Secret arts, at their core, are a form of curse.
By combining mystical items using secret incanrations, the mysterious energy within these items is activated and applied to the subject.
Due to the diverse nature of mystical items and the lack of a structured theoretical system like magic, secret arts are highly experiential. Any stable and controllable secret art is the result of countless failures.
These failures often come with life-threatening risks.
Most practitioners of secret arts might spend their entire lives without discovering a single effective secret incantation.
Having one or two personal secret incantation is the highest dream for all practitioners.
However, for "fearless" players, there are no such concerns.
Professional players of secret arts often create compilations of "a thousand ways to die" with failed secret arts, sharing them online for others to admire.
As players continued to explore secret arts, this once obscure system rapidly became a popular one.
With an abundance of resources and more high-quality items available for experimentation, various extremely powerful secret words emerged.
In the later stages, the limitless potential of secret arts made them the most dominant power system in the game.
Just look at Ela's Wings of Time and Space to understand how formidable late-game secret arts can become.
Given the current conditions, Lucas couldn't perform overly elaborate secret words.
He could only choose a secret art that would quickly grant him a certain degree of self-protection from the available materials.
An unexpected find at the Whisperer's Mystery Shop led Lucas to the secret word he would use this time.
Bloodline: Devourer Beast
The name sounds impressive, mainly because this was a secret art developed by players, and the name was given by them.
It wasn't exceptionally high-end but suited Lucas's current situation perfectly.
Ela took out the black wooden carving she had bought at the Whisperer's Mystery Shop and handed it to Lucas.
While controlling both bodies was a bit awkward, it was manageable for simple interactions.
Lucas held the carving with both hands, facing the snake head towards himself.
A rhythmic drumming sound filled the chamber.
Under the candlelight, ghostly images of trolls wearing animal skull masks appeared. They surrounded Lucas, beating their waist drums and performing a ritual dance.
Their synchronized chants echoed rhythmically. In Lucas's hands, the carved snake on the wooden cylinder moved.
It slithered upwards and coiled itself atop the wooden column, its head fixed on Lucas, red tongue flicking.
Ela approached and placed a small piece of meat before the snake.
The snake swallowed the meat in one bite. Then it twisted in agony.
A pair of dragon horns burst through the skin on its head, and four dragon claws emerged from its belly.
The black snake skin peeled away from head to tail, with small snake scales transforming into large crystalline dragon scales, turning red in color.
It lifted its head and emitted a faint dragon's roar, exhaling a small flame like a lighter's flame.
A pair of wings unfolded from its shoulders.
After consuming the dragon meat offered by Ela, the snake transformed into something resembling an Eastern dragon. It flew around Lucas once before landing on his right hand.
Its tail coiled around his wrist, and its body gradually merged into his skin.
A red dragon-snake tattoo appeared on Lucas's right hand and wrist. The troll specters' dance turned into a joyful rhythm.
They twisted their bodies, rapidly beating their waist drums, and danced closer to Lucas.
One by one, they merged with Lucas. The drumming and ghostly images gradually faded away.
At this moment, Lucas felt a surge of frenzy rising from deep within him. His muscles writhed uncontrollably, and his bones made cracking sounds.
The excruciating pain left him with his mouth wide open, unable to make a sound.
Ela handed him a bottle of focus potion, which Lucas took and drank in one gulp.
Ela then handed him a stamina potion, which Lucas also drank in one gulp.
The effects of the potions kicked in quickly, and while the pain remained, it was bearable.
The changes in his body rapidly consumed his stamina and energy. When he could no longer endure it, he took another potion from Ela.
At this point, Lucas felt grateful he hadn't chosen a more advanced secret word. If he had attempted it, he might have exploded instantly.
The pain and bodily changes continued. After two hours, it finally began to stabilize.
Lucas's clothes were soaked with sweat, and the ground was littered with more than a dozen empty potion bottles.
At the same time, Lucas felt the changes brought about by the secret art.
His body and appearance hadn't changed significantly, but the sense of power and heightened senses were now something he had only experienced in Ela's form.
Though it still didn't match Ela at level 60, compared to his previous self, it was as if he had entered an entirely new realm.
He was likely stronger than a two-star hero, though slightly below a three-star.
As the physical strain from the increased strength subsided, Lucas exhaled a long breath.
He then raised his right hand to look at the tattoo on the back.
The Devourer Beast: this was a troll bloodline developed by players based on a race called the Eater trolls from the Mandel Jungle.
Players with the Devourer Beast bloodline possessed the strength of trolls and their formidable regenerative abilities.
The Eater trolls had a unique ability—they could temporarily gain the strength of the creatures they consumed.
This ability came from their totem, the Swenbernbary Snake.
Players called it the "Greedy Snake."
The Eater trolls would seal the elderly Swenbernbary Snakes in a special type of tree found in the Mandel Jungle.
As the tree grew, the Swenbernbary Snake would merge with it, creating a snake pattern on the outer layer of the trunk.
This pattern looked like it had been carved into the wood.
The Eater trolls would cut this section of the tree and, through a ritual, gain the ability to temporarily acquire the strength of the creatures whose flesh they consumed.
The meat had to be raw and in large quantities. The ritual itself was a form of secret art.
A player who discovered this secret art experimented and improved upon it, creating the Devourer Beast bloodline secret art.
Players with the Devourer Beast bloodline didn't need to consume raw meat themselves; they only needed to feed the totem snake meat, and it could store the acquired strength for a certain period.
When the snake tattoo on Lucas's hand was in dragon form, it indicated that part of the Red Dragon Nielcolone's strength was stored within the dragon-snake.
Lucas released the stored dragon strength. The dragon-snake flew out from his hand.
It roared, not the previous faint sound but a genuine dragon's roar.
Its body expanded instantly. After circling Lucas once, it transformed into a shower of sparks and reentered his body.
Lucas's eyes turned into dragon-like vertical pupils, radiating golden light.
His skin became covered with a layer of red dragon scales.
His face also took on a slightly dragon-like appearance, and with each breath, flames flew from his nostrils.