instructor?" Dai Li asked carefully.
"Guide. Newbie guide!" The golden head corrected him.
Dai Li took a deep breathe and asked, "What should I do next?"
"You are still a newbie. But the good thing about being a newbie is that you can get some type of starting bonus. This is a welcome gift for you," said the golden head.
A golden box showed up in front of Dai Li the next second. The golden head began speaking. "This is the welcome gift for newbies. You can open it up and have a look."
Dai Li opened the gift without any hesitation. He saw that there were two things in the box. There was a golden card on the left and something resembling a radar on the right.
Dai Li picked up the card first. "Top-level coach trial card (14 days)? What is this?"
"If you stick this card to your body, you can experience the training results of a top-level coach for the 14 days that follow," said the golden head.
Dai Li nodded and tried to stick the card on his body. The golden head stopped him and said, "Don't use it now. It's a one-time-only card. If you use it now, you can't use it anymore."
"Then when should I use it?" Dai Li asked.
"When you have someone to train, at least. You don't even have a training target right now. Wouldn't it be a waste to use the top card?" said the golden head.
"You are right," Dai Li nodded. He picked up the radar-like object. "What is this radar?"
"The primary detector. You can use it to detect individual ability. The range for detecting is 10 meters. You can try it on some random person in real life," the golden head explained to him.
Dai Li went back to real life and saw an old woman walking up to him with her dog.
"Detect!" he used his mind, then saw a list of statistics in the system the next second.
Detecting Target: Ordinary person; Sports Ability: 46.
"46? Is that high or low? I should try it on another person and compare them." He looked around and found a young man of average height walking by.
"Detect!" he used his mind again and saw another list of statistics.
Detecting Target: Ordinary person; Sports Ability: 68.
"68 is much higher than the dog-walking lady. I wonder what am I?" Dai Li then used the detector on himself and saw that the result was 80.
"Wow, I didn't expect my sports ability to be as high as 80!" He was very satisfied with the number.
The system's voice appeared in his mind again. "The upper limit for an ordinary person is 99. Your ability is an 80, which means you always workout."
"Yes, I majored in sports training. Besides the normal lessons, we also have many classes for practicing what's required on the training ground," said Dai Li.
The golden head continued pointing out, "What you should do next is learn more about your character attributes."
A big screen showed up in front of Dai Li. Underneath a picture of Dai Li there were details.
Name: Dai Li
Coach Level: Newbie (0/100)
Others: None
Training list: None
"The column for 0/100 looks like something similar to empirical value. I could upgrade to the next level by reaching 100/100," Dai Li talked to himself.
"Exactly. That is your Experience. You will get it when you train others. This means the first thing you need to do is to find a target to train," said the golden head.
"Are there any special requirements for training targets? Or could anyone be my trainee?" asked Dai Li immediately.
The golden head answered right away, "There are no special requirements. The target could be an athlete, an ordinary person, disabled person, or even someone in a coma. As long as you have the 14-day top-level coach trial card, it will be very easy to upgrade. Just find some random person and train them for a few days. That would do it."
…
"Someone in a coma can't even move. What could I do with them?" Dai Li left the Coaching System. He began to feel the Coaching System was even more unreliable.
"Find some random people? It's easy for him to say. If I pass this exam and become a P.E teacher, I can easily find hundreds of students to train. But where should I look for targets now? I guess I should just start writing online novels…" As Dai Li was pondering over his tasks, a poster attracted his attention. There were a few big words on it: "Talent Education. Looking for P.E teacher urgently. Excellent pay and benefits."