Spirit Pagoda

The trio soon arrived at the Spirit Pagoda. On the way there, Kai was barely able to contain his excitement, getting his first Spirit Soul was the first step to regaining what he had lost. Practically dragging Ashe and Lance the last block he rushed towards the main entrance.

Stepping in, they were greeted with a hectic atmosphere. People were moving to and fro, dozens were talking and lining up at different counters. Some preparing to leave for or just returning from missions. Almost all the people here were Soul Masters, some were even stronger than his Patriarch!

Ashe and Kai looked around with starry eyes, mouths wide open while they explored. Many Soul Masters chuckled seeing the two kids so excited, some having to hold themselves back from pinching their cheeks.

While the two kids were busy exploring, Lance made his way over to one of the receptionists. The woman was leaning back in her chair, her green eyes glazed and staring at the ceiling. She seemed to be in her mid-twenties, with red hair reaching her mid back. She kept mumbling to herself under her breath about some science stuff Lance refused to try and understand. Lance gave the woman a quick look before spotting a name tag on her lab coat.

"Miss Alice?" Lance rapped on the table in front of her, shocking Alice out of her thoughts.

"Wha-!" She stopped herself and cleared her throat, giving Lance a stiff smile. "I mean, how can I help you?"

"We've come to get his first Spirit Soul" Lance said while pointing his thumb over his shoulder, towards the two kids.

Alice seemed surprised at Lance's words.

"Spirit Soul? He's already reached rank ten?"

"Yep. Where should we go to get him one?" Lance replied, somewhat impatient.

"Can I ask what his Martial Spirit is?" she said, ignoring his question.

He didn't remember this being part of the process, but it had been quite a while since he got his last Spirit Soul so he answered anyways.

"Spirit ears, can you tell me where to go please?" Lance could see her eyes widen as he spoke.

She pushed her chair back, pumping her fist slightly. Jumping up she walked around the counter.

"No need, I'll take him there myself" She brushed past lance, quickly reaching Kai. "You just wait out here and relax, I'll have him out in no time."

Lance nodded slowly and scratched his head before finding a seat and quietly watching Alice lead kai towards a nearby elevator.

'I guess they've really stepped their game up recently.'

Kai entered the elevator with Alice, she pressed a button for the ninth floor before smiling down at him.

"You seem excited, my name's Alice" She pointed at her name tag. "What's your name?"

Kai stayed silent and frowned before pointing at the injury on his neck. Alice widened her eyes before ruffling his hair.

"That's awful…" she paused, thinking of something. "I heard you have spirit ears though?"

Kai nodded, prompting a smile to appear on Alice's face.

"Who knows, you might get a Spirit Soul that lets you talk?" She said reassuringly, causing a smile to appear on Kai's face again.

The elevator soon opened, revealing what looked like a complicated laboratory. Alice and Kai seemed to be the only people on the floor as she led him towards what seemed to be an examination table. Looking around, Kai could see computers and gadgets spread everywhere.

"This is my boss's personal lab" Alice explained. "This way we can skip a couple boring steps and get a better reading. Just fill this out for me."

Kai nodded and received a form from Alice. Filling it out some basic personal information he quickly handed it back. Alice scanned through it and smiled.

"You ready for your reading, Kai?"

Kai nodded before lying back on the examination table.

"Good" Alice strapped a couple cables to different parts of his body before placing what looked like a VR helmet on his head. "You might feel a little dizzy, but don't panic. The process will take about a minute or so, all you need to do is focus on the warm feeling in your forehead."

Kai closed his eyes and waited from the strange energy that was mentioned.

"Ok, we're starting now… Her it comes." Alice said, clicking a few buttons on her computer.

Kai heard the whir of machines powering up and soon felt a warm current converge on his head.

It was like a small, warm pebble being placed on his forehead. As he focused on the energy the pebble got larger before sinking deeper into his mind, getting warmer and warmer the deeper it went. Just before the heat got uncomfortable it stopped changing and remained still.

The procedure had only been going for a minute, but Alice's jaw had hit the floor long ago. The number just kept climbing without stopping, going way past what was expected of a 6 year old. In fact, she would be hard pressed to believe it if she saw a 12 year old with these numbers!

"Jackpot…" she whispered.

As the test finished Kai felt the energy leave his mind, leaving him refreshed, and he removed the head gear. Looking towards Alice, he could see her shaking with excitement, a giddy expression on her face. She ran out of the room while shouting out loud.

"A genius with a Spiritual Power of 462 at age 6!" he could hear her shouts from down the hall. "I'll be right back Kai, I've just got to get someone!"

A few minutes later Alice came back to the Lab with another woman. She had long pink hair, tied in twin-tails that reached her waist. Her lab coat was different from Alice's classic white, the woman had gone with a full dark pink lab coat. She looked young, around the age of 18, not someone you'd expect to be working in a lab.

"Where's my Golden Goose!" She yelled, her hungry eyes scanned the room before locking onto Kai. Kai shifted uncomfortably in his seat as the woman turned back to Alice. "Do the test again! Show me!"

"Yes ma'am."

A few minutes later the woman could be seen doing a little dance, her hips shaking from side to side.

"Golden ticket~" she began repeating the phrase again and again as she moved closer to Kai.

Grabbing his hands, she brought her face close to his. Getting a closer look Kai couldn't help but notice how beautiful the woman was, he'd never seen a woman as pretty as her in the clan.

"Hey kid, I've got a little proposition." She said, her voice soft.

Kai nodded shyly while confronted with the woman's bright smile.

