Atticus's Odyssey: Reincarnated Into A Playground

Chapter 1567  Change

Atticus released a slow breath and cleared his mind. The only way forward was to try. Turning his attention to the elemental molecules around him, he watched them in silence, then narrowed his eyes as something immediately stood out.

'Something's different.'

The elemental molecules closest to him were still, utterly unmoving, unlike those farther away that drifted gently through the air as they always had.

That had never happened before.

Whether near or far, the elemental molecules had always been in motion when he wasn't actively controlling them, constantly interacting with the world around them.

Atticus furrowed his brows.

'True control…'

The woman's words echoed in his mind. True control would render the molecules completely subservient. Even without attunement, even without intent, they acknowledged him, not as a wielder, but as a master.

The strange woman suddenly glanced toward him, her gaze sharp as she silently observed.

Atticus released another breath and spoke.

"Erase the heat."

The molecules around him flared, then stilled.

For a moment, nothing seemed to happen. Then the world against his skin changed in a way he had no words for, as if warmth hadn't been pushed away, but erased outright. What remained was a numb, hollow quiet that seeped into his pores and settled deep into his muscles.

It felt wrong, deeply unsettling, enough to make his instincts recoil, yet beneath the unease was a sharp, terrifying clarity. The heat hadn't been displaced. It had ceased to exist, because he had said so.

Pain exploded through his skull in the next instant, as if a blade had been driven straight into his thoughts. Atticus gasped sharply, staggering back as one hand flew up to clutch his head.

"Return."

Atticus scarcely registered the strange woman's voice, far more focused on the warmth flooding back into him. The sensation was grounding and comforting as though the hollow wrongness had just been chased away.

He let his back slide against the wall, breathing heavily as he tried to steady himself and ease the pain still hammering through his head.

After a few seconds of silence, when the blurriness clouding his vision finally cleared, he opened his eyes to find the woman standing before him with a small smile. It vanished almost immediately, replaced by a cold, rigid expression as she gave him a curt nod.

"Rest for a minute, then get back up. There's still a lot more to correct."

Atticus sighed as she turned away and returned to her earlier position, leaving him alone with his thoughts.

…

The next few hours became a test of endurance. Though Atticus had long been known as a training maniac and was no stranger to pain, what he endured now was different in nature.

It felt like a knife continually stabbing into his mind, tearing at him from the inside. His earlier assumption had proven correct, he truly could make heat vanish from his surroundings, but the act had also revealed something new about this emerging mastery.

Though he held what could only be described as absolute control over elemental molecules, that control extended only a few meters from his body, a pitiful distance compared to the kilometer wide reach the woman had shown earlier. Worse still, the more complex or forceful his command, the greater the strain it placed on his mind.

That limit did nothing to temper her demands.

For the sake of training, she continued to push him, ordering him to issue increasingly difficult commands to the molecules.

Time and again, Atticus found himself collapsing at the edge of the space, struggling through the relentless, hammering pain. Even so, the knowledge that each attempt brought progress, however small, kept him moving forward.

Beyond the initial realization, more truths soon revealed themselves. He no longer needed to attune his emotions to exert control, and his influence now extended to every elemental molecule around him, whether fire or air, at any given moment.

For now, however, his commands were limited to one type at a time. He could tell fire molecules to explode, or air molecules to turn poisonous.

It was a frightening power, one that filled him with an eagerness to master it. In their world, there was no such thing as too much power.

After completing another round, Atticus slumped back against the wall, breathing heavily for several moments before casting a glance toward the woman, who still appeared to be sunbathing underground, utterly unconcerned with his struggle.

Atticus found himself feeling a trace of bitterness. He had been enduring this torture for hours, collapsing again and again, while she lounged casually nearby, only lifting her voice to issue his next command when it was time to continue. And yet, somehow, he wasn't surprised. The impression he had formed of her fit this behavior all too well.

She cared deeply about the elements, about correcting how he wielded them, and about anything related to combat and battle. Beyond that, she seemed indifferent. Despite the pain wracking his body and mind, Atticus saw no trace of remorse or concern on her face, only approving smiles and curt nods when he did well, followed by an immediate return to cold detachment when it was time to push him again.

A very strange woman.

He sighed.

'It doesn't matter. As long as I learn this and get stronger.'

His gaze lingered on her for a moment longer.

"You said you've observed me for years now…"

She cast him a brief look.

"I've been able to control the elements since I awakened my bloodline years ago," he continued. "But they've never felt like this before. What makes now different?"

She didn't respond.

"The question is related to my training," he said after a moment. "You said you want to correct me, right? Helping me understand my power would do that."

"Mastery is forged under pressure," she replied. "You will never learn when things are simply handed to you."

Atticus exhaled slowly.

"Then put me on the right path."

She lowered her shades with a finger, meeting his eyes directly.

"What has changed between the last time you used the elements, and now?"

Atticus dropped silent, turning the question over in his mind.

'Change…'

His initial suspicion had been acquiring Solvath's fragment, but this felt different. And right now, he couldn't use will at all, nor did he have access to any fragments. This was something else entirely, something that affected his bloodline directly.

'What has changed…?'