Karni waited around the entrance of the academy, making a bunch of sketches. Sketches of Greatswords. At least 20 different ones. An idea was already forming in his mind in how he wanted to implement the weapon. The shapes differed, but one thing remained the same. The handle of the giant sword was his Bo Staff.
"What you working on?" A head popped up from the side and leaned on his shoulder, looking at the sketches.
"Oh, just a new weapo- … Everything okay?" Karni looked at her face. Siduo had slight shock on her face.
"Why a Greatsword?" She looked at him.
"I tried it out during the Mecha Piloting class. And boy let me tell you—did it feel just… right."
"You thinking of making it an actual weapon? For the mecha or for you?" Siduo pointed at the sketches.
"Both. If possible, one weapon for both. But first, I want to actually make myself a mecha. I'll have better understanding of what I need when I have a proper mecha of my own." He put away the sketches. "I'll talk to Teacher Mo about it when we visit him today. After we do whatever he wants us to."
Siduo removed her head from his shoulder. "I have some ideas to make as well. My class showed us all the different combat vehicles and I'm oozing with ideas."
The two went toward the Tang Sect. "Looks like we'll be spending a lot of time at the Tang Sect for a while again."
… … …
"Ah! You're here!" Mo Qing welcomed his two students. "We haven't seen each other for a month. You've sure gotten up in the world. Imagine my surprise when the Shrek Pavilion itself told me you're unavailable." The man laughed out loud.
"Follow me. We have everything ready. One another has already arrived ahead of you."
The two looked confused but followed.
They went into a section of Tang Sect which was meant for inner court disciples. They were led to another familiar figure.
"Wulin?"
Tang Wulin turned to look at Siduo and Karni. "I'm somehow not surprised." He smiled at the two.
Next to Tang Wulin was another person they've had a run in before. Guo Xiaoxu. "Good. You're all here. Thanks for bringing them, Mo Qing."
"No problem. Karni, Siduo. I'll be in the Science Division if you need me." Mo Qing left.
"Now that you're all here, I have a proposition for all of you. Would you like to join the Inner Sect? Particularly the Battle Hall."
They glanced at each other. Karni had some trouble hiding his excitement, while the other two were confused.
Wulin raised his hand. "What exactly is the Battle Hall?"
Guo Xiaoxu smiled. "You can call it the core of the Tang Sect. Its purpose is cultivating the top-tier talent of our sect. But with our support, you also get responsibilities. You will have to face dangerous enemies, and your path won't be smooth. That being said, our support isn't half hearted. The benefits you'll gain are more than worth it."
"As for why it's you three we've chosen, I think you can guess. Your most recent endeavours impressed us. You've saved many civilians. In Tang Wulin's case, twice." He turned to Siduo and Karni. "While you two have had quite noble actions in Star Luo City, handling a corrupt police gang."
Wulin eyed the two when he heard that. So he wasn't the only one with weird encounters.
Of the three halls of Tang Sect, Battle Hall was definitely the best for them.
The other two were the Enforcement Hall and the Worship Hall. The Enforcement Hall enforced the rules. Not something that the younger members would do. Meanwhile the Worship Hall had only the powerhouses of the sect. And they definitely weren't powerhouses yet.
"What exactly is it that we'll have to do?" Siduo asked further.
"I cannot tell you much until you join the inner sect, but I can say this. There is much evil hidden in the world. And the Battle Hall deals with it. Hence the danger. We don't boast about justice, but instead protect those weaker than us. Protect them from the likes of Evil Soul Masters, like the one you three have recently faced."
The two glanced at Wulin, sensing the change of his mood. "I'll join."
Siduo nodded. "I'll join as well. I get to beat up shitheads while advancing? Count me in."
"You had me at 'do you want to join?'." Karni smiled.
Guo Xiaoxu smiled. That's exactly what he wanted. "In that case, I welcome you all to the Inner Sect's Battle Hall. I can now tell you more about how our faction works."
He led them to a different room and explained on the way. "The Battle Hall does not follow the rest of the sect's classification system. We have our own. We call our members Agents, and those are classified based on their skill level. We sort you by colours. Since you've just joined, you're now White Agents. As you progress, you'll be able to become Yellow, Purple, and finally Black Agents. At the moment, there's 200 of us." He stopped and stepped into a room. The others followed.
"You'll all be rewarded monthly basic contribution points." He turned to Karni. "Though I suppose you wouldn't care about that, with you being such a prominent member of our Science Division."
Siduo and Wulin turned to look at Karni. Wulin looked a bit jealous. "Right! You made the AR Glasses." He liked money after all.
