The Magician of Sound

"Well, I get the gist of the Crown Jewel now." Kai nodded with a serious expression. He started contemplating his stance against this new information. At the same time, a question arose in his head. "By the way, how many Crown Jewels are there?"

"The original number of Crown Jewel was 103, but due to the conflict and other things that led to the Protector using the altar, only 87 left," answered Aston while looking up, recalling the number.

"Is that so?" Kai paused for a moment and asked, "This altar… What can it do?"

Arba suddenly formed a small green ball above her palm and started explaining. "Imagine this as the Crown Jewel. When you start absorbing the Crown Jewel, it will become a part of your life. However, it will remain outside your body.

"The altar itself is a tool made to destroy the concentrated energy from the Crown Jewel. There is no record of who built them, but I believe it's man-made and the time is right after the Ancient Pact among the protectors was agreed upon.

"This tool was created to assert balance between the protectors, avoiding any unnecessary slaughters. After all, they were made from a portion of the energy from the Crown Jewel, making them unable to be activated by another Crown Jewel.

"Unfortunately, this same artifact became the tool of mass slaughter that brought apocalypse into this very own planet. Although unintentional, the mass Magic Particles stored and concentrated inside the jewel would bring the entire civilization to ruin.

"There is another ritual to activate the power of the altar, but I believe this is not something you need to learn right now."

Kai nodded in agreement. "True enough. I am here to train to defeat my enemy. Crown Jewel will be my priority."

"Yes. We will help you to the best of our ability." Aston agreed.

"By the way, what is the motivation of the mermaid race to even attack us? I mean, this long grudge seems to be impossible to resolve with just a mere talk." Kai's expression turned grim as he wished to know the root of the problems.

"Actually, the fact that we are living on this planet alone has become the greatest shame in their history." Aston let out a long sigh while Arba gritted her teeth, releasing a bit of her killing intent.

"What do you mean?"

"Humans are known to be the most civilized yet brought the biggest destruction on this planet. They colonized many places and thought they were the strongest race that ruled the world.

"This caused them to exploit all kinds of resources without stop and restraint. You can say they're the greediest creature on Earth. They slaughtered other races, which was normal like any other races preyed upon us, but humans unknowingly made ranches for them to be raised and slaughtered.

"I can't say much regarding this area since we, in Emulda Kalan, also do it to survive. But deforestation, unrestricted mining of natural resources, or even other man-made disasters like a forest fire and such… Those things make humans the most hated creature on this lovely planet." Aston closed his eyes with a long face.

"…" Kai seemed to understand the situation as well, but he still said, "Though, we don't do that anymore."

"That's right. However, can you say that in many generations after this, humans will not exploit it again? This time, they are shifting to Magic Particles as their main power source. But as you know, Magic Particles are decreasing any second.

"When there are no more Magic Particles to use as a power source, what do you think will happen? There is a high possibility that the human will do the same thing again. What? Solar Power? The material alone requires a huge amount of resources and all those will affect the environment one way or another.

"The mermaid race hates humans to the very core for the same reason. They don't wish the races on the land to destroy the planet just because they can't live on the land to supervise everything. Well, I can understand them since they have managed to rule the majority of the seven seas to make sure nothing goes wrong like those on the land.

"And to prevent this disaster, the mermaid race wishes to destroy humans. In the past, our king always said, 'Human race can't live without other races, but other races can live without us. Rules of the jungle are always the best, but a ruler will need to restrict that rule to a certain extent. Someone in the future will find a clear answer for this and I don't know how long it will take.'

"Along with his last message, saying 'Human race is impossible to change. They will die because of their own mistake, but those who survive will learn from them. This is a never-ending cycle of the human race and it may even be called our curse.'

"Hence, we, priest and priestess of Emulda Kalan, wish to know your view of the human race, my king." Aston lowered his head.

Kai closed his eyes and shook his head. "I'm afraid I can't give you the answer you want at the spur of the moment."

"Certainly, that's why please let this old man stay beside you to hear your answer." Aston kneeled and placed his head on the ground.

Kai waved his hand. "It's impossible for me to give you the answer right now, but I can't say so in the future. I may never find this answer, but if you still wish to stay beside me despite the unknown future, you can do as you please."

"Thank you very much for your favor." 

Feeling the talk became a bit too serious, Kai scratched the back of his head with an awkward expression. After thinking about the answer for a moment, Kai turned to Arba and changed the topic.

"Then, what's about the training?" Kai asked with a serious expression. This was what he came for, so now that he understood the circumstances and what kind of power he would receive, he wanted to start the training immediately, not wasting another second.

Aston scratched the back of his head and glanced at Arba. "I'm not qualified to teach you in physical training. Only Arba."

Arba's expression brightened and rose from the floor, stretching her hands. "It's finally my time."

"If you wish to acquire more knowledge, you can meet me." Aston smiled and took a step back, letting Arba take over.

Kai thought for a moment and put down the bag. "Can I trouble you to bring this to my room? I will go with Arba right now."

"Certainly. Your room will be the one you used previously." Aston nodded without hesitation.

"Thanks." Kai smiled and rose from the floor. "So, what are we going to do?"

"Do you mind if we step out of Emulda Kalan a bit?" Arba asked.

"Sure." Kai nodded and glanced at Aston.

Aston snapped his finger and deactivated the barrier for a moment.

Using that chance, Kai used his Teleportation to bring them outside. Because of his power, Aston remained in the room and let Arba take over.

"I wish you luck, my king." Aston lowered his head again, seeing them off.

Kai smiled while Arba licked her lips, feeling excited about this.