Douluo Dalu: 1st Cycle: Dancing Panda

Karni was familiar with Spiritual Power and the Spiritual Sea. Both of them were crucial in the second and the third novel. In the third novel—present time—the two concepts have become part of regular learning for Soul Masters.

But he had to admit: he was surprised their spiritual powers were going to be assessed. They were kids. Most of the kids here have only awakened their Martial Souls. Their Spiritual Prowess wasn't going to differ much at all, nor was it going to be high.

Spiritual Power, the power of one's mind stored inside the Spiritual Sea. Spiritual Power resided inside the sea, while the Spiritual Sea did so much more. Having the Spiritual Sea destroyed meant dying or becoming a person in a vegetative like state; it was interconnected with the brain—with the very soul.

Children obviously haven't developed these powers properly yet, even if they were to have different Martial Souls. It looked like Yi Lan had a different reason for this test.

"In the last few thousand years, the world has developed a way to measure one's own mental power. Now I know some of you already know this, since you were taught from a young age, however not all of the kids here were born noble, so you will have to sit through this."

It seems Karni was the reason. A way to comfort him. The teacher wasn't aware that Karni knew the basics of Spiritual Power as well. It served to get Karni on the same level of education as other noble children.

"Spiritual power is divided into six realms. The lowest is the Spirit Origin Realm—all living creatures belong here when they are born. Second lowest is the Spirit Connection Realm, followed by the Spirit Sea realm, Spirit Abyss Realm, Spirit Domain Realm and lastly, the Divine Origin Realm.

"The last time a person in the Divine Origin Realm appeared was ten thousand years ago, and I don't think I need to mention who that was?" Yi Lan observed the class.

Spirit Ice Douluo's name was whispered throughout the class: Huo Yuhao, sometimes Dai Yuhao. He was the last person known to have become a god, and Divine Origin Realm represented one's Spiritual Prowess reaching godhood.

"Yet the only important realm for you right now, is the Spirit Origin Realm. Every single one of you is at this level. Li Tai. How is the Spirit Origin Realm divided?" Yi Lan looked at one of the kids who previously made fun of Siduo and Karni.

The kid stood up. "Yes, teacher. The Spirit Origin Realm is divided into four levels: the Elementary, Intermediate, Advanced and the Peak."

Yi Lan nodded. "Correct. And for easier understanding, the world decided to evaluate this with numbers. Yu Tian. What are the point thresholds for the smaller realms?" The one questioned was Li Tai's friend.

Yu Tian stood up just like Li Tai. "The elementary realm is up till 30 points. Intermediate is up till 60. Advanced is up till 90 and up till 100 is the peak realm." He quickly sat down without waiting for the teacher's confirmation. This was basic knowledge to all the kids here.

"You're right. Following the Spirit Origin Realm, the Spirit Connection Realm ranges from 100 to 500 points. In a similar fashion, the next realm, the Spirit Sea Realm, is up to 5000 points of Spiritual Power. As you can see the increase in this is exponential, and it is closely connected to your Soul Power, which also raises 10 percent every level. Both of them are exponential increases. The Spirit Abyss Realm is said to even go up to 20000 points and is known as one of the hardest thresholds to reach. The points in higher realms are much harder to improve on than in the lower ones. Again, like soul power." Yi Lan grew quiet for a split second for everyone to take this in.

"Most soul masters have a hard time reaching the Spirit Sea Realm and those who do, almost never break through the next barrier. If any of you do… Well you can think of yourself as having limitless potential…"

"You should always take your path of cultivation one step at a time. There are no shortcuts in cultivation, and if they are, they can be damaging instead of useful. Your goal for now is to reach the intermediate level of Spirit Origin Realm as by then, you can fuse with stronger Hundred Year Spirit Souls." 

There were many stories of people using treasures to fasten their cultivation, yet those lucky few also had to seclude themself to reestablish their foundation. Those who rushed through their cultivation, met their ends due to their own rashness.

"Remember that your Spiritual Power is a part of your Spiritual Sea, and that is where your Spirit Souls reside. Their very existence is dependent on your Spiritual Sea." Yi Lan continued with the lesson. Partly repeating some of his words so they were truly imprinted in the children's minds.

Spiritual Power had many uses, including controlling Soul Ring's abilities. The better the Spiritual Power, the more control; more efficiency, less mental strain on the Soul Master.

