The Magician of Sound

The disappointment of the professor affected Kai also. They could somehow understand the reason after the explanation. It could be said that the reality was different than the expectation, or at least, it wasn't possible to reach the expectation yet in this era and technology.

"Anyway, you already have an increase in sharpness. I have seen the report about you fighting the turtle that led you to change with Michelle. With this Vibration Sword, you should be able to cut its shell… probably." Ria shrugged and rose from her seat, walking toward an alchemy table with many kinds of tubes containing weird colored fluid.

Kai followed her movement and made a weird expression when she walked back and brought one of the tubes. 

"And this is my real birthday present for you." Ria shoved a tube containing a blue liquid to Kai's hand.

"This is…" Kai looked at the small tube in his hand and furrowed his eyebrows, as he knew it was for him from the moment she picked it up. 

"This is what I have promised you back then." Ria smiled.

"Don't tell me…" Kai gasped while staring at Ria with a dumbfounded face. "You have finished it?"

"Hmph. Who do you think I am? As I said a few years ago, I will do my best for my only student." Ria made a smug smile.

"Uhm, Thank you very much, Teacher." Kai bowed his head out of habit. 

"Although it has been successfully created, I need to test it first." Ria waved her hand, telling him not to thank her yet.

"You are right. I was too excited earlier." Kai took a deep breath. "We need to test it first. How do we use it, Teacher? Knowing your skill, I am fine to be the experiment subject."

"It's not an experimental subject. The first and the last thing I said to you as an experiment subject was when I injected the lion blood inside you. I have already done the necessary experiment, and I just want to see the effect…"

"Yeah…" Kai nodded with a smile before asking, "So, what should I do? How do I use it?"

Ria paused for a few seconds and said. 

"First of all… Strip!"

"Eh?" Kai blinked a few times, wondering if he heard it right. "Strip?"

"Ah. I used the wrong word." Ria waved her hand, apologizing to him. 

"Right?" Kai nodded, followed by weird smiles from the others.

"I don't want you to strip, I want you to ejaculate and give me your sperm!" Ria Ross finally corrected herself, albeit the correct one invited more misunderstanding.

Kai's face distorted as all the gratitudes he had on her vanished in a split second. "I'm leaving." 

"Oi oi. I really want your sperm to see whether the medicine is effective or not. This is the reason why you never do the deed, right?" Ria quickly shouted as she looked Kai walk away.

Kai halted his steps before turning around with an annoyed face. 

"What do you mean?" Ayaka was stupefied, confused with this discussion.

Michelle and Tasha exchanged looks and made a weird smile because they knew the reason.

Ria turned to Ayaka and started explaining. "I didn't tell you this from the beginning, because the medicine is ready. But the magical beast blood is far superior to you think. Their gene will be carried into your child. That's why Kai doesn't want to do that. Even if you use a condom or something, there is still a chance to make a child."

Kai rolled his eyes before saying, "It was five years ago when you said this to me."

"Haha… At least, I have solved this problem already. I want to have the last check of your sperm to make sure it's effective. Anyway, I should continue talking about the risk. When a child is born with one or both parents being zodiac, the child will carry the gene of the magical beast(s). However, you need to know this is a reality, not a fantasy.

"Like Kai's Vibration Sword, the child might have some animal features, but it won't be like cat ears or tail. It would be worse like fur… Maybe your child will be covered with furs, or they might have paws instead of hands. When that time comes, will you be able to say you love the kid? It's easy to say you will love them, but it will take a lot of determination to fulfill that love. At that time, your kid might even be hated by others." Ria closed her eyes and sighed. "I should stop here."

Kai looked at the medicine in his hand before asking, "This medicine can make the animal gene dormant, right?"

"Yeah. Though your partner also needs to take another medicine. The medicine will kill only the animal gene. For now, I only have medicine to kill the Lion gene, and each zodiac will need some tweaking to match their blood. In other words, Aries can't do the deed for the time being, but the other two can." Ria said nonchalantly.

