Two months later.
In the abandoned quarters of a ruined apartment complex on the city's eastern fringe, Lin Feng sat cross-legged, his breath slow and steady, eyes closed.
The air buzzed faintly with mana. A black aura wrapped around him, inky tendrils dancing in the shadows like hungry serpents.
Above his head, seven dark-purple stars hung in a rough arc, gleaming faintly.
He slowly moved his fingers, and the stars responded.
No longer wild. No longer resisting.
Obedient.
"Finally."
The Curse Element was different.
Where others get three distinct spells per tier with different intensity like —Fire with its Burst, Fist, and Wall... Lightning with its Whip, Bolt, and Movement... Curse magic followed another path.
Only one spell per tier.
But that one spell grew stronger the more it fed.
And Lin Feng had been feeding it plenty.
[You have unlocked: Curse Magic - Novice Tier Spell: Mist of Fear (恐惧之霾)]
Mist of Fear: Creates a vision of one of the target's worst nightmares. Induces panic, hallucinations, loss of magical control. Duration and intensity scale with the user's level, intent, and emotional state.
The stars flared briefly as he summoned the spell again—dark fog rolling out from his feet like a living thing. He waved a hand, and the fog obeyed. Whispering. Pulsing. Clinging to the walls like a cancerous mist.
He'd tested it—on rats first.
Then strays.
Then low-level thugs from the city's underworld who wouldn't be missed.
The things they screamed…
He didn't even have to touch them. Just a bit of mist. Just a bit of fear. And they broke like glass.
Lin Feng opened his eyes, the stars above him fading back into nothing.
"Not bad. Not bad at all." He flexed his fingers. "I'll be ready to kill the mages soon."
But not yet.
Attacking Tian Lan Magic High was still too risky. Too many eyes. Too many teachers. Surveillance spells. Patrols. Protective glyphs. He'd be exposed before he could reach the gates.
So instead…
He'd start where no one would look.
The normal school kids—those unawakened nobodies or those awakened who did not have talent enough to enter magic high school, who hung around the downtown arcades and alleyways. Easy prey. And if any happened to have some magic equipment.Even better.
Flesh, fear, and mana. All the fuel he needed to grow.
He stood, grabbed his coat, and tucked the bloodied scalpel into his sleeve.
Bo City had forgotten what true fear looked like.
But they were about to remember.
Lin Feng slipped the heavy jacket over his shoulders, the frayed hood hanging over his face. Outside, the wind was bitter, the kind that scraped at skin and carried whispered secrets through broken windows. Great night for a hunt.
Before he left, he opened the old wooden drawer next to the bed, and pulled out something new, a butterfly knife. Freshly cleaned, but still soft with sin. The blade was a deep, obsidian black, polished to a mirror shine, and etched with faint golden serpentine patterns that twisted when the light hit perfectly.
It was beautiful.
It was deadly.
Click-clack.
He flicked open the blade with a practiced hand, then back closed it, the metal singing softly as it locked into place. A cold grin slid across his lips.
"Tonight," he murmured softly, "we cut a little deeper."
As he stepped into the hallway, past the peeling walls and rotting carpet, a memory slithered back into his mind - yesterday's kill. The one he wasn't supposed to kill.
That poor bastard who had spilled everything about the Holy Spring.
Boss Zhou hadn't taken it well.
"You what?"The room had gone silent as Lin Feng stood there, calm as ever, blood still drying on his fingers.
"I—I didn't mean to. I lost control," he had said smoothly. "The ecstasy took over. I thought I could stop but…" He trailed off, forcing a shaky breath, then smiled weakly. "I broke him. Just too much fun, I guess."
Zhou's eyes had burned with restrained fury, veins bulging beneath that scarred face.
"We needed him alive, damn it."
"Yeah," Lin Feng had replied, scratching at the dried blood on his sleeve, "but we got the coordinates, didn't we?"
Luo had laughed like it was the best joke he'd heard all week. "The kid's a nutjob, but he's efficient."
Boss Zhou eventually grunted and turned away. "One more fuck-up like that, Feng, and I'll skin you myself."
Lin Feng had just smiled.
Inside, he knew.
Zhou wouldn't dare touch him now.
Not when he was useful. Not when the Holy Spring was within reach.
But the reason he was sure to not get killed was because he was the only one who could satisfy Boss Zhou's twisted desires of seeing people in pain and hearing their screams.
Now, as he stepped out into the cold neon-lit streets of Bo City, the shadows embraced him like an old friend.
The butterfly knife flicked open again.
Click-clack.
It was time.
Tonight, he wouldn't be hunting beasts.
He'd be hunting children.
And the Curse Star Map was more than ready for them.
