Riley Bastard "I'm scared, Riley; I'm not ready to die." "no, leave her alone. Stop STOP." Black fire encased her entire body. "NOOOOO." I woke up in a cold sweat and saw the clock. It said 8 am. I looked over and saw Arthur fast asleep like a baby.

"Hey, get up. We will be late," I said while shaking Arthur awake.

"Huh, I thought class didn't start till 9 am; this school is supposed to be for elites, so why does it have to start so early?" Arthur had chimed in as he stumbled out of bed.

"You do realize 8 am is a normal time for class, right? Besides, we need to go. I don't want to be in trouble on the first day." I said as I rushed to get my things together.

It was mine and Arthur's first day at Ethereal Academy. This school is prestigious in its elemental training and combat training. We were joining three months after everyone else did. Only elites are supposed to get in, but most of the time, you can get in if your parents are wealthy or nobles. There are scholarships; however, they are only for four students per year, and when you have 1000 students in the first year alone, Having a scholarship is a curse Because most students become jealous that they weren't chosen. So you become an outcast. We were a notable exception and were given scholarships, putting the total number of students in our year at six. We had been sent here after the incident at our old school. While we were not too excited about it, it was better than being at our father's house, where our half-siblings treated us like slaves. Here, we can at least attend school without too many issues.

"What's the first class again?" Arthur asked,

"Intro to mana control," I said as we walked past the cafeteria.

"Man, everyone here should know the basics right. I mean, everyone's noble; this isn't middle school," Arthur sighed. "Man, I'm so hungry. Let's get some breakfast." Arthur said as he started to walk into the cafeteria.

"Um, no, you don't. We will be late; if you want food, you must get up earlier," I said as I pulled Arthur back to the hall. "Here, have an apple." Now, hopefully, the teacher won't be too mad." I said, however, knowing very well that the teachers here were strict about the slightest things.

I didn't realize she was saying something when we entered the classroom because it was massive. The class only had 300 students but could easily hold 600. Up at the front was an enormous board with the teacher's desk under it. The desks were a good 20 feet from the front.

"Your names, please," said Madam Lulu; she was a young lady with brown hair up in a bun; she had glasses and bright freckles. She had very bright colors on her clothes that enhanced her features.

"Oh, sorry, my name is Riley, and this is Arthur, mam," I said while looking at the clock, which showed 8:20 am. "Sorry, the school is massive, and it's our first time here. We got lost on the way." I lied, trying to keep us out of trouble.

"First and LAST name, please," she said without even acknowledging what I had said.

"Sorry, but we don't have a last name, mam," I said, smiling at her, trying to find some way out of getting in trouble. She looked up at us and frowned. She then started looking at the paper. We watched as she flipped through page after page, and finally, her face lit up.

"Oh, there you are. Okay, tweedle dee and dum, go find some seats and try not to interrupt the class anymore." She said as she continued where she left off."Okay, now that you know what mana is, let's discuss the different types. Not only does everything have mana, but mana also has a specific color." She then made green fire appear in her right hand and green ice in her left. "As you can see, the fire and ice I make is green. The purest mana forms are black and white. From there, you have red, blue, and Yellow. Then green, orange, and purple. Some other variants branch off of those, but those are the main and strongest mana colors." She had dispelled the fire and ice and moved to her seat. "Psst" "Psst" "hey you with the white hair

"Yeah," I said, looking around until I saw a kid with blue hair and orange highlights.

"My name is Xander, your new right," he said as he leaned closer,

"Yeah, it's our first day. My name's Riley, and that's Arthur," I whispered.

"I heard you say you didn't have a last name; that's so cool," Xander said, getting louder and closer.

"I mean, I don't know what your definition of cool is, but it sure is unique," I said, looking back at the teacher.

"Well, I think it's cool; it makes you special." He said with a hint of jealousy.

"ENOUGH," came a voice from the front. "Mr. Brimstone, if you want to keep distracting the class, I will throw you out. We don't want that, do we?" Mrs. Lulu said as a threat. "Now, some can enter a state where they almost become one with mana. We call those people mana-blessed. However, we have not seen many mana-blessed be able to stay in that state for very long." she then looked around the room and asked. "are there any questions." To my surprise, a few hands did go up. I thought this was all common knowledge, especially to nobles. "Yes, Mrs. Phoenix," she asked a young lady with bright red hair and blue eyes. She had on some light makeup and was all around not bad looking. "What would happenens when you enter mana-blessed state." Madam Lulu seemed to ponder the question for a few seconds before replying. "Well, almost everyone to enter that state has said they felt as if someone else was in control of thier body." "Yes, Mr. Barrow." She asked a tall boy with short blonde hair. He looked very formal, but he didn't sound formal.

"I was wondering why bastards like these two." he pointed at me and Arthur."Are they allowed to get scholarships if they don't even have last names? Their families must be lowlife thugs and criminals." he chuckled as he said it, and some of the class laughed and agreed.

Arthur whispered to me. "Should I kick his ass now or later?." I looked at him and said, "No, we just need to try and stay under the radar. Besides, he is a Barrow. They have high statues in the kingdom."

"Mr. Barrow, if you don't have a question about mana, please do not raise your hand." Mrs. Lulu said in a low tone but with a smile.

