"And I’m guessing you know more about tomorrow’s exam than you are letting on."

From behind, Kaelen tugged on Lyria’s sleeve, gesturing for her to lean down.

The shorty whispered something in her ear for a few seconds. A sharp, calculating grin slowly spread across Lyria’s face. Straightening up, she snapped her fan open with her usual aristocratic grace.

"Lucian Valemont..."

"Hmm, yeah?"

Why the sudden shift in tone? Lucian narrowed his eyes slightly. Whatever Kaelen just told her, she is trying to secure an advantage before spilling it.

"You know it has already been announced that tomorrow’s expedition requires a six student party, and it doesn’t matter if the students are from the same academy or not."

"Yeah, I know. That’s exactly why we’re here to form an allian—"

She interrupted before he could say." Yes, You are right. We can form an alliance."

She paused.

"Though only the top 24 students will advance to the final exam. and my little friend here just informed me that some of the top prodigies from the other academies have already formed their teams."

Lucian stayed quiet for a second. "So what are you trying to imply?"

"Just this. The top 4 prodigies of Astraviel Academy... Elira Frostviel. Cassian Brightmore. Seraphina Ashenblade. And you, Mister Valemont." Lyria smiled slyly.

"If any three of you agree to team up with us right now, only then will I share the next piece of information."

Without any hesitation, Lucian answered.

"Alright."

"What?!"

"I said yes. Including myself, Sera, and Elira can form an alliance with you. I mean, Kaelen has helped us so much already so I have no reason to doubt you."

She let out a low chuckle.

Lyria was not at any disadvantage either. She was well aware of the fact of what kind of schemer Lucian is, thus, seeing the total lack of hesitation in his voice, he had already managed to secure her trust.

"Okay then, it’s a deal." She closed her fan and brought it near her mouth.

Lucian smiled as lyria continued.

"So, listen—"

"Wait."

Elira interrupted.

Everyone turned to look at the silver-haired girl, who was pointing at Cassian — still kneeling in the water with his face submerged, somehow still holding his breath god-knows-how like a corpse.

"What about him?

If he hears this, he could give an advantage to whatever team he ends up on..."

Kaelen raised his hand nervously.

"Umm... I know some sound magic that could temporarily make him deaf for a—"

"Do it! Do it now!" Sera cut him off before he could even finish.

Just then, Cassian lifted his head from the water and shot a lethal glare straight at Kaelen.

"Eek—!"

Seeing the situation about to escalate, Lucian smoothly took control. Tracing his finger behind his back, he shot a telepathic message straight into Aria’s mind...

Aria, can you control this puppy for a bit?

Aria lifted her head, returning Lucian’s smile with a gentle nod. She slowly raised her hand, gesturing for Cassian to come closer.

He instantly jumped up and rushed to her side.

"Aria, did you—"

Suddenly, Iris took over.

SMACK!

A sharp slap echoed across the cave. Cassian brought both hands to his cheek like a scolded child with his eyes wide in disbelief.

"Whatever the small one is doing, let him do it," Iris commanded, her tone entirely different from Aria’s usual soft voice.

Nodding obediently, Cassian quietly sat right back down in the shallow water.

Fwip!

Kaelen quickly cast his spell and scurried back behind Lyria before Cassian could even think of glaring at him again.

Iris flashed a wicked grin at Lucian.

"Should I do more—?"

"No. You may go to sleep now, Iris."

"My love, will you stay with me tonight?"

Lucian gulped and forced an awkward smile.

"Hah... sure."

Dammit. Fooling Iris is practically impossible, he cursed himself.

How could I forget she could just hijack the body before I even got the chance to ask Aria for help? Absolute disaster. God only knows what she’s going to put me through tonight...

Exhaling a quiet, defeated sigh, Lucian pushed the thoughts away for now, forcing his mind to go silent... at least for the moment.

After that, Iris relinquished control, Iris let Aria take back over.

Now that the ’golden boy’ was effectively deafened and out of the picture, Lyria gracefully opened her fan and began her explanation.

Let’s review the board now, shall we?

The first pair: Zenith Korr, the undefeated prodigy, alongside Viktor Ashford, their walking fortress. Quite the headache.

Then, the brutes from Blood-Oak: Eryx Valmer, the berserker, and Isla Fenrir, the beast tamer. Predictably violent.

And the third pair..." She wrinkled her nose slightly.

"Nyx Verya, the shadow mage, and Riven Duskfall, a corpse manipulator. Black-Mire’s finest creeps. I suppose we have our work cut out for us.

"For now, these are the pairs we need to keep an eye on. They are quite the strong competitors though among them, the strongest are Zenith Eryx and Nyx. All three have reached the ’Mana Stage Flow’, and their combat power is over 40,000."

By now, Lucian knew that top prodigies had some decent talent. After hearing these details, he didn’t expect much. He was already near 62,000 CP. So compared to them, he was pretty confident in his skills.

Lucian stayed silent for a moment.

40,000 combat power with Mana Stage Flow... not bad.

He swept his gaze over his own group one more time.

Still, I have a pretty strong team. No need to overthink and burn myself out.

He turned his gaze back to Lyria with a relaxed smile.

"Alright, I’ve memorized the names. Are there any solo hidden prodigies?"

She shook her head.

"According to my intel, these are the only names for now. But you should assume that whoever pairs up with them won’t be ordinary either. Everyone teaming up with strong prodigies will also be strong, so we will have to be cautious around their partners too"

She paused.

"Umm..." Kaelen chimed in nervously from behind Lyria. "And... the expedition is going to be in the Nether Dungeon..."

"What?!" Sera’s eyes gleamed with absolute shock the moment she heard the name of that dungeon.