What a drag…”, a blonde-haired teen muttered.

“Shut up, the instructor is talking.”, a lion-haired girl told the teen.

Currently, the class was partaking in some sort of “Strength Test”.

In this event, students are tested by their primary weapon- which in this case for me- was my gun.

That meant I would be in the firing range today.

Unfortunately, that also means I’m stuck with her as well.

I took a side glance at the aforementioned girl who was already staring at me with the intent to neutralize.

She stopped her glaring and turned her head away out of what seemed like embarrassment.

She was obviously mouthing off at me while I wasn’t looking.

“All in all, whatever score you may receive won’t affect your grades. If you know your limits… try not to go overboard.”, Instructor Hardy concluded.

With that, the class split up and headed off to different areas. Those with long-range weapons such as myself would go to the firing range while those with closer range would be off to the Dummy Chamber.

As I sauntered to the firing range I could already feel what felt like an invisible laser burning a hole through the back of my head.

“If you’re gonna ogle me- you should do it right next to me if you want a better look.”, I remarked at her with a provoking smile.

“Damn you-”, Minase Chiae angrily muttered before she calmed herself.

She then increased her pace to catch up with me before asking-

“What’s your deal anyways?”, she grumpily questioned with a suspecting face.

“Whatever do you mean?”

“I mean the gun and sword- doesn’t that put you in two completely different worlds?”

“Why should you care?”.l

“Look idiot, I’m just curious!”

She stopped talking to me after that before she unholstered the bow off her shoulder as we entered the range.

“Hey, just watch you bastard- cause you'll be crapping yourself once you see my power!”, she asserted.

With that Chiae strung her bow and pulled the string opposite from the target as she slotted an arrow into the weapon.

Thwip!

As she fired, you could feel the explosive energy that she imbued into the arrow as it flew toward her target.

Boom!

The target cried out in reaction.

Her arrow ruined the dummy into a black charred mess before it reassembled itself as if nothing happened.

“Take that punkass.”, she provokingly smirked.

Heh.

This girl needs to be put down.

Ever since I ate the Fruit of Eden, I’ve been practicing hard every single day now that my mana has become more effortless to use.

I unholstered my pistol and put my hands into a fire-ready stance.

Click!

I pulled the hammer to cock the weapon before I aimed at my target.

As I landed my sights on the target’s head I noticed Chiae trying to sneak in a provocation.

“We’re on completely different lev-”

I wasn’t gonna let her do that.

BOOM!

In less than a few seconds, the target that stood before me completely unharmed 100 meters away now lay charred and shattered into hundreds of pieces.

Much more gone than Chiae's target.

The sight of the dummy exploding was satisfying enough, but what was even better was-

“H-H-HOW?!?”, Chiae questioned me in complete shock.

“Aren’t you E-rank? That power was on the level of a <D>!”

She wasn’t wrong.

Her attack paled in comparison to the one I just dealt.

On paper, the difference might not seem too great but in action: the gap was clear.

“Y-You! Was that a skill or something?!”.

“Instructor! Check the legitimacy of that attack!”.

Hardy quickly measured my attack and checked whether or not I had used a skill.

“Sorry Ms. Chiae- it seems it was a completely mana-based attack.”, Hardy reported back.

“Huh? I- I don’t understand!”.

“Didja like that? I call it my ULTIMATE MANA BULLET BLAST! (Patent Pending)”.

“THAT SOUNDS SO DUMB!?!”.

As she continued to try to deny the truth of the matter, I decided to wrap the situation up.

“Instructor- was that enough for today?”, I asked Hardy.

“Y-Yes Kanemoto, you may take your leave now.”

As I walked to the exit, I looked back at Chiae who was still in a state of awe.

“Y-You’re supposed to be weak! How did you do that?!”

“And seriously?!? Ultimate Mana Bullet Blast?!?-”.

“Patent Pending!”, I turned around to interject.

“YOU’RE SO DUUUUMB!?”.

***

“Not much talent today eh?”, Instructor Hardy murmured to himself.

Right now, he just came to watch the ranged fighters- however it didn’t seem like there was much to see.

Wait, scratch that there was one.

Minase Chiae, the daughter of the head of the Daybreak Guild.

He watched her as she nocked an arrow and aimed at a target-

BOOM!

Her target exploded meters away.

As expected, the daughter of Chiae has quite the potential. Although she was only a teenager, she was already as strong as a ranker would have been a decade ago.

Hardy became disappointed once more.

There wouldn’t be anyone else as strong as her in ranged fighting in this class.

As long as she continues to-

BOOM!

Hardy’s thoughts were interrupted by a louder explosion than the bow-woman’s.

He looked toward the student that caused it but found a puzzling situation instead.

The young man next to her- Jaeden Kanemoto.

