After Kong Ming'an finished speaking, the laboratory fell silent once more.
What Kong Ming'an said was very clear; the pros and cons of removing residual Souls from spirit rings were too stark, with both opportunities and challenges being suffocatingly immense.
Success meant a single spirit ring possessed multiple Spirit Abilities. For traditional Spirit Masters who generally only had nine Spirit Abilities, this was a clear dimension-reduction strike.
Failure meant directly crippling a spirit ring, resulting in missing Spirit Abilities, which for traditional Spirit Masters was a direct loss of combat power.
"...This technology is still in the experimental stage, and even the basic theory has many deficiencies. Therefore, I will not make this part of the research public for now. You can just listen to it."
Kong Ming'an spoke truthfully.
The current sample size was too small. Even including him, the true results were actually only from himself and Ilieks.
But were he and Ilieks considered normal people? Not really.
He possessed powerful control over Energy, which allowed him to terminate various experiments at any time to preserve himself and conduct trial and error.
As for Ilieks, there was even less need to mention him. Although he was a residual Soul, the quality of his residual Soul was incredibly high. Coupled with his accumulated terrifying experience and control over various types of Energy, failures were extremely rare.
The success of these two could basically be attributed to isolated cases and did not yet possess universal applicability.
But... it should be known that this World never lacked gamblers.
Using a spirit ring as a "stake" to potentially gain more Spirit Abilities would be a single-choice question for many Spirit Masters, and many would risk trying it.
For example... "Ming'an, I think I can do it."
Xiao Hongchen declared confidently.
Kong Ming'an glanced at him, then shook his head.
"No, you can't."
Xiao Hongchen: "???"
No, why did you just deny me like that! Am I that incapable?!
Xiao Hongchen turned red again. Kong Ming'an was accustomed to this.
He raised his hand and took out ten special, circular, silver-white spirit tools from his storage spirit tool ring. Then he looked at his Elder.
"Grandpa, this item is called 'Soul Catcher.' It can capture and extract residual Souls from spirit rings below a thousand years, and purify the spirit ring, thus achieving the effect of my current spirit ring."
"Keep one for yourself, and give the others to those you can trust to use. Additionally, have these people record their process of comprehending the spirit ring and then give it to me."
Kong Deming immediately understood and put away the ten "Soul Catchers."
What did Kong Ming'an want to do? It was simple: to collect more samples.
Any theoretical experiment without actual results and samples as evidence was a castle in the air.
And the group of nine-level Soul Engineers under his Elder were all excellent samples.
These nine-level Soul Engineers basically all had good control over spirit power and mental force, and they relatively didn't place as much importance on spirit rings.
Moreover, these people could barely be considered "their own," so it was also a case of keeping the benefits within the family.
Under various reasons, there were indeed no better candidates to serve as samples than them.
After thinking for a moment, Kong Ming'an glanced at Meng Hongchen, who was still contemplating, and Xiao Hongchen, who seemed about to speak again. He smiled and comforted them:
"You don't need to rush. Just cultivate step by step. If nothing unexpected happens, you'll probably be able to directly enjoy the results."
"Really?"
"Absolutely."
...A moment later, Kong Deming and the others left the laboratory, and the laboratory immediately became quiet.
Kong Ming'an slowly stood up and walked to a workbench. He tapped it a few times with his hand, and then, the adjacent wall recessed, revealing a hidden compartment.
Inside the compartment was a dignified-looking old man with a flowing white beard.
At this moment, if a wicked Spirit Master from the Holy Spirit Cult were here, they would surely recognize that the old man in the hidden compartment was none other than the Second Elder of the Holy Spirit Cult, the Alliance Master of the Sunset Water Alliance, Nangong Wan, who had announced he was going into secluded cultivation!
With a calm gaze, Kong Ming'an lightly tapped his glabella, and the Eye of Life opened. Then, a grey stream of light naturally entered Nangong Wan's body.
The next moment, "Nangong Wan" slowly opened his eyes. After a slight pause, he walked out of the hidden compartment, his movements somewhat stiff.
"Ilieks, thank you."
Kong Ming'an's tone was slightly grateful. The fact that his first spirit ring was so satisfactory could largely be attributed to Ilieks's efforts.
"No need."
"Nangong Wan," or rather... Ilieks, smiled and shook his head. "The research on spirit rings has also benefited me greatly, and if not for your ideas, I probably wouldn't have thought of using such a method to temporarily possess a body."
Ilieks naturally revealed his spirit rings. Immediately, nine grey spirit rings, intricately engraved with complex magical circuits and exuding a sacred aura, slowly manifested around Ilieks's body.
His aura had already steadily surpassed that of an ordinary Titled Douluo. Moreover, this was after a certain degree of restraint; no one could say for sure what his true strength was.
And this was also one of the achievements over the past year or so.
After initially understanding the essence of spirit rings, they concluded that removing residual Souls from spirit rings could free up the spirit ring's carrying capacity.
But at the same time, Kong Ming'an had a sudden inspiration, wondering if a spirit ring could be thoroughly cleansed to be used as a vessel for a Soul.
This idea was immediately affirmed by Ilieks, and from this, they extended the theory: if a Spirit Master's Soul was removed and their spirit rings were thoroughly cleansed, it was theoretically possible to control that Spirit Master's body by borrowing the spirit rings.
The theory was established, and practice began. Thus, after three more wicked Spirit Masters, whose cultivation levels were Spirit King, Spirit Saint, and Spirit Douluo respectively, selflessly sacrificed themselves,
the "Possession Method" thus appeared.
Of course, the "Possession Method" they created was somewhat different from the "Possession Methods" in a certain person's previous life novels. More accurately, it was somewhat similar to a Puppet method.
The reason it was given the name Possession was merely a future aspiration.
Once there was a method, it naturally had to be used, and the user was, of course, Ilieks.
For Ilieks, ordinary Spirit Masters were naturally not qualified. At the very least, a Titled Douluo was needed as a temporary body.
Kong Ming'an thought for a moment and very simply identified the target.
This person just happened to be in Mingdu. As the Alliance Master of the Sunset Water Alliance and the Second Elder of the Holy Spirit Cult, wasn't Nangong Wan an excellent target?
Thus, under the circumstances of a sneak attack + prior preparation, his Elder, a Level 97 Titled Douluo, overstepped his rank and defeated Nangong Wan, a Level 92 wicked Spirit Master, and then handed him over to Kong Ming'an.
After that, it was a matter of extracting the Soul, processing the body, and then using it as a temporary body for Ilieks.
What? Was such an act of taking a life inhumane and too cruel?
Please, what kind of people were wicked Spirit Masters?
In a certain person's mind, the status of wicked Spirit Masters was even lower than that of Spirit Beasts. Their only value was to be used as consumables, which could be considered making the best use of resources.