The recovery time took a few days, which shocked Atticus. If he had to be honest, he hadn't expected his situation to be that bad. Sure, he was malnourished, but this was a magical world!
For two days, he wasn't given water or food, only fed the green liquid that Dario had been instructed by Magnus to give him. It tasted awful, but Atticus didn't care about that.
All he wanted was to recover as fast as possible and resume his training to form his domain! However, his recovery had taken longer than he had hoped.
Even worse, Atticus had recently discovered just how much time he had spent meditating to form his domain. Initially, he had spent a total of 5 months out of the one year. But now, only 20 days remained. Less than a month. This meant he had spent more than 6 months meditating.
Atticus had taken deep breaths when he realized this. The Apex tournament was happening in 20 days.
It was unnerving. In 20 days, he would have to be strong enough to withstand and overwhelm the other apexes. It was either that or face brutal death.
It didn't take much time for Atticus to come to terms with the reality of the situation. It was what it was.
After a few days, he was finally fed food filled with the nutrients his body desperately needed. And then, finally, after 6 days—not included in the 20 days—Atticus felt fully recovered.
His body didn't feel more powerful than before he began meditating, but…
'I can sense them without even trying…'
The fire molecules in the air clung to him desperately, and he didn't even try to call or connect with them. Yet, Atticus could feel some kind of passive connection with every single fire molecule in the room.
Atticus smiled. It felt exhilarating. It felt like he didn't even have to apply any sort of effort in order to control them.
'Let's see my stats. Status,' he thought.
Character Profile:
------------------------
Name: Atticus Ravenstein
Age: 16
Gender: Male
Race: Human
Attributes:
------------------------
Strength: 589>> 599
Agility: 607>> 630
Endurance: 619>> 632
Vitality: 634>> 640
Intelligence: 65>> 68
Perception: 54>> 57
Charm: 50>> 52
Will: 65>> 70
Level: Master-
Talent: Mythical
Bloodline: Primordial Elemental Bloodlin
* Level 3
- Fire: 97.7>> 99.9 %
- Air: 97.5>> 97.6%
- Water: 97.8 >> 97.9%
- Earth: 97.4>> 97.5%
- Light: 83.5>> 84.8%
-Darkness: 86>> 86.3%
-Lightning: 85.6>> 86%
-Ice: 84.8>> 85%
*Level 2
-Space: 33.2 %
*Level 1
NONE
*Locked Bloodlines -
- PENDING
Abilities:
------------------------
Innate Skills:
* Conceal [Potential: Mythical]
- The ability to conceal your level from anyone regardless of rank. You may choose what level you want to be shown.
- Current mastery: Mythical
Life Weapon Skills:
* Transcendent Slash: Godspeed Grace
* Endless Strike
*Vorpal Nova
Normal Skills:
* Arcane Barrier [Potential: Transcendent]
- Current Mastery: Master-
* Elemental Mimicry [Potential: Transcendent]
-Current mastery: Expert+>> Master
*Ethereal Cloak [Potential: Empowered]
-Current mastery: Expert- >> Expert+
Atticus had checked his stats because he wanted to see the changes to his fire element; however, he encountered a huge surprise instead.
The changes in his bodily stats were expected, as Atticus had not only trained with Magnus but had also learned the katana's third art. However, the first unexpected change was a significant jump in his willpower.
Only one reason came to mind to explain this increase. 'The months I spent meditating without moving,' he thought.
It had taken everything from Atticus—everything—to hold on and keep pushing. The strain on his mental state had been so enormous that just thinking about the experience gave him a headache.
After going through that, an increase in willpower was warranted. The next shock was his Elemental Mimicry Art.
'It increased by two sub-levels… It seems that simply increasing my proficiency in the elements automatically increases its proficiency too,' Atticus deduced.
Each change had come as a huge surprise, and Atticus couldn't help but feel a bit more confident.
'Let's try out the Elemental Mimicry Art,' he thought.
Atticus used his strongest element, fire, and stimulated it with his mana. He instantly felt a surge of energy flow through his body. It was strange on so many levels.
One moment, he felt solid and still, and the next, he felt free and unrestrained. It was as if he wasn't limited to the shell that was his body.
Atticus moved his hand slowly in front of him, a smile appearing on his face in the next instant.
His arm didn't seem solid. It moved like a blur, leaving fiery afterimages in the air.
Atticus stood up, but a wave of vertigo hit him. 'What the…'
He felt weightless, as if his mass didn't exist. He had used the fire mimicry numerous times before, but this was the first time it had ever felt like this.
Atticus proceeded to move from one side of the room to the other. He was simply walking, but it was as if fire was moving, his figure swaying in the air.
'Amazing! It seem like advancing to the master ranks completely changed my composition,' he thought.
It was unlike the Expert+ rank. Atticus could feel that the art was affecting his entire body. Before, his body moved like fire. But now, his body was becoming fire.
'I can see the end goal of this art, but would it be different for me?'
He had multiple elements. Atticus was trying to imagine what would happen should he max out the stats for each element.
Just as he continued this thought, the door to his room slid open, and his two usual subordinates entered the room.
"Young master! You're not supposed to train until you've fully recovered!" Dario exclaimed, a panicked expression appearing on his face.
However, Atticus responded calmly, "Then it's a good thing I've already recovered. Why are you here?"
"Doesn't sound like you're happy to see us," Dario grumbled, muttering under his breath.
"What was that?" Atticus asked.
"N-nothing…" Dario quickly responded.
Atticus heard what he said clearly but chose to ignore it. He turned toward Yotad, who was standing silently by the side. Ever since that mistake with the killing intent, Yotad had been even more silent than usual.
Feeling Atticus's gaze, Yotad bowed but said nothing. Dario cleared his throat and decided to explain why they were there.
"Master Magnus requests your presence, young master," he announced.