The Author's POV

It was early in the morning, and following what was sent in the email yesterday, I made my way towards the Lock private area.

As I entered the room, the first thing I noticed was three individuals sitting at a round table.

I could instantly feel a deep and oppressive aura emanating from their body.

'Ebonie Wills, Mark Mendez, Perry Crossley...', I muttered underneath my breath as I looked at the three individuals sitting on the round table.

The three strongest students in the academy, and the heads of the three major factions in the Lock.

Calmly walking forward, I joined the small crowd of students that had gathered around them.

None of them dared to sit down with them as they just stood and watched them.

At the moment, a solemn atmosphere shrouded the room.

Tap. Tap. Tap. Tapping on the table, a burly individual with short brown hair and green eyes spoke up, disrupting the silence. His voice contained hints of annoyance.

"Let's get this over with. I don't have much time to spare for the likes of this childish gathering."

"Shut up you brute. It's because of people like you that we have to hold these kinds of discussions"

Sitting opposite to him was an elegant youth with bright blue eyes and brown hair.

A look of disgust appeared on his face as he looked at the burly man opposite to him.

"Mark, Perry, can you guys shut up for five minutes?"

Standing up was a beautiful girl with tanned skin, black eyes, and dirt blonde hair.

Glaring at Mark, who was the elegant youth, and Perry who was the burly individual, the tanned girl, Ebonie Wills, walked towards one of the TVs and picked up the remote.

'”Clink!

Turning on the TV, Ebonie pressed a couple of buttons before a large data table appeared on the TV screen.

「Rankings」 - 「Points」

Lock Academy - 986

Theodora Academy - 904

Lutwik Academy - 888

Vellon Academy - 867

SilverWing Academy - 803

Kukz Academy - 745

DeathSigil Academy – 711

Dusk of Dawn Academy - 657

Everlight Academy - 656

PridedHorses Academy - 640

Looking at the TV screen I thought, 'Those numbers seem similar to the ones I wrote in the novel...'

Though I couldn't remember the exact numbers that I wrote in the novel, I remembered that on the first day the Lock did not surpass 1,000 points.

This was a very important piece of information to take note of since it suggested that as of right now the tournament arc was progressing just as it did in the novel.

Not sure how long this would last, but for now I could more or less be able to infer a little bit of what was to come in the future.

"Let's talk about serious matters."

Putting the TV remote down, Ebonie pointed at the scoreboard projected on the TV screen.

"As you can see, as of right now we are overall in the first place."

"Indeed. But I don't think we need to hold a meeting to point this out, no?"

Perry, the burly individual, spoke up as he crossed his large arms. Ebonie nodded her head in response.

"True, but there is a problem"

"What problem?"

"...According to the data, we're slightly behind last year's first-day record."

Ebonie gravely said as she looked at everyone in the room.

was last year's

his eyes

casualness of his voice, it was quite apparent that he did not take this

secure 1033 points on the

curtly responded. In response, Mark's brows knit for

we are 47 points behind

score is a whole 80 points

only the first

up Perry as his voice couldn't help but

result, and right now we're first. All we have to do is continue to be first. Simple as that. I don't see

spoke, his face gradually became

was extremely irritated about the fact that he had to wake up this early in the morning to

and listen to

Ebonie tried

it is only the first day, I believe that we shouldn't overlook this. If there is any chance that we might lose, we have to crush it before the

end, you wasted our time for this

Perry abruptly stood up.

pressure exuded from his body as the students next to him backed up a

wasn't affected by his pressure. Even then, I probably wouldn't have been affected

pretty much reminded me of the orcs I faced back

"This is not nons'”"

that this was something important. You're just

around. Stretching his neck slightly, he made his way out

to the side to make a path for

"Wait lis'”"

have to agree with the

Mark similarly stood up.

waiting for Ebonie to finish her sentence he followed Mark out of the room. Behind him, a row of

behind Ebonie and what seemed to be her followers which included the likes of

later telling me that I

two individuals leaving the room, Ebonie, shook her head and sat

arrogant pricks. Why

her fists

'...As expected'

the scene from afar, I

exactly because of this reason that the Lock nearly ended up losing

intervention, the overall winners would've been

was progressing

that things were now no longer in control of the plot, the chances of the Lock losing were

talented, could not work with

It was because of their ego that

"What do you think?"

"Hm?"

slight touch on my shoulder.

did he

wondered as I looked

What do you

from the way I see things,

bit, I

"You think so too?"

"...yeah"

unity between the third years was quite clear to

as bad last year, this year it became even more apparent. Portraying this was the scene that

game to be

I checked today's

better get

my shoulder lightly, Kevin waved and left the waiting room.

to

was good about the meeting it was that I didn't

didn't have to worry about joining the conflicts between the

***

flew by and it was now Monday. During the past week,

'”Click!

of a room illuminated by bright

thuds, multiple dummies fell on the ground

"Huuu..."

touched

"This feels weird."

rank getting suppressed. It felt as though I woke up after

this factor, I almost missed a couple of dummies that

remain level-headed throughout the whole time and barely managed to

'”Beep!

across the

Ren Dover; Time ➤ 2:

Smirk.

timer, a smirk invertedly appeared