Karim stood on the deck of a small spirit-powered boat, the sea stretching endlessly in all directions. The morning mist clung low over the water like a veil.
He was not alone.
Three Spirit Masters from the Coastal Academy had been assigned to accompany and protect him. Not to fight for him—but to ensure he didn't die.
> "Are you sure?" one of them asked again. "A 900-year spirit beast is too much for most first-rings. Most kids settle for 400 or 500."
Karim didn't respond. He simply summoned the Abyssal Tide Hammer, its form solid, pressurized, humming in his hand like a waiting storm.
> "I didn't wait two years to take something average."
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🐉 The Target: Deep Water Spikeback
The beast was known locally as the Deep Water Spikeback—a serpentine fish-beast nearly four meters long, lined with hard, spiny ridges and known for generating compressed water bullets as a defense mechanism.
Age: 900 years.
Habitat: Cavern reef, 30 meters below the surface.
Temperament: Territorial and aggressive.
Spirit Skill Potential: Unknown.
Karim had tracked it for weeks. Watched its movement. Studied its rhythm.
Now, it was time.
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🌊 The Descent
Stripped of his upper armor, Karim dove with only his hammer, a rope belt, and a breath deep enough to snap his lungs.
He sank into the darkness below—passing coral, jagged stones, and tiny darting beasts.
Then he saw it—lurking near the reef wall.
The Spikeback hovered silently, its gills pulsing. The moment Karim entered its territory, its spines began to glow faintly.
> It knows I'm here.
He didn't hesitate.
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⚔️ Battle Beneath
The first strike came fast—a burst of pressurized water shot like a torpedo. Karim twisted, the blast grazing his side and burning his skin.
He gritted his teeth and kept moving, hammer drawn back.
He struck once—missed.
Struck again—glanced off a spine.
The beast darted around him, biting and blasting in spirals.
Karim bled, but his eyes stayed locked.
He let the tide guide his swing—Tide Swing, forged in the forge, trained in the sea.
CRACK.
His hammer struck the reef below the beast, launching a shockwave upward.
The creature jolted in place.
He lunged.
BOOM.
The second strike landed true—right under the skull.
The beast convulsed. Fins twitched. Then—it stilled.
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🌀 Spirit Ring Formed
Back on the boat, the instructors watched in stunned silence as a ring of dark blue energy formed above the corpse, glowing with tidal power and deep-sea pressure.
Karim climbed aboard, soaked in salt and blood.
> "You… you really did it. A 900-year beast. At seven years old."
Karim looked at the ring.
His body hurt. But his will was steel.
He sat cross-legged, drew the spirit ring in, and began the absorption.