Douluo Dalu: 1st Cycle: Dancing Panda

The first day of school. Karni had memories of when he started going to school. Most of them had been forgotten as it had been more than 15 years since then. And now, as a 20 year old in the mind of a 6 year old child, he, yet again, had a first day of school.

At the school everyone was dressed in the same uniform. He also wore that uniform. It was mostly white with occasional straps of blue and gold. Parts of the gold were clearly made of metal as well. It was suitable for a reputable school like Star Luo City Academy.

Slowly but surely, Karni followed the bunch of young students toward all the different classrooms. He belonged to class 1C, first year the C category. This didn't represent much; it was simply a distinction to have around 30 students per class. Categories went all the way to E. This meant there were a total of 150 students, in the first year, give or take a few.

This could be considered an enormous amount, especially when taking into account that these were apparently the elite.

As he was making his way to class 1C, he constantly felt like someone was watching him. Even as he tried to look around, he found nobody who seemed to be staring at him. There were of course occasional glances, but everyone was glancing about everything. They were young and filled with curiosity after all.

He reached the classroom and saw that quite a few people had arrived by now. No one seemed to mind him, except for a curious looking girl with auburn hair. You could tell at a glance that she would become a beauty once she grows up. However currently, her childish face had a look like she just saw a ghost enter the room.

Since he didn't know how to react to such a look, he simply looked awkwardly away and hid his head. How is it possible that people are already looking at him strangely, is there something on him? No, everything seemed to be right with his clothes. Does he have bed hair? No that wasn't it either… *So why is she staring daggers at me then!?*

He sat down somewhere in the middle of the class. This was, after all, the most inconspicuous place to sit in. 

He was happy at his choice of placement. He checked if the girl was still looking at him…

Of course she was. But now, she seemed to have a look of interest instead. There was an amused smile on her face. Is he going to get the famous arrogant encounter of the Wuxia novels already?

He looked away. He did not want to cause a scene on the first day of school. He wasn't one to simply yell back at an arrogant person, but he wasn't the type to simply take the insults either. Karni decided that he has to control himself if something happens.

The girl with auburn hair suddenly stood up, picked up her things and went towards Karni's desk. Another kid tried to sit down next to Karni, but was suddenly stopped by the girl. "Excuse me but I wanna sit here if it's alright with you?". It was a smile that could make the room shine. 

The boy who just tried to sit down tried to argue until he saw her face. Being a child, he simply got flustered. "O- Of course, I don't mind!"

*Ah, the mind of children, so easily swayed* Thought Karni. Little did he know that another person thought similarly.

The girl sat down next to Karni. It really did feel like she was here looking for trouble. She smiled at him mischievously. "What's your name?"

Karni didn't really want to start anything so he decided to just go with it. "Karni Val." He paused. Then sighed. "And yours?"

When he said his name, her smile brightened instantly. Her eyes seemed to become a little moist and her lips trembled a little in an attempt to hide it. "Wu Siduo."

After that, she immediately turned around and put her hands on the table and seemed as if she fell asleep. But her head was shaking a bit, so one could tell she wasn't sleeping.

Karni was completely confused as to what had just occurred. She wasn't here to bully him? Not only that, but she seemed to have actually gotten emotional as Karni told her his name… Wu Siduo. That name was familiar.

*Right! The Hell Cat!* In the 3rd novel there was a side character who was considered a genius. She eventually befriended the main character. Wu Siduo, twin martial souls, soul master who had a Hell Cat and White Tiger martial souls. She must be the second soul master who has the option to learn above her grade level. 

The most confusing thing of all was that, based on her reaction, she knew him. How is this possible? He was sure there was no one who knew him. Unless there existed a person that looked just like him, and he took over that body. It was highly unlikely, but not impossible.

Just as Karni was about to ask Wu Siduo some questions, a door opened and a teacher walked in. It was actually teacher Yi Lan! Looks like he has been assigned to this class.

Yi Lan made a simple introduction and then started explaining what will be taught. Karni spaced out almost instantly. The reason was, of course, Wu Siduo and the way she greeted him.

"Karni!" A voice suddenly rang from the front of the classroom. It came from Yi Lan who was looking at Karni with a weird expression.

"It's your turn to introduce yourself." He said exasperated.

Karni stood up. He heard a small giggle escape from the girl next to him. One second she seemed emotional, the next she was laughing at him. This Wu Siduo seemed like a headache.

"My name is Karni Val. I'm currently staying in the dorms of the school since I come from quite far away… that… that's about it." He sat back down a bit embarrassed. Looks like he had a weird first impression on the class. Whether it be the teacher calling him out, or him being a foreigner.

"Wait, your family name is Karni?" Wu Siduo asked him out loud.

