The eleventh month had arrived in the calendar of the Elemental World.

During this time of year, the great Nation of the West experienced an excess in the production of its coffee-grain harvests. This surplus was used for export, sending large quantities of the grain to foreign markets, where it was considered an exotic and highly valued product due to its quality.

Within the Nation stood the city of Tyr, a place that combined vast residential districts for workers with important academic institutions dedicated to the education of the younger generations. The studies taught in Tyr were primarily military in nature, as the city served as one of the main centers for forming future soldiers and warriors of the Nation.

Among the many students enrolled in these institutions was a sixteen-year-old boy named Jin Ryūsuke. He studied at the Military Institute located in the nation’s capital and was approaching the end of his third academic year. As was customary, during the eleventh month, lessons concluded for the majority of institutions across the Elemental World.

Inside one of the classrooms, Jin waited impatiently. His spiky brown hair framed a face filled with barely contained excitement as he watched the professor continue his final speech. Jin’s eyes kept drifting toward the classroom clock, waiting for it to mark three in the afternoon. Once it did, everything would finally be over. Two full months of freedom and rest lay ahead.

Only five minutes remained, yet the bespectacled professor, clad in armor reminiscent of a soldier’s uniform, showed no intention of stopping. He continued speaking, delivering a final address meant to close the academic year. Students in that classroom and in neighboring rooms alike shared the same anticipation, all yearning for the long-awaited vacation before returning later to begin their studies at the higher institute level.

When the clock finally struck the hour, Jin was the first to rise from his seat. He bolted from the classroom with his backpack slung over his shoulder. The rest of the class followed in a chaotic rush, leaving the professor standing alone once again.

This scene, however, was nothing unusual. The professor seemed to deliberately prolong his speeches on the final day, perhaps to observe how his students would flee with enough energy to compete in a race, if such a thing were possible.

Jin descended the stairs toward the main entrance of the institute, practically hopping with joy. His relief was shared by the entire student body. Everyone was too happy to care about the sight of him bounding toward the exit like a fool.

Near the final stretch of the main entrance, roughly two hundred meters from freedom, Jin suddenly fell forward. His face struck the dirt hard.

He quite literally bit the dust.

The cause was another student, Saji Sousuke, also sixteen years old. With deliberate intent, Saji had extended his foot just in time to trip Jin as he passed.

“Hard fall, Ryūsuke,” Saji remarked casually, smiling as he walked away, satisfied with his so-called joke.

Jin pushed himself up and brushed the dust from his white uniform, now thoroughly stained. He glared toward the retreating figure of Saji, who had already joined two other students, laughing as though nothing had happened.

Though Jin had only interacted with Saji a few times, a clear rivalry existed between them. Their competitive clashes during institute training had made that much clear. What truly set them apart, however, was that Saji was a Fire Element-Energy user, a naturalized foreigner, at least according to rumor.

“I should’ve started a fight right there… damn it,” Jin muttered, furious at himself for freezing.

As he stood there clutching his head in frustration, two familiar faces approached him. One was a girl named Juren Ryūnosuke, with short chestnut hair, brown eyes, and dark skin. At her side walked Takeshi Ori, a dark-skinned boy with brown hair and glasses. Both of them laughed lightly at Jin’s expression, well aware of how easily Saji managed to provoke him.

The three of them usually walked home together through Tyr’s residential districts, just as they did now. The sky above was painted with warm colors as the sun began to set.

“Finally,” Jin said, exhaling deeply. “Now I can focus on training.”

“So, when does the National Tournament start?” Juren asked. “I can’t remember.”

“In three months,” Jin replied firmly. “I have to obtain my Elemental Dragon.”

The statement immediately stirred a quiet tension between the three of them. The National Tournaments were ruthless events designed to crown a single victor. Only the winner earned the right to touch an Elemental Diamond.

They continued walking until they reached an old wooden bridge with reddish railings. From there, they passed the time throwing stones into the river below. Though weathered, the bridge remained sturdy, continuing to connect paths that had existed for generations.

The afternoon was warm, though the ever-present trade winds of the Nation kept the air cool. Wind defined the land, making its nights especially cold.

Jin began throwing stones enhanced by subtle bursts of elemental wind. Takeshi soon joined him, the two turning the activity into a competition. As they did, Juren noticed something unusual. One stone landed near the feet of a figure seated on a rock in the river.

The figure was humanoid, blue in color, basking in the sunlight. Above its head floated a bluish crown, spinning slowly like a halo.

“Guys,” Juren whispered sharply. “Look over there. What is that?”

The creature opened its eyes—large, white, and unnatural—and realized it had been seen. Rising from the rock, it vanished in an instant, using a Wind Element-Energy technique known as Wind Step.

“That was…” Takeshi murmured.

“An Amber,” Jin said, stunned.

“A blue one?” Juren added.

Ambers were known creatures within the Elemental World, usually red, green, or yellow. Blue Ambers existed only in legend. Seeing one was unheard of.

Alarmed, the three searched for soldiers, only to find none patrolling the streets. Civilians filled the district instead, shops open and families moving freely.

Something was wrong.

Takeshi promised to inform his father, a military officer, while Jin and Juren parted ways in uneasy silence.

Later that evening, Jin was called into action once more when a frightened child begged him for help. A man was being beaten by a group of coworkers. Jin intervened without hesitation, defeating all ten attackers with swift, controlled strikes.

Across the Elemental World, those unable to use Element-Energy effectively were known as Ignorants. Jin was not one of them.

After ensuring the injured man was safe, Jin returned home, changed into training clothes, and read a note left by his grandfather explaining his absence due to an Imperial Meeting.

“That explains the missing soldiers,” Jin muttered.

Elsewhere, within the Imperial Palace, an emergency council was underway. Emperor Yamato Nawasaki addressed the gathered leaders, announcing troubling intelligence regarding the appearance of the infamous Renegade Lightning Warrior, Doku Ihibūshi, near their borders.

Orders were issued. Units mobilized.

The winds of the Nation were beginning to shift.

Piece of Information: The Nawasaki Clan of Wind

For a long time, the Elemental Nation of Wind has had its power centralized in a single political clan. This special clan is known as “the Nawasaki Clan,” and it is represented by a symbol of a bluish wolf. It is a family that is entirely native to this Nation.

The people who make up this clan are numerous. It is one of the largest families in the entire nation. All its members have blue hair, and the imperial power of the place has always been administered by them.

They maintain a centralized power above other important clans and families. Since they are the ones who control the nation, the rules of social order come from them, causing natural friction over the imperial power that this clan holds.

Not everyone agrees with this clan’s form of government, but because of their already established power, they must tolerate it.

Despite that, the imperial system does have distributions of power through elder advisors who can give their opinions about decision-making and other matters, but this never removes the direct authority of decision held by whichever Nawasaki occupies the position of Emperor, regarding anything he decrees.