“Alright, that concludes our class on detection methods.” Jonathan’s voice reverted from its previously energetic tone to his usual bored sounding one as the bell rang, it was now break time.

“Hey, have we ever been to the cafeteria?” Vince asked as the seven members of the S-class all sat close together, their desks having been moved to better sit together.

It also helped Vince deposit his copious amounts of food he had onto a reliable surface. One desk was not enough for the glutton.

“Well, we all usually bring our own lunches, so we’ve never had a reason to go…” Leah spoke while looking at her own sandwiches before she looked over to Edward and Kazuya, whose lunches seemed very good compared to her own plain one.

“I wonder… who here makes their own lunches?” Tony asked, overcoming his usual quietness to ask the question, looking at his own store-bought lunch.

“I make my own, but I’m still learning how to make food…” Leah admitted with a sigh, her sandwiches weren’t brilliant, but they weren’t bad either… they were average in most counts.

“I do, but that’s because no one wants to pack so much food for me.” Vince admitted with a grin as he moved onto a burger, a milkshake nearby for him to drink before he’d move onto salad and there was also an omelette…

He ate a lot, they knew this already.

“I have maids do that for me.” Jade admitted, getting a nod from Edward, obviously he wouldn’t make his own food given that he was actually the prince of a nearby country.

“So that just leaves…” the group looked to Kazuya and Liza who were sharing a larger than average lunch-box, getting the two to look to their five classmates.

“Oh, I cook.” Kazuya admitted, ignoring Liza sneak her hand into the lunchbox to pull out a strange sandwich.

The thing about Kazuya’s lunch-boxes, which everyone had learnt by now, was that the food in there was good, but occasionally it would be strange… it would definitely be good, but it might sound strange to those who didn’t cook.

For instance, today’s sandwich was buttered with herbal butter and then had cheese and pressed beef added and spiced with something called ‘fisherman’s spice’ and then placed as is into a press toaster.

It came out very good if Liza’s smile was to be believed.

“Really? That seems kind of… womanly of you.” Edward’s statement wasn’t false given the display in Kazuya’s lunchbox… there were simple food, but there were also cute looking things like boiled carrots cut into stars and other shapes.

“I was taught by my mother and my cooking ended up like this.” Kazuya said, his eyes seeming to lose their light and his words sounded as if they came out of a tape recorder…

It seems this was not the first time someone said that Kazuya’s cooking was feminine.

“You cooked for Liza too though?” Jade asked with a raised eyebrow getting a sigh from Kazuya as he nodded.

“I originally cooked enough for me… but then she started stealing from my lunch-box. It would take too much effort to stop her since she actually uses time control to steal it, so I rather made more food for her to have.” Kazuya’s casual admission brought up several concerns… but the class was filled with strange people so they moved on.

“Hey, after we’re done, how about we go to the cafeteria? Just to see what they have, in case one of us ever forgets lunch.” Edward asked aloud as the group considered it.

“Sure, we can do that. And Tony, you will come with us.” Jade cut off before Tony could complain, making the shiest member of their class look depressed as he looked into the unseen distance in sorrow.

And so it was that after Vince rushed through his meal, their group left the class, Jonathan having left to go get his own food in the staff-room apparently.

“You know, we don’t really move around this school much huh?” Leah noticed as they moved through the hallways of the school, occasionally passing a student or two with different markings on their uniform.

The colour of the tie designated what year they were in, and a letter on the upper left arm signified which class they belonged to.

In the case of first years, they got blue ties, the second years got green, and the third year seniors got red ties, hence why everyone in Kazuya’s class had blue ties.

“Well that’s because we only have one teacher… that’s another thing, Jonathan knows way too much.” Kazuya complained and the group agreed, even Liza as she clung to his back like a baby koala.

“Now that you mention it… the other classes get multiple teachers, but we only have one… and he can teach us every subject too… doesn’t that mean Jonathan is actually really smart?” Tony said, and they thought to their usually lazy teacher and felt the urge to deny the claim.

It was impossible to deny the truth though, and the truth was that Jonathan knew and could teach multiple subjects and was also a five star Sage… he was actually talented when seen in that manner.

“Maybe we should start walking around campus during our lunch breaks?” Edward offered and Kazuya shrugged at the suggestion, making Liza have to alter her grip for a moment before he continued speaking.

If Liza was going to hang off of him, Kazuya would act as if she wasn’t there. It was her responsibility to make sure she didn’t fall or anything.

“Maybe, maybe not, that’ll depend on how we feel at the time.” Kazuya offered, and to his words everyone agreed, Edward chuckling as he nodded.

