Emperor of the Source

The crystal's surface remained completely inert, its dark surface casting no light or movement. Adrian's palm pressed firmly against ot, yet absolutely nothing stirred within its core.

Seconds stretched into an agonizing eternity of silence, the massive hall holding its collective breath as hundreds of hearts seemed suspended between beats. 𝙛𝒓𝓮𝙚𝔀𝒆𝒃𝓷𝒐𝓿𝙚𝓵.𝙘𝒐𝒎

"Is the crystal malfunctioning?" a woman whispered from the tense crowd.

…

Thousands of kilometers away, deep within one of the planet's most treacherous and scarred Wastelands, something suddenly stirred. The white-grey stone, the mysterious object that had fallen unnoticed during the Sentinel's revelation, had waited in darkness for two and a half centuries.

Its surface, unmarked by the passage of time, suddenly gave a response to a call only it could hear. The stone's dormant core flickered once, twice, and then blazed with recognition.

Found.

…

Back in the cavernous hall, the world abruptly vanished. Adrian's consciousness descended rapidly through various planes of existence, each one falling away like discarded layers. The room, the imposing crystal, and even his own physical form faded into faint, distant recollections.

He floated weightlessly in the space between spaces, drifting in a realm where conventional physics bent and all mortal meaning dissolved. Here, in this transcendent reality positioned far beyond human comprehension, he witnessed the underlying architecture of existence itself.

Limitless power flowed before him, not as separate, turbulent streams, but as a single, magnificent, and infinite torrent from which all lesser forces drew their strength.

He instantly understood the truth: fire was merely heat given temporary form, water was just the dance of molecular bonds, and lightning was nothing more than the brief, chaotic fury of electron storms.

All of it, every single affinity humanity had ever cataloged or revered, were pale, isolated shadows of this singular origin: [Source].

The pure energy called out to him with a resonant voice that bypassed his ears and spoke directly to his very soul. His consciousness reached out, invisible fingers of raw will extending deep into the cosmic flow.

Contact.

…

In the physical world, the crystal's smooth surface cracked violently against the strain of containing something far too vast. Light didn't emanate from within; instead, it bent violently around the monolithic stone, warping the visual spectrum.

Adrian's hand remained pressed against the crystal as reality itself warped around him. The air grew incredibly dense, molecules clustering tightly together as if drawn by invisible, crushing threads of mana.

"What's happening to the stage?" Leo's voice carried across the silent hall, with panic and concern.

The reinforced platform beneath the crystal groaned loudly in protest. Stone compressed rapidly under forces that had no name, its surface developing deep hairline fractures that spread like spiderwebs across the marble.

Then came the silence, not just the simple absence of sound, but the terrifying absence of everything. For one agonizing heartbeat, the space immediately around the crystal became a localized pocket of nothingness that completely swallowed light, sound, and even the sensation of existing.

The localized vacuum suddenly collapsed with a deafening thunderclap that rattled windows three blocks away. Everyone in the front rows stumbled backward as powerful shockwaves of residual force rippled through the floorboards and traveled up their legs.

"Space affinity," someone breathed in awe from the terrified crowd, "But that's impossible. No one awakens with that kind of power".

Above the stage, the crystal's holographic glow shifted wildly, displaying power readings that climbed far beyond the instrument's designated capacity. Texts blurred past S-Rank, pushing past anything the device had ever been designed to measure, until the text degraded into meaningless, rapidly cycling chaos.

On the high observation deck, Adrian's mother gripped the balcony railing so tightly her knuckles turned white against the metallic surface. "Thomas, that level of spatial distortion—" she began, her voice betraying her composure.

"I know," his father interrupted, "I've seen Space users before. But never anything like this".

Down below, the air surrounding Adrian shimmered heavily like heat waves, space itself physically bending to accommodate cosmic forces that simply shouldn't exist in a sixteen-year-old's awakening.

The stern proctor slowly backed away from the stage, her practiced professional composure visibly cracking. "Everyone, remain calm. This is still within normal parameters," she insisted loudly into her microphone, the blatant lie hanging in the strained air.

