“Huh? You met my kid? So?” The S-Class students sighed at the bland reaction of Jonathan, the day after they had met the senior S-Class they finally spoke to their teacher about the incident.

“…Never mind sir, we actually want to know about that video.” Edward said after taking a moment to wonder at how casual their teacher was about everything…

“Yeah, there were a few weird things happening in that video.” Jade’s statement was met with nods all around, except from Liza who was yawning and trying to sleep.

While hanging off of Kazuya’s back like a koala. It was unanimously agreed to be adorable, except for Kazuya who wanted to complain about not being a tree.

“The Vice-Principal summoned a-a-a bow out of Light, a-and then a strange rabbit c-creature.” Tony said quietly, remembering the sight with an odd fidget of his lip, a nervous habit he had been trying to drop.

It was meeting mild success considering it was originally a habit involving biting his lip. As for the stutter, it could come later.

“And Ed’s brother summoned a dragon! And he summoned a pair of gauntlets too, but the dragon!” Vince was clear on his priorities, and wanted some answers. He ignored Edward’s confusion on the nickname…

Edward was a prince of an empire, granted it was an empire based on merit and ability, but he was still a prince… he wasn’t used to being called by a nickname except by either of his siblings.

He liked it actually.

“Ah, they showed you the full video then… guess I can explain. Though if I do, you’re going to be getting double the homework to make up for the class time.” Everyone winced, even Liza… in her sleep.

They nodded though, with the exception of Liza obviously. Jonathan allowed her to sleep with a twitch in his eye showing his annoyance.

“Fine, now, you can all go sit down… I guess you can stand though, considering the leech you have on your back.” Jonathan allowed Kazuya to stand. It wasn’t something Kazuya wanted to be doing though…

Jonathan moved to the whiteboard while picking up the marker, and after erasing the writing on the board, he drew a large circle, within he wrote the word ‘Six Arts’.

“Do not confuse this with the Six Paths of Reincarnation you might know of from Buddhist teachings. I have seen people who keep thinking it’s funny, it’s not.” Jonathan shut down any jokes that could be made immediately.

No one attempted the joke, as the only one in the class who actually followed Buddhism was Kazuya, though he wouldn’t be shaving his head.

Buddhism was actually widely followed amongst Sages, and finding only one Buddhist in a class of Sages was rare.

This was because Buddhism was considered the origin of meditation amongst Sages, and meditation was an actual training method for them.

Thus this religion doubled as training for most Sages.

This belief was what resulted in the creation of the Temple, one of the four main teaching centres of Sages, as ninety percent of people who enter that school were Buddhists.

“The Six Arts of the Sage is what we practice. Each of the abilities we gain is merely supplementary to these six or a sub-category of them.” Jonathan started off his lecture with these words, drawing six lines attached to the big circle.

Drawing a circle attached to one of the lines, within he wrote ‘Emission/control’ and then turned back to the class.

“Emission and Control, the basis of every Sage, is merely the first of the Six Arts. It is subsequently the hardest to master despite how easy it is to learn.” Jonathan had a lazy smirk as he held out his palm, creating a ball of darkness which swirled lazily there.

“I say easy to learn, but it’s more instinctual. What you do when you control an Element? That’s emission and control, something you are all capable of doing at the age of twelve when you awaken as a Sage.” Jonathan’s words got everyone to look at their own hands while flickering their Elements momentarily.

“And as I said, it’s the hardest of the Six Arts to master. Even the Kings like the Principal haven’t truly mastered this Art, and this is because of the sheer versatility of every Element… it’s impossible to master, but is an important thing to train.” Jonathan’s words were met with serious nods.

Jonathan accepted that the class understood the lesson, and then moved onto the next line, drawing a circle and writing the word ‘Clad’.

“From now on, you are learning the ‘secret’ arts of the Sages. The only Art normal humans know about is the first, because it is what makes us Sages. No matter how powerful a Sage is, if they can only use one of the Six, they are not a true Sage.” Jonathan said, now tapping the board where the word was.

