Prologue

'Efforts never betray you'

A saying widely respected and repeatedly preached across the world.

Some people regard this quote as a personal mantra to follow throughout their whole life,
while others simply scoff at it as if it were a mere joke.

I mean, why put effort when you have a super-rich dad who can provide for all that you need
and want?

Big house?

'Hello, Dad! Can you buy me a house?'

New car?

'Daddy~ There's this new car that I really love and was wondering if...'

There are also those that live in luxury simply because they are lucky, like the ones who win a
lottery.

I mean, how much effort does it take for someone to win a lottery?

'Congratulations! You have won 200 million'

How does 'efforts never betray you' apply here?

Of course, setting those examples aside, there were many cases in which the saying proved to
be correct.

For example, have you seen the movie- hmm, what was it called?

Ah!
The 'Pursuit of Happyness.'

It is your perfect example of 'efforts never betray'.

It's a touching story about a homeless dad living on the streets with his son, who, because of
his pure love and dedication for his child, managed to succeed and became a millionaire. Very
touching.

But...

What about me?

What have I got to say about 'efforts never betray'?

It is utter bullshit. Period.

'Efforts never betray?' I could spit at such a ridiculous notion. Sure, if you put in some effort
you would definitely achieve better results than the regular mob out there, but is that really all
there is to it? Is this the key to success?

No. It simply isn't.

The key ingredient to success is 'talent'.

No matter how much effort you put into something, you would never be able to surpass the
insurmountable gulf known as talent.

Look at football, for example. Many people train just as hard as Messi or Ronaldo, but in the
end, they don't even come close to their level. No matter how much they train, no matter how
much blood, sweat, and tears they shed, they would never be able to even touch their ankles.

What kind of bullshit is that?

Getting back on topic. Why do I have such a grudge against the quote 'efforts never betray'?

Simple. It is because I was one of those idiots that wholeheartedly believed in those words.
You see, my parents died when I was 14. Some bastard got drunk and ran them over. I couldn't
remember how many times I had cried myself to sleep because of the accident.

My parents didn't have siblings, and my grandparents, both maternal and paternal, had
already left the world long ago. I was orphaned.

Luckily, they had enough money in their bank account to last me until school finished. Thus, I
studied as if my life depended on it. It literally did.

I would study hours and hours on end, just so that I could enroll at the most prestigious
university out there, and later find myself a suitable job.

But hold on. How could I possibly afford to go to university? It usually costs a hell of a lot of
money, doesn't it?

A bank loan? Would they lend a loan to an orphan with neither family nor assets? Well, I still
tried to get one. But in the end, I got rejected by the government.

But there was still a way. A scholarship.

If I managed to secure myself a scholarship, I could attend university without paying a single
cent.

Fortunately, University A, the only university near me, offered a scholarship program that
perfectly suited my needs. One of my teachers heard that they only offer one scholarship a
year for students of the school I attended. But that was enough for me. If I studied hard
enough and achieved an exceptionally high score, I could create a chance.

And so I studied. Studied so hard that all the friends I had made over the years became
estranged. But I was fine with it. As long as I could attend university I could make all the
friends that I wanted...

That was what I thought at that time.

But looking back at it now, I could only laugh at how naive I was.

Thanks to all the effort I put in, I managed to get in the top 1% of the national exams. But in
the end, the scholarship I so wanted never came.
Funnily enough, I only found out later that the one who got the scholarship was actually lower
ranked than me. Apparently, his father was a highly influential person and helped secure the
scholarship for him.

That scholarship should've been mine! All the sleepless nights and lonely days that I had spent
became worthless!

I remember screaming my heart out that day.

What's even more frustrating was the fact that the father could totally afford to send his son
to university without a scholarship.

Since you could afford it, why not give it to someone who actually needed it?

I wanted to apply to other universities for scholarships, but they were all outside of my city,
and I couldn't afford to move.

At that point, having exhausted all my family's savings, I was dirt poor.

I could barely feed myself through part-time jobs. How could I possibly study in another city
where the rent was levels beyond my contemptibly small budget?

And thus, left with no choice, I dropped all my studies and continued attending part-time jobs.

I slowly sank into depression. I found an escape route in food, manga, and web novels.

As I gained weight and found myself putting on more pounds with each passing day, it became
increasingly harder for me to continue going to part-time jobs as I would always run out of
breath after standing for over 10 minutes.

Fortunately, I found myself a new hobby. Writing web novels. At first, I took it as a hobby to
pass time, but later, as more and more people started reading my novel, a fire that had long
been extinguished ignited inside of me, prompting me to continue writing.

And I succeeded.

My first novel was a hit, and money started coming in.

===

[Descent of the Hero]

Description : Sypher, an orphan boy from a poor village, hopes to one day becoming a hero
and embarks on an arduous journey to fight against all odds and fulfill his dreams.

Rating : 4.7 (513 reviews)

Views : 5.5M Words : 1.3M

===

Sure it was your typical story of Hero vs Demon King, but what could I say? As long as I liked it,
and it made money, it'll do, right?

That was what I thought at first.

But as time progressed and my second and third novels came out, I found myself slowly and
slowly losing interest.

It wasn't because I hated writing.

No, it was simply because of what I was made to write. Because I was catering to my readers, I
slowly started straying away from what I truly liked writing.

I started writing things that I did not like. For example, people loved fan service, but it was
really uncomfortable from a writer's point of view.

Especially for someone as inexperienced as me in that department.

Fortunately, I had the internet to help me, but it was stuff like this that made my passion for
writing decrease. Who would want to write about putting some cucumber in their mouth?
Certainly not me.

And though I did exactly as my readers asked, apart from the first novel, I never found my
books making it in the rankings.
Here I am today, blankly staring at my laptop.

***

Click. Click. Click. Click. Click.

The monotonous sound of a keyboard typing echoed inside of my room.

The same boring pattern repeated like any other day.

Wake up.

Type.

Eat.

Type.

Repeat.

After finishing my last sentence, I pressed the save button at the top right of my screen and
clicked [Send].

Sigh

Letting out a long sigh, I dazedly looked at my ceiling.

'How long will I have to continue to do this?'

Bitterly shaking my head, I gazed at the novel's comment section.

===

Goodguy85 : Ugh Author-san, I feel like your writing is becoming worse and worse.....
--> Weeboo : Replying to Goodguy85, I totally agree with you. This novel had so much
potential, but I feel like the story started derailing lately.

--> TruckDriver : I totally agree with you man. There are too many plot holes and Deus Ex
Machina. It's getting ridiculous.

Boywonder : ~Thanks for the new chapter!

TwilightStar : Dropped

BoobMonster : hey hey hey, where the ecchi scenes?

Roosterboy65 : Dude is married to mary sue.

===

BAM!

"Fuck! What do you mean my writing is getting worse!"

Slamming the table with my fist, I raged at the computer.

"I'm tired of this shit!"

Closing the laptop down, I forcefully tried to calm myself.

Getting angry was not good for my blood pressure.

I actually quite liked my new novel. This novel was the result of my frustration and desire to
try something new so that I could ignite the last remaining embers inside of my heart.

It was your typical weak to strong story, but unlike my previous novels, this one was set in a
modern, futuristic setting.

To summarize the contents of my story, a three-staged disaster-hit earth, and eventually,

mana reached the world giving power to the humans. But of course, the disasters were caused
by the threat coming from the demons who were trying to conquer earth.
The story began with the protagonist enrolling in the 'Lock' a specialized academy designed to
nurture the elites that would join the earth's top ranks to help in the defeat of the demon king,
the final boss of the story.

That was the best way I could summarize the story.

Sounded quite cliche, but it wasn't too bad, right?

Shaking my head, I stood up from my seat and once again cursed at my laptop.

"Damned ungrateful fuckers."

Lately, I've been having anger issues.

The simplest thing could get me mad, which just goes to show how bad my temper had
become.

But it couldn't be helped. With how shitty my life was, I was bound to develop a twisted
personality.

"Guh... Aaah!"

But just when I was about to close my laptop, a sudden pain struck me in my chest. More
precisely, my heart.

Clenching my chest, I kneeled on the floor. With heavy pants, I forced my way to my desk.

"I need my medicine..."

I muttered in agony.

Because of my poor living conditions, I took a lot of medicine.

There was one for my blood pressure, another for asthma, and the last one for depression.

And right now, I was looking for my blood pressure medicine.

'You damned readers, it's because of you...if not for your stupid comments none of this shit
would've happened.'

Even when experiencing the most agonizing pain, I couldn't help but curse at my readers.

Stumbling slightly, my vision grew blurry. Reaching out my hand for the desk in the distance, I
weakly muttered.

"So as long as I could take my medicine...Gah!"

Falling to my knees, my vision slowly darkened.

It was starting to get increasingly harder to breathe.

'Ah, is this how my life ends...?'

Suicidal thoughts clouded my mind.

Those were the last words that escaped my mouth before I found the whole world become
black.

***

Chirp. Chirp. Chirp.

Awaking me from my slumber was the peaceful sound of birds chirping.

I could faintly feel the warm, gentle sunshine envelop my whole body, causing my lethargic
self to feel more energetic.

Opening my eyes, I found myself inside a one-bedroom apartment.

Rubbing my eyes to make sure I was still not sleeping, I blinked a couple of times and once
more looked at my strange surroundings.

'Aren't I supposed to be...dead?'

Was what I thought at first, but seeing that I was still breathing and seeing just fine, I thought
that perhaps someone had rescued me moments before I died, and maybe, just maybe, I was
in a hospital right now.

But with each passing second, I realized that this was not the case.

Why?

Simple, really.

It was because a large screen appeared right in front of me, startling me.

===Status===

Name : Ren Dover

Rank : G

Strength : G

Agility : G

Stamina : G-

Intelligence : G

Mana Capacity : G

Luck : E

Charm : G-

--> Profession : [Swordsmanship lvl.1]

==========
Chapter 1: I reincarnated inside my own novel

A multitude of questions emerged in my mind as I blankly stared at the floating screen in front
of me.

Ren Dover?

Who was that?

As far as I remembered, my name was...hmm?

What was my name?

Sitting up on the bed, a blank look appeared on my face as I dazedly looked towards the
window on my left.

Jet black hair

Pale white skin

Blue ocean-like eyes

What was reflected on the surface of the window was not my face rather it was a completely
unknown face.

It had rather attractive features, but it wasn't a face that would make people scream, 'He's so
handsome!'

Eyes aside, it was a pretty average face.

One that you would forget after not seeing for a couple of days.

Moving onto the body, this new body was rather skinny; it had some definition, but it could do
with a bit more muscle.

The fact that this was not my body was undeniable; I was supposed to be fat.
Yet, looking at the reflection in the window, I couldn't deny that it was me who was controlling
the body as each time I touched my face, the reflection on the window completely mimicked
movements.

Sitting on the edge of the bed, I looked at my now skinny legs, which I had not seen since my
high school days, and stood up.

"guh..."

Stumbling a couple of steps, I felt a wave of pain wash over my head as I started experiencing
a massive migraine.

This was soon followed by a severe case of vertigo.

Pain. Pain.

Excruciating pain that I had never felt before engulfed my entire being as I leaned my hand by
the side of the wall as a means to support my body.

"Haaa...Haaa..."

For what may have seemed to be hours, passed by in seconds, and the pain slowly subsided
leaving me huffing and panting on the ground heavily gulping for air.

It was only after ten minutes had passed that I finally managed to stand back up.

Glancing around the room, a simply decorated room lay before me.

The room was furnished with the basic necessities that comprised of a clean white bed, an old
wooden spacious desk, a tall wardrobe, and a small bathroom.

As I looked around, on top of the desk, I saw a strange tablet-looking object.

Desperate for answers, I immediately walked over to the desk where the tablet-like object
was, in hopes of figuring out what was going on.
As I was walking, a strange sensation tickled my brain, as I felt a sense of discontinuity
between my movements.

At first, I thought it may have perhaps been due to me suddenly becoming skinny, but actually,
more than me not being used to moving due to my body transformation, it was more like I was
not used to this body at all.

It almost felt as if there was a lag in my movements. Sort of similar to when I played online
games with terrible wifi.

Fortunately for me, as I moved more, the time lag slowly started to disappear.

'Is this because my soul is not used to my body?' I wondered to myself, as I slowly walked
towards the tablet opposite of me.

I needed confirmations and I had a hunch about what had happened, but I needed to confirm
it.

The tablet before me seemed to contain the answer.

Or at least, I hoped.

Arriving before the tablet I carefully tapped the screen, and then...

Wham—!

"Wow!"

A hologram suddenly materialized in front of me, startling me.

After a while, calming myself down I looked at the information that was projected before me.

