The starting point

The basic tests really were basic. Unfortunately, Shi Yu failed.

"Your reflexes and coordination are both excellent, so how is your stamina this bad?"

Hu Zihao patted Shi Yu, who lay sprawled on the ground, and sighed at the sight of his soul already drifting away.

"...Don't... compare me... to you two..."

After struggling to gasp out those words, Shi Yu temporarily died.

Looking at Shi Yu, Han He quietly took out two tender green shoots beside him, crushed them into a ball, and squeezed hard with his fingers, dripping their juice onto Shi Yu's head.

Amid some sort of words from Han He, a cool, fresh plant scent spread over Shi Yu's body, as though countless new leaves were sprouting and growing on him.

The effect was immediate. Soothing ordinary fatigue was simplicity itself for the power of the Ninth Art. Shi Yu felt that coolness flowing freely through every part of his body, his aching legs and painful lungs slowly relaxing as though they had been moistened.

"Ah... thank you."

Feeling that wondrous power, Shi Yu rolled over. Looking at Hu Zihao and Han He, whose faces were practically unchanged, he sighed.

"That was terrifying... A hundred-meter sprint, then two hundred meters, then a thousand, followed straight away by pull-ups and long jumps, and then... I really am going to die."

Hu Zihao sighed too as he listened. Thinking about it, if he had not become a Gifted, that whole routine really would have finished him off.

Just after Shi Yu barely managed to stand, Shen Bai came over from a distance. Seeing that Han He had already treated Shi Yu, he relaxed and put away the little box he had prepared long beforehand.

"Not bad. Han He and Hu Zihao go without saying. This sort of test isn't difficult for enhancement-type Staircases. Shi Yu did pretty well too. Just keep training. You could actually have used your abilities to help along the way. You don't have to be so strict."

Then Shen Bai looked toward Huo Qiuliang, who was still running in the distance, and said calmly:

"See? Xiao Liang is very good at that."

Shi Yu followed Shen Bai's gaze and saw Huo Qiuliang moving rather strangely in the distance.

By now, a flush had spread over Huo Qiuliang's cool, pale skin. Sweat dripped into the air, which had already turned chilly, and his baggy hoodie exposed his slender arms as he moved. Anyone could tell he was tired. Very, very tired.

Yet his running speed had barely changed at all. More precisely, it was not just his speed. His movements and their rhythm had not changed either.

Had Shi Yu looked up close, he would have discovered that Huo Qiuliang's pupils had become as pale as weak tea, veiled in a faint glow.

Thin Moon's Staircase was the Staircase of Lies.

Huo Qiuliang could influence other people's perceptions and deceive their senses, so naturally, he could manipulate his own as well.

Rather than running of his own accord, he had now entered something more like a hypnotized state. He felt little fatigue and would not easily stop.

He had deceived himself.

What a savage.

Shi Yu thought this quietly and began considering how to expand his own abilities. He had gained a great deal from today's outing, deepening both his understanding of abilities and his approach to actual combat.

Watching Huo Qiuliang still running mechanically, Shen Bai called him to a halt when he passed them.

"All right, Xiao Liang. That's about enough."

As the words fell, Huo Qiuliang raised his head with a somewhat blank expression. Then, under everyone's gaze, the moonlight faded from his eyes, and he plopped onto the ground.

"Owwwwww-"

The moment Huo Qiuliang sat down, he started howling, loudly declaring that he would never go poking around again.

Shen Bai shook his head with a smile, then turned and walked off to one side.

He knew Huo Qiuliang would never expose information about their own people to outsiders. Huo Qiuliang had always known where to draw the line, but a little punishment would serve as a warning. He still needed to behave himself in the future.

After all, knowing too much was not a good thing either.

Seeing that Huo Qiuliang still had the strength to yell, Shi Yu sighed as well. Come to think of it, he had been punished because of him.

Sensing that some of the Origin inside him had recovered, Shi Yu reached out to pull Huo Qiuliang up, taking the opportunity to try soothing his fatigue.

Meanwhile, Shen Bai stood in an empty spot, reached out to grab something, and gave it a hard tug. A car was "peeled" out of that space with his movement.

Shen Bai had hidden the car here beforehand and concealed every trace of it.

"All right. Remember everything I told you today. From now on, you're all truly colleagues. Work with one another. There will be plenty more opportunities to spar, so we'll gradually learn to work together."

Watching Shi Yu pull Huo Qiuliang up, Shen Bai opened the car door and said:

"That's it for today. I'll drive everyone back."

