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.

last year's

said as his

was quite apparent that he

we managed to secure 1033

In response, Mark's brows knit

we are 47 points behind last

exactly it.", Ebonie nodded her head, and once pointed at the TV screen, "Furthermore, Theodora academy's score is a whole 80 points higher than their last year's score

It's only the

Perry as his voice couldn't help but

is continue to be first.

his face

he was extremely irritated about the fact that he had

down and listen

Ebonie tried to

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

the end, you wasted our

Perry abruptly stood up.

a domineering pressure exuded from his body as the students

Even then, I probably

of

"This is not nons'”"

You're just wasting my time with

Stretching his neck slightly, he made his way out of the

to the side to make a path for

"Wait lis'”"

agree with the brute

Mark similarly stood up.

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

leaving behind Ebonie and what

come crawling back to me later telling me that I didn't

the two individuals leaving the room,

arrogant pricks. Why can't they

her fists curled

'...As expected'

the scene from afar, I secretly

of this reason that the Lock nearly ended up

it not been for Kevin's intervention, the overall winners would've been Theodora's

I saw things, the situation was progressing

control of the plot, the chances of the Lock losing were even higher

talented, could not

only trusted their decisions and their decisions only. It was because of their ego that the chances of the Lock

"What do you think?"

"Hm?"

a slight touch on my shoulder. Turning around, I saw Kevin

he get near

wondered as I looked

do

from the way I see

a bit, I shared

"You think so too?"

"...yeah"

lack of unity between the third years was quite clear

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

you have a game to

asked Kevin as I checked today's

I better get

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

to

one thing that was good about the meeting it was that I didn't attract the attention

I didn't have to worry about joining the

***

During the past week,

'”Click!

by bright lights, a subtle clicking

fell on

"Huuu..."

breath, I subtly touched the

"This feels weird."

honestly still couldn't get used to my rank getting suppressed. It felt as though I woke up after

almost missed a couple of dummies that were coming at me from the

I was able to remain level-headed throughout the whole time and barely managed to defeat them without

'”Beep!

resounded across the

Dover; Time

Smirk.

my timer, a smirk invertedly appeared on