As soon as the countdown started, every one of the youths turned their gazes towards Atticus, waiting for his orders.
"What now?" Aurora asked.
"Let's not waste any time. We're checking out the building," Atticus swiiftly declared.
He had no idea what was coming after 10 minutes, and he had no intention of being caught off guard. He wanted to be fully prepared for any and every scenario, and there was only one way to do that: get answers.
They all nodded in agreement and trailed behind Atticus as he started walking towards the building that had just formed.
The rest of the other youths hadn't moved from their initial position. The building was far too small to contain all of them, so they all stood outside, waiting for Atticus's next words.
On getting to the front of the building, the door suddenly parted and slid open without any prompts, revealing the pitch dark interior.
Staring at the dark interior for a few seconds, "I'll go inside first," Atticus said to the Ravenstein youths who were behind him.
Nate and Aurora were about to voice their dissatisfaction, but Atticus, as though already reading their minds, suddenly turned back and gave them a look that instantly silenced them.
Atticus hadn't been joking when he said he would trust his instincts 100% at all times. He had a feeling something he won't like would happen soon, and he intended on keeping his guard up until he finds out what.
Some might call him paranoid, especially given his strength as an Expert rank, a rank the academy had clearly not accounted for, he was confident that he would be able to escape and even rescue the others from any traps the academy could dish out.
There was no way the academy would test the youths with something way above their level, so given the average strength of the other youths, it was a given Atticus would be confident.
But even with that, he still wasn't taking any chances.
Seeing as each of them nodded in acknowledgment, "I'll be back," Atticus said, instantly stepping inside the pitch black building, the door swiftly closing behind him.
As soon as he entered, Atticus instantly released a pulse of mana from his core, fully intending on feeling everything inside the pitch black room, but it was all for naught as the lights of the room suddenly lit up, illuminating the whole room.
Turning his gaze around the room, Atticus let down his guard, but only for a little bit.
'A control room?' he pondered.
Atticus had never really been in any control room in Eldoralth, even the one at the Ravenstein estate since he had been reincarnated.
But what he was currently looking at slightly resembled the ones he had seen in movies back on Earth.
The only thing missing would be the myriads of screens and monitors that would usually be sprawled on the wall.
Just like the building suggested from outside, the room wasn't large, only about 20 feet in both length and width.
The illumination within the room emanated from a series of blue neon lights, casting a cool, cyberpunk ambiance that bathed the surroundings in a futuristic glow.
The room was completely plain, with only one single thing in it, and that was the large square-shaped table in the middle of the room.
Atticus walked towards the table.
It featured a smooth, obsidian black surface that seemed to absorb the ambient light, creating an intriguing interplay of shadows. It spanned about six feet on each side.
The edges of the table were sharp and angular.
Seeing the obsidian black surface, he suddenly recalled the table that he had seen in Grimestone's lab back at the Raven camp.
He had a hunch which he followed immediately. Just as his hands brushed the surface of the table, the top of the table suddenly lit up like a screen, displaying just one thing: Division Wars.
Seeing that the room was completely free of any threats, Atticus decided to call the rest of the Ravenstein youths who were waiting outside.
After a few seconds, the whole group stood inside the room, surrounding the table from all sides, all of them waiting for Atticus.
Gazing at each of them and seeing them nod that they were ready, Atticus suddenly clicked on the 'Division Wars' display at his front.
Its glow immediately intensified, and the display suddenly changed to two options: General Description and Mission.
Atticus quickly clicked on the general description, and all the display disappeared, the table only lighting up at the middle where an AI face appeared above it for all to see. It immediately started speaking.
[
Welcome to the Division Wars.
The Division War is simply a war between different divisions. Every month, each division in the first years is mandated to battle a randomly selected division in a war like format.
The format will change each month, and you will all find out about said format only when the battle begins.]
[The winners of these battles will be rewarded handsomely, and losers punished severely.
The academy advises you to take this seriously. For information on what to do next, please click on the mission icon to understand what the battle format for this month will be.]
Seeing the mission icon suddenly appear in front of him again, Atticus clicked on it, and the AI display changed.
Instead of a face, the mission was displayed in text boldly for all to see:
***
MISSION FORMAT: Strategy.
MISSION DESCRIPTION:
Your division camp is currently situated on the far northern edge of the forest, on top of a massive hill.
Your opponent's camp is currently situated on the opposite end of the forest, at the southern edge.
All over the forest, there are a total of 8 mini-terminals, each located as indicated on the map of the forest.
Each mini terminal is situated at different locations all around the forest and serves to mark the territory of each of the 8 areas they are situated in.