As we walked towards the spirit pagoda, I couldn't help but think about its history as I unconsciously looked up at the sky and stared mindlessly at the clouds drifting aloft.
The Spirit Pagoda, established by the 'spirit ice douluo Huo Yuhao' 10.000 years ago. It was first created to stop or at least reduce the rate of killing of the spirit beasts by humans. But it didn't really help.
Now, as the organization that has a monopoly on spirit souls and is leading in research for artificial spirit souls, they became one of, if not the strongest power on the three continents.
Yes, the three continents: the Douluo Continent, Heaven Dou Continent, and Star Luo Continent. And how were they founded? Well, it's a long story.
It began 10.000 years ago, when the Heaven Dou Empire was defeated by the Sun-Moon Empire. They embarked on a voyage, and after many losses and hardships, they discovered a huge continent and colonized it. Naming it 'Heaven Dou Continent.'
And while the Heaven Dou Empire was defeated, there was still war being waged against the Star Luo Empire, and they were quickly losing because of the technological difference between the 2 empires. So, they had to think of other plans.
That's when they started to push seafaring technology and explored the sea, and not long after discovered another large continent. They quickly occupied it and silently annexed the whole Star Luo Empire with their resources and named it the 'Star Luo Continent.'
And with no Star Luo Empire, the Sun-Moon Empire quickly took over the land and unified the Douluo Continent. The Sun-Moon Empire and Star Luo Empire both adopted a federal system, renaming themselves as the 'Sun-Moon Federation' and the 'Star Luo Federation.'
Now how does this tie in with the Spirit Pagoda? Well, as spirit souls are essential to soul masters now that the spirit beasts are extinct, they spread their feathers towards the continents and quickly rose to power, establishing themselves as the most powerful organization in the soul master world.
Now, as a soul master. To continue your cultivation, you must have a spirit soul to obtain a soul ring. And the Spirit Pagoda is the only one who can manufacture them. But there is one problem: it costs a lot of money to make spirit souls. And because of that, spirit souls are extremely expansive.
Slowly in the distance, a three-layered pagoda stood above the other buildings. It was probably the tallest building in this city, and that just shows the importance of the Spirit Pagoda on the continent, even in a mid-sized city like this.
Well, that soul master wasn't lying when he said I couldn't miss it.
As I stared forward, a voice disturbed my thoughts. "Nene, what do you think our spirit souls will be like? I hope they're cute." A girly voice spoke out as she cupped her face as she giggled. That girl was Tian Zhi.
My gaze drifted towards her, and I stared at her for a bit before answering. "I don't know. But it would be a wonder if there were any compatible ones." This was a three-layered pagoda after all. The lowest branch, but what would you expect from a small-sized city? There would probably only be 10-year-old spirit souls and a few hundred-year ones.
But not only that, they would be very basic as well. So, if you had a rare attribute, then they probably wouldn't have any, and you would need to go to a bigger city, like a mid-sized city where they have a seven-layered or a major city to a thirteen-layered pagoda.
At my statement she visibly deflated a bit but quickly got up. "It doesn't matter that much anyway! I won't be a soul master anyway!" She proudly exclaimed as my face morphed into that of shock.
"You were serious about that speech?" I blurted out. Of course I was shocked. Becoming a soul master was the most beloved occupation for as long as man can remember. I thought she didn't mean those words she said in class and only did so to quell the envy from other students.
"Of course!! What's so great about being a soul master?" Oh, as someone with innate full soul power. She spit in the faces of so many people with just that sentence. "You fight, and you get hurt. It's dangerous, and I don't want that. I will be a top tailor and make clothes.
"They will be revolutionary, and my martial soul is proof of that. That's why I will cultivate; I will use my martial soul to make clothes, and I will be rich." She had a sick smile on her face at the mention of money, but then a wonderful smile blossomed. "Then, I will sell them for a cheap price. And they will be accessible for everyone, the poor and the rich alike, and everyone will buy them!
