Magic City Seventh Magic High School.
Looking at the hefty Awakening Stone before him, shaped like a star compass with clearly visible palm-print grooves on its surface, Lu Wu felt a little anticipation.
In the two years since coming from Earth to the magic world, he had studied magical knowledge diligently and successfully gained admission to Magic City Seventh Magic High School.
Now, he finally had the chance to undergo Magic Awakening.
"Lu Wu, start when you're ready. The others are still waiting," his homeroom teacher, Jia Wenshang, reminded him.
At that, Lu Wu took a deep breath. After settling himself, he stretched out his right hand, placed it on the palm print on the Awakening Stone, and closed his eyes.
When he realized he was surrounded by desolation, Lu Wu knew his soul consciousness was now inside his spiritual world.
The spiritual world stretched without bounds, desolate as far as the eye could see.
Not far from him, a powerful sense of something taking shape arose, as though something was about to be born.
Lu Wu was full of anticipation, wondering which magic element he would awaken at the basic level.
He focused his attention there, and when a wisp of fiery-red stardust appeared in his vision, he was a little surprised.
Red stardust-it was the Fire Element!
"Fire Element. Not bad, I guess."
Without examining his stardust closely, Lu Wu prepared to leave his world of nothingness.
Although the Fire Element had decent attack power at the basic level, it was not the magic element he wanted.
Powerful firepower was certainly something to pursue, but at the basic level, staying alive mattered most to him.
Unless they were exceptionally gifted or had some trump card in hand, most basic-level mages were no match at all for Servant-level Demons.
The element Lu Wu most wanted to awaken at the basic level was the Wind Element.
He could flee when he discovered Demon Beasts, and once he cultivated to the advanced level, he could even fly under his own power!
That was flight!
[Ding! Congratulations to the host on a successful awakening. Sacrifice System activated.]
Just as Lu Wu was about to leave, a crisp voice rang out.
[The host may choose to sacrifice objects rich in energy from the magic world, such as Elemental Seeds, energy crystals, and Demon Beast organs, to receive rewards. One random reward is currently available.]
"Sacrifice System?" Lu Wu was overjoyed.
Rather than rushing to leave his spiritual world, he began learning about this Sacrifice System.
The Sacrifice System would strengthen his right hand into an altar capable of devouring the energy of sacrificial offerings.
When making a sacrifice, he needed to place his right hand on the offering, then wait for it to finish devouring the offering to complete the sacrifice.
After a sacrifice, he would receive a reward from the system.
Although the rewards were random, the reward pool was fixed.
There were four main types: Magic Awakening, Stars Enhancement, Shadow Becomes a Demon, and increasing the shadow demon's strength.
Magic Awakening and Stars Enhancement increased his own strength, while Shadow Becomes a Demon and increasing the shadow demon's strength concerned something external.
Lu Wu continued carefully reading the system's introduction.
Shadow Becomes a Demon could only be used once. It could detach his shadow and turn it into some kind of Demon Beast that would remain by his side, and he could even use the shadow demon to move!
Moving through shadows and darkness by means of the shadow demon-wasn't that effectively the Shadow Element's Beginner Magic?!
"Claim the reward," Lu Wu said, a little impatient.
Now that he had awakened the Fire Element, if the reward was Magic Awakening, he could awaken two magic elements!
The Fire Element had relatively strong attack power at the basic level. If he also awakened the Wind Element, Earth Element, or even Shadow Element, he would have both attacks and a means of escape.
[The host has claimed a random reward and received Stars Enhancement.]
As the voice faded, Lu Wu discovered that the fiery red of his stardust had grown more intense.
Not only that, as a mysterious energy fluctuation poured in, Lu Wu discovered that the seven dazzling stars were growing larger.
Although the process was slow, watching the stars grow ever more dazzling filled Lu Wu with excitement.
The larger the stars, the more magical energy they could store.
The brighter the stars were now, the more magical energy there was on their surfaces.