“There isn’t a real order to learn the Six Arts beyond what is the first you learn, and what is the last, but for now we’ll call this the second Art, Clad. You have all witnessed this in use during that video.” Jonathan said, pausing, clearly waiting for someone to think of when it was used.

“Um… was it maybe the gauntlets mister Gregory used?” Leah’s question was quiet, and most humans wouldn’t hear it. Sages weren’t normal humans though.

“That’s exactly it. And by the way shy-two, you should really move past that by now.” Jonathan reminded, getting Leah to nod her head rapidly on the verge of tears…

She really was so shy…

For the record, shy-one was Tony, though he at least didn’t use ‘um’ and ‘maybe’ often, he just kept quiet because of his stutter.

“Clad is the ability to condense your Element, or Elements, into a piece of defensive equipment, something to protect yourself, hence the name, you ‘Clad’ yourself in armour.” Jonathan punctuated his statement by a surge of darkness and wind around his left arm.

After the surge vanished, an ornate shield attached to a gauntlet was on his left arm, getting wide eyed looks from the students as Jonathan flicked his arm, causing the shield to fold closed, looking just like a gauntlet now.

“This is my Clad. We aren’t inside some cartoon, so we don’t name our powers.” Jonathan said with a raised eyebrow towards Liza.

Even in her sleep she frowned… she really was in tune with her surroundings, wasn’t she?

“As you can all see, my Clad takes a different shape from Gregory’s, and this is not strange, most are different from one another. Some appear as shields, some appear as an aura, and others are armour.” This had all the students, again with the exception of the sleeping Liza, wish that they knew how to do this.

“Judging by the look in your eyes, you want to know how to do this? I’m unable to teach you all how, as you need to have three Stars at minimum to use a Clad. It’s why I don’t care that Liza is sleeping, she knows this explanation already.” Some glances were thrown at Liza at those words.

“She doesn’t have one. Just saying. Continuing with the explanation though, Clads are incomplete until they provide a certain level of defence. For shields, they must be capable of defending against at least one full force strike from someone one Star above you.” Jonathan patted his own as it vanished.

“Mine can’t do that, so I have yet to master it obviously. Continuing, for an Aura based Clad, it must be capable of affecting at least nine others, as it’s an area of effect variation.”

That sounded amazing, an aura that protected and boosted your comrades, immediately the combative sides of the students considered the value of such a person in a team of Sages.

“And for the final group, which is armour based Clads… they must be a full set. The principal was famous for mastering his Clad as a six Star Sage, and it’s only gotten stronger since. He was called the Steel Heart for it.” The eyes of the students showed their amazement, as only truly famous Sage’s got titles like that, and their principal was really powerful obviously.

“These are the three general types of Clad, but there are variations. Like my own, as you saw, I had a shield, but attached to it was a gauntlet so it was a dual armour-shield type. Variants are actually harder to master.” Jonathan admitted with a sigh, clearly showing how annoying it must be to him.

“A general rule of thumb for Sages is that the harder something is to master, the more powerful it will be when it is. It’s why every Sage, at some point, begins to pursue the ideal of mastering Emission and Control, because it is the hardest thing for us to ever master, mastering it would make one unstoppable.” Jonathan clenched his fists behind his back, not wanting to show his excitement for the concept to his students.

Even their lazy teacher had things that excited him, like his wife, but that was rated too mature for the students to know about.

“Okay, that’s enough about Clads for now, so let’s move on to the ‘third’ Art.” As Jonathan mentioned before, the Six Arts did not have a set order in which they were learnt, except for the first and final Art. The other four could be learnt in whatever order a person could.

“The third Art is another one you saw in that fight. This one is known as Armament, and it shouldn’t be too hard to guess when it was used. The name says it all.” Jonathan said, writing another circle on the board, this one saying Armament.

By now, the board had seven circles, one for the word Six Arts, one for Emission/Control, one for Armament, and four for Clad, three of which were attached to the main circle stating ‘Armour’ ‘Aura’ and ‘Shield’ to show the different types.

