Artificial Spirit Bone

The next day Kai struggled to get himself to the Spirit Pagoda and meet with Evelynn. He'd spent the entire previous night thinking about going back to Gria, about his father and Clan. Because of this he'd barely gotten any sleep.

Kai waited silently in the lobby for Evelynn. Every once and a while a Soul Master would come over and say hi. Kai would just nod and wave, too tired to try and make conversation. Evelynn soon arrived decked in her pink lab coat.

They greeted each other normally as Evelynn led him to one of the elevators. Once they entered Kai couldn't hold himself back and spoke.

"Can we not go to Gria?" Kai asked, loathing the idea of having to go back to the Draken Clan.

Evelynn was silent, opening her mouth for a moment before closing it again, thinking of what to say.

"While I understand why you're worried" Evelynn spoke warmly, trying to reassure him. "You're overthinking things too much. We aren't making you go back to the Draken Clan, we're only going to Gria. If you don't want to go to the Clan we wont make you."

"But-"

"No buts, nothing bad will happen" Evelynn spoke, reprimanding him. "Oscar might have been an idiot for accepting without talking to you about it, but this might be a good opportunity for you."

Kai stayed silent until the doors opened. Stepping out they entered Evelynn's private laboratory. Today it was completely empty, not a single lab assistant or scientist in sight.

"Now then" Evelynn began speaking, a smile spread across her face. "I wanted it to be more of a surprise, but Oscar ruined it."

Kai widened his eyes, was he finally getting that gift Oscar had mentioned last night?

"I decided to get you a graduation gift. And I hope you like it, it is truly one of a kind!" Evelynn said excitedly as she walked away, leaving Kai alone. Moments later she returned with a small sandalwood box.

Kai took it in his hands, observing the box. It was covered in complicated carvings, let alone what was inside, the box in of itself was already a treasure. He slowly opened the box, revealing what was inside. It was a beautiful silver circlet with amethyst gems adorning it.

"What is it?"

"An artificial cranial spirit bone!"

Kai's eyes widened hearing his Master's response. A Spirit Bone! However Kai soon became quite confused.

"It's one of the first ever created!" Evelynn began to explain excitedly, not waiting for Kai to ask. "It's just like any other spirit bone, except you can increase it's grade through the Ascension Platform just like Spirit Souls! Of course it's only a 100 year spirit bone at the moment, but that's still incredible"

Kai pushed the box back towards his master, shaking his head.

"I can't take this, it's too precious. Master you should absorb it!"

Evelynn smiled hearing this before ruffling his hair.

"I got it made specially for you! As your master how can I not treat you well, just absorb it!"

Kai nodded slowly as he gazed down at the spirit bone. Looking back up to Evelynn he felt warm inside, over the years Evelynn had been too good to him. Always taking care of him and training, Kai knew that one day he would make sure to pay her back.

Kai picked up the circlet and sat down in the lotus position. Taking in a couple deep breaths, Kai calmed himself down and focused his mind.

Kai slowly began to circulate his spirit power, a warm and refreshing sensation spreading throughout his body. After a few circulation he directed it towards the spirit bone. Immediately he felt a warm feeling spread across his head.

It soon covered his entire skull, feeling as though it were being boiled inside his own head. The boiling sensation only lasting a couple seconds before it was replaced with an intense feeling for itchiness. It was unbearable, almost causing Kai to almost stop his circulation for a moment.

The itch spread down to his throat, as though a thousand bugs were rushing through his body. His face becoming flush as he scrunched his face uncomfortably. Soon, though, everything disappeared and was replaced by a refreshing feeling that spread from his head to his toes.

Before Kai could completely relax he felt a change coming from his Spirit Realm. Worriedly he entered to inspect what was going on. Instead of the calm sea he had gotten used to, it was now turbulent and chaotic. A storm brewing above the sea as the waves crashed around.

Kai swam around crazily, eventually finding the Siren near the black ring. She was covered in a semi-translucent membrane, similar to a cocoon. Kai tried to communicate with it but received no response and could only assume whatever was happening was good.

Over time the cocoon became darker and darker until eventually Kai was no longer able to see inside of it. Kai could only wait by the side silently, watching the cocoon and comprehending the new abilities of his spirit bone.