"Ye–yes, mam." Mr. Barrow said with a hint of fear in his voice

"Now then, do we have any more questions." before she could finish her sentence, the bell rang. "Perfect, well, that seems all the time we have today. Have a lovely day," she said with a smile. As Arthur and I were packing up, Xander came over. "Don't worry about the Bronx; he just likes to be the center of attention; he is pretty weak."

"Week or not, once word gets around about the stronger students might want to have a word with us," Arthur said

"Yeah, it should be fine," I said, knowing that things could get bad for us and anyone who talks to us.

"Well, he does have friends in high places; I heard he's a lackey to the number 6 of our year." Xander said

"Number six?" I asked.

"Oh yeah, you probably don't know at the start of the year, they have a tournament to figure out who is the strongest in each year; they hold three throughout the year, so you'll have a chance to compete in about a month or so," Xander said

"Huh, that should be interesting," I said more to myself than the others

"So, what class is next?" Arthur had asked

"Next is the biology of beast and then history." I said, the biology of the beast would go over the creatures of this world and different summons and biology of said things, which should be easy enough. History should have been fine when we were at our old school. Meek was obsessed with history and would talk about it all day. "After that is advanced elementary class," I said, which will go over advanced elements and how to use them.

"You guys are in advanced elementary class?" Xander asked

"Yeah, we are pretty good at using the basic elements and can use a few advanced ones." I said, "Well, we better get going; I don't want to be late for the next one."

Biology of the Beast went well as they were dissecting jumbos, which are blob-like creatures, but Arthur wasn't able to take part in history. Arthur fell asleep and got kicked out of class. As for our elementary class, it got canceled due to our teacher being out. Afterward, we went to lunch because Arthur wouldn't shut up about food.

"Finally, we can eat. I'm so hungry I thought I was going to die." Arthur said as his stomach grumbled

"Will you shut up about food already? You have been complaining all day." I said, pushing him forward. "Where do you want to sit?' I asked Arthur, who was too busy asking the lady for everything. "Looks like I'll pick for us," I said annoyedly. While looking around, you could tell just how big this school is. The cafeteria was massive, and students were everywhere. There was no open table. Luckily, I saw a spot at the end of a table." Hey, let's go before those seats get taken." I said as I rushed Arthur over. When we sat down, Arthur had started eating like a pig.

"Hey, do you mind slowing down? It's not going anywhere. We are getting strange looks," I said in a disgusted voice. He just looked at me with food in his mouth and said.

"Well, sorry, Mr. I don't like eating food."

"I like food just as much as the next guy, but I like to breathe and enjoy it."

"Well, who car–" Before he could finish, someone had said

"So why don't you guys have last names?" It was Mrs. Phoenix. At the same time, Arthur swallowed and tidied himself up.

"Well, you see, we were born to the wi—." he started saying with a deeper voice before I cut him off.

"Oh, our father was a part of the Windward adventure group and tried to kill Jasper Windward."

"Oh, that's horrible; why would someone even consider doing that to him? He is such a kind man." she looked at us almost in disgust that we even knew this man. "I'm surprised they would let you in this school?" she asked.

She sure is noisy, I thought to myself. Before I could say anything, Arthur responded with. "Well, you see, Riley and I can wield the purest forms of mana, so we got scholarships, but enough about us. What's your name?" that fucking idiot might as well just tell her our entire story. I'm sure she would love to hear that.

"You two can wield the purest forms of mana. "lol" I can't wait to see it in The Ways of Conflict." just like that, she left in a hurry, one should add. Arthur, watching her go, looked bummed.

"Hey, big idiot, why would you tell her we can use the purest forms of mana?" I said with irritation in my voice." "She didn't believe it, thankfully, but you can't do that."

"You're right, but I was mesmerized. It was like I couldn't control myself. It just slipped out." Arthur said

I did feel like she was more charming for some reason. "Remember, we don't want to stand out; it will be bad enough when they find out our mana colors, so there is no need to add fire to the flame."

"Yeah, yeah, I know. I know I'm not that stupid," Arthur said with a renowned look.

Just then, Xander came out of nowhere and sat next to us. "You guys even have Brigette talking to you? That's crazy; she's in the ten," he said with a look of surprise.

"Yeah, well, she seemed to want more information on us. She even got a charm to work on this idiot," I said

"It caught me off guard, is all. It won't happen again," Arthur said

"She must think of you guys as a threat if she used her charm on you. She only uses it on people who might try to take her spot, and since you guys have scholarships and joined late, you must make that list." Xander had said while he took a bite of his burger.

"Yeah, well, I don't plan on taking anyone's spot; I'm just here to graduate and join the military; that's about all we can do," I said

"Yeah, you say that, but everyone here wants to stand on the top and make a better life for themselves," Xander had said.

"I think it would be fun to be the best at the school," Arthur said in a hushed voice.

"If you want to have a target on your back the entire time, it might be fun, but I think we should just keep our heads down and cruise through these three years," I said, but I knew Arthur would try to be number 1 no matter what.

Arthur had looked a little down. "Sigh," he said

"Fine, if you want to try to be number 1, I won't stop you, but I'm not joining you." I said in a defeated tone." "Besides, it looks like you'll have your chance to show off; class is about to start," I Said