2 days before the competition was to start in the Whiteowl region, Ning and everyone else that was to take part in it was gathered behind the academy in one of the barren mountains.

Ning looked around at the nearly 30 different students that were to take part in the said competition. He, of course, was going to take part in only a single one of the competitions, so he was sure it was the same for a lot of them as well.

However, even though he was going to the competition, the competition wasn't his main goal this time around at all. His goal was to go to Whiteowl city and learn as much as he could about the current politics for the Foreman.

He had been wondering just how he was going to be able to do this for quite a while, but it was only today that he realized how easy it most likely was going to be.

"I can't believe you are taking part in the competition too," Ning said to Tenn who was close to him.

"Yes, I'm going to be in the under-17 competitions," Tenn said proudly.

"I see," Ning said. He was going to have to use this kid to find out more about his family somehow.

He looked around and saw a few familiar faces in the group as well. One of them was Teacher Hayan who had been rather helpful to Ning for the past couple of months and was the main reason Ning could even reach the Essence Manifestation realm this early.

There was also his roommate Kaleb. Although, Ning wasn't sure why he was there as the two didn't talk outside of when needed.

Other than that, there was Yorsha Ulyrus, a daughter of the Redraven family. She was a prodigy when it came to using Fire Essence, and since he was in most of the same classes as her, Ning knew that she was very talented.

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Other than that, there were 2 other people that he knew about simply because of how popular they were.

A young man and a young woman stood side by side, surrounded by a few people who smiled unnaturally to talk with them.

The two teenagers were dressed in completely black clothes from top to bottom and had rather cold looks on their faces.

They were the son and daughter of the middle son of the current ruler of the Blackhawk Dominion, Feanor Black.

The young man was named Allan Black, and the young girl was named Alena Black, and they were the prince and princess with the most popular in the entire dominion right now.

Both of them were in 3rd-year classes, so Ning didn't know much about them other than what everyone else knew.

"Everyone is here right?" the headmaster asked as he looked around. The teachers nodded in response.

"Great, the carriages should be waiting for us past the mountain, let's go," he said.

The group of 30 students and 10 teachers walked away from the peak. They walked for an extra 2 hours before they arrived at the bottom of the next mountain where the carriages were waiting for them.

Ning panicked a little when he saw the carriages as the ones pulling the carriages weren't normal horses, but rather an Essence beasts.

He hadn't seen one for nearly half a year since he had entered the academy and was surprised to see one here at all.

'No, I don't have to worry,' Ning reminded himself. 'I haven't had the fruit in months, so I should be fine.'

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As he expected, none of the beasts showed any response to him when he got close. He got onto one of the carriages along with Tenn and a few other young men and 2 teachers, and the carriage moved.

The beasts that were pulling the carriage were strong enough that even if they ran for 2 days straight, they wouldn't feel tired at all. Not only that, but because they had Essence in them, they didn't even need to eat anything at all.

As such, the team had no reason to stop anywhere and could reach their destination in just a single day.

"So, where does our school stand amongst the 10 exactly?" Ning asked the group.

"It came 2nd last year, but that was all because of a student that the Bluespark Academy had last year. The student graduated this year, and they don't have anyone else right now who can do as best."

"So, best case scenario, they take the third spot this year. Meaning, we have a very high chance of getting first this year around," the teacher said seriously.

"High chance? So we're not confident in winning it all, huh?" Kaleb asked. "Which other academy is there that can beat us?"

"The Essence Heart Academy is just as good as us," the teacher said. "Since they're from the Oseger empire, they get a lot of the good students that we don't, and thus have one of the best students with them."

"If not for the fact that we are the Blackhawk academy and students from far away come to join us, we would definitely lose to them this year around," the teacher said.

"I see," Ning said. "So they are a serious threat to our overall victory, huh?" Ning thought. "Whatever, we can still win."

"That is the plan," the teacher said. "We are going to do our best throughout the various competitions and hope that we rank high in most of them. The most important ones are obviously the ones that include battles, so you guys who are going to fight will have to be ready. Especially you, Tenn."

"Yes, sir," Tenn said quickly.

The teacher explained a few more things about the competition, which Ning and the others listened to quietly while asking questions from time to time.

The carriage continued without any interruption and by the time the sun had come up the next day, they were close to arriving at their destination.

The Light Dance Academy.

The Blackhawk academy members arrived at the beautiful grassland past which was the Light Dance Academy.

Someone was already there, waiting to welcome them, so they only had to follow the person to go to the academy.

Ning looked out through the window and was a little surprised to see how normal an academy it was. With massive front gates, a beautiful garden, and students coming in and out, this was what an academy should have been in the first place. Not the barren wasteland-looking gloomy place that the Blackhawk Academy was.

"Let's get off," the teacher said once they all arrived and were the first to get off. Then, one after another the students got off too.

Ning breathed the fresh air of this new place, feeling as though he hadn't smelled something this natural in months. He felt as though he finally got a sufficient amount of oxygen in a single breath, which felt impossible in the plant-less academy.

"Hello, I am your guide," a girl in her 20s came and greeted the group. "You all must be tired from your journey. Please let me take you to your quarters where you can rest for now."

"That would be lovely, Miss Yelena" prince Allan spoke to the pretty girl that had appeared as their guide.

"I'm flattered that prince Allan remembers one such as this," the girl said with a smile, but somehow Ning could sense some sort of anger or annoyance behind her words.

The prince gulped once and looked around before answering, "of course, why wouldn't I remember you, miss Yelena? You were one of the best participants in last year's competition."

