Volume 1: Bo'an Awakening & The Calamity Storm
Chapter 14
S-Rank Rating, The Entire School Stunned!
The entire examination hall of Feng Lan Magic High School fell deathly still.
The silence crashed down with harrowing abruptness, as if an invisible colossal hand had seized the throats of all two thousand people present. The buzzing whispers, the snickering mockeries, the caustic taunts that had permeated the spectator stands only moments prior—all of it vanished into thin air. Not a single soul dared speak. Not a single person dared move. The heavy, dry gulps catching in the throats of the front-row students echoed with surreal clarity.
Amidst this eerie, breathless stillness, the only sound that remained was the violent churn of raw elemental flame swirling within the Star-Sensing Stone.
Crackle... sizzle...
Wave after wave of blistering scarlet heat poured from Lin Feng’s palm straight into the obsidian stone resting atop Dais No. 1. The testing stone, once a dull, murky ash-gray, had transformed into a translucent gem of pure liquid fire, blazing with a crimson luminescence so incandescent it was blinding. The sweltering heat radiating outward distorted the surrounding air, causing the atmosphere above the marble pedestal to warp and shimmer like a desert mirage beneath the midday sun.
Lin Feng’s right hand remained calmly pressed against the polished surface. The frayed hem of his faded gray school uniform fluttered gently in the thermal updraft generated by the surging Fire mana. His spine stood ramrod-straight, unyielding as a bronze spear driven deep into the earth. His sharp, youthful features remained placid and unruffled, as though the cataclysmic conflagration erupting beneath his fingers were nothing more than a tiny spark in a hearth.
Behind the evaluation table perched at the edge of the dais, the three proctors assigned to Dais No. 1 sat petrified.
Seated at the center was Head Examiner Li Zhen—a silver-haired, middle-aged mage renowned for his ironhanded strictness over the past two decades. At this very moment, his hands were trembling uncontrollably, clawing the edge of the rosewood desk so fiercely that his knuckles turned stark white.
Clack!
The thick reading glasses balanced on the bridge of his nose slipped, dropping with a dry clatter onto the wooden tabletop.
Yet Li Zhen didn’t even notice. His eyes bulged wide, locked onto the mana gauge carved with ancient runes running down the flank of the stone pillar.
There, the scarlet beam of radiance was surging upward at an unimaginable speed!
The D-Rank threshold... bypassed in an instant!
The C-Rank mark... obliterated without the slightest resistance!
The B-Rank boundary... swept away like autumn leaves before a violent tempest!
The A-Rank pinnacle—that glorious milestone Young Master Ling Bai had achieved less than half an hour ago—withstood the onslaught for barely a single heartbeat before the crimson cascade surged like a bursting dam, blowing past the graduation mark and barreling straight toward the absolute summit!
S-Rank!
Yet even then, the raging brilliance showed no sign of abating. Reaching the apex of S-Rank, the scarlet torrent slammed directly into the enchanted containment barrier at the tip of the pillar, releasing ear-piercing hums that threatened to shatter the quartz casing altogether!
Crack...
A hairline fissure snaked across the surface of the Star-Sensing Stone, spitting a violent shower of fiery sparks into the air before they fizzled into nothingness!
The crack snapped Li Zhen out of his stupor. Shaking all over, he fumbled for the handkerchief in his breast pocket, hastily wiped the cold sweat off his lenses, and jammed his glasses back onto his nose. He lunged half his torso across the desk, pressing his face toward the Star-Sensing Stone to scrutinize the interior of the crystal orb.
His pupils darted wildly, tracking each incandescent mote of light spiraling inside that sea of flame:
“One... two... three...”
The Head Examiner’s voice quivered with every digit:
“Four... five... six... Seven! A full set! All seven Star Cores! Every single one thoroughly subdued, linked in a closed circuit... The Star Path has taken form!”
Transmitted through the arcane lapel microphone pinned to Li Zhen’s collar, his trembling mutter was broadcast with crystal clarity across the school’s massive loudspeaker network, resounding into every corner of the stadium!
It was as though a bolt of lightning had detonated right above the grand hall!
Everyone present understood the terrifying significance of an assembled Star Path. In the world of magic, a novice apprentice who could tame two or three Star Cores within their first six months was already deemed above average. Controlling four or five like Ling Bai was universally hailed as an exceptional genius.
To control all seven Star Cores and thread them into an unbroken Star Path? That was the realm of a true, fully-fledged Mage—someone capable of unleashing devastating elemental magic! How could an impoverished student, only half a year into high school with zero clan backing, possibly achieve something so absurd?!
Li Zhen swallowed hard to lubricate his parched throat. His trembling hand gripped the brass evaluation mallet and brought it crashing down against the small chime on the table:
Gong——!
