Chapter 3: Elemental Power

"Ivory, this is your new Fiancé, Prince Kyle." Mother explained as soon as we finished the greetings.

Kyle… he was very good looking, I had to admit. With his light brown curls and sapphire eyes, it was clear why many girls would fall for him. In the otome game, Prince Kyle was defined to be charming and polite, which would cause many girls to fall for his gentle personality.

"We apologise." A butler and maid apologised, "The Queen and King are not here, as they have an important meeting. Instead, Prince Kyle's twin brother is here."

"Well in that case, why don't the kids spend some time together. Come on, dear, let's go." Mother stated, dragging Father off.

"Pleased to make your acquaintance." Prince Kyle smiled as the maids set up the table for tea, "Let's sit down and talk."

As we gathered around the table, I noticed Prince Kyle's twin reading a book, completely ignoring us. Prince Kyle's twin never appeared in the otome game, so I was unsure on how to approach him. Alright! I was going to completely ignore Prince Kyle, so he didn't have any memorable feelings towards me!

"Is that 'The Adventures of Janely.'?" I asked, eyes gleaming, completely forgetting my mission.

The boy's head shot up and his void, expressionless gold eyes glowed with excitement, "Yes! This is my seventh time reading this now! Do you like it?"

"Yep!" I exclaimed, the cheerful, sweet mask I had on, now ripping apart, "I have more books like that in the library. Let's go!"

***

As we sat in the quiet, spacious library room, we discussed different theories of how the last book in the series would end.

"No way." I denied, crossing my arms, "Janely will definitely not die, or the book will lose too many readers."

"You're right." He sighed, "But, Janely's younger sister, Janet, could easily replace her, because she's just as popular with the readers."

"No, no, no." I argued, "Janet doesn't have the same vibe, she's more of a demure, timid girl."

"I guess you're right." He finally gave in, "By the way, have you read the new book of 'The Adventures of Janely.' yet?"

"Yup." I nodded, "It's so good! But I don't think the ship with Janely and Daniel, works out that great."

"Shush!" he gasped, "I haven't bought the book yet!"

"You haven't read it?!" I wheezed, "I'm sincerely disappointed in you as a fellow reader. You have to read it!"

I ran to the back of the library and shoved it towards his chest,

"You can return it later." I offered, "But you better tell me what you think of the Janely and Daniel ship!"

"Sure!" He grinned back, "I'll try to finish it as soon as possible!"

He flipped open the book, his raven black curls rustling. Honestly, he reminded me of a panther, with his gold eyes and black hair.

"Analyse." I muttered under my breathe.

________________________________________________________________

· Prince: (Raven)

· Bookworm, Rank C: level 45/100

· Shuriken, Rank D: level 15/100

· Hiding, Rank C: level 46/100

________________________________________________________________

"Dismiss." I whispered.

Come to think of it, I still had not asked for his name. He must have liked reading a lot, because his level for reading was impressive for a five-year-old child. But, in this otome game, most princes were expected to be at least an amateur at sword mastery at his age.

"So, what's your name?" I asked.

"Prince Raven." He replied, his long black eyelashes bordering his gold eyes as he glanced at me, "But I prefer it if you call me Raven, calling me prince sounds too rigid."

Gahhh ! Why was he so good-looking?!

"Do you like sword fighting?" I asked innocently, staring out the window, where my brother and Prince Kyle were sparring.

"Sword fighting?" Raven laughed, "Pfft! Don't be silly! Although, my brother is average at sword, he's quite good at archery. I dabble a bit in shuriken, since it doesn't require me to use run around, unlike sword. I'm not required to learn sword, since my older twin brother, Prince Kyle, will be the next King."

Apparently, he was quite good at hiding. I had noticed earlier, he was using his brother as a shield, as though, everyone would notice his brother and not him.

"Oh no." Raven peered out the window. "Isn't your brother the sword prodigy? Brother's going to lose, and he hates losing. He's going to force me to practise with him later on."

