As one of the referees for the New Star Tournament, Angel had a fairly good understanding of Reynolds's combat ability.
Although gossip magazines often emphasized "luck" when discussing Reynolds's matches, that was merely a bias in public opinion. Readers liked gimmicks; straightforward battles were naturally nowhere near as interesting as John's Comeback.
But with even a little careful thought, one would understand that if Reynolds had nothing but luck, he could not have remained on the New Star Tournament stage all this time.
Reynolds himself possessed considerable combat ability.
In terms of close-quarters combat alone, he was not much weaker than Nausicaa. Although his final ranking had not been particularly high, there had been some unavoidable objective factors behind it.
Reynolds did not dare, nor could he use his Soul Armament during the tournament. Much of his combat system revolved around the Soul Armament, and without it, his strength was cut in half.
But if he used his Soul Armament, Angel felt he could make it into the New Star Tournament's top ten.
To make a comparison, Reynolds could rank in the top ten when fighting at full strength, while even the top thirty numbered subjects in the laboratory were stronger than him... This meant that, in this era, the top thirty numbered subjects already stood at the crest of the tide raised by extraordinary beings, apart from official wizards.
Though they were merely wizard apprentices, the organization behind them could not be underestimated if it could cultivate so many powerful, peak-level apprentices.
"No. 30 is already at the peak of the apprentice level?" Nis pondered for a moment before asking Reynolds, "Then are there any official wizards among them?"
"There are." Reynolds answered with certainty. "I have never seen the strength of No. 03, No. 02, and No. 01