Atticus's eyes glinted as a thought crossed his mind.
'Right… it's been almost a year already.'
Time had passed so quickly, so quietly, that he hadn't even realized the camp had an expiration date.
He nodded. "What does the graduation ceremony entail?"
Viktor smiled slightly, having expected that question.
"It's the final challenge for your team, General. But unlike the simulated battlefields you've faced so far, this will be a large-scale battle royale against other teams. Every recruit team will be pitted against one another in a real combat scenario. The objective will vary depending on the battlefield chosen, but in the end, only one team will come out victorious."
Atticus exhaled sharply through his nose. "Of course," he muttered.
He had expected something like this.
'Why couldn't they just have a normal graduation?'
Still, he wasn't worried. Over the past months, leadership had become second nature to him. Even if he couldn't personally fight, he couldn't imagine a scenario where he lost.
Before the thought could settle completely, he quickly spoke inwardly.
'Don't worry, I'm not being cocky.'
He was sure Ozeroth was about to erupt.
Ozeroth scoffed. "Relax, Bond. This isn't cockiness, it's simply the truth. Ants should be identified as ants. If they can't compete, they have no business stepping onto the battlefield."
Atticus sighed inwardly. 'There it is.'
But Ozeroth wasn't done. "As my Bond, it's only fair that you think on my wavelength. Confidence is a necessity."
"And humility?" Atticus teased.
"An unnecessary burden."
Atticus shook his head, suppressing a smirk, before nodding to Viktor. "Anything else?"
Viktor shook his head. "No, General. I will excuse myself now."
He saluted before swiftly departing, leaving the island.
Atticus stood still for a moment, watching the sky.
Then, he turned his thoughts inward.
'A large-scale battle royale…'
He closed his eyes, his mind already processing every variable, every possibility.
It felt unnecessary, like a waste of time. Regardless, a smile appeared on his face.
He couldn't deny it. The thrill of orchestrating a battlefield, controlling everything like a marionette on strings, it was intense. He loved seeing his plans fall into place.
'This is going to be fun.'
His thoughts shifted to the upcoming banquet.
'It's not going to be as simple as socializing.'
The tension between the races had never been higher. If the military thought that bringing their brightest and most talented together under one roof would make them bond, then they were even more naïve than Atticus had ever imagined.
Atticus shook his head. 'There's no way they're that naïve.'
'A way to probe and show supremacy.'
The banquet was held before the graduation ceremony. 'Another test?'
Atticus couldn't help but think this was one of Zenon's mind games.
'He's giving everyone a chance to probe their opponents before the competition.'
'Stop wasting your intellect, Bond. It won't change anything,' Ozeroth said.
'Weren't you the one who encouraged me to observe and analyze everything?'
Ozeroth scoffed.
'Observe and analyze what matters. Not useless stuff.'
Atticus rolled his eyes.
'What terrible advice.'
He quickly tuned out Ozeroth, who erupted in protest.
Atticus shook his head. "I better check my improvements."
He muttered before calling his status.
**Character Profile:
Name: Atticus Ravenstein
Age: 18 → 19
Gender: Male
Race: Human-Authrinian Hybrid
Attributes:
• Strength: 1350 → 1365
• Agility: 1380 → 1393
• Endurance: 1432 → 1448
• Vitality: 1609 → 1618
• Intelligence: 505 → 510
• Perception: 409 → 415
• Charm: 602 → 607
• Will: 323 → 327
• Level: Grandmaster
• Talent: Mythical
• Bloodline: Primordial Elemental Bloodline
Elements:
Level 4:
• Fire: 80%
• Water: 80%
• Air: 80%
• Earth: 80%
• Light: 80%
• Lightning: 80%
• Ice: 80%
• Spirit Element: 80%
• Space: 80%
• Darkness: 80%
Level 3:
• None
Level 2:
• None
Level 1:
• None
Locked Bloodlines:
• Blood Element - 34%
Abilities:
Innate Skills:
• Conceal [Potential: Mythical]
• The ability to conceal your level from anyone, regardless of rank. You may choose what level you want to be shown.
• Current Mastery: Mythical
Life Weapon Skills:
• Transcendent Slash: Godspeed Grace
• Endless Strike
• Vorpal Nova
• Sundering Storm
Normal Skills:
• Arcane Barrier [Potential: Transcendent]
• Current Mastery: Paragon-
• Elemental Mimicry [Potential: Transcendent]
• Current Mastery: Grandmaster+
• Ethereal Cloak [Potential: Empowered]
• Current Mastery: Grandmaster+
??? (Collective Potential: Transcendent):
• Dimensional Loop: Expert → Expert+
• Predatory Perception: Expert → Expert+
• Immunity Buildup: Expert → Expert+
• Slow Decay: Expert → Expert+
• Pain Resistance: Expert → Expert+
• Aura Masking: Expert → Expert+
• Revenant's Touch: Expert → Expert+
• Metabolic Boost: Expert → Expert+
• Nullification Field: Expert → Expert+
Auralithian Abilities:
• Echo Manipulation: Ability to summon a temporary echo of yourself or an ally for assistance.
• Current Mastery: Paragon-
• Temporal Glimpse: Replay the last 1 second of an event to observe or correct actions.
• Current Mastery: Paragon-
• Dimensional Phasing: Ability to shift partially into the Echo Realm, making you intangible to physical attacks but vulnerable to mana-based or spiritual strikes.
• Current Mastery: Paragon-
• Memory Weaving: Weave fragments of memories from the Echo Realm into objects, weapons, or even people, allowing knowledge, emotions, or abilities to be stored. (LOCKED)
• Echo Bind: Bind the echoes of others (living or dead) to yourself, gaining insights, borrowing abilities, or summoning spectral allies. (LOCKED)
…
A brief glance was all Atticus needed to take note of the changes in his status.
His stats had increased slightly. His rank remained the same, but Atticus blamed his current bottleneck for that.
His elements had all peaked at 80%. In a full year of training, they hadn't budged. Not even a bit.
'I hope this will work.'
Atticus didn't like the fact that he had been stationary for so long. Because of this, he had spent most of his days over the past year trying to come up with solutions to his problem.
And after days of painstaking theories and research, he had come up with something he believed was the most ideal.
'I have to level them up together.'
Ascending to the Paragon rank meant reaching such a level with one's bloodline that they became one with it.
But unlike other Ravensteins, whose bloodlines consisted of just one element, Atticus's bloodline was the culmination of multiple.
Which meant he had to combine or level them up together.
In fact, it hadn't taken him long to reach this conclusion.
But the reason why he was still stuck in this bottleneck?
He had no idea how to combine them.