Armin Von Eldridge

The frown on Ace's face deepened, his attention fully hinged on the boy. For some reason, he found his first words offensive, but then again, he didn't know what it meant and as if the boy had read his mind like a book, he smiled.

"Ask away."

"Care to tell?"

The boy leaned forward with a mischievous glint in his eyes. "I am your new roommate, I guess." He scoffed, changing the subject, walking casually towards Ace.

A small sigh escaped Ace's lips, not wanting to bond per say, but at least find his way around this certain boy. Of course, he had piqued his interest a little earlier, what more could it hurt?

"I watched your duel at the center line earlier and I must say," The boy stopped, awaiting a generous ego boost from Ace. "You were really fit."

He smiled, halting in front of Ace with a blossom smile gracing his handsome face.

"I know, I know." He grinned, his eyes fully closed in a smile.

"So, would you like to join my guild?" Ace finally asked.

The smile on his face faltered off. With his eyes darkening, his gaze lashed against Ace's while they both bored a hole into their faces. The ticking of the huge clock present in the room was the only sound that was heard, however, if one paid a long more attention, the rushing of streams of blood from the heart could be heard clearly.

'Is he going to refuse?' Ace asked himself in his thoughts. He knew having someone like him in his guild was going to be exceptional, but he had to clear some tied knots about his character.

"Of course, I will join your guild." He replied, a touch of pride in his voice. "But on two conditions,..."

'He didn't bat an eye but readily agreed to be on my team? Is he on a mission to get close to me?'

With a slight nod, Ace cleared his throat, ready to listen to his conditions.

"Firstly, I will bring some other people to join your guild, but trust me, they are as good as gold."

It wasn't a bad condition. After all, he was still new in the academy and no one would readily accept to be in his guild except this certain character in front of him.

"Secondly, I alone will be your best friend. Do you accept these conditions?" He questioned, his left brow raising up to the sky.

"Of course." Ace simply replied.

A loud smile was all it took to seal the deal. "My name is Armin Von Eldridge. He finally introduced, his forearm laced forward for a handshake which Ace gracefully took.

"Ace Kiryū!"

'I wonder who he's working with.' Ace thought with a slight scoff. 'I might as well use Armin as my armor. He looks noble, an easy lackey to achieve my goals.'

"Wait!" Armin paused, a look of disbelief settled in his face. "You have a surname?"

Retrieving his hand from Armin's hold, Ace bent over to move the boxes away from the center of the room before grunting a reply.

"So it is. What about you? You don't seem entirely new here."

"Oh," Armin mused, walking towards the window while sniffing the dusty air in the dorm. "Nobles like me get admitted into the academy a month before commoners who have awakened their talents get admitted. That makes me wonder, how did you get admitted before the main procession begins?"

"Well," Ace grunted, pulling the first box away. "A man named Kaito invited me to join his guild. I don't know much about the acad—"

"You met Kaito?!" Armin shouted desperately, cutting Ace short mid sentence.

"Sure!"

"I heard you need to be a perfect A rank talent or a ninth level master at cultivation to meet him or get an invite, but you don't look special one bit!" Armin wailed, his mouth dropping to the ground in surprise.

"Maybe I was born on a high level, you know? I may look good to fit into his chosen criteria as well." He replied, a lazy laugh tugging at the end of his sentence.

Armin shook his head in disgust before activating his dash skill which blew up all the clothes used to cover the furniture in the room. His hand landed on Ace and with a swift push with the wind, he drove him into a chair by the wall.

He leaned forward, his tone smooth as silk as he delivered his comments after carefully surveying Ace's appearance.

"You're not as good looking as me, but you're not half bad. Maybe losing weight," he paused, shoving his fingers through Ace's bangs carelessly. "and trimming this shabby mop you call your hair would actually make you stand out— a bit."

"We have to clean this whole place up before nightfall." Ace spoke up, his tone sharp while his eyes were filled with an indifferent look.

"Not to worry, Ace." He said, shoving him a wet smile. With a single tap of his foot on the marble floor, the door opened widely and troupes of workers from the most expensive cleaning service company in the second district marched into the dorm, ready to clean and publish the surfaces clean.

"Take a stroll around the academy because your best friend here has lots of money to make you live a comfortable life here at Nirvana." Armin boosted, the pride in his voice raising a loud pitch at the clouds.

Ace stood up to his feet, a small smile carved at the side of his lips at the sound of Armin's declaration. Since he had some free time at hand, he might as well complete the system's quest while he still can.

"Well then, do you know where the gymnasium is? Or a field?" Ace asked politely.

***

With a rushed fall, Ace landed on the ground with force as he tried to catch his breath. With his arms and legs wide spread at the center of the training ground, his eyes rolled lazily as they tried to stay awake to read the night stars.

"System!" He called sharply as he was almost out of breath with completing the daily quest he had received. He had just finished running the second lap of the 10km sprint which he had actively splitted into 5km per laps with rests at intervals.

[Daily mission(s): Improve and perfect your body condition]

[Press-up, 100 times:Completed(100/100)]

[Sit-ups, 100 times: Completed (100/100)]

[Squat, 100 times: Completed(100/100)]

[Running; 10km: Incomplete!]

[Error!]

[All 10km must be completed in one single lap with no breaks]

[Mission(s) reward: 1000 system token]

"Argh, this is a death sentence!" Ace wailed, his chest rising and falling rapidly as he filled his lungs with the night's chilly air through and through.

"Look who we have here." Six mused as she stood over Ace with her hands placed on her hips. "I knew you'd listen to me when I talked about your weight." She smiled, her eyes laced over the deadbeat boy that was sweating and panting for breath heavily.

"What nonsense are you yapping again?"

"Tch." She scoffed, clicking her tongue against her teeth. "I've been wanting to ask you this, where did you get your neck-piece?"

Ace pulled himself together and raised his back from the ground to take a seat. "You know something about it?" He managed to ask, his breathing slowly coming back to normal.

Six paused, kneeling in front of him to take a good look at the neck-piece, taking him by surprise.

"I have seen her wear this type of neck-piece before." Six mentioned, her bright eyes fully locked on the piece.

"Her?"

'Anya had the second piece on her before she was taken away. Does this mean…'