“The bow Vice-Principal Porter used.” Kazuya acknowledged, and Jonathan nodded while holding out his arm.

Soon the energy of his Elements gathered in his hand, creating a wickedly jagged and curved sword connected to a chain, the blade was black as night with a bright green edge, the chain was wrapped around Jonathan’s arm.

“An Armament is as you can guess, it’s the offensive version of Clad, creating a weapon for you to use. Simply summoning an Armament allows greater control over your Element within your vicinity, and no weapon will ever channel an Element as well as your Armament will.” Jonathan gestured with his blade, a noticeable aura of wind gathering at the edge.

“Armaments are odd in the sense that there are so many variations that I can’t fill this board with them. It’s also important to understand that there is a limitation to this Art.” Jonathan frowned even as he looked back to the board.

“It is possible that a Sage will be incapable of utilizing this Art. In the case that they can’t use this Art, one hundred percent of the time, they possess an armour based Clad. What does this mean?” Jonathan’s question was met with a raised hand.

“…Is it possible that your Clad could be considered an Armament?” It sounded strange to say, but Jonathan’s nod and smirk said that Edward’s question rang true.

“Yes, Sages who don’t use weapons can end up with gauntlets and greaves as their Armament, and then an Aura for their Clad, but rarely you find a person who gains armour for their Clad, which is then considered their Armament.” Jonathan’s explanation was understood by his students easily.

Edward’s frown showed that he especially understood it. If he tried to create an Armament, and it instead began to create armour, it would be understandable, because he already used gauntlets as weapons instead of defensive equipment.

“There are actually two such people amongst the Ten Kings, one of which is Principal Oren, and the other is the King of Ice, Yule Argos, both of which are incapable of using Armament because their Clad is their weapon.” Jonathan’s pointed look at Edward showed exactly who the words for, and their meaning was clear.

Even if you are incapable of learning this technique, it would not be the end, because it was possible to thrive with this so-called limitation.

Edward’s smile let Jonathan know that the message was heard.

Whether or not Edward would be one of those rare people who used their Clad as a weapon, it would be known eventually… and either way, he would accept it.

“To know the mastery of Armament is similar to the idea of Clad. The durability of your weapon decides it. If it is a long-ranged weapon like a bow, the range available determines it.” Jonathan explained, flicking his blade into nothingness.

“Armaments are considered mastered when they are unbreakable amongst people of the same level. If you can break the armament of your enemy, and they have the same Stars as you, your mastery is greater than theirs.” The other form, range, was not mentioned, as it was obvious.

Whoever shot accurately at a further range was better, plain and simple.

“Now for the fourth Art and the final one you saw in that fight.” Jonathan drew a circle on the board, writing the word in that would be the name of the Art.

“The fourth Art is Manifestation. It is the act of summoning a spirit animal which will grow with you, and it was the final Art you saw in that fight.” The students all thought back to the sight of that white rabbit, and the large dragon.

“This animal fights alongside their Sage and depending on the animal their suitability for different things changes. A predator is typically used for attack, herbivores for defence, with smaller animals for support.” Jonathan focused summoning his own Manifestation.

Jonathan’s Manifestation got surprised looks from everyone as they looked at the large eye-less eel… Jade and Leah held in their urge to scream as it floated around Jonathan.

Well, that answered the question of what would happen if a sea creature was a Manifestation.

“Manifestations are acceptable to name due to their likeness to living creatures, but again, like a Clad or Armament, it does not need to be named.” Jonathan said, rubbing his hand against the side of the eel.

Its creepy wide grin showed how happy the petting made it.

“My Manifestation is named Angui, and assists me as an offensive type Manifestation, much like the dragon Gregory uses.” Jonathan said, petting the eel and allowing it to float above the occupants of the room.

The fact that it had a huge amount of sharp teeth kept anyone from going near it, and had the girls in particular terrified.

Liza momentarily woke up, looked at it, and went back to sleep.

