The next day, following Lucas's arrangements, Kara secretly traveled to Luthor's newly constructed top-secret laboratory.
Before her departure, Lucas specifically warned her to be extremely careful while she was there—any biological material that fell off her body, no matter how small, had to be incinerated immediately.
Lucas had absolutely no intention of letting Luthor clone several Supergirls. That would be nothing but endless trouble.
After informing the two girls at home that he had business to attend to, Lucas stepped out of the house.
Moments later, his body shot upward, rapidly ascending into the sky.
Once airborne, he used a compass to confirm his direction. As his energy surged violently, a deafening boom exploded across the sky.
Under Lucas's precise control, his ki condensed into a razor-sharp forward edge.
The air parted like tofu being sliced apart, splitting cleanly to either side.
His speed continued to climb rapidly, soon approaching Mach 1.2.
From the moment he was born into this world—and realized he was a Saiyan—Lucas had not rushed to train his physical body.
Instead, he prioritized meditation and mental peace.
This was because, from birth, his temperament had been prone to agitation, irritability, and even a degree of bloodlust—classic Saiyan traits.
If he did not want to become a Saiyan enslaved by his emotions, he had to strengthen his mental discipline first.
There was also a more critical reason.
The key factor behind a Saiyan's transformation into a Super Saiyan—the S-Cells.
Lucas personally preferred to call them SUPER Cells.
According to veteran interpretations of the source material, S-Cells are the fundamental catalyst for transformation and power growth.
And increasing them requires a calm, stable mental state.
The more S-Cells a Saiyan has, the easier it becomes to transform and control their power—and they can even be inherited.
Many readers mistakenly believe that anger alone is what triggers a Super Saiyan transformation.
In truth, anger is merely the fuse—the spark that detonates the explosive charge.
This also explains why Super Saiyans were considered nothing more than legend among their race.
Expecting a calm, mentally disciplined individual to emerge from a race of hot-headed monkeys is about as likely as expecting a priest to emerge from a crime-ridden ghetto.
As Lucas's mental training deepened, he discovered that his ki became increasingly refined and condensed.
His control improved dramatically—he could freely regulate output and alter its form.
He could even shape ki into small tools such as scalpels or screwdrivers.
As for physical training, conventional human equipment had long since become useless to him.
When he was younger, he avoided drawing attention and instead trained using massive rocks deep in the mountains—cutting, lifting, and shaping them into crude training tools.
But before long, even those methods lost their effectiveness.
What he needed now was a gravity chamber.
Years of relentless mental training had given him an exceptionally solid foundation.
Lost in thought, Lucas soon passed beyond American airspace and over the Atlantic Ocean.
During this time, the eastern U.S. Air Force command detected him almost immediately and prepared to scramble fighter jets.
However, within moments, orders arrived from Air Force Command—stand down.
Not long after, numerous satellites redirected their lenses toward him.
At Mach 1.2, he was still well within satellite tracking capability.
Lucas was fully aware of this.
With a surge of ki, his speed increased again, climbing to Mach 1.5.
"Still not enough. This is taking too long."
Calculating the remaining distance, Lucas pushed harder.
His speed continued to rise until it finally stabilized around Mach 1.8.
"If I fully unleash my burst speed, I should be able to reach around Mach 2," he muttered, glancing at the data displayed on the device attached to his wrist.
This instrument—provided by Luthor—was capable of accurately measuring both instantaneous and sustained velocity.
Previously, Lucas's top speed had reached 580 meters per second, or roughly 2,100 kilometers per hour.
From an ordinary human perspective, that was already terrifying.
But compared to Clark, it was laughably inadequate.
In Man of Steel, shortly after awakening his powers, Superman's top flight speed exceeded Mach 7.
During his battle with General Zod, the World Engine was flying at over Mach 29, yet Clark caught up to it effortlessly.
This means Superman's long-distance flight speed had already surpassed Mach 31 at that point.
In Batman v Superman, his growth rate became even more absurd.
While fighting Doomsday, his casual burst speeds exceeded Mach 15—and this was after being weakened by kryptonite.
Most crucially, during the nuclear missile incident:
Once the missile entered its second stage, after the warhead separated from the rocket, its speed exceeded Mach 20.
Superman instantly accelerated, altered course, and hurled Doomsday directly into the warhead's path.
The instantaneous acceleration he displayed at that moment conservatively exceeded Mach 27.
And that was while carrying Doomsday's massive body—effectively around Mach 28.
The inertia generated by a punch at that speed was something Lucas knew he absolutely could not withstand.
After absorbing solar radiation and regenerating, Superman's return flight to Earth was calculated to approach Mach 29.
And that was just speed.
As for offensive power—
During the fight with Zod, Superman's heat vision instantly melted I-beams.
Official data puts the temperature at 6,000°C, but the truly terrifying aspect was the kinetic force involved.
If Superman weighs 107 kg, using the kinetic energy formula:
Ek = (mv²) / 2
At Mach 1, the impact energy is 6.1846 megajoules—approximately 6.2 MJ.
Modern third-generation tank cannons typically deliver around 10 MJ of kinetic energy.
At Mach 10, Superman's impact energy would approach 620 MJ.
And if Superman punched at Mach 30…
Lucas stopped calculating.
The conclusion was obvious.
Compared to Superman, his current strength gap was absurdly large.
And Superman's growth potential was SSR-tier—there was no ceiling in sight.
This was precisely why Lucas was determined to accelerate his plans and obtain a gravity chamber as soon as possible.
---
Author's Notes:
The Superman data in this chapter is compiled from online analyses combined with on-screen movie feats.
The protagonist's data references Goku running Snake Way.
Superman's data is based on DC's movie trilogy.
If you have different opinions, feel free to discuss them—but please do not resort to sarcasm or insults.
And once again, let me emphasize:
This is the movie universe, not the comic universe.
Do not bring comic versions into the discussion—whether American comics or Japanese manga.
Thank you.
---
T/N: I have posted an important update regarding Patreon pricing on my Patreon page. Please check it if you are a supporter. Thank you for your understanding.