Yuan was once again sitting inside one of the luxurious carriages that the Third Princess provided for him and his classmates. And joining him in the carriage were the same people as last time: Jacob Atwel, Alaine Reuyan, and Daniella Asignar.

They were currently leaving Lionfang Academy and heading back to the castle, as they were suddenly notified that the king wanted to have an audience with them through lunch.

During their carriage ride it was bound to be quite bubbly, as one of its passengers couldn't refrain himself from opening his mouth for more than two seconds. 

“Hey, did you guys successfully refine mana? Because I know did!” Jacob smilingly stated with a proud look on his face. 

“Yeah I did, and I got this really weird feeling from it. If I had to describe it, it felt like I was bathing in warm spring water.”

“I had a similar feeling… it was surprisingly refreshing.”

Both of the girls answered him–one was softly-spoken while the other gave a terse response.

“Hahaha! Same, same. And what about you Yuan? Oh, I guess you failed, huh~" Jacob goaded him into joining their conversation. 

"Ahuh..."

"Since you aren't answering, then it must be true!” Jacob put on an understanding expression, as if he was suddenly enlightened. 

“Heh, really now~ If you could do it, then all the more reason that I can! And besides, I've always been one step ahead of you guys.”

After saying that, Yuan casually flipped his palm. Then suddenly, the air instantly stirred in response and started gathering onto his palm, condensing into a tiny blade of wind.

“Hot damn son!”

“You're as impressive as always, President.”

“.....”

Jacob was utterly dumbfounded, and Alaine directly praised him, while Daniella stared at him in a daze.

“...How did you do that?” Daniella couldn't help but ask. 

“It's a secret, but never mind that." Yuan flicked his wrist and made the tiny blade of wind disperse. "More importantly, I want you guys to go to my room tonight after dinner.”

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“And, why should we?” Daniella pouted, obviously not happy about him refusing to answer her question.

“Didn't Alaine say that you girls wanted to talk to me about something?”

Alaine cutely tilted her head to the side while slightly squinting her eyes, as she tried to recall if she ever said something like that.

“Hmm... Oh yeah, I remember now!"

She was suddenly reminded of that time at the castle, when they were boarding the carriages to head to the Capital. After remembering it now, Alaine wore a sheepish expression as she scratched her cheeks adorably. 

"Sorry about that... It's because I was so distracted by the sceneries during the carriage ride that it totally slipped my mind.”

“It's fine, but let's have that conversation in my room tonight.”

“Wouldn't it be better if we just have it here, right now?”

“No. I want all four of us to have a serious discussion, so let's have it privately at my room, okay?”

It was apparent that he really wanted them to come to his room tonight, so they had no choice but to agree since he asked them so sternly.

"Don't worry President, we'll be sure to come to you after dinner."

"Thank you, Alaine." Yuan put away his tough visage and replaced it with a grateful smile.

...

When they finally arrived back at the castle, Yuan and his classmates were immediately led by a servant to the dining hall. And as they entered the hall, they were greeted to a sumptuous feast by the king and his numerous guards.

"Ah, good. You've finally arrived, Heroes."

The king sat at the only middle seat of the long table filled with delicious delicacies of every kind.

"Hurry and take your seats, all of you." he gestured to them with his hand.

And the group of high school students silently obliged. They each took their own seats and sat down, but none of them touched the food yet as they awaited for the host to start.

"Please, go on and help yourselves to the meal." The king spoke with a kind smile.

And so, they partook of the food and madly ate until their hunger was fully satiated. Yuan's classmates didn't know why but when they saw the various foods placed on the table, they were instantly overcome by extreme hunger like they hadn't eaten for weeks.

All of them devoured the entire menu and only stopped when there wasn't any bread left to eat, or a single soup left to drink. The long table was literally wiped clean by a pack of teenagers.

"Hahaha! Good, I see that all of you are finally satisfied. Then let us proceed to the part of why I called you here." The old king tapped on the table while continuing to say, "I plan to set up a banquet next week, and I will have all the nobles and officials of the kingdom attend. The purpose of this gathering is to tell the people that valiant Heroes who will save Imahen has come to help."

Pausing for a second, the aged king held his wine glass and slowly started mixing it before taking a sip.

"As you can tell this is a very important event for you Heroes, because you will be officially introduced to the whole world. Information travels quite fast you see, and spies are bound to spread the good news to every single influential figure residing in different kingdoms, nations and empires.

"And when that time comes, the entirety of Imahen will know of your existence. The common people will surely rejoice and be happy that real Heroes has come to save them from the claws of those demonic beasts."

The old king gave a hearty laughter, as his face wrinkled and crumpled into an ugly mess that made it unbearable to watch; the mere sight of him disgusted Yuan to no end. 

"That's all I wanted to say. You may now take your leave and go do whatever it is that you have planned for today."

And with the conclusion of the king's long speech, the meeting came to a conclusion.