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

said as his eyes squinted

quite

secure 1033 points

response, Mark's brows

are 47 points behind

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 on the

It's only the first

up Perry as his voice

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

Perry spoke, his face gradually became

fact that he had to wake up this early in the morning

and listen

a deep breath, Ebonie tried

If there is any chance that we might lose, we have to crush it before the seed can

wasted our time

Perry abruptly stood up.

body as the students next to him backed up

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

of the orcs I faced back

"This is not nons'”"

thought that this was something important. You're just wasting my time

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

stepped to the side to make a path

"Wait lis'”"

agree with the brute

Mark similarly stood up.

out of the room. Behind him, a row of students followed him out of

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

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

individuals leaving the room, Ebonie, shook her

pricks. Why can't

cursed as her fists curled

'...As expected'

from afar, I secretly shook

this reason that the Lock nearly ended up

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

situation was progressing exactly as it did in the

in control of the plot, the chances of the

leaders although talented, could

It was because of their ego

"What do you think?"

"Hm?"

on my shoulder.

did he get near

I

What do

the way I see

musing for a bit,

"You think so too?"

"...yeah"

between the third years was quite

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

game to

I checked today's

better

lightly, Kevin waved and left the waiting

managed to escape

thing that was good about the meeting it

have to worry about joining the conflicts between the

***

week eventually flew by and it was now Monday. During the past week, I did what

'”Click!

Thud. Thud, inside of a room illuminated by bright lights, a subtle clicking sound resounded

which, with large thuds, multiple dummies fell on the

"Huuu..."

touched the

"This feels weird."

honestly still couldn't get used to my rank getting suppressed. It felt as though I woke up after a few hours of sleep as my body didn't move as

almost missed a couple of dummies

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

'”Beep!

a minute after the last dummy fell, a beeping sound resounded across the room, and my score was

Ren Dover; Time

Smirk.

a smirk invertedly appeared on my