Path to Transcendence

Of course, she still had her duty. She had made sure to research every location they had visited that day. She didn\'t like surprises, boring was best. Boring is what kept her charge alive.

At the moment, Princess Reinera was disguised as Grace, a first-year enrolled at Goldencrest and Amelia was officially there as a teaching assistant. All at the behest of the headmaster who did it out of respect for the princess\'s privacy and protection. At least that was what they told everyone who asked.

Thankfully, this restaurant was famously known for being backed by some of the most powerful people in the entire region. It arguably, might have been the safest location to eat at in all of Heston.

Of course, she had to jinx it. Because soon after they arrived at the Golden Wheel and started to eat their first course, Amelia spotted an unexpected surprise.

It was the same boy from last night. At first, she thought she was seeing things, but then she noticed that the boy had noticed them as well. They locked eyes for a moment, that seemed to stretch longer than it really was. She saw the matching confusion and surprise coming off of his face, and it seemed genuine as well.

Probably not on purpose that he\'s here then, she assured herself. Most likely, it was just a coincidence.

She took a quick look at the people he was eating with. There were five others, all older than the boy, whose name she still hadn\'t found out. She normally would have investigated last night after their interaction, but she had to deal with planning this last-minute excursion to the city.

The five of his friends were all busy stuffing their faces full, much like the princess next to her. She didn\'t blame any of them either. The bread was mouthwatering good, it was better than many of the things the palace chefs made.

However, just as she was about to return to looking at the black-haired boy, who was now talking to the older girl across from him, she recognized one of the other boys. Tall, blonde hair, and electric blue eyes that almost danced with lightning. There was no doubt, that that was Derek Zenith.

Derek Zenith was the prize jewel of Duke Zenith\'s household. A perfect lightning affinity, was intelligent, poised, and according to all rumors, a very nice young man. A rarity from someone with his pedigree and talent.

Once she recognized Derek she put together who the rest of the table was. Their group was well-known to people who paid attention. Next to the Zenith prodigy, was a pale lean young man. That was most likely Kyle Quincy, a person who was said to become one of the youngest Grand Scholars in the Empire.

On the other side was the girl who the black-haired younger boy was now arguing with. Aubrey Crysalia, the sole daughter of Fiona Crysalia, better known as the Crystal Tyrant. Very talented in her own right, having the perfect crystal affinity inherited from her mother.

Next to her was someone who was in contention, along with Derek to win the entire Intra-School Tournament. Edgar Crow was born a commoner but quickly proved his worth and power within the first year of his enrollment. He didn\'t have a perfect affinity, but he did have something that was more terrifying.

Raw skill and instinct. When it came to hand-to-hand combat, there weren\'t many other students his age in the entire Empire that could touch him. She knew that Derek was technically stronger according to rumors, but if she had to choose someone to bring into battle with her, someone like Edgar Crow would be her choice without a doubt.

Then on the other side of the younger boy, sat someone Amelia was very aware of by pure reputation. Lily Violet was the next head of House Violet, there was no doubt to anyone who paid attention. Even her father knew and encouraged it. Just this last summer, Amelia had heard the news of the young psychic negotiating several new deals with many powerful groups, vastly expanding their already large holdings all by herself.

Putting aside that she was the inheritor of one of the most wealthy families on the continent, she was a prodigy in her own right. While not suited for direct combat, Amelia would say that she was potentially the most dangerous out of their entire group. Everyone knew how scary a decent psychic was, but one of the best in her generation? That was downright horrifying.

And then there was the insolent cake boy. Who the hell was the cake boy to be hanging around with the group who would grow up to become some of the most influential people in the entire Empire? It didn\'t make sense.

It almost made her angry in some ways. Many people have tried to join their close-knit group, but have all failed. Where did he go right where others went wrong, to be sitting next to them eating and even arguing with them like they were old friends?

She was lost in her own head when she spotted Aubrey Crysalia get up from her seat and head in their direction. Amelia immediately went on guard, wondering what the girl could want with them.

The tall brunette walked up to their table with a friendly smile and looked at Reinera who was still eating her bread with great enthusiasm. "Heya! I\'m Aubrey and I came over because Julius mentioned that he shared some cake with you the other night."

Reinera ripped her head away from her bread and took in the tall girl who had approached them. She was clearly taken aback and didn\'t know what to do. "Pardon?"

"Julius said that he shared some cake with you last night and I was wondering if you wanted to join us at our table," the girl asked with a smile.

Reinera looked around and spotted the same young black-haired boy from last night sitting at a distant table with both hands on his face, clearly embarrassed. However, she could recognize his hair as well as the fact that the girl mentioned cake. There was only one person who she ate cake with last night.

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After a moment, she finally turned to look at the older girl. "You want me to sit with you guys?" She asked, confused at the offer.

"Yeah, why not? You guys seem to just be getting started, we can wait until you guys catch up. It\'s not like we are going to get full anytime soon," she said with a chuckle.

Princess Reinera took a few moments to mull it over and then turned to Amelia with a pleading look. "Can we?"

Amelia frowned, she didn\'t know why Reinera had wanted to join them so badly. Amelia was pretty sure that she had no idea who the group was and who the person she was talking to was. Reinera made a conscious effort to not pay attention to who the important people were.

It was a tricky situation. If it was anyone else she would have denied them right out of the gate. However, she was very hesitant to decline this group. Offending the future scions of several great houses was not a smart idea.

