The three of us took a train to Shanghai, a city with towering skyscrapers in its gorgeous central area but filled with patches of rural rundown buildings closer to its edges. It was colossal, the metropolitan area spanning hundreds of kilometers. Thankfully, I bought a flat in the central area close to Pearl Institute. 4 million was not enough: the real estate agent demanded 6.4 million yuan! Still, I purchased it on the spot, leaving 5 million in my bank account.
The flat is fairly plain, with 3 bedrooms, two bathrooms, and a connected kitchen and living area. Over the next few days, we get situated. I enroll Xinxia at Zhejiang Institute, about as far away as Pearl Institute is from the flat, and Uncle Mo insists on finding a job, settling on one that has him deliver ordered goods.
I eventually visit Pearl Institute.
…
…
The campus is enormous: an approximate 6 km by 4 km rectangle. There's the Main Campus for older or more talented students in the center, and outside the walls of the Main Campus are the buildings and fields that compose the Outer Campus. I enter the admissions building and walk to an open counter.
"Hi, I was wondering if you were still taking any special admissions students?"
The female clerk peers at me with skepticism. "We are, but there's a fee of 20,000 yuan to prevent people from wasting our time. There's no tuition or board fee if you do get in, so it's more than fair."
I take out my card and pay for it on the spot. She walks me to a huge gymnasium with sturdy metal walls and a hardy earthen floor. There's a few old men and women, and a fat young man already there.
The clerk informs them of my name, my Element, and my intention to try for a special admission slot, then leaves. One of the old men introduces himself as Examiner Li. "Yang Jianyu, why don't you have a spar with Luo Song over there? It'll be more useful for helping us determine what talents you possess."
I shrug, dropping my sheathed swords to the ground. Luo Song scoffs, "Do you think I can't handle a mere Light Mage using cold weapons in this day and age? It's your loss if you hold onto your useless pride and end up failing miserably."
[Jeez, how arrogant. He reminds me of me from a few years ago.]
Shrugging again, I slide the swords out of their scabbards, gripping them in my hand as I approach Luo Song.
"Earth Wave: Shifting!"
A wide ripple of rock rushes at my legs. I nimbly dance to the side, having anticipated the trajectory of the earth wave, and begin sprinting at Luo Song.
"Earth Wave: Del–aaargh!" My silent cast Illuminate: Blinding burns his retinas. As he reels over in pain, I close the gap and tap my sword on his neck. Then, I start heading back to the examiners. Suddenly, I feel waves of cold air gushing from behind me and immediately start constructing my Light Star Pattern. Turning around, I see his face wearing a savage grin as he's nearly done with an Ice Star Pattern.
"I was planning on getting in with just my Earth Element, but you forced me to do this! Ice Lock: Chains!"
Several ice shackles grow into towering chains composed of links the size of fishbowls, and he sends them hurtling towards my body, wanting to trap me in ice. Luckily, I finish my Light Blessing: Holy Shield in time, the giant, glowing, yellow circle materializing next to me. I send it crashing into all of the ice chains, crushing them to pieces, and the shield still appears to be able to take a bit more beating.
Irritated, I sprint back to him, whose expression is filled with shock. What, he can hide his status as an Intermediate Magician but I can't? He barely casts Earth Wave: Shifting to avoid my charge, but it won't help him now that his face is paling from Earth mana exhaustion. Apparently, his Earth Nebula is just at the 1st tier.
He tries imitating Yu Ang's tactics by tossing Ice Spreads at me, but dodging the resulting clouds of ice proves to be far easier now with my Intermediate Mage physique. I still reach him, and this time I don't let him off easily. I sheath my blades and start hammering him with blows. Hooks to the jaw. Knees to the stomach. Uppercuts. Kicks at the solar plexus. By the time I'm through with him, he's bruised and battered all over, though I made sure not to break any of his bones. The examiners are already rushing here to smooth things over.