The girl narrowed her eyes at the prince and scoffed softly before turning towards the other.

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"Please, follow me."

She turned around and entered the academy ground.

Ning looked around at the academy with quite a bit of fascination. True to its name, there were objects made from light Essence that were floating around the academy, as if in a synchronized dance.

Ning looked at the large building that was the main academy, but the girl turned left, taking them to a smaller building toward the side.

"The Ash Wind Academy, Crimson Wings academy, Dream Dust academy, and Peace World academy have already arrived."

"The Essence Heart academy, the Grand Will school, the Blue Spark academy, and Frolane academy have yet to arrive. You may visit them if you wish later, but they should be resting right now," the girl explained.

"Please take us to our place of stay for now," the headmaster spoke and everyone was brought along. The building was where the guests stayed and it seemed that not just anyone was allowed.

"These 5 rooms are yours to stay in. Please choose amongst yourself how you want to divine who gets to stay where, and please remember not to go to any other room besides these ones."

"Here are the keys," the girl handed the 5 keys over. "I will be heading out now. Please rest for now, but if you don't want to, there should be people around that are waiting to give you a tour of the academy."

"Also, if you wish to leave the academy grounds, please don't forget to take a token with you so we know to let you back in. Due to the event, the security has been tightened and not just anyone can get back here."

The girl left after saying that, leaving the 40-some people to decide who got to live where.

"Since there are more boys than girls, the boys will take 3 rooms and the girls will take 2," the headmaster explained. "The rooms should be large enough, so no one should have any problem. The teachers will all split and stay with the students, so let me choose who stays with who."

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Ning was to stay with 8 other people, of which one was the prince. Neither Kaleb nor Tenn got into his group, but teacher Hayan did which he was at least thankful for.

Having at least one person he could talk with was not bad. Since everyone here was a senior anyway, he would have appeared respectful at least.

The teacher opened the door and everyone walked in.

"Woah, this is larger than I thought it would be," one of the students said, clearly surprised by the size of the room.

The room was large, maybe even unnecessarily large, with about 10 meters of width and 15 meters in length. It was better to call it a hall than a simple room.

There were about 15 total beds all over the room with closets next to each one.

"I will be taking this bed," the prince said and took the best bed in the room, one that was right by the window.

Ning frowned a little as he would love to stay by the window, but since the prince took it, he had no choice but to choose some random one.

He didn't care what bed he got at this point or if he put his clothes into the closet. He was too tired and simply wanted to fall asleep.

So, he jumped onto the bed and let his body relax. Within minutes he was deep asleep. Not everyone slept, but those that didn't still rest for a bit before leaving.

Ning woke up sometime later late in the afternoon. He looked outside and the sun was still bright in the sky.

He found the bathroom that was attached to the room and freshened up before leaving the room. He closed the door behind him and walked over to another one which he knew was where Tenn was staying.

He looked inside, but Tenn wasn't there at all.

'Where the hell did that kid go?' he wondered. He needed his help to find out more about the political situation of this region now that he was here, but he couldn't find him at all.

'He must have left already,' Ning thought and left the building.

Since he was already here, he decided to take a tour of the academy. So, he went ahead and found himself a guide to do so.

The day of the competition was here and everyone prepared to leave for the Arena that was set up a bit of a distance away from the academy.

Because the many academies needed outside funds to run this competition year after year, they did so by commercializing the competition so that people could pay for it and watch it.

However, because there were outsiders that were going to watch it, the competition needed to take place somewhere close to where the people could stay.

So, instead of it taking place inside the Light Dance Academy, the competition was now taking place a few distances south of the academy, perfectly in between it and Whiteowl city.

The people that came from all around the world to view this competition could stay in that city and come watch it.

Ning looked around the group and finally saw Tenn. "Hey, brother Tenn," he called out to him. "Where were you yesterday? I searched for you, but I couldn't find you at all."

"Oh," Tenn looked around and got closer. "I sneaked out to go see my family for the night. It's been half a year, so my mother was quite worried about me."

"Ah, I see," Ning said.

"Did you need something from me?" Tenn asked.

"Yeah, I was hoping I could stay with me. I don't really know anyone else here, so I felt quite awkward being alone," he said.

"Oh, you should make some friends while you can, brother Ning," the young man said.

Ning sighed a little. Should he just come out and say it? Maybe that would be easier than trying to move around the topic.

"Actually, I was hoping if you could help me a little too, now that we are here," he said.

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"Of course, anything," the young man said. "What do you want my help with?"

"Remember what I told you some while ago? My father wants me to learn about the political structure of everything. I was hoping you could help me do that for the Whiteowl region. Since this is your homeland, you should be able to help me quite a bit," he said.

"Hmm," Tenn thought for a bit. "I think I can help you with that, but there is a slight problem with it too."

"What sort of problems?" Ning asked.

Tenn thought to himself without speaking for quite a while.

The group started moving and soon they all on the road. Even then, Tenn continued thinking for a while without speaking.

"Uhh… this is going to be annoying," he said softly.

"Are you alright, brother Tenn?" Ning asked.

"Yeah, and I also know the perfect way to help you. But in doing so… I might die," Tenn said seriously.

"What? Why?" Ning asked.

"Because the place where you can find all the information at once is just that dangerous," Tenn said.

Ning wondered what sort of place was this place that even a young lord of the biggest family in the Whiteowl region had to fear his death.

"That all comes afterward though, brother Ning. We first need to know how we're even going to the city at all. We can't sneak out now that the competitions are under way, and unfortunately, I can't go late at night," Tenn said.

