Chapter 96:

Ace went straight to his room, where he ordered some food out of the screens they had set up. You could choose to eat in the common room, but Ace just asked for room service. Most would choose to mingle, but he was focused on another task. He had seen the pack on a desk when he had come into the room, and was currently in the process of memorising all the information.

There were the rules, schedules for various classes, along with a map of the compound. He memorised it all after a readthrough of the information. The rules were essentially this: no cheating.

They would all take the test in separate rooms, so communication would not happen. That meant that pretty much all the bases were covered, and plus, no one would cheat anyways.

You were not forced to attend classes, but it was highly recommended, and most were forced by their teams anyways. There would also be a public register at the start of each class, so that those who did not attend would be ousted, Ace could not care less.

There were classes for the whole day, all on various topics, and directed at the different tests, theoretically, if you were participating on the Global portion, you would also participate in your year's portion, since it would be assumed that all the content had been learnt and understood. Therefore, Global classes ran at the same time as classes that were for specific types of exam, like junior or sophomore.

Ace knew from talking with his team, that everyone that participated in the Global exam would attend all classes, which would mean he would get exposed pretty soon. Regardless, he did not mind capturing attention. He then memorised the map, the compound was big, but the map was well labelled and drawn which meant that it was that much easier to create a mental picture in your head. Once he finished that, his food came, and he just put on a show, before falling asleep.

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Ace put on some running clothes, and went outside. Classes began at 9, and most people would wake up at about 8:30. It was 5 in the morning now, however, and Ace was going out for a run. He could of course not keep up with the routine, since he did not have the correct exercise equipment, so he would just run, and use it as a chance to explore the compound, now that he had memorised the paths.

He ran for about an hour at a pretty fast pace, before finishing up with a sprint. He had not met paths with anyone, due to how early it was, and did not do so when going back to his room either. He had a shower, and then dressed in some black jeans and a hoodie, going to the common room to have breakfast, since there was no room service for breakfast.

He took his tablet with him, since he planned to draw, because why not. As he went downstairs, he ordered a plate full of bacon, sausages, eggs and waffles, with a freshly squeezed orange juice to go with it. And then placed an order of a milkshake for once he finished the food.

He dug in, all the while thinking about the situation with his grandmother. It was not ideal, but then again, faking cancer to expose your enemies to then deal with them in a brutal manner never was. He assumed she had been careful, and all the right people now knew that it was a hoax, but he just hoped that no relations were ruined by it.

As he finished eating, he got his milkshake, it was 8 in the morning now, and people had begun to trickle in, he took his tablet and milkshake and sat in one of the comfortable chairs in the lounge area.

He put the tablet on his lap, and began to draw. At first, he wanted to draw a person, but that soon evolved, and it ended up being a picture of someone snowboarding down a mountain, the sun peeking to the side of it, and casting a mystifying light over the drawing. He had been working on it for about 20 minutes, when he heard someone approach him, by the footsteps, he assumed it was someone of smaller stature, and not very heavy either, probably a female by the way they walked, and the sound the shoes made.

"Morning Ace", Leilah said, yawning and stretching her wrist. She was carrying a plate of food, that mostly contained fruit, along with a mug of coffee.

"So, not a morning person?", Ace asked, a smile on his face, Leilah frowned, and he laughed, "So what are you doing?", she asked

"Nothing much, keeping entertained. What about you? What's your schedule gonna be like?"

"I have a meeting with other team leaders at 9, then class for the whole day. Any of them catch your fancy?"

"Not really, but I might show up if I have nothing to do. At least this place has a recreation area, I might just spend the whole day there."

She laughed, "I assure you, you will be the only one."

"I know, which is why it will be great, might just play videogames the whole week."

"Sounds like a solid plan, except for the fact that some of us have to work to do well. We are still aiming for the top 5 spots in the exam after all."

"I know, and I sincerely give you my best.", he said, grinning

They talked for about 10 minutes, and then she stood up, and said, "Well, I better get ready, have a good day."

"Of course, please try and have some fun, taking breaks is fine too."

"So I hear.", she walked away, laughing the entire time.

He was absorbed in the act of drawing, but he started getting weird stares once it hit 8:50 and he showed no plans of moving his ass, he was not even changed. School uniform was mandatory when attending a class in fact.

He stayed there until he finished the drawing, about 9:30 or so. Then, he made his way to the recreation room, intent on having some fun. Of course, the people that came to the compound were not here to have fun, their intention was to work as hard as they could, to rank as high as they could. The rewards a school would give for a good ranking were more than worth a week of hard work, and they all knew that.

Ace was surprised when he walked into the large room. The electronics all looked extremely high tech, and from what he could see from the metrics, the connection speed was no joke either.

He hopped into one of the computers, but before playing any games or anything, he wanted to see the state of the server, and the security of it.

He played around, trying to find holes in the system for about an hour, there was definitely something - there always was, but in this case, it seemed like it would be harder than he thought.

He sent all the notes he had taken to a separate folder he could access in his room to access later, he planned on cracking it during his stay. Then, he looked at the vast library of games ready to be installed.

He just clicked on Rainbow, intent on having a fun few hours.

He played ranked games for the day. He played solo queue, but it was not a problem, he was at an elo, where everyone had a working mic, and were not scared to use it. It was a fun time, and he ended up playing until it was time for lunch.

He went down to the common area. There was a fixed daily menu, but within it there were multiple choices. He selected the meat option, and then waited for his food to arrive, reading on his tablet, and observing the people coming into the hall. Most of them looked tired already, but Ace did notice a few that had smiles on their faces, or just looked indifferent

To the whole thing. They came in groups, probably from the people they knew in the classes they had shared.

Ace was halfway through his food, when he heard someone coming, and then said "Hey Ray", he turned around and smiled.

She frowned, "Dmm*t! I wanted to spook you!"

He laughed, "You know you can't get me."

"Ahh, I will one day.", she looked at him in mock frustration, "So, how were your classes?"

He smiled, "I did not go to a single one.", she stared at him, "Tell me you are joking."

He shook his head, "Nope. What about you?"

"Woah Woah, you can't just skip over what you just said, why did you not go?"

"Do not need to, trust me, you will understand once you see the scores on the test."

She was still hung up about it, but just went on, "Well, I'll ignore it then, but you better explain once this is done."

"Of course."

"Anyways, your classes?"

"Ok for now, but it will probably begin to get tiring soon. I am not even sure if I want to participate in the Global section"

"What do you mean, did your team not set it up already?"

"Nah, we have a selection of people, and I am in it, but I am not sure I even want to participate in it. It seems like extra work, with all the new classes I will have to go to…"

"Do what you feel comfortable with, but think about whether the extra work would be worth it or not.", Ace had finished eating now, so he stood up, about to go to the recreation room again.

"Hmm, thank you for the advice.", she looked pensive about the subject

"Of course, enjoy your meal."

There were a few people in the recreation area when he got there, but they would mostly leave in the next 30 minutes or so, once classes began again. He went to the same computer as last time, and booted up Rainbow again. Once he did, he went to his selection of skins, intent on outfitting guns with new skins and charms.

He was working through it, and nearly finished, when one of the people there approached him, "Hey.", Ace took off his headset, and turned around, "Yep?"

"Classes are about to start."

"Ah, ok, thanks.", Ace smiled at him, and then put his headset on, turning back to the job at hand. The boy looked at him for a few seconds, and then turned around, muttering about whales and stupid skins.