The ship docked and the family stepped off. Karni handed the glasses to Siduo, she had yet to try them out.
"Wow. The analysis works smoothly. It's recognising individual buildings and people. I'm glad I got the information network working smoothly."
Karni nodded. "Thanks for that, I know that line of creation was one of the more jumbled mess in between everything else."
"What are you two kids talking about exactly?" Ta Siyu walked towards them with Wu Jianguo and Jianyu.
"Try it out." Siduo smiled at her mother. She wasn't much shorter than her mother. Only about 3 cm smaller (a bit more than an inch), she was going to be much taller in the future. She was destined to go above the 180cm (5'11'') mark.
She was actually slightly taller than Karni. Perhaps it was the martial souls or their natural physicalities, but she was above him in that regard.
Ta Siyu was impressed when she put the glasses on. "These… What rank are they?"
"5-star." Karni answered. "We have to visit the Tang Sect to send them to Teacher Mo when we get back."
The glasses were passed around the family, at the end returning to Karni. Wu Jianguo nodded. "Mm. Inform Mo Qing about this. I think you'll give him quite the surprise." There was also a bit of sadness in the man's eyes, he was already thinking of the near future. The two of them were growing up. This rank of technology is something rarely produced by young teens. More than that, they'll be going away soon.
"We'll go check on the train schedule, you two mail this in the meantime. We'll meet at the entrance of the train station." Ta Siyu organised their short timeline. They were actually late in their arrival home. The graduation ceremony was going to happen in two days, so they didn't have the time to sleep overnight in the city.
The two nodded and rushed off to the branch of Tang Sect in this city. It wasn't hard to find. Tang Sect's badge offered a search engine with a GPS on a Soul Communicator. At least for the more open branches. That gave them the Dazzling Era Tang Sect Technology Company. A company encompassing most of the Skysea Alliance. An alliance of cities on the east shore of the Federation.
But even the Tang Sect search didn't offer any additional information, one could put in information to login, but there was no registration. Karni and Siduo put in their Tang Sect badge numbers and they could see where the branch of the city was. It was called the Eastsea Soul Technology Park.
Karni smiled a bit. The Tang Sect really operated in a lowkey manner on this continent compared to what he saw on the Star Luo Continent. Searching Tang Sect on the general web would just give one this world's version of an extensive wikipedia article.
The two headed to Eastsea Soul Technology Park and entered it. Almost immediately, they noticed that it worked like a general technology company, ranging from computer sections to general appliances. They however were almost instinctively guided towards an elevator.
As they scanned their badges on an elevator similar to one in Star Luo City an unfamiliar voice sounded. "Star Luo's Little Karni, Star Luo's Little Siduo, welcome to our humble Eastsea Branch of the Tang Sect. I hope you enjoy your stay."
They were met with a sight and organisation similar to all the other Tang Sect branches. It was almost the same as their 'home' branch. Only the Star Luo Continent branches had a different setup. Perhaps it was because of the different culture.
They entered the mailing service and got taken to the back room. Since they were sending mail between different branches, the process was secure to a much higher degree compared to normal mailing service.
They were used to this however. This was how they've been sending their progress to Mo Qing since four years ago, and this was also how he was sending them their tasks. Now that they've taken a break from their usual work for a year already, they'd likely go back to learning the way of the Mecha. Something that began about a year after Mo Qing left.
They put everything in a temporary spatial ring prepared from the sect for the secure mailing. Designs, blueprints, explanations, sketches and of course the actual Soul Tool itself. The storage ring was then put into a fancy envelope and that was the end of their business. Since they weren't sending it from their usual spot, they couldn't put the cost of it on Mo Qing's tab, hence they had to pay a few contribution points as well. Karni also used this chance to mail Hu Jie's letter securely, to what he assumed was likely the Body Sect.
They arrived at the train station soon after and the family almost pulled them in before they could ask anything. The train was just about to leave and the next one was going to come three hours later. They were quite lucky with their timing.
