"Anything I can do to speed up my recovery?" Damion asked as he put his feet on the floor and tried to steady himself to stand up.

"Mana exhaustion will go away on its own. If you treat your body well, then it will recover faster," Mage Teft told Damion.

"This doesn't cause any lasting damage does it?"

"Thankfully no. The biggest risk with mana exhaustion is that you are vulnerable while passed out. If it happens out in the wild there is a good chance of you being eaten by a beast, but other than that it is no worse than a hangover. The effects should fade in a few hours."

"I thought mana exhaustion only happened to people that depleted their mana," Damion said finally getting to his feet and walking to the bathroom to splash water on his face.

"That is how most people end up in your situation. But you are unusual. You seem to be able to cast spells without limit, so you ended up exhausting your body. By casting so many spells you strained your mana pathways. Usually when you deplete all your mana your magic core tries to pull in mana faster than your pathways can handle and they are then strained, you simply overused them. The end result is obviously the same, your body needs to recover, though in your case, it might have some positive benefits."

"Really?"

"Might," Mage Teft emphasized. "Since there has never been someone in your position before it is impossible to say for sure. However, magic strengthens the body. Just like lifting weights builds muscle and endurance, the more magic that flows through your body strengthens it. It is one of the reasons mages and knights become stronger over time. Not just in magic power, but physically as well. The magic that flows through them continues to make their physical bodies stronger."

"You are saying I could become physically stronger than anyone else?"

"I am saying you may become physically stronger than another mage at your Rank that has gone through the same physical training as you. The training you have gone through already makes you stronger than most at your age. This would just add to it."

"So, what do I need to do to make sure I don't overdo it," Damion asked as he checked his spells. None of the three he had worked on so rigorously over the last day managed to increase in Rank, but Damion still felt it was the best choice to quickly earn credits for the Magic System's store.

"You need to adhere to a solid routine. Just practicing until you are exhausted is not good for you, even if it doesn't have an adverse effect physically, mentally it can still harm you. You can practice all day if you want, but set breaks. You need to break for meals at the very least. But it is also good to break for actual physical activity."

"I can do that. Would two hours of magic practice followed by two of physical activity and a meal work?" Damion asked as he mentally began to plan out his days.

"That should be just fine," Mage Teft told him.

As long as Damion took actual breaks and did not force himself to work until he dropped, his proposed routine would help him maximize his growth. Mage Teft suspected that if left to his own devices Damion would probably be a C Rank in the next few days and B Rank before he graduated from Silver Spire Magic Academy. That possibility truly frightened her. How long before he reached A Rank, or S Rank? How long before he surpassed the oldest of the monsters of the world?

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"Hurry up and get ready. Headmaster Sorin, Manager Halsey and Chairman Hathaway are all waiting at the Adventurer Association for your exam."

Hearing that two A Ranks and an S Rank mage were waiting on him made Damion feel a bit sick to his stomach. The test was a formality, he could easily check his magic power in the Magic System, but these three wanted to know for themselves and Damion was suddenly afraid of screwing up somehow and doing poorly on the test.

"What is the mage test like? Will I have to fight a Ferocious Beast or anything like that?"

"The mage test is quite simple. The knight test is more… in-depth, because knights have to be tested to make sure they can fight at a certain level. A knight that can use a high-grade artifact to reach a high rank in magic power, but can't move or even kill a Ferocious Beast is pretty useless."

"Doesn't the same rule apply to mages?" Damion asked not understanding why the tests would be different.

"Most knights use higher quality artifacts than their Rank so they can unleash higher Rank magic power. That is why sometimes a knight can go into a lower Rank dungeon. They might have passed the Adventurer Association's test and be a B Rank knight, but only really have the magic power of C Rank.

"Mages on the other hand can only Rank up if their personal magic power has reached the required Rank. This also means that, except for labyrinths that let everyone in since you have to move through all the floors each time you enter, mages can only enter dungeons at or above their Rank."

"I get it. But what if I want to fight with artifacts and use them to boost my magic power? Can I get a higher Rank that way?"

"You can do that if you want. You can even keep your knight license," Mage Teft replied. "There are of course mages that are licensed as knights since their magic talent or affinity are not good enough to advance far as mages. Most of them don't even acknowledge that they are mages and do everything as knights do. Would you be satisfied following that path?"

"No. I guess continuing on as a knight isn't really an option for me," Damion said as he thought about what Mage Teft said.

"You could, but relying on artifacts instead of your magic will limit your growth. You don't need a crutch. Your Ice Shard spell will, if you practice it diligently, one day be powerful enough to take down A Rank or even S Rank Demonic Beasts in a single attack. And there are more powerful spells out there for you to learn."

Damion had heard this lesson before. Hard work. That was what was needed. His family always dreamed of him being a mage. Protecting the world. He shared their vision and he could hardly let them down now. All he had to do was keep moving forward. Mages with low talent or affinities could still rise in Rank, it just took hard work. Damion having excellent talent and affinity would rise as long as he put in some effort, but if he put in the effort that less talented people had to, he would rise higher and faster than anyone else in history.

By the time Damion was ready to go to the Adventurer Association for his test his headache from mana exhaustion was almost gone. Damion considered activating True Sight, so he could hopefully get the spell to Rank up, but ultimately decided against it. Resting his magic for a little while longer was probably a better choice.

"Here at last," Manager Halsey said when Damion and Mage Teft entered the Adventurer Association. "Come, let's get you tested. The others are waiting."

Manager Halsey led Damion down the same hall where he had taken his knight's licensing exam, but instead of going into the first door, Damion was shuffled into the third while Mage Teft and the others were in the middle room that allowed them to observe the tests.

Inside the room was a blood red crystal sitting on a pedestal. Damion guessed the crystal worked the same as any other testing crystal. He just had to touch it and it would measure his magic power somehow. Before Damion could out stretch his hand Manager Halsey's voice came over the intercom giving him instructions.

"For this test you need to place your hand on the crystal and channel your mana into it. The crystal will read the magic power of your mana and display two numbers. One will be your total mana capacity and the other your magic power. You may begin when you are ready."

Not seeing a point in hesitating, Damion stretched out his hand and placed it on the testing crystal. After Damion started to pour his mana into the crystal he, and everyone in the observation room, held their breath as they waited for the results.

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