Recalling his rank- he’s <E> right?

Hardy was astonished.

Although at <E> he outputted an attack on the level of a at least <D->. Was he misevaluated? 

No, they would have noticed.

Did he… get stronger? In such a short amount of time?

“Instructor! Check the legitimacy of that attack!”, a shocked Chiae asked Hardy as she stumbled toward him.

Ah! That must be it! Of course! He must have used a skill!

Hardy quickly checked Kanemoto’s stats and-

…

N-No skills?

This kid had no skills?

He took a glance at Kanemoto to evaluate his skills.

He seriously doesn’t have any skills.

“Sorry, Ms. Chiae- but it seems the attack was completely mana-based.”, he replied to her.

She then broke out in complete awe and denial.

Honestly, he was shocked as she was.

How could a ranker like Kanemoto do that?

“Instructor Hardy. May I take my leave now?”, Kanemoto politely asked.

“Y-Yes. You may go now.”

As he watched him walk away and stop to retort back at Chiae only to walk away again- Hardy pondered Kanemoto’s true strength.

This kid… has potential…

The moment Hardy had been waiting for had finally come-

An unpolished gem.

“Heh. The sky’s the limit, Kanemoto.”

“But it seems you’ve punched through it…”, Hardy trailed off.

“That name’s pretty shit though…”, he added.

***

Haaa. 

Outputting all that mana was easy, but it took a chunk out of me.

I needed to show off at least once to put her in her place.

Once I arrived back home I instantly laid myself on my bed after I let myself and June inside.

I held out my hand and opened my stats.

Statistics:

Name: Jaeden Kanemoto

World Rank: 956, 807

School Rank: 875

Power Rank: <E+>

Strength: D+

Intelligence: B-

Endurance: C-

Luck: F

—-------

Skills:

Innate: Inner Darkness

Grab ahold of the negative energy inside you- use it as your weapon- raw power sitting idly erratic, waiting to envelop your enemy with dread and blood- and your darkness.

==========

It seems all that’s changed is my power rank which came up to an after consuming the Fruit of Eden.

Not only that- but right now I could feel myself on the verge of breaking through to <D->.

Once I do something akin to me taking the Fruit of Eden, I’ll easily infiltrate the next rank.

But what’s next on the agenda?

Right now, my objective is to learn a sword style.

One of the Four Legendary Styles- the one I wanted, Keitoshi- is one of the rarest styles on Earth, as well as one of the strongest. 

With this, I could easily train myself at faster speeds. This style can fit alongside my gun as well.

[1 New Mail]

In the middle of my thoughts, a new window surfaced a few feet away from my face.

Ah, I remembered the days when my mail came to me at the foot of my door and not through a revolutionary mail teleportation machine.

After I reminisced about the outdated ways of my world, I noticed that the sender was the  division.

[Interested in the New Horizons Club?

Come to our introductory trip where we’ll be taking you to New Tokyo’s highest point- Asakuragi Tower!

The trip will be funded by the division, which also means we’ll get to experience the best luxuries the tower has to offer!

Sign up through the link below!]

I nearly forgot about this event:

The High Rise Invasion Arc.

Here, terrorists would be attacking the tower to capture students and force their families to give up money for ransom.

The main cast would hold them off until Professor Lei and an A-rank hero came to save the day.

I already knew this event wouldn't need my interference-

But for some reason, I can’t shake off the feeling…

Wait.

Out of the corner of my eye, I saw another mail sitting in my inbox.

What struck me was the sender.

[Auth0r765]

The sender was the author of the book.

The name was identical to the username the author used to contact me in my previous life.

And somehow- he’s now contacting me in the world of his novel?

Realizing the significance of the mail, I opened the mail to see what he would say after nearly two months of no contact.

[A Gift…

Hello there my dedicated reader- it has been quite some time since you arrived in the novel and I see you have already settled with great ambition for your future! I’m excited to see how you’ll fare in this new world!

With that, I leave you with a gift. 

Use it well my fellow bibliophile!]

This son of a-

Ah, it didn’t matter. What piqued my interest was the button at the bottom.

I stared with curiosity at what said “Author’s Tribute”. It seems he’s left a gift for me.

Although it was his fault for me being here in the first place- I was always happy to receive a gift in the first place.

I clicked on the button right before a blue light appeared above my head and manifested a small black box.

As the box fell I caught it and carefully handled it.

After setting it on my desk, I opened the box to find the item inside.

Instead of the pleasure which came to anyone who enjoyed being given a freebie- a wave of confusion and awe washed over me.

“The hell is this?”, I muttered to myself.

In my hand was an item that stood behind a window that described said item.

========

Reader’s View Glasses<???>

See the world through the eyes of the reader. 

Written by [$&@&@].

========