Opening Ceremony

Mo Fan came home to find Mu He's words still ringing in his head — words that had seemed so offhand, so earnest, and yet radiated contempt for Mo Jiaxing and his family at every turn. Contempt for Mo Fan himself, too.

*Can't even become a basic-level mage?*

*Like hell.*

Mo Fan could admit that there had been a period when he and the little princess Mu Ningxue had been very close. But young as he was, he'd never imagined that it would bring such disaster down on his already struggling family. From that day forward, he understood: even in a world transformed by magic, the same rigid class hierarchy still held.

"Mo Fan! Ha, ha, ha — it's all sorted out! I called up an old friend of mine, and as it turns out, he's quite the bigshot these days — Director of Academic Affairs over at Tianlan High School. He says as long as you train hard, he can get you into Tianlan Magic High School. You'll be able to Awaken whichever element is destined for you. An opportunity like this only comes once in a lifetime, so you'd better give it everything you've got, you hear me?" Mo Jiaxing walked in with a wide grin spread across his sallow face and clapped a hand on Mo Fan's shoulder.

Looking at his father's beaming expression, Mo Fan thought that on any other day, he'd have happily spent a week celebrating with baijiu. But knowing the truth, he couldn't take that warm, hearty laugh at face value. What stung even more was the thought he didn't want to accept — that the father he respected had never once been truly respected by anyone in this world.

"Really? That's incredible — what can I say, you always come through." Mo Fan finally managed a grin and threw an arm around his old man's shoulders.

"Of course! Do you have any idea who your father is?" Mo Jiaxing was pleased by the flattery; his smile only broadened.

That evening, the two of them shared a few drinks. Midway through, Mo Jiaxing said, with careful casualness, "Mo Fan, you'll be staying in the dorms from here on. I'm thinking of renting out the house — give us a bit more to live on."

Mo Fan already knew the truth. The house was effectively being handed over to Mu He. The building itself was worthless, but the land it sat on — right in the city — was worth a small fortune.

"Sure, go ahead. I'm barely here anyway. What about Xinxia, though...?" he said, playing innocent.

"Xinxia will be with your aunt. Honestly, two grown men like us aren't exactly cut out for taking care of a girl. She's a sensible kid — we don't need to worry about her too much," Mo Jiaxing said.

"Alright. Just make sure you come visit me at school."

"I know, I know. I'm tired — heading to bed. You go to school tomorrow." Mo Jiaxing knocked back the last of his baijiu and rose to his feet, swaying slightly.

Mo Fan watched him turn and walk away. The sight of that retreating figure brought Zhu Ziqing's famous essay to mind — the one about a father's back.

*He himself would be in the dorms. Xinxia would be at their aunt's. Both children settled. So where would this middle-aged man sleep tonight?*

In the end, Mo Fan said nothing.

The truth was, for Mo Jiaxing, this kind of sacrifice was both his duty and his pride as a father. He wanted his son to know: *Go and learn without worry. Whatever you can't handle, I'll handle for you.*

Mo Fan understood that if he said anything, he would only leave his father feeling wretched and small. After all, what man didn't want to be the kind of father who could fix anything for his son?

*He couldn't take that from him. Others might disrespect his father, but he never would.*

This crumbling old house — so what if they lost it? Three years, that was all. Once he'd mastered magic, everything would come back.

*In this world, magic was everything.*

*And he would become a mage who stood tall enough to hold up the sky.*

The two summer months flew by in a blur. Mo Fan felt as though he'd drowned himself in books.

Tianlan Magic High School's library had it all, and the texts on magical theory were as numerous and complex as anything in the sciences — a true ocean of knowledge with no shore in sight.

Still, Mo Fan had come a long way. At the very least, he was no longer magically illiterate. He had more or less mastered the full nine years of compulsory magical education — a feat that felt about as unlikely as Zhang Wuji learning the Divine Shifting Technique and planting his feet atop the Sacred Flame Brazier.

September first — the first day of school. For every magic student, it was a day of incomparable weight. Not only did it mark the most important step any of them would take toward becoming a mage, but it also determined which element they would Awaken.

The Awakening — as the name implied — meant rousing the latent power sleeping within the body.

"Good luck, kid. Best case scenario, you Awaken fire — that'll give you a massive leg up on the others. The other elements are fine enough, but in terms of pure combat power at the basic level, fire reigns supreme. Oh, stone's not bad either... and wind can work too..." Old Gu, the library's head administrator, was rambling on.

Mo Fan gave a vague acknowledgment and tuned him out. Once that old man got started, there was no stopping him.

Honestly, Mo Fan hadn't slept a wink the night before. Today's Awakening wasn't just a turning point in his fate — it was something utterly unprecedented. In his original world, magic hadn't existed. Today, he would hold it in his own hands.

His heart was doing backflips.

Mo Fan had been placed in Class 8 of Year One — student number forty-eight, dead last.

Not exactly a surprise. He'd essentially gotten in through the back door.

The lower the student number, the higher the score on the magic entrance exam. Students who ranked near the top, so the saying went, tended to cultivate faster once they Awakened their element — their thorough command of magical theory made practice second nature.

As chance would have it, the number one student in Class 8 was Mo Fan's old classmate — Mu Bai.

Mu Bai was a member of the Mu family, a side-branch scion who lived on the estate. The reason he'd always looked down on Mo Fan was simple: within the Mu estate, Mu Bai was a young master, and Mo Fan was the son of a servant — which, by the logic of that world, made Mo Fan a servant too.

Unfortunately for Mu Bai, being a side-branch member put him nowhere near the same league as Mu Ningxue, the family's little princess. He'd spent years trying every approach to win her favor, and she'd never given him so much as a glance.

Mu Bai's magical aptitude was excellent — by all accounts, he was one of the Mu family's priority cultivees. Word had it that if he Awakened the Mu clan's ancestral element — ice — his cultivation speed would multiply several times over. The Mu family commanded a vast wealth of clan resources; even what trickled down to a side-branch member like him was beyond anything an ordinary person could hope for.

"Students, welcome to the school. I imagine many of you have been waiting for this moment." On the great magic grounds, fifteen hundred freshmen stood in twenty neat rectangular formations — a sight of undeniable grandeur. "Before we begin, I have a few words to say."

"Do you know why you become mages?"

"No matter what rank you reach, never forget: our highest calling is to advance humanity and to protect it. Don't be lulled into complacency by the safety of your cities — beyond these walls, countless demons are watching and waiting."

The principal spoke at great length. At last came the words everyone had been waiting for.

"Very well. The Awakening ceremony begins now. May you each rise to become the brightest stars of magic's future!"

The moment the headmaster finished, the students could no longer contain themselves.

Who didn't dream of commanding roaring flames, of wielding the power to reduce everything before you to ash? Who didn't want to master ice and freeze evil in its tracks? Who didn't long to rule the winds and race across the open sky? Who didn't wish to call upon earth and stone to hold back every invader?

In countless stories, videos, and films, there were heroes to idolize — mages they burned to become. Today was the first step of their own journeys: whether to roam triumphant through the monster-haunted wilds beyond the city walls, or to climb to the very pinnacle of power in the magical world...