After a quick soak, he simply exchanged contact information with Gin Dojima and took his leave.
Dressed in a yukata, he headed back toward the rooms assigned to the students at the resort.
The day's assessments were over.
There was no reason to hang around here any longer...
He recalled the Polar Star Dormitory group mentioning a gathering in Marui's room for games tonight. He'd decide whether to join them later.
He began to contemplate his current culinary standing.
He possessed everything Soma Yukihira and Satoshi Isshiki had, Erina Nakiri's God's Tongue, Akira Hayama's innate talent combined with Professor Jun Shiomi's mastery of spices, and whatever he had just gained from Kojiro Shinomiya today...
If he could manage to sign in and get something good from Gin Dojima over the next few days...
Then the only thing left would be to convince the First Seat of the Elite Ten Council to accept his Shokugeki challenge.
Getting Eishi Tsukasa, the First Seat, to agree to a Shokugeki would require a wager commensurate with his rank.
'Should I try provoking him the same way I did with Satoshi Isshiki?'
After all, the guy was only sixteen or seventeen—an age of peak youthful blood and pride. Although his personality was depicted as somewhat frail in the original story, he possessed immense arrogance when it came to cooking.
It was worth a shot.
However, he couldn't pin all his hopes on that one strategy.
Lexon continued walking as he pondered, but he suddenly paused as he approached a corner.
In the next moment, a familiar figure appeared before him.
It was a beautiful young woman in a school uniform—Erina Nakiri.
"You..." Erina hadn't expected anyone to be around the corner and was startled, stumbling back a few steps.
"Yo, Erina," Lexon greeted her.
"Why are you just standing there trying to scare people!" Seeing it was someone she knew, Erina's expression shifted into a cartoonish pout as she complained.
"It was just a coincidence. If I hadn't stopped, we would have collided," Lexon replied casually.
"Oh..." Accepting his explanation without further fuss, Erina instead asked, "Judging by your appearance... you've already finished with the hot springs?"
"Yeah," Lexon nodded. "I'm on my way back to my room."
'So fast...'
Erina couldn't help but feel a sense of shock at his terrifying speed.
She had focused entirely on her cooking and finished her fifty steak sets quite quickly.
She had assumed she would be the first to finish... she never expected her cousin to have already completed the timed assessment and even finished bathing so much earlier than her.
According to his records, he had never even touched the culinary world before...
Furthermore, this morning he had snatched her ingredients and produced a dish that even the Totsuki alumni praised—a dish that made her God's Tongue dance with excitement after just a small taste.
Why?
How could he have reached such a level in such a short amount of time?
Just who exactly was this cousin of hers?
Deep confusion swirled within Erina Nakiri's heart.
"I'm heading out first," Lexon said, having little desire for small talk since he had already used his sign-in for the day.
If he hadn't had that private Shokugeki with Satoshi Isshiki yesterday, he might have used a similar method to challenge her now.
But since he had won against Isshiki and secured a promise to help him challenge an Elite Ten member, there was no longer any need to have a Shokugeki for Erina's Tenth Seat.
Since Satoshi Isshiki held the Seventh Seat, the member he would help challenge would certainly be ranked higher than Erina.
"Wait!" Erina suddenly called out as Lexon tried to pass her.
"What is it?" Lexon stopped and looked at her, puzzled.
"Have a Shokugeki with me." Erina crossed her arms, her eyes fixed intently on him.
"Why?" Lexon asked simply, his expression remaining unchanged despite her sudden declaration.
"Because I'm going to defeat you! I'll prove that I'm better than you!" Erina stared at Lexon, her voice rising.
'So her pride as a genius won't allow her to accept that someone might be more talented,' Lexon thought.
He easily saw through the psychological motivation behind the girl's words.
"And the conditions? What will you put up? What should I put up?" Lexon asked again.
"I will wager my seat on the Elite Ten Council... and as for you... I don't need you to put up anything. I only want a victory against you," Erina responded firmly.
'Definitely a heat-of-the-moment decision,' Lexon concluded internally.
A member of the Elite Ten Council challenging a freshman and wagering their seat while requiring nothing from the freshman was clearly irrational.
If he won, he'd get a seat for free, entering the ranks of the top ten students at Totsuki... and if he lost, nothing would happen.
Agreeing wouldn't actually hurt him.
Lexon weighed the options.
The only thing was... the Tenth Seat wasn't particularly useful.
Seats didn't stack, after all.
Satoshi Isshiki was already helping him set up a challenge... and unless it was against Erina, the seat would likely be higher than hers.
As for the possibility of losing?
That was impossible.
Yesterday, he had managed to crush Satoshi Isshiki even when the latter was serious—and Isshiki's true strength was arguably beyond that of the Seventh Seat.
Combined with the fact that he could sign in with Gin Dojima throughout the training camp...
By the time the Shokugeki with an Elite Ten member actually happened, there was no telling how high his skills would soar.
"Can you help me set up a match with other members of the Elite Ten?" Lexon asked her.
"Huh?" Erina was genuinely blindsided by the question.
She was a member of the Elite Ten wagering her own seat just to get a win over a freshman... and he was actually adding conditions?
Did he already think he had her number?
Was he that certain of victory?
"The higher the seat, the better," Lexon added.
Erina was a member of the Nakiri family... she had to have some leverage.
If she could help him get a match with a high-ranking seat, it would be ideal.
That would make completing the main quest much faster and easier.
"What are you saying?! Me wagering my seat for a Shokugeki with you is already more than enough! You actually want me to set up matches with higher-ranked members?! How is that even possible!" Erina transformed back into her cartoonish, angry persona, her little fang showing as she fumed at Lexon.
"Ah, well..." Lexon trailed off for a moment before responding, "In that case, I refuse."
"What did you say?!" Hearing Lexon's refusal, Erina began stomping her feet in place.
She was offering her seat while he had to lose nothing... and he still rejected her!
By the time Erina snapped out of it and wanted to say more, she realized her cousin had already vanished.
She stomped her foot even harder.
'I am absolutely going to make you accept my Shokugeki! And then I'll make you lose to me!'
In her heart, Erina secretly made this vow.