56 Lightning Steps

Each and every Path had its own characteristic, for example the Darkness Path was geared toward concealing, corroding and illusions and the Lightning Path was the leaning towards extreme speeds and destruction, completely straightforward.

Another characteristic of all Paths is that they can merge and combine no matter how incompatible they may seem to be, even Fire and Water can be mixed. The results of mixing Paths depends on the practitioner and his understanding towards the Paths.

Lucien bought both the Lightning Path Manual that would lead from Rank 0 to Rank 1 for a 1000 existence points and the Darkness Path Manual that would lead from Rank 2 to Rank 3 for 100 000 existence points. Since he was preparing an environment that would speed up his practice by a lot, he didn't need to hesitate.

Over the next one month Lucien rapidly progressed on the Lightning Path and since his current stats were completely monstrous breaking through happened smoothly and his Lightning Path jumped to Rank 1.

Rank 1 Lightning Path didn't add a single Agility point, it was too inferior to complement his current level of stats.

Lucien hadn't planned from the start to use the breakthrough to enhance himself. His plan was another Ability that could be practiced with Lightning Path at Rank 1 – Lightning Steps.

It was an amazing ability that could enhance even his current Agility for a short period of time or a so called boost. The only downside was that it was incredibly hard for a Rank 1 to train, it was the price of being able to jump levels and fight stronger foes.

It has three levels, namely the first level was called One Blue Lightning, with the second one being Double Blue Lightning and the third one – Instant Blue Lightning.

The way the technique worked was fascinating to Lucien. It used Lightning Particles to excite the nerves thus increasing the reaction speed and the same method was used on the muscles and tendons to put them into overdrive. It was taxing to the body.

As Lucien was already at Rank 2 with his Soul, his progress with the technique was much smoother.

Two months later just as an officer from the army beat the bell that the army would set off, in the tent belonging to the now forgotten squad leader, the mix between Darkness and Lightning dissipated and Lucien stood up.

'This should be plenty to take care of any problems that could occur, after all I'm posing as a Rank 1 squad leader.'

Lucien had previously received a commander badge with the squad number he would be leading, so he didn't have much of a hard time finding his position in the war machine that was about to set off.

'That Rank 3 Commander was right, huh. They are all looking at me as if I robbed the graves of their ancestors. Well that doesn't change a thing, if they are in the way, I'll execute them.'

The squad members were all looking at Lucien with enmity, they all had assumed this pretty boy had used his family connections to join the army and skip the training.

"You are out leader?"

One of them asked while looking hopeful the answer would be no.

"Indeed." Lucien responded while showing the commander badge. He was not even looking at the squad, he was busy looking at the size of the army.

It was an incredible sight, there were more than 10 000 humans that were gathered in an orderly formation, considering the size and arrangements he knew from the Rank 3 Commander. This army had 2 Rank 3 Practitioners and at least 20 Rank 2 Practitioners.

'Ahhh this is going to be fun.'

By this point all four of the squad members were really angry, they were being completely ignored by this commander of theirs.

"Hey, brat. This is not a playground, even if you are Rank 1, a flower grown at home can't command, you are not fit to be out commander."

Lucien finally turned to look at the bunch.

The moment his gaze fell on the member who just spoke, the whole atmosphere froze.

"So you don't want me to be you commander, huh. Since when do worms have a right to voice their opinion in the army? I'll give you a choice for disagreeing on a matter decided by the higher-ups. First, you can cut off an arm and leave the squad, effectively deserting the army. Second, you can kneel and beg. There is a third option as well, but you won't like it at all so I won't mention it. Pick."

"Hahahah, so you think you are the only one with a background, huh. Kneel? How about you kneel or we are going to teach you a lesson."

"So you want to drag them in, even when they don't agree with a stupid moron. I guess you really went for option number three."

Lucien flashed and appeared in front of the offender, lightning sparks flashing on his skin.

'Let's see how destructive is the Lightning Path.'

Lucien had seen Maria use it before, but had never experienced it firsthand.

Before the Rank 0 idiot could even react, Lucien placed a hand on his shoulder and poured Lightning Particles inside his body.

Smell of burning flesh spread through the air and seconds later there was only a burnt corpse on the ground.

'It's the same result as what could happen if I put too much Lightning Particles while using the Lightning Steps.'

None of the other members made a sound. This was no flower, it was a killing machine that dared to kill inside the army camp.

Seconds later a Rank 2 flashed and appeared near the burnt corpse.

"Why?"

He didn't beat around the bush.

"Disagreeing with orders."

The Rank 2 looked at the other squad members and then just took the corpse and disappeared.

This was the fate of the weak, even in a place where they are protected by hierarchy, the higher-ups wouldn't get punished for killing one or two as long as there was some reason. Nobody would offend someone could have bigger background for a corpse.