"So this is the Leviathan building time regressive machine?

"

I muttered as I looked ahead of me. Right before me stood a large metallic capsule. By its side were thick wires that stretched and connected to the side of the walls.

===

Option 1

Option 2

===

On the panel by the side of the machine, I was presented with two options.

Without hesitation, I pressed on the first option

The difference between option one and two was the time, with option one lasting one hour and option two lasting five.

Still not used to the machine, I chose option 1.

One hour was about one day inside of the time regressive machine, so it was plenty enough.

Didn't want to overwork my brain.

—Shuuua!

Moments after pressing on the first option, the pod slowly opened up. Steam rose in the air.

'Here goes nothing'

—Shuuua!

Just as I was about to enter my capsule, the capsule next to me opened up.

Emerging from the capsule was Jin.

"Hm?

"

Stepping out of the capsule, Jin looked at me and our eyes met.

For a short period of time, neither one of us spoke.

After a while, I was the first one to break the silence as an awkward greeting escaped from my mouth.

"Sup?

"

"...

"

Jin did not answer me. He just coldly looked at me.

'Well, this is kind of awkward...'

Being stared at by Jin, I wasn't sure what to do. After a while, I shrugged my shoulders and proceeded to look at the panel on the time-regressor machine.

'Since you're not going to talk I'm just gonna do my thing...'

Sorting out a few things, I put my foot in the capsule.

"You better not fall behind me...

"

Moments before I entered the capsule, Jin finally opened his mouth. As his cold words echoed across the room, my brow raised.

"Oh?

"

'Interesting...'

"Fall behind you? Me? You wish

"

Smirking, I looked Jin straight into the eyes.

'So you're challenging me?'

To think that the cold prince was openly challenging me like this.

Normally I would've avoided such a challenge, however, I was starting to become curious.

'Just how much did you improve whilst I wasn't looking?'

Staring at Jin who was incomparably different compared to how he was in the novel, I wanted to know.

Just how different was the current Jin from the past Jin?

"Now's not the time

"

Staring at me for a couple of seconds, Jin shook his head.

Putting his hands in his pockets, he turned around. My brows knit as a result.

"Then when is the time?

"

"You'll know eventually...

"

Just before he left the room, Jin muttered in a voice audible enough for me to hear. He soon left the room.

—Clank!

"The hell was that...

"

Staring at Jin's departing figure for a couple of seconds, I shook my head.

Although I wasn't really sure of what Jin meant by his last statement, I was ready.

He wasn't the only one who had seen a large increase in strength over the past few months.

I was now only a step away from breaking through to rank and almost all of my arts were near the greater realm of mastery.

Whatever he was going to throw at me, I was ready.

"I can't wait to see what you have in store for me Jin...

"

I softly muttered as I finally entered the capsule and pulled the lid down.

As the author of this world, I couldn't help but get excited at the future that awaited Jin.

Could he perhaps surpass Kevin?

I wasn't sure.

But one thing was for sure.

The current Jin had the potential to reach even greater heights than he did in the novel.

'Since you said don't disappoint me, I can't disappoint you can I?'

My small interaction with Jin right now triggered something within me.

I couldn't explain it but, I was now itching to train.

—Ding!

Pressing on a small monitor before me, I slowly started losing consciousness.

*

Inside of a large world with an azure blue sky and a plain and expansive grass field stood a figure.

"Huuu...

"

Extending my sword forward, I took a deep breath.

As I slowly traced my sword in the air, a translucent yellow ring appeared before me.

—Snap!

Closing my eyes, I snapped my fingers.

Immediately after, a translucent blue humanoid figure appeared a couple of meters ahead of me. On its right hand was a long sword.

This was one of the features of the time regressor machine.

During my training here, whenever I wanted I could call for an opponent to face me.

Furthermore, the humanoid's rank was made to be equal to mine. More precisely, both of our ranks were lowered to G.

This was so that during the sparring session was only skill-based.

'Let's see how much I've progressed...'

In the plain grass field, I stood before the humanoid figure. Opening my eyes, I evened my breathing and remained still.

"Attack me

"

Pushing the ring I had created to the side, I commanded.

—Swoosh!

Instantly the humanoid figure dashed towards my direction.

In a matter of seconds, the figure was right before me. Raising the sword in its right hand, the humanoid figure slashed downwards.

The slash was neither too fast nor too slow, however, it was extremely accurate and powerful.

Calmly staring at the falling sword, I remained still.

—Woom!

Suddenly, a humming sound resounded across the space and the sword halted right before my nose.

—Drip! —Drip!

Blood slowly spilled on the ground as the tip of my nose bled.

Feeling the stinging sensation on my nose, I didn't care.

Staring at the sword that had stopped right before me, the edges of my lips curved upwards.

"Good...

"

Suddenly clenching my fist, a ring appeared next to me.

—Woom!

Right as the ring appeared, the sword that had stopped right before me moved towards the direction of the ring and smashed against it.

Almost as if the ring was a magnet.

—Clank!

