Still without speaking, they headed into the room where the meeting usually took place because that was where they could feel him.

They entered and blinked.

Ace was there, alright.

He sat at the head of the table. In front of him were fruits, mostly grapes, that he ate slowly. He had bathed and changed into new clothes.

His face was calm and controlled, his eyes sharp, a blue of the deep sea. Beside him were a pen and paper.

They all stared at each other for a while.

"Julius, you can still get in touch with the WireRats without going there, right?" Ace asked immediately.

Julius nodded unconsciously. That was the first thing he was going to say? "You need them?"

Ace nodded. "I do. Come quick and deliver this to them. And let me say to all of you, congratulations on making it into the first year and advancing a stage. Now it’s time to work harder and advance another stage."

He was weak? They thought he was weak? They couldn’t believe their eyes. Derrick snorted. "Oh! You are back and it’s not even up to an hour and you’re already nagging!"

Relief flowed through their group.

Julius nodded and took the letter.

"Be careful. Do it as secretly as possible."

Julius nodded sharply before he left the room.

The rest sat and stared at him. Nobody spoke while Ace ate the grapes. 𝑓𝘳𝑒𝑒𝓌𝘦𝘣𝘯ℴ𝑣𝘦𝑙.𝘤𝑜𝑚

After a while, Ethan couldn’t take it anymore. "What happened in the hall? You looked as if you wanted to fall over..."

Derrick also added his own with narrowed eyes. "Why were you acting as if you were afraid? You were acting weak, right?"

Ace continued to eat, and then he finally spoke after a while. "The first year is over, right? What are your plans now? We have about two months’ holiday."

Derrick snorted coldly and folded his hands in front of him. "Stop trying to act all mysterious and all. Why were you acting like that earlier? And... why did you come back now? Did you time it to this day too?"

Ace raised his brows. If he could remember clearly, he hadn’t even spent up to a day in Sector Delta. And months had passed already in the normal world.

He remembered what Head Librarian Teresa said. "...everyone will experience time differently..."

Even now, Ace couldn’t be sure how that worked. Then he looked at the people staring at him, and his eyes darkened slightly.

"...out of all of them, none of them can help me now... unless I want to use Ethan and Julius, but their standing in their families isn’t strong enough to move things... well, I know they’ll start getting influence in their families now... they’ll come in handy but not now..."

"...fuck... Darius won’t sit still and the Obsidian Bleed won’t be sitting still too... I need information... a lot of it..."

"Ace?" Serena said, her voice colored with concern.

He blinked. He saw all of them looking at him. He frowned. "...they need to get strong... really... really strong... I need to upgrade them..."

Ace smiled slightly. And as they watched the smile, they felt a chill down their spines. They could feel Ace planning something that would cause them pain.

"No, it’s just a coincidence that I’m here today, on the day of the promotion. And yes, I was acting. I’ll tell you something now that you must keep to hear..."

Just then, the door opened and two people came in. It was Julius and mad Instructor Ardent.

Ace raised his brows. "Instructor, I didn’t think you would come here."

There was no smile on his face as Ardent sat down, no amusement either. He looked at Julius and then at Ace, his eyes narrowed. "Ace Eros, what are you up to? You come just now, Darius Faulkner almost killed you in the hall, and you’re sending four-eyes work. What’s going on?"

Ace’s face darkened slightly.

The room fell into a tense silence.

They looked from Ardent to Ace with wide eyes.

Ace sighed. "Well, about the Head Instructor, he can’t be trusted. All of you should be careful."

This only made them even more baffled.

Ace shrugged. "He’s the one that sent me to Sector Delta. He was also the one to register me to this Academy. Although, I don’t know, my memories of the past were wiped."

Ardent narrowed his eyes. "So you know."

Ace leaned forward and smiled. "It’s quite simple. You guys don’t have friends. You’re losers who are either sitting at the back of the class or addicted maniacs. So from now on, anyone that wants to get close to you is suspicious.

"And if they attack you, then it’s even better."

The room went silent immediately. They looked at him with scowls on their faces. Even Instructor Ardent looked as if he was about to smack him on the head.

"You don’t have to put it like that," Julius said at last with a sigh.

"Listen," Ace’s voice became serious. "You guys can’t be dragged into this. Not yet. You are simply not strong enough. Only Instructor Ardent can stand a chance, but he’ll be busy in the next few months."

If Ace had said he could fly, then they might have been less shocked. Because...

Did Ace just tell them they are not strong enough? From Ace Eros?

Celia was the only one that started. She snorted in laughter, followed by Derrick who grunted, and then it picked up until all of them were laughing loudly.

"Come on, Ace! Just tell us if you don’t want to tell us!"

"Right. Just tell us you don’t want to involve us!"

Julius shook his head. "Ace, I know you can come up with a better excuse. Why use this one?"

"Try again!"

Ace sighed.

Only Instructor Ardent didn’t laugh. He looked at him silently. "What do you mean by saying I’m going to be busy in the coming months?"

Ace’s voice turned flat. "Because you are going to be training them. They are new into the Refined advancement stage. They need to get used to the power.

"And I have the perfect place in mind. For us to train."