"The business wasn't so good!" Tommy, the chubby boy, spoke before Rody could, clutching a heavy bag of coins. "The costs were too high. We were just busy for nothing, hardly made any money."

Jill looked at the chubby boy in surprise. She, always honest, wanted to explain but then thought better of it and remained silent.

As for thief Terry, his face wore an expression of earnestness, as if what chubby Tommy said was the absolute truth.

"Rody, don't you have anything to say?" Dean Buck asked Rody with a slight smile. "If a freshman earns a hundred gold coins in the test, they can dine with the king, a great honor indeed! And maybe the little princess will be there. Rody, don't you like to see beautiful women? I assure you, the princess is a beauty!"

"Dining with the king is an honor, but I don't much like eating with old men," Rody replied indifferently. "I do admire the princess, but I'd prefer to meet her ten years later when she's grown up. Dining with her then would be something to look forward to."

"So it seems none of you earned a hundred gold coins today," Dean Buck laughed. "Doesn't anyone know that tomorrow is the king's birthday?"

"We..." Terry's heart leaped with joy, about to speak, but chubby Tommy kicked him away.

"Dean Buck, we only earned a hundred copper coins today. Could you ask the king if students who earn a hundred copper coins can attend His Majesty's birthday feast?" Tommy said without blinking, his face calm, his lying almost as good as Rody's. At this, Jill nearly fell off the wooden cart but managed to hold back her words.

"That won't do," Dean Buck laughed. "But I can recommend you for the deadly training at the Great Frey Magic and Martial Arts Academy in three months."

"Dead, deadly training?" Terry asked with a grimace, "Can I not participate?"

"Terry, don't worry. The death rate among our students at Great Frey's deadly training is only one in ten, and those are the elite. If you don't stand out too much, you should be safe," Dean Buck said nonchalantly, but Tommy and the others felt like they'd been struck by lightning.

"Three months from now?" Rody suddenly asked. "What will you teach us in these three months?"

"Our curriculum is rich, with secret room meditation and arena swordsmanship. If you're bored with classes, there are also outings and forest hunting. You'll have a wonderful learning experience that you'll cherish for decades," Dean Buck said with a smile, but his words sent shivers down everyone's spine, knowing the dean's reputation as a 'devil'.

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After Dean Buck left, everyone was speechless for a long while.

Finally, the shy Jill glanced at the thoughtful Rody and timidly asked, "Rody, are you going to participate in the deadly training?"

"Although I'm not keen, Felic is a vassal state of Great Frey, so we probably have no choice," Rody replied, smiling slightly at Jill. "Dean Buck is right; as long as we don't stand out too much, we should be safe."

"The deadly training lasts at least five months, and if a war breaks out during that time, we must participate," Terry revealed, seeming to know a bit more.

"Then it depends on what survival skills we can learn in these three months," Rody said, looking towards the direction where Dean Buck had disappeared. His expression became serious. "Though Great Frey harbors ill intentions, Felic won't just sit by and watch. Don't worry, if no one passes another unseen test within these three months, it's likely all freshmen will be expelled."

"No wonder so few people enroll in this damned academy, and why there are so few students..." Tommy finally began to understand.

With the invisible threat looming, everyone's mood was affected.

Tommy didn't even count his bag of silver coins but retreated to his room, doing who knows what. Terry went out as soon as he entered, seemingly to gather some inside information. Jill glanced at Rody and quietly left without a word.

Rody, as if nothing had happened, slept soundly.

In the middle of the night, he sneaked out and stood beneath the library, manipulating a praying mantis to peek at the magic books inside. His desire for new magic was so great he didn't care if Dean Buck had noticed him. To advance to a Six-pointed Star Magic Master, a Big Dipper Seven Star Magic Master, or even to the rank of a Mage King, he needed to acquire more magical knowledge and understanding.

Although protected by Nicholas, Marcus, Emma, and other minions of darkness, they were undead and not suited for exposure.

Rody, though knowing it unlikely, still hoped to find a way to break the 'Magic Martial Ban' in his body. With his mental strength and magical manipulation ability, sensing the elements would allow him to reach higher realms.

If he wasn't tense before, Dean Buck's subtle hint made him feel the urgency of time. He had only three months left. Tommy and the others might not understand, but Rody saw much in the dean's words.

The deadly training was Great Frey's way to weaken Felic, but also Felic's method to build strength in secret.

Felic desperately wanted to see if the freshmen could overcome deadly threats and return. On the surface, Felic wouldn't resist any proposals from Great Frey, but secretly, they didn't want their scarce talent harassed. The instructors, like Dean Buck, would ensure the students' safety, or else under Great Frey's malice, the death rate wouldn't be just one in ten.

The magic book Rody most wanted was one on mental power development or use.

With his rich mental power hidden deep, unable to develop or use it more, he felt like groping in endless darkness, having the best vision but no light to see through the dark...

"What are you doing here?" Rody, enduring a headache from overusing his mental power and engrossed in a book on wind magic and a summary of electric magic, suddenly heard a questioning voice behind him.

"I am, uh, sleepwalking." He thought it was Dean Buck and was about to say he was peeping at a bathing beauty, but then realized the voice was different. Behind him, with an indescribable feminine fragrance, was the beautiful instructor named Margaret. She floated behind him, sitting gracefully on her staff, her body surrounded by a faint moon halo, leaving Rody trembling and chilled.

"You're Rody?" The beautiful instructor snorted. "Jill mentioned you, and in her eyes, you're remarkable. But in mine, you're just an arrogant child. Dean Buck tolerates your actions, but that doesn't mean I do."

"Student departing," Rody felt it best to leave, as the magic waves from the instructor, a Moon Halo Mage, were intimidating.

"Don't come here to steal books again!" she paused, then surprisingly added, "About thirty kilometers west of Agadoropolis, there's a goblin-occupied cave with an altar ruin. You might find something suitable there."