Green Tea Boy

...

"Such a shame... how did a student like that end up in Zhang Jianguo's class instead of mine?" Homeroom teacher Xue Musheng's face was a map of barely concealed envy.

At the front of the room, Mu Bai's initial surprise had curdled into something cold and contemptuous.

*Lightning Element — so what? Without proper cultivation, you're still useless. With China's population, the occasional rare element is nothing to get excited about. It's not like being born with dual elements — now that would be a once-in-a-generation genius. Hmph. Just you wait. I'll grind you into the floor. How dare you steal my moment.*

*Oh — I almost forgot about Mo Fan. That worthless trash has been at the stone forever. He's basically failed by now, right?*

"Whoa — it's Fire Element!"

"Incredible — Class 8 has another Fire student!"

"Who was saying he'd fail? Fire Element! I'm so jealous."

As the frenzy over the Lightning student gradually died down, the class finally turned its attention to what Mo Fan had awakened.

Zhou Min — the girl who had awakened Fire Element moments before — looked mildly surprised and stole a second glance at Mo Fan. The flames on his Awakening Stone were real, all right. If anything, they burned a little hotter than her own.

"Another Fire Element in Class 8."

"Not as rare as Lightning, but Fire is still incredible!"

"Fire... Fire Element..." Xue Musheng stared blankly at the student before him.

The appearance of a Lightning student from next door had nearly made him forget this problem student existed. He had fully expected a failed Awakening — and instead got not just a success, but Fire Element, one of the rarest and most formidable?

*This is... this is finding buried treasure!*

And judging by the intensity of those flames, Mo Fan's raw talent seemed to edge out even Zhou Min's.

Xue Musheng could not have imagined that the student he had quietly written off as dead weight would suddenly bring credit to his entire class.

"Not bad — not bad at all. Very good. What's your name again... Mo Fan, right?" Xue Musheng beamed, eyes crinkling with delight.

"Yes," Mo Fan said, with a nod.

He had half-expected someone to notice his Lightning Awakening. But scanning the room, he found not a single face that had caught it. The Lightning student from the neighboring class must have pulled every eye at precisely the wrong moment — or perhaps his own Lightning Awakening had simply been too faint to register.

The strength of an initial Awakening mattered, but it wasn't everything. Even a weak start could be corrected through diligent cultivation.

"Fire Element student — yes, yes. Work hard from here on. Any questions, come straight to me." Xue Musheng clapped Mo Fan on the shoulder, warm and satisfied.

Inside, Mo Fan was still electric with joy.

But he kept it contained. Any other teenager would probably have been dying to announce his Lightning Awakening on the spot — to detonate the room with a single reveal. Dual elements, right from birth.

Mo Fan didn't do that.

*Heaven is jealous of its finest — so what chance do ordinary people stand?*

He knew someone within the Mu family had it out for him. If he revealed dual elements now, two outcomes awaited: submit, or be eliminated. He possessed the rarest of gifts — but right now, he was still too weak to protect himself. There would be time to let loose once he had the strength to back it up.

Mo Fan glanced back at Mu Bai and Zhao Kunsan.

Their faces were twitching.

"How the hell did this guy get so lucky?" Mu Bai looked every inch the noble young gentleman on the surface, but his inner world had descended entirely into profanity. "Not only did he not fail, he gets Fire Element?"

"What the — this can't be real. Fire Element..." Zhao Kunsan looked equally dumbstruck.

"Ha! I knew Mo Fan was something special!" Zhang Hou leapt up gleefully, savoring every second of Zhao Kunsan's misery. "Fire Element! That's what I'm talking about! And what exactly does your little Wind Element count for now, Zhao Kunsan?"

Zhao Kunsan's face darkened with fury. In the early stages, Wind Element simply had no answer for Fire.

Mo Fan turned around with an easy smile, stepping into the light as though the world had rolled a red carpet out beneath his feet. Somewhere behind him, girls shrieked. *Triumphant* didn't even begin to cover it.

As he passed Mu Bai, Mo Fan quietly raised a single middle finger — smooth, unhurried, executed with all the casual grace of a friendly wave.

Mu Bai felt the full impact of that gesture hit him square in the chest. His ribcage felt ready to split.

He drew a slow breath. *Composure. Keep your composure. I will not stoop to the level of this nobody. I am half a young master of the Mu family. He is a handyman's son.*

*This trash actually succeeded — and he gets Fire Element on top of it, the element with the single biggest early-stage advantage. Even trash gets its day of luck. And to top it all off, the neighboring class produces a Lightning student right as my Awakening happens, completely burying the moment. My ancestral Ice Element, upstaged by a commoner's Fire. Damn it all.*

The princely exterior held. The interior was a gutter.

Mo Fan returned to his seat, acutely aware of how differently his classmates were looking at him now.

"Fire Element. Better not to mess with him."

"More than that — I need to get on his good side. A Light Element like me is going to need someone with Fire watching his back."

"What's his name again — Mo Fan?"

Whispers drifted through the room and straight into his ears. A wave of satisfaction swept through him, and he made a point of glancing over at Mu Bai — who had clearly caught every word. Sure enough, the corner of Mu Bai's mouth was still twitching.

Mo Fan had Mu Bai's number from the start. The guy spent every waking hour performing — the picture-perfect nobleman, serene and above it all, while screaming on the inside. A textbook green tea boy. That painstakingly crafted facade of indifference was precisely the tell.

*Green tea boy. You're already this worked up just from me awakening a single Fire Element. Just wait until you find out there's also Lightning in the mix... you might actually gut yourself on the spot.*