Ch 4 - Ma Xiaotao

Deep in the wood of the inner court's Ancient Golden Tree, sat the elders council. A group of Shrek's most loyal and capable members, each a powerhouse with substantial history. This esteemed meeting occurred at the behest of the Spirit Guidance Department heads, Xian Lin Er and Qian Duo Duo.

"Thank you all for gathering here on such short notice."

Lin Er addressed the elders around the council table. Ten elders sat around the ancient wooden table with their leader, the sea God Pavillion Master Mu En, sitting off to the side.

"Earlier today a trio of new students came into my office to make a deal, an information exchange at its core. They are aware of the undercurrent of tensions rising between the nations, and knew how valuable that made their ideas. After reviewing their proposal, and witnessing a demonstration of how our two main departments can co-exist in a way that builds off each other, I believe we need to start implementing changes to the students curriculum before the start of the new term. Nothing major, but the foundation needs time to grow."

Lin Er passed out a single sheet of paper to each elder. It explained in broad terms the changes she was proposing, four new classes. Rather, each student would have to take one additional class to the standard curriculum that would give them a part in the development of spirit guide devices.

"This is foolish. If we did this, a lot of additional funding would have to go to your department, for an idea with no clear benefits. I know enough about how spirit guides are made to know this isn't how you make them."

Yan Shaozhe stood and spoke. His blue hair covered only one of his eyes, allowing people to still tell he was glaring. He was the academy headmaster and often competed with her department for more of the annual budget.

Lin Er wasn't blind to how this would promote her department, especially in the beginning. The cost of starting up a new program is far more than what it costs to maintain it.

She wasn't worried about the feasibility of this new program, after all, she had the trio demonstrate for her after they finished negotiating. The only questions were how much support would the academy give to start this up, and what compromises would their leader have her department make?

"What was the price of this 'idea'?" Asked Xuan Zi, the captain of the Shrek Guardians. Leave it to him to not miss the finer details. But she was certain she could get them on board with the agreed upon payment. Most of the knowledge they wanted would have become available after a few years of rising through Shrek's grades. Only one subject they wanted information on was completely safeguarded. It shouldn't matter though, it's not like anyone had figured out how to successfully make artificial spirit rings. All that knowledge lead too, was dead ends.

*** Adlet ***

The internal alarm clock of Adlet's body awoke him half an hour before sunrise. The faint glow of his scars did nothing to light up the room, but did make him stand out more easily. He didn't need any light to maneuver about in the dark, his purple tinted eyes were quite capable.

He didn't get much sleep last night, only about two hours worth. He decided to spend the night absorbing his Crystalline Spider Torso Bone. When he absorbed the spider's ring he got the Elemental Tuning ability he had been hoping for, unexpectedly the Torso Bone gave a complimentary ability those spiders rarely develop, synchronization.

After getting dressed in the school uniform, Adlet left the dorm to the nearby forested area. Raven and Mirellia stretched in the clearing, ready to begin the morning training. They were both wearing the school uniform, white blouse with a tie and a white skirt. Similar in design to his male uniform, a white jacket with white pants.

"How'd you sleep last night?" Asked Raven.

"It was cold. I miss my body heaters." He joked with the honest truth.

"After our first year, we can apply for a business license and live in our store together." Mirellia chimed in.

She had long since become an alcohol merchant, courtesy of her first skill creating any alcohol she has filled her goblet with. While her alcohol skill effects are temporary, the alcohol itself is real and permanent. In short, she was a money making queen.

"I've made several building designs for our future winery, it's going to be great."

"You mean art studio. Did all that alcohol finally poison your brain." Raven teased.

The trio talked about their future winery. Adlet felt it was a good thing to focus on, as opposed to the fact that they'll be seeing far less of each other over the coming year. Compared to what they are used too.

