Quickly, we went to our seats and waited for the teacher. Gregor peeked in and told us that we had to go outside again. After we went outside, broken dummies had been replaced with new ones. Near the dummies were weapons: swords, bows, staff, war axes, etc. Gregor told us to choose a weapon that would fit our style. I went first and grabbed a bow, thinking that with my wind magic, it would be the perfect duo.

But nope, my aim was absolute garbage. Then I decided to get a sword; it would be the safest choice. When I grabbed it and swung it, it seemed as if I were some warlord. This is it; the sword will be my weapon. I left the weapon stand and waited for the others to get their weapons. Aerl got a spear, and Eryo got a sword.

When all of our classmates got their weapons, Gregor told us to start dueling each other. "Prince Cain, step forward," Gregor said, looking over to where I should go. When I stood in the middle of the circle, seemingly made for duels, Gregor then told a boy named Minron to step forward. A boy with short blonde hair and green eyes stepped forward. We both held out our swords and prepared to fight.

Yet Gregor criticized and fixed our posture. "Go!" Gregor shouted, and Minron jumped forward, aiming for my chest. I gripped my sword with all the strength I had and parried it. As a countermeasure, I crouched and hit his leg in a swift movement.

He groaned and fell to the ground. I looked down on him and could feel Eryo's and Aerl's prideful gazes from behind. I went back to the classmates and waited for the next round to begin. Mine was over quickly, so it was boring, and I didn't even look at fights where Aerl and Eryo didn't participate.

Aerl's opponent was a dagger user. It was a horrible matchup, and Aerl completely demolished him, obviously because he had a spear. Eryo's fight was interesting. He was against Aerea, a girl with green long hair and yellow eyes. She wielded a sword. As soon as the battle started, Eryo was on the offensive. He swung for her neck, but she blocked it with a smirk. Eryo jumped back to avoid becoming a victim like my opponent.

Then Aerea attacked; she swiftly appeared behind Eryo and swung her sword. It hit his left arm, but he was able to fight. He immediately attacked her with his elbow. She jolted in pain, and her sword fell from her hand. Eryo rushed to hit her neck, but she managed to get the sword back up and hit him with her leg.

Eryo fell back and got prepared for another assault. Aerea did the same. They both gritted their teeth and attacked each other. All we could see was clashing effects. Nothing else. As soon as this fast clashing ended, neither Eryo nor Aerea could even stand straight. Gregor sadly ended the fight there.

Months went by, and we grew a lot. In weapon fights, magic was still hard for us. Actually, we couldn't conjure spells that required multiple attacks. For example, all Aerl could do was shoot a big water droplet. Gregor focused us on physicality since using mana would give soreness, so we needed to be prepared for that. Today was another duel day.

Mostly, we stood and swung our weapons, but like once a week, we fought. For some reason, as soon as I got prepared to fight, I felt an immediate gaze that seemed to look through my soul. It was not a student's gaze; it was somebody strong. Even after feeling that gaze, I still managed to fight. The first opponent was easy, so Gregor told me to choose another. I looked at Eryo and pointed a finger toward him; he smirked and cracked his fingers. And I said, "I choose Aerl."

I could feel Eryo's anger, and when I put more thought into it, I appeared to be scared of him? Anyway, Aerl stood in front of me, his eyes fixed on me, along with that terrifying gaze that I couldn't explain. "Go!" Gregor said, and Aerl jumped forward with his spear straight. It wasn't hard to parry, though. I closed the distance and swung my arm to hit his face. He slightly crouched and avoided my hit. I dashed behind to not get an uppercut, and then he thrust his spear forward.

He missed, and I immediately dashed toward him; he had less time to protect himself. So he lost. As soon as he lost, that chilling gaze disappeared. "I want to fight him next!" Eryo shouted and looked over to Gregor. "You will be fighting me," Aerea said immediately. Eryo whined, and they got prepared to fight.

Their fight was more intense than last time; we could barely react to their movements. And also, neither could lose nor win. It was an endless struggle.