I immediately preface whatever they have to say with a single sentence.
"I hope none of you are thinking of punishing me when he was the one who didn't stop the duel when I tapped his neck with my sword."
Indeed, Examiner Li slightly twitches. An amused, gentle old man reassures me.
"Don't worry, we wouldn't stand for something like that here at Pearl Institute."
"But Dean Xiao, wasn't he a bit excessive? Look at my Young Master Luo, he's suffering from such pain due to the vicious attacks of this Yang Jianyu." Examiner Li advises.
Dean Xiao narrows his eyes at Examiner Li. "Are you the Dean of this Institute, or am I?"
He breaks out in a cold sweat. "You, you of course. Sorry, sir."
"Good. Yang Jianyu, I'll grant you special admission into the Light School. Luo Song, you'll receive the same for the Ice School, but try to restrain your ego in the future."
He splutters for a second, then bows his head and agrees.
…
…
Before heading to the dorms, I jog back home to grab a few more items. On the way, I stop by Oriental Pearl Tower, the most renowned Magic Association in the nation! I'm here to carry out my second awakening, which I put off until I came here: the primary reason being that I wanted to buy an excellent Awakening Stone to have high odds of awakening the Element I desired.
"Hello, I'm Yang Jianyu, an Intermediate Mage here for his second awakening. May I ask if you have an awakening booth available immediately?"
"Certainly! The default stone will be 20,000 yuan. Are you interested in any particular Elements?"
"Yes, can you give me a list of stones for the Fire Element and tell me their prices and respective probability increases?"
"Mhm, let me pull it up. Here! It's 100,000 for a 10% chance, where the default is around 5%. 1 million for a 30% chance, and 20 million for a 75% chance. For a nearly 100% chance overall, it's extremely expensive: 500 million yuan."
I wince. Maybe I shouldn't have bought that flat, like Uncle Mo was suggesting. We could have lived in the zone in the rural parts of the city allocated for Bo City survivors. Still, I don't regret it; right now, I'm a 10 minute jog away from Pearl Institute or Zhejiang Institute, and close to most of the important buildings in the city like Oriental Pearl Tower. Plus, Uncle Mo is living in comfort.
"Are there any stones in the 30% to 75% range less than 4 million yuan?"
"Yes! Right now we've got a 3.55 million yuan stone that offers a 42% chance for obtaining the Fire Element. Do you want it?"
"Sure."
After swiping my card here and having already paid for Pearl Institute's tuition and board fees, I've got 1.3 million yuan left. She takes me to a small booth with a floating Awakening Stone in the center, and leaves, closing the black blinds behind me. I breathe in, and breathe out, calming my nerves. I really hope I get the Fire Element.
As I lay my right arm on the Awakening Stone and allow it to channel its elemental energy into my body, I gaze at my Spiritual World.
Sparks of light are forming a new Stardust! Thankfully, the awakening didn't fail.
Wait.
The sparks are not red; they're blue, and so are the 7 stars that appear.
It's the Water Element.
Seriously? The all-utility Light Element, with a defensive Intermediate spell? And now the defensive Water Element, with a barely offensive Intermediate spell that doesn't deal much damage to Warrior-class beasts?
I nearly tear my hair off with frustration. As I'm about to remove my hands from the stone, however, it sends a second thrum of elemental energy into me. Shocked, I see another Stardust starting to form. Unfortunately, the new stars' colors are still not red, but black.
I'm still processing.
[What just happened?]
I now have 3 star systems in my Spiritual World. 2 new Stardusts, and one Nebula. I, an Intermediate Mage, have 3 star systems.
Could this be an extremely rare Innate Talent, awakening 2 elements instead of 1? One so rare that no one alive has it, and it's only been recorded in history books?
But why now and not back when I got the Light Element? I was even slightly disappointed when, after having cast my Light spells, it didn't seem like I had awakened an Innate Talent. This is because most Innate Talents directly affect the Stardust or spells in some way: regenerating mana faster, aligning stars more quickly, and even on rare occasions increasing the potency of spells.
