Sparks
Qingzhou City No. 1 High School.
"Student, where are you poking? Aim properly, will you?"
On the school sports ground, a curvaceous teacher pressed her hands against a machine and said with a hint of impatience.
"Sorry, teacher, I... it's my first time."
Standing beside her was Fatty, dressed in a school uniform, who scratched his head in embarrassment.
The teacher merely nodded.
She was speechless as well—who hadn't had a first time?
She had gone through this sort of thing with plenty of students having their first time.
Yet everyone else managed to hit the mark on the first try.
The one in front of her was the clumsiest student she had ever guided.
Still, the Awakening Ceremony had to go on, so she said patiently, "Student, let me say this again: just insert your finger into this hole. You don't need to do anything else, just wait for the result."
"I... I understand, Teacher."
Perhaps due to nervousness, Fatty's hand was shaking violently.
With great difficulty, he managed to align with the hole on the machine and pushed his finger in.
[Beep! Verification successful. Name: Luo Xing, Gender: Male, Senior Class 7. Eligible for the Awakening Ceremony.]
The moment Luo Xing's finger went into the machine, a voice sounded out.
The teacher nodded slightly. "Step into the formation!"
This was one of the steps in the Awakening Ceremony to verify identity.
The glowing formation shimmering behind them was the real Awakening Formation.
Luo Xing stepped into the formation, and a burst of light enveloped him.
Among the people waiting in line below, a young man was watching the scene with curiosity.
The youth possessed a tall and slender figure, refined facial features, deep dark eyes, and a jawline that was sharply defined yet possessed a soft grace.
The youth's name was Fang Xiu.
He was also one of the students undergoing awakening this time around.
Unlike the others, who were nervous to varying degrees, Fang Xiu's face showed only anticipation.
That's right—he had been looking forward to this moment for five years.
Ever since crossing over into this world, Fang Xiu had been full of curiosity about it.
Because in this world... there were beasts.
Roughly three hundred years ago, portals to other worlds began appearing across the world.
Beasts poured endlessly from these things, which were later dubbed "Gates."
After surviving the initial panic and slaughter, Awakened ones began to emerge among humanity one after another.
Relying on the innate abilities they gained through awakening, they hunted beasts and sealed, destroyed, and closed countless "Gate" worlds.
Through continuous exploration, they discovered that as long as they used formations to connect with these "Gate" worlds, they could prompt people to awaken.
Naturally, this was also the key criterion for distinguishing between Awakened individuals and ordinary people.
And the age of eighteen was the prime time for awakening.
The moment he crossed over, he found himself orphaned, with both parents dead.
In a novel, this was textbook protagonist material.
A standard hell-mode starting point.
Pity that for five years, no so-called golden finger had ever appeared.
As expected, everything in novels was a lie.
Fortunately, in this world, ordinary people still had a chance at a counterattack.
As long as he could awaken an innate talent today, he would have the chance to become a super powerhouse.
As the light faded, Luo Xing walked out of the formation.
"A... A-rank awakened talent: Archer!"
The teacher on the side looked at the numbers displayed on the machine and spoke in disbelief.
This clumsy fatty, who couldn't even aim right, had actually awakened the talent of an Archer.
And the rank had even reached A.
"Hahaha..."
Right at that moment, a punchable laugh rang out from the Awakening Formation.
Then, Fatty's figure was seen stepping out of it. "I'm an Archer, combat class, and A-rank to boot! Let's see who dares look down on me from now on."
As he spoke, he even made a drawing gesture with both hands. "Whoosh!"
His demeanor was supremely smug.
"Wow, so handsome!"
"How come I never noticed he was so charming before?"
"Our school actually has a hunk like this? If I'd known, I would have made a move first!"
"Didn't you say you hated fat guys?"
"I don't like fat guys *without* power!"
Quite a few girls began to whisper among themselves.
Luo Xing, previously entirely unremarkable, had instantly become the most sought-after prize.
Many girls who had awakened F-rank, E-rank, or failed to awaken entirely were casting flirtatious glances his way.
Rank A.
The number of times one appeared at the school each year could be counted on one hand.
Not to mention it was a combat-class Archer.
It was fair to say that Luo Xing had instantly leaped to become an existence looked up to by everyone present.
Right at that moment, the surrounding temperature suddenly plummeted.
Even though it was June, snowflakes began to drift down.
Weather like this could not possibly be natural.
Clearly, someone was awakening, and a strange phenomenon had occurred.
And anyone capable of triggering a strange phenomenon definitely had an awakening rank above S.
"Who is it?"
Fang Xiu frowned slightly and looked around.
He quickly found the target—the other Awakening Formation.
The teacher in charge of that awakening was frozen in place, utterly dumbfounded.
"Heaven and earth anomaly... at least S-rank."
"Oh my god!"
"Who is that?"
"I just saw it, it's the school belle!"
"Which school belle?"
"Chu Qingxue!"
There were two school belles in this school: one rebellious and fiery, the other cold and aloof.
And the one awakening right now was the latter—the cold school belle, Chu Qingxue.
"Ten female leads, nine school belles. Either ice element or fire element."
Fang Xiu watched the young girl walk out of the Awakening Formation.
A head of blue hair fluttered in the wind, paired with refined facial features and a flawless figure.
She looked at her surroundings with complete indifference.
A trace of blue light flashed across her eyes.
"Chu Qingxue, Ice Mage, S-rank!"
The teacher in charge of the awakening snapped out of her shock after a moment and hurriedly announced.
Her voice wasn't loud, but everyone on the sports ground heard it clearly.
S-rank.
And she was an Ice Mage belonging to the combat class.
Seeing this, the students who had yet to awaken all wore excited expressions.
Fang Xiu was no exception.
At that moment, he was standing at the very front of the line, ready to step forward and begin his awakening.
"Student, can you let me try first?"
Just as Fang Xiu was about to extend his finger, a female voice came from beside him.
He turned his head and saw a girl next to him dressed in a sultry, fiery outfit.
Fang Xiu recognized her; she was the school's other belle—Lu Yu'er.
He hesitated for a moment, then nodded.
Soon, Lu Yu'er stepped into the formation.
The results came out quickly as well.
"Lu Yu'er, Fire Mage, D-rank."
The teacher in charge of the awakening looked at the data on the machine and said.
Hearing this result, the crowd fell silent in astonishment.
The two school belles had fought openly and secretly for three years, and at this moment, the victor was finally decided.
Lu Yu'er walked out of the formation, biting her lower lip hard.
Standing nearby, Fang Xiu could see that her eyes were somewhat moist.
Noticing Fang Xiu looking at her, she glared at him, her eyes filled with bitter resentment.
As if all of this was Fang Xiu's fault.
At this, Fang Xiu simply shook his head, verified his identity, and walked into the Awakening Formation.
"Huh?"
The moment Fang Xiu stepped into the Awakening Formation, his vision suddenly went pitch black.
It was like being deep within an abyss where you couldn't even see your own hand in front of your face.
"Is this what awakening is like?"
He felt a trace of doubt.
Fang Xiu couldn't see other people's awakenings, so he had no idea if it was supposed to be like this.
Helplessly, he could only stand honestly inside the Awakening Formation.
And right at that moment.
A crimson light emerged from the darkness before him.
Resembling a pair of eyes glowing with a blood-red light.
They stared right at Fang Xiu.
The instant he was fixed by those eyes, Fang Xiu found that his body could suddenly no longer move.
[Ding! System loading complete!]
The moment Fang Xiu was immobilized, a crisp voice echoed in his mind!