The young reporter moved her petite body away from the crowd using her dainty legs. Then she ran her brittle nails through her mahogany brown hair, pushing it all back. Lastly, she fixed her clothes and when she felt she looked presentable, she tapped on her genome watch, "Call boss," She said with a melodic tone. The watch began ringing, as it did her heart palpated until, "What's the report? Do we have any threats?" A disembodied voice sounded out of the watch.

The reporter took a deep breath, "Unfortunately, we do sir. In addition to the number 5 and 7, Revera Bancroft and Ethan Cohen. The number 3 and 10 have joined too. This is Lexi Montreal and Kai Adler."

There was silence for a minute then the man said, "Good work. We will do something about it on our side; I suggest you do the same. Because this joint expedition is only for those at Beginner rank 2 and below, as well as those that have never taken part in one before. So we can't interfere much once it's underway. This fight is the first string in ensuring the fire clan gain the biggest portion of the surpasser budget this year too. The investors will be watching very closely. Also, this is my sons first joint expedition, he has to come first to show the splendour of the fire clan. The investors need to see that should I resign, my son has the potential to surpass me as the 4th prince." Then he said in a cold tone, "Oh and Aby, should things go south: your reporting days are over...! So you know what you have to do," Then he hung up.

The reporter gulped at those words, "Work for the fire clan they said. It's easy money; all you need to do is shift the news in the Fire clans favour.' She thought shaking her head. Then she put her hand on her creased forehead and sighed, 'As a reporter, the only way I can fight is by using the media... How's this for a front-page, 'The Lightning Clan Shamelessly Sends Four Elites!' Now they will have to drop two otherwise even if they win, it won't be seen as a win. Because all the other clan can only send in two! And when they do it won't matter who stays; the fire clan has the number one female and number two male. There is no way they will lose!'

The reporter known as Aby nodded her head in satisfaction at her idea. Then she went on to her Genome watch and started typing her article. Once it was written, she clicked post and wiped the sweat off her forehead. She was relieved that she had dodged a bullet, however, her troubles weren't over yet. Now she had to deal with her superiors at Surpaser News 5. She had just posted an article without it being okayed by an Editor, 'At least, I won't be fired.' Aby took a deep breath and braced herself for the call she was about to receive when they saw the article. She didn't need to wait long because in less than a minute her watch rang.

Aby composed herself and then tapped the button to receive the call, "Hello, Sir," She said in a voice rife with sycophancy.

--------------------

In front of the lighting clan, Alexander had just delivered a fine speech to those that were supporting them. He felt proud of it as his golden hair blew in the wind. Then he pumped his right fist over his brown wide-set eyes and herculean body. Whether those watching were at home or if they came in person, the speech was for them. As he came down from his portable podium, the mood, in the crowd changed after they checked their Genome watches. He could see the hunger in the eyes of the reporters. His years of experience as the clanmaster told him he would be devoured by a pack of wolves if he stayed here any longer. Without deliberation he retreated into the clan's building much to everyone's dissatisfaction. They wanted to know his take on the article, "How do you plan to move forward!?" The reporters screamed at him as he ran inside.

Alexander ran inside the clan building, "What is going on!?" He said to his assistance in a deep and brash tone.

The assistant pursed his lips, "It's the article Surpasser News 5 posted. It ridicules us for sending in four elites when the other clans only have two."

Alexander flung his arms over his head, "Shit! These people are always finding a way to suppress us! We already have a smaller number of people yet they still not satisfied!"

"Clanmaster, I think this is the reason," The ginger-haired coltish assistant said showing him another article, "The Fire clan's 4th Prince's son is about to take part in his first-ever joint expedition. Morals are high in the fire clan. Nobody doubts that with the help of their elites they will win."

Alexander sighed, "So this time it's personal to the fire clan. I wish I could stick it to them and send the four anyway but the previous interview painted the lightning clan as confident. If we don't make the necessary cut then it will not look good for us." Tsk, he clicked his tongue, "Call everyone inside and then send the four Elites to the testing area."

