The three children simply looked dumbfounded by the words. Child lost in time? Child played by time? What exactly did that mean?
The two soul beasts also seemed confused, but the one most confused out of them all was Jianyu. Was this referring to his elder sister and brother?
Karni and Siduo, while confused, now had completely clear heads. The energy of the island was truly magical, their bodies and minds were now in perfect condition. They glanced at each other. They didn't know what kind of existence this was, but seeing as it affected such a large area… It was at least a Hyper Douluo level existence. Likely even higher.
"Now, now." The voice breathed with the island. "No need to be afraid. I don't mean any harm. The fact that you're even here means that my defences did not work… or… I did something without being aware of it. I woke up only after this commotion. So. Speak. What exactly are you doing here and how exactly did you get in here?"
Karni took the initiative right now. He was also closer to the soul beasts. "We were travelling to the Star Luo Continent, when a storm caught us and brought us here. We were simply exploring as we had no clue which way to return home."
"Hmmm. I see. That would mean that I didn't let you in, but subconsciously pulled you in here. Peculiar."
The two soul beasts widened their eyes. The voice pulled them in? They weren't intruders?
"Children. Show me your martial souls. Ah, the little one. You don't have to." Jianyu could tell it was directed at him, right now he was feeling unnaturally comfortable. There was no pressure. He let this feeling slip into him and surprisingly, he quickly fell asleep.
"Now that there's some privacy, we may speak comfortably."
Before Karni and Siduo had the chance to present their martial souls, they panicked, first because of Jianyu, second because a figure came into existence in front of them. Some of the golden energy around the island seemed to gather together and a human figure appeared.
It was an old man, with a long beard, wearing a relaxed smile. Clothing that seemed to have the patterns of the island engraved on them, resembling a turtle shell when put on a smaller scale, and a bamboo hat to throw some shade on the old face. Though it wasn't actually bamboo. It more resembled the vegetation of the island.
"Don't worry, he's just asleep. I saw the boy's curious eyes. He doesn't know much does he. So now you can reveal your secrets without worries."
Just in case, Siduo still checked her younger brother. She could see he was soundly asleep, and looked like he had a good dream as well.
Karni waited for her reaction, she turned towards him and nodded. He relaxed, summoning his martial soul alongside Siduo. It's not like they had much of a choice at the moment. Going against this person would just be a death sentence.
As soon as the two did, the look on the man changed. It wasn't one of hostility, it had zero aggression actually. Only pure curiosity. Especially towards Karni's martial soul.
"Oho. I could feel that martial soul reading the very future of this island."
Karni looked in surprise. This man could… feel his abilities?
"I myself have capabilities relating to both time and space. I can tell when someone else dabbles in those fields."
"As for you." The man turned towards Siduo. "Your powers may not belong to those of time or space, but I can feel the residual energy of both in your soul. If nothing else, you were likely affected by it to some degree. Whether that be thrown back in time, or reincarnated, or something else."
The two gulped. This old man was scary. He could tell all of that just with a glance. He didn't have just abilities relating to time and space. He likely had high mastery of them as well.
"You, child." The man looked at Karni. "What is your name?"
"Val Karni."
"Mm. Val Karni, would you be willing to show this old man some of your abilities?"
Karni didn't really have much of a choice. It felt like he had to show them, though on some level he could understand that the man asked a genuine question. Karni just didn't dare to say no.
He activated his first soul ring. The effect took hold of the surroundings, and he could feel the future of many things surrounding him.
"Hoho. Interesting. Not only are you analysing the structure of time further into our future, you're also analysing the very movements of space around you."
"Space? It feels more like a sixth sense." Karni answered. It never felt like he was looking at space. Wouldn't that give him a great visual idea of what the surroundings were like? This was also the second time now someone mentioned space. Gu Yue said similar things.
"Of course it's space. Though space is hard to analyse at your level, so it likely feels like a sixth sense. It should be better once you become stronger and your spiritual level rises."