"And while I become a tailor, Lei Ming and Tian Long will both become famous soul masters and advertise my product and make a lot of money. Then they will buy food for orphanages all over the continent so that no orphan will go hungry anymore."
Truly a noble dream.
Maybe it was birthed by their own life experiences. Not the same as me.
As an orphan with limited food, seeing kids with their families walk by in pretty clothes and things that they will never have as a child is truly heartbreaking.
And their dream is to fix this. A truly noble dream.
"So, what about you? Your name was Long Yanqing, right? What's your dream?" She turned to me with a big, radiant smile.
My dream?
I turned towards the clouds, maybe seeking answers.
But I already knew.
She cast a curious glance at me as I stated with resolution evident in my voice. "…I will become the most powerful soul master. I will engrave my mother's name on my armor, and everyone on the three continents will know my name."
And the first step towards that dream begins right here.
Now in front of us was the Spirit Pagoda. It was shaped as an octagon with three floors. As we stepped inside, a spacious interior revealed itself, but it was mostly empty now. Probably because the Spirit Pagoda is mostly visited by soul masters, and there weren't many in this city.
The cold marble floor echoed our footsteps as in the center was the Spirit Pagoda emblem. There was also a circular door, but we ignored it and made our way towards the reception counter, which was manned by an ashen-robed soul master.
The soul master already took note of our arrival and stood up from behind the desk. He cast us a scrutinizing look as he asked. "What can I help you kids with?"
His tone was quite strong, and I noted the crease of his eyebrow, even though he tried to hide it well.
He is probably quite disgusted by us, seeing as one is an orphan and the other is a bloodied mess. But I simply ignored him and gave him my card. The one I got from the soul master at the awakening ceremony to trade it for a 10-year-old spirit soul.
The girl quickly followed my action as she spoke up. "We want to trade these in for spirit souls."
In a look of surprise, the man took both our cards. "Let me check the authenticity first." He said, and this time, his tone was more reserved.
And of course it would. We had these cards, which were only given to those deemed gifted by the Spirit Pagoda. And we were only six, so if you do the math, you looked at two geniuses with innate full soul power.
These were the geniuses that every power wanted to recruit among their ranks. And rightfully so. They were so rare, and those who stuck to the end were legendary figures, known across the continent. So, it wouldn't be great if you got on their bad side, and if they held a grudge, they could later come back and wreck your life.
Shortly after, the soul master returned with a humble expression. "Sorry for the wait. Now if you would, please follow me."
We were then brought to a room that was completely different from the outside. It was full of technological apparatuses that were arranged throughout the room. As we entered, the spirit master started a lesson that was quite interesting, so I paid close attention.
"In this room, we will test your spiritual power. Just like soul power, spiritual power is divided into ranks. But not in the same way as soul power. It is important to know your spiritual power because it will determine with what spirit soul you can fuse. So the stronger the spirit soul, the more spiritual power the soul master needs to fuse with it.
"Before the existence of spirit souls, there weren't any ranks for spiritual power at all. But when spirit souls first appeared, we gradually realized that fusing with a spirit soul required much more spiritual power than fusing with a spirit ring. After extensive research, they created the rankings for spiritual power. It was only in the last two thousand years or so that the rankings were completed."
As he explained, he typed on his tablet and set up a chair. He was probably preparing for a spiritual power test. But a question rose in my mind, and seeing no better time, I just asked him. "So how is spiritual power divided?"
The Spirit Master responded while grabbing a helmet, "From low to high, spiritual power is divided into: Spirit Origin, Spirit Connection, Spirit Sea, Spirit Abyss, Spirit Domain, and the fabled Divine Origin. These six realms are quite simple.
"Everyone begins at the Spirit Origin Realm. It is the beginning of a journey, the origin of a soul master, their very beginning. And you two should be on this level. I won't talk further; you'll learn more at school. Now come sit here and put this on."
He gestured towards the chair with the helmet in his hand. We both looked at each other at the same time. But since I still wanted to process the previous information, I took a step back.
"Then I guess I'll go first!" She exclaimed as she skipped over to the chair.
