Wu woke up surrounded by the girls, and it all felt too good to be true. However, that was when he noticed the sky above, instead of seeing the grimy ceiling of his own bedroom.

So yeah...that happened. As Lera rushed forward and hugged her arms around him, Ver let out a sigh of relief as Ita jumped onto his lap and slammed her fists into his stomach. The fabric underneath him felt hard and tight, and it appeared that he's lying in a cot right in the middle of the Ville college courtyard.

"So...how long was I out?" Wu threw out the must-ask question, and Ver shrugged lightly before speaking.

"A day or so." Ver said, "A lot has happened as you slept, Mr Savior."

"Why do you keep calling him that?!" Ita looked over at Ver, though the latter only smiled mysteriously and leaned back, "Anyway...we have settled with an agreement with Lily and Charlie about what happens next, and..."

Lera and Ita! That's right...now that Wu has lost the battle, what's she going to do?

"In exchange for my return here, Lera will be treated justly and fairly." Charlie said as he slowly and gingerly walked out of the door, "You bastard...I can't even breathe properly anymore..."

"Serves you right!" Ita shot back, "Get your ass back to your room!"

"...Yes...ma'am." Charlie's face darkened, and he turned around obediently.

"...Huh." Wu tilted his head before looking at Ita who placed her hands on her tiny hips and wiggled closer past Lera, her legs rubbing over his ribs, "How did..."

"Don't forget, I am still the boss here." Ita said, lowering her voice for the latter half, "Lily's also mad at Charlie, so she asked me to keep him in line too, again, in exchange for Lera living well at Illiol."

"Thank god..." Wu said when Lera reached towards him and held his hand. He returned the gesture and lightly squeezed it, "Lera, what do you..."

"I am sorry!" Lera said, her head lowered and her eyes avoiding him, "We tried to negotiate for you, but..."

"But your expulsion was the only non-negotiable. Khan has to uphold the rules." Ver said, taking over for Lera as she fell deeper into silence, "As expected."

"That's shit." Wu placed her hand around Ita's stomach and lifted her off him, then he stood up and stretched his arms, "I still have unfinished...I mean, unstarted business here..."

Lera looked at Wu, and she knew exactly what he's talking about. The true reasons that they are here in this very Academy is to investigate the organization known as PORA, which is rumoured to have originated within the Academy. However, both of them had been so pre-occupied with just staying afloat in the day-to-day thanks to Lily and Charlie that they had made absolutely no progress towards their actual mission.

"This is not the end for you." Ita said, gesturing downwards at the forest down below, "Expulsion from the Academy isn't exactly the rarest of events, and I have heard about how people can stick around by...camping around."

"Seriously?" Wu chucked, "So the Infinite Academy also possesses Oxford's homelessness problem? Bet..."

"Or you could come stay with me." Ver offered, "Coln College is pretty relaxed with who we bring back."

If Wu had taken Ver's offer, what would Lera have felt? He wondered before his gaze slowly moved towards her.

"Lera said she will be okay if you came with me." Ver added, as Lera kept her lips shut almost as a form of self-punishment.

"But if I stayed with you, what sort of freedom of movement will I have?"

"...not that much." Ver admitted. Without the identity Cast that is used to access anything within the buildings, Wu would have been nothing more than a prisoner. And he had been one for the longest time already.

"Then...I will take the option of being a Dweller." Wu smiled, "Not exactly a stranger to camping at this rate, haha..."

"I thought you would say something like that." Ver said, "Then...let's go."

Ita stayed behind behind in Ville College as Ver, Lera, and Wu lifted off with Ver's chariot. Though Ita promised to come visit him every once in a while and gave him a long clingy hug before he left.

The part of the woods right beneath the various floating college structures are often used as impromptu training grounds and gardens, though the floating island that the Infinite Academy is built on is actually far bigger than the areas actually occupied by the academy structures, so there are plenty of room for countless of the College-less people to stick around.

Thanks to the location of Ville college being close to the edge of the artificial island, Wu, Lera, and Ver was able to set up a small little camp right up in the corner, nearing the edge of it all. Everything felt like De javu as Wu laid out his 'bed' and a small working area while Lera helped him construct a perimeter.