The assistant nodded his head and then opened the clan's doors. When the reporters saw the door open they got excited. They thought Alexander was about to make a speech. But instead, they got some nobody. The assistant ignored the disdainful stares and called everyone inside then he told the four elites to go to the testing room on the second floor.

Hearing what they had to do, Kai and Lexi looked at each other. It was just as they expected. They too had read the article. They knew that they were being called to sort out who was going to represent the lightning clan.

They walked behind Ethan and Revera until they reached the testing room. Once they got there, the sharp white colour of the room blinded them momentarily until their eyes adjusted to the light. Then they looked and saw Alexander standing with his legs open and his arms crossed, "Sorry to call you all like this but we have to settle something before we can go. I don't know if you have seen the latest article from Surpasser News 5. But because of it, we can only send one Elite pair on the expedition. My humblest apologies."

This news was no shock to Lexi and Kai, however, to Revera and Ethan it was.

Ethan looked at Alexander, "So how do we settle this? Who gets to go and who gets to stay?"

Alexander unfolded his arms, "Well for starters, do both pairs still want to go?"

Standing a horizontal straight line, "Yes!" Both pairs said in unison.

"If that is the case then one way to sort it out is to t-"

"Fight!" Ethan said speaking over Alexander, "We fight, this way we can tell who is more fit to join the team."

'I was going to say something else but this works too,' "Then it has been settled, you two will fight for the position."

Ethan Cohen grinned and then he looked at his partner but her reaction was different... Revera looked at Lexi and then she remembered all the times she had faced Lexi at school. Each time she thought she was strong enough and each time she would be shown she wasn't. Remembering her losses left a bad taste in her mouth. One she would rather not remember.

"Don't you want to fight?" Ethan said to Revera.

Revera gulped, "I'd rather not."

'I've never been able to beat Lexi when it came to fighting and academics so fighting is pointless. But there is one area she has never been good in,' She then looked at Kai, ' If I can take him, I will deal a fatal blow to Lexi and get a partner with better talent. Two birds one stone.'

Seeing how reluctant Revera was to fight Lexi, Kai looked at her and whispered, "What did you do to her?"

Lexi lifted both her shoulders nonchalantly while rotating her hands from the backhand to her palms.

Ethan Cohen coughed, "I guess it can't be helped."

"Okay, then that is that. Kai and Lexi will be the ones to go." Alexander said.

"No!" Ethan cried out, "My partner doesn't want to fight but that doesn't mean that I don't."

Alexander furrowed his brows, "You plan on taking them both on? Even for you, that's impossible."

"I won't fight both of them just one of them." Then he stepped forward and looked at Kai who was standing next to Lexi, "Come let's settle this like men!"

Alexander laughed, "Good, good. I agree, let's have the men sort this out." Ethan's proposal made him happy, 'Ethan will win this and then the stronger team will take part in the expedition. My heart almost gave up when the one girl decided she wasn't going to fight.'

After seeing it had been decided, Kai walked forward, "But this isn't fair."

Ethan laughed, "Of course it isn't. I am the number 7 and you are the number 10. But it has already been settled so either you resign or you fight me?"

Kai shook his head, "You misunderstood me. When I said it's not fair, I wasn't complaining rather advocating on your part. You see there is no way I am going to lose."

When Kai said that, the whole room was shocked. Even the doctors and scientists inside. The only person who wasn't was Lexi. She stifled a chuckle and then fanned the fire, "Go easy on him."

Kai winked at her and then looked at the seething boy in front of him. Ethan narrowed his eyes, 'This guy dares to look down on me! Huh, I'll show you.' "We have a funny guy here, ha-ha... I'm going to beat you and show Revera, I am stronger than you. She keeps gushing about how strong you are. Saying she can see the mark of the talented in you. Honestly, it's annoying! But if beat you, she won't be so hung up on you and will take me seriously."

'What? She still speaks about me... I hope she didn't misunderstand me, I did say that I like her but I also said I don't like-like her. Either way, winning this fight might put her in my path. Also, Ethan might blame me if she leaves him. I hope she doesn't, things between Lexi and I are just getting good. Lexi seems interested in me, somewhat... So we don't need this!... Sigh, but if it does happen, I will let her know I'm not interested,' Then Kai looked at Lexi with a worried expression.

