Chen Shijie and another soldier with strength-based abilities carried the second Awakening Stone to Xue Ji and carefully placed her hand on it.
Xue Ji opened her eyes, and shifting arcane runes filled the space around her.
A faint silhouette seemed to have been waiting for her arrival.
The figure stretched out both hands—one solid, the other a shadowy void. Instinctively, Xue Ji extended her right hand and grasped the shadowy hand.
A name surfaced in her mind:
[The Witch, Lilith]
At the moment of contact, Xue Ji thought she heard someone outside complaining about something breaking again. Probably not my fault, she mused.
The shadowy hand dissipated slowly after being held. Xue Ji tried to let go, but the grip tightened, refusing to release her. When the shadow finally faded completely, the blurred figure took on a distinctly feminine shape. Xue Ji focused—wasn’t that… herself?
But this version had black hair and crimson eyes, exuding a sinister aura. With an enigmatic smile, the apparition vanished, and the entire space dissolved around her.
When Xue Ji opened her eyes again, the third Awakening Stone had also shattered.
Seeing her awake, Chen Shijie—drenched in sweat—let out a sigh of relief. If she’d broken a fourth one, I might as well start job hunting.
Xue Ji assessed the situation immediately. The floor was littered with broken Awakening Stones, so she wisely refrained from asking questions and waited for Chen Shijie to speak first.
Chen Shijie’s face was stiff as he enunciated each word:
“What. Are. You. Afraid. Of? It’s. Not. Like. You’re. Paying. For. It.”
Uncle, you’re scaring me…
At least she wasn’t being held accountable. Relieved, Xue Ji forced a smile. “I just shook someone’s hand. I don’t even know what ability I awakened.”
Chen Shijie’s expression darkened. “Let’s talk about compensation instead.”
Xue Ji waved her hands frantically. “So quick to jump to conclusions? What’s the rush? Just let me test it out first. But fair warning—I can tell this ability is dangerous.”
Chen Shijie smirked confidently. “Dangerous? Our Special Abilities Unit thrives on danger. What’s there to fear from a freshly awakened ability?”
The soldiers quickly set up a containment barrier using specialized equipment. Xue Ji stepped inside and summoned the shadow hand. Tendrils of darkness seeped from her right hand, and an oppressive weight settled over the gymnasium.
Xue Ji’s demeanor shifted entirely—her eyes turned sharp, her pupils tinged with blood-red, her white hair darkened, and her expression twisted into madness.
The gentle, harmless girl was gone. In her place stood a white-haired, crimson-eyed harbinger of death.
As a mid-level awakened, Chen Shijie felt the overwhelming pressure firsthand. Trembling, he barked an order:
“Reinforce the barrier—NOW!”
The containment field, designed to restrain third-level mutated beasts, offered no comfort. Even after the squad strengthened it to near-fourth-level capacity, Xue Ji’s predatory grin through the barrier sent chills down their spines.
Slowly, she clenched her right hand. The chaotic dark energy coalesced into a massive scythe, taller than she was.
Despite her frenzied state, she managed a warning:
“Get down.”
Chen Shijie reacted instantly. “Everyone, HIT THE DECK!”
Xue Ji gripped the scythe with both hands and swung in a full arc. The black crescent of energy—an embodiment of death itself—sliced through the fourth-level barrier like paper. The attack didn’t stop there, cleaving straight through the gymnasium’s roof.
She had aimed upward on purpose. In this state, though she retained rationality, her actions were driven by pure destructive impulse. Worse, the ability amplified even the slightest negative emotions, making her a threat to anyone she had ever interacted with.
Chen Shijie’s combat instincts kicked in. His ability, Battle Frenzy (B-rank, lower tier), activated automatically—enhancing his reflexes, physical control, recovery, and overall combat prowess the longer a fight dragged on.
Normally, this was a valuable trait. But against Xue Ji? It only drew her aggression. When she lunged at him with shadow-wreathed chain blades, he could only brace himself with a bitter smile.
On paper, a freshly awakened beginner like Xue Ji should’ve been no match for a seasoned mid-level awakened like Chen Shijie. Even with a higher-tier ability, the gap in experience should’ve been insurmountable.
Yet here he was, completely on the defensive—unable to counterattack even with Xue Ji deliberately telegraphing her strikes.
“How deep should I cut your left shoulder?”
RIP— The chain blade left a jagged wound.
“Jump if you don’t want your feet chopped off.”
The blade grazed the ground beneath him.
No A-rank beginner should’ve been able to overwhelm a mid-level Battle Frenzy user in solo combat. With each passing second, Chen Shijie grew more alarmed. Just what tier was Xue Ji’s ability? Her performance already surpassed every known A-rank’s initial display.
Conventionally, the stronger the ability, the harder it was to control upon awakening—often rendering it less effective than raw fists in early stages.
Take Class 5’s Ding Zhen, for example. He could only partially turn his body into mist, and the mental strain left him vulnerable. (He’d been floored by Cai Xukun’s Iron Mountain Charge—a mere C-rank ability.)
In just ten minutes, Chen Shijie had over twenty wounds. Only now was he barely matching Xue Ji’s rhythm.
Frustrated, Xue Ji snapped: “Just surrender already! Do you know how hard it is to avoid killing blows?!” She channeled all her shadows into one final strike—sending it not at Chen Shijie, but the wall behind him.
The gymnasium wall exploded.
It was break time, and students from all three grades crowded the hallways to gawk.
“I heard a student went berserk after awakening!”
“No way—this destruction has to be the instructors’ doing.”
“Maybe both?”
“Rumor says a love triangle in the Special Abilities Unit sparked this!”
“Ah, the classic ‘falling for the instructor’ trope. Touch grass.”
“Damn, they fight like this? So cool!”
Principal Zhou, watching from the broadcast room, felt his wallet weep as he addressed the school:
[Ahem. Students, the gymnasium is undergoing renovations. The, uh, instructors are assisting with demolition. Please return to class and stop crowding the halls. Class 5’s Cai Kun—stop breakdancing in the hallway and get back inside.]
The explanation was flimsy at best, but the students didn’t care. To them, it was just another spicy school day.
Back in the gym, Xue Ji collapsed, her energy depleted. Chen Shijie stared at the obliterated wall, shuddering. Had that punch landed, I’d be bedridden for a day.
Wiping blood from his face with a towel from his aide, he asked:
“Was the fight recorded?”
“Every second of it.”
“Good. Send it to Commander Li. This ability… is beyond anything we anticipated.”
“And what about the earlier incident?”
(The aide referred to Xue Ji being suspected of wielding three abilities.)
“No updates. We’ll leave it be for now.”
Chen Shijie hadn’t expected such a staggering discovery so soon. Even excluding Xue Ji, Class 5’s awakening quality was exceptional. Once this batch’s training concluded, the city’s lurking threat could finally be dealt with.
His chest ached remembering the mutilated corpses retrieved days prior. That hidden monstrosity, still lurking in the shadows, haunted him.
Power attracts power. If that creature caught wind of Third High’s situation, it would make a move. This was their best chance—to lure it out while the school brimmed with awakened.