First Day of Training

The next morning at 8:45 am, Kai entered the spirit Pagoda before entering an elevator restricted to members or specific guests. There was no button in it and began shooting downwards the second the doors closed. After a minute or two the doors opened, revealing a huge and open space easily spanning a few football fields.

Surrounding the open field were different facilities: weights, simulated environments, and even private cultivation rooms. This basement was truly a paradise for Soul Masters wanting to train.

After exploring for a bit Kai soon felt a tap on his shoulder, startled he jumped slightly only to hear some light giggles behind him.

"Master?" he asked shyly, turning around.

"You're early" She said once she calmed down. She had changed out of her pink lab coat and into some black workout clothes. Her pink hair now tied into a long ponytail. "Some things aren't done being set up yet, so why don't you do a couple laps of the field until then?"

Kai nodded before taking off, taking his first day of training seriously. Watching him run off, Evelynn frowned thinking back to what had happened during his absorption of his Spirit Soul. More importantly, she thought back to the conversation she had with Lance later that night.

…

Evelynn sat down on the couch, observing the scattered pieces of the broken table still littering the ground from earlier in the day. Lance soon came down the stairs after sending Kai to his room.

"You said you wanted to talk?" Lance's deep voice resounded throughout the room.

"I just wanted to ask some questions about Kai."

Lance nodded, urging her to continue.

"I'll just to cut to the chase, does Kai have Twin Martial souls?" she asked.

Lance leaned forward, a serious expression on his face.

"Why did something happen?"

Evelynn hesitated for a moment before answering.

"No, its just that its rare for someone to awaken with innate full Spirit Power. It might also help explain why he has abnormally high Spiritual Power."

Lance nodded slowly.

"No, he doesn't have Twin Martial Spirits" He got up from his seat. "If that's all, I'd be happy to show you out."

Evelynn narrowed her eyes, not getting up from her seat.

"So eager to show me out?" She laughed lightly before becoming serious once again. "Are you certain?"

"Yes. Now if you don't mind, I have a mess to clean up." He motioned to the broken table on the ground. Evelynn got up and silently left the house. Returning to her own home she shook her head and mumbled under her breath.

"It's fine if you won't tell me Lance, I'll figure it out myself."

…

After running a couple laps, Kai finally noticed his master calling him over.

"Before we start training, I just wanted to ask you something" Eve paused, waiting to see if Kai had any reaction. "I was wondering if you were willing to participate in a research project of mine, as a subject?"

Kai only tilted his head to side.

"What kind of research?" he asked.

"You know that I'm head Scientist for Artificial Spirit Soul research here in Heavenly Dou, right?" Kai nodded before she continued. "We're researching if, through the combination of specific Artificial Spirit Souls, we could cause them to undergo an evolution similar to how a Martial Spirit may evolve, making them stronger."

"We've never done this before, but if it succeeds your Spirit Souls may be many times stronger than those of your peers." Evelynn explained. "If it fails, you wont be any worse then if you hadn't participated."

"Why me then Master? Couldn't you do this with someone else first?" Kai asked, confused. Evelynn simply shook her head before speaking.

"Due to the limited amount of Artificial Spirit souls we can create, we need someone with a neutral elemental affiliation. Most Spirit Master's awaken theirs during the awakening ceremony through their Martial Souls. Of course, many Spirit Masters awaken without any elements."

"But the problem is, when merging with their first Spirit Soul they assimilate some of the properties of the spirit. Since they originally had no elemental alignment, during the assimilation it changes to suit that of the Spirit Soul."

"You, however, didn't. Your first spirit ability is purely sound manipulation, there's not a single hint of elemental assimilation from the spirit."

Kai was confused, scratching the side of his head he spoke.

"Neutral Elemental affiliation?"

Evelynn shook her head slightly hearing this, a warm smile on her face as she began explaining.

"We only have so many Spirit Souls related to one element. Not only that, if we just gave someone random Souls they might not be compatible with their Martial Spirit. Your spirit ears and sound manipulation are like a blank slate, making the compatibility problem almost non existent."

Kai nodded slowly, processing all the information he just received. Looking back up to Eve, he told her his decision.

"I'll do it Master! What do you need me to do?" he said resolutely.

"You just need to train hard and breakthrough, leave the rest to me" Eve said warmly. "Now then, why don't we get to your actual training."

