What A Dream Wants

Steven woke up and yawned, still a bit sleepy.

He must have fallen asleep at some point.

He fell asleep in VR. This was a new low for him. Or high. However, you view it.

His eyes were a bit groggy as he pulled up the time.

'11:35'

There were still some battles before the lunch break would start.

He looked at the duel pamphlet.

Only one more battle to go before it was his turn.

He yawned again, but he knew he had to stay awake.

Oh, how hard it was to stay awake!

Currently, two guys were duking it out in the arena. They started with hand to hand combat, before changing it up to a combination of physical fighting and magical spells.

One of them was familiar, the one with brown hair and glasses. Perhaps a classmate?

What... was his name again? He couldn't remember.

Steven looked at the classmate again.

In the arena, the brown-haired classmate disappeared.

Wait... was it always a guy battling a bird?

The bird, an owl, used its flight to its advantage. Taking to the sky, the opponent could do nothing except waste energy.

The owl swooped down, catching the opponent by surprise, and threw the participant out of the arena.

The owl turned back into... his classmate.

At this point, Steven remembered his classmate's name. 'Oh, his name is Owen!'

Steven applauded himself for being so smart.

"Next up," Mr. Bruyant, the announcer, shouted, "We have a battle between members of Class 1 and Class 3."

Loud cheers ran out.

He stood up and entered the stage through the portal. With all eyes on him, he couldn't help but wonder what people with social anxiety would do in this situation.

They would do nothing and stand there. People with social anxiety would freeze up.

Luckily, no one thus far had social anxiety, right? He couldn't tell because he had fallen asleep, but it would be quite ironic if the strongest student in the freshmen year had social anxiety. How odd would that be?

No, definitely not. That would never happen. Probably.

As Steven was intensely pandering and pitying those with social anxiety, before he knew it, he had made it down to the stage.

The boy standing in front of him had black hair and brown eyes and a really forgettable face.

It just seemed as if the guy standing in front of him was really unmemorable. Almost as if he wasn't important to the main plot of the story.

"Hello, my name is Steven. It's nice to meet you." Steven greeted him politely.

"You don't need to know my name. You... aren't worthy of it." The guy sneered, looking down at him. "I looked at the school's entrance exam rankings and you have no cultivation. To think I would spend so much time researching my opponent's weaknesses for nothing. A waste of my time."

"Actually I reached the Qi Gathering stage a few days ago!" Steven happily exclaimed.

"To only reach the qi gathering stage when you're fourteen. Pathetic. Talentless. Trash." He spewed out.

Steven's feelings were hurt. Did mean people actually exist in this world? He thought that they only existed in movies and books.

"Hey, I can play piano!" Steven exclaimed indignantly.

"Piano is for wimps. For trash like you, I won't even have to use qi to defeat you."

"For someone who likes to call other people trash, you sure trash talk a lot." Steven pointed out honestly.

"Was that just a burn, cause that made the arena fire!" The announcer, Mr. Bruyant whooped.

This only made the boy madder.

The audience watched as Steven and the boy bickered back and forth.

Eventually, ten minutes went by.

Mr. Bruyant coughed into the microphone.

"Oh right..." Steven sheepishly said. He looked at his opponent. "You said you won't use qi, right?"

"No, why would I?" The boy scoffed.

The match kicked off!

They engaged in hand to hand combat for a while, with Steven on the losing streak. Even though Steven used qi to defend, the colossal amount of punches the boy threw forced Steven on the defensive. Occasionally, the boy implemented a few kicks after his punches.

The moves were still very straightforward and blockable, although Steven's arms were aching.

He could tell his opponent was holding back. To not use qi, and even go as far as to only use basic and straightforward moves. He could tell his opponent was strong after recalling what Zero had said. A true master would be able to use the most basic of moves to win a battle.

Oh, that's why he shouldn't judge a book by its cover! For such a boorish, trashy-mouthed person, at least the boy didn't want to seriously cripple Steven. Well... then again, he wouldn't get hurt here anyways, but still. If everyone got offended by the first impression people give off, then a lot of people would be offended. It's necessary to know someone's true nature before passing judgment.

*A piano melody begins to play...*

Steven applauded himself for being very smart, before realizing they had reached the edge of the arena.

Damn, he should pay more attention sometimes.

He calmed down and focused on a way to get out of his current predicament. He quickly stepped aside, dodging his opponent's punch by a mere hairs width.

*The sound of pianos could be heard getting closer. The beautiful melody was reminiscent of angels.*

'A piano melody?' Steven thought to himself. 'Pianos?'

"Wait, look at the sky above you!" Steven pointed to the sky.

"I'm not falling for such a trick." The boy snarled before a piano fell on his head.

It crashed down, leaving the boy...

Oh, what a miracle! He was still breathing! What a thick-skulled boy!

Steven nodded his head. As expected, his opponent was powerful. To survive a piano falling at the speeds of gravity without even using his qi!

Oh wait, nevermind, that guy couldn't die here anyway.

Remember Newton's Second Law: f=ma?

It's okay, Steven didn't either.

"Uh... check if he's okay." Mr. Bruyant told the nurse beside him. They still needed to check in case the VR system led to a backlash. He coughed and announced: "The winner is Steven, by default!"

Yay?