East Sea City seemed to buzz with commotion. On such an early morning when the sun had just risen up, many children accompanied by adults roamed through the streets. Hopeful smiles plastered on their faces foretold of a common special event many awaited with bated breath.
Away from the bright atmosphere generated by the masses of people walking through the streets, there was a boy wearing a full set of white rubber shoes, shirt, pants and even a hoodie.
Standing at the docks, the six-year-old boy stared off into the sea.
Morning wind greeted the child, gracing him with a comforting breeze that tasted a bit like salt. Grey spiky hair jutting down onto the boy's shoulders billowed in the air. Hollow, dim looking monochrome eyes seemed so lost in thought.
Yao Guai closed his eyes.
It has been six years already and this new life still aroused his curiosity.
After crawling out of that dumpster he was found by a sketchy looking man. And he too was adopted by that man, gaining two elder brothers in one night.
Yao Guai inherited their surname, now he was Guang Yao. The youngest brother of both East Sea City's mecha brigade captain and his younger brother Guang Long.
Noise caught Yao's ears.
Turning around he saw a bunch of scrappy clothed men struggling with a six feet long and three feet tall monstrosity.
It stood on four legs, a metallic spiked shell hugged its torso. A glowing tail shooting a stream of continuous fire waved around dangerously.
The creature resembled a stainless steel colored turtle that gained a flame thrower for a tail more than anything. Yet its head was that of a snarling wolfs'.
"Get this fucking thing off me!!!"
"I thought spirit beasts were extinct!"
Yao sighed, scratching the back of his head.
He was just a small child. And those buffoons must've thought he got separated from his parents due to the annual special festival within East Sea City and opted to try and sneak up on him.
Nonetheless the wolf headed turtle snarled and growled as it chased the three shady people with renewed vigor.
"Little Iron finish them quickly." Guang Yao commanded as he fished for some ear plugs in his pocket. After finding them he put them on, covered his head and took a few more steps away from Little Iron.
"I'm ready."
The wolf headed turtle nodded and turned back to the three scampering adults. It closed its eyes and its mouth parted.
"Zzt!"
There was a buzz.
"chiiii…"
A low growl left the turtle's mouth.
And in the next second ears tasted torture.
"SCRIIIIIIIII!" Roaring out of the small steel colored wolf turtle's mouth was possibly one of the loudest and most painful things a human ear could hear.
A sound resembling nails scratching a chalkboard but amplified so much that the ear-piercing noise propagated hundreds of meters terrorized the three adult's ears.
"Gack!!!" The men fell down, their ears bleeding and Yao walked up to a triumphant looking Little Iron.
"Yip! Yip!" The four feet long beast barked at its master happily.
"Good job." Yao patted Little iron on his head and found things really ridiculous.
For the first year he had to learn a new language and deal with being a baby.
The second year he spent in amassing knowledge of the world, memorizing the dialect, learning how to write much to the horror of his eldest brother Guang Biao and the glee of his elder brother Guang Long.
By the third year he had started drawing while reading books. And the fourth year up to now was spent in learning how robots called mechas were assembled.
For a normal human, those feats would've been impossible. But ever since the day he woke up in this world, Yao still retained his old wizened adult mind. A sharp mind that found procrastination a mere myth as it never occurred to Yao.
The boy tapped his chin.
'This world has advanced technology that allowed me to build this little pupper and it also has this cultivation magic in it...'
'I'm still not sure if I feel safe or not...'
It was very unsettling and surprising the first time Yao found out about it. Something about living in a city filled with superhumans, some strong enough to shatter buildings and cause devastating damage, while others were completely like gods in the mortal realm.
Soul masters, those superhuman powerhouses were called.
A fight could break out between two high levelled soul masters and the surroundings would suffer horribly.
It also didn't help that technology advanced to the point that walking Gundams called Mechas became a part of society.
Yao glanced at his pet.
Yao scanned the metallic turtle-wolf. It looked like a real living organism but the truth is that it was just a robot. A little mecha that can shoot fire and issue out a dangerous sound attack from its mouth It was made out of steel and synthetic furs that Yao had designed and persuaded his elder brother Guang Long to get it built.
