After looking within himself, he was incredibly proud to see a fully functional mana core rotating at full speed! The countless hours and hard work had all paid off!
Shaking off his satisfaction, he moved to the next step of his plan: controlling his mana to strengthen his body and give him the power to stand a chance against the spirit beasts.
He could not enter complete meditation currently due to the rampant risk of a beast attacking him.
Thus, Atlas decided to return to the area he was previously at after gaining sufficient strength, for the beasts and that screech were his only clues on leaving the spiritual plane.
At this point, Atlas really could not contain his rage at Radon. Atlas had looked up to him in his childhood, but that bitch got him stuck in another plane of fucking reality!
He had no misconceptions; Radon definitely knew exactly what would happen to him, and how he would get stuck in the spirit realm, but he still went ahead with sending Atlas here.
Despite the peace he had experienced for the majority of his time here, Atlas was not lulled into a false sense of security. After witnessing the savageness and power of the animals living here, he knew death could arrive at any moment.
He calmed his mind and resumed deliberating on how to enhance his internal strength. After some time, he concluded that he had to circulate his mana repeatedly through his pathways.
Ultimately, mana pathways were not a physical component of his body. More accurately, they were certain routes that mana traveled most efficiently through, engraved within the subconscious section of his mind.
Therefore, his mana actually nourished his skeletal, muscular, and cardiovascular systems when Atlas circulated it throughout his body.
Finally, he took a deep breath and began to reach into his core to push the mana out. However, Atlas's visualization did not work, and he was unable to cause even the slightest ripple in his mana core.
Atlas continued to push on relentlessly, despite the growing discomfort, straining his mind to achieve his goal. Suddenly, a jolt of pain shot through his brain, causing him to cry out in shock.
"Fuck!" he exclaimed aloud. Atlas's head felt like it had been driven through with a nail. He began to convulse uncontrollably, grabbing his head with his hands due to the pain.
"FUCK!" he screamed once again. But, fortunately, as he thought he would die from the pain, it faded away as quickly as it arrived.
He fell onto his back on the ground, covered in cold sweat and shivering from fright. Atlas was breathing heavily, and his heart felt as if it would pound out of his chest.
His emotions were running rogue, anger burning through him, fear chilling him to the bone. Every passing second, his mental state grew more turbulent, and he abruptly got off his back onto all fours and began to bang his head off the ground.
Tears started flowing down his face. Then, he started punching the ground. Then, he began laughing.
Why? He did not know. He felt immense sorrow one moment, raging fury the next, a gleeful happiness finally, before it all vanished.
He sat on his knees, staring at the sky in confusion and fear, his mind in control yet still racing.
"What in the world was that?" Atlas's voice came out in a hoarse whisper. He had never experienced such a thing before, to lose complete control over his body to emotions.
As Atlas was inspecting his body to ensure no cracks had spread, he received another surprise, this one positive.
He was back in his own body! At least, the one he had in the physical world. Examining himself, Atlas found no anomalies within his body, and he wore the same black robes that he had entered in.
However, that experience had truly terrified him. The fear he felt at that moment was the primal, instinctive terror humans felt towards death.
Atlas felt that he had been in the path of the reaper's scythe, but only had his hair cut. He truly didn't want to die!
Remembering what Radon had told him about the three parts of the soul, he concluded that pushing his mind had resulted in his Psychora being weakened, thus allowing for his Axiom to be affected by the backlash.
Calming himself, he began to think of solutions to his new problem, something he had been doing a lot of recently.
'Okay. I the bluegrass won't do anything to increase my mental power, since I haven't felt any sharper since eating them. The mushroom caps are unbreakable, so that leaves the beasts.
"Fuck!" He shouted again. He'd have to kill a spirit beast for its body, and even that wasn't guaranteed to fix his problem.
"I really am fucked, aren't I?" He said, chuckling to himself. He decided to take a rest before heading out.
Atlas grabbed and ate some bluegrass due to slight hunger. Then, he headed to the short mushroom once more, using it to reach the tall caps. Lying on the giant fungi, he stared at the pitch-black sky, which resembled an endless void.
In fact, he couldn't tell the difference between having his eyes closed and shut, for the skies were truly dark.
On inspection, Atlas noticed that they resembled the vision he had seen of his affinity when he awakened. In fact, they resembled each other quite closely.
Atlas wondered if there was a connection between the two. However, further inspection had to be halted because Atlas didn't know if he would even get out of here.
If he did escape, Atlas was surely not returning, that much he already knew. Not able to find sleep yet, Atlas wondered what his affinity could be.
The field of flowers suggested something related to plants, yet the black sky and birds instantly disproved that claim.
'But it did look cool as hell,' he thought with a grin.
But on a more serious note, his affinity was sure to be versatile due to the multiple variables that played into it.
Quite like Charlie's Spectral Waves, in fact.
'I wonder how he's doing now,' Atlas thought with slight melancholy. Charlie had been his only friend in Creedheart, and thinking about him brought sadness and anger to his heart.
He felt his eyelids begin to feel heavy.
Atlas wished he were having fun and living life, but he was stuck in this shithole, for at least the foreseeable future.
'Let's focus on killing a beast first,' he thought tiredly. 'One step at a time, that is how the path should be walked.'
As his eyes completely closed, he fell into a deep sleep.