Kyrion, Jala, Asela, and Wura, made their way out of the city through a gate to the north with an abundance of other kids. Led by an elderly bald man with a long beard and cane. After a while, the surroundings seemed to warp and stretch as their area shifted. Trees vanished, the grass became flattened earth, and brick walls appeared all around them.

Kyrion took note of the various kids who started puking, swaying, and passing out.

“Are you all ok?” Kyrion asked his group.

“No! This is terrible!” Asela said.

Wura just nodded, and Jala was knocked out.

Kyrion looked up to the old man they were traveling with, who began to look familiar the longer he stared.

“Hey! You’re the guy who did that test thing!” Asela yelled.

The courtyard erupted in conversation as the realization hit quite a few of the kids here.

“Yes, yes, children, Eugeen Rusell, a teacher, recruiter, and an early Expert rank Spirit Master with transportation-based abillities. Traveling is what I do best.” Eugeen said, hopping from foot to foot with ease, not befitting his age.

“Here’s the gist of things. By the end of the year, you all will be selected to begin training at one of the various academies abroad. During this period of growth we hope for you to mature and get as strong as you can, in hopes that you return to our kingdom a stronger person.” Eugeen started as he looked over at the students.

The thing about most kids around this age group was that most could actually care less. What’s the point of nigh unlimited power centuries from now, when you could just play with your friends, catch bugs, or do literally anything other than sit and meditate.

“Now I want you guys to separate into groups based on your current rank. Starting from those who don’t know, followed by one, two, and so forth. From there we will give you your schedules and you will run through what a day here would be like. Classes begin in earnest tomorrow.” Eugeen rested on his cane as he waited for

A majority of the kids filled rank one with Kyrion, including Wura and the pair of noble brats he met at the park.

“What were their names again…” He mumbled to herself before looking over to Asela’s group and noticing that she was the shortest one there.

Among what seemed to be people the same age as Kyrion, the second shortest went to some blond girl who also looked familiar to a degree. But that one was harder to place than the others. After that, there was a group of five kids in the third rank line and a single kid in the fourth rank line.

“Looks like I’m behind.” Kyrion said to no one in particular.

“Don’t worry about it. The ones ahead of us started much earlier since some wealthy families can afford to buy their own tablets. So let’s just do our best.” Wura chimed in, putting her hand on his shoulder.

Kyrion looked back at her, nodded, and sat in a meditative state. No need to waste time, after all. Pulling in mana the way he was taught while waiting for the person in charge of his group to arrive. Which, in turn, didn’t take long. As a blue-haired man in a pair of glasses and a book at his side approached the group.

“Nice to meet you. I go by Lok, and I will be your main instructor for these first few months. However, as you all are clearly only rank one, at the moment, class will be mostly theory and meditation. From now until the first exam, I will be going over techniques that will help you use up your mana and then refill your pool which will help you form a stronger connection with it. Most lessons will be done in the library, and I expect you to spend most of your time reaching rank two. Any questions?” Lok scanned the group making sure everyone was paying attention.

One well-dressed kid in the back raised his hand. “Uh, what happens if you use all your mana on accident.”

Lok looked at everyone seriously. “You die.”

He then let shock and horror form on the kids’ faces before pushing up his glasses.

“Now it’s nigh impossible to do that on purpose the same way you can’t suffocate by holding your breath. Your body will force you to go to sleep so that it can refill its mana supply. Only high-rank monsters and demons tend to feed on mana. Both of which are as rare as they are powerful.”

Relief crossed a few faces, but everyone seemed too scared to ask another question at the moment. Which seemed to be the instructors intent.

Lok shepherded the kids off to the library, where he led a brief meditation before taking them over to their next class, where he then led the group in some stretches and left them alone for an hour before taking them back to the library. They stayed in longer meditation. After that, everyone was brought over for a bland lunch. Asela, Kyrion, Wura, and the blond girl in Asela’s group.

Wura started crying over lunch. “This is horrible. What did they do to this stuff.”

Kyrion finished his plate of brown mush, rice, and peas. “I’ll eat it if you don’t want it. Iv’e had worse.” He said absently.

“No I’ll eat it, I’m sure the chefs will gladly let you lick the pot clean though.” Wura said, forcing another bite down. “I’ve been spoiled by my family’s cooking, it seems.”

Kyrion failed to notice the blond girl staring at him. “I know you… Criminal!” She yelled.

Which, in turn, got the attention of a few tables. “You cowardly, no good, scoundrel, I couldn’t eat dessert because of you!”

“What?” Kyrion was genuinely confused. “When did I break….” Kyrion thought back to all his encounters when it hit him.

“Grandfather? Is it illegal to climb the big red trees in the park?” Kyrion asked Alexander the day after the incident.

“Not illegal. Dangerous but perfectly legal. Why do you ask?” Alexander stroked his beard with his good arm.

“This girl was telling me that the sign said, it’s illegal to climb trees in the park!” Kyrion looked confused.

“Ah, poppycock. That sign says climb at your own risk, it’s home to a few elder tree spirits that are the tree equivalent to grumpy old men. If they didn’t want you climbing them, they wouldn’t have let you. I’ve heard tales of them throwing off those they deem unworthy.” Alexander explained.

“Ummm. So i’m not in trouble?” Kyrion began rubbing his chin as well.

“I won’t say that. The last noble child to climb that tree died from a fall to the head with no blood left in their body. He was from a friend of mine’s family, so I know those trees are a bit of a sore spot. But they function as the city’s sewage system, so cutting them down is a bad idea." Alexander sighed.

