That was right. If he had summoned Heracles with only a black ten-thousand-year Spirit Ring, he really would have been able to summon only the game version or the anime version. But with the reinforcement of a hundred-thousand-year Spirit Ring, what would originally have been two separate Spirit Skills each summoned one version of Heracles, then fused them together. That allowed Wu Ling to summon Heracles in his prime as Berserker.
Of course, Wu Ling did feel a little regret that he had not summoned Archer-class or Avenger-class Heracles. But King's Order was not something he particularly needed, and he already had a substitute for Reincarnation Pandora. Compared with those, the twelve lives of God Hand were simpler and more brutally practical.
Wu Ling sensed the Spirit Power inside him. The Spirit Ring of a hundred-thousand-year Soul Beast, added to the Spirit Power he had already accumulated, directly raised his Spirit Power to level fifty-four.
He glanced at Bibi Dong, who was still absorbing her Spirit Ring, and at the others recovering from their wounds. Then he moved a little farther away, because he wanted to test Heracles's power.
Yue Guan and Ghost, who were responsible for protecting Wu Ling, also noticed him leaving. They looked at each other, paused their recovery, and followed.
After arriving in a clearing, Wu Ling summoned his Martial Soul and Spirit Rings again. When the hundred-thousand-year Spirit Ring touched his Martial Soul, the power of Heracles descended.
As Heracles's power entered his body, Wu Ling felt strength even greater than when he had possessed Berserker Lancelot.
Heracles truly lived up to his name as the great hero of strength. A+ rank Strength was twice as strong as Berserker Lancelot's A rank Strength, since according to the setting, one plus sign counted as a doubling.
As for Madness Enhancement's side effect, Wu Ling still handed that to a clone. The poor fifth clone had not even appeared yet, and Wu Ling had already decided its fate.
The other three class skills were Valor, Mind's Eye, and Battle Continuation.
Besides increasing attack power, Valor's most important effect was nullifying all kinds of mental interference. In that sense, it resembled Sasaki Kojiro's Tranquility of Mind. The only difference was that Heracles's Valor was A+, while Kojiro's Tranquility of Mind was B+.
Heracles's Mind's Eye was only B rank. Even accounting for the influence of Madness Enhancement, it still fell somewhat short of Sasaki Kojiro's A rank.
As for Battle Continuation, its original effect allowed one to keep fighting for a time even after receiving a fatal wound. For example, Cu could still kill Kirei Kotomine after his heart was pierced, and Berserker Herc could attack Gilgamesh again even after all twelve lives were gone. If this effect activated, it would mean that Wu Ling's twelve lives had already been exhausted.
However, because Berserker Herc's Battle Continuation had superb compatibility with God Hand, the skill had been strengthened. In addition to its effect of refusing to die immediately, it now also improved survival ability, allowing him to continue fighting even while gravely wounded and on the brink of death.
After checking the skills, Wu Ling moved on to the Noble Phantasms.
The anime version of Heracles possessed God Hand: Twelve Labors. This Noble Phantasm represented the immortality granted to Heracles by the gods, both as a blessing and a curse. It had no weapon or armor form. If one had to define it, his body itself could be called the Noble Phantasm. God Hand had three abilities.
First, God Hand could turn his body into a tenacious suit of armor, nullifying all attacks of rank B and below, including rank B attacks, whether physical or magical.
On Soul Land, Wu Ling's manifestation of this ability was immunity to attacks below Spirit Daoist, including Spirit Daoist-level attacks. In other words, only a Spirit King who possessed Martial Soul True Form had the qualifications to injure Wu Ling.
But one should not forget that improving Wu Ling's own physical constitution could indirectly strengthen this ability. In the future, perhaps even Spirit Kings, Spirit Emperors, or Titled Sages might find their attacks nullified.
Second, God Hand automatically resurrected the body after death. Because it stored eleven revivals, Wu Ling would not be destroyed unless he was killed twelve times.
In Wu Ling's version, the consumed revivals could no longer recover. However, even if he suffered an enormous amount of damage, he had also lost the weakness of having multiple lives taken at once.
