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**
In less than fifteen minutes, Xiao Lin realized that the soul power impact he was enduring had vanished.
In Xiao Lin's sea of consciousness, the soul power of the Thunder-Shadow Leopard was converted by the Horned Dragon Staff and flowed into his body.
Rumble! Crackle!
Thunderous roars of lightning and the crisp, subtle sounds of bone tempering erupted from Xiao Lin's body. His frame even stretched slightly, giving him the appearance of a teenager undergoing a sudden growth spurt.
"Success! My soul power increased by three and a half ranks; I'm now Rank 23."
Xiao Lin slowly opened his eyes, a satisfied smile playing on his lips.
This soul skill from the Thunder-Shadow Leopard was truly magnificent!
A deep purple soul ring was already encircling the Horned Dragon Staff, overlapping the original yellow soul ring.
However, the Horned Dragon Staff as a whole remained bright silver; that touch of rhythmic purple looked pitifully small in comparison.
"Brother Lin, how was it?"
"Brother Lin, what's the soul skill?"
Seeing that Xiao Lin had successfully absorbed a two-thousand-year soul ring, Tang San and Xiao Wu stopped guarding and rushed to his side to ask.
At this moment, Tang San knew Xiao Lin's personality well—if he was smiling with such satisfaction, the soul skill couldn't possibly be bad.
Excluding the massive attack power boost of the first soul ring common to pole-type Martial Souls, the effects of other soul rings usually seemed much more ordinary.
Looking at Brother Lin's expression, could the strength of this soul ring be even more exaggerated than a pure speed buff?
"Hehe, why don't you two take a guess?" Xiao Lin raised his eyebrows smugly, encouraging them to guess as big as possible.
"Did Brother Lin get a 50% speed boost that scales with soul power rank? The higher the rank, the more the speed increases?"
Xiao Wu didn't know much about general Martial Soul theory, but they had discussed the potential of Xiao Lin and Tang San's soul rings countless times.
A 50% speed boost that grew stronger with soul power rank was exactly what Xiao Lin had previously considered the best possible outcome.
One had to realize that a max-level Seven Treasure Glazed Tile Pagoda—even at Rank 79 Soul Saint level—only provided others with an 80% attribute boost.
"Smaller. Your vision is too small," Xiao Lin laughed heartily. He then looked at Tang San, hoping Tang San would get a little closer so he could show off even more.
"Brother Lin, could it be that the soul ring has other abilities?" Tang San's guess was similar to Xiao Wu's.
But he suspected Xiao Lin might have gained additional attribute buffs like before—such as hardness or the "charging" capability of the Lightning Leopard.
"Little San guessed a tiny bit of it, but it's still too small." Seeing them staring wide-eyed, unable to imagine how strong his skill was, Xiao Lin decided to stop teasing.
"Second Soul Skill. Soul ring age: 2,200 years. Source: Thunder-Shadow Leopard."
"Upon activation, my body enters a 'Charging State.' Both speed and attack power increase by 50%, with an additional 1% increase for every rank I gain."
"But that's not the truly powerful part. The real strength of this skill is that I can use it twice in succession to enter an 'Overlimit Charging State.'"
"Essentially, 'Charging State 2.' This state is my strongest enhancement without using Tool Soul Avatar Physique."
"Given the uniqueness of my Martial Soul and my physical strength, I can treat Charging State 2 as a passive, permanent buff. The soul power consumption is negligible anyway."
"Furthermore, the skill has another layer. When I enter the Charging State, my body erupts with a blinding flash of blue lightning. It's incredibly piercing and can be used like a flashbang."
"And after releasing that powerful flash, I leave behind a clone made of shadows. Although the clone has no sentience, it can use the same soul skill as me and mimic my movements exactly once."
Xiao Lin boasted to Tang San and Xiao Wu, detailing the sheer power of his soul skill.
