The nights in Hangzhou were rarely quiet. From the orphanage rooftop, Ye Fan could hear dogs barking, the distant hum of traffic, and the occasional drunken shout echoing through the alleys. But inside the cold dormitory, silence ruled.
It was in this silence that Ye Fan thrived.
When the other children snored under their thin blankets, Ye Fan sat cross-legged in his bed, eyes shut, mind focused inward. The moonlight brushed against his pale skin, making him look almost ethereal in the dark.
Tonight, like every night since his awakening, he trained.
The Path of Stars
Magic was not conjured from nothing. It was born from the Nebula of Stardust within every mage.
For most, forming a complete Star Orbit took years. The mind had to tame unruly Stardust particles, guiding them one by one until a perfect circle of stars glowed inside the soul. Only then could a mage use true spells.
But Ye Fan's Heavenly Ice Seed made everything sharper, clearer.
When he sank into meditation, he saw his inner world more vividly than others could dream. Floating inside the darkness of his consciousness were shimmering motes of light—his Stardust. Dozens, hundreds, countless specks, drifting like fireflies across an endless sky.
And at the core, pulsing with divine frost, was the Heavenly Ice Seed. It was no passive power—it tugged at the Stardust, calling them, aligning them.
It wants to guide me, Ye Fan thought, marveling at the way the particles seemed eager to obey.
Still, it wasn't easy.
Every night he tried, his mind grew heavy. His body trembled. His vision blurred. Forming an Orbit was like trying to bend a river into a circle with bare hands. The first few months were agony.
But Ye Fan endured.
Hidden Effort
By day, he was just another quiet orphan. He swept floors, helped carry water, shared rice with the younger children. To the caretakers, he was obedient and ordinary.
But by night, frost covered his blanket, his breaths turned into mist, and sweat poured down his back as he wrestled with the Stardust inside.
His hair remained tied under cloth, his blue eyes hidden in shadows. He avoided mirrors. The reflection reminded him too much of what he had become.
At times, hunger gnawed at his belly so fiercely he thought he'd faint. The orphanage meals were meager—half a steamed bun, watery porridge. Yet he gave part of it away to the smaller children, pretending he wasn't hungry.
No one knew that the real reason he endured his own hunger was so that he could focus his willpower on cultivation. Weakness was his disguise, but strength was his reality.
The Whisper of Ice
Some nights, when exhaustion made him want to quit, the Heavenly Ice Seed whispered. Not with words, but with feelings—like a soft current of frost through his veins, urging him onward.
It was cold, but not cruel. Stern, but not merciless.
When his mind faltered, the Seed would glow brighter, steadying his concentration. When the Stardust resisted, it bent them with invisible authority, almost like a master guiding a student's hand.
"...You really are alive, aren't you?" Ye Fan murmured once, opening his eyes after hours of meditation.
The pendant of Ice Calamity on his chest shimmered faintly in response, suppressing the excess frost so others wouldn't notice.
Ye Fan smiled faintly, his breath clouding the air. "Fine. If you guide me, I'll keep going. No matter how long it takes."
The First Signs
Around the sixth month, changes began to show.
His body grew stronger, though he ate little. His skin remained pale, but there was a subtle sharpness in his gaze, as if his blue eyes could cut through lies.
His senses sharpened. He could hear the caretaker's footsteps from across the building. He could feel shifts in the night air, the way moisture condensed into frost when he exhaled.
And inside, the Stardust began forming a faint arc. Not yet a circle, but the beginning of one.
Progress.
One night, however, disaster nearly struck.
The Accident
It was late, the orphanage quiet. Ye Fan was deep in meditation, his Stardust aligning smoothly under the Heavenly Seed's guidance. He pushed harder than usual, desperate to complete another segment of the Orbit.
Then—
Crack!
A surge of cold burst outward uncontrollably. Frost spiderwebbed across the walls, coating his bed in a layer of ice. The temperature plunged.
The boy in the bed beside him stirred, teeth chattering. "C-c-cold…"
Ye Fan's eyes snapped open, panic shooting through him. Immediately, he clutched the pendant of Ice Calamity, pouring his will into it. The frost retracted, melting away instantly as though nothing had happened.
He lay back quickly, forcing his breathing calm. The other child rolled over, mumbling in his sleep, and silence returned.
Ye Fan's heart hammered. That was too close.
For hours after, he didn't dare meditate again. He simply stared at the ceiling, reminding himself of his vow: Hide your strength. Always.
The Year's End
Days turned to weeks, weeks to months. His life became a cycle—chores by day, cultivation by night.
The world outside the orphanage went on, but Ye Fan's world shrank to a single goal: connect the stars.
And finally, on a winter night nearly one year after his awakening, it happened.
He sat cross-legged as always, mind drifting among the infinite starlight inside him. The Stardust had nearly formed a complete loop for weeks, but the final connection eluded him.
Tonight, something changed.
The Heavenly Ice Seed pulsed like a heartbeat, sending out a surge of divine cold. The Stardust shivered, aligned, and in a brilliant flash—
Click.
The final gap closed.
A perfect Star Orbit spun within him, shining like a ring of frost-lit stars. Energy surged through his body, pure and refined, flowing into his veins like liquid ice.
Ye Fan gasped, eyes snapping open. Frost exploded around him, but this time he controlled it. The pendant glimmered, dampening the release to a faint chill in the air.
He raised his hand, and icy blue light gathered instantly. A frost crystal bloomed between his fingers, spinning gracefully like a snowflake caught in moonlight.
"I did it…" His whisper trembled. "Level One Mage."
The crystal dissolved into mist.
Ye Fan clenched his fist, his blue eyes blazing in the dark. He was only eleven years old. No awakening stone, no teacher, no resources. Just sheer will and the Heavenly Ice Seed.
In the Versatile Mage world, prodigies might awaken early—but none would believe an orphan had silently completed his first orbit alone.
He smiled faintly, exhaustion tugging at his eyelids. "This is just the beginning. By thirteen… I'll be Intermediate."
As he lay back on his bed, sleep finally taking him, the frost on the walls shimmered faintly like stars in the night.
The legend of Ye Fan had begun.