“Yo, I am Matt.” A teen with dark brown hair and skin approached Miles as he was sitting on the plane, minding his own business. He looked at the teen but didn’t have an impression of him.

“Hey, I am Miles.” Miles greeted with a smile. By now, everyone in the academy knew who he was. There was no point in hiding.

“C’mon, man. You gotta use your title.” Matt smirked as he sat beside Miles, “The infamous Battle Beast. Such an awe-striking name!”

“Haha!” Miles gave a dry, sarcastic look, as he gazed towards the academy. ‘Fucking Val!’

“Just kidding, man. Sorry, didn’t want to offend you.” Matt said as he showed the ground. They were flying over the Valley of No Return where Miles and Alex took the Madman test. “You know, I respect you. I wanted to take the test as well, but pops didn’t let me.”

“If you can take the normal test, it is way better right?” Miles asked seriously. It was called the madman test for a reason.

“You are right, after all, if I were to take the test, I wouldn’t be able to hide my strength so far.” Matt grinned.

“Oh, so you are one of them,” Miles asked.

“Damn straight I am, man. It is too bothersome to deal with challenges all day long.” Matt said with all seriousness, as he approached, “I came to this school to learn, not live comfortably if you know what I mean.”

“Yeah.” Miles nodded. He also wanted to learn everything the school was offering. He could relate to Matt.

“Anyway, I would have hidden my strength even more, but this competition is important.” Matt whispered as he looked around and asked, “You know right?”

“How so?” Miles asked. It couldn’t be the reward, since by now everyone knew it. Hell, everyone was talking about it ever since Miles boarded the plane. Since Matt was acting secretive, it could only be something else.

“Your rank after you graduate can raise several notches depending on your performance in the competition. After all, this competition is between military schools.” Matt blurted out. Miles looked at him in disbelief.

“I know all graduates from military schools have a rank, depending on the quality of the school.” Miles started, “But, you can even raise it with a competition?”

“Man, you know nothing.” Matt sighed. “Hard to believe you are Cross.”

“Yea, I get that a lot,” Miles answered dryly.

“Anyway, graduates from top tier schools have the rank of First Lieutenant to Captain depending on their achievements.” Matt said and leaned back, “We are already ahead of many of the graduates who signed up for regular schools. Most of the academies inside the walls can only guarantee Second Lieutenant rank.”

Second Lieutenant rank wasn’t bad, but it wasn’t that high either. Lucy was a Second Lieutenant before she even signed for an academy, but that was because she was in the military since she had awakened. The same went for Quinn, and she was even the daughter of the Chief of Police, that is why her rank was First Lieutenant. To graduate with that rank was already a major head start.

“And if we can shine in the competition, we can have a higher rank when we graduate?” Miles asked.

“That is what I am telling, man,” Matt said as he nodded toward others. “All of them are people who hid their strength to work for this day. There are only a few who didn’t and you must know them better than I do, after all, while you guys were sleeping in your comfortable beds, we were living in the streets, and working hard.

I know most of these guys from my days in the walls. They all have the strength to challenge me, but you are still a notch above us. After all, you are one of the few who could advance to the middle-tier in the first years. But that makes you even a bigger target.”

“What do you mean?” Miles asked in disbelief.

“Man, are you not listening?” Matt scoffed as he leaned forward. “This shitty competition is not against other academies.”

“You mean?”

“Yeah, bright boy.” Matt nodded to others. “We are even competing among each other.”

"That doesn't make any sense." Miles tilted his head. "Isn't this a competition between academies?"

"You would think so." Matt shook his head. "Look, what is the reward for this shit?"

"Dual Elemental Orb," Miles answered.

"How many?"

"One, as far as I know."

"Damn right." Matt answered as he punched his palm, "Then who gets to keep the orb if our school wins?"

All of a sudden, it dawned on Miles. Yeah, who would get to keep it? Would Milosh get to decide? Or the student who worked hardest would have it? Then, all students would work as hard as they could to earn the prize.

"I get that the prize might make us thrive to work harder, but what does it have anything to do with ranks?" Miles asked after thinking.

"The stages of the competition always have tasks related to leadership, teamwork, integrity, persistence, bravery, curiosity, love of learning, social intelligence, fairness, perspective, creativity, and self-regulation. These are the qualities of a good leader and every commanding rank should have them. Not every commanding rank has it, but that is not the point.

There will be people from the military watching every stage of the competition to give you points. These points do not affect the competition slightly, but when you graduate, it will affect your starting rank." Matt finished in one breath.

"I see." Miles nodded and looked down in contemplation. 'Merlin was in the military since childhood, so his rank was already Captain when he was 20. But Marcela was different. Only after she graduated, she was enlisted, yet she was already a Major. So it was about this.'