บท 69: Nice

"We'll be going home soon right?" Jianyu asked expectantly, homesick after the last few months. "After I get my Spirit Soul of course." But he didn't forget his priorities.

Karni and Siduo were escorting Jianyu to the Royal Palace to get him his first Spirit Soul.

"Well, we still have about 2 weeks left here, but yes. We're going home soon." Siduo held her arms in a relaxed manner. The time went by fast when one had almost no time to rest. And the times they did get to rest went by even faster.

The first month was somewhat carefree for Karni, but as soon Hu Jie took him in as a disciple, his workload tripled. Neither him nor Siduo had any down time for themselves or for each other. The mornings and evenings were the only time of respite along with Sundays.

Ironically, the person most bored was Wu Jianyu, because he had no one to play with. The holiday last month was one of the more exciting periods here. Karni and Siduo actually had some down time then.

They entered the palace grounds. Dai Yun'er and Dai Yueyan were both waiting for them near the back entrance. They led them inside the training grounds Yun'er and Siduo usually used.

In the middle of the room, there stood a ball-like container that reminded Karni of his first meeting with Hope, his Spirit Soul. Unlike his own situation back then, though, they couldn't see any actual shadow within this ball.

"There it is." Dai Yueyan started. "Jianyu wanted a Lightning-based Spirit Soul because he likes lighting, so we got you a Lightning Tiger."

"Ohhhh!" Jianyu was excited.

Karni gulped a little when he heard that. That Soul Beast was one of the more elementally strong ones. In fact, it was considered one of the whackier mutations of the Soul Beast world.

Its existence was a gathering of only elemental energy of lightning and electricity. Those elemental energies, while living, didn't really have many bodily functions. The reason it was called a tiger was that it simply resembled a general shape of a giant cat Soul Beast. It could've been a cougar, panther or cheetah. The shape was loose enough it would not have made a difference.

The reason it was a tiger was that it was simply most known and sounded the most ferocious which suited the intensity of the species. They were known to form in very stormy areas, and have even appeared on the Douluo Continent, as they weren't truly born, but "created" out of the natural energies of thunderstorms.

But as is with this unique birth, their death was unique as well. If they were outside of a storm for too long, no matter their power, they would soon cease to exist. Because of that, the strongest one that's been seen was ten thousand years old in the past. It was theorised that should a Hundred Thousand Year Old Lightning Tiger appear, they would be the manifestation of thunderstorms themselves. They would be the thunderstorm.

There was a legend passed down around the holidays about this species. Perhaps that was why Jianyu was so excited, it might have even influenced him.

Only one record exists of the Hundred Thousand Year Old Lighting Tiger, and it is an inconsistent one that happened during Huo Yuhao's time. Another oddity Karni did not remember. Apparently the thunderstorm manifested during the birth of a baby, which then became its Martial Soul. Years after Huo Yuhao, it was said the Soul Master was one of the leaders of the next generation.

Now they got one of these creatures here. It was a mighty legend that accompanied a similarly impressive species.

"Unlike with most Spirit Souls, you'll only have about an hour before you have to start fusing with it." Dai Yueyan warned the little boy.

"Otherwise, it will simply vanish." Yun'er further warned him. It was true. This was more a spiritual existence than a physical one.

Jianyu's eyes changed. Determination and preparation.

Siduo nudged her little brother. "Don't worry. The timer starts once the container is opened. Until then, you should use that time to focus and calm yourself down. You remember the process of the fusion, right?"

Her little brother nodded and sat on the ground. He started meditating.

"Good kid." Siduo nodded, then turned towards the Spirit Soul. Honestly, if she had her way, she would absolutely love to have this Spirit Soul as her own. Perhaps it wouldn't completely mesh with her qualities, even if she was a tiger-type Soul Master. Lightning Tiger required elemental affinity, which was an aspect she didn't develop.

With such thoughts, she heard a loud complaint in her own head.

Siduo apologised in her mind. "Yeah Sol. I know I couldn't have gotten anything better than you."

The complaints stopped.

It was true. Solaria was an absolutely perfect fit for her. Not only was it perfect, it also transformed her abilities a bit the more she had gained the power of her Soul Ring. After almost half a year of intense training, she had basically gained a full Twenty Thousand Year Soul Ring.

Her own White Tiger could now be called a Sun White Tiger after the influence of Solaria. Her original abilities have also changed in small ways. Containing some of the Sun element of light and fire. It was all very beneficial to her. Very nice.

