Chapter 40: Tournament Begins

Leon ended up returning back to the academy the next day as planned. By the time Leon returned, he had already heard his name more times than he wanted to before he walked half the distance of where he was headed. It was a strange feeling, wanting to become great and being unfamiliar with what it brings.

Since the tournament bracket had been decided, that had become his reality, and now it had gotten even worse.

Leon wasn’t quite sure how to respond to that.

He understood why it was happening. Aaron Grey was the strongest student in the academy, while Leon was the strange Undead Summoner who had somehow made it into the finals. The two were now going to fight each other, and in everyway, that was enough to make everyone interested.

Wanting some peace and quiet, Leon took a less crowded route through the academy.

It worked for a while, until he turned a corner and nearly bumped into Aaron Grey. Aaron Grey stopped as well, almost walking into Leon from his own perspective. Two other students were walking with him, and Leon recognized them vaguely since they also participated in the tournament at the earlier stages, though he didn’t know either of them well enough to remember their names. For a moment, nobody said anything.

Both sides paused, perhaps for too long, though it got too awkward too fast.

Then all of a sudden, just when Leon was about to open his mouth to say something, "I know you’re hiding something." Aaron said, his voice firm and serious, at least that was how it sounded.

Leon raised an eyebrow. "What’s that supposed to mean?" The words left his mouth out, even before he thought of it. He was very much taken aback, as he never would have anticipated those words.

"Exactly what it does." Aaron said.

The two students beside Aaron looked between them, equally confused.

"There are probably several things I’m hiding." He said, seeing that Aaron wasn’t trying to crack a joke, Leon arranged his expression.

Aaron’s expression remained unchanged as he spoke. "I don’t know what they are."

"That’s why they’d be hidden, isn’t it?" He said.

"Tch, this kid is so disrespectful." One of Aaron’s friends said, his expression visibly irritated, though only mildly.

"Kid? Are you a grandpa or something? We’re almost the same age." Leon said. He couldn’t care less, though he looked like Leon Carter, the original Leon was already a young adult, he couldn’t be bothered to observe any such thing, at least not when it didn’t matter.

Aaron studied him for another moment, while the other student behind Aaron held back a laugh.

"I don’t care what you’re hiding," Aaron said.

"Then why mention it?" Leon asked.

"Because we’re fighting tomorrow." Aaron’s gaze remained steady. "I want to fight you at your strongest."

Leon was quiet for a moment. He could tell that there was no arrogance in Aaron’s voice and no attempt to intimidate him. He wasn’t trying to establish dominance.

In the few days since the beginning of the tournament, Leon had met plenty of people who were interested in his summons. Some wanted to know how they worked, while others wanted to figure out what special technique allowed them to perform beyond their apparent limits. Aaron however, didn’t seem to care much about any of that, it was like he just wanted the fight itself.

"You might regret that," Leon said.

"Who is to say?" Aaron gave him a small nod. "Then I’ll deal with it when the time comes."

"I’m all for it then... but can you please move out of the way? You three completely block every passage."

"Ah right, sorry. We’ll take our leave." Aaron said, still serious even when he seemed to be polite. He walked past Leon with his friends following behind, and after a few steps Leon heard one of the other students say something quietly. He couldn’t make out the words, and Aaron didn’t look back.

Leon also continued on to his room.

’Interesting.’ He thought to himself.

It was such an odd encounter, and the first time someone at the academy had spoken to him as though he were already standing on equal ground. It was amuzing to say the least.

...

That night, Dustin and Raul went out to get food while Leon stayed behind. Sitting on the edge of his bed, he looked around the room and thought about everything that had happened since his awakening.

A few weeks ago, he had barely understood this world. He had awakened, watched a mysterious Door appear, and received a Skeleton Warrior that everyone considered trash. He had entered a dungeon and nearly died, discovered that his summons could be far stronger than they appeared, and somehow fought his way through the tournament until he reached the finals with just one summon.

At the very least, he expected to have showed his entire deck before reaching the finals.

’Perhaps my bracket was a little easy?’ he thought to himself, though he couldn’t prove it. Not many matches were worth watching after all, it almost looked like the standard of students was low.

Nevertheless, in only a few weeks, a lot had changed. He had thought about it before, but it never ceased to fascinate him how fast life could change, especially when he was the one experiencing it.

It was difficult to believe. A few weeks ago, he had been the academy’s joke, now everyone sort of respected him.

The change should have made him happy, and to some extent it did, but as before, he wasn’t satisfied.

