This is really not mechanical ascension - Chapter 818 - 424: 2 Hammers to Kill Ryan!

Crimson Vale Academy—where reputation is currency, and failure is a stain you wear on your sleeve.Behind gothic walls and spotless uniforms, students aren't just educated—they're measured, ranked, and pitted against each other in a brutal meritocracy. Privileges are earned, not given. The strong rise. The weak vanish.Enter Kairon Vale, a transfer student marked Rank D—the bottom of the bottom. No badge. Just a stitched black fang, branding him as “Obsidian”—a warning to others.In a system where points dictate your value, Obsidian-ranked students claw for every opportunity to ascend into the prestigious Golden or Platinum ranks—where comfort, power, and influence await. But for most, it’s a losing battle.Yet Kairon isn’t here to fit in, impress, or play by their rules. Cold, calculating, and impossible to read, he watches the system… and waits. Because while the academy judges worth by numbers and names—he understands something deeper:Everyone wears a mask. And every mask can be cracked.Let the games begin.

Back in 1998, an ordinary person who has been through, tired, cried, and fought, hopes to run down-to-earth and keep up with the trend of the times.

- Description from novelbuddy

As a Beta, Ning An’s goal in life was to work hard, make money and get rich. However, his own dear father changed his aspiration and made him become a military academy student. Initially, he wanted to spend his days lazing about. What? The first place in the year gets a generous scholarship? Then staying up to study and train my body is nothing at all! The first place scholarship is definitely mine!

The A in the opposite dorm: So you’re actually an O.

Ning An: Ah?

The A in the opposite dorm: I know. You’re risking it all to prove that an O is not inferior to an A.

Ning An: You know my ass. Laozi is a B.

The A in the opposite dorm: You need to correctly recognise your own gender ah.

Ning An: …. Teacher. Report. I’m afraid this person is stupid.

note: Pretending to be a B’ is 装B (Zhuang B). 装B also means to boast or show off

- Description from Novelupdates

Follow Chen Ming as he accepts disciples, establishes a sect, and fights his way in a world that deems him a cannon fodder.
He goes against any common sense using his wits and novel knowhow to finish missions and arm himself against his cruel fate.