Just when everyone thought the bizarre phenomenon had finally ended, the crystal's dark surface began to writhe like living flesh. The main display screen above the stage convulsed, its spatial readings dissolving entirely as if erased by an invisible hand. Suddenly, intense heat erupted around the monolith in a violent bloom, turning the air into blinding curtains of superheated atmosphere.

"Fire Affinity detected," the automated display announced, the words quickly scattering into pixelated fragments as the sensors overloaded.

A moment later, thick frost instantly bloomed across the crystal's surface. The ambient temperature in the hall plummeted so rapidly that the panicked people's collective breath turned to vapor clouds.

"Frost Affinity confirmed," the system declared, its mechanical voice distorting through speakers.

Almost immediately, blinding blue lightning began to writhe around Adrian's form. The violent electrical discharge suddenly died as immense gravity seized the hall, pressing down with invisible hands that made the sturdy floorboards shriek in protest.

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Many in the crowd dropped forcefully to their knees under the crushing weight of the sudden pressure. Leo's face contorted as he fought desperately against the invisible force to remain upright, sweat beading heavily on his forehead.

The crystal flickered wildly between states of matter, its surface alternating rapidly between solid, liquid, and something that defied scientific classification entirely. Each bizarre transition brought fresh, chaotic readings that flashed across the display faster than human eyes could ever hope to track.

"What in the seven hells is happening?" The proctor's voice cracked in genuine panic as she fumbled blindly for the emergency shutdown controls on her podium. Her trembling fingers found dead switches, but it didn't work.

The crystal had forcefully assumed complete control of its own systems, feeding hungrily on deep data streams that originated from the databases of the galaxy sent back by the Celestial Eleven.

The crystal's core blazed brilliantly with information overflowing its matrix. Every single known affinity in the global registry flooded through its sensitive sensors simultaneously, creating a massive feedback loop.

Throughout the terrifying storm, Adrian stood perfectly motionless at the center, his consciousness still floating peacefully in that transcendent space between spaces.

The large display screen convulsed one final time before finally surrendering to the impossible. Its chaotic readings abruptly stabilized into pure white text against a stark, blank background.

"System override," the mechanical voice announced with a tone of digital exhaustion. "Unable to categorize multispectral phenomena. Defaulting to conceptual classification".

The entire hall fell into a breathless silence as the final words materialized clearly for all to see: [Echo] Affinity, SSS-Rank Potential Rank.

The proctor stared in shock at her secondary display, where additional classified data scrolled past in rapid streams of alien text. Her face completely drained of color as the system's translation algorithms struggled with ancient information that predated human civilization. "The crystal's accessing the deep archives," she stammered into her open microphone. "Data from the first war. This affinity... It's listed as extinct".

The proctor's hands trembled violently as she accessed the deeper files, "Additional data incoming… An Echo user's mana functions as a blank slate or perfect mirror". She swallowed hard, reading the screen for everyone. "By observing an opponent use a skill, say, a Rank-C Fireball, the Echo user's highly adaptive mana analyzes the signature. The specific frequency, rotation, and composition of the fire mana. It then temporarily mimics that signature, allowing the user to cast a copy of the Fireball skill".

"That's not possible," someone whispered from the breathless crowd. "How could such an affinity even exist?"

The proctor raised her hand, her professional composure slowly returning as she read further from the database archives. "The Echo affinity is not omnipotent. It comes with severe limitations," her voice carried across the hall, "An Echo user must comprehend a skill like everyone else to replicate it. They cannot create skills from nothing". She scrolled frantically through more data, her brow furrowing in deep concentration. "An echo is never as pure as the original. Mimicking an A-Rank skill would manifest at a significantly lower power level, perhaps B-Rank or C-Rank".

Leo's eyes widened drastically as he processed the information. "So it's like... a weaker copy?"

"Yes, the process of reshaping one's mana to perfectly mimic another affinity is incredibly inefficient. Even though the mana of an echo user is a blank slate, reshaping the mana is too hard," the proctor explained to the crowd. "Echoing a single powerful skill could completely drain an average user".

