The darkness sanctum was gloomy. It didn't help that it was next to the light sanctum.
To Atticus, it was as though he had left a place full of excitement and life for a place devoid of any. The darkness sanctum stood like a mass of blackness, absorbing all light from its surroundings.
Atticus walked forward and approached the gates of the darkness sanctum.
'Let's get this over with,'
This was all Atticus could think about. After learning the darkness element, he would finally be done with the seven elements and could face lightning. After that, it would be all about continuous training and improvement. He couldn't wait to be done.
Atticus stood in front of the gate and waited patiently. Unlike the other times, there was no one either waiting for him or arriving after a few seconds.
The whole area was silent.
"Should I go over the wall?"
Atticus was getting a little impatient. Standing alone amidst the gloom was somehow getting to him.
But as though they could hear his thoughts, the gates of the darkness sanctum suddenly swung open and a voice sounded from within,
"Come in."
It was the voice of an old man. It sounded nonchalant and lazy. He could even hear the subtle sound of a sigh as he spoke.
Atticus fixed his gaze on the inside of the darkness sanctum. It was completely pitch black, and he couldn't see anything no matter how hard he tried.
The darkness element gave him a passive ability that enabled him to somewhat see in the darkness, even if he didn't try, but currently, he was trying his best and still couldn't see.
'My life is not in danger,'
Those were the words Atticus used to reassure himself. If not for the protection of one of the most powerful existences on the planet, he wouldn't even think of entering this place.
Atticus walked through the gates, and instantly, every single notion of light left him. All he could see was pitch darkness, an infinite void.
He could still feel his body, and all his senses aside from his vision were functioning properly.
Atticus suddenly heard the man sigh again and speak,
"Looks like I have no choice, how annoying."
The man sounded as though everything and everyone was a bother.
"I guess I have to train you… Find me then. If you can't, then you should leave and not waste my time."
Atticus could hear the slight hope in the man's voice. He really didn't want Atticus to find him.
"Do I have your word that you will not move from your current position?"
The man was undoubtedly the sanctum master of the darkness sanctum, a grandmaster rank of the darkness element. Should Atticus play hide and seek with the man, he couldn't even dream of finding him.
It was better to lay down the rules from the beginning.
The voice went silent for a second before he spoke,
"Hmph. So you can use your head, huh? It's not like I plan on doing something so dishonorable in the first place."
'Lies,'
Atticus knew it was a very big lie but didn't say anything. He had pulled another short stick and had gotten a weird instructor.
'I just have to get over this element, and it'll be over,' still, Atticus was determined.
"So I have your word?"
The man went silent.
"Tsk. Annoying brat. Yes! You have my word. If you're so hellbent on rules, here are some more. You have one hour to find me or you lose.
No other element is allowed. You have to see and tell me the color of my dress and how I look in every detail."
Atticus nodded. To be honest, he had been expecting one more rule, but the man didn't say it. 'Is he underestimating me?'
Atticus decided to stop thinking about it and immediately started his search.
The man had forgotten to add one important rule, the banning of perception.
Atticus couldn't see, but he could use his sense of feel to locate. The man might have said he had to identify the color of his clothing, but he would cross that bridge when he found him.
Then, Atticus tried to sense his surroundings, his brows furrowing in the next second.
The man suddenly snickered before laughing uncontrollably. It would seem as though Atticus's actions had been that funny.
The laughter reduced in intensity, and the man added, "Oh yeah, I forgot to mention this. The current mana in the air isn't, well, normal mana. So good luck using your perception, pfft!"
The man couldn't hold back his laughter and continued laughing.
'He's crazy,'
Atticus had no doubts about it now. This old man was crazy. There was simply no other explanation.
Atticus shook his head and ignored the old man's laughter. He instantly entered analysis mode.
He could feel the mana in the air, but that was it. He couldn't form the connection he usually formed or control them. There was no feedback coming from them.
'No, not just that. The darkness molecules too.'
Since he entered the sanctum, Atticus had been trying to get a feel for the darkness molecules, if there were any. However, while he could feel something, it stopped there.
It was odd. This was the darkness sanctum, which meant that the darkness molecules should be abundant. He could feel that, but why couldn't Atticus control them?
Atticus's mind worked fast and shifted through different scenarios until something suddenly came to his head. It was two things, in fact.
The scene of the darkness sanctum sucking all the surrounding light replayed vividly in his head and the first days of his lessons at the fire sanctum.
'That could be it.'
Atticus had already stopped moving immediately when the old man asked him to find him. He was sure there were buildings and other amenities in the area, even people too. But he couldn't see or feel them. He had no doubt they could see him.
For the second thing, during his first days at the fire sanctum, Atticus had discovered that he couldn't control the fire molecules that someone had connected with already. It was as though the person had already infused his or her will into it.
This small fact could explain why he couldn't control the darkness molecules. It was also an element used for concealment and deceit. He wasn't too surprised that he couldn't hear anyone or feel anyone's presence in the area.
While the first, made Atticus remember the principle of forming ice. He had to use the mana in the air to suck heat from the water molecules. What if it was the same thing here?
The darkness sanctum was sucking the light from the surroundings. What if it was just mana sucking the light from photons?
The light photons to the darkness element are what the water molecules are to the ice element.
This analogy solved more than one puzzling question.
For ice, mana absorbed heat, but he could still feel the mana in the air. However, light was different. What if the reason he couldn't feel the mana in the air was because it was oversaturated with light?
Atticus didn't ponder this for long. He instead focused on the important issue at hand, controlling the darkness molecules.
Atticus had already established that the molecules around him belonged to someone else, so, he decided to create his own.
The mana in the air might be unreachable, but Atticus could feel all the elements molecules in the air and most importantly, photons.
He couldn't control the mana but he could control the photons surprisingly while using the darkness element, but the best he could do was make them move.
Atticus made each photon molecule approach the mana in the air, and just as he had anticipated, it immediately started sucking away the light from it.
Atticus maintained his focus and as soon as he felt he could control the molecules using the darkness element, he stopped and focused, a ball of darkness appearing on his outstretched palm.
He couldn't see it, but he could feel it. It was his darkness.
Next, Atticus acted and converted more photon molecules into darkness molecules and surrounded himself with it. Soon enough, it covered 5 meters away from him and Atticus was glad to see that he could see everything clearly within these five meters.
However, this wasn't enough.
Atticus concentrated even harder and kept on adding darkness molecules around him and after some minutes an area of about 50 meters was covered and could be seen clearly by him.
Atticus swept his gaze around and saw that he had been right, there were buildings around him. If he hadn't been careful he could have walked right into one.
Atticus's gaze narrowed slightly,
'There's no one?'
There was no body in sight and he found that incredibly odd.
This was a school, why wouldn't there be students? He initially thought they would be elsewhere training but he quickly killed that idea.
'They're here, watching me,'
Now that his darkness molecules were spread around, he could notice a lot of things compared to before.
He could see no one in sight, there was no doubt about that. However, Atticus also noticed something else.
In multiple spots inside his darkness radius, there were some areas that he couldn't accurately control. It was as though his darkness molecules were being obstructed by something or…
'People,' Atticus deduced.
If they used their own molecules to surround themselves, then he wouldn't be able to control what was happening around them.
'Perfect,'
After coming to this conclusion, Atticus approached the nearest one and suddenly spoke with a smile,
"Hello, my name is Atticus Ravenstein. If it's not too much trouble, could you point me towards the direction of the Sanctum Master?"