"I see. How about the rest? Like Pisces and Sagittarius?" Kai asked.

"They are the same as you right now. Anyway, rather than talking about them, I need to talk about Ayaka first." Ria's expression turned serious as she called Ayaka by her name rather than her nickname. "The situation is more complicated on the female side, especially when you decide to have a kid. The gene might have been eliminated in the first phase. However, they need to take a daily nutrient for the baby, and the gene might also come along with that time. That's why if you want to conceive a child, you need another medicine to make the magical beast gene dormant for at least a year."

Ayaka gasped as she never thought that far. She glanced at Kai's expression, wondering if he was mad because she turned into a zodiac or that?

Kai nodded and let out a relieved sigh. "I see. Teacher has everything covered."

"Of course. I needed to think that as well before I turned her into a zodiac." Ria snorted.

"Anyway, you can put your luggage here and stay for a few days. We can have the last test for the medicine before I give you a go." Ria smirked. "Hehe… Little Virgin Boy."

Kai stared at her and let her say whatever she wanted only because of the medicine.

"So, do you want to test the medicine first? Or finish our talk first?" Ria asked. 

Kai pondered for a moment before saying, "Let's talk first. There are many things that we need to talk about." 

"Sure. First of all, I want to know more about my student. What kind of magic are you researching right now?"

"Sound Levitation." Kai simply said the topic.

"Oh. That one is a pretty cool concept, but how is your ear?" Ria Ross only thought for a few seconds before she found out the weakness of the concept.

"It might be possible with Sound Insulation Magic, but if I use it continuously just to float in the air and observe my enemies, it's better to use my ears more than my eyes." Kai shrugged. "Though I admit, if I can move freely in the sky, it will be pretty useful." 

"Move freely? Do you mean flying?" Ria asked. 

"Yeah."

Ria looked down for a while before saying, "I can't really help you with Sound Concept since those ears are the only ones that can help you to understand the sound."

"Thanks. This Vibration Sword alone is enough for the time being. As for the Sound Levitation, we will see it later." Kai nodded. "How about we talk about the things I want to ask?" 

"Right. We have finished the vibration sword, the medicine, and your magic. Now we should talk about that." Ria nodded. "As you know that my research is related to you, so all the animals in this will be related to strength, speed, instinct, and eyes. These are the four abilities you received from the lion blood."

"Yeah. The eyes don't really stand out that much though. It only makes my eyes a bit better than normal humans. It was far below eagle eyes even though Lion has pretty good eyesight," said Kai while crossing his arms.

"Indeed. Ayaka has received the Wildebeest, which symbolizes speed and Leafcutter Ant, which symbolize strength. And the animal instincts mixed together into one entity. Thus I give her the name of Aries." Ria explained. "I still need to register her identity as a zodiac to the government, so they can give some power with that identity." 

"Thank you, Teacher." Kai bowed his head. 

"You better thank me. How about fighting me after this? I want to see your progress after a decade? Listening to your achievement on the battlefield makes me curious about your current prowess, you don't mind, right?" Ria Ross smiled, revealing her real intention once again.

He became speechless and looked down.

"Don't worry. We will only have one match, not a hundred matches."

With the assurance from Ria, Kai finally nodded. "Alright. As long as it's only one match."

Michelle and Tasha were astonished while Ayaka was eager to see Kai's real prowess. All of them were looking forward to the fight. 

"Let's talk about the raid mission then. I'm sure you have gotten a pretty clear plan as my disciple, right? How about you show me right now?" Ria smirked, changing the topic and planning to tease him about his plan.

Kai gulped down before walking toward her. "Fine."

"I hope you don't disappoint me too much, my beloved student." 

The bar had been set as Kai handed her a few papers and began talking. "Alright. First of all, we are going to talk about…"

Kai began his explanation.