Kai followed Evelynn to one of the buildings surrounding the center field. Upon entering he saw a man in a lab coat fiddling with a strange machine. He had short black hair and thick glasses. He seemed to be setting up a bunch of machines in a circle, they all resembled small speakers.

"Miss Evelynn! Just in time, I'm just about ready" The man looked over once he realized they had entered.

"Kai this is Rob, one of my research assistants. Rob this is Kai, my personal disciple." Evelynn introduced the two. "He'll be monitoring you during today's training."

"I've heard a lot about you" Rob ran over after finishing up with one of the machines, shaking Kai's hand with great enthusiasm. "It's a pleasure to be working you!"

"We'll start by first testing the limits of your Martial Soul and Spirit Ring." Rob explained, bringing him towards the speakers he had set up. They were arranged in a circle, they were facing the center. To the side was a computer, likely controlling the speakers remotely. "Just stand in the center of the speakers and we'll start the test."

Doing as he was told Kai stood in the center as Rob and Evelynn waited near the computer. "All you need to do is identify which speaker is emitting the noise. This shouldn't take too long."

Kai nodded before closing his eyes and focusing. Soon he heard a beep coming from behind him, raising his arm he pointed in the direction of one of the speakers. A moment later, another beep with a different pitch was heard from a different direction. Kai once again identified the speaker.

This process carried on for close to 10 minutes, each beep getting more and more quiet until he couldn't hear it anymore. He opened his eyes and saw Rob furiously typing away at the computer, Eve walked over and ruffled Kai's hair.

"Based on the test, you can hear most sounds up to kilometer away. However, your accuracy at determining where the sound came from dropped significantly once you reached about 700 meters away."

Kai nodded, not knowing if that was good or not.

"Not only that, but you can also hear frequencies others cant. Pretty good ears you've got." Eve smirked, pinching Kai's ears. "Now lets take a look at your first Spirit Ring."

Rob and Evelynn led Kai to another room, this one was relatively empty aside from some mannequins. He was then guided through a series of different tests to determine the limits and abilities of his first spirit ring.

His first ring only had a range of 100 meters, or 1/10th of his hearing's range. Furthermore, he could create 'dead' zones, where no sound could travel through. Kai could also create different frequencies, even ones that the average person couldn't hear.

Furthermore, through his sound amplification his ability could reach close to 130 decibels for a moment. It was similar to a gunshot or an extremely loud speaker that could blast directly into your ear, causing great pain and potentially causing permanent hearing loss.

'Still so weak' Kai thought to himself, looking out at the training facility. He then looked towards his master, thinking back to the experiment she was performing on him. 'No, I just need to cultivate and train hard. With Master's help becoming strong is only a matter of time.'

"You finished your little break?" Evelynn walked over and asked. Kai nodded and she tossed over a set of padded light armor. "Put this on and meet me in the field."

Kai quickly slipped into the head and chest piece before running over to the field. Off in the corner he spotted Evelynn stretching, still in her black sports outfit. There were more than a couple Soul Master stealing glances when she bent over.

Noticing that Kai had arrived Evelynn stopped stretching, much to the dismay of the surrounding Soul Masters. She raised her hands, getting into a fighting position.

"Come show me what you got. No spirit rings, no soul power. Just classic martial arts." She curled her index finger, beckoning him to fight.

Kai gulped nervously before rushing over and throwing a fist. Eve swiftly blocked his punch and sent a palm into his chest, launching him backwards. Kai wheezed as he landed on his back, the wind had been knocked out of him.

"Again" Eve's voice was now cold, nothing like she had been earlier. Kai clenched his fists and pushed himself back up to his feet. He then rushed forward again, this time throwing a kick towards her midsection.

…

About an hour later Kai was lying on the ground breathing hard, eyes closed. His entire body ached, covered in bruises despite using some sparring equipment. Throughout the entire spar Kai had never landed a clean hit. On top of that he hadn't been able to dodge any of her strikes either, resulting in him receiving a one-sided beating.

Kai wasn't mad though, instead he was quite happy. Evelynn was a Spirit Douluo and one of the top Spirit Masters of the Spirit Pagoda, if she wasn't at least this strong he'd be disappointed. Furthermore, she'd occasionally give him tips while they fought, teaching him slowly.

Opening his eyes he looked over to his Master, Evelynn. She was drinking a bottle of water, a few beads of sweat running down her face. She walked over and sat down next to his unmoving body.

"I have to admit, I'm a little disappointed in your performance." Eve said, resting her head on her hand. Kai wanted to refute but couldn't. Back in the Draken Clan he never took the fighting classes seriously, putting most of his energy into his music. He only had himself to blame for his lack of ability.

