Volume 1: Bo'an Awakening & The Calamity Storm
Chapter 17
Might of the Lightning Arcs!
The third subterranean level of Feng Lan High lay buried fifteen meters deep beneath the earth.
It was a secluded realm completely cut off from the clamor of the lecture halls and the boisterous campus above. Along the deep corridor paved in dark basalt slabs, only the pale yellow glow cast by magical lamps mounted into the stone walls filtered down into the dim passage. The subterranean atmosphere was dead-silent and crisp, carrying the faint, ancient scent of subterranean minerals.
Standing before a reinforced steel door bearing the placard Meditation Chamber 01, Lin Feng gently traced his fingers over the alloy bolt. Resting comfortably in his palm was a sleek, metallic-black mag-card—his exclusive reward for clinching the absolute S-Rank evaluation in the midterm assessment. He tapped the card lightly against the circular runic array etched into the lock.
Beep——
The circular array flared with a faint pale green radiance, and the internal gears and mechanical locks whirred smoothly into motion. The heavy blast door slid aside with a muted hiss, revealing an octagonal cultivation chamber spanning roughly fifty square meters.
Lin Feng strode inside. Immediately, the heavy door slid shut behind him, the deadbolts sealing tight with a dull, hollow clack, completely isolating this private chamber from the rest of the world.
The surrounding walls bore no coats of paint or decorative plaster; instead, they were composed of interlocking, half-meter-thick slabs of ash-gray reinforced granite. This specialized material was strictly reserved for military-grade training grounds, magically fused by Earth Mages alongside mana-conductive steel rebar to absorb concussive magical shockwaves. Even if a violent blast detonated inside, any tremor escaping outward would be dampened almost entirely.
At the chamber’s center, a nine-petaled lotus spirit-gathering array carved deep into the stone floor hummed in quiet operation. The instant Lin Feng crossed into the array’s boundary, a crisp, invigorating stream of elemental energy rushed against his skin. The ambient mana concentration here was three times that of the surface world.
“The resources reserved for S-Rank students are truly extraordinary,” Lin Feng murmured, a faint smirk tugging at the corner of his lips.
Against his chest, the black jade Primordial Dragon Pendant grew steadily hotter with each passing second. Sensing the abundant reservoir of pure energy, the pendant stirred, pulsing with a deep, rhythmic hum as it greedily drew in free-floating mana, funneling it directly into his Sea of Consciousness.
Yet today, his goal was not merely to sit and meditate.
The youth’s gaze shifted toward the reinforced granite wall roughly ten paces away. Across the weathered ash-gray surface were faint scratch marks left behind by upperclassmen practicing their spells in previous semesters. Those superficial grooves were little more than cat scratches clawed into the trunk of a millennium-old oak, utterly incapable of shaking the monolithic, rock-solid wall.
An ideal impact-test target. A sealed, soundproof sanctuary free from prying eyes.
Ever since the midterm assessment concluded, the name Lin Feng had sent shockwaves reverberating across the entirety of Feng Lan High. Arrogant noble scions like Ling Bai and Li Peng were left grinding their teeth in humiliated agony after receiving a ruthless, public face-slapping. Even so, in the eyes of Principal Qin and Homeroom Teacher Kang Mu, he was still merely an impoverished commoner who had been fortunate enough to grasp the Fire Element faster than his peers.
The Fire Element was a brilliant, dazzling facade that allowed him to stand proud beneath the blinding daylight. But deep within the darkest recesses of his Sea of Consciousness, a true beast of annihilation slumbered undisturbed!
Ever since his Lightning Star Path fully crystallized in the drafty attic back on South Street, he had never dared release it into the physical realm. That rickety wooden shack would have collapsed into splinters beneath the tyrannical fury of lightning, and an uncontained magical detonation would have invited endless complications and unwanted scrutiny.
Here, however, buried fifteen meters subterranean, no one could pry into his secrets!
“Let’s see just how tyrannical and destructive your true might really is.”
Lin Feng squared his shoulders and walked toward the reinforced granite wall, coming to a halt at a distance of seven paces. It was the optimal range to unleash full kinetic output while remaining safe from ricocheting stone shrapnel.
He closed his eyes and regulated his breathing, sinking his mental consciousness deep into the interior of his body and plunging straight into his Sea of Consciousness.
On the left side of his mental cosmos, the Fire Star Dust burned like a roaring furnace, seven fiery-crimson Star Cores linking into an unbroken scarlet Star Path that drifted serenely across the void. He had already achieved total mastery over Fire Burst: Crimson Sparks.
Yet the moment his intent shifted toward the eastern expanse of his void...
BOOM!
A low, subterranean crack of thunder detonated across the empty abyss!
The slumbering Lightning Star Dust instantly erupted into violent turmoil! All seven violet-black Star Cores flared simultaneously, discharging blinding flashes of wild electric light.
Unlike the fiery warmth of his Fire Element, these Lightning Star Cores were innately ferocious, arrogant, and untamable to the extreme. Infused with the mutated violet-black draconic energy of the Primordial Dragon, each celestial star vibrated violently, snarling like a pack of caged prehistoric beasts demanding to tear through any barrier in their path!
