Chapter 88:

New Year's Eve

Goldsign Penthouse

Ace came out of the shower, his hair still damp, as he faced the mirror while he was drying, he noticed that his skin looked even better - if that was possible. All the scratches and small lacerations he may have accumulated over the months of strenuous exercise were nowhere to be found. It was as if his body had cleansed itself of impurities.

He had grown again, and now stood at a comfortable 177 centimetres, tall for his age. His muscles now more naturally developed from his growth, looked even stronger than they had a few weeks ago. The changes were frightening, yet they could only be good.

As he finished getting dressed in some comfortable clothes, he sat down on the main eating table, and took out his laptop, going over a few language lessons as he waited for a maid to deliver his breakfast. This lifestyle made him uncomfortable, but he knew that it was necessary, if his grandmother found out that the house service was relinquishing their duties, she would not be happy. One thing was cooking 'with' the chefs, where the excuse was that they were teaching him for the future, but another altogether was setting and clearing up the table. Her grandmother would find that inadmissible, and well, it was not that bad for Ace.

Once he finished up, he focused fully on the tasks at hand, and completed each of the activities to the maximum of his ability. These activities and his enhanced brain were the reason as to why he was able to learn languages so fast. They broke up the whole language into chunks, and normally, a person would have to do them over and over to consolidate them, however, Ace was able to memorise them in one shot, which meant he went through the levels at a breakneck pace. Once he finished all the activities, he would have an extremely good grasp at the language, especially at writing and reading it. Therefore, he would then focus on speaking, by watching shows in the language, and committing the correct translations to heart, then finishing by learning some of the slang by integrating in internet communities or forums.

He worked on it for the whole day, and at about 6:30 in the afternoon, Amy called him to remind him to come to the party, not that he would forget. He got dressed, it was meant to be a casual thing, but the theme was neon. He dressed in some torn black jeans, and some silver neon Vans he had been gifted at some point or another. Then, he put on a black T-shirt with a cool pattern swirling around, in the same neon silver as the Vans. The idea was that when he moved, the patterns would seem like it as well. All was good, until he noticed that the soles also seemed to have some sort of light-emitting system when he stepped or put pressure on them. He was about to take them off, but then decided, 'F*ck it, they want lights, I'll give them lights.'

At 7, he was ready to go, Amy, who had heard he had a skateboard, probably for John, had told him to bring it with him, there would be a place for him to use it apparently, and if he got tired, he could store it in one of the many storage lockers that would be around the warehouse. Apparently, this was supposed to be some crazy party, and the new members of the Party Committee, the ones that belonged to it in their year, had gone all out with Amy to prepare this. Ace hoped it would offer some entertainment value.

He got on the car, skateboard with him, it would be a pretty long ride, so he decided not to skate there. Of course, in the spirit of the party, he had sprayed some sort of paint that Steve had given to him yesterday, when he asked if he had any neon stickers or something. This was something that "Won't f*ck up your board.", as he so well put it. It would apparently emit a range of colours that would cause the board to be the exact shape of the design, but in a shade of neon colour, for him, grey and silver, as he had chosen. Ace had no idea how it worked, but he trusted Steve, so he bought it. He had not tested it, so he hoped it looked badass.

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He got there at about 7:30. The party was meant to start at about 8, and there were not that many people there, which was good, Ace planned to memorise his surroundings, just in case anything happened, he hoped nothing did, but you could never know.

He made a tour of the facilities, and he had to say, that he was impressed, "You made a fine job, congratulations."

"Thank you, I'm just happy you ended upcoming, you have no idea how many people actually wanted an excuse to meet you."

"I can imagine…", Ace sighed at Amy's mocking smile, "Have you decided?"

This time, it was her turn to sigh, "No… I will see what invitations I get."

"You will get into whichever you want, you know that."

"Yeah, I do, but which one is the right one, Y'a know?", she looked slightly worried, but Ace assumed she had already made a choice, she was just not sure if it would be the most optimal one.

"Well, you should go with what your gut and your research tells you to do."

"Yeah. Thanks.", she nodded now, looking more confident

"Of course."

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By 8:05, the party was beginning to increase in tempo, the DJ was slowly ramping up the atmosphere. It was honestly pretty crazy, it was all dark, and the warehouse was only lit by neon totems, and the things that people were wearing and carrying. Of course, some areas, like the skateboard bowl and ramp they had set up, had more lights, so that both the people partaking and those observing could see.

Nevertheless, the truth was that the bowl was still relatively dark, especially for the observers, they would mostly see the flash of neon when a new skater went in. It all added up to the atmosphere. The skaters were outfitted with neon clothing, and their boards had neon straps or stickers and such, which meant that they would be able to see the figure due to the light they gave out, along with the skateboard, but that was pretty much it. It was a dizzying effect, but people seemed to really like it.

There was a dance floor reminiscent of a club, and some more private booths that had more light, so that people could talk in a more relaxed space.

