Atticus tapped on his artifact, sending a message to each of the Ravenstein youths, asking them to gather in the mansion’s living room.
Within a few minutes, everyone had left whatever they were doing and gathered at the designated location, each gazing at Atticus and waiting for him to speak.
Atticus found saying goodbye to the other Ravenstein youths quite easier compared to the others. Although they had all expressed their sadness, with Nate immediately breaking down in tears and holding Atticus’s leg, determined to stop him from leaving.
Atticus spent a little time with them, assuring each of them that they’d meet after the academy and that they had nothing to worry about.
Afterward, Atticus walked out with Lucas after finally being able to get Nate off his back. The first few seconds of the walk were quiet, with neither of them speaking.
“Look after Aurora. It might take a few days before she recovers,” Atticus said.
Lucas raised an eyebrow at Atticus’s words but dropped it in the next second. He understood what he meant.
“Will you be okay?” Lucas asked, turning to face Atticus.
“What do you mean?”
“Fighting other races, that sounds dangerous on every level. The fact that they’re taking you out of the academy for training despite you being so strong already just proves my point.”
Atticus smiled at Lucas’s deductions. The majority of them had just been sad about him leaving, but none of them had actually thought about how dangerous what he was going to do was.
Atticus shrugged. “Honestly, I don’t know, but I should be fine.”
Lucas’s gaze narrowed slightly. Seeing Atticus being so unsure of something was unusual, to say the least.
“Just don’t die,” Lucas suddenly remarked with a smile. ‘Not yet,’ he added in his head, but there was not a single ripple of change in his expression.
Atticus chuckled. “You don’t have to worry; I have no plans of risking my life.”
“You always have been careful,” Lucas joined in the laughter.
The duo continued their walk until they reached the gates of the mansion. Atticus suddenly turned towards Lucas. “You should get some sleep. I need a little bit of fresh air.”
Lucas immediately understood that Atticus wanted to be alone and obliged, nodding before turning back and heading towards the mansion.
Seeing Lucas leave, Atticus turned his gaze away and towards the camp. Taking a deep breath, feeling the fresh air entering his body, Atticus suddenly broke into a sprint towards the gate of the camp.
It had been a long day and it was already truly late, past 9 PM. The camp was scanty, but people were still roaming here and there.
Atticus scaled the wall and moved at a fast speed towards the northern forest.
Upon reaching it, Atticus released multiple pulses of mana and immediately found what he was searching for: a myriad of mana footprints scattered across the forest floor.
Atticus followed the trail as though it were the most natural thing to do. Moving at a fast and rapid pace, he avoided fights and reached a small clearing with a cliff wall ahead.
Atticus approached, touching the wall with his right palm. This time, it took Atticus only less than five minutes to mimic the signature of the mana barrier, a stark contrast to the usual half an hour.
A cloak of mana suddenly engulfed him, and Atticus took a step, phasing through the cliff wall as though it wasn’t there.
Inside, Atticus didn’t waste a single second. Despite the surrounding area being pitch black, he exploded forward, moving through the caves at high speed and arriving at the entrance of a very large cavern.
Upon entering, Atticus brought out multiple illumination runes from his artifact.
His darkness element had reached an incredible level. At this point, Atticus was partially able to see in the dark.
Even now, he could faintly see the cave despite not using his sense of touch. He didn’t really need the runes, but he wanted to see what he had come here for clearly.
Channeling his mana into them, he threw them out in different directions, the cave getting illuminated in an instant.
Atticus’s gaze turned upwards and immediately landed on the figure of the beast in one corner of the cavern.
It had coiled up high above the ceiling, at the other end of the cavern far away from Atticus.
The shadow Seraphon assumed its smallest form as though trying to remain as insignificant as possible, its tendrils coiled around the stalactites using them as support.
Atticus couldn’t help but sigh slightly. Why the hell was it shaking? He hadn’t even done anything yet!
Atticus took a step forward, and despite the incredible distance, the shadow Seraphon seemed to shrink in its corner even further.
Atticus sighed. “I just wanted to say goodbye!” he suddenly exclaimed, having no idea if the beast could even understand him in the first place.
The shadow Seraphon had served as his training partner for a while during his stay at the academy. Even though he had brutally beaten it, he was still a bit grateful to the beast.
But unfortunately for Atticus, the beast was having none of it. It remained cowering in its corner, having no intention of coming closer. There was no way it could forget the aura of that devil no matter how long it had been.
Atticus shook his head. “Suit yourself,” he said, clicking his tongue. He simply found a spot and sat down cross-legged, not paying the shadow Seraphon any heed.
Atticus cleared his thoughts and entered a deep state of meditation. He had learned a lot about the world he was living in today, and it was possible that this night would be the only respite he had left.
Tomorrow, he was going to begin a new journey. He had no idea what Magnus had planned, but knowing that man, he knew it wouldn’t be easy in the slightest.
Atticus took a deep breath and exhaled, repeating this constantly, his aura becoming tranquil.
Tomorrow would be a new chapter of his life, and he was going to be ready for anything they threw at him.