“No. I broke no laws. The sign said climb at your own risk and nothing happened.” Kyrion said as he stood up, going for seconds, thirds, and fourths.

The fifth time he came back, they gave him a pot, shook their heads, and shrugged. Since many of the other kids only aimed to finish one plate, let alone get up and ask for more. When he sat down with the big pot of the stuff, he saw said blond girl staring daggers at him.

“Are you some sort of beast, or pig or something?” Face red and flushed.” I demand satisfaction.”

“Ok.” Kyrion passed her the pot of food.

Asela shook her head in mock surprise. Wura was confused.

The blond looked at him for a second and then at the pot. “What’s this?”

“Satisfaction, since it’s satisfying my stomach at the moment. You want some?” Kyrion said, scooping another portion of the near tasteless stuff onto his plate.

“No, satisfaction, a duel.” She replied.

“Yeah...no. Not gonna fight you over some bs. Now excuse me while I go take my satisfaction elsewhere.” Kyrion stood up with the pot and left, much to Asela and Wura’s protest.

He found one with a group of people who didn’t look at each other, let alone talk.

“If you want some, get some.”

No one at the table said anything.

Kyrion sighed as he took a seat in one of the chairs.

Moments later, he noticed a hefty-looking kid with light brown hair take a few scoops from the pot.

This was good because Kyrion was near his limit at this point.

“I’m Kyrion Mosely. What’s your name?” Kyrion asked with honest interest.

“I’m Noah Smith.” The hefty kid replied.

“Nice to meet you Noah. I didn’t see you in my class, which one are you in?”

Kyrion pulled Jala out of her pouch and let her eat her fill. She decided that it wasn’t good enough for her to eat. Turning her head up in disgust.

“Ah well, class zero apparently, I have room for two spirits, or so they say. The first is a raw material-based spirit, molten metal. My other spirit is some sort of earth-based beast. We leave to get them in two weeks.” Noah spilled everything he was told today by his instructor.

“That sounds cool.” Kyrion replied and then looked at the well-dressed kid in his class. His hair was a dark brown. “I never got your name.”

“Everest Tailor. I am…or was a tailor in training.” Everest looked to the silent member of the table and then looked back at Kyrion and shrugged.

The silent member at their table was a boy with a bald head with dark eyebrows.

“Well then, Everest, Noah, and Other Guy, meet Jala, she’s my partner.” Jala looked up from her plate, nodded, and proceeded to climb back into her pouch.

Lunch seemed to mark the end of classes, and Kyrion began to do his daily training routine taught to him by his grandfather.

Afterward, he hung out with Noah and the others. Everest had a thread spirit that he could use to make clothes that could become stronger and more durable. While it wasn’t armor level yet, it was something.

Other guy seemed to have some sort of sword spirit because he spent every minute training with it, and it wasn’t wooden. He also had managed to avoid saying anything. Most of his replies were either a shake of his head or grunts.

Kyrion’s disc, or Chakrams, as he later discovered, could become stronger based on the momentum built up before launching them. So he spent his time training them to ride the wind and even tried to get them to return after hitting their targets. It failed horribly, but he tried.

It was then the blond girl approached him again. “What do you want?” Kyrion said, somewhat annoyed.

“I am here to apologize, I didn’t know you were Asela’s brother and she said we can’t be friends if I hate you.” The girl replied.

“I see...not accepted!” Kyrion said bluntly

“What do you mean not accepted!” She said, exasperated.

“I don’t even know your name. Also you didn’t apologize.” Kyrion explained

“I did!” She yelled.

“No. You said you were here to apologize. There is a difference. Also name. Unless you want me to keep referring to you as the annoying blond girl, in my head.” Kyrion began picking the dirt out of his nails.

“I, Kiara Bluecrest, humbly apologize for my actions.” She then waited for Kyrion to do something.

“Ah yes, apology accepted. Now go along, I got some important business to take care of.” Kyrion said with an impish grin.

Kiara, who looked sickened by his reaction, ran off, leaving Kyrion time to think, which he used to watch the sunset. He later discovered that he had missed dinner but was delighted to learn that Noah managed to get persimmon to borrow the pot.

Kyrion sat in his dorm room with some hawk-faced kid who clearly didn’t like him. As it was, nobody seemed to like him aside from the friends he made today. Even Other guy made it on that list.

“So...did you want seconds too or something?”

“No.” The kid said, staring holes into him.

“Did I kill your sheep in a past life?” Kyrion asked.

“No.” The kid repeated.

“Then why do you look like someone peed in your soup?” Kyrion said louder than he meant to.

The kid gave in. “Do you know who you sat at the table with?”

“Yeah, Other guy, Noah, and Everest.” Kyrion said bluntly.

“No before that. The girls.” he said.

“What’s your name?” Kyrion asked, suspicion growing.

“Edwin.” The boy brought his fingers to the bridge of his nose.

“Well Edwin, I sat with my sister and her two friends, one of which is one of mine, I guess. Now what does that have to do with you?”

“Your friends with the princess?” Edwin asked in shock.

“No, what princess? What are you even talking about?” Kyrion scowled.

“Ah, right, a commoner like you wouldn’t know.” Edwin turned over in his bed.

Kyrion laid down on his own bed. “Good night.”

The following week and a half went by in a flash. Kyrion and his friends went through their classes, trained, and played together in their free time. Kyrion had managed to condense all of his mana to the halfway point and keep it there consistently as he drew in more. Finally, he waved goodbye to Noah and the others, who had to go and find compatible spirits.