The sharp, resonant toll shattered the suffocating tension.
Inhaling a massive lungful of air, his chest heaving violently, Li Zhen bellowed into the microphone:
“Candidate Lin Feng, Experimental Class 1!”
“Mana Luminescence... Maximum limit! Star Cores Controlled... Seven complete cores! The Star Path is formed!”
With every shred of strength left in his lungs, the Head Examiner roared:
“Rating: S-Rank... No, S-Plus! An unprecedented feat in the entire history of Feng Lan High School!”
One second... Two seconds...
A fleeting heartbeat of disbelief, and then—
BOOM——!
The entire examination hall detonated like an erupting supervolcano!
“S-Plus! Holy shit, S-Plus!”
“The stone hit maximum capacity! Seven Star Cores! The Star Path is complete! Does that mean he can already cast real magic?!”
“A monster has appeared at Feng Lan High! A commoner student scored an S-Plus?!”
Over two thousand students across the stadium rose to their feet as one. The roaring cheers, shrieks of shock, and thunderous stomping against the bleachers coalesced into a deafening sonic tempest that felt ready to tear the roof off the gymnasium. Students in the back rows shoved and scrambled atop their chairs, craning their necks forward just to catch a glimpse of the youth who had just rewritten their school’s history.
Up in the faculty and VIP box, the pandemonium was ten times more chaotic!
At the center of the VIP rostrum, Principal Qin—who had overseen decades of examinations—sprang to his feet in sheer, electrifying shock. His venerable eyes were blown wide open as he stared at Dais No. 1, his hands gripping the mahogany balustrade so hard the wood groaned beneath his palms. An S-Plus! In over thirty years at Feng Lan High, he had never witnessed such a breathtaking prodigy!
Beside him, Instructor Kang Mu—the homeroom teacher who wore the same worn, dark suit year-round, the man who had swallowed countless sneers and condescending slights from the elite class instructors—was trembling violently from head to toe.
His bloodshot eyes, darkened by endless sleepless nights spent grading papers and drafting lesson plans, flushed red. Tears spilled over his eyelids, streaming down his gaunt, weathered cheeks. All the grievance, bitterness, and suppressed indignity gathered over years of quiet struggle dissolved into mist in this single, transcendent second!
“Hahaha! Ahahahahaha!”
Kang Mu threw his head back toward the rafters and let loose a booming, unbridled roar of laughter! His voice was raspy, laced with choked sobs yet ringing with boundless, unyielding pride:
“My student! That’s my student, Kang Mu’s boy! You see that?! Open your damn eyes and look, all of Feng Lan High! Who dared to say poor kids could never hold their heads high?! Hahaha!”
The normally quiet, mild-mannered instructor slammed his open palms down against the wooden armrests in wild euphoria, the sharp cracks echoing like firecrackers.
Before Kang Mu could even wipe away his tears, the homeroom instructors from Elite Class A, Elite Class B, and the department deans discarded every shred of decorum. Hoisting their robes, they charged headlong toward Dais No. 1, swarming around Lin Feng!
“Student Lin Feng! I am the head teacher of Elite Class A! Transfer to my class, and the school will cover every copper of your tuition and living expenses for the next two years!”
“Lin Feng, come to my Special Experimental Class! I will personally provide you with one Primary Magic Crystal every month to support your cultivation!”
“Out of the way, all of you! Lin Feng, I am the Dean of the Fire Faculty! You are the rarest gem our department has sought for thirty years! Come with me right now to complete the paperwork for core personal mentorship!”
These distinguished, middle-aged instructors were flushed scarlet, shoving and elbowing one another in their desperate bids to seize Lin Feng’s arm, boxing him into a tight circle around the pedestal. Tempting promises of resources, stipends, and exclusive meditation chambers rained down in an avalanche, leaving the surrounding onlookers drooling in envy.
Down in the seating area for Class 1, Chubby Hu was bouncing up and down across the concrete like a rubber ball. Grabbing a bewildered male classmate by the collar, he shook him violently back and forth while howling at the top of his lungs:
“Did you see that?! That’s my Brother Feng! S-Plus! That’s my brother since we ran around naked in the rain! Who dared call Brother Feng trash?! Step up and say it to my face right now, I dare you!”
Yet in the front row of Experimental Class 1, the atmosphere was the absolute antithesis—freezing, stifling, and dreadful.
Ling Bai stood rooted to the spot.
The handsome countenance that had always worn the haughty arrogance of a noble scion was now pale as a corpse. Every drop of color had drained from his face; his thin lips quivered uncontrollably, twisted into a pathetic grimace. His entire frame shook with violent tremors, his knees struggling to support his weight.
