As Alex had thought, he found it hard to mingle with others.
When students entered first, there would be a brief introduction and they would form groups after knowing each other.
His class consists of fallen nobles, commoners, Princes and nobles from Kingdoms and nobles' children from the capital.
Alex felt that he was on probation period where each move was observed with a hostile gaze aimed at him.
But sadly, Alex cannot blame them cause befriending him may either turn out to be good or bad and there is no between.
If one day, it turns out that the Prince and Emperor don't favour him and he doesn't have any power to even defend himself then all of them who had a connection with him would suffer.
So, all of them seemed to be evaluating him behind the scenes.
Being an Imperial Prince was sure hard. Even though he was disowned, he still had to go through all these troublesome things.
Alex could already discern a grand event that might be coming and many would decide after watching his performance.
Alex only hoped that his annoying brothers wouldn't interfere in his life and pull strings from behind but he knew there must be at least one among four princes who might be itching to provoke him.
And who that unlucky one would be, only time will tell.
The residence of boys seemed to always be teeming with life.
Some put their utmost focus on improving themselves while some could be seen lazing around enjoying the academy life as if it was a holiday spot.
Spending some free time, as usual, Alex tried to read the books to get himself familiar with the subjects.
He refurbished his outdated knowledge and looked at the new magical theories. The world was moving forward and new ideas were popping out every day.
Alex was recently studying the theory put forward by a magical scholar about making a mana core which pulled Alex's interest greatly.
As he has already spoken previously, while humans have vessels, beasts and monsters have magical cores.
This person came out with a theory. Some humans were born with clogged vessels in which mana couldn't be channelised or some people's vessels are severed, turning them into cripples.
For them, the scholar was trying to find a way to form a magical core in human beings. This was currently a proposal that was put forward which needs to be tested and discussed until one could prove it.
Alex thought about the matter greatly and wondered if he could do it. If a core can be formed then at which place?
Was it in the organ of the human body or internal space where tissue fluid flows?
After reading the idea, Alex thought that he could gather mana at a spot but will it take shape as a core, he didn't know about it.
The core was similar to an engine which would make the body run and supplement with mana.
"Core is an engine...." Alex's eyes glowed for a moment.
"Isn't the heart also an engine...Than Mana's heart?"
Alex could feel that he was getting somewhere.
Since his heart is a storehouse of mana, if he can form a core there to increase its efficiency wouldn't that mean, he could upgrade his mana heart?
Grumble...Grumble...
Alex was snapped out of his thoughts by his stomach crying for food.
It was an interesting theory, one that never seemed to end. After immersing himself in knowledge, he began to feel hunger.
"I will come on it later. Let's stuff the food into mini Alex"
Treading on the sturdy flight of stairs carefully, he descended slowly. It was empty and everyone seemed to be crammed in the dining hall of the cafeteria at this time.
Alex entered the separate canteen building. It had three floors.
The lower one consists of free food while the upper floors consist of reserved rooms where you can book the place and have your own space and can order all kinds of delicacies with money.
The haughty ones usually took the reserved room as they can't bring themselves to sit with everyone.
Alex took the food tray and a glass of coffee and found an empty bench.
The hostile gazes seemed to go down. Most of them were due to Riya and he had pulled an aggro as soon as he entered.
Some resigned to fate whereas some were desperately clinging to a chance.
Riya can be crowned as Goddess of Beauty though there may be some competition coming from Athena so many were not willing to go down without taking a chance
He looked around towards the group of girls and couldn't find Riya.
Both of them usually meet during eating hours but Alex's timing was becoming irregular as he was getting more and more immersed in the books forgetting the meeting hours.
'Next time, I should just ask Riya to knock on my door when she comes to eat.'
Alex took a bite of the sandwich and lifted his chin to see Riya entering the room.
Seeing her Alex finally sighed in relief and took a sip of coffee.
Riya waved her hand seeing Alex who gave a brief nod, she was about to go into the line for food when noticed someone walking towards her.
"Miss Riya, can you grace me with a little bit of your time?"
"I wanted to exchange some friendly greetings with you and get to know each other."
An expression of disbelief showed on everyone's face and the place erupted into chaos hoping to see an enjoyable scene.
The person who came for Riya was Joey, he was the heir and only son of the Marquise household.
"Sorry, I have to ask the Lord about it," Riya said with a nonchalant expression.
Joey's brows furrowed and he spoke"Miss Riya, seeing you calling him by the honorific, I guess you are forced to obey him."
"I, Joey, am a humble man. I can't tolerate anyone who is using his authority to bully weaklings. Only spineless cowards use their authority. If you want, you can seek my help."Joey spoke with a sincere expression.
Since Alex's senses had always been sharpened by magic, he was able to peak a bit of their conversion.
" Pffffff!"
Alex spurted the coffee and coughed violently.
'Bully, weak..authority.Kid, if this girl went out of control even your daddy would be crushed like paddy in the grinder.'
Alex stared at the wolf that was trying to tantalise his wife with a ferocious gaze.
Riya can be said to be an epitome of beauty and she was still growing. Alex knew that it was too much for these young horns to bear and many would have a hormonal imbalance with just a look at her.
God was indeed not fair. On top of her enchanting beauty, Riya's aura was enough to attract everyone.
Let alone boys, Alex feared that even some girls might be charmed by her and this was too much.
If Riya was a shrewd girl who knew a bit of acting the whole academy might be wrecked by her.
Riya stubbornly refused Joey and didn't even spare a glance at him who looked quite helpless which pulled great empathy from others.
While leaving, Joey's gaze landed on Alex and a cruel smile appeared on his face.
Alex could naturally see malicious intent in his eyes.
And the very next day, during the physical Magic class, Joey challenged Alex.