Lexi smiled at him. Then she glared at Revera, 'He chose me, get over it.'

Coming back to his composed self, Kai narrowed his eyes, "I'm ready; let's go."

So Alexander took them to the second part of the room, "Here you two can fight to your heart's content. Of course, no weapons are allowed."

The two nodded their heads and then got into the ring. Alexander initiated the 10-second countdown. While the countdown was going both of them charged up to full. When the countdown ended, Ethan charged towards Kai. In a flash, he appeared in front of him and smirked while launching his fist to Kai's handsome face.

Kai saw his movements clearly, 'This battle started before we fought, I learnt a thing or two about mind games from Emily. She always knew how to irritate me before and during a fight. Also, I've been training under intense gravity every day. So you are going to have to move a lot faster if you plan on hitting me.' Kai took a step back, casually dodging the punch by a few centimetres. Then he took a step forward while coating his right foot with lightning aura and roundhouse kicked Ethan in the stomach. His movements were seamless and connected perfectly.

Seeing Kai's movements Revera was flabbergasted, 'He got this good so quickly. No, he had always been strong. The reason I could hold my own against him was that he needed training on how to utilise his power effectively! Now it looks like he can, I must have him.' Then she looked at Lexi staring daggers until,

BAM!

A pride shattering sound echoed throughout the room sending Ethan flying until he crashed onto the hard tiles. Ethan continued to roll two meters backwards because of the momentum. He would have gone further but Alexander stopped him.

Alexander stopped Ethan because he wanted to keep the fight within the ring. With his hand on Ethan's back, Alexander stood agape. He did not expect to see what he just saw. The sheer force in Kai's kick alone was praiseworthy. Not to mention, how he casually dodged Ethan's punch which in turn gave him the opening to counter, 'What!? Was that luck or is he that strong?' Then he looked at Lexi hoping to pry answers from her facial expressions but they hadn't changed. So either that meant that Lexi didn't put this fight in her books or it was normal for Kai to reveal this kind of strength.

On the ground, Ethan coughed a mouthful of blood. Then he stood up holding his ribs, 'If I didn't twist my body last second he would have broken my ribs. What strength!? Seems he wasn't bluffing but even so I will win!"

The now resolute Ethan removed his hands from his sides and glared at Kai. Now that he had a somewhat gauge on Kai's strength, he became more cautious. He kept his distance circling Kai as he waited for an opportunity to attack but there never was one. The more the fight dragged on the more Ethan saw how unbeatable he was. Every time he wanted to attack his instincts would tell him to back down. Looking at Kai, Ethan saw the aura of a lion, the King of the jungle. His body tensed up in response and then he stopped moving. He realised that for the past five minutes all he was doing was circling Kai. He wanted to attack but the pain from his ribs made him fearful. He gulped and then he looked at Lexi; there was no change in expression as if him losing was a given. Then he looked at Revera and sighed while shaking his head. Lastly, he looked at Kai, "I give up." He said sinking his head.

When Ethan gave up, Kai bowed his head lightly as a sign of respect. They were both in the same clan, after all, he didn't want to make enemies if he didn't have to.

Once the fight concluded Alexander announced Kai as the winner. Alexander put on a straight face but inside his emotions were unstable. Kai just beat the number 7 without breaking a sweat. With this strength, his true rank should be in the top 3, not number 10. He wondered what idiot ranked him as 10, 'They should be fired immediately!' Despite his slight annoyance, he was very happy it turned out this way. Then he looked at Lexi, 'Did they miss judge her strength too? Nonetheless, now we can send two surpassers that have strength comparable to the top 3. The fire clan has the number one female and the number two male. The wind clan has the number 1 male and number four female. The rest of the clans have surpassers below ours so it's just fire and wind that could stop us from a win. We have a decent chance this year!'

His excitement welled out of him until he wore a grin, "With surpassers as strong as you two, we have a shot at winning, and at the very least we will not be in the last place" He said laughing. Then called his assistant. When the assistant arrived Alexander said, "Tell the press I will be making a statement. We will be dropping a pair."

