A transparent spirit ring hovered around You Chen.
'Success! It must succeed! First spirit ring, absorb!'
With an internal roar, the ring quickly contracted and merged into his body.
Joy flashed across You Chen's face.
It worked! He was actually absorbing it successfully! Even after years of theoretical research that deepened his understanding of this world's fundamental rules, he couldn't help but feel excited.
To clear his mind, You Chen closed his eyes and focused entirely on absorbing the spirit ring.
While absorbing the ring, he continuously manipulated his spirit power, aiming to create a spirit skill that best matched the abilities of the "Stardust Dragon."
When a spirit ring is absorbed, the resulting spirit skill can either develop the martial spirit's inherent abilities (potentially unrelated to the spirit beast providing the ring) or relate to the abilities of the spirit beast (possibly unrelated to the martial spirit, like a plant gaining time-stopping abilities).
These trends differ only in degree, but the spirit master's subjective will and individual intent also play a role.
"Meme and Gene," the work he published at 25, verified the influence of human mental will on martial spirits and spirit skills.
This was further confirmed when he acquired his fourth spirit ring at 28.
It's not about "wishing for any spirit skill and getting it" — the process of gaining a skill isn't purely idealistic.
Constrained by the chosen spirit beast, the closer it aligns with the martial spirit's core power, the easier it is to develop inherent abilities; misaligned parts naturally become "waste."
This first ring, devoid of any spirit beast's power, was akin to a blank canvas, allowing the spirit master's will to freely create!
Developing the martial spirit's inherent abilities and constructing skills that fit the spirit is undoubtedly the best way to maximize the ring's energy and evolve the spirit!
For You Chen, it was like knowing the answers in advance, sketching out the post-evolution abilities, and guiding his martial spirit to evolve!
Upon arriving in this world, You Chen was somewhat blindly faithful to the concept of "absorbing spirit rings beyond the limit."
In numerous fanfictions, protagonists with average talent break limits by absorbing suitable spirit beast rings, transforming their martial spirits from trash to top-tier powerhouses.
But a closer look reveals many logical flaws.
Would established families and sects, with martial spirits passed down through generations, choose less suitable beasts than his personal research?
Consider Bibi Dong and Tang San, whose secondary spirits exceed the optimal age by hundreds or thousands of years.
If it were so miraculous, their secondary spirits should easily reach god-level strength.
In reality, Bibi Dong's two spirits, despite tens of thousands of years of cumulative ring age difference, had no qualitative disparity.
When Tang San began cultivating Blue Silver Grass, he broke limits, but it didn't prematurely reveal the Blue Silver Emperor's traits.
Why does absorbing spirit rings beyond conventional limits cause martial spirit evolution? Evolution through pain and potential exploitation? Conversely, an evolution akin to Pokémon's, seamless and comfortable, seems more reasonable.
Equating absorbing beyond the limit with martial spirit evolution is naive.
Once You Chen overcame this cognitive barrier, he realized the truth.
To uncover the real reason behind this, You Chen delved into deep research.
With the Spirit Hall's knowledge reserves, he quickly discovered something.
Firstly, absorbing beyond limits can enhance or evolve martial spirit quality, but not with the mythical prowess often portrayed in fanfictions.
Evolving from intermediate to advanced martial spirit with one ring, then to top-tier with two or three rings, is unrealistic.
Were those great families mere spectators for centuries?
For most in this world, martial spirit evolution is a gradual process requiring generational effort.
Take You Chen, for instance. Normally, after breaking his talent barrier with whale glue and over-limit second, third, and fourth rings, continuing to cultivate systematically, he could potentially reach Spirit Emperor, evolving his intermediate martial spirit to advanced.
Marriage and children at this stage would significantly increase the odds of passing down an advanced martial spirit.
Through countless generations, a naturally top-tier martial spirit might eventually emerge.
Though unsure about other martial spirits, his "Stardust Hatchling Dragon" certainly holds such potential!
After absorbing his fourth spirit ring and evolving his martial spirit, You Chen realized that his spirit's true form was never the Wind Hatchling Dragon! It was the "Stardust Dragon," the ace monster of Yusei Fudo from Yu-Gi-Oh! 5D's!
His lack of talent led to the spirit's initial regression.
Back then, he was multitasking, playing Yu-Gi-Oh! 5D's on his computer while reading Douluo fanfiction on his phone, inexplicably crossing over.
He thought the crossover was linked only to his Douluo fanfiction reading, but Yu-Gi-Oh! was involved too!
After his martial spirit's first evolution, he felt a bit of regret.
Had he known the spirit's truth earlier, his ring choices could have leaned towards perfection, perhaps allowing the third ring to trigger the first evolution and opening more opportunities for subsequent evolutions.
But now, it's certainly not too late.
He has another chance!
This ties back to You Chen's research on spirit rings and martial spirit evolution.
Through observation and study, he found that spirit ring absorption leading to martial spirit evolution, aside from the fixed martial spirit avatar skill of the seventh ring, was most efficient in the first three rings.
Absorbing an optimally matched 400-year ring for the first ring brings evolution comparable to a Spirit King absorbing a typical ten-thousand-year fifth ring!
As in the original story, celestial herbs are best absorbed early, underscoring the importance of early actions.
With this inspiration, You Chen pursued further research.
What influences the martial spirit evolution from spirit ring absorption?
Is it the youthfulness of vitality? The number of existing rings? The spirit power, physical constitution, mental strength? The compatibility of gained skills with the martial spirit?...
Over twenty years, through time and his exceptional intelligence, he finally found the answer!
An answer not absolutely correct but clear enough to illuminate his path.
Is vitality a constraint? Yes!
Are rings and spirit power constraints? Yes!
Is skill compatibility a constraint? Yes!
Ultimately, martial spirit evolution is fundamentally an alteration caused by the enhancement of the spirit's core power.