“Damn this useless system! You're nothing but trash—unbind now!”

“You hear me, you piece of junk? Unbind and get lost! Keeping you around is a total waste of time!”

Jason Reed had waited twenty long years in this world for the system to finally activate.

But after all that, everything it gave him was completely worthless. He’d had enough. This so-called ‘Mortal World Sign-In System’ was a joke.

“Confirm unbinding?”

A cold mechanical voice echoed in his mind.

“Damn right I confirm!”

Jason gritted his teeth. Being stuck with such a garbage system was an insult to any transmigrator.

“Mortal World Sign-In System unbinding in progress…”

“Unbinding complete.”

“Congratulations, host! You’ve triggered a hidden system: Supreme Sign-In System is now loading… Load complete!”

Jason froze.

He’d just thrown out one trash system, and a new one popped up?

But this one sure loaded fast. The last one had taken two decades, damn near made him rot into the ground.

[Special Notice: Supreme Sign-In System rewards are tied directly to sign-in locations—the more unique the location, the richer the reward.]

[Three sign-ins available each month.]

[Unused sign-ins will boost the chance of better rewards in future months.]

Jason’s gaze unconsciously drifted toward the towering imperial palace in the distance.

Right now, he was standing in the heart of the Tianyao Dynasty’s capital—a massive empire ruled by Empress Luna Hayes.

And she wasn’t just the ruler. She was also the top-ranked beauty on the Nine Heavens List.

The Empress was in the middle of choosing her future consort.

“With this face of mine, I’ll make the cut, easy.”

Jason smirked to himself.

The selection process would narrow tens of thousands of men down to ten thousand finalists, who would then enter the palace. From there, Luna would handpick her consort.

Truth was, Jason had zero interest in becoming consort to the Empress.

All he cared about was what kind of sign-in loot he could snag inside the palace.

If this new system was trash too, he wouldn’t hesitate to ditch it like the last one.

Three days later, Jason stepped through the grand gates of the Tianyao Palace, surrounded by countless handsome men.

This place dwarfed the Forbidden Palace back on Earth—no surprise.

The empire had a population in the tens of billions and boasted over eighteen thousand years of history.

“They say Empress Luna Hayes is insanely talented—already at the sixth tier of Divine King realm, and not even twenty-two.”

“With my Postnatal cultivation, there's no way I’ll become her consort.”

“But hell, just getting inside the palace for a sign-in? That’s already a massive win.”

Jason’s heart pounded.

System hadn’t even kicked off yet, but he had three chances lined up.

He could barely hold his excitement. Signing in at a place like this wouldn’t be ordinary.

He followed the crowd into a massive hall.

The wooden pillars holding up the dome were thicker than an ox—over five meters wide, and they shot up hundreds of meters into the sky. The hall itself? Easily stretched over a hundred thousand square meters.Thousands stood in the hall, yet it still felt oddly empty.

This was the legendary Chao Tian Palace—built to receive emissaries from other nations.

"Silence!"

"The Empress will arrive shortly. Anyone who breaks protocol, get out!" the ceremonial officer barked loud and clear.

Jason Reed muttered silently, "The Empress isn’t here yet… perfect time for a quick sign-in."

"System, let’s go."

[Ding! Sign-in at Chao Tian Palace successful. Congratulations—SS-rank reward 'Phantom Cloak' acquired. Can be stored inside the body, grants perfect aura concealment. Even Half-Saint experts won’t notice your presence.]

Jason’s heart raced like crazy.

SS-rank? Seriously?

In the past few years, the best he’d gotten was an E-rank. Usually, he was handed F-grade trash.

Complete garbage, every time.

He rushed to his inventory—right at the top sat a glowing, golden cloak.

"Jackpot... this alone's worth more than everything I’ve ever gotten combined!"

Jason couldn’t contain himself. Compared to this single cloak, all the broken junk from years before didn’t even come close.

"Her Majesty arrives!"

"Kneel!"

The officer’s booming voice echoed through the hall.

Jason hit the floor fast.

In this kind of place, if you didn’t kneel, you'd lose more than face—you’d lose your head.

"We pay homage to Her Majesty! May the Empress reign eternal!"

Officials and soldiers roared in unison—their voices rolling far beyond the palace walls, answered by tens of thousands of Black Dragon Guard stationed outside.

