"We'll be going to the 1st year's West Cafeteria. Everyone will have a basic meal provided for free for today's lunch. You guys will have one hour to eat and chat. After that everyone has to regroup on our bus. Any questions." Sarah explained while leading everyone to the bus.
"Do we have to get the basic meal? Can I just use this free basic meal later?" A student questioned.
"You can eat whatever you want, but they will cost you MU Creds. No regular currency will be taken anymore because the school semester has started. And basic meals will only be provided for free for today's lunch, not at a later time."
"So if I got MU Creds, can I go eat anywhere." Another student questioned.
"Like I said, you can eat whatever you want. But if you take longer than an hour to get back to the bus, you'll be getting a failing grade on the next part of the tests."
"What kind of test are we taking after lunch?"
"It's a new one that will be implemented this year. You'll learn more about it after lunch."
Sarah answered all of the questions the group had. Only leaving when the bus arrived at the cafeteria. Disappearing from everyone's sight almost instantly when the doors opened.
"Guess she doesn't like basic meals." Vander jokingly said.
"If I was an instructor in a prestigious university, I would eat something better too." Alice responded.
"True. But we aren't even heroes yet. So let's go get our free lunch." Excited for the free food, Vander and Alice were one of the first to leave the bus.
All the other students followed as well, not wanting to miss the opportunity for free food. As the first person to the cafeteria, Vander didn't have to wait in line. He picked up a tray and went to the first station in the line.
The cafeteria had a total of five different stations: Veggies/Fruits, Appetizers, Entrees, Desserts, and Drinks. With the basic meal, only the common and plain foods were available. The rare mana rich items were unselectable.
The rare foods intrigued Vander, making him wonder how much it would cost. "Excuse me ma'am, how much is a premium meal?" He asked the cafeteria lady that was serving him food.
"One premium meal is 100 MU Creds. This basic meal is only 10 MU Creds." The worker answered.
"Thank you, I will remember it." Vander asked for the price without knowing how valuable the MU Creds were, not having a single MU Cred in his name.
'I have to find out how much MU Creds you get for each class.' He thought while moving on to the next station.
Sitting down, Vander's tray was packed to the brim with meat. A pack of pork baos for the appetizer and a whole ribeye cooked medium rare for the entree. Only a pitcher of water for his drink. He didn't even bother to get veggies or dessert.
"Only meat?" Alice questioned Vanders choice of food.
"My F grade in strength got me thinking… I need more protein. My strength won't be low forever." Vander joyfully answered before filling his mouth full with a pork bun.
"Protein is good. But a balanced diet is better." Alice's tray had food from all stations with a green tea as a drink.
Alice looked back at the food stations, focusing on some of the exotic foods. "I wished we had premium meals though. Glacial Mana Berries, Blazing Bear meat skewers, Golden Bird broth Ramen with moon-thread noodles, Stardust Cloud Cheesecake, and Mana-spring water. All those foods could help us grow and progress so fast." Dreaming of the rare foods the cafeteria offered.
While Alice was dreaming of the special foods, Vander was almost finished with his pork buns. "That does sound good. But I'm still happy with this food."
"You probably just haven't tried those foods yet. Once you do, you'll never be satisfied with normal food again." A student sat down right next to Alice and joined in the conversation.
Realizing that the student who sat down was Bella, the only other student to train their mana.
"I'll keep that in mind. You're Bella right. I'm Vander and this is Alice." Vander introduced himself.
"So have you tried some of those rare foods before? It seems like you know a thing or two about them." Alice questioned.
"One time a few days back. I got treated and it was the best food I ever tasted, and it helped me improve my speed and mana." While Bella was recounting her experience, Alice gave her a weird look. Looking at her strangely for a moment, Alice returned to normal without anyone noticing.
Their table was soon filled up with five more students. Everyone was lining up to sit down at their table.
"Damn everyone wants to sit here huh." Vander looked around at the crowd surrounding the table. Most of the twenty student group tried to sit down at their table.
"Well, who wouldn't want to be acquainted with the strongest student in the group?" Bella said as if it was common sense while looking at Alice.
"No, I can't be. It has to be you. You got a higher mana grade than me. Please tell me how you trained your mana. I still have a long way to go." Alice modestly replied.
"You totally have a higher average grade than me. And I barely did better than you in the mana test. We pretty much had the same grade." Bella was also trying to be humble.
"C'mon, a higher grade is still better. Just tell me how long you've been training your mana." Alice pestered on wanting to know if she trained for a shorter time than Bella.
"Fine. I was able to train less than a week ago with some help. Don't tell anyone I said this, it's a secret." Bella whispered into Alice's ear, not wanting anyone else to hear.
Bella and Alice kept their conversation a secret while whispering. Everyone else was talking while eating, trying to get to know each other. Vander was the only one left out after Bella stopped talking to him.
Seeing Bella and Alice being secretive with their constant whispering, Vander felt like he didn't belong here. The whole table was filled with people that did better than him in almost all the tests. They were better than him by only one grade or two, but this was enough to ignore him while Alice was busy.
'I need to get stronger, so I can be beside Alice.' But this motivated Vander even more. 'At least she's my girlfriend. You losers can ignore me, but not her.'