Karni only now noticed how much faster the trains on this continent were compared to that of the Star Luo Continent. It was like comparing trains from Europe to Japanese trains in his home world. The travel time was definitely at least twice as fast as those on Star Luo Continent.
They'd have a single overnight stay on the train, but the travel wouldn't even last a full day.
They arrived around 7 in the morning the next day. The graduation was tomorrow at 9. Later than the school usually starts, which was something every student was happy about.
They returned to the house and were greeted by a warm welcome by everybody. It almost felt nostalgic returning here after being away for a whole year. In the classic Wu Family manner, they threw a party for celebration.
The preparations began early on. It was almost like a holiday. The workers were relieved to see everyone was still the same.
Wu Jianyu even showed them his new Soul Skill, which he named the Lightning Flash. This then led to Karni and Siduo also having to show their growth. The faces that everyone made when they saw Black Soul Rings on the fourth position made both of them feel embarrassed.
During this time though, Karni got a call. It was from Mo Qing. Siduo took out her phone as well. "I have three missed calls."
Karni nodded. "I have two missed calls as well. This is the third." He quickly answered and put it on speaker. "Teacher Mo, is everything fine?"
"Fine!? You brats! Did you really create this!?"
Karni was confused. "Um. I'm not sure what you're… The Augmented Reality Goggles?" He asked later, realising. Of course, if they've already arrived, the mail has reached Mo Qing as well.
"Yes! Yes! You really made this? Designed it."
Karni subconsciously nodded, despite Mo Qing not being able to see him. "Yes. Is something wrong with them?"
"No! That's the problem! They're amazing. I… Ugh. We shouldn't talk about this over the call. You have your Shrek Exams in two weeks. Visit me after you've officially entered the academy. We'll talk more about it then."
Karni made a promise and then hung up. His passion project was more than a success.
… … …
The two walked into the Star Luo Academy. Yet another hit of nostalgia welcomed them. They felt so different after they weren't in school for a whole year, even though it wasn't that long ago when school was still a normality for them. Yet they were moving on so fast. They just came back, but were about to leave. Joining a different academy. Hopefully. If they succeed.
There was a great flow of students entering the academy, most of them of a similar age to them. The final year of the Intermediate Academy had its own celebration separate from the other years.
That being said, there was a surprising amount of older students coming into the Intermediate Academy. Based on the uniforms, they belonged to the Advanced Academy of the Star Luo Academy.
What were they doing here? They paused, noticing a poster.
"Watch the showdown between the geniuses of the Intermediate Academy that will enter Shrek! A 2 versus 2! The students rival even those of the Advanced Academy! See for yourself and ask yourself: Could you beat them?"
"This shameless academy." Siduo snickered.
"They aren't even hiding it, but because it's from the academy itself, it still brings a huge crowd. They could have at least asked us if we want to fight. We would've said yes anyway."
"You?" A sudden voice came from behind.
Karni and Siduo turned. It was someone they didn't recognise, but they wore the same uniform as the two of them.
"You think you can compete with the Special Class? Two of them were on exchange on a different continent! You really think you can compare?"
The two of them looked at each other. Have they really changed that much in a year? Didn't they look basically the same as before?
Karni looked at Siduo. "I suppose you did grow out your hair. It's about to go past your ass. You sure you won't get your legs entangled in them?"
Siduo looked back at him. "Me? Look at you? Those messy curls of yours make you look like a hobo!"
The other student was both confused and mad. They ignored him in such a comic manner.
"What do you mean hobo? At least I got them tied up! You're about to start walking on them any minute now!"
"You bastards. You're ignoring me aren't you!" The other student felt insulted.
The two turned towards him and yelled as if mad at each other. "Yes!" Then they turned around and left.
"These assholes! The man tried running after them, but he lost sight of them immediately."
Karni was smiling. "I'm definitely giving that guy a look once we're on the stage."
