Lightning Degree

Read to Chapter 28

Pros
-Its art is consistently good, nothing amazing and awe inspiring, but it is pleasing to look at and after a 130 chapters, still good
-Characters do show growth however a lot of it does happen off screen due to the numerous time skips inherent in this kind of story, being over 10 years so far.
-Action is alright. I find it a bit boring but it also doesn’t go into a lot of detail with it either, but what is there is fine and not just throwing out long winded names of swords or a different type of jab combination
-Comedy is usually pretty good. Not bust a gut but a sensible chuckle here and there
-It is not horny at all. Very little in way of fan service if any of what I recall. Some characters are just cute and such, including MC.

Cons
-The story is SLOW! Capital S.L.O.W. Pacing is consistent as it is consistently a snail’s mile. We are 130 chapters into a multiple training arc story. There is some kind of assassin in the beginning that never interacted with the MC and his people. And I believe that has been dropped. Some stuff about a spy guild which has gone nowhere in 80 chapters. So there is no real Antagonist. MC has multiple disciples and one being the newest but hasn’t had any real interaction with him so far.
-There are so many time skips, it’s crazy. I understand it, and really it is necessary for the story that is written. But god dang.
-MC is a little bland. Written more as a general asshole who doesn’t have much in way of a passion. The kind common in the recent martial art, cultivation stories. OP strong so they don’t have any real value on strange lives or the absolute crippling damage that they can inflict. He also doesn’t even seem to much enjoy martial arts or anything. Lethargic and sadist are his two main traits by chapter 70. A lazy trainer that abuses his students in a form of training beating that a lot of anime and eastern media like to throw in.

Neutral
-This could be a con but it’s also just a style of story. Slow burn to a definition. There is a possible romance, I’m not sure what the aim is at the moment. The MC has a… love interest(?) or at least friend that he is trying to reunite with. I think. I think he knows who she is even if at the time of this she doesn’t. But that part is still a little unclear to be honest.
-I consider this a Pro but some might not. There is a significant portion of the early chapters, 28 to I believe 60s or something, that the Main Character Cross dresses. It’s not transphobic, it’s not played for laughs even really. But I do know some don’t like it but I am a fan myself so it doesn’t negatively impact my experience.
-True Neutral. Doesn’t linger too hard on the base culture and setting of murim stuff. More thrown in there once in a while. It doesn’t go too in depth about pressure points or ki past a few explanations that my eyes glazed over in the beginning.

Final Verdict
7/10
I’m a sucker for a well drawn martial arts story. I found the most enjoyable part being the cross dressing as I found the friendship the MC had developed with the love interest(?) to be very endearing and a very engaging part of the story. The rest after has a good few moments and I never got bored with the story enough to stop reading. It’s worth a read if you’re into martial art stories and can suck up some more long winded parts