Kazuya would protect her… she was certain of it. Kazuya wasn’t as certain.

“The Vice-Principal’s rabbit is a support type Manifestation, and was a poor match up against Gregory’s dragon, which was what decided the match.” Jonathan explained before Angui came back to him, fading slowly into nothingness, making Jonathan sigh.

“Manifestations cost quite a bit of Essence to bring into reality and maintain. On average most people only gain their Manifestations once they reach four or five Stars, getting them at three Stars would be considered impossible due to the Essence requirements.” That got a few frowns… and then there were a few glances at Kazuya…

Didn’t he have a huge amount of Essence due to that being his Element? Perhaps he would be capable of Manifestation with only three Stars… maybe.

Liza had the opposite problem as she’d likely only be capable of Manifestation at five or six Stars due to how expensive her Element was Essence-wise in comparison to the others.

“Manifestations have their own specialties as I mentioned before, creating a triangle of sorts with offensive being good against supportive, supportive being good against defensive, and defensive being good against offensive.” Jonathan drew a triangle on the board.

No one heard Leah’s mumbling of ‘weapon triangle’ this time.

“This is normal, but remember, differences do occur. A Whale for example is an extremely rare Manifestation focused on defence, but their sheer girth allows them to work as an offensive Manifestation as well, and with training can do support as well.” That got wide eyes, and Jonathan knew he’d need to bring up an example or two.

“The King of Water, Kai Lanakila possesses a whale Manifestation capable of doing all three. Gregory’s dragon is also considered something capable of learning all three.” Jonathan gave examples and once more Edward felt the might of his elder brother from far away…

“Of course you do get the occasional odd-ball who has a Manifestation suited for one thing, but somehow does something else. Principal Oren has a wolf which is suited for offence, but it acts as a defensive Manifestation. And it excels at what it does.” Jonathan’s smirk said it all.

You do not need to conform. If you are strong, tread your own path.

This was a lesson all Sage’s would learn, but few would put into practice.

Those few were those who would become strong, and be considered legends amongst the Sages.

“That’s all I’ll say for Manifestations, as they grow along with you, they will naturally be considered mastered at some point.” Jonathan said, drawing in the fifth circle for the students to see the word- Diversity.

“I must say, amongst the Six Arts, this is the strangest one.” Jonathan himself looked a bit confused, looking at the term before looking back to the class, his face going back to neutral.

No one would dare call him out on his expression lest he start messing with them. Jonathan was surprisingly petty when it came to things like that.

“Diversity is another term for difference, to say that one is different from another. As such, this Art represents the uniqueness of the user. What it does is different from Sage to Sage, and it’s impossible to know when you will learn it.” Jonathan looked to his own hands.

“Your Diversity is something uniquely yours. No other person, even if they had the same Element, and all their Arts matched yours, the Diversities would be different.” Jonathan said with assurance, leaving the S-class students thinking on the term.

It was something that was uniquely theirs.

“I can’t say when you will learn it, or even if you will learn it. Some Sages go all the way to seven Stars without learning it, but I can say with certainty that without it, you will never go beyond that.” Jonathan said, well aware on the limitations of Sages as he himself dealt with them…

He was well aware that there were limitations to what a Sage could do, regardless of what they wish.

“And if you do learn it, you will just suddenly know, similar to how you just know what Element you gain upon your twelfth birthday. There are only two bits of information on Diversity I can give you to reassure you.” Jonathan said, raising one finger.

“If you possess two Elements, you will gain your Diversity. It’s something unique to people like us, but we will definitely gain one at some point, unlike other Sages who might never gain one.” Jonathan’s words got five of the currently awake students to relax.

Kazuya was a bit worried though, as he was already the odd one out for not really having an Element…

Or would his one count as ten Elements? He wasn’t sure, but as he was worrying he felt Liza rubbing her face into his back…

Then he felt a bit of wetness and frowned before sighing, a soft smile on his face.

