Chen Ming tried flapping his wings to lift himself into the air, but after only a few attempts, he gave up.
"How exactly do dragons manage to fly with just their wings?"
After making some calculations, Chen Ming realized that if he truly wanted to fly using this pair of wings, his body weight would need to be at most one-fourth of what it currently was.
Although he was exceptionally heavy due to the metal and earth attributes, even ordinary dragon-type Martial Souls would likely struggle to get off the ground.
While there are many records concerning dragons, even within Spirit Hall, detailed explanations of the underlying principles are extremely scarce. Coupled with the fact that different dragon species have subtle essential differences, and that Spirit Masters and Spirit Beasts differ greatly, Chen Ming found it difficult to apply a single unifying principle.
"Dragon flight relies on both wings and Spirit Power. Some dragons are good at flying, while others are not. But generally speaking, dragons excel more in close combat and elemental abilities. In terms of agility-focused dragons, only Wind Dragons, Light Dragons, and a few rare subspecies qualify."
Golden Crocodile Douluo pointed toward the broken wings on the Hell Demon Dragon's corpse.
"The wings of most dragons are actually not particularly sturdy. Compared to the rest of their bodies, they can even be considered relatively fragile. Only truly powerful dragons undergo further changes."
"Among earth dragon species, there are some with wings, but they still cannot fly. The prerequisite for flying dragon species is that their wings are more developed, their bones are hollow, and their muscle structures are specialized. Their body weight is also far lighter than that of earth dragons."
"Most earth dragons possess immense strength and defense. Flying dragons, on the other hand, possess powerful attack and speed, but their defensive abilities are lacking. Aside from appearance, this is the biggest distinction between the two dragon types."
"Mm…"
Chen Ming nodded before walking over to the Hell Demon Dragon's torso to carefully inspect its wings.
Eventually, he reached a conclusion.
In truth, the Hell Demon Dragon's wings were not organs capable of generating enough raw force to physically lift its body into the air.
Rather, they functioned as propulsion organs and tools for releasing energy. By flapping its wings and circulating Spirit Power, it generated a flow of energy that enabled flight.
If pure physical force alone were truly enough to support flight, then the Hell Demon Dragon's wings would have been the strongest and toughest organs on its body.
The Hell Demon Dragon was a four-legged dragon species with solid bones, extremely dense muscle tissue, and scales like metal.
To possess wings powerful enough for true physical flight, it would need at least an additional pair of limbs to act as structural supports. Wings like that would possess horrifying physical destructive power with every flap.
Theoretically, the force generated from a single flap alone could kill ninety percent of Spirit Beasts of the same cultivation level.
Even a Titan Giant Ape would probably suffer broken bones if struck directly.
Thinking this, Chen Ming touched the wings protruding from his back.
His current wings were stuck in an awkward position.
If relying purely on physical strength, his wings simply were not large or powerful enough.
If relying mainly on Spirit Power as propulsion, then not only was his total Spirit Power insufficient for sustained flight, but neither his metal-attributed nor earth-attributed Spirit Power was naturally suited for flying in the first place.
Unless he could isolate and master the gravity attribute within his earth-attribute Spirit Power to change his own weight, he would—at least in the short term—remain a "grounded chicken" with wings that cannot fly.
Worse still, summoning the wings consumed a massive amount of Spirit Power while also creating an obvious weak point with low defense and poor mobility.
It would be better to honestly continue strengthening the rest of his dragonification and rely on his connection to the earth and his defensive abilities to follow a defensive counterattack style.
"I'll think of a solution later."
Chen Ming withdrew his dragonification, and the wings behind his back gradually merged back into his body.
"What's your Spirit Ability?"
Golden Crocodile Douluo curiously sized Chen Ming up, especially his right eye.
"My third Spirit Ability is called Devouring Shield. It's a rather special Spirit Ability—basically a unique state-type skill."
As Chen Ming spoke, his third Spirit Ring lit up. Energy combining earth, water, and darkness attributes gathered around his body, forming a gelatinous armor-like substance.
"Against direct Spirit Power strikes, I can dilute most of the energy and absorb a portion of it. Against long-range attacks, I can significantly reduce their kinetic energy. For all attacks, I gain a layer of damage reduction based on my Spirit Power level."
"The damage I receive is converted into sustained damage over time. The upper limit for accumulating damage depends on my physical endurance. The higher the damage accumulated on me, the higher my all-attribute enhancement becomes."
"Although the Spirit Ability itself doesn't explicitly state it, I can feel that when this ability is active, most status effects attached to Spirit Abilities can't properly affect me."
"For example, fire-attributed Spirit Power can still injure me, but it can't continuously burn me. Negative status abilities get diluted or outright negated, and only especially powerful effects can still influence me."
"Unless someone first breaks through this layer of Spirit Power substance covering my body, energy-based effects will perform poorly against me."
Golden Crocodile Douluo poked Chen Ming with a finger.
To his surprise, his finger became stuck to the black substance covering Chen Ming's body. With a slight tug, he even managed to drag Chen Ming a little toward himself before Chen Ming voluntarily released the Spirit Power, allowing Golden Crocodile Douluo's finger to come free.
"Darkness, water, and earth… combining together to create attraction force, huh? This ability really has a ridiculous number of effects."
"Although it leans toward defense, for someone like you, this is practically a top-tier Spirit Ability."
"As expected of a dragon mutant. I've never even heard of an ability like this before. But what are its weaknesses?"
"As for weaknesses… I can only cover part of my body with it. Also, this ability consumes a fair amount of Spirit Power. Enduring damage places considerable strain on my body, and the higher the attribute enhancement grows, the greater the consumption and burden become."
After thinking for a moment, Chen Ming gave his evaluation.
This ability was like a weakened version of the Dark-Dark Fruit, leaning more toward a passive version of "Black Hole" or "Dark Water" abilities.
Although its offensive power was limited, its utility was almost among the highest possible.
Not only could it greatly weaken all kinds of fancy special effects and force opponents into close combat, but the additional abilities it provided also granted Chen Ming enormous advantages in melee battle.
As long as he didn't encounter enemies overwhelmingly stronger than him—ones capable of killing him in only a few moves—Chen Ming could rely on this abilty to stall and maneuver for quite some time.
Although it originated from a dragon-type Spirit Beast, it seemed somewhat similar to the abilities attached to the Black Tortoise Martial Soul in Soul Land II that Chen Ming remembered.
"This can't even really be called a weakness anymore. An ability like this is far stronger than ordinary ten-thousand-year Spirit Abilities. Even Titled Douluo could make use of it."
"We should hurry and clean up these dragon corpses and leave. There are many powerful Spirit Beasts in the Star Dou Forest. If stronger ones are drawn here, I'm not worried for myself—but I'm afraid certain special Spirit Beasts with unusual abilities might hurt you."
Golden Crocodile Douluo frowned slightly while observing the surroundings.
For some reason, he felt as though something had just glanced at him.
If Chen Ming knew about this feeling, he would definitely say, "If you're not sure whether it's an illusion, then assume it isn't." But as a native of the Douluo Continent, Golden Crocodile Douluo "very reasonably" treated it as mere imagination.
Chen Ming and Golden Crocodile Douluo used the storage soul tools they had prepared in advance to pack away the corpses of the two dragons, one large and one small, before quickly leaving the area.
Not long afterward, a seductive woman in purple robes and a majestic black-haired man emerged from the void itself.
Looking at the messy scene, the expressions of both beings were extremely grim.
...
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