AN: I follow the Light novel and sometimes copy sentences as it is.
Yeah, I am lazy.
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The summer became autumn. The dead leaves whirled along with the wind, as they finally landed on the school grounds.
On the side of the school grounds was a dense shade of trees. The afternoon sunlight shone through a gap of in the leaves, turning into threads of light, like a particular autumn stage.
Under one of these trees sat a figure.
"Two months have passed so quickly..."
Liu Shan muttered under his breath as he played with a dried leaf in his hand.
Ever since that awakening ceremony, He has been continuous meditating.
To activate magic, there are 3 very simple steps:
Step 1- Meditation
Step 2- Control
Step 3- Activation
Meditation, just as the name implied, required one to use their fullest attention to concentrate.
When a person closed their eyes, their mind constantly wandered into different scenes.
However, if one were to empty one's mind and remain in an undisturbed state, one's mind would become an empty space.
After their magic awakening, a star cluster corresponding to the Element would emerge within that empty world.
In other words, as long as Liu Shan closed his eyes and didn't think about anything while allowing his mind to enter a dark, cosmos like space, then the star cluster of Space and the mysterious black stardust would emerge within the empty space.
Inside the star cluster, 7 small shinning stars would emerge, Running around the star cluster.
For any magic students who had awakened, as long as they could cause the star cluster to appear within the empty space, and see the bright, child-like stars within the cluster, then they would have completed the Meditation step.
And he's been able to easily make the space element star cluster and stars appear in his spiritual world.
It's just....
His eyes shifted towards the black star cluster.
Where are your stars....
This mysterious cloud hasn't done anything since coming here.
From the outside, it looks like any ordinary star cluster, but there are no stars inside it.
Liu Shan did a lot of research yet he wasn't able to find anything about it.
The size of this stardust is nearly double the space stardust.
"Isn't this a bit underwhelming?"
Is my cheat defective?
He's been pondering over this thing for nearly a whole month.
Sigh...
"Let's just keep meditating...maybe they will appear someday...."
---
The weather turned cold, the short skirts and stockings were replaced with thick leggings and pants. Unknowingly, the season where you turn into a dog if you don't own a heater had finally come to the south.
Liu Shan stood on the roof of his house.
"Fuck you mysterious stardust"
Liu Shan was sitting cross legged, with his eyes closed.
Quickly thinking, he arrived in his spiritual world.
In the dark spiritual world, two dazzling stardusts were floating slowly.
One was silver color, shinning like moonlight and the other was black with little blue and purple specks shinning mysterious.
If someone else was in this spiritual world, they would be shocked to see not only two stardusts on a primary mage, but also the size of these stardusts.
Yet even still there is no sign of any stars in the black star cluster.
Liu Shan has done countless hours of research, reading all the books in the library as well as searching online yet he cannot find any kind of information about this situation.
After overloading his brain for a whole month, day and night, He had reached the conclusion that he really does not have any stars in the stardust.
Investing his energy into the black stardust, he hasn't even started practicing control!
It's not like he cares about his ranking in class, but he really can't delay this matter any longer.
"If this doesn't work, then forget it. I will just focus on Space element then"
Focusing his mind, Liu Shan again appeared inside his spiritual world.
Moving towards the black stardust, Liu Shan soon arrived in front of it.
Focusing on this stardust, Liu Shan willed its energy to move.
Soon, a wisp of black energy emerged from the stardust.
The energy moved towards Liu Shan's spiritual projection, soon engulfing him completely.
Outside, something seems to be happening.
Black smoke emerged from the pores of his body.
This black smoke was like ink, thick and viscous, yet it flowed like smoke, rising with the wind.
"What's this?" Liu Shan asked himself.
Liu Shan felt as if he had turned into a bodyless shadow lurking in the darkness.
This feeling is very strange, as if he can travel freely in dark places.
In the black magic; there is Curse element, Undead element, Shadow element, poison element and the Mo fan exclusive Demon element, right?
What is this then? This looks like shadow element but not entirely.
Liu Shan sat there surrounded by Black smoke, analysing it.
---
"I take back what I said. I love you, mysterious stardust"
He focused on the black smoke, as he willed it the black smoke shifted to his commands.
Changing its shape instantly, it became a dagger with a very sharp edge, the dagger melted and became a bow.
