One Goal

The behaviour of the Gryphon Academy magic apprentices could be explained by the impetus brought about by their young ages.

But the same could be said of the Sand Academy magic apprentices, so how could they continue to take this lying down?

"How noisy! The food here sure is good, but it's too bad that the good food also attracts animals who don't even know how to have their meal properly, having to obey their beastly instincts to keep barking and growling," one of the Sand Academy magic apprentices started.

"Oh lower your voice, Richard! Beasts might not understand the Human Tongue, but what if they get attracted by loud noises and follow you home? We certainly don't want such a brainless new addition to the Sand Academy!" another was quick to react and chimed in quickly.

"Ah, you're right, Hamlin! I didn't think of that before, thank god you reminded me!" Richard, the one who first spoke, quickly lowered his voice, but definitely not enough to mask it from the ears of everyone else present.

Krill definitely wasn't anticipating this response, and was flabbergasted upon hearing their conversation.

Where did they think they were? They were seated right in the canteen of Gryphon Academy! Were they not aware that they were currently surrounded by the magic apprentices of Gryphon Academy?

However, what he didn't consider was the fact that unlike him, the apprentices from Sand Academy did not attack the entirety of the other school. Even though they were both making snide remarks, the Sand Academy apprentices only targeted Krill as an individual.

Thus, while the other Gryphon Academy apprentices were slightly stunned at that retort, they weren't especially riled up because of it.

The Sand Academy apprentices, however, were definitely pissed off.

Krill was no idiot. After spending a moment observing the expressions on everyone present, he could tell that it was basically him going against the whole of the Sand Academy at the moment.

But what did he have to be afraid of?

If Krill could be daunted so easily, then he wouldn't have been known for being a troublemaker at all. He knew very well that even though he was outnumbered, there was nothing that the other party could do to him!

If the Sand Academy apprentices wanted to physically gang up on him, the other Gryphon Academy apprentices would probably step in to interfere. It would also escalate this matter to a level that the professors would have to get involved. So it was unlikely that the other party would be this rash.

If the Sand Academy apprentices wanted to challenge him to a proper fight, he was a second year apprentice! He was confident that he would be able to deal with any of these freshmen!

"Hahaha! What a good attempt to divert attention away from their own inferiority! Even I almost fell for it! As expected of inferior academies, they sure know how to package themselves in a way that they won't have to admit how inferior they actually are!" Krill laughed as he raised his voice even further.

"Don't you think that you have gone far enough?" one of the Sand Academy magic apprentices finally could not contain himself any longer, standing up from his seat and faced Krill directly as he spoke.

"Oh? Looks like there is one of you with some form of guts, but what about it? What I speak of is nothing but the truth!" Krill sneered condescendingly.

"We will know if that is the truth after you beat me in a fight."

Krill was truly caught off guard by that response. He looked down at his apprentice robe and clearly saw the two bars embroidered at his chest area which gave away the fact that he was a second year.

Was this guy serious?

"I know that you are a second year apprentice, but trash like you are probably ranked at the bottom of the second years anyway. There is no advantage that you have over me," the Sand Academy apprentice saw Krill's actions, but was completely unbothered.

"Hahaha! You bunch of idiots really do make my day!" Krill laughed out loud once again. "Fine then! Let's go to the fighting platform! I will show you your place!"

Krill stomped out of the canteen and, after making sure that the Sand Academy apprentice was following behind, headed straight to the nearest fighting platform.

The Gryphon Academy was a school that mainly taught about the use of magic, and in this world where strength largely dictated your fate, the most significant use of magic was for combat! And what better way to improve than to directly hone your skills in battle?

Thus the academy naturally had areas that were specially designed for fights to take place. These fighting platforms were usually used for spars, but when there were conflicts among apprentices, it was not an uncommon practice to settle the matter through a fight on the fighting platform as well.

Krill and the Sand Academy apprentice quickly walked up the fighting platform and stood facing each other from opposite ends of the fighting platform. Sand Academy was a magic academy as well, and its apprentices would naturally be familiar with fighting platforms too.

Almost all the magic apprentices who were in the canteen followed the two to the fighting platform, standing around below the platform. They were all curious to see how everything was about to pan out.

Right now, Sam was among those who were standing below the fighting platform, watching with mixed feelings as the fight was about to start.

He despised Krill's personality in taunting the opponents, but if he were to be defeated, that would mean a first year apprentice of Sand Academy defeated a second year apprentice of Gryphon Academy!

That would deal a great blow to the prestige of Gryphon Academy, affecting the morale of the Gryphon Academy freshmen even before the ranking tournament!

"Why didn't you wait for me!"

A familiar voice suddenly called out to him from behind, causing Sam to spin around in surprise.

"Elise! You are here too?" Sam exclaimed upon seeing that familiar face behind him, then his eyes turned to the guy beside Elise in further surprise. "Kyle!"

"I came over from the canteen as well. Elise saw me and told me that she was coming over to meet up with you, so I followed along," Kyle explained with a solemn voice.

Even though Kyle had never really hanged out with the other two before, since they had attended lessons together as fellow freshmen, they were familiar enough with each other to at least know each other's names.

In addition, Kyle was well known by everyone with his unofficial status as the strongest freshman. And he had always paid attention to Adrian, so the three of them naturally knew more about each other.

