Atticus sat cross-legged with a katana in his grasp, his eyes closed as he cleared his mind of any thoughts, maintaining absolute focus.
Seeing Atticus ready, Cedric began speaking, "The first step is easy: channel your mana into your Katana."
The first step was indeed straightforward, something even novice-ranked individuals could accomplish, let alone Atticus, who possessed excellent mana control.
With a single-minded focus, a blue glow suddenly enveloped the katana in his right hand.
Cedric continued, "Now, the next step is a little more complicated. You have to synchronize the flow of the mana in your body with that of the katana," he instructed.
The following step was a bit more challenging than simply channeling mana into the katana. Channeling mana into an object involved actively infusing your katana with your mana. It was essentially just pushing your mana into the weapon.
In contrast, synchronizing your mana with an object meant harmonizing your own mana, the mana in your body, with that of the katana.
You don't force your mana into the katana but rather become attuned to the mana in the katana, ensuring that both flows were on the same wavelength.
Synchronization wouldn't be necessary if the object in question were a normal weapon. However, due to the inherent mana that each magic weapon possessed, the mana you channeled into the weapon had a different signature than that in your body.
Synchronization essentially meant ensuring that the mana in your body and the mana in the katana had the same signature.
And once again, this process was child's play for Atticus, who had already learned how to mimic different mana signatures when he was learning the Ethereal Cloak art.
Atticus focused on the mana signature in the katana, immediately noting the difference compared to that in his body. He skillfully manipulated the mana he was channeling into the katana, ensuring that the mana in the katana matched that in his body.
After a few seconds, he successfully synchronized the two.
Cedric's eyes nearly bulged from their sockets at the speed of Atticus's progress. 'In just a few seconds? What the hell is this boy!' he thought to himself.
Then he suddenly remembered he was here to teach Atticus. He cleared his throat, and continued.
"That's excellent! Now, the next step is to release short bursts of mana from your core, making it flow like a river through your body and concentrating the flow on your legs, arms, and the katana's sharp blade."
Atticus listened and released a burst from his core. He concentrated on it, sending some to the katana's blade first.
However, as it reached the tip of his hand holding the hilt of the katana, Atticus suddenly felt that he had lost control, and the mana signature in the katana reverted back to its earlier state, disrupting the flow.
"Hm?" Atticus pondered what had happened.
Cedric immediately released a quiet breath of relief, 'If he had gotten this one immediately too, I would have gone crazy.'
As Cedric was about to explain to Atticus what had happened, he saw Atticus release another burst from his core and smiled, 'Looks like he doesn't know how to deal with a setback.'
Cedric knew that most geniuses, especially those who had never faced a setback in their lives, wouldn't know how to handle a loss. Atticus could have just easily asked him for help, but because of his pride, he'd rather just keep on trying.
Just as he was thinking this, his mouth opened wide as he saw Atticus easily maintaining the synchronization even with the burst.
Atticus had figured out what went wrong initially. The fragile spot where his hands touched the katana was the issue; when the burst reached that point, it disrupted the flow, effectively stopping the synchronization.
After identifying the reason, the rest was easy. All he had to do was focus on that point anytime the burst reached it, stabilizing the flow until it passed through.
But this wasn't as easy as it sounds, as one would need extremely precise mana control and the ability to react swiftly when the burst, moving at a fast speed, reached that point. But with his new and improved perception, this task became child's play.
'What the heck is this boy?' Cedric thought, He felt like everything he knew about talent was being redefined by Atticus. 'This level of talent isn't normal!'
Clearing his thoughts once again, Cedric continued, "The next step is to increase the number of bursts you release. You have to be able to release them rapidly in quick succession and at the same time maintain the synchronization. The faster you release them, the better," Cedric explained.
Atticus started with one burst every 2 seconds to get used to the process. After repeating this for a few minutes, he switched to one burst per second, which he also got used to after half an hour.
Then he switched to two bursts per second. This was more challenging than the previous rates, and Atticus had to increase the intensity of his perception to catch the movements of the bursts and regulate the flow.
After a few hours of getting used to this, Cedric, realizing he had improved beyond his expectations once again, quickly motioned for Atticus to stand.
Cedric stood in front of him and began to speak, "Now, this is the last part. Bringing everything together. All you have to do now is to time every burst release with your movement. Every single movement you make or slash you perform with your katana must be empowered by a burst. Do you understand?" Cedric asked.
Atticus nodded, signaling his understanding.
He closed his eyes, calming his mind, and then he released a burst from his mana core. Deciding to begin with leg movements, he focused the burst on his legs and quickly zoomed forward in a short burst of speed.
Another burst from his mana core, and he dashed to the right. Another, and he swiftly dashed to the left. He continued this pattern repeatedly until he became accustomed to it.
Then he moved on to focusing the bursts on his arms. Releasing the burst, he concentrated it on his arms, resulting in an instantaneous display of countless silver slashes filling the air.
Atticus realized that, unlike with his legs, he could use the bursts in his hands for a wide range of movements.
After repeating this process several times, he finally focused the bursts on the edge of his katana. A blue glow enveloped the blade, and Atticus could feel the intense sharpness contained in that edge.
It felt like it didn't even need to make physical contact to cut; merely coming in close proximity was sufficient.
With the bursts now focused on the blade, Atticus slashed the air with his katana, and its razor-sharp edge sliced through the air, creating an effect that reached up to 10 meters away from him.
Atticus couldn't help but grin as he observed the results. He continued to release more slashes to become accustomed to it and discovered that, even though the mana didn't physically leave the katana's blade, the sharpness of the blade, combined with its speed and other factors, enabled the slashes to affect a 10-meter radius from where he slashed.
After becoming comfortable with these movements individually, he decided to combine everything together. He zoomed from side to side, releasing countless slashes in the air. Each slash split the air with razor-sharp intensity.
Cedric watched all of this from the side with a smile, already growing accustomed to Atticus's astonishing feats.
However, the smile slowly faded, giving way to a sense of sadness. 'You have a long way ahead of you, kid,' he thought.
And just like that, two more months passed, and Atticus stood in front of the enigmatic foe in the hall, his expression serious.
