The academy became a different kind of cage. Under the Elder's new, carefully crafted narrative, Ren was no longer the academy's dud; he was its mad dog. Students didn't mock him openly anymore. They watched him with a wary, nervous energy, parting before him in the corridors with the haste of villagers avoiding a rumored lunatic. The story of his "Delayed Awakening" had spread like wildfire, painting him as a volatile talent whose power could erupt without warning.
He saw it in the way Lin Fei and his cronies, who once swaggered towards him with open contempt, now froze and fell silent when he entered the refectory, their eyes holding a mixture of hatred and genuine fear. He was no longer just a target for their pride; he was a threat to their safety. The power of a good story, Ren mused, was a formidable weapon in its own right.
His new training with Elder Tian began immediately, and it was the polar opposite of Zephyrion's brutal forge. The Elder led him to a quiet chamber deep within the Pavilion. In the center of the room sat a single, unblemished white jade pedestal.
"Your power is a raging fire," the Elder said, his voice as calm and cool as the jade. "You have learned to uncork the volcano, but you have no control over the lava. We will fix that. Your task is simple. You will summon a single spark of your soul's Aether, the same spark you showed me in your room. You will then place it upon this pedestal. And you will hold it there, perfectly still, perfectly stable, until I return."
He left without another word.
Ren knew this was a test of exquisite control. He sat before the pedestal and focused his will. He drew upon his soul's power, the energy now familiar and almost comfortable after the first tempering. A single, beautiful spark of azure lightning, humming with contained power, appeared at his fingertip.
"A parlor trick," Zephyrion's voice echoed in his mind, dripping with scorn. "The old fool wants you to tame a wildfire by teaching it to be a candle flame. Pathetic."
Ren ignored the ghost. He carefully transferred the spark from his finger to the surface of the jade. The moment his will disconnected from it, the spark flared violently, its stable form dissolving into a chaotic burst of static that scorched a black mark onto the pristine white jade. Failure.
He tried again. And again. For hours, he fought to maintain the spark's integrity, to impose a state of perfect, ordered stillness upon a force of pure chaos. It was like trying to sculpt water.
"You are thinking like a GAMA fool," Zephyrion taunted him. "You are trying to build a cage of will around the energy. You cannot contain a storm. You must become the storm's calm center. Command it to be still not by force, but by a perfect understanding of its nature."
The spirit's insult, as usual, held a kernel of profound truth. Ren changed his approach. He stopped trying to force the spark to be still. Instead, he reached into it with his will, feeling its internal, chaotic rhythm. He didn't suppress the chaos; he harmonized with it. He found the central point of its raging energy and simply held that one point in a state of absolute equilibrium. The chaos continued to rage around that single, infinitesimal point, but the spark itself, now anchored from within, held its form.
It sat on the pedestal, a perfect, tiny, unmoving star of blue lightning.
He held it for an hour. Then two. By the time the Elder returned that evening, the spark was as steady and serene as the moon.
Elder Tian looked at the stable spark, then at the single scorch mark from Ren's first attempt. He gave a slow, measured nod. "Your control is accelerating at an unnatural rate. The awakening has indeed made your will more pliable." He accepted the lie because the results were undeniable. "This is a good start. But a tamed spark in a quiet room is not a weapon. You need a true test. A public one."
He turned to Ren, his eyes serious. "The Grand Mid-Year Tournament begins next week. The duel you fought with Anya Volkov was merely the preliminary selection match. I have pulled some strings. You will be entered into the main elimination bracket as a formal contestant."
Ren's mind processed the information. A full tournament. Dozens of opponents. A stage where his every move would be scrutinized.
"Your objective is not to win the tournament," the Elder continued, his voice dropping to a strategic whisper. "Your objective is to be seen. The Pagoda is watching. We will give them a show. In each match, you will display a single, controlled application of your power. You will defeat your opponents decisively, but without revealing the true, terrifying nature of your abilities. You will show them that the 'unstable genius' is being tamed, that his power, while potent, is being brought under the orderly control of a GAMA Elder."
He looked at the steady spark on the pedestal. "You will show them a candle flame, Ren. And you will make them believe that is all you are capable of, even as you hide the inferno within."