As Atticus stood there, many of the youths in the forge stopped what they were doing and looked up to see who entered.
Their eyes immediately landed on Atticus, who was currently looking around the forge.
Recognizing Atticus, they all immediately stood upright to pay their respects, "Young master," they all greeted simultaneously.
Atticus responded to their greetings with a nod, moving his gaze around each of the youths. He noticed that there were two figures missing from the group. The first one was expected, Hen. But the second….
One of the youths in the forge who had a tanned complexion and black hair stepped forward, his eyes gazing downwards as he spoke, "How may we assist you today, young master?" He inquired.
Atticus's mouth couldn't help but twitch.
Why was he being worshipped?
He might have gotten used to servants and guards back at the estate treating him this way, but it was still very weird being addressed in such a way by his age mates.
He knew most of them, if not all of them, feared him. But wasn't this too much?
Atticus decided to ignore the situation; it was probably too late to stop it even if he wanted.
"Where's Zara?" Atticus asked.
"She ran outside after hearing what happened to Hen, young master," the youth answered immediately.
Atticus simply nodded. He had already warned them that no one was allowed to heal any of them until after 24 hours. And he planned on keeping his word regardless of if the person was a female or not.
"Alright, keep up the good work," Atticus said, swiftly turning back and leaving the forge.
As soon as he left, the other youths all exhaled loudly as though a significant weight had just been lifted from their shoulders.
"How is his presence alone so suffocating?" one of the youths in the forge suddenly said, and the other youths couldn't help but agree with him.
Atticus hadn't noticed this, but his new increase in will had done more than simply make him engrave grade 2 runes.
Each increase in his will was constantly steeling his mind, making his presence more commanding.
And this was especially heightened for Atticus because he had already awakened his will aura; his will could already subtly affect the material world without any medium.
After that time at the Raven camp, Atticus had tried countless times to make use of his will aura but had never once succeeded.
He was still trying, but he already had it at the back of his mind already that it was only when he was truly struggling that it would manifest itself.
But currently, after his huge increase in will, he was subconsciously suppressing the surrounding with his will, especially because of the incident that had just happened.
As Atticus stepped out of the forge, he turned his gaze towards the direction of the northern gate, 'I should check out the forest now,' he decided.
Just as he was about to move, "Atticus!" A voice suddenly called out to him, causing him to turn his gaze and see Nate and Lucas approaching. He turned to face them, allowing them to approach.
As soon as Nate got to Atticus, he suddenly paused, narrowing his eyes slightly; he briefly scrutinized Atticus. Rubbing his right hand on his chin, he remarked, "You look… stronger."
Atticus tilted his head slightly in confusion, "Stronger?" he asked.
"Yeah… you just feel stronger. Did you go through another power-up or something?" Nate asked.
"Well…" Atticus muttered. The only power-up he could think of was his increase in will. But he wasn't too fond of revealing his powers even if it was to trusted allies.
Hell, even Aurora didn't know he had other elements apart from the four he usually showed.
Lucas also observed Atticus silently. He was also a runemaster and knew all about wills.
He had also met Atticus a few times during the past weeks, although Atticus hadn't been engraving runes in front of him, Lucas knew very well the aftereffects of rune engraving.
It had initially been a huge shock to him; he had thought he was the only one in their generation that became a runemaster.
Finding out that Atticus, along with all his talents, was also a rune engraver left a bad taste in his mouth. 'Did he break through the next grade?' Lucas pondered.
Seeing Atticus had no intention of saying anything, Lucas decided to chime in, adjusting his glasses with his index finger, "You're heading somewhere?" he inquired.
"Yeah, I just wanted to check out something in the forest. I'll be back soon," Atticus said, making Nate's ears perk upward.
"Oh! Forest? Please take me along! This past three weeks have been incredibly boring!" Nate begged. Seeing someone as bulky as Nate begging with two hand clasps in front of him was a funny sight to see.
"I plan on moving stealthily and fast. I doubt you'd be able to manage that," Atticus instantly refused.
He had no intention of bringing anyone along. He wanted to check out the forest and see if there was anything they were missing and he was also planning on checking out where the loud howl they had heard earlier came from.
In case of any situation, he needed to be able to move without any liabilities.
Atticus quickly briefed Lucas and Nate about his earlier deductions with Aurora causing both of them to agree with him.
After asking both of them to watch over the camp, Atticus turned and started running towards the north gate.
Easily jumping over the fence, he controlled the earth to shape around him, swiftly probelling him through the earth at fast speed towards the forest.
After a few minutes, Atticus got to the edge of the expanse.
Gazing at the towering trees of the forest, Atticus couldn't help but be in awe.
This was the first time, even after reincarnating in Eldoralth, that he was seeing trees as big and imposing as this.
Admiring it for a few seconds, Atticus took his gaze away from it and immediately entered the forest.