They arrived at the cafeteria soon afterwards, looking around with a bit of confusion.

There were students of every grade and class, but there were notable demarcations in seating area.

There were five areas, one in each corner, and in the centre of the cafeteria there was an area that just screamed ‘extravagant’ to anyone around.

“Going by what we know… that’s the S-class seating area, isn’t it?” Tony asked worriedly, and no one blamed him given that the other four areas surrounded that centrepiece.

“Hey… if that’s the case… there are people seated there.” Vince’s statement was met with nods as their group of six, plus one Liza shaped backpack, walked forward to the centre, attracting the attention of almost every student in the area.

When they got to the centre area, they were met with the gaze of twelve other people, who looked to the first years for a moment, then looked to each other and continued eating.

Only one of their seniors stopped eating, turning slightly to greet them.

“Ah, hi there, you guys must be the first year S-class right? My name’s Bobby.” The dark skinned man of African descent wore a red tie, signifying him as a third year S-class student, getting a nod from all of Kazuya’s classmates.

Liza didn’t do anything but look over Kazuya’s shoulder at the man in interest as Bobby noticed her and chuckled.

“Right, sorry about the rest of us, but… well, they’re not certain of your group yet. Come on, sit down, let’s talk a bit.” Bobby said as he gestured to the table he sat at, sitting with four others with red ties…

Kazuya nodded as Liza dropped from his back, and they each went to a seat at the large table, which had a touch screen tablet placed in front of them.

“That’s the menu, order whatever you like, and it’s free for S-class after all.” Bobby’s statement was met with frantic movement from Vince who scrolled through the menu as fast as he could, making Bobby bellow out in laughter.

“He’s a hungry one eh? So you’re the newbies. You have my interest.” A girl with a red tie and sky blue short hair said as she looked over all of them, her gaze landing on Liza who was seated next to Kazuya.

Liza didn’t care, given she was staring at Kazuya waiting for him to order… except he wasn’t ordering; he was looking at the five seniors in front of him.

Liza decided to order a milkshake for now.

“Don’t get to attached Vera; they might not be S-class for long.” The pessimistic reply to the girl named Vera came from another girl wearing glasses, her hair bright red with a stripe of yellow running horizontally around her head looking like a halo.

“And you’re too pessimistic for someone with a Light Element Kim.” Bobby reminded and the girl pouted as she looked away before snapping her gaze back across the first years at their table.

“It’s not pessimism when it comes true. Our class had ten people, and soon after we lost three of us, and then last year we dropped to five.” She complained, getting worried looks from the first years.

“Now you’re just scaring them Kim, relax a bit.” The voice came from the third girl of the five seniors, her hair black with streaks of green as she smiled demurely.

“Su-Li’s right, let them deal with their issues, we’ll deal with ours.” The last member of the five seniors was a man with bright green hair and a kind smile… said smile was getting a blush from the previously angry glasses wearing girl…

Ah, crushes, they existed amongst Sage’s too… one just had to look at Liza to know they happened.

“Hey, hey, we’re supposed to be introducing ourselves remember? Have some tact here.” Bobby reminded and the entire group sighed, clearing out the air before Bobby continued.

“Right, I’m Bobby Dore, I’m the rank one of the S-class third years, and my Elements are Metal and Lightning.” His statement was punctuated with his hands sprouting metal which then began to spark.

“I’m Vera Harvey, I’m the rank two of our class, and my Elements would be Water and Ice, which seems kind of redundant…” Vera’s words were added onto a sheepish smile and a scratch of her head.

“I’m Su-Li, the rank three. My Elements are Wood and Darkness.” The black and green haired girl stated with a soft giggle her name revealing her ethnicity to be Chinese… and given how short it was, they probably just said her full name all the time.

“I’m Kim Ellis, rank four. My Elements are Light and Fire.” The glasses wearing girl said with a frown on her face as she looked away from the expectant glances of the students.

“Ah, I’m Yusuf Grant, I’m rank five, and my Element is Wind.” That got looks of surprise as they all looked towards the green haired boy… not because of having only one Element in the S-class, but because of his name.

“And yes, I’m related to Jonathan Grant, he’s my father.” The boy admitted making the first years stare at him as if he just said the sky was green with polka dots.

“Wait… no offence, but mister Jonathan is a bit… lazy, isn’t he?” Leah asked, not wanting to offend the man who gave an easy laugh before he nodded.

“Yes, my father is a lazy one, but he’s strong isn’t he?” Yusuf’s statement was met with nods from the first years, and a murmur from Kim.

“Ah yeah, you did mention that your dad was teaching here… he’s their teacher?” Kim asked as Yusuf nodded to her question.