The longer Lu Wu watched, the more excited he became. He immersed himself completely in the system, entirely forgetting that he was still undergoing his awakening.
Jia Wenshang had initially seen a small fiery-red flame appear on Lu Wu's right hand while his eyes were closed and determined that he had awakened the Fire Element.
This should have been something worth celebrating, but Lu Wu had not woken up.
A short delay would have been one thing, but he had now remained unconscious for a long time, and even calling to him could not wake him!
"Quick, go to the infirmary and get the teacher!" Jia Wenshang had already laid Lu Wu flat, putting the awakenings on hold for now.
In all his years of teaching, Jia Wenshang had seen failed awakenings, but never anything like this.
Magic City Seventh Magic High School had a Healing Element mage, but when the mage arrived, they could not find the cause.
So they moved Lu Wu to the infirmary.
When Lu Wu woke up, he discovered someone sitting beside him. She wore a long white dress and held a cup of lemonade.
"How long was I asleep?" Lu Wu asked, looking at Mu Nujiao.
"An hour. I heard you fell unconscious and they couldn't find anything wrong. I thought you weren't going to wake up."
"What, couldn't bear to lose me?" Lu Wu sat up, in an excellent mood.
What he could confirm now was that the Sacrifice System really had made his cultivation different. He had even been insulated from outside disturbances while the system strengthened his stars.
Casting magic generally involved three steps: awakening, control, and release.
In most cases, after awakening a magic element, one needed to meditate constantly to make the stars within the stardust emerge, then use mental power to control the stars and form a Star Path.
Once the Star Path formed, the magic could be released!
His stars had already emerged, so all he needed to do next was learn to control them. He was already several months ahead of others.
Mu Nujiao rolled her eyes at his words. "Be serious. Is your body all right?"
"I'm fine." Lu Wu looked at Mu Nujiao. Even seated, her tall figure was apparent, and her lovely face was equally captivating.
"Did your awakening succeed or fail?"
"It succeeded." Lu Wu looked at Mu Nujiao. "What magic element did you awaken?"
"You'll find out when the time comes." Mu Nujiao did not tell Lu Wu her magic element.
Although Lu Wu would find out eventually, she would keep it secret for now.
When the time came, she would definitely give Lu Wu a huge surprise.
At that, Lu Wu looked Mu Nujiao up and down. "Actually, you rarely wore dresses before. You were almost always in your school uniform. I never expected you to look this good in a dress."
He did not persist in asking about Mu Nujiao's magic element, but Lu Wu was certain that it was unusual.
His Fire Element was considered fairly good among the elemental magic types. Given Mu Nujiao's competitive, battle-loving nature, if her element were not better than his, she would already be cultivating hard.
The girl was in a good mood now, and the dress she wore today was indeed a rare sight.
"What, don't I look good in my school uniform?" Although Mu Nujiao showed little outward reaction, she was very happy inside.
Even as she spoke, she did her best to keep her tone unchanged.
"You're the school beauty. How could you not look good?" Lu Wu had already gotten off the hospital bed. "Want to have a look around Fresh Food City?"
"Fresh Food City?" Mu Nujiao's face was filled with disbelief.
Fresh Food City was a famous place on Haihe Road in Magic City. All its ingredients came from Demon Beasts, and they had to be fresh enough, too.
Even the cheapest dish cost over a thousand.
With Lu Wu's personality, why would he spend money there?
"What? I don't have much money, but I've worked every day these past two years and saved a little. It's enough for a few meals." Lu Wu felt a little unnerved by her stare.
If Fresh Food City didn't have Demon Beast organs, there's no way I'd spend that much money there.
After all, over these past two years, after food, clothing, housing, and transportation, he had only saved seven thousand.
At present, he could not possibly be strong enough to obtain Demon Beast organs himself, let alone Elemental Seeds or crystal veins.
Demon Beast organs, on the other hand, were something he had a chance of buying. He just did not know what specific requirements the Sacrifice System had.
He would have to explore that himself.