Chapter 4: The Red Crystal
Renyu woke before dawn.
For a while, he lay still beneath the light blanket, listening to the quiet of the crown prince residence. No hurried footsteps. No servants whispering outside the door. No clatter of trays. The whole compound seemed to be holding its breath with him.
Today he would awaken his martial spirit.
Six years old.
In Douluo Dalu, that single number divided ordinary children from those who could step onto the path of a soul master. Some awakened beasts. Some tools. Some weeds, ropes, lamps, kitchen knives, or things so useless that their future was decided the instant the light appeared. A few awakened something special enough to alter the rest of their lives before they were old enough to understand what that meant.
Renyu sat up slowly.
He had trained his body for this. He had strengthened it in secret. He had prepared his mind as much as anyone could.
That did not stop his palms from feeling slightly damp.
When he finished dressing, the servant outside his room did not ask where he was going. The man only bowed and stepped aside. That alone told him everything he needed to know.
Qian Renxue had already arranged it.
The awakening did not take place in any public hall.
She had chosen one of the sealed inner chambers of the residence, a room Renyu had only entered twice before. No windows. Stone walls. Heavy doors. Quiet enough that even a cough seemed too loud. The sort of place meant for matters that were not supposed to leak beyond the people present.
When he entered, Qian Renxue was already there.
She still wore Xue Qinghe face, but today the crown prince usual gentle elegance had been stripped down to something plainer. Fewer ornaments. Simpler robes. No unnecessary attendants. Beside the room center sat the six black awakening stones arranged in a circle, with a blue crystal ball resting on a low stand nearby.
Only one more person stood inside, an old man in Spirit Hall robes faded enough to pass for an unimportant servant if one did not look too carefully. He kept his eyes lowered, his bearing respectful, and his soul power tucked in so tightly that Renyu could barely sense it at all.
Trusted, then.
Or at least controlled.
Qian Renxue looked at him once and said, "Come here."
Renyu walked over.
"Nervous?" she asked.
"A little."
Her eyes rested on him for a moment, then she gave a small nod as if that answer was acceptable.
The old spirit master stepped forward only when she permitted it with a glance. He bowed first to Xue Qinghe, then to Renyu.
"This one will conduct the awakening," he said. "Young master, please stand in the center."
Young master.
Interesting.
Renyu did not react. He stepped into the ring of black stones and stood still.
The old man raised his hands. Faint soul power spread from his palms, flowing into the six stones at once. Light rose immediately—soft at first, then brighter, until the black stones began to cast a golden halo between them. Lines of light linked together around Renyu feet, climbed upward, and wrapped him in a warm shimmer.
He had expected warmth.
He had not expected the strange tug in his chest.
It felt as though something deep inside him had been sleeping under layers of skin, blood, and bone, and the awakening light had just knocked on the door.
The old man voice came steady and practiced.
"Do not resist. Feel it. Reach for that answers."
Renyu inhaled slowly.
Then he did.
For one suspended instant, nothing happened.
Then the world inside him cracked open.
Heat surged through his limbs—not painful, but overwhelming. Light flashed behind his eyes. Somewhere far away he heard the old man suck in a sharp breath, but the sound was drowned by a high, clear resonance that did not come from the room.
It came from him.
No—from the thing answering him.
Red light burst from his right hand.
Not scattered light.
Condensed light.
It gathered, compressed, and took shape above his palm until a crystal floated there, no bigger than half his hand. Deep crimson. Sharp-edged. Faceted with unnatural precision. Beautiful in a cold, alien way. Light moved within it like blood caught inside glass.
The moment he saw it clearly, Renyu froze.
Because he knew that shape.
His mind blanked for a full heartbeat.
Then memory slammed into him.
Anime screens in another world. Songs he used to hear through headphones. Armor blooming from shards of light. Crystals held at the throat. Transformation sequences that were absurd, dramatic, and impossible to take seriously until they started blowing holes through mountains.
Symphogear.
His martial spirit had the exact same shape as the Symphogear relic converter.
For the first time since transmigrating, Renyu genuinely wanted to ask the heavens if they were mocking him.
Of all things.
Of all ridiculous things.
He had expected maybe a mutated tool spirit, maybe some crystal-type martial spirit, maybe something that only resembled a relic if fate felt ironic.
Not this.
Not the converter crystal itself.
A horrified thought immediately followed.
'I'm not going to have to sing, am I?'
The sheer absurdity of it nearly broke his composure right there inside the awakening array.
The red crystal pulsed once in his palm.
And then information flooded into his mind.
It did not come as words spoken aloud. It simply appeared, whole and certain, as if the martial spirit was pressing its rules directly into his thoughts.
[Symphogear Converter Crystal.]
[Innate compatibility with all spirit ring types.]
[Spirit ring acquisition does not alter skill paths.]
[All skills are predetermined and unlock in fixed sequence under suitable ring absorption.]
[Primary consideration: ring age.]
[Primary limitation: host body endurance.]
[All spirit rings are usable.]
Renyu stood motionless beneath the golden light as the meaning settled.
Compatible with all spirit rings.
Predetermined skills.
So no matter what kind of soul beast he hunted—beast, plant, elemental, strange tool-type remnant, anything—the spirit ring would still be absorbed so long as his body could endure it, and the skill unlocked would be the one the crystal had already set.
That changed everything.
No need to obsess over matching beast types.
No need to hunt for a ring based on skill nature.
Only two things mattered.
Age.
And whether his body could survive taking it.
