Atticus was all too used to the surreal feeling that comes with teleportation already.
As usual, the complete pitch black darkness only lasted for about a few seconds, and when he felt it was safe to open his eyes, Atticus's eyelids flickered open.
He had been expecting a change of scenery given the fact that he had felt as if he had been transported, but was a little surprised to see that he hadn't even moved an inch away from where he was standing before.
The massive black terminal was still in front of him.
He swiftly turned his gaze backward, and seeing that all of his division members were still around, he let out a large sigh of relief.
'Thank goodness. I almost thought I'd go bankrupt,' Atticus thought. But not even a second passed when he suddenly felt a foreboding feeling,
'Shit, not this again,' he thought.
The last time Atticus had this feeling, it ended up with the entire Raven camp getting destroyed, and many of the Ravenstein family youths died.
Ever since then, Atticus had made it a necessity to always, no matter how silly, listen to his instincts.
He immediately raised his guard two folds, his gaze scanning the whole area for any sign of trouble.
"Anything?" Lucas asked as he approached him from behind.
He had also tried to scan the area but to no avail. He decided to see if Atticus would notice anything strange as he was the strongest one amongst them.
Aurora's features also showed slight confusion. Not understanding what was going on.
The rest of the Ravenstein youths all left their respective units and approached the group.
They had also tried to see if anything was different but had come to the same conclusion as Lucas, nothing.
Atticus didn't offer any response to Lucas's question for a few seconds, his whole focus on scanning the area. But even after searching for a few seconds, he found no discrepancies.
"No, nothing. This is our camp. There's not a single thing out of place," Atticus explained.
He had been living in this camp for a month now, and with how high his intelligence was, he would be embarrassed if he couldn't remember every single detail about it.
He had used his perception, his vision, and even gone as far as releasing a pulse of mana to check and see if there were any changes, but he couldn't find anything out of place.
The air was the same, and even the density of mana didn't change.
"This is really weird, Atticus. I felt the same feeling I usually feel when I get teleported, though," Aurora voiced out, her voice laden with skepticism.
The other Ravenstein youths all nodded their heads in agreement; they too had felt it. They all looked around warily, all of them becoming alert.
'Hmm,' Atticus's thoughts raced as he tried to figure out what was going on. He too was absolutely sure that they were teleported.
Turning his gaze around, his eyes suddenly landed on the wall. 'That should be it,'
Atticus turned his focus to the air element, utilizing it to lift himself up from the ground.
Up in the air, Atticus looked at the Ravenstein youths. "Let's check over the wall," he said, controlling the air element as his body cut through the air at fast speed, his form moving towards the south wall.
With his speed, he got there in a few seconds, his figure landing on top of the wall.
And he was instantly greeted by a breathtaking scene
The camp was currently perched on top of a high hill, and all around them, below, was an expansive forest that unfurled in every direction, its lush canopy forming a verdant sea of foliage.
'Looks like we really did get teleported, with the whole damn camp,' Atticus thought.
Although he had already suspected that they would fight with their camps, the last thing he expected to happen was them actually being transported alongside their whole camp.
He had half expected some kind of simulation, but to think their whole camp was transported.
The rest of the Ravenstein youths also reached the wall, with Nate, Aurora, and the rest landing on top of the wall, their sights immediately seeing the same view.
"Looks like the whole camp was transported with us," Lucas voiced out while looking at the forest sprawled beneath them.
Atticus nodded in agreement. Just as he was about to think of their next line of action, the black terminal at the middle of the camp suddenly burst to life with a radiant blue glow that shot upward into the sky.
The azure brilliance expanded rapidly, creating a luminous cascade that enshrouded the entire camp.
The light converged and solidified, weaving an intricate lattice of energy that manifested as a protective shield. This shield, translucent and tinted in hues of blue, formed a seamless dome that enveloped the camp from every angle.
And then simultaneously, parts of the blue glow moved down the terminal, traveling through the ground, moving forward for a few meters away from it.
It stopped at one random point, the blue glow suddenly intensifying as the shape of a small building started forming.
In under a minute, an ordinary looking building was built.
Atticus and the other Ravenstein youths had all started moving back to the middle of the camp as soon as they saw the terminal light up.
Just as they arrived back in front of the terminal, the AI face suddenly appeared once more on top of the terminal, immediately speaking,
"[Welcome, students! To the next step. Any questions you have will be answered inside the small building that just formed. You are advised to proceed promptly, as the shield will deactivate in exactly 10 minutes from now, signaling the commencement of the next step. Good luck.]"
As soon as it finished speaking, its face was suddenly replaced by another countdown timer that was already counting down from 10 minutes.
