Chapter 7: Dual martial soul, Mind dragon and A black shadow
"How is the result?" Uncle Xu Lie gasped when he saw Adam walking out with the female teacher. But she immediately left without saying much.
Adam simply nodded to Uncle Xu Lie and smiled happily. "Uncle, I've successfully awakened my martial spirit. A dragon martial spirit!"
"A dragon?! Congratulations, Adam. You're truly lucky!"
Uncle Xu Lie was truly happy and immediately hugged Adam. His eyes welled up with tears when he heard this. Even though it wasn't his friend's inherited martial spirit, he was still happy.
Inwardly, he also seemed relieved. The martial spirit of his friend's son was a dragon. And what does dragon mean in this world?
A top-tier martial soul!
"Haha, my friend's son has the potential to become a Title Douluo!" Uncle Xu Lie laughed happily.
Adam looked at Uncle Xu Lie's joyful laughter and noticed that some disappointment lay behind his happy face.
Just by looking at him laughing happily but awkwardly, Adam could tell that this uncle didn't want to see him awaken a martial spirit like a top-tier dragon martial soul.
Not out of jealousy, but out of the deep worry he'd felt watching Adam over the past few days.
While not entirely a bad thing, Adam was a little satisfied with what he'd achieved today. No, he felt he should actually celebrate what he'd achieved today!
His martial spirit was a mind dragon. A dragon, a concept of the mythical creature of the Visionary pathway. A ruler of the mind domain, psychic, and conscious.
Of course, this wasn't even an incomplete mythical creature, a mind dragon. No, it didn't even possess all the power of an incomplete mythical creature. It was simply a projection of his Beyonder characteristics that completely destroyed his original martial spirit.
And there was a second one that lay dormant deep within his body. Something degenerated and corrupted, and it looked very evil.
Adam didn't want to reveal his second martial spirit because it would easily make him accused of being an evil soul master.
Let's think about it later. Uncle Xu Lie grabbed Adam and took him to a fancy restaurant in Aolai City.
"Come on, let's celebrate! Uncle will take you to a restaurant to celebrate your success!"
With happy faces, the two of them went and celebrated with a meal that could be considered quite expensive for Uncle Xu Lie, a mere mortal. But he ignored it and ordered a large meal for Adam.
After finishing, the two of them took a leisurely stroll while watching several soul masters performing on the street.
They were like street performers. Some with martial spirits like a zither or a harp played smooth and gentle music, while others with martial spirits like a cat or a tiger displayed acrobatic or spectacular soul skills.
Adam was even impressed by the street performers' performance. They were like a circus, performed by individuals, each with their own unique style.
This also opened Adam's eyes to the world of soul masters. In an era where the federation has unified the Douluo Continent, the life of a Soul Master isn't solely about fighting and killing. There's also another side to life that isn't covered in comics.
"If my potions system works, should I consider spreading other pathways in this world?"
"Creating something like a circus? Give them the clown potion or magician potion and let them perform in this world. It's actually a good idea. But I need to hold onto it until I'm strong enough."
If his methods work, then he can consider this. But he's not like Grisha, who holds the authority of the White Tower pathway and knows what ingredients are needed to make potions.
He can only rely on trial and error and use his knowledge as a reference when making a potion. Whether or not the main ingredients exist in this world, or whether I need to modify them, takes time.
It's time-consuming indeed, but much better than trying boon-granting methods.
That's for another time. Right now, it's better if I meditate and increase my soul power in the early stages.
After enjoying the surrounding entertainment, Adam returned to his house and locked all the doors and closed all the windows.
In his empty room, he held the silver dagger he found in the house and deployed a spiritual wall that closed and isolated the room.
Deep in his mind, Adam mobilized his soul power and could sense his dragon-like martial spirit, which appeared dormant.
A mind dragon with golden vertical eyes, gray-skinned wings, and thick limbs. Its grayish-white scales are engraved with complicated, three-dimensional mysterious symbols. They extend into the flesh and the surrounding void, looking like a mesh of objects that don't belong in the real world.
That was the description of a mind dragon he had read in a novel. But right now, Adam could only see a projection so blurry and blurred that he couldn't identify it. Even the golden eye, its most obvious characteristic, couldn't be seen.
"It's kind of strange. These things aren't even incomplete mystical creatures, and there's no discernible resemblance. If it weren't for that piece of knowledge implanted in my head, I might not have been able to identify it at all."
Even his own eye, after being possessed by his martial spirit, was like broken glass, shattering into small, irregular shards with a blend of golden and blue colors.
Adam shook his head as he withdrew the martial spirit possession. "But this doesn't explain why I suddenly lost control earlier. And why do I have a second martial spirit?"
Adam looked at his second martial spirit.
A black shadow filled with wriggling flesh like a maggot looked disgusting. A strange-looking martial spirit, and just the possession of a martial spirit, almost made him lose control.
Unlike the mind dragon, Adam could sense the degenerate nature of his martial spirit. Corruption and darkness, a power that truly represented the nature of all living beings that would fall into a state of degeneration.
Adam gritted his teeth and forced himself to calm down through Cogitation. The piece of bread in his head that had been the focal point was replaced by a large, round pizza from his imagination.
After a while, Adam gritted his teeth and finally calmed down.
"That's the hanged man pathway, the shepherd pathway. It's confirmed, the beyonder characteristic in my body is not only a spectator pathway but also a shepherd pathway." Adam rubbed his head, which still felt a little dizzy.
This is bad. Really, really bad.
If fighting against the madness of a single pathway is hard enough, then having two beyonder characteristics in my body is like leaving an open door to madness.
"No, I can't think negatively. Think positively. Aren't there examples of dual pathway beyonders like Amon who became dual 'Error' and 'Door'? Or like Adam, who merged with the true creator and became dual sequence 0. Yes, as long as I balance both and don't fall into madness, I can still survive."
Adam massaged his head, which felt dizzy at the thought of all this.
Luckily, dual pathways aren't impossible. As long as I can balance them and sacrifice some of my humanity, I might be able to survive for a while.
Until I can solve this problem and expel the beyonder characteristic of a hanged man pathway from my body…
"Maybe some sacrifice is not a problem. As long as I'm alive, as long as I hold fast to my humanity…"
Brak!
Adam hit the table beside him and his body fell to the ground.