Atticus gazed at his stats with a neutral stare as he made his way out of the room.
It was always very disheartening to work hard and at the end of the day see minimal progress.
Yes, gradual improvement was the path to strength, but Atticus also believed that if one didn't train efficiently and in the right way, they would simply be wasting their time.
The level 3 elements that Atticus had been trying so hard to increase had all shown a slight improvement.
Atticus hadn't been expecting mind-boggling progress, but if this was the result of just one hour of training, no words could describe how happy he felt.
The space element, in which Atticus had been struggling to increase his exposure number, had increased significantly in just one hour of training.
Many might see one or two points as insignificant, but Atticus, who had been the one doing all the training and suffering, knew how much of a milestone this was.
Atticus gazed at the exposure numbers for his space element. He had done a simple calculation when he had first found out that teleportation runes could help increase the numbers.
He needed to spam approximately three thousand runes to unlock the element. Given the number of runes he was getting every day, Atticus surmised that it would have taken him about 170 days to reach that amount.
Atticus had only started spamming the runes a few days ago, so at most, his exposure number should've only increased by one.
Which was why looking at the staggering 3-point increase when he had clearly only spent one hour outside the room was astonishing. Atticus couldn't even explain how he was feeling.
It was as if he should to pack each one of the elemental rooms and take them back to his division.
"You're all clearly being undervalued here; I'll take care of you,"
At this point, Atticus was already outside the room, gazing at the door with reluctance.
Just as he was about to start walking away, a thought struck him.
Atticus might find it hard to comprehend the higher-ups' thought process, but from what he had seen until now, it was easy to surmise that the academy simply didn't like giving out free stuff.
The same should obviously be applicable to this current situation. Which meant, 'I should be able to use points to increase my training time.'
Atticus tapped on his artifact, navigating to the oracle section, and swiftly asked if his assumption was correct. The Oracle's response was immediate.
"Affirmative. Every student is allowed to use points to purchase a longer training period in the elemental rooms," the Oracle responded.
"How many points would I need to extend the time?" Atticus inquired further.
"Each room costs differently and takes more or less effort to maintain than the others. So far, the Space Elemental Room, due to its rarity, commands the highest cost, standing at about 5000 points per hour. The other elemental rooms range from 3000 to 4000 points," the Oracle clarified.
Atticus released a deep sigh of relief. At least the academy wasn't too heartless! He had completely expected the worst when he heard about how rare the space elemental room was.
"Are there limits to the number of hours I can purchase?"
"Negative. There aren't any limits, but no student is allowed on the academy campus after 7 PM."
"Two hours, five days a week," Atticus muttered absentmindedly with a small frown.
He had already suspected that there would be something like this. It was just like a curfew.
The last thing the academy would want was the students staying on campus and neglecting their divisions.
His head quickly swirled as he calculated how long it would take to unlock his space element.
In less than a second, Atticus came to an answer, and his lips couldn't help but curl up into a huge grin.
Unlike the previous 170 days he had calculated earlier, going by the notion of two points in one hour, it would take less than 50 hours to unlock his space element!
Which meant that it would take about 5 weeks for him to unlock the space element!
"Good. Looks like this will be my new training spot," Atticus muttered with a small smile. His smile suddenly intensified as he recalled something, "But not now."
Atticus suddenly turned his gaze away from the door and started towards the exit.
He would have truly loved to keep training until the two hours were up, but Atticus had plans today.
On his way out, Atticus met Seraphin, who flashed him a huge smile and waved upon seeing him.
Regardless of how many times Atticus saw him, there was always one word that came to his head: weirdo. The boy was truly weird.
But Atticus had neither the time nor energy to ponder what his deal was. He kept walking, stepping out of the room in a few seconds.
Atticus continued toward the end of the hall and entered a men's bathroom.
He could see some youths washing their hands at the sink in front of the large wall-mounted mirror.
The bathroom looked just like any other, with a couple of sinks in front of a mirror and an array of toilet booths behind.
As soon as Atticus's tall, white-haired figure and piercing blue eyes appeared in the mirror, every one of their eyes almost bulged out of their sockets.
Their forms immediately flinched, and they started washing their hands rapidly, not making a sound.
Atticus subtly raised an eyebrow at their reaction. 'Isn't this a little too much?'
The youths in the bathroom were of lower tiers, and he knew that each of them wouldn't want to cross a tier one, but their reactions to his entry had been far too exaggerated.
Atticus couldn't help but suspect that something was going on.
The students washed their hands quickly and bolted out of the bathroom like lightning.
"Hmm," Atticus stared at the door for a few seconds before averting his gaze.
He would find out later.
Atticus entered one of the booths, which, despite its moderate size, was very spacious.
Each booth was accompanied by a fancy toilet in the middle, a large screen TV, and even a couch. There was also a shelf filled with books on the side for readers.