"You have 30 minutes."
Hearing those words, Atticus's thoughts raced as he tried to understand what was going on.
'Choosing a leader? Wasn't this supposed to be an academy where we attend classes and other school activities?' Atticus pondered.
He had completely regarded the academy exactly as its name implies, a school. But from what he had just heard, it seemed like it was far from what he was expecting.
Since it was obvious Harrison wasn't going to explain further, Atticus decided to follow his instructions and see what he was talking about.
Clicking his artifact, a holographic display materialized in front of his face.
Amongst the many icons on the display, Atticus quickly spotted the 'choose a leader' by the side. Just as he was about to click on it, Atticus suddenly received a notification on his display.
[Aurora Ravenstein has joined your Division.]
And almost simultaneously, multiple notifications followed,
[Lucas Ravenstein has joined your Division.]
[Nate Ravenstein has joined your Division.]
[Aria Ravenstein has joined your Division.] …..
The notifications kept on appearing until all the Ravenstein youth who had participated in the test had joined.
Atticus also noticed that below each of the messages, there was a reject option there, which meant that he had the ability to refuse any of them if he wished.
As soon as each of the Ravenstein youth joined, Atticus suddenly began receiving rapid notifications about random people joining his Division.
He had expected this to happen honestly; since he was the 2nd rank, many would want to join his group even if they didn't know anything about him. The name 'Ravenstein' would be plenty enough for them.
Atticus didn't refuse any of them. Since all of the Ravenstein youths had already joined his group, there was no reason to. The 1181 remaining members had to come from somewhere.
The 30 minutes quickly elapsed, and Harrison clicked on the device on his wrist. Seeing that every one of the youths was in a group, he closed it.
Releasing his aura to silence the crowd, he continued speaking,
"Excellent! Now that you all have joined a group, let us move to the next step," Harrison declared.
"Seconds from now, each division will be transported to different regions within the outer parts of the academy. As soon as you get there, consult your artifacts for further directives,"
"I wish you good luck!"
As soon as Harrison said those words, the whole coliseum floor immediately radiated a golden light encompassing all the first-year youths on the ground, and before any of them could react, they were all teleported out of the area.
….
Zoey gradually opened her eyes, emerging from a brief moment of darkness to find herself within a plain, unfurnished room. She took a few seconds to get her bearings.
'Where am I?' she thought.
'Stop daydreaming and look in front of you,' a petite voice suddenly responded to her thoughts inside her head.
Zoey listened and turned her gaze upwards, immediately seeing the figure of an extremely beautiful woman whose every feature embodied perfection in every aspect. She was looking at her with a gentle smile.
Zoey immediately bowed down, paying her respects. "I humbly greet you, Grand Matron," she greeted.
Seraphina smiled warmly, seeing her granddaughter act this way. "Come on, Zoey, I've told you countless times that you don't have to do this," she remarked.
An invisible aura enveloped Zoey, gently lifting her and bringing her into Seraphina's comforting embrace as she hugged her tightly.
"Congratulations on becoming the first rank, Zoey," she added.
Zoey, who was currently being tightly hugged by Seraphina, let go of her stiffness as she smiled and hugged her back. "Thank you, grandma," she replied.
Seraphina's eyebrows twitched, she tightened her hold on Zoey, "I told you not to call me that."
Zoey, who was now suffocating, immediately relented. "Yes, yes, auntie, auntie,"
After a few moments, Seraphina finally loosened the hold, making Zoey able to breathe.
Zoey had always been close to her grandmother, even more than her mother.
And a part of this was because her mother was always pestering her to get engaged quickly, even going as far as setting her up with other young masters from the other tier one family. And this was when she was just 13! Zoey just couldn't comprehend why her mother was acting that way.
No matter how many times she asked, she wasn't able to get an appropriate answer.
Every single one of the men she had met had all been incredibly repulsive and stupid. She had met both her mates and older men, but even then, they were all the same thing—idiots.
