A really bad montage

Kai stared blankly at the gargantuan screen, not knowing what to think.

I... I got first place?

It was undeniable that the boy on the screen was him. Kai thought that he might have been hallucinating, until he saw the man that previously made fun of him flinch, that is.

The scene started with Kai clumsily training with his dagger, his technique nowhere to be found, the same being said about any sort of charisma or aura. All the previous nine people had some sort of charm to them, bar seventh place, and currently, Kai was in that same situation as seventh place.

The scene continued and showed Kai with a shocked expression on his face, he recognised that moment as when he got the notification about otherworldly creatures spawning in.

Then, he went off to find Noelle, nearly getting killed in the process.

However, this time it actually showed Kai taming Umbra and not hiding in the background like everyone thought they had when they saw Noelle's montage.

Kai threw a quick smirk to the annoying man beside him, who promptly scowled in return. Still, that was all Kai did as he returned to watching the clips.

It then showed Kai losing to Creepy and getting lost in the black smoke that was shown in third place. It did a quick time-lapse of his running until his encounter with that abomination.

People gazed confusedly at the screen when it got to the part where Kai was screaming in pain under the moonlight, until The Host cut in.

"For context, the moon was cursed, meaning anyone who looked at it would feel a lot of pain."

People in the gigantic crowd grimaced, even the annoying man reacted.

The clip continued, showing Kai killing the abomination before passing out.

The next clip skipped over quite a lot, including his first meeting with Failure. It started with Kai meeting Rashik, Sofia, Shorty, Sleepy and Camo, which no one could actually see.

A lot of people recognised Rashik from Noelle's highlights, making them turn to Kai with a look of disgust in their eyes. They were all assuming that Kai was working with him.

Then, it glossed over the whole conversation and focused on when Sofia got up close and personal with him.

That also earned him a few glares from some of the people in his proximity, only they were a look of jealousy this time instead of disgust.

Then, it showed Sofia getting hit by nothing and set into the darkness between two trees, that alone shocked quite a lot of people.

Kai quickly ran to get her, picking her up and desparately trying to get her out of there, that earned him some apologetic glances from some of the people that judged him a few minutes ago.

It skipped to when Noelle found Kai and started fighting Rashik, meanwhile Kai got sent flying by the invisible Camo.

Then, to everyone's shock, they realised why it was a somewhat plausible idea that Kai had gotten first place.

Unlike all of the other rankings clips, Kai's beginning was pathetic, all he had done so far was get smacked around and not fight back.

That was until Umbra gained Grace of The Ever-changing.

People watched in awe as Kai started to transform into his Lycan form, even the annoying man beside him paled slightly as he recognised that wolf from the one that was killing all the abominations in tenth place's highlights.

It showed him managing to kill Camo in an extremely gruesome way before he got outplayed by Sleepy, only for Sofia to save him at the last moment.

At this point, people had gone back to wondering why Kai had even gotten first place. Even Kai wasn't sure.

It briefly showed his breakdown about how he killed someone, but at least it was brief as it then picked up the speed and did a time-lapse of the time Sofia, Noelle, Umbra and Kai spent traveling in the forest.

It was a pretty uneventful week after all, especially when compared to the final week.

The speed then slowed down as it showed Kai's first meeting with Wa'rak, his first meeting with Aldred, and it especially focused on his first meeting with Failure.

The time where him and Failure played two truths one lie was censored, however, there was something off about it. It wasn't like the previous censorships where the angel had censored it. This time, it was like something or someone else had censored it. Kai picked up on that little detail, but the majority of the crowd did not.

It then showed a montage of Kai and Aldred's training, mainly focusing on the time where they got ambushed when they went out looking for Calestrom, that traitorous moon beast.

It showed Kai killing that abomination while acting like a madman, to which Kai could only respond with a wince and a look down to the floor of shame. It's not like they knew what happened when he was in Goblin Mode, so he just had to put up with their dumbfounded stares.

It showed a couple more of the conversations Kai had, censoring some parts of it while letting some other parts be heard.

The clips continued, from Kai getting his theory class from Failure to the mini Christmas they all had with the gifts Failure had given them.

At this point, people were slowly becoming aware how essential Failure was to Kai's growth, to which they could only be even more confused as to why he got first place. Was this just not the same as reaching the top by having some sugar daddy?

It then glossed over the falling out Kai had with Noelle and Failure, his early partial transformation training and that wise talk he had with Aldred, doing a small skip to after that war meeting, to where Kai tricke- convinced Wa'rak to ambush some abominations with him.

Another montage of Kai and Wa'rak killing some abominations, to which all the people present responded with a look of boredom. By now, Kai's clips had been going on for well over thirty minutes, that was longer than tenth to fifth place combined, they were slowly getting tired of it, especially when not that much was happening.

The Host simply smiled, watching the bored looks of all those pathetic humans. Who were they to judge when they themselves weren't anywhere near the top? Besides, it would start picking up soon now anyway.

When Kai and Wa'rak's fight against the Depth Dweller began, Kai noticed that everyone around him had began sweating and had all gone extremely pale, like they were ghosts.

What the hell?

Looking up, he noticed the angel smiling sweetly at him, making his heart flutter, but also making a cold feeling well up in the back of his mind.

He then realised what she was hinting at.

That whole fight, without his knowledge, Nonchalance and Strong Mind had been working overtime to combat the Depth Dweller's mind attack and keep Kai calm.

He hadn't even known that the Depth Dweller was doing a mind attack, he hadn't even felt anything. He knew that the Depth was a harrowing creature, especially from the fact that the only glimpses Kai caught of it were its gargantuan eye and creepy tentacles. If Kai was to be honest, he would say he was more scared of the Depth Dweller than the Demon, considering Failure and Aldred were with him while fighting the Demon, meanwhile it was only him and Wa'rak against that abomination.

How insidious could a mind attack be that Kai wasn't even aware of it happening, and what would have happened if he didn't have Strong Mind? One thing was for certain, Kai was sure that he never wanted to encounter something like that again.

Yet everyone was confused at the fact Kai remained so calm when facing such a terrifying creature, especially when it showed him getting dragged into the water, slowly drowning as he got pulled down deeper and deeper.

Seconds passed excruciatingly slow, especially for Kai as he was the one who actually experienced all of that, not a pleasant moment to say the least.

Then, everyone paler even more when they saw the horrifying eye that had scared the living shit out of Kai. In fact, someone to Kai's side even passed out.

It didn't make any sense though, even though Strong Mind offered a medium resistance to mind attacks, the Depth Dweller was completetly out of Kai's league, so why the hell didn't he feel anything in the moment?

A few moments later, people let out a breath of relief when they saw Kai break free and stab the Depth Dweller in the eye, using his thin claw as a spearhead.

However, the clip then skipped to when Kai was on land and out of Wraith Mode. For whatever reason, even though Kai was happy that it happened, the angel had decided not to share that Kai could temporarily become semi invincible when he was near death. It would certainly be a bonus if anyone tried to mess with Kai without knowing his full capabilities.

It then done an overhead shot of Kai and Wa'rak walking away.

However, the screen suddenly turned black as a line of text appeared on the screen.

Act one: Weak Beginnings - Concluded

The angel then started clapping, causing all the humans to start clapping along with her, even though they weren't really sure as to why.

"I can see on all of your faces that you are confused as to why this boy got first, well let me just ask this... Is there any reason he shouldn't get first?

As I said previously, luck is also a type of skill, and this boy was the luckiest out of all you participants."

A sly grin slowly made its way onto The Host's face as she slowly turned to look down at Kai.

"But after all, this is only the beginning, there is still a lot more you have to see, especially in act two."