She turned towards Karni. He hasn't even seen her new abilities fully; though if she had to be honest, she hadn't seen his either. The two only interacted when they woke up and when they went to sleep. The gatherings they had were rarely used for sparring, and they never went all out during the spars.

When Karni battled the princess, he was using his abilities sparingly and in one-dimensional ways. He mostly relied on the fourth soul ring and first soul ring. She felt shivers thinking of the combinations he must have come up with during these last few months. Karni would likely be terrified of her combinations as well.

With how much he teleported during that fight, he overwhelmed an agility system with it alone. She was jealous, but his skill, while free and unlimiting, had high requirements of both skill and Spiritual Power. From what Karni explained to her, it was a lot about pinpointing the correct space and then exchanging his own surroundings with those ones.

If he had the Spiritual Energy at the level of a normal Soul Ancestor, that being at the high end of Spirit Connection realm, the ability might as well have been a 5 time use sort of ability at most. He couldn't even use it as a last second escape, as it didn't work like most teleportation abilities. He had to be conscious of its usage. It wasn't easy to do so when in danger.

On top of it all, it also required him to actually spin his Martial Soul to use the ability. If he didn't have a lock onto his destination, he would just stay where he was. It wasn't as nice as it appeared. That is, if it weren't Karni using it.

Her thoughts were interrupted when Jianyu finished his meditation and nodded to his sister. She gave him thumbs up in encouragement.

He walked towards the Spirit Soul and opened up its cage. A bundle of pure and small electricity flowed out happily, jumping around his face in excitement at being let free. Electricity flowed freely when it could. The elements felt frustrated not being able to travel freely. In regards to that, it resembled the wind element.

The boy sat down and held out his hand. The bundle of electricity happily sat on it. Two minds, both excited and nervous, joined together. The electricity flowed freely into the Jianyu's body. Jianyu flinched a little, but soon closed his eyes, focusing on the fusion.

The rest of the group kept quiet, to not disturb Jianyu. They sat down and just… waited. Waited and hoped that everything would go smoothly. Since the experts of the palace analysed the characteristics of Jianyu's martial soul, it should be fine, but Siduo was still nervous for her little brother.

Half an hour later Jianyu moved. He turned towards the group. His short hair stood up straight. It looked like he was electrocuted. His eyes were shining with excitement.

Siduo let out a breath of relief. Her little brother succeeded. It was a very nice feeling.

Jianyu jumped up and down then showcased his very first Soul Ring. It glowed a bright yellow, then Jianyu glowed bright as well. His whole body transformed into lightning itself and swooshed in front of his sister, before materialising.

Siduo whistled. "Can you hold that form for longer?"

Jianyu nodded and changed into lightning again. His whole body appeared to turn elemental, losing a bit of its material properties. He started running around. Overall, it seemed to be a similar boost to Siduo's first Soul Ring, Speed. It was just done through different means.

In Siduo's case, she gains a genuine boost of lightness and speed, whereas her little brother turned into actual elemental lightning which in turn made him very fast. Each had their own bonuses. Siduo kept her physical body and gained control over speed overall. The boy didn't—his speed was a consequence. His future development will be both similar and different in nature.

Jianyu will likely have some trouble learning Tang Sect techniques in this form whenever he reaches an appropriate level, yet the overall boost he had right now was on the same level as when Siduo used both her pure speed ability and Ghost Shadow Perplexing Track. Being almost pure lightning made one both agile and fast. Though again, he didn't have the ability to control the intricacies that Hell Rush and Ghost Shadow Perplexing Track offered. He would need to control the element, which would give him a different set of intricacies he could manipulate with time.

Jianyu had put a certain limit on his future. It will be highly elemental in all aspects.

Siduo was proud of her little brother. His abilities didn't lack compared to hers at that level. Now he only needed to gain some combat experience and he might actually have a shot at beating her past self.

"Hey Jianyu, crash into me." Siduo smiled at her brother. No. It wasn't a smile. She was mocking him. Challenging him. She taunted him, not wanting him to hold back at all.

They couldn't really see the face that Jianyu made, but he clearly started rushing towards his sister. She stood there, waiting. She could dodge this level of speed easily by now, but she didn't want to. The only thing she used was Mysterious Jade Hands to intercept the incoming blow.

Lightning and icy palms crashed together. Siduo wasn't pushed back, but she clearly felt electricity running through her body. She nodded happily. Her little brother gained a very good ability.

