Ten days were left before the deadline and James had aged considerably over the past few months. When Adam first met him, he was a dashing young man, but now he was a balding old man. Mages used magic to maintain their youthful appearance but James was too depressed to upkeep his appearance.
He slumped on the ground and waited for Adam to complete the untested meditation method, and anxiety washed over him. After so many years of research and hard work, it was for nothing. After all, he was talentless; it was wishful thinking from him to think that he could qualify to become a mage using only his mental strength.
"I want to die... I'll just die silently here..." James muttered, accidentally shredding his experiment reports with his magic.
Adam's mental strength collapsed again, sending the room into a disarray. Adam shook his head, "It's still not possible. I need to try again."
James stared at him, despair coating his eyes, "Forget it. Don't come tomorrow. I'm a failure. This laboratory will be open to the other people wishing to use it in ten days."
It didn't even seem like James was talking anymore; his words barely registering in his own ears. Adam frowned, wanting to speak up, but James interrupted, "Come collect your salary after ten days, and if you refuse, I'll put it directly into your power stone balance. I'll leave after that."
Adam swallowed, "Where will you go?"
James smiled sadly, "Probably leave the Mage Continent, find another continent, start a family. Then, my story will be over, I guess." With a flick of his hand, his optical projectors in the lab turned off, and he disintegrated his reports on the table. The lab was shrouded in darkness, and Adam could hear James whisper, "Adam, please, don't follow my path -- you're different... you're strong; I have already experienced the touch of magic, but you... you need to experience it fully. Leave me, now."
Adam reluctantly walked out of the lab; his words stuck in his throat. He wanted to tell James that after toiling away for two months, he had already come to a consistent meditation method, but it would take a few days for him to test it out. No matter, he thought, ten days was more than enough time for him to sort it out.
...
In the last three months, the apprentices have matured a lot -- fights amongst apprentices were common, a day at the academy was extremely dangerous considering the amount of apprentices who swore that they were the descendants of the gods. In just three months, many apprentices banded together to form groups in order to protect themselves.
Most of them were incredibly poor, and everyone would scramble to the Task Hall to complete some missions. However, most of the tasks were unsuitable for apprentices, and the doable tasks were scarce -- there was no way to meet the needs of nearly a hundred apprentices.
That is the reason why fights were incredibly common, and the formal mages turned a blind eye to it. Powerful apprentices ruled the weak.
Adam's former friends were still united together, since no other groups were willing to take them in despite their proficiency -- William had already mastered three kinds of fire magic; Ophelia was already a great Refiner, but she was still bullied since they were considered a minority in the world of mages.
Conflict broke out in the Task Hall -- the job paid for two units of power stones, which was enough for a meal. Randy ran over to accept the quest, but another local apprentice (coincidentally, it was the person who looked down upon him) wanted the job as well. They soon learnt that his name was Sean, who was the son of two senior apprentices.
"Commoners from a third-world country like you have no right to earn power stones -you'll use it up in a single day like the dirty beggar you are," Sean snickered, and his companions behind him laughed at Randy.
"Get out of the way Sean, or face my wrath!" Randy threatened.
"Hah! Are you guys hearing this? This dog wants to teach me a lesson! Guess what -- I heard that you are a Curse Magic user, so what are you going to do, curse me? Your useless magic won't even make me flinch," Sean taunted, pressing his finger against Randy's chest.
Randy clenched his fist, veins bulging. Sean knew he hit a low-blow -- Randy's curse magic was too niche to be considered good, so he was unable to cast magic continuously.
"Curse you, bastard!" Randy lost his mind and rushed towards Sean, seeing red. Quentin hurriedly grabbed him and restrained him.
Sean snickered and took the quest for himself.
The senior apprentices didn't care for the scene before them. They were used to it anyway.
Randy huffed and puffed, unable to calm his emotions, "Duel with me, bastard."
The Task Hall immediately turned silent -- most conflicts were simply bark, and it never escalated beyond that. This was the first time that an official duel has been challenged.
Sean turned around immediately in disbelief, "What did you say?"
Randy broke free of Quentin's grasp, who begged him to stop, "Duel me bastard!"
Sean's panic was overwritten by rage, and he roared, "Let us fight then! If you want to die this badly, allow it to be in my hands!"
...
This duel immediately became the hot topic among the apprentices, but Adam didn't care for it. Adam continued his mundane life of staying in his dorm and studying in the library, but Elliot kept gossiping to him.
"Speaking of which, aren't you from the same country as that apprentice with curse magic?" Elliot asked.
"Well," Adam replied, studying [A Discussion on the Stability of Runes]. "I guess I am."
Elliot smiled, "I overheard that he was going to duel with someone today, don't you want to go and watch?"
"Whatever," Adam muttered. He was too focused on reading his book.
Elliot continued to pester him, "Come on, don't you want to support your friend? Let's go!"
Adam frowned, staring at Elliot, "No. I don't want to."
"Why?" Elliot questioned. "This is the first duel in months, aren't you at least a bit curious?"
"Boring. I'm very close to reaching a breakthrough in my research -- besides, what's so interesting about their duel, anyways? They are simply going to stand opposite of each other and stare, spending minutes trying to build their combat runes." Adam rambled.
"Oh," Elliot gagged. "I guess you are right, but it's on the way anyways, you might as well watch it."
Adam could tell Elliot wanted some company -- fortunately for him, his system was already calculating the possible rune combinations in the background, so he might as well watch the duel.
Along the way, Elliot kept bragging about his affinity for poison, able to subdue even the most powerful apprentices who dared to challenge him.
While they were walking to the duel site, the apprentices greeted Elliot, and were surprised upon seeing Adam walking beside him, wondering how someone who was rumoured to be lazy could get so close to the Pharmacy tutor.