Training one's control of Spiritual Power and training the control of Soul Power was like night and day. If Soul Power was controlling one's hands, the Spiritual Power was trying to control your ears. One was usually done on a subconscious level.

Yi Lan brought the students to the Spiritual Power testing area. There was a machine there to test one's mental prowess. They borrowed it from the Spirit Pagoda.

Only prestigious academies could afford to test children their age for Spiritual Power. This was luxury—not a necessity.

"Everyone, step to the machine in alphabetical order by name. The machine will only measure your current Spiritual Power. Nothing else." Yi Lan smiled and proceeded to explain how to use the measuring machine.

"First up…"

… … …

"Next up, Val Karni."

Karni took a deep breath and stepped toward the machine. He did as the teacher instructed and the machine started to measure his Spiritual Power.

A ping sounded. The machine finished measuring.

"51. Intermediate rank." Said Yi Lan, surprised alongside everyone else.

To be at the intermediate rank at age 6 was incredibly rare and could be considered genius. Karni could feel some odd gazes on him. Li Tai and Yu Tian had the most comic expressions. They had to spar with this guy?

Yi Lan had his own reasons for surprise. Didn't Karni have Spiritual Power of 43 just two weeks ago? It increased by 8 in a couple of weeks? How?

Spiritual Power was incredibly hard to cultivate without suitable methods. "Unless…" Yi Lan thought out loud. Martial Souls of the spiritual variety were the exception.

Karni was equally surprised. For the same reason as Yi Lan. He also remembered his previous score. 'Was it because of those golden strings, when I was cultivating? Time did seem to pass unnaturally fast.' This was the only way he could explain what happened.

Both were correct. What Karni experienced was comprehension in cultivation, and his Martial Soul was also of the spiritual variety. This combined made his Spiritual Power quickly rise in a short amount of time.

The process of evaluating spiritual power continued. Most of the children were in the lower elementary rank of Spirit Origin. Some of them reached close to 20s and some were even in their lower 20s, however none of them was in the intermediate rank. If they were, it would be incredibly odd.

It was Wu Siduo's turn. She held her head high as she walked towards the machine. She didn't look like the mischievous devil that Karni knew, but a proud and confident girl, the one he was familiar with in the novels.

The machine finished measuring her spiritual power and even teacher Yi Lan fell silent. "Ra- Rank 63! Advanced Rank!" Karni was equally shocked, he knew that she seemed mysterious even if he knew the character of the books. But now he was sure some of his thoughts were confirmed. Information from the book had been left untold or was simply wrong. His money was on the latter. Something was different! It was impossible for one to be at this level this young. Unless you were Tang San… or apparently Wu Siduo.

She calmly and proudly walked back as her eyes met Karni's. She broke her facade for a second and gave him a wink. Karni shook. That didn't feel right.

Next, she looked over Li Tai and Yu Tain. Her eyes were raised, looking through them. She could be described as the arrogant young miss. 

Li Tai and Yu Tian wore a frustrated and worried expression. They regretted accepting that challenge. At such an age, the advantage of high Spiritual Power was immense.

They didn't have time to regret their decisions. It was their turn to measure Spiritual Power.

Both of them measured in low 20s, Li Tai was measured at 23 while Yu Tian was at 21. They would be one of the strongest people in class if not for Karni and Siduo.

Li Tai and Yu Tian slowly approached the duo. "Umm. Is it possible to take back what we said before? We'll apologise as well."

Just as Karni was about to say that it's okay, Siduo overtook him. "What? Are you scared? If you want to become Soul Masters you should at least try to overcome the odds, no?"

Li Tai and Yu Tian shared a look of regret, they couldn't say anything against that. The only thing leaving their mouths was a sigh.

"Don't worry, since you're cowards, me and Karni won't use our Soul Rings." 

Silence. For a split second. "We won't?" Karni was staring at her. He wasn't confident.

She gave him a stern look. Karni shrunk back. Right. Against her, he didn't have the confidence. She was stronger… and temperamental, and in rare cases, kind. Right now, he forgot about the last part.

Not only were they not mad at her for calling them cowards, they were only shocked. Heck, her friend was shocked!

A sudden chatter started among the class. Most of the people who saw them spar yesterday didn't see the start. They only saw the in between. At that point they have long since stopped using their Soul Rings.