"Meh. I couldn't care less."
"Oh come on, Sisi. The faces they make are priceless and the fun you get from it is harmless."
Siduo tapped her chin. She felt too old for this, but shrugged. "I suppose I can feel like a youngster every once in a while."
Karni smiled. "You granny. You are a youngster. In body if not in mind."
"What'd you call me!?"
"Oh! You two!" A different voice interrupted them this time. They saw two familiar faces. It was the Cloud Sword, Li Tai and Dragon Shield, Yu Tian.
"Have you seen the posters yet?"
Karni and Siduo nodded exasperatedly. "We're doing free promotions for the academy."
Yu Tian felt a bit weird hearing that. "You say that, but we got all of those resources for free."
Karni sighed. "I suppose so. I guess we owe them, since they're letting us graduate without even coming to school for a year."
Siduo glanced at the two of them. "We're fighting you two, right?"
Li Tai and Yu Tian nodded. "Mm. We're looking forward to showing you how we've grown. What level are you guys at?"
Karni and Siduo looked at each other. "You first."
Yu Tian smiled. "I reached rank 37 just recently."
Li Tai nodded. "I'm already rank 39, almost about to reach the bottleneck now. What about you?"
"43." Siduo smiled.
"Same." Karni smiled at her. Yes. Over the course of the year, they were now finally on a completely equal stage of Soul Power. It was mostly thanks to the free time Karni had in between other things. Siduo liked to fall asleep instead of meditating during their time on the other continent.
"You're Soul Ancestors?" The two boys looked at them in amazement.
Li Tai then smirked. "Heh. But we grew by 6 and 8 ranks, while you two only grew by 3."
Yu Tian facepalmed. "At least think before you try to make fun of someone."
Karni chuckled. "You try to increase your power at Soul Ancestor rank. The progress is much slower than the Soul Elder rank."
Li Tai just turned away, realising he let his mouth speak before the brain caught up. He knew his family was helping him tremendously this past year in hopes he can enter Shrek Academy as well. He's been consuming high quality treasures. Something that Siduo and Karni actually didn't get.
"Well, it doesn't matter. We'll see you on the grand stage." Siduo smiled and grabbed Karni by the hand and pulled him away.
… … …
"Welcome, students. We meet today on a sad, yet happy day. Some of you will continue on in our Advanced Academy, some of you will move on and get jobs. Some of you, perhaps, have other businesses in mind. The last six years have been…"
Karni stopped listening. It was the same thing that the Headmaster always mumbled about. The neutral tone, how he enjoyed his time with them, even though he didn't actually spend any time with them and so on.
After about half an hour of constant speaking, whether from the headmaster or other teachers of the academy, Teacher Ye entered the stage.
"Welcome everyone to your graduation. Some of you may know me as the teacher of your combat classes," she glanced towards the students of the advanced academy, "but others know me as the teacher of the Sixth Year Special Class in the Intermediate Academy. We'll be having a show of the four students of mine, and see the results of their special training. It will be a 2 versus 2."
She took a breath. "Each of these duos have spent their time together training for a long time. They each excel working with a single partner, and today, they'll show us the power of this special program. Some of you may already know that those worthy will have a similar class formed for them in the future. Today, you will see the potential of what you can achieve if you prove your worth to the academy."
She went silent, letting that sink in. It didn't really matter to the four from the Special Class, as they weren't meant to be here to encourage the others, they only waited to be called onto the arena.
"First, let's call the people you are more familiar with." Teacher Ye called out.
"Li Tai, Yu Tian, please enter the arena." Their peers cheered. They were quite popular. Karni and Siduo were as well, before they left, but never to such a degree. They preferred to keep to themselves.
"The two of them are on the 28th and 32nd rank of the Genius Youth Ranking respectively. Li Tai being on the 28th and Yu Tian on the 32nd."
