Grandmaster was breathing deeply, mentally revising his speech about the spirit ten great core competencies. He was trying his best not to be nervous. Suddenly remembering the case of the Spirit Master who's spirit deviation made him realize the principle of Spirit Mimicry, he couldn't help but sigh in envy.

Since he had being immersing himself in his researchs, he had being naturally drawn to spirit variations and how Spirit Masters decide if it's either weakening or improving a spirit quality. Though it was extremely rare, he found stories of some spirit masters with spirit deviations who, for a number of reasons, were able to rise to heights no one expected them to reach. The story of Weng Sora had interested him greatly.

That man was lucky, was thinking Grandmaster. I wonder where he is now...

O0o0o0o0o0o0o

In the world Douluo Continent, the most common way to get respect is by birth or power. In fact, nothing else seems important.

Sora was born in Nuoding City, in the Fasinuo province, at the southwestern part of the Heaven Dou Empire. His parents were both Spirit Masters, his mother part of the army protecting the city, while his father was a teacher at the Nuoding Academy. Such linage meant he was from nobility, even if it was at the lowest rank. As such, while not living in luxury, he wasn't poor either.

As a Fat Rat spirit master, his father was a bit plump. While he did not appear disgraceful, he was what women would call his looks decent or acceptable at best. His most charming attribute was his light grey eyes, full of intelligence. Except for his eyes, however, Weng Sora mostly inherited his mother's looks. While her eyes were dark brown, she had a tall and muscular build. As a knight, she kept her ebony hair short but it only gave her somehow more charm to her kind and confident personality.

Until he was six years old, Sora's life was peaceful. He remembered that at the age of five, his parents both took a long vacation for his birthday and they spent it in a cottage outside the city. For Sora, it was one of his dearest memories.

During this vacation month, not only did he learn how to swim from his mother, but his father taught him how to start spirit cultivation by meditating. It wasn't easy at first, but a few months before his sixth birthday, he was finally able to do it without falling asleep. This made his father very proud:

"I'll ask our butler to watch you cultivate and for how long you did it. Every time you beat your old time record, I'll ask him to treat you with something sweet. But remember, you mostly have to do it for yourself. Becoming a Spirit Master means your youth will be very important and that you'll have to train hard every day. But by doing so, not only will you feel proud of yourself, you will also live a longer and healthier life."

Sora would always remember the words of his father at that time. At six year old, he underwent the Spirit Awakening ceremony. This was a joyous occasion for several reasons: his spirit was the Swift Porcupine, a spirit deviation of his father spirit, the Fat Rat. It was a kind of spirit deviation very similar to having red hair, it was a recurrent trait that skipped a few generations. However, his spirit was much stronger then the more normal Fat Rat spirit. Not only that, but his spirit rank was at nine ranks!

But... there was a catch. It came with a unique spirit variation: Plant type.

It was unheard off. Having a plant type spirit meant the need to become a control type Spirit Master. For plant type spirits, it was easy to add dangerous attributes, like poison, to the spirit to make it stronger and control the battlefield. If a Beast type spirit master would try to add the same poison attribute to his spirit, it would come with a high risk of contaminating himself in the process. A beast type spirit doesn't exist outside the spirit master body after all so it would only harm his body. That is the main difference between tool spirits and beast type spirits.

Also, his spirit was the Swift Porcupine and the control route for such a spirit was never done before. It would be almost impossible to pull it off, the cultivation route for Sora would become extremely difficult once he would add spirit rings to his spirit.

Basically, the Spirit Hall representative told him that their was no advantage to have a plant type variation. It was categorized as a weak type spirit variation.

For several months, his father became more distant. Locking himself in his work and his books, he tried his best to establish a cultivation route for the young Sora, but it was a truly difficult task. He slowly began to believe what the Spirit Hall Grandmaster told him: his son would have a hard time cultivating once the spirit rings were added.

However, he did find one spirit beast that would be suitable... Very excited of his findings and not taking any chances, his father made sure that spirit beast would be used for at least his first spirit ring. He wanted to find at least a hundred year old spirit beast for his first ring, to give his son the best start possible. For this mission, they waited for Sora's mother to have a day off so that she could join his father in the hunt.

Not only that but the beast his father had in mind was a rare one. Fortunatly, using it for the first ring mean it would strenghted his own abilities and maybe even his deviation manifestation. Strenghtening the foundation of the cultivation was primordial after all.