Next, Minron called out to me; he wanted a fight, yet again. I was tired, so I declined. In my place, angered Eryo fought him. Eryo was more tired than me, but absolutely violated Minron, to the point that he almost cried. When training finished, we went back to our dorms, and the next day, the principal informed us that we would be having a 1-month break. We would be going home; everyone seemed happy, and I forced myself to smile as well.

I didn't pack my bags or anything since I didn't take anything except the uniform with me. The carriage arrived, and I left for the palace. When I arrived home, Claire immediately hugged me and bombarded me with questions: how was the training, did I have fun, did I make friends, and more. I answered "Yes" to every question, even the one where she asked "how was the training," but thankfully she didn't notice.

Soon enough, I met Alden, and it seemed that he knew the answers, even though I had told him nothing. "Follow me," he said, and we left for my room. Claire decided to plan for my birthday, which was in 2 months. Since I was a crown prince, it would need a lot of preparation, so it was explainable why she went to plan.

When Alden and I went into my room, he asked, "Was that blue haired boy strong?" "He is one, if not the strongest in the class." Wait, how did he know about Aerl? Without a doubt, he was the one who watched me, so I didn't hesitate to ask him, "So, you were the one who scared me?"

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He smiled slightly and nodded, "Yes, it was me. I tried to suppress all of my pressure, though." His smile warmed up, "But you managed to win, even with those circumstances. I am proud of you."

For some reason, I got happy like a child, even though I was mentally in my twenties. "Now tell me, did you understand mana yet?" He locked his gaze with me. "I can barely scratch an unmoving dummy," I said. "What is your attribute?" He asked, "Wind." He scratched his cheek and said, "Don't worry, Claire will make you master it."

"Anyways, rest today, but from tomorrow, I will be training you," he said calmly and left the room. I forced a smile as he left the room. I finally could rest from that excruciating training, now this?

Well, knowing that I couldn't do anything about it, I just slept. Next morning, Alden woke me up and forced me to follow him. He took me into a private room that had been as big as the training ground. "Get the sword," he said, and grabbed one for himself. I took one as well, and I immediately lunged toward him. He effortlessly blocked it and critiqued my predictability. Next, I lunged and aimed for his right side, instead of his chest, but he blocked that too.

"How," I muttered.

"Try again," he said, calmly.

I attacked countless times, but neither of them hit. He finally got bored from making me feel like trash and started speaking. "From observing how you fight, I can tell that your legs are weak, making you slow. To make you faster and unpredictable because of speed, we will need to train your legs first."

I just nodded in agreement. Next week, I had been training until my legs couldn't move; then he would just call healers to heal my muscles, and the training would repeat. After a week of that training, I was fast enough to catch him by surprise; once I even managed to hit him.

"Your leg training is done," he said, proudly. Finally, I can rest until the school starts.

But, he managed to shatter my hopes, "Next, we will train your strength." He took me near the dummy, gave me a sword, and told me to swing a sword until I couldn't anymore. I immediately knew where this was going; he even brought the healers. I reluctantly swung until I couldn't raise the sword upward. Healers mended my muscles, and I continued.

The dummy was made of iron, so I had to cut iron with wood. I don't think I would be able to do that, even if I had an iron sword. After six days, I finally cut the dummy. He looked at me proudly and said, "Next training begins now." The roof of the room changed, and icicles came out of them. Claire, who had visited us sometimes, was adamant about this. But Alden made her agree.

Suddenly, some of these icicles shot toward me; some even changed directions. Most of them caught me off-guard and hit me. Healers immediately fixed my wounds, and we proceeded with the training. Each day, I had been getting better. Each day, I could avoid more. Each day, I parried more.

Interestingly enough, this training made me learn a new technique; with a swift movement, I could shield myself with slashes in all directions. It worked like a shield. After seeing that, Alden finally decided to let me rest until school; which was like a week away already.

In the meantime, I decided to meditate and strengthen my mana core—a factor that determines how effectively you use your mana. It consists of seven tiers; at the seventh tier, you have six circles around your core, significantly reducing your mana usage. Meanwhile, at the first tier, you have none, allowing you to utilize mana at its maximum capacity. I called Claire to teach me how to do it; however, she argued that I wouldn't be able to remove a circle on the core. Instead, she taught me how to boost my performance with wind.