"Ah...fresh fruits and a small stream..." Wu smiled, squatting down and tasting the water running through the rocks briefly, "To be honest, this isn't that bad..."

"...Take this and take care of it." Lera said, handing Wu a communication Cast again, "Call me every day, okay? You can power it with your gauntlet too."

"I will." Wu said, packing up as Ver straightened up after clearing away a small opening in the woods and started setting up the wooden fences. After a little bit of clever architecture, Wu's new home evolved into a quirkly little home. He got his own lab, his own room, garden and some other shit...It really isn't too different to his living conditions throughout the most of last season.

"Alrighty." Ver said, turning to face Lera and Wu, "You ready to tell me what your true goals of being here is, or should I keep waiting?"

"It's about the PORA." Wu said, "The group behind political instabilities and strange military movements on the Eastern continent and the Inverted Questions within Varous."

"Huh." Ver tilted her head, "And they are here?"

"Supposedly so." Lera said, "The twin generals of Varous told us that there are clues that they might have even originated from here..."

"I will look into it." Ver nodded, "I have a few network I can poke around in. But...I don't recall any mentions of PORA in the Ethereal realm, at least not to my knowledge."

"If that's the way they operate, I wouldn't be surprised." Wu said, and Ver looked at him closely before slowly nodding. In that case, that adds another layer to the Ethereal tournament in a few years time.

"And I will go around to the libraries to see if there is any clues in the history books." Lera added.

"I will see if any of the college-less people around has any ideas...Alongside dealing with PORA, we also need to get stronger." Wu said, taking off the gauntlet and putting it on the table in front of him, "The gauntlet had been serving me well, but...it's clear that it's not enough."

"So what are you going to do?" Lera asked.

"...If you wouldn't mind," Wu said, "Could you borrow a few of the Cast-making books from the library, some Cast-making ink and other materials? I have a few ideas to test."

Lera nodded. She's glad that Wu's still dependent on her, at least to some extent.

"I am going to get stronger too." Lera continued as she thought about the professors that taught Casters in one of her classes that she couldn't finish because of the shit going on with Lily Watts. Then, she looked towards Ver before bowing her head suddenly, "Please spar with me when you can!"

"You don't have to ask. However..." Ver scratched the back of her head and looked away, "I am doing this for Wu's sake. Don't you dare cause us any more trouble!"

"I won't!" Lera said, smiling, "For the next little while at least."

Then, Lera and Ver departed for the floating network of Infinite Academy again, leaving Wu behind in his little camp as he leaned back and sat back down onto his bed made of dry grass and leaves with a soft blanket covering over it. That was when he heard a rustling sound coming from right outside of his tent, and as he turned and looked, he saw the head of a human male over the ground.

"AHHHH!" Wu screamed and flew up into the air as his reactions also caused the owner of the head to jump. He floated up through the soil and puts both of his muddy hands forward to try to calm him down.

"Please calm down!" The man had a strange twirly accent, emphasizing the dissonants in the language, and his big forehead and patches of mud all over it and making his green eyes pop in terms of colour contrast. His skin was dark and he had a flat nose with snow-white teeth, "I am not here to hurt ya!"

"Fuck me..." Wu placed a hand over his chest, "Sheesh...Where did you come from..."

"Um...My Manifest is a ground hog." The man said, scratching the back of his head before he briefly channeled his manifestation and a soft outline of ground hog made of the Wave covered his skin with a brown glow of his right eye, "I am Wez, and I am one of the college-less around here. Please don't be alarmed. We are a friendly bunch that lives in underground cave networks, and...we would like to welcome you if you would like."

"Just how many of you are there?" Wu asked, "I am kinda new to this homelessness thing."

"We are college-less, not homeless." Wez corrected, "The Academy don't care about us, so we have to take care of one another. It's only then can we survive the system. There are hundreds of us down there, and we all work together."

"...right..." Wu nodded slowly as he processed what Wez is saying, "I have so many questions...but you said you live underground? Like...all of you?!"

And just like that, Wu's homeless life began, though he's fairly certain that he will stick around on the surface for at least a little while.