By the time the woman had explained the rules of the sanctum to Atticus, the rest of the other students and instructors alike had already reached the buildings.
"Must be nice being the grandson of a paragon. The rest of us had to bust our asses to reach this point, and he just gets it handed over to him like that," someone muttered.
The shock at Atticus's presence had turned into hate and jealousy, with many believing Atticus was enjoying the luxury they had each suffered to achieve because of his connections.
Even though they had each been shocked earlier, at the end of the day, they were proud master+ ranks in their own right. Anyone that ended up in the sanctum had the potential to become a grandmaster.
Many immediately got back to their devices, choosing to leave the boy that clearly didn't belong here alone.
'I think I should stop using it. There's no point anymore,' Atticus focused inwardly and stopped utilizing his innate skill, Conceal, and like a bomb had exploded, his aura abruptly erupted.
What was once an advanced+ rank changed and became an expert+ rank.
Everyone in the area paused. What was going on?
Days back, when Ae'zard had seen Atticus, he had been able to immediately tell that the latter was in the expert+ rank, just like Magnus had been able to tell a few years back.
This was because the perception of a paragon was so profound that it was easy for them to see the mana that was contained inside his muscles and veins.
However, only paragons could have such a luxury.
The master+ ranks attending the sanctum and the instructors alike had all assumed Atticus to be in the advanced+ rank; they were each so sure of this, but now that belief had been shattered.
The calm look on the woman's face shattered, her expression finally showing a hint of shock. She wasn't the only one. Many came out of their buildings and focused on Atticus, who had already started calming down his aura.
Atticus was incredibly tall, even taller than the 30+ year-old woman beside him, but they couldn't be mistaken. He was 16! Why the hell was he in the expert+ rank?
Atticus calmed down his aura, his demeanor austere as though he didn't care about the intense gazes fixed on him. He turned towards his shocked guide and asked,
"What about the three lit fires behind your uniform? I can see others with two and one. What do they mean?"
Atticus's question brought her out of her shock, and her expression became calm once more. But Atticus could feel some sort of change in her demeanor towards him.
"They represent the number of summits I've conquered. One lit flame for the first summit and three for the third summit," she explained.
Atticus nodded his head in understanding.
"I believe that would be all. I will take my leave," she said.
"Wait, I have one last question," Atticus interjected.
The woman turned towards Atticus, wondering why he stopped her.
"What is your name?"
The woman paused. Her name?
It was the last thing she was expecting to ever get asked. And to be honest, she would have immediately ignored him and walked away. It was simply how she was. But her interest had been piqued.
"Joana Ravenstein," Joana responded before turning and walking away, leaving no chance for Atticus to introduce himself.
Atticus shook his head. "Of course you're a Ravenstein, did you really have to add it?" he muttered.
Deciding to stop thinking about it, he focused on his next task. 'I should get my uniform,' he thought.
He turned towards the residential buildings and approached. He still got a number of looks from the others, but Atticus ignored them.
He reached a building with an unoccupied mark on the door. As Atticus approached, a round device jutted out and scanned him, allowing him entry.
Atticus was met with a simple room with an intensely hot temperature. It had a bathroom, wardrobe, table, chair, and a medium-sized bed. Joana had been right; it did have all the basic amenities.
Atticus approached the wardrobe, which had a full mirror, and opened it, seeing a row of uniforms. He picked one up and immediately changed.
As soon as he wore it, Atticus felt a slight connection to the attire. He looked through the mirror and saw that there was not a single lit flame on his back.
Wasting no time, Atticus left the building and moved towards the center of the sanctum where the bottom of the stairs to the summits was located.
Just the temperature there alone had long since passed 1000 degrees Celsius. It was searing, but not so hot that Atticus couldn't handle it, at least not yet.
Atticus caught sight of multiple individuals blazing up the stairs as he approached. 'These guys should really find something else to do,' he sighed.
The other people who had wanted to go up the stairs had paused upon seeing him before stepping aside. They each stood by the side and watched him without saying anything.
He might have been too young to be in a sanctum, but he was still the family head's son. Many were dissatisfied with his presence here, and if not for that small fact, they would have already approached and started something.
Atticus paid them no heed and approached the first step. The steps were flaming, each of them burning like embers set on fire. However, not a single smoke was released.
The path was also wide enough for ten people to move side by side, but Atticus turned out to be the only one about to climb.
'Don't let me get ahead of myself, I should take it one step at a time first and analyze,' he thought.
Atticus placed a foot on the first step, and just as he was about to place his other foot, he immediately paused and carried his foot away from the flaming step.
The sounds of stifled laughter filled the space as some of the onlookers tried hard to stop themselves from laughing at Atticus's abrupt retreat.
"I knew that was going to happen."
"Why is he wasting everyone's time? He should just leave."
"Who wants to bet it'll take years before he can take that first step?"
The talks went on, but Atticus didn't care about any of them. His thoughts were racing.
Immediately, he took that step. He had felt an intense surge of heat moving from the step and into his body, his temperature increasing without his permission.
A scene suddenly popped up in his head, the scene of Joana walking.
'Let's give it a try,' he thought.
Atticus took in a deep breath before placing both feet on the first step and then the next step and then another step, each step taken prompting the jaws of the onlookers to drop lower.