"A-Ahem," Mr. Wang cleared his throat, and the shouts of awe died down. "Okay, that's enough. Next in line is...Gao Ruo Jie, please come up."
Class 2-D - 2nd years at Shenzhen Magic High School, ranked last of the four classes in our year. We were currently in the Magic Training Room, in the process of doing the mandatory monthly Awakening Orb Procedure. The goal of this system was to check if anyone had suddenly awoken another element without the use of an Awakening Stone.
Cases like such were rare, but it has happened before. That's why such a system was implemented - a mandatory monthly check-up using a Magic Artifact known as an Awakening Orb. And it has proven to be worthwhile - we all just witnessed such a a situation with our own two eyes.
Indeed - Feng Mian had never been through an Awakening process before, and henceforth had no way to come in contact with an Awakening Stone. Yet, she had just awoken a new element - Poison. The Awakening Orb had shone a dark purple, contrasting the bright, lightning-like one that represented the Sky Element.
Each element had their own colors to identify it:
Fire - Bright Orange
Water - Blue
Earth - Bright Yellow
Sky - Light Purple
Ice - Light Blue
Psychic - Light Pink
Shadow - Black (with a hint of purple)
Light - White (with a hint of yellow)
Curse - Indigo
Poison - Dark Purple
Time - Navy Blue
Space - Cyan
Metal - Silver
Sound - Light Green
Blessing - Lime
Gravity - Mahogany
Summoning - Transparent (no color is shown)
Enchantment - Red
Demon - Crimson
Necromancy - Dark Green
Void - Purple (with a hint of white)
These colors were developed by the IMF for ease of classifying elements, derived from the color of spells of that element. In addition, some elements were also more rare than others, statistically speaking. Time and Space magic are the most rare, and also the most powerful. Then comes Secondary Elements and Dark Magic, rarity-wise. The most common of all are the Primary Elements - and even out of those 12, Fire, Water, Earth, and Sky are the most dominant elements.
The other Year 2 classes all had at least 1 person who could use Time or Space Magic. This gave them a tremendous advantage in team fight tournaments, and are practically unbeatable unless you also have a Time or Space Mage on your side. Unfortunately, our class (2-D) has neither, placing us at the bottom of the rankings.
Mages who possessed an aptitude for Time or Space Magic were often high up on the Magus Rankings as well. Their control over time and space dominates the battlefield, and it would take a lot of planning and trickery to overcome it. Brute strength wouldn't work against them. In fact, out of the top 10 on the Magus Rankings of our school, 9/10 had Time or Space Magic. The one that didn't, was placed 10th.
With all that being said, there's no doubt that Time or Space Mages were highly valued by society. Many of them were in fact hired by the IMF - and that was the highest possible position you could hope for in this world, without being an immensely successful entrepreneur yourself.
In this world, no matter how hard you worked, there were some things you just couldn't overcome raw talent in. No matter how much you try, you won't be able to guarantee that you'll awaken Time or Space Magic. No matter how much effort you put in, you won't just suddenly gain magic (I don't know how I did it, but it was certainly not thanks to my hard-work).
Before long, it was Qing Yue's turn to go up to the Awakening Orb. Originally standing on one side of me (Feng Mian on the other), she tugged on my sleeve. I patted her head in return and gave a reassuring smile that said 'You got this'. She nodded, satisfied, and stepped out of line.
Imitating Feng Mian's movements as if hoping to awaken a new element as well, she took a deep breath and placed her right hand on the orb. And then, suddenly, the room was filled with a blinding flash, and I covered my eyes out of instinct.
"What happened?"
"Black- No, Whiteout?"
"You dumbass! That's a writing utensil!"
"Quiet! Calm down, that's just the Awakening Orb..." Mr. Wang's voice cut through the panic. "But still...this is really something. Such a powerful reaction...I've never seen it before."
"What? B-But then that was even brighter than Feng Mian's!"
"Does that mean she has awakened a new element as well?!"
"Calm yourselves! I'm blinded too...Qing Yue, you're the closest to the orb, what do you see?" Mr. Wang hurriedly said.
"U-Um...the orb is flashing lime, which is Blessing Magic, pink, Psychic magic, and...a bright white...with a little yellow, I think?"
"That's Light Magic! Okay, you can remove your hand now. Hurry!"
"R-Right!" Qing Yue quickly complied. Immediately, the light receded and all of us could see again.
Mr. Wang looked relieved to be able to see again, and blinked a few times to adjust his eyes. "O-Okay...c-congratulations, it seems you have awoken the Light element. And it appears you have an incredible talent for it as well," he spoke in a composed tone to Qing Yue, befitting a teacher.
"Thank you!" Qing Yue beamed happily.
"Ah...I don't deserve the gratitude. This was all thanks to your own talent," Mr. Wang in a refined manner, having practiced these words many times over. "You may head to one of the training chambers now if you please."
"Hm...nope! I'll stay here to watch Big Brother Xuan Kai!" Qing Yue replied, happily skipping back to her original place beside me.
"Hey, are you proud of me?" she asked, tugging on my sleeve once more and looking up. From an outsider's perspective, there's no way they would guess that she was the same age as me. Honestly, perfect little sister material (I swear I don't have a little sister complex). My heart thumped at how cute she was...
"Y-Yeah. Good job," I said while rubbing her head. The surrounding boys all glared at me in envy...and by the looks of it, so did Feng Mian, though I wasn't too sure why.
