The central hall of the main building was, in essence, an office. It had places to sit, a desk, and the wall opposite of the entrance was made of very thick glass, with sliding glass doors, providing lots of natural sunlight during the day. The building extended itself west, east, and upwards, however the group was not guided in any of those directions, being lead instead through the glass doors to the back of the main building.

It was its on tiny campus with a small road that headed up in a gentle slope towards an older, mostly wooden structure. The densely packed forest surrounded the whole place, making it a rather isolated park.

"What is this place...?", asked Nero to one of the officials.

"The old dormitory.", he smiled, "nowadays we use it to host visitors and the like."

The road was well lit by lamps placed on the ground and to the sides of it, like everywhere else on campus, and when the group arrived at the door, the staff opened it for them to go in.

"Ladies first.", said Rina, looking at Araven.

He ran his fingers through his platinum blonde mane.

"My hair is better than yours.", he said, and walked in.

Nero immediately tried to contain his laughter but couldn't, so he went in before Rina had a chance to glare at him, followed by the other boys.

The entrance to the old dormitory also had a reception desk -which was empty that late at night, like the one in the main building-, and the space extended itself westwards, hosting some long wooden tables and parallel seats. On the wall opposite of the door there was a stairway that lead to the rooms, and two different doors on the eastern wall had signs that read "baths", the left door had a male icon carved on it, and the right door a female icon.

"We have prepared a change of clothes for everyone, so please feel free to use the facilities.", said a male official.

"Girls with me.", said a woman, guiding them towards the right door.

"Boys over here.", a man opened the right door.

Nero and the rest walked into a cramped, utilitarian changing room with boxes that had clean clothes in them.

"We have set aside clothes that fit your size in those boxes, they have your names on them. Grab a towel and head towards the baths after taking off your used clothes. You may change into your new ones after you've cleaned yourselves. Do not take longer than twenty minutes. The baths are separated by a tall wooden wall, but regardless, we must remind you to stay within your allocated premises. I will be waiting for you in the main hall, but will come to pick you up after twenty minutes have passed if you haven't come out by then. I will also enter the bathing area if I detect any behavior that is or might be disruptive in any way, so please limit yourselves to using the facilities and returning to the main hall."

The official closed the door softly, leaving the seven boys to change.

"That was a very long "don't try and spy on the girls"", said Nero.

"We better hurry up.", said Araven, promptly taking his shirt off.

"Isn't that dude gonna change...?", asked Owen.

Sharmon was leaning against a wall, arms crossed.

"I do not sweat."

"Still, it's kinda weird...", said another boy.

"Nobody is interested in your rickety body, brat. Wash your filthy self and be done with it."

"It's fine," said Nero, "you can literally just ignore him. He'll wait here."

"Right, you live with him, don't you? Haha...", laughed the boy nervously. He didn't seem too used to being talked to like that.

Past the changing room, a beautiful hot spring offered itself as a place to relax their tired muscles within a square wall of tall wood. The floor around the spring was made of stone, and there were lamps placed on the ground, lighting up the whole place, giving it a very cozy atmosphere.

"This place looks like a resort...", said another guy.

"Well, it was the College dormitory once, and it's used to host visits, so I'm sure diplomats and the like spend their nights here.", said Araven, taking off his towel and stepping into the water first.

He sat, and rested his elbows on the floor behind him, closing his eyes and leaning his head backwards.

Nero sat next to him, and couldn't help but imitate his head motion.

"Man, this feels like heaven...", he murmured.

"Yeah...", Araven agreed.

While the other boys followed suit, Nero realized he was way more tired than he had previously thought. The hot water had salts that contributed to the relaxing and caressing of the boy's skin and muscles, as if being delicately massaged by an expert, and the boy felt like he was about to melt and mix with the liquid he was half-submerged in.

Nero took a deep breath, and opened his eyes to the stars and moons above him.

Teo was almost done dancing with Yda and getting ready to drift away from her sister for a few days until they would meet again, the rest of the beautiful night sky offering itself to please the eyes in its immeasurable, enigmatic extension.

What a day.

A distant, muffled splashing sound and voices could be heard from the other side of the wall. Whatever it was they were saying, it was not intelligible.

Araven opened his eyes, and stared off to nowhere, deeply lost in thought.

