First Spirit Ring

Kai looked down at the ball in his hands, eager to open it and see his first Spirit Soul.

'Will it be something strong like a lion? Or maybe something cunning like a snake?' Kai fiddled with the ball as he thought of the different possibilities. Looking back up Eve smiled and nodded, encouraging him to open it.

A bright yellow light encapsulated the room causing Kai to raise his arms above his eyes. Once the lights dimmed he looked towards his first Spirit Soul in anticipation, however his face immediately darkened.

'This is a fish… right?'

What he saw black goldfish, about the size of a basketball, with a couple scattered golden scales on its body. If that was it, Kai would've of been fine with it, the Spirit had been chosen by his master after all. The problem was…

"The face is off-putting, I'll admit it" Evelynn spoke out seeing her disciple's reaction.

That's right, instead of the fish face one would expect it had a human face instead. It looked squashed and flattened like it had pushed against a wall. It seemed to swim around in the air and gave what Kai only imagine were puppy dog eyes. Kai had to hold himself back from gagging and shuffled back a few feet, looking up at his master pleadingly.

"Don't look at me like that." Evelynn scolded. "Don't you trust your master? I can guarantee that you wont be disappointed by it!"

Kai shook his head furiously and thought.

'I'd rather stay at rank 10 for the rest of my life then absorb that thing. It's too ugly! If I absorb that and we merge bloodlines wont I grow up to look like that? Not a chance!'

Eve just shook her head and slowly got up.

"That's fine I guess, I'll go get you another one." She walked slowly towards the Spirit Soul while she continued talking. "It's a shame really, this Spirit Soul was created using genes from an ancient bone we found near the ocean. Gosh what was the beast called again…"

She was now reaching down towards the Orb that contained the Spirit Soul.

"That's right, Siren!"

'Siren?' Kai thought. He'd heard stories about them when he was younger. They were similar to mermaids by being half human and half fish, but were know to be significantly more aggressive. Because of that they were hunted to extinction long before the other spirit beasts. Not only that, but many stories also said they were known for their sound spirit attacks that manifested through their voice.

Kai quickly jumped on top of the Spirit Soul before Evelynn could reach it, glaring menacingly at her, like a parent protecting their child. Evelynn simply smirked and returned to her seat. Seeing her back off he slinked back and got into a meditative position.

"Don't worry about a thing, just focus on absorbing the Spirit Soul. I'll be here to help if anything goes wrong" Eve encouraged her disciple.

Kai began circulating his spirit energy, the refreshing feeling once again spreading across his body. After a couple circulations another, foreign, energy began to enter his body and circulated alongside his. Wherever this energy passed he could feel it making him stronger, enhancing his body.

When the energy reached his head it rushed towards his ears, causing them to heat up. Instead of feeling uncomfortable though, it was extremely pleasant like warm water massaging his ears. As more of this energy entered his body he began to hear a woman singing, the beautiful voice made him excited, like all his cells were singing and dancing along with it. His body was going through a metamorphosis.

However, just as he felt the song was about to reach its climax a series of whispers encroached on the song. The voice changed, sounding like it was in pain, it began to crack and break. The whispers kept getting louder and louder, piercing his ears.

Kai scrunched his face in pain. The whispers felt as if they were scratching against his ears, trying to invade his mind. Soon the whispers completely took over, the song completely swallowed in an ocean of voices. Kai began to tremble, the whispers reminded him of his awakening ceremony. Just as he was about to be overwhelmed, they disappeared.

Silence.

Absolute Silence.

Kai nervously circulated his spirit energy. After a minute of silence, the energy returned, empowering and changing his body wherever it passed. The woman's song began to return, it was different this time though. Her voice was strong and commanding instead of soft, but it still had the same effect on his body. With each word it felt as if his cells were cheering, filling with some strange energy.

The song got more intense, and in parallel his cells were being saturated in more and more energy. Filling up and getting stronger. The song soon ended, the energy in his cells exploding out and dousing him. He'd broken through.

During his breakthrough Evelynn was watching Kai intently, paying attention to his Spirit and body to make sure nothing would go wrong. A couple minute after he began absorbing the Spirit Soul though, her eyes widened. His body had been enveloped in a dim, translucent blue light. It flowed over him like water, changing his body.

'It's almost a perfect match…'

She watched as it cleansed his skin, removing any blemishes and scars. Even the injury on his neck faded away, the concave shape of his throat the only way to know he had been injured. His features changed as well, becoming softer. Kai was becoming a bonafide pretty boy right before her eyes.

Just as it seemed as though Kai was about to completely absorb the Spirit Soul he scrunched his face, causing Evelynn to worry. She couldn't sense anything wrong with his body, meaning he'd run into a problem with the Spirit itself.

A violent energy pulsed out from his body, blowing her clothes and hair around. Eve frowned; she'd never felt an energy like this before. With it came a wave of mindless ravings, some voice screaming others whispering. A moment later the ravings disappeared, as if they had never been there in the first place.

A violet energy emerged from Kai's chest, causing her heart to skip a beat as the room drastically dropped in temperature. She observed as the purple energy began to devour the blue energy, transforming it into its own. Soon it covered Kai entire body, like a membrane. Kai's face slowly calmed down, no longer in pain.

The purple energy was slowly absorbed by Kai before he opened his eyes, a smile plastered on his face, the yellow ring floating behind him.