"Now for the two opponents, also hailing from the Special Class, who have been absent for the past year, gathering experience on a distant continent. Val Karni and Wu Siduo."
The two entered the arena, they also received cheers. Though there was also curiosity among the crowd.
"Wu Siduo was, a year ago, on the 19th rank of the Genius Youth Ranking. Who knows what rank she'd be today? As for Val Karni, he refused to be ranked, yet is considered her direct rival by those who are familiar with the ranking."
Karni didn't want to get attention, yet the fact he was known as part of a duo with Siduo, brought him just as much attention as if he were to be ranked on the list.
In the original story, Siduo was actually the 9th rank on the board. It was just that she hadn't had her status updated since she became a Soul Ancestor. He'd be willing to bet that she'd be higher than the 9th rank right now, since she had a black soul ring, unlike originally, when she had 4 purple. In fact, originally, she had 4 purple soul rings and only a single other purple soul ring on the other martial soul. Now she was drastically stronger.
Karni looked at the crowd, searching for a face. He found it, the kid from before looking at him with a pale face. Karni raised his middle finger and laughed, while the kid buried his head into his hands, embarrassed by the situation. His friends already started asking him about it.
Siduo was shaking her head, while Karni was all smiles. It was like one of those childish dreams come true. To show it up to the stuck up person. Childish sure, but he still enjoyed it. Perhaps it was the fact he was hitting puberty as well.
The four now stood on opposite sides of the arena, and Teacher Ye started the countdown.
"3. 2. 1. Start."
The four of them summoned their martial souls. As soon as Li Tai and Yu Tian saw the black soul rings, their faces went pale, the duo quickly jumped for a hug, but in jumped Karni, appearing between them.
He hit their sides and pushed them apart, but he hadn't yet put his third soul ring into his bo staff. He used Shift as soon as possible as he expected them to try for a Martial Soul Fusion immediately. The small second of surprise was what gave him the time to do it.
They needed to control the situation, and Karni has long since left behind the time when he could only subtly control the battlefield. His third soul ring shone and he split his staff into drumsticks, then threw one at each of them.
Both of them were forced to block that with Soul Skills of their own. It was just too sudden. First Soul Ring of Li Tai shone and he parried the drumstick with his Cloud Cutter, but still got pushed back. Meanwhile Yu Tian's third soul ring shone and the shield enlarged. He wasn't dragged back, and managed to hold his ground.
After only a few seconds, Siduo was already on Li Tai, three Soul Rings of hers were shown, yet the strength from her other Martial Soul was still there. She was keeping the first and third soul rings of her White Tiger activated. Now she already called her Martial Soul the White Sun Tiger
With strengthened muscles and a diamond layer reflecting light off of her, her classic combination of Hell Hundred Claws forming into the Hell Blade was used in an explosive manner.
Li Tai gritted his teeth as he tried to dodge while parrying her, but the force was far too great. He fell on the ground, and Siduo stepped on him. He realised that he just lost immediately.
Meanwhile Yu Tian was staring with wide eyes behind him. A staff was pointed at his neck, releasing murderous sound. Karni teleported behind the shield silently and pointed the staff at him, hence also winning immediately.
It was just too surprising. Siduo didn't even use her fourth Soul Ring, instead using it as a distraction mechanic. She used her superb combinations to finish everything in one go. Meanwhile Karni used his fourth skill expertly to immediately create an advantageous situation. He had the element of surprise. He only used his first Soul Ring to teleport behind the shield, not for the predictive element. Still, he used quite a great amount of his Spiritual Power. That first teleportation was far away, and it greatly exhausted him.
Teacher Ye had mixed feelings. The students won't be getting anything from this exchange.
"Best out of three was the deal right?" Karni winked at Yu Tian. There was no such deal, but this was just too embarrassing for the academy and the two boys.
Yu Tian nodded quickly, and the teacher sighed in relief. "It seems that the student made a bet to have a best out of three competition. We'll choose to honour this. Get to your sides of the arena."