"He did." Gui Xiaoxu confirmed. "Put them on. I'll send you some information and register you. The process of registration has been streamlined since the introduction of AR Glasses."
They were sent some files—basically pdf files, just with a different name—as well as a registration form.
They read through them and filled out the registration forms. As soon as they filled them, a new tab opened up on the screen. Karni didn't remember programming that part of the UI. But then again, there was a specialised UI team in the AR Glasses team which Karni wasn't a part of.
In fact, the active development of AR Glasses had mostly stopped when it came to hardware until the software had everything the sect wanted. That was likely to take a number of years. It was interesting to see his creation being used so actively in the sect. He was filled with a sense of pride.
"The only thing the Battle Hall expects of its members," Guo Xiaoxu started. "Is to complete three missions each year. And I should warn you. These missions can be dangerous. However, your lives are more important than missions. You can fail them; you'll just have to complete other ones instead."
"The mission tracker only shows one though." Karni pointed at his screen.
"Academy students are only required to complete one mission. I suggest you do it during your holidays." He grabbed something from the shelves in the room and handed them to the three.
"Your standard issue uniforms. Wear these whenever you're completing a mission. Remember this. We agents live in shadows. Unknown to the outer world. You must conceal your identity for your own safety. Evil Soul Masters tend to bear grudges."
Wulin nodded. He had experience with that.
"Oh! And take this chip." Guo Xiaoxu handed over a high-grade metal chip. "It's your White Agent Badge for the AR Glasses."
Karni took it. He remembered designing the function of analysing the quality of the inserted chips. The analysis was based on the quality and the properties of the metal used, as well as its refinements. Different levels of clearance would be given based on quality. There were levels for multiple layers of the outer sect and inner sect. Though Karni didn't know the exact characteristics. He only remembered having to differentiate about 30 different properties.
They put the chip in, now getting access to even more functions.
"You can see that the badge allows you to call for reinforcements should you be in trouble." Guo Xiaoxu pointed at the AR Glasses. "But this also comes with another responsibility. Should another member call for reinforcements, you will have to jump to their help as well. You'll have to drop whatever you're doing."
"As for advancing to a higher rank: you'll need to become stronger, so focus on that. Yellow rank is accessible only by completing 10 missions and becoming a 1-Word Battle Armour Master. So that should be your focus in the future. Advance and become stronger. You have proven your worth, so you get an advantage. Use it. Speaking of, let me show you some of the other advantages. Come with me." He stood up and led them out of the room.
They were led to a deeper part of the Tang Sect. Karni could feel a certain influence that he understood in the surrounding. Space.
"Spirit Pagoda and Federation each have their own research into Spatial technology. Our Tang Sect does as well. Recently, many contributions have been made from your own teacher, Mo Qing." He glanced at Karni at Siduo. "He's a rising star in the field."
"In these rooms, you'll have twelve hours. Each of you choose your own. Go ahead now."
Guo Xiaoxu didn't explain himself. The twelve hours also wouldn't go against their schedules.
"You'll hear a voice when you have to leave. Alright then. See you youths later."
Each of them entered their own room. Karni was left alone. He focused. There were so many rooms in here: Forging room, Designing room, Manufacturing room, Mecha-Piloting room and finally a Harmonic Cultivation room. Based on that final room, this was specialised for him.
He was curious about this place. About the spatial properties. He entered the Harmonic Cultivation room. It should help him focus on the technology.
He sat down and focused. The melodies reminded him of the cultivation room in Shrek.
He listened, pulling out his third Soul Ring. He listened, focusing on space, focusing on his knowledge. He listened… and he heard. Spatial fluctuations.
His heart shook. Ohhhh. That was weird. Two completely different frequencies circled in the general surroundings. One of their beats was 12 times faster.
It was… Interesting. What if he could attune to them? Try and replicate this feeling.
A beat of twelve to one. A rare beat in actual music, but not particularly hard to actually form. Especially not to him at his current level.
But it didn't feel right. It didn't feel enough. He needed to focus on more than just the beat. The beat of its space. No. The temporal beat. Focus on that future he'd been seeing recently. Those odd moments.
12 to 1. 12. To. 1. Karni played the music. A beat of sound, space and time.
His mind split, just like the temporal and spatial laws of the room. And so he stayed.
The sound transformed. Partly giving way to his mind, partly to his own body. 12 to the mind, 1 to the body.
The cultivation turned out to be incredibly fruitful. And he felt incredibly refreshed. Though there was this weird disconnect. To his body, it's been 12 hours. To his mind, only an hour had passed.
