The Azure Breeze Magic Academy Annual Tournament was the most anticipated magical event in the borderlands of the Essos Magic Continent. From the moment dawn pierced the clouds, the academy's central open-air arena was packed with people—students in cyan robes, tutors clutching clipboards, and even magic merchants who had traveled from nearby towns. All eyes were fixed on the circular dueling platform made of white marble in the center of the arena, and the air hummed with a mix of excitement and tension.
Lynn stood in the contestants' waiting area on the east side of the dueling platform, his fingertips unconsciously brushing the Forbidden Codex tucked against his chest. The sheepskin scroll retained its usual coolness, but under the warmth of his palm, it faintly trembled as if resonating with him. He lifted his head, his gaze cutting through the noisy crowd to land on Karen, who stood on the opposite side of the platform.
Karen was surrounded by a group of noble youths in ornate robes, twirling a new short staff inlaid with a high-grade wind-element crystal— a gift his father had sent from the continent's core, said to boost the power of wind-element magic by thirty percent. Sensing Lynn's stare, Karen looked up, a provocative smirk curling his lips. He deliberately held up the staff and waved it, then mouthed two silent words: "Worthless."
Lynn's fingertips tightened slightly, and the Ashen Spark in his dantian quivered faintly. Since their clash in the training ground, Karen had not directly troubled him again, but subtle harassment never ceased—knocking over his elemental reagents in magic class, having someone "accidentally" spill hot soup on his robe in the cafeteria, and even posting anonymous notes on the academy bulletin board claiming he "passed the assessment by cheating with dark arts." And this tournament? Karen had long boasted he would "drive Lynn out of the academy for good."
"Lynn, ignore him," Andy said, patting his shoulder from behind. He held out two freshly bought honey breads, handing one over. "I just heard Karen and Tom talking—they're planning to 'team up to teach you a lesson' in the final. Be careful later. If it gets too tough, just concede. Don't push yourself."
Lynn took the bread and took a bite. The sweet honey flavor did little to ease the gravity weighing on his mind. He knew Andy's worry was not unfounded—Karen had allied not just with his lackeys Tom and Jack, but also with three other noble youths. Two were skilled in earth-element magic, adept at conjuring the impenetrable "Earth Prison," while the third specialized in fire-element area attacks, rumoured to unleash a "Flame Storm" that could cover half the dueling platform. Five people, each mastering different types of magic, working together—even top upperclassmen might struggle to fend them off, let alone a freshman who had only been at the academy for two months.
"Don't worry, I'm ready," Lynn replied, patting Andy's arm. His tone was calm but carried unshakable resolve. Over the past two months, he had spent nearly every moment in the abandoned典籍 section of the library. Feeding on the residual energy in those ancient scrolls with the Forbidden Codex, he had not only grown the Ashen Spark in his dantian from the size of a soybean to that of his thumb but also unlocked two new abilities: "Ashen Clone" and "Energy Devouring Domain."
The former allowed him to conjure an energy clone identical to himself—one that could mimic his movements and even cast basic ashen magic independently. The latter let him spread his ashen energy into a ten-meter-diameter gray domain; any magical energy within this domain would be slowly devoured and converted into his own power. These two abilities were his trump cards, prepared specifically for Karen's "ambush."
"Next, let us welcome the six finalists of this year's Academy Tournament!" On the high platform to the east of the arena, Tutor Barton, who was hosting the event, lifted a magic amplification stone. His deep voice boomed across the arena: "They are—Karen, Tom, Jack, Bruce, Davis, and last but not least—Lynn!"
As Tutor Barton's words fell, the arena erupted in cheers. Lynn took a deep breath, pressing the Forbidden Codex tightly to his chest, and stepped onto the dueling platform. The white marble glowed coldly in the sun, and the six contestants stood at the six corners of the platform, forming a fragile standoff.
Tutor Barton stood on the high platform, his gaze sweeping over the six contestants. His voice turned stern: "The final rules remain unchanged—it is an elimination match. The last person standing on the platform will be crowned this year's champion. Magical items are permitted, but lethal magic is forbidden. Any deliberate harm will result in immediate disqualification! Now, I declare the final—begin!"
The moment "begin" left his lips, Karen猛地 raised his short staff. Cyan wind-element energy凝聚 instantly at the tip: "Listen up, everyone! Take Lynn out first! Whoever lands the first hit on him gets the magic amulet my father sent me!"