===

User ID : Ren Dover

Age : 16
Picture : (Holographic image of myself)

Program : Hero program Year 1

School Rank : 1750/2055

Potential : D rank

Profession : Swordsman

===

'Lock, Ren Dover, Hero program, D rank, Swordman.'

Looking at the information in a daze, it took me a minute for me to completely comprehend

the information.

"I see"

It soon downed on me.

'It seems that I reincarnated into my own novel, and as an unknown character to boot.'

Not the protagonist, but a completely unknown mob.

I, the author should obviously know every character in the novel, but who in the world was
Ren Dover?

I never created such a character.

But looking at how things were, I should probably not consider this world a novel anymore, as I
was literally breathing and moving inside of what seemed to be the plot of my novel.

"huu...let's stay calm."

Sitting down, I tried to process everything that was going on.

"So I've just been reincarnated inside of my own novel..."

I hated my previous life

During my last breath, I had realized that I really did not care if I died.

During my last moments, the only thing I thought was 'It's a pity I died like this'

I don't know when, but at some point, I already had given up on life. But oddly enough, it
seemed that I got myself a second chance in life and as a character of my own unfinished novel
to boot.

"I should at least be happy at the fact that I'm just some random extra..."

I was actually quite glad that I wasn't reincarnated as the protagonist.

The reasons didn't need to be listed.

For one, they attracted nothing but trouble, and two had to shoulder the responsibility of their
world on their back, which quite frankly, I had no desire to do.

"Hmm..."

Placing my hand on my chin, my eyes darted all over my profile before I started to ponder to
myself.

'Considering how they put my potential as <D> rank, it would mean they evaluated my talent
to be low or medium at best. There's no way I am going to survive the third cataclysm with this
low level of talent.'

As I've said before, this world had been hit by a three-stage apocalyptic disaster.

They were respectively known as the first, second, and third cataclysm...yeah, very original.

Either way, the first and second cataclysms had already happened leaving behind the third
cataclysm, as well as the last cataclysm.
The cataclysm where the demon king would descend over the world.

That was also the part where my novel ended as I died before completing my story.

If my talent was this low, then, regardless of what I did in the future, I was only destined to be
cannon fodder.

'I might actually die at this rate, what if I take the [Seed of limit]?'

A dangerous thought entered my mind.

The [Seed of limit].

A cheat item that was originally taken by the protagonist of the novel, and what it did was
essentially remove the limiter of a person's body.

But that wasn't the only thing it did. It also helped a person train faster since the rate of
growth of a person depending on how far a person was to their limit.

The closer the person was to their talent cap, the slower their progression.

Sitting down on the bed, I mused over the matter more thoroughly.

'Considering the fact that his talent has already been graded as SSS, it shouldn't really be a
problem if I take it right? Given that he has a system, he should be able to get a similar item in
the future.'

Hmmm, I just realized it now, but didn't I create a total cheat character?

Setting the [Seed of limit] aside, I gave him the highest possible talent and also gave him the
best equipment. Wasn't this a little bit too unfair?

Now that I was in the novel, I could kind of see what the readers were saying about the
protagonist being a bit too overpowered.

But don't readers like overpowered protagonists?

The more I thought on the matter, the greater my headache became. In the end, I let out a
long extended sigh.

"Haaa..."

'Readers are an enigma...either way, I should probably get the [Seed of limit].'

For my own sake.

"Not like he needs it anyways..." I softly muttered as I got out of bed.

I had decided, I was going to get [Seed of limit].

But before that happened, going back to my desk, I turned on the tablet and slowly looked
through the browser.

I needed to make sure the information inside of my head coincided with that of the novel.

"Let's check the map first."

Scrolling through the tablet, my first thought was to check the map.

It took me a while for me to familiarize myself with the tablet, but before long, I was able to
pull out a map of the world.

Once I did, sitting down, I looked at the map and muttered.

"It looks exactly as I imagined."

An almost Pangea-like world.

After the first cataclysm occurred, the tectonic plants of the world shifted, and all the lands
were forcefully brought together, forming one large mass of land.

Pinching my fingers, the map zoomed towards the eastern side of the world, right around the
area China and Japan used to reside.
"This should be the human domain."

What came to a couple of decades after the first cataclysm was the second cataclysm, and that
was the cataclysm where mana finally entered the world.

But that wasn't the only thing that came as demons alongside, dwarves, elves, and orcs also
came.

They were known as the Fantasia faction.

"This over here should be the demon territory."

Pinching out, I looked towards the western side that was marked in black, signifying the land
that the demons took over upon entering the world.

Not only did the demon land cover the western area of the world, but also a bit of the central
area as one area directly bordered the human domain.

"This over here should be the dwarven territory."

Located in the northern hemisphere of the world, was the dwarven territory.

"...and this one over here in the middle should the elven territory, and the one in the south
should be the orcen territory."

In theory, the Fantasia faction was supposed to be on the same side as the humans, but once
they noticed how weak they were they decided to give up on them and took over about 1/7th
of the land each.

With the demons taking 2/7th of it, the humans remained with 2/7th of their old land.

Sounded like a lot, right? Well, not really.

That was because most of it was just dry land that was barely habitable. The human territory
in reality was much smaller than that.

Going through the map for the next couple of minutes, after a while, leaning back on my chair
and covering my eyes with my arm, I muttered.
"Nothing out of the ordinary so far."

This really was the world that I had created.

Vrr—! Vrr—!

"Hm?"

As I was navigating through the browser, my tablet suddenly rang. Following which, a
notification popped up at the very top of the tablet.

===

[Mom] : Ren, how are you doing?

===

My hand froze.

Vrr—! Vrr—!

But the messages continued.

===

[Mom] : Have you settled yourself well in the academy? Your mother, sister and father are all
curious about you. Reply back when you're all settled! Love, your mom.

===

Staring at the tablet for a good minute, supporting my head with both hands, I cursed.

"Ah, shit..."
Chapter 2: I reincarnated inside my own novel

The next day.

After settling down and taking a day to properly process what was happening, I decided to
head to a nearby convenience store.

"This should be it."

Going out of the Lock, and going into the busy streets of Ashton city, I decided to stop at a
nearby market.

Glancing at the map on my watch, my feet halted in front of an enormous squared building.

The entrance of the building was built using transparent glass that enabled one to see what
was inside of it, and displayed behind the glass were all sorts of different goods with
holographic tags and prices.

[Evergreen Market.]

Most eye-catching about the shop was the large sign that hung on the top of the building.

It apparently had everything I needed.

Since I was about to embark on a difficult journey that would grant me access to the [Seed of
limit], I decided to quickly stock up on some supplies.

Ding— Di—

"...Hmm, nice."

Passing through the supermarket doors, a whole new world appeared before me.

An endless row of goods covered the entire supermarket. The white marble floor shone
brightly as it reflected the lights coming from the lights up above.
Looking around the place, everything looked new and refreshing to me who had come from a
world far less advanced than this.

As I walked around the place, I noticed something.

There weren't many people in the shop.

But after a bit of thought, I understood why. It was early in the afternoon, and not many
people went to the supermarket at this hour.

'Well, to be honest, given the size of the place, I doubt that this place would even be full at
rush hour.'

Even as I tried my best to see the other end of the supermarket, I couldn't see it.

It was that big.

Wondering around the place like the bumpkin that I was, I couldn't help but marvel at the
numerous product displayed on the shelves around me.

"Hmm? What's this?"

Halting my steps in front of a certain aisle, I extended my hand and picked up an item.

The moment my hand touched the item, a status window appeared before me.

===

Title : Compressed water bottle

Rank : (G+)

Description : Water bottle with the ability to store up to 50 liters of water without affecting
the weight

===
"This is pretty neat."

Tilting the bottle to the side, I curiously looked at it from all sides.

To the people around me, I probably looked like an idiot, but I honestly didn't care.

'..It doesn't affect weight too? That's crazy, how much is this?'

Had to be expensive right?

Turning the bottle upside down, I checked the label.

[Compressed water bottle - 20U]

"Yup."

I immediately put the bottle in my bag.

20U was really cheap.

At the moment I had a total of 250U, and they were all money, 'my parents' had given me.

On that note, after yesterday's events, I was able to get a better understanding of the family of
the person I reincarnated into.

In short, his family compromised of four people, Ren, which was now me, his mom, Samantha
Dover, his dad, Ronald Dover, and his little sister, Nola Dover, who was only two years old.

From what I've gathered, his dad worked for a small-medium-sized guild known as 'Galxicus.'

I did a bit of research over the guild, but I wasn't able to gather much from it as they weren't
quite well known, but at least I knew that they were doing quite well.

Or, at least on the surface.

Whether they were actually doing well, I currently did not know.
"...well, whatever, I'll deal with that problem when the time comes." I shrugged my shoulders
and moved toward a different aisle.

On a different note, the U was the currency that was used in this world and it stood for Union,
which was the current association overlooking humanity, besides the central government that
was an alliance between the biggest nations from when the first cataclysm began.

The union was currently the foremost organization in the human domain, which only the
central government could control.

Even the biggest guilds operating did not dare challenge the authority of the union as it would
spell permanent doom if they clashed against them.

The union has the highest number of S-ranked heroes at its disposal making it a behemoth
that stood at the peak of humanity.

"Oh?"

Halting my steps, I reached out and picked another item.

"This might seem useful..."

===

Title : Compressed tent

Rank : (G+)

Description : Using the skin of a Blood curling bat, a 20 meters squared tent can be erected
with a single press of a button.

===

Yup.

This was definitely going to be something I'd need for my trip.

Back on the topic of the Union. The Union wasn't actually feared due to their high number of
<S> ranked Heroes, but it was in fact their leaders.

The 'seven heads of the Union'

Each with the power that far surpasses S rank, breaking through to the legendary SS rank.

Out of the 15 existing <SS> ranked heroes, the Union had seven, setting them leagues above
any other organization out there.

Each head was a single-digit ranker in the Hero ranking, which depicted the strongest
members of humanity.

The Hero system was a system created by the central government and ranked an individual
based on their achievements and strength.

This system was created with the purpose of motivating people into becoming heroes.

Not only was there a yearly monetary compensation provided by the union, but it also brought
great pride and glory to their name.

"This should be enough."

Looking at my bag in satisfaction, I headed out of the supermarket.

There was no need for me to go to a cashier. Supermarkets here worked simply. Take, and
leave.

The fee would be directly charged on the card.

"Should head back now."

Gazing at the darkening sky, I decided to quickly return to the academy to have a good rest.

Starting tomorrow, I was about to embark on a dangerous journey.

TWIIIING—
"Huh?"

It was then that my watch suddenly vibrated. An emergency message suddenly popped up.

Opening the message, I looked through it.

===

[Wanted - Please be careful]

『Ean Wade』

Rank : B

Bounty : 63,000,000U

===

"Fwweeuuu"

Checking out the bounty, I whistled.

"That is one hell of a bounty."

'I can probably live the comfortable life that I so desired with the amount of money.'

A pity that I was too weak.

Since the second cataclysm, humanity has been split into two factions Heroes, and villains.

Where the villains were individuals that were categorized based on the crimes they had
committed.

But to truly be characterized as a villain, an individual must sign a pact with a demon.
That was a pledge to devote their lives to the demons, in which the demon in return grants
them part of their power.

With the demons currently at a standoff with the other races, in order to deal damages to the
humans, they resorted to creating internal strife amongst themselves.

By enticing humans into signing a contract with them, they were trying to instigate fights
amongst humans.

After all, why fight them, when you could let them fight amongst themselves.

This formula which had worked for eons allowed demons to propel themselves into becoming
a dominant race across the universe.

Facing the constant pressure from the demons both externally and internally, only an
organization such as the Union could barely keep the power balance among humanity in
check.

[Turn left 200 meters]

Following the GPS on my phone, I headed back to the Lock.

***

At the same time.

"This should be the place..."

Stopping in front of a large compound was a youth.

Short black hair, deep red eyes, muscular jawline, and well-built body. His entire presence and
aura were like that of a newly forged sword straight from the furnace, with keen and sharp
edges that threatened to cut anything that obstructed its path.

His appearance instantly attracted the gazes of the girls around him as his looks put celebrities
to shame. But, clueless as he was, he never noticed the stares.
Lowering his head and staring at his watch, he lifted it and stared at the sign beside the
entrance of the compound.

[Leviathan building.]

Upon seeing the sign, the youth's eyes lit up.

"Leviathan building, this should be the—"

"Hey, you."

A crisp and melodious voice suddenly sounded from behind the youth, cutting him off.

Turning around, the youth's body froze for a split second as his eyes paused on the girl that
had spoken.

