The Author's POV

I am not outstanding

If we exclude the fact that I practiced a five-star manual, nothing about me was outstanding.

Not my stats

Not my physique

Not my skills

Compared to Kevin who had a system aiding him all the times, or the other main characters who had every resource they could ask for, I had nothing.

...I wasn't blessed by the 'plot armour' like the protagonists were

Everything I got was through shedding blood sweat and tears. I gained everything that I got by either putting my life on the line to get it or by sacrificing something important.

I had to make due with what I had.

When facing an opponent like Alex who had a lot more combat experience than I had, and moreover set a handicap to myself, I had to fight using everything that I had available at my disposal.

Thus I chose to fight a mental battle.

Since I knew that despite being weaker than me, Alex had more experience than me, I chose to beat him mentally.

Everything started with our first clash. Right when I broke his nose using the scabbard of my sword.

That's when the mental beatdown started...

By winning the very first clash, I had already started setting the tone of the battle.

The confidence he had since the beginning of the fight had now diminished, and what replaced it was both shock and anger.

It was always pride.

Having read many novels with arrogant young masters, I knew that for prideful individuals like him, just a small loss was enough to influence their actions.

...and I was right.

From that point on his attacks started becoming more predictable and his emotions started to influence his decisions.

I than preceded to block his every attack.

With every thrust or stab of his spear, one of my rings would continuously block his every attack.

The more he attacked the more he realised he couldn't do anything. He was helpless...

Once again, his confidence took another hit and self doubt started to set into his mind.

Frustration, annoyance, rage, impatience

As those emotions started to set into his mind, with every minute the fight continued, he became sloppier.

His weak mentality led to his loss.

The opening I created with my rings could've easily been spotted if he had thought about it carefully.

With him being someone who had fought many battles before, he should've easily spotted it.

However, because of how unstable his mental state was, he ignored that scenario and went for the win.

He fell for such an obvious trap and I capitalised on it.

Staring at Alex who was on the ground passed out, beneath my feet, a strange feeling surged from within me.

'So this is how it feels to win, huh?'

I wasn't outstanding

need to be

plot armour to constantly

didn't need to take all the cheat

I needed to do was polish what I had, and

-Uaaaaaaaaaaaaaa!

from the crowd resounded throughout the whole

"Fuuuuuu..."

deep breath, I basked in the

dislike this

the host looked at Alex who was passed out on the floor for a

the winner of the duel is Ren

-Uaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa!

across the stadium as everyone started

"Ren"

"Ren"

"Ren"

barrage of cheers, I looked in the distance and saw my parents cheering with the crowd. Even my father, who was usually stoic, was cheering

odds, after having fought for 5:46 minutes, Ren Dover managed to defeat Alex Cloudburm. A renowned ranked prospect brought by our

"That's good..."

in relief, my mother looked at me curiously before

did you get so

to her question, my

her that this world was based on a novel I created and that I took advantage of my knowledge as the author to take a

up with a good excuse

what kind of place I

my mother fell

but you suddenly went from G rank to F rank in less than 3

said makes

to a whole year to increase a rank. Me suddenly jumping a

"Where's Nola?"

could only pretend to be ignorant about her question and shift the topic towards a different

father

was avoiding the question, my mother played along with it. To

and explain to her about what I went through to get as strong as I was now. But it still wasn't the time

wouldn't want them to

Maybe one day...

...

Northern

each other. Sitting on one of the sofas, Martin with his head held down, recounted the events

"...and that's what happened"

dare utter another word. This wasn't out of choice. it was out of the innate

"So Alex failed, huh"

gray hair and light gray goat tee tapped on the arm rest

-Tap! -Tap! -Tap!