After the uneventful day of classes, I eagerly anticipated hearing back from Mr. Moon regarding my demands. Unfortunately, it seemed that he had yet to make any progress. With no immediate course of action available, I decided to return to my dorm and take a much-needed break.

But as I entered the room, I was met with a surprise. Colette was seated at the table, engrossed in her conjuration book, surrounded by four other students who were equally absorbed in their own books and notebooks.

"Colette," I said, "What's going on here?"

She looked up and greeted me with a wave. "This is our conjuration study group," she said. "Would you like to join us?"

My luck had turned around. Not only did I have a chance to learn more about conjuration, but I could also see what spells the others were studying. I quickly introduced myself to the group and settled into a chair.

I studied the people around me, noting that Mateo, who sat next to me, followed the Path of The Titan like Colette, but he was only a Tier 1 Mage. I made sure to memorize the pages of his spellbook the most. On the other side of me was Sun, who followed the Path of Warding and was a prodigy, reaching Tier 4 even though the Path of Warding was a joint path.

Colette sat between two girls, Esther and Aster, who also followed the Path of The Titan. It seemed that Sun and I were the only outliers when it came to our paths. The meeting went by quickly, with people asking for help learning certain spells or viewing concepts. I had memorized three spells from Mateo’s book that I found interesting, but stayed mostly quiet.

Eventually, the meeting slowly died down as Esther and Aster left for their dorms. That was when Sun turned to me and tried to start a conversation. "You know, Quinn, I'm surprised you don't participate in the School's Dueling Club," he said.

"What?" I asked, confused about the strange club and why he thought I should join.

"I saw how you totally manhandled Warren the other day," he said with a smirk. "Plus, Colette was talking about how you seem to be having an issue with credits."

This story originates from Royal Road. Ensure the author gets the support they deserve by reading it there.

I smiled with a glint in my eye. "Sun, my friend, you should have started with that! How many credits are we talking?"

Sun grinned. "Winning any lower ranking match will get you a hundred credits, when you get into higher ranks like me you can get a thousand credits even if you lose!"

My eyes widened at the potential reward. 100 credits would go a long way in helping the plan. "Count me in," I said, feeling a newfound sense of determination.

Colette looked at me with surprise. "I had no idea you were interested in dueling, Quinn."

"I'm not particularly interested in dueling," I replied with a shrug, "but I am definitely interested in those credits."

Sun chuckled, "That's the spirit! You should start with the lower-ranked matches and work your way up, but then again, you did manage to beat Warren who was in 50th place."

I nodded in agreement. "I'll take any challenge that comes my way."

"Good attitude," Sun said. "I'll take you tomorrow to officially sign up if you'd like!"

"Sounds good to me," I said, already thinking about the spellbooks I could potentially buy with the credits I would earn.

After Sun and Mateo left, I retreated to my room to start practicing the spells I had memorized. The first one on my list was "Warden," a spell that summoned an invisible creature to watch over a designated spot and report back to me. It was an incredibly useful spell that could come in handy during stakeouts or keeping an eye on Mr. Moon's progress with my demands.

However, I soon discovered that the spell was more challenging than I had anticipated. No matter how hard I chanted, nothing appeared. Frustrated, I tried to recall what Colette had said during the study group when Mateo was asking for help with his spell. I remembered her mentioning something about the "Contract" spell and how it related to the theory behind summoning creatures.

I thought about what I had seen after Mateo flipped to the Contract spell. Colette had explained that it was more about forcing the mana out of your hands to enchant a contract, ensuring that more powerful summoned creatures would follow your commands. While Mateo had struggled to grasp the concept, I realized that forcing mana out of my hands might hold the key to summoning the Warden.

Forcing the mana out of my hands was a painful process at first, but after an hour of practicing, I finally managed to summon the Warden creature. It wasn't perfect, but it was a start. I knew I had a long way to go before I could master the spell, but at least I had made some progress. With that, I decided to call it a night and get some rest before my upcoming dueling match.