The Ace is undoubtedly the best Institute in the world, producing countless famous Card Hunters, including the No.1 Card Hunter in the world Golden Dragon 'Godyt' graduated from Ace. Not only Godyt but even the No. 2 Tribulation Queen 'Storm' and the No. 3 Death Worm 'Barin' all graduated from Ace.
In fact, most of the Top 10 Card Hunters graduated from Ace.
Located on Eternal Island, situated somewhere near Spain. The Ace is the epitome of Maui Technology, Infrastructure, environment, and the place countless students dream to enter.
...
Lewis looked at the chattering students and smiled, to be honest, he was also curious about what changes the Earth Federation has made to the CHEE, but he did have some idea about it. With his mother being the Guild Master of the B-ranked 'Hellfire Punished' Guild and his Father the Bearmount City Lord. He had heard some inside information about it from his parents.
It had something to do with the increasing number of Ferocious Beasts attacking Cities and wreaking havoc. Although the fighting never stopped, it was growing increasingly violent during recent times. So, as the younger generation, they had to quickly grow stronger and help fight the Ferocious Beasts.
His father had even told him that they might be adding a real battle assessment in the CHEE. Everyone knew that It was impossible to merge with a Beast Card before the age of 18, this was one of the reasons humanity was losing the battle against the Ferocious beasts. They had no fighting power before the age of 18 which was a huge disadvantage for the humans.
As Lewis was lost in thought, their headteacher entered the classroom causing everyone to quiet down, Lewis also reined in his smirk and paid attention to the headteacher.
The headteacher was a balding middle-aged man with a strict face, although he looked funny he had everyone's respect. The reason was simply because he was a C-rank Card Hunter!
Most teachers in the Academy were D-rank Card Hunters, which was already the limit of a Tier-3 city. For the headteacher to be C-rank, in their Bearmount city he was only below his parents and the Principle of the Harmony Academy.
The Headteacher did not waste any time and got straight to the point,
"I know that all of you must be curious about what changes the Earth Federation had brought to the CHEE."
Suddenly, the headteacher's face grew cold,
"The Ferocious Beasts have been running rampant recently and many Tier-5 and eve Tier -4 cities have been destroyed by their assaults, the Earth Federation has a lot of hope on your generation, in order to better nurture your growth they have decided to include a practical combat assessment for the CHEE. The CHEE has been postponed to 3 months from now and the Academy will provide you with the necessary training for the combat assessment so that you gain some experience and will be able to crack the CHEE."
"This is a good thing for those with weak theoretical knowledge, as 50% of your score for CHEE will be taken from the combat assessment and only 50% will be theoretical. If you manage to perform well in the combat assessment and score decently in the theoretical exam you might even get be able to get in a Top University."
The faces of the students were flushed with excitement, especially those whose theory was weak, they felt that they had a chance to get into at least a Prestigious College.
Lewis was expressionless when he heard this, with his family background he would be able to get a good Beast Card from his parents so his combat power would be incomparable to his peers. This was the advantage of being born in a wealthy family. But he wasn't the only one who would use wealth to gain an advantage, those rich families in the Tier-1 and Tier-2 would surely buy better Beast Cards for their descendants, but Lewis was not discouraged because he had his own advantage.
He looked at the timer in the corner of his eye which only he could see,
04:56:23...
'Around 5 hours huh?'
This was a secret he had never told anyone when he was 8 years old and the sky cracked this timer had suddenly appeared in his vision and a countdown of 10 years began from then, he had not even mentioned it to his parents thinking that he was hallucinating, he was scared at first but he had read novels where this kind of stuff happened to the protagonists so he had been eagerly waiting for the timer to turn zero.
Coincidence or not the Timer would turn zero exactly at the time when he was born. Meaning the moment he would turn 18 he would be able to solve the mystery of this timer.
After the announcement from the headteacher, the school was over and everyone was excited about the combat training happening tomorrow,
Lewis left the school and headed towards the City Lord Manor, his home,
On his way to the Manor, the citizens greeted him with respect,
"Young Lord"
"Good day Young Lord!"
...
Lewis smiled at every greeting and soon reached the Manor,
There were two guards at the gate, wearing standard armor, they were both E-rank Card Hunters.
"Young Lord"
"Young Lord"
Both of them greeted Lewis respectfully and got back to their duties,
Lewis nodded his head, and entered the Manor,
The City Lord Manor was huge and decorated with all kinds of Bear Statues, In fact, the city was named after the City Lord's mount the Blizzard Bear.
Everyone knew about his father's obsession with Bears, Lewis had grown up seeing all kinds of Bears since a young age and had also come to like them,
Lewis made his way into the Manor while nodding at the greetings from the servants, The inside of the manor looked like it was made from Ice, the furniture was spotlessly white and most of the things were made with Ice crystals, they may look fragile but were even stronger than some metals. The temperature was not too cold, it was like having an A/C on all the time.