After John and Sylvia woke up, I had to lie to them, saying that all of it was a misunderstanding, introducing Tom as a friend who didn't recognise me.
"I never knew you had any friends other than us," Sylvia said.
"This is quite a surprise to me as well," John added.
"He is a friend I made in a game of chess," I smiled. "I never expected to meet him in a place like this."
"You don't expect them to buy that, right?" Ryuk questioned.
"That explains a lot." Both of them said at the same time.
"... I'll be damned... That worked..." Ryuk fell in confusion.
"You have a crappy team, Allen. I didn't expect this from you. A Kryptonian in an exam like this would always prove to be a liability and a stupid guard dog is no good either." Tom shakes his head in shame.
Both John and Sylvia were giving death glares to Tom. I wanted to defend them... But he was right. In an exam like this, I will have to carry both of them.
"Is he a racist?" Ryuk asked.
'He isn't that big of a racist-' my words were interrupted by the appearance of an orc who got separated from his group by accident.
Poor guy... I still remember the way Tom put a dagger through his chest and climbed up his shoulders before putting two more daggers through his ears and slicing off his neck with a handsaw.
'... I take back what I just said. He is a true racist.' I corrected myself.
John and Sylvia were almost traumatized by his act. They didn't even want to argue with him any longer.
"An idiot, an overpowered liability, a racist and the main villain. Good job, Allen, good job." Ryuk praised me.
'Well, it's a start... I think we are going to get along well.' I said, unsure of my own words.
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Meanwhile
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In the streets of Mumbai, a place in India, two men walked towards a red zone. These two were none other than Christian Nolan and Ben Tempest, two of the strongest beings on Planet 5.
"Grandpa Ben," Nolan murmured.
"Hm?"
"You know... I have been having doubts. Although people call me the strongest in the world, I'm not certain if I truly deserve such a title. During my childhood, I challenged countless individuals, lost numerous times, made countless mistakes, and learned from them. I continued to grow stronger with each defeat and repeated this process until I couldn't push myself any further. Now, I am simply someone who has reached their limit. Every day, I ask myself if I am capable of meeting the high expectations set for me. Can I push myself beyond my limits to save lives that should not have been lost? Can I secure a better future for the children who will shape our future? I am uncertain whether I am deserving of such a responsibility." Nolan said.
"Nolan, believe me when I say that I understand the pain of being the strongest person in the world. The responsibility that comes with it is not something an ordinary person can handle. You may not be the strongest, but you are certainly the most responsible. If someone never makes mistakes, they will never learn and never be correct. Only when a person learns from their mistakes will they truly be correct. You are on the correct path, never sway from it even if you think it will benefit you. The change is always temporary, however, the path continues." Grandpa Ben replied, coughing a bit.
"Have you been taking your medicine, Grandpa?" Nolan asked.
"I am over three hundred years old, I am too old to care about medicine... Cough Cough..." Grandpa Ben answered. "All I want now is to die peacefully after seeing my great-grandchildren... Cough..."
"Sigh... If you are talking about Violet and Steve, then I would say you should take your medicines. Those two are far from marriage. No one will choose to marry Violet because of her tomboy personality and huge sense of justice and Steve doesn't think about anything other than annoying kids and fighting foes that are stronger than him." Nolan sighed.
"Well... They are still kids..." Ben tried to reason with him.
"In your eyes, that is. In my eyes they are adults who should start thinking about dating someone. Those siblings are the strongest in their generation, I understand that they will have a tough time finding someone but... They should atleast think about it." Nolan sighed.
As they entered the red zone, a slight black coloured glint appeared in the energy detector of that zone.
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At night
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After gathering enough points for all of us to pass the exam, we decided to take find a good spot to make a camp. There was also a big loophole that I found when Tom killed the orc. The amount of points he got from it was ten times mine. According to his power level, he was physically the weakest among us, which meant that he would get the most amount of points. I had never wrote anything about skill level, so this was a massive loophole for us.
In a team, we can share our points with each other if we want to, though our watches where our points are recorded at. So, if we just injure the free points- I mean orcs and let Tom kill them, we would have enough points to last us for months. Since, Paragon treats these points as their currency, we would be billionaires, maybe even more, all of it depends on the time we have.
"Your wolf is a good cook, Allen. I guess your team isn't half-bad." Tom said, gulping down the soup John made for us.
"Thank you?" John was puzzled. A couple hours ago this man was insulting him left and right, now he is praising him, if you can call that a praise.
'That's probably the best he could say.' I thought. "All of us need to sleep, so one of us will take a shift for two hours to stand guard. Who wants to take the first shift?"
"I will do it." Tom insisted. However neither John nor Sylvia trusted him at all, the same can be said the other way.
"Fine then, both of us will stand guard for the night." I declared. "I don't like to sleep anyways."
At my words both of them sighed a relief.
As night slowly passed by me and Tom sat beside a tree while the other two slept soundly on the grass.
"I never thought I would work with some creatures that I despise." Tom said.
"Well... What do you know? Fate is a bitch." I replied.
"Seriously... By the way... I never asked but... How did you get that proof?" Tom gave me a questioning look.
"My mother gave it to me," I replied, secretly praying that my mother doesn't hear what I am about to say. 'Sorry mother, please don't send a time wraith after me for this.'
"Your mother? Didn't she die after you were born?" Tom got confused.
"Not my biological mother, The Speed Force. Since I am the avatar of The Speed Force, she is technically my mother. I don't know how that works." I replied. "She only gave me this proof, enthusting me to fix the timeline."
"So a fourth dimensional being like her is involved in a Planet like this... Your mother values you a lot..." Tom looked towards the sky. 'I wish I had a parent like that.'