Wager

Hearing Du Pont's voice, Angie quietly rolled her eyes.

Because she attended church services and the choir, Angie knew quite a few apprentices. However, since the Church and the Academy weren't affiliated, and there was a certain professional divide between Mages and Priests, she didn't have any real friends here, mostly just nodding acquaintances.

She wasn't exactly familiar with Du Pont either, but the handsome young man with his head full of dirty thoughts had left a very deep impression on her last Sunday, making it hard to forget him so quickly.

"The second-circle spell Mechanized Mind. During this spell, the subject's brain operates like a machine, devoid of fear, and every action is considered with pure, rational thought for the optimal solution. However, this can very likely lead to accidental injuries. It's recommended only in extremely critical situations; otherwise, other control spells are better for delaying the situation."

"The sixth-circle School of Transmutation spell has a spell called Combat Conversion. In this state, your body will possess melee skills no less than a combat class. The probability of both attacking and blocking will increase significantly. However, most mages don't possess the abilities of combat classes, nor do they have the hundreds of close combat experiences of high-level combat classes. It's foolish to rely on this spell to compete with combat classes in melee. Whether we're normal academic mages or Battlemages, our most important combat strategy is always to use our brains, find the enemy's weakest key point, and break through the enemy in one fell swoop."

"Alright, that's enough explanation for today. Are there any students who would like to demonstrate apprentice-level melee skills for everyone, to set an example?"

The instructor didn't have high hopes when he said this. For many apprentices, this combat class was basically an extracurricular activity. Honing melee skills was less appealing than relaxing and letting their brains rest. There were even those who just signed in and secretly went back to their dorms to rest.

For most apprentices, becoming a level 5 Mage early and learning Fireball to graduate was the most correct growth path for an apprentice. If the situation was critical during an adventure, they could just use Invisibility Spell to run away, regardless of their teammates.

Surviving themselves was what really mattered.

However, to the instructor's surprise, someone actually volunteered this time. He was a large man, about six feet tall, with an exaggerated waistline of at least three and a half feet in his white shirt and green pants. Among the third-year students, he was definitely a standout in terms of both height and weight.

He scratched his face, which had red dragon scales, and said in a muffled voice, "Instructor, I'm Pete from the School of Evocation. We had some conflicts with the Construction Mages before, but fighting is forbidden in the Academy. I'd like to take this opportunity to communicate with the Construction Mages and resolve the conflict. What do you think?"

As soon as the apprentices heard this, their gazes shifted from the fat ball to the Construction Mages. The dozen or so Construction Mages knew all about the conflict that had happened last week and all looked at Du Pont and Charles.

Charles was stunned when he saw that Pete was the one who came up. He obviously didn't expect these guys to be so shameless. Even Du Pont's face was unsightly, and he couldn't say anything for a long time.

There's a saying that a big body doesn't suffer losses. This Pete looked like he weighed at least 300 pounds, and his skin had dragon scales, so he was probably a Dragon Bloodline Sorcerer. His bones were much stronger than humans.

Mage Armor increased basic armor, but the protection was similar to chainmail, defending against cuts but not blunt force. If he was hit with a club, a bone fracture would be considered light.

"Isn't this a bit inappropriate?" Du Pont and Charles exchanged glances, and the latter immediately shouted, "We're all third-year apprentices, but this Pete has been held back in the third year because he's bad at studying. He's almost 20 years old now, and we're at most 14 years old. Isn't this an adult beating a child?"

Du Pont didn't speak, but a familiar classmate next to him also shouted, "We all saw the conflict at the time. It was Slim Monkey, that chatterbox, who started it. Why isn't he going up now, but finding someone else to fight for him? Isn't that just a coward who's been bullied and is looking for an adult? He doesn't even want his face anymore!"

Hearing him say this, the other Construction Mages immediately protested. Pete looked a little at a loss at this scene, opening and closing his mouth but not knowing what to say.

The instructor looked towards the School of Evocation and saw that Conner's group had unsightly expressions, looking at each other as if they were discussing something using telepathy. He immediately felt a little impatient: "An eye for an eye, a tooth for a tooth. Then let that classmate come up."

Slim Monkey had no confidence in this. He regretted it, knowing that he should have found a normal person to go up. He hesitated and refused to go on stage, but the instructor was immediately unhappy when he saw this and scolded, "This isn't a place for you to play house. Either come and fight or admit defeat and get lost. Find a deserted place to practice on your own!"

Conner exchanged glances with Bran, and the latter took a step forward: "Instructor, we do have conflicts with these two people, so it's reasonable to send Mount and Pete, right? They can also send those two up, best two out of three."

Mount's face was still unsightly after hearing this, but Bran's words must have been approved by Conner, so he quickly came to the middle, walked to the instructor's side, and glared fiercely at Du Pont and Charles, provoking, "I'm here, you two better not be cowards!"

The classmates in the same department who had originally supported them found it difficult to say anything more. Du Pont and Charles exchanged glances and were about to speak when Annie interjected, "Since the other party has already sent two people, then this is very fair. But since it's an exchange, you must be careful with your attacks. It would hurt the harmony if there were any real problems."

Du Pont and the other were originally planning a countermeasure, but when they heard this, they all looked at Annie. The girl didn't dare to meet their eyes and looked to the side, while Mount laughed, "Since your class monitor feels it's fair, then come on up. How come I dare to go on stage, but you're still being cowards? Don't you even have the guts for a friendly spar?"

"Heh, you've said a bunch of nonsense. Isn't it boring to just fight?" Du Pont said, pointing to his feet, "Boots of Elvenkind, a rare item that increases stealth and makes walking silent, market price around 600 Gold Coins. I'll use these shoes as a bet against your little group. If you dare, then take out the corresponding Gold Coins. If you don't dare to fight, then get out of here. I really have no interest in wasting time with you."

Looking at the genuine magic boots, many onlookers were a little surprised.

Although there were many rich people in the Academy, 600 Gold Coins was still not a small amount. It was enough to use for three months just to collect scrolls and submit tasks. But besides the super-rich families, even the top students, as long as they hadn't become a Mentor's private apprentice, who didn't need to copy scrolls?

If they really had that kind of strength, why would they come here to attend school and eat from the big pot? It would be enough to pay a little more each year and become a Mentor's private apprentice.

Hearing this, Conner and the others also hesitated.

They could scrape together the money, but was it really necessary to do so?