First Spirit Skill
Su Ming closed his eyes, sensing the ability of his first Spirit Skill from the depths of his Martial Spirit.
"First Spirit Skill, Diamond Strength!"
He opened his eyes. The Spirit Ring outside his body bloomed with a bright yellow light.
On his body's surface, patterns condensed from Spirit Power rapidly spread across his entire form, taking root within. His body swelled to nearly double its size, reaching an adult's stature. A layer of metallic black sheen enveloped his form, and every muscle seemed brimming with explosive power.
"Diamond Strength allows my main body to transform into a Diamond Body. My physical defense increases by one hundred percent. The layer of black sheen outside my body can negate damage and also enhances my strength by one hundred percent."
Hiss—
Duan Jin drew a sharp breath.
This enhancement was utterly exaggerated.
Directly transforming one's body into a Diamond Body was something that couldn't even be described by mere percentages. As for the defense and strength enhancements Su Ming mentioned, from Duan Jin's perception, they probably weren't calculated based on Su Ming's original strength, but rather on the state after he transformed into the Diamond Body.
"In the Diamond Body state, my size increases, my muscles are filled with power; my strength has already increased by over two hundred percent. On this foundation, combined with Diamond Strength, my defense and explosive power can receive an additional one hundred percent enhancement."
Su Ming further perceived and explained the mechanics of the strength attribute increase, confirming Duan Jin's feeling.
"So, your strength enhancement can reach five hundred percent!" Duan Jin exclaimed.
Going from one to three, then enhanced to six—wasn't that a five hundred percent increase?
Su Ming shook his head.
"It's only five hundred percent for now. The reason I reported the latter one hundred percent enhancement to you, Brother Duan, is because the initial enhancement has poor scalability. As my Spirit Power increases, the change from transforming into the Diamond Body compared to my original body will become smaller and smaller."
"That's still outrageous," Duan Jin clicked his tongue.
Although Su Ming was modest verbally, he was actually very satisfied.
Percentage-based enhancements were the best choice for Spirit Skills in the early stages. They could still be used later by maintaining the proportional enhancement with more Spirit Power.
The enhancement from Diamond Strength to his defense and strength was fixed at one hundred percent, unrelated to his state. He could choose not to enter the Diamond Body form, just fight with his original body, and by channeling the Diamond Strength within, still receive the one hundred percent strength enhancement.
Actually, Body Martial Spirits didn't need to worry about the age limit of early Spirit Rings.
Although the Su Ming from the Douluo 2 period was diligently studying Spirit Tools, he hadn't stopped collecting information about the Body Sect. One piece of information he recalled, though he wasn't sure if he remembered it correctly, was that the secondary awakening of a Body Martial Spirit could cause the Spirit Rings of a Body Martial Spirit Master to mutate simultaneously, potentially increasing the Spirit Rings' age limits.
Although this enhancement wasn't guaranteed and might require strenuous conditions, it was a clear possibility.
"Battle techniques, development."
"Using acquired battle techniques to compensate for the shortcomings of Spirit Ring skills, supplementing the Spirit Skills, would allow for the acquired enhancement of Spirit Ring age limits during the Martial Spirit's secondary awakening."
"That is, using the obtained Spirit Ring skill as the core for further development."
"Not all types of battle techniques exist within the Body Sect, so not all disciples can cultivate battle techniques corresponding to their own Spirit Skills."
"Diamond Strength should be a very widely compatible Spirit Skill, with many angles for development."
As Su Ming followed Duan Jin out of the Savage Beast Mountain Range towards Gengxin City, he pondered the intelligence he knew from the Douluo 2 period, formulating his future cultivation strategy.
"Actually, the forging and body tempering method I developed already tempers the entire body. Perhaps I can go a step further and temper the Diamond Body."
There was no need to temper the Diamond Body to some incredibly profound level; just tempering the Diamond Body state into his current main body would mean he wouldn't need to waste Diamond Strength to enter the Diamond Body state in the future.
This way, more Diamond Strength could be used to condense the outer layer of damage-negating sheen, effectively the Diamond Shield.
Gengxin City.
From a distance, Gengxin City's walls were an iron-gray color, giving the impression the entire city was cast from metal. The scent of metal could be felt even before entering the city.
Perhaps it was an illusion, but as they approached Gengxin City, the temperature seemed to gradually rise, and a sensation of being scorched by flames faintly emerged.
Entering the city was like stepping into a stuffy furnace, as if being steamed and baked. The air was filled with the dull sounds of hammers striking metal. Blacksmith shops lined the streets, commonplace. Outside the busiest shops, notices were posted stating, 'All blacksmiths in this shop are certified by the Blacksmith Association.'
"Little Su, with your forging skill, you could actually go get certified by the Blacksmith Association already."
"Brother Duan, is this certification very important?"
"Mn. The Blacksmith Association is an association formed by us blacksmiths for convenience. After all, an association is a large machine; the impact it can bring through its operations is huge. Whether it's purchasing various metals or taking forging commissions, the association helps provide them."
"The most important thing is reputation. The Blacksmith Association is very united internally, and its assessments are extremely strict. The certification from the association holds significant weight, so many merchants coming to Gengxin City for bulk forging will choose certified blacksmiths."
"For us blacksmiths to improve, we can only keep forging incessantly. So even after taking a master, you'll still need to forge constantly. The person I'm taking you to see is my teacher. Once you successfully become his disciple, I'll be your senior brother."
Su Ming asked curiously, "What level is your teacher, Brother Duan?"
Within the Blacksmith Association, blacksmiths were divided into seven grades, from low to high: Junior, Intermediate, Senior Blacksmith, Blacksmith Master, Grand Blacksmith Master, Blacksmith Grandmaster, and Divine Blacksmith.
From this grading system, one could see how low the status of blacksmiths was; the naming of the grades imitated the Spirit Master system. 'Blacksmith Master' sounded quite awkward.
Moreover, the fourth grade seemed to correspond only to the Spirit Master level.
"My teacher? He is a Grandmaster level blacksmith."
Su Ming wasn't surprised.
Given Duan Jin's performance, it was normal for his teacher to be a Grandmaster level blacksmith.
Duan Jin led Su Ming into one of the two tallest buildings in Gengxin City—the Blacksmith Association.
"Every Grandmaster level blacksmith has a exclusive domain on the fifth floor of the Blacksmith Association. They can often conduct lessons and various forging research here."
There were thirty-six rooms on the fifth floor in total. Sounds came from only five of them.
Duan Jin led Su Ming towards the room next to the innermost one.
Su Ming looked curiously towards the innermost room.
This should be the Divine Blacksmith Lou Gao's forging room. Sounds were constantly coming from inside as well, not the dull thud of hammering, but crisp ding-ding sounds.
Outside Lou Gao's forging room stood a middle-aged man of tall and sturdy build, seemingly standing guard.
"Grandmaster Si Long," Duan Jin said respectfully to the middle-aged man.
"It's little Jin. Why did you bring such a young kid to the association?"
Si Long looked at Su Ming curiously, a trace of rare interest flashing in his eyes.
"And a Spirit Master too?"
(End of Chapter)