With the constant losses the Central Academy had suffered, and with the crushing pressure of Ibarin's expectations hanging over them like a blade, the students' backs were against the wall. Failure was no longer an option. They all felt it, the suffocating threat that if they disappointed him again, the consequences would be unbearable.
And so, almost in unison, they reached for the same desperate measure.
One after another, the students consumed the pills. It was not coincidence. The moment the first pill was swallowed, the change was undeniable. A violent spike of mana erupted outward from the student's body, spreading in all directions like a shockwave. It was the kind of sudden flare only seen when a mage achieved a breakthrough into a new star level, the kind of energy burst that made everyone nearby instantly aware.
The others, upon sensing it, knew.
