Professor Marvin showed no mercy to those who failed to complete the 100 laps run today as well.

    Apart from severely rebuking them and threatening to drop them from the Elite Class should they not make the cut soon enough, he also publicly humiliated them, asking them uncomfortable questions about their own mentality and will power.

    "Those who failed to complete the 100 laps today, will repeat the process tomorrow, while the rest of the class will move on to the next stage—" Marvin informed, as rather than allowing them to move on, he coldly assigned them the same punishment for tomorrow, which was to run another 100 laps.

    Meanwhile, the students who succeeded were promoted to the next phase of training: weighted vest exercises.

    With only half an hour left before the session for the day ended, Marvin spared them from anything too strenuous for the day, assigning a brief round of push-ups and sit-ups before dismissing them.

    But as they left, he made one thing painfully clear.

    "Enjoy today while you can. Tomorrow will not be this easy."

    —------

    (Rodova Military Academy, Basics of Perception Class)

    With no mandatory attendance requirement until the next evaluation day, the Basics of Perception class saw a steep drop in numbers from the second session onwards.

    Less than 30% of the students showed up, and most weren’t even here to actively train—as they simply came to consult Professor Powell on their personal struggles before leaving again.

    However, unlike the others who rushed to ask their questions and leave, Leo lingered for a while, quietly observing the class and taking in the struggles his peers faced before posing his own question.

    And what he saw surprised him.

    Nearly 90% of the students present were still stuck on the very first step—sensing mana.

    They couldn’t even complete the preliminary phase of learning the technique.

    For these students, Professor Powell had to recommend special exercises and additional study guides just to help them grasp the basic ability to sense the mana around them.

    Leo, however, found himself completely unable to relate to their struggles.

    Mana perception had never been an issue for him.

    While his peers wrestled with fundamentals, he was already leagues ahead—despite being assigned the most complex version of the skill.

    His concern wasn’t about how to activate the technique.

    He wanted to know how to make it faster.

    So when he finally raised his hand and asked Professor Powell for tips on accelerating mana circulation, the entire room fell silent.

    His question stood out like a sharp blade among dull stones.

    Predictably, Su Yang was one of the casualties.

    Since he hadn’t attended class the previous day, he hadn’t even bothered doing the assignment—handing David the perfect excuse to kick him out yet again with a public bashing.

    However, when Leo stepped forward and submitted his completed work, something unexpected happened.

    David’s eyes nearly popped out of their sockets in sheer frustration.

    The professor had clearly expected Leo to fail.

    He had likely prepared an entire lecture on sincerity and diligence, just waiting for Leo to show up empty-handed so he could publicly humiliate him.

    However, to his surprise, not only had Leo completed the assignment, but he had done it correctly—completely robbing David of his anticipated moment of triumph.

    The sheer displeasure on the man’s face was almost comical for the class to witness.

    However, since the lecture had to go on anyways, David was forced to allow Leo a seat, as he carried on with the lecture with his mood visibly soured.

    The topic for the day?

    Elemental Infusion.

    As he explained the process through which pure mana could be altered to take on different elemental natures—such as fire mana, water mana, dark mana, and beyond.

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    It was a very informative lecture and although David was a groggy teacher, his knowledge and command on the subject was absolutely top-notch.

    The way he explained the topic opened Leo’s horizons on how different types of infused mana could help increase the power of different types of spells.

    While also understanding how they could help a craftsman craft better quality items.

    Overall, he was very satisfied with what he learnt for the day, as he decided to make this a habit and ensure that he gave the professor no excuses to kick him out from now on.

    —--------

    (Rodova Military Academy, Practical Combat Class)

    After Basics Of Magic Theory, the next class was practical combat, where once again Major Hen matched up all students against one another, right from where they had left off the day before.

    Leo felt very excited for his match-ups today, as compared to yesterday the quality of his opponents went up significantly today, with the last two opponents that he faced even possessing some of the same skills that he did.

    The second last opponent that he faced, executed a move similar to [Shadow Bind] to try and restrict his movements, while the last one had a decoy clone move, which created multiple illusions of himself, making it hard to perceive the real one.

    However, while he struggled more against them compared to the opponents he faced yesterday, Leo still managed to win all 10 matches that he fought today, while only picking up minimal injuries.