New Soul Skills
It took Ning Buhui quite a while to steady himself. He instinctively looked back at his own back. His clothes had been torn open, and a pair of cyan-and-purple wings now spread out behind him.
They were a pair of wings covered in feathers like an angel's. The left wing was pale white, with streams of cyan light winding over it like flowing wind; the right was light black, with tiny purple arcs of lightning flickering and leaping across it. They were identical to the Wind Thunder Winged Tiger's wings, only much smaller. The wings slowly folded against either side of his spine, their roots interlocked and fused with the flesh of his back, their sinews and meridians connected in a seamless whole. Rather than seeming forcibly grown after birth, they felt like limbs he had always possessed, extending and folding at will without the slightest sense of separation.
He tried flapping them, and the wings gave a gentle beat, scattering tiny flecks of cyan and purple light from their surfaces. With a thought, he flapped them hard. It was as though a tremendous force had lifted him, sending him involuntarily shooting more than ten feet to the side. He staggered two steps upon landing before finding his balance. Suddenly growing an extra pair of wings took some getting used to. He flapped again, prepared this time, and forced his body into a sharp turn in midair before landing on another rock. His foot slipped and he nearly fell, but he had indeed traveled seven or eight paces from where he had started. He tried several more times in succession, flying more steadily and quickly with each attempt, until he had mastered the essentials of flight.
Ning Buhui was having the time of his life, and it was the first time Bibi Dong had seen him act so childishly. Then again, he really was only approaching eight years old; he was usually far too mature for his age.
After flying for a while, once the excitement had passed, Ning Buhui landed steadily and began examining the information about the wings' abilities that had appeared in his mind.
"Flight is an inherent attribute of the wings. They can also perform wind and lightning attacks: flapping them releases fan-shaped wind blades from the left wing and lightning arcs from the right. Their attack power is weak and poses little threat to Soul Masters of the same level, but the lightning arcs have roughly a 1% chance of causing brief paralysis, about 0.5 seconds. They can occasionally disrupt an opponent's rhythm." He told Bibi Dong about the information that had appeared in his mind.
Everything up to that point was fine, nothing particularly special. What shook Ning Buhui was the last piece of information: the wings could actually teleport him short distances.
"Within thirty paces, I can jump through the void to anywhere in sight," Ning Buhui said in shock. The Wind Thunder Winged Tiger had possessed an extremely faint trace of the ancient White Tiger bloodline, giving it extraordinarily high intelligence at fifteen thousand years of age. Now it had even given the External Soul Bone the ability to make spatial jumps.
Bibi Dong was surprised as well. Even her Six-Winged Purple Light Wings could only fly at extreme speed; she had not expected the wings Ning Buhui obtained to possess the ability to teleport.
Ning Buhui tried using Warp three times in succession. When he landed after the third use, his Soul Power had visibly fallen by nearly half. He calculated that a single full-range Warp consumed roughly a tenth of his Soul Power, while using the ability consecutively doubled the consumption. It was best to wait ten breaths after one Warp before using it again, so that the Soul Power cost would remain the same.
He suddenly recalled an extremely popular novel he had read in his previous life and could not help grinning. His wings folded behind his back and gave a gentle shake, scattering flecks of cyan and purple light all over the ground.
"What are you laughing at?" Bibi Dong asked.
"Teacher, I want to give these wings a name," Ning Buhui said with a mischievous streak. "Let's call them the Wind Thunder Wings."
Bibi Dong gave him a bewildered look. She did not understand what was special about the name and said nothing.
"Now that you understand the External Soul Bone's abilities, what about the Soul Skills you gained this time?" she asked.
Ning Buhui put away his wings, changed into a fresh set of clothes, and sat down beside the fire again. He closed his eyes and sensed them for a moment, then said, "There are still two skills. The yang side is called [Wind Thunder Wing Shadow]. Its effect is this: the white fish releases a beam of cyan-and-purple wind and lightning light that attaches to the surface of a designated teammate's body. That person gains a 50% increase in movement speed, a 35% increase in attack speed, and a 35% increase in reaction speed. While moving at high speed, they can also ignore obstacles on the ground, briefly stepping and gliding through the air, though they can't fly. At the same time, a thin layer of lightning patterns flows across their body. When attacked at close range, there's a 1% chance of triggering Static Counterattack, paralyzing the attacker for an instant, about 0.3 seconds."
He paused when he finished, as though summing up what he had said, then continued, "The yin side is called [Thunder Prison Imprisons Wind]. Its effect is this: the yin fish releases dark purple lightning to cover a designated area, whose size can be controlled. Six pillars of lightning rise around its edge, forming a 'cage' of interwoven wind and lightning. Enemy units within the area are suppressed: under the wind's influence, their movement speed is reduced by 45% and their attack speed by 35%, while all projectile skills have a 25% chance of veering off course. An arc of lightning descends from the sky every three seconds, paralyzing any target it hits for one second. It doesn't always hit; those strong enough can dodge or defend against it from outside. All movement-type Soul Skills, such as teleportation, sprinting, and evasive slides, are forcibly sealed off. Anyone who tries to use one will be bounced back by the lightning pillars."
After sensing it carefully for a while, he continued, "Thunder Prison Imprisons Wind consumes a lot. With my current Soul Power reserves at level 34, I can only maintain a cage with a twenty-meter radius for fifteen seconds."
"Just as before, the skills from my first and second Soul Rings have each had their effects strengthened by 5%. The First Soul Ring can now increase all attributes and Soul Power recovery speed by 35%, and shorten the interval between uses of Soul Skills by 30%. Butterfly Suppresses the Nether Spring now increases the target's Soul Power consumption by 35% and reduces Soul Skill power by 20%, lasting forty seconds. Receiving three attacks now causes 0.7 seconds of Soul Power disruption. Vine Armor Spring Life's shield can now absorb 35% of damage. The continuous extraction of Soul Power from restrained targets remains unchanged, the casting range has increased to 125 meters, and the chains are tougher and harder to break free from," Ning Buhui added at last.
Bibi Dong looked at his seven-year-old face. Though he was still young, she could already see that he was handsome, and there was no telling how many young women he would charm in the future. Now, instead of showing any complacency at having gained such powerful skills, his face bore only a weariness no seven-year-old should have. Satisfied, she asked no more questions. She merely said, "It's getting late. Go to sleep. Now that everything is done, we'll head back tomorrow."
Ning Buhui took a blanket from his ring, wrapped it around himself, and closed his eyes to sleep. Perhaps he had exhausted himself too much that day, or perhaps the matter weighing on his mind had been settled. He fell sound asleep almost instantly and did not dream all night.
As always, muffled rumbles came from Thunderstorm Canyon from time to time. Cyan-and-white lightning flashed intermittently across the sky overhead, illuminating his youthful sleeping face, as though adding the final touch of color to the scene.