Finding it was the hardest part, enhancing the need to use it early, for his first spirit ring, when the beast was younger and easier to fight and obtain. The fight itself have being short, while the search lasted the whole day.

Once Sora gave him the final blow thanks to a knife, a yellow spirit ring appeared and as instructed, he began to absorb it.

His body felt hot with energy, the pores on his flesh seemed to breathe and he was brimming with strength. This sensation was why he kept going as a Spirit Master.

His spirit ability was very good as well: Porcupine Tail. It allowed him to control the length of his hair and harden it to make quills. The reach and penetration of his attacks were both good too.

While his mother was happy for him, his father wasn't smiling: after testing the quills strength, they discovered they were still vulnerable to fire and ice, proving the weakness of his spirit deviation.

After that, Sora felt there was something different about his father. Sora couldn't pinpoint what it was at such young age, but in retrospect, he saw it was pity. He was told that in order for his family to remain in their current lifestyle, Sora would had to get past the fortieth rank, what Sora understood his father didn't believe he could achieve. While his mother didn't care, she was disappointed in her husband's reaction, even if she understood very well how he felt. Strength, after all, is everything in this world.

Sora however, was more determined then ever to prove his father wrong. With lots of hard work and dedication, he was able to reach rank 24th at twelve years old. His teachers were fascinated by how quick his cultivation was.

Time went by, and now, he was waiting in a line to an intermediate Academy called "Shrek Academy". His mom was with him, her warm presence reassuring him.

"Don't forget, your father is proud of your achievements so far. I wish he was with us so he could tell you, instead of being stuck at work. But you know, he sent you to this particular academy for a reason: they specialize in training spirit masters with unusual spirits... This means you will have the best chance of success here if they accept you."

Sora had a hard time believing his mom, as the place looked more like a village then an Academy. He continued listening to her anyway:

"If you qualify to enter, it means you have a lot of potential. Don't take it hard if they don't choose you though, I heard they are extremely selective. You will have to give it your best shot, ok?"

"Yes mom, I promise."

They had been warned from the beginning: only 12 year old children or younger could enter the Academy, and they had to have a spirit level above 20 in spirit level. They finally arrived in front of the person collecting the inscription fees. Once they paid, that man asked Sora to show him his hand. A light glowed from his palm:

"Age 12, suitable. Ok, now release your spirit."

Sora did so obediently...

" Woodland Porcupine Transformation ! "

A layer of pale green light surrounded his whole body, starting from his hair and ending at his feet. His bones cracked loudly and his muscles swelled to the point of filling his ample clothes. While he didn't have the look of a battle power spirit master, he looked sturdy and agile. His hair became the color of deep green tourmaline, looking like jade under the sunlight. His short hair suddenly sprouted passed his knees and seemed to become more compact and edgy. His fair skin changed to an earthy brown hue, and his muscles bulged to the point of becoming prominent.

As the final touch, his grey eyes had turned light green, seemingly glowing on their own. The fingers on his now larger hands turned the same colors of his eyes and seemed to shine as well. A light pine scent came from him, if you were close enough to smell it. Although his unopened mouth concealed it, his front teeth fused together. They very slightly grew into larger rodent-like buckteeth.

Two yellow rings were floating behind him.

The old man at the counter, who initially seemed bored, suddenly became very interested. With a rare smile, he said:

"Alright little monster, come on in. Let this guy behind me bring you to the other tests."

As if on cue, a man with blond hair rose up from a chair behind the guy at the counter. His mom gave him a quick hug:

"Remember, you can go register at Suoding Academy if it doesn't work out. Sora, always have confidence in yourself and don't forget to write, ok?"

"Mom, I'll be fine, ok? You worry too much..." Sora was blushing but smiling as he said so.

Sora was sad to leave the familial nest. Since his spirit awakening, he had a closer bond with his mom. While she didn't neglect her knight duties, she took the time to cultivate with Sora and spent most of her free time with him. Also, while Sora had a grudge against his father, his mom made him realize a few things... He heard the story of his great grand father, who was Spirit Emperor with a Swift Porcupine spirit who died in a important battle. Sora's father simply was disappointed to not be able to make the Swift Porcupine spirit lineage continue and hoped the legacy wouldn't stop with Sora because of his variation. But now, he was more hopeful seeing Sora's cultivation that he could at least reach his level. After all, the main reason they hoped he would get strong enough was so he could at least live well once they wouldn't be around anymore. They were just worried about him...