I could finally do some damage to the dummy, and with a satisfied nod, I left the palace. Now, I was going back to the school. After going back to school, I went to the class immediately, without a chance to meet Aerl and Eryo. As I entered, everybody gazed at me; Eryo's yellow eyes were no exception.

Gregor walked in and explained that we wouldn't be taught anything today since everybody would be readjusting to school after not being there for a month.

After that "tiring" class was over, I finally talked with Eryo and Aerl. They both told me what they did during this time: Eryo had been helping his parents at work, and Aerl had been training with his older brother. When they got to know how intense my training was, they were left flabbergasted. While we were talking, suddenly Aerea chimed in and asked us to join our friend group. "Others are too childish," she said. Eryo seemed reluctant, but we all agreed.

The next day, Gregor immediately made us duel, and Eryo was my opponent this time. He seemed genuinely happy about it. I felt that chilling gaze again—my father had come to watch me and see my progress after that training. I wouldn't disappoint him.

We stood there, and Eryo locked his gaze with me, his expression unwavering. "Go!" Gregor said, and Eryo lunged toward me. However, he seemed slower, more predictable. That's when I realized Alden's training had worked. He thrust his sword near my heart. With a swift movement, I spun toward his left, and as soon as he stopped moving, my sword was near his neck. Angered, he dropped his sword.

Everyone seemed to be shocked after seeing this. After that day, all 4 of us got even closer than we were, thankfully Eryo didn't get any grudges against me. Aerea had become like our own sibling. Now it was time for my birthday. As soon as I woke up, all three of them barged into my room and wished me a happy birthday. Next, my maid from the palace arrived and took me with her. "I will meet you guys later," I said, and left.

As soon as I arrived at the palace, both Alden and Claire welcomed me with warmth. Claire gifted me a ring that seemed to be enchanted with wind mana, and Alden gifted me a sword made of Oriontium metal—the sharpest metal in the world. Alden sent letters to all the noble families, including Aerea Erimon and Aerl Celyon. However, I made sure to invite Eryo as well. I even sent formal clothing along with the letter in case he didn't have anything to wear.

"Son, why don't you test your sword?" Alden asked and handed me the sword. It was made with Oriontium that glowed red, its handle crafted from black Erichon ore, and detailed with golden vines. He also called his butler to bring an iron dummy, and with a light tap, the iron cut as if it were just a leaf against a sharp knife.

"This is sick!" I yelled. "I'm glad you liked it," He smiled.

He really grew; I thought he would be insane by now based on what I made him go through. Thankfully, he is kind to his loved ones.

Time for the grand banquet was drawing near, so he told me to go to my room and prepare. When I got there, I saw an outfit made of black cloth, with buttons made of gold. It also had a black shoulder cape with the upper part being gray, the sides being gray as well, filled with precious gems, along with black gloves.

I immediately put them on and went to the hall to meet the guests, who arrived pretty quickly. All of them were high-ranking nobles with the power to cause massive conflict. Soon enough, Aerl, Eryo, and Aerea had arrived. Aerea wore a white dress with diamonds, making it shine. Aerl wore a blue uniform with gold shoulders, and Eryo wore the outfit I sent him, similar to Aerl's but in red to match his hair.

After having a small talk with them, the banquet finally started, and multiple people requested to dance with me. I had to dance, since Claire forced me to.

Thankfully, I was naturally good in dancing; otherwise, it would cause problems. How could they forget, to teach me how to dance? I gazed at Alden, who seemed to be proud of me. I couldn't help but smile. For some reason, my dance partner blushed, and the next thing I knew was an engagement proposal.

Of course, I declined. That kid seemed heartbroken, but I didn't care. The banquet lasted until midnight. My father had made multiple speeches, all directed toward me. People finally left, and I let out a sigh of relief. Alden suddenly called my friends, and we had a feast. They seemed nervous, since my father was an emperor. I managed to break the ice, and we had a great time.

After they left, I went to my bedroom and slept. The next day, I was on the road to school. But this time, as soon as I arrived at school, I got hit with big news.

"We will be competing with other schools," Gregor said.