Ning thought for a bit. "When is your competition? The under-18 one?" he asked.

"6th day, I think? The last four are for the everyone to take part in," Tenn said.

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"Mine's on the 4th, so I think its fine to say that we will be free to do anything after your competition ends, right?" Ning asked.

"Oh, yeah," Tenn said.

"Maybe we can persuade the teachers to let us leave a bit early at that time?" Ning whispered.

"We'll have to see when the time comes," Tenn said and continued on his way.

'That's one step closer to getting the answer for her,' Ning thought. 'Is she really one of the Grazers? Does she perhaps know the truth of how her people died? Is that why the Foreman is so desperate to kill her? To hide the truth.'

Whatever the reason was, Ning would find out soon and pay her back for everything she had done for him by now.

The group walked to the arena, arriving early around 9 am. There were already quite a few people in the arena taking care of everything that was handling the behind-the-scenes of the competition.

There were also quite a few people already there to watch the competition, even though it wouldn't start for another hour most likely.

Ning looked towards the front where his headmaster was trash-talking the headmaster of another academy that he recognized to be the Essence Heart academy.

He knew there was rivalry between the two academies as they were most likely the strongest among the 10. As for which one was exactly the strongest, each of the headmasters would give a different answer each time.

Ning didn't care for their petty rivalry. He didn't even care about the prince trying to flirt with every single pretty girl he came across.

He just wanted to find that information as quickly as he could.

They entered the arena, and Ning sat on his academy's designated seat. He waited for a bit and soon the arena filled up with people from outside.

After a while, the arena filled to the brim as people came in droves to watch it. The audience sat around their seats and a few people arrived in the arena below to announce the start of the tournament.

"Welcome to the 78th Interschool Essence Tournament. We are humbled to have you all here to support us and the young generation that decides what holds for the future of this land."

The host of the entire competition, the headmaster of the Light Dance academy gave his speech. He spoke for a few more minutes, giving a captivating speech.

"Now then, without any further ado, let us bring out the participants for the first competition of the tournament."

One after another, young students appeared in the arena.

The crowd cheered at their sight as the Interschool tournament officially began.

Ning watched the first day of the tournament started. The first day was surprisingly full of little fun competitions that he didn't mind sitting through at all.

There were some weightlifting competitions, races, swimming, and even some gymnastics. He had been expecting just simple competitions where they fought or compared their strengths but this was much more fun.

That was not to say there weren't any fights either. The first day ended with an all-out battle royale where many padded-up competitions fought against each other with staffs that were so thick that they had to carry it in their arms.

There were many shenanigans that happened there that made Ning wish that he was part of the competition too.

However, since this group was selected very early on and trained for these very purposes, as someone who only just entered the Essence Manifestation realm, he could not take part at all.

Still, he enjoyed the matches as best as he could.

The first day ended around 3 in the afternoon and the final points were tallied up. The Blackhawk Academy was in the lead by 197 points, an entire 20 points above the 2nd place holder, the Essence Heart academy.

The other academies followed behind them, but not that far either. Once the numbers were revealed, everyone left the arena.

"You guys did good," the headmaster said on the way back. "Continue doing as well and we will certainly take the lead in this tournament."

The students nodded and went back to their rooms in the Light Dance academy.

Ning went to sleep since he had been awake for over a day now. Also, he wanted to wake up in the middle of the night to absorb some essence and be on the way to the next rank which was the Essence Soul realm.

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That was the realm where one's Essence formed a soul and could be used as a physical manifestation by itself too. Ning was looking forward to this realm as it seemed it changed the way one fought quite a bit.

The 2nd day came around and there was a whole new set of competitions that were to take place on this day. The competitions consisted of matches that focused on one's 5 senses. Sight, smell, taste, touch, and sound all had various competitions around them.

There were memory games, counting games, games where you recognized the flavors of a pie, games where you had to guess what beast was inside the giant cage, and so on.

Blackhawk did quite well, but Essence Heart took the lead this time around. They ended up gaining 16 points more than Blackhawk Academy and were only 4 points behind in overall points.

The headmaster spoke of how they had to do better for tomorrow.

Even without being told what the focus of the third day's competitions would have, Ning would've guessed that it focused on one's Essence sense.

There were various competitions this day too, but they were quite long and perhaps even more fun to watch.

From having to pile a bunch of treasures based on the element of Essence they held, to a Maze that one had to go through blindfolded, only relying on the Essence clues that were left inside.

Ning wished he had a chance to play in that maze too, but alas he would never get the turn.

The third day of the competition ended with Blackhawk once again claiming overwhelming victory, increasing their point gap by over 25 in a single day, ending up at 29 points difference when compared to the Essence Heart academy.

In fact, the Ash Wind Academy was actually catching up to the Essence Heart academy with only a 9 points gap.

The fourth day came around.

This was the day that Ning had come for.

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"You are taking part today, right?" Tenn asked.

"Yes, it should be a quick one tho," he said.

"Go on, there is nothing to be nervous about. They will just check your Essence purity by having you use two separate natural conduits, that's it," the teacher Hayan said, trying to make Ning feel good before he went onto the stage.

Ning didn't need such silly words to appear before an audience but he appreciated the intention behind it.

He appeared on the stage, surrounded by thousands of people watching him and the 9 others that had come onto the stage with him.

It seemed that finding people with Pure Essence wasn't the easiest thing and so each academy could only produce a single one at best.

"Please come in front," the person conducting the competition spoke and had all 10 people line up for something.

In front of them was a massive block of wood that seemed to have some sort of liquid spilled below it. It was set at the base of a slanted platform that had a slight inclination the further it went from the group.