One had attuned to the outside, while the other to the inside.
He opened his eyes… and sighed. The world was golden. Damn these visions. What now?
He waited for anything to change. It took some time… for the room to completely crash and be destroyed around him. Destruction erased the very room. Then the room went back to normal.
Karni was shaken. He just witnessed the destruction of Shrek. Or at least the destruction in this particular vicinity. Terrifying. But interesting. These visions… they only showed the future of something around him. If he could only learn to summon these at will… And combine them with his general visions. He could focus the visions for terrible events that could be preventable.
But it was no use, he heard the voice of the room calling to him. His time was over. He went out and noticed Wulin and Siduo exit as well. They looked refreshed as well.
All of them were refreshed. Though his mind was most of all. To his mind only an hour had passed, for the body 12 hours. He wondered what would happen if he switched that? Obviously, he couldn't go inside. His body would go with the flow of time of the surrounding space no matter what. But his mind could adapt.
"What happened? Why does it seem that it's still light? Were we in there for the whole day?"
Karni answered before Guo Xiaoxu could. "Only an hour passed outside. There are temporal laws manipulated inside the special room."
Guo Xiaoxu looked at Karni weirdly. "And you know that how?"
"Because I could sense it."
The man thought about it. "We did hear a report about the special properties of your Sound. Though we did not know the extent. Forget it. What Karni said was right. Temporal laws are in place. This means you have an additional 12 hours a week now."
"Only a week?" Siduo frowned.
Guo Xiaoxu nodded. "That is how much time we calculated would be safe for the world not to reject our existence. We need to be in tune with the world. Especially in regards to our personal time flow."
"Which means we could cultivate for a whole 12 hours more!" Wulin was excited.
Guo Xiaoxu shook his head. "I wouldn't recommend it. You get to cultivate during the night, or other spare time anyway. Use this time on another skill. Your forging or fighting abilities for example. There is only so much time in a week. I do not believe that you're short on cultivation time, especially so with special rooms dedicated to cultivating."
The three paused and thought about it. That did make some sense. Karni already decided on what he was going to focus on. Mechas. His current fighting capabilities are something better learned by experience, not in personal cultivation. Though he did have one question.
"Can I try cultivating for an hour outside of here?"
Guo Xiaoxu looked surprised. "Why?"
"Inside… I split my mind and body to different temporal wavelengths. One with room's, my body; and one with outside the room, the normal flow, with my mind. My mind only experienced an hour, so the refreshing feeling was that much better for my body. I'm curious if I could switch the two effects around. With my mind reaching inwards, it might attune to the time inside the space."
"So you want your mind to have a temporal change, but not your body." Guo Xiaoxu questioned.
Karni nodded. "It might allow me to have more time in my mind even when I'm not here."
"Hmm." Guo Xiaoxu nodded. "The few times when Soul Masters enter into Deep Meditation, time passes incredibly quickly, yet slowly and focused. It might do you good. But be careful. We don't know if this is correct. For the first time you try this, we'll monitor you."
"Well," Siduo stretched. "I'm leaving. I still have some business to attend to with Teacher Mo."
Wulin nodded. "Me too. Since I have the time, I want to use it."
Guo Xiaoxu looked at the two leaving. "I'll get some things prepared. Wait here."
So Karni waited. About 20 minutes. Guo Xiaoxu returned with a few people. They looked like scientists, but none that he was acquainted with.
They prepared a bunch of equipment around him, before letting him inside a box.
Karni entered and his expression changed. "Sound box?"
The scientists nodded.
Karni sat down and activated his third Soul Ring. "Be careful not to actually release any sound. I can hear more or less all the little frequencies and changes."
"We'll be careful." Guo Xiaoxu nodded.
Karni sat down in a meditative pose. He reached out with the sound, out toward the room. He sensed the beat of the sound inside. The beat of time.
"Amazing. He can reach so fa-"
Karni opened his eyes and stared at the scientist. The man promptly quieted down. Guo Xiaoxu also gave him a side-eye. This member looked to be one of those who joined more for their brains then their ability. He wasn't quite aware how sensitive a strong Soul Master could be. Especially one on Karni's level of comprehension. His understanding of Sound could rival someone three major stages above him. Due to its inner properties of affecting Space and Time as well, he would likely win over someone like that as well in terms of purely Sound.
He refocused. He listened. Before it was 12 to 1. Now it was 1 to 12. He had to change 1 into 12.
Attune the frequencies. The feeling of space. Its dimension. To make his mind the same as the room.
1 to 12. The Time, the Space. The Sound. The Beat.