Karni felt dumbfounded. He was analysing space? So far he always thought it was more like his instincts were sharpened. His awareness was sharpened. Then he stopped. Yes, it was awareness, not actual instincts. Then… He turned to look around. This feeling of the sixth sense was more his subconscious awareness of the changes in space.
"So what are your other abilities? I see three rings there."
"Um. The second one shares my ability with someone else."
"Mm. We can skip that for now then. What about your third ability?"
"I don't think it's connected to time. It's sound based."
The man just raised his eyebrow while nudging him to activate the ability.
Karni's third soul ring shone and a beautiful melody was released into the air, then soon after constricted the energy within his martial soul.
The old man's eyes bulged as he heard the melody. He glanced at Siduo in a bit of shock as well, before shaking his head to calm himself. His eyes returned to Karni.
"You… Do you realise what you're doing? This isn't just any sound you're manipulating."
"Eh?"
The older gentleman rubbed his forehead.
"This isn't just any sound as the sound is being produced. It is specifically related to sound produced by manipulating space and time."
Karni knew this was special, but he didn't really understand what the guy meant.
The elder sighed. "Every action in the world has a reaction. I hope that isn't too hard to understand." He looked at Karni who was now intently listening. By now, both Siduo and Karni have relaxed a little. The man didn't seem to mean any harm based on him being willing to explain these types of things.
"The action of running water, for example, has multiple reactions. First it uses its force to move things out of the way, it pushes the water itself and so on, but those kinds of effects are conditional. It depends on what sort of thing is doing an action. A fire would burn things, a soul beast would leave footprints through their weight and gravity and so on. But every single action has a single thing in common. It is a use of force, and force, no matter what kind, produces sound. Sound is a reaction that every single thing has in common as a reaction, no matter how small."
The man looked at Karni. "Do you understand? Your sound manipulates the most primal version of it. The sound produced by manipulating space and time, the reaction to manipulating those two forces. You have the ability to control that reaction, and because of that, it mildly affects space and time as well."
Karni thought about it. But it didn't make complete sense. "Then what about in the vacuum of space? Sound can't travel through nothing."
The old man raised his eyebrow and went into thought. After about a minute he looked back up. "I've never been above the clouds. That much is true, so I wouldn't know. But in theory, your sound, the sound of time and space, does not necessarily make an audible reaction, but there is still a reaction, even I can only theorise here. Perhaps your sound, since it's directly connected to space and time, would be able to be heard in that vacuum you mentioned. I could see how normal sound that relies on particles in the air wouldn't be heard there. But yours does not work this way. It affects the qualities that make up reality itself."
"Why are you telling me all this?" Karni had a dumbfounded look. His ability. The predictions, why there was sound, even the fact he could share it and that it was spiritual. This person just connected all of the dots together for him. Filled in every single hole. But why?
The man looked at him weirdly. Then put his hand under the chin in a thinking pose. "Why did I tell you all of this?" He asked more so himself than Karni, then went quiet.
Siduo and Karni had a really stupid look right now. This old guy… He didn't know? He had no reason? Really?
"Well." The man spoke after a while. "I don't know. I just felt like it. It's been a long time since I was last awake and I wanted to talk to people. Especially such interesting ones as you." The man smiled kindly, but it wasn't the kind of smile like Mo Qing's. It was genuine kindness.
"I've been sleeping for twenty thousand years and you seem to remind me of someone from my dreams during that period, so this has been quite fun." The man looked satisfied.
"But before that, I have one final request for you, if you're still willing to amuse this old man."
Karni nodded, and now it wasn't due to fear anymore. He was genuinely willing to go along with this request.
"Share your second soul ring with that girl. I want to check something."
Karni didn't refute. Siduo saw the predictions as well.
"As I suspected. Lass, do you know that your soul is resonating with his power? My guess is that you're likely getting better benefits from it than most people."
Siduo thought a bit. Then nodded. "I suspected it to be the case, but I wasn't sure."