As the helmet was put on Tian Zhi's head, metal arms strapped her head in. Her body tensed, and her eyes looked around in shock. But the soul master quickly calmed her down.
"Stay calm. Don't be so tense. When the test starts, you might feel a little strange, but that's normal. You need to stay relaxed. No harm will come to you."
She took a deep breath to calm her nerves before simply nodding in confirmation and a sign that she was ready.
At a press of a button, a low humming sound reverberated throughout the room, and the helmet emitted a white glow. As we watched as the number on a side screen appeared and slowly rose and capped at '16,' the soul master's expression changed to one of astonishment.
The man took off the apparatus from Tian Zhi's head, and she quickly looked over to the screen.
But her expression took on one of confusion. "Uhm… Is 16 a good number?" She asked, and the soul master smiled before carefully explaining.
"16 is an excellent number to start with as a soul scholar. Remember, spiritual power increases as you age, up until you reach 40. You're only 6 years old, so your spiritual power will grow in leaps and bounds when you get older.
"Oh, and I forgot to mention that the Spirit Pagoda will record the results of the test. Right now you are at the beginning of the 'intermediate rank.' So right now you can fuse with a 100-year-old spirit soul."
Tian Zhi got giddy at the thought and jumped up and down with joy. The soul master just left her to her antics as he signaled me over to the chair.
I got on the cold chair, and nervousness kicked in. The soul master set the apparatus on my head and gave me the same reminder as Tian Zhi.
I quickly reined in my jumbled thoughts and took a deep breath. With a nod, the soul master pressed the button, and the same humming sound resounded while white light was emitted from the helmet.
By now Tian Zhi had calmed down, and together with the soul master, he stared at the screen. Both had a look of astonishment, especially the soul master. His mouth stood agape while Tian Zhi whipped her head my way with fire in her eyes.
What did I do? Did something happen?
But instantly, my mind fuddled, and my world spun; I felt dizzy, but in front of my eyes… or in my mind. Was a little pond of water, and a moon hanging in the air. There was a lady clothed in white facing away from me with a large pointy hat obscuring her head.
I tried to move, but I felt restrictive as if I didn't have any space to move. I heard the sound of wind sliding off my ear as the world instantly disappeared, and I found myself back on the chair.
The soul master quickly took off the apparatus and held me by the shoulders with a face that could be described as absolute excitement.
"Amazing!! Truly amazing! A spiritual power of '32.' Kid, you have breached the 'advanced rank' at the age of 6!! Truly amazing!" The soul master gushed over me as he quickly dragged me to Tian Zhi, who also had a shocked expression at the soul master's sudden outburst.
But the soul master didn't mind, and he held us both by our shoulders. "You two, you haven't joined the Spirit Pagoda yet, have you? Then you two should definitely accept." He stated in a matter-of-fact tone. His eyes seemed sincere, though. Not like the other soul master from the awakening ceremony, he looked like a creep.
"The Spirit Pagoda will give you many resources to help you two in cultivation. Not only that, they will give you a discount if not just give you free spirit souls if you are talented enough, which you two definitely are. And for you, boy. You should definitely accept.
"The card you both received can only give you white spirit souls. But you two, you are both over the intermediate level; you can immediately fuse with a yellow spirit soul. I don't know if you have the money, but they are expensive. So you should think this through." He explained everything in just a few breaths, and although I was a bit overwhelmed, I got the gist of it.
Because our spiritual power was so high, we can fuse with a yellow spirit soul. But I don't have the money for it; I only have around 30.000 federation coins on me right now. And a yellow spirit soul could cost up to a million. Safe to say, that was an astronomical number for me.
"…I'm sorry, mister, but I refuse." Tian Zhi stated with resolution in her eyes, and the soul master only nodded at her words before turning to me with hopeful eyes.
But I hesitated. Is it really wise to join the Spirit Pagoda? But spirit souls are so expensive…
After mulling it over in my head, I decided to bow to the soul master.
"I'm sorry, but I can't." I stated, the soul master's face lost its color before asking in a strained voice.
"Then can you tell me the reason at least?"