Halt!
Lin Feng barked an icy command within his mind. Bolstered by the sovereign majesty of the Primordial Dragon Pendant, his colossal mental focus slammed downward like an invisible palm, brutally whipping the seven rebellious Star Cores into unyielding obedience!
Simultaneously, he raised his left arm, splaying his five fingers wide as he locked onto the dead center of the granite wall!
“Lightning Star Path... Align!”
The low, resolute command resonated through the chamber, accompanied by a sharp, resonant chime like a bronze bell tolling within his soul!
From the first Lightning Star Core, a streak of violet-black lightning shot forth, piercing through the second, the third, the fourth... chaining all the way to the seventh in the blink of an eye! All seven Star Cores locked tightly together, forging a radiant circuit of deep violet light—flawless, razor-sharp, and brilliant as a celestial lightning scar tearing across the nocturnal heavens!
Lightning Star Path: complete alignment!
In that precise instant, the physical environment within the subterranean chamber underwent a grotesque, violent transformation!
The entire chamber plunged into sudden darkness! The mana lamps mounted overhead flickered spastically, their warm amber luminescence warped and crushed by an overwhelming electromagnetic field before dying down into dim, dying embers.
The air grew suffocatingly parched. A pungent stench of ozone and scorch-seared metal rushed straight up Lin Feng’s nostrils. Every strand of hair on his head stood erect, vibrating under the sheer density of the localized static charge.
From the acupoint on Lin Feng’s left shoulder, an ink-dark violet current surged violently through his pores! The feral lightning coursed down his arm like a living serpent, coiling tightly around his forearm before converging onto his splayed fingertips. Hundreds of crackling electric arcs intertwined, grinding and screeching with ear-splitting friction as they swiftly condensed into the terrifying shape of a titanic lightning python!
The lightning python stretched over three meters long, its entire serpentine frame forged from dense, viscous violet-black thunder. Charged electric scales rippled across its flanks with a menacing hiss, its long tail whipping violently against the stone floor, kicking up blinding clusters of white sparks. Rearing its serpentine head high, twin pits of lethal purple flame flared within its ocular sockets, unhinging jaws lined with jagged, crackling fangs of pure lightning as it let loose an ungodly shriek!
Primary Lightning Magic – Tier 1: Lightning Strike: Python Arc!
The crushing weight of the electromagnetic pressure caused the muscles in Lin Feng’s left arm to lock rigid as stone. He could distinctly feel the raw, primordial destruction teetering on the verge of erupting from the palm of his hand. This feral thunder beast could not be restrained for even a fraction of a second longer.
Lin Feng’s eyes burned with incandescent violet radiance. Clenching his fingers into a claw, he violently whipped his left arm toward the reinforced granite wall!
“Shatter!”
SCREEEEEECH——!
The three-meter lightning python instantly uncoiled, detonating forward like an unleashed artillery shell! The absolute velocity of lightning ripped the atmosphere apart, carving a blurred afterimage of deep violet fury across the void. The span of seven paces was erased in the fraction of a heartbeat!
BOOOOOOM!!!!!! KRA-KOOOOM——!!!!
Two deafening, concussive thunderclaps slammed against the eardrums in rapid succession! It was a pure lightning burst, carrying the pinnacle of crushing, pulverizing kinetic devastation!
The entire subterranean chamber shuddered violently. The ceiling trembled, raining cascades of pulverized stone dust onto the floor. A blinding bloom of violet-black brilliance detonated outwards, drowning every square inch of the enclosed chamber in an eye-searing flash of raw lightning.
At the epicenter of impact upon the reinforced granite barrier, the lightning python did not simply dissipate upon contact. Its serpentine body coiled violently, sinking its fangs deep into the stone as it unleashed hundreds of thousands of volts of high-voltage current directly into the internal molecular structure of the rock!
The half-meter-thick slab of granite fractured violently into massive chunks! Fist-sized shards of jagged stone, sharp as shattered obsidian, ricocheted backward through the air, clattering violently against the opposing walls like shrapnel. Slithering through the fissures like a brood of venomous vipers, tendrils of violet-black electricity incinerated everything in their path to cinders and ash!
Lin Feng stood his ground with feet planted firmly apart, the hem of his uniform flapping wildly against the concussive shockwave. Raising his right arm before his brow to deflect incoming stone debris, he stared intently at the epicenter of the detonation.
Thick, billowing plumes of gray smoke rolled upward, reeking of scorched stone and liquefied metal. Only after ten agonizing seconds did the aftershocks finally subside. The flickering mana lamps overhead, after a fit of frantic buzzing, gradually restored their steady glow.
Lin Feng lowered his arm and took slow, deliberate strides toward the wall.
As the veil of smoke drifted apart, the sight that met his eyes halted his steps in their tracks, his pupils contracting violently!