____
The broken building stood like a forgotten corpse at the edge of the city's shadow—a half-collapsed warehouse with busted windows, graffiti-covered walls, and the distinct stench of mold and piss. To the city's authorities, it was abandoned. To thrill-seeking teenagers and hormonal brats, it was a haven. A place to drink, smoke, kiss, and pretend they were rebels in a world that didn't care.
To Lin Feng?
It was a feeding ground.
He was propped against the beside the brick wall, next to the rusted side door, hood pulled low, with one foot languidly against the building. His fingers were engaged with a butterfly knife made of obsidian, opening and closing its small blade in a hypnotic sequence. Click-clack, click clack.
It was hours into night now, and the muted noise of the city seemed on the dead side of town—no traffic, no patrol units, no parents. Just a distant barking dog and ghostly drip drip drip of broken gutters.
He waited.
He could wait forever if he needed to.
But he didn't have to.
Because of luck? It loved sick bastards like him.
Soft laughter echoed down the alley.
Two silhouettes stumbled into view—teenagers, maybe sixteen or seventeen. The boy was tugging the girl by the hand, both half-drunk, giggling, whispering like the world was theirs. Lin Feng didn't even blink as they passed within meters of him, oblivious to the eyes gleaming under his hood.
They slipped into the warehouse, pushing through a half-rotted door.
Lin Feng gave them a few seconds, then rolled his shoulders and followed, silent as a ghost.
Inside, the building was worse. The walls were stained with old filth, and shattered glass littered the corners. The kids had found a relatively clean spot—an old tarp laid out beneath a collapsed skylight, moonlight filtering through like a spotlight.
Perfect.
He stepped through the doorway with the grace of a shadow. The boy heard it first, turning his head, confused.
"Who the hell—?"
Click.
The butterfly knife flicked open.
"Sorry to interrupt," Lin Feng said, his voice low and smooth like silk sliding over broken glass, "but I need to borrow your nightmares."
The Curse stars in his body surged.
Tonight, he'd test Mist of Fear.
And if it worked?
They'd die screaming.
Else, he would need to kill them with this knife, which would be fun too.
The Curse stars spiraled into formation in Lin Feng's mind. Unlike the chaotic attempts from weeks ago, this time they flowed smooth, obedient—his. They pulsed like ink in water, slow and beautiful, each one aligning in a silent, terrifying symphony.
He pointed a finger toward the boy.
"Mist of Fear."
The air shimmered. Thick black fog spilled from his hand like smoke bleeding from a dying star. It spread, choking, slithering over the floor, curling up their legs like shadowy fingers.
The couple froze.
And then the screaming started.
It wasn't human.
The boy's eyes went wide as saucers, mouth stretching in a horrified scream as something invisible snapped his mind in half. He clawed at his face, shrieking like he was being burned alive. Blood gushed from his nose, then from his eyes, thick and black like tar. His hands went to his throat as he convulsed violently, back arching like a puppet on broken strings.
"NO! NOT HER! PLEASE, NOT HER!" he shrieked to something only he could see.
His fingernails snapped as he dug into the concrete floor, trying to crawl away—but his body wasn't listening. His legs trembled, useless. Foam and blood mixed at the corners of his mouth.
The girl wasn't spared.
She stared at him, at Lin Feng, then the fog engulfed her too.
"No… No, Daddy, don't—DON'T LOCK ME IN AGAIN—!"
She let out a soul-shredding wail, her knees buckling as she scratched at her own skin, trying to rip away something crawling beneath. Her screams bounced off the ruined walls, animalistic and raw. Blood poured from her ears, soaking her shoulders, drenching her clothes. She writhed, eyes rolling back, body twitching like she was being electrocuted.
Lin Feng stood at the center of it all. Calm. Serene.
A conductor at a symphony of pain.
His fingers twitched, feeding more mana into the spell. The fog thickened, shadows twisting into distorted faces, mocking laughter echoing from every corner.
"Do you see?" he whispered to no one, or maybe to them. "Your mind is your cage. And I'm the key."
The boy's face smashed against the floor as he seized, jaw cracking audibly. Blood sprayed as he bit through his own tongue, gurgling something that didn't sound like words anymore.
The girl was still alive.
But not for long.
She curled into a ball, whispering to someone long dead, shaking, whimpering. She was broken.
Lin Feng knelt down beside her, gently brushing hair from her blood-slicked face.
"This is mercy," he murmured. "If I used my knife, you'd scream for hours. But this?" He smiled. "This is art."
He stood, walking away slowly as the fog began to dissipate, revealing two mangled bodies twitching in silence.
________________
Ding!
[You have killed 2 magic-capable targets.]EXP Gained: 1800Curse Magic Proficiency Increased: Mist of Fear (Lv.1)Mastery Progression: 27%Title "The Predator" effect: Active
________________
Lin Feng didn't even look back as he flipped the butterfly knife closed and vanished into the night.
Tonight was only the beginning.
The Academy kids were next after he gained enough proficiency to cast magic without faliure.