It was disgusting to be drooled on, but at least it kept him from worrying about things he had no control over as Jonathan raised another finger.

“And the Diversity you gain is based on desire. What you truly want in this world.” Again, the students became introspective… Jonathan let them.

A Sage needed to train and fight, but they also needed to stop and think about what they could do. It’s why Sages were taught meditation as soon as possible. By the time they got to training centres they could slip into meditation at the drop of a dime, so to speak.

It was never truly frowned upon for a Sage to be meditating. Heck, if a Sage slipped into meditation while in class, the teacher would usually let it go until they were certain on the nature of the meditation.

If it was a passing thought, the teacher would stop it. If it was something they really needed to work through in their mind, they would let the student continue.

Jonathan’s classes were usually too interesting to slip into meditation though… except when he taught normal school work.

“A Sage that fears pain might gain a higher pain tolerance, a Sage that wishes to move freely might become capable of moving on thin air. A person with a similar desire might instead find gain the ability to teleport to a certain extent.” Jonathan gave some examples of Diversity, and then frowned.

“…My own Diversity allows for healing.” Just from the expression on his face, no one asked him for details. No one needed to ask why he wanted to heal. It was obviously personal, and despite their concern, they left it alone.

“It’s rare, but there are also lineage Diversities, where a family of Sages all have Diversities based on the same concept. The Valzard family is a famous one.” Edward perked up at this.

“The Diversity of the Valzards usually works around the concept of ‘domination’. Gregory didn’t learn his Diversity until later, but from what I hear, his Diversity increases gravity around him based on how many enemies he faces. It’s why he is considered a one-man army, because the more he fights, the stronger he gets.” That got wide eyes from the group…

In addition, gravity was usually the domain of Earth or the Darkness Element, this just proved that Diversities did not care for your Element; they would work just as fine whether your Element was Water or Fire.

“So as you can tell, Diversities are the odd one out of the others. People can have the same Element, the same Clad, the same Armament, the same Manifestation, but Diversities are yours. Even if they are similar, no one else will have the exact same thing, and it transcends Elements or logic of the Sages.” Jonathan said, his words oddly profound for a guy wearing what looked to be the odd combination of crocs and onesie.

…their teacher’s wife was actually pretty hilarious if she really chose these outfits… and yet, somehow Jonathan could be taken seriously in them.

No wonder Yusuf looked a bit awkward about admitting Jonathan was his father.

“We got a bit side-tracked with Diversities, so let’s move onto the sixth and final Art of Sages.” Jonathan’s words were met with the final circle being drawn with the words inside ringing through the minds of the students.

“Elemental Evocation… I hope, and pray, that none of you ever use this, and yet I would be extremely impressed if any of you could use it.” Jonathan frowned at his students.

“Elemental Evocation is an ability granted to only ten people in the known world, and it is the ability that separates Kings from other Sages.” That got immense concentration from the group wondering what this power could be.

Armament and Clad created the defence and offence of a Sage. The Emission/Control defined their techniques, the Manifestation creating another supporting aspect to their fighting and Diversities improved the quality of a Sage… so what could Elemental Evocation be?

“Elemental Evocation is a myth amongst Sages, but every King agrees that it exists… and that to use it is one of the worst mistakes a King could make.” Jonathan added a word outside the bubble.

“Sacrifice. It’s the unofficial name for it after the Kings taught others of its existence. Like the name suggests, this Art revolves around the concept of sacrificing something to gain something else, equivalent trade.” Jonathan sighed, taking a deep breath.

“It is different depending on the Element, according to the King’s themselves, but the idea is the same. In exchange for fifteen minutes of unrivalled power, you will sacrifice something important.” Jonathan hit his desk, cracks going through it, shocking the class, and waking Liza who stared at Jonathan with worry.

“This ability is forbidden. I doubt any of you will become Kings due to the difficulty of becoming one, but I want to make sure none of you ever make the mistake of using this.” Jonathan clenched his fists.