Third, in addition to resurrection and attack immunity, God Hand possessed a third effect: an attack that had harmed him once would not work the second time.
For example, after taking fire damage and healing from it, his defense against fire would increase by one hundred percent. Even if an extremely powerful skill killed Wu Ling, once he revived, that same skill would no longer be effective against him.
A passive ability like God Hand would become fixed inside Wu Ling's body after he used it once. Even when Wu Ling was not actively using the Spirit Skill, its effects could still function.
Besides God Hand, the game version of Heracles possessed the Noble Phantasm Nine Lives.
Nine Lives was less a weapon and more a martial school. Heracles's Noble Phantasm, Nine Lives, was an all-purpose Noble Phantasm that could change form according to the target. It could be described as Style: Nine Lives. For example, Romulus-Quirinus possessed Nine Lives: Roma.
At the same time, Nine Lives was also the Noble Phantasm Heracles trusted most among all the Noble Phantasms he possessed.
Legend said this was the Noble Phantasm Heracles used to kill the immortal Hydra. Its essence was nine consecutive strikes released at such high speed that every attack seemed to overlap into one. Whether used with sword, spear, or axe, the technique still boasted Noble Phantasm-class power.
In the anime, Madness Enhancement prevented Nine Lives from appearing. In the game, because God Hand was too absurd, it was replaced with Nine Lives. Even so, the Castle of Snow version of Berserker Herc, relying on those few Battle Continuation procs, became known as a newbie cheat. As one of the earliest Heroic Spirits, he could still be seen often in difficult late-game battles.
As for Heracles's third Noble Phantasm, Rotating Charge of the Blue Lancer, Wu Ling had no chance to test it because no blue Lancer, Cu Chulainn, was present.
After testing all the Spirit Ring abilities, Wu Ling raised his right arm.
His right hand swelled slightly. His whole arm turned blood-red as if flooded with blood, and then Wu Ling felt all of his qualities double.
The cause of this change was a Spirit Bone. A hundred-thousand-year Soul Beast always produced a Spirit Bone, and what Wu Ling obtained was the hundred-thousand-year Titan Giant Ape right arm bone.
In the original story, Tang San's Titan Giant Ape Spirit Bone possessed two skills: Titan Firmament Breaker and Gravity Domain. But now, because of Heracles's Spirit Ring, that Spirit Bone had also changed.
The Spirit Bone skills had changed from two into one, and that one skill was Madness Enhancement with no side effects. In other words, it was basically Reinforcement. Its ability was to increase all of his capabilities by one hundred percent.
For the future Wu Ling, who would possess beam attacks, the original two skills would not have been that useful. But this Madness Enhancement, especially percentage-based Madness Enhancement, was a skill he could use from beginning to end.
After testing every skill, Wu Ling sensed Bibi Dong's aura suddenly rise by a level. He knew Bibi Dong had also finished absorbing her hundred-thousand-year Spirit Ring.
Wu Ling bent his knees slightly, then leaped fiercely toward Bibi Dong. Under the passive enhancement of his fifth Spirit Ring, he reached her in only a few bounds.
"Congratulations, Teacher, on obtaining another hundred-thousand-year Spirit Ring. Under Teacher's leadership, Spirit Hall's domination of the world is just around the corner!"
Hearing Wu Ling's flattery and sensing the abundant Spirit Power inside him, even Bibi Dong, usually cold as ice, showed a rare faint smile.
She represented Spirit Hall's present, while Wu Ling represented Spirit Hall's future. Both of them were growing stronger without pause, and that greatly pleased Bibi Dong.
"Good. Good. Good. This is not the place to talk. We will speak as we travel." Bibi Dong nodded to Wu Ling in satisfaction, then called out, "Four Elders."
"Your subordinates are here!" the four answered together.
"How is your recovery?"
The four looked at each other. Finally, Yue Guan stepped forward and said, "There is no major issue left, Your Holiness."
"Good. Then prepare to depart. We return to Spirit City."
"Yes!" the four answered together.
Seeing them agree, Wu Ling's eyes flashed.
"Perfect. I can create the fifth clone during the trip."