"Can you... deduce those missing circuits?"
Old Man Rekton asked, his voice trembling.
"I wouldn't call it deduction."
Jiang Lin shook his head.
"I can't fully complete it. I'm just finding similar rune structures to get it running.
"It won't be as strong as the original version, but it's better than the current remnant."
Jiang Lin spoke casually, as if completing a remnant king-tier skill was no different from following a signpost to the next intersection.
Old Man Rekton opened his mouth, but found he couldn't make a sound.
He had traveled the north for decades, seen all kinds of geniuses, and heard rumors of monsters in top academies.
But something like the youth before him—matter-of-factly 'understanding' and 'completing' an ancient king-tier remnant that had stumped the caravan's hired appraisers for months, all in less time than it took to eat a meal...
It had already exceeded the scope of his understanding.
"Old man! The battlefield is cleared, the wounded are bandaged, and we're ready to move!"
A shout from a guard captain broke the frozen atmosphere.
Old Man Rekton snapped back to his senses, took a deep breath of the cold air filled with the scent of blood and dust, and forced down his swirling emotions.
He carefully put the scroll away. When he looked at Jiang Lin again, his eyes held an unprecedented solemnity and a hint of imperceptible awe.
"Brother Matthew... no, Lord Matthew."
Old Man Rekton changed his form of address and gave a deep salute with cupped fists.
"The Frost Wolf Caravan will remember your help today.
"Your knowledge is vast and your strength unfathomable. I, Rekton, was blind to your greatness. For the rest of the journey, if you need anything, the caravan will do its utmost to provide it!"
Jiang Lin nodded slightly, unmoved by the change in attitude, remaining as calm as ever.
"Leader Rekton is overstating things. We are simply exchanging what we need. Since everything is ready, let's move. We shouldn't stay here long."
"No problem! Order the team to speed up and pass through the pass as quickly as possible!"
Old Man Rekton turned around, his booming voice echoing through the caravan.
Subsequently, Jiang Lin's seat also changed slightly.
He moved from the edge of the carriage door to the back of an extremely sturdy northern yak at the other end of the caravan, receiving the same treatment as the leader, Old Man Rekton.
This yak seemed to be a special type of demonic beast with powerful physical strength and a fairly fast pace.
On the back of the yak, a thick fur pad insulated Jiang Lin from the bumps of the road.
At this moment, he closed his eyes, but instead of practicing his breathing technique, he began listening to Little Black explain the super-tier skill 【Phantom Step · Shadow Wind】.
He had just shown off using Little Black's prestige; with his own insight and strength, he naturally wouldn't have been able to see the things he had described.
Jiang Lin sat on the thick yak skin pad, the cold wind whistling past his ears, yet he seemed completely oblivious.
Little Black's voice entered his mind clearly through telepathy, deconstructing every flow of energy and alignment of wind runes within 【Phantom Step · Shadow Wind】.
This remnant was indeed exquisite, using airflow as a medium to integrate prediction and evasion into high-speed footwork, even briefly creating visual afterimages to confuse enemies.
While Jiang Lin's 【Chronowalker's Evil Eye】 could evade attacks by seeing one second into the future, it was limited by his human biology; he only had eyes in the front.
Furthermore, the 【Chronowalker's Evil Eye】 could only provide warnings through vision.
It couldn't accurately predict future dangers through pure perception.
However, 【Phantom Step · Shadow Wind】 could enhance Jiang Lin's perception and integrate it into his combat footwork.
At the same time, unlike the 【Light-speed Dash】 he had previously mastered, while 【Phantom Step · Shadow Wind】 also increased his speed, it didn't focus on straight-line acceleration.
It focused more on improving agility.
Unfortunately, a large string of magic essence circuits was missing from the key section, otherwise, it would be a king-tier movement technique.
"The core 'Shadow Wind' portion requires a cycle of seventy-two super-tier wind runes, supplemented by spatial disturbance runes to create brief periods of mid-air suspension."
Little Black extended a claw and traced invisible lines in Jiang Lin's palm.
"But only forty-seven types of wind runes remain in the remnant, and the spatial runes are completely missing.
"The current 'Phantom Step' is only a half-finished product. Relying on the caster's own perception and reactions, the limit evasion rate won't exceed seventy percent."
Jiang Lin closed his eyes and concentrated, a complete operational diagram appearing in his mind.
