The dusky twilight fell over Crimson Sky Academy, its red-tiled rooftops catching the last rays of the sun like smoldering embers on the horizon. Students bustled through the courtyards, chatter echoing through the stone halls as their day of cultivation and training finally reached its end. But for Su Mengtian, the day had just begun.
His dorm room was lit only by a single lamp, casting elongated shadows over scrolls, maps, and worn military journals scattered across his desk. The room bore the marks of discipline and preparation: every item had a purpose, every detail calculated. He stood at the window, the glow of the setting sun casting a golden hue over his sharp features.
Seventeen years had sculpted him into a young man whose body bore the strength of relentless training and whose eyes held the gravity of lifetimes lived. Though he kept his past hidden, deep within, the fire of the mercenary commander still roared. Even in this new life, beneath the disguise of a student, his mind remained that of a tactician, a protector, a builder of empires.
That night, a message arrived. A coded transmission from one of his early contacts — an underground channel that ran between awakened youths trying to form unofficial alliances. Su Mengtian opened the message, eyes narrowing.
"Dimensional fissure activity rising in the Frost-Fanged North. Disappearances reported. Evacuation incomplete. Limited forces deployed."
The words sank deep. He knew the government wouldn't act swiftly. They feared stirring panic or revealing weaknesses. But this was the kind of opportunity he needed — a proving ground.
He clenched his fists. "I need to see it with my own eyes."
By the next morning, he was gone.
Without informing the Academy, he departed under the pretense of an independent field trial — something high-rank students were occasionally permitted. But he didn't travel alone. Behind him, quietly, four shadows followed: students who'd watched him, trained beside him, respected his resolve even if they didn't understand it.
At the helm of the group was Lian Shu, a fierce-eyed girl who ranked among the top ten in martial combat. Her beast bloodline was of the Shadow Lynx — swift, elusive, and devastating in short bursts. With her was Jin Tao, whose Earth-Tusk Boar bloodline gave him immense strength and defensive capability. Accompanying them were Xue Ning, a spirit caster bonded to the Mist Phoenix, and Li Zhen, a tactician whose twin Viper Falcon familiars made him deadly in recon and assassination.
They reached the Frost-Fanged North within three days. A snow-laced valley greeted them, veiled in unnatural silence. The air trembled with an eerie charge — a sign of unstable dimensional energy.
Su Mengtian knelt, fingers brushing the cracked ice. His eyes flicked toward the distorted sky above them.
"This isn't a minor disturbance," he said. "Something is coming."
They moved cautiously. Abandoned outposts littered the landscape, destroyed or frozen in sudden violence. Su Mengtian noted claw marks, acidic burns, and shattered steel barriers — all indicators of high-tier dimensional monsters, possibly evolved through anomaly exposure.
That night, as they set up camp within a shattered bunker, the snow began to whisper. Not in words, but in pressure. Something crept beneath it. Something watching.
Xue Ning clutched her casting staff. "It's close. Whatever it is, it knows we're here."
Su Mengtian issued orders without hesitation. "Tao, reinforce the walls with your geo-core. Zhen, place traps at every access tunnel. Shu, stay cloaked and scout the perimeters. Ning, prepare shielding arrays."
They moved with military precision.
At midnight, it struck.
A monstrous centipede-like beast, its body layered in glacial crystals and pulsing veins of purple energy, erupted from beneath the bunker. It shrieked a psychic pulse that shattered the nearby support columns.
The team scattered.
Tao launched forward with his reinforced arms, holding back the creature's first swipe. Su Mengtian moved in tandem with Shu, their coordinated attacks slicing through its flanks, searching for a core. Xue Ning unleashed flame-bound sigils while Zhen directed the Viper Falcons to blind the creature.
But it regenerated.
Mengtian saw it then — a faint symbol glowing near its chest. A dimensional mark.
He dashed forward, ignoring a slicing blow that cut across his shoulder. Drawing power from deep within — a sensation wild, stormy, and unfamiliar — he unleashed a thunderous burst of energy.
The creature was blasted back, roaring in pain. The mark flickered.
The others stared. That power… it was unlike anything they'd seen him use.
He stumbled, that new force roaring through his veins like caged lightning.
"What… was that?" Shu whispered.
Su Mengtian didn't answer. He didn't know.
But something inside him stirred. Something that had yet to reveal its name, but whose power was growing with every heartbeat.
The fight ended at dawn, the beast slain, the fissure sealed with a temporary stabilizer. As the team limped back toward the city, word of their battle would begin to spread. Rumors of a new leader. Of a mysterious force awakening.
And for Su Mengtian, it was the beginning of many such trials.
The path ahead would not be smooth. But this victory, earned in blood and fire, laid the foundation for something greater — a legacy that would soon echo across continents.
He turned back toward the north, snow melting where his steps had scorched the earth.
"Soon," he muttered, "I'll need to gather them — all nine. We're not ready yet. But we will be."
The sky above rumbled softly, as if acknowledging the thunder within him.
The return to the academy was quiet. The team didn't speak much, each consumed by their own thoughts. Su Mengtian, though physically worn, remained alert. His mind churned with the image of the glowing mark and the sensation of that strange power.
He went to the academy library that same evening, seeking texts that touched on rare bloodline phenomena and dimensional corruption. But the information was sparse. Whatever force had stirred inside him, it was not common. Not known. Not documented.
Late that night, as he sat alone, Lian Shu entered the library. She didn't say anything at first, just walked over and dropped a worn data tablet onto the table.
"From my family's archives," she said quietly. "There's a pattern in dimensional attacks that matches what we saw in the north. You might want to look."
Su Mengtian glanced up at her, surprised. "You trust me with this?"
She crossed her arms. "You saved our lives. And more than that… you've started something. People are watching. Some want to follow. Don't let them down."
As she walked away, Su Mengtian opened the tablet.
And the pieces began to fall into place.