Beast and Weapon as One, Sacred Earth Dragon

"What is this? What is this?"

Dugu Bo stared at the Dragon Head Hammer in Chen Ming's hand. He was absolutely certain that light truly shone in the dragon head's eyes, and that they were even coldly sweeping over him.

"You were still using the Earth Dragon Shield just now. How did you summon a Dragon Head Hammer now? Did you obtain a weapon-type Spirit Skill?"

"No, this is only Dragon Transformation. I just have a somewhat special way of using it."

A few glimmers of excitement shone in Chen Ming's eyes. Although his previous calculations had placed the probability of accomplishing this at over 67.5 percent, actually succeeding still made him unable to suppress his excitement.

"Senior, do you know the effects of Dragon Transformation?"

"It enhances all attributes, makes the Martial Soul more active, changes the appearance of Spirit Skills... Changes the appearance of Spirit Skills? Changes their appearance?"

Dugu Bo had also seen Spirit Masters from the Blue Lightning Tyrant Dragon Clan use Dragon Transformation. Although he considered it an extremely powerful talent, no matter how he looked at Chen Ming's massive hammer, he could not imagine that this counted as part of Dragon Transformation.

"That's right, exactly what you're thinking, Senior. Beast Soul Tool-ification is an ability that relies heavily on talent. It is true that I can use it through acquired means, but compared to those who can switch naturally, I still fall short. Summoning the shield consumes quite a considerable amount of my focus."

"But now, I have made up for that weakness and further expanded my abilities."

"Dragon Transformation can amplify parts of the body and turn them toward draconic traits. Then I can also control which parts undergo Dragon Transformation, and to what extent, allowing the state of my Spirit Skills to change to a certain degree."

"And the weapons derived from Beast Soul Tool-ification are essentially still part of my Martial Soul. They can likewise receive the enhancements of Dragon Transformation and Spirit Skills. Combined with my original control, this can greatly increase their malleability."

"If transforming my Martial Soul into a weapon previously required me to devote part of my focus to maintaining it, then now I only need to spend a little time and focus during the switch. Afterward, I can maintain it through Dragon Transformation."

"For example..." Chen Ming looked around and found no suitable target for testing his hammer. Finally, he looked at Dugu Bo. "Senior, you know that my first Spirit Skill is a boosting skill. It increases defense and earth attributes while adding a layer of shield."

"But now, I can use it like this."

Soul Power surged through Chen Ming's body. His first Spirit Ring blazed brightly, rapidly tightening before settling around the Dragon Head Hammer. An earthen-yellow radiance burst forth, enveloping the Dragon Head Hammer and Chen Ming's hands, while a layer of golden energy covered the dragon head itself.

"Senior, would you like to try it?"

"Sure." Dugu Bo nodded and beckoned Chen Ming over with great interest.

Chen Ming swung his hammer at Dugu Bo. Dugu Bo neither dodged nor evaded, directly summoning his Martial Soul and raising a hand to receive Chen Ming's Dragon Head Hammer head-on.

Yet at the instant Dugu Bo's hand collided with Chen Ming's Dragon Head Hammer, a powerful shockwave and a dragon's roar erupted from the hammer. Dugu Bo was briefly startled, involuntarily taking half a step back before steadying himself against Chen Ming's Dragon Head Hammer.

"Impressive, impressive. How did you do that?" Dugu Bo shook his slightly numb hand and applauded Chen Ming.

"Senior, it's very simple. When my defense enhancement is applied to my body, it increases my defense. But when it is applied to the hammer, it makes the hammer harder. The earth attribute strengthens Soul Power while also making the hammer heavier."

"When the Soul Power shield is on my body, it serves as a barrier against attacks. When attached to the hammer, I can actively detonate the shield, releasing an impact that accelerates and strengthens this strike."

"And Senior, do you see this Earth Dragon Golden Melon? My connection with it has deepened further. By injecting Soul Power into it, I can make it release certain abilities—for example, expanding in size, or becoming even heavier through the addition of earth attributes."

"Is this... even what a Spirit Master is? Forget it, I've asked that question so many times already. You always say something like, 'What exists is reasonable.' Perhaps this is simply a matter of talent. My talent is truly too poor, so it's only normal that I can't understand it."

Dugu Bo said resignedly, but then he immediately sensed something was wrong and pointed at the wide-open dragon eyes on the Dragon Head Hammer.

"No, there are spiritual fluctuations in that hammer of yours. Where did that come from? Could it be that you have a Dragon Soul attached within your body?"

"Not quite. I merely used divided attention, separating out a portion of my thinking ability and combining it with the beastly and wild nature of my Martial Soul to form this sort of consciousness. Essentially, it is like adding an extra arm and an extra eye to myself, except it is a little emotionally extreme. At its core, it is still me."

Chen Ming's innate talent allowed him to enter a state of absolute calm like an AI, maximizing his own computational capacity and dividing his thoughts to gain calculation abilities beyond conventional limits.

However, because of his body's limitations, Chen Ming normally had no use for so much computational capacity.

Even while maintaining his photographic memory, even while keeping background thoughts running automatically, Chen Ming still had a considerable amount of unused computational capacity in reserve for emergencies.

Now, Chen Ming had separated out a portion of that surplus. Like partitioning a USB drive, he had specifically created an area called Local Disk (Beast Soul Tool-ification), used to store the processes for switching and maintaining weapons.

This allowed Chen Ming to complete pre-prepared processes in an instant with a single mental command, changing the state of his Martial Soul as though pressing a button.

Although it was not an instantaneous switch, it was vastly faster than the usual transformation, which required control and maintenance to change slowly.

More importantly, because the portion produced through Beast Soul Tool-ification was also part of his Martial Soul, Chen Ming could even perform an operation that was utterly unlike a Spirit Master's: "maintaining Beast Soul Tool-ification after dismissing Martial Soul Possession."

Chen Ming had also decided how to use this separately maintained Beast Soul Tool-ification. He would directly use it to wrap around the Earth Dragon Golden Melon, continuously digesting and breaking down the medicinal power within it. When the time came, he only needed to dismiss Martial Soul Possession and absorb that stored medicinal power into his body.

As long as he did not let the weapon move too far away from his body, this was entirely possible.

He did not have a Dragon Soul residing within him, nor did his Martial Soul itself possess consciousness. Yet through artificial division of his computational capacity, he had created an AI Dragon Soul to maintain the basic existence of his Martial Soul.

Something akin to allowing a Martial Soul to cultivate and maintain itself was nearly impossible in the Douluo World. Yet with his own calculation abilities and external assistance, Chen Ming had ultimately achieved this peculiar result.

And beyond all this, something else happened as a matter of course. During the process of absorbing the Spirit Ring, Chen Ming further guided the medicinal power of the Earth Dragon Golden Melon into his Martial Soul, causing it to undergo a transformation.

Now, his Martial Soul was no longer a Heavy Armored Earth Dragon, nor was it a mutated Heavy Armored Earth Dragon. Its bloodline had been completed, allowing it to leap from a Sub-Dragon into a genuine True Dragon.

It was not merely an earth dragon, nor was it a Mountain Dragon said to embody the earth and bear all things. Chen Ming's Martial Soul had transformed into something between the two.

If Chen Ming had to give his current Martial Soul a name, then that name would be "Sacred Earth Dragon."