Volume 1: Bo'an Awakening & The Calamity Storm
Chapter 21
The Cang Lei Ridge Mobilization Order
Winter morning mist clung thick and heavy over the central plaza of Feng Lan Magic High School. At barely five-thirty in the morning, the crisp, shrill blast of the proctors’ muster whistle pierced clean through the silent gloom, summoning hundreds of students from the experimental classes to assemble onto the broad training grounds.
Breaths billowed in plumes of white vapor against the biting frontier chill. The sharp clatter of backpack buckles, the thud of combat boots stamping against damp concrete, and the incessant hum of anxious whispers charged the courtyard with an unusual, electric tension.
For the majority of these sixteen-year-old youths, born and sheltered beneath the protective bosom of Bo’an City’s inner perimeter, this mandatory field combat assessment at the frontier outpost of Cang Lei Ridge felt far more like an exciting adventure than a trial of life and death. More than a few arrived hauling bulky, oversized travel packs stuffed with canned sweets, velvet-wrapped thermal flasks, and snacks; several girls had even tucked pocket mirrors and makeup kits into their pouches.
Standing at the head of the formation for Experimental Class 1, Homeroom Teacher Kang Mu held a black leather clipboard. The lean, angular face of the veteran Fire Mage was grave and austere, his bushy brows furrowing deep as his gaze swept across the mountain of messy, excessive luggage.
“Silence, all of you! Final survival gear check! Mana tracking wristbands, magnetic compasses, magic flint igniters, and personal trauma kits! I repeat: Cang Lei Ridge is not an amusement park! Anyone caught leaving behind essential survival gear will be kept behind on school grounds and handed a flat zero for their practical field evaluation!”
Kang Mu’s steel-edged bark snapped the noisy students into instant silence, sending them into a frantic scramble to double-check their belongings.
At the very tail of the line, Lin Feng stood in quiet repose. Slung over his shoulders was nothing more than an ash-gray canvas rucksack; though its straps were slightly frayed at the edges, the reinforced double stitching held firm. His lean, wiry frame was clad in a crisp, moss-green cadet combat uniform, trousers neatly tucked into the cuffs of a pair of faded high-top tactical boots. His entire kit weighed under fifteen kilograms, containing only compressed ration bars, a military-grade hydration canteen, a stainless steel combat knife, and several rolls of sterilized medical gauze.
Beside him stood Zhang Hu. The boy’s barrel-like, hulking frame strained the seams of his oversized combat uniform, his utility pouches bulging with packs of dried beef jerky, rye flatbread, and two massive canteens of mineral water. At that moment, Chubby Hu was busily wolfing down a steaming meat bun while leaning his head in close to Lin Feng, whispering in agitated anxiety:
“Brother Feng, did you really pull that off last night? The whole damn city is buzzing! Word is the Ling Clan threw a massive fit—Ling Bai’s face this morning is blacker than the bottom of a scorched wok!”
With that, Zhang Hu hitched his chin toward the far side of the formation.
Some ten meters away, Ling Bai stood with arms crossed, flanked by a court of fawning sycophants. Utterly rejecting the standard-issue cadet uniform, Ling Bai wore a custom-tailored suit of snow-white beast-hide armor, his chest proudly bearing the intricate silver-threaded snowflake sigil of the Ling Clan. Slung at his waist rested an enchanted short sword sheathed in spirit-beast leather, its hilt inlaid with a Glacial-Blue Magic Stone that continually radiated faint tendrils of frosty mist.
Hovering servilely at his hip was Li Peng. The rat-faced flunky bent at the waist, toting a luxurious leather travel bag while his mouth chattered without pause:
“Young Master Bai, this Snow Wolf Armor of yours is truly a divine masterpiece! Featherlight yet fully capable of deflecting the claws of a Servant-class beast! You’re guaranteed to claim first place in the entire grade on this excursion! Not like those ragged gutter-rats strutting around before we even clear the city gates. The second they step foot into the deep woods, they’ll probably wet their pants and cry for their mommies!”
