Three months flew by in the blink of an eye.
During that time, Xue Yao hadn't gone anywhere.
His daily routine was especially regular. He spent the day training hard in the backyard of the Viscount Mansion, then immersed himself in the Royal Library at night.
Thanks to Little Griffin's freakish Shadow Clone trait, the boy and bird could study with two minds working in tandem.
After three months, he probably knew more theoretical knowledge than those white-bearded members of the academy's education committee.
Afternoon.
Inside the private Mimicry Training Ground of Villa No. 1.
Xue Yao wore a thin training outfit, a few beads of sweat on his forehead.
He stood to one side, watching Little Griffin hover in midair.
Little Griffin was going all out against a Test Puppet forged from Steel.
"Bang!"
It slapped the puppet with one wing.
The several-hundred-pound Steel Puppet staggered back several steps, a deep groove left across its surface.
Over the past three months, Xue Yao had finally gotten a thorough understanding of Little Griffin's stats.
First, its speed. Once this little guy took flight, the naked eye couldn't keep up. It was absolutely top-tier among agility-type fighters.
Next, its physical attack. Its sharp talons and beak were as keen as knives.
But what satisfied Xue Yao most was its ability to take a beating. In other words, its toughness.
Most flying Martial Souls had a fatal weakness: their bodies were fragile.
They were the classic glass cannons: high damage, low health. Even a light hit could leave them badly injured.
But Little Griffin was completely different.
The layer of black-and-white feathers covering its body looked soft. Yet as soon as Soul Power flowed into them, they could harden like iron in an instant.
Fast, powerful, and tough as nails.
Xue Yao mentally labeled it.
This was a heavily armored agility-type fighter.
A hexagonal warrior. Not a single weakness to be found.
"With stats this perfect, it can't rely on basic attacks alone, can it?"
Xue Yao rubbed his chin, a smile curling at the corner of his mouth.
The Soul Masters of Douluo Continent fought in a painfully rigid way.
Most people relied entirely on the one or two skills granted by their Soul Rings. Without Soul Skills, they didn't even know how to fight back.
But Xue Yao was different.
His mind held the entire skill tree of the Kingdom of Locke.
All those flashy skills in the game were really just special ways of using energy.
As long as he understood how Soul Power circulated, he could create them with his own hands here, too.
That was what it meant to create a Self-Created Soul Skill.
"Come here, little guy."
Xue Yao snapped his fingers.
Little Griffin immediately flew back to him and hovered in midair, its head tilted as it looked at him.
"Let's try the first move. Feather Acceleration."
Xue Yao closed his eyes.
He drew on the Soul Power inside him and slowly channeled it into Little Griffin, following the special route he had worked out over the past three months.
The next moment,
Little Griffin let out a clear cry.
The feathers covering its body suddenly shimmered with a strange, pale-green glow.
The light was gentle, yet it carried an enigmatic pulse.
It worked.
Xue Yao opened his eyes and carefully sensed the effect. Satisfaction filled him.
This was an extremely powerful buff skill.
Once activated, it fully awakened the wind-affinity cells throughout Little Griffin's body.
In this state, the power of all its skills increased by a full twenty percent.
Twenty percent might not sound like much, but in the late game, that boost would be terrifying. Even more ridiculously, this effect could stack.
Most importantly, this skill didn't take up a Soul Ring slot.
"Not bad. Let's try the second move."
Xue Yao raised a hand and pointed at the Steel Puppet across from him, its surface already riddled with gouges.
An ordinary Wind Blade was crescent-shaped.
It had a wide attack range, but its force was spread out. Against an enemy in heavy armor, it could easily be deflected.
To deal with an iron turtle like this, he needed something with more bite.
"Wind Arrow."
Xue Yao uttered the two words calmly.
Little Griffin snapped its wings back and slightly opened its beak.
"Shhk—"
An arrow formed instantly, compressed from pure wind element.
It was only as thick as a finger, and its color was so dark it looked black. Just looking at it made your scalp tingle.
"Go."
With a whoosh, the Wind Arrow turned into a streak of light and shot forward.
It tore through the air, unleashing a shrill sonic boom.
"Pfft."
There was no crisp clang of metal. Only a piercing sound that made your teeth ache.
The Steel Puppet had armor a full half-foot thick, but now a small, clean hole had been punched straight through its chest. The edges were perfectly smooth.
High penetration. A devastating, concentrated physical blast.
Even a defensive Soul Grandmaster standing here and taking the arrow head-on would be skewered clean through.
Xue Yao nodded with satisfaction.
He had ranged attacks and armor-piercing power. All that remained was a close-quarters move for when an enemy got in his face.
"Last move: Peck."
Little Griffin's eyes sharpened.
It wheeled around in midair, then dived straight at the puppet.
The moment it drew near, it thrust its head forward, brilliant golden light flashing across its beak.
"Clang, clang!"
Two crisp impacts rang out almost simultaneously.
It was too fast.
To an onlooker, Little Griffin seemed to have pecked only once.
But in that instant, it had actually landed two perfectly precise strikes on the puppet's weak points.
That was the special trait of Peck: it naturally struck twice in a row.
And the most terrifying thing wasn't even the damage the move dealt on its own.
Xue Yao watched the puppet, rattled to the brink of falling apart, and smiled even more broadly.
He thought of his first Soul Skill.
That god-tier passive called Wind-Riding Combo.
As long as an attack wasn't interrupted, every strike added another hit to the combo.
And Peck could register two hits in an instant.
That meant every time he used the move, he could score two free stacks on his passive.
One attack, two passive stacks. It was a god-tier combo.
Feather Acceleration, Wind Arrow, and Peck.
Add in the area attack that came naturally with his Martial Soul, Wind Blade.
Xue Yao let out a long breath.
Four skills.
An ordinary Soul Master had to reach level forty and become a Soul Ancestor to possess four Soul Skills.
But he was only six years old.
He hadn't even reached level twenty, yet he already had four deadly moves at his disposal.
And some of them came with outrageous combo and buff effects.
If word got out, the red-robed cardinals of Spirit Hall would probably be dumbstruck.
Just as Xue Yao was turning it all over in his mind,
a strange shiver suddenly rippled through his body.
The Soul Power that had been flowing smoothly suddenly surged into a violent boil, and a tingling sensation spread through his meridians.
Xue Yao froze, then sat cross-legged and closed his eyes.
Before long,
"Vmmm—"
A visible ring of azure air burst outward from his body.
It whipped up a gust of wind across the yard, scattering the fallen leaves on the ground.
Xue Yao opened his eyes and slowly exhaled a breath of stale air.
Level fifteen.
Three months of hard training, combined with his growing mastery of the theory,
had deepened his understanding of his Martial Soul by several levels.
His Soul Power had followed naturally, breaking through its bottleneck and crossing into the fifteenth level.
Two levels in three months.
At that rate, he was practically riding a rocket.
"Not bad."
Xue Yao stood and brushed the dust off his trouser legs.
He glanced at Little Griffin on his shoulder.
The little guy looked far more fierce than when it had first awakened, and its feathers gleamed brighter, too.
The foundation of a hexagonal warrior had been thoroughly laid.
The road ahead would be much easier.
Life at Heaven Dou Royal Academy didn't look like it would be boring, either.
Xue Yao slipped his hands into his pockets and turned toward the villa's main hall.
Outside, the Steel Puppet that had served as a target finally gave out.
"Crack!"
It shattered into a heap of scrap metal, scattering across the ground.
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