When Ace got home, he had a huge smile on his face. The many weeks of hard work had come to fruition, his fighting style was effective, and combined with his studies of anatomy and the human body, it had become more than enough for him to defend himself.
He was not planning on becoming a soldier or anything like that, but being a public figure had its risks, so being able to protect himself was a pretty big plus.
Today's fights had proven to him that he was quite skilled, and now, all he had to do was to maintain that standard. As he got taller and his muscles developed due to natural aging, and going through puberty, he would have to continue his arduous work in body control, but the foundation had been laid, and now, all he had to do was expand upon it.
************************
They all came in one after the other, in quick succession. Ace had received a message telling him to come to the room where Abyss Group meetings were usually held, the room he had first met them at,
As they went in, they sat down in their respective seats, and ordered some food to get them started, "A rare steak and pan-fried fries for me please, with red peppers on the side.", Ace ordered. Some of the others ordered extremely extravagant meals, whilst others ordered more basic dishes, but everyone had their own individual choice.
"Ok.", Rob began, "I wanted you guys to come today, even if I knew that it was not the day for our meeting. Ace will be participating in the Tournament in a few weeks, so he would not be able to come, this was a day we all had no activities planned, so it worked."
"To begin with, as always, do any of you have anything to share for Ace? Any advice?"
Randall, with his ever-present smile, said, "Beware, other competitors, some of them can be quite ruthless, and if they see you as a problem, they will try to get rid of you. I assume they will not try anything with you, since you are too high-key, but be careful nonetheless."
"Thank you.", "Of course, happy to help."
Lucy then said, "Do not try to take out the competition, nothing will happen if you do - at least not directly, but it will be noted down, and taken into consideration for any further proceedings, it might even show up in your file."
"I assumed as such, and have no plans on doing so - I enjoy a fair fight. Thank you for your advice."
"You will most likely not need it, but good luck.", Rob said, and all of them nodded, although some with less vigour than others, Ace noted.
"Ok, so, continuing, is there anything you want to make the others aware of?", Rob asked, looking around the room.
"Actually, I have a question.", Ace said, and they looked at him, "Yes? You are free to ask, it is us who may not answer." Rob said.
"I assume that none of you are in your first year, so what projects were you or are you involved with for your second year?"
"Why, wanna copy ideas?", Lila said, and Ace laughed, "Of course not, I already have an idea of what I am going to do, and preparations for it should be ready by the end of next month, so it will not be a problem.", he grinned at Lina, who just frowned her eyebrows and looked away, the others laughing at his rebuttal.
"We are all involved, however, our participation is not made public, I can send you the files on what we have done to your Noxia if you wish.", Rob said, and Ace shook his head, "No, that is fine, I just wanted to know whether you participated at all."
'Plus, now that I know that those files exist in an electronic format, and you have access to them, I can just steal them.', Ace thought, but showed nothing on his face. He would send a directive to Alfred when he could, he would - of course, prioritise stealth and anonymity over anything else, they could not find out he went looking for them, the time it took did not matter much, since, after this, he would not see them for a while.
They conversed about various things after this, mostly affairs that were going on now, but there was a debate over the most effective tactics in warfare between the 12th and 13th century. It was an interesting debate, which soon spiralled into the most effective siege architecture, and later on into the creation of a game to replicate those wars, so that they would be able to practise against each other.
This was enough to let Ace know that these people were out of the world. Funnily enough, he was not lost once during the debate, something the other participants noted down mentally as well.
'This is just getting more and more interesting', Ace thought, as they all went their own ways, acting as if they did not know each other.
******************
The following weeks of school were quite uneventful, apart from the fact that Ace accomplished his goal with 4 days to spare, of mastering Japanese, Korean and Chinese. His grandmother seemed proud, but she took no time in informing him to begin learning Russian, which he had already expected. He spent some time researching about the tournament and the facilities, but was not able to find much, his grandmother, however, assured him that there would be no problems, which was enough for him.