It was also potentially very beneficial for the princess. Becoming friends with this group could garner more political clout than she could hope for. It was a big reason why Amelia had supported her coming to Heston.

Finally, Amelia looked at Reinera and reluctantly nodded her head.

Julius POV

He couldn\'t believe that she really just did that. However, what was more unbelievable was that the two girls said yes. Why would they say yes?

However, a more scary factor came to mind. Did she think he had more cake? Was she there to ask for more?

Admittedly, he did have another cake stored away in his ring, but that was beside the point. He didn\'t understand why they were coming over. He wanted nothing more than to have Aubrey all alone in a training room, just so he could give her a much-deserved thrashing. He was furious, but tried to hide it well.

"Hey guys, I invited these two over if that\'s okay," Aubrey said with a smug smile directed at Julius.

He just glared at her, promising retribution at some point.

The young girl with black hair gave a very elegant bow. "Hello, my name is Grace," she introduced herself before turning to her friend. "This here is Amelia. I know that your friend Aubrey said it was okay for us to join you guys, but if it\'s not, then I completely understand." She was clearly nervous, fidgeting with both of her hands on the hem of her dress.

Lily was the first one from their group to respond. "I don\'t mind, I don\'t know about the others though." She looked over at the rest of them and all of them except for Julius nodded or shrugged their shoulders. They didn\'t care, they were too focused on their meal. She turned to look at Julius with a sympathetic smile. He knew that she could feel his frustration with her abilities.

Grace had a grateful smile on her face. "Thank you," said said sincerely.

The waiter who had been constantly keeping an eye over them for the entirety of the meal, was already taking another two chairs out of his storage device and placed them right next to Aubrey. Julius was realizing that this man was annoyingly good at his job.

The first few minutes were awkward, to say the least. Julius realized that there was no stopping it now since it had already happened. He would just need to go with the flow.

That was the reason why he put his full attention back to his fifth serving of delicious bread. Since they were going to eat with the two newcomers, they were going to have to put their next course on hold until the other two caught up with them. Just another reason why Julius hadn\'t wanted them to join them.

Thankfully, it didn\'t bother him too much. He was having a great time just shoving food down his mouth and didn\'t feel like socializing with the girls who ate his cake last night.

So in the meantime, he would just have to be satisfied with his unlimited bread.

"So Grace I heard that you stole Julius\'s cake last night," Aubrey said to the girl next to her in a conspiratory tone.

The girl, Grace, whipped her head to look at Julius with surprise. "He said that?"

"Yep, he even said you practically threatened to beat him up for it," Aubrey said accusingly.

"I did not!" Grace denied it wholeheartedly.

"Stop it, Aubrey," Edgar said disapprovingly from the side. "You already invited her, no need to tease the both of them."

What he left unsaid was that she shouldn\'t push it after she had invited them over against Julius\'s wishes. However, she knew Edgar enough to know what he was talking about.

Julius made sure to give Edgar a grateful nod, he could always count on the big man. Well, almost all the time. If it involved an angry Lily, Edgar usually was nowhere to be seen.

"Sorry," Aubrey said with a giggle. "I just wanted to lighten the mood."

Grace seemed to understand that Aubrey was just lying to rile her up and she got a little red in the face. Julius spotted her invisible friend Amelia\'s lips turn down in disapproval.

"That is actually a big reason why I accepted your invitation," Grace said abruptly to Aubrey, before turning to Julius. "We went all around town today, stopping in every bakery we found but we weren\'t able to find the place where you got the cake," she said dissapointedly.

Julius took the time to chew the bread in his mouth before responding. "And you want me to tell you where I got it, yeah?"

She nodded her head vigorously.

"What do I get in return?" He asked her.

"Pardon?" She questioned.

Julius sensed the Amelia girl gripping her leg hard underneath the table with [Spatial Perception]. He had a feeling that she didn\'t like him very much or the way he was talking to Grace. However, the girl herself didn\'t seem to mind, so he didn\'t care too much about it.

"Well you still owe me for the cake, and now you want me to give up my secret cake supplier?" He asked in mock offense.

She seemed to contemplate his words seriously for a few moments. "What do you have in mind for exchange?"

"I don\'t know, I was thinking about a favor I could cash in at a later time. How does that sound?" Julius asked. He saw her think about his offer with an amused grin on her face.

"A favor of equal exchange?" She asked for clarification.

"Of course. I won\'t be asking you to beat up a bunch of annoying nobles or anything like that if that\'s what you\'re asking."

She instantly relaxed. "Oh, that\'s fine then. Okay, a favor in exchange for the knowledge of the bakery." She reached over the table, offering her hand. Julius smiled and stood up, reaching across and giving it a nice firm shake.

"That might be why you couldn\'t find it," he told her once he sat back down.

"What do you mean?" She asked confused.

"It\'s not technically a bakery," Julius chuckled at the face she made when she heard that. He then told her the location of the shop. It was actually a small clothing shop that Julius had gone to with Declan and his family that one weekend. The owner of the shop just so happened to bake some of the best cakes he\'s ever had. Julius had made sure to go back there afterward to buy some cakes from her.

He had to admit, he enjoyed the frustrated look on both of the women\'s faces after he told them. It seemed like the two of them had really spent a lot of time searching for the place where he bought the cake.