Without any reservations, Mikhail knocked on the door he was standing in front of, and then waited patiently.
Tybalt had an important matter to attend to, so he did not have a sparring partner today.
"More training?" a lax voice resounded out from within Mikhail's mind.
It was Atticus. However, his stalwart and chivalrous tone was now neutral, which struck oddly. Mikhail was too used to the somewhat overbearing and authoritative tone he had during the training.
"More training."
"Seriously, kid? You'd rather train instead of relax today? You go back to training tomorrow, why the rush?"
"You know what the rush is, Atticus."
"Hmmm… Ah, whatever. If you want to train more, fine. Go to the muscle refinement rooms, I'll meet you there."
Mikhail nodded and jogged off, quickly making his way to Maya's house.
Meanwhile, inside the house…
"Stally, you could've just sent him away!"
Atticus shook his head with a slight smirk.
"I know, Allie, but it's not like we had much else planned for today. Besides, I think it'd be best if you saw what he's made of for yourself… Uff…"
"Okay fine, whatever! Stop thinking about that and go harder!"
About forty-five minutes later, Mikhail arrived in the Muscle Refinement Hall. However, he was surprised! Not only did Atticus seem to be waiting for him, despite Mikhail having left first... Alaya was there too!
Which was unusual.
He also noticed a distinct and familiar scent, though he decided to ignore it since addressing it would've been way too awkward…
"You know the drill, Mikhail! Hop to it!"
Atticus shouted down the hall at the now jogging Mikhail, who quickly made his way to the closest door to the center along that corridor.
And once he was inside, another rousing round of Muscle Refinement Began!
He kept at it until his muscles became a wriggling mess.
The fibres snapped here and there, over there; just about everywhere. He was so torn apart that Atticus had to quickly run over and pop the refinement pill in Mikhail's mouth. He had directly passed out when the inscriptions turned off.
And thirty minutes later, he stirred, feeling a searing pain all over his entire body.
"Are you still up for practical experience training?" Atticus said from outside the refinement room.
"Do I… I… Do I look… Like I'm still… Still up for… training?"
Atticus shook his head as he focused on Mikhail.
"Well, you probably know that old adage, right? Looks can be deceiving."
"They… certainly c- Kh- can be…" Mikhail said with an almost deranged looking smirk.
That's right, even though he was in searing pain, Mikhail wanted to train even more! He wanted to stop relying on the Spirit Suppression Pills and awaken an element!
He wanted to become stronger!
He NEEDED to become stronger!
Pain? What pain?!
This wasn't pain, this was the sweet sense of gain!
Mikhail shakily stood up on his own. Every inch of his body was screaming, sending signal after signal, begging him to stop this absurdity and rest! His body would fall apart if he kept up this monstrous pace!
But Mikhail didn't care.
He followed Alaya and Atticus out to the empty training grounds, grabbed his spear, and prepared himself. Today, he would train with Alaya AND Atticus. Rather than use their elements and throw him around like a ragdoll, today they wielded… nothing?
"Aren't you going to summon weapons?" he asked, his voice strained.
As if they were waiting for that question, their weapons of choice suddenly spawned into their hands. In Alaya's hand was a coiled up whip. And in Atticus' hand was a falcata.
The blade was curved downwards towards the ground, was thinner towards the center, but had a lot of mass towards the end.
Its handle had no hand guard, and had a strange shape. It was ergonomic, conforming to the shape of Atticus' palm, and extended over the back of his hand sort of like a broken iron knuckle.
Mikhail wasn't stunned by this showcase, having gotten used to Spirit Storage because of Maya's casual use of her Spirit Storage.
"You know, I really can't wait to do that."
"I bet… Don't worry, when you reach the Low Tier Spiritual Savant Stage, I'll teach you how to do what we're doing. Now, take your stance!" Atticus said as he took his own stance.
His body shifted diagonally while his head remained facing straight ahead. He lifted his falcata up and back, so that the curved blade was close to his face. He held his free hand out and forward slightly. And, he had crouched slightly.
And then, Mikhail felt the domineering pressure that Atticus naturally exuded. It was even more hardcore than Alaya's pressure!
He frowned slightly when feeling that pressure.
Was he about to get his shit wrecked again?!
"Don't worry, this will be simple training. Watch."
Mikhail nodded as he concentrated on Atticus. Nothing changed for a few seconds, but he suddenly felt as if his domineering pressure was growing weaker. Atticus' body even began to lose some of its muscle mass.
It was as if he had dropped to Mikhail's level in seconds!
Mikhail's frown grew deeper. He was supposed to fight Atticus on equal grounds?
"I'm about to get styled on, huh…?" he said absentmindedly, taking his stance as well.
There was no countdown, no warning, and no time to react. With the sound of stone breaking apart, Atticus shot forward at a speed that seemed impossible for someone at this level! His sword remained where it was until the last second, suddenly slashing diagonally downwards.
A giant gash went through the entirety of Mikhail's torso.
But the momentum Atticus had built up wasn't used up! As he swung down, he jumped, and allowed the momentum to carry his body through a diagonal somersault! Another slash was quickly coming Mikhail's way!
However, now, he was able to react. He jumped to the side and stabbed forward at Atticus, who was in no place to dodge!
Or, so he thought.