"No…" Karni thought for a second. "It's Val. Karni is my given name." He said confused.

Next, Wu Siduo stood up. Her previous demeanour seemed to have disappeared and her smile had returned. It felt like the first greeting hadn't even occurred. 

"I'm Wu Siduo. I come from the Wu family in Star Luo City. That's all." She turned at Karni mischievously and sat back down. The classroom also started to laugh quietly. She really emphasised which family she came from.

Karni only now realised. Right, this world comes from Chinese novels, and even if the cultures and the world are its own, they definitely resemble that of the Chinese populus. That included the way one said their own name. Surnames came first.

No one has mentioned the way he said his name until now. They were probably trying not to embarrass him. Yi Lan was now regretting not mentioning it. The difference in embarrassment in private or in public was like night and day.

The next student stood up to introduce themself, while Siduo whispered to Karni. "I hope we get along, Karni Val." She still had that amused face on her, though her expression has softened.

Karni made a mental note about introducing himself as Val Karni from now on. He didn't memorise any name except for Wu Siduo, he was simply overwhelmed.

Everyone finally finished their introductions and Yi Lan started teaching the classes. The first class was about the soul masters of the world. What are soul masters? They are ones who stand at the peak of this world and every child in this school is one who has a chance to become one.

Soul masters themselves appear only 1 in 1000 in the populace, twin spirit masters on the other hand, well to say that there has been a 1000 of them throughout all history would be generous. Though they have become more frequent throughout the millennia.

Every soul master has their own martial soul. This martial soul affects their future cultivation path. An Assault System Soul Master at its peak can destroy a whole army, and similarly a peak Auxiliary System Soul Master might be capable of bringing someone back to life as long as there is a single breath remaining.

There were multiple systems of Soul Masters; they usually fell into categories of Auxiliary, Agility, Assault and Control systems as the four main ones.

There was also a ranking of the soul power that every Soul Master possessed. Those below 10th rank were called Soul Scholars and they weren't considered Soul Masters. This was the majority of the students in the junior academy.

Once one got a single soul ring, they would become Soul Masters. The lowest category. This was the category that Karni, and presumably Wu Siduo fell into.

After breaking through the 20th rank, they would become Soul Grandmasters. Every new soul ring signalled a new realm. 

These realms went in order: Soul Master, Soul Grandmaster, Soul Elder, Soul Ancestor, Soul King, Soul Emperor, Soul Sage, Soul Douluo and Titled Douluo. The highest one could usually achieve was rank 99 Titled Douluo. 

They were called Titled because one would get their one title. For example, one could be called a Spirit Ice Douluo, his title would be Spirit Ice, this title belonged to Huo Yuhao, the protagonist of Soul Land 2.

There existed another rank. Rank 100. At that point one would become a god. However, there has only ever been two instances of that happening. One was the Ancestor of Tang Sect, Tang San, and the other was the Spirit Ice Douluo. He was one of the key figures of introducing spirit souls into the world of Douluo. Forever changing the way of cultivation in this world.

Currently however, this world is in a special predicament. After all, rank 100 was possible without the God Realm, this was something unique to the world after the end of Soul Land 2. But that was something only Karni knew and wasn't covered in class. Only the highest existences in the world were aware that the God Realm was gone.

The classes passed quickly. They had some basic classes on history, maths, the language and what not. Yet most of the classes still focused on their martial souls and the topic of soul masters, theories behind fusion with spirit souls, soul rings and their abilities. There were also classes about soul beasts.

The classes ended and Yi Lan reminded them of some rules to go by outside of classes. "You are allowed to spar with each other, however, you mustn't harm each other or whoever does will be punished severely or even expelled. If you need any extra lessons or wish to know any additional information you should seek me out in the room opposite of this classroom. Alright now, remember that you're all classmates, even if you all wish to be soul masters in the future, be nice to each other. Classes are over for today."

The reason there was a chance of expulsion was simple. All of the kids were of reputable background, most other academies would not be so strict. Should something happen, the influential families might cause trouble.

"Hey, hey, Karni. Teacher just said we are allowed to spar, do you want to spar with me?" Wu Siduo spoke as soon as the classes ended. She looked at Karni with eyes full of hope.

*Is she trying to bully me?* While her words suggested she was looking for trouble, her eyes looked sincere.

"It's only the first day, I don't think we should do this today." He tried to avoid her gaze.

Siduo didn't look discouraged. "Oh come on, I will even give you a kiss if you defeat me." Now she had that mischievous smile on her face once more.

Karni just stared at her with deadpan eyes. Apparently, 6 year olds these days are already talking about kissing. "No." He said after some time of staring. He stood up and started leaving the room.

