Money is not the root of all evil. Poverty of the mind is.

The whole room was dark, with only a dim light bringing a little light. Drew was reviewing today's lessons. He was so focused that everything around him melted away, the only thing left was him and the textbook. His parents were not mages, and his family was definitely not wealthy. His parents spent half of their fortune on Drew, hoping that he could become a established mage. Living up to his parents exceptions, he always worked extra hard. Unlike Flynn who gave up on subjects he didn't like, Drew would always give his all in every subject, trying to get number one.

This wasn't hard a couple years ago, but slowly, Drew could feel that this mentality had its consequences. He was someone who would get a full night's sleep of eight hours everyday. But lately, he would still feel kind of drowsy even after a full eight hours in bed, which was pretty uncommon for mages. The stress was building up, catching up to him. He couldn't back down since that perfectionism was already deeply rooted inside his soul. His compulsion for giving his all allowed him to achieve success, but Drew also had to pay the price for wielding this double-edged sword.

Walking up the stairs, Flynn was not used to holding his bag in his left hand. Unfortunately, his right hand was wrapped in bandages, which was already a miracle since his arm was originally blown up twelve hours ago. "What happened to your arm?" Brian asked, seeing Flynn's arm wrapped up like a mummy. "I trip and fell," Flynn said, shrugging. Understanding that Flynn didn't want to explain how he got the wounds, Brian didn't ask any further questions.

Slouching on his chair, Flynn was bored. Looking at Josh, Flynn noticed that he seemed to be struggling with the textbook he was reading. "Need help?" Flynn asked, wrapping his arms around Josh's shoulder. "How does this work?" Josh asked, pointing to the picture displaying the process of transcription. "The segments of DNA are turned into smaller molecules in order..." Flynn explained to Josh in a simple manner. "Thanks," Josh said, processing what Flynn just said. "No problem," Flynn said, he had already learned most of what highschool biology has to offer from his mother.

"I don't know if it's OK to ask this question, but why don't you put more effort into studying?" Josh asked, wondering why he never saw Flynn preparing for tests. Flynn could clearly get crazy grades if he put his mind to studying, but he was grades could only be considered as average in the class. "Well, let me ask you a question instead. If you had the ability to get passing grades even if you don't do anything, if you already have everything you've ever wanted, how much effort would you put in studying?" Flynn asked. Ever since he could remember, he was subjected to hellish training by his father. Escaping the endless cycle of studying, resting, studying again, he refused to live that life again. Thinking for a while, Josh replied, "I'm not sure. I'd still probably study for tests?" Shrugging, Flynn decided it was time for another short nap. Naps were very important since healing his new arm would cost a lot of stamina.

In what felt like a couple of seconds after he closed his eyes, Flynn felt someone calling his name. "Get up," Kevin said, shaking Flynn. "I'll break your bones," Flynn replied, not that content with someone disturbing his nap. "It fitness class you sloth, we are going to spar against other people today," Kevin said enthusiastically, cracking his knuckles. "Aren't you afraid that they're going to snap your bones?" Flynn laughed at Kevin.

Getting into lines, the class sat down on the cold hard floor of the sports hall. "Today, you'll be fighting your classmates," the coach said. Projecting a hologram, it showed the brackets for today. Their opponents were determined by the grades they got yesterday. Flynn's group had no fights since their were no one with the same grades as them, they directly moved up a bracket. "Seeded team? I was looking foward for today's fight..." Flynn thought, feeling kind of down. There are seven teams of five, so they had to wait for three rounds before they could meet their first opponent. "Oh, I forgot to mention. The school will give each member of the winning team a grade one Medium," the coach said. Some of the student's eyes lit up while others were not that impressed. Grade one Media were the cheapest Media one could buy, worth around two to three mana crystals.

Flynn's eyes lit up, he needed a mana Medium, this was the perfect opportunity! "We've got to win this," Flynn said to his teammates. "I was thinking of the exact same thing," Drew replied, since he could help his family out by selling the Medium that could take some burden off his parents shoulders.

Soon, the first match began. Grade D, Flynn was quite certain that two to three indigo dummies could take both of the teams down. The two teams weren't coordinated, with mages standing in the open. The coach furrowed his brows, not impressed by the students even in the slightest bit. "I command you, spirits of flames to heed my call, fireball!" one of the students chanted. A small fireball the size of a ping-pong ball appeared, flickering as it was almost snuffed out by the flames. Flynn could never remember their names since they were not that important, but he gave them nicknames. The student that casted the spell was nicknamed Goose, since he was not that bright. Hearing the chant, some of his classmates couldn't hold back their laughter. The chant was long and unnecessary, and the spell's power was akin to a matchstick.

Flynn shook his head, looking at the students in the arena with disdain. They all came from well off families, spending the money for them to become mages. But deciding to play video games and do nothing everyday, they've wasted their potential. Looking at their pathetic performance, Flynn wondered if a well trained Earthling could win against his lazy classmates. The ones who were "adept" rushed fowards, not even powering themselves with mana. Goose started his long chant, trying to summon a fireball. Flynn couldn't watch the fight anymore, so he decided to sit down and meditate. Circulating mana around the body has proved to be useful for improving casting efficiency of spells.

The coach announced the end of the first fight as one of the teams were wiped out. The second team began their fight. Grade C, they weren't that good either. Although the fight was quite boring, one of the students stood out. The students was nicknamed Gnome since he was around five feet tall. Being an Earth mage, he burrowed through the ground, creating pit traps all over the arena. Once his opponents fell in, he would cast Landslide, which covered the trapped students under a thick layer of dirt. One by one, he took out five of his opponents by himself.

"Gnome is surprisingly hard to fight," said Kevin, watching the battle. "Your magic doesn't really work that well against an opponent like that, does it?" Flynn said. Gnome didn't rely on direct attacks, so Kevin didn't really have any way of attacking. "How would you fight him?" Kevin asked his team. "One simple mutated plant could take him down," Josh replied nonchalantly. "My snakes could detect the pit traps," Brian said. Drew didn't reply, but everyone knew he definitely had ways to take down Gnome easily. "Anesthetic gas," Flynn said, creating a pink gas with his mana.

As the coach announced the results of the second fight, Flynn and the others stopped their small conversation. The third round was definitely something they had to watch, since both of the teams were marked as Grade A. It was Ben's group and Richard's group who were going to fight. "This is going to be interesting," Flynn said, feeling the mana radiating from his classmates. They were definitely a lot stronger than the previous four teams.