The Walker Of Voids

"Man... I was hoping we could go to the same academy." Zack sighed in disappointment, but he couldn't do anything about it.

He didn't want to pressure Lloyd into going to the same academy as him, but at the same time, he wasn't allowed to downgrade to a lesser school since almost everyone in his family had gone to the Hope academy.

"It's disappointing to not get to spend a few more years side by side, but I guess it's not meant to be. We had to eventually take our own paths, but that's life." Lloyd shrugged, causing a pensive mood to wash over the dining table.

The parents also didn't want to say anything since they were scared that their words would manipulate their children, but in a way, they all knew that the two boys had already made their own decisions.

"I heard that Lucy might be teaching at the Hope academy." Elana suddenly mentioned, causing the entire table to turn quiet.

"Oh, come on guys, it's been almost a decade since then; I'm sure Lloyd is fine with us talking about it." Elana scoffed before looking at Lloyd, who seemed to be entirely disinterested in the subject on hand, causing her to quickly drop it as quickly as she had brought it up.

Yet despite that, the thought of Lucy teaching still lingered on all their minds, Lloyd's included, yet now that he had new experiences as new things to worry about, he no longer paid too much attention to that incident.

'Hmm. Maybe that's when it all started? I never thought of it that way, but maybe that incident is why I became a void walker?

I don't have nearly enough information on the creation of void walkers, but if that incident has played a part in who I am now, I might have to visit it shortly.' Lloyd thought to himself as the memories of his blood-soaked hands reminded him that the very foundations of his life were built upon the corpses of others.

After finishing dinner, they all went back to doing their respective activities. Lloyd went back to trying to create his own cultivation technique from the information he had, but so far, he had no luck.

His current cultivation method was far from efficient, especially after he reached the first commandment and created his core.

His mana pool was far too large to be filled quickly, and if he were to try to cultivate with what he currently had, he was worried that it might take years for him to complete a single circulation.

Lloyd wanted his cultivation technique to fit who he was. He was both a close combat warrior and a long-range mage capable of casting hundreds of spells instantly with his elemental manipulations.

He wanted to have a technique that allowed him to strengthen his mana channels, his mana core, and his body at the same time. He would have loved to cultivate his aura and killing intent, too, with the same technique, but that needed a completely different process that he was simply not ready to go through.

'I have a little over two days to train or find a cultivation technique. I'm certain I'll get to train lot during the military academy, for now it's best if I just try to make my cultivation technique in hopes of having it ready by the time I have to leave.' Lloyd thought to himself after the image of him killing a dragon appeared in his mind.

It's funny how needy the mind is sometimes.

Lloyd always thought that the amount of void energy he wasted after killing a monster wasn't much since he didn't really have a reference.

Still, after going through his epiphany and seeing how much void energy could be saved through a cultivation technique, he could not help but feel a pain where his heart would've been whenever he thought of killing a monster and wasting so much energy.

*Knock Knock*

The sound of Lloyd's door knocking echoed through the room.

Slowly opening his eyes, Lloyd used his aura and magical senses to see who was behind the door before standing up and unlocking it.

"Hey Lloyd, you've been holed up here for a while. Wanna spar?" Zack asked, yet instead of agreeing straight away, Lloyd hesitated.

Zack was quite literally a single good push away from reaching the first commandment, so Lloyd assumed he had come to him to get that push. However, Lloyd himself did not think it was such a good idea.

Lloyd could easily kill half-step second commandments, or at least after a few seconds of struggling. Lloyd knew that Zack was in no way, shape or form close to what Lloyd was capable of, yet after thinking for a while, Lloyd finally accepted.

'I can practice holding my strength back.' Lloyd thought while walking toward one of the fighting arenas they had in their manor.

Zack quickly moved to the other side of the arena before turning around and looking at Lloyd.

Zack had been winning the previous bouts against Lloyd's clone, yet he wanted to know how strong the real thing was, and so did the rest of the family, who, unknown to Lloyd, were all watching them stand off from one of the booths with one-sided glass.

The runes stopped Lloyd from noticing them, but he was not stupid enough to think that there was no one in the room other than him and Zack.

"My sword comes tomorrow so I'll be using my fists." Lloyd informed Zack.

"Oh yeah? Then I'll use nothing but my mana and my fists too." Zack grinned from ear to ear as a powerful battle intent exploded out from his body, covering the entire arena in a thin misty red fog.

