Atticus had seen the Earth Sanctum from the aegis ship, and fixing his sights on it now, it was nothing short of majestic.
Despite what he would have expected considering the other sanctums, the Earth Sanctum wasn’t only filled with rocks and earth; there was surprisingly a lot of vegetation around, along with tall and thick trees.
The whole sanctum was basically a grassland, notwithstanding the earth buildings strewn about.
The gates of the Earth Sanctum in front of him were grand, made of hard, jagged stones and a ginormous double door.
Unlike the other times, there was no one waiting for Atticus this time around. It was as though no one had been expecting him to arrive so soon.
However, the masters of the sanctums were all basically omniscient in each of their domains.
Immediately upon stepping onto the grounds of the Earth Sanctum, deep within its depths, an old man whose physique was the personification of bulky, with steel-like ripped muscles and a cleanly shaved white beard, turned his gaze to the side, looking through the incredible amount of earth, rock, and soil blocking the path to the grand gates.
‘Hm?’
The earth surrounding the old man parted as though there was an invisible force, and then, Atticus felt the ground beneath his feet tremble, increasing in intensity by the second.
Atticus backed up a few steps before controlling the air molecules around his body. He floated upwards, his guard raised to the peak.
‘What personality did I get this time?’
Atticus couldn’t help but be slightly worried. Each of the sanctum masters he had met had different, weird personalities and ways they loved to go about their training.
He was really hoping the Earth Sanctum master would be, at the very least, normal.
The intensity of the shaking ground increased, and just a few meters away from where he had been standing, the hard ground suddenly swirled, and a figure jutted out from it.
Atticus’s gaze narrowed. Immediately upon this figure’s appearance, he felt a humongous heaviness resting on his whole body. It was so intense that it caused his floating figure to descend slightly, but he was able to regain his composure.
Atticus’s gaze finally focused on the man scrutinizing him. True to his element, the man was humongous. With tanned skin and steel-like muscles, he stood at a height of 6’6″, his whole aura radiating pressure that made Atticus raise his guard to its highest level. The fact that he was old didn’t even come to mind.
Cold eyes with an intense, firm gaze fixed themselves on Atticus.
“You’re strong,”
His voice sounded gruff, as though it had been a while since he had spoken.
“Sanctum Master Terran!”
A voice sounded from behind. A man clad in brown robes, looking to be the same age as the instructors of the Fire Sanctum, ran outside with a couple of other people who were younger than him.
They each had the snow-white hair of the Ravenstein family.
However, Sanctum Master Terran didn’t even turn to face them.
‘Who’s this boy?’
The man noticed Atticus standing in front of Terran, and he couldn’t help but wonder what was happening. Magnus had only bothered to inform the sanctum masters about Atticus; the others didn’t know about him. But…
The man’s gaze narrowed before opening wide; that was Atticus! He had been fortunate enough to attend the award ceremony held in the Raven estate and had seen Atticus.
‘What is he doing here?’
Some of the others, too, recognized Atticus and showed confused expressions on their faces.
Terran was a man who hardly ever showed himself. He might be the sanctum master, but it was the instructors of the sanctum who mostly did all the teaching.
The only time he ever showed himself in the sanctum was when he found something interesting.
Terran didn’t acknowledge the newcomers’ presence. He didn’t even bother asking why Atticus was here so fast. He spoke succinctly,
“I teach best during battle. We will begin immediately,”
Terran took a step forward before Atticus could react, the ground quaking.
Atticus hadn’t been standing on the ground; he had been flying in the air with the air molecules, but that didn’t matter, not even the slightest bit.
An overwhelming weight descended on him, and his figure plummeted into the ground.
It was as though the ground liquefied because as he reached the ground, he found himself moving through it without him manipulating the earth.
‘Shit,’ Atticus muttered as he moved into the earth. A few seconds passed, and Atticus landed on a soft ground.
‘Where am I?’
Atticus turned his gaze around, taking in sights of a simple but spacious cave. The whole ground was filled with sand, and he could see the presence of different minerals here and there lighting up the cave.
The instructor and the others had been pulled down together into the space because of their close proximity to Terran, each of them standing at the sides.
Terran gave Atticus a moment to understand the situation, a time far too small for the next actions he took.
“The earth in this place cannot be manipulated your usual way. You will have to form a connection with the molecules in order to control them. I expect you to do that amidst our battle,”
Terran’s heavy voice was followed by the sand around him swirling. A staggering number of tiny sand balls gathered behind him before solidifying and turning into spikes with pointed tips so sharp that the air around them parted.
“What the…” Atticus’s gaze widened at the staggering number of spikes, the seriousness of the situation settling in.
His mind moved rapidly, and he got rid of every thought, his focus peaking.
The Earth Element.
Atticus immediately decided to use the same exact method he used when learning the other elements. It was instinctive by now, and immediately he had seen Terran manipulating the earth, he had scrutinized the whole process.
However, before Atticus could ponder, the tsunami of earthen spikes shot towards him at frightening speed, countless dotted spikes covering the entirety of Atticus’s vision.
Atticus’s heart trembled.
He felt completely trapped. He knew deep down that his life wasn’t on the line, but the fact that he had absolutely no way of defending himself was mind-racking.
He could use his other abilities if it came to it, but Atticus wanted to avoid that. He was here to learn, and he loved a good challenge.
He had to learn the earth element fast!