“Yes, he’s teaching the first year S-class students. He’s mentioned you all a few times.” Yusuf’s statement was said with a smile and a point towards Liza.

“Liza von Krown, rank one. Hiiro Kazuya rank two, Edward Valzard rank three, Jade Gardenia rank four, Vince Makarov rank five, Leah Marx rank six, and Tony Valdez rank seven.” He pointed one by one to each of the seven, making them on guard instantly.

“Don’t worry, my father knows about student teacher confidentiality, he hasn’t told me any of your Elements or how many Stars you have… then again, he didn’t need to tell me everything.” Yusuf pointed to Liza once more.

“She’s the only one amongst you with three Stars. All of you are close to that, but not quite there, but she’s the only one with three stars.” Yusuf’s statement was met with a nod from Liza… and then she went back to staring at Kazuya.

“Oh, if you knew so much Yusuf you should have just said so!” Bobby said with a laugh as he slapped the table a few times.

No one told him off for almost breaking the thing, because it seemed he did that often.

Soon the food arrived, and it was much at the level of a high class restaurant as Kazuya ate his piece of lamb chop with no bone.

They had already eaten, but that was not to make them full really, given that Sage’s ate more than normal people to replenish their energy, their lunches were usually just to keep them satiated until dinner.

So they had room for more as they ate, the third years having their desserts now.

“Still, I suppose it would only be right that we give you a bit of advice as your seniors… right, I’ll tell you three important things you need to know for your time here at Elem High.” Bobby said after taking a spoon of chocolate mousse.

“One, to graduate from this institution you must be at minimum three Stars. If you truly want to succeed though, you’ll have four Stars of strength.” Bobby’s smirk was telling…

He had four Stars. And given how the other S-Class students were nodding, they were all on that level.

The power difference between Stars wasn’t as simple as ‘a three Star and a one Star Sage can fight a four Star’. You’d probably need ten people of one Star lower to fight someone of a higher Star, and then the group with more people only might win.

So a gap of two Stars was the rough equivalent of saying that they’d need one hundred two Star Sages, the entire first year basically, to even stand a chance of defeating one of the third year S-Class students.

“Two, do not make friends with people in the A-Class. They are your closest competitors and probably won’t care for your circumstances. They will not show you kindness, and unless you outclass every single one of them, do not bother. Kindness is for the strong.” Bobby warned, and Kazuya stared at the strongest student of Elem High with a curious gaze.

“And three… You will not last long in the S-Class if you have free time.” That got confused looked before Bobby had a piece of the table grow a root which proceeded to slap him in the face.

It was notable that such a slap would probably knock out or break the jaw of a one Star Sage, but to Bobby it just made him pout as he looked to Su-Li who was giving him a stern glare.

“Bobby, don’t give out too much information. You already gave out help to the second year Class last year and look what happened, only one dropped out.” Su-Li warned as Bobby chuckled, sheepishly scratching his head.

“Right, right… but they don’t know about that just yet… might as well tell them now I guess.” Bobby said, getting sighs from the four S-Class students, who seemed used to Bobby and his antics.

“Sorry, but what does any of us dropping out of the S-Class have to do with this?” Jade’s question got a tap on the table from Yusuf to draw attention to him.

Idly, Kazuya noted that Yusuf’s name was middle-eastern, and given Jonathan’s name, that meant his wife was most likely from that area of the world…

An odd and possibly pointless observation, but Yusuf and Jonathan shared a Wind Element, Yusuf’s mother probably also held the Element…

“It has quite a bit to do with you actually. I don’t know what you’ve been through since entering the school, but it works on power. Might is right, and the truest way of finding that out is to battle.” Yusuf’s statement was redundant given their class’s knowledge of the concept.

“For now, everyone competes only within their class… but as the year continues, the competition gets wider.” Yusuf pointed at his own eyes, getting an understanding look from the students as they focused Essence into their eyes.

Their eyes all flashed slightly, this was one of the detection methods Jonathan had taught them, this one was notably to see the usage of an Element beyond what was naturally occurring.

By focusing Essence into their eyes, the entire world became black and white, the exception being other people due to their internal Elements as well as any Elemental manipulation they could see.

Using Wind gathered around his finger, Yusuf drew a tiny circle in the air in front of him and they noted the soft green glow in an otherwise black and white world.

“Elem High works on a four term system, school starts in January, ends in December, the terms split into three months a piece, with a week break between them.” Using his off hand, Yusuf drew a number 52 and then divided that by four, showing thirteen, and then subtracting one.

Twelve weeks were each term, roughly, which was eighty four days.