Once the sun rose above the horizon, they dusted themselves off, packed up their sunrise paintings, and went to their first class. They were a few minutes before the start of class, but had to split up because they weren't in the same first year class. Adlet stole each of their lips for a quick goodbye kiss, then went to class 5. Ignoring the gaping onlookers.

It quickly became apparent that two students had garnered everyone's attention, Wang Dong and himself. Albeit, for polar opposite reasons. Wang Dong was a stunningly handsome bachelor. On the other hand, he was scarred, a little disfigured, and apparently involved with two stunning beauties. By the time their teacher slammed the door open, the class was divided in two. The girls fawning over one boy and the boys gnashing their teeth towards himself.

"Sit down! I'm your home room teacher Zhou Yi. If you only remember one thing, Remember this: In my class, the weak shall fail. This school exists to create monsters, not trash."

The prideful students started to kick up a ruckus, disliking any implications that they might be trash. Adlet was fine with this. They were trash after all. They only had the POTENTIAL to be someone powerful. Zhou Yi ignored their complaints and spoke over them.

"Those that fought yesterday, stand!" Wang Dong and the boy she trashed yesterday stood. "The rest of you are garbage. Those that fear overstepping their bounds are nothing more than trash. The rest of you are to run a hundred laps around the school's training field. Anyone who fails to do that is expelled!"

Adlet knew this teacher was serious and bolted out of the classroom. Most students never even noticed as they rose from their seats and started complaining about the teacher's overbearing attitude. Within a minute he felt the seven rings of a spirit emperor suppress the entire class of trash.

By the time the other students came to the field, Adlet was already on his third lap. Since he knew about the hard-core training Shrek does, he was already well accustomed to this type of endurance training. He was well beyond everyone else by the time Wang Dong arrived and he finished first, only slightly beating the cross-dresser. He was conflicted over the cuteness of Wang Dong's pout when she didn't come in first.

He walked a 101st lap much to everyone's confusion. He didn't really know why it's important, but they always made kids do that in school, so he assumed it was for a good reason.

"Alright, everyone pay attention. Stand up when I call your name." Zhou Yi started calling the names of students Adlet didn't bother even trying to remember. Everyone had finshed running within 50 minutes but Zhou Yi waited for the hour mark to pass before addressing the class. "You lot, pack up and get out. From now on you are no longer students of this academy."

All the students were shocked with her ruthlessness. Adlet however, admired that decisiveness. She then went on to explain how they lied about completing their one hundred laps, and regardless of talent, they were trash.

"You all have fifteen minutes to get changed and back into the classroom." This time, no one dallied.

*** Mirellia ***

"Today's class will be about spirit guide devices. But let's start with a review question so we're all on the same page."

Mirellia sat and listened as their homeroom teacher, Yin Qui, ran her classroom like a normal teacher from her old world. Qui was sweet and caring, giving every student time to make their introductions and she spoke in a soothing voice. Nothing like Mirellia had been expecting.

"The main categories of abilities are power, mind, support, food support, area control, etc. Who can tell me which ones are suited for defense? Mirellia."

"The existence of spirit guide devices now make such categories irrelevant in determining or restricting a person's role on the battlefield."

"Perfect answer. Yes, in the last thousand years, spirit guide weapons have revolutionized the way we fight. If you have enough spirit strength, you can use spirit guide weapons to make up for your lack of abilities."

Teacher Qui then began writing on the board for everyone to follow suite and note the important parts.

"The production of spirit guide devices can be divided into four parts: smithing, designing, crafting, and assembling. In just over three months time, each of you will take 1 elective class in addition to your core classes. This elective will focus on teaching you one of these four sections of spirit guide development. The elective you choose should reflect the type of training you already focus on as a cultivator. So today we'll also go over which elective class is good for each type of cultivator and why."

Mirellia was legitimately surprised to see how quickly they began implementing the information for how to revolutionize spirit guide development. They would also be waiting until students passed the three month exam before they got exposed to this new way of training.

