The Author's POV

-Fuuuuaaa

As the top of the capsule opened and steam slowly rose in the air, I steadily stood up and stretched my neck. Frowning slightly, I couldn't help but think to myself.

'...Did I perhaps overdo it?'

Interlocking my fingers and raising my hands in the air as I stretched my body to increase the blood circulation, I looked back at the game that we had just played.

Although we won, I wasn't happy.

This game once again shed light on the things that I had to work on.

....Yes, everything went according to how I predicted it would go. At least on how the opposite team behaved...not so much on my side.

Turning my head around and briefly glancing at Amanda who had her head held down, I softly said to her.

"You did good"

Raising her head slightly and staring at me, Amanda weakly nodded her head and got out of the capsule. Subsequently, she walked towards the exit of the VR grounds.

Staring at Amanda's back, sighing inwardly, I didn't say anything else. It was evident that she held herself accountable for almost losing.

In reality, it was my fault.

It was me.

I had made a couple of miscalculations in my plans.

...although I didn't place much hope in Amanda beating two guys, I didn't expect her to downright almost lose. The plan was for her to hold them back...I thought that she could've accomplished such a task considering her strength...but I was wrong.

Perhaps I was too confident in her...or perhaps I was too inexperienced. In the end, the plan had almost failed.

Looking back at it now, there were a lot of things that I had not taken into consideration when coming up with the strategy. Things such as the opposing team strength, teammate mentality, the synergy between members, the synergy between opposite team members, opposing team composition, and so on...

I had neglected a lot of factors.

...in the end, there was still a lot of room for me to improve as a person before I could confidently be able to strategize or scheme without any loopholes in my thinking.

Still, I wasn't discouraged. This served as a good lesson for future plans and strategies. It was a good reference point for me in the future when I planned on coming up with similar strategies and plans.

The more mistakes I made, the more I learned. It was just who I was.

...I wasn't born perfect.

Just like most humans, I was prone to failure...it was normal. It was what made me human.

However, it was also from those failures that I learned to grow and improve.

Mistakes were fine.

...As long as the mistakes I made weren't the same mistakes that I had made before, it meant I was growing...and only when I no longer repeated any of my previous mistakes as well as made any new mistakes that I knew that I had finally matured.

"Huaaam..."

Yawning out loud, I took a step out of the capsule. As I did, I swore to myself.

'Next time, I won't make the same mistake again. Next time...I'll make sure to thoroughly crush my opponent with the lowest possible percentage of failure"

...

Inside a private room made out of glass that overlooked the arena grounds below, multiple screens displaying different battles could be seen inside of the room.

Standing behind the screens, a group of around ten adults were currently intently staring at the screens before them with different emotions displayed on their faces.

"How did he do that?"

"Did you see that?"

"Check him out, this isn't bad"

The instructors present were each selected beforehand by the academy to assess the students and determine who was qualified for participating in the tournament.

...obviously, in order to remove any bias, the instructors present in the room all came from different departments and didn't teach any of the first years.

If one looked closely, although there were multiple screens before them, everyone's attention was currently gathered towards one specific monitor. More specifically, towards a certain youth displayed on the monitor.

From time to time, with every second they spent watching the youth, some of the instructors couldn't help themselves as they excitedly whispered to the person next to them. Their voices carried a myriad of emotions, from disbelief to shock, surprise, envy, and much much more.

Everyone was stunned.

"...how is that even possible?"

"He is amazing!"

"To think that not only his rank is high, but his proficiency in his arts too..."

"When I was his age back then I wasn't even close to his level"

Every single one of the instructors present couldn't take their eyes off of the youth on the screen as he battled against three opponents at the same time. Each time the youth hacked or slashed his sword, an instructor would let out an involuntary gasp of amazement.

"Amazing..."

"Such high proficiency"

"What an unbelievable talent!"

In between each sword strike, the youth's sword would fluently link with his next move revealing no gap in his swordsmanship.

His every sword strike was both gentle and overbearing, and each time his sword clashed against one of his opponents they would stumble a couple of steps back with a look of disbelief on their faces.

To the instructors, more than this being a battle, it looked more like a performance to them.

...his swordsmanship was simply too good.

The youth on the monitor was Kevin Voss, and if there was one thing that every one of the instructors present in the room understood from watching him fight was that he had put an endless amount of blood sweat, and tears into polishing his swordsmanship up to this point.