"You may rise."

A cool voice rang out. The crowd stood.

Jason stole a glance at Luna Hayes—stunned by what he saw.

She wasn’t just beautiful. She was unreal.

Far beyond any woman he’d ever laid eyes on. Even those from back in his world, with all their filters and effects, didn’t come close.

Her presence was something else—a divine being walking among mortals.

"Guess that Nine Skies Beauty List wasn’t lying. Luna Hayes really is the number one beauty in the world."

Others sneaked glances too, eyes turning bloodshot after seeing her face.

Becoming Empress's consort meant power and prestige.

And with a woman like that? Who wouldn’t want in?

"I’ll ask a few questions," Queen Luna said coldly. "Answer honestly. First—who among you comes from a poor family? Raise your hand."

Out of the ten thousand present, easily a third came from rough backgrounds.

But at her words, many faces went pale. They knew they’d likely get cut in the first round.

Hard to match topics with the Empress if you couldn’t even afford three meals a day.

"Damn, am I really going to drop out this early? What a disgrace to the transmigrator title..." Jason muttered.

Still, he raised his hand. He had to. Of this whole batch, his situation was probably the worst.

Parents gone. No home to return to.

But in the end, barely one-fifth raised their hands.

Plenty were clearly poor, but didn’t dare admit it. No one wanted to be culled right away.

"Enough."

"Those with hands raised, stay here. The rest may leave."Luna Hayes spoke with a cold, distant tone.

By imperial law, she had to pick an emperor consort. Trouble was, she had no interest in picking one at all. What she really didn’t want was handing the reins of court over to some powerful clan through marriage. That kind of mess only invited disaster.

“What?”

The crowd fell into stunned silence, especially those from poor families who hadn’t raised their hands earlier – confusion written all over their faces.

“No noise. Those eliminated, leave now!”

The ceremonial officer raised his voice. He was just as surprised, but didn’t dare question Luna Hayes. Rules were hers to make.

In a flash, ten thousand people were cut to just over two thousand.

Jason Reed, of course, was still among them.

“Next question,” Luna continued calmly. “Which type of marriage system do you support? Polygyny, polyandry, or monogamy?”

“If you pick polygyny, raise one finger. Polyandry, two fingers. Monogamy, three.”

Jason cursed silently.

What kind of question was this?

But then he let it go. “Whatever. If I get eliminated, so be it. A man’s got to stand by his principles.”

Without a second’s pause, he raised one finger.

Around him, nearly 60% chose two fingers – clearly trying to curry favor. About 30% went with three, and fewer than a hundred, like Jason, chose one.

He glanced around and felt a flash of admiration.

“These guys have guts. Supporting polygyny in front of the empress? That takes backbone.”

Luna swept her eyes across the hall, her voice still calm:

“Those who chose one—stay. The rest, leave.”

“As men, have your answers been honest?”

The ones eliminated filed out, heads down.

Finally, they understood—it was a test of honesty.

Jason couldn’t help but smile internally.

“This empress... not bad. She’s got some bite.”

Somehow, he had made it to the second round.

“Pass out pen and paper to everyone who’s left!” Luna ordered.

With just over a hundred people remaining, paper and brushes were quickly distributed.

Jason sighed to himself.

He could read the writing of this world, sure. But writing essays? That wasn’t his strong suit.

With the system backing him, he’d never even thought of taking the imperial exams.

“Guess I’m doomed here.”

He shot a glance around – most people looked confident, some even smug.

“Listen up,” Luna said, clearing her throat.

“There’s a cage with chickens and rabbits – thirty-five heads, ninety-four legs. How many chickens and how many rabbits? First five correct answers advance.”

Jason’s eyes lit up at once. His hand moved fast—almost instinctively.

Easy. A childhood math problem.

After all, he had a college degree.

Luna’s gaze paused briefly on him, a flicker of interest in her eyes.

Thirty seconds in, the second answer came.

It took two whole minutes before the fifth one arrived.

“Time’s up,” Luna said flatly. “Those who didn’t submit answers, leave. Correct answer: 23 chickens, 12 rabbits. If you got it wrong, you’re out.”

“Ugh!”

More than ninety people walked out, disappointment plain as day.

Getting cut in the first round was one thing—but getting this far, only to be dropped?

Agonizing.