She ruffled the lightning like a head without fear. A physical Jianyu appeared again, pouting a little.

"Silly kid. Did you actually think you had a chance? I'm a Soul Ancestor!"

"I know, I know." Jianyu gave his sister an embarrassed hug. He got ahead of himself a little bit, but he was happy. It was very nice.

… … …

Two weeks passed by in a flash. The princess, the crown prince as well as Su Mu came to the train station to say goodbye. They weren't going to travel for two days to the edge of the continent. It was too dangerous without a proper entourage of guards.

Dai Yun'er gave Siduo a hug, she had some tears in her eyes. This was the first proper friend that she made. A friend that wasn't pretending to be nice, yet now she was leaving.

"You're taking the Shrek Exam right?" The princess asked.

Siduo nodded.

"Someday, I'll come and visit this Shrek Academy of yours. I swear to you."

Siduo smiled. "You're free to visit anytime you like. If we don't make it to Shrek, you can visit Star Luo City."

Princess was a bit confused at the second statement, before figuring it out. "Oh! Your Star Luo City! Sure. But if you don't make it to Shrek, then I don't think anyone else will either."

Siduo wanted to laugh a little, but honestly she felt the same. Being too humble would just mean one is a pushover. She was well aware of her own ability. She had a hard time being humble like Karni, especially with her vast experience. If anything she tended to be a bit overconfident at times.

Even Karni had stopped with his humbleness at times. There was a limit to what he could say, lest the princess be offended. If he wasn't that good, then what did that make her, the genius of the royal family who got beaten by him?

Dai Yueyan coughed a little. "Actually, in about a year, there might be an exchange. Maybe Siduo and Karni will visit us again."

Yun'er turned to her brother, excited. "That would be awesome!" She almost couldn't wait for it to happen again.

"Calm down you." Her brother shut her sister up. "Three months of travel there and then back here. We'll see them in about a year and a half."

That got the princess' excitement down a little bit. But she was still happy. At least she had a guarantee.

Meanwhile Karni was unsure a bit at the side. He thought about the group that would actually come here. Tang Wulin, Gu Yue, that whole group. Especially with Tang Wulin being the leader, it was hard to think that one of the other guys that are weaker than them wouldn't come. They were a team.

While Tang Wulin right now wasn't that strong, he hadn't even had his first Blood Ring of the Golden Dragon King when they fought. From what he remembered, by the time they start travelling here, didn't he already have two? Or was it three? No, no. He came with two and left with three.

Karni grumbled, remembering the details. Either way, it was terrifying. Each and every one of those abilities were godlike. It will be hard to overcome him.

He'd rather have the guy be his friend anyway. It would help him immensely with Tang Wulin being a future Divine Blacksmith. He shouldn't make enemies of him, but that might get him into that middle ground of how the original rival group got left behind, which he didn't want either. It was going to be an awkward time balancing that out. Tang Wulin was a walking treasure to be around, but being dependent on him would just guarantee the two of them falling behind like the rest of the future Shrek Seven Devils.

Siduo nudged him a little. "It's time to go."

Karni nodded and said his goodbyes. He'll have time to worry about this later.

After all this time, he had gotten decently close to Yun'er due to Siduo, less so with Su Mu and the crown prince. Though they could at least be considered solid acquaintances that he respected.

They entered the train. Siduo looked at him. "You're worried we won't be able to come? What exactly do you know about that? Is it in the… stories?" She whispered at the end.

Karni nodded. "Tang Wulin. The Golden Dragon King guy we fought before coming here and that other girl with power over elements is meant to come here."

Siduo frowned a little bit. That girl was strong. If Karni's stories were true… this would be difficult. She clenched her fists a little. "I guess we'll just have to work hard then. How strong are the other companions of theirs?"

Karni thought about it. "Well, I think we should be stronger than most of them by the time of the exchange, but… Well, they're the future Shrek Seven Monsters."

Siduo's face turned a bit ugly when she heard that. She knew very well what that meant. "I guess this means war."

"Sisi. We should befriend them at the very least. It will do us good."

Siduo felt a bit aggrieved. "I know, but… it's a bit frustrating, thinking about it. Just because they're meant to be strong, should we be left behind? I'm not going to let that happen. If I don't like them, I won't care about them."

Karni disagreed with her, but also with himself. He understood her mindset very well. His rarely felt competitive spirit told him he should form a rivalry.