“As a teacher, I have to teach you what you want to know… but as a person, I wish I didn’t have to teach you this. Elemental Evocation allows a ten Star Sage, a King, to fight as if an eleventh Star was a possibility, for all of fifteen minutes, the King will almost become an Element.” The awe and worry of the students was palpable, Liza looking to Jonathan with a sad gaze.

“For each person a different drawback exists, the Principal claims that, were he to use Elemental Evocation, he would sacrifice a random bone or two in his body with the exception of his skull.” The students found the idea of sacrificing a bone to be… oddly acceptable, given that bones could be replaced.

“And don’t go thinking that you can get surgery or something. There is a void in that place. Injuries caused by Elemental Evocation are impossible to heal.” Jonathan stated, palming his desk as he used a bit of Wood Element to fix it.

“As for the King of Light, he claims he would start to see less and less with each use.” The students were beginning to see a semblance of a pattern here…

“And for the King of Wind… she would lose feeling in their legs until they can’t walk.” Yes… it was clear now… and Jonathan could see the understanding in their eyes.

“Sacrifice the essence.” Liza spoke quietly, and yet it was heard clearly amongst the entire class and Jonathan nodded.

“Yes… Elemental Evocation is dramatic irony… supreme control over your Element, only for it to harm you in an ironic sense.” Jonathan’s words made sense.

The King of Light would appreciate his eyes as how he felt and perceived Light, only to lose that ability bit by bit… the King of Metal would lose a bone, the frame that held up the body, losing stability, while the King of Wind would become ‘rooted’ in place.

The cores of those Elements, taken from the people who mastered them…

“From this, you can guess other ones… like the drawback for the Water Element probably would work with losing flexibility as water is associated with flowing motion, or having your inner ear ruined for Earth, destroying your balance.” It was horrible…

“That’s it for class today. Go home and think about what I was telling you. Come back tomorrow.” School wasn’t out yet.

No one argued though, as they quietly packed their bags and left the room.

Liza didn’t even try to mess with Kazuya, each of them feeling their own thoughts as they walked collectively to the train station.

The school possessed its own station, separate from the nearby city of Berlin.

It was not something that would be brought up in casual conversation, but the idea of a war between humans in this world was far-fetched beyond minor skirmishes, and the Germans never started any ‘World Wars’.

In this world, the idea of doing as such was suicide with the existence of all the ways that could go wrong, not to mention that the man known as Hitler was born a normal human with no reason to start a war when humanity was already in trouble.

As such, Germany was never condemned, and at this point Berlin was considered one of the greatest strongholds of humanity in the world.

On an unrelated and lucky note was that English was a demanded subject in every country in the world, so as to create a true united language amongst all nations, a lingua franca so to speak.

Sure, there were countries that had their own languages, but English was always considered to be important… as such, it was actually difficult to find someone who didn’t speak it in this day and age.

Due to all these things, the trains at the station ran all the way to Berlin, despite the school sitting like a small town on its own outside of Berlin. In addition, the trains were numerous enough that there would always be one available for boarding for the students, each capable of seating the entirety of the student body.

So unless there were really selfish people who wanted to board a train alone, transport to the city was easy.

The seven students collectively got on a train, one of the ‘first class’ ones which were smaller and separated for S-class students of any year, and the conductor saw the letters on their upper left arm and nodded.

“Is this all of you?” the conductor, unlike them, was a normal human, looking at them with a calm smile.

“Yeah, we’re good to go. Teacher let us out early.” Edward stated, getting a nod from the conductor who started the train’s movement.

He needed the reason to log in why students would be missing. Their ties said their year and the letter their class, so he could identify them.

The conductors typically enjoyed their jobs, considering they were paid to sit around and do nothing until people needed to go to or from Elem High.

The train left, leaving Kazuya and the others thinking as the carriage rocked on the tracks, shaking the students side to side slightly.

“…Elemental Evocation… what would happen if a person with two Elements used it?” Jade asked, and the silence continued.

“What is a person with three used it?” Edward’s question was filled with worry and no one judged him for it.

