As both their figures blurred, Atticus observed slowly as robot Magnus appeared in the air, his spear crackling with intensified lightning, coalescing at the tip.
Suddenly, streaks of lightning shot from the spear's tip, slicing through the air with deadly precision and hurtling toward Atticus at extraordinary speed.
Simultaneously, robot Avalon materialized a few meters to Atticus's right. Fists ablaze with intense fire, the robot unleashed a relentless barrage of punches.
Each fiery fist rocketed toward Atticus, closing the distance at breakneck speed. Just as it seemed the barrage was about to connect, Atticus's figure vanished from their view, reappearing in the blink of an eye directly above robot Magnus in the air.
He infused his leg with a dense surge of mana, coiling it back for maximum impact. With all his gathered momentum, he executed a thunderous kick aimed squarely at the robot's head.
The impact was like a resounding clap of thunder, deforming the robot's head and sending it hurtling through the air. Atticus's forceful kick slammed robot Magnus into robot Avalon, both robos crashing violently onto the ground.
Before they could grasp what had just occurred, Atticus landed on the floor, immediately focusing on the earth element.
With a swift gesture, a sharp earthen spike erupted from the ground right beneath the fallen robots. The spike impaled both figures and left them suspended in the air, helpless.
An AI voice sounded, [Congratulations! You won. Do you want to leave your data behind for the next generation?]
"No," Atticus replied immediately. He had no idea who, apart from him, used this training room. While only a select few used it, he still didn't know all of them.
He had no intention of showing people that he didn't know his full power. Even though Arya was currently watching him and knew how strong he currently was, Arya was different, and he trusted her.
From the information he had gathered, the AI would save his data automatically, but it wouldn't be used without him giving acknowledgment. Regardless, Atticus remained cautious.
"Don't save my data from now on and delete the ones you've saved until now," Atticus instructed the AI.
[Deleting... Data of Atticus Ravenstein has been successfully deleted.] the AI responded.
Atticus controlled the earthen spike to retract back into the ground. 'So facing strong Advanced+ ranks won't be a problem,' Atticus thought. It was to be remembered that Magnus and Avalon were considered geniuses among geniuses in the human domain, remaining undefeated when facing those of the same rank. Yet Atticus had no issues defeating them. And he was two sub ranks below them!
Granted, one cannot compare the robots who simply copied the actual individuals. Still, it didn't change the fact that it was a significant achievement.
'Good, now I can start the actual training,' Atticus thought. His plan had simply been to gauge his strength and see his limits when he had decided to fight the duo. This fight had revealed a lot to him. Although he was already aware that his perception was way beyond his level, it wasn't something someone at his rank should possess, and that was why his body struggled to keep up with it.
Before he used the rapid burst, he saw their movements clearly but couldn't react. However, when he utilized the burst, he was able to follow their movement and even move faster.
Since he already had a good grasp of his capabilities, he decided to get on with his actual training. There was only one way Atticus knew how to get stronger fast, and that was by pushing and straining himself to the limits.
His training method was simple: fight against very strong opponents with diverse bloodlines. They would make him strain himself and gain experience battling different types of opponents with different powers.
Atticus walked to the panel on the wall and selected the data for both Magnus and Avalon at the Expert rank.
He decided to continue fighting them for now because he wanted to get used to the strength of expert ranks before battling others with different bloodlines.
Immediately, the forms of both robots got up and walked over to the platform, which then lit up with a bright glow. New Liquid Metal came out from below and enveloped their forms. After a few seconds, new, larger forms of both Avalon and Magnus, radiating a more formidable aura, were formed. They both got down from the platform and walked over to stand on one end of the stage, unmoving.
Atticus walked to the other end of the stage. This time, he decided to take this seriously from the start. He unsheathed his katana, intensifying his perception to its maximum level, determined not to miss even the slightest hint of the robots' movements.
Releasing rapid bursts, he dashed towards the robots. However, not having even moved for a few meters, Atticus's eyes widened, and with a burst of agility, he quickly veered to the right, narrowly avoiding a blazing fire punch that surged through the space he had just occupied moments before.
Before he could even catch his breath, another fiery punch followed, prompting Atticus to dart to the left, and then another, and another, forcing him to keep on dodging constantly.
Before he could even think about how to get out of this, clouds suddenly formed in the sky, and lightning instantaneously descended from the clouds at fast speed towards Atticus. He acted immediately, once again darting to the side, evading the strike.
Atticus's perception was operating at full throttle as he continued to evade the lightning strikes and fire shaped punches relentlessly targeting him. He unleashed rapid bursts one after the other, dashing from side to side with beads of sweat forming on his forehead, while both robots hadn't even moved one bit from their initial position.
Robot Magnus remained unmoving, lightning cracking around his body as he simply controlled streaks of lightning to descend on him, while Avalon's figure blurred, releasing punch after punch with an almost eerie precision, yet not shifting an inch from its starting point.