Although Little Black couldn't complete the lost runes out of thin air, it used its understanding of the essence of energy to deduce several alternative structures. While not as powerful as the original, they were enough to recreate the prototype of 'Shadow Wind'.
Jiang Lin's magic essence flowed quietly through his body, attempting to move along the newly conceived circuits, his toes subconsciously tapping the yak's back.
"Eh?"
Old Man Rekton, beside him, keenly noticed something strange.
A layer of faint green airflow seemed to swirl around Jiang Lin. A few withered leaves caught by the gale slowed down and drifted strangely when they came within three feet of him, as if they had hit an invisible soft net.
Even more startlingly, although Jiang Lin was clearly sitting there, he gave off a blurred illusion of his position, as if he might vanish from the spot at any moment.
"This... this is...?!"
Old Man Rekton's single eye widened, and he unconsciously tightened his grip on the reins.
Less than half an hour had passed! After looking at the remnant only twice, this youth had already begun attempting to operate the skill?
And that aura of wind flowing around him clearly meant he had touched the threshold of 'Phantom Step'!
The other members of the caravan also began to notice the anomaly, their gazes turning toward the golden figure on the yak.
Many of them had seen Old Man Rekton hand the super-tier skill to Jiang Lin for a few moments earlier.
The guard captain lowered his voice.
"Old man, he couldn't have actually learned that skill, could he?"
Old Man Rekton didn't answer, only staring intently at Jiang Lin.
In his perception, Jiang Lin's presence was gradually producing a certain resonance with the surrounding wind.
Though the speed was slow, it was definitely developing in that direction.
Could this guy actually reach the initiated level of this super-tier skill during the few days of the caravan's journey??
Jiang Lin ignored the shocked gazes around him.
Under Little Black's step-by-step guidance, he began attempting to construct the framework of the magic essence circuits for 【Phantom Step · Shadow Wind】.
However, this process was not simple.
Especially for an adventurer like Jiang Lin, who was learning a super-tier skill for the first time.
His progress was quite slow, but under Little Black's guidance, he could quickly discover any errors in his operation and make adjustments at any time.
Furthermore, he could ask Little Black whenever he had questions.
So, while the progress was slow, it was steadily improving.
Soon, another day passed.
The next day, at the first light of dawn.
A thin mist flowed slowly across the wasteland like a light veil.
The Frost Wolf Caravan set off again, the yaks stepping over frost-covered moss with dull, rhythmic hoofbeats.
After an afternoon and a night of attempts and practice.
Jiang Lin finally completed the construction of the magic essence circuits for 【Phantom Step · Shadow Wind】 for the first time.
Jiang Lin sat cross-legged on the yak pad, his eyes still closed, his breathing long and deep.
But unlike before, the airflow around him seemed 'lighter' and 'smoother' than elsewhere.
A blade of grass caught by the morning wind would strangely slow down and spin within this range before finally landing quietly.
Old Man Rekton, riding the other sturdy yak at the head of the team, occasionally looked back at Jiang Lin. The shock from yesterday remained in his single eye, deepening even further.
Following the alternative structures deduced by Little Black, Jiang Lin slowly and steadily operated the newly constructed circuits.
Magic essence moved like a stream through specific meridians, faintly synchronizing with his breathing rhythm.
With every breath, a very faint wisp of wind essence was drawn in, swirling around him before slowly dissipating.
Finally, it was as if a blockage had been cleared.
Slightly distorted lines of light suddenly appeared in Jiang Lin's mind.
The surrounding environment was reflected in his mind, but this wasn't just the basic scene seen through perception.
Instead, there were countless tiny 'lines'.
These were the trajectories of the airflow, the ripples of magic essence fluctuations, the paths of dust kicked up by the yak ahead, and even the almost imperceptible thermal distortion caused by a ray of morning light passing through the mist.
The appearance of this scene meant he had successfully reached the initiated level of this super-tier skill!!
【Phantom Step · Shadow Wind (uninitiated) → (initiated)】
Then, he used one point of 'Random Skill Upgrade' from the system.
In the next moment, a massive amount of memories flooded his mind.
Simultaneously, his proficiency in 【Phantom Step · Shadow Wind】 soared.
【Phantom Step · Shadow Wind (initiated) → (superlative)】!!