Despite her young age, every single one of them looked at her with one expression: lust. It unnerved her to her core. Every time she felt them looking at her this way, it took every single self-control she had to stop herself from gouging their eyeballs out.
But Zoey would have never expected to hear what her grandmother said next.
"Did you see a boy you like?" Seraphina suddenly asked, setting Zoey slightly on edge.
Her smile faltering, Zoey responded, "Not you too, grandma."
Seraphina reassured her with a chuckle, "You don't have to worry; I'm not going to pester you like your mother."
The relief washed over Zoey, but Seraphina suddenly continued,
"But I'll only give my blessings if you choose either one of these boys, the 2nd rank or the 3rd rank of the first years."
...
Atticus, for the third time in one day, felt the same surreal feeling and darkness that came with teleporting. 'I'm getting tired of this.'
As Atticus's eyes fluttered open, he discovered himself in a vast expanse that stretched for kilometers in every direction.
Towering giant trees, their imposing forms reaching over 50 meters skyward, surrounded the entirety of the landscape, creating a natural fortress.
Hearing some sounds from his back, Atticus turned and saw many youths sprawled across the expanse. Seeing them, Atticus assumed that they were the people who joined his group.
"Atticus!"
He suddenly heard a feminine voice call out to him. Atticus turned to see Aurora and not so far away, the rest of the Ravenstein youths heading towards him.
"Hey," Atticus greeted, raising his hand and fist bumping Aurora's hand in the air.
"How the hell weren't you the first rank?" Aurora quizzed, her surprise painted across her features.
She, of all people, knew how strong Atticus was, even though it was only the level he had shown her. She just couldn't fathom why Atticus hadn't taken the first place.
Atticus couldn't help but smile wryly at her question. "I got a little distracted," using his hand to scratch his head, Atticus awkwardly responded.
Aurora couldn't help but look at Atticus dumbfounded for a few seconds before bursting into slight chuckles. "What could have possibly distracted you? Ha! Someone's going to get punished by Grandpa Magnus," she burst into laughter, which made Atticus turn a little red in embarrassment.
Atticus had told Aurora his promise to Magnus, and she knew well how intense Atticus's training with Magnus was because she sometimes sees the result herself, seeing the worn-out figure of Atticus after the training.
The rest of the Ravenstein youth all finally reached the duo after a few seconds with Nate immediately bombarding Atticus with questions about the test. They had each seen how low he was in the rankings before he suddenly shot up the ranks. Atticus simply gave them the same response he gave to Aurora—he had been distracted.
Many of the other youths gathered all watched them from a distance, some waiting for the perfect opportunity to approach. Regardless of them being in the academy, the Ravensteins were still at tier one family.
But just as Atticus was talking with the Ravenstein youths, suddenly, he felt a subtle vibration coming from the earth.
It was so subtle that at first, only Atticus among the thousand present was able to pick up on the vibration.
But as the seconds ticked by, the vibrations started increasing in intensity until practically all the youth in the area could feel the ground trembling.
Everyone turned their gazes around, trying to make sense of the upheaval.
Atticus narrowed his eyes, attempting to look into the distance to see what was happening. His sight was way better than what the youths in the expanse could hope to achieve, being able to see hundreds of meters easily.
It was then that Atticus saw it.
Emerging from the imposing forest was a horde of vicious monsters, resembling a relentless tsunami, charged towards them with alarming speed.
Atticus reacted immediately.
Focusing on the fire element, he swiftly released a blast from his feet, propelling himself as he shot up the skies.
As soon as Atticus got high enough in the air, he swiftly turned his gaze around the whole expanse, and what he saw immediately made his heart clench.
From the forest surrounding them, in all directions, an army of beasts numbering in the thousands spilled out like a tsunami, every single one of them heading in the same direction—towards the youths gathered in the expanse.
Atticus's gaze turned frigid.