Chapter 157:

2 years later

Ace stepped out from his bed in one smooth motion, showcasing years of hard work learning to control his muscles to perfection. His body was a sculpture, every muscle perfectly demarcated, his silhouette one of perfection.

In these last few years, his appearance had matured, and he now looked like a young adult, ready to take on the world. He put on his weighted suit, and went to his gym, carrying out the workout he had adapted over months and years of improving his body past the peaks of what a normal human could achieve.

After the workout, he took a shower, and changed into his standard uniform. As a junior, he would finish a week earlier than the other students. Supposedly, it was for the teachers to tutor students that were either excelling or failing, but Ace would have none of that, he just wanted to enjoy his summer before his senior year.

He smiled at his grandmother as he went downstairs, a nice new change. They now lived together, and attempted to at least have dinner together once a week. It meant that both of their schedules had to be altered slightly, but it did wonders for their relationship.

"Morning, final day?", she smiled at him, Ace nodded, smiling lightly, "Yep, can't wait to just relax and enjoy my summer."

She nodded, "We will probably have to attend a few galas or dinners, and I may have a few 'tasks' for you, but you should be pretty much free all summer.", Ace winced, he knew what tasks she referred to, and while it was not his favourite thing, he understood the need for them, so he did not complain, too much.

"Well, I'm gonna leave, we have breakfast in class today, a celebration of some sort.",Ace said, as he kissed her on the cheek, and slung his backpack on his shoulder, walking out of the door.

He then got on the motorbike, he had gotten his driving license, but enjoyed driving a bike more than a car - for short journeys at least. It was a short drive, he zoomed through the city, and was at the school in five minutes. He got off, parking it in its designated space. As a Rank 1, he had certain luxuries available to him, one of which was an indoor parking space, where his motorbike would be checked for malfunctions, as well as cleaned, waxed and polished. This meant he was always driving a spotless vehicle, which certainly helped add to his image.

He walked to his Homeroom, and his teacher, Coach Nichols, greeted him, "Mornin' Ace", ever since Ace had begun to hop from sport to sport, filling gaps in a team whenever there was a sick starter, Coach Nichols had begun to call him Ace, which had a second meaning apart from his name, one that was pretty easy to decipher.

"Morning. How did the Tennis team do?", Ace asked, it cost next to 0 effort to show interest in something meaningful to a second party, and yet, it would help place yourself much higher in that person's heart and mind. If they believed you cared for the same things they did, they would quickly develop the belief that you shared and held the same values they did, and from there, it was a fast track to friendship or companionship.

Nichols widened his smile, "Good, good. Your analysis made things much easier for us, and we were able to win in both the doubles and singles portion quite easily. They are all looking forward to being able to thank you.", Ace waved the comment away, "No need. I do these things for the school, and plus, the points you provide me with for the analysis are more than enough. Tell them I said congrats though.", Ace said, as he walked to his seat.

'Damm, this class is really silent today', Ace thought, 'Although I guess that they are all doing some sort of work experience. Funnily enough, I am pretty much the only one that has not done so.'

The classroom was pretty much empty, there were only four people there, three of which had already done their work experience, and had only come here for a few hours before leaving again.

Ace sat back, and went onto a forum he had begun frequenting the past few days. The forum was something he knew existed, but had never really been able to become a part of before. It was a forum, where the most talented individuals in various fields joined together to talk about various things. Now, the thing was, it was invite-only, no exceptions, not even Ace. This was the main requisite, the other being 17 years old. Which he still had a few months to go. Interestingly though, they seemed to have broken their own rules.

Ace had received a letter in his mailbox the other day, it had been delivered by an average courrier, who had no idea how he had gotten there. In it, was a string of characters, numerical, alphabetical, and symbols. Once deciphered, Ace followed the instructions, and found himself face to face with the best-hidden forum he had ever seen. The key? People not knowing it existed.

No one expected it, and because of that, it flew under the radar. Furthermore, the security was top notch, any sign of forced entry, and it would all delete. There was no physical backup, and it was pretty much impossible to trace.

After reading the welcome message, (Yes, there was a welcome message -funnily enough), Ace was introduced to the forum. It was interesting, one had no idea of how many people actually were part of it, and there was also something Ace found interesting. Not everyone's vote counted the same, from what Ace had been able to decipher. It worked with an interesting system, each person had a certain amount of 'Dust', and if you saw something you either agreed or disagreed with, you selected the amount of 'Dust' you would be willing to dedicate to that. Essentially, it showed how much of your resources you would be willing to dedicate towards that, whether it be agreeing or disagreeing. It was a peculiar system, yet one Ace found fascinating.

The key to it was, of course, being realistic about it. Luckily, everyone was smart enough to know to act properly, so that they could all enjoy a fair measurement.

These last few days, all Ace had been doing apart from playing games and exercising, (which he did every day regardless), was going on the forums. It was interesting, because it catered towards younger people, and so, the questions on it could be very well ridiculous.

It was all anonymous, so no one knew who the other was, this meant people posted without worry. Of course, you could also report users, but there was a big difference, you could also 'Defend' them. Every person would report or defend with a certain amount of 'Dust', and depending on the ratio used to defend or report, certain measures would be taken. From short sanctions to banning someone from posting for a large period of time.

People could get mad, but if there was one rule, everyone had to upkeep, it was not telling anyone. Not even a mention of it - nothing. Doing so...Well, no one knew, since no one had dared.

***

[HELP! I need dating advice!]

Ace chuckled, and the people waiting in the classroom for the assembly to begin looking at him, 'This one is funny, he needs help talking to a girl he likes.', Ace responded with a few short lines, and then wished him luck in his endeavours.

He scrolled downwards, sorting by new posts, and one caught his attention, ['Dust' system, should it change?], 'Hmm, interesting, let's see what people think.'

The 'Dust' system worked in a simple way, there seemed to be a group of people somewhere, and what they dedicated their lives to doing, was measuring how many 'resources' each user had, their fans, money, family power… This was the value of 'Dust' they would have. Each person's grew or diminished, but the key was that it was always changing.

Some people argued that it was a failed system, since it was impossible to quantify the effect someone had on people - others disagreed. Ace did not know enough about the system and the math behind it to form an intelligent opinion, but he found the argument interesting nonetheless.

He read through comments for about five minutes, before Coach Nichols informed them that Assembly would begin soon, and that they had to leave. That was when Ace saw something that caught his attention.