Tempted by the reward, the noble youths moved at once. Tom and Jack charged toward Lynn first. Tom swung his staff, unleashing two cyan wind blades that hurtled straight for Lynn's face; Jack conjured a earthen-yellow stone shield, holding it before him as he advanced step by step—clearly intending to coordinate with Tom's attack and trap Lynn with the shield.
At the same time, Bruce and Davis, standing on the opposite side of the platform, launched their attacks. Bruce formed hand seals, and the ground suddenly trembled. Three sharp stone spikes erupted from the marble beneath Lynn's feet, aiming straight for his calves. Davis chanted under his breath, orange flames flickering at his fingertips as a fist-sized fireball took shape in his palm—obviously preparing a more powerful area attack.
The five attacks left Lynn with almost no room to dodge. The cheers in the arena died instantly, and everyone held their breath. In their eyes, no matter how skilled Lynn was, he could never evade the combined assault of five noble youths; elimination was only a matter of time. Andy gripped the railing beside him so tightly his knuckles turned white.
Lynn's gaze darted across the scene, but a faint, unseen smile tugged at his lips. Just as the wind blades were about to slash his face and the stone spikes were inches from piercing his trousers, he suddenly closed his eyes. The Ashen Spark in his dantian erupted violently!
"Ashen Clone!"
With a low shout, a faint gray glow surged around Lynn's body. When the glow faded, a second "Lynn" stood赫然 on the platform—wearing an identical cyan robe, holding a wooden short staff identical to his (a simulated energy form conjured by the clone), even mirroring his facial expression perfectly.
"What is that? Clone magic?" Tutor Barton's pupils contracted on the high platform, shock flickering across his face. "I didn't detect the slightest trace of clone magic in his mana fluctuations. This boy's energy control is far better than I imagined!"
Karen froze, clearly unprepared for Lynn to conjure a clone. But he recovered quickly, barking: "Ignore the clone! Take out the real one first! Davis, unleash the Flame Storm—burn both him and the clone!"
Davis nodded at once, hurling the fireball in his palm toward the center of the platform. The fireball exploded mid-air, and orange flames spread instantly, forming a two-meter-high wall of fire that surged toward Lynn and his clone. The Flame Storm covered nearly half the platform; no matter how Lynn dodged, he could not avoid the flames entirely.
Yet just as the fire was about to engulf them, the ashen-energy clone suddenly moved. Instead of fleeing, it charged straight into the Flame Storm. Raising its "staff," it unleashed a gray shockwave that blasted a gap in the wall of fire. Then, the clone spun around and raced toward Bruce, conjuring a small gray fireball at its fingertips and hurling it his way.
Bruce was fully focused on controlling the stone spikes to attack Lynn's real body, and never expected the clone to charge at him. By the time he reacted, the gray fireball was already before him. He hastily conjured a stone shield to block it, but the moment the fireball hit the shield, it did not explode. Instead, it clung to the surface, greedily devouring the earth-element energy within!
"What… what kind of magic is this? Why is my shield disappearing?" Bruce screamed in panic. He could feel the energy in the shield fading at a visible rate; the once-thick shield soon grew as thin as paper.
Taking advantage of Bruce's panic, Lynn's real body had quietly moved to the west side of the platform. Watching the five noble youths, whose attention was fully absorbed by the clone, a cold smile curled his lips—the moment was right.
"Energy Devouring Domain!"
Lynn shouted again. This time, he did not unleash a dazzling glow. Instead, he slowly spread the ashen energy in his body. A nearly transparent gray barrier expanded outward from him, silently covering the entire dueling platform. The noble youths, still pouring magic into their attacks, detected nothing unusual. They had no idea their magical energy was being frantically devoured by Lynn through that invisible gray barrier.
Lynn could clearly feel streams of pure energy pouring into his body through the domain: the wind-element energy Tom released with his wind blades, the earth-element energy in Jack's stone shield, the earth-element energy Bruce used to control the stone spikes, the fire-element energy in Davis's Flame Storm—even the wind-element energy tinged with Holy Light in Karen's staff was being slowly siphoned away. Once these energies entered his dantian, they were instantly converted into pure ashen energy by the Ashen Spark, causing the spark—already the size of his thumb—to grow even larger.
