92 Breaking Through

During the three months all the clones in the Barbarian Empire looked for families to join, Lucien continued his usual routine. Since he needed a specific type of Herb by this time, it was much harder to find the correct one.

During the night after three months, he finally experienced his Light Clone breaking through Rank 2. The Holy Empire poured quite some resources for this talented new addition.

With his current level, he didn't call the clone back to help in his breakthrough. He simply pulled Light Particles from 5000 meters and broke through with complete ease. He just needed the experience to make sure he had the correct routes between the gates. Lucien was already 19 by this point and still had 6 years before the tournament.

By his calculations he would have multiple Rank 3 Paths and everything else at Rank 2 by the time it came around. He also considered assassinating the Barbarian Prince and getting it over with, but decided against it. If both the Holy Empire and the Barbarian Empire lost their heirs out of the competition in a shady manner, it could sour their relationship with the Scarlet Empire. Lucien was not really for a full blown war between the Empires where Rank 4s would participate.

Half a year passed silently and Lucien finally had an accident. He was finally found a Lightning Herb after so much effort, but it was guarded by a Rank 2 Beast even though it was still Rank 1. It seemed incredibly important to this Beasts so it didn't assign a subordinate to watch over it, but did it personally.

Gritting his teeth, Lucien memorized the place and turned to leave. He knew that it would take long time for it to mature out in nature, so he was fine with leaving it for a bit.

'I feel really oppressed in this shitty mountain, can't kill till I'm content, can't plunder to my satisfaction, ahhh.'

Calming down slowly, his eyes shined with crimson. His whites slowly filled with darkness, but quickly faded.

'Wait till I'm done here, once I'm leaving I'll give you all a nice souvenir to keep you warm till I'm strong enough to exterminate you little bugs.'

Going back to his temporary residence, Lucien sat down and focused.

'I have to be calm, rash decisions might give me more benefits now, but in the long run I'll be losing out.'

Looking towards the Barbarian Empire and more specifically towards the direction where he sensed the Water Clone, Lucien smiled.

'It seems I'm being oppressed in another place as well, it did bring a bit more potential though.'

The Water Clone was slightly scorned at the start by as time passed, that ridiculous family even started bullying it. After half a year, if finally broke through Rank 2. Completely silently, without much resources. It use life-force to give the final push. This was something that was possible for all Practitioners but that trade was so stupid that nobody actually did it.

The clone was still Lucien and the way it was treated resulted in drastic measures. He knew that the main body could fix any damages that have occurred. Once it broke through, its eyes shined with cold lights, while it thought deeply about it's next moves.

Back in the Mountain Range, his main body retracted its attention and went on to break through in the Water Path as well.

It was only after another three months that the other clones managed to secure the resources required and have sufficient understanding of the diagrams. One after another they broke through in succession. Since they were hole up in those small families since Rank 1, this power surge would elevate their statuses both in the families and in the Empire.

Nobody would be worried about their backgrounds since they were part of families, making them the perfect spies. With their new status, more information would pour towards Lucien.

Their breakthroughs were at most differing by a couple of days, so Lucien waited till they were finished and experienced the process completely without distracting himself.

Once he was done, he started to push All Lower Paths towards Rank 2.

If someone entered the 5000 meter area around Lucien, they would be scared witless. In the process of a couple of hours, five different elements surged towards somewhere in massive quantities. It seemed like doomsday. Trees withered, and ponds dried. He was taking five of the elements needed to sustain the world in this area at almost the same time. More was flowing from the outside, albeit slowly compared to the absorption.

Soon Lucien was done, but he didn't check the changes or try to see his understanding. He simply vanished from the cave and ran at full speed to another area. It was impossible that no creature witnessed the scene.

'Might have been a bit reckless...'

Once he found another residence, he finally summoned his stats.

-Lucien BloodMoon-

-Age: 20 years-

-Race: Human-

-Orthodox Lower Paths:

Darkness(Rank 3): 9 meter Darkness Domain

Fire(Rank 2)

Water(Rank 2)

Earth(Rank 2)

Metal(Rank 2)

Wind(Rank 2)

Light(Rank 2)

Lightning(Rank 2)

-All Lower Paths(Rank 2)-

-Unorthodox Lower Paths:

Silver Ghoul(Rank 2)

5000.00 Meter Soul (Soul Devour Rank 2)-

-Unorthodox Middle Paths:

Blood Count(Rank 2)

-Strength: 1000.00-

-Agility: 1000.00-

-Vitality: 1000.00-

-Soul: 5000.00-

-All Lower Paths(Rank 2): Understanding over all the Lower Paths, speeds up the process of comprehending Middle Paths tremendously. Can feel the Particles of All Lower Paths, thus feeling what Paths are other practitioners practicing. At Rank 2 understanding is improved further, chances of comprehending Middle Paths with no external help exist-

-Lightning Steps(Rank 1, Level 3): Boosts the Agility of the user by injecting Lightning Particles inside the body, at Level 1(One Blue Lightning) - 25 Agility increase, at Level 2(Double Blue Lightning) - 50 Agility increase, at Level 3(Instant Blue Lightning)- 100 Agility increase-

-Devil: Information restricted-

-Devil Armor Level 0: Below Rank 3 all stats can be amplified is 5 times, above Rank 3 amplification is 2 times and after Rank 4 there is no amplification.

-Control over Soul : 5000.00 Points-

Lucien was shocked at the change of description of All Lower Paths. He knew that normally Practitioners started trying to comprehend a Middle Path in Rank 3, but now many were successful. Without a tremendous opportunity, it was highly unlikely. But now he was qualified to start trying even without that opportunity, even through his chances would be minuscule, it was still possible to do it on his own.

'If I use All Existence to get a Middle Path now, it would be quite a bit easier to understand it.'

Another thing that made him a bit amused was his age. He finally finished his second decade in this world. His father was immensely proud that he broke through Rank 2 when he was 20, but now Lucien did the same thing with all the Paths that exist in this world, not to mention he had one at Rank 3. He would probably die from coughing blood should he find out about this matter.

'Since the Freedom Path is not bonded with any Lower Paths, there is no need to wait for Rank 3. It will unfortunately start at Rank 0...'