Hi,

Can someone link a tutorial on how to create a similar effect without using photoshop actions? Not sure if this is the right forum or not.

Looks fake tbh. I went to graphicex.com and the tagline has the word 'free' in it, so why not download it?

you could try gimp

You could try downloading the action and then dissect it (see what it does in each layer and what effects it adds, then try to replicate it)
If you don't have Photoshop and wondering how to do it somewhere else, it's not that hard to find Photoshop

the action license is like 10 bucks on the site i found
from the pic you posted it just looks like more or less simple lighting effects stacked on top of eachother
i googled photoshop tutorial lightning and this came up, some of the tuts previews look like something you could be looking for with this topic
http://www.demilked.com/light-effect-photoshop-tutorials/

you definantly got your hands full with that..