XUYÊN QUA THÀNH KẺ HÈN NHẤT, TA LẠI CÓ NĂNG LỰC KHỦNG BỐ NHẤT P1

Setting: Le Châu and the Water Opening Festival

Li Kai—an outsider-turned-boatman with abnormal strength—lives in Le Châu, a city whose economy depends on a massive “ice-breaking” and Water Opening Festival.

The season is brutal: ice forms on the river, and hundreds of boatmen and laborers risk injury to smash it so ships can pass. Li Kai’s crew tows an iron–iron–wood “ice boat,” and the spectacle is both heroic and horrifying—blood, sweat, and cracked ice like hail.

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Key highlights & plot turns

1) Li Kai’s power (and his secret past)

During the festival, Li Kai’s strength and reflexes are far beyond local expectations. He’s eventually revealed to have transmigrated from another world:

• Half a game console
• A backpack
• Modern knowledge, letting him master martial techniques quickly

He practices for years, building the confidence of someone who can “out-muscle” what others assume is the limit.

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2) A hidden target in the celebration

While resting, Li Kai learns the Water Opening Festival isn’t only about “magic.” It’s also tied to politics and crime.

A scholar/fortune-teller-type figure reveals a scheme: the “heretical” artifact is linked to restoring a stolen relic—and Li Kai recognizes it as his half game console.

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3) Divine will / progress bars

When the scholar performs a “divine will” handover, Li Kai suffers:

• He loses control
• He later gets “rebooted”
• His mind is updated with a data-like UI

The result is a game-like system that adds:

• progress bars for knowledge and techniques
• status enhancements
• learning progress
• ability timers

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4) First major fight: ambush on festival routes

After being attacked during a chaotic night, Li Kai suddenly bursts with power—such as the Ox Strength Technique and related mechanics.

He kills multiple attackers in seconds, cleans up evidence, and keeps moving. Immediately afterward, he realizes something is still “progressing”—his power system is not done expanding.

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5) Second major fight: gang war for control of the city

A powerful gang leader, Lu Sơn (“Old Man Mountain”), tries to eliminate Li Kai and secure dominance.

Li Kai counters using:

• thick-skin strength
• magic-like abilities
• tactical observation
• brutal close combat

He ultimately defeats Lu Sơn and kills many of his men. The victory isn’t just raw power—it’s timing, reading weaknesses, and adapting mid-battle.

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6) “Rituals” are basically tech + belief

The story broadens to explain how river ceremonies work:

• prayers
• chant-like folk songs
• controlled yang energy

These can cleanse corruption and repel dark smoke/evil spirits. In other words, the world’s “magic” behaves like a system of inherited techniques.

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7) Li Kai steals and repurposes the system

Li Kai learns some techniques are divine inheritances and can’t be understood without the right mechanism. However, his progress bar system accelerates comprehension.

He then copies/records instructions—poems/characters + ritual text—to train others and preserve his advantage.

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8) Exile-by-choice and the escape arc

After being implicated in a murder, Li Kai is forced to run.

Key beats include:

• hiding sealed equipment/gear
• leaving Le Châu via water logistics
• breath-holding tricks and underwater stealth
• later disguises and stealth on land

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9) A new companion and the road to salvation/next trial

On the road, Li Kai meets A Do, a merchant who teaches survival and energy concepts, including three innate treasures:

• spirit / essence / vital energy

A Do also helps activate folk songs that boost vitality and repel corruption—setting up Li Kai’s next phase of growth.

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10) Monsters and folk-song defense

They encounter a night monster/evil presence described like black mist and a mouth-less beast.

Li Kai’s brute strength and A Do’s folk-song/ritual technique combine to push the corruption back. Their survival method becomes:

weapon clanging + synchronized chant-like rhythm

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11) Rescue subplot

Li Kai spots a woman being kidnapped/attacked (Tùng / elite-class vibe). He extracts her from the dark entity and keeps running.

Even while exhausted, he carries her—showing he’s not fully ruthless, despite being a monster-fighter.

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Jokes / memorable reactions

• Game-console joke: Li Kai’s old half of a console becomes a major plot object—turning “junk from a crashed plane” into something factions treat like a divine relic.
• UI/progress-bar humor: People react with shock/dumbfounded confusion when Li Kai’s progress bars appear—like the world is being forced to accept game mechanics.
• Crowd teasing at festivals: Boat-pullers gossip and mock each other, contrasting the grim brutality of ice-breaking labor.

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Ending setup of this excerpt

Li Kai’s techniques and system progress continue while he heals by the roadside. He reaches a road-tea stop, learns basics of survival (such as salt/food/recuperation), and the story sets him up for further travel and new conflicts beyond Le Châu.

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Main personalities appearing

• Li Kai (protagonist): transmigrated researcher/strongman with game-like progress mechanics
• Uncle Lu / Lu family elder: mentor/crew elder who manages boatmen and protective support
• A Do: traveling merchant who teaches energy concepts and folk-song activation; helps in monster combat
• Lu Sơn (“Old Man Mountain”): powerful gang leader; main antagonist in the city conflict
• The scholar / fortune-teller / high priest-type: “divine will” messenger tied to heretical artifacts
• Lu Tráng Bang crew / various gang members: boat pullers, tailors allied by ties, attackers during ambushes
• A kid / festival participants: minor but recurring figure for soup/meat and festival routine