Although there's countless more, all manifesting differently, they always manifest upon the first awakening if a Mage does receive one. Never in history, at least not in the books I've read, has anyone received an Innate Talent on their second awakening or later.
The point is, I am almost certain I did not receive an Innate Talent upon my first awakening. Yet an Innate Talent is required to get two Elements from one awakening.
Am I certain I need an Innate Talent to get two elements instead of one? Yes, 100%. No matter what else, I currently have some variation of the Twin Elements Innate Talent. In every known case, this would allow for two elements to awaken at the Basic level, and one for each awakening after that. The only explanation I can think of is that I have a mutated version of it that manifested at my second awakening.
Whatever the reason, I'm still elated. I now have Light, Water, and Shadow, the latter corresponding to the black stars. Even though I didn't get Fire like I wanted, Shadow is an incredibly powerful Element, especially for a close-combat maniac like me. Its Basic spell allows me to 'teleport' between shadows on the ground, finally giving me the ability to evade attacks I can't dodge with my physical body. More crucially, I can now launch sneak attacks even from a relatively open area. Plus, the Water Element's shield spell gives me some more defensive flexibility. It's not optimal, but I can work with it.
I resume my initial goal of getting home to grab my belongings and get back to the dorms.
…
…
The suite I'm staying in has 2 bathrooms and 6 beds, one of which already has items on it. I plop my stuff down on the adjacent bed and commence my nightly routine of washing my face and brushing my teeth. As I'm rinsing my mouth, a handsome young man walks into the ajar door and appears startled to see me standing there. He has fashionably styled, curly, long, dyed blond hair, a face like a fairytale prince, and some simple sportswear.
He grins and introduces himself, extending a hand. "I thought the others wouldn't get here for another month, so imagine my surprise seeing you in the bathroom. I'm Zhao Manyan, nice to meet you. I major in the Light Element."
I grasp his hand, shaking it. "Likewise. I'm Yang Jianyu, and I also happen to major in the Light Element."
He glances at the swords still strapped around my waist inquisitively.
"Ah, you're aware of how we lack offensive means, so I have no choice but to compensate somehow, right?" I answer his unspoken inquiry.
"You're an interesting guy. Since we both have the Light Element, it's pretty likely we got a dorm of 6 Light Mages. Sweet! I really didn't want to be assigned to a mixed dorm; people can get arrogant when faced with us Light Mages."
"Yeah, tell me about it. During my special admissions exam, this fat Luo Song guy was so full of himself when facing me, a Light Mage, that he thought I was being arrogant by not sparring with him using the swords. I ended up beating him into a bruised, fleshy pile of meat, without the swords of course."
He stares at me speechlessly. "Luo… Luo Song? Isn't he an Intermediate Mage majoring in the Ice Element?"
"Yes, how'd you know?"
"Suffice it to say I have connections. Anyway, don't act so nonchalantly saying you beat him to a pulp? You're the most arrogant one of all!"
"What do you mean, he's just an Intermediate Mage. Way slower at casting his Ice Locks than my speed at constructing the Star Pattern for Light Blessing: Holy Shield. After he tried to get away from me using an Earth Wave, I just caught up to him again and pummeled him."
He looks at me and realizes something. "Are you… unaware of what the Outer Campus is like? Most new students here aren't even Intermediate Mages yet. Luo Song is already one of the strongest ones, and it sounds like you beat him without even getting injured. And you're majoring in the Light Element. Wait, what's your second Element?"
"Water."
He blanches, then starts shaking with laughter. "Hahahaha! I thought I was the only unfortunate soul in this entire Institute, but there's a second person with Light as the major and Water as the minor. But by the sounds of it you're more offensively capable than me. It's going to be an interesting year with the two of us in the same dorm."
I feel a smile slowly grow on my face. "That it will be."