If he had to describe her looks with one word, the word would be 'breathtaking.' She was so
beautiful, that the youth for a short moment, almost lost his breath.

"Hmmm..."

With with both hands on her hips, wearing a white shirt that stopped right at her belly button,
accompanied by a slim set of ripped jeans, the girl whose auburn colored hair reached all the
way to her shoulders, tilted her head to the side.

She was trying to get a better read of the youth opposite to her.

This intense stare-down persisted for the next few minutes as her brows progressively knit
together.

'What's she doing?'

The youth thought, obviously confused by her odd behavior.

Then, pointing at himself, he asked.

"Do you need anything from me?"

"Who else am I looking at?"

The girl bluntly replied, pointing at their surroundings which were isolated.

Then, before letting the youth speak, she drew closer to him.

"You must be the student that ranked first, right?"

Raising her hand and pressing it onto the youth's chest in a poking manner, she lifted her head
and stared at the youth straight in the eyes.

Her crystal clear blue eyes and the youth's crimson red eyes interlocked.

"Keep that position warm. I'll be taking it soon enough."

Then, before the youth could even reply back, the girl interlocked her hands behind her back
and left, much to the confusion of the youth.

"Ah...eh?"

Staring at the back of the girl, the youth opened and closed his mouth, but no words came out
of his mouth.

'What a weirdo.'

In the end, he shook his head and gave up.

Chapter 3: I reincarnated inside my own novel

Late at night.

Sitting behind a large desk, was a woman.

Her black hair gently cascaded along her slender shoulders, stopping halfway in the middle of
her back.

With amethyst-colored eyes, and a beautiful porcelain face devoid of any imperfections, the
woman looked through a series of documents that were being displayed in front of her,
through a holographic projection.

"Interesting." She muttered.

Her crisp and melodious voice rang throughout the empty office space.

Swiping her hand towards the right, changing profile, she leaned back on her large chair and
carefully looked through the new set of information.

"Hm?"

It was then that something suddenly caught her attention.

Furrowing her brows, she leaned her body forward and carefully looked at the information
being displayed before her.

"...It's you."

The woman's name was Donna Longbern, and she was one of the academy professors in the
Lock.

But not only that, she was in fact an <S> ranked hero, ranked 156th in the Hero ranking.

Her nickname was 'The Calamity Witch' and she was among some of the most powerful people
in the world.
That being said, at the moment her eyes were currently glued to the profile in front of her.

On the file was an image of a youth with black hair and red eyes.

She remembered him.

Having participated in the exam selections for the academy, she had obviously seen him.

How could she forget?

His results completely overwhelmed that of everyone present. It wasn't only her that was
shocked as almost everyone present showed a similar reaction.

'Let's me have a better look at you.'

Extending her hand forward, Donna swiped downwards, and a long series of data presented
themself before her.

"This.."

Pursing her lips, Donna couldn't hide her shock as she looked at the student's information.

'How is this possible? How can his main sword art be four stars?'

Ever since the arrival of mana, martial manuals rose to prominence.

A sword art, or more specifically a martial manual, was something that was developed after
the second cataclysm. When mana entered the world.

They were martial techniques that had existed since ancient times. However, with the addition
of mana, ancient martial techniques that were long forgotten were resurrected and
remodeled to take into account mana.

The result?

Extremely powerful techniques that humans could now practice.

They were graded from one star to five stars.

The reason why Donna was so shocked once she found that the student she was paying
attention to was training a four-star sword art was because she herself was also practicing a
four-starred martial manual.

It was a four-star mental manual, which specialized in seducing the opponent into doing
anything they desired.

'I'm sure he's an orphan.'

Staring at the student's profile, Donna's brows creased even more as she checked whether the
student was truly an orphan or not.

'He is!'

The moment she check and saw that he truly was an orphan, her frown deepened.

Then, leaning back on her chair, she muttered out loud to herself.

"Just how did he manage to get a martial manual of that grade? Does he have someone
backing him?"

Martial manuals that were above three stars were extremely rare.

So rare that only a select few could practice them.

Excluding five-star manuals which were practically almost impossible to find, a four-star
martial manual was also incredibly rare.

It wasn't strange for Donna to think that the student in question had a sponsor secretly
supporting them from behind.

But the only problem was who?

"I'll have to take note of this."

Leaning forward again, Donna decided to put special attention on this particular student.
Then, swiping her hand, another profile appeared.

'Ren Dover, D ranked talent, sixteen years old...'

Comparing this profile with the previous one, Donna could see the huge difference between
them.

It made her want to sigh at the unfairness of the world, but at the end of the day, nothing was
fair. Some were just born more talented than others.

Memorizing the details of the profile, she soon swiped right and another profile showed up.

This continued for the next few hours as she continuously looked through all the profiles of
her soon-to-be students.

***

5 : 15 A.M.

Stepping out of the Lock, and checking my watch, a gentle breeze brushed past my skin
refreshing my slightly groggy mind.

"Huaammm...I'm tired.

Stretching my arms, and letting out a yawn, I glanced at my watch before leaving the academy
campus.

From what I've gathered, the academy was going to start in two weeks' time, therefore, I had
about a week to finish my business.

This was enough time for me to collect the [Seed of Limit].

The location of the seed was in the Clayton ridge, which was located on the outskirts of Ashton
city, the city that I was currently in.

Also known as the capital of the human domain.

Besides Ashton City were four others; Dromeda City, Lewington City, Park City, and Conviction
City.

They were known as the four great cities, and each held a lot of importance to the human
domain as they bordered with one of the territories of the other races, essentially acting as a
barrier to the human domain.

Di—!

Passing through a small gate, a small chime rang and I arrived at the train station.

The location of the train station wasn't far from the academy as it only took me about ten
minutes to get here.

Upon entering the train station, much to my surprise, there were quite a lot of people waiting
and walking around the station.

The surprise didn't last for long, however, as I soon headed for one of the counters where they
sold the tickets.

Sitting behind a transparent glass was a middle-aged lady with curly dark brown hair.

Lifting her head, and catching a small glimpse of me, with a disinterested look she extended
her hand.

"Cward please."

"Ah what?"

I asked, unable to understand her previous words.

She had a weird nasal like accent that made it hard for me to understand her words.

"Cwad."

"A card?"
Staring at the person on my right and seeing them pass their personal card, putting the two
and two together, I finally understood what she wanted.

"Yes...gwosh."

The clerk lady replied with an unamused look on her face.

"Here."

Taking out my card and passing it to the lady in the ticket office, I checked the map of the
station.

"Oh? You are a student from the lock?"

Glancing at my card in surprise, the ticket lady's attitude shifted completely as she sat up
straight.

Her reaction did not go unnoticed by me, as I secretly rolled my eyes.

"Yes. I am indeed a student from the Lock."

"Owh? How wonderfwul. Where two?"

"Station 24, near the Clayton ridge, please."

I replied, revealing the location of the place I wanted to go.

One of the perks of being a student of the Lock was that all public services in Ashton City were
free. Therefore, I didn't need to worry about paying for my current trip.

"Clayton ridge? I swee...and dwone."

With a flirtatious look on her face, the lady leaned forward slightly and slid the card back to
me.

"Hawe a swafe trip."

She winked.

"...Thank you."

Taking the card back, I forced a smile.

'She does realize that I am technically 16, right?'

Shaking my head, I headed to the portal and scanned my card.

Ding—!

Upon scanning my card and passing through the gates, I was left amazed by what I saw. It was
like I was seeing a whole different world.

Rows of platforms stood next to each other, and every couple of minutes you could see trains
depart, and new ones take over the empty spaces left.

The trains, which were actually, 'air trains', levitated from the ground and connected to long
metal wires that stretched all the way to the horizon. With their constantly producing
magnetic field, it allowed the trains to swiftly move unobstructed.

The moderately packed station was a scene that you would've only been able to see if you
were inside of a movie.

Well, I was inside of a novel.

Imprinting the image of the place inside of my mind, I soon boarded my designated train.

Maybe it was because I got special treatment, my designated cabin had a private desk and a
snack bar for me to freely use.

'An idea I came up with became a reality.'

I let the thought sink in.

"Haaa..."
Lazily stretching my back, I comfortably sat down in my seat and looked outside the window.

Perhaps because it was still summer, the sunlight brightly lit the surroundings despite being
very early in the morning.

—We will be departing soon, please be seated

Clank—!

A beautiful voice entered my ears, and the doors automatically shut.

Suddenly, underneath me, I felt a strange pushing sensation, similar to when a plane was
taking off.

Following this, the air train slowly started to float in the air.

A couple of seconds after levitating in the air, the train picked up speed and left the station.

What made air trains so special was the fact that they levitated in the air, and produced
almost no sound throughout the whole journey, making them a convenient means of
transportation.

Thanks to its smooth, aerodynamic design, air trains produced low drag, which in turn allowed
them to conserve energy and reach speeds of up to 600km/h.

—Next stop, Station 15 Colington Park

The voice once again rang throughout the whole train.

And so my first journey ever since reincarnating in this world began.

Chapter 4: I reincarnated inside my own novel

"Haaa...haaa"

The terrain was rougher than I expected, making it hard for me to stop and collect my breath
as I moved upwards.

I had to stop a couple of times to check my bearing, as there was no path for me to directly
follow.

Three hours had already passed since my journey up the mountains of Clayton ridge, and
although my breathing was a bit rough, I wasn't too tired.

Well, considering the fact that I had already condensed mana inside of my body, it really
shouldn't come as a surprise that I managed to last this long.

Keep in mind that if a normal human with no mana concentration in their body were to climb
this mountain, they would not reach the same point as me in such a short time.

Taking a small break, I rested my foot on top of a rock and turned to face the enormous
mountain in the distance.

"Shit...This is taking longer than I had expected."

Right now, I was making my way towards the third highest peak, where a small cave containing
the [Seed of Limit] resided.

Because I only spent a couple of sentences describing where to find the [Seed of Limit], I didn't
know the exact location of the cave. I only knew that it was on the third highest peak of the
Clayton ridge.

Knowing that looking for the cave was almost like looking for a needle in a haystack, I'd
already mentally prepared myself for a long, arduous search. Hopefully, I won't waste too
much time, or I might be spending days here, which I simply couldn't afford.

"Ugh, I should get going before it gets too dark."

I had to make full use of the sunlight. Once night arrived, I would be forced to stop my journey.

The more I got done now, the better.

And so I continued my venture towards the highest peak.

Four hours passed since then.

Just as I had arrived below the third highest peak, I squinted my eyes. I could already see the
sun trying to hide behind the mountains reducing my visibility considerably.

'Should I, or should I not?'

I wondered to myself as I stared at the slowly setting sun.

'Fuck it.'

Clenching my fist, I decided to do one last struggle and climb my way towards the third peak.

This was a really reckless decision on my part as I would be directly climbing the mountain,
unlike before where I just hiked.

Moreover, because the sun was setting and my range of visibility was decreasing by the
minute, it was even harder for me to climb up the mountain. A slight slip could cost me my life.

Climbing the mountain at this time was totally reckless, but it wasn't like the Third Cataclysm
was waiting for me to catch up.

I steeled my mind and slowly climbed up the mountain.

Time was of the essence for me.

*
Feeling the cold rock in between my hands, I increased the grip and carefully moved up the
mountain.

If I didn't manage to find the cave soon, I would probably be forced to camp somewhere on
top of the mountain, which wasn't exactly ideal.

"Ugh...shit."

Letting out a curse, I positioned my foot on top of a strong foothold and shook my hands
which were burning.

Two more hours had passed since I decided to climb up the mountain and I could already feel
my hands becoming numb from the constant exertion.

The sun, which had set long ago, only left endless darkness in its wake, making it impossible
for me to see more than a couple of meters ahead of me.

If not for the equipment that I had previously bought before coming here, I would've never
have been able to make it as far as I did.

'Got yourself a new body and you think you can climb mountains now?' I mocked myself
internally.

As the night progressed the cold kicked in, further adding to the difficulty of the climb, regret
slowly started to sink in.

'Just what in the world was I thinking...'

It was already hard to climb before, but now things turned even harder. Not to mention my
whole body ached like crazy.

'Why would a failure like me suddenly do something this reckless?'

Was it because I was given a new chance to right my wrongs and make up for my past failures?
Or was it something else?

I wasn't sure, but...

"Huup!"

Gritting my teeth, I endured the stinging pain coming from my arms and continued my way up.

'Is this even worth it? Should I quit and head back down?' Self-doubt continued to plague me
on the way up.

The realization that I had almost given up again made my eyes turn red. I harshly bit into the
side of my mouth.

'What willpower? What determination? You're still the same ugly, fat guy. You gave up years
ago.'

