Before absorbing the Spirit Ring, Chen Ming deliberately used his claws to dig another small pit nearby, then hid himself inside. Finally, through the 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 obtained their first Spirit Ring. He also possessed systematic internal cultivation techniques and could keep AI Thinking active for efficient multitasking.
The burden of absorbing the Spirit Ring had been reduced to an extremely low level in every respect.
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 become a Spirit Skill, Chen Ming vaguely noticed something through his thoughts.
The Spirit Skill obtained 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 acquired Spirit Rings from the same kind of Spirit Beast would only obtain skills from the same category.
For example, attack, defense, enhancement—the specific values would fluctuate slightly, and the finer details of their manifestations would differ as well.
Only in extremely rare circumstances would Spirit Masters with the same type of Martial Soul gain exactly the same skill after absorbing a Spirit Ring.
That was why some unaffiliated Spirit Masters might luckily obtain an excellent Spirit Skill, yet their descendants would fail to acquire that same skill. There was a variable involved that was not so easy to control.
Only great clans that had existed long enough, possessed enough lower-level Spirit Masters, and conducted experiments with a sufficiently large sample size could reliably grasp the acquisition of Spirit Skills.
Even then, only the first three Spirit Rings could be kept basically stable. As the age of the Spirit Rings gradually increased and the Spirit Master's inclinations became more pronounced, the unpredictability of acquired Spirit Skills would grow greater and greater.
Different Spirit Masters and different Spirit Beasts would affect the effectiveness of a Spirit Skill. Sometimes, extreme emotions could even cause changes in a Spirit Skill's type and condition.
But with the multitasking and high-speed calculations granted by AI Thinking, Chen Ming could adjust his own wavelength and state, roughly determine the type of Spirit Skill, and raise its random factor to a relatively high level.
Attack, defense, control, enhancement?
Chen Ming naturally chose enhancement! Compared with the others, enhancement-type Spirit Skills were clearly more worthwhile in the long run.
Under Chen Ming's indirect influence, the solidified Spirit Skill engraved within the Spirit Ring was constrained. Its category was locked in the direction of enhancement, while its random factor was confined to a relatively broad 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 within it was also fairly pure, and its compatibility with his Martial Soul was not low.
Under the combined effects of many factors, the Spirit Skill of the Spirit Ring was gradually finalized, and Chen Ming's absorption process finally came to a complete end.
Feeling 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 also creating a protective barrier. Although it doesn't directly enhance my strength, its effect still indirectly increases my destructive power, and its boost to my defense is especially excellent."
The Heavy Armored Earth Dragon was originally an earth-element Martial Soul that excelled in defense and endurance. Its innate defense combined with its earth affinity would ultimately produce a multiplicative result, meaning Chen Ming's actual improvement was far beyond fifty percent. With the barrier added in, his overall capabilities had more than doubled.
Moreover, although Chen Ming currently had no skills or means to attack directly with the earth element, this elemental enhancement would still prove useful in the future.
Even if he did not obtain any more Spirit Skills, once his Soul Power Level rose a little higher, developing abilities such as earth spears, earth balls, and earth walls on his own would be almost effortless.
Although the enhancement was not especially high, it was already top-tier for a hundred-year Spirit Skill.
The increase in his level and the acquisition of the Spirit Ring had also noticeably improved Chen Ming's overall state. Even his computing power had risen somewhat, from around 2.5 to roughly 3.
Chen Ming stood up, pushed aside the dirt and stones concealing him, and walked out. Feeling the changes in his Martial Soul, he frowned slightly and closed his eyes to begin adjusting his condition.
As Soul Power circulated through his body again and again, the heavy armor on Chen Ming's body began to shrink, reducing itself into more convenient light armor.
Earth-yellow light and bloodline power began gathering around Chen Ming's hands, as if they wished to form something. Yet after gathering for a long while, they eventually dispersed.
"Beast Soul Tool-ification... No, it's not complete enough. I still need some time, or perhaps some stimulation..." Chen Ming dismissed 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, the Body Martial Souls among Beast Martial Souls would be separately classified due to the emergence of the Body Sect.
Yet between Beast Martial Souls and Tool Martial Souls, there were also certain special Martial Souls that fell somewhere in between.
The Coiling Dragon Staff was a Tool Martial Soul, yet 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 the Dragon Soul to fight independently.
Snake Lance Douluo's Martial Soul was the Tool Martial Soul Snake Lance, yet under Martial Soul Avatar, it could transform into a giant serpent.
Chen Ming called this category Tool Soul Beast-ification. It meant that a Tool Martial Soul changed toward the direction of a Beast Martial Soul, or displayed some traits of a Beast Martial Soul.
Conversely, there was a corresponding 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, yet after Martial Soul Possession, they not only affected the user's body—the Spirit Master could also condense a shield from their tortoise shell and bloodline.
Although Chen Ming suspected that the Black Tortoise of this era and the Mysterious Underworld Tortoise of ten thousand years later shared a bloodline relationship, or might even be the same Martial Soul, 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 the relatively conventional and controllable forms of Beast Soul Tool-ification, and possessed enormous flaws.
Both abilities were quite 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 extremely 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. But in the end, his unfamiliarity with the process, combined with his insufficient Soul Power, caused the transformation to fail halfway through.
However, Chen Ming was not discouraged. As long as he was 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 giant axes.
If he could transform it into such heavy cold weapons, then combined with his powerful physique and defensive strength, Chen Ming believed his combat power would receive an enormous boost.
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