Chapter 28: Quitting

Chapter 28: QuittingTime went by slowly as one teacher after the other came to teach them different topics, but the gossip of the students didn’t stop as they kept on talking about what had happened the previous day.

Since there were many fourth-year students, all of them could not naturally fit in the same classroom; there were different classrooms for fourth-year students in the academy, so Alex didn’t come across Laura until morning classes were finally over.

After taking four different classes in the morning, the students were allowed to go out for a bit before preparing for more classes later. This was when Alex would usually take his post at the desk in front of the library and many students would come to collect passes.

Also, there were different training rooms and meditation rooms in the academy for students to train or gather mana if they didn’t want any distractions. Alex had never been to any of those since they had no use for him.

"Registration for the competition will last till Wednesday, I should just register today and get it over with," Alex mumbled to himself as he walked out of the classroom and entered the large hallway where other students were also walking.

Alex’s appearance immediately attracted the attention of many students and they began to look at him with strange eyes while whispering to each other.

Alex simply glanced at this before walking away. Apparently, the whole academy already learnt of what happened yesterday and were talking about it.

’Not like I care about being the subject of gossip,’ Alex thought to himself. This wasn’t a new thing since it had been like this for the past four years.

The only difference was that this time, he wasn’t being ridiculed.

After taking a few turns in the hallway, Alex arrived in front of a black door and knocked on it.

"Come in,"



An aged female voice called out from behind the door and Alex pushed the door open before stepping in.

Entering the room, he saw that it was a small office with tall bookshelves at the back and a large table with lots of files packed messily on top placed at the side.

In the middle of the room, a woman who seemed to be around 50 to 60 years old sat on a simple chair with a small desk in front of her. The small desk was almost occupied by messy files, just like the table, with only the space for her hands to perform simple movements left.

The woman raised her head, and her aged eyes landed on Alex. A look of surprise immediately flashed past her pupils before disappearing the next moment.

She recognised Alex.

Well, who wouldn’t recognise him? He was some sort of celebrity in the academy but his reputation wasn’t something to be happy about.

"Come over here child," she beckoned for Alex to come closer.

Alex nodded and walked in front of the desk, his hands hidden beneath his old cloak.


"You want to register for the competition?" The woman asks and Alex nodded.

Although she had expected it, she was still stunned when Alex nodded. A hint of hesitation appeared on her face, and she looked like she was about to say something; she sighed in the end without saying anything and took out a file before writing Alex’s name and class.

"Take care of yourself, kid; you don’t need to prove anything to anyone, so don’t get hurt." She said after writing his information down.

Alex smiled lightly. Unlike the others, this old woman was one of the few people in the academy who didn’t discriminate against him for being trash. And guessing from her expression, he guessed that she wasn’t aware of what had happened yesterday.

"Thanks for your concern but I’ll be fine," Alex said before silently releasing mana from his body.

The eyes of the old woman widened when she sensed Alex’s mama.

"You finally broke through," she asked in astonishment and Alex nodded with a smile.

A look of relief flashed past her eyes at this moment and she said.

"I see, your parents must be very happy. Good luck with the competition then."

Alex thanked her again before walking out of the room, on his way out, he encountered a lot of students who also came to register for the competition.

They all gave him odd stares without saying anything. Likewise, Alex didn’t pay them any attention and just kept walking.

"This trash really came to register, does he think he has a chance of winning against anyone? Even some third-year students are stronger than him."

"Maybe he thinks he’s now our match after reaching the Adept rank. The space element might be rare and powerful, but can he even connect his star pattern faster than us?"

"I heard that his casting speed was very fast yesterday, what if he can?"

"That might have been lucky. Even then, he’s at most at the low stage, his magic can’t be that strong."

The students talked behind him, but Alex pretended not to hear; he looked forward to when the competition would start so that he could teach them a lesson.

Walking back into the large hallway, Alex encountered a familiar figure.

It was Laura!



A grin immediately formed on Alex’s face after seeing Laura and he stopped walking for a moment. The latter also froze for a second after seeing Alex, her face twisted in rage at the sight of the grin on Alex’s face.

She wanted to slap that grin off his face so badly.

"Hmph! You might have gotten lucky yesterday, better pray not to meet me in the competition." Laura snorted as she brushed past Alex, her red robe and matching hair waving behind her.

"Ah, I pray I meet you; I wasn’t done yesterday," Alex said without looking back and resumed walking.

Laura’s legs paused when she heard Alex’s words, and she turned around with an icy look on her face; mana was rising from her body, and she was on the verge of throwing a spell at him but forced herself to calm down.

She still remembered the words of her father after he found out what had happened yesterday.

...

"Someone who had been stuck in the Apprentice mage rank for four years beat you up and even slapped your sister, how shameful.

I’ll give you a chance to redeem your dignity, don’t make me do it myself."

...

Laura gritted her teeth as she recalled her father’s words, that was the first time he was talking to her in such a manner. Recalling Alex’s boldness infuriated her the more; the trash who didn’t even dare to cross gazes with her now talked back at her!

"Just wait, Alex; I’ll make sure you can’t use magic again in your life," Laura swore silently before walking away.

Meanwhile, Alex had gone to the library. He arrived not long after and found a small crowd of students from different class years standing outside, waiting to be given passes into the library.

Another tall figure could also be seen, it was teacher Arnold.

"He’s here!"

Someone shouted after spotting Alex and everyone immediately turned their gazes in his direction. Having dozens of eyes stare at him, Alex remained unfazed and casually walked toward teacher Arnold.

The latter was glaring at him with burning eyes that clearly portrayed his anger.

"Looks like you no longer take the academy’s generosity seriously, you dare to slack off work!" Teacher Arnold spat coldly with unfriendly eyes.

"Get to work immediately, and as punishment, you’re no longer allowed free entry into the library for the next three weeks, and you won’t get any payment for this month either!" Teacher Arnold added.

Alex’s eyebrows raised. No more free entry? There is more reason why he should quit since he could not even read anymore to increase his exp.

"There won’t be any need for that," Alex voiced out.

Teacher Arnold, who was already walking away, paused and looked back at him.

"What did you say? Do you think I’m joking?" He asked with irritation in his voice.

Alex shook his head slowly.

"No, of course not. That wasn’t what I meant; what I meant was that I’m quitting, so those punishments won’t be necessary."

Immediately after saying that, Alex turned around and left, stunning teacher Arnold and the surrounding students.



A single word appeared in everyone’s mind.

"How bold!"

Teacher Arnold remained stunned for a while before coming back to his senses, his eyes flashed with a viscous light as veins appeared around his neck and lower jaw.

"That brat!" he squeezed through gritted teeth.

After the incident at the library, words quickly spread and the whole academy soon got to know that Alex had stopped working at the library. This news became a new topic; all the students claimed that Alex was being ungrateful after finally breaking through.

Time passed, and Alex was finally done with classes for the day; it was time to go home and head for the border!

With nothing left to do, he immediately headed out but ran into someone outside the academy.

His only friend, Nora.

"I figured I would meet you outside since you quit your work at the library, good thing I arrived early." Nora smiled at Alex after seeing him, her chubby face glowing from the sunlight.

Alex asked why she was waiting for him outside instead of being in class.

"Forget about classes, I have something to tell you as my only friend.

My family is moving from Balon City," Nora said with a sigh.