Li Peng threw a deliberate, venomous sneer toward Lin Feng, his high-pitched squeak dripping with malicious mockery.
Ling Bai curled his lips into a cold smirk. Turning slightly, his predatory eyes cut straight through the crowd, locking onto Lin Feng’s impassive face. The corner of Ling Bai’s mouth twitched, betraying a savage, bloodthirsty grin. The humiliation he had suffered at the Ling Manor the previous night was the greatest disgrace of his life—but the desolate mountain wilderness of Cang Lei Ridge was a hunting ground where the Ling Clan held immense unseen sway. He could hardly wait to see that stubborn little ant ground into the primeval mud.
Confronted by that murderous stare, Lin Feng merely shook his head faintly. A wisp of a mocking smile tugged at the corner of his lips before he broke eye contact, treating the duo as little more than thin air. His icy composure drew a sharp intake of breath from Zhang Hu.
“Brother Feng, your guts must really be forged from iron... I’ve heard veteran hunters say Cang Lei Ridge is terrifying as hell. The magical beasts out there are ten times more savage than those docile specimens we practice on in the lab cages. Every single year, students end up crippled, or just vanish without a trace...”
“If you want to become a true mage, you can’t spend your whole life hiding behind defensive walls,” Lin Feng said quietly, giving his pack straps a firm tug. “Fear won’t make a beast hesitate to tear your throat out. Once we’re out there, stick close to me.”
“Got it! I awakened Earth Element—when shit hits the fan, I’ll raise an earthen mound to cover you while you channel your Fire Burst!” Zhang Hu thumped his chest with a heavy thud, his round face hardened with determined resolve.
At precisely six o’clock, six colossal armored mana-powered transport buses rumbled into the schoolyard with a mechanical roar. Their hulls were sheathed in thick plates of enchanted alloy painted in tactical woodland camouflage, with slit-like reinforced glass windows covered by heavy steel grates and massive rubberized caterpillar treads grinding noisily over the pavement. The magic-stone combustion engines within hummed with guttural, heavy power, blasting waves of radiant heat that dispersed the encroaching morning frost.
“All students, board the transports! Move in designated class order!” The public address system bellowed across the grounds.
With hurried, heavy footfalls, the students filed up the thick steel ramps. Lin Feng and Zhang Hu took seats in the middle row of Transport Three. The interior was cramped and spartan, its cold metal bucket seats bolted directly to the steel floorplates with heavy rivets and rigged with five-point tactical harnesses identical to frontline armored fighting vehicles.
Clang! Clang!
The heavy hydraulic steel blast doors slammed shut, their pneumatic deadbolts latching into place with a sharp thud. Outside light vanished in an instant, replaced by the dim, sickly amber glow of fluorescent strips running along the reinforced ceiling.
The convoy shuddered and lurched forward, slowly rolling out through the gates of Feng Lan High to merge onto the main arterial boulevard cutting through inner Bo’an City.
Leaning his forehead against the thick, reinforced glass of the narrow observation slit, Lin Feng watched the scenery slip past in silence. In the early morning hours, Bo’an City was just beginning to stir. Bustling commercial avenues, flickering neon magical shop signs, tightly clustered high-rise apartments... every corner radiated the peaceful, orderly serenity of civilized human society.
Yet after nearly half an hour of driving northwest, the cityscape underwent a stark, dramatic transformation.
The towering residential blocks vanished entirely, replaced by grim, utilitarian bunkers of reinforced gray concrete, endless rows of multi-layered razor wire fences, and barren exclusion zones spiked with anti-beast caltrops. At every major intersection, heavily armed garrison squads in tactical carapace armor and mana-rifles conducted rigorous sweeps, their expressions drawn as tight as bowstrings.
And then, the Great Barrier Gate of Bo’an City loomed into view.