Liu Shan experimented with this black smoke for the whole day.
"This is definitely very similar to the shadow element! I am even able to cast novice level shadow magic Shadow Evade: Traverse"
But this is definitely not it.
The shadow element doesn't have any attacking skill in the primary level, but his does!
"It's already night time?" Liu Shan asked with some doubt.
Had he really been immersed in trying to uncover this new element that its already night?
Liu Shan quickly got up from his sitting position and looked at the mountain peak a little away.
This mountain is behind the Mu manor, when he was younger, Liu Shan and the other kids used to play there often.
Concentrating on the shadow stardust, the Black smoke once again emerged from his body.
Suddenly, His body merged into the shadows at his feet.
In less than a second, Liu Shan disappeared into the shadow.
At the same time more than a dozen feet away, inside a small alleyway emerged his figure.
"This mutated shadow element is really good" Liu Shan smiled happily in his heart.
it's a little mysterious but the result is definitely satisfactory.
There's no star to align, he just needs to concentrate to cast magic.
Even if compared to high-level mages, he's able to cast magic near instantly.
Moving quickly through the shadow, he soon appeared on the small mountain.
"Let's test the attacking power"
A sword made of darkness appeared in his hand.
saaahhh
A slashing sound reverberated in the silent mountain as he swung at the tree.
"It's almost as sharp as an iron swords," Liu Shan muttered.
The cut was clean, but the power wasn't as much as he was hoping for.
There was a black residue at the cut that started to eat the tree, it was like the tree has suddenly become dead and decayed from that part.
"So, there's a debuff as well? Good"
Even if the attacking power is not enough to directly take out slave-level monsters, the decay debuff can definitely slow them down.
"If I target weak points, then taking out a slave level is definitely not a problem"
Even if he can't defeat it, he can just run away using shadow evade.
Not to mention his Space element!
After getting home, Liu Shan's heart was singing happily as he laid down on the bed.
"Since the matter of this shadow stardust is over, lets quickly start controlling the space element stars." he muttered to himself while playing with the black knife in his hand.
"After the 7 stars are controlled and Telekinesis can be released then I will think about the future development"
"Becoming a hunter is a viable choice, I can get some disposable income as well as experience in fighting with monsters"
Since he can use shadow element attacks, there is no need to use real identity.
Copy Mo Fan and use a different name.
Wearing dark clothes due to shadow element is a very good cover.
After meditating for some time, Liu Shan slowly fell asleep.
----
The class started at eight in the morning, and the first class was the "Magical Beast Knowledge" class.
The one in charge of teaching the "Magical Beast" subject was the homeroom teacher of the class next door, Zhang Jianguo.
Liu Shan was already sitting at the back of class half-asleep, last night he practiced control of the space element stars and lost track of time.
'4 stars is good enough pace, I can release space magic much earlier than expected if this pace continues', Liu Shan thought to himself.
Since he wasted time on his shadow stardust, he was a little behind Mo fan, but comparatively it's not bad.
'Mo fan should be at 5 or 6 stars I think', he thought
At the front, Mo fan entered the classroom 10 minutes late.
"Mo Fan, you are late again. Can't you improve your attitude toward school? Your talent has always been worse than the majority of the students, your foundation is also particularly bad, and you're not even sincere about studying. Take a look at Zhao Ting in my class. He has Lightning Element, a good talent, a good foundation, and his attitude toward studying magic is also very good. He is currently able to control four Lightning Element stars, whereas you… I heard that you still haven't been able to control a single Fire Element star. You awakening the Fire Element is simply a waste!" as Zhang Jianguo saw Mo Fan coming in late, he immediately began to reprimand him without holding back.
Teacher Zhang Jianguo really couldn't stop talking. He brought up that Lightning Element guy during practically every lesson.
The so-called classmate, Zhaoting, was the guy who awakened the Lightning Element during the school's opening ceremony. Zhang Jianguo talked about him every day. When he lectured someone using Zhao Ting's name, his face revealed the pride he concealed beneath.
'Didn't this Zhaoting guy gets killed by the Black Vatican later in the series? I think so...'
Liu Shan ignore the outside noises and focused on the timeline he remembered so far.
