Stakes

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

Because she attended services and choir practice, Angie knew quite a few apprentices. However, since the church and the academy had no affiliation and there was a certain professional divide between mages and priests, she had no real friends here—only acquaintances who exchanged nods.

She was naturally not close to Du Pont either, but the pretty boy full of filthy thoughts had left far too deep an impression on her last Sunday. It would be difficult to forget him anytime soon.

"A second-circle spell, Mechanized Mind. While this spell is active, the target's brain operates like a machine. They no longer feel fear, and every action considers only the optimal solution—a purely rational mindset. However, this state can easily result in accidental injury or disability. It is recommended only in truly critical situations; otherwise, it is better to use other control spells to buy time."

"There is also a sixth-circle School of Transmutation spell called Combat Conversion. In this state, your body gains melee skills no worse than those of a martial class, greatly improving both attack and blocking chances. But most mages do not possess the abilities of martial classes, nor do they have the hundreds of close-combat experiences of high-level fighters. Trying to compete with martial classes in melee just because of this spell is foolish. Whether you are a conventional academy mage or a Battlemage, our most important combat strategy is always to use our brains, find the enemy's weakest critical point, and break through in one stroke."

"Alright, that is enough explanation for today. Does anyone want to come up and demonstrate apprentice-level melee techniques for everyone, to set an example?"

The instructor had not held out much hope when he said this. For many apprentices, this combat class was basically an extracurricular activity. Rather than honing their melee skills, they would rather slack off and rest their minds. Some even came only to check in before sneaking back to the dormitory to sleep.

For most apprentices, the proper path was to reach level five early, learn Fireball, and graduate. If they truly went adventuring and things turned dire, they could always use an Invisibility Spell to run away. Who cared about their teammates or anything else?

Staying alive was what mattered.

Yet, to the instructor's surprise, someone actually stepped forward voluntarily. He was a fat man about six feet tall. Dressed in a white shirt and green trousers, his exaggerated waistline was at least three and a half feet around. Among the third-years, he stood head and shoulders above the rest in both height and weight.

He scratched his face, which bore 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 Mage students before, but fighting is prohibited within the academy. I'd like to take this chance to exchange pointers with the Construction Mage students and resolve our differences. What do you think?"

The moment they heard this, the apprentices' gazes shifted from the fat ball to the Construction Mage group. Naturally, those dozen or so Construction Mage students knew about the conflict from last week, and they all turned to look at Du Pont and Charles.

Charles froze when he saw that Pete had come forward. He had clearly not expected those people to be so shameless. Even Du Pont's expression darkened, and he could not speak for a long while.

There was a saying: size was strength. Pete looked to weigh at least three hundred pounds, and the dragon scales on his skin suggested he was a Dragon Bloodline Sorcerer. His muscles and bones were likely far stronger than a human's.

Mage Armor increased one's basic defense, but protection like chainmail could resist cuts, not blunt force. If Pete swung a club at them, a fractured bone would be the least of their problems.

"Isn't this a little inappropriate?" Du Pont exchanged a glance with Charles, and the latter immediately shouted, "We're all third-year apprentices, but Pete has been stuck in the third year because of poor grades. He's already nineteen, nearly twenty, while the oldest among us is only fourteen. Isn't this an adult beating up children?"

Du Pont said nothing, but a familiar-looking classmate beside him also shouted, "We all saw what happened during the conflict. Slim Monkey was the one who started it with his loose mouth. Why isn't he stepping up now, instead finding someone else to fight for him? Isn't that just a coward getting bullied and running to find an adult, without even caring about his face?"

At those words, the other Construction Mage students immediately joined in. Pete was at a loss when he saw this, opening and closing his mouth without knowing what to say.

The instructor looked toward the School of Evocation and saw Conner's little group wearing grim expressions, exchanging looks as though they were discussing something with Message. He immediately grew impatient. "Every grievance has its source. Let that student come up, then."

Slim Monkey had no confidence in this at all. He regretted not picking someone more ordinary earlier, and he dragged his feet, refusing to take the stage. Seeing this, the instructor became furious and barked, "This is not a place for you to play house. Either come fight or admit you're scared and get out. Go find somewhere empty to spar on your own!"

Conner exchanged a look with Bran, and the latter stepped forward. "Instructor, our conflict is with those two. Isn't it reasonable for us to send Mount and Pete? They can send two people as well. Best two out of three."

Mount's expression remained ugly, but Bran's words had clearly received Conner's approval. He quickly walked to the center, stopped beside the instructor, and shot Du Pont and Charles a vicious look. "I'm here. You two had better not chicken out!"

Now, even the classmates who had originally spoken up for them could not say much. Du Pont and Charles exchanged a glance and were about to speak when Annie cut in, "Since they already have two people, this is fair enough. But since this is an exchange, everyone should know their limits. It would hurt the mood if anyone really got injured."

Du Pont and Charles had originally wanted to discuss a strategy, but at her words, they both looked at Annie. The girl did not dare meet their eyes and looked away instead. Mount laughed. "Since even your class monitor thinks it's fair, get up here. I dared to take the stage, so are you two still going to act like cowards? Don't tell me you don't even have the guts for a spar?"

"Heh. You've said a whole lot, but what fun is fighting without stakes?" Du Pont pointed at his feet. "Boots of Elvenkind. Rare grade, boosts stealth and lets you walk without a sound. They're worth around six hundred gold coins on the market. I'll put these shoes up against your little group's money as the stake. If you dare, put up the equivalent gold. If you don't dare fight, then get lost. I have no interest in wasting time with you."

Seeing the genuine magical boots, many of the onlookers were startled.

Although there were plenty of wealthy people in the academy, six hundred gold coins were still no small sum. It was enough to buy scrolls and submit tasks for three months. But aside from the immensely rich, even top students needed to copy scrolls unless they had become a mentor's personal apprentice.

If they truly had that kind of wealth, why would they come here to attend school and eat from the communal pot? Paying a little more each year would be enough to become a mentor's personal apprentice.

The moment they heard this, Conner and the others hesitated as well.

They could scrape together that amount of money, but was it really necessary?