"After lunch, in one hour, everyone is to show up to the fourth training field for intense exercise. Wear appropriate clothing."

With morning classes done, Mirellia and Raven joined up with Adlet to eat privately by the fog covered lake side. The fog hid the center portion of the lake, the Sea God Pavillion and inner courtyard. They knew of an event that happens early on in the story and were eager to position themselves to benefit from it. They'd never faced a spirit king and wished to see how they stacked up. It would probably be a few days until the Phoenix girl appears.

Raven set up their little picnic blanket and basket, having made their lunch boxes in the morning. It was a simple lunch of shredded beef sandwiches with an assortment of fruits and a side of rice. Mirellia made two cups of wine using her skills Heavenly Wine and Bloody Mary. Even without considering the effects, the wine is delicious. They were chatting about their first classes when Adlet just zoned out for a bit.

Following his line of sight into the foggy lake, she saw a faint orange glow. Later they would hypothesize that Huo Yuhao was attacked because his spying was detected by the out of control Phoenix girl. Likely the reason she powered up to attack them right after Adlet used the purple demon eyes to try and see through the fog.

"Mirellia pack up! I think I just pissed someone off!" Adlet spoke hurriedly. Like herself, he didn't seem to think they'd meet the Phoenix on their first day.

Seconds later, a person sized fire was speeding across the lake, shooting up a stream of water behind them. Adlet reacted first, activating both of his purple spirit rings simultaneously, Physical Displacement and Elemental Tuning.

By the time Mirellia stored the picnic blanket, Raven was already pulling out an icy-blue glass-blade from her spirit guide device. Her first ring shining as she closed her eyes and focused her mind on her sword.

"Dripping-wet-with-curious-exploration, Catalog: Dragon Gin"

Mirellia spent a lot of time practicing different breathing/spitting techniques to capitalize on her first spirit ring skill. She downed the goblet of gin, letting the alcohol burn her senses, tensed the muscles in her jaw and spit. The ball of liquid, rapidly expanding, shot straight at their assailant, exploding at the moment of contact.

Force of the explosion halted the flaming girl while some of the fire washed over Adlet. Elemental tuning heavily boosted his resistance against a single element once he is touched by that element.

"Why are you attacking us?"

Adlet's question went unanswered as the girl, now surrounded by steam from the lake, shot forward. She was a blur, moving faster than Mirellia's purple tinted eyes could catch. Fist slammed into Adlet's face, followed by the sound of something crunching. He stood his ground, the only thing between them and their beserk senior.

Raven stepped to the side of Adlet, a downward slash sent an arc of ice and sword qi into the side of their opponent. The girl spun on her back foot, narrowly avoiding the ice and punched a fireball at Raven. She fell backwards to avoid the flames, then rolled with the momentum until she was back on her feet.

Adlet siezed the momentarily distracted girl in a body tackle, knocking her to the dirt. Linked his arms around her thin waist and used his spirit bone skill synchronization. He didn't use it to resonate the fire element in them both, but rather used the skill to create dissonance. Destroying her fire.

That was the wrong move.

The beserk girl kicked her rage up a notch. She bit, punched, scratched and headbutt. She violently thrashed on the ground, unable to get free even after breaking several of Adlet's bones.

"Resonate with her!"

Mirellia realized the problem. The girl's fire needed an outlet and the dissonance was only making her situation worse. Neither suppressing nor letting her release.

Mirellia watched her husband roll on the ground, keeping the girl pinned on top of him. His spirit bone flickered as he changed the way he used its skill.

Then she was on her back.

Raven pulled her backwards to the ground and used ice paint to keep them from suffering grievous burns. Her vision was filled with streaks of fire, black gold and green flames flaring above, boiling their skin. They quickly crawled backwards but the heat made their heads spin and vision darken. They'd forgotten to put on their defensive spirit guides.

*** Adlet ***

"Resonate with her!"

