The golden light from the pedestal stretched far beyond the cliffside, piercing the clouds like a spear of pure fire. Villagers in the valley below shielded their eyes, gasping at the brilliance. Birds scattered from the trees, and distant mountains reflected the glow like molten gold.
Harold Vale staggered back slightly, still absorbing the surge of energy flowing through him. The staff of the Monkey King materialized firmly in his grip, golden and blazing. His pulse raced, but beneath the adrenaline, a calm certainty settled in his chest: this was his power, and no one could take it from him.
"Luke… it's… incredible," Harold murmured, feeling the Monkey King's heartbeat—alive, intelligent, and wild—thrum in time with his own.
"Incredible is an understatement," Luke replied. "The light you're emitting… experts across the empire are going to notice this. They're already coming."
Harold's eyes widened. "Already?"
Before he could question further, a roar of air split the sky. Three figures descended at impossible speed: the White Tiger, the Azure Dragon, and the Dark Phoenix—each an expert from a different prestigious academy. They landed gracefully on the cliff edge, eyes wide, cloaks billowing in the wind, and relics gleaming in their hands.
A man with silver hair and tiger-striped robes—the White Tiger academy master—spoke first. "That light… impossible. An SSS-tier titan… awakened? By a human boy?"
The Azure Dragon, her scales glimmering faintly around her, shook her head. "This is beyond the reports. No one has awakened the Monkey King in over a thousand years. Who is this boy?"
The Dark Phoenix master, his robes black as night and feathers of flame trailing behind him, stepped forward, eyes narrowing. "And yet, here he stands. We must investigate. He could either be a prodigy—or a threat."
Harold straightened, feeling the Monkey King stir within him, its power flowing into every fiber of his being. The aura wrapped around him like armor, golden and fierce, and he could sense its judgment of the experts. It was wild, cunning, untamable—yet it respected him.
"Step forward," Luke urged internally. "Let them see your potential, but don't give them leverage."
Harold lifted the staff slightly. Light flared brighter, and the air itself vibrated with power. The three masters recoiled slightly, shields raised instinctively. Harold's eyes met theirs—not with arrogance, but with the calm certainty of someone who had finally found his strength.
The White Tiger master stepped forward again, his voice measured. "You… are remarkable. We must… test your abilities."
Harold raised a brow, a faint smirk forming. "Test me?" he thought. "Go ahead."
They led him to a flat plateau nearby, and a giant crystal—an awakening test crystal—was set in the center. It glowed faintly, recording every pulse of his mana. The three experts gestured for him to unleash the Monkey King's power, and Harold obliged, channeling the titan's energy.
The light flared brighter than before, golden waves spiraling into the sky. The crystal shuddered violently under the force of his aura, humming and cracking. Then, with a sharp, ear-splitting sound, the crystal shattered into pieces, scattering shards across the plateau.
The experts froze. Eyes wide. Mouths agape.
"What… what just happened?" the Dark Phoenix master whispered, voice tinged with awe.
The White Tiger rubbed his eyes, disbelief clear. "Impossible… the boy has exceeded the limits of the crystal. He is… out of our league."
Harold lowered the staff slightly, feeling the Monkey King's essence pulse in his mind like a heartbeat. "Out of your league… maybe. But I've only just begun," he thought.
The Azure Dragon stepped closer, cautious. "Are you certain this is… safe? That your control is stable?"
Harold nodded, the confidence radiating from him. "Stable enough. But not fully tamed yet. That's part of the reason I need… growth."
Luke's voice flared inside him, sharp and amused. "Growth indeed. Look at their faces—they didn't even anticipate this. You just announced your existence to the world, Harold. And they're terrified."
The masters exchanged glances, recognition dawning slowly. This boy—the one everyone would have ignored, the one expelled, the one rejected by the school—had awakened the Monkey King, a titan that had not been touched in centuries.
"You… you are beyond anything we imagined," the White Tiger master finally said. "This is… unprecedented."
Harold tilted his head, letting the golden aura shimmer around him. "I don't care what you imagined," he thought, voice low and cold with resolve. "I will become more than you or anyone else expects. And those who scorned me? They'll regret it."
The Dark Phoenix master nodded slowly, eyes gleaming with both caution and intrigue. "Then it seems the empire has a new force to contend with. One… entirely unpredictable."
Harold felt the Monkey King stir inside him again, the staff glowing brighter, responding to his emotions. The power was intoxicating, but he kept it in check. This was only the beginning—one awakening done, six more to go, and countless trials ahead.
"They know nothing of what's coming," Luke murmured. "And they will learn… the hard way."
The golden light slowly faded as the Monkey King settled into its dormant-but-aware state inside Harold. The world had seen him now. The academies, the warlords, the experts—they had all witnessed the impossible.
And Harold Vale, standing tall with the aura of an SSS-tier titan swirling around him, smiled faintly.
"Let them come," he thought. "Let them see what a failure can truly become."