Zero to Hero (Prequel/prototype)

Chapter 12. Tournament Part 1

"Ken! Time to go get breakfast. The tournament is starting today!" Genesis shouted as she waited outside his dorm room alone for Ken to get up.

"Morning Genesis, where is Lovetta?" Ken wondered out loud after greeting the lone girl waiting by his dorm door.

"You really are super out of it first thing in the morning, aren't you Ken? Today is the start of the tournament, remember? The other three had to get up early and go to the stadium so they could be ready. We should hurry and get some breakfast and head over soon, so we don't miss the start." Genesis replied and as Ken started to walk down to the common room, she suddenly grabbed onto his hand and held onto him tightly.

"And here I thought with Alice gone today, I don't have to carry the weight of two people." Ken said jokingly.

"You know, there are so many men out there that's so desperate for love, they are willing to pay large sum of money just for a few hours of intimacy. And then we have someone like you who's always surrender by not just average girls but nobles and princesses that won't even leave you alone long enough for me to even try and be intimate. Alice is so lucky that she got the soulmate excuse." Genesis said jealously.

Two days have passed since the midterm and when Ken woke naturally around noon yesterday, he finds Lovetta fast asleep against the wall outside of his dorm room. Not knowing whether he should be happy or upset with her dedication, he pinched the silly girl's cheeks to wake her up.

Startled awake by Ken, the two headed to the common area where Ken went straight to the scoreboard to see the updated ranking.

Unsurprisingly, with her additional points from the expert and master written parts, Clare's overall score got that much higher than the rest of the class but even with her improved physical scores, Lovetta's advantage over her remained steady.

"Ouch, I bet Clare was upset when she saw those scores. But congrats on keeping up your amazing performance! You will be expert level in no time!" Ken commented.

"Yea, she wasn't happy this morning at breakfast." Lovetta answered trying to sound neutral, but obviously happy that Ken complimented her.

Looking at the other top rankings, not too far down, Ken was shocked to see that Alice is 5th overall when all she has done was slacking off and hanging around him. Both her elemental and physical scores from the entry exam held up nicely even after a whole semester of doing nothing. But then again, it's mostly due to how few people took the midterm and like her, most of the students slacked off just as hard as she did. Her scores still impressed Ken greatly and he is more grateful than ever that she spends so much time and energy tutoring him.

Genesis ranked in the middle of the pack where she passed none of the advanced selection but is above intermediate level in all subjects. As Ken scanned from the bottom up to look for himself, to see that he is no longer the lowest ranker and that it is now someone named Indra Atlan brought a tear to his eyes.

"Sorry Indra whoever you are, but someone has to be last place and it sure as hell isn't going to be me ever again!" Ken shouted in happiness drawing dirty looks from those that are in the common room.

To his surprise when he would have been happy simply to be in the top 1000, he actually came in much higher than expected. For the practical portions, with the help and guidance from the top two in their whole year and his own high interest and talent. Ken was able to pass the beginner level on all of the elemental and physical parts in only one semester of training and studying.

For the written parts, to his disappointment Ken did not pass a single subject but when he checked his bracelet for the breakdown on his scores. It turned out that on all 4 sections of the written exam, he scored over 20 and was only 2 points from passing on the history part.