His heart began to beat faster.
The whale glue.
The training.
The hidden strengthening of his physique over the last two years.
If the martial spirit truly worked like this, then his path was both easier and far more dangerous than he had imagined.
Because if body endurance was the real gate, then every advantage he had secretly built now mattered more than ever.
The light in the chamber dimmed slightly.
Renyu became aware again of the room around him.
The old spirit master was staring.
Not at the awakening array.
At the red crystal hovering above Renyu hand.
Qian Renxue had not moved at all.
That was more telling than shock would have been.
Her face remained Xue Qinghe calm, refined mask, but her eyes had sharpened into something cold and intent.
"What is it? Why it different from before?" she asked.
Not to the old man.
To Renyu.
He swallowed once and closed his fingers.
The crystal did not vanish immediately. It dissolved into crimson sparks that sank into his skin.
"It's called the Symphogear Converter Crystal," he said.
The name made the old man blink.
Qian Renxue did not waste time questioning how he knew it. Of course there would be innate knowledge tied to some martial spirits. That alone was not unusual.
"What does it do?"
Renyu hesitated for less than a second.
Not because he meant to lie to her.
Because there was absolutely no way he was going to mention his fear of singing.
"From the information that it tell me that it accepts any kind of spirit ring," he said. "The ring type doesn't matter. The skills are already fixed inside it. I only need to worry about whether the ring age is high enough... and whether my body can handle it."
The silence that followed was different this time.
He could almost hear Qian Renxue thinking.
Any ring.
Fixed skills.
Her gaze flicked over him once, measuring not only the martial spirit but all the hidden implications behind it. Freedom of ring choice meant terrifying flexibility. Fixed skills meant stability. Body endurance as the main limit meant that all the work they had done in secret had just become far more valuable.
The old spirit master found his voice first.
"Your Highness... such a martial spirit... this old servant has never—"
"Enough."
Qian Renxue did not raise her voice. She just casually said.
She did not need to.
The man dropped silent at once.
Her gaze shifted to the blue crystal ball. "Test his innate soul power."
The old man hurried to obey. "Young master, place your hand here."
Renyu stepped out of the awakening array and pressed his palm against the crystal ball.
For one breath, nothing happened.
Then brilliant blue light exploded from within the sphere, so intense that the entire chamber was painted azure. It filled the crystal from center to edge without a trace of dimness, the glow so complete that it looked as though the ball itself had turned into liquid sky.
The old man face drained of color.
"Full... innate soul power."
Even expecting something high, Renyu felt his chest tighten.
Ten.
Full innate spirit power.
Qian Renxue eyes narrowed the slightest bit.
That was all.
But Renyu knew her well enough by now to understand what it meant.
She was shocked.
And already deciding what to do about it.
The blue light faded.
Renyu lowered his hand.
The old spirit master still looked dazed. "Your Highness, this matter should be reported—"
"No," Qian Renxue said.
That single word landed like a blade.
The old man stiffened.
She turned fully toward him now, crown prince face still serene, gaze no longer remotely gentle.
"What happened here today," she said, "is a red crystal martial spirit with unusual affinity and innate soul power high enough to be noteworthy. Nothing more."
The old man bowed so quickly his sleeves brushed the floor. "Yes, Your Highness."
"If a second version of this event reaches anyone's ears," she continued, "I will assume it came from yours."
His shoulders tensed. "This old servant understands."
Only then did she dismiss him.
When the doors shut again behind the old man, the chamber fell back into silence.
Just the two of them.
Renyu let out a breath he had not realized he was holding.
Qian Renxue looked at him for a long moment.
Then she walked closer, stopped in front of him, and lifted a hand to his chin, turning his face slightly left and right as though checking for cracks in porcelain.
"How do you feel?"
"Fine."
"Headache?"
"No."
"Pressure in the meridians? Burning?"
"No."
Her hand dropped.
"Good."
Renyu looked up at her. "You believed me quickly."
"You've never lied to me about things that matter."
That answer landed harder than he expected.
Then her gaze sharpened again.
"As for things that do not matter," she added, "your face has already confessed one more secret."
His scalp prickled.
"What secret?"
For the first time since the awakening began, amusement touched her mouth.
"You are deeply offended by some part of this martial spirit."
Renyu stared at her in horror.
She actually smiled.
"Interesting," she murmured. "We'll return to that later."
He immediately looked away.
Qian Renxue laugh was soft, brief, and entirely unhelpful.
Then she became serious once more.
"From this moment on, the Symphogear Converter Crystal exists only between us," she said. "To everyone else, it is a red crystal mutant tool spirit. Its deeper properties remain hidden. Your ring choices will be planned in secret. Your body will be tested again before we decide the age of your first ring."
Renyu nodded at once.
That suited him perfectly.
No matter how strong the power inside the crystal might be, he was not stupid enough to expose a martial spirit this strange to the world.
Qian Renxue rested a hand lightly on his head, familiar and steady.
"Congratulations," she said.
This time, when Renyu looked up at her, the disbelief in his chest had settled into something harder. Sharper.
A path.
Ridiculous or not, absurd or not, song-filled nightmare or not, he had one now.
And it was strong.
Very strong.
He glanced once at his empty palm, where the red crystal had floated moments before, and thought with helpless resignation.
'Please don't make me sing.'
Qian Renxue fingers paused against his hair.
Her eyes narrowed.
Renyu froze.
Then she said, very slowly, "What exactly are you thinking?"
That was where the real danger began.