I closed our distance at a faster speed.

In less than a second, I was already in front of Zaiden and swung my sword. He was clearly surprised, as he had reacted quite late. He moved his sword to parry mine with much difficulty.

He was lucky to be able to move. His sword parried my sword that was aimed at his head, changing its direction a little, making it hit his shoulder.

Tak–!

“Ugh!” He grunted in pain.

His balance was disturbed by that. I used this chance to kick him in the stomach, and he was pushed back around a meter.

The people that I kicked earlier got blown away easily, but he was just pushed back. Once again I realized how much of a cheat he was.

“Hahaha… that hurts.” Zaiden let out a small laugh as he patted his stomach with his hand, trying to relieve the pain from my kick.

“You are the strongest Non-Awakener that I ever met, Vincent. It’s the first time I was pushed back like that.”

“And it’s the first time someone has not been blown away by my kick in this tournament,” I answered him with a smirk.

He chuckled and said, “I guess this is our first time for everything, huh?”

“I think so too!” I replied to him as I leaped.

I swung my sword down, and Zaiden blocked it with his sword. I then sent a barrage of furry slashes toward Zaiden. He had a hard time blocking and parrying my sword.

Slowly, he was pushed back, and his breath became shorter and harder.

After a while, Zaiden panted for air.

“Pant– Pant–”

After a few minutes of fiery exchanges of slashes, I finally found an opening in Zaiden’s defense.

“There you are, you little shit!” I shouted as I sent a thrust toward his throat.

“Wha!?” Zaiden couldn’t react in time, and my sword hit his throat. This time, he was blown away by a meter and crashed to the ground.

Thud– Crash–!_-.

However, with his athletic reflect, he quickly got up and held his throat that I hit earlier. It became red and swollen. It seemed to be painful. Did I do it?

He also had a hard time breathing. He was trying to gasp for air.

“Guh… Gah…” He tried to cough to clear his throat, but it was useless.

“Just surr-” As I was about to tell Zaiden to surrender, the referee suddenly shouted.

“Foul!”

“Hah?!” I scoffed at the referee. Annoyed, my eyebrows raised and I glared at him.

If I was to describe myself, then I would look like a delinquent right now. I was so annoyed that my old habit from Earth resurfaced again.

“Stabbing a throat is a dangerous move! It’s a foul and you are disqualified from the tournament.” Explained the referee.

“The rules never stated that!” I tried to object, but the referee insisted.

“It is stated. You can’t kill your opponent.”

“And I didn’t fucking kill Zaiden! Look, he’s fine!” I pointed at Zaiden only to see him gasping for breath.

I froze when I saw him. Did I go too far?

I quietly lowered my hand when I saw his condition. Did I possibly put more strength in my thrust than I wanted to? What if he died here? Vincent, you are a fool!

“See?” As if mocking me, the referee only said one word.

“Tsk!” I only clicked my tongue in response.

From the tunnel, the medical team appeared, bringing a first aid box. There was a blond-haired middle-aged man who wore a white lab coat among them. I felt mana from him, the sign that he was an Awakener.

So he was the one hired by the Academy.

They looked at Zaiden to see his condition. Zaiden tried to push them away, thinking that his fight with me was not over yet.

“Tsk! Troublesome kid.” I clicked my tongue once again and approached Zaiden.

I admit that I had gone too far. I failed to control my strength due to my inexperience. As a result, I almost killed him. It was my biggest blunder.

If he died, who would save the world? There was still that girl, Hero, in this world. But she couldn’t do it. She suffered enough; I wanted her to feel happy in this world.

Her role in my novel was to make Zaiden stronger than her. However, in this world, I would take that role. As Zaiden had saved Lily, I would save her too, even if that meant Zaiden would need to suffer more to get stronger.

She was my favorite character in my novel, after all. I cried a little when I wrote about her being killed by Zaiden.

The medical team tried to stop me, but the Awakener that the Academy hired stopped them.

“Let him pass.”

“B-but…”

“Just let him pass. This boy will refuse to be healed if you stop him.”

I guess he had his share of experience when dealing with someone like Zaiden, a battle junkie.

As thanks, I nodded my head to him, and he nodded back.

I crouched in front of Zaiden, who was on his knees, and stared straight at his eyes.

“Oi, the match is over.”

“N…ot…yet…” His words didn’t even form properly because his throat was injured. I sighed when I saw him being stubborn like this.

What’s wrong with giving up? It was natural for humans to give up when they couldn’t do something after trying a few times.

“Look here, Zaiden. I went too far and almost crushed your throat. As a result, I am disqualified. If you want to fight again, just tell me anytime. But, for now, let him heal you.” I pointed at the healer who stood beside me, looking at Zaiden.

Zaiden had a small smile when he heard that. “P…ro…mise?”

I chuckled at him. “Yeah, only if you are ready to lose again.”

“Ha-hahaha.” He replied with a laugh; then, he looked at the healer. “P…lease.”

The referee then announced that I was disqualified and Zaiden won the match.

My role was done. I stood up and walked away to let the healer do his job.

“At least let’s make him stronger before he gets Awakened. And, I will be able to control my strength better if I have someone to spar with. Besides… I will get a free sandbag to relieve my stress~”

I chuckled as I walked out of the arena. Two weeks was the time left before the main story started.

With Zaiden’s personality that I have observed in the last two weeks, I knew that he would challenge me to spar at least twice a week.

I had no reason to refuse, as it would serve as good training for me too. He was better than me in swordsmanship.

The reason I won today was because of my pure strength. I was an Awakener, while he was not. Although I did limit my strength to match Non-Awakener, my stamina was different from theirs.

