I Don't Accept Defeat

Goodbye, John Chris. I hope I'll see you at the top one day.

With that said, Thomas made his final strike.

*Earthly surface swipe!*

He moved his finger to the left as if directing John to go, and with an earth magic infusion, John was thrown off the platform, landing on his butt in between the others who were waiting to be assessed.

"The fight is over!"

Eagleman declared, and for real, it was over this time.

"Thomas Edwin is our winner!!!" he screamed, and in no time, an uproar of cheers took over.

Currently, everyone on the field watching the fight was impressed. I mean, magic is common here in the mage city, but Zain, on the other hand, had his jaw dropped.

He hadn't seen magic used in a fight before; he wouldn't have even been able to mention that he had ever seen magic before today during his registration. Regardless of how weak the dueling duo was, it was still too impressive for Zain. This was too much.

So, this is how impressive magic is. This is what a fight between actual mages looks like. Countless thoughts were running through his mind all at once: "If all this is a dream, no one should dare wake me up."

"All this is just too good to be true," Zain thought while looking up at the sky. The sky itself is different around here; the clouds are so distant compared to where I came from.

Zain then turned to look at the duo who had just finished fighting. His eyes first stared at the red-haired John on the floor. He still looked confused about what had just happened; he didn't even know how he ended up outside the ring. How he even lost still remained a mystery to him.

John is a young adolescent around the age of sixteen. He has red hair that matches his base magic and red eyes as well. His body is slightly muscular, in a way that at first glance, one can tell that he isn't as impressive as Thomas in terms of raw strength.

As for his attire, he was wearing a long, loose gown made of silk with a strange pattern on it. The cotton-colored silk he was wearing had continuous writing in an unknown language running through it.

Thomas, on the other hand, is an adolescent of a similar age to John; his body is impressively muscular, matching his earth magic. His hair is dark brown, and he has dark brown eyes as well.

The look he had during the fight was one of determination and resilience, and it did pay off. But now, that look had disappeared, as he was unconscious.

"I don't accept defeat. I am the winner of this fight!" John, who had been sitting on the floor, finally stood up and protested with crazed eyes. "I got him down before he could get to me. He is not the rightful winner; I am!"

Eagleman, who had been standing on the combat platform all along, looked down at John.

"No, you aren't; he is. I'm pretty sure I stated the rules of the assessment loudly before the first fight commenced," Eagleman started. "You are to defeat your opponent by knocking him out or throwing him off the platform.

So far, nobody got knocked out; Thomas only got beaten by you into a bad condition. If you hadn't been cocky and had handled him completely before taking credit for being the winner, you would have won for sure. But you allowed him to sweep your butt off the platform.

You made the same mistake twice—first at the beginning, and now at the end of the fight. This behavior is seen as a lowly regarded characteristic of a mage. Those with potential in the school are not as cocky.

You should be thinking more about where your place will be in this academy instead of struggling to be the winner of a duel that doesn't care about the winner but rather about the best."

John was slapped with facts that left him speechless, while Thomas was rushed into the school clinic by some staff all in white robes.

All that had been said was accurate, and although Thomas was on the receiving end, he still won the assessment. But winning it wasn't the big deal, and he just realized it.

They were testing to see all the battle instincts of the assessed students, where they were lacking, and where they were good.

It finally made sense why Eagleman was holding a book, observing the fight and jotting down their potential. Due to the way the assessment was being done, even the winner had a good chance of being a lower-ranking student than the loser.

"John Chris, congratulations! You have earned yourself a spot in the Basic Division section of this academy in the MP Mages section!"

"Intermediate Division of the academy? What does that even mean?" Zain wondered aloud.

"Thomas Edwin, congratulations to you too, because you fascinated me today. You earned yourself a spot in the Basic Division as well, and in the MP Mages section."

It was as if Eagleman knew what Zain was asking, and he started.

"To all newbies, if you don't know what the divisions of mages are in the school, then listen closely.

Lowaling Academy has three divisions of mages: the Basic Division, Intermediate Division, and Advanced Division.

One can earn a spot in any division if they perform in a way that matches and fits into the quality range of any of the divisions.

It may also be determined by some other factors, one of which is what we experienced earlier.

Among the duo who fought earlier, John shows the power level of someone who is supposed to be in the Intermediate Division, but still, he ended up as a Basic-ranked mage.

His battle tactics and smartness show that he has the potential to be in the Intermediate rank, but due to his pride and irresponsibility, he ended up in the Basic Mage Division.

Now this makes sense: all mages of different power levels cannot be jam-packed into one spot because bullying and other wrong acts would become common and easier.

Moving on, the next students to be assessed on our list are..."