Yu Tian tried to speak up. "You… You're just bullying us!"

"I wouldn't be doing this if someone could've kept their mouth shut in the class." Siduo bit back. Siduo had a simple concept in terms of things like this. An eye for an eye. Even if they were children. Karni didn't agree with it, but he didn't say anything.

No one refuted her. They were indeed the ones that started the whole thing. The two also accepted the challenge. Li Tai and Yu Tian could only hope they wouldn't suffer too much humiliation.

A voice interrupted the atmosphere. "Now, now. Remember that it's only a spar, you can't hurt each other." Yi Lan decided that it was time he should step in before the spar goes out of hand. He wasn't used to 6 year olds being so violent. Especially Siduo's level of vengefulness.

"We haven't finished all the evaluations, so everyone please settle down." Yi Lan called out the next student.

In such fashion, everyone was evaluated. Most of the children were in their 10s of spiritual power points. Some were below 10s, and 6 of the children were in the low 20s. The only exceptions were Siduo and Karni.

Karni was still baffled about Siduo's Spiritual Power. The novel she was hailed as one of the geniuses of her generation, especially so in Star Luo City, but her strength wasn't suitable to this age. She could definitely compete with a main character of the novels.

And this wasn't the only problem with her. She was sticking close to him, and he had trouble saying no. Not because he didn't want to, but because he could tell she wouldn't care. Did he really reincarnate into someone else's body, and she knew that boy? But the way she acted was like she was talking to someone she had known for years. And that someone was specifically him.

She was also different from the novel. She still appeared smart and proud, but the way she presented herself was completely different. Is this simply how she was as a child? But if so, she didn't act like a six year old child either, it was more like someone pretending to be a child… Just like him. The things he questioned before became clearer, but they also offered more questions.

His train of thought was interrupted. "Hellooo! Douluo to Karni! What are you thinking so intently about?"

Karni looked at her. "You." Yeah. He knew how that sounded. He didn't care anymore.

"Oh you, since when are you such a flirt? You'll make me blush." She said as she pretended to be bashful. Of course Karni didn't believe her act. Though she seemed to enjoy the banter.

Karni tried to change the topic. "Well, would you enlighten me? Just how is your Spiritual Power so high?"

"Nope, a secret." She gave him a sweet smile.

"Bah, of course. What was I expecting? At least I take no for an answer." He had a feeling this was going to happen.

Siduo paused for a second, before pretending not to hear it. They returned to class.

Their lessons switched back to more basic subjects. Discussing Soul Beasts, how to utilise Soul Power in various ways, subjects from his previous world like mathematics and language and so on.

When the classes came to an end the classroom became loud. The topic of discussion was of course the spar that was about to happen. Yu Tian and Li Tai vs Wu Siduo and Val Karni. Watching a fight which included two oddballs was building expectations in everyone.

The four of them decided to head toward the sparring arena. They walked out of the school and… Somehow there were more students than expected. Apparently the news of a spar happening even spread to some of the other classes.The news at least stayed within the first years. Not that the older students cared about a couple of brats fighting.

In the arena, two were on one side and two on the other. Karni even noticed a certain teacher from the side looking at them. It was Yi Lan; and next to him seemed to be another man in his 40s, though his position appeared higher if Yi Lan's face was anything to go by.

Siduo was the first to speak. "The rules are simple. Whoever falls on the ground is out. If you're not sure what that means? Your ass gets dirty, you lose."

She could definitely be a mid-tier shit talker. Though the kids watching found it amusing. This is exactly what they wanted, a fun show.

Li Tai and Yu Tian could only nod. They weren't angry, they just didn't want to humiliate themselves in combat.

The four summoned their Martial Souls. A person with a Bo Staff and a Cat like person on one side; and a Sword and a Shield on the other. The formation of Li Tai and Yu Tian looked organised compared to Karni and Wu Siduo. It was obvious that it wasn't their first time fighting together.

They were nobles and their families had close ties. The families were known in the Star Luo City as the families of Sword and Shield. 

The match started. Li Tai and Yu Tian dashed. Yu Tian at the front with a shield that had a coiling dragon inscribed on it, and Li Tai at the back with a sword that had clouds appearing on the blade.

The particular combo had another name. Dragon in the Clouds. Dragon Shield and Cloud Sword.