“For the first term, which we are in, any combat competitions are class based only.” That got the first years to look at each other, a savage grin on Edward’s face as Kazuya sent a smirk back.

Liza just began focusing on her extra-large Neapolitan milkshake. Fun fact, the ice cream was mistakenly referred to as Neopolitan due to an intentional spelling mistake of a band around nineteen ninety one.

You learn something new every day.

“Then in the second term, the competition field widens to include your entire year.” Still concentrating wind, Yusuf drew another circle around the tinier one, representing the size of the competition.

“In the third term the competition is extended to the entire school… and depending on the results in this term, what happens in the fourth term changes.” Yusuf explained as he considered how to explain the next bit, instead having his explanation taken over by Vera.

“See, in the third term the school hosts a competition that every student competes in. There are eight brackets and every student is included randomly. The winners of the eight brackets then go onto the fourth term tournament, the International Juniors.” Vera’s words got wide eyes and smiles from the first years, most of them having seen the tournament.

“Uh, the International Juniors? What’s that?” Leah asked with rapid blinking… some vaguely heard Kim mention something about ‘cute’.

“It’s basically a tournament for the Sages eighteen and under, Sages from all over the world want to join. And to enter, you must be a student from the major Sage high schools, of which there are only four in the world.” Vera looked excited at the prospect until Edward frowned.

“The four major Sage training centres are Elem high, Valour academy, the Temple, and the Wandering Village…” Edward knew of the four places, even though he had only seen Elem and Valour, and the latter was only because Valour was based in the Empire.

“But I’ve seen the tournament, occasionally there are entrants who aren’t from the high schools?” Edward added, and Kim clicked her tongue in annoyance.

“Those are wandering Sages. They’re people our age that couldn’t join the training centres for their own reasons. You should know that more than anyone though, your elder brother was one.” Edward blinked in surprise, thinking to the figure of his elder brother.

His elder brother, Gregory, known by his epithet ‘the Dragon’…

It was an accurate one given the power the man wielded, the High General of the Empire’s Sage Army, giving them the title of the number one military superpower in the world.

Despite ‘only’ having a Fire Element, Gregory was no doubt stronger than even Jonathan… Edward remembered asking his brother about his power, to which his brother refused to say anything beyond admitting that he had more than five Stars, but he was no King either.

Besides, Edward wouldn’t know the difference between two people until they fought and showed their strength if they were both much stronger than him.

It was the same as seeing a pro athlete demonstrating something amazing that a normal person wouldn’t understand. But if you saw two pro’s compete you would know who was better.

“My brother was? He… didn’t tell me that. He doesn’t talk about himself much.” Edward admitted and Kim’s eyes softened slightly as she sighed, removing a Sage-brand phone.

The Sage-brand meant the phone was much more durable than one of the same make without the brand. Sages were much stronger and needed durable materials to work with, such as Kazuya and his Adamantine katana. Had it been made of normal metal, it would have shattered when he swung it.

Kim slid the phone over the table to Edward, who widened seeing a younger image of his brother, getting the first years to move over to see.

Gregory Valzard had a similar powerful facial structure to Edward, and this was a younger version of him, showing the brightness in his blood red eyes and drooping red hair.

One would immediately peg him as a Fire Sage.

His physique was notably different from Edward though. Edward was built similarly to a body builder, with secondary focus on flexibility. He used stability as his power and fought with a wide stance and his stocky body.

Gregory on the other hand was taller, with a thinner physique, yet there was no doubt he was powerful.

“This was taken about twenty years ago, during the International Juniors. This was the finals… the one fighting him is the current vice-principal of our school actually.” Kim admitted, and they looked to Gregory’s opponent, a man with bright platinum hair and a frail appearance.

“At the time this was taken, the Dragon would have been about seventeen, a second year. He was a wandering Sage, having refused to join a training centre, and instead journeying around to train himself.” Kim’s statement signalled the start of the match as the man with the platinum hair removed a baton from his longer sleeves, a wand…

He was a ‘caster’ type Sage, meaning he fought nearly entirely through pure Element manipulation.

At the same time, Gregory smiled, all while possessing no armour for his body as he hopped into a kick-boxer stance.

“The Vice-Principal is named Wesley Porter. In this video, he’s a third year senior from the Temple.” Kim supplied further information as the fight began.

And immediately the first years felt as if they had drawn the short straw when they realized something.

As they were, they’d lose at this competition.

Gregory was a blur of motion, the camera showing that the image was heavily reduced in speed, and yet he and Vice-Principal Porter was moving quickly, so fast that even with the reduced speed they were hard to keep track of.

Edward especially felt odd watching the video… he felt proud, so proud of his brother’s skill, his power.