The man acknowledged her simple reaction. "It is true. Not just the power, your souls are slightly resonating with one another. While your power is not similar at all, the souls seem to have been affected by a special energy in the past. Though even I can't quite see what that energy is."
The two looked at each other. Could it be reincarnation, or something else? "Did you see the golden flow of the river when you came here?" Karni asked.
Siduo nodded without hesitation. Looks like they found their answer.
"You two have seen the flow?!" The man suddenly reached the two of them in absolute shock. It seemed he teleported to them.
The two nodded. "While I was being reincarnated."
"I see." The man was a bit disappointed, but also excited. "I've only glanced at it once during my long sleep, and it has expanded my knowledge on space and time greatly. My guess is that it is a place outside time, a place that represents the timeflow itself."
The two didn't really know what to say. They've never seen it in such a way before.
The man was staring off into nothingness, clearly occupied with his own mind for a second.
"Alright then." The man spoke amidst the silence. "Hopper, Solaria, come here." The man looked at the soul beasts behind them.
"It seems this is fate. Perhaps both the coincidence of you two showing up here, as well as these two children coming here. It might be premade."
Karni and Siduo glanced at each other. Children? He called those two children? The perception of age in the Soul Beast world really did work differently.
The old man turned to Siduo. "You have a tiger for a martial soul, correct?"
Siduo nodded.
"Mm. From this day forward, Solaria and Hopper shall become your soul rings."
Everyone looked at him in shock. Soul Rings?
The two soul beasts immediately wanted to argue, but the man just put up his hand.
"Don't worry, your consciousness will be left intact. With my runes, I should be able to do it easily. Trust me on this. This will only bring the two of you benefits. You'll only have to pinch down your pride for a short period of your lives." He then said something in a language that only the soul beasts understood.
The two creatures, while still a bit unsure, clearly changed their minds and seemed to look at Karni and Siduo in a bit of a different picture. They also seemed a bit sad while glancing at the old man.
"Um. Sir." Karni called out.
"You can call me Old Zhou. It means 'old continent'."
"Old Zhou. About the Soul Rings."
"You don't want them? I'll have you know, both of these two are more than twenty thousand years old, and I can make it so their power is suppressed. You don't have to worry about your bodies and spiritual sea being unable to handle them. I can seal them in a way that they would naturally return to their peak as time passes so you can eventually handle their full power."
In the old man's eyes, the kindness disappeared for the first time and was replaced with stubbornness. It looked like Karni and Siduo didn't even have a choice here, this time, he was actually only being polite.
Karni was dumbfounded for a second, but quickly shook his head. "Can you at least tell us why?"
"I was going to let you leave now, but I was also going to make you take these two with you to the mainland and let them off there. You two did come here by accident, and this was an opportunity to solve our problem." He sighed. "But you two seeing the flow changes things. Even if it is reincarnation, this shouldn't be normal. I will be honest, I want to use your potential for my own gains." He turned back to the crow and the tiger. "And for those children's sake too. They don't have a future here."
Karni nodded solemnly, accepting, in the end it came back to the two of them not really having a say in the matter, but they could still influence this. "In that case, there might be a better way to go about this. We can make them into Spirit Souls, no special power required. An equal contract that will keep them both intact. Even if we die, they should be able to survive later on."
"Spirit Souls? Never heard of it. Can you prove this?" He looked at Karni with suspicion.
Karni nodded and called out Hope, something he had not done for a while. A beautiful, long snake coiled up from Karni. Pitch black, with golden borders between her scales and beautiful golden eyes.
Siduo also helped Karni. She summoned out her Spirit Souls. If they gained spirit souls instead of soul rings, it would obviously be more beneficial to the two of them.
"These are artificial Spirit Souls, but they are still alive. Since those two are soul beasts, it should work even better for both of us."
Siduo nodded at the side. Of course she would. This was a chance to get a twenty thousand year old Spirit Soul. Karni had more influence with Old Zhou right now, so she was keeping quiet.
