The courtyard of Bo City High School shimmered under the morning sun.
Students swarmed the plaza like ants around honey, voices buzzing with anticipation, fear, and the sweet naivety of hope.
For them, this day was everything.
For Xu Mang, it was simply the first step.
He stood near the center of the formation, hands resting loosely in his pockets. Around him, other students fidgeted, whispering about which element they might awaken — fire for the passionate, water for the calm, lightning for the brave.
Xu Mang remained still. The faint weight of the Black Tortoise Pendant rested beneath his uniform collar, pulsing like a slow heart.
The headmaster's voice thundered across the field.
"Students of Bo City High — today, your fates begin!"
Applause. Cheers.
And beneath it all, Xu Mang felt something else: a tremor in the air, invisible currents of mana moving like rivers beneath the soil.
The world here really is alive, he thought. Every breath, every stone hums with it.
Names were called. One by one, students approached the Awakening Stone — a towering crystal, its core swirling with soft light. Each placed their hand upon it, and the orb responded with flashes of color.
Blue for Water.
Red for Fire.
Brown for Earth.
Yellow for Lightning.
White for Light.
Violet for Shadow.
When one boy's crystal flared pale blue, his friends shouted.
When others remained dark, the silence afterward cut deeper than any spell.
And then — "Xu Mang of the Mu Clan sub-branch!"
He exhaled softly and stepped forward.
The crowd whispered. A Mu clan boy? Aren't they all ice element mages? Xu Mang didn't mind. He already knew what would happen.
His fingers brushed the crystal's surface. It was colder than stone, smoother than water.
For a brief moment, there was nothing. Then a pulse — deep, sharp, electric.
A yellow glow burst from the crystal, brighter than any before it. Lightning coiled within, snapping and sparking like a caged storm. The smell of ozone spread through the air.
Gasps followed. Xue Musheng raised an eyebrow, her crimson heels clicking against the stone as she leaned slightly forward. "Lightning Element," she announced, her voice steady but impressed. "A rare awakening."
Xu Mang removed his hand calmly and nodded. "Understood, Instructor."
The applause came in waves — loud, then fading, then rising again as students murmured among themselves.
"Lightning?"
"In Bo City?"
"Who is that guy?"
Xu Mang stepped back into the crowd. He barely heard them.
Because in the space between the fading crackle of lightning and his heartbeat, another sound whispered through his mind — soft, distant, like a wind brushing across an ancient door.
You've hidden well enough, a voice murmured — neither male nor female, heavy as the tide.
The pendant beneath his shirt burned cold.
For a moment, the world shifted.
He saw something — an ocean made of stars, constellations spinning like living creatures. In the depths, a vast shell glimmered, and around it, serpentine currents moved in endless circles. A faint sigil flared behind his eyes: six rings of silver forming a gate.
Then it was gone.
The crystal had dimmed. Xue Manshang was calling the next name. The students were clapping again. No one had seen the flicker of silver light that passed across his palm.
Xu Mang exhaled quietly. So that's how it is… the second star path.
Lightning was his public face — the storm people would see.
But the Summoning Element had awakened beneath the surface, bound and hidden by the Tortoise's shell.
It would stay that way. No teacher, no elder, no clan would know.
Not yet.
He turned away from the plaza, the faintest hint of a smile tugging at his lips. A spark leaped between his fingers and vanished into the air.
"Lightning," he said under his breath, glancing once toward the pendant that had started all this. "And something much deeper."
The pendant pulsed once — a soundless promise.
Somewhere far below, the Black Tortoise stirred in its sleep.
The moon hung low over Bo City, a pale coin behind drifting clouds. The school grounds had gone quiet; only the hum of the barrier arrays and the chirp of night insects broke the silence.
Xu Mang sat on the rooftop above his dormitory, legs crossed, the Black Tortoise Pendant gleaming faintly in the moonlight. The air still smelled of thunder from the day's ceremony, but another current now threaded beneath it—darker, slower, patient as deep water.
He closed his eyes.
Lightning came to him easily. When he reached inward, he could feel the star palace crackle and spin—nine sharp points forming the sign of storm. The power answered like an obedient beast. Familiar. Loud.
But beneath that brightness lay something else. A whisper. A door that had opened quietly while everyone was cheering for the lightning.
He steadied his breathing, letting the surface energy fade. The second door waited somewhere below the first, buried beneath layers of silence. He touched it.
The world turned blue-black.
He was no longer sitting on the roof. Around him stretched a sea made of stars. Each wave shimmered with faint constellations, and in the depths, something vast moved—a shell like a mountain, a serpent twining around it in endless circles.
The voice came again, low as the ocean's floor.
Summoner…
The stars around him bent inward, forming a pattern—six silver rings linking into a gate. His heartbeat echoed through them, and the gate shivered open just enough for light to leak through.
When he came back to himself, his hands were glowing. Lines of silver circled his fingers like runes.
He spoke without thinking. "Respond."
The rooftop shook. Air pressure dropped. Space folded the way water folds under a thrown stone.
A claw pushed through the ripple—small, spectral, yet sharp enough to scar the tiles. The creature that followed was wolf-shaped but half transparent, its body woven from pale light and shadows. Its eyes were blue fire, curious rather than hostile.
It sniffed once, then sat, tail curling neatly around its paws.
Xu Mang stared. The pendant at his chest thrummed with satisfaction.
"A spirit wolf… and you're only the echo."
The wolf blinked, then lowered its head as if in agreement.
He could feel the bond already, thin and shimmering between their hearts. A full Summoning star palace, hidden from the world, resting beneath his Lightning constellations. No mark on the school record, no flare on the crystal. Only he and the Black Tortoise knew.
Keeping it that way was the only safe choice. Dual innate talent drew eyes; hidden ones drew knives.
He reached out, brushing the wolf's muzzle. The light rippled under his touch.
"I'll call you again when the world's not watching."
The wolf's body dissolved into motes of light, spiraling back into the pendant. The rooftop stilled, the night wind returning like nothing had happened.
Xu Mang looked up at the moon. "Lightning to dazzle them. Summoning to guard the truth."
The pendant gave one quiet pulse, almost like laughter.
He stood, stretching, a spark crawling lazily along his arm before vanishing into the air. From the dorms below came faint snoring, the easy dreams of those who still believed tomorrow would be simple.
Xu Mang smiled faintly. "Sleep while you can. The world doesn't stay peaceful for long."
He stepped down from the roof, the sound of his boots swallowed by the night. Somewhere in the depths of the world, waves struck against unseen walls, and the Black Tortoise opened one ancient eye.