"You're wide open

"

In the brief moment where the sword moved to the ring, an opening appeared on the humanoid figure.

I naturally took advantage of this.

Clenching my fists and tensing my back, I punched forward. Right towards the abdomen of the figure.

—Boom!

An explosion rang.

"khhh...

"

Following the large boom, a small shockwave swept the surroundings. Crossing my arms, I covered myself as a gust of wind brushed past me.

As the dust cleared, the first things I saw were yellow particles flying in the air.

I had won.

"Haa...I've finally broken though

"

Staring at the particles, I moved my hand forward and tried to touch them.

Unfortunately, they didn't feel like anything.

'Oh well, I should be content enough with my breakthrough...'

Having spent around twenty hours completely focused on training my sword art, I finally managed to push Ring of vindication to the greater realm of mastery and unlock its new feature gravitational pull.

A feature in which for a brief moment in time I could create a small gravitational pull towards the ring.

With this, my strength had now seen another considerable boost.

...

The first weekend of June, right as summer was about to come...

—Ring!

Standing in front of a mirror, I fixed the collar of my blazer. Suddenly, my phone rang.

Without looking at the ID, I knew that it was Kevin.

"Hello?

"

Picking up the phone, I responded.

—Ren where are you? We are all waiting for you in the lobby!

"Give me a minute, I'm still changing

"

Today was the day that of the Ashton-city grand auction.

Ever since I broke through to the greater realm of mastery for Ring of vindication two weeks had passed.

To say that my days were peaceful during those days would be a lie.

Now that Donna and Monica had found out about my sword art, the training sessions each week became even more demanding.

I was getting beat up more than ever before.

To make matters worse, the training sessions increased from two times a week to three times a week.

Despite all of the potions that I was consuming after each training session, I still could not get rid of my muscle soreness.

I was now starting to regret my decision of revealing my sword art.

If there was hell, this was hell.

Fortunately, not everything was bad.

Apart from the obvious rise in strength, there was something else that kept me going during these hellish days.

...and it was Kevin!

Kevin had now joined the training sessions. I no longer had to suffer alone.

Whenever he got beat up by either Monica or Donna I would instantly feel better. The same went for Kevin who gloated whenever I got beat up.

This irritated me quite a bit, but it also made his beatings that much more satisfying to watch.

In the end, that's how I spent the last two weeks. Just training.

Regarding the auction that I was about to attend, weeks prior I had made arrangements with Kevin to go with him and the others.

I would've normally have refused but given their VVIP status and their perks I could not refuse.

—What are you a girl? Not even Emma and the others take so long to change.

"That's pretty sexist of you

"

I calmly rebutted as I fixed my tie.

What law said that guys couldn't change slowly?

Fortunately, unlike last time, this time I had bought an already made tie. This saved me a lot of trouble.

If not for the already made tie, I would've probably taken longer.

—Just hurry up, Melissa is getting really mad.

"Oh? Melissa is getting angry? Another reason for me to drag this out. Tell that mad scientist to drink some hot water. I heard it helps

"

After a lot of research, I had come to the realization that hot water was a great way to resolve Melissa's anger.

I heard it was a great remedy for girls who have reached that time of the month.

Melissa seemed to be on her time of the month every day.

—...

In response to my joke, I was met with silence.

"Kevin?

"

—Ren...pffff

'Is Kevin laughing?'

Though I may be wrong, I was pretty sure I heard Kevin laugh.

I had a sudden ominous premonition.

—I'm sorry to break this to you but I was on speaker. Melissa heard everything.

After a short pause, Kevin calmly responded.

"...

"

I was instantly at a loss for words.

Who in their right mind would answer a call on speaker?

"Keumm...keummm...Melissa, how have you been?

"

Awkwardly coughing, I greeted Melissa.

—...

Once again I was met with silence.

—Ren you better hurry up, Melissa's face is quite frankly terrifying at the moment

Shortly after, Kevin once again responded. This time his voice was quite grave.

"To be honest, now that you've said that I don't feel like coming anymore

"

—Stop joking around and hurry up. We are about to leave without you

"Alright, alright, coming

"

Shrugging my shoulders, I buttoned up my shirt.

—Tak!

Hanging up the phone I once again looked at myself in the mirror. Brushing my hand over my hair, I added some finishing touches.

"Alright, seems like everything is here

"

Looking at myself in the mirror, I nodded in satisfaction.

After the banquet incident where I had my suit torn apart, with my two-year warranty, I was able to get a new suit.

Thank god for warranty.

Checking to see if I had everything with me, I once again nodded my head in satisfaction.

"Ah right, how could I forget?

"

I suddenly recalled something.

Making my way towards my desk, I took a small red book.

Today was going to be a very eventful day. With Kevin coming along, it was only natural that I brought the book with me.

Since I had such a cheat with me, why not use it?

"Okay, this time I'm sure I have everything, right?

"

I muttered as I took one last look at my room. After another quick check and seeing that I had everything with me, I decided to leave.

—Plack!

Making my way out of my room I closed the lights and exited the room.

It was time for the Ashton-city grand auction to begin.