On Sunday, the last day, he had to broach a serious topic with his grandmother, he had waited long enough, and it was time to talk:
"So, is the cancer real?", Ace asked right out of the bat, something that shocked his grandmother, "Ok, so it's fake. Your facial expressions make it clear, however, why go so far? Why act so warm towards me? We both know that Veronica, the only other person present, would not betray you. Why play with my emotions like that?", Ace was getting quite emotional now, but he tried to calm himself down, he had to stay rational, at least for a while longer.
His grandmother smiled, a soft smile that made him forget all about this, "I understand you are angry, but truthfully, it was an excuse for me, along with playing a part."
"Explain."
She sighed, looking slightly distraught, "I have always been cold with you, I know that, it has been extremely hard on me too, but it was necessary - and you know it. However, recently, I became tired of it, I saw who you had become, and believed - and I still do, that you are ready, you have passed that stage of your training with flying colours. I wanted to truly be a grandmother to you, and well, this was a perfect chance for it.", she sighed again, looking tired, yet energetic, a weird combination, that only served to confuse Ace even more, although, after the brief pause, he got it.
"So, you wanted to be kind to me, to have a good relationship, like a grandson and his grandmother might. Add that to the fact that you could use this to root out potential enemies, and it was a win-win. I get it, thank you for going so far. So, who did you catch?", Ace just talked on as if nothing was happening, he would need to reflect on the emotions he was feeling, but for now, this was more important for his grandmother - that was clear as day.
His grandmother was startled, but she smiled, thanking him profusely without uttering a single word, then, she was all business, "The Hares, they tried to poach a few directors, telling them of my weakness."
"Did they bite?", he asked, even if he already knew the answer
"You know they did not. They understand that even if I was to die, you will make a fantastic heir already, that much has been made clear lately. I dealt with the Hares however, the warning has been served, and the scheme is out."
"Good."
"Also, I will warn you, I have received multiple offers from some of the more orthodox families to marry their daughters off with you, I said nothing of course, apart from informing them that you would make the choice. Some of them will be in the tournament, and considering that you will be in a compound alone for a week, the chances of them trying anything are not small. You are a great catch, and you are quite good-looking as well."
Ace nodded, a little disturbed at the ease with which his grandmother broached such topics, "If you are going to do anything with them, wear protection, the last thing we need is for one to get pregnant."
Ac cut her short before she could continue, "Ok, enough. I am not going to do anything, I am planning on just learning as much as I can, and then doing my own thing, I will most likely not even interact with others."
"Ahh, but they might try and interact with you. Anyways, I wish you the best, I am sure you will have no problems winning this."
"Of course not."
**********************
Getting out of the car, Ace slung his black backpack on his shoulder, they would have to wear their uniforms during the week, so he did not take many clothes, since they would be washed every day.
He saw a multitude of people already, and they were all directed to a large hall, where they would have to meet the members of their own team. Ace walked there slowly and calmly, observing everyone and everything. Most were nervous and/or excited, he was just annoyed he had to walk so much.
When he finally got there, he spotted them all, and walked to meet them. An organiser soon came to take them to their seats, and so they sat, Ace sitting in the middle of everything, where he would be able to blend in, and not pay attention to what they said without getting caught. His main focus would be on observing all the people within the room, to see if he recognised anyone there.
He kept an ear out for anything interesting the head organiser may say, but until now, it was all blabber, they would take them to their rooms, where they would get an early dinner, and then go to sleep to wake up early tomorrow so that they would begin the Monday with as much energy as possible.
They would be sent packs tonight containing the information, and they would also have a map of the compound and the schedule. You were free to attend any class, but most schools forced their students to attend all of the ones they could. For Ace, however, this would just be a break, he planned to catch up on a few interesting novels. He would probably not even bother to attend most classes, and would just stay on his own for the week. A perfect holiday.
They were let out, and everyone diligently went to their rooms, the underlying hostility was palpable, and it made Ace laugh, I mean, all of these planned to give it their all, just to then find out that the guy that did not attend a single class would win it all. He was planning on doing so, there was no reason not to. He would win the Global tournament, and would not even bother to get answers wrong on purpose, he would try his hardest, and try to ace the test, it was what he did anyways.