"Use the wind conduit to send out a gust of air. Push the conduit as far as you can," the man said.

'I see,' Ning thought. He understood what their intention was with the competition.

Natural conduits had advantages and disadvantages to them when compared to skills or manmade conduits.

Natural conduits had great flexibility in what they produced in that the shape of the Essence could be as large as the conduit could handle. As opposed to manmade conduits which had very limited flexibility and skills that had no flexibility at all.

However, at the same time, natural conduits couldn't scale with the user. If the user was stronger than the natural conduit could handle, the conduit would break, which would never be the case with manmade conduits or skills.

Ning understood that they had chosen a natural conduit so that the competitors could create as much wind as they could, without the wind being excessively strong due to a person's Essence rank.

That meant, in the end, the thing that would determine victory was how good the person's Pure Essence was so that they lost the least amount of Essence during the conversion from the conduits.

The first person walked up front and grabbed the natural wind conduit. He closed his eyes and focused his Essence on using the conduit.

Assuming that he did not have a core that was aligned with the wind element, the purer his essence the further the large block of wood would go.

The wood was set on a small incline so it wouldn't move with just inertia, and the young man pushed against it.

Everyone on stage felt the wind move around them as a large amount of it was created right in front of them. They saw the wooden block move up the incline and a few officials recorded the distance.

The young man could only keep it pushed until a certain distance before the wind he produced lost enough force to keep the block at a specific place.

"5.2 meters," one of the officials spoke up the number.

The young man breathed once again and walked back. Then, the next person walked up.

4.7, 5.6, 4.4, 5.1. The record was around the same number and one of them was certainly winning. After about 7 people, it was Ning's turn.

Everyone looked at him curiously, wondering what record he would get. The student from the Essence Heart academy had gotten an amazing 6.1 meters record, so since Blackhawk academy had been doing better, they were all curious to see what Ning could do.

Ning grabbed the Wind conduit and focused his Essence. He didn't need to change the Essence, so he only poured it into the conduit. Then, he willed a gust of air into existence that pushed against the wooden block.

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The wooden block was immediately pushed upward by the air as it jumped nearly 7 meters in a single push. Everyone looked surprised by the amazing record, but Ning wasn't done yet.

He increased the amount of Essence he was using to the best of his ability and soon the wooden block started moving higher and higher. It moved high until it was 7.7 meters up the incline.

Ning couldn't push it any further, so he had to let the block remain there for a small period of time before he could stop.

"7.7 meters," the official announced his record and finally Ning stopped. He felt breathless and took a few deep breaths. He moved away and let the remaining 2 people go ahead, but both of the 2 people knew they were no match for this record.

The contestants and the officials looked at Ning in awe as they wondered just how he could have possibly trained to have such a pure essence.

"Damn bastard must have a wind-aligned core," someone spoke softly. "He got lucky with the competition."

The next contestants went and the results were set. Ning had won with the student from the Essence Heart academy coming second.

Unfortunately, this record didn't help Ning at all, not yet at least. Since it could be that these people got lucky with their core being aligned with the task, they had to go through another test before the average was used to score them.

The next task involved an Earth conduit.

"Your task will be to create a sphere of rock as large as you can. The one with the highest diameter will win," the official stated. "You cannot make hollow spheres or you will be disqualified."

"The sphere's diameter will be calculated by measuring the diameter of your sphere in 3 random directions and using the average. However, if the difference between any of the two readings ends up being more than 20 centimeters, your smallest reading will be counted as your official one. So, please take care to not make any oblate shapes if you can."

"You will have exactly 10 seconds to make one as large as you can."

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Once the explanations were over, the competition began a minute later. The order of this test was the same as the last, so the first person that went back then also went this time around as well.

As soon as the timer began, he imagined a sphere-forming using the earth conduit and suddenly a rock started growing on the ground in front of him. The spherical rock was small at first, but it quickly got bigger and bigger until it was a massive sphere in front of everyone's eyes.

The earth conduit was taken away from the young man the moment the 10 seconds were over and the sphere stopped growing.

A few of the staff started measuring the radius and very soon the first result of this test was out.

2.6 meters.

The stone sphere that was formed was larger than any human that stood there. The other contestants looked at it and knew what it was that they had to win.

One after another, more and more contestants went for their own test. The rocks didn't immediately disappear, so they were taken to the side for comparison.

Once again, the student from the Essence Heart school did an amazing job, creating a 3.2 meters wide rock. As the rock grew larger, creating even a 0.01 meter wider rock needed more rock than the last 0.01 meter.

The amount of Essence required grew exponentially with even the slightest increment in the rock's diameter, so everyone cheered for the winner until now.

Then, Ning walked up to do it as well.

He took the Earth Conduit and looked at the person that was responsible for the timer. As soon as he gave the go, Ning started.

Immediately a small rock formed in front of him that was smooth and sphere. It grew by the second, becoming more and more massive with each passage of time.

Ning continued pouring in his Essence until it was taken away from him. Then, he opened his eyes and looked at the behemoth of a rock that stood in front of him.

"Wow," Ning himself couldn't help but say. Not only was the rock a nearly perfect sphere, but it was also quite smooth, which Ning was surprised by.

The staff took the measurements but even without them everyone knew that Ning had won. When the results were published, no one was surprised at all.

3.8 meters wide. That was the diameter of the rock that Ning made.

It was clear who won this competition. Ning emerged as the proud victor amongst the 10 and gained his school another huge lead.

He went back to the stands where he was greeted by his fellow students and seniors.