"Something's wrong! Why is my magical energy getting weaker and weaker?" Davis was the first to notice the anomaly. He saw his Flame Storm was still burning, but its power was fading rapidly. The two-meter-high wall of fire had shrunk to barely one meter, and its bright orange hue had dimmed to a dull amber.
Tom and Bruce joined in the cries: "Mine too! My wind blades could slice through planks earlier, but now they can't even cut the platform's carpet!" "My stone spikes… they're disappearing!"
Karen frowned tightly. He also felt his internal magical energy draining inexplicably, and his fingers gripping the staff tingled slightly. He lifted his head, his gaze locking fiercely on Lynn. Suddenly, he noticed the nearly transparent gray barrier around Lynn's body, and his face turned deathly pale: "It's you! What have you done? Are you using forbidden magic?"
Lynn did not answer. He simply raised his right hand slowly. As he did so, the gray domain above the dueling platform suddenly grew denser. The once-transparent barrier now revealed swirling gray energy, and the magical energy being devoured formed thin streams within the domain—like creeks flowing into a sea—converging toward his palm.
"What… what is that? Energy devouring?" Tutor Barton's eyes widened on the high platform. His clipboard slipped from his hand with a "clatter." "It's the legendary energy-devouring ability, unique to ancient magical systems! Just how many secrets is this boy hiding?"
The audience in the arena erupted into chaos. Everyone stood up, craning their necks to stare at the scene on the platform—they had never seen such bizarre magic, one that devoured others' magical energy like a sponge soaking up water. It defied everything they knew about magic.
Karen's face grew increasingly grim. He knew if this continued, his and the others' magical energy would be completely drained by Lynn. They would not just fail to eliminate him; they might not even stay on the platform. Gritting his teeth, he suddenly raised his staff and shouted to Tom and Jack beside him: "Forget the energy drain! Attack together with your strongest magic! I don't believe he can hold out forever!"
With that, Karen channeled all the remaining wind-element energy in his body into his staff. The crystal at the tip burst into dazzling cyan light: "Wrath of the Wind!"
A half-meter-wide cyan wind column shot from the staff's tip, whistling sharply as it hurtled toward Lynn's face—it was Karen's most powerful spell yet, capable of slicing a thick steel plate in half. Tom and Jack followed with their strongest magic, unleashing two wind blades and a thick stone wall that flew toward Lynn, attempting to coordinate with Karen's wind column and overwhelm him completely.
Bruce and Davis also gave it their all. Bruce controlled the last few stone spikes on the ground, driving them toward Lynn's back; Davis condensed the remaining energy of his Flame Storm into a massive fireball and hurled it at Lynn's feet.
The five strongest attacks descended simultaneously. The air around the dueling platform seemed to tear,发出 a hissing sound. Andy closed his eyes, unable to watch; the audience held their breath, and some even began to lament—in their view, even with Lynn's energy-devouring ability, he could never block so many powerful magical attacks at once.
Yet Lynn's face showed no panic. He watched the approaching wind column, wind blades, stone wall, and fireball, took a deep breath, and channeled all the ashen energy—now overflowing from devouring so much power—into his right hand.
"Ashen Giant Hand!"
With a thunderous shout, Lynn raised his right hand high above his head. Gray ashen energy swirled wildly in his palm, instantly forming a three-meter-tall giant hand. Its lines were clearly defined, each finger glowing with a menacing gray light, and countless tiny energy vortexes flickered in its palm—as if it could devour everything in the world.
This was Lynn's most powerful spell, one he had barely mastered after absorbing all the residual energy in the library's abandoned典籍 section. Limited by his current strength, the Ashen Giant Hand could not unleash its full power, but it was more than enough to deal with the five noble youths—whose energy had already been drained大半.
"Break!"
Lynn swung his hand down violently, and the giant ashen hand crashed toward the five youths' magical attacks.
"Boom—!"
A deafening roar shook the entire arena. The Ashen Giant Hand collided with the wind column, wind blades, stone wall, and fireball. Instead of the expected energy explosion, a powerful suction erupted from the giant hand's palm. Karen's wind column was instantly devoured, dissolving into a cyan stream of energy that merged into the hand; Tom's wind blades shattered like paper against it, their energy absorbed in an instant; Jack's stone wall crumbled effortlessly under the hand's strike, reduced to countless pebbles as every trace of earth-element energy was siphoned away. Bruce's stone spikes and Davis's fireball suffered the same fate—all became "nourishment" for the Ashen Giant Hand to grow stronger.