Tang San and Xiao Wu were already so shocked they were speechless. They had assumed that since Xiao Lin's first soul skill was so freakishly overpowered, the second one might be more subdued.
They never expected it to be just as terrifying.
A massive attribute boost—100% to both attack and speed—and if he activated Tool Soul Avatar Physique, that would be 200% each.
Not to mention, this skill had growth potential. By the time Xiao Lin reached Rank 70, the base enhancement would be 100%, Charging State 2 would be 200%, and Tool Soul Avatar Physique would be 400%.
A second-stage Avatar would grant an 800% boost to each stat.
Once he reached the Titled Douluo level, the numbers would be even more staggering—it was only slightly less exaggerated than his first soul skill.
Plus, Xiao Lin's consumption was low, and he had utility effects like the flashbang to catch opponents off guard.
The ability to leave a clone allowed him to place a pure offensive dealer to protect the backline support. Even if the clone lacked defensive capabilities and was just a shadow, the best defense was a good offense.
Tang San couldn't imagine the fate of anyone trying to dive the backline, only to be smashed into the ground by a staff. He also wondered if the number of shadows would double when Xiao Lin used Tool Soul Avatar Physique.
Tang San fell into a contemplative silence.
Xiao Lin really was an "Empire's Destructive Dragon"—the description fit him perfectly.
However, Tang San was a bit puzzled by one thing.
According to Xiao Lin's theories, he would usually try to manifest a soul skill with as much utility as possible. Why was there no standard crowd-control ability, like paralyzing enemies with lightning?
That shouldn't be right!
Curiously, Tang San voiced his question.
"Regarding that, I can only say that perhaps the Thunder-Shadow Leopard itself didn't have the ability to paralyze enemies with lightning. Besides, with my attack power, I don't really need ordinary paralysis."
As the saying goes, you win some, you lose some. With such overwhelming destructive power, Xiao Lin truly didn't need to worry about crowd control.
Furthermore, the data Xiao Lin had seen on Lightning Leopards didn't mention them having that ability. They were too fast and spent their time bullying weak Soft-Boned Rabbits; they didn't need paralysis.
On the contrary, it was the Lightning Rabbit that possessed the paralyzing control ability.
"Brother Lin, you didn't mention the duration of this soul skill?" Xiao Wu, who usually didn't pay attention in class, suddenly asked.
"Uh... Xiao Wu, Brother Lin's soul skills basically have no consumption. The duration obviously doesn't matter," Tang San explained patiently, pulling Xiao Wu away before Xiao Lin could strike her "rabbit head" with a chestnut-fist.
However, Xiao Lin was currently in such a state of euphoria after obtaining a powerful skill that he didn't care about Xiao Wu's silly question.
"Haha! Actually, Xiao Wu reminded me of something. In the future, I should choose soul skills that have high consumption but provide massive short-term bursts."
Xiao Lin excitedly punched his palm, realizing his future path.
He would choose soul skills with extreme consumption to follow an "Ultimate Output" build. Skills that were high-consumption for other soul beasts wouldn't be the same for him.
If he didn't activate Tool Soul Avatar Physique and didn't project his soul power outward, the consumption was nearly non-existent. With that advantage, why wouldn't he choose ultimate reinforcement and ultimate output?
The Thunder-Shadow Leopard carried the bloodline of the Lightning Leopard, a representative of extreme speed and attack enhancement.
If the Lightning Leopard's stamina had been a bit better, Xiao Lin believed the initial enhancement of this skill would have been even more explosive.
Speaking of which, what should this skill be called?
As Xiao Lin pondered a name, a name for the second soul skill drifted from the Horned Dragon Staff in his hand: Flowing Shadow Lightning Flash!
**
Hello everyone,
Thank you for your support! If you enjoy my work, you can check out my Patreon—there are 80+ early access and exclusive content. I update 5 advanced chapter from Monday-Saturday
www.patreon.com/c/FanficTranslator
I truly appreciate it!