Atticus had already learned the hard way, hiding power was foolish on many levels, especially when the reason behind it wasn't worth it.
Enemies would consider you weak.
Enemies would consider you possible.
They would come in droves, becoming nothing more than a complete nuisance.
Atticus preferred to display dominance and overwhelming strength, a force that would discourage stupidity and whittle away the ants from his actual enemies.
At least then, he could focus on what actually mattered.
This was why he had given Oberon the go-ahead, he had no intention of hiding his strength.
'They'll come.'
Atticus' gaze sharpened.
Now that Oberon had shown his strength to everyone in the human domain, there was no way the other races wouldn't hear.
It was confirmation of the Vampyros' claims.
The human Apex can battle a Paragon.
Because of this, Atticus was completely sure, he would be receiving word from the other races very soon.
They would insist that he sign a mana contract.
'Never.'
His gaze turned cold.
However, Atticus had no intention of being bounded to anything.
His gaze flickered to the side as the terminal of the training room began ringing.
Someone was calling.
Atticus approached and saw that it was Oberon.
'Already?'
Accepting the call, Oberon's holographic image appeared.
"Apex Atticus," he greeted.
Since the battle with the Vampyros, Atticus had noticed that Oberon had begun addressing him with his title rather than speaking casually.
He knew why, but it wasn't as if he could ask the man to stop.
He had no reason to.
"Did something happen?" Atticus went straight to the point, acknowledging Oberon's greeting with a nod.
Oberon's expression turned grim.
He nodded.
"The other races have sent word. They're sending their people over tomorrow to meet you."
Atticus' expression didn't change.
He had already expected this. But he was a bit surprised.
"Those proud fools are actually coming here?" he said his thoughts out loud.
Oberon smiled slightly.
"Initially, they demanded that you come to them. But I anticipated your refusal. I informed them that you were deeply engaged in training and… less than pleased with recent developments."
"They didn't take it well. Rather than risk waiting, they decided to come here themselves."
Atticus held back a chuckle, nodding his head.
"Where is the meeting taking place?" he asked.
"Where it all began," Oberon said. "The human-Vampyros border."
After the call with Oberon, Atticus walked to the middle of the training room.
He closed his eyes and took a deep breath.
'What will you do?'
He heard Ozeroth's voice in his head, but at the moment, he didn't have an answer.
So he said nothing.
Jezeneth had been stronger than he had expected.
But when he thought about it, it made sense.
Unlike the human domain, which had multiple leaders, she alone ruled over the Vampyros.
'I can expect the other races' leaders to be just as strong.'
In this world, only strength could lead people.
If the other races' leaders were as strong as Jezeneth, then battling them was out of the question.
He was outmatched.
'They're also not limited.'
Unlike the Vampyros, the other races might not be restricted in the same way.
They could attack the human domain.
Atticus took a deep inhale and exhaled in the next second.
He was at a crossroads, and his mind was running at full speed, trying to find a way out of this crisis.
'You seem to be in need of help, Bond. Should this amazing being help you?'
'You have a solution?' Atticus' eyes snapped open.
'Hmph. To think this minute problem has you so troubled… It's almost insulting to my intellect. Solving this is hardly worth the effort, I should be charging you for making me think about it.'
Atticus' initially excited expression turned placid, and his fingers twitched slightly.
'Then don't waste my time. Speak.'
'Tch, no patience at all,' Ozeroth clicked his tongue. 'Listen, Bond, I will give you another one of the great Ozeroth's advice. There's a need to have a very good grasp of your current abilities…'
…
The day passed quickly, and soon, the next day arrived.
Showing the scenes of Atticus battling the Vampyros had settled the people.
However, there was still tension in the air.
The people were well aware of the Vampyros' spies lurking in the human domain and the chaos they continued to sow across the sectors.
This unrest left everyone wary, unsure of who to trust.
Before the day had ended, Oberon had come up with another new idea.
He fitted those at the peak of the Grandmaster rank with the artifact, making them sign a mana contract with clauses restricting the artifact from falling into other hands.
Afterward, he set up multiple locations around the human domain where, should the people wish, they could prove their origins and receive a mark.
This created a divide between the marked and unmarked, and people hurried to get their marks.
While the people of the human domain scurried about, their elites gathered in a wasteland.
The buffer zone where the battle with the Vampyros had taken place had been reduced to nothing more than a barren landscape.
There was no vegetation.
No life.
A large and tall makeshift pillar had been built, with a large circular platform at the top, surrounded by numerous thrones.
The paragons of the human domain had come to the border together.
However, the majority remained in the citadel that Oberon had built in place of Fort Echohelm, leaving only Oberon, Magnus, Thorne, and the main character of the event—
Atticus.
The other races arrived one after the other.
However, none had been late.
The meeting had been scheduled for 11 a.m., and by then, they were all hovering in the air, feeling different waves of emotions as they saw the scene unfolding before them.
The humans were undoubtedly the hosts of this meeting.
While they were far too low in the hierarchy to host people of their standings, the situation demanded it.
And as the other races arrived, they all saw the same thing.
Oberon, Magnus, Thorne, and the Human Apex hovered in the air.
However, this wasn't what shocked them.
No.
The first was the way they hovered.
Atticus was at the forefront, while the remaining three floated just behind him, as though they followed his words.
And the second—
The overwhelming power that radiated from this seventeen-year-old boy.
He was a fucking Paragon.