It was a colossal rampart constructed from basalt and enchanted igneous rock, rising over thirty meters high and spanning twenty meters in thickness—a slumbering black behemoth coiled to seal off the city’s entire terrestrial perimeter. Every fifty meters, an armored bastion jutted outward, bristling with the blackened muzzles of heavy mana artillery pointed skyward.
Atop the towering battlements, the central sealing spire blazed with radiant golden light. A colossal hemispherical energy dome enveloped the whole of Bo’an City beneath it. This was the Great Defensive Barrier—the sole line of demarcation separating civilized human life from the savage purgatory of the wilderness outside!
CREAK... RUMBLE...
The multi-hundred-ton alloy blast gate of the Western Checkpoint slowly hoisted upward along massive iron chains. A deep air-raid siren groaned out three short, sharp blasts: BWOOO... BWOOO... BWOOO...
“Feng Lan High School assessment convoy clearance granted. Deploy auxiliary barrier aperture!”
A slit of golden energy cracked open within the radiant dome, just wide enough to permit the convoy of tracked transports to rumble through.
The instant the caterpillar treads crossed the crimson boundary line painted onto the tarmac, Lin Feng felt an invisible, heavy pressure sweep across his flesh. The warm, protective embrace of the city’s barrier vanished into thin air, instantly replaced by a savage, icy draught that whistled through the ventilation louvers of the armored transport.
They had crossed beyond the Barrier!
The untamed, primordial savagery of the outer world instantly slammed against their vision through the narrow observation slits.
Gone was every trace of smooth asphalt pavement and sturdy masonry. Before their eyes stretched a boundless, trackless wilderness. Towering ancient trees in the primeval forest reached tens of meters into the sky, their gnarled, blackened trunks twisting like monstrous talons clawing through the suffocating fog. Knotted, massive roots broke through the earth like subterranean serpents, and layers of decaying leaf-litter released a pungent stench of rot, swamp gas, and sour moss.
The atmosphere beyond the barrier was stifling, laced with the bitter tang of gunpowder and scorched sulfur drifting from the minefields laid along the military corridor. Flanking the treacherous, single-lane dirt road winding up into the mountains, reinforced steel watchtowers stood vigilant every few hundred meters. Atop each tower, border defense mages cradled heavy mana rifles, their icy, sharp gazes sweeping unblinkingly over the shadowy thickets beneath the canopy.
Lin Feng even spotted jagged, meter-long gouges torn clean into the granite roadblock barriers along the cliff’s edge, stained with crusted, blackened patches of dried blood that had never been washed away. These were the gruesome aftermath of beast ambushes against military convoys.
Inside the transport, the lively morning chatter had been smothered completely. The girls who had giggled earlier now sat deathly pale, white-knuckling their armrests and trembling, too petrified to glance out the windows. Even the loudmouthed boys who usually boasted endlessly fell utterly mute, casting nervous, panic-stricken glances into the gloom.
The brutal, unforgiving reality of the magical world outside the protective walls struck like a bucket of ice water dumped over these fledgling youths who had only just taken their first steps into the world.
Only Lin Feng remained utterly still. His spine rested straight against the metal backrest, his eyes methodically cataloging the terrain, the contours of the ridgelines, and the defensive spacing between watchtowers. His right hand drifted unconsciously to his chest, where the Primordial Dragon Pendant vibrated with a gentle, rhythmic hum, releasing waves of pure, soothing warmth that fended off the biting mountain chill. Deep within his Fire and Lightning Stardusts, he could sense all fourteen magical stars slowly revolving—as if stirred to life by the primal, feral aura of the wilderness beyond the barrier.
For more than two agonizing hours, the tracked convoy lurched and jolted over the rugged mountain switchbacks. As they climbed higher, the air grew thinner and biting cold, with thick sheets of frost and crusty snow clinging to the roadside cliff faces.
At long last, after navigating a dizzying hairpin turn skirting a bottomless ravine, the convoy slowed and groaned to a halt before a monolithic military fortress.