He felt it. His mind was faster. It felt faster. His body's functions were slow. It worked! It- He paused and coughed, getting a headache. His mind turned normal again.
Of course, attuning to something faster was much harder. His mind was genuinely sped up.
He was like that for 6 minutes. 30 seconds in actual time. "I think that's enough for today. I think it'll only do me worse if I try this again." But in such a short time, his Spiritual Power made a tiny jump in quality.
Guo Xiaoxu nodded. "How much information did you get?" He looked at the guy who previously spoke.
"Enough for a decent analysis. I'll bring it to Mo Qing."
"I can do that." Karni offered. "I'm on my way to see Teacher Mo anyway."
Guo Xiaoxu nodded. "You can bring it to him then. You should try this once a week as well. I'll talk with Mo Qing about it some other time. It should serve you well."
… … …
Karni leaned on Siduo's shoulder, looking over a draft of a design. A vehicle—motorcycle to be exact—with wheels that could turn with each axis. An interesting concept. There were also some whip-like weapons thrown in.
Siduo turned to look at Karni who assaulted her shoulder with his head. "You're back. Can you tell me your opinion? I trust you more with design than Teacher Mo."
"I'm here you know?" Mo Qing complained. "Though it's true. These types of things really aren't in my research, I barely know the basics. Both of you have more knowledge in this than me."
"Actually," Karni smiled. "Teacher, I want to introduce you to a concept. Sisi, is it okay if this waits a bit?"
"Sure," she waved her hand. "I can draw designs too; I'll just describe the theory in parts I can't design instead. And then you can finish it up."
Karni took Mo Qing to the side and showed his sketchbook. A weapon and a mecha. Mo Qing commented. "I wouldn't really call this a concept, Karni."
"Well," Karni started. "I'm thinking of making the weapon both for me as a human and for a mecha."
"Hmmm. That would require a lot of strength, or some special shenanigans. I'd suggest you first figure out exactly what you want from it as just a mecha weapon."
Karni nodded and started listing ahead in the sketchbook. "Any idea what weapon would be best, and the kind of mecha might be most flexible yet strong as well."
Mo Qing looked at Karni's sketches. "This and this." He pointed to a lean but incredibly long sword, and a round mecha with flexible joints and wide shoulders."
"Right." Karni stayed silent, looking unsatisfied. "I'll be honest, I actually want this type of sword." He pointed to a sword that could be mistaken for a giant shield.
"An… interesting style." He glanced at Karni. It felt like an odd choice for Karni.
Karni sighed. "I tried it in Mecha Piloting class today and felt an affinity."
Mo Qing's eyes widened. "In that case you should not question it at all. I'm guessing the point of the style is heavy hitting with immediate options for defence. Though knowing you, the moves flow smoothly into one another."
"Is my style that predictable?"
"Predictable in what it is. Unpredictable in actual use." Mo Qing tapped Karni's head, as if it was a dumb question.
"Anyway, I think it's going to work. Go for it."
"Okay." Karni said, then pulled out this world's equivalent of a USB stick. A Soul Key. "There's some info the scientists wanted you to check."
Mo Qing took the Soul Key and nodded.
"Good," Siduo said from the side. "Now help me as well."
"Wait a minute." Mo Qing stopped them. "Karni, what's this?"
Karni looked at his sketchbook. "Oh. It's an old idea. Fusing the Battle Armour with a mecha the way the Battle Armour fuses with the human body. Since I fused pieces of Battle Armour of my own, I realised it won't be as simple. Martial Soul and Battle Armour are one thing. But you can't make a connection like this between a mecha and Battle Armour."
"Hmmm. True." Mo Qing answered but kept his eyes on the sketch. Eyes shined just a little. "Unless."
"Teacher Mo?" Karni asked.
"Oh nothing. Just musings of a middle-aged man. Go help Siduo."
… … …
"Alright." Mo Qing nodded. "Your ideas are good. Your plans are thought out. This should be manageable."
He put away two giant rough designs. One had a Mecha, with a lot of calculations on how to balance it with a big ass sword; another one was a giant motorcycle with whip-like weapons attached to it. The calculations there more revolved around the movement of the vehicle, which, ironically, seemed to have more freedom than the mecha.
"I'll help you fund parts of these, though now that you're both in the inner sect, it shouldn't cost much. You'll only have to make sure that there aren't any options for wrong interpretations of the designs."
Karni stretched. "So. The usual."
Mo Qing nodded. "Yep. Now. You two wait here. I have a surprise for you as well."
Karni and Siduo glanced at each other. Mo Qing was usually easy to read. He just said all the things he didn't mean, or he said it somewhat sarcastically. Today though, he was being awfully honest and… normal. How weird.