But there was a more pressing matter on my hands. What will I do when it was my turn...? I had mana - that wasn't the problem. But for one, I don't want to show everyone what my true power is. Second, I don't know what will happen if I channel my mana into that orb - my magic is very, very weird, after all. It may cause the orb to malfunction - or even break. That would...cause problems.
And just as I was pondering this thought-
"Okay. Xuan Kai, you're next." Mr. Wang's deep voice cut through my worries, and also gave birth to a bigger worry.
Shit. Shit, shit, shit shit shit. As I creatively scrambled for a good way to avoid going up, my mouth blurted out the first thing I thought of.
"...I need to go use the washroom."
Mr. Wang appeared skeptical, but gave in regardless. "Uh...very well. We will have the next person go first then. That is...Yu An Xue,"
"R-Right." I nodded twice and dashed out the door. I could hear murmurs coming from behind me-
"Geez...is he really in such a hurry?"
"How long has he held it in for?"
"Disgusting..."
-but I ignored them.
But. I didn't go to the washroom (what, you really thought that I had to go?). Instead, I camped right outside the Magic Training Room door, and spied inside. Why? So I could know when to come in, of course. I have to wait for the perfect moment to go in. There wasn't anyone else after Yu An Xue since Zhang Zhe Rui was away today for whatever reason, so I might as well go in right after she's done. Besides, it would be suspicious if I were gone for too long.
And so, I watched on as Yu An Xue calmly strode up to the Awakening Orb, long pink hair fluttering behind her. I always knew she was recognized as one of the top beauties of Shenzhen for a reason, but it wasn't until now that I really had an opportunity to admire her flawless features and perfect proportions. She had large pink eyes that went brilliantly with her hair of the same color, and the skirt she wore showed off her long white legs as well - befitting the Xue (snow) in her name. With a bust similar to Feng Mian's, it wouldn't be an overstatement to say they were the perfect size. Not that I had an opinion, really.
She was very different to the two other beauties of Shenzhen, Qing Yue and the newly added Feng Mian. Qing Yue was short and cute, with lovely white hair and yellow eyes that made people commonly see her as an angel. Feng Mian had beautiful blonde hair and purple eyes that contrasted with it. She was also the only true cool beauty of the three.
But before I could gawk at her elegant figure any longer, she had placed her hand on the orb and an intense flash that rivaled even Qing Yue's filled the room. I backed away from the door immediately and had to squint to make out what was going on inside. The door was soundproof, however, so I couldn't tell what they were saying. Though the reaction couldn't have been too different from Qing Yue's.
After a while, the light subdued, and I also headed back inside at the same time. After careful thought, I had decided to just channel as little mana as possible into the Orb, and hope for the best. Pretending to place my hands on the orb was out of the question, as such a large audience had seen me use magic in my duel with Feng Mian.
When I got inside, the first thing I noticed was the commotion. Loud murmurs and stares were directed at Yu An Xue, though they weren't of malice. I asked Feng Mian what happened while I was gone (I wasn't really gone, but no need to tell her that). Apparently, Yu An Xue had also awoken another element - Space, in addition to Ice and Water, both of which she already had. This meant that we now stood a chance against Class 2-C, in which a student possessed Time Magic. No wonder my classmates were making such a fuss.
"Ah! Xuan Kai, you're back. Then, why don't you come up and have your turn now?" Mr. Wang said, having finally noticed my presence.
I nodded in return, and walked towards the Awakening Orb. Once there, I placed my hand on top of it, sighed, and murmured to myself. "Alright...here we go."
I closed my eyes and began visualizing the mana stored inside my Dantian. It was nowhere near full - hell, I don't even know if there was a limit. I took a slight drop of mana from my storage and condensed it into a mini sphere. Then, concentrating even further, it exploded, and I guided the tiny bit of mana that was the result into my right hand, still placed on the orb.
After taking a deep breath, I let it flow out of my hands.
...
Everyone was watching in anticipation. This was the moment they were waiting for, ever since the duel. I held my breath.
...
"Nothing...happened?" I murmured hopefully.
Indeed, nothing. No blinding flashes, not even the slightest bit of a glow.
"What the hell? I clearly saw him use magic in the duel!"
"Haha, guess trash will always be trash!"
"Was it someone else that cast the magic for him back there...?"
I kept my hand on the orb for a bit longer just to be safe, then finally let go. I exhaled in relief, and began turning around to walk back in line, ignoring all the comments. This wasn't ideal, as people saw me use magic in the duel, but perhaps it could just pass as them seeing an illusion, or a third-party helping from the shadows.
...Better to let them believe I still couldn't use magic than I could use all 21 elements, and cast spells ten times more powerful than normal. Yu An Xue pierced her eyes into me the entire way back which made me slightly uncomfortable, but I paid her no attention.
But just when I thought it was over and I could finally relax-
"Everyone! Get away from the Awakening Orb! Quick!" Mr. Wang ran over to us and shouted in a panic. Then, he twisted his body and quickly put up a water barrier of protection. "Mizu Shield!"
Voices of confusion rang out, but it was better for them not knowing.
My eyes were fixated on the orb, and so were Feng Mian's and Qing Yue's. It was radiating an ominous black and red energy, filling the room at an insane rate. The only thing protecting us from it was Mr. Wang's water barrier, and even that seemed like it wouldn't hold up much longer. Large cracks began forming on the orb as the energy waves began leaking even faster, and suddenly, the entire thing-
-Shattered.