Royal Academy, Spring Kingdom

"You all have become powerful just in the span of a year," Professor Rhaegan said, his voice carrying a mix of pride and satisfaction. "Your dedication and hard work have paid off. You have honed your magical abilities and mastered the use of elemental forces like no other. Your swordsmanship has also greatly improved."

The students just a year ago, who were just going with the flow of the academy without actually learning anything became more and more knowledgeable in the field of arcane arts with Rhaegan's teaching.

His teaching was simple and easy yet effective at the same time; he taught them how to use their bodies as weapons by giving them basic combat training so that they could defend themselves if ever needed while having proper control over each element around them. He then continued after some silence from the class, "I'm proud of you all for making it this far but there are still things left undone."

A boy suddenly raised his hand.

"Yes, Marcus?"

"Are you not going to teach us anymore?" The boy named Marcus asked, his tone showing disappointment towards the teacher. His face showed an expression of sadness because he wanted to learn even further about the fields of magical studies and martial arts.

Rhaegan chuckled lightly before answering back with a smile. "Of course, I am. But there is something important that needed to be addressed." He motioned with his hands for a student, his assistant, to approach him.

The girl, with blonde hair and blue eyes, approached him with a rolled sheet of paper.

She handed him the paper and Rhaegan unrolled the letter. "...This letter came straight from the King..."

Everyone's eyes turned toward the girl standing beside the professor at the mention of the title.

Rhaegan chuckled. "Spare her, she's not on this," he said. "This is an invitation letter..."

He let his voice linger in the air for a moment, making the students curious enough to want to hear what else was being said.

"An invitation for all the students to the upcoming tournament conducted by the Grand Magic Judiciary. "The Tournament of Unity." " His voice echoed throughout the room once again.

All of them looked up at him with wide-open mouths, shocked that such an event would happen. A few among them started talking amongst themselves excitedly while others just stared blankly into space, thinking about everything possible regarding this news.

'A tournament...' Danielle thought. 'Wonder if brother would be there...' she giggled, thinking about his reaction if she wins the tournament.

Aurelia eyed Danielle from the front, she shook her head seeing her friend giggling herself. 'She must be thinking about her brother's reaction when she wins the tournament. Tsk, tsk...' She sighed internally.

Danielle saw Aurelia looking at her and gave her a small wave. Her mind wandered away from the subject matter for a brief second until Professor Rheagan finished reading the rest of the message.

"The tournament will take place during winter break next month. The rules are simple: make your opponent submit or knock him/her unconscious. No killing. You can use all the weapons in your arsenal, you can use all the spells in your grimoire, and all the powers within yourself."

The entire class went quiet upon hearing those words.

"Who are the participants? Is it only among the Spring kingdom or..." A girl asked, her voice trailing off.

A small smile appeared on Rhaegan's lips. "That's the catch. It's for all the Kingdoms in the entire world. Small or large, they can enter the tournament. After all, this is to promote the unity among the kingdoms."

***

"Wow, the tournament is going to be a blast. All types of races would be there: The orcs, the elves, dwarves, and even the faeries from the Forgotten Land." Marcus mused as he looked at his palm, thinking about all the crazy things that were going to happen in the tournament. Thinking about how he was going to fare against such opponents.

He side-eyed the girl sitting opposite him. Her long white hair flowed like a waterfall and her purple eyes were starry and shimmering.

"We could see what the other races are capable of. Though they say we're far behind them, we could still beat them, right? I mean, we're a kingdom of such mere humans and we've been here for a long time. So it must not be impossible to beat them." Another boy named Nevil said, his voice filled with confidence.

"The reason why we're standing still as a kingdom is not because of our individual strength but because of the advantage we have with our population. We outrank them when it comes to numbers, and that is why they don't risk a war between us. But if we are fighting one on one, I don't think we can win," Laila said, her short green hair swaying left and right as she shook her head.

"Oh, come on, we can win. These mongers don't have a chance against this generation of humans." Protested Marcus. His short stout hair added to the effect of his appearance.

"You've already given up before the fight? Shame on you." Said Nevil, shaking his head.

Laila looked offended, her arms crossed tightly across her chest. "You fools are highly thinking of yourselves! Wait until the weakest of the weakest elf knocks your ass within a second of the fight."

Marcus scoffed, crossing his arms too. "Yeah, what about the GrandMaster? He's a human, and he's the most powerful man in the world."

"You think he's a human?" Laila said, her face that of astonishment. "Oh? the poor little boy has no idea, does he? Look at him, Dani, he thinks the GrandMaster is a human." Laila tugged Danielle with her elbows, making the latter wake from her daydreams.

"What? What is it?" She yawned, rubbing her eyes.

"What are you thinking...?" Laila asked, seeing her friend wasn't even listening to their conversation at all.

"I was thinking about how my brother would celebrate once I emerge as the champion of the tournament. Do you think he will dance with happiness? Will he celebrate with wine and food? Would he buy me a present or something? What do you think?" She asked enthusiastically.

Laila just looked at her friend, dead in the eyes like she was looking at a lunatic. Then she slowly shook her head.

Marcus looked at the happy girl, feeling a pang of pain in his heart.

"Is he even going to be there?" Asked Nevil. "You said he was traveling the world, right? Does he even know about the tournament at all?"

Danielle's face went down. She hadn't thought about that at all. Winning was the only thing she had thought, she never thought about him being there to see her victory.

"Eh...he will be there. I'm sure," said the girl. "I'm sure..."

At the same time, Aurelia walked towards the group. She sat on the bench and looked at her friends. Each one had different faces: One had a pained expression, one had a longing expression, one had a look of disgust on her face and the last one was smiling like an idiot.

"I don't want to know the details," she said, knowing whatever the discussion must be bad. "There will be a tournament in the Kingdom. A tournament that's going to decide on whoever is going to the "Tournament of Unity," as they call it."

"Another tournament?" Asked Nevil.

"Yes. To filter out the best. We don't want to send all the lamest and useless people to the tournament representing our kingdom, do we? This will help us to select the best of the best. It is being done by every other kingdom too." Aurelia said.

"How many will be selected?" Marcus said, composing himself and pushing all the negative thoughts about a certain enigmatic brother.historical

"Ten." Aurelia's voice sounded calm.

"Ten? Just ten?" Laila asked, her voice filled with surprise.

Aurelia nodded, her gaze fixed on her friends. "Yes, just ten. It may seem like a small number, but the Tournament of Unity is a prestigious event, and each kingdom must carefully choose its representatives. These ten individuals will be the ones to showcase our kingdom's strength and skills."

The group fell silent, the weight of the task at hand sinking in. Ten out of all the humans in the kingdom would have the chance to prove themselves on a grand stage, to compete against the finest warriors and mages from kingdoms far and wide.

"We should start preparing immediately," Marcus declared, his determination renewed. "We have to give it our all, show them what we're made of."

Nevil nodded in agreement. "Absolutely. This is our chance to shine, to demonstrate that mere humans can stand alongside the most powerful races. Let's prove them wrong."

"We will win this as always, right Danielle?" asked Marcus.

Danielle stood up, sweeping her white hair to the back in a dramatic way. "There are no questions here," she said. "I'm going to the tournament even if I've to kill everyone here."