After devouring all the magical attacks, the giant hand swelled even larger. Lynn did not stop; he guided it to slam toward the five youths.
Karen's face turned ashen. He turned to run, but the moment he took a step, a powerful suction locked onto his body—it was the devouring force of the Ashen Giant Hand. He tried to conjure magic to resist, but found his body completely drained of energy; he could not even cast a basic wind blade.
"No! I can't lose!" Karen waved his staff frantically, trying to break free, but it was useless. The Ashen Giant Hand moved faster and faster, and in Karen's terrified gaze, it clamped down on the staff in his hand.
"Crack!"
A crisp sound rang out. The short staff inlaid with a high-grade wind-element crystal was crushed to fragments in the giant hand's grip. Shards of crystal flew everywhere, and the last traces of wind-element energy within were completely devoured.
Next, the Ashen Giant Hand seized the magical items of Tom, Jack, Bruce, and Davis in turn—Tom's wind-element staff, Jack's earth-element amulet, Bruce's stone spike ring, and Davis's fireball necklace. Without exception, all were crushed to pieces in its grip, their magical energy drained entirely.
Deprived of their magical items and drained of energy, the five noble youths lost all ability to resist. The Ashen Giant Hand gave them a gentle push, and they flew off the dueling platform like broken kites, crashing heavily onto the arena floor. They groaned in pain, unable even to stand.
Only Lynn remained on the dueling platform. He guided the Ashen Giant Hand to dissipate slowly, and the gray streams of energy merged back into his body. The Ashen Spark in his dantian glowed brighter than ever, and a faint gray aura even surrounded his body.
The entire arena fell deathly silent. Everyone stared dumbfounded at the youth in the plain cyan robe on the platform, unable to believe what they had just witnessed—the "worthless" handyman from the border town had single-handedly defeated the combined ambush of five noble youths, crushed all their magical items, and won in such a thorough,震撼ing way!
After nearly ten seconds, the arena erupted into thunderous cheers. Andy jumped up excitedly, waving his arms and shouting: "Lynn! You won! You're the champion!" The audience stood and applauded, their cheers and claps nearly lifting the arena's roof.
Tutor Barton descended from the high platform and hurried to the center of the dueling platform. His gaze on Lynn was filled with admiration and amazement: "Lynn, you've exceeded all my expectations! Energy devouring, clones, and that giant hand… your magical talent is the greatest I've seen in thirty years of teaching!"
He lifted Lynn's hand high and announced loudly to the crowd: "I declare the champion of this year's Azure Breeze Magic Academy Annual Tournament—Lynn! In accordance with the tournament rules, he has earned the right to train for one month in the Silver Moon Tower, the continent's intermediate magic tower!"
Cheers erupted again, louder than before. Lynn looked down at Andy, who was jumping for joy, then at the students who had once mocked him but now stared at him with respect. He touched the Forbidden Codex in his arms—the scroll trembled gently, as if celebrating with him.
He knew that from this moment on, he was no longer the "magic good-for-nothing" mocked by others, nor the border town handyman who had to endure humiliation to survive. With the power of Ashen Magic and his own efforts, he had finally secured his place at Azure Breeze Magic Academy—and even earned the chance to train in the continent's core.
In the corner of the arena, Eve stood quietly in the shadows, watching Lynn as he was surrounded by cheers. A faint smile curved her lips. She lifted her hand and touched the silver necklace around her neck, engraved with ashen patterns, and whispered: "Father, mother, I've found him—the one who can inherit Ashen Magic, the one who can avenge our family. Now, it's time to tell him more about the Holy Light Council and the secrets of the ancient civilization…"
Lynn seemed to sense something. He glanced toward Eve's direction, but all he saw was a patch of darkness. Yet he felt a familiar warmth in his chest—the Forbidden Codex was resonating again, as if responding to a call from the shadows. He smiled faintly, lowering his gaze. Whatever secrets lay ahead, he was ready. The glory of the champion was just the beginning; his journey to uncover the truth of Ashen Magic and confront the Holy Light Council had only just started.