Atticus felt exhilarated.
The amount of adrenaline coursing through his body at this moment was hard to fathom.
Atticus felt strong, he felt powerful. He felt as though he could do anything, crush anyone.
However, despite having all of these feelings, the five lightning constructs in front of him seemed to keep him occupied.
Their movements were coordinated and precise. Their attacks well-timed and accurate. Three took his front, trying their best to keep him occupied while the remaining two were constantly unleashing attacks on his blind spots.
They were faster, had the numbers, and were unable to feel pain. Regardless, Atticus was still fending them off!
Magnus tried his best not to smile but failed miserably. Contrary to what many thought, he wasn't holding back. Yes, he had limited the constructs' power level to be slightly over Atticus, but that was the only thing he had done.
When it came to their speed and attacks according to their current strength, he wasn't holding back!
"Good, looks like you have mastered body augmentation to an acceptable extent for now. Let's move on."
"The next technique is called electromagnetic manipulation. It is exactly as it sounds, creating electromagnetic fields. By controlling these electromagnetic fields, you can generate electromagnetic pulses and use them to disable electronic devices, create magnetic fields to move metal objects, and manipulate the electromagnetic spectrum."
Atticus watched as just one out of the five constructs backed up, leaving the four to continue attacking him.
'He's about to demonstrate it,'
Atticus realized. However, it seemed as though Magnus had no intention of giving him any breathing space.
The four constructs attacked even more fiercely, unleashing attacks upon attacks, but Atticus had no choice but to split his concentration to see what the last construct was about to do.
After creating enough distance, the construct stretched out its right palm and Atticus's gaze narrowed as he noted the appearance of a static electric field around its palm.
However, it didn't stop there; the electrons started moving in a circular path within its palm, creating a current that generated an magnetic field. Then, it synchronized the electric and magnetic fields, creating an electromagnetic field.
Atticus didn't see how, but multiple round metal objects appeared around the construct, floating around it as though obeying its every command.
"Any metal that enters this field will be under your absolute control. Now, replicate it,"
Magnus had said that gently, but his next actions were far from gentle.
The remaining four constructs stopped attacking and backed up together. Within a second, each formed an electromagnetic field all around them, a staggering number of pointed metal objects floating all around them.
They each appeared small and pointed at one edge akin to a sniper's bullet.
At this stage, Atticus was well aware that even a sniper shot directly on his forehead wouldn't affect him. However, he doubted if he could say the same thing about the projectiles floating around each construct, especially depending on the speed they were shot.
Atticus wasted no time and immediately replicated what the constructs had done, but before he could finish, the sound of multiple projectiles piercing the air resonated through the atmosphere and Atticus's gaze immediately widened before instinctively unleashing a surge of lightning towards his right that pushed him out of the way.
'Shit!'
Atticus groaned in pain, gazing at the blood gushing out of his right arm.
Three projectiles had been able to hit him, and he had been right; they couldn't be compared to normal bullets. Each projectile had lightning vibrating at a fast speed around them, increasing their penetrating power.
Atticus ignored the pain and focused lightning around that area to stop the bleeding.
Regaining his focus, he completed his electromagnetic field just in time for another round to be shot. However, this time, Atticus simply stood in place, and when each projectile entered his field, regardless of their speed, they each abruptly stopped mid-air.
With a thought, Atticus shot them right back at their sender before augmenting his body and shooting forward to continue another round of clashes.
High above the air, at the top of the eight elemental sanctums, exactly eight figures floated in the air, each one as unique-looking as the last.
These individuals were none other than the sanctum masters that Atticus had just learned about the different elements from.
They were each floating together on top of the sanctums; however, their gazes were fixed on the lightning sanctum where a particular 16-year-old was receiving training from their paragon.
The only one Atticus wouldn't recognize here would be the lightning sanctum master.
He had a large physique with a long beard plaited into a warrior braid.
It was obvious that Magnus wanted the best of the best to train Atticus, and there was no one who could claim to be the best in lightning other than a paragon of the lightning element himself.
They each had different thoughts going through their heads.
The sound of someone clicking their tongue echoed.
"Oo, why so gloomy, Isolde? Jealous much?"
The air sanctum master, Aeolus twirled his mustache with his finger without taking his eyes off the ongoing training. He and the others already knew the only person who would do something like that was the ice sanctum master.
Isolde shot Aeolus a death stare before clicking her tongue once more.
Aeolus sneered. "I hate hypocrisy the most. We've all heard your sob story about how you clawed your way to the top. Tell me, can you confidently say you could withstand what he's currently going through when you were 16?"
Isolde, who had wanted to immediately retort, went silent before her face darkened. The training Magnus was currently putting Atticus through was hellish in its entirety. If it had been her 16-year-old self, she wouldn't have gotten this far, and she knew it.
Isolde clenched her fist before suddenly disappearing from the scene.
"Stop being a big bully, Aeolus,"
The soothing voice of the light sanctum master, Aeliana, sounded, and the firm expression on Aeolus's face immediately melted.
He scratched the back of his head awkwardly,
"I was just stating the truth,"
Aeliana shook her head,
"But you could have done it nicely,"
Aeolus's cleared his throat and turned away.
"On a more serious note, is he okay?"
Aeliana and the other sanctum masters finally turned away from the training to look at Ulithi, the darkness sanctum master, whose clothes were already drenched with sweat, looking as though he had run a marathon.