"Did you see what happened from the beginning?" Sam naturally made conversation as he turned his eyes back to the two standing on the fighting platform.

"We were both at a corner but heard everything loud and clear. This really seems like a bad situation," Elise was relatively worried about how everything was slowly escalating.

"This second year apprentice Krill sure is disgusting with how he started this whole thing," Sam commented disapprovingly. "How I wish there is some way we can help that Sand Academy apprentice."

"I won't worry about that so early," Kyle disagreed instantly. "Haven't you noticed how the other Sand Academy apprentices reacted when he stood up against Krill?"

"The others…?" both Elise and Sam turned to face Kyle in surprise.

"None of them stood up to help him out even though he challenged Krill, allowing him to freely represent them by borrowing the name of Sand Academy. From this, we can tell that he definitely commands some form of respect among the apprentices," Kyle explained once again. "He might be stronger than you think."

Sam and Elise had no time to even try to recall the scene back in the canteen.

Bang-!

A thunderous clap that came from the top of the fighting platform drew everyone's attention back to the two main characters of the night.

When Sam and Elise's line of sight returned to the fighting platform, they were completely shocked by what they saw.

Krill was already down on all fours, scampering to create some distance between him and his opponent!

Cheers assaulted the ears of everyone present as the Sand Academy magic apprentices roared in excitement!

Henrik! Henrik! Henrik!

Chants sounded out as the Sand Academy magic apprentices' morale reached a crescendo.

"That was a sneak attack!" Krill shouted out in distress while still struggling to escape from the grasps of his opponent.

It wasn't too long ago when he was still arrogantly taunting the other party, even personally leading him straight to the fighting platform. Who knew that the tables would be turned right on him so soon?

Contrary to the rising excitement of the Sand Academy apprentices, those from Gryphon Academy were shocked! What was Krill doing? Why wasn't he using any magic at all?

There was only one word to describe him right now – pathetic!

The Gryphon Academy apprentices all watched with frowns on their faces as the Sand Academy magic apprentice continued to chase Krill around the fight platform, freely raining punches on him.

"Sealing Magic."

A voice came from among the crowd of apprentices that formed the audience to what could be called a simple battering of Krill. It was a magic apprentice who was in his fifth year who saw through the current situation.

"I see! So that's why!" Kyle was instantly enlightened upon hearing those words.

The rest of the apprentices quickly understood as well. Krill's magic was somehow being sealed by the Sand Academy freshman! No wonder he was being beaten so one-sidedly without trying to fight back!

While Krill might be relatively strong in terms of his magic capabilities, his physical aspect was abysmal! It didn't take long before he was beaten senseless, lying there on the fight platform as he groaned in pain.

"You are trash as expected," the Sand Academy apprentice had the same calm tone from before when he spoke to the figure lying before him.

The chants for Henrik never stopped as the Sand Academy apprentices continued to cheer at the top of their voices. It continued even as he walked down the fighting platform, finally dying down after the Sand Academy apprentices gradually left the scene group by group.

A sympathetic senior from Gryphon Academy went up to render light first aid to Krill's wounds, but the rest of the audience just directly left as well, unconcerned about Krill's current state. Even though things ended badly for him, he was the one who provoked the other party after all.

"That Henrik guy would be one of our opponents in the upcoming ranking tournament…" Sam was visibly shaken as he headed back for the dormitories as well.

"Even a second year senior was made to look this bad. How will we fare when pit against him?" Elise sighed.

"He might be strong, but with the fighting style he showed, he is basically just a warrior and not a magic user. That is nothing to be feared," Kyle, however, sounded like he was completely unaffected.

Sam and Elise could only smile wanly at that. Kyle was extremely strong physically, so he obviously didn't have anything to fear. But they were diferent!

Even so, they kept their thoughts to themselves. After reaching the dormitories, the group quickly bid each other farewell and returned to their own rooms to rest.

The incident that occurred on the visitors' first night at Gryphon Academy easily made it to the ears of the professors, but after confirming that Krill was only slightly injured with no permanent damage, they let it pass without pursing the matter.

As two groups of youths suddenly got together for a competition, it was inevitable for conflicts to occur due to the tension. While it escalated to be a little too serious for comfort this time, the result wasn't too bad so it could still be ignored to a certain extent.

After that incident though, apprentices from both academies became a little more cautious and stayed out of each other's way.

The Gryphon Academy apprentices wanted to make full use of this remaining week to hone their skills to the maximum, determined not to end up like Krill did.

The Sand Academy apprentices were also inspired by Henrik's performance, wanting to make full use of the week to adjust their mental conditions. As magic users, their mental conditions definitely affected their abilities to a certain extent.

Adrian also heard some brief details about what happened that night thanks to Sam and Elise. But while he was slightly surprised initially, all he felt after the initial surprise was simple disdain for Krill.

A second year apprentice making such a fuss and immediately getting smacked in the face by losing so badly? Such a disgrace! How could he not even know how to choose his opponents carefully?

This was why kids will always be kids!

The week passed quickly, and the day for the ranking tournament finally arrived.

That morning, there was no lazing in bed for the freshmen of both academies as they all made sure to get up early. Even the laziest of them spent an hour circulating the mana within their body in meditation, warming up for what was to come.

Adrian was no different, waking up early enough to meditate for two hours before he left for the tournament venue.

He had made tremendous progress over the past few months, and he only had one goal for the ranking tournament – to be the champion!