章 18: Chapter 18:

A notice popped up on the board at the front of the room: "Your time is now up, please make your way to your assigned homeroom".

Ace had already memorised the map of school they had been given and had already planned which route he would take, the specific ranks of each class were not on the schedule, and neither was the one for his homeroom. He was curious as to what room they would place him in, but would probably not bother to rank up unless it had some good benefits. He stood up when everyone else did but took his own route to the class, it was not the fastest, but it would still allow him to tour around the school as much as possible. He walked through the hallways, impressed with the school, it was massive, and the installations were only the best of the best. He made his way to his homeroom, passing by a few students, they seemed to be lost so Ace was happy to help, he informed them of the map they had in their packs. He also used his ability to give them the fastest route to check their schedules. With a quick glance, he surmised that none of them were in any of his classes. He gave them directions and he continued on with his journey.

He arrived at his homeroom, there were a few students there already, and they had chosen their seats. The back corner next to the window and diagonally in front of the door had not been taken, so he sat down and placed his pack on the table calmly, arranging everything in a perfect manner that would make it easy to quickly leaf through any information they were asked to find - if he had not already memorised it that was.

As Ace watched as more and more people walked into the classroom, more and more of the seats were filling up, he noticed that the girl that stood back had also come in, giving him a curious yet short glance and sat down bang on in the middle of the back row. The teacher came in, closing the door behind her and she moved her gaze throughout the classroom, stopping at a few faces, Ace's included. Ace made a mental note of this, there were about five people she had made eye contact with, and Ace made a mental vow to research them and learn as much as he could, especially the blonde girl.

"Good morning class, I am Miss Judge, and I will be your homeroom teacher. Your electronic devices will now be handed out, and there will be a list of tasks we have to accomplish today, the faster we do them, the more free time you will have to go around the school, which I assure you will be a large advantage.", as she said this, she passed a large box with white boxes, they each had a name on them and students were picking them out and excitedly opening them. Ace had heard of this from his grandmother, they were essentially smartphones one could use for anything school-related, they had a variety of uses but if you broke yours, you would have to wait a whole week to get a new one. This would be a huge disadvantage as various tasks that granted Prestige Points (points used for ranking) were usually there, they included anything from helping out a teacher to filling out forms. Samantha had told him it would be his most important tool, and not to lose or break it, they would deduct points for that too.

He opened the box with his name on it and observed the device, it was thin, and was extremely light, his was black with his family's unique pattern in the middle of the back, done in some silver inlay that reflected gold when the light hit it. He also noticed that everyone was different in colour, but they all had the same appearance. He switched it on and went through the beginning set up, he then opened his task and a list popped out, including:

-Electing a temporary Class President

-Introductions

-Clubs Intro.

He put it down and looked at the teacher, she was patiently waiting for all of them to set their devices up. "These are the Noxia you will use throughout your school life, we will now go through the introductions of each student, you have each written something and it will be now available under the Classmate Information Folder, read as many as you can now, you will have 15 minutes.

Ace looked through his phone and opened the folder, and began reading, some were long and in prose, while others were more colloquial in form and written in bullet points. Ace, however, noticed that only 15 bios were available, and remembered he had not been asked to write anything. He ignored it, assuming that the teacher would explain, and created a new private folder. He called it 'Student Information' and copied and pasted all bios and pictures of the individual students. He also made a Rank tab for each one but left this one blank.

"As I am sure you have noticed, info for various students has been redacted, however, if you so wish, you will be given the opportunity to ask them any question, but they will be at liberty to not respond. You may begin now."

A student quickly stood up and asked: "Could you tell us your names?"

One of the 5 people without a bio stood up, he was massive, way bigger than a kid his age should be, he had blond hair and brown eyes, and Ace assumed most people would consider him handsome. He shouted out: "I am Chad Achilles, heir to the Achilles Corporation, and I am the best fighter in the year. My goal is to reach the rank one spot.", in a normal school, most people would laugh at this but in the Institute, any person that dared to brag in such way, was dangerous, everyone here had been groomed from a young age, so only those with a true talent for a subject could shine.

After his spiel, another voice laughed, just as loud as Chad's one, but Ace noticed that when mentioning being the best fighter, Miss Judge's eyes darted to his for a split second. Ace cursed in his mind, he was unsure if it was lack of competence or done on purpose, he assumed the latter. Ace believed that not many would have noticed, most were looking at Chad, but he assumed that a few would have noticed the eye movement, and Ace wondered whether any would do anything about it.

Another person had stood up, he was another of the ones without a bio, and he laughed again.

"Bah, you aren't hot shit man, I'm Trace, of the Defender Organisation, and I can probably knock you out in a few seconds."

Chad stood up at this, as if taking the challenge, and it seemed it was going to escalate when another person stood up: "Enough, if you two gorillas don't stop talking I will make your life hell. You probably don't know this but you are not the best fighters in the class, in fact, I know of another two people that could take both of you down, and one of them is myself." Ace looked at this girl, she reminded me of someone, and when he realised of who, he sniggered in his mind, if she was anything like her sister, they had another thing coming, "I am Amy, and I am going to joint all politics related clubs, including debate and Law, therefore I believe that I am the best option for Class President. In this class, one person matches me in political power, and the other surpasses me, it is not up to me to say who they are, but I assume they will not be interested in the position, therefore, I will take it."

Ace grinned and sighed, thinking of how interesting his homeroom would be. Then, Blondie stood up, and smiled at the class, making almost every single boy fall in love with her. "I am Sophia, you can call me Soph or Sophie, I don't mind, I love sports, and I wish to be a professional volleyball player when I grow up, and I am hoping to join the school team as soon as I can. I will warn you already, I am the person that is equal to Amy in power, and while I am not contesting for the President position, I am not a push-over, so watch yourselves. I am also confident I am ranked within the top three of the class, and the number one rank is my goal."

She sat down and looked around in the same way that the rest of the class did, attempting to find the last person without a bio. Person by person, they noticed where Ace was and stared at him. Most had not noticed him, but now, most girls realised how he looked, and Chad was no more.

Ace sighed, thinking of what he would say, when he suddenly had a brilliant idea, it could be risky but would also bring great rewards. He stood up with his hands in his pockets, looking as nonchalant as one could look, and said: "Hey, I'm Ace Goldsign, and my grandmother runs this school."