And so, the Star Course students' homeroom period went off without any further hindrances or hitches, allowing Alureino to do attendance and divulge any other important information the students required: naturally, only Inkaro retained every bit of information she divulged, followed by Yuuvia in second place. With the knowledge dispensed and the chimes of an announcement jingle, Alureino dismissed the Star Course students.

  Courtesy of it being the first day, most of the lessons for any student were nothing more than a glorified summary and overview of the semester's contents.

  And so again, that left the student with ample time to focus on whatever they wanted to during their first day's open periods. Naturally, most of those in the Star Course, and those taking combat-related courses, were using the various training facilities to get a head start on their combat readiness before any sort of dungeon diving assignments or exercises were announced.

  One of the more fiery demonstrations of the mentioned training, especially as thunderous explosions of fire engulfed the marble terrain of its location, was between the prince of UFA(United Federation of Aethonien) and the princess of the Krutaka Empire.

  Boom after kaboom followed by crackles of flames teetering out as Myhail flipped over the smoggy clouds, aiming a shoulder to the ground before safely landing on the arena floor with a roll. Murmuring to himself and catching his breath, as short in number his weak gasps were, Myhail whispered, "Phew, she's being extra ferocious today."

  Nova bellowed a hearty laugh, one primed from the sheer, erratic and explosive adrenaline pumping through her veins. Her fingers crackled with mini embers of fire, the sheer amount of manic glee she felt causing her mana to seep out of her body and form those very sparks. After having restrained herself for so long, the gratification she felt couldn't be understated; even Myhail could tell she was slowly losing her rockers.

  How could the prince tell? Was it the fact Nova was finally getting the chance to let loose again, leading to her moderation of her mana to get tossed out the window and allow fluctuations to run rampant in her body? "Glad to see you haven't gotten rusty since our last duel, Prince. I'd have to knock you back into shape otherwise, and having you as a punching bag is no fun."

  That snide comment, playful as it was, struck at the prince, harder than any of the princess's actual attacks.

  "It's only been a week; truly, you jest in believing that devoting myself to studying would decay my skills with the blade, so?" Myhail quiped, reading his padded training sword beside his head as he drew upon yet another sword style stance.

  "I sure hope so. Ooh, I just can't wait to test my mettle against everyone, especially that Inkaro guy who's got quite the gaggle around him," Nova proclaimed earnestly, finding the idea of challenging the other Star Course students simply delightful, delectable. Nova's eyes sparkled to life just as fiercely as the firecrackers bursting from her finger, which swirled together and condensed into red mana crystal rings. Although doing his best not to show it, Myhail recoiled a little, knowing he was going to be in for a rather long sparring session if his opponent continued to show no signs of losing steam.

  So to save a trip to the infirmary for himself, he took a deep, focused inhale as he donned an overhead, one-handed sword style.

  "Oh-ho! Using that sword style, are we? Then I'll crank up the heat in kind!"

  The two continued to have at it, hogging the largest arena of Solicrave Academy for the foreseeable open periods: a large colosseum-leaning stadium constructed from prismatic sea rocks with a spanning, flat arena at the centre. It was usually reserved for tournament-like events or any high-ranked challenge duels.

  The two dashed at each other with no hesitation.

  From a nearby courtyard fashioned with many a flower to create the perfect picnic retreat, Inkaro watched the pillar of flames soar high into the sky, contemplating which type of magic device was behind such a display, as he sat on a bench. Enetha was also sitting beside him, only her source of observation was a more in-person face-off.

  Ten paces away from each other, Lizu and Yuuvia were having themselves one fierce stare down, matching that of the royal duo's only in a less tangible presentation. Both of them, their arms crossed using vice-like integrity, conversed using their competitive spirit to do all the conversing they needed. Yuuvia went first, reasoning that as the challenger, it was only right for her to kick things off. With that in mind, the elunoatite noble threw her open palms into the air, extending out her fingers to their limit, before committing to a backflip.

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  Yuuvia spiralled through the air, snapping various stylish poses like a parkour pro, as she ultimately descended from her jump. Despite the hilarity that it would be if Yuuvia faceplanted into the dirt after all her eccentric flair, her skill wasn't just for show, proven by her, as she landed gracefully on a single hand, resulting in a one-handed handstand. "Check it."

  Although impressive, the girl's display had sent the bar of victory for Lizu a fair bit over the level she had anticipated. She found it vexing, knowing she'd already lost, in most part to her physique and dragony tail.