Turning back to the man waiting for him, he lead the boy through the village.

"I will bring you to the second test. There are four of them you must face. The second one is to see if your spirit rings are compatible with your growth. Depending how it goes, we could skip the third test since you seem to able to manifest your beast spirit properly."

For the second test, they went to a table which had a Crystal ball with a sleeping man next to it. His guide slapped him awake:

"Wake up Lu Ji-Bin, we have a candidate!"

Grumpily and reluctantly, he stretched and yawned:

"Ok, ok, I'm awake. Let's get to it then... Ok, what's this young man's rank and spirit? "

His guide answered:

"I sense his spirit rank is around 25, he might actually be able to skip the third test. And he called his spirit... Woodland Porcupine. Is that really true young man? "

His guide looked at him with a neutral expression... but Sora knew he doubted him. Sighing, he answered frankly:

"I'm sorry. It is in fact the Swift Porcupine spirit, Plant type variation. It's just how I prefer calling my spirit... "

Fearing they wouldn't accept him because of his spirit deviation, he lowered his head and bit his lips in frustration. The sleep old man looked at him with a warm smile:

"That's a first, never heard of plant type variation before. But kid, just because something is new doesn't mean it's bad. Chin up, ok? If you are accepted in this Academy however, no more lies, got it? Lies ruin the youth and besides, if at your age you're really at 25, it means you already have talent and a powerful spirit. Oh right, let's continue:."

The crystal ball on the table was clearly to tell what were his spirit rank was. It revealed Sora's spirit rank was, in fact, 25.

He looked at the rings: "Excellent! First ring is a around 400 years old and the second a bit above 600 years old. That's very impressive! And what kind of spirit beast are they from?"

"The first one is from a Wooden-Ears Jackalope. The second one is from a Death Scent Rat."

Hearing that this, the old man was agreeably surprised and amused in the same time. The Jackalope was a peculiar spirit. It was a rabbit whose ears were made of wood, slightly becoming wilder and more like antlers like as it aged. After 5 hundred year years of cultivation, his fur would start turning green, green-blue like grass. The older it was, the more his body would turn denser and wood like. After Around 5 thousand years of cultivation, people with rodent spirit beasts would no longer absorb their spirit ring, as it would be both a rodent and plant type spirit beast. In short, a spirit master with a rodent spirit could absord it for its fourth spirit ring at most.

As for the other spirit beast, it wasn't his father's first choice. He wanted to find another spirit similar to the first one, but wasn't able to. Sora and his family had to defend against the Death Scent Rat he got his ring from and the battle had being difficult. This spirit beast was one who fed on dead corpses and whose main way to defend is the stench of death itself. The older it gets, the more unbearable its scent becomes. While the traits it gave him were all agility based, this ability of the Death Scent Rat was mostly defensive. Unless someone had trained eyes, it was also impossible to guess if it was alive or not while it slept.

That same old man, who was comforting him earlier, now had to refrain a laugh:

"I guess no other spirit beast would be as compatible for you as the Jackalope. Ok kid, you pass the second test. You can skip the third test and go directly into the last one. Shao Xin here," pointing to the man who guided Sora so far, "Will bring you to the final test."

Sora sighed but obeyed. Fully knowing the irony of his first spirit choice, it was also one of the reasons he started calling his spirit "Woodland Porcupine"... Hoping the nickname would stick, his father didn't discourage him to do so. In fact, he nodded in agreement when he first heard of it.

Guided to an open space, Sora saw two individuals waiting there. One was sitting on the ground, clearly cultivating. It was a boy of Sora's age, looking quite ordinary compared to Sora. His long black hair and glasses made him look like a bookworm. When he sensed their arrival, he opened his eyes with a gentle smile. He rose up and nodded at Sora.

The man behind him was reading a book. The man was around thirty years old and his face was very characteristic. He had a somewhat prominent chin with very wide cheek bones very wide, in addition a bit of an aquiline nose...

Leaving the book aside, he stretched and rose up from his seat:

"I'm glad we have someone else to enroll this year. Shao Xin, what's his report?"

"Age 12, rank 25, agility type battle spirit, Beast type, Swift Porcupine... Plant type variation."