“Arrival at Cang Lei Ridge Frontier Outpost! All students, disembark and form up immediately!” The resounding command of the instructors crackled over the intercom speakers.
The pneumatic steel doors hissed open. A flurry of howling snow and freezing mountain air poured into the cabin, driving the shivering students out onto the grounds.
Lin Feng stepped down from the transport, his boots crunching against the frost-crusted gravel. Tilting his head back, he took in the full sight of the Cang Lei Ridge Frontier Outpost.
This was a forward military stronghold engineered purely for warfare. The fortress backed directly into the sheer cliffside of the Cang Lei Mountain Range, where perpetual snow capped jagged peaks that resembled the fangs of predatory beasts. Encircling the base stood a ten-meter-tall rampart of rugged, unhewn granite, its battered surface scarred by scorched blast marks, cratered indentations from heavy artillery spells, and deep, ragged claw gouges from colossal beasts that had never been patched over.
Across the garrison parade ground, patrol squads clad in heavy arctic coats marched with crisp discipline, mana-rifles slung over shoulders and bandoliers of magic stones strapped across their chests. Several soldiers freshly returned from the deep forest were wrapped in bandages soaked through with fresh crimson blood, yet their eyes held only the cold indifference of veteran warriors accustomed to dancing on the razor’s edge of life and death.
The acrid stench of burned gunpowder, the sharp bite of sulfur, and the grease-smoke of roasted meat from the mess tents fused into a suffocating, militaristic atmosphere of grim oppression.
Over two hundred students from Feng Lan High’s experimental classes were swiftly assembled into four columns across the vast bluestone drill yard of the outpost. Hunched against the howling, subzero gale, their teeth chattered incessantly.
Right at that moment, from the stone stairway leading up to the fortress’s highest command observation dais, a series of heavy, deliberate footfalls echoed downward.
Thud... Thud... Thud...
The sound of combat boot soles striking stone resonated like the measured beat of a war drum. Every step carried an invisible, suffocating aura of martial pressure that choked the drill yard into dead silence.
A towering figure strode into view at the edge of the observation platform.
The man appeared in his late thirties, built like an iron watchtower with broad shoulders and an expansive chest. He wore a weathered, moss-green military trench coat, its front left completely unbuttoned to reveal a tight gray tactical tank top stretched over ropy, chiseled muscle. A jagged, crimson scar trailed from his collarbone all the way down to his right ribs, resembling a giant, grotesque centipede clinging to his flesh.
His weathered, angular face was bronzed by decades of harsh frontier winds. A coarse, unkempt beard fringed his jaw, and a battered, hand-rolled cigarette hung from the corner of his mouth, its glowing cherry ember puffing wisps of acrid gray smoke into the freezing air.
Yet the most terrifying aspect of the man was his eyes. They were piercing, dark, and vicious, like an eagle hunting above snowbound crags. As his gaze swept across the students below, it felt as though an invisible blade was cleaving through the air, causing anyone who caught his eye to shudder in terror and instinctively bow their head!
Flanking him, two rows of adjutants and staff officers stood at rigid attention, badges gleaming on their lapels, yet each maintained a respectful half-step distance behind him.
Chief Commander of the Cang Lei Ridge Border Defense Garrison—Lei Zhen! A renowned dual Wind and Fire Advanced Mage celebrated across the Federation’s southern frontier!
Principal Qin and Homeroom Teacher Kang Mu hastily stepped toward the base of the stone dais, executing crisp military salutes.
“Commander Lei Zhen! Feng Lan Magic High School has delivered two hundred and ten elite students from our experimental classes to the Cang Lei Ridge Outpost, in full accordance with the field combat mobilization directive issued jointly by the Ministry of Education and the Military Command!”
Lei Zhen did not respond immediately. He drew a deep, slow drag from his cigarette, letting the acrid smoke fill his lungs before exhaling a long gray plume through clenched teeth. His predatory gaze drifted slowly across the ranks of teenagers below. When his eyes caught the bloated tourist bags, the shiny velvet-wrapped flasks, and especially Ling Bai’s spotless white leather armor and greased, immaculate hair... a smirk of unadulterated contempt cracked the corner of the bearded commander’s mouth.
