Reader Mage-Stubbing August 10! Chapter 18: 18-Monsters Have Been Pouring Out Lately

Read chapter 18 of Reader Mage-Stubbing August 10! by A_Random_Turtle on NovelPedia.

Four weeks passed by in a flash, and Merlin found himself a day away from Prestige Academy’s assessment exam, which he had been notified of weeks ago. Nora hadn’t exactly been bothered when the mail had come in; it was not like she’d had to hurry up with anything in particular. After all; she could already cast spells up to Tier II. So; to her, it had just been like receiving a mail of the pick up of an order she had made. To Merlin, however, it had been a wake up call—if he had not already been woken up before. And he did well to follow through, making sure the rest of his days didn’t see him slacking, which brought him to being so engrossed in his training and practice that he’d had little to no time for anything else. “I still don’t get how boxing is meant to help you pass a Mage exam,” Sunny said as another of Merlin’s jab struck his pad. “I thought you were learning it as a hobby and for self defense? How did we get to it relating to a Mage exam?” Merlin was still a bit sensitive about giving Sunny the real reason for that, because he didn’t want to be laughed at. All he’d told the ginger-haired man was that he really needed to be good at it to some extent before the exam. But he thought that maybe now would be a good time to at least give some sort of plausible reason for forcing Sunny to keep up with his eagerness, even if it was a lie. After all, Sunny had been asking him that question continually for weeks. “It’s because I’m not really sure if I’ll be able to continue if I get into the Academy, or even otherwise,” Merlin muttered with heavy breaths, careful so as to not bite his tongue, while throwing a sequence of two jabs and a cross, all landing on the strike pad Sunny wore. “Eh… I doubt that,” said Sunny, flexing his muscles as they both took a second’s break. “I’ve never met a Mage who didn’t have hobbies outside of their Academy or whatever.” Merlin blinked as he closed the gap between both of them again, sweat dripping from his brows and soaking his shirt. “You’ve got a lot of Mage friends?” Sunny licked his lips as Merlin’s strikes connected with his pads again. “Nah. I’ve got no friend that’s a Mage. Just acquaintances.” Merlin felt offended. He’d thought that with all the time they’d spent in the company of one another these past few weeks they’d become more than just acquaintances. Janeth, for one, had been more than happy to include Merlin and Nora in her friends list as quickly as possible. Granted, that list was not particularly long, but still… In fact, Merlin didn’t want to keep shut about it. “I thought we were friends,” he said, throwing an uppercut that was aptly blocked. “I’m hurt.” “Don’t be,” Sunny smiled. “You’re not yet a Mage now, are you?” Merlin scoffed. “I guess you’re right.” He struck again. The boxing gym they were in was not a standard one in any way, and it would never be licensed by an athletic commission even if the world was coming to an end a second time. After all, it was just Sunny’s musty garage where he kept his bikes—apparently, bikes were one of the things he loved—refurbished to hold a couple punching bags, a small area to fit what could be called a ring, and a few dumbbells, which baffled Merlin. He had thought that Sunny hated those so-called metals like Janeth had claimed he did. But when he had asked, Sunny had told him that it was not like he hated weights and all, it was just that he was not obsessed with them. And, besides, he wouldn’t be a very good boxer if he didn’t train his strength and power, would he? It was an answer Merlin had been pleased with; and slowly he had become pleased with training in Sunny’s garage as well, feeling more and more at home as the days trickled by. “We’re back!” Janeth hooted as she and Nora walked into the garage, plastic bags in both their hands. “You’re still going at it?” Nora asked with a frown, her question directed at Merlin. “You know tomorrow’s the assessment, right? What good would it be if you wear yourself out now?” “I’m no