'You didn't even reach for that medicine back then. And now, whether dream or reality, you're
giving up again!'

All this while, I kept biting the inside of my mouth. Blood leaked from my lips.

'Is this all my life will ever amount to?'

'Is this feeling of worthlessness the only thing that will accompany me to my grave again?'

I banged my head against the mountain's wall.

"Akh!"

Blood flowed from my forehead and covered my right eye. My vision turned red.

A deep breath left my mouth. I felt all emotions leave my heart.

I lifted my head and looked down.

The steep cliff welcomed me as if taunting my decision.

The whole environment turned silent as if watching my next move with bated breath.

"Khhhh"
I clenched my teeth and pulled myself up.

I hated myself, but I hated my weakness even more.

...

After climbing a few dozen feet, I found a gap to rest my feet in.

I paused and looked up.

Although it was dark, I could still see a couple of meters ahead. Narrowing my eyes, I saw a
small rock protrude from the top left of my view. Remembering a similar description from my
novel, my eyes glimmered with hope.

"Could it be..."

I forced my body to climb up near the rock.

Placing my hand on top of the rock and applying some pressure, I was able to confirm that this
was the right place as a small gap appeared behind the rock.

Applying a little bit more pressure, I moved the rock further to the side, allowing me to see
beyond.

"Yes!"

Smiling widely, I used all my strength and pushed the rock outwards. It fell down the cliff,
opening a small gap for which a single person could enter.

Bang—!

After a couple of seconds of free fall, a thunderous sound, reminiscent of that of a thunderclap
sounded from below.

'If that was me, I would've likely turned into an omelet if anything else...'
Just the thought sent shivers down my spine.

Turning my attention back to the cave, I slowly pushed my body inside the small gap. Entering
the small hole, I crawled my way forward for a couple of meters until a wide opening appeared
before me.

Hurriedly increasing my pace, I entered the cave.

As soon as I entered the cave, confirming my safety, I felt all the energy drain out of my body,
causing me to weakly slump on the ground.

"Haaa..haaa..."

I was exhausted, both physically and mentally.

From the moment I entered the Clayton ridge to the moment I reached the cave, all I did was
non-stop physical work.

I hiked for hours, then climbed three quarters up the third peak. If it wasn't for the fact that I
had already awakened by the time I reincarnated into the novel, I would've already been
exhausted halfway through the hike.

Let me be clear. I was also extremely lucky throughout the journey. That was, I did not
encounter a single animal.

Since most animals exposed to mana turned berserk, I expected some kind of encounter
against at least one while climbing. But, it's not like I wasn't prepared.

Back at the shop, I had bought a low-grade beast repellent that warded away any beast below
G-rank, especially for this.

Thus, partly in thanks to the repellent, I encountered zero beasts, which in turn helped me
preserve some of my energy, allowing me to find this place faster.

That, and the fact that this area wasn't particularly dangerous either.

Civilians were allowed here, after all. There wasn't anything to come for, except for the
magnificent view.
Leaning against the wall of the cave, I slowly regained some of my energy.

Glancing around, all I could see was a huge cave that I couldn't see the end of.

Wiping the blood that was dripping down from my forehead, I got up and moved towards the
darkness of the cave.

It wasn't long before I reached the opening of the cave, and when I did, my footsteps halted.

"Haah..."

Letting out a long breath, I dazedly stared at the scenery presented before me.

"I was expecting something out of the norm, but this..."

'Overwhelmed' would be the perfect word to describe the sensation I felt at that moment.

A huge, towering tree stood in front of me. Its large roots deeply penetrated the hard rock,
almost as if it was made of clay, and its lush green leaves made one wonder if there really was
no sunlight here.

Right on top of the tree was a pale red fruit, seemingly defying ordinary biology, looking
extremely succulent. It resembled a peach, but contrary to a regular peach, it had a yellow
glow enveloping it, making it clear that it wasn't your regular fruit from the supermarket.

Taking a deep breath, I looked directly at the fruit that contained the [Seed of Limit] with
burning desire.

'This is it..." I thought. 'Once I get my hands on the fruit, I'll definitely be able to survive.'

I couldn't take my eyes off the red fruit that sat on top of the tree.

I will no longer be some good-for-nothing author who lazed around his house, raging at his
own readers.

No.
My ambition wasn't grand. I just didn't want to die. I wanted to live in this new world as a new
person and finally live a fulfilling life. One that wasn't filled with depression and sadness.

Glancing at the fruit above me, I raised my hand and slowly clenched it.

"It all starts from this fruit."

Chapter 5: I reincarnated inside my own novel

All lifeforms and even inorganic materials underwent evolutionary changes upon being
exposed to the wave of mana that overtook the world.

Trees could fight back, and animals evolved into dangerous bloodthirsty beasts overnight, to
name a few examples.

That's also why the fruit sat on top of the tree, and not on one of its branches.

Thankfully, this tree was not one of those as I was able to get the fruit easily.

'If I don't remember incorrectly, I don't think the protagonist even got his hands on the fruit,
as by the time he came there, the only thing he found was the [Seed of Limit]...'

I kind of feel guilty for saying this, but...

When I was writing this part of the novel, I made things a little bit too easy for the protagonist.

I didn't add an obstacle.

You know... Like the obstacle, the protagonist needed to overcome in order to boost his own
power.

If this was a typical novel, there should've been a guardian protecting the fruit, or at least
some sort of defensive mechanism that made it hard for the protagonist to easily claim the
Seed, but...I just couldn't bring myself to write one, as this would've been considered, in a
certain sense, a small upgrade for the protagonist.

The Seed's main purpose was to speed up the protagonist's training by removing his limiter.
Thus, I didn't really add any trial. My lazy self did it so that I could finish the novel faster, as at
that point I was already bored of it.

But now that I held the fruit in my hands, I realized how complacent and stupid I was.

'This is without a doubt a cheat item...'

No wonder the readers started getting mad at me.

I was totally over-gearing the protagonist.

'Mhhh, this may not necessarily be true.'

Although the [Seed of Limit] could be considered a cheat item, it couldn't really be considered
a cheat item for the MC who by that point was already overgeared.

Although it removed one's limit, it did not mean that it improved one's talent.

In actuality, a person's talent remains the same, and apart from the fact that one would have
no limit and their training speed increased, the [Seed of Limit] did not help in regards to actual
talent.

For example, if a person who has no talent in regards to fighting suddenly takes the [Seed of
Limit], they will not suddenly turn into some sort of god of war.

No, if such an item were to actually exist, I might as well just drop the novel and be done with
my day.

I wasn't dumb enough to create such an item.

With the [Seed of limit], one could only remove their rank cap, but other than just faster-
training speed the [Seed of Limit] didn't do much.

Moreover, even if a talentless person took the [Seed of Limit] they could at most train their
stats to be absurdly strong, but if they were to face someone just as strong as they were then
they would be defeated instantly.

Power means nothing if you cannot wield it.

Forcefully pushing down my feelings, I carefully observed the fruit.

Its pale red color added with the holy-like glow that enveloped it made it seem like I was
holding a fruit straight out from heaven.

Gulp—!
Swallowing the saliva stuck inside my throat, I gently opened my mouth and took a small bite
out of the fruit.

Crunch—!

Instantly, an overwhelming sweetness enveloped my taste buds, making them dance with joy.
The juices coming from the fruit overflowed inside of my mouth, and the succulent taste made
me momentarily forget everything around me.

Shortly after gulping the first bite of the fruit, I could feel my body changing. My eyes became
sharper, my head turned clear and my muscles felt stronger.

I could feel myself slowly becoming more powerful.

Glancing at my status, I noticed my stats changing with every passing second. And, as I felt and
saw myself change, a wave of euphoria washed over me, prompting me to greedily devour the
fruit before me.

The more I ate the more I felt every fiber of my body become sturdier and stronger.

===Status===

Name : Ren Dover

Rank : G +

Strength : G +

Agility : G +

Stamina : G +

Intelligence : G +

Mana capacity : G +
Luck : E

Charm : G-

--> Profession : [Swordsmanship lvl.1]

==========

"Haa...."

Using my shirt to wipe away the juices that lingered around my mouth, I took a good look at
my status window.

As I looked at my status window I couldn't help but look at my charm stat.

'Why isn't my charm increasing?'

I wasn't particularly handsome, but all stats except for Luck, which was already quite high,
increased a notch or two.

Why couldn't you just spare a couple of points on my charm?

Was I destined to be alone?

Slap—!

"Get your mind out of the gutter."

Slapping my cheeks to forcefully clear my dark thoughts, I stared at my hands.

A small brown seed nestled in between.

'Is this the [Seed of Limit]?'

I really couldn't determine the difference between this seed and any other seed that could've
been from a supermarket.
It was neither too big nor too small, just about the size of a coin and if it weren't for the fact
that it came from a fruit that glowed, I would've in no way been able to tell this was the [Seed
of Limit].

It looked so normal that I wouldn't be surprised if someone would just laugh at me if I were to
tell them this was a cheat item.

But of course, since I was the author, I know that this normal-looking seed is in fact the key to
my future.

I did mention this before, but the protagonist never actually ate the fruit. Why? Because he
never had a chance in the first place...

In the original plot, the protagonist and his classmates would go on an elective in the Clayton
ridge. During the excursion, the first to find this place wasn't the protagonist, but his rival.

Once the rival found the tree and the fruit, he immediately ate it, thinking it was special.

He also discarded the normal-looking seed, which was later found by the protagonist, who, by
sheer luck, managed to discover its effect, thanks to his system. He ate it, naturally.

Yes, I know. I was currently fully reflecting on myself. The more time I spend in this world the
more I realize how depressing my writing was...

'Now that I think about it, since I ate the fruit I kind of prevented the rival from upgrading
himself?...This is problematic.'

The rival was vital to the plot.

He was one of the reasons why the protagonist managed to become so strong. Me indirectly
affecting his growth is also indirectly affecting the protagonist's growth.

'Mhm, I should do something about this later...'

Since I've already done the deed, I couldn't really turn back time and undo what I did.

Instead of worrying about it now, I'll just do what I was best at... And that was leaving
problems for later.
"Huuuu.."

Taking a deep breath, I carefully scrutinized the seed in my hand, I slowly placed it on the top
of my tongue.

Gulp—!

Swallowing it, I sat down on the ground and waited for the [Seed of Limit] to kick in.

Then.

A minute passed.

Another minute passed.

Five minutes passed.

A total of ten minutes passed, and still, nothing happened.

'Is it not working? Did I remember something wrongly?'

I wondered to myself as I crossed my arms and thought to myself.

"Uaaahkh!"

But just when I was about to think that something was wrong, an overflowing amount of
energy came crashing down my body.

It felt as if a dam had burst, making my veins, muscles, bones, and tendons withstand the
brunt of the water escaping out of the dam.

It was excruciating pain. I couldn't describe it any other way. The pain was so intense that no
words or screams escaped my mouth. It felt as if all my bones and veins shattered at once. I
could no longer think straight.

The last thing I saw before I passed out was the humongous tree inside of the cave slowly
withering away.
"Haha... why did this happen when I was least expecting it...?"

***

I didn't know how much time passed, but the pain made it not really matter at that moment.

My body ached all over. It was hard for me to stand.

"Ugh."

Collecting myself, I slowly reached out for my bag's front pocket, from which I took out a small
rectangular tablet.

Tapping on the screen, a 3D holographic image of myself popped up.

I was still not used to the holographic thing and all, so whenever the hologram popped up, it
caused me to flinch slightly.

Of course, a few curses were thrown here and there because of it.

Swiping right, I unlocked the tablet and checked the date.

========================

Time : 06 : 47 Date : 07/09/2055

Mail(5) Calls (0) Messages(0) Browser

========================

Closing the tablet, I sighed in relief.

Only three hours had passed since I was unconscious. Fortunately for me, I did not pass out for
days.
If on the unfortunate occasion I did not manage to wake up prior to the opening of the
academy, I would've been in big trouble.

Couldn't be late for class, could I? That would be the fastest way to get myself expelled.
Especially since I wasn't anyone noteworthy.

This was the last thing I wanted, as there were so many things I needed to accomplish in the
'Lock' before I could safely go outside of the human territory.

Firstly I needed to participate in a couple of events that would take place inside of the
academy.

But wouldn't participation affect the plotline? Of course, it would, but because I didn't know
whether my reincarnation itself had had any effect on the plot of the story, I would need to
personally check it for myself and see if the storyline was still the same as what I wrote.

So far everything seemed to be the same, but if, by any chance, my reincarnation and
subsequent actions brought about a butterfly effect to the story, it could create disastrous
consequences.

Taking this into consideration, I decided to step in and help in the case that something
deviates from the plotline.