Huo Qiuliang grabbed Shi Yu's wrist and said shamelessly:

"Aww~ Little Shi Yu's hands are so soft~ You're not mad anymore, right? Be the bigger person and forgive me~"

"Ewww-"

Shi Yu yanked his hand back and scrubbed it hard against his clothes, saying in disgust:

"Ugh, get away from me! That's disgusting! If you knew it would come to this, why did you do it in the first place?"

Besides, he had not actually been all that angry.

Seeing Shen Bai open the car door, Shi Yu turned and ran, slipping into the car in a flash.

Beside him, Hu Zihao and Han He hunched their shoulders at Huo Qiuliang's shamelessness, then climbed in as well.

As the car door closed, the curtain finally fell on Shi Yu's first-ever day of reporting for duty.

It had been a little more exciting than he had imagined. After all, he had become an "Anomaly Handling Specialist," received two bank cards, and was about to escape poverty and become prosperous. He would also officially be fighting for ordinary people. How could he not be excited?

Shi Yu's heart fluttered with the jolting of the car. Even he could not quite tell whether it was from exhaustion or excitement.

"Go on, eat! This one's on me!"

Despite Hu Zihao's words, Shi Yu looked at the table full of dishes before him, at a loss for where to start with his chopsticks.

"You ordered too much... We're going to be eating leftovers for ages."

Left with no choice, Shi Yu started with the pork knuckle closest to him.

Laughing, Hu Zihao brought back a pack of Dayao soda and opened three bottles with a bottle opener.

Minors were not supposed to drink alcohol, after all.

After Shen Bai reached the city, Hu Zihao volunteered to take Shi Yu and Han He with him and get out. Shen Bai agreed without saying much. When Hu Zihao invited him along, Shen Bai said that he and Huo Qiuliang still had things to do and would not be joining them.

Although Huo Qiuliang looked as though he really wanted to go, he held it in after Shen Bai spoke, curling up in the passenger seat and looking thoroughly unreconciled.

Ignoring his reluctance, Shen Bai dropped the three of them off, said goodbye, and left.

That was how the three of them had ended up in the restaurant.

Though they did not dare discuss anything too out of the ordinary in public, Hu Zihao remained enthusiastic. He was the liveliest of the three, and with him leading the conversation, even Han He chatted quite a bit.

The spread before them looked substantial, but as ability users whose strengths lay in stamina and physical fitness, Hu Zihao and Han He had astonishing appetites. Before long, they had actually polished off most of the dishes on the table.

"Oh, right. I forgot to tell you."

Hu Zihao wiped the ring of grease from around his mouth and swallowed a mouthful of four-joy meatball before saying:

"My mom asked someone yesterday about the teachers and students from our school who were hospitalized."

"How are they doing?"

Hearing this, Shi Yu put down the pineapple-flavored Dayao in his hand and asked Hu Zihao what had happened afterward.

Hu Zihao glanced back at the tightly shut door and only spoke after Han He signaled that it was fine.

"I heard everyone's recovering pretty well. They're improving quickly. They'll probably be discharged in a few days."

"That's good news. As long as everyone's safe."

Shi Yu felt much more relieved after hearing that. It was undoubtedly good news for everyone who had survived.

Hu Zihao paused, then said:

"But according to information from inside the hospital... the doctors actually never managed to figure out what was wrong with the teachers and students. It was only after they locked the place down for a bit on the day someone tried to assassinate me that everyone started getting better, one after another."

Shi Yu immediately understood what Hu Zihao meant.

The authorities intervened.

Everyone on my team was there that day... and none of them should have the ability to treat consciousness-related injuries. That means someone from nearby came to help.

Right. I'm not the only one who joined Stars.

"In any case, it's a good thing."

Han He's tone was gentle. He set down his chopsticks and said slowly:

"As long as everyone's safe."

Shi Yu smiled at that.

"Yeah. As long as everyone's safe."

Hu Zihao immediately raised his glass. His movement stirred up a layer of crisp bubbles in the fizzy drink, which burst and released the scent of lychee.

"Great! It's all good news! Let's have a toast! To being seventeen!"

"Cheers!"

Clink~

The three glasses met. They were a little too full, and the drinks spilled out at the impact. Under the light, the sweet liquid glimmered, then fell onto the table with a clear splash.

"Cheers!!!"

On a day when they should have been sitting in a classroom studying or daydreaming, the three boys tipped back their heads and drained the fizzy drinks in their glasses.

Bubbles tumbled in their mouths and burst in their throats as they swallowed, like the most ordinary morning or evening in their short lives, vanishing in a flash and leaving behind only a resounding belch.

(End of volume one)