Chapter 31:

Ace walked through the hallways of his school, today would be his first Physical Education lesson, and he was curious as to how it would play out. Last week, they did not have it as the teacher was not available, but this week, 'no one would save them' as the older students said.

Ace assumed it would be rough, all the older students looked to be at least in shape, and he doubted that many did sport at home, so Ace assumed that the four hours of mandatory exercise were extreme. They were separated into two sets of two hours each. However, a student could also choose to not go to certain classes and do exercise instead. Contrary to what would happen in many schools, Ace had found out that over 90% of the student body would much rather go to lessons. He assumed that most of it probably had to do with the fact that if you missed a lesson, you would have a lot of things to catch up o as the content was extremely condensed.

Ace, however, had no fear in regards to that, so depending on the teacher, he would maybe not go to those lessons and do some exercise instead. Acewasnow in the growing stage so he did not use weights or any equipment that may atrophy his muscles and impede his growth. This was one of the reasons he began to practise in urban exercises such as street calisthenics, bar calisthenics and parkour. They allowed him to work out in a manner that made him gain muscle without using weights to stimulate the muscles, only his own body.

Ace now had as much muscle as a 13 - nearly 14 years old could healthily have. He had semi defined abdominal muscles, and both his arms and legs were full of strong, wiry muscle. The urban exercise and the martial arts training also gave him an additional benefit: it allowed him to get used to his improved body, and made him better at manoeuvring his body and using the appropriate muscle group for each movement. He was also planning on starting to practice ballet or gymnastics, it would grant him increased stability, and would polish any muscle groups he was not so used to using.

Ace headed into the changing room, where mots boys had already gotten changed, and quickly changed into the sports uniform, most boys were wearing shorts, but Ace had chosen to wear jogging bottoms with his shorts underneath, he was unaware of what they were doing, but it would be good to have some protection from scratches or burns if they were climbing ropes or something similar. He also wore the required black t-shirt, short-sleeved, and a black tracksuit top with the school's logo on the back. He then put on some black running shoes, and stepped out into the field.

It was September, and getting a bit chilly, however, Ace felt fine with his uniform, unlike some of his classmates that were itching to go put something warmer on. However, it was not to be, the teacher came, a man, with two other helpers, a young woman and an older man. The older man was scary, he was tall, over 2 metres, and was built from rocky, solid muscle. As an addition, the scar that swirled around his face was not helping his whole atmosphere. The woman, on the other hand, was shorter and lithe, a few centimetres below Ace's height. She was toned and muscled, however, and was built like a gymnast, powerful muscle all over her body.

The man, in comparison, seemed tame, he had curly brown hair and was about 1.85 metres tall, he was well built, but it was more of the build of a runner that also did pull-ups, strong, yet easily hidden muscle. They all had tight short-sleeved t-shirts, but whilst the woman and the shorter man were wearing tights, the bigger man was wearing shorts that came up just above the knee.

"Hello, guys! I am Thomas, and this is Allison and Ben.", the man said, while motioning to each person. "I will be your sports teacher, and I will ensure that you guys exercise all you should. I do not like slackers, so I will say this, if any of you wish, I will give you the average passing grade and you may leave now, there will be no hard feelings,", Ben grunted at this and Allison grinned, "and it will not give you any troubles. If you do not wish to do some sport, you are free to go now." Some people left, from what Ace saw, mostly people he did not know, that did not seem to be in the greatest of shapes.

"Ok! Well done for sticking with us so far fro those that are still here, now, I want you to go into the group that best represents your physical ability, starting from the left with the unfit, to the right with the most capable."

Ace headed straight to the rightmost group, he could blend in with an average group, but there was no point, if he was going to be in school, he might as well smash the ball right out of the park, and get the best grades possible.

He arrived there, and after a few minutes he looked around, there were about 15 people in his group, and apart from the other top 5 ranked in his homeroom, he did not know anyone else. However, that did not mean he did not know of them. Every single one was ranked within the top 80 of the year group. And from what he observed and saw on their files, they mostly had different capabilities and specialities.

"Ok, now that we are all separated, you will be given the test to complete for your group, the speed you complete it in, will also dictate how you rank. Obviously, do not fret, these are the minimum requirements, and I know that some of you specialise in more specific activities, so you will also be called out from classes throughout the week for you to show us what you know.

They were handed a piece of paper, and from what Ace saw, it was basic stuff: 10 km run, 100 pushups,100 squats, 100 sit-ups and 10 pull-ups. They also had to complete this in less than 1 hour and 30 minutes. Ace could run the 10 km in about 45 minutes give or take, he usually ran it every day in the morning as his first exercise. As for the other exercises, he had never truly measured himself, but considering he did a lot of street workout calisthenics, and martial arts, he did not think it would be any trouble.

They could do the exercises in any order, but once they began one, they had to finish it. Ace stretched lightly as Thomas explained how to do each exercise, and once they could begin, Ace began by doing the squats, he blew through them, and then began the run, he pushed himself a bit, but did not make it past the point where he would vomit, nevertheless, he still had a solid time of 44 minutes and 36 seconds, as his watch informed him, and then he quickly finished the rest of the exercises. The pushups, pull-ups and the situps were not even a struggle, he did them all, considering them a rest from the run. By the time he had finished, less than 49 minutes had gone past.

Ace was amazed, he had not been pushing himself to the breaking point, and had only been training for a few months, however, his enhanced body was truly amazing, and for once, Ace truly wondered what it was capable of.

He had finished way before any of the other students, but about 7 others in his group finished after 1 hour of work a few seconds in between each. Amy and Sophia were included in this.

The others also came in before the hour and thirty minutes had passed, however, they were much slower than the other eight. Thomas had told them that as they finished, they were free to use any facilities, so Ace headed to the urban setting. It was a massive jumble of streets with roofs, obstacles and many other things, it was a haven for him. Ace climbed up to the tallest building and observed the whole area, committing it all to memory. He then jumped down and went to one corner of the area, and began the run.

Ace weaved through obstacles and buildings, jumping and carrying out various other movements that amazed the crowd that had formed to observe him. Ace was doing a base run, where he did not climb to any rooftops, only using the floor, his plan was then to do a roof run, and then a full run, where he was free to do as he pleased before the lesson time ran out.

As Ace got ready to begin his final run, he was thinking of the route he would take, when another boy came up to him, slightly swaggering as he walked. Ace did not remember him to be part of his year group, so he was probably an older kid.

"Hey! I challenge you to a race! From one side to the other!", the boy shouted as he walked towards him