It was time... It was the evening of the next day. Arron felt his heart thrumming in his chest. Excited to attend such an extravagant event. He reached into his wardrobe and took out a suit.

  He laid it down on the bed. He looked over the black suit with the neck tie. It looked expensive, more expensive than anything he's ever seen. He smiled widely. "I'm gonna be wearing that soon..."

  Arron took in a deep breath and tightened his tie as best he could. He didn't know how to actually tie a tie. He asked a dorms employee to help him. It was quite embarrassing at first. but aparently they often got asked to do menial odd jobs for the young masters that were admited into the dorms.

  The dorms were at the highest floor fo the extremely tall dorms building. The dorm's levels were divided into all the ranks of the different classes. F class was at the very bottom while Royal class was at the very top.

  He was now standing in front of a large double door. This was a large hall that the academy often used to host parties and special events. He was also guided here by that same employee. He was quite grateful to him.

  "Let's go in-" Arron was about to take a step inside. But someone suddenly bumped into him. "Move." A boy with dark red hair, like that of ruby, spoke up in an cold voice. He shoved Arron aside as he stepped forward.

  Arron stumbled slightly by the rough push and he narrowed his eyes at the boy, furrowing his brows in both confusion and irritation. "What is he so rude?" He muttered under his breath.

  The red haired boy snapped his gaze back at Arron, glaring at him. He was also wearing a suit similar to Arron's but with a red tie instead. Arron could see the boy's yellow, hawk like eyes. He was shook for a moment.

  The boy simply huffed and walked inside.

  Arron, ever-more confused, rubbed his shoulder. "What the hell was that...?" Arron mumbled under his breath. He shook his head. "Whatever, not worth dwelling over." Arron pushed aside his feelings of irritation and walked inside.

  As soon as he laid his eyes on the interior. He immediately forgot about the ordeal. He was met by the spacious and luxurious looking hall. He couldn't help but let his lower jaw fall. His mouth gaped in awe and excitement. Tables all around carried all sorts of food and refreshments. His mouth watered at the sight of so much food, prepared in all sorts of way with all sorts of ingredients.

  He rushed towards a table, laden with foods and drinks. He reached for a nice looking bite of food. He picked it up and brought it to his mouth before taking a bite. "Mmm~" He hummed in satisfaction as the flavours exploded in his mouth. This is the best thing I've ever eaten. A wide smile crossed his face as he chewed. No offense to Erica's stew... That has its own hearty taste to it. Arron nodded as he swallowed the tasty bite of food.

  "Wow... is that really how commoners behave? Disgusting..."

  Arron's ears perked up as he heard a snarcky comment from the side. He slowly turned towards the source of the voice. As soon as he saw her, she immediately turned around, pretending as if they hadn't just said that. I'm sure it was her why-

  His trail of thought was interrupted by another snarky comment. "Look at him... Trying to act like a noble, wearing clothes provided by the academy. Doesn't he know it's rude to use the stuff the academy gave?"

  Arron turned around again and finally realized he had been garnering attention this whole time. All eyes were on him and he felt a dreadful feeling crawling up his throat.

  It was? I didn't know- He didn't finish his thoughts as another comment came from another individual.

  "How can he come here, walk through that door so confidentally, and think its okey to mingle with us nobles?"

  "He's probably an F class student."

  "Is there any class lower to place him in?"

  "Hahaha! That's so mean..."

  Arron's eyes drifted down to the ground. He felt... shame. He couldn't bring himself to turn around or... make any move at all. He was frozen in place. He felt the condescending gazes of the nobles around him. Disgust, disinterest, anger, jealousy and even straight up hatred.

  "Hey~ These taste pretty good~" Suddenly, a bubbly voice pierced through the murmurs being thrown around him. All the murmurs stopped and the gazes turned away. Its as if the mere presence of Amanda dissuaded any other noble from acting up while she was in sight. The nobles simply did not want trouble with the princess of their empire...

  He glanced up and like a ray of hope he saw... Amanda. She stood opposite him chewing on the same bites he was eating earlier. "Oh! Hey! Aren't you that Arron guy that helped us near the end of the exam?" Amanda beamed, her smile radiating warmth.

  Stolen content warning: this tale belongs on Royal Road. Report any occurrences elsewhere.

  "A-ah yes. I am." Arron couldn't help but smile as well. Amanda wore a white dazzling dress that sprinkled under the magical chandeliers. "You looked pretty awesome too. I guess." He glanced to the side. Avoiding her gaze. "The way you screamed when you cast that spell. It was super cool!" His voice rose in pitches, excitement overtaking apprehension. He had already forgotten about the condescending looks he had gotten.

  "Ah..." Amanda's cheeks turned pink in colour. She touched her cheeks, feeling embarrassment creeping in. "Sorry I showed you such a scene..." She avoided his eyes.

  "You don't have to be embarrassed! It looked so cool! Especially that spell. Can you show it to me later perhaps?" Arron smiled excitedly.

  "Sure I can!" Amanda grinned as she placed her hands on her hips. "By the way, you're a commoner right?" Amanda tilted her head to the side in curiosity.

  "Well... Yeah. People are probably not gonna like a commoner in the royal class..." Arron avoided her gaze, feeling self-conscious of his commoner roots.