He deliberately paused for a second before mentioning Sora's spirit deviation. Sora was surprised to notice an excited tone behind his words. The man in front of him raised an eyebrow:

"Oh, that's very special! I really hope you can meet my expectations. I am the dean of this Academy. You can call me Flender or teacher. Now, what's your name young man?"

Sora lightly bowed:

"Weng Sora, at your service."

With a wry smile, the man continued: "Good, good. Ok, lets move on to the last test."

He patted the youngster with the glasses in the back:

"Qin Ming here will be your opponent. I wanna see if you have some basic combat experience by having you kids exchanging pointers. Both of you cannot use your spirit abilities until I tell you so. You will both avoid hitting the face and no low blows. Anything else goes. You will start at my signal, understood?"

Sora heard the youngster speak for the first time: "As you wish, dear teacher."

Qin Ming presented himself:

"Thirty-one ranked Inferno Gray Wolf Battle Spirit Elder, Qin Ming, power attack system. Please advise me!"

Sora frowned. One of the clear weaknesses of his spirit was a vulnerability to ice and fire attacks.

I'm still in luck, he thought, I need to show some skills before we are allowed to use spirit abilities...

He nodded: "Twenty-five ranked Swift Porcupine Battle Spirit Grandmaster, Agility type system. Please advise me."

While Sora was tensed and ready, his opponent seemed very relax. Soon, Flender spoke again: "Go."

Moving first, Qin Ming charged with a frontal rush, his right fist raised for an attack to Sora's chest. Going forward to meet him, he dodged quickly to the left at the last second and tripped his opponent, making him lose balance. Before he could reach the ground, Sora moved backwards as he let his feet meet the boy's ribs, sending him flying. To his surprised, the boy flipped in the air and landed on his feet. As a power attack system, his defense was enough to deal with most agility based spirit masters.

Not losing his smile, Qin Ming nodded:

"Not bad! Now, let' see how you respond when I'm serious..."

This time, Qin Ming's smile melted as he went forward. With a concentrated look, he eyed his opponent with intensity. Sora felt Quin Ming was judging where to attack from his own response.

Sora, however, was ready for him. As an Agility type spirit master, he knew he had to confront a power attack system with his speed, not letting him have the chance to land an attack.

Sora moved at full speed, feinting his movements to distract his opponent. Qin Ming still saw the attack but to his surprise, he was aiming for his face!

Fool, he thought, is he want to cheat and break my glasses !?

The dark haired boy rose his arm to block and locked both of his legs on the ground, steadying himself for the attack... but it was a feint.

Without realizing, he took Sora's bait. The agility type spirit master had moved past him and chopped at his head from behind. Not only did this throw him off balance again, but the power of the attack stunned him and made him lose his glasses. Following up on the attack, Sora kicked his ribs on the exact same spot as before. Sending him flying, this time, Qin Ming didn't land on his feet.

Sora didn't follow up his attack, picking up the boy's glasses and bringing it them back to Qin Ming. After that, he simply look at Flender with a determined look. Flender had a wry smile on his face: "Very good! Qin Ming, do you know what your mistake was?"

Slowly raising himself up, Qin Ming didn't look happy with himself: "I was careless the first time, and the second time, I fell for his feint, thinking he was aiming for my face. I really thought he was gonna disregard the rules of this fight."

Refraining a smile, Sora was proud with himself.

Flender nodded: "Indeed... Now boy, don't look so down. I'm sure your spirit completely suppress him in normal circumstances. I'll prove it to you. Qin Ming, Sora, you are now allowed to release your spirit. Qin Ming, only use your third spirit ring ability and try hard to stay on the defensive. Sora, I wanna have a look at your two abilities and how you use them. Once you have both summoned your spirits, wait for my signal to start fighting again."

Both kids nodded and released their spirits...

Qin Ming released his spirit with a big roar, black flames surrounding him. His muscles swelled and his pupils changed to shining yellow. His hands became bigger, with black fur on them, all ending with sharp dagger-like claws. Sora endured his spirit fluctuation and pressure but it was harder then usual. Sora knew it was because of the spirit nature, the fire attribute made his own spirit pressure grow weaker.

The dean is smart, realized Sora. I would have lots of trouble in a real fight against him. But he is stuck at the defensive now, let's see how it goes...

