It was a very delicate situation, one that required Atticus to take a staggering number of things into consideration.
Below him was a very powerful creature that Atticus believed had a certain amount of intelligence, along with a multitude of other beasts approaching its location.
All around him in the air were different flying creatures coming at him from different directions.
However, despite this alarming situation, Atticus had his thoughts focused on something else: what beast was he going to eat today?
Should anyone hear this question, they would immediately freak out. Is now really the best time to think of such a thing?
But Atticus didn't care. It was a valid question. Should he run away now, he wouldn't be able to come outside for a while because the beasts would be on alert.
In lieu of this, Atticus' quick mind thought of a solution the second he heard the flying creatures screech.
The air molecules responded to his command, his figure shooting upwards once again towards the dense clouds in the sky.
The flying beasts screeched upon seeing their prey was about to escape, their speed abruptly increasing. Some beasts were faster than others, while some had simply been closer.
One beast in particular was faster than the flock, reaching Atticus in a few seconds.
Just as Atticus was about to enter the clouds, he slowed down slightly, prompting him and the beast to enter nearly at the same time.
The next events happened instantly and fluidly.
Clouds were made up of tiny water droplets or ice crystals. In essence, the air in the clouds was filled with moisture and a staggering amount of water molecules.
Given this fact, it wasn't surprising that as soon as the beast entered the cloud after Atticus, claws blazing,
"Kwek?"
It immediately found its movements becoming stiff and an intense coldness engulfing its body.
In the next second, the beast's entire body was frozen. Its eyes trembled as though struggling to understand what happened before the coldness reached its brain, freezing it completely.
Atticus' eyes remained calm and cold as the light molecules swirled and covered them both, their figures disappearing from view.
The other flying beasts burst into the clouds in the next second, a multitude of intense screeching rocking the space as they saw their prey had escaped.
The humanoid beast standing in the forest fixed its crimson eyes calmly on the spot where Atticus had disappeared.
Then it suddenly brought its gaze downwards, looking towards a particular direction. Its gaze cut through the dense crimson forest, crossing miles of land and finally reached one location, a waterfall.
However, just as it was about to move, it suddenly turned its head towards the high peak in the distance. Staring at it for a few seconds, the roots around it returned to their original position in the ground and trees.
Without doing anything further, it turned and entered the depths of the forest.
…
Atticus released his hold over the light molecules surrounding only him and appeared into view. He was currently at the top of the tall trees in front of the river.
'That was close,'
Atticus had utilized one of the skills the light sanctum master had taught him: using light to create illusions. It was a good thing he practiced that until he was able to replicate it in a second.
'Now I have to be fast and quick,'
Atticus had to pause at the edge before entering the water because of the new predator. It was dangerous to let the beast roam free, especially so close to his resting space, but Atticus didn't want to take any chances now.
After a few seconds, he released his hold over the light molecules and replaced it with air. He created a barrier made of air around him and the beast and immediately dived into the river.
The beast most definitely had an affinity to the water element; Atticus couldn't afford to use it in case it attacked.
Atticus moved like a torpedo inside the water, reaching the entrance to his cavern in a second. He manipulated the hole to increase in size with the earth element and reached the cavern.
Before relaxing, Atticus did a thorough sweep of the cavern to make sure nothing had entered while he was away or that no new holes had formed.
Noting that he was completely safe, Atticus sat down on the earthen platform and calmed his racing mind.
He placed the frozen beast at the other end of the platform. His thoughts immediately drifted towards the humanoid beast he had just seen.
It had been close, very close. Had he hesitated for a second or wasted time, it would have been harder or impossible to escape.
He was reminded once again of the uncertainties of this world.
'I have to be more careful,' he determined.
After resting for a bit, Atticus sat down cross-legged and began absorbing mana into his body.
Hours went by quickly, and after feeling the exhaustion that came with evolving, Atticus stopped and approached the frozen beast at the end.
It was completely frozen but not yet dead. He fixed that by simply cutting off its head before unfreezing the beast. The beast still made some reflex movements, but as the reality of its death settled, it fell lifelessly to the ground.
Afterwards, Atticus cut it into pieces, grilled and ate, regaining his energy. Then he continued absorbing mana.
This routine continued for a few days until Atticus ran out of food.
'To think food would be my biggest problem in life,'
Atticus sighed. The fact that he had to interrupt his training every time because of food was getting annoying.
Seeing as he had no choice, Atticus stood up and left the cavern, ascending upwards through the water as quickly as he could.
He immediately made his way to the tall trees, using them as cover. Afterwards, Atticus planned his next course of action.
'Since I can't afford to go that deep into the forest again, I have to use my elements wisely. I can use the light element for illusions; I will use it to block any ambush I'm about to take. Then I'll use an air barrier to mask the sound,'
The light element was perfect for camouflage. He would find any solitary beast and cover the area with light molecules and a solid air barrier to block out any sound.
Then he would kill the beast as fast as possible before getting the hell out of there.
Atticus thought it to be the perfect plan and he immediately put it into action.
Finding a solitary beast, Atticus followed all the steps, creating an illusion before an air barrier, then attacking with the other elements, neutralizing the beast swiftly.
Afterwards, Atticus dragged the beast silently to the cavern before continuing his routine. He always had to be extra careful while entering into the water because of the water beast, but after thinking about it for a bit, Atticus believed it could serve as some kind of guard.
It might have simply been a lie he was telling himself so he wouldn't admit that he didn't want to face that dangerous beast.
The days went by quickly, and Atticus kept to his routine. As soon as he finished eating one beast, he would leave and enter the forest, repeating his process.
During these days, Atticus had noticed multiple things.
The first was about himself. His movement through the forest, especially since the first time, had improved significantly.
His movements had become very swift and without hesitation. He became able to use his incredible perception appropriately, able to avoid beasts and move through the forest stealthily.
During this time, Atticus had an idea and applied the Ice Sanctum master's teachings to this situation. He used the ice element to freeze and lower his heart rate to near stop and other bodily functions. This decreased his ability significantly but allowed for nearly perfect stealthy movements.
It was as though his presence was nonexistent. If the beast didn't visually see him, it was impossible for them to know he was there.
It got to a point that Atticus didn't feel like he needed the darkness element to move around the forest anymore and instead used the trees as cover.
He was improving at a fast rate.
Another thing Atticus noticed was the increase in the number of beasts around the outer forest. He could see that the number of beasts was increasing, especially close to the waterfall where he was hiding out.
This made him be more careful about his movements, but he couldn't shake the nagging feeling that something major was about to happen.
The last thing he noticed was that the pull kept growing stronger. It had gotten so intense that he occasionally heard multiple sounds in his mind, urging him to approach the peak.
Atticus had to pinch himself every time he felt his mind slipping. If not for his high will, he truly doubted if he would be able to survive until now.
With all of these incidents happening, two weeks passed and Atticus was seated down cross-legged inside the cavern.
He had just eaten and his body was overflowing with energy.
'It's time to pass this bottleneck!'
Atticus was elated. After weeks of intense training, it was finally time for him to advance his rank!
'Before that, let me see my changes first. Status,'
Atticus called out, and a holographic interface appeared in front of him.