"Congrats, brother Ning. You truly blew it out of the water with this competition," Tenn said.

"Haha, it was nothing," Ning said with a slight smile.

"I can't believe that was you just a few weeks late at entering the next rank, we would have to most likely lose," Teacher Hayan said. "You did the academy a great service."

"It's nothing special," Ning said. "All the other students have done the same too."

"No, they have but this is a little different. Because of how rare it is to have pure Essence, this one competition holds more weight than you would think. You got us 50 points today, increasing our lead by 5 more against the Essence Heart academy."

"Oh, I wasn't aware of that," Ning said. "I thought combat ones were the only ones that gave us more than normal points."

"They are, but so does this one just because of how special it is," the teacher explained.

A few more people congratulated Ning.

Kaleb nudged him a little to the side and spoke, "Not bad. You were good out there," he said.

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Ning chuckled when he heard that. "Thanks," he said. His relationship with Kaleb had never gone past roommate into friends all because Kaleb would always look down on him for having a weak Essence rank.

However, after he had improved so much, he seemed to be getting along a bit better. Soon enough, Ning could even call him an acquaintance.

Everyone continued watching the rest of the tournament that day. The following competitions had to do with the four main elemental Essences that were available for people.

Different tests for Wind, Fire, Earth, and Water were held, each of which was a spectacle to watch, but none of them brought any more points than normal.

The 5th day was a unique day for the tournament. It was the last day of the non-combat competitions and was a continuation of yesterday's competitions.

Only, this day, the different tests were held for unique elemental Essences that one normally didn't get to see in day-to-day life.

Any variation of the four elements, such as ice or sand was counted as well, as long as it was obvious that such Essences were not so easy to get. Essences such as light and darkness were what was easily accepted.

Light Essence was the fifth most common Essence but due to its rarity, it was still considered a rare Essence. The variations of the other elements, aside from sand, were considered rarer than it in the Blackhawk Dominion, so everything else counted.

Because the lower half of the Glacien Empire fell near the equator line, there were multiple instances of deserts all around the continent, making it the only element that wasn't considered rare.

Because the elements were unique and the participants were in the Essence Manifestation realm, they were made to put on a spectacle, however, they wanted, and gain the most point they could.

The entire day was a fun one as Ning and the others enjoyed this day very much. Ning got to see the Princess's Essence. It was surprisingly Moonlight Essence, the closest thing there was to Pure Essence. She won her school the competition that day, sending the Blackhawk Academy high in the ranks that even the Essence Heart couldn't seem to touch.

"Good work, everyone," the headmaster said. "You all did incredible these past 5 days. However, just because we are winning doesn't mean we can afford to take it easy. With the combat competitions holding the most amount of points, we need to make sure the other academies don't snatch it at all."

"Yes, headmaster," the group spoke in unison.

The headmaster nodded. "Go back and rest. Tomorrow is going to be a hectic day."

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Ning walked back with Tenn, speaking to him softly. "Will you be free after tomorrow?" he asked.

"Hopefully not," Tenn said. "Me being free tomorrow would mean I lost. I need to go into day 7 at least, which is the final day for Under-16 combat."

"Oh, then after day 7," Ning said. "I'm sure you will make it there easily. I have faith in you."

Tenn smiled and nodded. "I hope so too brother."

They arrived back at where they were staying and had some meal that was prepared for them before they went to sleep.

Only 5 people were taking part in tomorrow's competition, but even then, everyone acted like they had some stake in it.

The next day, they arrived at the arena once more and got ready. 5 of the younger folks left their group and went along with a teacher to get registered for their fight.

Ning and the rest waited and watched as the arena slowly filled with the audience. The arena seemed to be filled more than normal today.

Perhaps because the non-combat competitions had ended, people were finally back to see what they were really here to see.

People with Essence fighting each other.

Even though it was the younger, more unpracticed ones fighting, it was still quite fun to see for people, so they were all here for it.

This was also going to be Ning's first time properly sitting down and watching someone else fight without himself being in the thick of it.

He waited and watched as 50 different contestants came onto the large arena and presented themselves to everyone. They all then moved to their respective corners around the stage and waited for the first match to begin.

Before the match started, however, a massive barrier appeared around the stage that was completely transparent but was also strong enough to stop any and all attacks that went out of the stage.

Then, the host started explaining how the competition was going to be held.

Ning couldn't help but be surprised at the explanation as he had never encountered such methods of holding a combat competition.

The rules of the combat competitions were both simple and complicated at the same time.

Each of the 10 schools registered a set number of students that would take part in the competitions. In this instance, there were 5 from each school.

When the competition starts, one of the schools that were predetermined to start would send out a fighter for the competition. The school that sat to their right would then send out a fighter of their own.

Whoever of the two won would stay on the stage and wait for the next school to send their students to participate.

The participants would go up in a counter-clockwise rotation and the competition would go on until there was but just a single person remaining.

Points were handed in the order of when you lost. If you were the first one to lose, you got 1 point, and if you were the last one to stand, you got more than 45 points, depending on how many of your team had lost.

5 additional points were given to the winning team for each participant that still didn't lose by the end of the competition.

There were additional rules as well.

Since a person would have to fight one opponent after another, after 5 continuous victories, the person was allowed to swap with another member of his own team.

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If he lasted until it was time for his own team to send someone, then they could leave the stage without having to send anyone up. The next two schools in the rotation would then have to fight.

The competition was not one that required just combat prowess and luck. It also required magnificent management skills on the part of the school.

The people that were in charge of choosing who went when had to make decisions based on not just the present but also the future.

