Black Phoenix Heir

Chapter 46: Chapter 46 — Flashstep

Chapter 46 — Flashstep

Victor stood silently in the forgotten chamber, the sealed scroll resting in his hands. For several moments, he simply stared at it.

His fingers tightened slightly around the scroll.

Victor’s eyes settled on the seal. For a brief moment, he hesitated. A part of him wondered if breaking it would trigger something. Considering everything that had happened to him since entering this world, Victor wouldn’t have been particularly surprised if the moment he opened the scroll, some ancient formation activated beneath his feet or an overwhelming wave of energy flooded the chamber.

Maybe the statue would suddenly come to life.

Maybe the entire cellar would begin collapsing.

Maybe something would explode.

At this point, he wasn’t entirely sure what to expect anymore.

Curiosity won him over.

Victor broke the seal.

Nothing happened.

He waited for a moment, his eyes moving around the chamber.

Victor slowly looked toward the ancient statue. It remained perfectly still in the center of the room. The cracked walls hadn’t moved, no strange energy filled the air, and the forgotten cellar remained as silent as it had been moments before.

” Doesn’t seem like there’s gonna be a boss fight.”

Victor laughed slightly before looking back down at the scroll. After everything he had experienced recently, the complete lack of anything dramatic was almost surprising.

He carefully unrolled it.

The ancient material slowly opened between his hands, revealing rows of carefully written words. Victor’s eyes immediately moved toward the title written at the very top.

Flashstep Movement Technique.

Victor stared at the words for several seconds.

A movement technique.

His understanding of cultivation techniques was limited, but he had heard enough to know they existed. Some cultivators trained in specialized techniques that could improve their combat abilities, strengthen their defenses, or allow them to move in ways that normal cultivators couldn’t. Victor’s memories hadn’t given him much knowledge about them, but he understood enough to recognize that the scroll in his hands could be valuable.

He continued reading.

Flashstep was a movement technique designed around sudden bursts of speed. It wasn’t intended for endlessly running at impossible speeds. Instead, the technique focused on explosive movement over short distances. It could be used to quickly close the distance between opponents, evade attacks, reposition during combat, or escape when remaining in one place meant certain death.

Victor’s expression gradually changed as he continued reading.

This was exactly what he needed.

His current situation had made one weakness painfully obvious. Victor had no ranged abilities. If an opponent attacked him from a distance, his options were limited.

A movement technique could change that.

His eyes continued moving down the scroll until he reached the section explaining the different levels of accomplishment. The information was surprisingly straightforward.

Minor Accomplishment.

At this level, Flashstep could allow a Body Tempering cultivator to display movement speed roughly equivalent to someone two ranks above their current level.

Intermediate Accomplishment.

The technique’s explosive movement became significantly stronger, allowing the cultivator to temporarily display speed several ranks beyond their current cultivation.

Major Accomplishment.

At its highest level, Flashstep could push the movement speed of a Body Tempering cultivator to a level approaching that of an early Spirit Gathering cultivator.

Victor slowly reread the information.

It wasn’t an automatic advantage in every situation. Being faster didn’t suddenly make someone stronger, and the technique wouldn’t allow him to defeat an opponent he couldn’t otherwise fight. But speed could determine whether an attack landed. Speed could determine whether someone escaped. And speed could determine whether Victor reached his opponent before they had the opportunity to attack again.

A small smile appeared across his face.

”Well... this is useful.”

Victor rolled the scroll back up and held it in his hands for a moment. He felt genuine excitement about what he had found.

It was something he could actually use.

Of course, He still had to learn it.

Victor looked toward the statue one final time. The ancient alchemist continued standing silently in the center of the chamber, his expression frozen in stone. Victor briefly wondered whether the man himself had created Flashstep, but there was no way to know.

Victor turned and walked back toward the previous chamber where the damaged map rested against the wall. His attention briefly moved across the ancient illustration before shifting upward toward the hole in the ceiling.

Unfortunately, climbing out immediately wasn’t an option.

The panther was still somewhere outside.

Victor had no idea whether it was waiting directly above the entrance or had wandered deeper into the forest, but he wasn’t particularly interested in finding out the hard way. He would have to wait.

Fortunately, waiting didn’t mean wasting time.

Victor looked down at the scroll again.

The first section of Flashstep explained how the technique began. Before a cultivator could use the explosive bursts of movement described later in the technique, they first had to learn how to guide their spiritual energy toward the soles of their feet. The energy needed to remain stable until the exact moment the cultivator moved, where it could then be released in a controlled burst.

He moved toward an open section of the chamber and lowered his eyes toward his feet.

”All right.”

Victor took a slow breath and closed his eyes. He focused inward, carefully following the instructions written within the scroll. Slowly, he began guiding his spiritual energy downward through his body.

At first, nothing happened.

Victor frowned and tried again.

This time, he slowed down.

Instead of forcing the energy downward, he carefully guided it, allowing the familiar power to move through his body until it gradually approached his legs. He concentrated on his right foot, trying to gather the energy exactly where the technique instructed.

For several seconds, he remained completely still.

Then he felt something.

A faint sensation formed beneath his foot.

Victor opened his eyes and looked downward.

The spiritual energy had actually gathered around the sole of his foot.

His expression brightened slightly.

”Okay.”

Maybe this wouldn’t be as difficult as he thought.

Victor shifted forward and prepared to take a step.

The moment his foot moved, everything went wrong.

The energy beneath his foot released all at once.

Instead of a controlled burst, the spiritual energy exploded outward with far more force than Victor expected.

His body shot forward.

”What the—!”

Victor barely had time to react before he slammed directly into the stone wall.

Pain immediately shot through his arm.

”Ah!”

He stumbled backward, instantly grabbing his arm. For several seconds, Victor stood there in silence, holding the injured limb while staring at the wall he had just introduced himself to.

The chamber became quiet again.

Victor slowly looked down toward his feet.

Then toward the scroll.

Then back toward the wall.

A long breath escaped him.

”So much for that being easy.”

Finding the technique had been the easy part.

Actually learning it was going to be something else entirely.