Flash Step

The sea smell was even stronger inside the city. The stone-paved roads beneath their feet were embedded with colorful shells. Many seaside-style buildings in shades of blue and white stood in neat, orderly rows.

The roofs were designed with thatch for heat dissipation, and most windows were left wide open, allowing one to see the Mediterranean-style interior decor at a glance. Shells and fish bones hung from the outer walls.

A petite girl in conservative clothing suddenly appeared before Ye Lan.

"Big brother, are you visiting Vast Sea City?" The girl's adorable eyes stared at Ye Lan's flawless face.

Touched by the softness of her voice, Ye Lan let down his guard.

"I'm planning to settle here for a while. Is there something you need?"

"Hehe, perfect. My family has properties near the Great Soul Arena. My parents sent me out to gain experience!"

"Come with me, big brother. My family's houses are really cheap! There are even bigger discounts for long-term rentals." Realizing that she was about to secure her first customer, the girl was delighted.

Since Ye Lan had nowhere particular to go in Vast Sea City, he agreed.

"Alright, I'll take a look first."

"Come with me, big brother. Just call me Lily. I'll show you around Vast Sea City—there's tons of delicious food here!" At the thought of food, Lily began to drool, and her words became slightly muffled.

"Pfft, I'm Ye Lan!" Ye Lan said with a soft laugh.

A few days later, Ye Lan finally finished unpacking his belongings and settling into his long-term rental.

It turned out that the Lily Family did business in Vast Sea City and had developed a stretch of real estate near the Vast Sea City Great Soul Arena.

Following Lily's recommendation, Ye Lan chose a detached villa with an enormous yard.

The main reason Ye Lan had taken a liking to the house was the yard.

The yard was enclosed, allowing Ye Lan to cultivate directly inside without having to travel to some remote, secluded place.

A kilometer away from the villa stood the Vast Sea City Great Soul Arena.

The area around the Great Soul Arena was commercially bustling, making clothing, food, housing, and transportation extremely convenient.

Seeing that the area was suitable for living, Ye Lan agreed to rent from Lily long-term. It was definitely not because she was cute!

Unfortunately, Ye Lan was not suited for Soul Fighting in Vast Sea City.

The Soul Masters of Vast Sea City were almost all Sea Soul Masters.

Their martial souls were all related to water-element martial souls, so the people who participated in Soul Fighting were all Sea Soul Masters.

The Soul Arena's venues had therefore all been designed as fully aquatic environments.

Only Soul Masters with the ability to fly would choose to fight Sea Soul Masters in a fully aquatic environment.

Ye Lan could not fly at present. If he relied only on his natural affinity for water to fight Sea Soul Masters in such an environment, he would only find himself unable to use his strength, completely restrained.

Ye Lan had no intention of making trouble for himself, so he would not use the Great Soul Arena in Vast Sea City to gain combat experience.

After settling the house, Ye Lan began training his first Self-Created Soul Skill.

The first thing was to decide on an approach. Ye Lan's initial plan was to create a movement-type Soul Skill.

As the saying went, all things under heaven could be broken; only speed was unbreakable.

As long as one was fast enough, one could remain undefeated.

Even if he encountered a high-level Soul Master he could not defeat, as long as his movement technique was fast enough, he could still escape and seek another opportunity.

As for movement-type Soul Skills, what Ye Lan used most at present was applying Soul Power to his legs.

Thus, Ye Lan's first idea for a Self-Created Soul Skill was to use Soul Power to strengthen his leg muscles.

Even ordinary Soul Masters with poor Soul Power utilization could instinctively use Soul Power to strengthen their bodies.

Soul Masters with Beast Martial Souls could directly strengthen their muscles through Martial Soul Possession.

It was simply that their enhancement efficiency was inferior to Ye Lan's.

Therefore, Ye Lan first intended to further improve the method of applying Soul Power to his muscles, evolving the most basic technique of applying Soul Power to his legs into a Soul Skill-level ability.

Ye Lan bent slightly and applied Soul Power to his legs.

Feeling his leg muscles strengthened by Soul Power, Ye Lan stomped on the ground and felt power travel from his calves to his thighs. It ultimately drove his torso forward, making him much faster than when he did not use Soul Power.

Ye Lan sensed the changes in the flow of Soul Power through his legs and repeatedly sprinted, returned to his original position, then sprinted again.

After several dozen repetitions, Ye Lan finally sensed the route through which Soul Power filled the terminal meridians in his legs.

Compared with the warm current he felt while basking in sunlight, Soul Power's sensation within the terminal meridians was far too faint.

Only because he knew the locations of those terminal meridians could Ye Lan sense the Soul Power striking them.

After sensing the terminal meridians, Ye Lan continuously adjusted the proportion of Soul Power applied to his legs.

He repeatedly attempted to optimize the Soul Skill's application ratio, thereby refining the pathways through which Soul Power was applied.

In the past, Ye Lan had used a broad, indiscriminate flooding method. Although it could fill all his meridians, it was like forcing a huge volume of water into tiny pipes—the water would pile up outside the pipes and squeeze against itself.

What Ye Lan needed to do was try to distribute his Soul Power, directing larger amounts into major meridians and smaller amounts into minor ones.

Then he would continuously optimize and repeat the process.

After more than ten days of cultivation, Ye Lan finally perfected his method of Soul Power augmentation.

The improved Soul Power augmentation was one-third stronger than before.

Ye Lan was now faster than Agile Attack Soul Masters of the same rank, only slightly slower than Agile Attack Soul Masters who had activated their Soul Skills.

Ye Lan kneaded his swollen legs as he calculated how to optimize the efficiency of Soul Power augmentation throughout his body.

Other than his brain, every part of his body could be cultivated using this method.

As for his brain, Ye Lan still did not dare take too great a risk.

The Blue Silver Grass had yet to fully evolve, and his understanding of meridian pathways was not yet completely clear. Ye Lan did not want to practice an eye-type Soul Skill and turn himself into an idiot.

Although he greatly coveted Tang San's Purple Demon Eye and wanted eyes that could see through techniques, too, anything involving the brain meant Ye Lan could only postpone developing an eye-type Soul Skill.

Strictly speaking, even after optimizing the method of attaching Soul Power throughout his body, it could not yet be called a Self-Created Soul Skill.

Ye Lan, having cultivated full-body Soul Power augmentation, merely had higher base attributes and was only a little stronger than others.

What was a Soul Skill? Only something that could use Soul Power at two hundred percent, or even three hundred percent efficiency, could be called a Soul Skill.

After several months of cultivation and constant muscle exertion, Ye Lan discovered that different muscles could bear different amounts of Soul Power.

From this, Ye Lan devised a Soul Skill. He circulated the Soul Power within his body, continuously drawing it into his legs.

His legs became filled with Soul Power, after which his calves stomped against the ground several times.

Using the reaction force generated by stomping the ground, he stored that power in his thighs.

The muscles in his thighs were much larger than those in his calves and could store several times more power.

Then, when he released that power, Ye Lan could move several meters in an instant, as though using Instant Movement.

Ye Lan named this Soul Skill Flash Step.

Although Flash Step was extremely fast, it had an obvious weakness.

That weakness was the enormous burden Flash Step placed on his leg muscles. Ye Lan could not use it repeatedly in a short period.

He could use it at most five times a day. The more he used it, the longer his muscles needed to recover!

Using it five times a day was the result Ye Lan had tested. Of course, that was only for Ye Lan at his current stage. Once his physical condition improved in the future, he would be able to use Flash Step more often.