Ace had been mostly looking at skaters and drinking Coke, there were a few that were ok, but most of them had nothing on the average Joe he saw in the skatepark. Those people lived for the board, while for these, it was just a pastime they partook in once in a while.

Finally, Ace finished up his drink and made his way to the bowl, he was getting bored, so he might as well have some fun.

When he reached the border of the bowl, he noticed that there were a few people there, but they seemed to be there to look, not actually waiting to go. He was making his way there, when he bumped into a small figure. "Oh, sorry.���, he apologised, as did the other person, Ace looked at her more clearly, it was a girl, and her outfit was sick, she was wearing some jeans, Vans and a hoodie, but she had some weird chains hanging around that seemed to reflect all the light, giving off a weird effect. She was also wearing a bonnet made of light blue neon string. It cast her face into a ghostly blue, which only made her look even cooler.

"Ah, sorry Sky.", Ace brushed past, already smiling internally

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'How the f*ck did he know my name? Why would he? I don't think we have even talked before… Nah, we don't even have any classes together…", Sky, was looking at the back of the figure that had mystified her, the top bit had a swirl that seemed to have life, moving just as he did.

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Ace was laughing on the inside, 'Oh man, she must be freaked out.' This was one of the reasons as to why Ace had committed to memory the faces, names, and short bios of his year mates. He had never talked to her, but he still knew her name, and the fact that she was an only child, living in a nice family, she loved to skate and was talented at art, she wished to become a graphics designer, but was debating between specialising in character or surrounding design. Ace knew all of this and even some more, it was a weapon he could use at any time, and no one would expect for him to have such an ace up his sleeve.

Maybe when it came to some of the higher ranking or more well-known students, but not just a random one.

He walked to the border of the bowl, and when he made sure there was no one else up there, he went down. If there was one thing he loved about skateboarding, it was going down a bowl, he found the repetitive motion almost therapeutic. He ensured he had the perfect footwork, and began to pick up some speed, making some smaller jumps and tricks at the ends. His shoes lit up whenever he put extra pressure on them, and his skateboard reflected all light, which meant people could see the awesome design, even if it was in a different shade.

As he picked up some speed, he got ready for the trick he was about to pull. He was about to imitate the trick his friend had done the other day, he jumped, grabbing the skateboard, and twisting it around his body in a weird manoeuvre. As he came down, he put the board back in place, and went back down, making another pass until he finally jumped off at one end of the bowl. He went down the stairs, his skateboard clipped between his arm and his back.

The people were cheering wildly, as another person went down. The party was now at full swing, and he would begin to be contacted soon, this was a great way of telling people where he was.

He didn't even have to wait for a whole minute before someone approached, "That was an impressive trick.", he had a broad smile on his face, probably happy that he was the first one to contact him.

"Well, you are here early.", Ace said

"I pride myself on that. I will cut to the chase, everyone and their mother will be vying for you, even the top groups. There is no way we can compete in resources, but from what I understand, you do not really need those. Instead, what I can offer you is different, I can offer you, a group where you can truly shine. We are a new alliance, only with about a year of history. I can assure you, that if you join, your word will be pivotal to the development of the group. No other alliance would even consider giving you, a first-year, a say in their decisions.", the boy seemed happy about the spiel, which was honestly quite good, Ace gave him that, but at the end of the day, it was all bs.

"Look, I will be honest, I love your speech, to be completely fair, you might have a shot at grabbing some of the top rankers with it. However, I am a bit different. I know they will not consider a freshman's word as important. However, I am not a freshman, I am the Rank 1 freshman, with more points than most sophomores, I am a freshman that has excelled in everything he has done so far. A freshman that will take part in the Global section of the Inter-Academy Knowledge Tournament. A freshman that will be taking part in the Puzzle Competition, a global event. And you know what? This freshman has done this in only a few months of school.", Ace delivered the statement adroitly and confidently, he was the best, and he knew it. "So, pardon me, but I am pretty sure when I say that they will consider what I have to say pretty meaningful."

The boy was looking put off, but Ace had not finished, "However, I like you, you were honest with me, something I appreciate greatly, and you were able to deliver a convincing statement. I am interested in you, Thomas Andersen, sophomore of homeroom 2. I may not join, but I will spread the word, and if any of my friends are looking to join a newer alliance, you will be at the top of my list. Keep up your hard work, you clearly have skills. And hey, who knows, we might even end up working together at some point.", Ace finished with a smile, looking at a befuddled Thomas.

Again, the memorising of faces and names had played dividends yet again. Thomas now had a smile on his face, as he realised that while it had not gone perfectly, he had gained a lot more than he could have ever expected, he now had Ace's word, and even his recognition. If he actually told any of his friends, all of them high rankers for sure, and they joined up, it would be great. After saying goodbye and thanking him profusely, Thomas left, a smile on his face.

The people looking were all shocked, his smile was bad, it meant that he had at least had found some success. They would have to report right away, and if necessary, get ready to up their offers.

Ace noticed the people on their phones right now, a serious look on their faces, and smiled, he had done it again, outsmarted everyone else.