Jan 10, 1884
Lucas was excited for class today. The school had even announced a one week grace period before challenges would start after news of the war was made public. This was probably good since he wasn't in the best state of mind thinking back.
Lucas POV
"I'm so glad the meeting with Liz's brother is over. I don't care for all that formal talk. Now let's see if Troy has made it to class yet." He mumbled to himself
He scanned the crowd of students entering Leo's classroom looking for Troy's black hair which he had recently cut short against Sasha's wishes. The thought of Sasha scowling at Troy was amusing to Lucas, making him smile. Not seeing him yet Lucas sat in his seat. A few seconds passed before Troy entered and sat next to Lucas. The two made small talk till Leo walked in the classroom and entered the center of the training ring.
"Since today is the last day before the weekend, today's class will be different."
Lucas had a feeling he wasn't going to like this.
Leo continued on "I'll let Lucas defend his spot against anyone who wishes to challenge him.
Once he heard this he was grateful that he hadn't slacked off on his training. Lucas raised his hand to ask Leo a question.
"Sir am I required to accept all of the challenges?"
Leo placed his hand on his chin in thought
"You can only deny three people till the end of class".
I couldn't help but smile at the thought of fighting. My practice sessions with Troy had been interesting. He was a good opponent but he wasn't my equal, not yet at least. I headed to the center of the ring while Leo headed to the side. Troy looked like he wanted to challenge me but he held himself back. Soon after a line of 10 people were standing to the side of the ring I guess these were the challengers.
The first to enter the ring was a bigger guy named Trent "I hope you're ready to lose that Title White". I couldn't help but chuckle as the hair on my arms stood up from sheer excitement. I smiled and said "Only to someone stronger than me."
Trent sneered at my comment and shifted to a massive wolf that was brown with traces of black fur. He wasn't as big as my wolf but I decided to let him have his moment. It wasn't quite a smooth transition for him and I could see Leo from the corner of my eye watching Trent as he shifted looking for ways he could improve his student.
Once he was done I began my shift where Trents wasn't smooth mine was perfectly transitioned Liz herself had called it graceful. My wolf by now matched my fathers in height with silver fur and silver eyes. It stood out among the crowd. It was apparent in Trent's eyes and the crowd that they weren't expecting the sheer size and aura of my wolf.
Leo stepped forward " As always in these types of matches the winner is decided by a full neck pin or another form of submission remember this isn't a life or death fight and those who lose control will be banned from any more matches for the year".
I and Trent both nodded in acknowledgement and then the fight started. Trent ran straight at me and attempted to tackle me. I dropped down at the last second and grabbed him by his neck and tossed him to the edge of the ring. He then got up and shook his fur and began approaching me much more warily this time. As soon as he got close enough I rammed him with my shoulder knocking him off balance and before he had a chance to roll over from his side I was on top of him pinning him by the neck to the ground. I began to squeeze till his breathing became more ragged and Leo called the match.
"And the winner by submission is Lucas, who's next?"
There were a few more matches afterwards but half of those who were ready to challenge me before the first match.Thought better of it and dropped out. Of the bunch that I did duel Trent did the best against me. But if Trent went against Troy, well Troy would be the winner between the two. He had natural talent and it wouldn't be long before he was my equal although he was smaller in size he made up for it in speed his aura was just as strong as well. Although Sasha wasn't too far behind Troy herself.
After the class ended I made my way to the school's arena where I had to accept 3 more challengers. This was the school's way of making sure the rankers didn't keep their spot by not fighting. They had to accept a certain number of challengers a week. That's only as long as there were challengers. There of course almost always was. One of those challengers was a heavier guy named Brody and the other two were a scrawny kid named Seth and a muscular girl called Beth. Of the three Beth did the best.
Beth's wolf was a gray and black color. Unfortunately she focused solely on strength. Which was good until you went against someone stronger than yourself. As I was.
After the match I was on my way to the showers when I spotted Troy walking up.
"Did you hear the news Lucas"? Troy smirked as he asked.
"I can't say that I have unless you're talking about the engagement but i don't think that's the news you're talking about."
Troys smirked turned into a toothy grin "Since you're now officially undefeated 6 - 0 people have started calling you the next Alpha."
I just looked at him like he was an Idiot which he is. "What's the deal with that?"
"I forgot you missed class that day. In class they went over some past events and other things. They explained more about the rankings in depth and we learned the first year rankers who make it 50 - 0 will get dinner with the king as well as if they're able to hold a 1st rank till the next year they will be the Alpha of their grade."
"What's the point of being an Alpha over your classmates"? I asked since it didn't make much sense to me after-all.
Troy looked confused "Well other than you being considered the leader of this grade in times of war when no adults are present. You're also the leader of missions we'll start getting as second years and automatically on the roster for volunteer missions as long as you pass the exam for it at least. There's no way you wouldn't. You also get to pick a prize from the school's treasury.".
I cut him off by saying "The prize part sounds tempting but the rest of it just seems like a hassle. I'll see you later Troy I'm about to hit the baths. Just a heads up James will be over for dinner so if you don't want to be bored to death over dinner you and Sasha may wanna grab something in town. It can be my treat since I've been having guests over too much lately".
Troy smiled wolfishly and replied "Well it would be rude to refuse an offer from a Noble of such high standing".
"You make me want to commit murder Troy just so you know" I mumbled in return but I knew he heard it
"Think of it as a way to train your tolerance." He replied before running off.
Once he was gone I headed into the bath house. I know the manor had its own private bath but the bathhouse had a spa in it as well. They burned some kinds of herbs to help revitalize the students. After I soaked for a while I got dressed in a set of clean clothes I had brought and headed home.
On the way I was challenged by that bratty Argontis Noble from the ball as well as One of the Fretum house kids. I explained to them it would be tomorrow but as I figured the Argontis threw a tantrum but Louis Fretum was understanding though so there's two of my three required matches for tomorrow maybe I'd move my stuff to the arena seeing as how much time I'm going to be spending their this year.