A beautiful lady was standing by the students wearing glasses and instructing them even when outside. She had a strict demeanor and spoke with a loud and clear voice.

"Ahem, we are here, thank you for the opportunity." Linus came to her and they started chatting for a bit as they caught up. They then got back into business and gathered the grouped kids.

"Hey everybody, my name is Miss Barnett. I know everything is moving in a fast pace but let me explain what's going on. There are five classes of around thirty kids all aged eight years old and so we, class two. Decided to match with class 3 for a quick lesson due to our similarities." She quickly explained the reason. After that the girl with the appearance of a hyperactive person in Zephyr's eyes raised her hand.

"Yes Selene?"

"Why are the classes listed from one to five?"

"This is to make everyone more used to it as it is a reoccurrence when you advance to when you are ten to twelve. Also when your abilities awaken and your talents and ability to advance in strength is tested, they start actually putting you into classes that can help you at your own pace. One is naturally for the most talented and five is for those who show they are struggling or have a disadvantageous summon. This case of separatism gets especially intense when you move onto the battle academy as that's when skill is completely skewed to only the talented kids which is majority of the time only a handful and they leave the rest to paltry lessons and techniques." Barnett calmy answered her prized student's question.

"Is there a reason they focus on only a couple and not the majority?" Selene followed up.

"That is because they are a battle competition and they represent their school, and sometimes even their nations. Thus having extremely talented kids could put your school on the map and label them elite which would just overall increase everything related to their school. Thus remember kids, while it may be lax right now since barely any of you have awakened, once everyone does and disparities show up, that's when competition and intensity and bullying rates spike up." The teacher went on about the viciousness of being weak and strived to put in a competitive fire in the kids.

While it didn't have much of an impact on the kids in her class, the kids in Linus's class would look at Zephyr and Lute and tighten their fists as fires of determination sparked in their eyes. If they're already oppressed right now, how bad would it be when they get older?

"Now, now, back to the main event, we each heard we had a unanimous champion and we wanted to let them have a couple of rounds to see which one built a superior foundation and hopefully this inspires you all. Now Selene step out and who is she facing in your class Mr Geese?" She turned to Linus while speaking.

"Lute, show them your skills." Linus gave a soft smile as he watched her nervously make her way to the center field.

The two girls faced off while the whole group noticed how polar opposite they were to each other. One was boisterous and talkative, the other looked shy and soft spoken.

Selene had raven black hair put into pigtails while Lute had bright golden curls. Selene's eyes were burning red while Lutes was a calming gold. Once they matched up they both surprisingly adopted similar stances.

They were both experts of utilizing soft against hard and were more swift types of fighters. Unfortunately after one round of exchanges Selene had the advantage and that was what surprised Zephyr.

Maybe the rest didn't know but Lute had reached stage eight student after around four months of practice which meant she was blessed and still had more in her potential.

Meeting someone with the same strength meant they also most likely had the same prospects. After separating, Lute summoned a glowing ball of light which revealed Ivaldi in all her glory.

Upon seeing the lithe and majestic cat, Selene slowly collected herself and with a grin spoke to Lute.

"Finally someone my age on par with me, I had enough of my dad having to make me fight my two brothers. "Selmoone!"

A pillar of silver flames appeared and a small swallow flew forward and its speed was simply marvelous. It was silver with white tips on its wings and looked extremely beautiful and pleasing to the eye.

Selene's hands also followed suit and started emitting silver energy blasts which she then launched at Lute.

However, a ray of light was emitted from Ivaldi's forehead which eradicated the silver balls. Just like that for a few rounds the two pets would launch projectiles while the other would block.

If some reached either of the girls, they would evade and hide behind their pets once again.

This was a clear stalemate and only after the both of them exhausted everything they had and were all burnt out was the match called a draw.

"Very nicely done girls! Way to show them a fiery match. Keep this up and I promise a bright future for you. The same is said for all of you sitting, hard work and persistence is always rewarded."

Miss Barnett went into overdrive teaching mode and dished out another lesson off the top of her head.

"Now then, that's all for today, let's head back class, Linus we will see you guys maybe next week?" She suggested.

"Sure why not." Linus concurred and leadlead his students away.

They then went back to class and listened to Linus ramble on for about another two hours which put a third of them asleep.

"I really suggest you kids check the library right by the school, sure its not top tier like the combat maneuvers pavilion but there's a ton of interesting information there that could aid you in finding your path and give you inspiration."

Linus commented at the end of the class. While everyone was packing up Zephyr was still in his thoughts and was only alerted when the bell rang. Lute approached him then.

"You have any plans?"