He also felt a sense of worry… he felt he could not compete with the power he was witnessing, and his brother had such power by the equivalent of a second year student in their fourth term?

“Pay attention to the next bit. These videos aren’t shown to the public because Sage’s like to keep our abilities under wraps, but as Sage’s, we can see these in full.” Bobby added with a smile on his face as the first years looked back to the video…

They saw Gregory clench his fists and rotate his forearms, wreathing them in fire as his legs underwent a similar change.

Then the fire vanished, and suddenly there were red metallic gauntlets and greaves on his limbs, surprising the first years as vice-principal Porter frowned, his wand vanishing as he focused his Light to his hands.

Just like the gauntlets and greaves, suddenly there was a bow made of light in the hands of the blonde, making Kazuya and the others stare.

“What you’re witnessing from this point on is a battle of Sages who are using more than one of the six Arts.” That got confused looks as Edward paused looking to Yusuf to clarify, instead getting a shake of the head.

“That’s for my father to teach you. Just know that everything you are seeing is something you might also be capable of doing.” Yusuf warned as they continued the video.

With the emergence of these weapons, the flow of the match changed, leaving Gregory on the defensive as Vice-Principal Porter launched arrow after arrow of light at his opponent, Gregory needing to read ahead and move his arms to block ahead of time lest the light pierce his body.

This didn’t continue for long and once more Gregory initiated a change in tempo, raising his hands above his head as if praying to the heavens as a huge ball of fire appeared there.

This ball rapidly shrank, going from ten metres in diameter to eight, then to six, then to five… and then it cracked open, revealing the reason why Gregory was named the Dragon…

For that was what it was. A being wreathed in fire, a powerful body with scaled wings and glaring yellow eyes, it looked like a ‘standard’ western red dragon, a bit small though…

The vice-principal seemed worried, even as he held a hand out and did something similar, his sphere was smaller, resulting in a white rabbit, with yellow tufts near the top of its ears to appear.

It was obvious which the more dangerous one was, and the battle changed from there once more, changing to Gregory’s side as he and his dragon charged forward, Vice-principal Porter and his rabbit blocking as they moved backwards.

It seemed the creatures were also capable of manipulating Elements, making the first years consider that the creatures were tamed, but that didn’t make a lot of sense.

Eventually the rabbit was caught by the tail of the dragon, knocking it into pixels of light as the vice-principal staggered, giving Gregory chance to land a heavy blow to the face, ending the fight as the video ended.

“Wow.” The students looked to Edward who was smiling an awkward smile at the attention… well yeah, that was his brother twenty years ago, and Edward was even trained by that guy.

“It was definitely impressive, even we aren’t that strong just yet… maybe Bobby and Yusuf though.” Vera looked to the strongest student with a raised eyebrow as Bobby shrugged.

“I’ve got no clue if I’m that strong, but I do possess my Armament and Materialization, though I’m still working on my Clad.” The terms were important… the first years could practically feel it.

They just didn’t know what the terms meant just yet.

“But yeah… about those wandering Sages, the entrants for the International Juniors are decided in September, and happens in the first week of December. They have until then to challenge an entrant and defeat them for their place.” Bobby explained why the wandering Sages appeared in the competition, and the first years realized that it should have been obvious.

The strong are privileged, they knew this already. And if you weren’t strong enough to keep your privilege, then clearly someone else deserved it.

“Hey, break’s ending soon, we got to leave.” Su-Li reminded and the first years realized what was being said and stood to leave.

“Thank you for the advice.” Kazuya said, getting nods from the rest of the first years.

Liza was still sipping on her milkshake… it was empty though, so it was just making an annoying sound. Kazuya eventually couldn’t take it and just snatched it out of her hand before placing it on the table.

Before she could embarrass them anymore, the first years moved away, Kazuya dragging Liza as she looked to the Neapolitan milkshake with longing.

It was from that position of being dragged that Liza noted she was being glared at by another student…

And judging from what happened during the break, he was a second year S-Class student, with hair flecked with pieces of white and brown…

He walked away with the rest of the second years after clicking his tongue, making Liza narrow her eyes at his back.

Liza felt the urge to hurt the student, but instead left it alone.

She was close to Kazuya, between leaving his presence to go hurt someone for staring at her, and staying with him, the choice was obvious to her.

Maybe not so much to everyone else though…

But that was fine… no one needed to understand why she cared for Kazuya. She understood, and that was enough for her.

“You brats are late! And Liza, get to your own desk!” Jonathan’s shouts brought Liza back to the cruel reality that no one else understood why she was with him… she’d forgive the teacher.

Someday… maybe Liza would.