Finally, after spending an unknown number of years in the small dark room, Jiang Lin had pushed this super-tier skill to the peak level of superlative!!
Jiang Lin opened the system panel again to look at this super-tier skill and found that the number of 'Designated Skill Upgrade' points required for its breakthrough had doubled again.
【Phantom Step · Shadow Wind (superlative 0/16)】
It had doubled compared to high-tier skills!
However, Jiang Lin currently didn't lack Random Skill Upgrades.
Besides the one he received daily from the daily quests, there were those from fighting the cultists in Clearwater City, the other students at school, and the bandits at Ash Pass.
So, after exchanging 32 'Random Skill Upgrade' points for 16 'Designated Skill Upgrade' points, Jiang Lin went all in.
In the next moment, he arrived in that familiar small dark room.
A passage of time even more exaggerated than the last time he trained to the superlative level washed over him.
Jiang Lin forgot how long he had practiced, and how long he had spent deconstructing and reorganizing the magic essence circuits of 【Phantom Step · Shadow Wind】.
When Jiang Lin opened his eyes again, the sky was already bright.
The caravan was moving up a gentle slope, with craggy rocks and sparse, hardy coniferous forests visible ahead.
He was still sitting cross-legged on the yak, but there was no longer any sign of airflow movement around him.
All the wind essence and magic essence ripples had returned to the sea like a hundred rivers, completely withdrawn into the tiniest meridians of his body.
At this moment, he looked like a perfectly ordinary traveler, even more 'common' than yesterday.
【Phantom Step · Shadow Wind (superlative) → (limit-broken)】
【Wind-attribute affinity increased, perception ability increased, evasion-type talent increased】
At that same moment, the hair on Old Man Rekton's back stood on end.
The one-eyed old man suddenly pulled the reins and looked back, staring intently at Jiang Lin.
Just now, the moment Jiang Lin opened his eyes, he felt as if the person sitting there wasn't a youth, but a faint shadow that could vanish into the wind at any time.
He was clearly right in front of him, yet it felt as if there was a layer of flowing water between them, making it impossible to lock onto his true presence.
This feeling was even more heart-palpitating than the sight of the wind swirling around him yesterday!
"Old man?"
The guard captain beside him looked at the leader who had suddenly stopped in confusion.
Old Man Rekton took a deep breath and slowly shook his head, indicating nothing was wrong.
He urged the yak forward again, but the palm of his hand holding the reins was already damp with sweat.
Jiang Lin was completely oblivious to Old Man Rekton's suspicion.
He was immersed in the brand-new perception brought by 【Phantom Step · Shadow Wind (limit-broken)】.
The limit-broken movement technique had completely transcended the scope of the original skill.
It was no longer just 'using airflow perception to create afterimages for evasion,' but had 'woven' the caster's own presence, movements, and even sense of existence into the energy flow of the surrounding environment to a certain extent.
Without needing to deliberately operate it, the profound circuits constructed deep within his body functioned on their own like breathing.
Jiang Lin's perception seemed to extend countless invisible 'tentacles,' lightly touching every wisp of wind, every ray of light, and every pulse of magic essence.
Within a fifty-meter radius, every minute change was as clear as the lines on his palm.
He could even 'perceive' the tiny, almost negligible vibration of air caused by an ice rat poking its head out from a rock crevice thirty steps ahead.
He could 'capture' the thirty-seven possible paths in the trajectory of a pine needle being blown off a branch on the left slope.
This wasn't foresight; it was the ultimate control and deduction of information in the current environment.
Combined with the power of the 【Chronowalker's Evil Eye】 to see one second into the future.
Jiang Lin was confident that unless the opponent had a wide-range locking ability or speed that reached the absolute extreme, it would be as difficult as climbing to the heavens for an attack of the same rank or even one or two ranks higher to touch a corner of his clothes.
"Speed increased by about thirty percent, instantaneous turning ability increased fivefold, and flexibility in small-range maneuvers has been greatly enhanced..."
With a thought, Jiang Lin lightly traced a line in the air with his right index finger.
No magic essence was attached to his fingertip, but a faint, almost invisible green trail remained in the air, lasting for three full breaths before slowly dissipating.
This was a 'mark' left by high-speed movement and spatial friction. Though it had no killing power, it proved the swiftness and precision of his current movement technique.
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