8 Chapter 7

During the half hour break, students stayed in pairs discussing and some, half complaining about how they did during the two previous tests.

Most of their complaint and discontent were not so subtly thrown at Reid. While this was going, a crowd was making its way onto the field. They headed to the equally large seating area looking over the field.

"Hey, what's going on?" One of the girls said, catching the attention of all the students. In unison they all turned towards the small crowd.

"My dad's in there." One boy muttered. Looking closely after hearing what was said, everyone noticed that each person in the crowd bared a resemblance, no matter how little to at least one student.

"My mom's in there too!"

"Hey mom!"

"Dad!..."

One by one, children began to loudly call out to their respective parents. The parents weren't allowed to go and meet them so they settled for waving back at them.

Out of all the kids, only Reid remained silent. Not because he thought it was immature to be shouting as they did, but because he didn't see his own mother there. Although a bit sad, once he realized that she wasn't there, he didn't pay attention to the for even a second longer and continued recovering.

Among the crowd, a middle aged but still young looking woman staring intensely at the field with two people being the objects of focus, Reid obviously being the first one.

The second one being Haze, the boy who had come second in both events, her son.

'Don't disappoint me, Haze...' she thought, then throwing a barely concealed look of disgust towards Reid.

Meanwhile, Haze who was on the field caught sight of his mother from the distance. He saw her stare at him before then changing her sight to Reid. Due to the how far away she was and the fact that he was merely a child, he misinterpreted his mother's look of disgust of Reid for interest.

His hair shadowed his eyes as he looked to the ground with a dead look. It slowly morphed into a deranged smile.

'Even you, mother... It's alright. I'll prove you all wrong! Reid...!' He ranted internally, then turned to the object of his ire.

'I'll destroy you!!!' He screamed internally.

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The middle aged instructor gathered the students for the final test. The final test was one that would heavily influence your final result depending on how you do. Should someone like Haze scored first in this final one, added to his previous second places, he would be the overall winner.

"Okay everyone! It's time for the last exam. I advise you all to do your best in this one. It could be just the push you need to win." He started, shooting a look at Haze which made Reid silently scoff.

"This last one is a tournament." Chatters and murmurs erupted among all the students who were confused.

'Tournament?' Reid questioned. His eyes widen slowly, seemingly realizing something.

"Quiet down!" He yelled over the noise, quieting them down.

"It's a combat tournament. Some of you may have received private training from your homes so you may be a bit familiar with combat. You will be-" He droned on and on, completely missing Reid's wide eyed look.

'I knew I was forgetting something. How the hell did I forget that?!' He felt like pulling his hair out in frustration at his lack of foresight. He could only grit his teeth and see how this would pan out.

He tuned in just in time to understand how it would be done.

"The first round will be a battle royal. The last four standing will move the next round. The rest will be explained later.

'Oh shit!' Reid was feeling more frustrated as he explained. He looked around, feeling the predator like gazes being thrown at him by his fellow classmates. He closed his eyes and took deep breaths, calming himself down.

Those around him chuckled, thinking he was afraid. They were shaken when hardened eyes snapped open, staring back at them intensely.

'Bring it!'

What he didn't notice was that at that moment, a lone female figure made her way past the field and into the seating area. Her face lit up with a smile as she saw his determined face.

'That's my boy!' She thought with joy.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

It wasn't that he was afraid of them, they couldn't scare him even if they had all the time in the world to prepare. What worried him was the fact that his body isn't as strong as his former body so he was a bit skeptical about fighting.

He and the rest of the students stood inside a large white line that was drawn on the field floor. It had enough space for all of them to move and fight comfortably.

His eyes jumped from individual to individual, taking note of their positions and just as he expected, he was already at a disadvantage. He was surrounded at all corners but that didn't matter. He already had a plan.

*BANG!*

A flair gun was shot upwards, signifying the start of the battle royal. Immediately, Reid noticed the boy at his left rushing towards him with his arm cocked back. He couldn't dodge because he would jump right into another opponent. With blocking as his only option, he put up his arms in an cross form, blocking the hit.

It was a good plan but he forgot about one thing. Upon contact, the hit was blocked but at the cost of his hands nearly going numb. Reid held in a yelp as he realized his arms weren't done recovering from the last event.

'Not good! I can't take another one.' He thought as he ducked, dodging a kick that would have made his brain rattle. He threw a low roundhouse kick on his opponent's line standing foot, sending him to the ground.

As his opponent fell to the ground, a notification made itself known in his head.

[*Ding!*]

[You have gained 'Combat Mastery'!]

His lips stretched into a grin the moment he finished reading it. It was common knowledge was that a gamer would gain skills after repeated actions...or was that all to it. He had proven his theory; if said action is done properly, it would be recognized by the system faster and converted to a skill.

Either way was good but at least he got the skill faster. He looked around, other than the ones who was busy fighting each other, there were those who surrounded him, looking in shock as he defeated his opponent.

They had simply not jumped in because they believed that it would take only one person to take him out...they were wrong. Snapping out of their surprise, this time two people rushed towards Reid.

With his now acquired skill, his form was, while still sloppy, was not as sloppy as before. With his superior speed, he tilted his body away from from a punch, allowing the first attacker to involuntarily move past him. He quickly ducked under a fist aimed at his head from the second attacker before delivering a punch of his own to his chest, pushing him back.

Reid turned just in time to block a kick with his aching arm from his previous opponent before sweeping his other leg, taking him down exactly like his first opponent.

'You're too late. Had you both come at me from the beginning, you would have taken me out.' He thought as dodged an attack from his attackers who had now gotten back up and gone in for the attack again.

Aiming to corner him, they attacked in tandem with each other. With blocking as a no-go, he could only dodge. That said, that didn't mean that the two boys were strong. They constantly got in the way of each other's attack, making them easier for him to dodge. It was clear that they barely had any formal training.

"Stay still!" They complained as he dodged each of their attacks seemingly effortlessly. Reid let out a strained smile. It wasn't like he had an option. The only reason why it was so each to dance around them was that he was simply faster, making his skill look more high leveled than it actually was.

After a few more moments of dodging, he finally saw a chance to attack. Without wasting time, he delivered a kick to the back of the first boy's knees, getting him off balance before aiming another kick at his ribs, sending him out of the white boundary line.

He grinned at the small victory without taking away his attention from the renaming ones surrounding him.

"So, who's next?" He announced with a predatory grin.

In his battle happy state and the fact that he had to concentrate, he didn't notice the woman in the crowd specifically watching his fight with a proud smile.

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