The dorm was as empty as he left an hour ago. Not just his room but also the whole dorm itself was empty It was most probably because the classes hadn't started yet, there was almost a week before classes started. Darrick only met two students so far one was Sarah and another was a boy he met at the central garden.

That guy must be from this dorm, right? Because all of the first years are meant to be in the same dorm is what Sarah said if I remember correctly. With that clueless behaviour, I think we are from the same year.

While wondering about the guy Darrick had already climbed the stairs and was outside his room and there was a small package placed in front of his door. Just one look at the box and Darrick glanced over his shoulder expecting to see something and his heartbeat was weirdly rising from overthinking things. There was nothing special about the package itself but a package that came to his doorstep was the weirdest part he was worried about.

Darrick didn't dare to pick it up, not yet. He didn't know to whom it belonged. Maybe it was just delivered to the wrong address? Nothing concrete came out of just idly thinking so he knocked on all four doors there in the vicinity.

He wasn't expecting anyone to be there but one door opened and a guy came out, the one he met before today. He hadn't worn his glasses right now but it looked like he didn't have too much problem with seeing.

"Hey man, we meet again! Do you need my help with something?" The guy asked with a bright smile.

"Uh.. Yeah. I was just wondering if that package was yours and if someone placed it in front of my door accidentally."

"Oh no, I placed that package here." Darrick showed visible confusion on his face. His face was a bit squinted and it was a questioning look towards the guy.

"Hey don't make such a face! When I was in the hall earlier someone bought this package and asked where your room is and coincidently it was just beside my room so I told him I could give it to you." He explained.

Darrick wasn't convinced all that much about that box. For now, though, he couldn't care less about the guy's stories if they were true or false. The bigger concerning thing was someone sent something to him when most of the people close to him must be dead or unavailable. And that someone already knew Darrick's room number before he himself knew.

"Well, thank you for bringing the package then." Darrick thanked him nonetheless.

"No problem, I don't think I have introduced myself yet. I'm Leon Sentry, 1st year."

"I'm Darrick Vental, I'm also a 1st-year student."

"Oh really, maybe we both could be in the same class. But for now, I'll take my leave." Leon ended the conversation and closed the door like he was in some urgency. It did not bother enough for Darrick to take his attention from the box.

He picked up the package and went inside. Logically he couldn't think of anything that could be mailed to him but he was lacking a lot of information so that wasn't the best answer. He checked the package for anything unusual but unfortunately, he did not even find the usual things.

The name of the sender or any other information from the sender was absent.

What could this package even be? I can't even guess anything. I mean there is no way someone sent some kind of dangerous thing to me. This Darrick was certainly not some kind of guy who got involved with that kind of thing, right? Darrick was making all kinds of assumptions just so he could make sense of his situation.

The only other possibility I can think of is it was meant for someone else and for some reason I got it. Maybe someone else was meant to be here and he somehow got this room by mistake and he got the package along with it.

Darrick was making up random theories to at least connect some dots to find how bad of a situation he was but the thing was there were no dots at all. The theories he made were baseless but they were as much of an option as any other thing. So Darrick chose the most optimal option out of all. The option was to not open it at all, for now at least.

Yeah, I'll just wait until tomorrow to see if someone comes for it, if someone even mentions the package in front of my door then I'm gonna hand it over to them. I should also go confirm with the resident assistants again to see if they made some mistakes. I think all of them should pass through there so they may know better.

Unauthorized duplication: this narrative has been taken without consent. Report sightings.

He put the parcel below his bed but he was kind of worried about this blowing up in his sleep so he dragged it out from below the bed and placed it in his closet. The farthest corner from his bead, as safe as possible.

Stupid box! Why would anyone send me this? Are they the same people who made everyone around Darrick disappear? What if they know I'm not real Darrick and came to hunt me or something? Shit! I don't know what to do.

Darrick was pacing around the room very fast, he was in a state of unrest and rightfully so. He tried thinking about other things to keep his head thinking about these conspiracy theories and what came to his mind was food. Now it was almost time to get his lunch and he didn't want to miss his lunch like how he missed his breakfast. Also, it was a good distracting strategy overall.