Should they send their worst student first and hope they did well, but risk getting a very low point? Or should they send their best student first and hope they didn't immediately fail, and maybe have them go on for 5 more rounds?

Or should they just pick a middle-of-the-pack student and risk less but also not get as many points?

The decision had to be made by the people in charge every time it was their team's turn to choose.

Ning saw the order in which they were sitting. Blackhawk was in between Light Dance to the left and Crimson Wings to the right. Essence Heart was to the left of Light Dance, so it wouldn't be long before the two would have to fight.

The first person that would start was already determined based on a draw before anyone even walked out. The Grand Will academy sent out a male fighter to the stage, and the Frolane Academy to their right followed it up by sending a girl to the stage.

The stage was very wide and the barrier around the stage was already set up. With multiple referees inside, all was ready for these two to fight.

The boy had two swords, one that was a Fire conduit and another that was an Earth conduit. He himself was a Water Essence user, giving him 3 different types of attacks to do.

The girl seemed to be a Wind Essence user while she used an Explosion spear to fight.

The battle began and immediately the two of them started fighting. The girl used some sort of wind technique to create a chaotic storm in the arena. Any fire attack the young boy used was swept up by the storm, completely misdirecting his attack.

Even water attacks couldn't do anything to the young girl in the storm.

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The young boy's only choice in this situation was to use his Earth sword to attack. His sword had been made using a massive boulder that was near his hometown.

The converter that had worked on it had needed 5 whole hours to turn the rock into Essence. With his powers, he could create the entirety of the massive boulder, which he tried to do.

The girl saw the opportunity and dashed forward. The chaotic winds suddenly stopped, and instead, she used a wind movement skill that helped her forward. With her physical strength being quite strong, she closed the gap between the two in the blink of an eye.

The amount of Essence the young boy had to put into his sword to create the boulder was not something he could do so quickly. So, when the girl arrived in front of him, he was unable to do anything but take the spear stab to the chest.

The girl's spear stopped just a few inches away from the young man's heart as a giant fiery arm had appeared out of nowhere and grabbed onto the spear.

The crowd went silent for a moment and then immediately cheered as the young girl had won the fight easily.

"Looks like Frolane wants to start with a bang," Kaleb who was next to him spoke.

"That girl didn't even use many skills. She simply forced the young man into a losing position and used his desperation to have him make a mistake. Not bad," one of the teachers said.

Everyone went around praising the young girl for what she had just done, but no one seemed to be surprised at the giant fiery arm that had just appeared.

Ning sighed. 'So everyone here but me has seen that before, huh?' he thought. He wondered if he had seen that before too, in some other world.

He couldn't be sure as everything about Essence was kept hidden by the system.

"Well, at least I got to see the Essence soul for the first time," he thought to himself. "I wonder what my Essence souls would look like when I break through to the Essence Soul realm as well."

The next contestant from the Ash Wind academy was sent to the stage, and the battle fight began.

The competition went on for a while with many getting knocked out early while some remained for 2 to 3 rounds before losing as well. Not a single person had managed to remain all 5 turns just yet, not to mention survive an entire rotation.

Most were either tired after a few fights, or their skills were understood by the person assessing the battles and knew exactly who to send up to win against them.

This went on for the entire day before the matches abruptly ended at the end of the day.

The competition was halted for the day with 30 of the 49 potential matches over. The rest of the matches would take place on the 7th day, which included Tenn as well since he hadn't fought yet.

The next day, the competition continued from where it had ended with two new fighters joining the stage. The battles continued for about half a day before it was Tenn's turn to fight.

He was the strongest person from the Blackhawk Academy according to the teachers and was thus kept until the end so he could last the longest and bring them as many points as he could.

They didn't expect much from him but hoped that he at least got them enough points so they could maintain their current lead in terms of points.

The last fighter from Essence Heart academy was on stage. He had defeated someone from Blue Spark academy as well as the Light Dance academy.

The Blackhawk Academy would be his third battle.

Tenn walked up the arena as quickly as he could to not give the person any time to rest. The faster it could all start, the less time he would have to catch his breath.

Tenn had watched the person's fighting style and was thus quite aware of how he fought. He had a fire sword, light armor, and also had a water core.

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Tenn arrived on the stage and pulled out a fire sword from his sheath. He prepared himself and the battle started.

Immediately, the man used his light sword to send out a blinding light that made it impossible to see anything for Tenn. However, Tenn was ready for it and immediately slashed his sword.

A wave of fire flew in the direction of the light, which the other person easily ignored. A burst of water poured onto Tenn who couldn't see.

Thankfully, he had trained enough so that he could fight without seeing. Just sensing where the Essence was let him know what he was dealing with and could thus dodge in time.

He twisted his body and a wind slash flew toward the man from the side.

'Wind core?' the young man thought and used a water attack to block the wind attack. The two of them continued fighting for a while, and after each attack, the two of them figured out each other's attacks.

Neither of them seemed to get the upper hand at all. Then, the young man tried to use one of his better skills.

He created a massive flood on stage which could wash away everything, including Tenn. The young man had used this attack knowing full well that neither Wind nor Fire could ever stop this.

However, to his surprise, Tenn used neither. He dropped to his knees and placed his palm on the stage. Suddenly, a rocky pillar appeared from beneath him at an angle, launching him into the air, in the direction of the young man.

As he flew through the air, a layer of stone armor appeared around him, increasing the speed of his descent with every passing moment.

The young man realized what was happening and tried to use another attack. However, it was too late.

