Atticus nodded, a grin appearing on his face. He approved 100% of the Ravensteins' retaliation. He had truly been born into the right family.
Many families would have considered their actions too risky, deciding instead to lay low considering they were dealing with multiple tier-one families.
But the Ravensteins had never been ones to shy away from a fight. They were each crazy in their own right.
Feeling Atticus's gaze, Dario continued, "The other families took the retaliation seriously, but there hasn't been any significant action taken yet. The tension between the Ravenstein and the Alverian families is the most intense, considering our close proximity. They have long since cut all supplies of potions the Ravenstein family receives."
Atticus went silent. A lot had happened during his stay at the academy, and if he had to be honest, he had an idea of what caused all these problems.
"Tell me, Dario, you mentioned the Alverians were the first ones to show hostilities. When did they start?"
"Hmm, I believe it was about seven months back."
'Around the time I dealt with Dell,' Atticus thought, immediately drawing the connections. He could also see that the time the other families joined in aligned with when he had had altercations with their youths.
'I assumed everything that happens in the academy stays in the academy, but it looks like I'm completely wrong. If Grandfather could enter the academy easily, then the other paragons should be able to do the same.'
'Which means they know about everything that happened but couldn't do anything to me in the academy. Hmm.'
Dario and Yotad could see Atticus had entered a contemplative state and decided not to disturb him.
'He's a really weird kid. To think he actually grinned when I mentioned our retaliation,' Dario thought.
He couldn't help but remember the brutality Atticus showed during the award ceremony at the Ravenstein estate. He had luckily been one of the few attendees.
How Atticus had been acting since he met him didn't match what he showed back then, but he had seen a glimpse of that brutality in the grin he just showed.
He was having trouble determining which was the real Atticus: nice and relaxed or cruel and brutal. 'Which is it?'
'This might not be the only reason,' Atticus's mind spun. His thoughts couldn't help but shift towards what Magnus had told him yesterday. He was already under the paragons' radar.
What if the paragons were using the earlier reason as a distraction?
'Maybe they're trying to weaken us and stop us from gaining even more power because of me.'
Atticus wasn't completely sure which was which, but at the end of the day, 'It doesn't matter. Allies are allies, and enemies are enemies.'
Dario suddenly felt a slight shiver down his spine, and Yotad tilted his head slightly. They had both just felt a piercing killing intent coming from a boy who should be just 16 years old!
Dario was utterly shocked while Yotad couldn't help but tense up. He had killed his fair share of people and done many brutal things in his life. For a 16-year-old boy to radiate that amount of killing intent was insane.
Atticus paid no heed to their tensed figures. After finishing his contemplation, he also asked Dario about the well-being of his family—Avalon, Anastasia, Freya, Caldor, and his grandparents. He was pleased to find out they were all good, almost all of them. Dario didn't have any information about Caldor, as he had already joined the military.
Just as Atticus was about to call it a day and excuse the both of them, Dario suddenly recalled something and decided to ask, "By the way, young master, what is it that we are going to do?"
Yotad also focused his gaze on Atticus. He too was curious but wasn't planning on asking.
Atticus looked at both of them for a second, uncertain about whether to reveal it or not, but ultimately decided to. They were each completely loyal to him anyway, so there was no point in hiding it.
"Grandfather is going to train me for a year in order to participate in the Veretega Nexus as the Apex of the human domain."
The figures of Dario and Yotad, who were in the process of standing up, froze in their tracks, their shock palpable.
"APEX?!"
"W-what?" Dario's voice trembled.
Atticus frowned, "The competition between the top youth of each race. You don't know it?"
"Of course we do! Who in the living world doesn't!" Dario screamed, but in the next second, he abruptly froze, suddenly remembering who he was talking to.
Dario shot upwards, instantly sinking to one knee. "Forgive my outburst, young master! I let my surprise get the best of me."
"Why are you so surprised?" Atticus didn't seem to care about the outburst and asked immediately.
"I-I was just surprised, young master," Dario stammered. They both knew Atticus was very talented, but the never expected him to be so talented that he could be called an Apex.
The title Apex held immense weight, and to hear Atticus call himself that so casually was shocking.
'But I don't think he's joking,' Dario thought. He didn't see Atticus as the joking type. If Atticus said it, then he meant it. This small fact made the situation even more unbelievable.
Feeling Atticus's curious gaze, he decided to explain. "In the human domain, we've never given our selected representative the title Apex before because, compared to the other races' Apexes, they always fall short by a wide margin. But—"
"It was given to me," Atticus finished Dario's speech, making Dario nod in agreement.
"And also, there is always a domain-wide competition around this time to select our representative, but to think you were given the role without any of that…" Dario was truly speechless.
However, he wasn't the only one experiencing a maelstrom of emotions. Yotad, too, was utterly silent. His face underwent a series of different expressions before ultimately settling on one. His hand clenched by his side, a determined expression on his face. It would seem his master was more important than he thought.
Atticus didn't seem to care about all these things. It wasn't that it would make what he had to do easier.
After a few more minutes of talking, Dario and Yotad left Atticus to his devices.
Atticus simply decided to meditate on his elements and perform light training. And just like that, the day passed.
Early the next morning, Atticus approached the door to his room. Opening it, his gaze immediately landed on the figures of Yotad and Dario standing with their heads bowed in front of his door.
Dario suddenly spoke, "We've reached our destination, young master. Master Magnus requests your presence in the control room."