It hadn't been that long since entered the room and he was leaving already. Coincidently both Darrick and Leon step out of their rooms at the same time. They just nodded at each other and walked towards the same direction. After a few steps, Leon decided to talk, anything, whatever works to be out of this silence.

"Hey Darrick, going for lunch?" Leon asked.

"Yeah, It's almost time and I'm really hungry even though I ate really well for breakfast. Leaving me aside, I assume you're also going for the same thing."

"Of course, I'm hungry too. Haven't eaten anything since last night. I usually can't digest anything on the train because of that kind of movement. Trains are just my natural enemies, I can even ride a flying mount but not a train, it's just stupid. And I was pretty late for the breakfast as I just arrived when you met me out there."

"I was also late to wake up from yesterday's travelling but I just made a sandwich for myself, You also should have just cooked something for yourself," Darrick commented.

"Wait, what do you mean by that? Are you telling me we can cook for ourselves if we want to?" Leon raised an eyebrow in disbelief. For some reason, he couldn't believe it at all.

"Yes, that's what I'm saying. You should try to read those things they gave to us at the resident assistants building"

"Ye ye, I was about to read it anyway I just couldn't find time amidst of unpacking my luggage."

"Sounds believable. That bag was really massive. I don't even know how you can fill that much in a single bag and carry it around."

"It's all for the muscle training. Those are just heavy weights, my luggage is somewhere else. If I couldn't even lift and endure that then how will I ever be able to use my magic without exploding."

"You are from the magic department! I did not expect that with all that muscle training. You are definitely not what comes to mind when I think about a mage. For now, I am trying to get into the magic department"

"Did something happen in your first test? What happened that made you try a second time?" Leon asked curiously.

"Nothing really. I did not take the test for the first time and now I want to try it because I changed my mind." Darrick's voice contained determination and a hint of sadness so Leon did not pursue that topic any further.

It looks like I'm not completely free from real Darrick's emotions and instincts yet. His remnants probably think I'm going to walk the path of magic for his revenge or something. I can't afford to distract myself from going back but I'll try my best to do something about him is all I can say for now.

Thinking Darrick did not want to talk about his reasons for going towards the magical path, Leon asked something else.

"What other classes are you taking?"

"I don't know yet. I haven't decided what are the best subjects for me."

"Wait, You didn't select them yet? How does that work? Someone from Caladric came to give me my admission certificate and they made me fill those electives then and there and I haven't heard about someone filling their electives after coming here."

"Nobody came for me, they mailed the certificate to me. Till this second I didn't even know it was supposed to be done before. I don't know what they were thinking while doing that kind of work and they did not even give me any kind of instructions about it at all." Darrick answered with a dubious expression.

"That's just too irresponsible. You should find where you can complain about this and also should go and talk about it with Professor William Jeskins. He is the one in charge of most of the administration I think. Maybe you can also complain about this to Professor William himself, two birds with one stone."

"Yeah, I didn't even think about any of that because I didn't know any of this just a few seconds ago but now I know so I'll go there after lunch then. I did not know it was like that, thank god you told me otherwise I would have wasted my time simply idling."

While talking two of them served themselves whatever they needed as the system was of buffet and after filling their plates they sat somewhere in the corner of the hall, dragging two chairs from the middle of the hall. There were four more people in the hall who came out for lunch but they did not approach the duo so they were also not keen on butting in someone else's private time.

They talked about simple things throughout their lunch time and finished their second servings after nearly an hour. They ate a good bit, likely because they were hungry, not just a little hungry either it seems. After their peaceful little lunch, Darrick decided to head back towards the staff building to find Professor Williams.

They split up at one place where they headed towards different directions, Darrick towards downstairs and Leon towards his room but before they split Leon asked,

"Do you want me to come with you? I'm good with talking to people if you need my help." Leon offered.

"No, it's okay I think I'll manage and it won't take that long for this task, probably." Said Darrick as he quickly left the dorms again for another quest of today.