Ch.18: First Spirit Ring (3)
{Detected unknown ability being bestowed. Analyzing...}
{Analyzing complete. Structure unstable.}
{Further Analysis required. Analyzing source constitutes...}
{Analysis complete. Ability fragments missing...}
"Hm?" Sitting with his eyes closed.
Lu Sheng couldn't help but furrow his brows.
{Ability fragments missing...}
{Ability fragments missing...}
{Ability fragments missing...}
{Ability fragments missing...}
"What...?"
Now he had completely lost it, yet the strange notifications kept coming.
{Obtain Unknown Source ability? Or Complete Damaged Fragment?}
"Wait, it's incomplete?"
"What do you mean, incomplete?"
"It is an absolutely top-quality spirit ring, no matter how I see it."
But then the possibility of greater gains resurfaced in his heart, making him stray from the path... again.
"Still... how can I complete this ability fragment thing again?"
{Viable solution: merging Pokémon genome data!}
{Finding similar items...}
{Searching inventory for viable solution...}
{Item Found: 'Trace of Pokemon Genome: Shiny Eevee' and 'Trace of Pokemon Genome: Ditto'}
{Merging...}
{Calibrating proportions...}
{Forming essence pattern...}
{Merging... Ability Fragment complete!}
{Please choose one of the skills from below to construct from the following and learn}
Fire Affinity Body (Black): Physique becomes attuned to fire-element energy. Improves heat resistance and enhances fire-based attacks or techniques.
Shapeshift (Yellow): Allows minor transformation of body form based on nearby beasts. Changes remain limited and require continuous soul power.
Transparency (Yellow): Reduces visual presence by blending with surroundings. Effective for scouting and ambush tactics.
Water Affinity Body (Red): The body adapts to fluid energy flow. Strengthens water-based control, perception, and recovery. Gains better synchronization with water-element environments.
Wind Manipulation (Purple): Enhances mobility and sensitivity to air currents. Increases agility, evasion, and wind-aligned manipulation strength.
Elemental Core (Gold): Forms a stable internal core derived from multi-element essence in one's body. Grants a slight affinity to the 5 primary elements and the ability to manipulate them. With an increase in each spirit rings a new elemental affinity is introduced (active). 50% Elemental Damage reduction, 20% physical damage reduction (passive).
Earth Armor (Purple): Boosts endurance, stability, and force output. Strengthens defense and earth-aligned spirit power control.
Lightning Burst (Black): Improves reaction speed and explosive power. Allows partial resonance with lightning energy, increasing attack burst potential.
...
Lu Sheng remained calm, quickly scanning the system information, not missing a single detail, and finally concluded.
"The spirit ring is equivalent to a random move learning machine, containing all the Spirit Abilities that the Martial soul can learn."
"This means that others need luck to obtain Spirit Abilities, and it also depends on the compatibility between the Spirit Beast and the Soul. But I can freely choose the Spirit Abilities that suit me, mastering the most fundamental abilities within the Spirit Beast's bloodline."
Lu Sheng was filled with joy.
Originally, if the Spirit Abilities he obtained were not satisfactory, he had no other choice but to stick with them.
But if he could choose the skill himself, it means that even if there was just a 1% chance for a beast to have a satisfactory spirit skill, he could directly obtain it without losing out on it and randomly obtaining the wrong one.
Now, it seemed he could save a lot of time planning and thinking in the future.
As for the choice of the first Spirit Ability, was there even a need to say it?
Of course, it had to be Elemental Core.
It was not only a precious golden quality, but a move equivalent to a set of techniques.
But it was also very comprehensive.
Being able to use multiple elements with a 50% energy attack reduction.
It had both passive and active abilities, giving him new means for both offense and defense.
Must choose!
As Lu Sheng's thought settled, he selected Elemental Core.
The violent energy of the thousand-year spirit ring surged into his body, seemingly seeking revenge on the Soul Master who had killed it.
But the additional essence added by the system negated most of the violent energy.
'What a joke, the spirit beast was all but a buff with all of its age and abilities granted through the heavenly treasures.'
Lu Sheng scoffed, 'Not even familiar with its own power. I would be surprised if it even had any resentment.'
Then he remembered that he killed the beast when it was still asleep, 'Ugh... Looks like there was a reason for it having so little resentment.'
He remained calm, allowing the violent soul power to rage through his meridians. His soul power, strengthened by the source of twin Divine Martial spirits, was stable enough not to so much as even flinch a bit against the sudden surge of soul power.
Whether it was his meridians or his Dantian, their strength was on a non-human level, just like his physique.
The violent soul power of the spirit ring, in his eyes, was just like tickling and acting cute.
Outside, seeing the purple spirit ring merge into Lu Sheng's body, Yun Mo felt relieved.
This meant that Lu Sheng had initially fused with the spirit ring and that there would be no major problems afterward.
An hour later, Lu Sheng slowly opened his eyes, a faint Golden light flashing in their depths.
His gaze became much steadier, and his soul power, compressed by Qinglong Core Cultivation Technique, stabilized at level fourteen.
As the last trace of the purple ring sank into his body, Lu Sheng exhaled slowly.
The world felt a shade sharper.
His control felt cleaner.
His whole presence steadier.
'Even the connection with martial soul feels stronger.'
Lu Sheng mused, feeling the base strength that his martial spirit feeds back to him suddenly increasing.
And no, it was not from an increase in level kind of strength.
It was as if the previous connection was only a surface-level one.
After adding the spirit ring, could he feel the true connection with his martial soul.
He even had the feeling that martial soul possession would be different from the previous one, where only his body bulked a little with his body lit up with colorful runes, and a pale glow surrounded him.
But that was only the outward change; he could feel his martial spirit had changed on a fundamental level.