"...life is full of surprises, don't you think?", he asked Nero.

The other boys were talking among themselves; apparently they didn't want to talk much with the other two -likely due to Rina's comment-, though Owen seemed to be getting along with them a little better.

"Sure is...", he sighed.

"Hey... that day, when you summoned Sharmon... what were you chanting?", he asked.

"...an incantation for a powerful magic creature."

"Should that even be possible? Dude looks way stronger than any of us...", he said in a low voice, still looking off to the distance.

"...there are ways to work around things.", said Nero, sidestepping away from giving details.

Araven blinked slowly a couple of times.

"That's very true. We gotta figure out how to get past roadblocks, don't we?"

A case of content theft: this narrative is not rightfully on Amazon; if you spot it, report the violation.

Nero nodded slowly, also looking nowhere.

"When it comes to guys like us... guys like me, at least, life gives us very little."

"Is your family tight on money?", asked Araven.

"I only have my grandma, and yeah. Money gets tighter by the week... that's why I'm trying to get into the College. What about you?"

"I'm from Platea."

Nero turned to look at him.

"Dude. What are you doing so far away? I've read your republic has a good enough College."

He nodded.

"I studied there."

"Makes sense. Healing magic is no small business. So, what brought you here?"

He took a long, deep breath.

"...Rina. I'm helping her out with something."

"That's a long journey you both made."

Araven submerged his head, and got it out of the water again.

"Gotta work around things, you know?", he said.

Nero laughed, and washed his own hair, too. The splash of water helped him wake up a little.

Just a few minutes later, the official opened the door to pick them up. Nobody wanted to leave the bath.

Back at the changing rooms, the boys put on their clean clothes while trying to ignore the silent man that was leaning against the wall -Sharmon had not moved a muscle in all twenty minutes, it seemed-, and headed back to the dining room by the entrance. Their clothes looked like very ugly white pajamas.

The tables were now filled with plates and all sorts of delicious looking meals.

"The cooks have left your dinner prepared for you in advance. There is no warm food, I hope you'll understand. You may begin when all contestants are present."

The boys took their seats -all of the other guys sat on the side opposite of Nero and Araven- and waited patiently for another ten minutes until the girls came out of their changing room wearing... the same ugly pajamas.

"Mind if I sit here?", asked Khina, pointing at the very small space between Nero and the edge of the seat.

"Oh, hey. Yeah, sure.", said the boy, moving a little more to the right.

"Thank you for waiting.", said Rina, sitting next to Araven.

"Rina, these clothes... they fit you so well."

Rina glared at Araven like she wanted to kill him.

Luna sat next to the brown-haired girl, Elanee next to Owen on the opposite side, and Silvy next to Elanee, the rest being further apart on either side.

Nero still hadn't had a chance to talk with any of them, and the other guys didn't seem to like him much, so he shared his meal with the companions he had made that day. Everything was beyond delicious: from the pork to the pumpkins to the orange juice and the grapes he had for dessert.

"Awe ywoo dwied de shiggen?", asked Khina.

"Ew...! Swallow your food first...", said Nero.

She gulped.

"Have you tried the chicken?"

"No, I was about to. Not sure if I want it anymore... are you sure I'm the one who's gross?"

"I used to think you were the grossest think ever until just a minute ago.", said Khina.

"Oh, really? And what beat me out of number one?", Nero was trying to sound a little like Araven to see if maybe he'd get a chance at leaving a better impression on her.

She grabbed her pajama shoulder with an index and a thumb.

"This."

An opening...!

"Well, I think you look good no matter what.", Nero casually took a spoonful of soup to his mouth.

After a second or two of silence, Nero turned away from his plate to look at her, and raised his eyebrows, silently asking "something wrong?" with his mouth full.

PAF!

"Ow...! What gives...!?"

Khina had given him a rather hard punch on his arm.

"Aren't you a smooth one, where did you learn to be this suave?", she laughed loudly.

Nero frowned and rubbed his arm, unsure if his surprise attack had been a success or a costly defeat. Araven had to cover his mouth; the whole sequence had caught him with his mouth full of mixed salad.

After a little while, everyone was asked by the officials to pick up the plates and take them to the kitchen, where someone would clean it all in the morning, and were guided to their rooms.

