The strongest of the repeaters

[Years 19 (end): In the following group classes, you apply Master Valen's advice. By calming your mind and focusing your energy, you're able to summon more stable flames. Although your progress is slow, it is noticeable].

[Years 20 : At the end of your second year of study, a nobleman named Lysander, who was the younger brother of one of the students you had easily defeated at the empire's school tournament, challenges you. He publicly challenges you to a training duel].

[Years 20 (continued): For your own pride, you accept. You know that Lysander is much better than you, but in the end he was only average among all the jewel masters studying at the royal academy].

[Years 20 (continued): The duel attracts a crowd of students, curious to see if you can stand up to an opponent mastering an element opposite to yours. Indeed, Lysander's jewel is the jewel of water].

[Years 20 (continued): The fight is difficult, as you can barely form a fireball and throw it, while Lysander masters several water elemental spells. You lose your composure, and simply charge at Lysander with the sword you've always kept with you. You cross all his spells head-on, and after a few token exchanges, you easily defeat Lysander, who had reacted well by also drawing his weapon].

[Years 20 (continued): Other students look at you differently. They used to think they were superior to you, because your poor performance in practical classes was noticed by everyone. Now they despise you even more for using your physical strength in this duel, even though there's no rule against it].

Adam couldn't help laughing as he read the last notification - it was just like him!

It was never said that jewel masters were magicians - quite the contrary!

Even the assassin who had snuck in during the third simulation to kill him, had fought him hand-to-hand!

[Years 20 (continued): You finish 178th out of 181 second-year students. You fail your second-year final exam and repeat the year. You learn that you can only repeat a grade 2 in the Royal Academy during your 5 years of study. If this happened, you would be expelled from the school].

"There are more students than in the first year?"

"I imagine that's normal since many students with weak talents have to repeat the second year. So older students find themselves in the same classes as students a year or two younger than them."

[Years 20 (end): Your first year as a repeater begins under difficult auspices. The condescending looks of your classmates, the lack of tangible progress in magic, and your own frustration at your limitations weigh heavily on you. Yet you refuse to give up. The fire that burns within you, literally and metaphorically, will not go out easily. You vow to prove your worth. At the same time, you make friends with other repeaters. It was rather simple, since they themselves were also sons of barons, and therefore had more or less the same status as you].

[Years 21 : This year, your redoubled efforts are beginning to bear fruit, albeit at an insufficient pace. But you're becoming a school celebrity. Indeed, many students, to prove that magic surpasses the physical, have challenged you. And you win every time].

Adam burst out laughing.

"I would have loved to see the faces of those arrogant youngsters who thought their magic was all-powerful, was finally defeated by brute force!"

[Years 21 (continued): During practice classes, your progress is noticeable, but your ability to stabilize and manipulate flames remains below expectations. Despite this, Master Valen continues to support you, reminding you that each jewel master follows his own path and pace].

"That Master Valen really is a nice guy," Adam murmured with a smile, as he dried the tears coming from his previous giggle.

[Years 21 (end): At the end-of-year exams, you finish 165th out of 180 students. Your results are still not good enough to go on to the third year. The verdict was clear: you had to repeat the year for the second time. This blow plunges you into deep reflection. The Royal Academy, with its overwhelming expectations and frenetic pace, seems an insurmountable obstacle. Yet leaving school without a diploma would be a failure in the eyes of many, including your own family].

[Years 22 : As a double repeat student, you become a curiosity among the pupils. Some admire you for your tenacity, while others openly mock you. The various teachers, with the exception of Master Valen, although patient, are beginning to lose hope. You, however, persist. You develop a unique fighting style, combining physical strength with simple fire spells. This attracts the attention of some instructors who see in you a different potential, far removed from academic standards].

[Years 22 (continued): Some second-year students, particularly new students who had heard about you from past third-year students, wanted to challenge you after hearing your reputation].

[Years 22 (continued): You easily defeat them one after the other, and your reputation even reaches some fifth-year students. But no student above the second year wanted to challenge you. For if they were defeated by you, they would lose a lot of face and tarnish their family name].

[Years 22 (continued): Among the second graders who will have challenges, there's a genius who has awakened the lightning jewel, a very rare jewel. And on top of that, his talent in lightning magic was exceptional, so much so that he finished in2nd place in the first-year theory exams. There was no doubting his strength. But he was also easily defeated by you. After that, no student dared challenge you and the first student, a genie who had awakened a two-element jewel deigned to pay you any attention].

"Two elements? Is that really possible?"

"And it's also mentioned that some elements are rarer than others."

Adam began to daydream wildly.

"Are there gems of space and time?"

But he shook his head.

"I don't think so, otherwise it would be really too strong... Or not because it might also be extremely hard to progress in these elements..."

Adam ran his hand through his hair, still not understanding much about these jewel masters.

[Years 22 (continued): Your second repeat is coming to an end. You finished 150th out of 175 students. At the final exams, although your performance is better than in previous years, it's still not good enough in the eyes of the management].

[Years 22 (continued): Some students began to whisper that it wasn't right that a student who could beat the second-best student in his class should be excluded in this way. But the academy's decision is final: you are officially excluded from the Royal Academy. This news, though devastating, comes as no surprise. You gather up your belongings and leave the academy with your head held high, for you have never lost a single duel, even to these so-called geniuses].

[Years 22 (continued): You also know that you're still a jewel master, even without the diploma, and that you can always train and get stronger].

[Years 22 (end): Many students of different years watch your back as you pass through the academy's impressive gates with complicated glances, each enclosing their own thoughts].