Fire Burst — Blast!!

"Have Yu'ang end it," Principal Zhu said to Deng Kai, his tone carrying the resignation of someone who had known all along how this would go. "If his face freezes over he'll stop breathing. There's a real risk to his life."

"Relax, relax — Fire Element students don't die so easily under a bit of ice and snow." Mu Zhuoyun was already stroking his beard with quiet satisfaction.

He surveyed the guests around him, every face frozen in stunned disbelief.

*Ha! None of you could have imagined that Yu'ang would have already mastered level-three Ice Vine at eighteen!*

As a rule, a Tianlan Magic High School student who managed to master their second-level skill before graduation was already considered exceptional — the kind who, with strong Field Expedition scores to match, would have a good shot at a top Magic University.

Third-level skills were another matter entirely. Who even knew how many years those took?

Yet his adopted son Yu'ang had done it at eighteen — utterly outclassing Tianlan's fifteen hundred students, and every young heir of every other faction in the city.

*Mo Fan, you arrogant little brat. Even if your skull splits open when you fall, I, Mu Zhuoyun, won't let you off easily. You dared insult me — enjoyed running your mouth back then, didn't you? Let's see if I still can't make you regret it, you insufferable punk.*

"Only the Mu Clan could produce talent like this. Truly admirable, truly admirable."

"Brother Zhuo Yun, you really caught us off guard with this one," an elderly woman said with a chuckle. "Level-three Ice Vine — you kept that well hidden. Good thing I didn't let my son spar with your Yu'ang, or he'd be in the same sorry state as that poor student."

"What can you say — once you've got level-three Ice Vine, you're the undisputed king of Bo City's younger generation. Truly, heroes are born young."

The sheer intimidating weight of Yu'ang's third-level skill had stripped the duel of any remaining suspense, and the guests had largely turned their attention to congratulating and flattering Mu Zhuoyun.

Mu Zhuoyun was savoring every second of it. Why else had he made such a grand spectacle of the Coming-of-Age Ceremony, if not to show Bo City exactly how formidable the Mu Clan's next generation had become?

"Deng Kai, that's about enough," Principal Zhu said at last, still watching Mo Fan with lingering concern. "Deng Kai, why haven't you called it yet? Mo Fan has no defensive Enchanted Gear to speak of — if this drags on much longer, his circulation will stop. That could cause him serious harm."

In the arena, Deng Kai had indeed been on the verge of stopping the lopsided fight — but a sudden bloom of scorching flame cutting through the sea of white made him abandon the idea entirely.

"Old Zhu," he said, eyes fixed intently on Mo Fan, "this kid may be more than we bargained for."

Principal Zhu opened his mouth to respond, curiosity already turning in his mind, when a brilliantly vivid tongue of flame caught his eye against the vast pale expanse.

*He's still trying to complete a Fire Burst? In these conditions?*

But Fire Burst: Char Bone's power would be dramatically diminished in all this frost and ice — and even at full strength, he couldn't imagine Yu'ang had no defensive Enchanted Gear left. Which meant that even if Mo Fan managed to get off a Fire Burst in his final moments before freezing solid, it would simply be blocked by one of Yu'ang's unused defensive items. Such a futile struggle…

Wait.

Something's wrong.

That Fire Burst…

Principal Zhu's eyes went wide. Drawing on his powerful Perception, he felt it even through the vast curtain of ice and frost — a ferocious, blistering surge of Fire Element energy that had no business being there.

*That's not Fire Burst: Char Bone. That's not second-level at all.*

The fireball was small, but it radiated a penetrating, furnace-hot intensity unlike anything a second-level skill could produce. The surrounding blizzard couldn't touch it — couldn't dim its fury by a single degree.

The Fire Burst struck down directly in front of Yu'ang, who was still channeling the blizzard.

Yu'ang smiled with contempt and reached inward through Mental Intent to locate his defensive Enchanted Gear within his Inner World.

"Ice Dust Shield!"

He activated the shield-type Enchanted Gear bound to his soul. In an instant, ice crystals scattered and coalesced — a great curving wall of ice dust solidified before him, broad enough to shelter his entire body.

The spectators reacted with a mixture of sighs and derisive laughter.

*Why even bother? Did a free-to-play player really think he could beat someone who'd maxed out their credit card?*

"Fire Burst…"

"**Blast!!**"

Across the merciless white wasteland of ice and snow, Mo Fan's voice rang out — high and sharp, carrying across every corner of the arena and beyond.

The words had barely left his lips when a shocking streak of crimson tore through the white.

It started as nothing — the tiniest candleflame — and then, in the next heartbeat, came a thunderous detonation.

**BOOM!!**

Without warning, the inferno erupted.

Ring after ring of fire-waves rolled outward from the point of impact, blazing tendrils lashing in every direction. Searing red light. Churning waves of heat. The air itself shuddered from the blast, the shockwave rippling all the way to the spectators' seats.

Every person in that arena stared, transfixed, jaws slack, eyes swallowed by the roiling mass of exploding fire.

*God almighty.*

That was no Fire Burst: Char Bone.

**Fire Burst: Blast!!**

A third-level Fire Element skill!!!

The crowd had barely recovered from the shock of Yu'ang's level-three mastery when Mo Fan's explosion hit them — and any remaining composure they'd had was simply gone.

Xu Dahuang, captain of the City Demon-Hunting Squad, looked like his eyes were about to fall out of his head.

Fire Burst: Blast was his signature technique — the skill that set him apart among Hunter-mages. The thing was, he'd been nearly thirty years old when he finally broke through to it, and even then it had taken every ounce of effort he had. And now some student who hadn't even finished his final year of high school had gone and mastered it… *What the actual hell.* He could not accept this.

Principal Zhu and Deng Kai had been the first to sense what Mo Fan was doing, yet even now, neither had fully composed themselves.

In all his years running the school, a student who had mastered a third-level skill before graduation… Principal Zhu couldn't even remember the last time that had happened — if it ever had.

Just a moment ago they had been sighing to themselves — *a clan heir is a clan heir; no magic high school student, however gifted, could compete with that kind of background.* And then Mo Fan had blown that assumption apart in a single, thunderous instant.

*Was this kid some kind of freak?*

To reach this level with nothing but a school's meager resources!

Yang Zuohe, the Magic Association's Intermediate-Level Mage, was standing there stunned along with everyone else. He glanced around at the dazed crowd and couldn't stop himself: "Has anyone already claimed this kid? If not — I want him."

Zhou Mingjun of the Zhou Clan bristled immediately. "The Magic Association has nothing worth offering a Fire Element mage of this caliber. Hand him over to the Zhou Clan."

"This kid is already with the military — everyone else, back off." Luo Yunbo had heard enough; he stepped forward before anyone else could get another word in.

Yu'ang, born into a noble clan, had access to virtually every premium resource Bo City had to offer — and his achieving a third-level Ice Element skill under those conditions was impressive enough on its own. But a student from Tianlan Magic High School reaching the same tier? That was something that would shake the entire city.