"But that's not a bad thing, you know" Evelynn began explaining, seeing his reaction. "My Master used to tell me, whenever I was being too hard on myself or when I messed up, that being human is about making mistakes. Failure isn't something to be mad at, but something to welcome with open arms, its something that helps guide you in the right direction. You just have to keep trying."

Kai stared at Evelynn silently for a moment.

"Thank you Master" Kai understood now. He'd never been talented at fighting so he always ignored it, not wanting to work and improve himself. He knew he'd have to work harder to make up for all the time he had lost.

"Master, will you train me to use a weapon?" he asked.

Evelynn thought for a moment before responding.

"Only after you've gotten good enough with your fists. Can't have you flinging your fists around blindly if they disarm you, can I?" She laughed before continuing. "Now get up, you've got more training to do."

Kai groaned, forcing himself up with some help from his Master. His body creaking as he moved, Evelynn dragged him towards one of the nearby buildings. Inside there were a series of doors, above them were lights. Green indicating they were available, red being occupied.

Entering one of the open rooms Kai was greeted with a small waiting area, a couple chairs with a table. Beyond it was a room blocked off with a glass door, providing easy viewing of what happened inside. The room on the other side of the door was relatively large and completely empty aside from a tablet attached to the wall on the far side of the room.

Evelynn plopped him down in one of the chairs before entering the room. She made her over to the tablet, fiddling with it for a minute. She then walked to the center of the room. A couple seconds later a black ball was launched from one of the walls, traveling directly towards her.

She deftly dodged as another ball flew at her, coming from her blind spot, she dodged it easily. Then another, and another. She made it look like a walk in the park, not even breaking a sweat. This lasted for a few minutes before she walked out of the room.

"Simple, right?" Kai nodded, hearing her speak. "The tablet is already set up at the beginner difficulty for Spirit Masters under rank 20."

Kai struggled to get up and made his way to the glass door. But just as he was about to open it, Evelynn stopped him.

"Not too fast." She wrapped a blindfold over his eyes. Kai was going to protest but Eve spoke first. "You rely too much on your eyes when your ears are your best asset. This is for your own good."

She patted him on the back encouragingly.

"Now just go stand in the middle of the room and it will start automatically, I'm sure you can tell where it is right?"

Kai nodded before entering the room and made his way to the center of the room, using his ears to get a feel for his surroundings. Soon he heard the sound of a ball whizzing through the air, taking a step to the right he was able to dodge it safely.

Once he finished dodging another ball was shot out, this time from behind him. He was once again easily able to dodge it.

'This isn't that bad, with my ears I have no blind spots. If it were another Spirit Master they might of already been hit!'

Kai dodged another couple balls, he was getting confident. Suddenly a loud sound resounded in the room, stunning Kai and causing him to get pelted by one of the balls and creating a small welt on his back. Because his Martial Spirit was running on full blast it was louder than normal, instead of masking the noise of the ball being shot out it sounded like a small explosion right next to his ears. He quickly took off his blind fold furiously and looked towards his master for answers.

"What?" she asked, she spoke mater-of-factly. "Are you just going to pray your opponents don't try and use loud sounds to shake you during a fight? If you can't get used to this then you might as well stop your training altogether."

Ears still ringing, Kai grinded his teeth and put his blindfold back on, waiting for another round to start.

…

2 hours later, Kai was sitting in one of the chairs outside of the ball-shooting room chugging down some water. Evelynn was smiling at the side, happy to see her disciple working hard. Before he had caught his breath, Eve began talking.

"You did well for your first day!" She patted his shoulder, causing him to wince. During the blindfolded training he had never passed the beginner level, resulting in his entire body being covered in welts.

"Starting tomorrow, from 9 am to 12pm you'll spar with me before having an hour for lunch. After that, from 1 pm to 3 pm you'll be in here. For the rest of the day you'll train your first Spirit Ring as well as have some time for me to guide you in cultivation. On weekends you can leave at 3 if you want, but you can also stay if you'd like more pointers."

Kai nodded before thinking of something.

"Master, I'll be attending the Heaven Dou Beginner Academy in a couple months. What will I do about my training then?"

Evelynn thought for a moment before waving her hand.

"We'll cross that bridge when we get there, for now we should be getting you home to rest. Today's only Wednesday after all, you've got a long day tomorrow."