There's the Bo city disaster in 2 years, then the monster attack in Magic capital at the start, the Black Vatican's attack on Mo Fan in pearl academy, the... inter college thing when Mo fan got his demon element, the zombie attack, and then the whole championship journey.
That's about all he could remember, not great, but better than nothing.
Now all he had to do was get as strong as possible.
The visuals of his death still haunt him. The powerlessness at the moment he had to sacrifice himself was what drives him to not be weak this time around.
"The world also wants the same, it even forces you to be strong; or else you will die"
"Alright, please open the Magical Beast book. Today, I will continue to talk about the common Magical Beasts. As everyone knows, the Magical Beasts are located outside of the city, which we humans reside in, and they are extremely hostile towards humans."
Liu Shan listened with barely any attention, the real useful stuff was already known to him, the teacher was just rambling on about already know stuff.
"They wander all over the place and fight when they encounter each other, as well. If a Magician was to tread outside of the city and encounter a One-Eyed Magic Wolf, then what should he do?" Zhang Jianguo already started talking about this subject with a great delight.
One-Eyed Magic Wolf...
Liu Shan can vividly remember their appearance from his memories of both lives.
This was the kind of Magical Beast that resided in the area closest to the human city.
Previous Liu Shan had seen one through the textbooks and videos; they had a vicious appearance.
A normal person was unable to deal with this kind of beast. Only a Mage was able to battle them. However, if the group of Magic Students, who couldn't activate their magic, was to meet a One-Eyed Magic Wolf, then it'd be a bloody massacre.
The One-Eyed Magic Wolf was the highlight of the Magical Beast classes. Zhang Jianguo had already spent a month talking about this type of Magical Beast, which by this point, annoyed Liu Shan.
There's only so much you can rant about one thing.
Liu Shan sneakily adjusted his seat so he's not in the direct line of sight of teacher Zhang Jiangou and took a little nap.
He will be training control of the space element as well as practicing with the shadow element in the night so a little shut eye was reasonable.
Just besides him was Zhang Hou, Mo Fan's little puppy.
"Brother Fan, how is the cultivation progress of the Fire Element?" Zhang Hou hastily asked as he saw Mo Fan sitting down.
"The same as before," Mo Fan answered leisurely.
"No way. It seems like your foundation really has affected your cultivation. I heard that guy, Mu Bai, is already able to control four Ice Element stars. If he were to put even more effort in during his winter vacation, then he will most likely be able to activate the Primary-rank Ice Element skill, 'Ice Spiral,'' Zhang Hou said.
"I know."
Hearing whispers near him Liu Shan sighed a little but activated the magical skill of ignoring everyone and fell asleep.
....
The school day was over and a very sleepy Liu Shan exited the school gates.
"Damn, a semester ended already?"
Five months had passed by almost instantly. All his time was spent in meditating, practicing control or training in shadow element.
It was a slow and monotonous process;
Shaking his head he started walking towards his house.
His mind never really paid attention to where he was going, it was a habit he had; thinking about everything while subconsciously walking.
He was thinking about more ways of using his shadow element.
Since he's not limited by the rigid star path, he can do almost anything; granted he knew how.
And it was hard; harder than he thought.
"It's almost like this power has a purpose, like i am not really able to get to its actual use"
Everyday he gets this tingling feeling, he's not able to point it out but he knows that whatever he's doing with the shadow element isn't its actual use.
It feels.... more capable, so much more purposeful.
So much more powerful.
Mindless he soon arrived at a stop; 'Mingwen middle school'
"Xinxia should be out too, right?", He thought out loud.
Liu Shan's house was close to her school.
His parents were considered well off, and his house was in the nicer part of town.
He had dropped her home a lot of times since he started high school.
It's not like Liu Shan wanted to pursue her romantically, at least not now. But since his memories are mixed with the previous Liu Shan, he's had a liking to the sweet little girl.
He liked her character and the previous Liu Shan liked her as a friend.
'And she's important for the plot', He remembered.
Walking a little more he came to the park's entrance where he would usually find her.
"Ah! It's the plot!" The scene he saw made a light bulk glow in his head.
He remembered that a few ruffians would antagonize Xinxia and Mo Fan would fire his first magic to save her.
He saw a beautiful girl sitting on a still swing, her wheelchair wasn't anywhere to be found.