“I’m a bit worried about me and Liza. We don’t have standard Elements so wouldn’t the backlash be abnormal?” Kazuya’s question was just as valid.

“…This can’t go on.” Vince stated, uncharacteristically serious.

The only time he got this serious was usually when food was involved.

“Guys, we know the dangers, so we know why we shouldn’t use that, and even if we wanted to, we’d need to be Kings, ten Star Sages first! That’s a problem to consider in the future, not now.” Vince reminded, and they all smiled…

They were glad for the support Vince showed them, he was always there to set the mood for the class of Element wielders.

“Thanks for that Vince… you are right, this can’t go on… but I’m not just talking about our worry.” Edward said, a fierce look appearing in his eyes as he looked over his classmates.

Despite being ranked third amongst them, Edward was the person their gaze went to when answers were needed.

Liza might have been the strongest, but she wasn’t a leader clearly, as she’d toss the responsibility to Kazuya and sleep rather.

Kazuya, who was a good guy, was not one to take action unless it was necessary though, he wasn’t proactive and disliked the idea of being looked to for guidance.

Edward, on the other hand, was a prince, trained to lead and inspire, he did so near automatically without truly trying, it was ingrained in him, and as such they listened to him, even if Kazuya and Liza were stronger.

“The seniors yesterday told us three bits of advice. Today, we learnt of powers beyond what we have, knowledge kept from all those but Sages training beyond whatever previous childishness we were going through.” Left unsaid was that they were all fifteen or recently turned sixteen… they were still young teens.

They all looked young as well, but any person who knew they were Sages knew appearances couldn’t be trusted to represent age.

Principal Oren, a man who looked at the prime of his life around his mid-twenties or early thirties… was a bit over one hundred years old actually. And he was the youngest King.

“One, we need to increase our Stars. Liza already has three, but remember that we need four to excel.” Their goal was set; they were to reach four Stars as soon as possible.

Seemed difficult when one considered that everyone reached two Stars in a year, and two years later they were still busy trying to reach three Stars.

But explosive growth was a concept known to Sages, especially when they fought and trained together…

But the idea of an explosive growth after reaching four Stars was a fantasy. But until then, they could try.

“Two, we are not to trust the A-class… I think we know why.” The nods across the group showed they understood.

Like what happened with the D-class, the A-class were their competition, and they wouldn’t hesitate to use whatever knowledge they could get to their advantage…

“Haven’t we met proof of the dangers?” Kazuya asked, and again, everyone nodded.

The entry requirements to S-class were to possess more than one Element or to possess a unique Element.

Two Element Sages were not common, and some people went their entire lives with never meeting such a Sage, though they seemed to attract one another for some reason.

As for Sages with an Element outside of the normal ten, before Kazuya met Liza he thought he was the only person like that.

So… didn’t they already meet someone who met none of the requirements, and yet, was in S-class?

Yusuf Grant, Jonathan’s own son.

He possessed only a Wind Element, and yet he was in the S-class…

“He must have defeated a member of the S-class and wagered entry to the class.” Jade offered, and everyone agreed, it was the only logical way for Yusuf to enter the class, favouritism wasn’t something shown amongst Sages.

It’s pointless to lie about strength as a lie would probably result in the death of the Sage at some point.

“That’s probably what the seniors were talking about… the A-class will try and take over our position, one by one. And what were we told the day we entered the school?” Kazuya asked…

And they realized… Principal Oren told them they would be expelled if they weren’t in the top ten percent.

That was another way to lose one of them…

“This works into the third bit of advice… free time is a luxury we do not have.” Edward’s statement got their attention.

“Think about it… we of the S-class are given advantage upon advantage in comparison to every other class… but in exchange, we need to prove our strength constantly. The tallest tree catches the most wind.” Edward’s use of the proverb got everyone to clench their fists.

“What they were trying to warn us about… if we do not become the strongest… we will be expelled, or replaced.” Everyone agreed….

None of them would fail. No one would be left behind.