Old Zhou examined them. Surprise in his eyes. "It seems that humans have developed greatly since twenty thousand years ago. Spirit Souls eh? It seems you two are going to benefit more than I expected. How daring. Fine. I'll allow it, but only under my watch. If I see any tricks going on, you'll regret it, even if you have talent, I won't allow you to harm those two children."
The two 'children' approached Karni and Siduo. Solaria with Siduo, and Hopper with Karni.
The crow looked at Karni a bit haughtily, arrogance that wasn't trying to be hidden within his eyes. Then it seemed like it sighed. Realising that it too, didn't have much of a choice.
The crow looked one last time towards Old Zhou. The old man simply smiled cheerfully and the crow seemed appeased.
"Now then. First Karni, then Siduo. Start your fusion."
Karni nodded. He cut himself a bit and fresh blood came out. "Both of us will have to be willing to do this. A contract of equality. If one of us is unwilling, there might be problems."
The crow looked a bit weird and as if to say, you think I'm that dumb? And Karni simply shook his head. "I'm just warning because not just me, but you two might be injured once we begin if one of us goes astray. It's for both of our safety. You need to keep the equality part in mind too."
The crow raised the eyebrow a little in surprise, before nodding at Karni. Seeing that the human wasn't looking down at it, it seemed somewhat pleased with him.
The crow used one of his feathers to cut a part of his body. It sounded like metal itself was cut open at that moment. The body seemed extremely sturdy.
He opened his third eye and offered a bloody wing to Karni's hand. Karni took it, and a simple formation that was taught to everyone appeared between the two. The crow was examining it for a while, before a little smile appeared. Through the blood, it could feel the good intentions of Karni right now. The boy seemed extremely curious at the moment.
Fine. Old Zhou has good eyes even after twenty thousand years of sound sleep.
A change started. A shimmer of gold and silver fusing together. The crow turned ethereal for a second, before disappearing. A glow of silver and gold still lingering on Karni as the fusion kept on proceeding.
Old Zhou, satisfied by what he saw, began to work. The island glowed gold. More accurately, the cracks did, and from them, letters, runes of gold gathered in front of him. They went into Karni.
In his Spiritual Sea, the crow and himself were encircled by the formation of the fusion. A foreign light invaded the place with ease. Golden runes.
Karni had just started feeling the effects of fusing with something beyond him. Something above him in power. This crow truly was strong. Its spiritual energy reached heights Karni couldn't even comprehend right now. It felt like a deep abyss.
The runes touched the circle they were in. Forming lines. Sentences that Karni did not see as his mind was focused purely on himself, nor would he understand them.
Suddenly the pressure disappeared. The crow was still strong, but it has clearly been limited to about eight thousand years of age. Much lower than the original twenty thousand. Was this what Old Zhou meant? This process of sealing really did bring Karni balance.
In about half an hour after the runes entered. The fusion was complete. Karni stood up, and called forth the crow, who freely flew around the place, though it was weaker compared to before.
It went onto the ground, where Karni finally noticed something silvery. The crow, Hopper, picked it up and brought it to Karni.
"It's a soul bone." An old voice came from in front of him, full of satisfaction. "It seems Hopper likes you, for him to willingly pick up the bone and give it to you."
The hopper put his head sideways, as if denying the accusations.
"A… A soul bone? Can I really have something like this?"
"It should be suitable for you, as it's a spiritual skill. I think you've witnessed it before. The one that made you unable to move."
The crow nodded as it cacawed, only for Karni to actually hear the speech. "Of course. My third eye is great. You think I wouldn't have a Soul Bone for you?"
"Y- You can speak?"
The crow looked confused. "Of course I can. Our souls are connected."
"R- Right."
"Well then. You fuse with the soul bone, I'll help your friend fuse with Solaria as well." Old Zhou moved to Siduo.
Siduo began her process of fusion as well, while Karni started fusing with the soul bone.