And neither was Mo fan.
'Odd. Mo fan should be here, right? He took the bus if I remembered right...'
"Xinxia"
Hearing someone call her, Xinxia looked up and her gloomy face lit up a little.
"Brother Liu Shan," She responded in a melodious voice.
Then her smile shifted a little when she saw him staring behind her towards the small hill where a group of loud ruffians were causing a ruckus.
"It's ok Brother Liu Shan, I didn't get hurt. Please don't do anything"
Liu Shan wasn't like Mo fan, who thought with his heart and not his mind.
She said this because she knew he would actually listen.
"Xinxia!" A loud should came from the entrance of the park.
Mo fan was running towards then, he was a little out of breath as he stopped near.
"Huff you - Liu Shan - What're you doing here", he huffed and puffed as he took a breather and looked around.
His face started getting redder and redder, "It's that crap again, isn't it?"
"Today, I will definitely deal with them; they're a group of degenerates!" Mo Fan's anger multiplied, and he gazed at the staircase on the hill.
"There's a lot of them; forget it." Xinxia shook her head, advising Mo Fan to drop his anger.
"It's not possible to forget about it. I'm going to deal with these dregs." Mo Fan said no more and followed the staircase up.
"I'll help him", Liu Shan patted her head as he said this and stood up.
'I'll support you.... emotionally'
It's not like Mo fan would need it; he should have already successfully completed 7 stars.
Keyword 'should'.
'If not then I guess I'll have to do something.' He thought as he looked at his boots.
These were left to him by Liu Shan's dead parents.
They are able to activate a swift movement skill, not what he needs in this situation but hopefully these guys get the idea of who they are dealing with.
.....
On the pavilion, on the hill.
"Xu Bing, don't you think we lack elegance if we do it like this..." A youth said with a cigarette hanging from his mouth and poker cards in his hands.
"How are we lacking elegance? This is my sixteenth time expressing my sincere feelings to her, allowing her to become my girlfriend... Can't I sit here on the pavilion playing cards as she considers this?" The young man called Xu Bing responded.
On Xu Bing's neck was a clear azure colored tattoo and, due to his short jacket that covered half of the tattoo on his neck, it seemed extremely eye-catching. You could tell with a single glance that he was a character that was hard to provoke.
"Yeah, if she wants to reject you, she would've walked away already... King Flash, hahaha. Give me the money, double up!" Sitting on the other side, a young man wearing a cowboy hat with a hole said.
"Damn, this bullshit luck of yours."
"One more round, one more round. We'll play till the sky turns dark. I don't believe the girl won't panic." Xu Bing narrowed his eyes, enjoying the position of someone on top.
Towards girls, one had to be unyielding. A girl's natural disposition was to be shy; if one isn't a bit unyielding, then one would not be able to do anything. This girl Xinxia was becoming prettier with time; seeing her really made one excited. (The thugs' words, not mine. please don't cancel me)
"There's actually someone who would say that I'm like a toad who wants to eat the meat of a swan. Today, I will claim this girl, and then see who would dare to say anything"
"Oh right, I remember this little girl still has a brother; that's annoying." The young man in cowboy adornments commented.
"His battle prowess is lacking. Other than having an unyielding character, he is just a meat bag. You can beat him up however you want." Xu Bing said without caring much.
"That's right. Before, I would be enough to deal with him. Now, I've gained some muscle I'd like try beating that thing up!"
"Speaking of which, Xu Bing, aren't your preferences a bit too much? This girl does indeed look good, however... Being able to do 'that' is a bit hard to say."
"I think so, too."
"In this all-girl school, there are numerous of pretty girls. The people are dumb but they have money; just threaten them a bit and they'll cave in. Why would you go through so much trouble for just this one girl?..."
"What do you know? It's called having good taste." Xu Bing viciously glared at the group of people.
While he was starting to feel dissatisfied with the terrible taste of this group of boys, Xu Bing raised his head and saw a young man wearing a black t-shirt, walking toward the pavilion with a cold aura surrounding him.
Another young man followed him, this one walking leisurely.
'Eh? This guy seems familiar.'
'Crap, speak of the devil, isn't this the girl's brother? And that other guy...who's he?'
