Chapter 97:

In an office

Inter-Academy Knowledge Tournament Compound

"How was the first day of classes?", an elderly man asked a much younger one

"Interesting.", the younger man sported glasses, and he made use of a short pause to push them back up the bridge of his nose. "There are a few good seeds, but the person I was most looking forward to meeting did not show up."

"The young one?", the man asked, "Exactly, it was interesting, it is not the first time that someone in the freshman class has entered into the Global portion of the Tournament, but considering the state of the Goldsign Institute it is most interesting."

"Hmmm… That is true, if I remember correctly, they had a gifted team captain did they not?"

"They indeed do, one of the most talented within the competition, honestly, they could have made history, they have a good enough team to get the top 5 spots within the Global portion. However, with the kid…"

"There must be a reason, plus, he is her son, so it is almost expected for him to surprise us."

"I assume so.", the younger man said, "But if he does not come to class…"

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Ace spent the whole day playing video games. Once classes ended and people began to come in, looking for a break after the extensive classes, Ace left, going to his room.

This week was a holiday for him, which meant he had to make the most of it, he ordered dinner, and finished a book he had begun reading. Once he did so, he went to bed early, so that he could wake up even earlier.

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It was dawn when he woke up, four in the morning, but he felt as refreshed as ever. He picked up a backpack, placing his tablet and a bottle of water inside. Then, he put on some black exercise clothes, and left the room, silently walking through the hallway, until he left the room.

There was something he had intended to do for a while, but today would be a perfect day. He left the building, and then walked to the main building, where classes where held. He went inside, opening hours were between 9 and 20 hours, but a pin and a pick got rid of the issue. There was not much security - as expected, I mean, who would even bother to sneak into a building that only had empty classrooms?

He took the stairs, silently running upwards, his senses fine-tuned to warn him of other people. He finally got to the door that led to the roof, and after a few minutes of working on it, he opened it and stepped out.

It was still chilly in the early morning, but his warm clothes got rid of the issue for him.

He climbed the ladder, and ended up in the highest point of the compound, directly facing the rising Sun.

He sat down, opened his backpack, and took out his tablet. He first took a long look at the Sun, memorising every shade and light that struck the horizon. After he felt content, he began to draw.

This had not been a spit of the moment decision, when he was younger, on one of his best days, he had opened one of his grandmother's drawers, there he had found a painting done by his father, it was a beautiful image, one that resonated calm and peace at a spiritual level. Ever since he had first seen it, he had intended on drawing one like it himself. There had never been a moment so well such as this one. He spent three hours on the piece, he had worked at an insane pace, one he could only handle due to the perfect picture he had in his enhanced head, one his miraculous fingers could put into the screen.

When he finished it, he noticed a dampness in his eyes, and wiped the tear with his sleeve. It was the first time he had felt that way, the first time since he had promised himself he would stop crying, stop letting the pain and grief control him. For the first time in a very very long time, Ace felt at peace, and he loved the feeling.

'Well, time to go.', his enhanced ears caught steps, a man's coming up the stairs to the roof. He placed everything back into his backpack, and ensured he had no tears on his face.

As the door opened, the man that opened it had a bewildered look on his face, "How did you-"

"Good morning, I hope you enjoy your coffee, the morning is truly beautiful.", Ace made his way down the stairs, and before the man could even realise what had just happened, he was gone.

'Was that…', the professor thought, but then shook his head, and took a big gulp of coffee, looking at the horizon, a million thoughts swirling around his brain.

Ace left the building, and sprinted all the way to the building where his room was. It was 200 metres away, but with his insane speed, he was there in seconds. He had not had his run today, but alternating was good, and at least he kept at the habit. Plus, he considered what he had done today to be more important.

Once he got to his room, he put his clothes in the laundry basket, and then took a shower, once he was finished, he headed to the common room, and ordered breakfast, but this time, he asked for even more food than last time, adding some pancakes with chocolate syrup and whipped cream to the waffles, eggs, bacon and sausages.

He had not done much exercise, but the emotions he had gone through this morning had tired him in a way his routine never could.

'God, this is good. Nothing like stuffing our face in the morning, knowing you have zero responsibilities to take care of.'

He relaxed in the lunge, a milkshake in his hand, watching the students leave for classes. He spotted Ray coming to greet him, and wave at her, "Hey! How are you doing? Looking forward to the second day?", Ace asked, and she just looked at him with a dead-eyed stare, "God, please just make this end. You know, you are seriously lucky, I mean, how do they even allow you to not even show up to class on your first day?"

"Oh no, you misunderstood me, I am not showing up to class, period.", her jaw dropped, and he laughed, "What do you mean? I thought you were maybe just taking a break or something, but you are actually not going to go to a single one?"

"Nope. This week is my holiday from school, and my team understands it. As long as I give them results, they let me do whatever I want. Trust me, they get the best part of the deal."

She was confused, but then just waved goodbye, and promised to speak with him later.

'Should I go to a class, I am pretty curious, to be honest, but at the same time, if I get bored, will it be bad to just leave halfway? Probably not… Oh well, I will speak to Leilah, and see what she says, if there is an interesting one, I might go.'

He went to the computer room, and worked on getting through the server. It was an entertaining endeavour, and after two hours, he did it. Once he finished, he put everything as it was, but kept some spyware on the server, this would allow him to collect data on everyone and everything. Hey, you never knew what you would find.

Once he had finished, he booted up PUBG, looking for a change in scenery, and played a few games. He won them all, truthfully, with his game sense and his aim, there was no other player that even had a chance. After some months of playing, his aim had pretty much neared inhuman levels. He had never truly tested himself in an actual aim trainer, but was pretty sure that at this point, not many people were even close to him when it came to aiming.

He knew that at his level, he could become a pro in any FPS after only a few days of playing, essentially, once he understood the game mechanics. Therefore, it was games with a high amount of mechanics that kept him entertained, which was the reason as to why he enjoyed Rainbow Six Siege so much. There was an infinite number of possibilities when it came to the way one could play in each map, and he loved that.

He played for the rest of the morning, and only stopped once it was time for lunch. He shut down the computer, and then made his way to the common room, where he ordered some food. People looked even more tired than yesterday, and Ace found it funny, here he was, pretty much having as much fun as he could, and then these people were all suffering, only to find out, that when the scores were out, the person that worked the least would be the one that got the most, or so they would think. But that was life, they each had to play with the hand that they were dealt with, and Ace had gotten a lucky reshuffle.

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Ace spent the whole of the week like this, he ended up not attending any classes, not even the mock test ones, he had already worked through all of the mock test questions anyways.

Today was the day of the test, and they had to be present by 10 in the morning, giving them time to get a good night's sleep, and a late breakfast, so that they would be fueled and ready. The test would take four hours, but you could hand it in once you finished.

He had just had his shower, and was going to head down to the common room, where he would have breakfast with his team, in order to have a 'team meeting'. He had nothing better to do anyway.

He changed into his uniform, and then made his way downstairs, curious as to how the whole thing would go.