Hanging at his sides, his fists clenched with such savage fury that his fingernails sliced into his palms. Fresh crimson blood welled from the punctures, dripping down to stain his expensive trousers. Yet Ling Bai registered no physical pain. That fleshly sting was nothing compared to the monstrous humiliation ripping his pride to shreds! The illustrious A-Rank in the Ice Element he had flaunted so proudly only minutes ago, when placed beside that blazing ‘S-Plus’, was reduced to nothing more than a pathetic joke!
“No... That’s impossible...”
Ling Bai swayed on his feet. His knees went limp. Reeling back two paces, his heels clipped the edge of an iron chair, sending him crashing backward against the backrest with a dull clang. Only by clutching the armrest with white-knuckled desperation did he keep himself from collapsing to the floor.
Nearby, Li Peng was in an even more wretched state. The lackey who had so boldly mocked Lin Feng’s impoverished upbringing had lost all strength in his legs.
Thud!
He slumped terror-stricken onto the frigid marble floor, the back of his uniform drenched in freezing sweat. His eyes were wide and hollow, his mouth slack, teeth clattering like dice in a cup:
“Impossible... A beggar son of a cart driver... How could he... How could he control seven Star Cores?! S-Plus... It can’t be real...”
Before Li Peng’s panicked babble could fade, a chilling voice laced with oppressive magical pressure detonated from the VIP guest gallery!
BANG——!
The explosive impact sounded like a lightning strike at point-blank range!
The solid granite tabletop before the VIP seats fractured under a palm radiating frosty mist. A deep, jagged crevice spiderwebbed across the slab, spraying shards of rock in all directions! The thunderous cheers of thousands of students were instantaneously suffocated by an invisible, suffocating aura, plunging the hall right back into dead silence!
Heads snapped around toward the VIP section.
Rising from a seat of honor was a middle-aged man clad in a silken robe embroidered with silver-blue snowflake crests—the unmistakable emblem of Bo’an City’s prominent Ling Clan. He radiated murderous intent. This was Ling Gang, the External Affairs Deacon of the Ling Clan and their designated representative examiner on the Feng Lan High proctoring council!
Ling Gang stepped out of the aisle. Each heavy step clacked against the stone flags, trailing wisps of pale frost that sent the temperature across half the auditorium plummeting.
Halting at the central corridor, he raised his chin and glared straight toward the testing dais, his glacial voice cutting through the lingering euphoria:
“Hold it right there! How could an impoverished student without a single magic crystal to his name weave a complete Star Path in a matter of months? I suspect this Star-Sensing Stone is either defective or tampered with! If he wishes to prove himself, he must cast real magic out on the training grounds right this second!”
Ling Gang narrowed his eyes, his voice dripping with icy venom:
“Everyone on the school board and student body knows that this Lin Feng hails from the slums of South Street! His father is merely an indentured mana-transport driver hauling rock for our Ling clan’s quarry, slaving away his entire year for scraps of copper! An impoverished brat with neither status nor half a magic crystal to aid his meditation—by what right does he claim to complete a Star Path ahead of our noble lineage?!”
Ling Gang thrust an arm toward the towering double doors leading out to Feng Lan High’s outdoor magic testing grounds, his tone dripping with provocation:
“You, Lin! Don’t you claim to have connected all seven Star Cores? That your Star Path is formed?! If your Star Path is truly complete, then you are already a Basic Mage capable of releasing actual magic! Right now, before all two thousand teachers and students of Feng Lan High, do you dare step out onto the spellcasting grounds and unleash ‘Fire Burst: Crimson Sparks’ against the target dummy with your own two hands?!”
Ling Gang glared unblinkingly at Lin Feng, a muscle twitching at the corner of his eye:
“If you succeed, my Ling clan will offer an immediate public apology and validate your S-Plus rating! But if you are merely a fraud using arcane tricks and counterfeit artifacts to cheat your scores... Then this very day, I will personally strip your student status, cripple your magic, and cast you and your entire family into the deepest dungeons of the Tribunal! Lin Feng! Do you dare step onto the field?!”
The vicious ultimatum was like a splash of ice water dumped into boiling oil, pulling the auditorium’s tension taut as a bowstring on the verge of snapping!
Thousands of pairs of eyes snapped away from Ling Gang, converging once more on the grey-clad youth standing high atop the dais.
Amidst the swirling sea of skepticism, suffocating tension, and blatant provocation, Lin Feng slowly withdrew his right hand from the Star-Sensing Stone and slid it nonchalantly into the pocket of his uniform jacket.
He tilted his head slightly.
The sixteen-year-old youth’s face remained eerily calm. His deep obsidian eyes met Ling Gang’s glare head-on without a shred of fear. On the contrary—in the fathomless depths of those pupils, a brilliant, unyielding flame was rising, eager to meet the test of real combat!