'This guy, I've been wanting to deal with him for the longest time for obstructing me from trying to hit on this girl. Who would've thought that you'd come to me by yourself? It just happens that there are quite a few of my brothers here today; we'll just let you have a taste of getting beaten and we'll see if you dare to stand up again in the future!'
"Brothers, grab your weapons!" Xu Bing stood; his gaze interlocked with Mo Fan's cold eyes.
"Beat him up real good. Per the instruction of Brother Zhao Kunsan, if we beat him up then it's on him!" Xu Bing slapped the talkative brothers on their forehead with his palm as he responded enraged.
"Since it's something Brother Zhao Kunsan has instructed before..." The man with the jacket removed his jacket as he chuckled, revealing his white tank top and bustling muscles!
Liu Shan was behind Mo Fan, he appeared relaxed and nonchalant but he was still alert, paying full attention to everyone.
Because if Mo fan really could not connect the star path then he would have to do something.
The group of ruffians barked a little nonsense and one of them stepped forward.
A corner of Liu Shan's lips curled up when he saw Mo Fan connecting his lightning star path.
"Do you really think I'm still the same Mo Fan who you can take advantage of?"
A restless force began to tremble in the atmosphere around Mo Fan. It was like fully armed soldiers who were waiting for the commands from their General!
"You, who isn't even on the same level as a domesticated animal, are just in time to taste the flavor of Lightning!"
The moment the angry voice transmitted from his throat, the seven stars formed and became a Star Path, causing the power from the Lightning star dust to gather within Mo Fan's right arm!
Bzzt~~~~
An astonishing arc of Lightning sparked across Mo Fan's body like a python. In the next second, the restless Lightning in the atmosphere began to assemble within Mo Fan's right arm, emitting an ear-piercing noise!
"Heavens!!!!"
"What is that???"
"Why is there lightning crackling around his body?!"
"This kid... Heavens, he's a Mage!!" Among these people, Xu Bing was the one who had seen the most of the outside world; "Mage" was said in certainty.
This group was certainly famous ruffians within the Guangchi District, and yet, ruffians still relied on punches and kicks. In front of a real Magician, they weren't even enough to be called dregs.
'Is this called face slapping?' Liu Shan mused.
He ignored the commotion that followed, walking forward he moved towards the wheelchair and left.
Let Mo fan take care of the small fry, he'll interact with the heroine.
...
Seeing him come with her wheelchair Xinxia showed a sweet smile.
"Thank you, Brother Liu Shan."
"That lighting just now, that was Brother Mo Fan, right?" She asked softly.
Liu Shan picked her up and gently put her down on the wheelchair, "yes, that was Mo fan, he's able to release magic".
"Mhmm", She hummed.
When Mo fan returned and saw both of them, he felt a pang of pain in his heart, as if he lost something.
"Xinxia, I have already dealt with those people. They won't bother you anymore." he had a silly smile on his head as he said this.
Liu Shan ignore their talk about lighting magic and got behind Xinxia and started pushing her.
Mo Fan wanted to say something but followed reluctantly when he remembered that not only Liu Shan knows about his dual elements but also about the fact that he can cast magic.
Ye Xinxia wanted to say something to Mo fan but seeing that Liu Shan was there she remained quiet.
Liu Shan could guess that it was probably about the speed at which he was able to release magic.
Even the most extraordinary people require at least a year to release magic, so Mo fan's speed was really monstrous.
....
The orange glow of the sunset covered the sky as Liu Shan was on his rooftop lying down.
"I have to complete my space element release quickly and start getting some experience "
Even though shadow element was there, the uncertainty of monsters made it a necessity to have a backup plan.
Liu Shan's plan was simple; Be able to release magic of both elements and then apply to become a hunter.
The shadow element is rare, a lot of teams will want him in their team.
It's just that being in a hunter team will be hard being a student, most missions outside the safe zone will take at least a few weeks minimum, some might take months.
He made his mind; his plan was simple.
Since the urban hunting team wouldn't be recruiting for a year, just join a team temporarily for this summer vacation.
Gain enough experience to be able to face a monster and then we'll see.
Perhaps, maybe, perchance - go solo.
"Who am I kidding, in the city - maybe; out in the wild? No chance"
He shook his head and started training control of the space element.
'It's still a long way....'
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