"For her amazing contributions in safeguarding over 250 civilians within the museum, she is well known as the sorceress amongst her first-year peers. Receiving the Silver dal of Aspiration for her overwhelming courage and bravery, the first dal goes to Camila Garcia of Class 1-A."
Applause echoed through the presentation hall as Camila rose from her seat and walked towards Amara, stopping just short and bowing. She received the Silver dal of Aspiration, a well-deserved recognition for putting her life on the line for so many.
I'll give her that one.
"Now, for the MVP of the scouting invitational tournant. Not only did she fight the monster head-on countless tis, but she also contributed greatly to finishing it off. Receiving the Gold dal of Aspiration, the second dal goes to Valencia Freya of Class 1-A."
The applause intensified, with many of our seniors cheering Valencia on.
"—That's our school's pride and joy!"
"—The Ice Queen herself, both beautiful and divine."
"—I'd relish my chances with her if only I was a few years younger!"
The males in the audience seed to chant in unison about Valencia's endless beauty and icy nature, qualities they found undeniably attractive.
From my perspective, though, I could only see her as a character in my story.
I could only hope to salvage what was left of our relationship as acquaintances.
But I was surprised I hadn't been called up yet.
I expected at least the bronze dal, but surely not gold. Maybe the order was different this ti.
"For the third recipient, undoubtedly known for his excellence in swordsmanship, he achieved a perfect rating across all matches of the scouting invitational. Not only did he reach perfection in terms of statistics, but he was also awarded for the best overall performance. Receiving the Gold dal of Aspiration, please give your applause to Jan Ates."
Wait... what?
Jan didn't receive the Platinum dal?
That's not right... that can't be right at all. This has to simply be a mistake.
Then what did I do all that for?
Without thinking, my nails started to dig into my palm as anxiety gnawed at . Everything had to be a joke.
This important event was ant to highlight Jan's massive achievent, but—
"And finally, for our last recipient, he's often called an irregular amongst his peers. But through oddity and hard work, he not only delivered a staggering individual performance during the tournant but was also awarded for having the best performance out of everyone in the entire tournant individually. He was also the sole person to deliver the final blow against the high-level threat monster.
Receiving the first-ever Platinum dal of Aspiration, everyone give a round of applause to Rel Laurence."
For a mont, I was frozen.
Ti seed to slow down, each second stretching into an eternity.
My mind wasn't in the right place.
I tried to pinpoint where everything had gone wrong.
In the first place, I wasn't supposed to exist in this world.
But here I was, alive and breathing, standing on a stage I had no right to be on.
It was an impossible situation, a paradox I couldn't fathom.
The headlines, the fa, the power – all of it was ant for Jan.
He was the protagonist, the chosen one, the hero of this story.
And I, the author, had ruined it all.
So, what did this an for ?
Did my arrival throw the story off course? Or was it already veering off track before I even got here?
I didn't have the answers.
But as for my existence being the true hindrance amongst all things... there had to be a better solution to fix this ss.
I couldn't just let my story unravel before my eyes anymore.
What I need now... no, what this story needs now...
Is change.
***
[Pinnacle Academy, The Presentation Room - Backstage]
After the ceremony...
Backstage, Rel, Jan, Camila, and Valencia sat together near the exit, helping to pack up the remaining items despite their classes having been dismissed.
Rel, however, seed to have lost a spark in his eyes.
Almost as if he was dead.
His shoulders slumped slightly, and everything about him felt...strange. It was like his eyes were hollow.
Though his body perford the tasks at a high pace, it was as if he were moving without thought. With ease, he stacked thirty chairs without sweating, falling, or even shaking. His posture remained perfectly straight, the lack of struggle surprising the others.
Camila and Valencia exchanged glances, bewildered by the once frail-looking boy's sudden strength and agility. They wondered if the chairs were even real.
Jan, too, was shocked each ti he witnessed this new side of Rel. It brought him back to his own early days at Pinnacle Academy, when his thoughts and mories of his previous life were still sorting themselves out.
Though he had experienced the hardships of a past life, Jan had never known the love of a family. That life was too precious to give up on, and it beca his driving force, a conviction to protect what he now held dear.
To achieve that goal, he had entered a hero academy to relearn the physics of this world.
To his surprise, he found overlapping similarities between his world and this one.
Qi and aura were the sa, and life force was nearly identical to mana. The principles remained the sa, even in a different reality.
Jan's determination to beco stronger than he had been in his past life led him to Pinnacle Academy.
He would succeed by any ans necessary, even if it ant sacrificing himself.
But that was back then... Back then, when all he knew were the people at the Heroes Prep academy.
He had been so focused on getting stronger that he'd forgotten who he once was.
He, too, had once carried the burden of a million lives.
He, too, had felt that being born ant taking the supposed life of soone else who was ant to be here.
He, too, felt alone in this world.
But he wasn't the only one.
When he first attended Pinnacle Academy, his mind was always on training, neglecting his studies.
He barely scraped through the entrance exams thanks to Valencia, Lyra, and Camila.
He knew his only focus was to beco stronger and to follow his aunt's wish for him to experience the school life she never had.
Jan couldn't understand it then, but he could now.
Because he, too, had never experienced school.
He had never experienced the things he had missed out on in his past life.
Yet, in this life, despite feeling aimless and driven only by the pursuit of power, he saw himself in soone else for the first ti.
A fragile boy.
A boy in the academy who seed like an oddity, a stranger in a familiar world.
This boy never stopped working hard.
He spent countless hours training with lighter dumbbells, trying to max out every workout to the point of vomiting.
Jan saw his past self in this boy.
A boy who could barely bench 45kg, below the average student's strength standard.
But this boy couldn't give up.
Now, months later, Jan saw Rel rapidly developing at a pace faster than anyone he had ever t in his lifeti.
___________
Authors Notes:
- Yes the chairs Rel was carrying were indeed heavy.
- Jan on many occasions had seen Rel workout.
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