A stunned, heavy silence gripped the hall for a moment, followed quickly by an explosion of chaotic whispers. An Echo affinity, the power to replicate other affinities, remained a myth, a legend, even with its severe limitations. To see it awaken, and at an SSS-Rank Potential, was an event that would shake the foundations of the Earthlings' United Organization.

Up on the stage, Adrian's consciousness settled gently back into his physical body. The cosmic torrent faded to a quiet whisper in his mind, yet its profound memory burned bright and undeniable in his soul. Every single sensation from the awakening ceremony rushed back to him, the loud gasps of the crowd, the proctor's stammered explanations, and the hundreds of incredulous stares.

A faint, knowing smile touched his lips. The crystal's surface finally cooled beneath Adrian's palm. He lifted his hand calmly.

The whispers continued, hundreds of voices merged into a symphony of disbelief, their words fragmenting into meaningless noise against his elevated awareness.

"An affinity that could copy others," someone said from the crowd. "But the limitations... he'll never match the originals".

Adrian understood what everyone was thinking as he heard the whispers. They saw a mirror where a vast wellspring existed, mistaking a mere reflection for the infinite source itself.

The proctor fumbled anxiously with her tablet, sweat beading along her hairline despite the hall's returned coolness. "Mr.Blackwood, please step down from the platform. We'll need to conduct additional assessments".

"Of course," Adrian's voice carried evenly across the silent hall. He descended the steps, his steady footfalls echoing against marble that still bore deep hairline fractures from his awakening. The awestruck crowd instinctively parted before him.

Leo rushed forward immediately, his face flushed with a mix of excitement and concern. "Adrian, that was incredible! SSS-Rank Potential! But the proctor said—".

"I heard what she said," Adrian interrupted softly, his gaze sweeping across the assembled students.

He glanced upward. His parents watched intently from the balcony, their composure mostly intact but their eyes sharp with obvious worry. His mother's hand rested heavily on the railing, her grip still firm and white-knuckled.

"The Echo affinity is fascinating from a theoretical standpoint," the proctor continued loudly to the murmuring crowd, "But in practical application, its energy costs make it nearly unusable in sustained combat".

Adrian nodded politely toward her, his expression revealing nothing of the roaring cosmic river that still whispered at the edges of his expanded consciousness.

Let them believe their ancient databases and dusty records, but he could feel the actual truth burning within him. What he possessed was not merely an Echo.

The Source Energy pulsed steadily within his veins, not borrowed or reflected, but flowing directly from the pure wellspring where all power originated. Fire, water, lightning, space- they were all mere facets of a single, infinite gem that he now held.

Adrian positioned himself quietly among the other awakened students. Sarah, still glowing warmly with immense pride from her A-Rank Healing awakening, stared at him with incredibly wide eyes. "Adrian, what was it like? When the crystal started... doing whatever that was?"

"Enlightening," Adrian replied, the single word carrying layers of meaning that none of them could begin to fathom.

"The proctor made it sound like your affinity is more trouble than it's worth," she muttered.

"Every power comes with costs," Adrian countered smoothly. His gaze drifted thoughtfully back toward the crystal, where the next nervous student approached with trembling hands.

The awakening process gradually resumed its normal rhythm, each subsequent manifestation appearing utterly mundane after the cosmic storm Adrian had just unleashed. Wind affinity, B-Rank Potential. Wood affinity, C-Rank Potential.

As he watched the process, deep within him, Adrian felt the Source Energy eagerly responding to each new awakening, instantly recognizing tiny fragments of itself in every single manifestation. The students weren't actually gaining new power; they were merely accessing tiny, rigidly channeled portions of what already existed within him.

"Your parents look worried," Leo observed quietly, following Adrian's upward glance toward the elite balcony.

"They're concerned about the implications," Adrian replied, "An unknown affinity draws attention from the Organization"

The ceremony continued to drone on around them, but Adrian's consciousness remained firmly fixed on the boundless cosmic river hidden inside him. Its infinite, swirling depths promised unparalleled power far beyond mortal comprehension.

But he could not reveal anything yet. Adrian himself had not fully understood the truth of Source, and until he did, it was far safer to let everyone believe he possessed Echo.

The greatest and most lethal predators were always those that appeared perfectly harmless right up until the exact moment they struck.