Lucas and Karen were pleasantly surprised by the positive reply, they were expecting him to say something snarky like he did when speaking to the teacher, but oddly enough it didn't make them feel any better in fact it made them start to fear what he had planned for lunch the next day.
On his way out more than one of his classmates asked to join him for lunch, and before he left, he found that his lunch breaks for the next week were already filled up, the reason he agreed to all of it was because of his meeting with Edith and Tobias in the morning.
With that confirmation he came to understand just how important his class would be to him throughout his entire journey as a prince candidate, and that it would affect his entire future, it was ironic how much of his life was already planned for by the Clovis empire.
From the moment someone dawned the title of candidate it could be said that their lives no longer belonged to them alone.
For the morning he only had the simple classes that require him to study but not much else, when lunch time arrived, he was one of the first in the cafeteria, and it was magnificent, a proper class cafeteria that served both affordable meals and expensive meals, customers choice as they say.
Along the wall there were many special rooms that people could book in advance to enjoy their meals, every room had plenty of space and a single glass wall could be transparent if you don't mind people watching and it could turn opaque to block out the eyes of others.
He, however, wasn't heading to the special rooms on the edge of the cafeteria but rather to its centre, there he found the room that can only be used by candidates exclusively.
He walked into a cosy room with a hearth releasing a live fire in the centre, and several comfy sofas and a table, it was made for a maximum of ten occupants to enjoy.
He went to seven of the pads and ordered a deluxe meal, it was a full 3-course meal, that allowed you to choose whatever you like, when the others arrived, they would be free to choose what they wished to eat.
Not a minute passed and Tobias walked in, Lirian sighed in envy as he saw those thick orc muscles that dwarfed his waist, and jumped onto his couch and stretched himself across it, he had no intention of humiliating himself by letting his short legs dangle in the air while the others could sit with their feet touching the ground.
Tobias took a seat and when he noticed that it was a deluxe meal, he simply swiped and chose his food of choice, when Edith entered, she looked at the meal options and gave Lirian a simple nod of approval but said nothing.
The same went for Media a green-haired girl from one of the fairy races, and Wentian a 13-year-old boy with sharp features and long hair tied in a ponytail, they only looked at him curiously but said nothing else.
Finally, Cole came in and nodded his head in gratitude when he saw the meal, Lirian looked at the gold stud in his right ear, it was all he needed to identify a self-declared candidate, unlike the rest of them he came from a common background and even spending a single credit wasn't easy for him.
"I think we should start, I'm sure Indra will force her way in at some point but she doesn't belong here yet so it doesn't matter if we begin without her," said Edith already excluding the last candidate before she even arrived.
"Speaking of people that don't belong here yet," Wentian spoke and looked to Lirian, "I get that as the empress's son he has a higher value, but it still breaks the rules to bring him in now," he said with a grievance, it took him two years before he could get into the candidates' meetings and he wasn't happy about a newcomer taking a seat on his second day in the school.
Lirian looked around curiously and took a sip from his berry blast drink that just came up through the floor, "I've heard many rumours about you being a genius, amongst others," said Media her voice soft and slightly squeaky, ", so I doubt it will take you more than a year to figure out the first secret, but until then I agree with Wentian you don't belong here yet," she said.
"Rumours?", Lirian said with a faint smile, after hearing her mention the first secret he realised that it was a test to determine if a candidate was worthy to speak to other candidates on equal ground and he knew that he already passed that test so he didn't waste his time frowning.
"Could you please tell me about these rumours, I always love to learn about myself from other sources," he chuckled and gave her a smile.
He noticed that all the candidates seemed to have a bit of a more mature vibe about them, but still, Media was only a 12-year-old girl and she couldn't stop her face from blushing a green colour when Lirian smiled at her, "There is one about you being a destroyer of sacred fountains, apparently the number of fountain replacements and repairs from the empress's manor has single-handedly revived the water fountain industry.
Lirian looked away and whistled softly, he didn't realise that such rumours had spread, "Is it true?" Tobias asked with a silly grin on his face as he sipped on his drink.
"I will not confirm nor deny any such accusations," he said while avoiding eye contact and all of them chuckled at him.
"Sir Lirian I hope that you do not think me rude for saying this, but I'm afraid that I must agree with Wentian and Media on this, you do not belong here yet," Cole spoke very respectfully as a self-declared he knew that he didn't have any backing and had to tread carefully, but he still couldn't allow the first rule to be broken because of someone's status.
Lirian chuckled softly and smiled, "No need to be so respectful, I understand what you're saying, so let's not beat around the bush, you need only ask Edith and Tobias if I belong here."
The three of them quickly looked between Edith and Tobias and were surprised to see the two of them looking at Lirian with amused smiles.
Tobias gulped down his drink and gave a hearty laugh, "Honestly Media, the rumours about Lirian being a genius are not bullshit, this morning he gave Edith and I the mother of all heart attacks, honestly I can still barely believe it, it took Edith seven months to figure it out and the senior candidates at the time were in disbelief at how fast she put the pieces together."
The three of them were in a state of disbelief as they heard Tobias confirming what Lirian had implied, it was something that Cole had taken almost two whole years to figure out, Media had taken a little over a year, Tobias was actually considered very fast by learning the secret in nine months but sadly for him Edith was in the same year as him and her accomplishment towered over his.
Edith leaned forward on her sofa and looked at Lirian intently, "Although Lirian I am curious could you tell us how you figured out the first secret so quickly." she couldn't hide her eagerness as she spoke.
"Gladly," he answered with a smile, ", but first I would like to ask all of you to do something for me.", they all nodded eagerly to hear the method of a true genius.
Lirian opened his watch and sent a packet of data to each of them, "As all of you can see there is a list names in the data I sent, Cole has 17, Media, Wentian, Edith and Tobias have 16 names each."
They were all frowning slightly as they read through the names, every single one was familiar to them, because the family names belonged to people from their class, but they found it strange that no first names were on the list.
Tobias and Edith frowned slightly as they looked through the names, they both found exactly 16 names in the list that matched with the family names in their class and not one name overlapped with each other, "What is the meaning of this?" she asked with a frown, "Why are there no first names on the list and also how do you know our class registers, all that information is strictly classified?", due to the high profiles of every member in the school most information on them is kept locked down because if such intel got out it would be easy for people to target the students of wealthy families to earn a quick ransom.
"Oh, I don't know your class registers at all, I simply took an educated guess of which families have placed their children in your classes," he answered with a smile.
"A guess," said Cole with incredulity, "How is something so accurate a guess?"
"I do recall saying an educated guess," he chuckled, "It's actually something very simple, I swear that you'll kick yourselves in the butt for not figuring it out sooner."
"Stop beating around the bush and just tell us," cried Wentian, he was unable to hold back his curiosity any further.
"Okay fine," he said reluctantly, "I followed the money."