  But, she'd be damned if she'd give up, or so Inkaro surmised by the prideful glints in her eyes.

  Knowing things would only go south again if he did intervene, Inkaro resumed his current pastime of staring at Morilore flying through clouds in the sky as he spoke. "So... mind telling me what happened while I was paying attention to homeroom divulgence?"

  Enetha rocked her head from side to side, deep in thoughtful concentration, still trying to piece the pieces of the puzzle herself, but had gleaned enough scattered information to reach something barely reminiscent of an answer.

  "Something about... winning... crepes... I think," Enetha murmured, somehow still beyond tired to the core despite hours having passed since homeroom. It was a mystery how one girl, who long since became adept at napping at the drop of a hat, could be so tired all the time.

  The response did little in the way of answering his question in any tangible way, but Inkaro could fancy a guess, given that an item of snacky origins was involved. "Very cryptic... I wonder how that ties into them choosing to have a... handstand battle?"

  Enetha nodded, putting her full body into the swing, her perplexity matching that of Inkaro even if her groggy mind could barely be considered operating at a single-digit percent. And that percentage somehow continued to go down, reaching into the multi-decimal, as she began to sway and slowly flutter her eyes half shut again.

  "Hmmm... I think... maybe it's to burn calories so the winner can eat the tasty treats...without guilt...," Enetha murmured, her words slowing until she turned mute, like the nodes in her brain had stopped sending signals of any kind. She slumped her head, followed by weak snores of sweet surrender.

  Until a single message began to play on repeat in her mind: "Why aren't you participating for the snack?"

  Enetha sprung to her feet, slamming her feet of the bench as she landed, as her cloth-like appendages shot out till their max taut. "So we mustn't lose!"

  The little princess's sudden outburst of emotion would've melted a normal person's hearts from the sheer cuteness displayed, along with knocking them out from the equally sheer force behind her voice; not Inkaro in this instance, thanks to G.Galore applying a resilience spell to him just in the nick of time.

  Following a wry chuckle, Inkaro lowered his gaze to the side and smugly looked Enetha in the eyes, since they were seeing things from the same height for once. "We? Last I checked, the only baked goods Lizu eats are the ones she demands from me, so I doubt the chef for the winner would be anyone other than me."

  Enetha let out a silent gasp, slightly shocked, she hadn't considered that obvious conclusion, as her mouth took on a triangular shape for a split of a second. "True, but wouldn't you winning mean you could simply make them for Enetha?"

  "I think you meant to say, I wouldn't hav-"

  "NO," Enetha uttered boldly, her tone was nothing short of oppressive. The look in her still emotionless eyes was something fierce, only matched by the deep buzzing noise her core exuded. The shift from drowsy to serious participant to whatever her last mood had been was cute, in a menacing way. Or so Inkaro believed as he raised a finger to gently poke Enetha in her pouting cheeks.

  "You're sure getting assertive for someone who's within treat-revoking range."

  There wasn't even enough time for Inkaro to register his own words before Enetha turned into a blurry smear as she commenced in the act of prostrating herself.

  Enetha got into a full-body bow. She had her head so firmly on the seat of the bench, body so tightly packed, that she vaguely resembled a sleeping rabbit. The weak snoring that followed didn't help that mental image Inkaro had of her. A loud thud rumbled from nearby, but it wasn't enough to stir Enetha, though.

  In her hubris of completing such an action in the past, Lizu had blindly flung herself into a perfect cartwheel, landing on the grassy ground with her hand outstretched.

  However, she hadn't subconsiously taken into account how her gravitational centre had shifted over the years. So, basic physics dictated a single outcome. She'd topple over, which she had, directly on top of Yuuvia. The noble girl was pinned under Lizu's tail, the weight of which made it impossible for her to escape, but the look on her face suggested anything but escaping was present on her mind.

  "Huh... how tame," Inkaro murmured in relief, as a memory of a younger dragolyte popped into his mind: Lizu failing a backflip.

  Well, calling it a failed attempt would be a stretch; her kid self hadn't actually completed anything resembling a flip. In truth, all she'd managed to do was slip on the grass of her sprawling garden, bonking her cranium on a rock fixture, shattering the fixture in the process, and firing off a magic breath ability in shame that sent a kid Inkaro halfway across the city. Smiling all the way through his flight was the little Inkaro's response.

  "Ah, good times," Inkaro remarked, finding the chance to reminisce entertaining as G.Galore hovered past him and towards the girls in need of assistance.