A Classic Awakening Ceremony

Lou Shisui walked with his head lowered along the old streets in the early morning.

Dawn was just breaking, and the chill of the night still lingered, but many vendors had already set up their stalls along the road.

Rising steam and cooking smoke showed that the morning market was open, and the cries of vendors mingled with the sounds of customers haggling.

A dazzling array of fruits, vegetables, porridge, noodles, and rice dishes lined both sides of the main street, filling the old neighborhood with bustle.

Shisui turned onto a secluded side street, avoiding the morning market, which was not yet crowded.

A large part of the reason he had left at five was to travel outside the rush.

This was a densely populated residential area. If it were six or seven, people buying groceries and heading to work would fill every street and alley.

Although he had eaten a "chocolate cake" not long ago, adapting to his new body and becoming a Ghoul consumed even more Psychic Energy than he had imagined.

He had already digested his last meal and returned to the hungry state he had been in when he first arrived in this new world.

A familiar burning sensation came from his stomach. As he moved between the apartment buildings, his senses, sharpened by hunger, caught the scent of prey drifting from behind the walls.

Under these circumstances, if he got caught in a crowd, the Kagune he had yet to fully control might burst straight out.

He hurried out of the residential area and headed straight for a nearby bus stop.

The earliest bus he could take was a direct bus to West District Central City, and it would pass this stop in two minutes.

It would take about eighty minutes to reach West District Central City. Then he would have to transfer to the 005 bus and ride for another twenty minutes to reach West District No. 1 Middle School.

Classes officially started at seven thirty, and students had to be in the classroom before seven for morning reading or self-study. To avoid arousing suspicion, Lou Shisui decided it was better to behave and attend school for the time being.

One reason was that his strength had yet to return to its peak.

And based on the information provided by the Lou Family, he surmised that Kakuja in the Ghoul world were probably generally only as strong as humans in the third or fourth realm.

The mayor of Yin City, who held the fort in the Central District's main city, was a Sixth-Realm Peak powerhouse.

On the bus, Lou Shisui sat alone near the back.

His consciousness connected to the Spatial Ring, and a small library seemed to appear in his mind.

He closed his eyes and rapidly leafed through the books in his mind.

He could finish a hefty introductory book on Psychic Energy every three to five minutes. That was the limit of what he could manage at present.

The Lou Family had really gone to great lengths for this ignorant, incompetent descendant of their main branch.

They had even sorted and labeled the materials by category, identifying which were basic, which were introductory, and so on, all the way up to the family's core materials.

The pages fluttering rapidly through his mind were proof enough that once a Ghoul learned to control himself, his powerful control could drive his brain to operate at overclocked speeds.

Shisui opened the next book, which happened to be about the talent awakening that interested him.

Talent awakening was one of the most important turning points in a human's life.

If being born was one's first contact with Psychic Energy, then talent awakening was the beginning of learning to use it.

That was the other reason he was going to school. Tomorrow was the day the third-year students of West District No. 1 Middle School would attend the Talent Awakening Ceremony.

The Awakening Stones, which were strictly regulated by the Human Race, only left their protective barrier during the ceremony. This was a good opportunity for him to obtain one.

Shisui's thoughts wandered, and the pages turned a little more slowly.

He had killed himself right before awakening his talent. Suspicious, wasn't it?

If he had just held on until his talent awakened, he might have soared to the top, yet he had still taken poison.

Had he worried that he wouldn't awaken a good talent, or even that he wouldn't awaken one at all, and been crushed by the pressure?

Or would awakening a good talent have made him a target for his enemies instead?

This body's original Psychic Energy reserves had been considerable. A regulated substance capable of bypassing the body's self-protection mechanisms and taking effect instantly was not something a penniless, fallen young master was in a position to buy.

Besides, the prohibition against wiping out an entire family was only an unwritten rule established by convention.

If an enemy's descendant had a chance of making a comeback, he would have eliminated the threat at its roots from the start.

Besides, he had killed himself, so it wouldn't count as breaking the rules.

Lou Shisui's lips curled into a mocking smile, as though he had thought of something funny.

Then he gathered his wandering thoughts and, with a thought, pushed aside the introductory book he had finished reading in his mind and began leafing through a beginner's tutorial.

The knowledge in the idiot young master's memories was far too vague. He needed to cram some required subjects beyond basic common knowledge before reaching school.

"Phew—"

Lou Shisui let out a stale breath as he stepped off the 005 bus.

He rubbed his head, which ached for a moment from the intense studying. After pausing only briefly, he resumed walking toward West District No. 1 Middle School nearby.