"Yeah, I might have to look for the library to look something up." Zephyr spoke.

"Sure, I can show you, I'm a usual there since I cannot afford to slack off." Thus the two set off and left the classroom while Magma and Aqua were abandoned by Zephyr again despite their afternoon plans.

"That's the library?" Zephyr asked, a bit taken back.

"Yeah, I know, it looks pretty bland and worn down." Lute giggled.

What they were looking at was a huge building with a gate and statues which was supposed to add to its grandeur but the color of the building was a lifeless gray and there were patches of paint worn off that made it look old and torn.

They then made their way inside and Zephyr was astounded by the magnitude of books available. There was rows upon rows of work just laying there and there was the occasional people walking around and browsing the directories.

"So, what are you here for, you seemed more like the active type who hates reading." Lute questioned thoughtfully.

"There was just something that caught my interest, its apart of my ability so I'm kind of forced to learn it." Zephyr grumbled as he didn't appreciate the low blow.

"What subject is it on?"

"On runes, particularly seals and crests." Zephyr responded.

"Isn't that a broad and scholarly topic, I don't think that's suitable for someone our age, maybe try something more our speed? Lute tried suggesting.

"I really can't! Can you just show me?" "Fine, follow me." Lute walked forward making a couple turns and scouring the place they finally approached a column of books that were at least triple the size of the others.

"All-all that on one book is about runes?" Zephyr asked, a bit shocked.

"Yeah, that's why I said anything else is a better focus since this isn't for us for the next few years. I usually stay here for an hour since aside from the time I spend with you, is my only free time of the day."

"Yeah you really push yourself, its better to have fun and enjoy life than start full throttle. That's my motto!"

"Hehe, I guess I'll keep you company and try to learn runes too, who knows maybe I'll understand it better than you." Lute playfully shot back.

Zephyr looked around and finally picked a massive book that caught his eye. It was titled "infinite possibilities and the power of runes, by Franz Hoft." Zephyr found a desk with Lute who picked a beginners guide.

While perusing the book, Zephyr finally found the desire to learn to be on par with crushing everything in melee. Just the first chapter talked in depth about runes and one word really resonated with Zephyr; variability.

When forming a rune using your energy as a medium, it is also important to take into account attributes and types. If the rune master was more attuned to fire, his runes would need to follow that same combination.

The book even provided an example to help Zephyr learn better. It showed a bulk of armor and brownish runes flowed all over and it emphasized how earth attributes are able to have a better impact with defensive rune sets. The theories around runes seemed pretty simple to Zephyr, so he rushed to experiment.

"I'll be right back Lute."

"Sure"

With that Zephyr dashed out of the library after purchasing the book with the money he got from his classmates.

He jogged for a bit until he went into a secluded area filled with trees, a nice park. Making sure people were at a distance from him and being cautious of his surroundings at all times was a key lesson ingrained into Zephyr.

Next he picked up a tree branch and pulled out a toy sword he took from the Dorm. He started infusing energy into the stick but it immediately corroded and turned to dust.

"To much power?" Zephyr grabbed a different stick and this time was more precise with his actions and after just managing just a sliver to circulate, he attempted to draw on the toy sword.

However, the result was awkward for Zephyr, it didn't seem to be working. Frustrated, he chucked the stick away and silently pondered.

So too hard affects the medium and too little has no effect. Hmm, let's try this." Zephyr raised his hand and violet energy started bursting and converging on only his hand.

He then raised only a finger and then released his control and let it circulate back into his body, there was then a lingering power on his tip of his finger which he then drew on the sword. This time there was some progress as the aura stayed but that was all.

After a few more attempts and reaching the same conclusion, Zephyr was forced to give up and sulkily returned to the library.

Upon his return he saw a magical sight. There was three rays of light surrounding Lute and Ivaldi somehow appeared and flowing semi runes were appearing all around the rays of light and were just spinning around.

It appeared to make the rows of light more beautiful and when Lute saw Zephyr appear she excitedly pulled him over and showed him something which shocked him more.

She summoned a small light blade and slashed across her palm lightly, drawing blood and barely holding back a grimace while waiting in anticipation.

"What are you doing!?" Zephyr panicked at her sudden self mutilation.

"Watch and wait." She then placed the bloody palm into the ray of light at the side and Zephyr looked on in shock when it closed the wound efficiently. It was on par with his rejuvenation but it looked to be able to be used on multiple people.

What used to be just a distraction seemed to have drastically increased its utility.

"So this is the power of runes..." Zephyr muttered, awestruck.

"Yeah, I feel like I can do more though and maybe build on top of that." Lute was surging with a confidence and happiness that was radiant and blinding.