Powered by a nuclear rod and with a low-level instinct based artificial intelligence planted in it, the metal animal gained some semblance to life. It now acted like a loyal dog who followed him around and protected him.
Little Iron practically never ran out of energy as the nuclear rod in it incased in highly durable metal could last for ten years even if the little thing fought a lot.
If all else fails, the robot could just walk up to Yao's enemy and self-detonate. Setting off an explosion from a small nuke.
Sometimes Yao wondered how his brother Guang Long managed to pull enough strings to get Little Iron built.
It was a walking bomb.
Why hasn't anyone really confiscated it yet?
Yao shrugged. "I'm not complaining though..."
The duo left the docks and blended into the busy streets. Little Iron protectively followed the boy and Yao leisurely took his time in walking.
All around him the buildings of East Sea City looked modern, made out of concrete, steel and had simplified shapes but some stayed true to their traditional style, employing wood as the main material and ceramic tiles for roofing.
"I lucked out huh?" Yao chuckled by himself.
East Sea City, although not the best City out there in this continent ruled by the Sun Moon Federation, it was still a first-rate city.
If Yao needed high quality materials or resources for whatever project he's working on, this city would have plenty.
The duo continued on their way, travelling down the road onwards to a tall pagoda towering over the houses and some buildings.
The pagoda, stretching into the skies stood all in its glory. Casting a huge shadow on the lesser buildings around it.
Some skyscrapers surrounded the pagoda, but they could not diminish the glory of the Spirit Pagoda. An octagonal pagoda seemingly made out of pure steel with carvings of fantastic mythical beasts inscribed on its walls. It towered over the rest of East Sea City, as the highest infrastructure, a declaration of the Spirit Pagoda's long history and strength.
As tall as the pagoda three thousand feet in the air with thirteen layers was, it was only a branch building.
Little Iron suddenly walked in front of the boy, barring his path. Yao looked down and the wolf turtle started barking at him.
It was adorable, but sometimes Yao wished the thing could talk so they could communicate better. Sadly, its AI wasn't advanced enough to do that. It could register human speech, recognize it but at the same time for some probable flaw in the way it was made, the turtle could not speak even in a text to speech manner.
Yao tilted his head at Little Iron. "Is something wrong?"
Little Iron shook its head and it inched closer to its master. Jumping up and biting onto the boy's sleeve, the robot practically dragged Yao as fast as it could. The boy stumbled and nearly fell before he regained his balance.
Through the busy streets Yao and his pet ran through. Apparently, Yao had strayed from his path and his pet just wanted them to get to their destination on time. Arriving before the entrance of the spirit pagoda jam packed with people, their focus fixated on one man that people gave a wide berth to.
A man dressed in a biker gang outfit. Ripped jeans, black boots and a black jacket opened at the middle, revealing a dragon tattoo on his chest.
The man's pompadour stood proud and tall. Like a beacon broadcasting his presence.
"Little bro!" Guang Long laughed as he met the boy lead by a four-legged machine.
Yao felt his mood relax. His eyes regained their sharpness.
And he ducked. Dodging a sweep of an arm from the man.
Guang Long clicked his tongue. "Stop moving! You're not escaping this!" The man cracked his knuckles.
Yao felt a tad bit uncomfortable.
To be honest he had a good impression and opinion regarding his elder brother Guang Long.
The man did pick him up from the alleyway, adopted him and treated him like a real little brother.
Guang Long had patiently taught him many things. The rules of this world, the do's and don'ts and whenever Yao needed something, Guang Long would buy it for him.
Sometimes the man went overboard. Yao often times feared that if he didn't express interest in reading books then the man would've bought him cars or some other expensive stuff.
But even with all that favorability stacked on top of each other.
Yao was still an adult.
"Brother... For the nth time I don't like your noogies!" Yao growled.
Guang Long took a step back. Horror dawning on his face. "Come on! This is how we bond! Accept the inevitable!" Guang Long rushed forwards, anticipating the cute frustrated expression Yao always had when he noogied him.
Deep inside, Guang Long roared. 'No matter what, I have to flex on the idiots surrounding me how adorable my little brother is!'
Guang Long is a simple-minded man. His little brother was adorable and no doubt in the future he would become a lady killer.