Secondly, as the Lock was the foremost academy in developing heroes in the human domain, it
would be a total loss for me to miss it.

If I want to become strong enough to survive the Third Cataclysm, I definitely could not miss
the chance presented to me.

With their state-of-the-art facilities, it would take no time for me to become strong enough to
live comfortably on my own.

But this was not enough for me.

I wanted to live.

Live long enough to fully enjoy this new life that I was presented with.
Therefore, turning my body, and placing the palm of my hand on the cold hard floor, I tried to
lift my body up.

"Ughh..."

It actually took me longer than expected to get out of the cave, about two hours if I had to say
the time.

It wasn't because I couldn't find the exit, no, that part was actually easy, the problem was that
my body refused to listen to me.

I could somehow move my arms but they were extremely stiff.

For a solid hour, I had to slowly move my muscles, starting from my fingers down to my toes.
This was because all my muscles felt completely numb. It felt as if the body which I had just
gotten used to became foreign again, almost like when I just reincarnated.

"Haa... Finally some fresh air"

Taking a step outside of the cave and taking a deep breath of the fresh air, I felt my body
slowly relax, helping me regain some of my energy.

The air outside was incomparably different compared to the air inside of the cave, which was
unbearably stuffy.

Staring towards the east with my improved vision, I could catch a glimpse of a small city on the
horizon. The tall skyscrapers and the ever-moving sky trains that operated non-stop made the
city look extremely lively.

"Beautiful..."

That was the only word I could mutter as I stared at the city.

It's truly fascinating how even in the face of extinction, humanity managed to unite and build
such a beautiful city.
"Alright!"

Catching my breath, with renowned vigor, I immediately headed down the mountains.

There was one last thing that I needed to do before going back to the Academy.
Chapter 6: Sword Art

Besides the [Seed of limit], there was another cheat item that I had accessible to me.

When I meant accessible, I meant, accessible to the current me with my current powers and
was not something that came out of the MC's system as that was where most cheat items
came from.

The cheat item was the [Keiki style], a five-star sword manual.

When I was coming up with different sword arts to give to the protagonist, I came up with
three different styles.

The [Keiki style], the [Levisha style], and the [Gravar style], which were all 5-star manuals.

The [Keiki style], the one that interested me the most, was a sword's art that required an
inhuman level of speed when drawing a sword.

In the setting I created, it was a sword art that Grandmaster Toshimoto Keiki created.

He was a Japanese sword practitioner who later became famous for his unrivaled strength. He
was also one of the first humans to awaken mana during the second phase of the cataclysm.

It was a one-draw one kill type of style.

That simple.

The second style was the [Levisha style].

Grandmaster Levisha who also awakened at the same time as Grandmaster Keiki created his
own unique sword art.

Unlike the [Keiki style], the [Levisha style] operated differently.

That was...it was a much more beautiful sword art. When writing the novel I remembered
describing it as a sword's art that would mesmerize anyone who caught sight of the art.
Though it was an extremely beautiful sword art, it was by no means weak, as it was just as
deadly as it was beautiful.

Probably the most balanced swords art out of the three, but in terms of offense it was not as
good as both the [Keiki style] and the [Gravar style] which specialized in offense

Talking about the [Gravar style], it was the most infamous sword art of the two. To call it a
sword art was, by all means, a compliment.

No fancy swing, no fancy move, It relied just purely on raw physical strength that
overwhelmed every opponent that came across it.

It was a series of random swings with no foundation behind them, but at the same time
because of the user's enormous strength, it allowed them to easily overwhelm the opponent.

Why was it infamous? simple, because anyone who practiced the swords art would find
themselves suffering unbearable pain.

In order for one to train the [Gravar style], the requirement was to reforge the human body by
restructuring the flesh and bones within the human body to better suit the art style.

It was a gruesome and painful procedure that could mentally break down anyone who tried
practicing it.

Although there was a high chance of a mental breakdown, if you managed to practice the
[Gravar style] successfully, you were basically guaranteed inhuman strength that would make
anyone fear you.

Going back as to why I was interested in the [Keiki style] with respect to the other two arts,
there were actually two main reasons.

One was that personally, my favorite art out of the three was the [Keiki style].

I mean why wouldn't it be? Imagine facing hundreds of opponents, when suddenly all their
heads fall off with you looking like you hadn't done anything.

Secondly, I couldn't possibly take the [Levisha style] as it belonged to the protagonist.
I couldn't be changing the scenario too much, or else my dream of survival would go up in
flames.

After all, I was by no means confident in my chances of defeating the demon king.

I wasn't that delusional.

Regarding the [Gravar style], that was far too brutal for me to even bother considering.

Anyhow, the reason why I mentioned this was because I knew exactly where the [Keiki style]
was, and it was in fact not very far from where I was.

'If nothing's had changed, then the sword art should be a few kilometers behind the Clayton
ridge.'

I thought as I tracked down the Clayton ridge.

It took me a total of five hours to hike all the way down the mountain, and a further two hours
to reach the train station.

Then, taking the air train for another few hours, I was finally able to reach the approximate
area where the sword art was located.

Going out of the station, a large forest that spanned several kilometers appeared before my
eyes, and as I reached the entrance of its vast canopy, I immediately chose to enter.

Even though I was exhausted from constantly moving all day, I decided to grit my teeth and
continue the journey.

During the train ride, I did get enough rest to continue my journey.

Some might say I was being too impatient. I had neglected my body in search of cheat items.

However, I begged to differ.

Not only was I reincarnated inside a world where the weak were prey to the strong, but in the
near future, if one didn't have enough strength, only death awaited them.
If I wanted to be strong enough in hopes to overcome the certain death flags that awaited me,
my only option was to increase my strength as much as possible.

Every minute that I saved was a minute I could use to train myself.

Several hours later.

In spite of the darkness in the forest, my vision was fairly unaffected, partly due to my
improved body condition which was all due to the miraculous fruit I had previously eaten.

The only problem was the fact that I was in the middle of a forest.

Even if my visibility was clear it was hard to make out objects in front of me.

"If I don't remember wrongly, there should be a river nearby,"

My current goal as of now was to look out for a river that directly flowed from the highest
peak of the Clayton ridge.

It had to be noted that although I took a long train ride, I was still in the Clayton ridge. Just
further away from my previous spot.

'Thou who seekest the path of the sword, Followeth the highest peak's endless road'

When completing a certain system quest, the protagonist was presented with three choices,
and the choices were the three sword arts that I talked about before.

In the end, the protagonist chose the [Levisha style], but he did also get clues about the two
other sword styles as they both received a few words of text as clues.

Naturally, as the one who came up with them, I somewhat knew what they meant.

In simple terms, the scroll was telling the protagonist to follow the river coming from the
highest peak of the Clayton ridge. The word 'road' accompanied by 'endless' referred to a river
and 'highest peak' referred to the highest mountain within the human territory, which was in
the Clayton ridge.
And right now I was looking for that same river.

Fortunately, it didn't take long for me to find the river, but by the time I found it, I was really
exhausted.

I'd been at it for more than 18 hours at this point.

No matter how much I wanted to continue, my body would just refuse to listen to me, and so I
was left with no choice but to camp near the river.

The last two days probably added up to the total amount of exercise I'd done in the last
decade of my life.

Never before had I done that much physical activity.

Even if I had condensed mana and my body could keep up, I didn't think the same could be
said for my mental state.

As I felt my thought process diminish with every passing second, I finally stopped moving.

Taking out a tent and setting it up, not even a second after I laid inside of it, I fell asleep.

***

The next day.

After packing up my stuff and eating breakfast in the form of an energy bar, and some milk, I
continued my journey.

The good news was that I knew what I was looking for as I proceeded forwards since I just had
to follow the river.

The bad news, on the other hand, was that I had no idea how long I needed to walk before
finding it.

I could only lament the fact all my memories came from a novel, and that the protagonist
never chose this option before.
And so, for the next eight hours, I continued to walk alongside the river in hopes of finding a
clue about my next destination.

'Could this be the place?'

Halting my footsteps, I stared at a strange-looking rock before me.

The rock was oddly shaped, and its outline resembled that of a samurai holding a sword on top
of its head. I say it resembled it, but it was currently covered under moss and vines, making it
so that if one did not look carefully they would've never been able to spot that.

'This has to be related to the sword art.'

At this point, I was searching blankly, but as I've said before, as long as I traveled through the
river path, I would find something, and that something had to be this strange rock.

'In any case, if nothing happens, I'll just leave.'

Shrugging my shoulders, for the next couple of hours, I looked around the statue in hopes of
finding anything.

But...

"...There's nothing."

Despite my several attempts at looking around the area, as well as around the rock, touching it
all over, I found nothing.

Exasperated, I laid a small cloth and sat down.

'Could this be a bust?'

I thought as I rested my hand at the top of my knees.

"Might as well get something to eat."

Since I couldn't find anything, I decided to have lunch. I had a nice steak, some water, and
some rice. As I ate the steak, I stared at the statue in thought.

'Is this really just some random rock?'

In the middle of nowhere, was a statue resembling a samurai, which perfectly coincided with
the features of grandmaster Keiki.

There was no way I could be wrong about this.

Or was I? The more time passed, the more I was unsure about this.

"Welp, let's continue looking around."

Finished with my lunch, I decided to give it a go for one more time.

Before I knew it, the sun had started to set.

"Looks like this really is nothing but just a rock?"

With both arms on my hips, raising one of my hands, I wiped the sweat away from my
forehead.

Ever since eating lunch, I had been looking around the place non-stop, and despite how hard I
searched I found nothing.

"Haaa, I'll head out tomorrow morning."

Staring into the distance and seeing that the sun was about to set, I decided to head out to
search tomorrow, rather than today. With dangerous beasts possibly lurking around, this was
my safest bet.

Pssshhhh— Pssshhhh—

Spraying some beast repellant around my camp, I decided to head back to my tent.
"Huh?"

But just as I was about to enter my tent, from the corner of my eye, I suddenly saw a long
golden line stretch towards the distance.

Snapping my head behind me, towards where the line came from, I was left in shock with what
I saw.

With the sun coinciding perfectly with the tip of the sword of the statue, a long line formed,
and turning my head towards the direction of where it was pointing, I realized that it was
pointing at an inconspicuous looking tree in the distance.

"This.."

Without a second thought, leaving everything behind, I immediately followed the line.

'It takes approximately 150 to 200 seconds for the sun to set.;

If I didn't make it close to the tree by the time the sunset, I'd easily lose sight of it, as, apart
from being slightly larger, it looked exactly the same as any other tree.

As my thoughts paused there, without a second thought, I rushed towards the tree in the
distance at full speed, not caring about my stamina one bit.

"Hold up."

Just as I took a couple of steps, my feet came to a pause.

Blinking a couple of times, I took my phone out of my pocket and took a photo of the tree in
the distance.

Once I managed to take a photo, I quickly turned back and packed up my stuff before merrily
making my way toward the spot where the tree was.

For a moment, I almost forgot that phones existed.

"Haaa..."
Shaking my head and following the photo on my phone, I soon reached the tree.

Staring at the tree, my brows knit.

"What should I do, now?"

I had never written a scene where the protagonist went to Grandmaster Keiki's tomb.

I didn't even know if there were any traps or trials inside the tomb.

The only thing I knew was that the tomb was somewhere near this tree in front of me.

"Hmmm..."

Carefully looking around the tree, I soon noticed a root that stuck out from the ground.

'Could this be a clue?'

Placing my hands on it to inspect it, I soon realized it was fairly loose compared to the other
roots that were firmly stuck to the ground.

Without a second thought, I immediately pulled the root with all my power.

Snap—!

With a loud snap, the root ripped off the ground, revealing a small hole that could fit a single
person.

"This is it."

I muttered out loud.

Throwing the root to the side, without a second thought, I made my way inside the small hole.

In hindsight, it was a little reckless. But, I was eager to get my hands on the five-star manual.
***

The first thing I noticed when I entered the hole was that everything inside the tree was
hollow, and a single rope dangled from the top of the trunk.

Following my line of sight, I involuntarily gulped as I noticed the rope that was dangling from
the top of the tree and extended all the way down inside of a pitch-black, bottomless hole.

Gulp—!

Looking down the hole, I couldn't help but feel cold sweat drip down my back, as I swallowed a
mouthful of saliva.

'I guess this is one of the trials? Right?...I hope so.'

I thought with a frown.

Staring at the bottomless hole, my hair stood on end.

"Fuck it, I've got nothing to lose."

Gathering up my courage, I once again firmed my will and held tightly onto the rope. Slowly, I
made my descent down the hole.
Chapter 7: Sword Art

"Haaaa...haaaa...haaa"

My eyes grew bloodshot.

