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

as his eyes

it was quite apparent that he

secure 1033

In response, Mark's brows knit

you're saying that we are 47 points behind

once pointed at the TV screen, "Furthermore, Theodora academy's score is a whole 80 points higher than

It's only

as his voice

we're first. All we have to do is continue to be first. Simple as that. I don't see

his face

the looks of it, he was extremely irritated about the fact that he

and

breath, Ebonie tried

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 seed

you wasted our time for this

Perry abruptly stood up.

his body as the

by his pressure. Even then, I probably wouldn't have been affected much due to my experience

reminded me of

"This is not nons'”"

this was something important. You're just wasting my time with your

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

walked, everyone stepped to the side to make a path for

"Wait lis'”"

agree with

Mark similarly stood up.

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

and what seemed to be her followers which included

crawling back to me later telling

leaving the room, Ebonie,

pricks. Why can't they

her

'...As expected'

at the scene from afar, I secretly shook

that the Lock nearly

been for Kevin's intervention, the overall winners would've been Theodora's

way I saw things, the situation was progressing exactly

the plot, the chances of the Lock losing were

three leaders although talented, could not

It was because of their ego that the chances of the Lock

"What do you think?"

"Hm?"

on my shoulder. Turning around, I saw Kevin standing next to

did he

I looked

do you

I see

for a bit,

"You think so too?"

"...yeah"

third years was quite clear to

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

have a game to

I checked today's games

I better get

waved and left the waiting room. I

managed to escape an unwanted

about the meeting it was that I didn't attract the attention of the three leaders

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

***

it was now Monday. During the past week, I did what I set out

'”Click!

bright lights, a subtle clicking sound resounded

dummies fell on

"Huuu..."

touched the

"This feels weird."

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 fast

of this factor, I almost missed a couple of dummies that were

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

'”Beep!

a beeping sound resounded across the room, and my score

Dover; Time ➤ 2:

Smirk.

at my timer, a smirk invertedly appeared