Midday Nap

After eating, Su Ye felt only about seventy percent full, realizing he had ordered too little, and then his gaze drifted toward Hote.

Su Ye was dumbfounded.

Hote was patting his stomach, his expression somewhat disappointed.

"You... finished eating?"

"Ah." Hote's reply was utterly natural.

The trays in front of Hote slowly extended their legs, jumped off the table, and walked out of the dining hall, where Pig Goblins took them away.

Su Ye had originally thought Hote couldn't finish it all, but not only did Hote eat faster than him, he also ate cleaner.

"I'll order a bit more, I'm not full." Afraid the afternoon classes would be heavy, Su Ye ordered half his previous amount.

"Alright, I'll eat with you." Hote said generously, then swiped down on the Magic Book's menu.

In Su Ye's terrified peripheral vision, Hote swiped through a third of it.

"Yeah, gotta eat less, getting too fat might affect my promotion to apprentice." Hote muttered while ordering.

Su Ye remained silent.

New food arrived quickly.

"Eats more than a pig!" the Pig Goblins muttered as they walked by.

This time, Hote again finished first with absolute dominance.

"Haven't had a nine-tenths full meal in a long time..." Hote's face was full of bliss.

Su Ye thought back carefully and realized that last year's Hote seemed to eat even more.

Su Ye had a habit of meditating at noon, usually meditating before eating, as digesting food made meditation less effective.

"Meditation at noon is ruined, I'll just meditate during Meditation Class in the afternoon." Su Ye thought to himself, feeling a bit sleepy.

Hote stood up and said, "Come on, let's go to the arena and see what there is to play."

"Alright." Su Ye also wanted to experience the Plato Academy.

Soon, Su Ye arrived at the arena area and found it already very lively.

Though called an arena, it was actually a large flat ground, divided into different sections by magical markers.

Su Ye had thought everyone would engage in light sports after lunch.

But when he looked at the various sections, the senior warriors were like magical beasts—sprinting, discus throwing, long jump, javelin, horseback riding, chariot driving, wrestling, grappling, boxing...

"I've heard before that ancient Greece was a land of games, holding competitions for happy occasions, sad occasions, big events, small events—just like that ancient Eastern country where every festival is a food festival. Seems true now."

Su Ye was quite interested in ancient Greek boxing, so he walked over to the boxing ring to watch.

He noticed that boxing in this era already had the rudiments of later forms, but there were still many differences, especially in footwork and defense, which were not fully developed.

However, their offense was very fierce.

Standing outside the ring of two Black Iron Warriors, a crowd of students shouted loudly.

"Fascola, kill that son of a bitch!"

"Harmos, kill him!"

A bunch of over-energized warrior students stood outside the ring, waving their arms and howling.

What amazed Su Ye the most was that a few mages had tied their magic robes around their waists, bare-chested and shouting like the warriors, with equally muscular physiques.

Su Ye looked at the new muscles on his own body. Was this... an ancient Greek tradition? The two Black Iron Warriors didn't use any divine power, only relying on physical strength to fight. Soon, both were bruised and swollen, blood streaming from their nostrils and corners of their mouths, yet they still fought ferociously.

Fist to flesh, blood and sweat splattering.

"Fierce!" Su Ye sighed inwardly, feeling an itch in his heart from the fight, almost wanting to jump in.

Fortunately, Su Ye suppressed the thought. He was a mage, not a warrior! All paths are inferior, only magic is supreme! "Eh?"

Out of the corner of his eye, Su Ye noticed that Pallas was also watching the boxing match, but standing far away, still with that cold expression, faintly showing a hint of disdain.

Bang! One person took a solid hit to the chin, rolled his eyes back, and passed out.

"Ooh..."

The victor howled, raised his hands high, his face fierce, and walked around the boxing ring with a swaggering gait, displaying his strength like a lion.

"Beautiful!"

A group of people cheered and rushed up, lifting the victor together, tossing him into mid-air, catching him, tossing him up again...

"These beasts aren't afraid of puking up their lunch..."

Su Ye completely couldn't understand their madness.

"But then again, only like this can Athens stay strong, I suppose."

Just then, someone shouted, "Hote, want to play? Of course, we'll use some divine power appropriately."

"I only play with those who don't use divine power." Hote stood with arms crossed, grinning innocently.

"Then what's the point!" A bunch of Black Iron Warriors rolled their eyes.

"By the way, Hote, when will you advance to Black Iron?"

"A few more years." Hote's gaze was filled with helplessness, his smile gone.

"Poor guy!" A group of Black Iron Warriors and Black Iron Mages shook their heads helplessly.

"Hey little fledgling, come up and play." The over-energetic upperclassmen turned in unison, staring at Suye like tigers eyeing sheep.

Suye gave them a blunt glare, then turned and walked elsewhere.

"When I advance to Black Iron, I'll crush you all!" Suye shouted.

The upperclassmen burst into friendly laughter.

Suye's surface was calm, but inside, a torrent raged—these upperclassmen were absolute beasts!

Their footwork and defense were mediocre, but their offense was ferocious. Even that guy who just lost could beat Tyson at his Peak Condition into the ground.

And that was without either side using divine power.

These upperclassmen here were clearly just average. The truly strongest batch of upperclassmen surely included Bronze Warriors, and some might have even advanced to Silver Warrior.

"Now this is interesting!"

Suye felt an even greater urgency to advance.

Suye didn't overdo his studies. Instead, he used the midday time to walk through all the important places of Plato Academy, gaining a clearer understanding of it.

However, during that time, Suye noticed a few people looking at him with strange eyes. When he looked back, they quickly averted their gaze.

"Could they be people I've offended before?"

Suye didn't dwell on it. Since he had survived last night, it meant he was safe for the short term.

Seeing that time was about right, Suye walked back while pondering what to do next.

"I clearly have three directions. One is learning magic knowledge, two is training magic abilities, and three is making money. How should I choose?"

Suye thought for a moment, then quickly walked back to the classroom, opened his Magic Book, and started drawing grids again, dividing the page into five large sections.

On the far Left Side, a vertical column listed Magic Knowledge, Training, and Making Money.

The four vertical columns on the Right Side were "Short-Term Gain," "Short-Term Loss," "Long-Term Gain," and "Long-Term Loss."

Suye first analyzed Magic Knowledge.

Short-Term Gain: Grades, good mindset, sense of achievement, motivation, satisfaction, recognition from teachers and classmates.

Short-Term Loss: Time, exhaustion.

Long-Term Gain: Profound knowledge, solid foundation, broader room for growth, potential monetary gains, more respect, getting closer to the dream.

Long-Term Loss: A girlfriend?

Suye looked at it, felt it was a bit sparse, so he began thinking deeper, constantly filling in or erasing.

After one class period, Suye finally made a basic judgment on the three aspects.