After a few minutes, he made up his mind on what he would do.
Atlas decided to practice the trademark of every Awakened, the use of mana. He had racked his brain, and other than waiting for another beast to wander by and following it, he had no solution for the problem.
Going back to the shade of the mushroom tree, he sat with crossed legs and tried to control his breathing. He had no real idea of how to go about using his mana, but he had to try.
First, he attempted to locate the general location of his mana core and pathways within his body. He closed his eyes, envisioning a spinning sphere where his sternum was, and root-like pathways spread throughout his entire body.
It was quite difficult because, since Atlas did not know his affinity, he couldn't assign a color to his mana. For now, he envisioned it as the dark blue signature of Radon.
Atlas imagined his core and pathways until he was sure they were semi-correct. Next, he tried to reach inside his body to where his mana core was located.
It completely failed. He had hit a dead end and saw no way forward.
'Back to the drawing board,' he thought with a sigh. He began to recall everything he knew about mana.
'So, mana is stored within the mana core. Mana then travels through the mana pathways on command of the Awakened, which allows them to strengthen their body and send mana outside of their body. This allows them to cast spells.'
He continued brainstorming, 'Furthermore, mana is in perpetual motion when in the core and traveling through the pathways; it travels back to the core if it is not used.'
He continued to think in silence but he could not figure out a solution. Suddenly, he recalled something he learned he learned in chemistry class.
'If you wish to expedite a chemical reaction, you must use a catalyst. Thus, to speed the rotation of my core, which further increases the rate of mana traveling through my pathways, I must use an external catalyst! '
Atlas's excitement grew with each passing second. He continued with growing intensity, 'It must, preferably, be one that can either draw mana towards it to be absorbed by my core, or hold a significant repository amount of mana within it.'
He then contemplated which material he should use. He was stuck between a portion of the tops of the mushroom trees, the blue grass, or a spirit beast.
He immediately forgot the latter because there was no chance of him defeating even a weak beast at his level.
Concluding, he stood up.
First, Atlas chose the most accessible one, the bluegrass. He tried to dig into the ground to find something he could mash the grass and hypothetically cut the mushroom trees, but there were no stones to be found, only dirt.
He began to rip the grass out of the ground from its tufts, until he had acquired a decent amount, for an indiscernible amount of time. Then, spotting a group of relatively shorter mushrooms in the distance, he quickly ran towards them.
Pulling himself up the shorter mushrooms, he stood atop one. He was now able to pull himself up a regular-sized mushroom, which he did immediately.
Sitting upon the mushroom, all he could see was the same glowing mushroom caps and dark sky, in all directions.
He then ate all of the bluegrass he had collected so far. And indeed, as predicted, it had an effect. He slightly feels the presence of his core! Alas, it was as if only 0.1% of the core was revealed.
Atlas damn near cried after this discovery. To fully feel his core, he would have to eat for at least a week straight, or whatever counted for a week here.
However, before he began to terrorize the grass, he crawled to the edge of the cap and then jumped to a smaller mushroom tree.
Atlas pulled as hard as he could on the edge of the smaller mushroom's cap, trying to crack a piece off, but as he suspected, he could not even cause it to shake.
He hopped back down to the ground, took a deep breath, and prepared himself for the ordeal ahead.
Then, he began picking the plant so fast that someone watching might've called him "Grass Slayer."
~~
Finally, Atlas had finally collected all of the grass he needed. He slept only when necessary, atop the mushroom caps, and ate just to stave off hunger.
Now, Atlas could reap the fruit of his labor.
A six-foot-tall mound of the shining bluegrass stood before him. It shone so brightly that it was close to blinding him.
But Atlas refused to take his eyes off it, for it held the key to unlocking his path forward.
After consuming all of the grass, a process that might take days, he would be able to sense his mana core and pathways.
From there, he could begin to experiment with mana, and hopefully, devise a plan to awaken his affinity and get out of this place.
However, he prioritized his escape. If he found a way to do both, all the better, but he would not curse himself to wander here forever.
Therefore, Atlas sat down and began to eat a handful of grass with each bite.
~~
Sometime later, Atlas was close to fully activating his mana core. He could feel it beginning to spin, like a turbine, within his chest. He had eaten for a majority of the time, with sleeping taking a backseat.
His stay in the spiritual plane had taken its toll on him, and the repetitive nature of the eating wore his mind down even more.
However, Atlas refused to give up, for he truly wished to realize his dreams.
~~
Atlas felt that at least two days had passed since he started eating, but he still had no method of knowing the time. More importantly, he had fully charged his mana core!
He could feel it rotating and pulsing whenever he focused inward. Now, all that remained was to devise a strategy to utilize this mana.
For the first time in a while, Atlas felt true hope. However, he did not let it get to him and sat cross-legged to cement his understanding of his mana core and pathways.
He looked inward and was incredibly proud of what he saw!