Chapter 225: A Terrifying Magic Mentor.

Talk about kicking someone when he was down!

Shu Li looked at Lu Weixi with immense sympathy. The boy's face had darkened until it was practically black as coal. If not for Ilio's status as a Saint Mage and an instructor, he would probably have gone on a rampage like a Tyrannosaurus rex by now.

But Ilio ignored Lu Weixi's anger and proceeded to pour fuel on the fire.

"Does anyone know why? Raise your hand if you'd like to answer."

The students in the back rows remained silent. Not one dared raise a hand, because whoever answered would become the target of Lu Weixi's resentment.

Someone with a protective Saint Mage in the family was not to be trifled with.

"I know!"

A loud voice suddenly rang out.

Dozens of eyes immediately turned toward the brown-haired boy in the front row who had raised his hand.

"Oh? What's your name?" Ilio asked, pretending not to know.

"Teacher, my name is Budno," Budno answered.

"Very well, Budno. Tell us why Lu Weixi lost to Sperien." Ilio wore a warm smile, his manner perfectly amiable.

Budno answered without the slightest hesitation. "Because all he knows how to do is stand in one place!"

Ilio clapped his hands. "Correct."

"Hehe." Budno grinned. "Teacher, do I get a reward for answering correctly?"

Ilio winked at him. "Your reward is an extra lap."

"Huh?" Budno's mouth fell open in shock. "How is that fair?!"

Angel covered his mouth and laughed. Had Budno only just discovered what Ilio was like? He had practically volunteered to walk into a trap.

Budno drooped dejectedly, his cheeks puffed out like a frog's.

Shu Li patted his head consolingly.

Lu Weixi finally reached the end of his patience. He shot to his feet and slammed both palms against his desk with a tremendous bang.

"I came here to learn, not to be humiliated by you!"

Ilio paid no attention to his fury. He leisurely took out a notebook, picked up his quill, and wrote a line of elegant script.

"Disrespecting an instructor: minus five points. Disrupting class: minus two points. Damaging school property: minus two points. Nine points deducted in total."

After finishing his record, he addressed the dumbfounded Lu Weixi.

"What a pity. One more point and you'd have exhausted your entire allowance for the month."

Class One was the junior elite class, bringing together magical geniuses recommended by various countries. However, getting into Class One did not guarantee a permanent place there.

Every student received ten points each month. Anyone who lost all their points for three consecutive months would be removed from Class One and transferred to an ordinary class.

As Class One's Magic Instructor, Ilio had the authority to deduct points from his students. Yet Lu Weixi had somehow lost his mind and thrown a tantrum right in the middle of Ilio's lesson.

Lu Weixi stood frozen, unable to speak for a long time.

The other students were horrified.

Who would have imagined that this elegant Magic Instructor, with his warm and friendly smile, could be so utterly ruthless when deducting points?

How vicious!

At that moment, they felt the full weight of a Saint Mage's authority.

Lu Weixi opened his mouth, but no words of protest came out. A thin sheen of sweat appeared on his forehead, and a flicker of fear crossed his eyes.

He had resolved to turn over a new leaf, study diligently, and improve his abilities so he wouldn't disappoint his great-uncle. He wanted to become a fully qualified Mage as soon as possible and leave everyone who looked down on him far behind.

He, Lu Weixi, was a magical genius, the pride of the Snowvo family. He would never admit defeat.

Yet here he was, on the very first day of school, having lost nine points because of his own impulsiveness and recklessness.

He was deeply resentful. He wanted to shout that it was unfair, to accuse the Magic Instructor of deliberately singling him out.

But when his eyes met those unfathomably deep black ones, his courage failed him.

The authority of a Saint Mage was not to be questioned.

Nasha, Xidi, and Hector instinctively straightened their backs and sat perfectly upright, not daring to relax for even a moment.