"It's two contestants per room. Boys are allocated on the first floor, and girls take the second floor rooms. Remember that you're not allowed to be in a floor that does not belong to you. We'll be in the dormitory until tomorrow morning, where we will send you off after breakfast. Your families have all been notified about your situation, so you can rest easy. We will wake you all up in the morning.", said one of the staff.

"Aren't we uneven, though?", asked Owen.

"Yes. For this reason, one of the rooms for each of your floors will have three beds."

"Damn, I wanted one for myself."

"We do not leave a contestant on their own.", smiled the official, "now, please follow us upstairs."

"Then,", Nero said, looking at Khina, "ladies fi-"

"Boys first.", she said, crossing her arms.

"Huh...?"

However, before he could ask why, Araven put his arm around Nero's shoulder, and gave Rina and Khina a playful half smile.

"That's just fine. The girls get to watch."

"Araven.", Rina's voice had a stern tone.

"I'm kidding, just kidding..."

Nero didn't have time to ask Araven what he meant before being dragged upstairs by his roommate apparent.

They walked upstairs, and waved the girls goodnight as they kept walking up. Rina turned to look at Araven as she walked by the first floor, and Araven gave her a quick hand sign that Nero didn't understand. She nodded and took the steps towards the second floor. Then, he used his arm to force Nero to turn his back on the stairs.

"Don't look at any of them.", he whispered; his tone was deadly serious.

"Araven, what the hell are you talking about?", he murmured, looking at the floor.

"They're looking at us with the corner of their eyes to see if we are perverts who will stare at them from behind."

"...are we, though?"

"I don't know. Are you?"

"I don't think so...?"

"Good. Let's go, before they figure out we're talking about them."

"You seem to have a ton of experience with girls...", said Nero, finally being let go by Araven. He was going into the room first.

"Ive been traveling with a feisty one for a few months, now. I had to learn how to survive."

"Are you two... kinda dating, or something?"

Nero walked in, and then moved for Sharmon to step into the room.

"I will stay outside.", said the sorcerer from the other side.

"Huh? Why's that?"

Sharmon turned his head to his right, towards the other rooms.

"The other contestants do not like you. My presence will deter them from attempting anything."

"...man, you really are vigilant, aren't you?"

"I have nothing better to do at night other than to babysit you brats. Shut your mouth and go to sleep."

Sharmon himself grabbed the doorknob and shut the door in front of Nero's face.

"...your familiar doesn't seem to respect you very much.", said Araven, laying his body on the bed to the left.

"He doesn't feel respect for anything.", sighed Nero.

"Who is he, anyway?"

"Beats me..."

Nero dropped his tired body on the right bed. It was bouncy.

There was a small night table with a lamp on it, and not much else in the room. There was a little more space for what Nero guessed would be stuff like bags and...

Holy shit, his bag...! He had left it back at the changing room!

Nero got up and knocked on the door.

Sharmon opened it.

"Hey. I left my bag downstairs. Let me go pick it up."

"I saw the officials putting it away alongside your clothes. Go to sleep."

Slam.

"...okay, that's one less thing to worry about, I guess."

Nero went back to bed.

"Your pet is hilarious.", Araven laughed.

"Maybe, but don't let him hear you calling him a "pet". He might knock you unconscious with his cane, or something."

"You said you have no idea who he is?"

"Yeah. He hasn't told me much other than his name and that he's... a sorcerer."

The words "the strongest sorcerer ever" had almost escaped out of his lips.

Well, self-styled strongest sorcerer, at any rate. Even after the long and exhausting second round of exams, Nero still hadn't seen Sharmon do any magic other than playing chess and lighting up a sphere of arcana to illuminate the forest the week before.

He was a sorcerer alright, but the extent of is true power remained a mystery for the boy.

"Hmm..."

Araven looked like he wanted to dig deeper into it, but sleep was beating his curiosity.

"I'll turn off the lamp.", said Nero, licking his fingers and killing the fire.

"Yeah, better to that before your pet kicks the door and breaks it with his cane.", yawned Araven.

"I know you're kidding, but I can totally see him doing that.", said Nero in the dark.

There was laughter.

It wasn't long before Nero was completely lost in the sea of his own dreams, his exhausted bod finally taking its much needed rest.

He could not notice that, after a few minutes, a faint turquoise light had started to glow on the bed next to his.