So while Yao was still young, advertising his little brother's cuteness should be done to attract the attention of many girls. There was no way Guang Long was going to allow his brother to be a single dog like him and the eldest out of them three.
At the same time, Guang Long just wanted his brother to have a good reputation unlike his.
A lot of people disliked Guang Long. He didn't give a shit about it anymore.
But if people had a shit to say about his little brother.
They had to die.
Guang Long will crush their skulls.
Seeing that his brother won't relent, Yao dove into the crowd. "That's cheating!" Guang Long roared.
Yao escaped through the horrified crowd that tried their best to make way for the stout man chasing his brother.
Some people in the crowd were stronger than Guang Long. They were stronger yet they still evaded the man like a plague.
There was a saying in East Sea City.
You can offend a lot of people, but if you offend and hurt the Mecha Brigade Captain's little brothers then you will wake up in jail.
No one wanted to deal with all that hassle.
Yao evaded his brother and entered the pure white pagoda.
"Today's the day." Yao mumbled and cut through the one of the five lines of parents guiding their children lining up to enter one of the five rooms on the pagoda's first floor.
At the age of six, children in this world awaken Martial Souls. Martial Souls were strange magical things.
They could be anything. Ranging from a pen up to even a dragon.
If the martial soul was a beast then it was called a beast type martial soul. If it was some sort of object then it was referred to as a Tool type martial soul.
These martial souls could be summoned anytime. Beast souls would overlap onto the user's body, transforming their physique and giving the power of the beast onto the wearer.
And tool souls can manifest and be wielded, often acting like magical tools able to bring forth devastation.
Though even getting a martial soul meant nothing when a person had no soul power. Soul power was the foundation of all masters.
It was like mana for magicians. Except that mana strengthened the body and upgraded the power of one's martial soul.
Yao didn't care what martial soul he would get.
The only thing he wanted was soul power.
Because with soul power, as long as it was cultivated enough then even a soul master with a meek rabbit for a martial soul could one day cleave through buildings with their kicks.
"Get back in line kid!" Many expressed their anger at the child being rude. Little Iron went started snarling and crouched down.
Yao rolled his eyes at the people getting mad at him.
Did Yao give a shit?
No.
Because he didn't need to.
Two heavy sets of footsteps echoed through the room. The ruckus Guang Yao caused evaporated into the wind.
The atmosphere in the room grew heavier.
Two tall giants entered the Pagoda.
Guang Long leisurely walked forward with his arms on the back of his head.
Infront of him was a six feet six inches tall giant of muscle.
A bald man with their eyes closed wearing only a pair of boots and camouflage pants secured by a tool belt silenced the area.
His topless half showcased the power within his refined muscles. Many knew of the name Guang Biao.
[Guang Biao Appearance]
A decently powerful soul master.
He was a Soul Emperor. And the master of a purple ranked mecha.
Soul Masters were classified into different tiers every ten ranks. And for every rank starting at the limit of Soul Scholar, a Soul Master must get a ring to advance into the next stage.
Rank 1-10 Soul Scholar
Rank 11-20 Soul Master
Rank 21-30 Soul Grandmaster
Rank 31-40 Soul Elder
Rank 41-50 Soul Ancestor
Rank 51-60 Soul King
Rank 61-70 Soul Emperor
Rank 71-80 Soul Sage
Rank 81-90 Soul Douluo
Rank 91+ Titled Douluo
And Mecha ranks were named after colors. Following the same ranking when it cames to the quality of rings.
White Mecha, Yellow Mecha, Purple Mecha, Black Mecha and Red Mecha.
Guang Biao opened his eyes.
Yellow, Yellow, Purple, Purple, Purple, Purple
Six rings flared into existence, bringing with them a heavy pressure as if gravity multiplied a few fold.
"Is there a problem with my youngest brother cutting the line?" Guang Biao questioned.
None answered.
The man nodded. "Good. Xiao Long, Xiao Yao. Let's go."
The three brothers cleaved through the room and entered one of the awakening chambers in the first floor.
I'm pretty sure I owe you guys atleast three chapters. I'll do a mass release one day probably to pay that debt. But I guess it won't be any time soon.
School is starting to crane its ugly head, I'm getting more busy.