No wonder Sperien had specifically warned them over breakfast to remain on guard at all times during Ilio's lessons. With him, they never knew when they might fall into a trap.

At the time, they had found the warning baffling and thought Sperien was exaggerating.

Now, seeing what had happened to Lu Weixi, they were still shaken.

Of everyone in the lecture hall, only Ace looked completely relaxed. And whenever Ilio surveyed the students, Ace was the one person he conspicuously overlooked.

Ilio set down his notebook, wiped the smile from his face, and spoke sternly.

"A mage without physical agility and quick reflexes is utterly useless!"

"When you're out adventuring on the continent with your companions and a magical beast suddenly attacks, what will you do? Run or fight? With those frail bodies of yours, do you think you can outrun a powerful, towering magical beast? And if you choose to fight, what do you think your chances of survival will be?"

"Lu Weixi, think carefully about your fight with Sperien."

His tone shifted, and Ilio fixed the stunned Lu Weixi with a piercing stare.

"If you hadn't used that defensive magic scroll, Sperien would have kept kicking you until the fight was over. Magic? Would you even have had a chance to cast a spell?"

"I..." Lu Weixi shrank back, unable to argue.

"Once you were protected by the defensive formation, you could finally cast magic. But didn't you just stand there chanting spells? Sperien, on the other hand, was quick on his feet. Not only did he evade every one of your attacks, he also found opportunities to counterattack and used his wits to break through your 'turtle shell.'"

Ilio gave Lu Weixi a faint, knowing smile.

"Oh, and another thing. When you finally used flight magic, your flying was atrocious. You had your backside sticking up like a clumsy duck. Not a shred of grace."

"Heehee—"

The Little Fairies couldn't hold back their laughter. The human students nearly injured themselves trying to suppress theirs, desperately clamping their hands over their mouths.

Lu Weixi's face turned crimson. His fists clenched and loosened, then clenched again. Finally, gritting his teeth, he left his seat and rushed out of the classroom with his head down.

Ilio raised an eyebrow and smiled at the remaining students.

"Aren't you going to run? There's a reward for whoever finishes first!"

The students stared blankly for a moment. Then those who caught on immediately sprang to their feet and hurried out after Lu Weixi.

Before long, more than forty Mage Apprentices were scrambling over one another to get through the doors.

"Aren't you going to run?" Ilio asked the Light Squad, who were still seated in the front row.

"We are." Shu Li rose reluctantly. Everyone else had gone. What choice did they have?

He reached out and scooped up the dozing Falm, braced one hand against the desk, and easily vaulted out of his seat. After loosening up his limbs, he jogged toward the door.

Dixio looked thoroughly listless. Imitating Shu Li, he began jogging at a sluggish pace.

Budno approached Ilio with a pleading expression.

"Um... Teacher, could I maybe give up my reward?"

Everyone else only had to run three laps. He didn't want to run four!

Ilio asked, "What do you think?"

Budno stuck out his tongue. "I think I should be allowed to."

Ilio raised a hand and spread all five fingers, about to speak.

Budno practically bounced off the floor and shouted in alarm, "Four laps it is! I'll run!"

The moment the words left his mouth, he shot through the classroom doors like a gust of wind.

It was only eight thousand meters!

He could do it!

Little Fairies feared nothing!

Charge!

Soon, only Ace and Ilio remained in the classroom.

Ace rose unhurriedly from his seat. As he passed the lectern, he cast Ilio a cool glance.

The moment Ilio caught that look, he quickly lowered his head. The infuriatingly smug manner he had displayed before the students vanished without a trace, replaced by an expression of profound respect.

"Please forgive my teaching methods..."

Ace said, "Your students need strong hearts."

Ilio raised his eyes and looked innocently at the Elven King.

"I take my responsibility to every student very seriously. My goal is to turn them into well-rounded mages who can fight and run, attack and defend, and excel in every aspect."

Ace nodded. "Very good."

Having received the Elven King's praise, Ilio bowed respectfully.