***

"Honestly, sis." Luke shook his head, laughing under his breathe. "You've already made twenty new recipes for your café, like sushi and fanta. You don't need to make anymore; you're going to become a billionaire after this."

"There's no such thing as 'too many recipes." I argued stubbornly, continuing to sketch new ideas of food into my planning book.

Truth to be told, I had been saving up money for a specific thing. As soon as Luke left the room to do his morning sword lessons, I stood up.

"Upgrades." I stated.

________________________________________________________________

Money: 1872 gold pieces

UPGRADES:

Strength: level 2

Speed: level 3

Intelligence: level 5

Beauty: level 7

Magic: level 1

________________________________________________________________

There was an experiment I wanted to try, and I had gathered some gold from the café to do this. I pressed on 'Strength' and it changed to level 3 and a single gold piece disappeared from my 'money' section.

Wait. Was this seriously going to work?

So… if I click spammed the 'Intelligence' button, I would never need to study ever again?

***

Luke:

I had been doing an hour of sword training and was having my ten-minute break. I wondered if Ivory could play with me. As I walked near her room, I noticed the door was left open.

"Sis?" I asked, looking through the doorway, "Do you want to pl-?"

I saw her tapping air in front of her face, continuously and intensely.

*Blink*

I rubbed my eyes to make sure I was seeing right.

My adorable little, twin sister, who was a beam of sunshine, was tapping air in front of her face like a psycho.

Hmm…

I was going to take a trip to the optometrist before I visited Ivory again.

***

That had taken a while…

"Upgrades." I repeated.

________________________________________________________________

Money: 1487 gold

UPGRADES:

Strength: level 100

Speed: level 100

Intelligence: level 100

Beauty: level 7

Magic: level 100

________________________________________________________________

Done! All that was next was the magic examination that was scheduled soon.

The only 6 possible elements I could have was,

Light: A healing power, only effective in combat to fight against darkness.

Earth: An offense yet defensive power.

Water: Has healing properties as well, though, not as strong as Light. However, this is more suitable in fighting than Light.

Shadow: Offensive and defensive.

Fire: Offensive

Wind: Offensive and defensive.

Apparently, a child's magic would be determined by a fortune teller. A fortune teller would spectate the future to see which power would help us the most, good or bad, and examine of personality. Most likely, a kind person who wanted to save lives, not hurt them, would be water. A quiet person who just wanted to hide away from the world, would probably get shadow.

"Honneeeey?" Mother chirped, "Come downstairs, the fortune teller has arrived."

As I stepped down the stairs, I noticed a beautiful teenager, clad with silver and blue silks as well as silvery hair that seemed to glow.

"It's a pleasure to meet you, Lady Ivory." She greeted, "I'm sorry, but may everyone except Lady Ivory, leave this room?"

As everyone departed, the fortune teller revealed a clear gem, dotted with white diamonds.

"Please hold this in your writing hand." She requested, holding out the crystal. "You may lose consciousness as the gem and I need the barriers of you mind unguarded, to understand which element suits you.

As soon as she uttered those words, I felt a pang in my head, like something was trying to rip open my head. I bit on my tongue to stop myself from screaming. My vision wavered and I felt my body thud onto the chair behind me.

If I died today, I was going to haunt that fortune teller and boil the gem and eat it out of spite.

As I blacked out, I dreamed. I dreamed of my past life, my friends, my parents who lost both kids the exact same year, my brother. But then suddenly, my vision flashed, and I saw my body, from the other world, stretched on a bed in the hospital. Dead, unmoving. My two friends were huddled in the corner, their faces blanched and terrified, whereas my other friend comforted my parents. My parents were beside themselves; they were screaming about how all their children died and how they were failures as parents.

It was painful to watch.

Suddenly, white light flashed, and I woke up.

"Welcome back." The fortune teller smiled. "You've been out for two hours."

She held the crystal in her hands, different vibrant colours swarming inside.

"So, do you know what element I have?" I asked.

"According to the crystal and your persona, I believe…" The fortune teller began.