Myriad Phenomena: Starting from Dead Last

In Class 7, Senior Year, at Shencheng No. 1 High School, Jiang Ye is the sort of student his teachers have to pause for half a second to remember when calling roll.

He's ranked last in his grade. His father runs an auto repair shop, his uniform has been washed until it's faded, and he's too afraid to confess his feelings to the person he likes. Even when a rich kid tramples him underfoot, he has to grin and bear it. Everyone thinks this is all he'll ever amount to.

Then, one late September night, he opens his eyes and sees a line of translucent text on the ceiling:

[Math: Beginner Level 3 (1.2%)]

Only later does he learn that, to him, every skill in the world, solving problems, shooting hoops, coding, playing guitar, boxing, doing business, is just a number that can be raised.

He has a simulation room all to himself. One night inside takes only an hour outside.

So he starts training.

He trains until he gets a perfect score in math on a monthly exam, and his homeroom teacher checks the results three times. He trains until he hits a game-winning shot on the basketball court and the whole school chants his name. On the day the college entrance exam results come out, he stands at the top of the honor roll without saying a word.

Later, at college, on the field, in the workplace, onstage, in the boxing ring, and even in the world championship finals, people discover that this young man knows a little about everything, and is absurdly good at all of it.

Someone asks him, "How exactly did you do it?"

Jiang Ye thinks for a moment and says, "I practiced."

Only he knows that the hardest part was never practicing. It was throwing himself into a crowd, onto a stage, and into places where he couldn't afford to lose, again and again.

Because the girl ranked first in his grade taught him one thing:

Skills come from practice, but people grow through what they go through.