“Well, it looks like I will be busy for the next two weeks…”

Although I grumbled, a smile formed on my face. After hitting Zaiden earlier, I felt really refreshed. My stress went away in an instant, and I felt like I would be able to keep this exhilarating feeling for the next two weeks as I had been given a chance to hit him again.

“You better prepare yourself, Mr. Reincarnator~ As a reward for taking over Zaiden’s body, I will hit you hard with my fist~”

***

I had nothing left to do at the Academy, so I decided to go to the Awakener Store in Rai’s clothes. I wanted to find some primer on how to use Magic.

However, I met someone unexpected on my way and was dragged to the nearby coffee shop.

“I was waiting for your contact, you know? Do you know how anxious I am, staring at my phone all day, waiting for you to contact me? However, it seems that lady luck is still on my side. To think that I will be able to meet you when I was tasked to go out. So, what’s your answer to my invitation ten days ago, Rai?”

That someone was the guild officer of Sacred Relic, Rosa, who invited me to join Sacred Relic when I registered with the Awakener Association.

The way she said her sentences was ambiguous. If someone heard her, they would think that she was waiting for an answer to her love confession. However, it was not that. She was waiting for my answer to her invitation to join Sacred Relic.

“I’m sorry for that, Mrs. Rosa.”

“Miss.” She interjected, as she sipped her coffee.

“Miss Rosa. I’m sorry, I was busy, and I had no chance to contact you.”

While being busy was the truth, the reason why I didn’t contact her was simple. I had no phone to use yet.

The usual phone that I used was Vincent’s. If I contacted her with that phone, then she would know that Rai was, in fact, Vincent Dihart.

I knew that I needed a new phone, but I kept forgetting to buy one because of my stress. I was also busy with training and Academy’s classes. Now that I feel refreshed after hitting Zaiden, I plan to continue my preparation for the future.

“Is that so? May I know what made you busy to the point you can’t send a simple message of yes or no to me?” Rosa’s mouth curled into a smile, but her eyes were certainly not.

Although I was a precious asset to have in a guild, I had ignored her for more than a week. In her eyes, I must have looked conceited. Maylooked down on Sacred Relic to the point I could ignore their invitation.

If, by chance, she really saw me like that and reported it to her Guild, my plan for the future would run into some trouble.

I planned to act as a Mercenary who accepted requests from guilds in the future. There were quite a few successful Mercenary groups, such as Big Wolf Mercenary from the US and Sooyeon Army from South Korea.

To make a successful mercenary group, I needed connections. That was why I decided to go along with Rosa when she spotted me in the street.

“Unfortunately, I am busy because of my training. My Master ordered me to train my archery in the mountains and dungeons while he only allowed me to go to the city to buy some food and refreshments. He also confiscated my phone last week, so I’m sorry for not being able to contact you.”

After I explained the story that I made up at the last second, Rosa’s smile turned genuine.

“Oh? Is that so? I thought that you had forgotten about my invitation. So you have a master… I never knew about that.”

Thankfully, she believed my bullshit. So I continued.

“Yes, my Master is a strict person, so I am not allowed to even touch my phone during my training.”

“Hahahaha. I can understand that. My Master, who taught me when I was just Awakened, was used to being like that. He forbids me to use my phone too.”

“Is that true? I guess we have our share of problems, huh?”

“I guess so. Then about my invitation.” Rosa put her elbows on the table while having a business smile.

So it came up again. I tried to stall for some time to make her forget about it, but I guess that was for naught, huh?

She was experienced in this, so I needed to give my answer right now. It had been more than a week since she invited me; it would be rude if I stalled for more time.

So I gave her my answer.

“I’m really sorry. After thinking about it for a week, I don’t think I can join Sacred Relic.”

The disappointment was written on Rosa’s face. She looked at me in surprise before it turned into worry.

“By any chance, did another guild invite you too?”

Oh, so she was worried about that.

“Ah, no. They did try to invite me, but I could always get away from them.”

“Oh!” She then sighed in relief. “Then, why did you refuse my invitation? I am not bragging, but with Sacred Relic’s support, you will be able to get Artifact easily, and Sacred Relic also manages an exclusive dungeon.”

“Well, to answer that, I actually want to create my own Mercenary group. I already have some people that I plan to invite. So, I am sorry, but I can’t join a guild.”

“Mercenary group? But that’s…”

“Hard, I know. But I got someone to support me, so I think I am fine.”

Rosa looked at me with a serious gaze, and I returned it calmly. My mouth was hidden behind my mask, so she had a hard time reading my expression.

“Is that so?” She finally gave up. “Well, if you change your mind, you can contact me anytime. Just know that the Sacred Relic will always have a slot open for you.”

“Thank you. But I want to do my best first. Maybe I will contact you in the future to ask if there is a job for my Mercenary group.”

“Hahahaha. If you managed to gain a name for your group, then surely we will be the ones reaching out to you. Well then, please excuse me. I need to go to the Academy right now.”

“Oh, Academy?” I asked curiously.

Rosa rose from her seat and answered me with a smile. “Fufufu, yes. I will tell you my reason if you decide to join Sacred Relic.”

“Unfortunately, I need to refuse.”

“What a shame.”

Rosa walked away after that.

I was curious as to why she would go to the Academy, but I couldn’t ask her directly due to my position. If Sacred Relic asked Rosa to go to the Academy, then it surely was an important matter.

Whether it was to meet with Jack or maybe she was asked to invite some talented students who won the tournament today, only she knew about it.

“Well, it doesn’t involve me, so I don’t really care about it.”

I muttered as I stood up.