Just as the massive black spire unleashed a blinding blue light that engulfed the entire expanse, Atticus's form immediately tensed.
He was able to react faster than everyone. Putting his hand on his Katana hilt, he got completely alert and ready to respond to anything that might be coming.
"Won't these guys let us rest! It's just the first day!" Nate suddenly exclaimed while bringing out his broadsword.
Everyone let out low grunts, all of them voicing their dissatisfaction. They were all truly tired and exhausted, having gone through a lot in just one day.
But even then, all the youths in the expanse all got tensed and battle-ready for anything that might pop up. Although many were exhausted, they were all still ready to put on a fight.
But after waiting for a few seconds, nothing happened.
'Hm?' Atticus thought as he scanned around the expanse checking to see if they had missed something.
But even after scanning for a few seconds, nothing popped up. The blinding lights simply receded as though it was never there in the first place.
And then, all around the expanse round metallic pillars gutted out of the earth each about 90 meters away from each other. They were all close to the forest, a few hundred meters away.
They were all just a few meters tall, about as tall as a tall fence.
Atticus gazed at the pillars, his mind churning. Truthfully, there was no need to think so much. It was obvious that those pillars served as some kind of boundary.
'We're supposed to manage and protect our territory. So I guess that's as far as the territory goes.'
Thinking for a little bit, and seeing that nothing else was happening, Atticus decided to go check out the giant black spire in the middle of the expanse.
He started walking towards the middle of the expanse followed by the rest of the Ravenstein youths.
After a few minutes, they all stood in front of the imposing black spire. The ground 50 meters surrounding the spire had changed to the same hard and metallic material the spire was made out of.
As Atticus approached the spire, he suddenly remembered one feature he had seen amongst the new ones that appeared when he was looking for information earlier.
Clicking his artifact, he navigated to the 'Knowledge oracle' section. And a prompt swiftly appeared asking him to ask his question.
"What is this black pillar in front of me?" Atticus asked. Aurora, Lucas, and Nate, who were all close to him, turned to face him as they all suddenly heard him talking.
"How are we supposed to know? We're literally all seeing it for the first time together," Aurora said while looking at Atticus as though questioning his sanity.
Atticus's mouth twitched.
But wasn't her fault that she didn't know he was using his artifact. Only the user could see the holographic interface that appeared in front of them.
Atticus had noticed it when they were all using their devices a few minutes ago. He wasn't able to see the display of the other Ravenstein youths.
"I wasn't asking you, dumbass. It seems you're too dumb to remember the features on your artifact," Atticus quipped.
Aurora's face flushed with embarrassment as she retorted, "Y-you're the dumb one! Hmph," she declared, folding her arms defiantly and turning her face away
Atticus chuckled a bit as his artifact started answering his question,
==
The designation 'black spire' corresponds to a functional unit known as a terminal. Strategically positioned in each region under division management.
Firstly, consider it your territorial beacon. The black spire denotes ownership of the region; as long as this black spire is protected and secured, you would remain the owner of your territory.
It also serves to make purchases from the division seamless with immediate delivery. A few of its features would be revealed for you later down the line, when it's significant.
==
Looking at the explanation of the terminal, Atticus nodded. He decided to explain what it was to the other youths,
"This spire is called a terminal, and it serves to mark out territory. This is basically what we are supposed to protect," Atticus explained.
Seeing the confused expressions on their faces, Atticus sighed, "Open your artifacts and navigate to the 'Knowledge Oracle' section," Atticus instructed.
The youths nodded in acknowledgment and did exactly as they were told, and after a few seconds, they all had looks of understanding.
"So what now?" Nate asked after a few seconds making all the youths turned to Atticus for instructions.
"Now, we create a group," Atticus responded.
…
Atticus and the other Ravenstein youths all sat down in an earth-made chair and a round table a few meters away from the terminal.
The rest of the other youths had already gotten to and checked out the terminal and were all waiting for Atticus to finish speaking with the Ravenstein's youths a few meters away.
None of the had the guts to interrupt their meeting after what they had just witnessed.
Atticus turned his gaze, looking at the youths sitting on the table with him, "I've decided to create a military-like group," he suddenly spoke up.
After giving it a lot of deliberations, Atticus eventually decided to go with a military group. He felt like it was better if he did that.
They were currently at the academy, and if Atticus had learned anything since he had gotten to this place, it was that the battles were never-ending.
Throughout their stay in this expanse, Atticus was completely sure that they were all going to be fighting a lot.
It was better to properly prepare and organize his division as soon as possible.
'From the current objective we were given, it's obvious something would happen after one month,' Atticus pondered.
When Atticus had first seen their current objectives, the first thing that came to his mind was something significant was happening after one month's time.
They were all being rewarded for surviving for the month, that was weird no matter how much he thought about it.
They had already all been told to survive for the academy year, and he doubted that they would all be given this objective every month.
It was as if the academy wanted them all to survive till the end of the month no matter what.