After an unknown amount of time the cocoon began to crack, the Siren was finally emerging! The first thing that came out was a pair of slender hands, their skin smooth and fine as jade. Next was a fish tail, it's scales golden and seemed to shimmer in the water. Next was her upper body.

"Beautiful…" Kai couldn't help but exclaim. The Siren had finally lived up to it's name sake, ditching its old ugly face and replacing it with one of youthful beauty. She had long purple hair reaching down past her waist, her eyes now a mix between purple and pink.

Kai and the Siren stared at each other unblinkingly for a couple minutes, the turbulent waters slowly calming down. Soon Kai decided to speak up.

"How are you feeling?" he asked nervously. The Siren tilted its head to the side before smiling playfully. It opened its mouth, speaking for the first time ever. Her voice soft, carrying a sense of comfort with it.

"So tired."

Kai widened his eyes hearing this, but before he could respond he felt a strange force pulling at him and ripping him out of his own Soul Realm.

Kai slowly opened his eyes and was greeted by a surprised Evelynn.

"Evelynn, what's wrong?" Kai asked curiously, his voice was croaky and hoarse.

"You just…" She paused for a moment. "Look different. More importantly, what are the abilities of your new spirit bone?"

Kai, however, was frozen. Just now when he had used his first spriti ring to speak something completely unexpected had happened. Whenever he pretended to speak he'd subconsciously mouth the words, just that his vocal cords never worked.

This time was different, due to his excitement from absorbing the spirit bone he hadn't used his first Spirit ring, and yet he could still speak.

"Master!" Kai quickly got up from his lotus position and rushed towards Evelynn, hugging her tightly.

Evelynn was confused but made sure to return the hug. Patting his back slightly she spoke.

"What's up, Kai?"

Kai just looked up, not letting go.

"I can speak again, like really speak!" his voice was still a little hoarse, but slowly recovering.

"That's…" She injected some of her spriti power, inspecting his body. "Incredible!"

"Master, what spirit beast was the Artificial Spirit Bone made from?" kai asked.

"A Siren, the same one in which the genes for your Spirit Soul were from" Evelynn explained. "Why do you ask?"

Kai explained what he had seen in his Spirit Realm, especially the mutation and transformation of his Siren.

"Interesting..." Evelynn began mumbling to herself. "To think that an artificial spirit bone could influence an artificial spirit soul to that extent. But maybe... no this will require more research."

She looked back to Kai happily, a smile on her face.

"Is there anything else?"

Kai broke from their hug, a smile on his face. "The Spirit bone has a couple abilities. First it seems to provide an increase in strength to all of my sound based abilities."

Evelynn nodded as Kai continued.

"The ability called Siren's Charm. It seems to be split into two separate parts, one passive and one active. The passive seems to just make me more charming to other people, regardless of sex."

Evelynn seemed to of realized something as her mouth opened, but she stayed silent.

"As for the active, it seems to be like one of your spirit rings but different. I can use my words to send my opponent into a trance, having them do what I tell them."

"Evelynn slowly nodded, processing everything that Kai had just told her.

"Try it on me" Evelynn said. "I'll lower my guard, I want to know how strong this Siren's Charm of yours is."

Kai nodded before activating his spirit bone. The silver circlet appearing on his forehead, the amethyst gems shinning slightly.

Evelynn watched as Kai opened his mouth and spoke.

"Dance" it was just one word, but it seemed to filled with so much power. It felt as though the word continued to bounce around her head. Her eyes glazed over slightly, as though she were in a trance as she began to dance.

Soon the effects wore off, Evelynn regaining control of her body. She remembered the experience, how it was different from other types of mind control or hypnosis. Instead of feeling as though she had no control, it was more like she was doing everything out of her own volition- making it harder to resist.

She looked back to Kai, nodding in satisfaction.

"How is it?" Kai asked.

"Strong, you could probably influence someone 10 ranks higher than you for a small amount of time with little problem."

Kai smiled happily, not expecting the spirit bone to be some strong.

"But more importantly, the spirit bone hasn't been named yet" Evelynn said, pulling out mirror from her spirit guidance device. "So why don't you name it?"

Kai took the mirror and looked back to Evelynn incredulously.

"Really?"

"Why not, it's your spirit bone after all."

Kai nodded excitedly as he stared into the mirror, looking closely at the spirit bone adorning his head.

"I think I'll call it" Kai began speaking. "The Midnight Siren's Crown."