During these two weeks, Atticus had been training and absorbing mana nonstop. His entire routine was simple and straightforward.
Absorb mana, eat, and keep on absorbing mana again until he needed to recover his energy. This was all Atticus did. The only time he ventured out of this routine was when his body begged him to sleep.
Staying awake and in place for days took its toll on his mind, and Atticus had no other choice but to rest a bit. Afterward, he would continue absorbing mana once more.
Atticus' eyes flickered open from his meditating position.
'I've reached the bottleneck,'
This was what he had been chasing all week long. This bottleneck was a level one would have to overcome in order to advance through a major rank.
'Now I just need to overload my body,'
His mana core was already filled to the brim with mana, but Atticus had to hold it in and stop it from evolving. His body wouldn't be able to handle the abrupt change.
To cross over a bottleneck wasn't too hard. All Atticus had to do was overload his body with mana. However, he wouldn't be absorbing mana into his core this time around. This time Atticus would have to absorb and layer it on his body until his body evolved to an extent where it was okay to evolve his mana core.
The only issue with this was that it would take a significant amount of energy depending on the rank he was evolving to, along with time to gather mana in his body. Considering the fact that it was the master rank, everything would end up being a lot.
'I should get food first before I start,'
Atticus stood up and sent a glance at the piles upon piles of meatless bones on one side of the platform.
At this point, it was shocking that Atticus hadn't gotten chubby.
After stretching, Atticus made his way outside the cavern and on top of the tree after a few seconds.
This had been his routine all week. He would simply wait for prey to come before attacking.
Many might call him cowardly, but Atticus didn't care. He was mainly focused on advancing his rank. Even if this was all he gained in the two months he would spend in the chasm, it would be very fine by him.
Atticus hid himself in the tree and waited. However, despite waiting for a few hours, nothing came.
'Shit, it can't be that I ran out of my luck already, right?'
Atticus had a terrible feeling about this.
Regardless, he decided to wait for some more time. But it was all for naught as Atticus waited for hours more, and no single beast showed up.
'Something happened in the span of two days,'
The last time he hunted had been two days ago, and he hadn't faced any challenges then.
'Let's observe some more,'
Atticus manipulated the air molecules and made himself fly down the river path. He felt he was missing something.
The search for the missing piece lasted a very long while, so long that Atticus regretted embarking on it in the first place. It was valuable time that should be spent absorbing mana!
However, after more than 5 hours, Atticus' efforts finally bore fruit. He noticed one creature approaching the water with careful steps.
The creature resembled a lion; however, it was 10 times more massive and had 5 heads. The fur of its collective body was black, but each head had a different color. Atticus could feel the heavy molecules of air around its body, meaning it had an elemental affinity.
The beast released a low growl as it neared the water, as though attempting to chase away anything that might be in the water.
Not sensing anything, the creature moved and started drinking the water.
Atticus watched all of this silently. He felt as though there was something going on but wasn't sure what.
'If nothing happens, I'll attack and kill it,'
Atticus held in the urge to kill the beast immediately and continued observing. Once again, his patience paid off.
Out of nowhere, and at a speed that left both the beast and Atticus struggling to react, multiple blue tendrils shot from the river, piercing each head of the beast lethally.
The beast tried to move, but more tendrils shot out of the water, wrapping around it and dragging it into the river.
Atticus gulped.
That was intense! This scene just reminded him how dangerous this place was. In the span of weeks, an even more dangerous beast had replaced the one he had killed.
'I can't hunt here anymore,'
Given the situation, Atticus determined that he could no longer use this spot for hunting. The reason he had hunted here in the first place was because he could ambush solitary beasts.
However, he couldn't do that again since there was something dangerous in the water.
'I have to enter the forest,'
He decided. It was going to be more dangerous, but this was his best course of action. The creature in the water was undoubtedly a master+ rank, and unlike before, Atticus had no bait to lure it out.
Waiting for another beast to show up seemed unlikely. He had been searching for the reason before, but it seemed the reason the beasts were avoiding this place was because of that creature.
Atticus turned his gaze towards the crimson forest and inhaled heavily.
He had to be fast, quiet, and swift. He could do all those things, but that didn't make this any easier.
He decided to stop dilly-dallying and get a move on. At this point, his ethereal cloak art had been made completely useless as it was only an advanced rank art.
Any and every beast in the area was at least master rank; they would spot him in a heartbeat.
Instead, he chose to use the shades of the trees. If there was one thing Atticus had, it was the versatility of his elements. Atticus used the move he learned from Ulithi and moved from one shadow to another.
Luckily, the sun was high in the sky, and the shadows of trees and their branches were numerous.
The darkness molecules enveloped Atticus, and he descended from the tree silently.
With focus, Atticus began using the shadows to move.