My hands didn't stop, I just kept going down the rope.

During the first hour, I felt confused.

Was this the right way? Is the trial about endurance? That didn't make sense.

After the second hour, my doubt grew. Yet, fear suddenly took hold of me.

I didn't realize it sooner, because I was merely <G+> Ranked.

I had lost my mana.

I could no longer feel it.

With panic, I frantically looked around. The rope dangled, threatening to snap if I kept moving
recklessly. I was an ordinary human now.

'Wait...calm down, maybe this was part of the trial.

If I thought about it, if the trial was like this, no matter how strong or weak the person was,
they would all be brought down to a level playing field.

It made sense if you looked at it that way. At least, I tried to delude myself into thinking like
that.

Steeling my resolve, I continued going down.

In less than an hour, blisters formed on my hands.

After what felt like two hours, my hands started to bleed, leaving a permanent red trail on the
rope as I descended.

It wracked my body through and through, but I held on.

I lost count of time after that.

The loss of sense of time and the emptiness surrounding me made my thoughts wander again.
I was beginning to doubt the nature of the trial once more.

Was this actually a death trap? A trial of deception, perhaps? Was the true path somewhere
on the base of the tree?

Worrying ceaselessly, I decided to head upwards.

Deep down, I refused to accept it, but I was feeling scared again.

"Heuk!"

Reaching to grab the rope upwards, my hand slipped due to the blood smeared on it.

"Haaa...haaa..."

Gripping it was much harder, but I persevered and kept going up. Within minutes, I was
exhausted. Carrying my body upwards was harder than going down the rope.

What a foul test.

I decided to let go of my grip.

Slipping down the rope with my hands loosely tied around it, I went down with speed like
never before.

'No, shit!'

"Aahhhhhh!"
Scrambling to catch it, my hands tore apart. I couldn't feel my flesh anymore. I didn't want to
see how my hands looked right now. Thankfully, the darkness made sure I was blind to my
body's plight.

Barely hanging onto the rope, I started to descend slowly. However, the pain had already
degraded my mental state, and I couldn't think clearly. Had it been days since I was here?
Weeks? My whole life?

Wait... what was my name?

I felt like a child again, lost without his parents and orphaned in a cruel world. I couldn't even
remember their faces. I just missed their warmth. I wanted to be hugged again, and be told
that it was all a nightmare. I wanted to get scolded for my recklessness.

'This is my choice...I can't blame anyone but me for this, but, fuck...why is this so hard?'

Without realizing it, a tear slipped from my cheek. Another followed, and tears streamed
down my face, making me laugh at my supposedly miserable image. Yet, it sounded like a
scream full of ridicule.

'...I need to keep going.'

Descending again, wiping the tears with my shoulders, I was reminded of the days I
monotonously typed away on the keyboard with no sense of purpose. Those days were dark.
My eyes held nothing within. I was a soulless existence.

'I wonder what my readers think now that the novel has stopped updating?'

Were they happy that my shitty novel was no longer a thing?

Were they sad that I died? Did they even care?

Busying myself with mundane thoughts, I desperately tried to forget the grim reality before
me.

Unfortunately, my body could no longer last.

My eyes slowly shut, yet my hands tightly held onto the rope.
'No... Not like this...'

"I don't want to die..."

Was I begging to the same gods who condemned me to torture in life past and future? I didn't
know, but I hated it. I hated surrendering myself to the whims and cruelty of life again.

Would this be another worthless life?

My eyes forcefully opened, and I screamed loudly, with the last bit of strength I had in my
body.

"Fuck!"

By then, I could no longer feel the rough surface of the rope in my hands, as the only thing I
felt was the bangs of my hair flapping all over my face.

Darkness overtook not long after.

***

It seems like I have died again, huh? It didn't feel the same as my first death.

I only felt endless coldness and loneliness at that time.

A warm sensation enveloped my body.

It felt as if I was back in my mother's womb, under her constant nourishment and protection.

It didn't feel bad.

Dong—!

The loud sound of a bell toll suddenly sounded, causing my mind to spin and my eyes to shoot
wide open.

"Ughwa?!"
Abruptly sitting up straight, I found myself drenched in sweat.

'Huh? Am I alive?'

Touching my body in a daze, I noticed I was on top of a small bed, the bedsheets damp from
my sweat.

Looking at my hands, I couldn't see any trace of the gruesome scene from when I was climbing
down the rope. I was worried my bones had eroded forever.

'Was this all a dream?'

I thought to myself, but as I lifted my shirt and saw that I was still skinny, I realized that it
wasn't.

"Where am I?"

I muttered out loud as I looked around the place.

From the looks of it, it appeared as though I was inside a small room with what seemed to be a
Japanese tatami-style floor.

The room was rather empty, and aside from a small tea table at the center of the room
accompanied by a large ancient clock by that constantly tolled in the corner of the room, there
seemed to be no other furniture.

"Hmm?"

A pink petal suddenly fell on my lap.

"Where did this come from?"

Picking up the petal gently, I carefully looked at it.

"Isn't this a petal that comes from a sak—!"

"You up, kid?"

"Huh?"

Snapping my head to the right, where the voice came from, a middle-aged man sat next to the
tea table.

His seemingly carefree movements filled with graceful poise and calm demeanor accompanied
by the scenery made him look idyllic. His presence seamlessly blended with the tranquil
surroundings.

The tea's aroma filled the entire room, prompting me to momentarily relax.

"Who are you!"

But not for long, as I immediately jumped out of the bed and warily looked at the stranger
before me.

Jet black hair, deep black eyes, and a stern but kind-looking face.

His appearance went completely undetected by me. I could feel my body's strength. I had
regained my mana. It only meant one thing; this man was far beyond my level.

He was a master.

And as my mind raced and I put the two and two together, an idea of who the man before me
was suddenly manifested inside of my mind.

Putting the teacup in his hand down, the middle-aged man smiled.

"Relax kid, I'm not going to do anything to you."

He then turned his head to face my direction.

"My name..."

He smiled.
"Is Toshimoto Keiki."

Time seemingly froze at his words as my mouth opened and closed multiple times. I already
had a hunch about who he was, but once he confirmed it, my heart sped up uncontrollably.

Trying my best to calm myself down, I spoke up.

"...Weren't you dead?"

"Hey kid, don't be like that."

Laughing bitterly at my words, Grandmaster Keiki calmly put down the teapot and blew on the
teacup in his hand.

"Yes. Technically, I could be considered dead..."

Turning to glance in my direction, he spoke while playfully lifting his eyebrow at me.

"...but someone intruded into my home, waking up the remnant soul I left behind when I
passed away."

'...A remnant soul, I see.'

Once an expert reached a certain rank, they could learn the ancient Chinese technique known
as {Soul Division}. Its main purpose was to split a soul and attach it to an object, allowing a
person to, for a short moment of time, interact with someone beyond the confines of life and
death.

Quickly understanding the situation, I managed to put two and two together and finally
recomposed myself.

"...Sorry about that."

Amused by my odd behavior, Grandmaster Keiki laughed out loud and said, "Heh, no worries,
no worries. I had expected this kind of reaction once someone found my resting place."

"Ren"
"Excuse me?" Confused, Grandmaster Keiki raised his eyebrow and looked at me who was
reaching for his hand.

"My name is Ren. Ren Dover."

"Ah! that's right! How rude of me, I had still not asked for your name... A pleasure to meet
you, Ren!"

With a firm grip, we both looked at each other and shook hands.

"Please, sit down."

Gesturing for me to sit next to the tea table, Grandmaster Keiki took the porcelain teapot and
dumped the contents that were in it.

"Green or black?"

"Hmm... Let's go with green."

"Good choice."

Smiling lightly, Grandmaster Keiki added the tea leaves to the brewing vessel and slowly
poured hot water inside. As he was watching the water slowly darken, Grandmaster Keiki let
out a sad sigh.

"You know, I was once young and foolish like you..."

A nostalgic look appeared on his face.

"Back in my time, I lived in a country known as Japan. It was one of the most beautiful places
in the world. It had tall and majestic mountains, a pink-dyed spring, wonderful food, and
mesmerizing star-filled skies... Some even went as far as calling it paradise on Earth."

Seeing Grandmaster Keiki reminisce about his past, I immediately sat up straight and paid
close attention to what he was saying.
Perhaps I could find important information from his words, about this world I was in or even
things that I, as the author did not know.

He poured me tea and looked up.

Staring at the room's ceiling for a good couple of seconds, Grandmaster Keiki let out a tragic
smile before he continued.

"I had a beautiful wife and daughter. Back then, I worked as a Kendo instructor, and although I
did not earn much, I was happy. It was a simple yet fulfilling life, but..."

Suddenly, the room felt colder. I shivered, and slowly lifted my eyes from the cup. I saw dead,
dark, black eyes devoid of the kindness and serenity I had seen.

I suddenly wanted to leave.

"It happened. Massive earthquakes engulfed Japan, creating tsunamis everywhere. It felt like
the end of time. It was total chaos. Millions of people died and homes were lost forever. The
world that we once knew started to crumble.

"Fortunately, at the time this happened, my wife and daughter were traveling on a plane with
me outside of Japan. We were relatively unaffected by the catastrophe until..."

The room shook, the teapot fell and vanished into thin air, as a feeling I had experienced all
too recently appeared in Grandmaster Keiki's eyes.

Madness.

"The second calamity happened!"

"Huge monsters emerged from the mysterious portals all over the world. At first, they
observed us like cattle ready to be butchered. Then, they took away everything from us!" He
screamed, veins pulsing on his face.

"We hadn't even recovered from the first disaster..."

"They took away my wife and child..." A whimper escaped his lips. Grandmaster-no, Toshimoto
Keiki, an ordinary man, a father, and a husband, lost his family.
Watching him from my seat, I felt a small pang of guilt rise from within me. His tragedy was
because of something that I had created.

I knew that this wasn't my fault.

This was never meant to be real, it was a novel.

It was something that wasn't supposed to be...

"I'm sorry."

Distracting me out of my thoughts, The room suddenly stopped shaking, and clarity began to
return to Grandmaster Keiki's eyes, as he seemed to realize what he had just done.

Calming down, he turned to face me and bowed slightly.

"....I don't know what came over me, I apologize for what you've just seen."

"No offense taken,"

I replied with a forced smile.

Chapter 8: Sword Art

The situation ended just like that as Grandmaster Keiki quickly recovered himself. Then,
placing his hand on his chin, he muttered.

"It seems in death, my luck isn't too bad."

Standing up and walking past me, he slid the shoji, a Japanese-styled door, and walked outside
the room as he gestured for me to follow along.

"Follow me."

Nodding my head, I did as I was told and followed him out of the room.

"...Wow."

As soon as I exited the room, I was left flabbergasted.

I could finally see the entire place. An inexplicably beautiful garden stood before me. I felt a
sudden loss of breath as I stood there blankly, mesmerized by the scene.

Tak—! Tak—!

Lush green plants vibrantly covered the surroundings of the garden. In the middle of it
appeared a large, transparent pond where koi fish of multiple different sizes joyfully swam in
its clear waters.

They peeked at us, almost as if they were aware of our presence. Birds freely roamed and
chirped around the cloudless blue sky, and I could occasionally hear the repetitive yet relaxing
sound of the bamboo fountain planted in the garden.

I looked back and noticed the small room. It looked serene in such a beautiful abode. More
importantly, I spotted the sakura tree flowing gently in the wind. Was that where the petal
came from?

My footsteps slowed down as I admired the scene. Snapping me out from my trance was
Grandmaster Keiki's calm voice in the distance.
"Let's go, kid."

Nodding my head, I proceeded to follow him to a small island in the middle of the pond,
connected by a bridge.

Over there, a miniature stylized landscape of rocks, water features, and moss was neatly
composed and surrounded by gravel, which was raked to resemble ripples in water covering
my line of sight.

"A zen garden."

"It's nice, isn't it?"

Sitting comfortably near the zen garden, Master Keiki waved his hand, urging me to sit down
next to him.

"It truly is..." I replied as I sat down on the ground beside him.

Silence enveloped the place as we both calmly stared at the zen garden before us. It was
strange but relaxing at the same time.

"You know, I was really surprised when I first saw you..."

The first to disrupt the silence was Master Keiki, who, with a smile plastered on his face,
continued to look at the garden before him.

"Ever since my death, no one had ever been to this place. Rightfully so, as I made sure to hide
it from the prying eyes of those greedy bastards..."

"Of course, even if they did find this place out of pure luck, I made sure they wouldn't be able
to do much. I'm sure you know that the rope was a test, right?"

With a smile on his face, Grandmaster Keiki glanced at me, which made me recall the
traumatizing experience I had gone through before.

