Ashura stumbled back into the dormitory and collapsed onto a chair in the living room.
His two roommates, Jinze (the eldest) and Arthur (the second eldest), turned to look at him. Their eyes widened in shock when they saw his swollen, deformed face.
Arthur immediately shouted in fury, "Third Brother! Who the hell beat you up like this?! Where's the justice in this world?!"
"Just tell me who did it! I'll go to the Arena right now and challenge them to a duel for you!"
With that, Arthur jumped to his feet, ready to storm out.
Ashura was deeply touched by his second brother's reaction—this was what true brotherhood looked like!
Tears welled up in his eyes as he called out to Arthur, who was about to leave:
"Second Brother! You must avenge me! It was that red-haired girl from Warrior Class Eight!"
"Her name is Maggie—yeah, Maggie! She's super tall, easy to recognize! Make sure to beat her up real good! She totally humiliated me!"
Ashura continued venting his grievances, but just as Arthur reached for the door handle, he suddenly froze.
He slowly turned back and asked, "Wait… you said it was Maggie? A girl?"
Ashura, still full of resentment, nodded furiously.
"Yeah! That girl is tougher than most men! She's got a freaking greatsword taller than herself, and she doesn't hold back at all! Just look at my black eye!"
"But don't worry, Second Brother! Even though she just leveled up after beating me, she probably still isn't your match—"
Before Ashura could finish, Arthur quietly shrank back and sat down again.
Ashura stared at him in confusion, about to ask why.
Arthur, looking awkward, hesitated before saying:
"Uh… Third Brother, I don't think I can help you with this one. First of all… she's my cousin."
"Second… I've never been able to beat her since we were kids. And now that she leveled up again, I'd probably end up worse than you if I fought her…"
Ashura fell silent.
Even Jinze, their eldest brother, didn't know what to say.
The room was filled with an awkward silence.
Suddenly, the door burst open, and their youngest roommate, Angelo, ran in excitedly.
"Big news! Big news! I just heard that some crazy magician went to the training ground just to get beaten up!"
"He insisted on being Maggie's sparring partner, and after getting his ass kicked, he actually helped her level up! Can you believe it?! Hahaha!"
Angelo laughed heartily, eager to share the latest academy gossip.
But then, he noticed the weird atmosphere in the room.
Jinze and Arthur were both staring awkwardly at Ashura.
Ashura suddenly realized something—no wonder Maggie's name sounded familiar!
She was ranked fifth on the academy's beauty list—a ranking Angelo himself had compiled yesterday!
Then it hit him—"Wait… how did people find out about my beating?!"
"How the hell am I supposed to show my face at the academy now?!"
With a furious scream, Ashura ran straight into his room, slamming the door behind him.
Jinze and Arthur immediately rushed after him, knocking on the door in an attempt to comfort him.
But the door remained tightly shut.
With no other choice, they sighed and left the dormitory.
Angelo, still clueless, turned to them and asked, "What's up with Third Brother? Why's he so worked up?"
Jinze patted Angelo's shoulder and sighed.
"The main character of the story you just told… is Third Brother."
Angelo froze.
After a long silence, he hesitantly asked, "Uh… should I tell him that someone put a 200-point bounty on his head…?"
"Apparently, people think beating him up might help them level up too."
Jinze: "..."
Arthur: "..."
Meanwhile, inside his room, Ashura grew more and more frustrated.
But in the end, he let out a long sigh and blamed himself—his lack of strength was the real problem.
Determined, he replayed the entire battle against Maggie in his mind, analyzing his mistakes and weaknesses.
Finally, rubbing his sore backside, he sat cross-legged on the bed and began to meditate.
If he wanted to catch up to the others, he had to seize every moment.
Since he couldn't understand magic theory, he'd start by mastering the basics through meditation!
The next morning in Class 13 of the Magic Academy, Clara came to her seat and sat down. She felt a little angry when she saw the empty chair next to her.
She was clearly annoyed.
Just then, a handsome magician from another class strolled up to her.
"Beautiful mage, may I sit next to you for this lesson?"
As he spoke, he even flipped his freshly styled hair.
Nearby, Kyle immediately tensed up.
But Clara didn't even look up as she coldly replied, "This seat is taken."
The handsome magician froze, not knowing how to respond.
Clara then raised her voice, saying, "Did I not make myself clear? I said, this seat is taken!"
The magician's face turned red and white in embarrassment.
Hearing the surrounding students whispering about him, he gritted his teeth and left the classroom in shame.
Meanwhile, Kyle felt like his entire world had brightened.
"My goddess actually rejected someone… for me?!"
Meanwhile, Ashura sneaked around the edge of the training grounds, carefully avoiding the Warrior Class Eight students.
"There's no way I'm going to that class again!"
Last night, he had made up his mind—
He would only attend the magic academy's basic lessons, the ones he could actually understand.
For the more advanced magic classes, he would skip them and secretly train at the warrior academy!
Since the first two periods today were advanced magic lessons, he had come to the training grounds instead.
He spotted a large group of students lining up, waiting for their instructor.
After making sure they weren't from Class Eight, he confidently walked up and stood at the edge of the group.
The students gave him strange looks.
Ashura flashed his most charming smile and said,
"Hey there! Mind if I join your warrior class for a bit?"
"Of course not! We'd be honored to have you… Golden Sparring Partner!"
A teasing male voice spoke from behind him.
Ashura's body stiffened.
Slowly, he turned around…
Only to see Instructor Enger, the handsome middle-aged man, smiling at him mischievously.
Ashura wanted to die on the spot.
Forcing a stiff smile, he said, "Good morning, Instructor Enger! Shouldn't you be teaching Class Eight today?"
"I'm quite happy here—you don't have to worry about me!"
Enger burst into hearty laughter.
Then, stroking his goatee, he said,
"Actually, the first two classes today are here, in Class Seven. I'm also the instructor for this warrior class!"
Ashura didn't hesitate—he turned and tried to run.
But a firm hand grabbed his collar, yanking him back.
Enger tossed him back into the group, giving him a knowing smirk before starting the lesson.
Asura had no choice but to follow the others in class. He was fascinated by the class and thought that although this old man was not a good person, he was still good at teaching.
Whenever Enger demonstrated martial arts movements, he would call Asura up to be his demonstration partner, although Asura was beaten a few times because of this.
But he did not reject such exercises in his heart, and he could understand the key points of the movements more deeply.
But the good times did not last long. In the second class, Enger arranged two-by-two group training!
Asura looked around and breathed a sigh of relief. There was no red-haired witch in this class.
But Instructor Enger shouted with a smile: "Lan Yu, I found you a gold medal sparring partner. Maggie from Class 8 beat this kid up yesterday and improved her realm!"
"You must seize the opportunity, haha! Asura, don't hide, come and stand up quickly!"
Asura's forehead was black. He guessed that the news that Angelo said yesterday about him being beaten was spread by this old man!
The young man clenched his fists, and his desire to become stronger and beat the old man became stronger, but he didn't know what level of strong man the old man was!
Just as Asura was thinking about how to become stronger.
A pair of long legs walked into his field of vision as he lowered his head in thought...