Zero to Hero (Prequel/prototype)

Chapter 55. Setup

"Ken. Whatever your plan is. Please make sure you succeed, okay?" Clare asked as the pair relaxed in the backstage of the stadium during the 3rd day of the tournament where Ken's entire plan rested on the fact that he hoped he was stronger than Luke.

"Clare. You know what happens when you put extra pressure on me right?"

"You will rise up and meet the challenge of course." Clare replied confidently.

"I mean, when you are this confident in me, how can I let you down right?" Ken replied, feeling the pressure slowly disappearing with the encouragement from Clare.

With Ken skipping the finals and Clare having a hard time focusing. Luke for the first time overtook the overall ranking and was happily gloating that he had finally reached rank 1 above the elf after years of dedication.

Not only had he caught up to Clare in the written classes, he has also surpassed her in all of the practical subjects and shockingly, it would seem that his personal training with Julius had really paid off and he even surpassed Lovetta in physical enhancements.

During day 1 where the students showed off their powers, Lucia went on much longer than normal hyping up Luke and how amazing he looked and how awesome and proud she was to be from Darrumburgh and for him to finally reach the top of the class after 3 years.

Obviously, the elves were not happy with the extra attention Lucia was showering Luke and not giving their elf princess nearly as much attention but Ken and a few knew that she was only hyping him up to draw more money into betting on the Darrumburgh noble so her payout would be that much greater if Ken ends up winning.

For the third year students where the class had lost no one so far, passing advanced level proved to be difficult for most of those that have spent the past three years partying and socializing and in one swoop, the number of students moving on to the next year dropped by 300. According to Vincent when Ken was chatting with him, by year 5 where one had to pass expert level, only around 20 to 30% of the students would remain.

For those that had to drop out, this tournament was their last chance to stand on the stage for the world to see and the number of students that signed up was much higher for their class compared to the previous tournaments.

Sadly, most of those students ended up getting destroyed without ever making enough of an impression to get featured unless they lost to one of the top favorites and day one of the matches ended without much excitement for the likes of Ken where each match ended without any challenge.

Day two offered little challenge to Ken as his growth so far was exponential compared to the linear growth of the rest of the students. From absolutely zero just three years ago, he is now without a doubt one of the favorites due to both his confident personality and his flashy fighting style to back up his confidence.

With all the fodders taking care off, those still left in the tournament are the ones that actually studied hard and had talent. While everyone at the academy had potential, Ken has learned that just because someone has the potential doesn't necessarily mean they have the talent.

People like Genesis are the definition of gifted and like her, there are other gifted individuals who are wasting their talent from not doing anything school related for the past three years. But on the other end of the spectrum, there are quite a few students who might have the potential to achieve greatness, but they simply could not reach that potential either due to lack of talent or not getting the correct training.

People like Ken, Luke and Clare are the most rare combination of having the potential of getting selected, having the drive to become great and also having the talent to actually improve at a rapid pace and obviously, Ken is by far the most talented from the pure speed of his growth.