In spring, West District No. 1 Middle School was full of blooming lilacs. Although it was not yet seven, sunlight already bathed the school's archway-style gate.

Lou Shisui ignored the brilliantly blooming spring flowers. Ghouls looked like humans on the outside, but were completely different within. To him, the strong, pungent scent was nauseating.

The hair on his current body was still black. His overlong black hair barely revealed his brows and eyes, then covered his eyes again whenever he lowered his head, making him look particularly gloomy.

This manner was the complete opposite of Shisui's personality, but it suited the "Lou Shisui" whose family had fallen from grace and whose relatives were all dead.

His eyes gleamed with bloodthirsty ferocity beneath his black hair, his frenzied predatory appetite well concealed beneath a human shell.

Without killing intent or a sound, a seasoned hunter, a Predator about to climb back to the top of the food chain, slipped in among the underage young.

"Tch! He's so unpleasant."

"It was one thing when he ignored people before, but he's not even a young master anymore. Does he still have to act so stuck-up?"

"Say less and leave him alone."

"Exactly. Who knows if a guy like that can even awaken a talent?"

Hushed whispers surrounded Lou Shisui.

It didn't take much to see how bad the previous owner of this body had been at getting along with others. The image of a young master proud of his family background but poor at socializing was plain to see.

But thanks to that young master's introverted personality, Lou Shisui made it to his seat in third-year Class A without trouble.

No one would pay Shisui any attention. The fair-weather friends who used to cling to him wouldn't bother with a pauper they could no longer squeeze anything out of.

And classmates with whom he had merely been on ordinary terms had no time to strike up a conversation with a former young master they barely knew.

Even the other family scions who were usually arrogant and overbearing wouldn't cause trouble before the awakening began, so they ignored him.

His personality hadn't been good enough to earn him friends everywhere, and he had never used his influence to bully others. At a key high school full of talented scions from wealthy families, he had been a thoroughly "invisible" nobody at the bottom.

Shisui absolutely loved this atmosphere of silent hostility.

Guys, who gets it? This school is pure torture for a Ghoul!

There are kids with tender flesh and abundant Psychic Energy everywhere. Delicious food is running around all over the place, but I can't eat a single one. That's just cruel!

Though his appetite churned within him, Lou Shisui remained calm as he sat in the corner by the window at the back.

His gloomy facade fit him like a glove, making him look like a mushroom in a corner untouched by light.

Enduring hunger was a required lesson for all Ghouls.

To live among crowds, they had to resist such temptations.

Otherwise, they would only become another accomplishment for the CCG investigators responsible for "exterminating" Ghouls.

"Good morning, class!" The homeroom teacher's voice arrived before he did, his booming greeting cutting through the sleep-inducing morning self-study session.

The homeroom teacher first swept his gaze around the room after entering, then continued, "Looks like everyone's here. I'll go over three final precautions. You'll be awakening tomorrow, so listen carefully!"

"First, stay calm, maintain your usual state as much as possible, and stabilize the Psychic Energy in your body;

Second, know your limits. If you feel unwell, signal a staff member or a teacher nearby immediately;

Third, do not make a racket at the venue, so you don't disturb the other students.

I won't go over the rest again, ..."

Drawing on his memories, Lou Shisui determined that he only needed to listen to the short passage at the beginning.

What followed would be a long speech identical to the one in his memories, basically a repetition of the Talent Awakening Handbook.

So he ignored the middle-aged man at the front and began searching the books stacked in his desk drawer for the awakening handbook containing the precautions.

"Basic Spiritual Energy Use," "Complete Guide to Common Species of Southern Kaiyang Continent," "Spiritual Energy Breathing Technique," "Talent Awakening Handbook"...

Found it!

Shisui pulled the "Talent Awakening Handbook" out from beneath a stack of textbooks and flipped through it, checking whether its contents matched what he remembered.

[Article seventeen: After awakening, participants in the Awakening Conference must show the regulatory department's personnel their basic talent information.]

[Article twenty-eight: Before awakening, if any damage to an Awakening Stone is discovered, please signal the regulatory department's personnel immediately.]

[Article thirty-three: Once the awakening is over, please return the Awakening Stone and leave the venue in an orderly fashion.]

Tch! Sure enough, armed power is something subject to centralized control.

Personal privacy? The Awakening Stone is provided by the authorities, so what personal privacy can you claim!

Everyone's talent would be recorded, and once it was entered into the system, that was practically the same as making it public.

"Ring, ring, ring—"

The class bell recalled Shisui's wandering thoughts. He turned his attention back to the lectern and settled down to be a well-behaved high school student.