Karni and Siduo stepped back, and Siduo nodded at Karni. She was of the same mindset as he was. The countdown began again.
Before the Martial Souls were even summoned, the two boys hugged. Karni would not be able to interrupt them. He did not have that level of speed in Shifting yet. Yet he still Shifted to them, trying to attack.
The fusion started and Karni was pushed back. The force of the fusion messed with his senses, he had to use Drunken Ghost Dance to run away instead of Shifting. He had trouble locking onto the spatial properties.
Karni just wasted a ton of his Spiritual Power, he only had about a third left. A headache has already started.
Siduo ran towards him to pull him out of there before the fusion was complete. She reached him and a giant serpentine azure dragon hidden within the clouds appeared around them. In one of his hands was a giant Jade Sword, while in the other, a Shield made of obsidian, pitch black in colour.
While Siduo pulled him out Karni realised he wouldn't be useful when the fusion fully stabilised. Before it did, he used the only ability that could affect them. His Soul Bone shot a ray of Spiritual Energy into the dragon.
From the outside, all people saw was that the dragon paused for a few seconds, seeming to feel a bit unstable and spasming unnaturally. Siduo threw Karni out of the clouds with all her might.
The eyes of the dragon were surprised. They weren't injured, but their Soul Power was disturbed, they had to focus to keep the fusion stable. Without Soul Power, there was no Soul Fusion.
Karni fell outside the clouds gracelessly. His Spiritual Energy was spent, and all of his Soul Skills depended on it. There really was a downside to Shift. The Spiritual Power increased greatly with more distance. He used it too much at the beginning, and in this second bout, he wasted it completely, exhausting him. And he still stunned a Soul Fusion. His Spiritual Power reserves were now utterly empty.
Karni sat in a meditative pose, as he heard the sound of a second fusion.
Siduo shined in two colours, as a sword swing from the serpentine dragon came towards her. Her body changed into a giant tiger, and her claws met the sword. The sword won, pushing her towards Karni.
A tiger's roar of anger was heard in challenge of the dragon. Her skin glowed and two Soul Rings fused. A combination between black and purple. She fused her Sun Tiger Meteor with her Diamond Body Layer.
She rushed into the dragon, blazing like a meteor, yet the diamonds on her fur were shining like the very sun. Just as she crashed, another two Soul Rings fused into the current ones as the dragon intercepted her with its shield. Her Hell Blade and Hell Hundred Claws also fused.
The shield cracked from the combined attack of four Soul Rings, but the sword from the side slashed at her out of nowhere. No this was a second sword. A hidden one that seemed to be floating in the clouds. When did they get a second sword?
The two swords hit the same spot and cracked her single layer of diamond-like armour. The armour almost shattered. She barely survived that hit.
This won't do, even if she got past the shield, she'd still need to attack again to actually attack the body of the dragon, by then, the swords might win. Sure, there was the third round, should they lose, but she and Karni would be more tired. Karni won't be able to recover by then. She had to go all in.
Her Hell White Tiger became red, mist releasing from the cracks, devilish spiral horns growing on her head. She truly looked like a tiger from hell. The body grew in muscles and size with a bloodthirsty pressure descending upon the dragon.
She didn't want to risk fusing six soul rings together, not when Shrek Exams were in two weeks, but she quickly fused four Soul Rings together again. This time Sun Tiger Meteor was fused with Hell Rush, and Hell Blade was fused with Hell Hundred Claws again. An attack focused fusion, the cracked diamond layer vanished.
She rushed into the shield, far more aggressive than before. Her horns pointed at its very centre. She was so fast that it almost gave the illusion of teleportation. Hell Rush was already a speed based boost, but Sun Tiger Meteor also also worked like a single charging attack.
The shield broke into pieces, and as soon as Siduo saw the body of the dragon, she released Hell Hundred Blades, the fusion of Hell Blade and Hell Hundred Claws.
