A huge sigh resounded inside an expansive room, followed by the sound of someone slumping on the bed.
Atticus gazed up at the ceiling, completely lost in thought. He had found out about the title "Apex" a few days ago and learned about his enormous responsibilities. However, that wasn't even what had him thinking now.
'It's only going to get harder from here on out,' Atticus pondered, already anticipating what was coming. He truly had never expected it. Just how are the Apexes of the other races so strong?
Atticus knew his situation well; he was basically a walking cheat. The gap between him and his other human peers was crazy large. Although he expected the other races to be strong, this was far, far too much.
'It can't be. If there was such a gap between the humans and other races, then humanity should have gone extinct by now,'
Atticus suddenly remembered Magnus's words: this generation's Apexes are a different breed altogether.
He was starting to understand what that meant now. 'The Apexes were always more powerful than the humans, but not to Ae'ark's extent. Which means that this generation is different from all the others,'
Atticus was truly starting to lean in on the assumption he had made while battling Ae'ark. Ae'ark was also like him, reincarnated.
However, before Atticus could keep on thinking, the door to his room slid open and a circular object held up by tendrils of lightning streamed into the room.
The door closed and Atticus found himself looking at a floating object. Atticus's eyes narrowed slightly as he reached out and grabbed the note attached to it.
-The Apex you fought with asked me to give you this when you wake up. I have scrutinized it thoroughly and have seen that there are no dangers. Regardless, I must advise you to be cautious. It's an information storage artifact; it was programmed to only react to your mana. Channel your mana into it to activate it.-
Atticus went silent. He could notice Magnus's choice of words. The man had scrutinized it for any dangers, but he hadn't listened to what was inside.
Atticus could sit here all day wondering why Ae'ark had given him this or what was inside, but he would simply be wasting his time.
Instead, Atticus wasted no time and immediately channeled his mana into the artifact. Its form lit up slightly, and in the next second, a wave of information found its way into Atticus's head.
Atticus closed his eyes, trying to organize the insane amount of information streaming into his head. After a few moments, his gaze snapped open, eyes widening in shock.
'So I was right,'
Atticus thought, a wave of shock engulfing him. What he had just found out from this artifact was that mind-boggling.
Despite the information being a lot, the parts Atticus focused on were only a little. But regardless, that little held great significance.
Atticus had been right about his earlier assumption: he wasn't the only reincarnated person on Eldoralth!
The information added that he was supposed to find out all of these things from his life weapon when he learned the third art, but Ae'ark had wanted Atticus to know about everything because time was running out.
This generation of Apexes was completely different from all the other generations. The reason why the power gap between the current and the last generation was so large was exactly because of 'the being'.
In all other generations, the being had always chosen a native individual from each race, given him or her perks, and then bonded with the life weapon. But this had always brought about subpar results. Apparently, none of those Apexes had been able to satisfy the being!
Which was why it had decided to switch things up and bring in people from other worlds.
The implications of this piece of information were obvious: every single Apex of each race was reincarnated, each of them given perks that corresponded to their respective race. To put the icing on the cake, they each had a life weapon!
Atticus took a long moment to take all of this in. It was truly a lot. Here he was thinking he had been the only person that was reincarnated and had been comfortably planning for his revenge on the bastard that sent him here. He had no idea that there were larger things at play!
However, despite this crazy revelation, what came next truly made him want to pull all his hair out from his scalp.
They had each found out about the end goal, what each of the Apexes was supposed to do. In simple terms, it was a battle royale, a brutal one that could only end when all but one Apex remained alive.
Also, apparently, each of the Apexes was communicating with each other, at least those of the races that were high up in the power scale in Eldoralth.
They would have never expected there to be a human Apex, and even if there was one, he or she was expected to be weak and not really worth the time.
The Apexes that had been in communication with each other believed themselves to be the strongest considering their superior race. During their communication, they had reached a consensus among themselves, one that made Atticus's blood run cold as he heard it.
Since they were supposed to kill each other with only one Apex remaining, they had decided to end it all in the Veriatega Nexus.
What does this mean?
Simple: the Veriatega Nexus happening in one year, which was supposed to be a friendly competition between the races to bolster their friendship, had just been turned into a death game where each Apex would battle to the death to decide who would be at the top.
It was brutal.
Atticus's hand lowered slowly, dropping the artifact on his bed gently.
It truly was brutal.
Atticus rested his back on his bed, gaze focused on the ceiling as his thoughts churned.
Ae'ark had been polite enough to include the small yet profound fact that he was in the middle grade when it came to the strength of all the Apexes, especially those of the superior races.
In fact, none of them had even asked for his opinion when they decided the Nexus would be a death game. They had basically considered themselves as their only competition and assumed the other Apexes of the lower races were insignificant.
This simply meant that Ae'ark, whom Atticus had used all his cards and power to fight, the same boy who he had struggled against and still couldn't win, was in the middle grade of power compared to the other Apexes.
There were stronger Apexes than Ae'ark! It was insane. Atticus was finding it hard to determine his next move. He had long since regained his composure; there was no helping it. This was the matter at hand, and he had to deal with it whether he liked it or not.
'If I should attend the Nexus as I am currently, I'd be killed. What difference can training for one year make?'
Atticus's thoughts were churning. He truly didn't know what to do. Should he decide to participate in the Nexus, he would be battling for his life. It was a huge risk.
The most logical option would be to not participate altogether and keep training safely in the human domain until he was confident enough. However, this would be another naive thought.
Nowhere was truly safe. The human domain was just as dangerous. The paragons of the other families had already set their eyes on him, and he wouldn't be so foolish as to believe that they wouldn't find a way to act.
Atticus released a deep breath. If he were to determine which option was more dangerous, he would choose the Nexus without wasting a second.
In the human domain, Magnus could still somehow protect him against the other paragons, but Atticus knew for certain that this wouldn't be possible during the Veriatega Nexus.
Atticus was at a major crossroads. He really wanted to end this whole thing and not participate in the Nexus anymore; it was his right, as he had told Magnus beforehand.
But Atticus just couldn't bring himself to do that. The figure of a certain white-haired old man attempting to bow wouldn't stop appearing in his head. Should the human domain lose sector 10, it would be a huge blow to them—one they might never recover from.
Atticus truly didn't care about the human domain, but he cared about his family.
Magnus wouldn't say it, and Atticus knew the man would be far too honorable to do so, but should Atticus refuse to participate anymore, Magnus would be definitely be disappointed.
The Nexus would be dangerous, so dangerous that he could lose his life should he participate.
However, despite all of this, Atticus found himself feeling even worse about how Magnus would react should he refuse than the dangers of the Nexus.
Atticus's hand clenched, his gaze turning cold. "The stupid things we do for family," he muttered.
Despite all the dangers, there was no helping it—he was still going to participate.