  Amanda scoffed, "Don't feel bad. I'm just curious. It's actually really awesome that a commoner made it to the royal class. By the way. What happened after I got eliminated?" Amanda tilted her head to the side. "When I was teleported away. I had already went unconscious from the pain. So I didn't get to see the end of it." She explained as she leaned on the table.

  "Well, after you got eliminated. The blue haired girl got eliminated as well. And my friend, Rynia, also got eliminated." Arron spoke as he placed a hand on his chin.

  "So you got eliminated after right?" Amanda raised an eyebrow. She had figured something like this would have happened, she wasn't surprised everyone was eliminated. Her last stand was the do or die of their team.

  But the words that left Arron's mouth right after turned her eyes into saucers. "No, I killed it." Arron's words flowed. He spoke like it wasn't even a big deal. At first, Amanda thought he was lying. But the nonchalance he portrayed was too convincing.

  "H-huh?! No way! How'd you do it?" Amanda exclaimed, then she clasped her hand over her mouth. She spoke louder than she meant to. "I-I mean... How'd you do it." She spoke almost in a whisper, cupping her hand on her mouth.

  "Well... It's not like I did it alone. I got help from a friend." Arron sratched the back of his head. "She distracted it long enough so I could finish it off." Arron grinned.

  "Finish it off? No way. How did you do it?" Amanda's eyes were practically shining as she asked her question.

  "Well... Since we're gonna be classmates soon... I'll just tell you." Arron let out a long sigh. "Its just one move, and it's my most powerful move." Arron explained his chin. "It require's a long time to use though."

  "Really?" Amanda gasped excitedly. "What do you call it?"

  Arron was taken aback by the question but he nodded and spoke up. "Blink slash. I call it blink slash. Since it is faster than the blink of an eye. I gather as much energy as I can and release it in one swift burst."

  "That's so cool! You've gotta show me it later!" Amanda extended her hand forward. "Since I couldn't introduce myself during the exam seeing as our situation wasn't quite ideal..." She placed her other hand on her chest keeping her right hand extended towards Arron. "My name is Amanda Stellar. And I am the emperial princess of the stellar empire!"

  Arron's lips curled into a warm smile. Maybe it wouldn't be too bad here... Arron extended her hand forward taking Amanda's hand in a handshake. He felt her soft yet tough skin. It was clear that she trained often. "Nice to meet you Amanda... I'm Arron!" He shook her hand vehemently.

  "By the way. That friend of yours. The one with tanned skin. She's actually pretty good. And she possesses an ability doesn't she? I wonder what it is. It looked like she was delaying her strikes somehow." Amanda recalled how Rynia kept up with the beast by confusing it with her ability.

  "I don't really know either. It looked like delayed strikes and she said they were delayed strikes. But I can't help but feel that there is more to them..." Arron rubbed his chin in deep thought. Then he simply shrugged. "Meh, it's probably nothing."

  "Yeah, you're right. Oooh~ Come over here. Let's check out this food! It looks pretty good..." Amanda called out to him and went off, rushing for another table. Arron followed swit, his stomach growling at the mention of food.

  Regina, carefree as ever, sat on a chair, humming a tune calmly without a worry in the world. "Hmhmm~ It's a good thing the arena fixes you up after the exam is over because it would annoy the doctor to fix me up again." Regina exhaled in relief. "He's a weirdo..." She muttered right after.

  "Oooh~ this food is actually not bad. At least better than the cafeteria food over there." Regina chuckled softly, amused by her own joke. She took a piece of a steak that's been pre-cut to be bite size and placed it in her mouth. Her smile widened as she tasted the tender meat.

  "This is so good~ well, since I made it to royal class as instructed. It's my little reward." She resumed humming that tune to herself.

  Suddenly out of nowhere. "Hey you." A figure stood over her, casting a shadow on her. Regina slowly glanced up. The smile on her face dimming down in brightness. It was a tall boy with dark red hair and hawk like eyes.

  "Can I help you?"

  "Give me your chair." He spoke simply as he looked down on Regina. "Uhm... I'm sorry? I can't give you my chair." her eyes darkened. Is he looking for trouble? Regina's face was a respectful mask, hiding a coldness that could freeze if let loose. She smiled up at him.

  The red haired boy just did not relent. "I said move." He reached for her...

  Amanda and Arron were peacefully conversing. Chatting with each other about the exam and the abilities displayed by other examineers that they encountered.

  "Yeah, so she shot these really strong arro-" Amanda and Arron were brought out of their idle chatter by a sudden and loud crashing sound. It sounded like wood breaking.

  "H-huh?!"

  "Wh-what's happening?"

  Whisperes started as eyes all around turned to the source of the loud noise. "It's a fight!" Someone shouted.

  Arron and Amanda rushed towards the commotion, pushing through the ranks of students. To say the sight in front of Arron was shocking would be an understatement. There was that red haired boy Arron bumped into before. Or rather the boy bumped into Arron on purpose. However, that wasn't the shocking sight.

  He was groaning as he laid on the ground. "Agh..." He groaned as he squirmed on the ground. A girl with curly blonde short hair stood over him, a wide grin on her face. Her blood red eyes shining with malice. She had his wrist gripped tightly in her hand.

  Oh no...