My System: An Evolved Computer I Made With My Unique Ability—

Recess, a couple of minutes before the second round,

As it turned out, Ash Grey, Midoriyama Satoshi, and White Mist managed to get to the second round. As for Jean Grey, he was unfortunate enough to be paired with Black Fog, and he was defeated in an instant. Even with his beast integration, he didn't stand a chance against Black Fog, who could simultaneously beast integrate with three beasts.

"I guess I still have a lot to learn as a beast master, huh," Jean Grey muttered to himself, heaving a sigh as he exited the Grand Stage. He couldn't help but feel slightly embarrassed since he lost in the first round of the Official Beast Tournament. But what's happened already happened... and the only thing he could do right now is to accept his inadequacy.

Thinking about it, Jean Grey finally realized his failure and wrong perspective regarding beast taming. Back in his world, he was the strongest and easily achieved the benchmark of becoming a beast master. No one can rival him when it comes to commanding tamed beasts; for years, he reigned supreme in his region.

That achievement gave him the complacent attitude he had when it came to beast taming. He didn't seek to improve himself and instead decided to stay on his level, thinking that it was enough. No one can defeat me; I'll improve myself once there's someone who can rival me both in skill and strength.

Excuses. Excuses. Jean Grey let out an exhale of disappointment that was unequivocally directed at him. If only he had put in extra time in his training and tried to better himself in the past; if only he didn't settle for less, then he'd probably have a fighting chance right now.

He was just a frog in the well, barely seeing the sky as he looked up. It was his fault that he lost in the first round. There was no one he could blame but himself.

When he got to the line of stalls that sold all sorts of snacks by the halls of the American Dome, he tried to put on the best expression for himself since he didn't want his son to see him in such an awful state. He lost for the first time in two decades, and it struck a chord in his heart.

Nevertheless, that event gave him the push he needed to improve his beast taming abilities. Indeed he was strong, even being able to climb up to the top with the bare minimum of skills. He's got the talent, but he needed the drive right now. And alas, he finally found it thanks to the loss he suffered.

"Dad! That was a superb fight." Ash approached his dad in a cheerful manner, extending his hand while he grinned from ear to ear. The moment he saw his father walking out of the Grand Stage, he was unsure of what expression to wear.

As far as he knows, this was his dad's first loss. Ever since he was young, he never saw his dad suffer a defeat. There were stories, here and there, about his father's past, but those losses happened back when his father still hadn't claimed the title of the most powerful beast tamer in their region.

That's why this was an entirely new experience for Ash as well. He couldn't believe that his father had lost to someone. It wasn't all that surprising, though, since his dad had already unofficially lost to Satoshi... and it even happened in their home court (in their world).

"Oh, son," Jean Grey greeted, ruffling his son's hair. He seemed cheerful as well, but deep inside, he was contemplating the fight he just had. "Congratulations on getting to the second round. Now go make your father proud."

"That was a great fight. You don't have to beat yourself up. It was obvious that we're no match for Black Fog." White Mist said with an unchanging expression on his face. As much as he hated to admit it, Black Fog really was stronger than any of them. He even doubted that Satoshi was stronger than Black Fog since Black Fog had more experience compared to him.

"I'm over that, beating myself up, I mean. It's a bitter pill to swallow, but... the reality is that I'm weak. I got so focused on my strength and achievements that I forgot to take time to improve myself." Jean Grey muttered, rubbing his nose. "It's only been a week or so since we got introduced to Dual Beat Integration. We should've pushed ourselves harder while we still had the time. And now we're behind a couple of places in the race of beast taming."

"You're right about that. The beast tamers this year are scary. Did you see Satoshi's fight? That was a nailbiting experience. I couldn't believe you managed to survive that." White Mist called out to Satoshi, who was standing beside him.

"And then there's the fight between the Crimson Dagger and the Scarlet Scythe. That was one hell of a fight as well. That Crimson Dagger almost killed the girl as well. Fortunately, Satoshi was composed enough to intervene and stop the needless killing." Jean Grey said. "You do your best out there, kid. We're all rooting for you." Jean Grey continued, pointing his fist towards Satoshi for a fist bump.

Satoshi obliged, and he nodded toward Jean Grey as if he'd be able to fulfill what he wished.

"How about me, dad? Aren't you going to give me some words of encouragement?" Ash complained, to which his father nonchalantly laughed before ruffling his hair for the second time.

"You don't need any. I'm sure you'll be able to pull through in all of your fights. If everything goes well, you're going to fight the Black Fog in the third round. We'll look forward to that fight." Jean Grey said.

"In the meantime, don't lose during the second round, all right? Let's all meet on the fourth round or something." White Mist said, extending his hand. Ash and Satoshi returned the handshake in response.

As soon as they all shook hands and cheered each other for the upcoming second round, the announcement for pairings for the second round was announced. Everyone expected the matchups to be the same as the announced brackets during the first round. But what they didn't know was that the event manager of the Official Beast Tournament actually had a little bit of a surprise for them.

Instead of the usual pairings moving up the brackets, the brackets were actually erased altogether. The commentator started talking about the changes in the second round, emphasizing that the changes would bring more excitement to the audience.

Of course, it received positive responses, and the commentator and the event organizers received the heads up to follow through with the plan.

An animation was then shown on the live broadcast of the Official Beast Tournament. The picture displayed on the screen was the pairings on the first round. It was then torn to pieces, and two tabs suddenly appeared on the screen.

"And now we're going to have the new rules for the second round of the Official Beast Tournament! With that, I, your commentator, will back down from his seat for now and leave the floor to the head of the event organizers. Please give Luke Skyrunner a wide round of applause!" The commentator continued as the scene on the live stream shifted to a live camera pointing at a desk with a microphone prompted in the middle of it.

Satoshi and Yun Zhe immediately recognized the place since they had been there a couple of moments ago. Luke Skyrunner was actually in his office, speaking to the audience as he announced the new arrangement for the second round.

"Mic test. Mic test. Hello hello? Everyone? Can you hear me clearly?" Luke cleared his throat. "As you can tell, there are two sections on the screen right now. that's right, instead of having a fixed matchup from the first round to the last round, we're going to have a game of chance. It's always fun, right? Playing a game of chance."

"These two sections on the screen would show two names. But here's the catch!" Luke Skyrunner enthusiastically pointed out. "The audience gets to pick the first name of the matchup! On your devices, I request all of you to input the name of the beast tamer you want to see fight in the first round!"

"As for the second name, it will be randomly generated by the computer. Interesting, right?! Without further ado, LET THE VOTING BEGIN!"

Pause.

Suddenly, another person appeared on the screen. He was one of the event organizers under Luke Skyrunner. After saying something, he exited, and Luke Skyrunner was left wearing a shocked expression on his face. He then screamed.

"Our team just had a great idea! The first name will now be randomly generated, and the second name will be chosen by the audience. How does that sound?" He announced.

This time, the audience frantically screamed their cheers even louder than before.