Mikey was an orphan who survived on the streets of Tokyo alone. Only educated till 8 th grade from a government school , he was not like most present in the list of recruits.

  The one with the highest player level of the entire bunch . Mikey was a Bonafide street fighter. Surviving three knife stabbing events and growing up on the rough . He was seemingly the perfect candidate for SMG's troop , but there was but a simple problem

  Mikey's class was not assassin or theif. Playing the paladin class he was not suitable to join SMG's group , but too talented to pass on. Hence SMG specially scouted him into the Karna's department.

  With noone ever to discipline him , and him growing on the rough , he was naturally not polite and refined in his mannerisms. However he was not a bad guy . He respected the strong and especially the Elites who he saw as his heroes and was genuinely happy to become a part of the guild.

  Yet he had a strong desire to be number one …… He wanted recognition , the scene of the country acknowledging the gold medal winners like national heroes was embedded in his mind . Hence his only goal was to become that person , and be acknowledged by the entire nation.

  To do that he was willing to fight against the best , and understand the gap between them , but it seemed like the gap was much more than he could have ever imagined.

  He lost within one second to Jhonny English , and he was out of stamina currently , while not landing a single hit on Karna.

  Mikey was panting hard …… The last 5 minutes he had been on a high intensity offense , to not land a single hit on Karna…… Who seemed to be toying with him .

  Mikey grit his teeth , as he bent low …… It appeared as if he was going to do a leg sweep to throw Karna off balance. Karna jumped early to avoid this attack , however in the last moment , Mikey changed his attack pattern to a overhead roundhouse kick!

  It was coming towards Karna clean , and fast …… Rudra exclaimed in his mind …… This was a brilliant maneuver , however the speed was not enough …… If he was tier 2 , it was sure to land , however with such low stats …… Rudra sighed , he would only become vulnerable to Karna's attack.

  Karna bent back midair avoiding the kick , as he did a backflip to regain balance , for the first time since the start of their fight , now Karna went on the offensive as a flurry of offense crumpled the staminaless Mikey.

  Within 20 seconds of Karna switching to manual offense, Mikey was sent to the Church of light.

  Everyone in the crowd lost their damn minds …… The image of the overwhelmingly strong vice guild master was imprinted in their mind forever!

  Rudra clapped at Karna for his performance , and seeing as how the guild leader was clapping , soon the entire crowd started to clap . It was a fitting applause for his win.

  When Mikey came back , the arrogance was completely wiped from his face , as he was on the defensive now …… His ego was not bruised at all , but he had an internal turmoil. From the start to the end , he could never even glance at the summit he was supposed to climb …… What was the summit he wondered?

  His fights with Jhonny and Karna only told him that he was soo low , that the summit was not even visible from his height and now he was going to fight the best of the best , guild leader Rudra himself…… Would he able to even gauge the base of the mountain , much less the summit? He wondered……

  The entire crowd roared in anticipation as the king of one v one fights , Rudra himself took the ground. There was not a single person who did not have a distinct memory of him fighting nightmare ! Everyone was excited!

  Rudra threw Mikey a Lance which was dark gold grade …… Much better than the one he was using at bronze grade.

  As Rudra took out nothing , opting to fight one handed , without a weapon. What was more , he put his one good hand behind his back …… As a mocking smile spread on his lips.

  This time Mikey was not enraged , if anything he became more cautious…… In his past two fights , he understood that the bigshots even when handicapping themselves were only giving him a very slight chance at maybe landing a hit…… At their full power , he may not even last a second.

  Accepting the weapon , Mikey calmly stood his ground , and waited for Rudra to approach him.

  Rudra rushed in for the attack , only to stop just out of Mikey's range of attack , and blowing a strong fire out of his mouth.

  Fireball!

  Mikey was stunned …… As the flames hit him squarely on his body …… he had never seen fireball being casted this way.

  However what was more was he lost vision of his opponent , who was right under him , landing a kick square in his face to send him flying.

  Mikey had less than 100 HP points left at this point , when he found out a utterly humbling fact …… His opponent , guild leader Shakuni transformed into a little golden fox. Who ran into guild leader Shakuni's arms.

  Rudra was never in the fight …… It was his pet fox!

  Rudra sighed as he said " Furball is around your level …… It was a completely fair fight , but you can't even stand your ground a minute against my pet …… How do you expect to even survive a single kick of mine Mikey …… You have good skills and sharp reflexes , and someday you will be worthy enough to give me a run for my money . But that day is not today. Go learn in the academy ,become better , understand the mechanics of this game …… Then AFTER you graduate…… Come find me for a fight …… That day I will personally show you my strength ".

  Mikey looked down , as he clutched his weapon tightly , he was not despirited , instead a burning fire was born in his stomach …… The fire to improove !

  He took Rudra's words to heart . He would improove , he would learn everything he was taught …… and one day , he would beat Rudra himself!

  Today was not his day , but his time will come , as long as he was diligent it would come …… He was sure of it!

  Hence with this the welcoming ceremony was concluded …… The Elite academy was formally in session!

  /// Bonus chapter 4/8 , enjoy ///