Chương 144: One Question

Eight fights. Instead of being able to train and practice his magic Damion would have to waste time with eight different people that wanted his elite student status. Elicia told him before that no standard students were able to win against an elite student was so rare that it never happened in her time as a student, but now eight people wanted to give it a try.

"Do I really have to waste my time with this?" Damion asked in the morning as he got ready for his morning run.

"Elite students are not allowed to reject a challenge for status. Challenges are only allowed in the first two weeks of a term though, so you won't have to worry about this for six months after today."

"What about next week? You said the first two weeks?"

"The second week is only if you are injured and can't continue, so any challenges you don't complete today will be pushed to then. If I'm not mistaken, you won't be pushing anything back."

"You've got that right."

"The challenges will be done one after another and you will be allowed five minutes to rest in between. The only rule is not to cripple or kill your opponent. You can use whatever spells or artifacts you would like, but you should exercise some restraint in your choices as if you use something too powerful for your opponent and accidently kill them, then you will be expelled."

"Do you think that is what someone is hoping for?" Damion asked suddenly.

"I rejected the other two magic academies. Would they pay these weak students to challenge me hoping that I can't control my own strength and get kicked out?"

"I suppose that is possible, but I doubt it. The other magic academies are likely still unaware of your true capabilities. They might have arranged the students here to challenge you to make you lose your elite status, just so they can offer you a better status at their school. But I don't think they would want you to kill someone on accident."

"After my display yesterday, do you think anyone will show up?"

"Showing up and losing is better than challenging you and then running away. There might be one in the group that chooses not to show, but I think they all will. The humiliation of running away is much greater than the sting of one defeat." With his challengers sure to show up, Damion had no choice but to ready himself for a fight. He only wished it was not going to be such a pointless fight. Being so much stronger than his opponents and then wiping the floor with them was not his idea of fun.

A challenging fight would be excellent, but with only a few elite students in their final year at the academy reaching D Rank, Damion would not be able to find any students that could challenge him. When Damion started the circuit for his run he left Elicia far behind, letting her set her own pace. Today they had agreed that she would run a full circuit and when she arrived back at the dormitory Damion would treat that as his last lap and then get cleaned up for his challenge matches.

The genuine version of this novel can be found on another site. Support the author by reading it there. As Damion ran he cycled through the events of his first week in school. Going over his different Professor's lessons and homework. His various interactions with different students came to mind, included his interactions with Thomas Sorin. Damion was not sure if the young man approached Damion because he wanted to prove he was better than some commoner, or if he wanted to be cruel to his cousin, Elicia.

When Damion's thoughts turned to her, just as he happened to be lapping her again on his circuits, he could not help but feel his body react to seeing the young woman. He was sure he was physically attracted to her, but he was unsure how he felt about her beyond that. Even in his past life on Earth, he was not one for dating and after being reborn he had trouble considering anyone his physical age as it felt wrong considering his mental age.

Now that he was an adult, as was Elicia, Damion was having trouble separating his desires. Once he pushed past her on his run, he put more effort into running and less into thinking. He was at Silver Spire Magic Academy to learn all he could about magic. Everything else was secondary. Damion was quite exhausted by the end of his run. And while he cooled down in the shower he tried to let go of any thoughts that would hinder his goal of seeing the entirety of the world.

After dressing, Damion ate his breakfast in silence while Elicia gave him information about his opponents in his upcoming fights. As these were all standard students, they only had low Rank affinities and talents. The students were considered to be in their final year at Silver Spire, but they were barely E Rank mages. When they left the school they would most likely join guilds as knights or take jobs in the Adventurer Association.

A short time later he was standing on the stage where he had fought Mage Sorin the day before waiting for his challengers. Damion had arrived a little early, hoping he would be able to get these challenges out of the way as quickly as possible.

"Mage Wells has been challenged by eight standard students for his place as an elite student. These challengers will go one after another, with a five-minute break for Mage Wells should he request it. If at any time Mage Wells is injured, but victorious in a match, he may finish the remainder challenge matches next week." Professor Moretti announced to the crowd that was gathering.

Damion spotted most of his classmates in the sea of faces and off in the back in a group of elite students, he saw Mage Sorin and his two followers, Mage Martes and Mage Thorn.

"Are all the challengers present?" Professor Moretti asked and received a chorus of yeses.

"Mage Wells, do you have any questions?"

"Just one," Damion replied.

"Instead of fighting one match after another, can I fight them all at once?" Professor Moretti almost smiled when Damion asked his question but managed to keep a straight face. Damion was wanting not just to thoroughly trounce his challengers, but he was also wanting to shatter anyone's belief that they would stand a chance in a future challenge.

"And if you are eliminated, how would we crown a winner?"

"If I'm eliminated have the rest fight it out however you want. But they can't fight each other while I'm in. I want to face them all at once fairly."

"Very well," Professor Moretti agreed and then turned to the group of challengers lined up on the other side of the stage.

"Challengers, do you have any objection to an eight on one match?" The group looked to each other for a few moments before they finally came to a consensus.

"We have no objections. So long as we can all fight next week in a match to decide who will take the elite position."

"Very well, take your places." Damion's eight challengers moved onto the stage, each moving to stand in one of the small circles on the stage. He followed suit, moving to stand in one of the circles that was as equidistant as possible from his challengers, and waited for Professor Moretti to begin the match.