Imagination

"Winner of the spar; Yuko Kitagawa."

'Damn it,' Jayce thought dejectedly as he picked himself off of the floor. He knew that the chance of him winning was low, but he didn't think he would lose as fast as he did.

'That gap between stages is really that big, huh.'

"That was a splendid effort, Mr. Price." Mr. Norris said.

"Yeah, you did great Jay," Yuko added, hoping to make him feel better. "Not many mages can dodge that spell."

"Doesn't matter if I dodged it or not, I still lost."

"While that is true, for being someone who had started using mana just a few months ago, I would say that you are progressing quickly." The professor responded.

"Now that you have experienced defeat, what do you think you could have done differently?"

"I did the best I could," Jayce replied.

Sure, he could have maybe made better choices and reacted faster but even if he had done that, he would have still lost.