Ace left the classroom at an unhurried pace.

After rushing out of the classroom, the students of Class One headed straight for the academy's main road. Determined to salvage his pride, Lu Weixi accelerated wildly, intent on finishing first.

The students following behind had barely covered a hundred meters before they were already panting for breath.

The Little Fairies and the young dragon maintained a steady pace, running with practiced ease. They overtook one classmate after another, moved into the leading group, and began closing in on Lu Weixi.

Seeing that their captain had already pulled ahead, Xidi, Nasha, and Hector gritted their teeth and pushed on, determined not to bring shame upon the Light Squad.

Ace was the last to leave the classroom, putting him more than twenty meters behind the students ahead. He showed no sign of urgency, steadily closing the gap little by little.

Ilio cast a wind-element flight spell on himself and floated gracefully along half a meter above the ground. Whenever he spotted a Mage Apprentice who had stopped running, he immediately launched into a barrage of mockery.

"Oh? Only two hundred meters and you're already done?"

"As expected of delicate little flowers raised in greenhouses. So precious and fragile."

"Are those muscles just for decoration? Move those legs! Run!"

"Stopping to rest already? You still have two and a half laps to go!"

"If I were a magical beast, you'd be dead by now."

"Weak. Far too weak. You're the weakest group of students I've ever taught."

"Look at those students from the mountains. They're already on their second lap."

"Lu Weixi, you were the first out of the classroom, and now you've dropped to ninth place."

Every student subjected to Ilio's ridicule felt anger flare in their chest. Even those who had been on the verge of giving up gritted their teeth and kept going, digging deep into their reserves of strength and running with everything they had.

Shu Li glanced over his shoulder and discovered that the five Little Fairies and Amanda had left their human classmates more than two hundred meters behind.

What surprised him, however, was that Ace had actually managed to keep pace with them.

He really was different!

Ace had escaped a bandits' den entirely on his own, crossed mountains and valleys, and fled all the way from the Xisha Mountains into the territory of the Dalia Empire. Without extraordinary physical strength and exceptional endurance, such a feat would have been impossible.

Clearly, he was in excellent physical condition.

Shu Li quickened his pace a little, a spark of competitiveness stirring within him.

Ace saw what he was thinking and accelerated as well, drawing level with him.

Falm flapped his wings and flew leisurely behind them, his eyes swiveling from Shu Li to Ace and back again as he swished his short, plump tail.

There were other mages on the academy's main road besides the running students of Class One. When they saw a crowd of Mage Apprentices racing along, gasping for breath, they all looked astonished.

What was going on?

Why weren't these Mage Apprentices sitting in a classroom and attending their lessons? Why were they running laps around the main road instead?

Which class did they belong to?

Then Ilio floated elegantly past on a cushion of wind, and the onlookers were left speechless.

That person who had just gone by... was a Magic Instructor, wasn't he?

In the instructors' office building near the main road, Headmaster Gabri and Zephyr stood by a window, watching the group of running Mage Apprentices below with helpless expressions.

"Ilio's teaching methods are as unconventional as ever."

"Heh. Those students are fortunate to have him as their teacher." Zephyr held a cup of tea, the corners of his mouth curving upward.

Not everyone had the opportunity to become an Elf's student.

Ilio's teaching methods might be rather eccentric, but any student who persevered under his guidance could look forward to becoming a Saint Mage in the not-too-distant future.

"Indeed..." Gabri sighed.

Three hundred years ago, every student in the class Ilio had taught had gone on to become an outstanding figure in the world of magic.

After two laps, more than half the students were drenched in sweat and breathing like bellows. Some sat, some knelt, and others lay sprawled on the ground, too exhausted to continue.

Lu Weixi felt as though his lungs were about to burst. All he could do was watch helplessly as those mountain folk and that fellow named Ace breezed through their third lap.

Was... was this how far apart they really were?!