But Siduo was a bit too competitive. Was it because she wanted to be stronger than them? Because she reincarnated? Even with that, she can't choose her Martial Souls. She's strong, and definitely the most powerful user of White Tiger and Hell Cat today, but still. Those guys just had some absolutely abnormal abilities in the future.

And he knew that the Shrek Academy would be thinking of the team as well. It is the core of their philosophy, Shrek Seven Devils. It will be hard to replace them. Especially because Karni and Siduo tend to keep to themselves.

There was just one flaw in his thinking. Being used to their abilities made him forget for a second just how absurd they were. Siduo was by no means a normal Soul Master, and neither was he.

The two stopped talking about this. They were on the train and this was a sensitive topic. Two whole days of travel were ahead of them, and then another three months over sea.

… … …

After about six hours of just sitting, Karni faced a unique problem. He was bored. He didn't remember the last time he was bored due to not doing anything. Usually he loved it! Well that wasn't correct either. On Sundays, he spent his time cultivating or circulating his bloodline. Something he wasn't willing to do on a public train. That and… Siduo forbade him to circulate his bloodline in her presence. He still hadn't figured out why and she wouldn't tell him.

He wasn't used to doing absolutely nothing after half a year of doing something the whole day. He grabbed his sketch book and started thinking of the way to improve his Augmented Reality Glasses. Or, well, complete them. He'll have more than enough time on the ship as well.

Siduo leaned onto him, looking at the sketch book. She started asking questions. If Karni completes this on the way back, she'll have to put it together. She had work ahead of her too, and she also felt uncomfortable with nothing to do.

The two days went by in a blink of an eye. Taking a brief pause at the city they saw long ago, they were greeted by the same captain that brought them here. The same ship that got them here. And from what they heard, they'll be taking the same route back as well.

Will they see the island again?

"No." Karni got an answer from Hopper. "Old Zhou has likely moved."

Karni was a bit disappointed. But what could he do? The guy told him to visit once he's a Titled Douluo. Who knows when he'll become that. If he's lucky and can follow and keep up with Tang Wulin, then likely in his twenties.

"Ten years." Karni said to himself.

The first day of travel with the ship was full of relaxation. Proper relaxation, for once. Which for Karni and Siduo meant cultivating. In Karni's case, his cultivation was done in a lazy pose, as if sleeping. It was oddly the best combination when trying to cultivate both his Bloodline and Soul Power. Very nice.

The next day, Karni got restless, as did Siduo. They entered the workshop on the ship.

Karni brought up his sketchbook as well as his original designs. He started modifying them.

He had had most of the AR Glasses completed long ago. The UI, the analysis of the scanned 3D environment and what it brings to you. The communication abilities between users. There were only two parts that were missing. The spiritual connection with the brain and the actual scan of the 3D environment.

He thought he had a solution. Now he'll have to test it and see if he's right. It was his teleportation abilities that gave him the understanding. He'll join the spiritual aspect and the analysis together. Spatial scan and Spiritual Sea will be connected, a single device put together.

It was the same principle he used to lock onto three dimensional space in order to Shift. He first had to analyse the whole thing with his Spiritual Power. It helped him to do it through the first Soul Ring as well.

Now he had to replicate that on a Soul Tool. A small one as well. Not that it was incredibly small. It wasn't in the shape of sunglasses or anything. It was more like skiing goggles. With the strip of the back also containing crucial technology. In fact… he should probably rename these into Augmented Reality Goggles. It would be false advertising to call them glasses. Not very nice.

He went to work. First, it was removing all of the unnecessary parts, or transferring them to a different position if they still had a part to play in the new blueprint.

His Martial Soul was humming softly on the side. Both he and Siduo used it to concentrate. It was like a switch to make them focus and raise their performance. Siduo especially enjoyed it. For half a year, she had to design without it. This really did elevate her work.

She herself was raising herself into a competent 4-star engineer that can design Karni's Soul Tool. Even though it will be a 5-star Soul Tool, it will more so be in complexity of how the technology works together instead of the complexity of actually creating and designing it. She was making sure she'd understand everything Karni designs when the time for creating it comes.

Karni designed and redesigned every single piece at least a dozen times. It had hundreds of receptors on it. Very tiny receptors that would connect to Spiritual Power. These receptors led and were connected to three small pieces that resembled tiny bass speakers.

They were scanners, each with their own job. One was to scan the width and the superficial, forming an almost 2D-like image to send to the receptors and further to the visual part of the glasses.

