The morning consisted of 10 rounds of duels, with 30 minute breaks every 3 rounds allowing Seraphine and Aurelius to barely recover enough to continue with the battles.

  All in all, it was around 9 AM that the last duel came to pass, 3 hours after the start of their duels. And by the end, even Seraphine seemed exhausted, with her eyelids drooping noticeably in fatigue.

  Aurelius fared similarly, albeit a little better, given that he was using much, much less magic than Seraphine was. Not for a lack of trying, mind you, but because he could not, for the life of him, find an opening to fight back.

  “Hmm, decent performance from both of you, especially since it really should be your first duels.” Ms. Yeltz commented at the two corpse-like students on the floor, taking down notes on her notepad.

  “Thank you Ms. Yeltz.” Seraphine gasped out, hairs plastered on her cheeks thanks to the waterfalls of sweat that crashed down her entire face.

  “Mhm, you’re definitely doing better than I expected, even with your restricted use of magic. You’re a talented girl, Dwayne.” The sage complimented, causing Seraphine’s already flushed face to turn a deeper red than it had been just before.

  “You’re doing well to battle aggressively. You do lack the fine control with the basic magic that I would like to see, but it is quite impressive how you manage to create openings with quick, decisive maneuvers."

  “On top of that, your defensive skills are excellent for a mage of your level. You manage to defend with your Aegis and do it effortlessly with enviable reaction speed. I’m impressed to see that a young academy student like you had put in the effort to bring your skills to this level. Great job.”

  Aurelius was acutely aware of what his mentor was referring to. After all, he had learned it through a series of HORRENDOUS pummelling over the last 3 hours.

  Seraphine, the moment she locked onto Aurelius in the dueling area, would turn from a cheerful teenage girl into a feral monster.

  She had zero regard for Aurelius’s attacks, with absolute faith that she could block anything and everything that Aurelius could throw at her.

  And she was absolutely right

  Aegis seemed to be her signature spell, created at her beck and call precisely at the moment of impact, showing off amazing efficiency in conjuring the spell for mere seconds at a time.

  Furthermore, she was able to adjust the size and shape of her shields to match the projectiles to reduce the strain on her body with her incredible battle instinct.

  This kind of efficiency and efficacy was on par with even High Mages despite her youth and single layered soul-shape.

  Aurelius would even have personally admitted that he was impressed with her skills right then and there to add to the conversation. However, the girl had absolutely BEAT HIM DOWN over the past 3 hours, and he was currently in no shape to even speak.

  “Auhgghuhfu.” Aurelius groaned on the ground, with himself also not quite sure of the contents of the strange gargling sound that had originated from his mouth.

  He had just been healed again by Sylven, and he was in a nebulous state of mind, still groggy from his recent revitalisation from his last injury.

  Even though she had been pushing herself to her absolute limits, Seraphine had managed to send two mana bullets into his torso just minutes prior, and that had… hurt quite a bit.

  “You’ll be fine.” Sylven commented, sensing Aurelius’s discomfort as she used her paws to massage Aurelius’s cheeks.

  The tale has been illicitly lifted; should you spot it on Amazon, report the violation.

  The sage, conjuring away a notepad, turned her attention back to Aurelius.

  “Hmm, as for you, my… apprentice, it seems that your brain isn’t just full of insults and sarcasm.” The sage remarked gratingly.

  “You’ve shown quite decent adaptability in your fights, and you seem to have quite the instincts to disrupt the flow of battle with strategic decisions and unique displays of your magic.”

  “You’ve consistently boosted your mobility and jumps with your best spell, Locomotion, and you have a decent grasp over Disruption. However, Aegis clearly is something you need to work on.”

  Aurelius was taken aback by such… unexpectedly kind words. And it didn’t take long for his mentor to snap back into her usual brutal, harsh and absolutely critical tone that was the norm when it came to Aurelius and his sorry ass.

  “Regardless, going 0-10 is nothing to be proud of.”

  “Approaching Seraphine’s approach of hyperaggression with a more attrition focused approach, distancing yourself from her reach and engaging in passive battle was a choice you stuck to throughout the 10 rounds.”

  “This would work remarkably well if the two of you were evenly matched in a head-to-head fight, and maybe even allow increased odds to an underdog opponent.”

  “However, let’s be clear here. You’re not an underdog. You’re a bloody pup that’s just got off of suckling on your mother’s teat. Meaning, you had absolutely no chance at winning with such a strategy.”

  “For someone like you, the odds of dealing a decisive blow decreases over time. For a situation where survival is on the line, your goal is to avoid such battles.”

  “That means an equal amount, if not higher amounts of aggression against your opponent. One where you stake your life on the battle and its outcome.”

  “Such gambles are much more likely to yield a result where the opponent is forced to fold their bluff, or taken by surprise.”

  “Seraphine’s strategy in this case, is the prime example of every good mage, at least in the aspects of battle.”

  “I know that we’ve confined the fight to a 12m by 12m area. This is simply because of the fact that fights only should occur when absolutely unavoidable. If faced with an opponent who has expressed a willingness to fight, you must run.”

  “However, when it becomes inescapable, whether due to the situation or due to your terrain, you must bite down with grit to face the opponent, and stare death in the face.”

  “To give your opponent no openings means continuous attacks, and defenses with the most comfortable and efficient spells. Do take that away from our session today.” The sage concluded, kneeling down besides Aurelius to observe his state.

  With a snap of her fingers, two vials of viscous, blood-red liquid appeared in her hand.

  She carefully laid a vial down next to Aurelius’s face, with a face that showed incredible reluctance.

  Aurelius recognised the vials.

  Relief potions!

  Magic could be used for healing, and was capable of healing countless injuries and sickness in modern day.

  The healing magic involved required using mana to stimulate the soul to accelerate the process of the body’s recovery.

  However, the amount of capability in mana manipulation required in the process was too difficult for most human mages.

  That meant that humanity relied on two methods of general medical infrastructure; spirits and potions.

  While the churches contracted numerous spirits and bound them to church property lines, consecrating the grounds into clinical use, the merchants and magic houses produced potions.

  While recovery from fatigue taking time was an unavoidable fact of life, one could reduce the muscle aches, headaches and sense of weakness that came with overexertion of one’s body with a relief potion.

  They acted on the body itself, derived from monster and herbal parts, they ranged from cheap to incredibly expensive.

  A drawback was that it was rather unpleasant in taste, and non-mages rarely drank it given the fact that it had nutrients and calories worth around a week’s worth of meals in a single vial.

  “This… This is like not cheap, kids. Don’t let it go to waste.” The sage said gruffly, as she passed one to Seraphine as well.

  The moment that Aurelius opened the vial, a pungent smell of rust and general nastiness filled the air.

  However, such a smell was almost welcoming for Aurelius, who was acutely aware of the effect that the lovely, lovely vial was about to have on his battered body.

  And with a thankful stare at the sage, Aurelius used his numb hands to bring it to his mouth.

  However, that was when the unfortunate realisation came as to how much the fight had screwed with his coordination.

  All 4 people in the gym stared in horror as the vial missed Aurelius’s mouth and spilled onto the floor next to him.