"Ah… um, well. My dad is a soul master. And he asked me not to join any organization for now. He said to first spread my horizons before making a lifelong dedication." Although it's a lie, it's also partly true. But I don't want to make a hasty decision right now, and right now, it feels like I'm being forced to join the pagoda.
It just doesn't feel right how pushy they are. So I'll decline for now.
"Oh, well. If you ever change your mind, you can always go to the nearest Spirit Pagoda branch to join." He explained as he got his smile back, although his eyes were a bit sad and looked at us in mild disappointment. I don't think I made the wrong choice.
"Now then, let's get your spirit souls. Follow me." He said as he guided us to an adjacent room. "So, let's see what your martial souls are. Then we can look if there is a compatible soul spirit."
First was Tian Zhi as she released her cloth martial soul. It was just a piece of fabric; it really was unbelievable. I still couldn't get my head around the fact that just about anything could become a martial spirit. But that just made me more curious: What is my second martial spirit?
The soul master's face stiffened, but he quickly collected himself. "Hmm, a cloth. I think if you want to go with a control system, then a fire-resistant type spirit soul would be helpful and something to strengthen or lengthen the material..." As he mumbled to himself, Tian Zhi beamed a smile and responded.
"Don't worry, mister! My martial soul can elongate on its own, and we tested it at the orphanage. The material is pretty sturdy, so let's go with the fire-resistant one. Thank you for your consideration, sir." She gave a cheerful explanation, but her thoughts were quite different.
'Why should I care about this? I'm not going to be a soul master anyway; he seems experienced, so I'll just go with what he said.'
The soul master went into the back and quickly came back with a ball and an oval device and gave it to Tian Zhi. Then he instructed her on how it works. "This is a Soul spirit ball. If you press this button on the device and shine its light onto the ball, the spirit soul will break out of its shell. Then the soul spirit will belong to you. Here, try it out."
The soul master gave the spirit ball and device to Tian Zhi, and she was happy to take it. She pressed the button and did just like the soul master said.
The spirit soul ball reacted to the light, slowly emitting a faint radiance before becoming transparent. The light began to turn white, and from its center a brilliant white soul ring emerged. A sign that it was indeed a 10-year-old spirit soul.
The light began to fade as the ball unfurled. Finally the soul spirit became visible, and a red-scaled snake appeared; golden eyes looked around and curiously took in his surroundings as the flame on top of his head flickered with intrigue as its 20-centimeter body slowly slithered up Tian Zhi's arm.
"This spirit soul is known as the fire-scaled snake. Although he is a 10-year-old spirit soul, he is probably the most fire-resistant out of all the white spirit souls we have. If you later have a chance to evolve your spirit soul to a thousand years, there is a high likelihood that he will evolve into a fire-demon serpent." He explained as Tian Zhi looked at the snake with hearts in her eyes.
'The soul master was right! It WAS a good idea to listen to him! It's SOO CUTE!!' Large golden eyes reflected her face as she stared back. She then faced the soul master and bowed.
"Thank you, soul master! I couldn't have asked for a better spirit soul!!" She stated with excitement as the soul master laughed her off before turning to me.
I nodded in confirmation as I released my first martial soul, 'the skyfrost sword.' By now Tian Zhi also paid attention and stopped admiring that snake of hers. The temperature inside the room dropped a few degrees, but it was negligible, so I started to introduce my martial soul.
"My martial soul is called 'Skyfrost Sword.' It's an ice tool-ty…" But I stopped my sentence as I looked up at the terrified soul master. His legs were shaking, and his face was pale. "Y—you… Your h-his…"
But realization quickly fell upon him, and he covered his mouth in a heartbeat. Before scurrying off to the back again while leaving a few words. "J-just a moment, please!! A perfect spirit soul arrived a little over a week ago just for you. Just give me a moment, sir!"
I don't know what happened, but his tone became so respectful all of a sudden. He first treated us as kids while showing us around and explaining things at his leisure. But he immediately turned a 180 in his character.