The second scanner was to scan the depth of the visual in front of the user. To analyse even the unseen, more like what Karni's own first Soul Ring does, to understand the whole surroundings. This worked together with the first to create an actually understandable image.

This ability could be combined, but he honestly didn't have the skills to put it all into one piece. One focused on details in a 2D manner, the other on only the depth, but not the actual details. It would require a lot more analysing power to combine it. With that sector only needing to work with the first part and then use the second one to change the visuals correctly, it streamlined the process, since analysing the information of the second sector was more hardware intensive.

Finally, the third scanner was to analyse only the spiritual intent and movements of the user themselves and then send that information over to the compiler to then put all three scanners together into one whole.

These all worked through the receptors, which borrowed the power of spiritual energy of the user. It was like fuel for the goggles, while simultaneously sending information between the Spiritual Sea and the Soul Tool.

The receptors themselves worked in a way where they used part of the received Spiritual Power to send back their own wave of Spiritual Power. One needed at least the Spirit Connection Realm for these to even work. Normal humans couldn't use it yet.

Finally, if he had a choice, the best way to go about it was to also bind these by blood. It would streamline the whole process immensely and even remove the need for certain functions. Yes, these connect the mind and the machine right now. But not as intricately as he would've liked. It was a pseudo fusion.

The receptors connected to the neural aspects of the brain and the body, something he learned from prosthetics. It was why there were hundreds of these receptors on it, most of them put on the strip of the glasses, to cover as much area as possible.

The inside receptors were also different from the outside ones. The outer receptors worked with the scanners. They fueled them and acted as an extra formation that locked onto the space they wanted to analyse.

The inside ones on the other hand worked to send the Spiritual Energy to the rest of the Soul Tool as well as the user. They had no actual analysis functions. Their main job was data conversion for human use.

Karni put down the design. How long has it been exactly? Sometimes he even slept in the workshop. The days all seemed to mix with one another. Siduo entered and saw Karni actually conscious of his surroundings. Very nice.

She smiled. "You finished?"

Karni glanced at his plans. "I think so. Want to put them together?"

Siduo nodded excitedly and sat next to him. "Explain everything in detail."

… … …

Karni stretched as he walked outside. It was now up to Siduo to actually put the thing together.

"Big Brother! You're finally out!" Jianyu ran into Karni's arms and gave him a hug.

Karni scratched his head. Siduo did tell him that it's been two months since he started his hermit period. He never even bothered checking the time. How long would Siduo need to complete the design and make it work?

… … …

A month. She needed about a month.

They stood on the front deck of the ship. Karni wore the glasses that they have now officially renamed into goggles. They looked even less like glasses now than before. It had to be done.

Karni was watching through the visor. He was analysing Siduo. It correctly put apart her dress, different clothes, colours and everything. If he could connect to the larger network, he'd be able to see more information, but in the middle of the sea, that was impossible to do. They had to make a tiny information network themselves. Just some keywords to then connect to colour identities through Spiritual Power.

He physically pulled on Siduo's shirt. Not in real life, but the virtual one. A sort of holographic image appeared, where he could analyse the shirt from different directions. Even those he couldn't physically see on Siduo. Good. All of the scanners worked. The information felt weirdly intimate, so the fusion of Spiritual Power worked as well.

The spiritual power usage wasn't bad either. If it were someone who just entered the Spirit Connection Realm, they'd have half an hour of usage out of this.

He turned around and looked at the waves of the water—much more active and dynamic information. He wanted to see how it would perform there.

Thankfully, the Augmented Reality Goggles performed perfectly. Each individual wave was separated as his Spiritual Power ordered the glasses. Two way communication between the goggles and the user worked as well.

He brought up an interface and ordered it to count different ones. It needed some time, but the UI and the interface worked even when challenged with a lot of information. The waves quickly jumped to thousands. It counted even the tinier ones successfully.

He turned towards the horizon to see a larger view, his Spiritual Power dictating to count only the bubbly waves.

He watched at the corner of his eye as the waves still reached thousands, then he saw a new line of information connected to the horizon in the far distance. It listed: Continent.

Karni put off the goggles for a second and smiled. A stretch of land slowly rose up from the sea.

"Everything works perfectly fine." In the end, the vision he had at the beginning—the bamboo, the blood—it never happened. And he was happy that it didn't. His visions rarely brought anything good.

There was one good thing though. A perfect thing. Exciting and oddly nostalgic. "We're home."

He turned to Siduo, who was all smiles.

"This is nice."