Tenn dropped on top of the man and punched him in the chest. Before his attack could land, however, a fiery pillar appeared around the young man, protecting him from the attack.

Tenn was surprised that the young man actually managed to save himself, but when he saw one of the people walk onto the stage, he realized that the young man had in fact been saved.

"Oh," he thought. He had won.

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The crowd cheered as the result was announced and the stunned young man was sent away from the stage. The Essence Heart academy had finished 4 spots away from the last person, so the young man that had just left got himself 46 points.

Tenn was now set for 47 points, or higher if he could defeat the next 3 opponents.

Ning watched Tenn fight another person and win, before losing to the next person. That person then went on to win against the next person, and the under-16 combat competition was over.

The Blackhawk academy cheered after the entirety of the points were revealed after the competition. Their students had brought them quite a number of points.

Now, the Blackhawk academy was in the lead with 50 points on the 2nd in the ranks, the Essence Heart academy.

The headmaster gave a hearty laugh, showing his happy expression for everyone to see, especially the Headmaster from the Essence Heart academy.

Everyone congratulated Tenn and the rest after they returned to the group.

"Congrats, brother Tenn. You did quite amazing back there," Ning said.

"Haha, it was nothing," Tenn said in a humble tone.

Everyone talked for a bit and the Headmaster told them to do well on the next day. The actual combat competitions would have much better fighters with stronger skills, and they would actually be held as a tournament with brackets.

So, the chance of the points fluctuating was still quite high.

Fortunately, Ning and 19 others didn't have to care about it. It was only important for the other 10 that were actually participating.

Ning nudged Tenn a little and said, "so we're ready to go, right?"

"Oh shit, I nearly forgot," Tenn said. "Are you sure you want to go?"

"Of course," Ning said.

"Alright, let me bring it up to the teacher when we're leaving," Tenn said. "We should be allowed to leave."

They are running away with the points. What the hell are you guys doing?" a lean man with a bald head spoke in anger. His furious face was being looked at by none of the 40 or so students or even the teachers that had come along with him.

"Blackhawk academy keeps winning over you again and again, is that why I brought you all here? To lose?" the man asked.

"But headmaster," one of the boys spoke. "We're still in second place. That's still quite—"

"Second? You think I trained you so much, put so much effort into you, all so you can get second place?" the man shouted at them again. "Do you know what being second means? It means you lost to someone. LOST! Are you okay with losing?"

"No, headmaster," the group shouted.

"Leave!" the man shouted, sending the students away. He heaved in silence for a few seconds while the teachers waited for his anger to calm down a bit.

"Headmaster, don't worry, I'm sure our students will do great tomorrow. We will definitely take the first spot in this final competition," one of the teachers said.

"I know we will," the headmaster said with a sneer on his face. "But not without a little bit of help."

He looked at one of the female teachers with a small build, who didn't expect him to be looking at her so keenly.

"Teacher Shina, your light essence is as good as ever, is it not?" he asked.

"They are… good," the female teacher said.

"Good, then I have a job for you."

"Yes, teacher. I haven't been to my family in so many months. They want to meet me," Tenn said with as much home-sickness he could show on his face.

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"But… didn't you go back home just a few days ago? I thought you did," one of the teachers asked.

"Huh? No, I never went home," Tenn quickly said. "I… I couldn't go back because I had woken up too late at night. The guards didn't let me enter."

"The guards didn't let you enter? But you are the son of the Foremans. Why would the guard—"

"Teacher, please. I want to go home. My competition has already ended. Please agree to this request of mine. Just for one night, I will be back early morning tomorrow. I promise," Tenn said.

"I mean, you don't have to be back. You can stay with your family for the remaining days if you want to," the teacher said.

"No, I will be back tomorrow," Tenn said quickly. "Thank you for letting me go, teacher."

"Sure, be care—"

"I will be bringing brother Ning with me if you don't mind. His competitions are over, so I will be taking him back too," Tenn said and pulled away Ning before the teacher could talk.

Kaleb looked surprised. "Actually, teacher. One of my aunts is married to the Ilia family in the city. I haven't seen her in quite a while, may I go visit her as well?" he asked. "I no longer have any competitions to take part in."

The teacher sighed. "Fine, go, go. Don't ask me anymore," he said.

"Great!" the prince said from the side. "I will be leaving as well then."

"Prince!" the teacher shouted. "You can't go. You have a match tomorrow."

"Don't worry, I won't drink or do anything that will cause me problems tomorrow," the prince said and continued walking away.

"But you—"

"Don't worry, teacher Hayan. I will look after him," the princess spoke and followed her twin brother.

"Why are you coming with me?" the prince asked.

"Why? What's wrong with me coming with you?" the princess asked.

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"I'm going out with some girls," the prince said. "You can't be there. You'll ruin things."

"Don't worry, I won't stop you from talking with them," the princess said. "If you feel so bad about it, then let me invite a few of my male friends as well. We can all have dinner together."

"Dammit, fine. Follow me, but don't you dare get in my way," the prince said and walked away with the princess following him.

Two students immediately left the rank, following the prince and princess. Not only them, a few more people in the arena quickly followed them as they were there to look after the prince and princess.

The teacher sighed seeing so many people leave one after another. He turned around and looked at the remaining students.

"You guys don't want to leave as well right?" the teacher asked. "You guys aren't eager to just leave for the city, right?"

The students gave a rueful smile and quickly shook their heads. However, amongst them, a hand rose and a young lady walked out.

"Actually, I have relatives in the city as well. Would you mind if I left as well?" she asked.