"Master, I've broken through!" Evelynn heard a young boy's voice, as if its origin was only an inch or two from her ears. She widened her eyes and looked at the little boy sitting on the ground, his purple eyes staring back at her.

"Kai?" She spoke hesitantly. Kai nodded slightly, tears forming in the corners of his eyes.

Eve ran over, pulling him into her embrace and hugging him.

"You can speak now?" Evelynn asked.

"Not exactly" Kai began to explain. "It has to do with my first Spirit Ring's ability."

Evelynn let go of Kai, giving him some room to breathe and explain properly.

"It's called Nature's Lull. It allows me to create, suppress and amplify sounds within a certain radius."

"Incredible… How much spiritual power does it use?"

"It depends." Kai paused for a moment. Eve was confused, wondering why he stopped before the entire world went silent around her. She couldn't hear anything, her breathing, heartbeat- nothing. Kai's voice cut through the silence like an explosion against her ears.

"Suppressing sounds like this isn't too bad, neither is amplifying them. Not only that, I can choose who the sounds affect as well."

Sound began to return, but soon she realized that something was wrong. The sound of heartbeat kept getting louder and louder until it sounded like a drum pounding against her ear, giving her a slight headache. Everything returned to normal a moment later, Kai's voice entering her ears once again.

"Creating sounds from nothing though, cost's a lot more." He explained. "Just like how I'm talking now, but it seems to consume more if the sound is more complicated."

Eve was shocked. Kai's first spirit ability wasn't inherently strong in direct combat, but it was extremely versatile. If he could completely suppress the opponent, communication would become almost impossible for the enemies. It could cripple a team. Not only that, if Kai got good at directing a fight, he could give orders to his teammates without the enemies even knowing.

"How complicated can your sounds get?" She was eager to learn the abilities of her disciple.

"As simple as this" A high pitched ringing sound, like an alarm, resounded in her hear causing her to cover her ears. However, the alarm didn't change, her hands did nothing to stop the sound. The ringing disappeared as Kai spoke again. "Or as complicated as this."

The sounds of birds chirping surrounded her, the sound of wind blowing against leaves appeared, as if she were walking through a forest. The sound of flowing water soon followed, like a waterfall was crashing somewhere nearby, just out of sight.

She closed her eyes, trying to experience this strange feeling. If she didn't already know where she was, Eve would of thought she'd been magically transported to a forest filled with life.

A moment later she could hear a piano appear from the depths of the forest. Slowly getting louder. Then the sound of violins playing alongside it, the music getting more and more emotional as different instruments were added to the mix.

Suddenly, though, all the sounds stopped only to be replaced by some heavy labored breathing from Kai. It had lasted close to 15 minutes, the entire experience surreal. She opened her eyes and looked towards Kai.

She had no clue when he had sat down, but he was breathing heavily, his sweat had formed a small puddle under him. There was a satisfied smile on his face as he pushed himself to his feet. He walked over to Evelynn, stopping right in front of her. Dropping to one knee, he lowered his head and spoke.

"Disciple Kai greets Master!" His echoed in the empty room. He looked up slightly, his voice breaking slightly when he spoke. "Thank you Master."

Evelynn pulled him up from the ground and ruffled his hair.

"No need for thanks, it's my duty as your master." She brought him out of the cultivation room. "I'll get someone to bring you to a change room so you can clean up, then I'll send you home."

…

As Kai entered a change room under the guidance of one of the Lab Assistants Alice approached Evelynn.

"How was it?" Alice asked expectantly.

"Better than we ever imagined." Eve answered solemnly, staring at the room Kai had entered. "I'll talk to him about the experiment tomorrow. In the meantime begin Spirit Soul construction using samples A5, E3, F8, C2 and S8. In that order."

Alice nodded and walked away, ordering a group of the lab assistants to come with her. A few minutes later Kai walked out with a new set of clothes. A simple white shirt with black cargo pants, his mother's ring hanging on his chest.

"Let's get you home, huh?" Evelynn asked with a smile while silently thinking. 'Lance and I need to have a little talk.'

...

Somewhere on the higher floors of the Spirit Pagoda a man was meditating silently. He had oak brown hair reaching his shoulders and wore a simple black suit with a blue tie. Suddenly he felt a strange and foreign energy pulse, causing him to open his eyes. They were a deep blue, like an ocean.

"Strange..." He heard a series of ravings for a moment, disappearing as quickly as they came. Ever since he'd become a Titled Douluo he had not once been affected like this.

He couldn't tell exactly who the pulse had originated from, but he knew it had come from somewhere in the Pagoda. Reaching his hand out he clenched his fist, shattering the energy pulse and preventing from alerting the other powerhouses in the city.

He then got up and walked towards his desk, picking up his phone he dialed a number. Hearing the other party pick up, he spoke. His voice slow and calm, almost lethargic.

"Did you feel the strange energy just now?"

"Yes sir."

The man nodded slowly before continuing.

"I want a report with everything that happened in the Pagoda today as well a list of everyone who entered the building."

"Understood. But Branch Master, what was that?"

"Incident during the production of an Artificial Spirit Soul, nothing serious" The man came up with an excuse on the spot. "Now get to work."

"The report will be on your desk within the hour."

Heaven Dou's Spirit Pagoda's Branch Master put the phone down, returning to his meditative position as if nothing had happened.