281 Going Back
Atticus had secretly broken through the expert rank last year, and at the current speed he was advancing, he would advance one more rank by next year.
One of the major things that usually slowed Atticus's progress was his need to train his other powers.
Atticus had far too many bloodline elements and arts to train. He couldn't just absorb mana all day, neglecting these things.
Doing that would make him have a high rank but low battle strength, making it easier for someone of a lower rank to defeat him.
Apart from the fact that he had to train his elements, Atticus still had to do personalized training with Magnus, also shortening his mana absorption time.
But even with all of these distractions, Atticus was still advancing at a faster pace incomparable to others in the human domain.
If Atticus could simply absorb mana all day without doing anything else, considering when he had awakened and his enormous talent, he had no doubt that he would have broken into the master rank and maybe be on the cusp of entering the grandmaster rank.
At 15 years old.
This was simply how great his mythical talent was. Atticus's mana absorption rate was completely incomparable to anyone in the human domain.
An individual training and absorbing mana was required to slow down the rate at which it was being absorbed to cater for the body's adaptation.
Absorb too much at too little time, and the body won't have enough time to adapt and get strained.
But currently, there was nothing like that going on. Atticus simply kept absorbing mana in the surrounding at a fast rate, his talent so great that his body was visibly adapting as more mana was being absorbed.
Although Atticus was sitting with his eyes closed and absorbing mana, he still had complete awareness of his surroundings.
If anything were to try and sneak up on him, they would be swiftly dealt with.
But Atticus doubted that something that stupid would happen; the Shadow Seraphon should have gained a little bit of common sense by now.
After absorbing mana for a few hours, Atticus finally decided it was time to head back to the camp.
The illumination rune Atticus had earlier used had long since lost its light and crumbled. He didn't see any need to replace it during his training as he had his eyes closed in the first place.
He brought out a few of them from his space storage, channeling his mana into them, he tossed them around the cave, their forms instantly brightening up the cavern.
Standing up, Atticus saw that the Shadow Seraphon had already left the place where it was lying down earlier.
Sweeping his gaze around the cavern, he saw the beast at the far end of the cavern, hanging on one of the stalagmites jutting out from the ceiling, its blood-red eyes locked onto Atticus's form, trembling slightly.
Although it hadn't fully healed, Atticus could see that the Shadow Seraphon's healing capabilities were truly remarkable.
Some of the tendrils he had cut off had already regrown, with the others not that far off.
From the look the beast was giving Atticus; it was as though the beast was begging him to leave.
Atticus chuckled slightly. The situation was incredibly baffling to him. To see a master- rank beast acting this scared was something many would never believe could happen.
'Am I truly that scary?' The thought crossed Atticus's mind. He had asked himself this same question when Chubby was acting scared in the mess hall.
'Can't be. I'm a fun person, right?' He didn't see himself as scary, at the very least, he believed himself to be fun.
Atticus stopped thinking about these trivial things and started walking towards the exit of the cavern.
Reaching there in a few seconds, he turned towards the beast, his piercing blue eyes meeting its blood-red ones.
The Shadow Seraphon trembled slightly as it met Atticus's gaze, its form shifting backward.
Atticus simply gave it a second-long stare and then turned and started heading towards the exit of the cave.
Atticus had spent a longer time inside the cavern than during the first visit, which made some aspects of the mana signature change.
After a few minutes of absolute focus, he replicated the signature and stepped out into the forest.
Atticus stood backing the cliff wall illusion at the entrance, gazing around the small space.
A thought suddenly popped up in his head.
'How far are the other divisions? Are we allowed to attack them? What happens if we win and capture their territory; do we control the other division too?'
All these thoughts popped up randomly in Atticus's head, but instead of simply thinking about it, he decided to ask the Oracle.
And upon asking, Atticus received a response he had been expecting,
The Oracle apologizes. The current first-year students aren't authorized to have knowledge about this information yet. I would suggest simply waiting until you are informed about it in the future.
"Any idea when that future is?"
When it is necessary.
Hearing the short and succinct response of the Oracle, Atticus decided to stop questioning it.
With a thought, Atticus manipulated the wind to wrap around him, lifting him up in the air as his figure shot skyward.
He reached the top of the supposed cliff in a few seconds, landing on top of it. And from the top, he got an expansive view of the surrounding forest.
It was without a doubt beautiful. But Atticus could only describe this scene in three words: big trees everywhere.
The cliff was just a few feet taller than the trees, and Atticus could only see tall and imposing trees in every direction.
"Where would I even start?" Atticus muttered with a chuckle.
He had initially been thinking of going in search of any random divisions before.
But, gazing at the trees sprawled out in every direction with no indication of there being any other divisions around, he decided to kill that thought.
Atticus jumped down from the cliff, using the air element to lift himself up in the air as his form burst through the forest at unseen speeds.
He didn't activate his ethereal cloak art this time around.
Atticus's intention before going back to camp was to unleash a massacre in the forest.
