Leiting (full name: Ao Leiting, Chinese: 傲雷婷 “Lightning”) is a spirit loong and a student in Class 3 of Grade 5 at Zhizheng Primary School. She serves as the P.E. representative for her class.
Origin
Leiting used to be a normal human girl at Guancheng Zhizheng Primary School. At the end of her fourth-grade year, she followed her classmate Qiuye the Spirit Dhole into the spirit realm of Fengtai Observatory. There, she touched an ancient artifact called Fengtai Dragon Ball, which inexplicably transferred its spirit power to her, transforming her into a spirit loong.
Leiting’s base species is the Eastern Loong (scientific name: Loong sinensis sanhai, conservation status: Extinct), which may have inspired the Loong (龙, Chinese Dragon) totems in Chinese culture. This species went extinct due to its inability to adapt to the sudden temperature drop during the Younger Dryas cool period of the Upper Paleolithic era (Old Stone Age).
Judging by Leiting’s animal form, the Eastern Loongs were omnivorous creatures well-adapted for running, jumping, and swimming. They had blue, white, and yellow feathers like birds, but they also had pawpads. The yellow areas of their bodies could discharge bioelectricity, and they featured glowing antlers.
The spirit power inherited by Leiting from the Dragon Ball carries residual memories from its former owner, Feng the Spirit Loong. These memories occasionally surface in Leiting’s dreams or under certain stimuli. Feng appears to be an Upper Paleolithic era (old stone-age) woman who loved pottery and stargazing. Based on Leiting’s description, Qiuye believed that Feng was the “Phoenix” (Feng means Phoenix in Chinese) mentioned in the “Phoenix Legend” of the historical downtown of Guancheng. She speculated that Feng might have been the inspiration of Nüwa (Feng Lixi), the goddess in Chinese folklore who repaired the sky and created humanity.
Personality
Leiting is a cheerful and outgoing person who easily strikes up conversations. She stands up for classmates facing bullying and always offers a helping hand to those in trouble.
Leiting is a curious and mischievous girl, brimming with childish energy. She hates boredom and is loves to explore new things. She touches everything that interests her, and struggles to focus on one task for long. If told not to do something, she will likely do it anyway.
Leiting is confident and brave. Challenges and danger only excite her. She also enjoys provoking her opponents, earning a reputation as a troublemaker in her family and school.
Specialties
By the time Leiting inherited the spirit power from the Dragon Ball, it had been dissipating its energy for over 14,000 years and there was barely any left. Her initial spirit power capacity was so small that she struggled to maintain her human disguise, leading to all kinds of mishaps in her daily life. Nevertheless, Leiting felt delighted and playfully considered herself “the chosen one” with “a great responsibility.” She could not wait to explore the wondrous world of spirit animals.
Although the spirit power Leiting inherited from Dragon Ball was weak, the karma associated with it is exceptionally strong. It seems that all of China owes a significant favor to the former owner of this power. This aligns with Qiuye’s hypothesis that Feng inspired the legend of Nüwa, the goddess who repaired the sky and created humanity. Due to this karma, Leiting’s spirit power easily influences external objects; for instance, many artifacts in museums would “come alive” in her presence.
Leiting possesses stronger animal instincts than many spirit animals, despite her human origin. She is a talented spirit spell user and quick learner, able to sense the flow of spirit power better than anyone else. With just a glance, she can imitate spells at 80-90% accuracy. However, due to her low spirit power capacity, she can only use these spells as weakened “cheap versions” or short-lasting “trial versions.”
Leiting is a natural athlete who excelled as a sprinter and long-distance runner on her school’s team. After becoming a spirit animal, her abilities were enhanced; she became more agile and nimble, capable of climbing walls and leaping between rooftops in all three forms. She may be one of the best spirit animals in Dongguan, if not all of China, when it comes to acrobatic spells.
Leiting can discharge bioelectricity, which can serve as a power source for charging mobile devices. Her antlers emit light powered by this bioelectricity. As she is not a fully thermoregulating animal, her body temperature is lower, making her cool to the touch in summer; however, in winter she becomes inactive and spends all day sleeping near the heater.
Life
After becoming a spirit animal, Leiting formed a trio with her classmate Qiuye the Sprit Dhole and Mingzhu the Spirit Shark. Because of their respective favorite colors (and the main body colors as spirit animals) they were jokingly referred to as the Traffic Light Trio. They often go on “adventures” in the city, uncovering secrets left by other spirit animals or assisting the local Spirit Animal Association with community services.
Leiting, Qiuye, and Mingzhu are the only spirit animal students at Zhizheng Primary School, and they must keep their identities secret. At home, Leiting needs to prevent her parents from discovering that she has become a spirit animal. Her sister Chunyu, who shares a room with her, knows this secret and helps to cover her secret.
Leiting struggles with classroom learning and isn’t a very hard-working student. Qiuye often tutors her and Mingzhu after class to help them maintain barely average scores.
Leiting is the P.E. representative for Class 3 and a key player on the school athletic team.
Relationships
Leiting and Qiuye live in the same neighborhood and have been classmates since first grade. Qiuye was often bullied, but Leiting always came to her aid. Qiuye admires Leiting’s passion and confidence and wishes to be like her, though she finds Leiting’s unpredictability and recklessness quite frustrating. In turn, Leiting respects Qiuye’s knowledge and appreciates her tutoring.
Leiting and Mingzhu the Spirit Shark met long ago and have been classmates since first grade. Their silly behaviors and constant struggles with classroom learning earned them the nickname “Silly Sisters.” Mingzhu enjoys following Leiting around to have fun, echoing Leiting’s words and cheering her on, which leads to her being called Leiting’s “minion,” though she is really the “Big Boss” in terms of raw power. As a shark, Mingzhu naturally wants a bite on everyone, but she has a particular fondness for Leiting’s loong meat, often imagining dishes she could make with it. However, she constantly reminds herself: “I must not eat my classmate.”
Alice the Robot girl sees Leiting as a nusance – she likes to mess with things she isn’t supposed to touch, and is particularly good at breaking them – including Alice’s robotic body and equipment. One of her pranks caused Alice’s battery to catch fire, damaging her body. As a result, Alice had to use a robotic sweeper as a temporary body for weeks. Since then, whenever she uses the sweeper, she will intentionally ask Leiting to carry her upstairs or onto her desk. Feeling guilty, Leiting will just comply.
On the other hand, Leiting also finds Alice troublesome – spells don’t work on her and she always shows up at inconvenient times and places. Moreover, Alice’s self-promotion habit and stinginess also irritates Leiting, which leads her to tease Alice with more pranks.
Leiting’s older sister, Chunyu, is the only human aware of Leiting’s spirit animal secret. Although she appears indifferent, Chunyu genuinely cares for her sister and has always provided her with cover. However, she also exploits this secret to make Leiting run errands or act as a pillow in her animal form. Meanwhile, Leiting often plays pranks on Chunyu using her spells.
Leiting’s parents are unaware of her spirit animal secret. Her dad takes a hands-off approach, and the two form a “united front” in the house. In contrast, her mom adopts a zero tolerance policy for Leiting’s antics and forms another united front with Chunyu.
Libbie the Spirit Oryx is Leiting’s head teacher. She considers Leiting to be her most mischievous and challenging student. She goes to great lengths in covering and guiding this unruly little girl.
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