Adlet didn't question Mirellia. He couldn't. The attacks of a spirit king (6 rings) destroyed any ability he had to think. He had at least two broken ribs and he couldn't feel his right shoulder. Probably broken. He rolled on instinct into the shallow water nearby and re-used his spirit bone skill.

He was expecting to be burned alive but the combination of a compatible spirit ring and bone boosted their individual effects. He barely breathed a sigh of relief before his breath was stolen by the girl. Her mouth was on his, tongue down his throat as her hands scraped down his back, tearing cloth and skin. The pain faded as his mind entered the soul realm, disconnecting from most of his body's senses.

Damn.

A massive bird of fire was enveloping his soul's space, but touched only the second purple ring that fluctuated around him. Fire danced along the ring, then into him, then back to the ring, and into her. The bird was trying to connect to his soul, through his ring. She wasn't stealing his soul or even harming it in any way. Though, whatever she was trying to instinctively do, wasn't something he'd blindly allow without a fight, and he knew how to fight in this realm.

He focused his ring to absorb fire from the core of her soul. He knew how to feel where that is, and he knew that everything depends on the core. Black liquid fire like burning crude oil poured onto his ring and into himself. He directed the obviously evil fire into the dead portions of his patchwork soul.

In hindsight, he should of guessed the evil energy would compliment his dead soul, the two nurturing each other. Their connection strengthened substantially. He connected her fire core with the living portions of his soul. Her fire and evil were disconnected, but not quite two different cores.

He tapped the energy of each of her rings until he found one that felt compatible, her fifth ring. At that moment, their souls finally connected, slamming into each other. Fighting for dominance. In a moment of enlightenment, he understood what was happening. He was instinctively reacting before, but now he moved with clear purpose. The Phoenix was trying to meld with his soul, and he'd let it.

For a price.

*** Xuan Zi ***

The captain of Shrek's guardians, Xuan Zi, was looking around the training arena. It was unusual for his disciple, Ma Xiaotao, to be late. He wasn't overly concerned as he ate a drumstick and sat peacefully by the side of the sparring arena. That was until he felt a spike of evil energy on the side of the Sea God Pavilion's lake, the outer court.

It only took him a moment to arrive, followed shortly by the other elders. An evil dark fire raged for all to see. He'd know his disciple's flames anywhere, and immediately concluded she had lost control. He went to suppress her but noticed two little girls struggling beneath the flames. He pulled them out and called over teacher Li, a healer with the tree of life support spirit.

He was stopped a second time, when he went to suppress her power, by the Pavillion Master, Mu En.

"Cordon off the area and let her work through this. Someone is in there, helping her."

With Mu En's voice in his ears, he repeated the orders to the other teachers and elders. Once he got a moment to breathe he looked at the black fire but could only feel Ma Xiaotao's uncontrolled evil spirit. Still, he sat, stared, and waited. Trusting his master's words.

Hours past by slowly, but he didn't move. He observed the flames slowly shrinking and condensing. After almost a full day, he began to feel a pulse of power unlike anything he'd ever felt from his disciple before. It was a green-gold flame obscured by the black fire. By the second day, the fire was only twice as big as himself, and the evil energy had condensed into chains wrapped in black fire, still obscuring that green flame. As the third day came to a close, the fire sputtered out and died.

On the ground before him, laid his disciple and a young man. Both naked as the day they were born. Both with red hair that transitioned to black tips. The boy had black stitch marks all over his body that looked like tattoos. But the bruised, cracked, and scabbed skin around them showed that wasn't the case. Xuan Zi could feel Ma Xiaotao's evil energy coming from those stitches.

And for the first time in his life, he felt no evil from her. But felt her evil coming from the naked man she was unconsciously mounting. While it was clear he should be happy for his disciple's spirit foundation improvement and discovering she could fuse with someone, his mind was occupied with another matter.

"Who the f*ck is this brat?"