Atticus's Odyssey: Reincarnated Into A Playground-Chapter 1146: Will

Atticus ended up inviting Whisker into his room.

Although the room had been carved into a tree, it was surprisingly spacious, a fact that caught even Whisker off guard.

"Damn," Whisker whistled, eyes wide as he took in the luxurious interior. "I'm not gonna lie, I really wasn't expecting this. These Evolari people are rich, huh."

Still in his pig form, Whisker waddled around the room on his tiny legs, head turning every which way as he gawked like someone who had never seen wealth in his life.

Atticus narrowed his eyes, watching him calmly. After a few seconds, he spoke up. "Are you done?"

"Just a few more seconds!" Whisker replied, his eyes lighting up as he approached the expensive-looking standing lamp by the bedside, examining it with surprising focus.

"Wow," he muttered. "That beauty I saw during the banquet, Jenera, right? Yeah, Jenera. She must be loaded."

He turned towards Atticus with gleaming eyes. "What do you think? Is she looking for a sugar boy?"

Atticus gave him a flat look. "You're literally older than her. You should be the sugar daddy."

"Hey!" Whisker snapped, looking genuinely offended. "I'm not that much older than her! Just by a few… centuries! What's that in the face of true love?"

'Shameless,' Ozeroth muttered in Atticus's mind.

"You sound like a gold digger," Atticus added.

Whisker gasped dramatically, placing a paw on his chest like he'd just been personally insulted.

But Atticus wasn't buying it. He shook his head and waved a hand. "Enough of this. We don't have time. Let's get to it."

He stepped into the center of the room and lowered himself onto the floor, sitting cross-legged.

Whisker sighed, "Alright, alright. Let's begin."

He plopped down as well, on his butt, with his hind legs sprawled awkwardly to the sides, belly bulging forward, tail twitching lazily behind. From Atticus's position, he had a full view of the underside of a pig.

His expression twisted immediately in disgust. "Are you going to remain like… this?"

"Of course," Whisker replied without missing a beat. "I can't risk being found out. Too risky."

"You could at least transform into something more appealing to the eyes."

"It's fine," Whisker said, waving it off. "You'll be training with your eyes closed anyway." He added in a lower tone, "For some parts."

Atticus inhaled deeply, forcing the intrusive thoughts away. Whisker really had a way of pressing every damn button.

"Let's just get this over with," he muttered, then nodded, signaling Whisker to begin.

Whisker grinned. "Alright. Now tell me… what do you know about Will?"

"Will is the raw expression of your identity. It's who you are."

Whisker nodded approvingly, "That's completely accurate… but not the whole truth."

He shifted slightly before continuing,

"You see, Will is the force of a person's deepest truth, emotion, and purpose imposed upon the world. It's who you are when there's nothing left to hide."

"As I mentioned earlier, this is the main source of power in the middle planes. It dwarfs every power you can possibly gather here in the lower ones."

"Let me give you a simple example, if Eldoralth were in the middle planes, someone like Solren could have wiped it out with a flick of his hand. But entering the lower planes suppresses our power… and our Will. Which means, for what's coming, Will is going to become your primary source of strength."

At those words, Atticus nodded with his expression turning serious.

"Good," Whisker continued. "Now I'll start with the core aspects of Will before we move to its stages."

He raised a stubby finger. "One, Identity."

He paused, letting it hang for a moment.

"Will is rooted in self awareness. You cannot wield true Will without knowing who you are, even if who you are is constantly changing. As you evolve, so does your Will."

He lifted a second finger. "Two, Conviction. The stronger your conviction, the more forcefully your Will warps reality. A hesitant Will flickers. A resolved one commands."

"Three, Resonance."

His tone sharpened slightly.

"This is a very important one. I believe you've seen people with different colours and textures of Will, right? Just like me… and your bond. That's because your Will 'resonates' with a specific concept. It could be anything, silence, time, growth, blood, pain, peace… anything. This resonance defines your Will type."

He gestured to himself. "For me, it's Nature's Will. For your bond, it's Spiritual Will. These are called derivatives of Will. Reaching this stage paves the way for the next phase, Imposition. The point where your inner truth begins to overwrite the external world."

Whisker paused again, letting the information sink in. Seeing that Atticus was following, he nodded in satisfaction.

"There are two more principles," he said. "But we'll stop here for now."

"Now that we've covered the core principles, we'll move on to the stages. These stages are closely intertwined with the principles I just mentioned. You rise through them by embodying the latter. There are five in total: Intent Will, Focused Will, Imposed Will, Manifested Will, and finally, Absolute Will."

He held up one hoof-like paw. "That's five in total."

"For the first two…" he began, "Intent is simply the beginning, identifying yourself. Knowing who you are. Here, you awaken the ability to feel your Will."

He tapped his snout. "The second, Focused Will. This one is built over time. The more you believe in yourself, the stronger your Will becomes."

"That's why things like pain, suffering, and going through life-threatening experiences strengthen your Will. They harden your mindset, deepen your conviction.

"And when you achieve this stage, you gain the ability to control the flow of your Will during battle, whether as a shield, a weapon, or something else entirely."

Whisker looked directly at Atticus. "You've already achieved both of these."

Atticus nodded slowly. Everything Whisker had said lined up with what he could already do with his Will. The sensations, the awareness, the way he'd begun to shape it in battle… it all made sense.

But more than that, he was sure… He hadn't gone past those stages. Not yet, at least.

Whisker continued,

"So, we'll be moving to the next stage, Imposing. As I explained earlier, this stage is intertwined with the third core principle, Resonance.

"To achieve this, you have to resonate with your Will and awaken a specific concept. And when I say this, I'm not talking about Spiritual Will or Nature's Will. Don't try to copy or resonate with them."

At Atticus' firm nod, Whisker added, "Alright. Let's get started. Close your eyes."

As Atticus closed his eyes, Whisker stood and began pacing around him, speaking in a calm tone.

"Honestly, reaching the Impose stage is pretty straightforward. You've already done half the job back in stage one, identifying yourself. Now, you just have to accept what you've identified. Resonate with it." freewёbnoνel.com