"Yes sir." The assistant ran out of the clan building. When he did a series of questions rolled out from different the different reporters so it was hard to hear anything through the madness. Seeing that this was going nowhere, he shouted, "Enough, one question each!"

Immediately the crowd shut up and then he spoke, "We have seen the article and the clanmaster plans to come out. He will discuss how we plan to move forward. That will be all," After speaking the crowd roared with questions again but the coltish assistant ignored them and went back in where it was safe.

Once he was inside, he told Alexander they are waiting for him. Alexander took a deep breath and then walked into the wolf's den. Then he explained to them that they have decided to only send one pair and that would be Lexi and Kai. When they heard it was Lexi and Kai and not Revera and Ethan they asked why. However, Alexander ignored them and then said they will be departing for Athra soon. Then he walked back into the building heaving a sigh of relief.

"Good work sir."

Alexander nodded his head then he looked at all the surpassers who were waiting on the first floor, "You depart for Athra in five minutes. If you have any last-minute needs sanitary or personal please take care of them now."

When he said that multiple conversations broke out as excitement levels reached an all-time high. Kai and Lexi weren't any different. Kai looked at Lexi, "Are you ready?"

"When I have not?" She said in her mellifluous voice.

Kai chuckled, " I don't know, I'm just telling you lest we get there and you accidentally stab me with your spear." He said teasing her in his warm and low pitch voice.

Lexi stifled a chuckle, "You did that too you know and more times than me. 52 times to be exact and I only did it 37 times. But it isn't an issue, like who is counting?"

"Okay, okay, okay, you had to get all statistical on me. But well played." He said clapping his hands softly.

Then Alexander came down to the first floor again, "Get ready we are leaving now. Follow me out the door." As he walked everyone else followed him. This time Alexander had more bodyguards than normal to keep the crowd away from the surpassers. They continued to walk through the path created by security until they reached the street. The street was now filled with black military-grade armoured flying cars. They were to enter them and then go to the military airport where they would board the carrier aircraft which would then take them to Athra.

The security made sure all unauthorised people were 10 meters away. Once that was confirmed and all the flying cars above had cleared they lifted off one for one using the thrusters under them. When they reached the right altitude which was above the flying cars yet below the aircrafts; the horizontal thrusters kicked in propelling the cars forward.

They were in the air for 10 minutes before they reached the military based airport in Ginmon. Once they landed the flying cars doors opened and the surpassers climbed out. You could tell by the way they walked who had never been in a military-grade flying car before. They were stumbling while they were walking. It was quite comical, it looked like they were drunk. Although surpassers can run at abnormal speeds, as beginners they can't run faster than a flying car. Hence the reaction.

Kai being one of those never to fly in a car before was holding on to Lexi's shoulder for balance, 'Besides the nauseating feeling, it isn't all bad.' Then he looked up at Lexi who was looking ahead.

Lexi carried him to their assigned post. This was in a line in the middle of the fire clan and the wind clan. All the clans were to line up 10 meters away from the carrier aircraft. They were all going to board it together. So far all the clans were there and had already lined up in a rectangle formation. Once everyone in the lightning clan assembled they were given the lightning clans emblem to stick on to their clothes. When in proximity to another person from the lightning clan, the azure symbol shines. After they got their badges, the clans walked into the aircraft one for one. The first to go in was: the earth clan then the water, wind, lightning and lastly the fire clan.

While everyone walked in Kai looked at the people who had a presence about them. From the Earth clan, he felt a few of them. Then he moved on to the water and then the wind. When he looked at the wind clan he didn't need to look far to see who was the strongest. His instinct told him immediately when he saw the guy. In the distance, standing tall was a strapping youth with long black dreads hanging below his shoulders. His cinnamon-brown skin covered his square-shaped face and prominent jawline. The colour of his eyes were silver and he had hooded eyelids as well an epicanthal fold. He wore a long black overcoat and on his sides were two katanas. He looked like the reaper of death but the girls couldn't get enough of him. They found the contrast between his eyes and skin colour captivating. Also, silver eyes are the mark of royalty to the Wind clan.

'Damn, this guy is going to be a pest, not to mention the girl next to him.'