A crimson sword appeared above Zack, about the same size and weight as his original.

Grabbing it, Zack shot forward with all the speed he could muster within his legs, yet while he would have seemed like a blur to even most first commandments, to Lloyd, it didn't feel as fast as it should have.

Whenever Lloyd fought anyone, he would instantly compare their prowess to the autumn king's or even to Veronica's (may she suffer in hell).

The sword swung toward Lloyd in an incredible demonstration of speed and power, yet the moment it had come within a certain range of Lloyd, he dodged it smoothly as if he had always known exactly where the place would end up.

*Swoosh* *Swoosh* *Swoosh*

Zack just continued attacking, his slashing becoming deadlier and sharper every time he swung his blade, making it slightly harder to dodge his attack every time he slashed at him, yet despite the increase in proficiency, it was all the same for Lloyd.

Zack's attacks were nothing compared to that of the monster Lloyd had fought in the dungeon, so instead of directly attacking his friend to win the duel, Lloyd decided that the best course of action was to humor him instead, only attacking when he deemed it necessary.

*ROOAR*

Zack let out a bestial roar as his eyes became bloodshot, and he charged like a mad bull toward Lloyd, yet unlike before, where he seemed to have zero control over his blood-lusting form, now he seemed to have the smallest semblance of sentience.

His form was also much stronger than it had been in the past. His power was that of a first commandment despite him not having reached that stage, but that was to be expected.

Most talented individuals reached that stage once they reached the half-step, and since Zack was basically a step away from breaking through, that was even more the case in his situation.

Swords made out of Zack's bloodlust and killing intent formed all around him, yet while Lloyd was expecting Zack to hurl the sword projections at him, it was quite the opposite.

Looking at the swords for a moment, Lloyd could not help but think of them as individual limbs all connected to the berserker before him.

They only moved a few meters away from him, and it seemed like Zack had complete control over their form, capable of moving them around without a second thought while also having the power to shrink and increase their sizes when needed.

However, this did not mean Lloyd struggled against the attacks coming at him. They were quite simple and had a pattern to them that Lloyd easily deciphered in less than a dozen attacks.

Lloyd humored his friend for a few minutes. Yet, after seemingly pinpointing all his mistakes and shortcomings, Lloyd finally went on the offensive, pummeling Zack to the ground just enough for him to regain his sanity.

Lloyd made sure to explain everything that Zack did wrong before leaving the room, yet while Zack was surprised that he even lost in the first place, the rest of the family who were watching behind some one-way glass were more surprised by the fact that Lloyd had become so much stronger than Zack.

They all knew that Lloyd was capable of surviving an attack against a second commandment and possibly even fighting against a half-step second commandment, but hearing and seeing were two different things.

The days passed quickly, and before anyone knew it, it was the day when boys finally became men, going to the academy for the first time and becoming semi-independent from their parents and families.

While Zack had left early in the morning to go to the Hope academy, which was on a different star system than the one the Glade planet was on, Elana and Delly both left in the afternoon while Lloyd was ready to depart in the evening.

Walking through Snow city, Lloyd finally found one of the military outpost branches placed on the Glade planet. It was a large structure clearly built to move around, yet at the same time, Lloyd could tell that the place itself was a high establishment worth a lot of money.

It was a building with green paint instead of the usual white, allowing it to stand out more than the other buildings around. However, despite its murky green color, it still looked pristine, making even the clean white buildings around them feel slightly dirty.

Standing in front of the outpost, Lloyd checked his dimensional storage one more time to see if he had everything on him, and after confirming that he did, he turned to his family and smiled brightly.

"I guess this is where we bid farewell," Lloyd spoke optimistically to keep his mother from crying, yet she did so anyway.

"My baby is going to school!" Olivia cried into her husband's shoulder, making everyone scratch the back of their necks awkwardly.

"Take care son." Noah smiled while shooing Lloyd away so his mother would finally stop crying.

"Take care of yourself, don't over work. You'll burn out." Layla bid farewell with a tone of worry in her voice.

"What she said." Benjamin smiled and waved, yet he got an elbow to the side, causing him to look at his wife with the expression of a falsely accused child.

"Goodbye. See you during the holidays." Lloyd waved before turning around, walking to the outpost, showing a soldier his ID, and entering the room.

He was quickly guided to a teleporter, and when he finally stood on it, the final thought that came to mind before his body flickered away was-

"But for now, I'll try to my best to become as strong as possible."