The first day of classes passed quickly, gone in the blink of an eye.
Perhaps because it was the opening day, Iruka Umino did not begin formal lessons. Instead, he spent the time explaining the history of the Ninja Academy and its rules.
As soon as school ended, Mo Xie hurried home. He shut the door tightly behind him, skipped dinner entirely, and sat cross-legged on the cold floor before unsealing the scroll.
The scroll was long—nearly half a meter when fully unfurled. It recorded three sets of materials.
The Chakra Extraction Method.
The hand seals for ninjutsu.
And the Three Basic Techniques.
Mo Xie's gaze settled immediately on what he cared about most—the Chakra Extraction Method.
Chakra was the energy refined from the cells of the human body. It served as the source of power for ninjutsu, taijutsu, and genjutsu—much like Energy Value functioned for activating skills in a game.
He read the Chakra Extraction Method again and again, committing every word to memory. Only after he was certain he had memorized it completely did he set the scroll aside.
Sitting upright, he closed his eyes and began to sense his own spirit. Carefully, he guided his mental energy according to the method described in the scroll, directing it to circulate within his body.
Extracting chakra was no easy task.
According to prior analysis, even a genius required at least one to three days to sense chakra, and up to seven days to successfully refine it. Those with mediocre talent might take half a month—or even an entire month—before producing their first trace.
Mo Xie completed one full circulation and was just about to withdraw, intending to activate Standby Mode to let the system increase his Energy Value automatically while he slowly worked on refining chakra—
Ding.
It felt as though a hammer had struck his mind.
His vision blurred, and dizziness overwhelmed him.
When the vertigo finally faded, a three-dimensional screen materialized before his eyes.
Unlike the dark flames of the Dark Emperor interface, this one glowed with a clear, ocean-blue hue.
"Ding! Host has come into contact with this world's power system. Would you like to create a character?"
The mechanical voice echoed in his mind.
Create… create a character?
What was going on?
Shouldn't this be a class change?
Mo Xie was momentarily stunned by the system's words, but he still answered decisively.
"Yes."
"Ding! Character creation successful. Name set to Mo Xie by default. Please choose a class: Samurai or Ninja."
"Ninja."
"Ding… You have selected Ninja. Ninja is the mainstream class and one of the primary power systems of this world. As the host is partially datafied, there will be no attribute point allocation. Please explore this class independently."
"Ding! You have successfully changed class to Ninja!"
"Ding! New interface generated. Scanning host…"
A new panel appeared.
Ninja Interface:
Host: Mo Xie
Identity: Orphan of Konoha, Ninja Academy Student (Apprentice Ninja)
Age: 6
Class: Ninja
Chakra: 0
Skill Points: 0
Skills: Chakra Extraction Method
"Ding! Another interface detected within the host. Would you like to merge them?"
"Yes."
"Please wait…"
"Ding! Congratulations. Dual-interface fusion successful. Please review the updated interface."
Without hesitation, Mo Xie spoke.
"System interface."
Flames rose before him.
This time, however, the fire was neither orange-red nor blue. It was dark—pitch-black flames that flickered silently.
Perhaps due to datafication, the information on the panel remained concise.
It was divided into two sections.
The upper section resembled web tabs, displaying two selectable headers: Dark Emperor and Apprentice Ninja. Each tab contained the respective class's personal information.
The lower section displayed two separate squares labeled Standby Mode.
The Standby Mode under the Dark Emperor tab belonged exclusively to the Dark Emperor class. The Standby Mode under the Apprentice Ninja tab belonged to the Ninja class.
The so-called fusion had essentially combined both interfaces into a web-style layered display.
"Open backpack."
After reviewing the system interface, Mo Xie switched to the inventory.
The screen shifted.
The backpack interface had not changed significantly. The equipment slots still displayed upper garment, lower garment, shoes, gloves, and weapon. Only the upper garment, lower garment, and shoes glowed faintly; the others remained dim.
However, the inventory capacity had expanded from twenty slots to forty—likely a bonus from creating the new class.
"View personal information."
He opened the consolidated status page.
It largely mirrored the system interface, except both class data were merged into a single display, and the Standby Mode option was absent.
Host: Mo Xie
Identity: Orphan of Konoha, Ninja Academy Apprentice Ninja
Age: 6
Energy Value: 14
Chakra: 0
Apprentice Ninja: 0–5000
Genin: 5000–25000
Chūnin: 25000–50000
Jōnin: 50000–90000
Elite Jōnin: 100000
Kage-level: 150000
Super Kage-level: 200000
Note: Only Mo Xie is partially datafied. All others remain normal humans. Chakra values apply solely to Mo Xie and function as the level system for the Ninja class. Only the Ninja class possesses chakra level classification. The Dark Emperor class does not.
Skills (Dark Emperor): Unknown
Skills (Ninja): Chakra Extraction Method
Chakra Extraction Method: Extracts spiritual energy from the body's cells to serve as the source for ninjutsu, genjutsu, and taijutsu. When operated, extracts 2 points of chakra per hour. Special skill. Cannot be upgraded.
Skill Points: 0
"The Dark Emperor awakening is still far off. Until my Energy Value reaches 100, I'll have to rely on Standby Mode. At one point per hour, I need another eighty-six hours before I can awaken Emperor Art."
Emperor Art was the Dark Emperor's foundational technique. It possessed neither offensive nor defensive capabilities. Its sole function was to refine Energy Value—essentially serving as a cultivation method.
In the early stage, the Dark Emperor class revolved entirely around Energy Value.
Only by accumulating sufficient Energy Value could new skills awaken.