I had gotten a deep, dreamless sleep, and I was ready for the day. My magic was getting restless, so I went to the gym in the hotel to work out.

By ten o'clock, we were supposed to report to the training base, where we would get breakfast, and our ranks and partners.

I entered the place we were supposed to go to, and again, the similar swarm of girls crowded me. "I need to eat." I said authoritatively, sublimely indicating them to leave.

My eyes immediately scanned the room for the white-haired girl, and I saw her sitting at her own table, and no one came to sit beside her. I wanted to go up to her, and sit with her, but I didn't. Instead, I chose a table near hers, so I could make sure I had a clear line of sight.

The breakfast the training base offered, was horrible. It was totally different than what I was used to. The fruits were barely not rotten, and the milk was definitely expired.

Then we were led to a bigger hall, with a raised platform. They started announcing the ranks from 300, apparently, there were six hundred students.

Two people had the same ranks, and those two people were partners. They had to complement each others powers, and they could climb up the ranks together.

I got tired of standing, after the 250th rank was announced. I was probably in the top twenty or something.

There were people with unusual eye colours, but people with classic eye colours like blue and green outnumbered them. There were around ten people with purple eyes, and I wondered what their powers were. Their aura seemed quite sinister.

Blue eyes meant water magic, green eyes meant earth magic, red eyes was fire magic, orange eyes were wind magic, and others were basically derivations of the regular elemental magic.

Light magic and darkness magic, was not unheard of, but it was extremely rare, and not many powers could complement us.

The partners were also of the same gender, that meant that boys could only partner up with boys, and girls with girls. The boy to girl ratio was horribly off, which could result in their being and odd number of boys and girls, and one boy and one girl would end up being partnerless.

While I did such silent calculations in my head, the coach who was announcing the ranks and the partners had reached number 20.

I decided to pay attention, as these people would probably be my rivals in competitions. All the purple eyed people were paired up together, and they took rank 20, 17, 16, 9 and 4. They must've been extremely powerful.

My name still hadn't been announced.

"Rank 3, Dustin Scott and Felix Haler."

That meant I was first or second! That also meant that the white haired girl-

"Rank 2, Lucian Kiev and Ivy Walker."

Ivy?! Ivy was definitely a girl's name. I saw the white-haired girl face palming herself. She was the only girl left. The silver-eyed girl was my partner?!

"Rank 1, Hudson Harris and Landon Harris."

Rank 1 people were related? I pushed through the crowd, and caught up with the coach. "Excuse me sir, you have partnered me up with a girl."

"There was an odd number of girls and boys." He said gruffly. "If you have a problem, talk to the head."

I nodded, and I went to the head's office. To my surprise, I found the girl, Ivy, already waiting there. Her cold aura felt especially chilly today, if possible, colder than yesterday.

She had a thin, pale face, with silver eyes, a button nose, and cherry pink lips. Her lips didn't fit the colour of her hair and eyes, but she looked good, nonetheless. She had a short frame, around 5'2, if I had to guess, and was thin.

She seemed like she was my age, fifteen years old. She was pretty, undeniably, but her aura was unwelcoming.

"Stop looking at me." She said, without turning my way.

I rolled my eyes at her, "Why would I look at you, when I can look at her?"

There was a really hot receptionist sitting outside the head's office, and Ivy's head turned to look at her.

Of course, I wasn't looking at the receptionist, I wasn't a pervert like my elder brother Colton.

"Lucian Kiev and Ivy Walker, you may enter the Head's office." The receptionist said.

"Prince Lucian. I've been expecting you." The head said.

"I need you to change my partner." I demanded.

He hesitated, "I cannot do that, unfortunately."

Ivy spoke up, "A partner is supposed to complement your magic. Not oppose it. I use darkness magic, and Prince Lucian uses light magic. We possibly couldn't work well together."

The head said, "Who would you rather prefer as your partner? No one else can complement your magic and you both know that well."

"Anyone else." I muttered.

"I believe this discussion is over." The head concluded.

"W-wait! At least give us separate dorms." Ivy said.

"That I can do. Sorry for the inconvenience." The head gave Ivy a key for a another dorm.

Of course we couldn't room together. I was a boy, and she was a girl.

Ivy left the room, and I followed after her. "Do you want to train?"

"Don't need it." She curtly replied.

"Ivy! We have to practice! Don't you want to be Rank 1?"

She said, "Yes, but only for the money."

"Money? Why do you want money?" I asked puzzled.

She paused, then said, "I'm a very materialistic person."

If you were the last survivor in this training program, you got five hundred thousand dollars. But to be one out of six hundred, that was nearly impossible. And if only one survivor was allowed, then either I or Ivy would die.

"Do you want to train tomorrow?" I asked.

Ivy replied, "No, I'm busy."

"Then when are you free?" I was pissed off.

"Day after tomorrow works." She said, and walked off in the opposite direction.

I wanted to rip out her head so bad. I had been partnered with the most impossible person on this planet.

I hit the training centre where most people were busy training with their partners. My anger fueled my power, and the practice dummy fell to the ground in one lightning arrow.

That was wayy too easy. I heard a guy scoff and say, "I can do that in my sleep."

"Can you? Then, why don't you fight me right now?" I challenged without looking at the person.

I turned around and saw the Rank 1 guy, Hudson Harris. Shitttt. What had I gotten myself into?

He had pitch black eyes. "Mind if I join?" Landon, his partner, said.

"Nah, you can wait this one out. I can take out the little prince on my own." Hudson said.

Their aura was tremendous. They radiated power. Not warm power like me, or chilly power like Ivy, but scary power.

Hudson yelled at the bystanders, "Make some space! There's going to be a huge mess if you don't move!"

They scrambled to the side, and Hudson cleared his throat and said, "Let's start."

I gave him a nod. I raised my hand to cascade a huge bolt of lightning to his chest. I hadn't fully mastered my powers yet, so I still had to use hand gestures to control my powers.

Hudson disappeared from sight. I turned around, and I found him behind me, ready to kill me in one strike of my hand. I flashed his eyes with light, temporarily blinding him. He disappeared from sight again.

I filled the room with flickers of light, so if he was using invisibility magic, my light would bounce off him.

I found the spot where my light looked weird, and as I gathered my power for one fatal strike, I felt someone breathing down my neck. That was a decoy! Hudson was behind me!

I turned around violently, and blasted the space behind me with all my power. Hudson's invisibility wore off, as he held his arm, cradling it.

His forearm was losing blood fast. "Do you still want to go on?" I raised my eyebrow.

"You little twerp! I almost had you!" He yelled.

"So is that a yes or a no?" I tilted my head, feigning fake confusion.

Landon said, "Of course not!"

I used my healing magic, to heal Hudson's wound before I walked out of the room.

I had just beat a Rank 1!! Someone roughly grasped my shoulder, I felt my powers drain, and I saw Landon behind me. He could strip me off my powers?! Was that his magic?

To be honest, I still hadn't figured out Hudson's magic. That was the whole purpose of the fight! I pulled out of Landon's grip, and ran away.

The Rank 1 brothers were after me. For the first time, I wanted to be at home at the palace. Sure I was bored out of my mind, but I was safe. What had I gotten myself into?