"You have learned how to use your ears; now we shall move to how to feel."
"'Feel' is the hardest one to master. I am going to leave you to meditate for an hour; try to feel everything around you. I shall give you one hint: use the mana," Magnus instructed.
He continued, "Immediately after one hour, I shall attack without warning."
As soon as Magnus finished speaking, once again, before Atticus could react, a searing bolt of lightning struck him directly on the head, targeting his ears with precision.
The intense surge of energy overwhelmed his auditory system, sending shockwaves through his skull.
As the lightning interfaced with Atticus's ears, it disrupted the normal functioning of the auditory nerve pathways.
The sudden electrical surge caused a temporary deafening effect by overwhelming the delicate mechanisms responsible for sound perception, rendering him momentarily unable to hear.
Atticus staggered, his equilibrium momentarily disrupted by the unexpected assault on his senses.
The entire world suddenly turned silent. Atticus couldn't hear a single thing anymore, and as soon as he lost his hearing, he stumbled forward, quickly using his legs and hands as support to prevent himself from falling to the ground.
Balancing became a real challenge for Atticus now that he had lost his hearing. This was expected, considering the intricate connection between his ears and his sense of balance
With those words, Magnus disappeared and reappeared at the corner of the training room. He sat down cross legged, closed his eyes, and started meditating, leaving Atticus, who was still finding it hard to find his balance.
'Shit,' Atticus thought. He was sure that if he could see, his vision would be turning currently.
After struggling for a minute, Atticus finally managed to sit down on the floor cross legged. He closed his eyelids, even though that changed nothing, and inhaled a deep breath, exhaling after a second.
"Feel," he muttered.
He repeated this process a few times, inhaling and exhaling attempting to follow Magnus's instructions and 'feel'.
Every one of his major senses had been taken away, except for his sense of smell and taste.
Atticus understood why Magnus didn't take that away too; he was clearly targeting the senses Atticus had grown accustomed to using.
As he had become used to his sight and listening, those senses were taken away. Now, he was supposed to 'feel.'
A thought crept into Atticus's mind: What would happen after he had learned this? Would Magnus take away his ability to feel too? The thought made Atticus shiver.
Atticus took a deep breath, deciding to clear his mind of useless thoughts. It was all training; the path to overwhelming strength wasn't meant to be easy.
But regardless, he was determined to push through.
Focusing his entire being on the surface of his skin, Atticus attempted to feel. He recalled Magnus's hint: use the mana. And Atticus did just that, focusing on feeling the mana in the air.
This part was easy for him, as he had done the same thing when learning the ethereal cloak art. Within seconds, he was able to feel the mana in the air within 15 meters of him.
Atticus sensed the bountiful mana in the air. It was abundant, which was expected as he was in the advanced training room. Though, he wasn't complaining; the more mana in the air, the easier it was to feel.
The mana resembled tiny orbs of light floating around in the air.
Atticus concentrated on this feeling, ensuring he had an accurate grasp of the mana in the air— its density, how it reacted to the air, how it responded to inanimate objects, everything.
After about 20 minutes of maintaining this process, Atticus decided to take it to the next level.
One might wonder what the next step was, but Atticus thought it was obvious. Magnus's hint had basically given it all away.
When he was feeling the mana in the air, Atticus could sometimes pick up the positions of objects in the training room. Atticus had initially been confused when he would suddenly feel the position of an object, and then it would disappear in the next second.
But after observing this phenomenon for a few times, Atticus discovered why.
Every time the tiny orbs of mana in the air interacted or basically made contact with any object, he would be able to feel its exact position.
Coming to this conclusion, the next step was obvious: he was going to induce a mana reaction in the air by releasing a pulse from his core.
With that in mind, Atticus released a mana pulse from his core and paid close attention to how it moved.
He onserved how it sent a wave of mana in every direction, making the mana in the air interact with everything within a certain radius, akin to ripples in a pond.
With that, Atticus was able to 'feel' everything within a 15 meter radius from him very clearly for a second. It was as if lightning suddenly struck, illuminating an initially dark area.
Atticus released another pulse and watched as the mana rippled in the air, illuminating the area. He kept releasing pulses at short intervals from each other, trying to get the hang of it.
But suddenly, something frighteningly fast whizzed into the 15 meter radius.
In this situation, there was no need for Atticus to release a pulse for him to see what was coming. Unlike inanimate objects, this was moving.
With the speed it was moving at, it was constantly interacting with the mana in the air, making him able to easily pick up its presence.
As soon as Atticus felt the lightning bolt enter his radius, he reacted immediately, jumping to the side and tumbling and rolling on the floor for a few meters, dodging the lightning bolt.
However, Atticus had already learned his lesson back when he was training his ears. Even with all the movement, he made sure never to lose his concentration for even a single second.
His entire focus was still on feeling any movements in the air, and indeed, not losing concentration was the right decision.
As soon as he stopped rolling, another lightning bolt, moving at a fast speed, entered his range once more, and he swiftly jumped to the side, tumbling once again to evade the lightning bolt. And then the process continued, with Atticus constantly tumbling and rolling on the floor as soon as he felt the lightning bolt enter his range.
No matter how hard he tried, Atticus found it difficult to keep his balance; he couldn't even stand. The best he could do was roll on the ground to dodge.
But he didn't mind. In fact, if one were to look at Atticus's face, they would be extremely confused.
There was currently a huge grin plastered on his face, which was weird considering how extremely pitiful he looked every time he rolled on the floor to dodge a lightning bolt.
Atticus, unlike his current situation, was completely elated. This new spectrum of power that had just opened up to him was completely exhilarating.
Never in his life back on Earth would he have thought that he would be able to 'see' without his vision. And yet, he was currently doing it!
The feeling of growing stronger was… addictive. He loved every single moment of it.
'This… I don't want to stop feeling this,' Atticus thought as he once again rolled on the floor to dodge a lightning bolt.
Magnus watched his grandson as he kept up his pitiful act. His expression was currently neutral, but as the seconds ticked by, Magnus Ravenstein, a man who was known for his stone cold demeanor, broke into a smile.
Magnus had always been someone who love his family above all. He had always been like this.
But the problem was, he found it hard for him to express himself.
Yes, Magnus Ravenstein, the Ravensteins' paragon, a powerhouse of humanity… was shy.
But one couldn't really blame Magnus. This was how he had always been; this was what he had grown up learning from his father, Alveric Ravenstein.
The man had never smiled once; he hardly ever spent time with the family or even showed favoritism toward them. But even with all of this, Magnus had always regarded his father above all.
He had power, he had honor, and he was always fair to everyone no matter what. Magnus had instinctively imitated the character of his father growing up.
He had always wanted to be portrayed and admired by his children and even grandchildren just like his father was, but alas, this led him to being unable to genuinely show his feelings to the family.
The one and only exception was his wife, Freya.
Honestly, many would find it hard to believe that Magnus had opened up to Freya. Given Freya's character, it truly was hard to believe.
But she was the woman Magnus loved most in the world, and she was the one who understood him the most.
Magnus smiled warmly at his grandson, closed his eyes, entering a meditative state, the bolts of lightning forming and shooting towards Atticus showing no sign of stopping.