Winning the tournament would be good. It would prove something and probably change how people saw him even further, but it wasn’t enough anymore.

Closing his eyes, Leon thought back to different things. He remembered the ogre breaking his leg, somehow, he could still feel the pain whenever he thought about it. Some would say trauma, Leon called it motivation. He remembered watching Aaron fight without even needing to summon his Python...

Most of all, he remembered standing there while other people decided what he was worth... Then those same people had started calling him talented once he began winning.

Their opinions had changed, but Leon realized something important.

The problem wasn’t what they thought about him, the problem was that they had been able to decide his value in the first place.

He had spent his entire life when he was on Earth imagining what it would be like to live in a fantasy world. He’d watched anime, read manga, played games, and imagined what it would be like to have magic, monsters, dungeons, and powers... and somehow, against all reason, he had actually ended up in such a world.

Now that he was finally living the life he’d once fantasized about, there was no way he would settle for being just another strong guy... no way.

He wanted more.

He wanted strength... Real strength.

Strength enough, that nobody would be able to look at him and decide his worth. Enough that he wouldn’t have to care whether someone thought he was a failure or a genius. Enough that if someone wanted to measure him, they would have to reimagine the scale.

’If I’m going to live in this world...’ He thought to himself, walking towards the window, as his expression hardened slightly, ’I might as well become the best.’

He didn’t know how long it would take, he didn’t know what stood at the top of this world, and he didn’t even know what his Door truly was, but he had time, and he had already been given a way to grow. If his luck wasn’t straight garbage, then there should indeed be a way to achieve that goal for himself.

Just then, as he stared outside the window, contemplating a few things in his head, his train of thought was interrupted as the door to the room opened, and Dustin and Raul walked in with several bags of food.

"Leon," Dustin said, "you should’ve come with us."

"I literally just ate some hours ago." He replied.

Raul placed the food on the table. "You should eat anyway."

Leon looked at him, sensing something was off. "Since when are you worried about what I eat?"

"Since tomorrow."

Leon frowned slightly. "What about tomorrow?"

Raul glanced at Dustin.

Dustin sighed and sat down. "Don’t take this the wrong way... We just don’t know if you can beat Aaron."

At that, the room became quiet briefly.

Leon hadn’t expected that, not because Dustin was wrong, but because it was the first time either of them had said it. Until now, they had always believed in him. Even when he fought stronger opponents, there had been an assumption that Leon would figure something out.

Hearing this now, that assumption was gone it seemed.

Raul crossed his arms. "Aaron is different from the people you’ve fought."

"I know, I know." Leon said after a sigh, he wasn’t annoyed by their concern, though he wished he didn’t have to hear it.

"He’s stronger than Seth."

"I know..." He said.

"And you saw it too, he has reached a level where he can even fight without even summoning his Python."

Leon nodded twice, slowly. "I know."

Dustin looked uncomfortable. "You’re not taking this seriously, are you? Look man, we’re not saying you can’t win..."

"You’re saying you don’t know if I can." Leon completed his sentence.

Dustin’s eyes shifted a little, uncomfortable, he didn’t answer.

Leon waved it off. The doubt wasn’t unreasonable, which was what made it different from the insults he’d received before. They weren’t mocking him, they were just worried.

If it had been any other time before then, seeing as for the first time since the tournament started, the people closest to him weren’t confident that he could overcome the next opponent, that uncertainty would have reached him too.

But now, that was not even a thought that could take root in his mind.

’I wonder what their opinion will be if they knew I already have 50 different summons.’ Leon smiled.

"Then I guess we’ll find out tomorrow." He said, falling on his bed.

Dustin looked at him, confused almost. "You’re not worried?"

"I won’t say worried, more like expectant." He said. That seemed to surprise them.

Raul smiled as he looked at him. "You know, you’re very inspiring." He said, then nodded slowly. "Good."

"Urgh, how do you manage to say such weird things without flinching?" Dustin said, making an ugly face while pulling away comically.

They all laughed, and without lingering on the matter, the conversation moved on after that, although Leon could tell they were still worried.

...

Elsewhere in the academy, two men were preparing to watch the same match.

Darwit sat quietly in an observation room, looking over the information in front of him. He wasn’t interested in the tournament as a spectacle, he never was. As for now however, his attention was fixed on one person.

Leon Carter.

At that same moment also, Mason was doing much the same thing. He had his own reasons for watching and his own questions, and unlike Darwit, he wasn’t interested in waiting patiently for answers.

Tomorrow, he intended to see Leon fight again.