This matter gave Rezen a huge sense of urgency causing his mana flow to become chaotic. His flying path was affected and he almost fell to the ground

Rezen wants to become a student of a 1st-rate academy and above but how can he do that when he was performing at most average amongst his peers?

He cannot let this situation go on for long. He has to make sure that not only would he catch up to his peers, but he also has to overtake them by a large margin. Only then could he possibly have the chance to be admitted at a 1st-rate academy.

Rezen calmed himself and his flying path stabilizes. He focused on flying as fast as he could despite the limiters he was wearing

After minutes of flying, Rezen finally reached the gym. He certainly was not the last one that entered the gym but compared to yesterday, he performed worse

At the very least, he performed at an average level yesterday but today, he performed a bit below average

Rezen might have the confidence to become more talented than any of his classmates considering that he only needs time before he fully consumes the unnamed potion

It's just that the distance between the 3rd cycle of the Junior Rank and the Great Mage Rank was too far. Even months are not enough to even just absorb 1/4 of the potions' properties. As of right now, Rezen was only able to absorb a small fraction of the potion's properties and his progress still mainly relies on consuming resources non-stop

As such, while Rezen is not afraid of his future, he is afraid of the present. He can only stay in the Tryst Academy for so long while still having the chance to be endorsed to a 1st-rate academy. He badly lacks time

This situation dampened Rezen's mood and he can't help but be a bit gloomy. Unfortunately, a certain someone seems to not have noticed that

"Rezen, didn't I tell you to not overdo things? You performed even worst than yesterday!" Porenz said to Rezen out of concern. She thought that Rezen is just too tired from yesterday's training and that affected his performance. Rezen's eyebags certainly helped with that

"Or maybe he's just that untalented and the only reason why he went this far is because of his connections" another person said

Out of all 49 classmates of Rezen, this person might be the one that hates him the most. It was none other than Quard, the mage that Rezen taught a heavy lesson back at the entrance ceremony

"Hmph, who are you to say that when you lost against him? Shoo! I don't like your presence!" The musclehead didn't hold back on her words even though her and Quard's family are roughly at the same level

"Y-you...!" Quard's cheeks blushed out of shame and since he cannot think of a proper retort he just went on his way along with two people that followed behind him

It seems like Quard already recruited some cronies to serve him which was not a surprise considering that he has one of the strongest backgrounds among this batch

"Yeah, I will do better next time" Rezen replied to Porenz as he doesn't have the energy to deal with Quard

It's only a matter of time before his classmates realize how lacking he was when it comes to the wisdom and talent department

Without wasting any time, Rezen went to one corner while taking out his books to read again. It takes time to read these books about magic and fully digest them

Mages might be able to easily memorize these books but it doesn't mean that they can transform the book's information into their own wisdom

Just like usual, Rezen drank the juice of his mutated Hyperfocus Basil while reading and he started ignoring everything around him

After some time, all the other students finally arrived at the gym, and only then did their Assistant Instructor revealed himself

"Alright, another day, another training but today wouldn't be much different than yesterday. You can go attack your respective crystals or read your magic books. If you have questions, feel free to approach and ask me"

"Remember, no matter how talented and mighty you think you are, all of you are still below me in terms of cultivation ranks. Not to mention, once a mage reaches the mid and high cycle of the Junior Rank, their cultivation speed would fall a lot. Some of you might have a cultivation rank near my level but don't think that there isn't much difference between us"

"At the very least, I am very knowledgeable than all of you and I certainly know more about magic. Don't be too arrogant to not ask your Assistant Instructor any question if there is something that you don't understand!"

After saying those words, Thereb let his class do whatever they want. The Instructors can teach and guide the students but these students can only reach their fullest potential if they are given independence

The Instructors are just the guide but if they meddle too much with how the students want to learn that might just cause them to potentially limit the future of these young mages

Just like that, the students really did do whatever they want. Some of them slept late last night studying and they had renewed confidence

Many of them tried to attack and destroy the crystals for the nth time but the end result was still the same. All of them failed to achieve what they hope to achieve

As such, they can only dejectedly occupy a space of their own to devote their time to studying

——

Standing in front of a particular crystal, Rezen closes his eyes while gathering mana in his palm. This time, the Assistant Instructor forbade the use of any aiding tools such as magic wands and magic swords

The students must only use their own power to destroy the crystal. This would help prevent them from relying on external tools too much

Just like the other students, Rezen can only gather his mana in his palm as he tried to create an orb made from solar energies

However, although he can control a bit of his mana, he was having a hard time turning his pure mana into elemental energies to form the solar orb

"Hahaha! I knew it, you are untalented!" A person that hates Rezen saw what happened and he took the chance to ridicule him

As if he wants to rub salt on Rezen's wound, Quard also gathered mana at his palm and turned his mana into a ball of fire

This fireball was smaller and weaker compared to normal fireballs that he can create but at the very least, it was not that much of a problem for him to create simple magic unlike Rezen

This situation felt really insulting for Rezen but what can he do? This is just the second day but everyone can already see his lack of talent

Even if he wants to beat these annoying bastards to death it's not like he has the power to do that

Rezen can only ignore the taunting as he focuses on his own training. It took quite some time for him to create a solar orb in his palm and he didn't even have the confidence to throw it into the crystal in front of him

Instead of having the solar orb fly in the air like usual, Rezen approached the crystal on foot to make sure that his attack would hit

Even if Rezen can't have the highest score today, at the very least, he doesn't want to score the lowest as that would affect his evaluation

Boom!

The solar orb exploded at the crystal but just like usual, the crystal was far from breaking

After sending that attack, Rezen closes his eyes while recalling the feelings when he created that magic while also recalling the things he learned from the books of magic and the Instructors

He can vaguely feel the areas that must be removed and the areas that must be improved. He might be progressing slower than he wanted but at the same time Rezen is still progressing

Over time, these small progress will snowball into a huge leap

Rezen tried attacking the crystal a few more times. Each attack mostly was stronger than the previous ones as he was learning while training

When he felt that it was enough, Rezen went to one corner to read again. This is the kind of life he had in the initial days of his academy days

The first class was the theory class where the Assistant Instructor or an Instructor teaches the students things about magic. After that, the students must reach their next class using their flying sticks to attempt to destroy their crystals

It was a boring life and day-to-day routine but it was this kind of boring routine that mages needed to progress