Grown stronger than it should have, like a positive mutation, not quite an evolution.
But he welcomed it.
If such improvement is carried out every time he absorbs a martial soul, Deoxys will really evolve by the 3rd spirit ring.
Just thinking of that, his eyes couldn't help be shine.
"Enough about the future. Let's see what the present looks like!"
He said to himself, excitedly.
"Appraisal"
[Martial Spirit: Deoxys Lvl 14]
[Type: Hybrid (Beast-Body Type)]
[Grade: Divine Grade]
[Abilities: Pressure, ??? (Unawakened)]
[Talents: Adaptation, Regenerative Core]
[Affinity: Ultimate Spiritual, Fire, Water, Wind, Earth, Lightning]
[Trait: Form Shifting (4), Max Stats]
[Forms:
1. Attack form (attack +100%, remaining -50%)
2. Defense form (defense +100%, remaining -50%)
3. Speed form (speed +200%, remaining -20%)
4. Mage form (Special +100%, remaining -50%)]
[Individual Values:
HP 200
Attack 200
Defense 200
Sp. Atk 200
Sp Def 200
Speed 200
Total 1200]
[Spirit Skills: Purple(5000): Elemental Core]
[Description: With the addition of spirit rings, some of the potential has been realized as strength. Mage form(new) unlocked. Max stats increased by 20 points.]
New form? Mage?
Seeing this, Lu Sheng had confusion written all over his head.
'No way... this wasn't part of the canon.' He thought, realizing that changes had started with just the first spirit ring.
But he did understand that it was because of the special nature of the spirit ring and the ability it provided.
This brought rise to a unique mutation with the side effect of the spirit ability, coupled with the Growth Potential the martial spirit had.
10 star potential...
'So Rayquaza will also evolve in the same way?' His eyes brightened at the thought, but he let go of such thoughts.
There is much time before he will begin with the second martial spirit; it is better to focus on the present now.
He thought, looking at the stats values, the martial spirit feeds back to him.
'200... it really is 20 greater than the max stats possible for Pokémon in games and such.'
Lu Sheng remembered that the effect of stat values is calculated by individual stats * level.
And the Trait he himself has "Synchronized with martial spirit."
It was an ability that added the martial spirits' bloodline stats, traits, and affinities of those martial spirits to himself.
And it was a completely different kind of synchronization, different from the martial spirit possession.
Meaning, apart from what he will gain through individual training, eating drugs, and level increase, it was an additional value added to his own stats and traits from Spirit's feedback.
Really cheating hard!
...
Having completely absorbed the spirit ring.
Just as Lu Sheng opened his eyes.
Yun Mo stepped closer, his hands clasped behind his back.
Still a bit gruff about the previous thing.
"How do you feel?" He asked.
His tone was calm, but Lu Sheng could tell the old man had been on guard the entire time.
'What a tsundere!'
Lu Sheng realized he had not completely understood the captain of the city guards yet.
"Like I've stretched after a long nap," Lu Sheng said, rolling his shoulders.
"Everything feels lighter."
Wang Kun let out a low whistle from the side, arms crossed as he watched the boy stand up as if he'd just finished a morning stroll.
The sight didn't match the reality of what had just happened, absorbing a three-thousand-year-old spirit ring.
The old man was no powerhouse by realm, just a Soul Ancestor, but experience weighed heavier than raw strength.
He was about the same age as the City Lord, respected across Qinglong's upper management, and the main person responsible for the seasonal spirit-hunting expeditions.
Half the city's young spirit masters owed their safe starting few rings to this man.
"That's what you call fusing a thousand-year ring?" he muttered, his tone somewhere between complaint and wonder.
"Kid, you're going to make the rest of us look bad."
Lu Sheng dusted off his hands.
"You two look like you expected me to explode."
"We expected you to at least grunt," Shan Dong said flatly.
The man had been pretending to look unimpressed, but the twitch at the corner of his mouth exposed him.
He hadn't truly relaxed since arriving.
How could he?
He'd rushed here after hearing the young master was about to do something reckless.
And then…
He'd watched a child sit still as stone and absorb a three-thousand-year-old ring like it was a warm-up exercise.
Even the Young Lady, Qinglong's proudest genius, had taken a 1,500-year-old spirit ring as her first.
Almost no one knew that, because anyone who learned it would have trouble sleeping at night.
Yet here stood her disciple, quietly shattering her record.
Alone.
Calm.
As if this was normal.
"Normal kids scream, faint, or cry. Sometimes all three," Yun Mo snorted.
He stepped forward, his serious mask melting back into the familiar wide grin.
"At least you're not one of them."
Then he thumped Lu Sheng on the back with a hand roughly the size of the boy's torso.
The impact was nearly strong enough to send even a spirit grandmaster flying.
Lu Sheng only stumbled a bit, but he held steady.
"I knew you were different from those soft academy brats," Yun Mo said proudly, nodding as if he had personally raised Lu Sheng from infancy.
Wang Kun rolled his eyes.
"You were just calling him reckless five minutes ago."
"That was before he succeeded," Yun Mo shot back.
Shan Dong coughed, hiding a smile.
The mood eased, the tension melting from the clearing like mist under the sun.
Finally, Yun Mo crossed his arms.
"Alright, enough admiration. Get your things. We're heading back."
Lu Sheng blinked. "Already?"
"We just received a letter," Yun Mo said, patting the sealed scroll tucked at his waist.
"Orders from the City."
Wang Kun nodded. "They want you back as soon as possible."
Yun Mo grinned. "We leave this afternoon. Pack up."
Lu Sheng exhaled slowly, looking once more at the now-faded spirit ring markings on the ground.
Sixteen days out here.
And just like that...
It was time to go home.