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

his eyes

his voice, it was quite apparent that he did

year we managed to secure 1033 points on

responded. In response, Mark's brows knit

are 47 points behind last year's

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

his voice couldn't help

is the end result, and right now we're first. All we have to do is continue to be first. Simple as that.

Perry spoke, his face gradually became

about the fact that he had to wake up this

and

Ebonie tried to calm

I believe that we shouldn't overlook this. If there is any chance that we

you wasted our

Perry abruptly stood up.

as the students next to him backed up a couple

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

me of

"This is not nons'”"

You're just wasting my

his neck slightly, he made his way out of the

walked, everyone stepped to the side to

"Wait lis'”"

agree

Mark similarly stood up.

he followed Mark out of the room. Behind him, a

the people attending the meeting left, leaving behind Ebonie and what seemed to be her followers which included the

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

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

Why

cursed as her fists

'...As expected'

from afar, I

reason that

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

saw things, the situation was progressing exactly as

control of the plot,

three leaders although talented, could not

trusted their decisions and their decisions only. It was because

"What do you think?"

"Hm?"

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

he

wondered as I looked at

What do

the way I see things,

musing for a bit, I shared

"You think so too?"

"...yeah"

of unity between the third years was quite clear to

just as bad last year, this year it became even more apparent. Portraying

game

I checked

better

and left the waiting room. I followed

managed to escape

meeting it was that I didn't attract the attention

to worry about joining the conflicts between

***

eventually flew by and it was now Monday. During the

'”Click!

Thud. Thud, inside of a room illuminated by bright lights, a

large thuds, multiple dummies fell on the

"Huuu..."

I subtly touched the

"This feels weird."

up after a few hours

almost missed a couple of dummies that were

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

'”Beep!

fell, a beeping sound resounded across

Dover; Time ➤

Smirk.

smirk invertedly appeared on