It didn't take long for Mo Qing to return with two boxes. He handed them over. "Open these when you return to your rooms. Otherwise, it might lose its potency. Oh! And take them together. It has a better effect if you do."
The two took the boxes. And Mo Qing added. "Specifically, let your backs be close. You'll understand as soon as you start."
Karni felt a bit confused, but he understood the gist. He gave them some type of medicine. He just had no idea what kind. Nor did he have any idea how to ingest it… He turned to Siduo, who was… blushing?
"Teacher." Siduo started. "Is this the medicine also known as 'one in body and spirit'?"
"Good! You know already. Do you know how to use it? I won't question how you learned. Don't worry."
Siduo's blushing turned to almost anger, though she held back, and bowed instead. "Thank you."
Mo Qing nodded. "You're welcome. Oh! And you do know you can just lean your backs against-"
"YES! You said it already!" Siduo shouted and started dragging Karni away.
The two reached the dorms and Siduo started filling up her bath with water. While she waited, she came out to Karni and explained. She seemed to have calmed down. "This is medicine which works particularly well when two people with opposite dispositions consume it. In this case, he likely gave us the actual Body and Spirit medicine."
"Like the joke you said?" Karni asked.
"It's the medicine's nickname." Siduo sighed. "And not due to that. It can come in Flame and Ice, or Light and Dark, or Yin and Yang, or anything opposite or separate but complementary combinations. The nickname comes due to how most people choose to ingest it."
Karni raised his eyebrows, as if asking her why she's building it up so much and leaving him hanging.
"It's intercourse." Siduo muttered in annoyance.
"The Mystic Unison Pill?" Karni's voice raised suddenly, finally remembering his classes from the Intermediate Academy.
"Yes, Kiki! How did you not figure it out from the start?"
Karni's voice cracked, partly thanks to his teenage body. "Because there's like 20 different pills that work on the principle of opposites and complementariness!"
"This is the only one that has to be ingested immediately and requires instant cultivation with someone else. Also, it's Teacher Mo!"
"Ay." Karni snapped his finger at her last statement. "I'll give you that last one. I forgot to consider the ingestion part, but I should've figured it out because of Teacher Mo."
Siduo nodded vigorously. "And since we haven't even had our first kiss yet, we're doing the back-to-back version. We'll need to stay in the bath for about 3 days to achieve the same effect others achieve overnight."
Karni nodded. He was aware, now that he remembered what medicine this was. Intercourse was indeed the most effective method, while having their bare backs touching was the next best option. The result would be the same, the time would be the difference. "I'll call the teachers; we'll need to excuse ourselves-"
Rings interrupted them. Both of their soul communicators rang. They took a look. It was from Mo Qing. "I already notified teachers Wu Zhangkong and Shen Yi. They approved a 4-day absence."
Siduo wordlessly went to her wardrobe, she grabbed a beautiful striking red dress. She turned it and showed it to Karni. "What do you think?"
"About the message or the dress?"
Siduo rolled her eyes. "Who gives a shit about Teacher Mo. He's doing Teacher Mo stuff. This dress doesn't cover my back."
Karni thought. "Wouldn't a swimsuit be better?"
Siduo shook her head. "Even a thin layer of cloth would be a disturbance with some of the effect lost. I wouldn't even trust a bra for the little part if it would cover. This dress is better, even if I will ruin it."
"I trust your judgement. We can go buy a new one after we're done." Karni suggested.
"It's a date." Siduo smiled.
The sound of running water became louder, it was reaching the top of the bathtub. Siduo checked it. "It's enough. Come on."
Karni took off his shirt, though he left his pants on. Siduo put on the dress in private, leaving only her back exposed. She had to tear the dress at certain parts so she could go into a meditative pose.
They stepped into the warm water. Karni held what would be the Spirit pill, since his cultivation focused on Spiritual Power; meanwhile Siduo took the Body pill, as both of her Martial Souls tempered her body.
"We'll take them immediately, at the same time. I'll trust you for the countdown."
Karni pulled out his Martial Soul and set a rhythm. "On three. One, two, three!" The two opened the boxes in unison and swallowed the pills, immediately starting to circulate Soul Power, their bare backs touching each other.
Though they just started, they could already feel the energies interacting through their skin. The effect was strong. It pushed and pulled. Mixed and separated, then mixed again.
Three days of meditation soaked in water, backs touching. They were very intimate to an outsider, yet their focus never allowed them to consider such thoughts. To them this was one thing and one thing only: cultivation.