"Y-Yorsha, you want to leave as well?" the teacher asked with a hesitating voice.

"Mhm, you just said we could leave, right?" she asked. "So I want to leave too."

"But—"

"Those guys left," she said. "Can I not? Is this discrimination, teacher?"

"No, no, no. You can go if you want," the teacher quickly said. "But don't you have a match tomorrow? You are our youngest contestant to join tomorrow's competition."

"Don't worry, teacher. I will arrive on time," she said and walked away without saying anything else.

The teacher sighed in the end, watching 7 of his students leave. He couldn't even stop them as the first ones had already left.

"You lot, you definitely aren't leaving, are you?" the teacher asked.

The group quickly shook their head. "Good, let's go back. Tomorrow is a big day and you lot need to get ready for it."

The Blackhawk academy members left the arena a while later, all of whom walked back toward the Light Dance academy where they were staying at.

Unbeknownst to them, someone else was on their way to Light Dance academy as well, and their purpose had to do with the very Blackhawk academy students that were going there.

Hey wait! Let me come with you guys," Kaleb shouted from far away and ran toward Ning and Tenn, quickly leaving the arena.

They stopped and turned around. "You want to come with us?" Ning asked.

"Yeah, why? Are you going to refuse?" Kaleb asked.

"No, I'm not," Ning said. "But I thought you didn't meddle with people that were weak."

"Hey, you can't call yourself weak now. I only called you that because you were just a 5 Sense Improvement realm Essence user back then," Kaleb said while dismissing the claims. "Now that you are in the Essence Manifestation realm, you are more than allowed to be my friend."

Ning wasn't sure how to respond to that. "Alright then, let's go together," he said.

"Actually no," Tenn said. "I heard you say something about your aunt being in the city. If you're going to meet her, you can't come with us."

"Huh? Why not?" Kaleb asked.

"We're actually going to the city a little later, so you will be late," Tenn said. "You should go on ahead without us."

Ning frowned a bit. 'Is he trying to get rid of him?' he wondered.

"Oh," Kaleb spoke and looked around to see if anyone was there. "Actually, I don't have any aunt. I was just tired of staying with the group and wanted to go visit the city. So I'm fine if we're going to be late."

"Really?" Tenn looked surprised. "Then awesome, you can come with us."

With that, Kaleb joined them as well. Ning was a little confused as to what had just happened. He walked by Tenn and asked, "did you not say we're going to the city later because you wanted not to let him join the team?"

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"Huh? No, I was telling the truth," Tenn said. "We're only going to go to the city something around evening, right after the sun goes down but before the security gets too tight."

"Huh? Why?" Ning asked.

"If we go too early, people will recognize me and soon enough, somehow, the news will get to my parents. At that point, I will most likely die," Tenn said. "So we have to delay it for as long as we can."

Ning was curious about what it was all about. Why would he die just because they saw him in there?

"Ok, so what do we do now?" Kaleb asked.

"Let's just go grab some food or something. There are many towns and villages outside the main city walls too," Tenn said and started walking away.

The road that led to Whiteowl city was paved with flat stones and was very comfortable to walk on. It wasn't uneven like a dirt road would be and neither did it kick up a lot of dust.

People walked past them because of how slow they were and at some point, they even saw the prince and princess going past them on a carriage.

Not far behind them, another carriage took away Yorsha, the girl Ning remembered as 'talented with fire'.

They found their way to a small shop that sold hot snacks, so the group sat around talking and eating.

Kaleb was curious about the city and asked many questions to Tenn. Tenn answered all the questions and started explaining his life in the city.

While a son of the Foreman, neither of his parents had much influence in the family, so he wasn't born with much influence either.

His father was just a cousin to the current head and was thus already considered not to be a part of the main family. His mother came from a reputable family in the Whiteowl region as well, but she could never compare to any of the Foremans at all.

Of course, being a Foreman still made them one of the most influential people in the city itself and that was enough to make Tenn quite famous throughout the entire city.

There were no important figures in the city that would at least not have heard about him. Apparently, his influence had gotten bigger after he had been accepted by the Blackhawk Academy as well.

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"When I went back a week ago, it took me half an hour to get back to the house because people kept stopping to say hello," Tenn said while sighing incessantly.

They sat around for a while before the sun started going past the horizon.

"Alright, let's go before it's too late," Tenn said and the group left. Sometimes in between, Tenn changed his clothes to something darker with a hood to hide.

In the evening, it was impossible to tell who it was that was walking.

The group appeared outside Whiteowl city and the guards checked who was going into the city.

Tenn hid his face for most of it, but at one point he had to show it just to make sure he wasn't a known criminal.

The three of them were let in without any more words and Tenn sighed in relief once he got inside. "Good, it looks like he didn't recognize me," he said before putting up his hood.

"Alright, let's go," Tenn said.

"Right, where exactly are we going?" Kaleb asked. He had just followed the two of them and hadn't really bothered with where they were going.

"Brother Ning here wants some information on the nobles of the Whiteowl region, so I'm taking him to the best place to get the information," Tenn said.

"Oh, an information broker?" Kaleb asked.

"Uhh… not exactly," Tenn said and continued walking.

Ning and Kaleb curiously followed behind Tenn as he took them through the inner alleyways and minor roads of the city until he arrived in an area that did not look like one that he was supposed to come to.

"This…" Ning realized where they were.

"Are you kidding me?" even Kaleb was a little surprised and scared.

"I told you, didn't I?" Tenn asked. "That my parents would kill me if they found out."

"No wonder," Ning thought. "So, the best place to get the information I want is actually the red light district?"

:)