Regardless of how talented someone was unless they practiced hard, they were never going to have such refined and polished swordsmanship. Moreover, from the way he was fighting it was evident that he was very experienced in combat.

"What a truly talented youth"

Standing at the forefront of the instructors present in the room, a rather old yet imposing man stood with his hands behind his back. His deep and hazy eyes would alternate between different screens at the same time until finally, his eyes focused on two particular screens.

One displaying Kevin fighting...and another one that was currently focused on a handsome youth with blonde hair wielding two daggers. One in each hand.

The blonde youth was currently fighting against two students, and similarly to Kevin, he was dominating his opponents.

However, unlike Kevin who was suppressing his opponents through his amazing sword technique, the blonde youth had a completely different fighting style. His figure would constantly melt within the shadows and reappear behind his opponents at lightning-fast speeds that made it hard for them to fight back. It was almost a one-sided beat down.

...his speed was something that most of the people present in the room took notice of. Just the way he moved in between opponents made some of the instructors present show similar reactions to Kevin.

He was brilliant.

"Hm?"

While watching the monitor displaying the blonde youth fighting against two opponents, the scenario suddenly changed and the old man's eyes were immediately attracted towards a certain youth displayed on the screen.

"Who is he?"

Turning around and pointing towards the second monitor, the old man, Charles Mandengrove, one of the main people in charge of assessing whether students had the qualifications to enter the tournament or not, looked towards his left where a young man with a grey suit stood.

Without beating around the bush, pointing towards the monitor, Charles once again asked.

"Tell me who that youth is"

Glancing at Charles, the assistant leaned closer and carefully asked.

"Who?"

"That youth on screen 9"

Without looking at the monitor and remembering which group was being displayed on monitor 9, the assistant instinctively responded.

"That is Jin Horton sir"

Shaking his head and pointing towards the monitor, Charles's deep voice faintly echoed into the assistant's ears.

"No, not that youth. The youth with black hair and blue eyes that is on the screen right now"

Taken aback and staring at monitor nine where a youth with black hair and blue eyes stood, the assistant made an awkward smile as he turned on his tablet. Thereafter, after a couple of seconds, he soon found a picture that matched that of the youth on the screen and slowly said.

"Student rank 197, Ren Dover"

Staring at Ren, Charle's attention was drawn towards the strange rings that he controlled. Out of curiosity, he asked.

"What art is he practicing?"

Tapping once again on the tablet in his hands, and scrolling through a large number of data, after a couple of minutes, the assistant spoke.

"Cross-referencing with the Lock database, the student seems to be using [Ring of vindication] and [Drifting steps]. Both three-star manuals."

"According to the data, ring of vindication although rated three stars in terms of defense can be argued to be a four-star. However, because of the lack of offensive abilities and by how hard it is to practice, it was rated to be three stars. Regarding drifting steps, it is a fairly decent movement art that isn't suited for combat but rather traveling at fast speeds."

Frowning slightly, stroking his short gray beard, Charles faintly nodded his head in understanding as he softly muttered to himself.

"Ring of vindication and drifting steps?Three star...mhh, I guess it makes sense now. What's the student talent assessment?"

Hearing this part of the question, with an awkward smile on his face, the assistant softly said.

"Talent assessment D rank"

Hearing the 'D rank' talent assessment, Charles deeply stared at the monitor for a couple of seconds before he stopped speaking.

Thereafter, a couple of seconds after receiving word of the youth's talent, one word escaped from his mouth as he stared at the youth on the screen.

"...pity"

Charles truly did feel like it was a pity.

Although the youth wasn't as outstanding as some of the other youths he had seen on the screen, his appearance alone shifted the balance of the situation...from the way he first took out one of the opponents by surprise to then distracting another one and covering for his teammate...it truly was a pity that he was only ever going to achieve D rank in his life.

He was without a doubt talented. Having seen many youths' in his stay at the Lock, Charles was sure about his judgment...however, in the end, such youth would forever be forgotten due to the insurmountable wall known as talent...a true pity.

Inwardly sighing to himself and staring at his assistant next to him, after pondering for a couple of seconds, Charles softly said.

"Still, place his name in the name of students who passed the tryouts. Though his talent is bad, that doesn't really matter in the first year. He should be decent enough for the rookie games"

"Understood"

Faintly nodding his head, without questioning Charles decision, the assistant tapped on the profile of the student and dragged it towards one of the folders that said 'eligible'