She hit perfectly, her Self Fusion falling apart, exhausted of energy. She gave no room for them to retaliate with the two swords. Her desperate attempt worked. Their Soul Fusion fell apart as well. Three bodies appeared. Siduo stood above them alone, exhausted, but her eyes were wide and wild as she looked at the two other people. They looked fine! Why did they look fine?
Li Tai, exhausted and with a strange smile answered her silent questions. "We defused before you hit us." He was breathing heavily, their Soul Power almost exhausted as well.
Karni came running from the side. His headache was painful like hell, but he still had half of his Soul Power left, thanks to the fact his Martial Soul was spiritually dependent.
He was rushing in only with Tang Sect techniques and Siduo did the same. Her Soul Fusion had ended, her Soul Bone hidden, as she would reveal it openly in her human form. The price she had to pay due to the soul bone was hitting her, but she could still continue. She didn't use it for long.
Karni was circulating his bloodline and rushing towards Li Tai. Usually, he'd be the perfect counter to Yu Tian with his sound based control, but now he couldn't do that anymore, so he went after Li Tai. Siduo would be better to take care of Yu Tian with her combat skills.
Li Tai felt weird. He felt unsure. He felt like he didn't want to hit Karni right now. Then… Then Karni was close! His sword vanished, all of his Soul Rings shining in quick succession.
First he dodged a simple punch of Karni's, flying a little bit into the air with his third Soul Ring, clouds for feet, keeping him afloat. Then his invisible sword shined.
Karni's eyes shone a little, his palms performing a perfect grab to the side of the blades. He wasn't cut.
Li Tai's eyes went wide. That feeling of peacefulness overcame him again, then he was suddenly thrown and grabbed. Before he knew it, he was on the ground, being clasped in a chokehold. In a matter of a few seconds, he lost consciousness.
Karni was smiling, but he was sweating bullets. All of his Tang Sect techniques came to use along with his bloodline. CCCD came in at the last minute to defeat the opponent. It was the first time he ambushed Li Tai with those skills. He turned towards Siduo.
Yu Tian wasn't using the giant shield this time around. It used too much Soul Power to keep it going at this point of the battle.
Siduo was dashing around a bunch of small shields that roared like dragons every once in a while, usually missing her. She had just enough Soul Power left to use a single strong attack once, but she had to get close for the chance to do that.
She dodged with Ghost Shadow Perplexing Track and deflected the shields with her Mysterious Jade Hands. Oh how she wished she could have Karni's predictions right now, finding a hole to go through would be so much easier.
She finally remembered a certain skill she forgot about. She had yet to use it regularly.
Her eyes turned purple. Her vision changed. "This skill is so unfair." She said to herself. No wonder Karni was constantly keeping it active.
She saw a small opening between the shields. She rushed in, but then the shields suddenly gathered together, putting her in an almost cage-like thing, while Yu Tian was safe outside.
Yu Tian seemed exalted. He put that opening there on purpose, he finally tricked her- Siduo smiled sinisterly. Her black soul ring was shining, he watched for her, waiting for her to rush out in force. That force couldn't be kept locked in, but he could exhaust her by dodging.
Wait. Why wasn't she coming out? He heard a rumble above him, a literal, single shining, small meteor was falling directly on him. He tried to bring the shields back on himself, but he didn't have the time! He couldn't dodge!
Teacher Ye jumped in front of him, her Soul Ring activated. An axe and a shield made of metallic earth appeared and intercepted the meteor. She even slid back. She looked surprised at the force of the attack. It really suited the Black Soul Ring ability.
She announced in front of everybody. "Val Karni and Siduo win the best of three matches."
"I wish for everyone to give them a big round of applause and wish them luck. In two weeks time, they'll be taking the Shrek Exam. Hopefully, some of you can do that in the future too."
No one clapped. They were still staring at the thing they witnessed in these two exchanges. No wonder these monsters were taking the Shrek Exam.