Qin Ming removed his glasses this time and gave them to the dean. At the dean's signal, Sora rose his first ring above his head... His hair grew thinker and longer. Flender's trained eyes could see his hairs fusing together. Once they had stopped growing, they were almost touching the ground. As he charged, his second spirit ring flashed.

Qing Ming used his third spirit ring to counter. The purple ring shined brightly and had a very alluring appeal:

"Will-o-Wisp!"

His figure became vague as layers of white smoke surrounded him! His figure was still able to be seeing inside the smoke, shining brightly. After the smoke reached a aura of 30 feets from Qin Ming, it was vanishing away. But even so, all around it was distorting the air with hot waves, proving that this smoke was also creating an energy attack on its own, forming a giant aura around him. Sora tried to pierce this defense, attacking with his hair from different directions. Each time he did, the hair completly disappeared inside the smoke. Sora could see that if he entered the smoke, he could see his hair the outline of his hair turning gold in the same way Qin Ming was glowing.

Each time, his hair went throught it and was burned without reaching Qin Ming. While Sora's Porcupine Tail ability didn't make his hair susceptible to pain, he started to sense the heat climbing up his hair.

Even so, he didn't stop. Following his plan, with his two spirit rings shining, he send attacks after attacks in the smoke from different angles, his hair detaching from the ends and burned before touching the ground. Since it was his first spirit ring, He could regrow the hair in a instant. By doing so however, it costed him more and more spirit power… The amount needed was minimal but constant now.

Qin Ming understood what his teacher said. He knew the weaknesses of plant types. While the white smoke itself didn't prevent breathing, what Sora didnt know is that only his own vision wasn't affected by the smoke. The only thing affecting him now was the heavy smell emanating from the combination of burning hair and pine scent. He could clearly see the hair not being able to get close to him and he waited for Flender or Sora to stop this useless fight... Filled with a strange serenity, he was getting bored... Without noticing it himself, his boredom shifted to drowziness...

Qin Ming's eyes became unfocused. Flender had realized long ago what was going on, leaning subconsciously forward, interested to see what was going to happen.

Sora sensed his strategy was working when he suddenly touched something faintly solid in the smoke. Qin Ming's form was suddenly shaken off. The light extinguished and the white smoke vanished in the same instant. Qin Ming had being hit and fallen on one knee. Even Flender seemed excited upon such a sight!

Sora gave a sigh of relief, stopping his assault. Because of the awkward silence that followed, Sora explained what happened, leaving him time to cool off a bit: "My first ring ability is called Porcupine Tail. It's effect is obvious. However, my second ring ability is a subtle and lingering one. It's called Pine Scent. It's a form of mental poison, which relaxes the opponents around me. It reduces their speed and reaction time, reducing their spirit power by thirty percent as well. However, the longer you are affected by it, the more immune you become. I'm the only one immune to my own ability, so I can't use it in excessively in team fight either. And while the rest of my body receive more damage from fire, if my hair burn, the scent becomes stronger."

The dean smirked, giving his glasses back to his student: "You may not have been able to truly harm your opponent, but the fact you were able to shake off his third ability is enough for me..."

Walking over to Sora, he put a hand on his shoulder: "You are qualified to enroll in this Academy. Congrats! Qin Ming will show you your room and the classes start tomorrow morning, after breakfast. If you have any questions, Qin Ming will help you."

While the dean was talking, Shao Xin used his spirit to make a green substance appeared in his hand, which Qin Ming quickly took and swallowed. Breathing deeply, Qin Ming finished with a sigh while adjusting his glasses. The older man then turned to Sara and made in his palm appeared… a sweet pea! Sora realized he was a food class spirit master so he took it with gratitude. It replenished his spirit power and cooled off his whole body.

Leaving the teachers behind, Sora asked:

"You're not angry I hope?"

Qin Ming looked at him with a small smile: "Losing is not bad, as long as you learn from it. Besides, we are now members of the same Academy now, no need to hold petty grudges. Come on, I'll show you the dorms."

Sora smiled. His fellow student did leave him with a good impression.

AUTHOR'S NOTE:

I'm not sure about it, but I could share a fun fact after each chapter, with things I find out while writing this fic. Im sorry for the lack of NPCs descriptions but they were lacking in the light novel, since most of them weren't important enough for the story. So I had to create some to make the reading easier. Also, I had so much fun adding a American based folklore creature (Jackalope) as a spirit beast, in a story clearly made with lots of Chinese reference.