48. Levitation

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However, to truly unleash the full power of the Seal of Rhinoceros, Quan Yi had to land a direct hit on his opponent using his Sun Gauntlet.

After all, no matter how powerful a soul skill was, it meant nothing if it couldn't strike the enemy.

Quan Yi had analyzed his own strengths and weaknesses before, identifying two major shortcomings: lack of long-range attacks and insufficient mobility.

He had already found ways to compensate for his lack of ranged attacks to some extent. However, his mobility remained an issue.

Starting tomorrow, Teacher Bai Yan's combat training would undoubtedly become even more difficult. He might have to face her head-on.

If he didn't address his lack of mobility, he would be forced into a passive defensive position, unable to dictate the flow of battle.

Moreover, most of his trump cards had already been revealed. If he wanted to maintain an advantage in future battles, he had to either strengthen his foundation or develop new techniques.

Quan Yi fell into deep thought.

After years of study, he had developed a strong theoretical understanding of soul masters and even formed his own perspectives on Martial Souls, soul power, soul rings, and soul skills.

To explain these concepts, he often used analogies from his past life.

Martial Soul → The core foundation of a soul master, much like a computer. Soul Power → The energy source, comparable to electricity powering the system. Soul Rings → Pre-installed software developed by soul beasts over countless years. When a soul master absorbs a soul ring, it's like downloading and installing a new program—efficient and convenient. Soul Skills → Functions of the software. Once activated, they automatically execute, just like running an application.

The older and stronger the soul beast, the better the quality of the "software," and the greater the enhancement to the Martial Soul.

This was why soul rings were regarded as the most valuable treasures in the world of soul masters.

But there was one exception to this system—self-created soul skills.

Unlike soul rings, self-created soul skills were independent developments, created by humans through their own wisdom and combat experience.

A soul beast required decades, even centuries, to refine a powerful soul ring. Yet, humans—through ingenuity—could develop techniques rivaling those of soul rings, a testament to human adaptability and autonomy.

At this moment, Quan Yi had a profound realization—

With his current abilities, he could develop his own soul skills tailored to his needs.

This discovery was of immense significance.

It meant that he could choose soul rings freely without being overly concerned about the specific abilities they granted.

Quan Yi's ideal soul rings had to possess both strength and fire attributes. However, such choices often came at a cost—limiting the variety of soul skills he could obtain.

For example, it was unlikely that he would acquire a soul ring that boosted speed, something Teacher Bai Yan had already pointed out. She had advised him to focus on maximizing his strengths rather than compensating for weaknesses.

Moreover, this was closely tied to his Ultimate Soul Ring Absorption Plan.

Since his focus was on obtaining high-quality, long-lasting soul rings, he placed little value on the specific soul skills they granted.

This was one of the main reasons why he had neglected training in traditional soul skills and martial techniques.

To him, those were merely techniques, not Tao (the true path).

His ultimate goal was clear—to reach the level of Title Douluo as quickly as possible.

And the Ultimate Soul Ring Absorption Plan was the key to accelerating his progress.

That being said, a soul master was, above all, a warrior. No matter how powerful his cultivation became, he still needed combat skills to maximize his strength.

Thus, even though he prioritized increasing his soul power and physical conditioning, he would still set aside some time to hone his techniques.

Fortunately, Quan Yi's Martial Soul possessed unique advantages when it came to martial techniques.

With this in mind, he decided to make a breakthrough—to develop a self-created soul skill that could compensate for his lack of mobility.

Quan Yi delved deeper into analyzing his own abilities.

In truth, his speed was already impressive, even surpassing that of some Beast Martial Soul users. This was thanks to his relentless training, which had elevated his physical fitness far beyond that of soul masters at the same level.

However, when facing Agility-type Soul Masters, his speed still wasn't enough.

In the realm of speed, even being one second slower could create a massive gap.

It was a field that Quan Yi couldn't compete in naturally—just like how a boxer couldn't expect to rival a professional sprinter.

His gaze fell upon the black-and-red Sun Gauntlets on his hands.

But perhaps... he didn't need to match an Agility-type Soul Master's speed in the conventional way.

A realization struck him, and his eyes flashed with both excitement and madness.

"I think… I've found a way."

Taking a deep breath, Quan Yi bent his fingers inward, his arms lowering as his palms faced the ground.

A surge of soul power coursed through his body, gathering into his palms.

"Ignite."

With a mere thought, a fierce flame erupted from the Sun Gauntlets, roaring like the breath of a fire dragon.

The flames scorched the ground beneath him, instantly setting his shoes ablaze. Fortunately, he was wearing shorts—otherwise, his entire outfit might have caught fire as well.

"Hah… Hah…"

Quan Yi poured more and more soul power into the flames.

The fire intensified, its heat distorting the air around him, while the roaring sound of the burning jet grew louder and louder.

Once he reached the limit of output, he immediately held his breath, focusing every ounce of his willpower on the flames.

"Condense."

Under his absolute control, the raging flames began to shrink, yet their color deepened and their temperature soared.

His soul power drained at an alarming rate, vanishing like water gushing from a broken dam. But Quan Yi refused to slow down.

He concentrated the fire jets at the center of his palms, further compressing the flames.

Though the volume of fire remained the same, the restricted output nozzle caused the compressed flames to shrink even further, turning brighter and more concentrated—eventually reducing to the size of his palm.

As the fire condensed, Quan Yi felt an unfamiliar force—a push against his arms, directed upwards.

Then, a glint of pure joy flashed in his eyes.

He intensified his control, further refining the jets.

Suddenly—

"ROAR!"

A thunderous blast erupted from both of his hands.

The flame jets surged with immense force, drastically amplifying the thrust.

Quan Yi clenched his shoulders, arms, and palms, resisting the force to maintain control.

And then—

His feet left the ground.

For the first time, Quan Yi felt weightlessness—his body slowly rising into the air.

A wave of pure ecstasy surged through him.

There he was—barefoot, his hands ablaze with dazzling flames, floating above the playground.

He didn't rise very high—his feet barely lifted a few centimeters—but even that was an unbelievable sight.

Fortunately, the playground was deserted. Otherwise, such a shocking display would have caused an absolute uproar.

But maintaining such precise control took a toll on him.

His soul power and mental strength had been drained within moments, and even his incredible endurance couldn't keep up.

Gradually, he reduced the soul power output, allowing his body to descend gently.

The instant his feet touched solid ground, he cut off the flames completely.

Feeling the reassuring stability beneath him, Quan Yi threw his head back and laughed uncontrollably.

"Hahahahaha— I did it! I actually did it!"