Lexi saw Kai's expression, "That's Wang Rory, he is the number one. His clan calls him King as a nickname. They all know he will be the future King of The Wind Clan. He wields two katanas but to date, no one has seen him use the second one. Or maybe they have but as a spirit, they can't communicate with the world of the living. That's the talk on him. Then there is the girl next to him. The one with the beautiful jade-white skin and petite body, that's his half-sister, Wang Lin. She is the number 4 on the list but there is more to her than what meets the eye. Honestly, all these ranking are inaccurate. Look at you for example. They ranked you at 10 when we both know that isn't the truth. The same could be of anybody else. This could be a good thing or a bad thing..."

Kai nodded his head and then he looked at the fire clan. In front of the pack was a female and a male. They both had vermillion hair and blood-red eyes. Their skin was slightly tanned and they were taller than the average heights for a female and male. The male stood at 188 cm where the female was 180cm. It was clear to Kai that they were the Elites from the fire clan. And it was because it was their first joint expedition the lightning clan had to lose firepower.

After looking at the fire clan it was time for the lightning clan to go inside the carrier aircraft so as a team they walked inside. Kai had seen enough so he didn't mind. Of course, he didn't see everyone. He had to of missed a lot of powerful surpassers but he had a general idea of how strong the surpassers of his age group were.

Once the lightning clan walked in then the fire clan walked in. They were now all inside the massive carrier aircraft so it ascended using its horizontal propellers. The aircraft had four of them on each corner. The propellers glowed with a neon blue colour. The blue served no purpose but to make the aircraft look good. Once the aircraft was in the air the horizontal thrusters activated blasting the machine forward. However, unlike the flying cars, there was a stabilizer inside so the speed didn't affect have an impact on those inside.

They travelled for an hour before they reached Athra. Athra was one of the countries that had been marked as a no man's land by the World Government. Although most of the things were destroyed life still existed here. Now that the leading population wasn't passers, the animals walked around freely avoiding all the stray Zolma as much as they could.

Once they reached the border of Athra they landed on the on sea sand of the beach and when the ramp descended and they all walked on dry land again. As Kai walked on the dry land, excitement welled up inside him. He had only been to the beach once as a kid but never had the time to do it as he grew up. Now his job was bringing him here. Of course, he wasn't here to play but he could at least admire it while he could. Seeing that inside of the aircraft the team leaders of each clan were still discussing stuff, he tiptoed away from the pack and then went to the seawater. However, he wasn't the only one who had this idea. Another youth decided to run and then following him was a group of five.

Once Kai got there he looked at the sea. The waves were forming and crashing and in the sky the three full moons were visible as there wasn't a single cloud in sight. It was if the ocean was actually in the sky, "Wow, this is beautiful! I wish I could swim but of course, I can't do that." Before leaving Kai wanted to look at the crashing waves one last time. He took a deep look and made a mental image for him to fall back onto then he turned to the right to go back to the group. When he turned to the right he saw surpassers with the fire emblem on their clothes. He decided he would ignore them and return. He wanted to but then he heard a familiar voice, "I wonder how my mom's butter would taste on toast if she put sea salt in the recipe?"

Astonished Kai flung his head around, 'Is that Quinton. Sounds just like him and he is talking about toast. It has to be him.' Kai moved his head to see where the voice was coming from but he couldn't see properly, the five guys were blocking his view. So he found an angle where he could see properly. And when the boy turned around he exclaimed, "Quinton!" Then he walked past the other guys and stood in front of his best friend, "Damn man, I didn't know you were in Strera. No wonder Carmen said she had no idea where you were. Oh, and is your Genome watch still broken? There are so many things I have been dying to tell you..." Kai continued to speak non-stop until he noticed that during this whole time Quinton hadn't said a thing. And the only one that was excited about their reunion was him. In fact, Quinton looked more concerned with the five guys behind him than him.

Kai furrowed his brows and then looked at the men behind him. They all looked at the lightning emblem on his combat gear and then laughed. Then the self-proclaimed leader stepped forward, "Quinton, do you know this trash?"

Kai looked at Quinton and then Quinton looked at Kai then he shook his head, "Never seen him in my life."