Soul Ring Tri-element Theory

Kong Ming'an did not answer immediately. He merely lowered his eyes slightly and looked at the Soul Ring in his hand.

Over the past year or so, although he had focused his attention on cultivation, Electrolux had never stopped researching Soul Rings.

With dozens of Soft Bone Rabbits sacrificed every day for research into the essence of Soul Rings, Electrolux had finally gained a preliminary understanding of their nature a few months ago.

After weighing his words inwardly, he finally turned his gaze toward the Hongchen Siblings and his own old man before speaking in a calm voice.

"Soul Rings originate from Soul Beasts. If a Soul Beast is completely dissected and separated, its composition can roughly be divided into four parts: the body, the soul, Spiritual Power—or rather, memories—and the most fundamental Soul Power.

"After a Soul Beast is killed, its body remains where it is, while the Soul Ring that emerges is composed of the remaining soul, memories, and Soul Power."

He paused, then explained with a more vivid analogy. "A Soul Ring can be viewed as the Semi-automatic Soul Tool Rifle I made when I had nothing better to do.

"The Soul Power forming the basis of a Soul Ring is the rifle's outer casing. Its purpose is to carry the internal structure: the memories and the soul.

"The Soul Beast's memories from before its death, especially the portions concerning the use of power, naturally form Soul Skill Modules, similar to structures within a rifle such as the firing pin, gas system, and recoil spring.

"The Soul Beast's remaining soul serves as the trigger mechanism that activates those Soul Skill Modules—the trigger itself.

"And the final bullet is the Soul Power fed into it by the Soul Master."

Kong Ming'an paused before summarizing.

"Therefore, the process by which a Soul Master uses a Soul Skill is this: the Soul Master feeds Soul Power into the Soul Ring, that Soul Power triggers the Soul Beast's Remnant Soul, then the Remnant Soul drives a specific Soul Skill Module, ultimately releasing the Soul Skill. That is the essence of Soul Rings and Soul Skills.

"For now, this will be called the Soul Ring Tri-element Theory."

Xiao Hongchen felt his head itch. It was as though he was growing a brain.

Meng Hongchen's eyes were somewhat dazed. She seemed to understand but not really, only feeling that Ming's theories sounded incredibly impressive, though she could not say exactly why.

Only Kong Deming's eyes lit up slightly, as though he had discovered a new continent. Thought constantly flickered through his gaze.

Kong Ming'an did not stop and continued speaking.

"Suppose a Soft Bone Rabbit possessed only three Soul Skills while alive: Teleport, Invincible Golden Body, and Charm.

"After an ordinary Soul Master whose Martial Soul has no particular affinity kills it and absorbs its Soul Ring, that Soul Master will ultimately obtain only one of those three Soul Skills.

"This does not mean the other two Soul Skills have disappeared. They still form Soul Skill Modules and are carried within the Soul Ring together.

"The problem is that the soul left behind after a Soul Beast dies is too incomplete and weak. It can only anchor and trigger one Soul Skill Module, then become fixed in that state.

"The other Soul Skill Modules are mixed together with the Soul Beast's vast amount of Useless Memory, lying dormant in the depths of the Soul Ring.

"This explains certain phenomena.

"For example, why does a Hundred Thousand Year Soul Ring always contain two Soul Skills? Because the soul of a Hundred Thousand Year Soul Beast is powerful enough that, even incomplete, it can anchor and trigger two Soul Skill Modules."

Kong Ming'an did not say everything. In fact, this could also explain why future Soul Spirits could grant multiple Soul Rings and multiple Soul Skills.

Because a Soul Spirit's soul was relatively complete, and a complete soul could naturally control and trigger more skills. This could be seen from the Snow Empress Soul Spirit in the Original Work.

By this point, Kong Deming had already followed Kong Ming'an's line of thought and raised a question.

"So you mean that if a Soul Beast's soul is sufficiently complete, then a single Soul Ring can actually trigger multiple Soul Skills?"

"Theoretically, yes. In practice, no," Kong Ming'an answered.

"Why?"

"That involves the carrying limit of a Soul Ring."

Kong Ming'an smiled and once again explained in plain terms. "Suppose the total carrying capacity of a Soul Ring is ten portions.

"Then in a natural Soul Ring, the Soul Beast's incomplete soul itself occupies roughly four portions of that capacity.

"The Soul Beast's immense and useless memory fragments occupy another three portions.

"All the Soul Skill Modules combined occupy only the remaining three portions.

"And the single Soul Skill normally used by a Soul Master—the one fixed by the Soul Beast's Remnant Soul—may use only a small fraction of those three portions of Soul Skill capacity, perhaps ten percent, or even less.

"In such a case, the more complete the Soul Beast's soul is, the greater the share it occupies. However, the total space within a Soul Ring is limited, so the Soul Beast's soul will actively reduce the memories and Soul Skill Modules in order to achieve balance."

His words paused slightly, but inwardly, he continued.

The Soul Spirit System was actually similar. A complete Soul Spirit soul occupied the vast majority of the capacity.

According to his estimates, it might even account for ninety percent, leaving only ten percent for Soul Skills. Yet it distributed that burden across multiple Soul Ring slots, thereby allowing multiple skills.

This also explained why absorbing a Soul Spirit in Douluo Dalu III placed such high demands on one's Spiritual Power level. The pressure a Soul Master faced when absorbing a Soul Ring came not only from the Soul Ring, but also from the Soul Spirit—or rather, the Soul Beast's soul.

"In conclusion," Kong Ming'an summarized, his tone carrying the calmness of a researcher.

"Natural Soul Rings created through the slaughter of Soul Beasts have most of their carrying capacity occupied by Remnant Souls and Useless Memory, while the true treasures—the Soul Skill Modules—are buried away.

"This is structural inefficiency and an extreme waste!

"As for my Soul Ring, before I absorbed it, I had already completely purified and erased the Soul Beast's soul within it.

"The benefit is that it freed up the enormous capacity originally occupied by the Remnant Soul. With my own will as the foundation, I can attempt to actively sense, connect with, and mobilize every Soul Skill Module that may exist within the Soul Ring!

"Barring accidents, this Ten Thousand Year Soul Ring can provide me with at least a double-digit number of Soul Skill Modules, and every Soul Skill Module is an independent Soul Skill.

"In other words, this single Soul Ring can genuinely contain multiple Soul Skills!

"The drawback is that every part of it must be operated manually."

Kong Ming'an summoned his Soul Ring as an example and slowly explained.

"You must understand that with previous Soul Rings, once you injected Soul Power, the Remnant Soul would automatically complete the entire process of activation, guidance, and release. It was practically foolproof operation.

"But now, using myself as an example, if I want to use a Soul Skill, I first need to precisely locate the module of the Soul Skill I want to use.

"Then I need to precisely control every parameter: the amount of Soul Power injected, its attribute, output mode, area of effect, effect strength, and so on, before finally locking onto the target and releasing it.

"If any part of that process goes wrong, the Soul Skill may fail to activate, have its effectiveness greatly reduced, or even cause Soul Power backlash.

"For most Soul Masters accustomed to the foolproof operation of Soul Rings, learning this would be like an infant learning to speak. It would require a great deal of time to study and adapt."