The Author's POV

Section B, Donna's office

Sitting on her desk, swiping her hand to the right, Donna looked through the battle videos of the inter academy tryouts that had happened today.

Although she had spectated the whole thing through the monitors displayed in the arena, because she was only able to see it once, she wasn't able to properly analyze her student's performance.

Overall, she was generally satisfied with the overall performance of both teams that came from her class. As both teams won, Donna was naturally happy.

...however, although she was happy, that didn't mean that she was totally satisfied with everyone's performance.

As she reviewed the videos, Donna was especially disappointed with the performance of two people.

Amanda and Emma.

...they both performed at standards far below what they were truly capable of.

Amanda made a series of irrational choices whilst Emma was being completely overshadowed by Kevin as she let him do everything.

There were times where she could've helped him and thus could've ended the battle faster, but she just dully stood by the side and allowed Kevin to do his thing.

"...disappointing"

Replaying the video over and over again, those were the words that came out of Donna's mouth as she stared at Kevin's team.

It was a truly disappointing sight

Aside from Kevin, the whole of his team was fairly disappointing. It was understandable for Melissa as she didn't particularly specialize in combat, but the others...they only performed satisfactorily at best. Nothing good, nothing bad.

Satisfactorily.

To Donna, it just seemed more of a one-man show rather than a team performance. Apart from Kevin, all the five other members had to do was take care of the remaining three guys in the opposite team...and yet, Kevin managed to beat his opponents faster than them.

...aside from satisfactorily, what other words could she have used to best describe how she felt as she watched the match?

*Sigh*

Sighing out loud, Donna replayed the other team's match video. As she watched, her mood brightened up a little.

The second team was a lot better with regards to team performance, however, they almost came close to losing at a certain point. Had Amanda died, the situation would've turned in the opposing team's favor.

Fortunately, things didn't turn out that way...and that was because of one student.

Staring at Ren's figure in the holographic video before her, Donna's lips curved slightly. With her hand supporting the side of her cheek, Donna softly muttered.

"It seems like I will soon be holding onto my end of the bargain..."

...

At around the same time Donna was reviewing the team performance in her office, Leviathan building, training grounds

Standing with her back straight and her bow drawn, Amanda's eyes remained fixed on the targets that were distanced five hundred meters away from her.

The targets standing on the opposite side of her, compromised of a large black box with 10 evenly spaced concentric rings that signified different points for the arrows to hit.

Squinting her eyes slightly and staring at the target before her, slowly, a blue arrow appeared on the tip of her fingers as a blue hue of magical energy slowly started pulsating out of her body.

"Huuuu...

Taking a deep breath and aiming at the target in the distance, Amanda slowly released the string of her bow. Subsequently, as if the arrow had never been there, it disappeared from her hand.

-Swoosh!

A whistling sound arose in the training grounds as the arrow coursed through the air at an unimaginable speed. Because of how fast the arrow was, a translucent blue line tracing the arrow's path could be seen in the air.

-Bam!

Seconds after the arrow left Amanda's bow, appearing right before the target, the arrow hit the target straight in the middle as its body directly dug itself into the target. Thereafter, as if the target was made out of cotton, like a piece of gum, the target stretched all the way back as the arrow continued driving itself into the target.

-Plack!

This phenomenon persisted for a couple of seconds before slowly the arrow lost its momentum and eventually dropped to the ground. Shortly after, the target returned to its original position almost as if it had never stretched.

-Ding!

Seconds after the arrow fell on the ground, feeling a small vibration on her wrist, turning her wrist, and glancing at her watch, Amanda looked at the data displayed on the screen.

[Shot power : 150 kg - Shot accuracy : 89% - Penetrative power : 15 cm - Points : 9]

After staring at her watch for a couple of seconds, closing her eyes, Amanda bit her lips.

...compared to last week, her values considerably dropped. Ever since the tryouts, Amanda felt her confidence in herself drop resulting in her performance dropping alongside her confidence.

It was only after what had happened in the tryouts that Amanda finally realized how complacent and arrogant she had become.

She was still too immature.

She knew very well that she could've handled the situation better.

