The next day, we trained like nothing happened. No one spoke about the fainting, the healer, or the way my father's voice had nearly split the walls the night before. In House Valecrest, pain was yesterday's news. By dawn, I was on the training ground again. My body still protested every move, but I kept my stance steady. My father's blows were the same precise, heavy, and carrying that brutal elegance only someone who'd been at war with the world could own. Each strike rattled through my bones like thunder, but this time, I didn't crumble. I blocked. I shifted. I adapted. By dusk, I trained with Darius and Aria. They didn't go easy either not because they didn't care, but because pity was forbidden here. Darius drilled aura manipulation into my head, each correction a bark, each success a grunt of approval. His aura was dense and suffocating, a heavy Dark Pressure type designed to crush enemy senses and disrupt balance. Aria, on the other hand, moved like mist sharpened into gla

By the time I got back from training, I felt like a half-dismantled mannequin.Nothing broken. Just pain vibrating in places I didn't know could hurt.I dragged myself into my room—only to find it occupied.Darius was sitting on my desk, cleaning his knuckles like he'd just finished a fight.Aria had stolen my bed again, legs crossed, humming some noble melody like she owned the place.For a moment, I just stood there, staring.Do these two even have rooms of their own, or am I the family's emotional support punching bag?"Ever heard of personal space?" I muttered.Aria grinned. " Little brother you are alive ". She said this squirming, Aria has the kind of cute childish vibes even though she is 25 ."Barely," I agreed, limping past her.Darius raised a brow. "You look less like roadkill today. Progress." Darius said it this looking as uninterested as ever. Sometimes I really don't get my siblings."Guess my bones are starting to get the memo," I said, dropping into the chair opposite

The waiting hall of the trials thrummed with mana.So thick, you could almost taste it in the air metallic, heavy, alive. Power gathered here like a storm behind closed doors.Hundreds of candidates stood in clusters nobles in their crested cloaks, mercenaries wrapped in rough leather, and the rare commoner trembling in borrowed robes.But Lucien Valecrest?He leaned lazily against a marble pillar, eyes half-lidded, scanning the hall with a faint smirk.So these are the so-called prodigies of the new generation... huh.His gaze moved like a blade dissecting, classifying, filing away every aura and posture.The first pair that caught his eye stood bathed in light near the front golden hair like sunlight itself, red eyes burning with confidence.The royal twins. Aurean and Aurora Ardenthal.He'd heard rumors that their family claimed descent from the Solar Thrones.Aurean laughed too loudly, swinging his arm around a nervous candidate. "Relax! We're all friends here unless you trip

We had thirty minutes to prepare before the assessment began.Thirty minutes to pretend ten strangers could think like one army.The tent was alive with flickering lights from the mana crystals, the holographic map hovering in the air.And at its center stood Her Royal Sunlight herself Aurora Ardenthal, princess of Suncoast."Alright," she said crisply, her voice carrying that royal precision that made everyone straighten instinctively. "We'll form a perimeter here. Ryn, Cael, Auren...frontline engagement. Serlene and Seris...defensive watch. Noah—support. Kael....long range. I'll anchor the core."She looked proud, confident, every gesture measured and graceful.And for a moment, it almost felt like she had it under control..Until Yelena spoke."Oh, how adorable," the elf princess drawled from where she leaned against a pole, her silver hair practically glowing under the light. "A little human princess pretending to be a general."Aurora's tone didn't waver. "You have a better pl

The crowd was roaring.A sea of nobles and civilians filled the Suncoast Grand Stadium, faces painted with colors of their favored houses, eyes locked on the shimmering panels that floated midair—each one showing the live feeds of the ongoing military exam."Group Eleven has captured their seventh crystal!" cried Ajsi, the commentator, his voice booming through the arena. "Incredible coordination! That's Valecrest efficiency for you, ladies and gentlemen!"Cheers erupted again.In the main screen, Lucien Valecrest, only eighteen, was moving like water and lightning combined sharp, deliberate, never wasting a single motion. His team moved as if they shared one mind. Where others panicked, Group Eleven adapted. Their strategies weren't flashy, but devastatingly effective. Each formation they faced fell in under a minute.He didn't see the crowd.Didn't hear the cheers.He was simply doing what he always did working.No wasted effort. No arrogance. Just relentless precision.Somewhere in