She followed behind him. "Oh, you took some time thinking about it didn't you hehe. Why? Am I that beautiful to you?"

Karni's answer was to stay quiet. She kept on pestering him about sparring, even mentioning a kiss as a reward again. She was a child. Karni hoped she would simply get bored if she didn't get a reaction.

As they were getting close to the exit door she wore a defeated look. "Oh, if you insist. You'll get a kiss even if you lose, how about that?" Karni stopped just in front of the door to the outside of the school building and looked at her.

He stared with a dead look for about 3 seconds as she stared back with an expectant look… He started running. Yes. He ran full speed toward the dorm building. This girl was too cheeky for him to handle. He was a 20 year old man inside! Not only was he hoping she would NOT kiss him, he was scared she actually would! *I don't want that kind of a black mark in my memory!* 

He looked back to see if he escaped and noticed that she was just about next to him, simply running along as if it's nothing. "Ai, someone is eager to spar, but you're going the wrong way…"

He saw that he couldn't outrun her so he simply stopped. "Ok what will it take for you to stop annoying me?"

"A spar!" She answered clearly, not seeking to compromise.

He didn't imagine that his first day would turn out like this. He remembered this character being proud and calculating, but not in a cheeky way! Looks like there will be quite some differences between the novels and reality. Or perhaps she was like this as a child? "Ugh, if we spar, will you leave me alone?"

"No!" She was basically telling him he will have to deal with her from now on.

"Ok. If you won't even leave me alone, then what's in it for me, it looks like I'll lose out either way!" He was getting more and more frustrated with this girl.

"You won't lose out, you'll get a kiss from yours truly after all." She said this with a beaming smile and without letting him continue, she started to drag him toward the sparring field.

"Ok, ok. We can spar just please don't kiss me!" If the older boys heard him say that they would probably laugh at him. Thankfully though, most 6 year olds didn't know much about relationships, so his statement wasn't unrealistic, some kids even found kissing appalling; Karni's nephew in his original world definitely did. It's just that Karni's reasons and that of a six year old were vastly different, even if it was the same thing.

"Ok, but only if you can defeat me!" Siduo was clearly enjoying the whole situation.

"Wait, you said the opposite just before!" He was getting really worried now. He didn't want a kiss from some 6 year old! The only way this would be normal is if she was his daughter or something!

"Yep, I changed my mind." They seemed to have arrived at their destination.

"Wait wait wait wait, before we begin, why are you doing this?" He was incredibly confused by this. He met her today and her behaviour was simply abnormal.

She looked at him with a grin. "I'll tell you if you can beat me!"

"Oh come OOOON! Do you know me from somewhere or something, did I offend you somehow?" He really didn't want to fight. He might as well ask these questions anyway. Maybe he might change her mind somehow.

"Well let's see here… Hmmm… I'm not telling you!" She laughed brightly and then suddenly jumped at him.

He barely managed to dodge as he tried to calm down. "Wait, shouldn't we establish some rules or something."

"Oh, you're boring. What rules are there in a spar? It's just a simple spar! Whoever falls down first loses." She pounced at him again.

She summoned her martial soul. Her body underwent a change. On her head appeared a pair of cat ears and she seemed to have gotten some claws. Her overall speed also increased. A single yellow ring appeared behind her.

"Just wait for a moment damn it! Can't we just talk this out?" He had even more trouble dodging this. If she jumped at him again he would probably get hit. Unless of course he summons his own martial soul.

At this point she stopped and looked at him funnily. "Can you stop stalling and just start, you know I'm not gonna stop right?"

He looked at her and then sighed. He slowly raised his right hand as a bo staff of gold and silver appeared in his hands, with a black snake inscribed on it. His eyes seemed to glow with a tinge of gold and a single soul ring appeared around his bo staff. What Karni didn't notice however was that there was something different in his martial soul now.

For a moment, she looked as if she saw something nostalgic. Next, she looked at the soul ring and her eyes went a bit wide, but she quickly controlled herself.

"Are you ready or do you need more time to prepare?"

"I… I think I'm ready?" 

"Oh, you think?" Her eyes changed and she positioned herself for an attack. It felt like she was looking at the very depths of his soul.

A chill ran down Karni's spine. It was his first real spar in this new world and he had zero combat experience. Meanwhile she seemed to have a ton. Not to mention she was an agility type soul master while he was a control type.

Usually the control system countered the agility system soul masters, however Karni didn't have a single control skill yet. His first soul ring simply massively improved his perception of the future and surroundings.

All he could rely on in this battle was his bo staff. He didn't want to reveal his panda martial soul, the only people who knew were Yi Lan and the headmaster after all.

Yet there was this lingering feeling that, should he summon his second martial soul, it wouldn't help him at all.