Blood drained from my face, but I managed to utter, "I remember."

"Haha, you're so easy to read, kid."

Laughing out loud, Master Keiki continued, "You see, that test was so much more than a
simple challenge of will. Even if you had the determination to go on for years, you would have
failed the test."

'What?'

Master Keiki's tone was dead serious. He wasn't joking.

'Then, how do you determine if someone has passed?'

Master Keiki, seemingly having guessed my thoughts, smiled.

"Not answering."

"What?" I involuntarily raised my voice, but immediately calmed down and spoke in a
respectful tone, "Don't I deserve to, at least, know the reason I passed?"

"Nope. No can do."

I gritted my teeth. Before I could argue, Master Keiki spoke.

"But, you do deserve a reward as compensation. So, I'll tell you a little more."

Feeling a little miffed, I still decided to listen to his explanation.

"My techniques can never be used without determination and unwavering will. That much is
true. But it will never be enough if that's all you can offer."

Staring into my eyes with a serious look, Master Keiki spoke, "In the last years of my life, after I
lost everything, the only thing I wanted was strength. Strength to kill every last demon.
Strength to murder that Demon King who took away everything from me. Strength to kill those
who stood by while my family was slaughtered."

"I was consumed by hatred."

"I used that hatred to reach even greater heights"

"Yet, even in my madness, I couldn't reach the pinnacle of my technique."

He sighed. A somber look appeared in his eyes.

"I could see it, and it was so far away I couldn't even catch its tail."

Grandmaster Keiki closed his eyes. His voice shook slightly. The world lost color as if trying to
escape from the man who could no longer lift a sword.

"Despite me giving it all up for the sake of power, I couldn't become strong enough to kill the
Demon King. I was still weak.

"My greatest affinity was with the wind. But can the wind kill a planet-devouring monster? It's
laughable to even think of it."

A sad smile tugged at Master Keiki's lips.

"Yet, it wasn't all for waste. I decided to give up my life for the lives of others. Maybe one of
them would give birth to someone who'll kill every last enemy of mankind."

It was wishful thinking. But, the dead had no choice but to believe in it. Life was harsh to
everyone, be it a regular man or one of the strongest in existence. There was no
discrimination.

Listening to his words, I didn't know what to say.

I berated myself internally. I wished I wasn't a social recluse who didn't know how to talk.

Still, I could say one thing.

"I won't tarnish your reputation."

Falling silent, Grandmaster Keiki's mouth hung agape. It was the first time I'd seen him so
surprised, aside from when I cried with him.

I couldn't swear to kill the Demon King, as I had no confidence in achieving that, but I could
swear that I was going to do good on the sword style.
"A cheeky brat, aren't you?...But, I like it,"

He quietly mumbled something else, but I couldn't hear it.

He then let out a long sigh and stared at the sky.

"You need great patience for practicing the techniques. The [Keiki style] is a sword art that
focuses on monotonous but perfect slashes. If someone cannot practice the same
monotonous motion of swinging a sword in the same direction for their whole lives, they are
not worthy!"

Standing up, Master Keiki walked across the bridge and stopped before a tree.

On an altar, a beautifully adorned sheath stood, its multivariate designs of flowers and
Japanese Oni making it look like a tale of mythical legends.

An eye positioned near the hilt of the blade seemed to look towards its master, awaiting him
to unleash it again, like the days of yore. There was something inscribed in the eye, but I
couldn't see clearly from my position.

Master Keiki touched the katana, and the whole atmosphere fell silent. The grass shivered as if
excited to feel the wind again.

He lifted it from the altar, and I noticed the grip of the blade, which looked plain in contrast to
the mesmerizing sheath.

Placing it by his side, Master Keiki stood silently.

I tilted my head, wondering what he was doing. Then, I suddenly felt a gentle breeze.

Click—!

Eight sakura petals flew around Master Keiki, and as a subtle click sounded, they were
immediately cut in half.

Only at that moment did I notice his hand on the blade's grip.
The katana that seemingly never left its position returned to its sheath. I didn't even get to
look at it.

'Did he even remove it?'

I tried to stand in shock, but I instantly fell down as the ground quaked.

The pond split into eight different parts, as straight lines bisected it equally. The ground tore
apart, throwing dust and rock alike in the air.

Seismic quakes struck the place, yet the sakura tree and room seemed perfectly safe. The fish
seemed to move joyfully, as if enjoying the new riptide.

I fell on my butt, hard. My jaw hadn't closed yet. The ground still shook, and massive chunks of
rock broke apart and crashed everywhere.

When it finally calmed down, I managed to stand up and looked at Master Keiki. Yet, his
reaction confounded me. He smiled cheekily and pointed upwards with his finger. I looked up.

The sky was split in eight.

The clouds were perfectly cut apart in eight equal shapes, yet not a single bird was injured.

'Wasn't he a remnant soul?'

I had a million questions.

"If you're thinking that this is all I can do, then you're sorely mistaken. I don't want to ruin my
home, so I had to stop somewhere. Also, I'm not interested in killing my fishes and birds."
Master Keiki chuckled peacefully, behaving like a kind old man who just randomly walked by a
scene of carnage.

"The [Keiki style] is the art of perfection. It is the fastest sword art. When you manage to
repeat the same motion every time with no margin of error, that is when you will have finally
mastered the [Keiki style]. But, of course..."

"You have set your sights higher, haven't you, child?"

Closing my eyes I tried to keep my composure.

My heart was beating like crazy, and my blood boiled.

'...How in the world did he even manage to cut everything so perfectly without even moving!
How can someone have such unbelievable control and precision?! I...I want to do that
too...can I?'

Grandmaster Keiki let out a chuckle.

"Do you wish to learn?"

Disrupting me from my thoughts was Grandmaster Keiki's stern voice. A casual answer
wouldn't satisfy him.

'As if I could say no.'

"Yes, I do."

Closing his eyes, a smile full of mirth appeared on Grandmaster Keiki's face.

Before I knew it, I felt a gentle tap on my forehead.

"Very well, child."

I felt everything turn blank as a flood of information rushed into my mind.

Watching me get overwhelmed by the information, Grandmaster Keiki smiled as his body
slowly became transparent.

By the time I managed to sort out all the information inside of my brain, Grandmaster Keiki
was already almost fully transparent.

I looked at him quietly, thinking of what to say.

"Thank you."
In the end, those were the only words I could utter.

Grandmaster Keiki let out another smile, as he mumbled something inaudible before he
disappeared and scattered into fragments of light.

Nodding resolutely, I prepared to leave. Although his last words may have been inaudible, I
could already tell what he wanted to say.

"Lay low until you're strong enough one day..."

"Huuu."

Letting out a deep breath, I took one last look at the surroundings and engraved the scenery in
my heart.

I walked towards where the exit was and solemnly said.

"I know"

***

At the same place, not long after.

In an idyllic scenery, a change took place.

A transparent ghost of a human appeared within, touching a sakura tree in full bloom. His back
was turned, facing the tree's branches and trunk.

"To be honest, you were not destined. You had a decent amount of talent, but not the best,
your resolve was weak, it was there, but weak. You simply had no quality except a budding
ounce of determination born out of desperation. But, I chose you."

"Was it because of fate or because of a whim of an already dead old man?...I really don't
know."

The figure sighed and walked towards the room situated next to the tree.
"I was hailed as a prodigy of my generation. The greatest genius. Yet, I couldn't achieve the
realm beyond all fathom. I couldn't even avenge my family."

Sliding the doors open, the figure entered.

"If a legendary genius cannot attain perfection, then I don't know what can."

The doors shut.

"Surprise me..."

At last, the scenery crumbled.

Chapter 9: Lock

5 A.M.

This was the time exact time at which I returned to the academy.

Fortunately, I made it back right on the very same day that classes would start. This meant
that I didn't have to worry about getting kicked out for being late to classes.

'Why are the beds so stiff?'

I complained as I turned my body towards the right.

Unlike where the other protagonists were, I was in a shabby dormitory called the horned
sheep building.

Essentially the second-worst dormitory in the Academy.

The dormitories were divided into five, golden rat, horned sheep, Manticore, Hydra, and
Leviathan, which was where the highest-ranking students stayed.

Unlike the other residences, one couldn't pay to stay there as they had to earn their keeps.

"Huaam…I'm tired."

Raising my wrist, I checked the schedule for today's classes.

===

[Day 1 : Introduction to courses.]

===

'Right, I should've expected this.'

This being the first day, for the rest of the week, we would be introduced to our new
environment.

I already had a rough idea of what was going to happen during the introductory classes as I
could remember writing this part.

Lowering my watch, I blankly stared at the ceiling.

'I still got two hours, let me sleep till then.'

I needed to be in class by 7:30 A.M., therefore, I still had two hours to spare granted that it
would take me thirty minutes to get ready and head to glass.

"Huaaam…"

Letting out another tired yawn, I closed my eyes and got my well-deserved sleep.

***

'This was not a good idea.'

After catching up on two hours of sleep, rather than feeling more refreshed I felt even more
tired than before.

I had to essentially drag my body to class.

My footsteps halted in front of a particular class and my face cringed a little.

[Class A-25]

Due to some strange twist of faith, somehow, out of all the possible classes I could end up
with, I ended up bribing in the one where the protagonists of the novel stayed.

'Talk about shitty luck."

I inwardly cursed.
Now, even if I wanted to, I would end up being entangled in their shitty problems I wanted to
be no part of.

"Oy, you going in or not?"

Startling me out of my thoughts was a rough feminine voice

Slowly turning my head, my eyes opened up slightly.

Beautiful would have been an understatement in this case. Standing right before me, was a
young girl with short brown hair. She had crystal blue eyes, a small but not too small nose, and
a well-proportioned face.

She had a well-developed body, where everything that should've developed, was developed
and her elegant yet slightly arrogant demeanor added more to her charm.

Currently, her cherry red lips were parted in an annoyed pout as she stared at me in
annoyance

"Move it!"

Seeing that I showed no reaction, she shoved me to the side. I tried to dodge, but she was a lot
faster than me and I ended up getting pushed back a couple of steps.

A frown emerged on my face, however, I eventually shook my head.

'I won't gain anything for lashing out right now.'

That aside, she was one of the main heroines of the novel.

Emma Roshfield, daughter of Ashton city's mayor who was also the Vice-director of the union,
and S rank Hero.

When I was designing her character, I made her into a 'tomboyish' style character.

She was sometimes rude and impatient, but oftentimes she was kind, making her one of my
reader's favorite characters.
"huuu"

After collecting my breath, I remained calm and slowly opened the door of the classroom.

Ci Clank—!

Looking at the classroom I couldn't help but notice how spotless it was as it almost looked like
it was sparkling.

The classroom was split into two ascending rows, and each row had a retractable seat that one
could sit on.

'Where should I sit?'

As I looked around the classroom for a place to sit, my attention was instantly drawn to two
individuals.

Haughtily sitting on the last row on the right was a blonde youth with clear green eyes and a
dignified face. His slightly long hair gently rested on top of his broad shoulders, and his
perfectly masculine jawline seemed as if it was chiseled by a sculptor.

From time to time you could see girls secretly taking peeks at his handsome face as they shyly
blushed and turned their heads away whenever their eyes met.

Jin Horton

The protagonist's rival.

Descendant of the Horton family that currently owned a majority stake of the second-largest
guild in the human domain 'Starlight guild'.

'...He looks exactly as I had imagined him to be.'

I thought as I looked at him from the corner of my eye.

His condescending attitude that made people feel like they were below him could be vividly
seen by the way he looked down on almost everyone in the class.
Born with a silver spoon, and provided with whatever he desired, it was almost inevitable for
his character to become like that.

But don't get me wrong, although he had the vibe of a villain, he was actually part of the
'goods guys'.

It was only after I made some adjustments to his character that he started becoming a fan
favorite.

He may be an antagonist now but later as the story progresses and his character goes through
a series of hurdles, he starts to mature and slowly becomes more bearable to stay with.

'That should be Amanda Stern.'

Just as he attracted most of the girl's attention, seated in front of him was a slender beauty
that matched Emma's looks and attracted the majority of the boy's gazes.

Her sleek black hair, which was randomly restricted by a small hairpin, gathered at her waist.
her exquisite small face that was devoid of any makeup, displayed an image of natural beauty
and innocence that made anyone that was near her have an urge to protect her.

Ignoring everyone that was trying to talk to her, the young girl focused her gaze on a small
book in her hands.

She had a cold and aloof air around her that made her extremely hard to approach.

Daughter of Edward Stern. Guildmaster of 'Demon hunter' guild, the current number 1 guild in
the human domain.

