Chapter 209 Mana Imprints
Atticus darted through the forest at fast speeds.
This forest, despite all its dangers, was truly a beautiful place. The forest surrounding the Raven camp had been nothing compared to this.
Towering trees, their massive roots extending from the ground.
The trees were all covered with thick leaves above which seemed to restrict sunlight from reaching the forest floor, casting the entire forest in a deep, enchanting shade
The forest floor was covered with dry leaves, making it easy for people to move through. But because of certain reasons, Atticus decided to move through the trees, jumping from one tree branch to another rapidly.
As Atticus moved through the forest, just as he had expected, he noticed that there were no beasts in the areas closer to the expanse. 'They must have hunted them all,' Atticus thought.
Undeterred, he kept moving through the forest.
After a few minutes, he finally began to see some beasts around the forest.
They were all mostly weak, only going as far as Intermediate+ rank. But despite this, Atticus had no intention of engaging in any fights.
Stopping on top of one branch, Atticus focused on his mana, and with a barely audible mutter, "Ethereal cloak,"
Instantly, a cloak of mana suddenly engulfed his body, and as though it were the natural thing, Atticus' form started becoming ethereal and faint until he suddenly vanished.
It wasn't just his body; his presence, his scent, everything vanished. It was as though he wasn't even there in the first place.
Atticus had come a long way in his ethereal cloak art. His progress was so great that it was completely incomparable to back when he had just been using the art.
Atticus swept his gaze through the forest; his perception was operating fully as he used his eyes to search for any signs that those beasts might have left behind.
He was currently moving towards the north of the forest. The last time when Atticus heard the loud howl, although the sound might have been deafening and sounded as though it came from every direction, Atticus's senses were just too good to be tricked.
He was able to instantly determine the direction the sound had come from.
'It seems Eric was right,' Atticus pondered as he kept moving through the forest.
He had been searching for signs and clues now for a while but hadn't seen a single thing, not even their footprints on the earth.
'Hmm, it could be it. I should try that,' Atticus thought, his invisible form abruptly halting on top of one of the tree branches.
What Atticus had just realized was simple. Currently, Atticus was using his perception to the max, trying to search for any clues that he might have missed and find out where the horde went. But he couldn't find any clue anywhere despite searching for a long time.
And this particular scenario seemed very similar to what he had experienced back when he had fought that Nebula family youth. It felt odd.
There was no way thousands of beasts could just disappear into thin air without leaving any clues behind.
Atticus felt like he wasn't seeing everything.
So he decided to feel.
Focusing on his mana core, Atticus instantly released a pulse of mana that rippled outwards, creating a chain reaction.
Swiftly, like lightning suddenly striking and illuminating an initially dark area, Atticus was able to see everything clearly for a 50 meter radius around him.
Atticus jumped down from the tree he was on, landing on the earth silently.
'I see,' Atticus thought.
Currently, using his eyes, Atticus could only see the scene of tall imposing trees, dried leaves scattered on the forest floor.
But with feel, it was as though a new world opened up to him.
Motes of light filled the air, with every single one of the imposing trees emitting a bright glow. Each imposing trunk and the thick vines protruding from the ground radiated a brilliant glow.
These luminous tendrils descended to the forest floor, creating an intricate network of light.
But despite all of this, it wasn't the luminous display that held Atticus's attention.
What he was currently focused on was the colossal amount of glowing paw prints that were strewn all around him.
They were so densely packed and interwoven that even Atticus struggled to discern their origin or direction.
'Interesting,' Atticus thought with a slight smile.
He had used 'feel' multiple times before, but this was the first time he was able to use it in such a way.
'To think I can still feel the mana foot imprint of beasts from 3 weeks ago,' Atticus pondered.
Each living being on Eldoralth, especially the awakened, left behind traces of mana wherever they went.
It was like a unique magical signature that emanated from each person. This constant emission of mana created distinct signatures for everyone, and certain artifacts were designed to accurately identify and match these signatures.
However, these artifacts work best when the person's signature was already in their records.
'Looks like I still have a lot to learn about perception,' he thought.
During his training with Magnus, where Atticus had constantly been using feel, he had never once seen something like that before.
Granted Magnus was a Paragon rank with strength Atticus couldn't begin to fathom for now, but what about him? Why could he feel his mana imprints?
'My training suit,' the revelation struck him.
Unlike the beasts who were barefooted and were constantly utilizing mana to move, Atticus had been fully clad in his training suit.
They were airtight and were designed to protect its wearer, allowing stable and smooth flow of mana within the body. Due to this passive feature, they prevented subconscious mana imprints from being left behind.
The only time he used feel was during training with Magnus.
And during his fight with the Nebulon youth, there had been thick amounts of mana clustered in the area, making it impossible for him to notice something as subtle as a mana foot imprint.
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