"If you can pass a couple more tests…" she leaned in and whispered, her breath hot against his ear. "I'll give you a special gift."

Kai's face flushed red; looking away from the woman his mind raced confused by what she meant by 'gift'. From the side, Alice yelled out.

"Evelynn!"

"What? I'm just messing with the kid…" The woman, Evelynn, laughed before taking a seat a couple meters away from Kai, leaning back and resting her head against her hand. "So how about it kid? I promise you won't be disappointed."

Kai nodded, he had nothing to lose. Evelynn smiled and ordered Alice to get the next test ready.

…

Down in the Lobby of the Pagoda Lance was waiting impatiently. He checked the time on the wall and shook his head.

"It's already been 20 minutes."

He got up and made his way towards another receptionist. After talking to her for a moment she made a phone call. Hanging up the phone she looked up to Lance.

"They say no one of that description has shown up to get their first spirit soul."

Lance slammed his hand against the desk, causing cracks to spread like spiderwebs. The receptionist shrank back in fear, she wasn't a Spirit Master after all. A moment later a nearby member of the Pogoda placed his hand on the receptionist's shoulder.

"I'll take it from here" the man took a step forward and bowed towards Lance. "Mr. Redmond, how can I be of service today."

"One of your receptionists took my kid to get his first spirit ring, its been over 20 minutes and they still arent back yet"

The man swallowed his saliva nervously, not daring to look up.

"Are you sure it was one of our –"

"Yes I'm sure!" Lance released his spirit pressure, behind him 7 rings appeared. 2 purple and 5 black rings, his full pressure as a Spirit Saint was unleashed, pressing down on those nearby. He pointed to the empty reception area Alice had sat at. "She sat over there, her name was Alice!"

The man looked to where Lance was pointing, silent as he thought. A moment later he widened his eyes.

"I know what's going on sir, please calm down and I'll bring you to him!" the man exclaimed nervously. "This isn't the first time her team as pulled this stunt, don't worry nothing bad will happen to your child."

Lance retracted his spirit power and followed the man as Ashe followed closely behind. Once the doors closed, people in the lobby began chatting and gossiping with one another.

"Who was that man?"

"That was Lance Redmond" someone answered. "One of the top smiths from the Blacksmith Association, he's only 34 this year and an 8th rank Saint Smith. Offending him is essentially offending the Blacksmith Association."

…

Just as the elevator doors open Lance could see Kai a couple meters away, strapped to a table with cables covering him. A couple meters away, Evelynn and Alice were typing away at a computer while chatting.

"Ma'am, our research might have a chance now" Alice mumbled, receiving a nod from Evelynn.

"Evelynn…" Lance growled, taking a step out of the elevator.

'Lance?' Evelynn thought to herself, frowning. She suddenly turned around to face the angry man, the smile on her face enough to melt any lesser man. "Long time no see Lance! What're you doing here?"

Lance, however, was unaffected as he rushed towards her not willing to answer. Just as he was a few meters away a large, traditional blacksmith hammer materialized in his hand, swinging towards her.

Evelynn ducked deftly, unleashing her own spirit. Two white fox ears appeared on her head while a cluster of fox tails grew from behind her.

"What're you doing to him?" Lance yelled, a purple spirit ring appearing behind him, the image of a small bird appearing within it. His hammer rapidly sped up towards her head. Unable to dodge she used her tails to block the attack, sending her sliding back a couple of meters.

"Just a couple basic tests" she said, jumping back and creating some distance between them. "Nothing invasive I swear!"

Lance ignored her, swinging his hammer towards her once again as another purple ring appeared behind him. The hammer suddenly grew a couple meters in size, the head creating ripples in the air as it rushed towards Evelynn.

Evelynn rolled her eyes, a black spirit ring appearing behind her as her eyes glowed pink. Lance's hammer suddenly stopped in its tracks, inches away from Eve's face, before disappearing.

"Sit" Eve commanded. Lance, with an infatuated look on his face, sat down on the ground right where he stood. "Good, now listen."

Lance gave a slow nod, not wanting to take his eyes off her.

"Are you his guardian?"

"Y-yes" he responded, stuttering.

Evelynn nodded before turning towards Alice.

"How much time left on the test?"

"It just finished, results are good."

"Mm" Eve smiled. "Bring Kai over to me please."

Alice nodded, unstrapping Kai from the table. Making his way over he could see Lance sitting on the floor staring lovingly at Evelynn, the black spirit ring still floating behind her. To the side he could see a man sweating through his clothes, as if he'd worn his clothes in the shower. Next to him was Ashe, an expression of awe and worship on her face.

Evelynn grabbed his hand and snapped her fingers. Lance eyes went blank for a moment before he regained clarity. Seeing Kai hold her hand he jumped to his feat furiously, but just as he was about to rush over Evelynn Spoke up.

"His Spiritual Power was at 462" Evelynn explained, freezing Lance in his tracks. Even the male assistant who had brought him here was extremely shocked. "You've always been a meat head but you surely know that such a high spirit power at a young age could be devastating to his health, resulting in nerve and brain defects. I had to make sure he was alright."

"And?"

"Aside from being slightly weak for someone his age, he's in tip-top condition" Alice responded to him this time.

Lance fell back to the ground sighing and rubbing his head. He'd knew that he had overreacted, but Evelynn wasn't stupid, he was worried she'd noticed something different about Kai and if the Pagoda found out about it... He didn't even want to imagine it.

"Can we get his first Spirit Soul then?" he asked, wanting to get this whole thing over with.

"About that…" Evelynn started, looking down at Kai. "I was hoping to take Kai in as my personal disciple."