*Clank* Clank* The sound of beer mugs clattered about during the party with the rest of the group. They had a large field at the main camp but the Wolves were close to each other, hand over shoulders celebrating the night. There were sounds of food sizzling in the barbeque pit and music being played. There was not much lighting but the full moon was more than enough for the party.

Captain: “Alright you bastards, it's time we say farewell to Ed! You are leaving but you will always be part of our pack. You may be a prude who has never shown us your face but we understand. Just know that we would have never judged how ugly you are. I don’t know where you are going, but know that you will always be welcome back here. Now that I have spoken, it's your turn, come right up!

Ed: Thank you for all the support you have provided me these last two years. I will miss you when I leave.

Boar: “That's it? You were always one for short talks. Glad to know you never changed. You always danced around answering us, but where are you going? C’mon it's the last day. You won’t see us in a long time.

Ed: Guess I shouldn’t dodge this anymore….I will be applying to enter Ares College.

- - the party silenced for a few seconds - -

HAHAHAHAHA, the crowd bursted out in laughter which lasted several minutes.

Tech: Ed, you do realize that Ares College is the best battle academy in the north east of the Federation right? They are one of the top 5 schools and only accept applicants at a maximum of 16 years of age.

Ed quickly pulled down his mask in response to Tech. Seeing his face in its entirety shocked the crowd once again. Ed had a fairly plain face with mixed asian and causian features. The only thing that was surprising was a long 3 inch scar that went diagonally from his left eye, across the nose, and ending at the right corner of his mouth.

Ed: And how old do you think I am?

Ed has always had his half mask on and with his codename, no one really knew who he was and how old he is. He did look and sound young but with his height at 5’10 and skill in battle, they assumed he was in his late teens if not early twenties. After all, he wanted to hide who he was after that incident.

Everyone in the group took a long breath. The consequences of his reveal were slowly dawning on them. Captain was their strongest member with Boar being 2nd which was contested by Ed.They were all C-Class hunters but Captain was 28 and Boar was 25. In fact, they were even more talented than the average person which can be seen by their ability to make and keep a mid-size mercenary group in the black.

Note: Being in the red is bad, being in the black is good in terms of Business

But Ed was almost half of Captain’s age. Even though Captain can beat Ed down during the graduation fight, they were fairly close in combat strength. Even the elites that graduated from Ares College would only be at Ed’s level when they were 19-20 years old.

There were smaller classifications for each of the levels ranging from 1-5 such as D1 being the weakest in D-Class and D5 being the strongest and can even put up a fight for a bit of time with a C1. Both Boar and Ed can be considered to be C2, though Ed is only certified up to C1 on his mercenary licence. Captain was C3, maybe even C4.

Someone with Ed’s strength at his age was extraordinary. He could’ve easily become the top 10 most famous youths of the current generation which was difficult considering the size of the Asian Federation.

The federation made up of all the eastern asian countries prior to the emergence and government structures collapsed. The Federation had just short of 2 billion in population which doesn’t sound much since even China by itself was scratching that milestone pre-emergence. But the emergence caused every country's population to drop. It took 20 years for all the easteran asian countries to even match pre-emergence China. Due to all the deaths that occurred, the average age drastically shifted to the younger demographic. This shows how big the competition is to be in the top 10 for this generation.

Ed: I know what you guys are thinking and don’t worry about it. When I graduate I will come back and be your boss!.

Ed’s word shook the crowd out of their stupor and they all started laughing.

Captain: Hahaha, you cheeky brat, you think we’ll let you over take us that easily? I will whip these boys into shape so you’ll be the weakest when you return!

Ed didn’t say anything and just smiled. He toasted the crowd and went down the platform to join the group in drinking games.

Early next morning, Ed grabbed his belongings and headed out towards his destination, Ares College. He didn’t want to have any more sappy moments and left before the group was able to wake up from their night of heavy drinking.

As Ed walked out, a few eyes opened and saw his departure. They smiled and went back to sleep.