Gouged into the dead center of the fortified granite barrier was a massive, cratered rupture spanning nearly a meter wide! The crater plunged nearly forty centimeters deep into the stone. The granite surface had been pulverized into fine powder, sprayed indiscriminately across the floor.
Most terrifying of all, embedded at the heart of the crater, three thick mana-steel reinforcing rebars—ductile metal specifically engineered to disperse magical impact—had been violently twisted, warped, and mangled by the extreme electric discharge. The exposed ends of the steel bars were charred pitch-black, their blistered surfaces glowing cherry-red like hot coals, hissing furiously as they cooled.
Radiating outward from the crater’s rim was a dense spiderweb of deep, jagged fissures stretching over two meters wide, scorched soot-black by the blistering heat.
A single strike from a Tier 1 Primary spell!
Lin Feng looked down at his left hand, where microscopic wisps of violet electricity still danced across his fingertips before dissolving into thin air.
He vividly recalled the destructive profile of Fire Burst during the midterm assessment. The true terror of Fire Burst lay in its adhesive properties and progressive thermal combustion over time. When confronted with rigid physical defenses or heavy armor plating, flame required seconds of sustained heat to melt through.
Yet Lightning Strike: Python Arc was built for instantaneous, violent penetration—shattering, tearing, and detonating in the span of a millisecond!
The destructive yield of this single violet-black lightning strike exceeded Fire Burst by at least threefold! And compared to Ling Bai’s Ice Spike or the Wind Blades wielded by elite-class students, its sheer annihilative power was an overwhelming four to five times greater!
“If this strike were to land squarely on a Dark Crimson Wolf...”
A tingling chill ran up Lin Feng’s spine as the profile of a Servant-class beast roaming outside the Cang Lei Ridge outposts surfaced in his mind. The Dark Crimson Wolf was notorious for its thick, leathery hide, impervious to conventional small-arms fire. Fresh graduates encountering one typically formed squads of three or four, relying on Ice Mages for crowd control and Earth Mages to anchor the beast before coordinating successive Fire Bursts to slowly burn it down.
Yet before this violet-black lightning python, that tough hide and dense skeletal frame wouldn’t withstand a single blow! The high-voltage surge, imbued with the tyrannical paralysis and tearing attributes of his mutated Primordial Lightning, would rupture internal organs, snap the beast’s spine, and char the monster into a smoking pile of roasted flesh on the spot!
A genuine, lethal trump card! A fatal blow capable of settling life and death in a heartbeat!
Lin Feng steadied his breath. Possessing an annihilative might far beyond the comprehension of anyone in his age group sent hot, exhilarating adrenaline coursing through his veins.
This world was merciless to its core. Beyond the city walls lurked hordes of ravenous beasts eager to rip human flesh to shreds. Within the city walls, aristocratic clans would not hesitate to wield their wealth and authority to grind the weak into the dirt.
If he wanted to protect his aging, hardworking father... if he wanted to find a miraculous cure to restore Xiao Mo’s paralyzed legs... if he wanted to walk with his chin held high in this ruthless world...
The Fire Element was his radiant shield beneath the sun. And this mutated violet-black Lightning was the poisoned dagger hidden in the shadows, primed to pierce the heart of anyone who dared harbor malice against him or the people he loved!
He bent down and picked up a jagged shard of fractured granite. The stone was still warm to the touch, its razor-sharp edges glazed with a glossy black vitrification melted by the electrical discharge.
“I must master even more Star Cores as fast as possible. If Tier 1 is already this devastating, once I reach Tier 2’s Fierce Strike or fuse with a Soul Essence to reinforce it, just how horrifying will its destructive power become?”
The thought had barely crossed his mind when suddenly—
BEEP! BEEP! BEEP! BEEP!
A frantic string of piercing alarms blared from the mana comm-bracelet wrapped around his wrist! The bracelet’s holographic display flashed a crimson glare, projecting an emergency alert:
[WARNING: Energy resonance exceeding Primary safety threshold detected (Impact rating: 380 Pa)! Subterranean monitoring protocol engaged!]
Lin Feng’s heart skipped a beat. Snapping his head up toward the upper corner of the wall, he saw the spherical mana surveillance orb mounted to the ceiling whirring into motion, its crimson mechanical pupil locking dead onto the massive, smoking crater blasted into the reinforced granite wall!
That wasn’t all!
From out in the hallway, the heavy, urgent clatter of combat boots was sprinting at breakneck speed toward Meditation Chamber 01!
“Abnormal energy fluctuation detected in Chamber 01! Initiate emergency override!”
A gruff, commanding roar brimming with the suffocating mana pressure of an Intermediate Mage boomed through the metal seams of the door! It was the captain of the Feng Lan High Security Corps—a seasoned, reputable battle veteran!
The reinforced steel door began to grind, the loud, grinding whir of mechanical gears engaging the emergency override lock!
Lin Feng’s face changed drastically. His eyes darted across the chamber, taking in the pulverized stone dust and the telltale, blackened spiderweb of scorched electric craters covering the wall!
Was his secret of Dual Elements... about to be exposed right here and now?!