Like Jin, she was also born with a silver spoon, but unlike him, she did not become haughty.

In fact, she was quite the opposite of Jin, well-mannered, intelligent, and oftentimes kind.
Whenever the protagonist would get in trouble she would always find ways to help him.

If I had to point out a flaw about her though, it would be the fact that she was cold.

Very cold.
'This should be far away from them.'

Glancing around a couple of seconds, I decided to sit down on the second row on the left. As
far as way from the main characters as possible.

Ever since reincarnating, I decided to stick to one rule. 'Never interact with the protagonists.'

Why?

Simple.

The main characters were calamity magnets.

Whatever could go wrong would go wrong if you were with them.

Well, even if I did try to interact with them in the most likely scenario I would most likely be
ignored.

Sounded pretty sweet to me.

'What time is it?'

Checking the time, and seeing that it was precisely 7:30 A.M., I relaxed a little. I still had thirty
minutes before classes started.

The reason why I arrived thirty minutes earlier was because the professor in charge of the
class was extremely strict.

Didn't want to take any risks.

Seeing that I had 30 minutes to spare before class started, I rested my head on my arms and
closed my eyes.

I was honestly exhausted.

With only two hours of sleep on me, I decided to make the best of the little time I had.
Fortunately, today was orientation day so they shouldn't be talking much, which sat well with
me.

Closing my eyes, before I knew it, my consciousness slipped and I once again fell asleep.

"Attention!"

A loud voice echoed across the classroom waking me up, startling me awake.

When I opened my eyes, the instructor stood behind the podium as she looked at the class.

"Today is your first day, so there won't be anything special planned, but I sure hope you
haven't slacked off during the short interval where you were accepted here. How do you
expect to graduate from this place if you can't be diligent?"

Bam—!

Slapping her hand on the table a small shockwave spread across the classroom. Apart from
Emma, Jin, Amanda, and a couple of other students, everyone in the classroom was pushed
back, me included.

"There will be no slacking off in my classroom!"

Scanning the whole classroom, the instructor's eyes briefly paused on Emma, Jin, Amanda, and
the few others that managed to withstand her shockwave.

If one looked closely you could see traces of satisfaction on her face as she looked at them.

Placing both hands on the podium she looked at the classroom

"Now, let's start with the self-introductions. I'm Donna Longbern, your personal instructor for
this year and possibly future years."

Her melodious and crisp voice freely traveled through every corner of the glass, reaching the
ears of everyone present.
Being someone who practiced an enchantress manual, her voice and every movement of hers
was extremely enticing as the faces of all of the boys in the class became heated.

I too tried to keep myself composed, but the effects of her art were just too strong as my
breathing became rougher.

"I'm sure I don't have to say more as most of you may already know about me"

Donna calmly spoke as she looked around the classroom.

She seemed to have gotten used to the boy's reactions, as she feigned ignorance to their
reddening faces. In fact, she was also helpless about the situation.

Her power was just that strong.

"As it is your first day I won't take too much of your time. I can already see some people who
look exhausted in the classroom. Perhaps they did not sleep enough because they were too
excited or they trained all night, so I'll make this first session short."

'An angel.'

I thought to myself as I heard those words.

"Alright first things first, let's take attendance"

Taking out a small tablet, she quickly called out names.

"Rank 1750, Ren Dover"

Hearing my name I raised my hand.

"Present!"

Nodding she continued.

"Rank 1232, Troy Morrison"

"Present!"

"Rank 845, Julius Halfwing"

"Present!"

"..."

"..."

She was totally reading in Ascending order, wasn't she...

As she read the names on the list, I couldn't help but notice the rank getting smaller each time
a new name was called.

And it just so happens that I was the first person she called, suggesting that I was the weakest
person in the class.

I should've realized before.

Letting out a sigh, I slumped on the table and quietly waited for her to finish reading out the
names.

"Rank 15, Emma Roshfield"

"Present"

"Rank 12, Timmothy Bartman"

"Present"

"Rank 8, Amanda Stern"

"Present"

"Rank 5, Han Yufei"

"Present"

"Rank 3, Jin Horton"

"Present"

"Rank 2, Melissa Hall"

"Present"

"Rank 1, Kevin Voss"

"..."

"Rank 1, Kevin Voss"

Raising her brow, Donna looked around the classroom and asked once again

"Is Rank 1 Kevin Voss in the classroom?"

Absolute silence.

Everyone looked around, but they all shook their head.

Looking at her tablet, Donna frowned.

"Tardy on the first day, this isn't a great star—"

Ci Clank—!

Just as she was about to cross Kevin's name off the list, the door to the classroom slowly
opened.

Soon a figure walked out, and instantly the whole room's attention was on him.
Short black hair, deep red eyes, muscular jawline, and well-built body. An extremely handsome
youth entered the classroom.

His looks, which rivaled that of Jin Horton, who could've been regarded as one of the most
handsome individuals in the whole academy, instantly drew the attention of most of the girls
in the class.

"Pardon my tardiness. I had a slight accident before coming here, hence I was not able to
make it in time"

Taking a small bow, his eyes never drifted away from Donna's eyes.

Taking a quick look at Kevin, Donna showed a surprised look on her face.

"Interesting"

The edges of her lips curled up slightly.

"Very well find a spot and sit down"

"Thank you"

Nodding his head, Kevin made his way towards the first row on the right side of the classroom
and sat down. Besides Emma who gave him a slight punch and whispered loud enough for me
to hear.

"What took you so long?"

"Not telling."

"Hmph!"

Staring at the male that had just entered the classroom, my eyes squinted slightly.

'Kevin Voss...'

There he was.
The protagonist of the novel.
Chapter 10: Lock

As soon as the roll call was over, Donna led us out of the classroom and into where the
training grounds and armory were located.

"You can choose from a wide selection of weapons here. Pick what suits you best."

She spoke rather bluntly and directly.

Not that I cared, as my attention shifted away from her and to the armory.

'Oh wow.'

I was left speechless by the diversity of weapons in front of me.

From nunchucks to broadswords. Weapons of all kinds were neatly arranged according to their
sizes in front of glass compartments.

Honestly, I was impressed.

The number of weapons was so overwhelming that I couldn't even tell what some of them
were.

"I'd be very careful if I were you. If you damage any weapon present, you better be ready to
pay up to 500,000 U."

Looking at the students' excited expressions, Donna immediately poured cold water on them
as she listed each weapon's price. There were a few students who could not help but flinch
when they looked at the weapons.

Most likely, they were poor like me.

"In order to avoid damaging the weapon, I suggest you use a weapon that is suitable for you.
Experimenting is great, but it is only advisable if you can afford it."

A smile spread across Donna's face as she looked at everyone in the armory.
"Before taking a weapon, swipe your student card to register your name on the database.
After that, take your weapon and meet me in the main practice area."

When Donna was done with what she needed to say, she turned around and left.

Everyone started talking excitedly as soon as her figure disappeared. Particularly the boys who
displayed an unusual excitement.

"Wow, that's the 'Calamity witch'?"

"She's just as beautiful as the rumors say..."

"I think I've fallen in love"

"Pfff. You wish, someone like her would never like a loser like you!"

"A man can dream."

These types of scenes occurred everywhere, as students had already formed cliques.

As the lowest-ranked member, I was obviously excluded.

To be honest, that was exactly what I wanted. Wasn't keen on wiping other people's asses.

In any case, a hierarchical system governed the academy.

Similar to the relationship between a peasant and a noble, and to be treated as a noble, one
had to be ranked higher than the others.

When fighting on the frontlines, low-ranking soldiers like me would become cannon fodder.

As the lowest rank in the class, such was my life.

'...Not that being a high ranker is such a good in the first place.'

I thought as I gazed toward my right side.

As opposed to me, who was alone, the main characters were surrounded by a crowd of
people. All trying to curry favor with them.

Kevin, Jin, Amanda, Emma, and Melissa...I could barely catch a glimpse of their figures as they
were warned by people.

Other than Kevin who was flustered by the attention, the others were already accustomed to
such situations and thus were able to remain indifferent to the flattery. Jin even went as far as
pushing some of the people out of his way.

"Move."

Taking my eyes away from them, I shifted my attention back toward the weapons.

Having already decided what I wanted, I quickly swiped my card and took a slim and elegant
Katana.

"Feels good."

The leather grip comfortably sat on my hands and the cold metal blade directly reflected the
lights from the room.

Swoosh! Swoosh!

"Perfect"

Lightly swinging the katana a couple of times I nodded in satisfaction.

This katana's balance between weight and lightness, along with its tough blade made from an
extremely durable alloy, made it the perfect weapon for my sword art.

"Excuse me."

Familiarizing myself with the katana, I felt a sudden tap on my shoulder.

Turning around, I was surprised to see Kevin standing a couple of steps behind me.
I lowered my hand that gripped the sword.

"How can I help you?"

"...I also use a sword."

"Right."

Sheathing the sword back, I stepped to the side to let Kevin pass.

"Thank you."

"No problem."

While waving my hand once, I headed out of the armory. My short interaction with Kevin was
short and unforgettable, just how it was meant to be.

***

Swoosh— Swoosh—!

A whistling sound arose and the air split apart.

Swinging the sword around a couple of times, every one of Kevin's swings looked flawless on
the outside, attracting the attention of those around him.

"Already showing off?"

A familiar figure approached him.

"Emma."

It was the girl with auburn-colored hair that he met while he was trying to get to his dorms.

Kevin sheathed his sword back into its sheath.

Taking a look at the crowd of people that were looking at him, he bitterly smiled.

"I was only testing out my sword, I wasn't showing off."

"You think I'd believe you?"

"It'd be nice if you did."

"Tough luck. I'm not nice."

Emma shrugged her shoulders and bluntly replied.

Taking out what looked to be a pair of shortswords, she flipped them in the air before saying.

"How about a little friendly competition? I'm kind of interested in seeing just how strong the
number one individual is."

"Ehhh..."

In the face of Emma's challenge, Kevin was at a loss for words.

'Can my luck get any worse?'

He inwardly groaned.

It was only his first day, and someone had already challenged him. It took some really bad luck
for something like this to happen.

"So?"

Once again hearing Emma's voice, Kevin let out a long sigh and nodded his head.

"Alright, fine. Tell me what you want to compete in."

'Maybe if I win, they'll stop bothering me.'

***

"...It's massive."

When I arrived at the training area, I was greeted by an expansive ground.

If I had to make an estimate, the training facility was about the size of three football fields.

It was enormous.

'No wonder this is the number one academy in the human domain...'

The facility was simply sublime!

Tapping on my watch and checking the map of the training ground, I felt even more convinced
when I checked the map of the place.

"This is insane..."

I murmured in an audible whisper. Shocked by what I was seeing.

The training ground consisted of five areas, each featuring its own unique set of equipment.

"The far right of the training ground features a shooting range with five different distances
ranging from 100 meters to 500 meters. If you specialize in long-range combat, then that is the
most suitable place for you to train..."

A crisp and melodious voice broke me out of my thoughts.

Without needing to look around, I knew already who the voice belonged to. It was Donna.

"A little bit below the shooting range is an area filled with a dozen or so practice dummies that
have all been equipped with top-end technology that will monitor different parameters of
your attack, such as the speed at which you attack, the power exerted in your attack, and so
on..."

'That sounds quite helpful.'

I thought to myself while I listened to her talk.

'This indeed sounds like a better way for one to measure the rate at which they are improving.'

A quantified reference to someone's parameters was a much better measure of progress than
the status window that only displayed rank.

"Forlum, a metal that can withstand the impact of an A-rank demon, is used for the creation of
the dummies. With its extremely durable body made of Forlum, you lot can train against the
dummies without worrying about breaking them..."

And so for the next ten minutes or so, Donna gave a rough round down on how the training
ground was.

To summarize it, the middle area of the training facility was free for all, meaning that it was an
empty space where one could train.

Located in the upper left corner of the room was a large gym with top-of-the-line equipment,
including a 10g gravity room. A place where one could train and tamper with their bodies by
increasing the gravitational force bearing down on them.

Then, at the bottom left of the training ground was an Olympic-sized swimming pool.

Due to the special medical ingredients added to the water, the swimming pool was a popular
place for condition training, as it helped muscles recover faster from fatigue.

...and that was pretty much it. Right?

I scratched the back of my head.

'Don't think I'm missing anything else...'

"It's your first day so don't push yourself. I'll be here to supervise you, as I told you before...so
if anything happens, I'll be here to help you."

Once again jolting me out of my thoughts was Donna's crisp voice.

"I can see that some of you are really eager to train..."

Scanning us with her eyes, the thin smile on Donna's face faded as she stared in our general
direction.

"Alright, that's enough for me. Now go train."