Every single student in the room turned their gazes toward a white haired boy as soon as his name was called.
There was no student currently present amongst the class that didn't know that name.
Hearing Jared calling his name, Atticus was thoroughly and completely baffled. There was no one who didn't see Seraphin raising his hand when Jared had asked for a volunteer.
So just why was Jared calling him out?
'What's with that look,' Atticus couldn't help but shiver a bit as he saw the creepy look on Jared's face who currently had his eyes fixed on him.
It was as though the man was trying hard to stifle a smirk. 'I've never met him before so why is he looking at me like this?' Atticus pondered.
This was the first time he was ever seeing Jared. And the same should be said for Jared too. So why was the latter now gazing at him as though he was familiar with him.
To the others, it might seem like Jared currently has a neutral expression, but Atticus knew he was holding back a smirk.
A realization suddenly struck Atticus like thunder, 'He was amongst the people watching,' he realized.
Atticus had always known that he and his other division youths were being observed in the camp.
And he had confirmed this assumption when he noticed how tailor-made each of the courses was.
But what he had no idea of were the identity of people who were watching him.
He knew it or they had to be academy staff.
But seeing the way Jared was looking at him, Atticus was very sure that to Jared, this wasn't the first time he was seeing him. He had seen him before.
And if Jared was choosing him out of the blue like this, 'he wants to witness my power firsthand. He watched my battles,' Atticus concluded.
Atticus came to this conclusion in less than one second, courtesy of his incredibly high intelligence.
This was only the most plausible reason.
Atticus came out of his thoughts looking around him to see every single student looking at him inquisitively.
They too were completely curious about why Jared had chosen him. It felt so sudden that many could help but suspect that there was something else at play.
Atticus ignored the curious gazes of the students trying to bore into him and locked eyes with Jared.
"Em, can I refuse?" Atticus suddenly spoke, his voice surprisingly sounding across the room.
Atticus saw no reason to fight with Jared. Sure it would be good to fight an individual as strong as Jared, who knows, he could even gain something out of it.
But it would be practically useless unless he was unable to go full power, there was no point in fighting him.
One of the reasons Atticus was fine with essentially being spied on by the academy was that he knew well enough that each one of them would be under a mana contract and most probably wouldn't be able to talk about whatever they saw.
But what about the students?
Every single thing he showed would be seen by them. Each one of them was the heir to their respective tiered families. It was simply asking for an avoidable trouble.
Atticus knew well enough that he was also being watched during the academy entrance test. But during that time, Atticus had been fighting Kael.
What he had used wasn't even half his strength. It was plenty obvious that if he was fighting Jared, he would have to utilize way more strength than what he had utilized during his fight with Kael.
But obviously not every student would understand Atticus's thought process.
Many of them gazed at him with their lips curling up in slight disdain. To them, the reason why Atticus refused was because he was too scared to fight with the instructor.
"I knew he just got lucky," words that were supposed to be a whisper spread throughout the room.
Those words were exactly what most of them thought about Atticus.
Atticus had truly been reclusive while he was growing up.
While many of them, because of their tiered family status, had to be aware of every important member of the other tiered families, they knew somewhat about Atticus.
But everything they knew was superficial. They didn't even know if he was talented or strong.
Many of them hadn't even seen Atticus's face until the academy.
The reverse was the case for the other tier one youths. They were all well known, they lived up to their reputations, and were strong and talented.
So it had come as a huge shocker when they saw that Atticus was the 2nd rank in the entrance test and their supposed strongest was the third.
"It will only take a few seconds. You have nothing to worry about," Jared tried to reassure Atticus. But it had the completely opposite effect.
Atticus couldn't help but shiver once again as he heard what Jared said.
It sounded like a pedo trying to reassure a child that everything was going to be fine. His obvious strained smile and large figure simply made everything worse.
Seeing the reluctant look on Atticus's face, a realization suddenly struck Jared, 'That's right! Stupid me!'
"We would also be fighting without any of our abilities," Jared explained.
His words seemed to ease all of Atticus's concerns. If he didn't have to use his abilities, then fighting with Jared shouldn't pose a problem. It would even be beneficial!
He hadn't had the chance to fight someone without using any of his abilities before. The only time he could remember was when he was still training with Sirius.
Other than that, he had always utilized his bloodline, mana, or art to fight.
Atticus nodded in agreement and started walking to the stage without saying anything.
"Good luck," Atticus smiled a bit as he heard Kael's voice from behind.
He kept walking towards the stage.
The smile Jared was trying to contain strained even more.
It was very obvious he was trying his very best not to smile. He quickly turned and moved to the other end of the stage swiftly as though scared that Atticus would change his mind.
All of the students watched Atticus climb the stage with mixed reactions.
The majority of the students still maintained their subtle expression of disdain, with some even going as far as to make derogatory jokes while chuckling.
While some others chose to maintain a neutral expression, not saying anything.
The tier ones though, all focused their gazes on Atticus.
Apart from Kael, none of them had witnessed Atticus fighting before. This was a very good time to know their competition better.
Zoey's amethyst eyes were fixed on Atticus, who was now standing on the stage.
'Handsome, right?' A petite voice sounded in her head.
'Shut up,' Zoey instantly replied without any change in expression. She was far too used to Lumindra's ramblings already.
'Hehe, you always react like this when you know I'm right.'
Zoey didn't offer any response for a few seconds, her gaze still focused on Atticus. 'Let's see if what you said about his strength is true,' she thought.
'You can't see his strength here, dum dum. Didn't you hear they would both fight without their abilities?' Lumindra responded.
'That's true.'
'Zoey, it's obvious you're interested in this boy. I've been asking you to talk to him, but you've been refusing to. Why are you acting like a pussy?'
'I'm not the pussy!' Zoey instantly retorted inwardly.
She had been talking with Lumindra since her childhood, so she was already well-versed in maintaining her cold, neutral expression regardless of how she was feeling when conversing with Lumindra.
'Huh? What do you mean?' Lumindra asked, confused.
Zoey hesitated for a moment, taking time to collect her thoughts before reluctantly explaining her perspective.
'I mean… grandmother said that the man should always be the one to make the first move,' she replied shyly.
Lumindra was left utterly speechless. This revelation seemed surreal, considering Zoey's usual demeanor.
This was the same girl Lumindra had been attempting to encourage to approach Atticus.
The same girl who who typically responded with an aloof, ice cold tone as if indifferent to everything.
Now, she was asserting that the man should be the one to initiate?
A brief silence hung in the air before Lumindra couldn't contain herself any longer.
'Pffft!' She burst into laughter, her cute, petite voice echoing in Zoey's mind, shattering the once neutral expression on Zoey's face.
Zoey's embarrassment intensified as her face flushed crimson. 'Y-you did this intentionally!' she stammered.
Lumindra continued to giggle, finding Zoey's reaction adorable.
It was a good thing the students attention was currently fixed on Atticus, if not they would all have seen a scene neither one of them would forget in their lives.
Her porcelain skin, usually perfect, now sported a deep crimson hue.
With her gaze focused on Atticus, her embarrassment heightened with each passing moment, accompanied by Lumindra's relentless petite laughter.