'You're his…' His what? What was he about to say? But I didn't have much time to ponder as the door opened not long after he left.
He swiftly returned before me and carefully handed me the spirit soul ball.
I quietly requested the device still in Tian Zhi's hands before shining the light on the spirit ball. The same process appeared as with Tian Zhi's, emitting light and slowly turning transparent.
I could then feel a breath inside the ball when it gently hopped around. It slowly began to fade, and a white spirit soul emerged.
Slowly, tiny blue wings unfurled and stretched to their max wingspan of 10 centimeters; their blue and white feathers reflected the light in the room, but what was the most eye-catching about the little bird was… literally… its eyes. In its eye was an extra pupil. It looked around before flying onto my shoulder.
Tian Zhi had hearts in her eyes again as she compared the two spirit souls before quietly whispering to her snake. "You're not as cute as the bird…" The snake visibly deflated at her words and coiled around her arm.
Wait, spirit souls don't have a conscience until they reach a thousand years, right? Then why does the snake look so… animate?
But before I could question it, the soul master got my attention as he explained the origin of the spirit soul.
"This is a 4-eyed frost swallow. It's a rare ice-spirit type spirit beast. If you fuse with it, it will not only help with your spiritual power, but it is also very compatible with your martial spirit. And… um… So because it's rare... sir... I don't have much information to give you about this spirit soul. I am deeply sorry." He spoke with tact and reserve. And although he didn't give me much information about the spirit soul, I could sense that it had a high compatibility with the 'skyfrost sword.'
I faced the soul master again for my final business that I had to do in the Spirit Pagoda. "I still have 30.000 coins on me. Can I purchase another 10-year-old spirit soul?"
The soul master visibly began to sweat as he bowed before me under Tian Zhi's and mine's shock. "I'm sorry, sir, but 30.000 federation credits will only be enough for a random spirit soul. But it could result in you getting a non-compatible spirit soul.
"While a white spirit soul costs 70.000 federation coins… I could offer you a discount if you wish, sir." The moment I heard 70.000, my heart shook. So much money. But not only that, but the increase between 70.000 and 1 million for a 100-year spirit soul was phenomenal.
But I quickly collected myself from my shock as he still bowed in front of me. While he did bow, he still towered over me, and I had to grow another head to reach his bowing height. "No, that won't be necessary. Just give me a random spirit soul."
Well, to be honest, I don't even know what attributes my second martial soul has. So maybe this will surprise me.
The soul master came out of his bow and took us to a machine full of white glowing spheres with a diameter of a third of a meter. It was a machine full of spirit soul balls.
The soul master then pointed towards two buttons and began to describe how the machine works. But if I'm serious, my head began to hurt at how many times he 'explained' something.
"The green button is to start, the red button is to stop. After stopping, the spirit soul at that location will roll out. You may begin when you're ready."
I got to the green button and pressed it. The balls inside the machine started to shine as every ball started to emit light. The spirit balls inside the machine slowly started to spin and got faster and faster. And not much later, it was so fast that the spirit balls were just a blur as they rocketed inside the machine.
My heartbeat inexplicably quickened as doubts once again crept in. What if they won't be compatible… Then I lost a valuable slot for my spirit soul. Well, maybe I can return it if I'm still not fused with it. But then I wasted 30.000 coins.
As thoughts raced in my mind, they all came to a single conclusion. That in the end, it's all up to luck. And there is nothing I can do about it.
Without hesitation, I smacked the red button.
*Bang*
The machine stopped its circulation, and a spirit soul ball rolled out.
The soul master took the ball and gently laid it in my hands. "Here you go, sir."
Once again, I shined the light upon the ball as it slowly disappeared, and white light, indicating that it was a 10-year-old spirit soul, flashed out of the ball. But that didn't deter me, because I knew there was a way to upgrade your spirit souls. Although it was quite costly.
But still, excitement welled in my chest as I peeked at the spirit soul that slowly unfurled before us; Tian Zhi and the soul master also peered in as my new companion, a companion that will support me for life, birthed in my hands.
It was a…
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so let me know if I should continue it...