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Luo Wei saw the notice on the wall at the same time: "Siria Magic Academy — Nineteenth Western Plains Magic Competition Team List?"
"What kind of magic competition is this? They're already on their nineteenth?"
"You didn't know?" Qin looked surprised, then immediately slapped her own forehead. "Right, look at me — I forgot. You're not from the Western Plains."
She launched into an explanation. "The Western Plains Magic Competition has been running since the very first year our academy opened enrollment."
"Back then, there was no precedent in the Western Plains for someone founding a magic academy in their personal name. So when Siria was established, academies from all across the various nations started sending challenges to Headmaster Morrison..."
The first competition was apparently the most spectacular. The ten strongest magic academies in the Western Plains had each sent delegations, one after another, engaging the professors and students of Siria in a rolling gauntlet that stretched across half a month.
The academy was forced to receive a new wave of arrogant challengers nearly every day. The main gate was blasted down more than once.
At that point, the academy barely had anyone. Three professors. Five commoner students. Headmaster Morrison led them personally, and they turned away every single challenger who came through that gate.
That battle was what put Siria on the map.
Word spread, and more people learned this place existed. Even nobles began arriving, bringing their children along, drawn by reputation, wanting them to study magic here.
Their reasoning was simple: if Headmaster Morrison could train a handful of dull commoners into formidable mages, imagine what he could do with children of noble blood.
And so nobles from across the nations began shipping their magically underperforming children to Siria , the ones too lacking in aptitude for any other academy to bother with. The talented children, naturally, still went to the noble academies.
At that, Qin's expression dimmed a little. "That's why I ended up here. My magic aptitude was too poor. My parents decided this was the place for me."
In her family, children who showed real magical talent were sent to the Taslonte Noble Magic Academy. Her cousin was one of them.
Taslonte ranked in the top three across the Western Plains. Her cousin would likely be competing in this tournament. Just picturing that smug, mocking look made Qin's chest tighten.
"Qin." Luo Wei reached over and patted her hand. "Your aptitude isn't poor at all. You have to believe that."
From Luo Wei's perspective, someone like Qin, with balanced affinity across all five elements, was genuinely rare. In her experience, characters built like that were always the hidden geniuses.
"I know, I believe it." Qin raised a fist and pumped herself up. "I've only been here half a year. Who knows what comes next!"
She hadn't finished making her point earlier, either. Some of the earliest noble students sent to Siria , kids whose aptitude was so dismal their own parents had written them off , had actually turned things around completely here, emerging as outstanding mages.
That clearly reignited something in Qin. She blinked and refocused. "Wait, where were we?"
"Many nobles sending their children here," Luo Wei said.
"No, before that." Qin snapped her fingers. "Right — I said Headmaster Morrison led the students and drove off all the other academies. But those academies wouldn't accept the loss, so they agreed to come back the following year."
"After that, I'm not sure what kind of agreement Headmaster Morrison worked out with them, but from that point on, Siria has held a competition every year. All the notable magic academies in the Western Plains send teams to compete."
"And in all eighteen previous competitions, our academy's overall ranking has never once dropped out of the top three!"
Qin threw her shoulders back and said it with pride.
Luo Wei's curiosity, though, had snagged on something else entirely: Siria had only been established for eighteen years?
The cathedral and the castle buildings looked so worn and ancient. She'd assumed the place had been standing for at least a century.
Then again , massive stone structures in this part of the world took centuries to build. Coming out of construction looking weathered was probably just par for the course.
They still had the faculty-student assembly in the afternoon. After parting ways with Qin, Luo Wei made her way back to the dormitory castle, yawning with every other step.
She hadn't even reached the stairs when she heard voices on the floor above , someone talking about the competition roster. Her name came up.
"Didn't you say that Luo Wei in your class is really strong? How come she's not on the list?"
"That rumor? That's ancient history. The best in our class now is Athena."
"Really? I remember last year you were telling me how incredible Luo Wei's magical aptitude was , how she conjured a flame in less than half a lesson..."
"Okay, but didn't I also tell you afterward? Luo Wei's only strong in fire. Her affinity for every other element is basically nothing. You weren't there for the last few months of last year , we were studying earth and wind spells, and she couldn't cast a single one."
Luo Wei absorbed that quietly. It wasn't that her aptitude was lacking. Her wand had cracked. The mana conduction had failed completely.
The conversation upstairs kept going.
"Exactly, so Athena is just stronger overall. Fire's her best element, but her affinity for the other four is high as well. She's never had classroom points or academic year points docked, either. She's probably first in the junior division by total score, right?"
Luo Wei, who had forty academic year points docked: Ouch.
"She has to be. It's a shame about Gladys from our class , her total score used to be really high too, but she got disciplined for breaking school rules."
"Oh, right. That's strange, actually. Isn't the Savage Witch supposed to be terrifying in a fight? How did she not make the roster?"
"No idea. And it's not just Gladys , that 'Master Poisoner' from Professor Temple's class isn't on the list either. Honestly, why wouldn't you put him in? He wouldn't even need to fight. Just have him throw a potion at the opponent and they're done."
"Haha, speaking of which , I heard that last year at the competition, a senior named Theodore farted on the stage and the smell knocked their opponent clean out."
"No way. Is Theodore competing this year? I want to watch."
"I didn't see their name on the list." A note of disappointment crept in. "Don't know why, but three people from that whole team got swapped out."
"What a shame..."
Luo Wei waited until the conversation wound down before lifting her skirt and walking up quietly.
When she stepped onto the second-floor landing, the two rooms closest to the staircase were just pulling their doors shut. Both closed right as she arrived.
That explained why she'd heard every word so clearly. Those rooms were right here.
She glanced at the door on her left. That was Monica's room , her classmate, and Athena's newest shadow.
Students at a magic academy gravitated toward power. If Luo Wei couldn't stay strong, couldn't stay excellent, she would lose her following fast. That was just how this place worked.
One roster had exposed exactly where she was falling short.
And if she couldn't prove her strength, what leverage did she have to bring in the people she'd already set her sights on?
She walked slowly down the corridor, turning the problem over in her mind.
How, exactly, was she going to take back first place?
➤ Next: Deconstructing the Magic Rune
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