First Spirit Ring, the Talent of Beast Soul Tool-ification

Before absorbing the Spirit Ring, Chen Ming deliberately dug another small pit nearby with his claws, then hid himself inside. Finally, through a narrow gap and the pull of the Spirit Ring, he drew it over from a distance.

The absorption process went more smoothly than Chen Ming had imagined.

Chen Ming's physical constitution was already stronger than that of an ordinary Spirit Master who had just acquired a first Spirit Ring. On top of possessing systematic internal cultivation methods, he could also activate AI Thinking for highly efficient multitasking.

No matter the aspect, the burden of absorbing the Spirit Ring had been reduced to an extremely low level.

However, during the absorption process, as the Spirit Ring merged with his origin and the bloodline power and abilities imprinted within it slowly combined with his Martial Soul to form a Spirit Skill, Chen Ming vaguely noticed certain traces through his thoughts.

The Spirit Skill gained from a Spirit Ring was not necessarily fixed. Most of the time, due to subtle individual differences, Spirit Masters with the same Martial Soul who obtained Spirit Rings from the same type of Spirit Beast would only gain skills from the same category.

For example, attack, defense, enhancement—the specific values would fluctuate slightly, and the finer details of their effects would differ as well.

Only in exceedingly rare cases would Spirit Masters with the same type of Martial Soul obtain exactly the same skill after absorbing a Spirit Ring.

That was why rogue Spirit Masters sometimes got lucky and acquired an excellent Spirit Skill, only for their descendants to fail to obtain the same one. There was a variable involved that was not so easily controlled.

Only great clans that had existed long enough, possessed enough low-level Spirit Masters, and conducted experiments with a sufficiently large sample size could reliably control the acquisition of Spirit Skills.

But even then, only the first three rings could be kept basically stable. As Spirit Ring ages gradually increased and a Spirit Master's inclinations became more pronounced, the unpredictability of acquired Spirit Skills would also grow.

The experiences of different Spirit Masters and different Spirit Beasts affected the effectiveness of Spirit Skills. Sometimes, extreme emotions could even cause changes to a Spirit Skill's type and characteristics.

Under the multitasking and high-speed calculations granted by AI Thinking, however, Chen Ming could adjust his own wavelength and state, roughly determine the type of Spirit Skill, and raise the skill's random factor to a relatively high level.

Attack, defense, control, enhancement?

Chen Ming's choice was naturally enhancement! Compared to the others, enhancement-type Spirit Skills were clearly a better long-term investment.

Under Chen Ming's indirect influence, the Spirit Skill solidified and inscribed within the Spirit Ring was restricted. Its category was locked in the direction of enhancement, while its random factor was confined to a relatively large range.

Although Chen Ming did not know exactly what kind of Spirit Beast he had absorbed, its quality was higher than he had expected. The Sub-Dragon bloodline in its body was also fairly pure, giving it considerable compatibility with his Martial Soul.

Under the influence of all these factors, the Spirit Skill of the Spirit Ring was gradually finalized, and Chen Ming's absorption process finally came to a complete end.

Feeling out his Spirit Skill, Chen Ming opened his eyes and nodded slightly.

"Not bad."

"First Spirit Skill, Fertile Earth Bestowal. It increases defense by fifty percent and earth affinity by fifty percent, while creating a protective barrier. It doesn't directly boost my strength, but its effects still indirectly increase my destructive power. Its defensive bonus is even more outstanding."

The Heavy Armored Earth Dragon was itself an earth-element Martial Soul that excelled in defense and endurance. The Martial Soul's inherent defense combined with its earth affinity would ultimately produce a multiplicative effect, so Chen Ming's actual improvement was far greater than fifty percent. With the barrier added in, his overall capability had more than doubled.

Moreover, although Chen Ming currently had no skills or methods for directly attacking with earth elements, this elemental enhancement would still come in useful later.

Even without gaining a Spirit Skill, as long as his Soul Power Level rose a little higher, developing abilities such as earth spears, earth balls, and earth walls himself would be almost effortless.

Though the enhancement was not especially high, it was already top-tier for a hundred-year Spirit Skill.

His increased level and acquisition of a Spirit Ring had also noticeably improved Chen Ming's overall condition. His computing power had risen as well, from around 2.5 to roughly 3 points.

Chen Ming stood up, pushed aside the dirt and rocks concealing him, and walked out. Feeling the changes in his Martial Soul, he frowned slightly, closed his eyes, and began adjusting his state.

As Soul Power circulated through his body again and again, the heavy armor covering Chen Ming began to contract, its thick plating reducing into lighter, more convenient armor.

Earth-yellow light and bloodline power gathered over Chen Ming's hands, seemingly trying to take shape into something. Yet after condensing for a long time, they ultimately dispersed.

"Beast Soul Tool-ification... No, not complete enough. I still need time, or perhaps some kind of stimulus..." Chen Ming dispelled his Martial Soul Possession and rubbed his brow.

In this era, Douluo Continent classified Martial Souls into only two types: Tool Martial Souls and Beast Martial Souls. Ten thousand years later, Body Martial Souls among Beast Martial Souls would be independently classified due to the emergence of the Body Sect.

Yet between Beast Martial Souls and Tool Martial Souls, there were also some special Martial Souls that lay between the two.

The Coiling Dragon Staff was a Tool Martial Soul, but it housed the Dragon Soul of the Heavenly Awakening Sacred Golden Dragon—the Break Evil Dragon. Some Spirit Masters with the Coiling Dragon Staff Martial Soul could summon that Dragon Soul to fight independently.

Snake Lance Douluo's Martial Soul was the Tool Martial Soul Snake Lance, yet under his Martial Soul Avatar, he could transform into a giant serpent.

Chen Ming called this category Tool Soul Beast-ification. It referred to a Tool Martial Soul changing toward a Beast Martial Soul, or displaying some characteristics of a Beast Martial Soul.

Correspondingly, there was also a matching phenomenon among Beast Martial Souls known as Beast Soul Tool-ification.

The Black Tortoise of this era, and the Mysterious Underworld Tortoise of the Mysterious Underworld Sect ten thousand years later. Both Martial Souls were Beast Martial Souls, but after Martial Soul Possession, they not only affected their users' bodies—the Spirit Masters could also use tortoise shells and their own bloodlines to condense shields.

Chen Ming suspected that the Black Tortoise of this era and the Mysterious Underworld Tortoise of ten thousand years later shared a bloodline relationship. They might even have been the very same Martial Soul. But this was undoubtedly a case of Beast Soul Tool-ification.

If he had to put it bluntly, Chen Ming even suspected that Yu Xiaogang's Luo Sanpao was a special kind of Beast Soul Tool-ification. It was simply more unusual than ordinary, controllable Beast Soul Tool-ification, and possessed enormous flaws.

Both abilities were extremely special and greatly aided combat power. Even across the various works set in the Douluo World, Martial Souls and Spirit Masters capable of these two transformations were quite rare.

Just now, Chen Ming had felt that he might be able to melt part of the power on his body into a shield and achieve Beast Soul Tool-ification. Yet in the end, his unfamiliarity with the process and insufficient Soul Power caused the transformation to fail halfway through.

Still, Chen Ming was not discouraged. Given enough time, he believed he would certainly master this Beast Soul Tool-ification talent. He would also try to transform his Martial Soul not merely into a Defense System shield, but further into offensive weapons such as heavy hammers and massive axes.

If he could transform it into such heavy cold weapons, then combined with his powerful physical constitution and defense, Chen Ming believed his combat strength would receive an enormous boost.