The Magician of Sound

Green light began filling their vision as some of them closed their eyes, couldn't endure the brightness.

Kai frowned. Although it hurt a lot to open his eyes, he still watched the process. He would never abandon the person under him, especially his comrade. The Eagle Group had become a partner in his eyes. Even though their relationship didn't start well, everything had gone so well to the point he wouldn't mind calling these guys his comrades.

That was why no matter what happened, he wouldn't lose to this blinding light.

"What is this? I feel warm, but I think there is something inside me… Is this the potential within me?!" Nicholas was still absorbed by the sensation, forgetting about the rest of his team. He slowly raised his hand, but to everyone's surprise, the earth began to shake and rise.

It was a wall, the size of their car, but everyone who saw it noticed its difference. The previous stone wall had been replaced by dirt… But it was close to mud instead.

Not long after the rising of the dirt, the light dimmed down, and everyone gradually opened their eyes. Kai lowered his hand to check Nicholas's condition more clearly.

"Nicholas… Are you okay?"

"Yes. I feel something strengthening in my body, but I don't know what it's yet." Nicholas turned around and found his mud wall. "Yeah. This feeling… This is the thing."

"Hmm… I have awakened your magic like that little girl over there." Rapakha pointed his finger to Michelle.

"How did you know?!" Michelle widened her eyes. They never talked about this on their trip, so she started to doubt him again. She thought this guy must have the ability to see their memory.

"It's not that hard. I have checked your element when I seal your magic… Now, I will release it for you." Rapakha raised his finger, creating a magic circle. A few streams of light flowed outside the magic circle and entered their bodies.

Kai raised his hand and summoned his magic circle. "We can use our magic again."

With Kai's confirmation, Rapakha continued. "As for this boy… He should be good enough now since he has awakened Mud Ability instead of his so-called Earth Magic… Well, I call it Stone Magic instead of Earth Magic. Anyway, there is a gimmick to this Mud Ability. Watch me."

Rapakha touched the wall and created a magic circle. Not long after, he retracted his finger and asked. "Touch the wall."

Nicholas touched the wall before he suddenly widened his eyes when he saw his finger pushed the touched area inside. "This…"

Everyone grew curious, as some of them sneaked around and tried to touch him. Rapakha glanced at Kai and smiled. "How about you do it too? But I don't want you to touch it. Instead, you should give your best punch. Let's see if you can destroy it."

"…" Kai didn't answer nor moved for a few seconds before nodding. "Alright. I will try it."

Since Rapakha had requested him, it wouldn't be wise to refuse. Besides, he was also curious about this wall.

"You can use all your strength at once."

Kai nodded. The others gave him some space and watched how things turned out. Kai took a deep breath and struck the wall with all his might. "Ha!"

*Boing!*

"!!!" Kai was taken aback by the texture before he shifted his stance. He was just about to be thrown back because the wall stretched elastically and released that energy to him back. But… As one would expect, the most important thing about this was the elasticity. Not only it stretched like mochi, but it also had the power to absorb and release the attack. "This…"

"This is Mud Magic's latent ability. Elasticity. Of course, it can also be the other way." Rapakha used his magic again and touched the wall. "Why don't you test it again?"

Kai felt the change and furrowed his eyebrows. He didn't punch it first. Instead, he touched and knocked it gently. "This is hard… The first one is soft. I see, the other way around."

"Yes. How about you try to destroy it?"

Kai thought for a moment and summoned his exoskeleton, reinforcing his hand. However, he actually wanted it to protect his fist since the rock felt so compact. He didn't want to injure his fist because of this. Glancing at Rapakha once again, he threw another fist.

"Bam!"

"Oh. That is pretty good." Rapakha praised him and nodded with a smile.

The others looked at the mud wall and found it covered with cracks, but it had yet to crumble.

"This is the power of Mud Magic. As much as I want to teach you about this magic, you have gotten your reward according to my principle. So, you can only search for a way to master this ability yourself. Of course, it's not limited to this wall alone. There are many applications of this magic, but I can only show you at this point. If I add more, those Protectors will surely attack you earnestly and won't stop until you die, even if it means your entire home destructions." Rapakha looked at Nicholas.

"I understand. I felt Elder's concern as well when you were inside my body, so I will try my best as to not disappoint Elder." Nicholas nodded with a solemn expression.