“’Elite’?”
Lei Zhen’s voice was deep and rasping, yet saturated with immense, thrumming mana that rang out like a bronze bell tolling across the drill yard:
“Principal Qin, you call this flock of glasshouse lambs, spineless and soft as wet noodles, ‘elite students’?”
The entire drill yard erupted in muffled indignation! Ling Bai’s face flushed an angry crimson. As an Ice Element prodigy nurtured by a noble clan since childhood, showered in praise wherever he walked, to be dismissed as a mere “glasshouse lamb” the moment he set foot here was an intolerable insult! Many other students bristled with outrage, biting their lips as they glared up at the command platform.
Lei Zhen didn’t care in the slightest for the childish indignation of these fledglings. He took two strides forward to the edge of the stone balustrade, planting both calloused hands upon the parapet as he leaned down to look over the crowd, his tone hardening into cold-forged steel:
“Where do you think you are? Do you think this is your air-conditioned classroom at Feng Lan High, or an arena padded with foam mats so your tender bottoms don’t hurt when you take a spill?”
Lei Zhen barked a harsh laugh, cold enough to cut through the howling wind:
“Take a look at yourselves! Fine silks and pressed leather, slicked-back hair, packing gourmet canned goods and makeup mirrors... Do you think you’re on a spring picnic?! Let me tell you something: beyond the perimeter of this outpost, there are no teachers to jump in and shield you when your spellcasting falters! There are no examiners holding stopwatches to score whether your Star Paths are drawn neatly or pretty!”
He thrust a massive, muscle-corded arm outward, a blunt, calloused forefinger pointing straight toward the reinforced steel fortress gate behind him—the gate that led to the solitary dirt trail descending into the misty abysses of the Cang Lei Mountain Range.
“In the world out there, only one law exists: The strong survive, and the weak perish!”
Lei Zhen took one final, brutal drag, flicking the glowing cigarette butt in a fiery arc down onto the frozen flagstones. He ground the smoldering butt into powder under the heel of his combat boot, his voice erupting like sudden thunder across a clear sky:
“Magical beasts are not vegetarians! They don’t give a damn if you’re a rich young master, a pampered heiress, or a star student from an elite academy! In the eyes of the predators out there, every single one of you is nothing more than a tender, defenseless slab of meat without claws!”
The entire drill ground plunged into a sepulchral silence. Over two hundred students held their breath, the suffocating aura of an Advanced Mage bearing down upon their chests until they could barely breathe.
Towering atop the high dais, Lei Zhen spread his arms wide, his olive trench coat whipping violently in the howling blizzard. His raptor eyes glinted with savage, pitiless light as his voice boomed, rattling the granite cliffside:
“There will be no mercy in this assessment! This will be a baptism of blood and fire for every fool living in a dream!”
Lei Zhen chopped his arm downward, aiming straight toward the abyssal, mist-cloaked peaks where ominous black storm clouds churned along the distant horizon. Every word struck like a hammer blow to their souls:
“Do not dare think the beasts will show leniency because you are students! The moment you cross beyond this gate, you will either become ruthless hunters capable of tearing your prey apart... or you will end up as rotting piles of dung inside a beast’s belly!”
The commander’s roar reverberated across the snowy valley, echoing off the sheer granite cliffs like a bone-chilling curse.
Amidst the sea of students trembling in paralyzing terror, Lin Feng remained standing straight as a lone pine in the howling blizzard. His hand tightened over the strap of his rucksack, his chest warmed by the surge of soothing heat awakening within the Primordial Dragon Pendant. The youth held his head high, his pitch-black eyes cutting through the freezing mist toward the jagged abyssal gorge ahead—where the low, guttural roars of predatory beasts rumbled faintly behind the swirling veil of snow...