Knowing beforehand that she was going to get ambushed, she could've come up with countermeasures so that she could quickly distance herself from her opponents and from there taken control of the situation...to make matters worse, she had clearly underestimated her opponents.

Just the way her two opponents were working together to take her down finally made her realize that this wasn't the top human academy in the human domain without a reason.

...just because they weren't famous or their rank was low didn't mean that they were weak. No, in fact, they were strong.

Compared to a large majority of the other teens in the world, they were the top of the top. People that stood out from the mass.

This critical flaw in her thoughts had almost caused her team the loss...had it not been for Ren saving her on time, Amanda could already envision her team losing.

Thinking thus far, pursing her lips tightly, walking back towards the archery section, Amanda once again prepared to train. However, just as she was about to once again resume her practice session, out of nowhere, a crisp and pleasant voice entered her ears.

"Amanda, you're training here today?"

Turning her head towards the direction of where the voice came from, Amanda soon spotted Emma walking in her direction. Wearing tight black sportswear with pink stripes on the side, with a hairband in her mouth and her hands on her hair, Emma slowly approached Amanda.

As she moved closer, successfully tying her hair in a ponytail, Emma curiously looked at Amanda as she said.

"Can't focus?

"mhm"

Nodding her head, Amanda pulled the string of her bow back. Thereafter, unconcerned by Emma's presence, Amanda released the string of the bow, and the arrow once again coursed through the air as it made its way towards the target in the distance.

-Swooosh!

Unbothered by Amanda's lack of response, taking out her two broadswords, Emma loosened her neck. Staring at Amand before her for a couple of seconds, after hesitating for a second, Emma sighed as she spoke her mind.

"I feel the same...ever since the tryouts I can't seem to focus anymore. It feels as if my confidence has dropped significantly. No matter what I do, I am always reminded of what happened in the tryouts..."

"Especially after recalling Kevin's figure fighting against three students by himself...for the first time in a while I truly realized the gap between me and him."

Pausing for a second, Emma bit her lips and stared at the ground beneath her. After a short pause, she continued speaking. The more she spoke, the more emotional Emma became.

"...I don't like it. I don't like the feeling of being helpless and a burden for my team..I really dislike that feeling of just watching someone else do all the work for me while I sit back and take care of the scrap-"

Abruptly stopping midsentence, Emma apologetically looked at Amanda as she said

"Ahh...sorry, I didn't mean to waste your time with my rumbling. I just wanted to let you know how I felt. Perhaps I really needed someone to vent my frustration on, but somehow I feel a lot better. Thank you"

Smiling more cheerfully, Emma brushed her ponytail to the side. Staring at Amanda who remained quiet throughout the whole time, Emma softly said

"I wonder if you went through a similar situation as mine..."

As Emma's words left her mouth silence befell the area yet again. Waiting for her reply, Emma faced Amanda with a determined face. After a brief moment of silence, noticing the determination in Emma's voice, Amanda eventually nodded her head.

"Yes"

Hearing Amanda's reply, a look of relief appeared in Emma's face as her lips curved slightly

"...I see, I'm not alone"

It seems like she wasn't the only one that felt that way.

...after the tryouts, Emma felt her confidence drop dramatically.

Recalling at how useless she felt as she just watched Kevin do all the work, Emma's grip on her shortswords increased.

She really hated that feeling. The feeling of being unable to do anything.

"huuu..."

Moving away from Amanda and taking a stance, Emma slowly exhaled. Thereafter she slowly swung her right arm. As she swung, the air split apart.

-Feeeeew

Subsequently, following the first swing, swinging her left hand, Emma moved around the training grounds almost as if she was dancing. With every step she took, the tip of her shortsword would constantly dance and cut through the air around her creating a truly spectacular yet deadly sight.

-Swoosh! -Swoosh!

Thus, for the next hour or so, the sound of her shortswords splitting the air resounded across the training ground. Next to her, similar sounds could be heard from Amanda's side as she continuously shot her arrows towards the targets in the distance.

In the end, apart from the sound of the air splitting, no other sound could be heard in the training grounds that were currently occupied by the two girls.

As they practiced, though the duo said nothing, sweat dripped down the two girls' faces as they trained without stop.

Though the girls said nothing, they both shared the same sentiment.

...they wanted to be stronger.