"Good child." Rapakha nodded. "Now… There are a few people that have a connection to me. I will just call your name. Kai, Tasha, Michelle, Sofia, and Isabelle. All five of you, please step to the front. I want to give you something."

The four girls looked at Kai first. They didn't dare to step forward if Kai shook his head. After a few seconds, Kai finally nodded his head, so these five walked to the front.

"I don't have much, but I can give you advice." Rapakha turned to Isabelle. "Girl. You must have a time where you suddenly lost control of your eyes, right? I mean about the intensity of your eyes, such as at a time, you suddenly look farther or closer without your control."

Isabelle widened her eyes. "Ye-yes. I think it's my backlash from merging with magical beast blood, so I treat it as nothing."

"Still, it must be a painful experience for you since you can't really focus at that time." Rapakha smiled and touched her forehead like Nicholas. The light appeared again, but only for two seconds. "I have suppressed the blood in your body to the level that matches your human blood. You won't experience such a thing again, I promise you."

"Is that true?!" Isabelle opened her mouth in surprise. She sometimes took sick leave because of this symptom. Although what she got wasn't as good as Nicholas, her efforts also didn't match up with him, so she thought Rapakha had already been graceful enough to solve this problem for her. "Thank you, Elder."

Rapakha nodded with a smile before turning to Sofia. "As for you… There is not much to say to be honest. I want to awaken your magical beast blood, but I am unable to do so since you and I are not compatible like that guy. So, the only thing I can say is about your Ice. Have you tried to mix ice with human blood, and have you tried to mix it with magical beast blood? Try it, and you will know what I mean."

Sofia tilted her head in confusion but still thanked him gracefully. "Thank you for your knowledge, Elder."

Rapakha waved his hand before turning to Michelle. "You seem to have a problem with your awakened magic… Let me guess. It should be related to the union. Seeing your state, the union must be with your body."

Michelle's body shook. No one actually knew about this except Kai, whom she asked for a sparring partner. To think that this guy knew about it, she finally believed this statue. "Yes. As Elder said so."

"You are on the right path, but something is missing for you. Have you seen a human copulate with themselves? Ask this answer in your mind, and you shall get the thing you are missing."

Michelle's body shook again. Just like that, she seemed to get her answer.

"Ah. A smart girl. I like it."

"Thank you for your guidance." Michelle thanked him politely.

Michelle might take it like that, but everyone was certainly baffled by such a question. The elder said it in a formal way, but when they thought that line in their casual way. The question became, "Have you seen someone f*ck themselves?"

Their eyebrows twitched, wondering what kind of enlightenment Michelle got from such a question.

"Now to the two main dishes. I will start with the boy first." Rapakha turned to Kai and raised his hand. The ground started shaking uncontrollably before the stone where Rapakha had his slumber suddenly rose.

At first, Kai thought he wanted to beat him up because he had done nothing but doubted him, but it seemed it wasn't the case. The pillar wasn't that big in diameter, only a few centimeters.

Suddenly, Rapakha grabbed the pillar and shattered it. Everyone was confused with his action but saw something in his hand when he opened his hand again.

"This is what I want to give. It will protect you and lead you to the truth at one point, but I can't say more than this. Only you who possess that hearing ability are qualified to use this. Even those Protectors won't get it from you. Of course, you don't need to wear it the whole time. Only if you go to war or a place like this, you should wear it."

Kai hesitated for a second and watched this necklace. The chains were made of gold, but as expected, the most intriguing part was the green jade in the middle. After some thought, he nodded. "I understand. Thank you, Elder."

"Your hesitation is not wrong, especially if you care about your friends. I just want to say you shall do what you believe it's right. Don't let anyone, including this world, interfere with your decision."

Kai took the word to his heart and nodded. "I understand. I shall remember Elder's words."

Rapakha then turned to the last person, Tasha. "Child… You have a big potential inside you. I think you must have noticed this when you investigated this island… You should know that we are connected like how I am connected to that boy."

Tasha glanced at the direction he pointed at and found Nicholas. This was enough what kind of connection they shared. "Space Magic."

Rapakha observed her expression for a moment and noticed why she would say Space Magic instead of Sealing Magic. He knew she had Sealing Magic since she said it herself, but she must have her own problem to conceal it, so he decided to play along. "Exactly so."

"!!!" The group looked at her. Tasha already had two magic in her body, if he awakened her Space Magic, she would be undoubtedly powerful. However, Rapakha's next words shook them to the core.

"Do you want to be my student?"