It was of completely metallic silver colour. It looked like a crown resembling a crow, a wide span of wings that would envelop the head and three eyes looking down upon the world.
As soon as he put blood into it, his mind shook. The crow quickly flew into him, to help with the fusion. Since the bone was a part of him, as soon as he added his influence, the fusion immediately lost its intensity.
He could feel his own mind changing at the moment. The spiritual energy of the bone fueling his own, tired mind. Changing its properties. The Spiritual Power kept on changing between soft light gold and a soft silver colour.
Karni could now clearly feel different elements in his mind. Time and Space. The elements seemed more visible, yet they still felt weak. The silver-coloured Space currently felt better defined.
He opened his eyes. It felt like only seconds passed, though it was in reality about an hour. He saw Siduo was still in meditation. Was her fusion still ongoing?
"Solaria left a bone for that human too." Hopper answered in his mind.
Karni was shocked. Just who were these beasts for both of them to hold a soul bone? Hopper talked about it as if it was a matter of complete normality.
The crow was about to answer his thought, but Old Zhou noticed that he woke up.
"You've woken up. That's nice. You'll soon have to leave. The other humans, I'm guessing your parents, are looking for you. You should return soon. I'll put down the barrier that's making your equipment on the ship malfunction, so you should be able to leave without a hitch."
Karni rose up and thanked the old man. This was almost a life threatening situation. Yet somehow, it turned in the exact opposite direction. Becoming something extremely fortunate.
Siduo woke up about 10 minutes after Karni. Her chest glowed with a little light for a second, as she released the tiger, while Karni released the crow. The two comrades hung out with each other, before they left this island.
Old Zhou walked up to them one final time. "When you're on the precipice of a Titled Douluo rank. Visit me again. I shall have a gift for you then. I suggest you reach it with that panda of yours, otherwise the gift won't give you as much as you could gain." The man looked with a mysterious smile, then disappeared, without explanation.
Karni stopped counting the amount of surprises he had today. This was just one of many. Old Zhou was aware of his twin martial souls as well, and Karni just didn't have the energy to question it anymore.
"Let's go." Siduo said. Even if they were confused, there was nothing more to see here.
They reached the beach soon, with a still sleeping Jianyu on Siduo's back. The parents immediately came running out, looking extremely angry.
Before they could say anything Siduo started talking. "Jianyu ran into the forest, and we went to look for him. Nothing happened." She smiled. The parents were still furious.
"Also." She summoned her white tiger. Three purple soul rings appeared, her fourth one already black, unlike Karni's. She fused with a soul bone of the torso of the white tiger. She broke to the ten thousandth level in her Spirit Soul as soon as it happened, because her body was strengthened so much.
"We had a bit of fortune."
The parents were struck quiet. It felt like they turned to stone with how still they were after being so animated.
The father coughed, regaining his clarity. "Show it."
Siduo nodded, putting Jianyu into her mother's hands.
Her fourth soul ring shone, as she turned towards Karni.
The deep energy of the black soul ring enveloped the area. Her skin began turning to bright, shining stone, before she became a giant ball of radiant flame. She charged at Karni.
Karni simply summoned his martial soul, also with four rings, though his fourth one was still purple. He gained a great boost of Spiritual Power. He probably advanced to a high point right now, at least above three thousand points, but his physical ability didn't undergo any change.
He swung his staff at the very last second and disappeared.
He appeared behind the charging ball, and a silver crown appeared on him. An invisible, spiritual ray was thrown at the flaming meteor.
The ball stopped and fell apart. Siduo was unmoving. Karni charged, but light armour appeared in front of her, made of many stripes. Though she didn't move, he couldn't pierce it. Even with his third soul ring. Siduo didn't use her other soul rings.
The faces of adults turned to horror. "S- Soul Bones? They got Soul Bones!"
Karni helped Siduo up. They had a lot of explaining to do before they reached the Star Luo Continent.