The next day, Iris, Octane, Fanatic, and Reaper went to train with Elder Hua once again. Finn, however, had different plans, and stayed behind in the dormitories they rested in last night while he awaited Patriarch Lei’s arrival.

Said dorms was just one of many — there was one building for each group of Hunters in the squadron, categorized by age. Each building was also split into male and female for obvious reasons. Usually, only the Big Five and higher-rank members in the squadron had a room all to themselves, but Iris was lucky enough to get one as well.

The night before, Finn asked Zelestria about Elder Hua’s ‘other’ power. He now knew about the Bloodborn and what they were capable of. He wondered if he could ‘steal’ their powers too, but Zelestria told him it wasn’t possible — not yet, anyway.

If he could somehow mix the blood of a Bloodborn into his own bloodstream consistently, then it could work, but there was also the risk that comes with having three separate types of blood in one body. In the end, Finn decided that he would put this matter aside for now until he got strong enough to handle it.

Soon, Patriarch Lei arrived at the dorms to pick him up. The others had already left, so it was just the two of them.

“… Have you eaten breakfast yet?” He asked.

Finn nodded. “I’m ready.”

“I see. Follow me, then.”

Tracing the sounds of Lei’s footsteps, Finn blindly trailed after him. Luckily, he had memorized where all the ledges and staircases were the night before so he didn’t trip on anything.

“What will you be teaching me?” Finn asked curiously as they walked. “Just more advanced Stormbringer Abilities?”

“No. First, there is a special technique that only select few Stormbringers know how to use… it’s called Lightning Breathing.”

“Lightning Breathing…?” Finn echoed, confused.

“You will see soon.”

A few minutes later, the two arrived at Lei’s private office. It was smaller than expected for the leader of the squadron, and also quite minimalistic. Other than that, the same Eastern feel that covered the entire squadron was still prominent here.

“Sit down on the floor, right where you are,” Patriarch Lei instructed after shutting the door, turning around to face Finn and sitting down himself.

Finn did as told so that the two were facing each other and crossed his legs.

“What I’m about to teach you is a technique called Lightning Breathing. Once mastered, you will be able to cast Stormbringer Abilities without needing to chant. The higher your mastery of it, the higher Tier Abilities you can use without chanting. Learning this will also help you fully control your lightning, but beware: it’s not easy.”

“… I’m ready.”

Lei nodded. “Good. Let’s start slow. Relax your muscles and begin with deep breaths.”

Finn did as told, activating his Stormbringer Angelica and allowing himself to blend in with the tranquility of the room.

“Inhale, exhale. Inhale, exhale.”

After several rotations of deep breaths, Lei spoke once again.

“Alright. Now, speed up a bit. Feel the current of the lightning through your veins and try to match your breathing pattern with it — gradually.”

Finn could feel it — the lightning circulated around his body at a very fast speed. Normally, it would be impossible to breathe that quickly, but if he gradually increased in speed, then…

He breathed in and out. In through his nose and out through his mouth. Every time he did so, he sped up a slight bit. Eventually, however, it got too fast for him to use his mouth to exhale, so he resorted to just using his nose for both.

By this point, it seemed like he was practically hyperventilating, but his figure remained as still as ever. Lei furrowed his brows slightly as he watched on, arms folded.

However, after a while, Finn was unable to speed up any more, stuck at the pace he was currently going. Lei noticed this and sighed.

“Well… I wasn’t expecting you to get it on the first try anyway. You can relax now.”

Finn returned to breathing normally and rubbed his chin. “That was my limit. Is there any way to break past it and go even faster?”

“Sure there is,” Lei snorted. “Practice.”

“…” Finn had been expecting more of a tip or trick to help him, but… to be honest, it was hard to argue against that. Practice was the essence of getting stronger, after all.

“Watch closely, Finn. This is the result of 10 hard years of training.”

Saying this, Lei closed his eyes and activated his own Angelica. Immediately, intense blue sparks of electricity shot out of his body, creating a shock field around himself. Thunderclouds appeared above his head, sparking with arc energy. And in the middle of it all, a large white lightning bolt symbol hovered, glowing with a blue outline.

Although Finn couldn’t see this scene, he could certainly feel the pressure from where he was sitting. It made the hair on his hand stand up straight and his skin tingle a bit.

Lei started slowly, just like he taught Finn to. With every deep breath he took, he increased in speed, again and again until he finally reached the state Finn was at and got stuck on.

Lei’s brows furrowed as he pushed himself past human limits. Underneath his robes, bright glowing blue veins of lightning appeared on his skin, and his breathing became too fast to even hear.

The veins continued spreading to the rest of his body as he continued speeding up even further, until at last, he looked like some sort of glowing constellation had been imprinted on him.

In that moment, Lei’s eyes suddenly snapped open, releasing a wave of powerful arc energy outwards.

“Ngh-!” Finn hurriedly raised his arms up to block his face, but the tremendous force still sent him flying backwards and crashing into the back wall.

He slowly got back up to his feet and wiped his mouth silently as if nothing had happened, though the wall and everything that had been on it were definitely broken.

“… Do you see now?” Lei asked, standing up. The glowing veins on his body still have not disappeared. “All it takes is one instant where your breathing matches the current speed of the lightning in your body. Once that happens, a state called Lightning Aura will trigger — the state I am in right now.”

He didn’t even apologize for sending Finn crashing into a thick wall, but Finn didn’t particularly care either and just nodded in return.

“I understand. All it takes is practice, correct? On it.”