"I am going to sit here and look away." Wu said, pulling out the seat from the desk, "...You seemed totally different after Charlie mentioned something at the table." "I don't need you to counsel me!" Ita said, turning her head stubbornly, "Hmph! I said I am fine!" "...Then consider me being curious and annoying here." Wu sighed, "You were a rather fiery one before, why did you change then?" "The Boarded. Do you not know?" Ita asked, a prideful expression briefly occupying her face as her voice became slightly louder, being the sole holder of such information, "They are the top fifty ranked Wave users within the academy, each of them at the combat power level of the Generals. I...cannot afford to tick them off...not now, not when I am still as weak as I am." The generals? Wu looked right into a stain on the wall as his mind traveled back to the training months back in Varous with the Twin Generals, Joseph and Jolyne Atlas. "What do you mean things to look out for?" Jolyne tilted her head as she sat on the edge of a giant rock with her feet dangling off. Far out in the distance, Lera had Joseph trapped in the middle of her Cast Array, pounding attacks continuously as he tried to break free. Wu, in the meanwhile, was still recovering his breathing after Jolyne tried to slice his head off with her army of puppets. "Like...hah..." Wu pressed himself off his knees and tried to get in whatever breaths he could before Jolyne sends forth more attacks. His arms are sore, and fingers numb, though the gauntlet made from his One-Shotter pistol was hanging on to the back of his palm perfectly, "Like weird traditions, specific power structures, cultural things..." "Ah." Jolyne hopped off the side of the rock and walked past Wu with extreme proximity, the smell of her body filling Wu's nostril and causing Lera growl angrily from all the way over there, "The only thing that really matters is strength. Once you have strength, everything becomes clear and simple. If you don't, it doesn't matter what you know." "Disagree." Wu said, as Jolyne sent a severed arm of a puppet towards Wu, which he blasted away with the gauntlet and rolled back onto his feet, "Information is power. And that power is strength in itself." "May be." Jolyne shrugged before she turned and smiled at Wu, "That's why I like you. You think in very...different ways." "So...gonna tell me things to look out for?" Wu chased, and Jolyne giggled and shook her head. "We...were strong enough." Thus, they needed no extra information, and they have nothing to offer. "Right..." Wu sighed and placed his hand on the table before he undid the straps of his gauntlet, "So basically, Charlie Watts has the backing of one of the fifty strongest Wave users in the entire Academy, which makes him untouchable. Supposedly." "Going up against them at our current level will equal suicide, and people die here too, despite the fact that accidental killing only occurs in officially rated battles..." Ita said, slowly curling up into a ball before the heat around her stomach started to boil up again and a strange sensation started filling her mind. Her legs were limp, and something itches in between... "Yeah. I will keep that in mind. You should get some rest." Wu said, standing up and preparing to head out through the door when suddenly, Ita let out a trembling moan behind him. He turned with a confused look, and he saw Ita gripping her chest with one hand and massaging herself in between her legs with the other. "I am feeling...very weird...hah~" Ita said, the spiralling pattern over her stomach glowing even fiercer. "This pattern...it isn't yours?" Wu asked, trying to stay focused, "Is it Charlie's doing?" Ita nodded, biting onto a piece of fabric just so her moans and heavy breaths won't be as audible to Wu. However, as both of their faces turned bright red in the dark, Ita teared up, knowing that Wu had seen the worst side of hers. Wu...This seemingly stupid nobody from Varous of all places! Seeing a princess doing such embarrassing things! "A...ah~~drug...h-ha..." Ita said, trying to resist the warmth, but the more she's touched, the better she felt, and the more she wanted to keep the physical contact going. Wu forced himself to turn around, "A Channeler can usually flush it out with a surge of the wave...I...for some reason...can't use any...ah~" "I can provide you with a surge." Wu said, before he quickly corrected himself, "A controlled surge of the wave! Through my gauntlet! It's highly controlled. How much do you need?" "A...medium level blast...Right...here..." Ita's fingers twitched once as she spread her legs apart. However, that was just to keep her drenched fingers away as she pointed to the center of the spiral around her belly button. Wu nodded before he knelt on the bed beside her and hovered the gauntlet over her flat stomach. Her skin was soft and elastic as jelly. "You ready?" Ita nodded with utmost difficulty, and large drops of sweat covered nearly her entire body before pooling up near her belly button. Wu's equally as nervous and he gently conjured up a medium-sized orb of Wave as big as a tennis ball before sending it right through the spiralling pattern into Ita's body. The external source of shock immediately kickstarted her entire system, then as she guided that newfound Wave through the circuits within, the dampening effects of the drug on her own Wave usage were massively reduced. A pulse of energy travelled out from her body before a gust filled with her light scent gently brushed against Wu. However, there's no sigh of whether Ita's actually...better. Wu may never know, but she felt anew, refreshed, and as if she's just awoken from the most embarrassing of dreams. Ita opened her eyes, and she saw Wu watching her closely. No..that dream is still going on. Ita's eyes travelled down, and her entire body's still exposed from her perky peaks down to her slender legs. She screamed and kicked him right off the bed before grabbing onto Wu's jacket as her heart nearly jumped out of her chest "What...what are you doing here?!" Ita shouted, "Ge-GET OUT OF HERE! YOU PERVERT!" Wu scrambled his way back to his room, at the very least glad that Ita seemed alright after that reset. He was planning to talk to Lera about all that has transpired today, but something in him told him that it's probably a bad idea after what has just happened. He will do it later. For now, he will just have to sleep on it all. It had been a hell of a day, but as Charlie said, this is only going to be the start of his troubles. Wu woke up the next day to the smell of piss outside of his door, and he quickly gathered his things into the backpack before heading out according to his daily schedule. He has mandatory introductory classes set for the first thing to do at the Academy, and it is being given at the main arena which is located near the central regions of the network of buildings right by the arena that they landed in yesterday. Checking his identity cast, the daily stipend had already come through, and somehow, Charlie also got his twenty percent as he said he would. Perhaps there is a hack in the system or something. Tying his gauntlet around and checking its responsiveness with short activations and cancellations of the Wave, Wu then knocked on Ita's door before heading downstairs. She had already woke up way before he did, and she sat besides Charlie as they enjoyed their breakfast. She glanced towards Wu before continuing her talk with Charlie. The latter laughed at one of her remarks before hugging her close despite her stiffened body. "Ah~ Good morning! Wu!" Charlie said, waving his fingers, "Here's to a great first day for you!" "You look fine for someone that had a rather...lively night." Wu smiled, scratching his face with his right hand, showing Charlie his gauntlet as it pulsed once with light. "Hah! That's the way we live around here!" Charlie said, his eyes cutting through Wu's fake smile, "You will get used to it!" "I certainly hope so." Wu continued walking out of the room as Ita followed his movement before Charlie places his fingers around her chin and made her look at him instead. "Have the best of days~" Charlie giggled, watching excitedly as Wu walked towards his doom. The morning air in the Infinite academy carries a certain scent, as the flowers of the forest down below blossomed. Walking through connected walkways with lines of Casts supporting their weight, Wu then charted down the path that he had to take; a zigzagging pattern that will take him through the various walkways connecting to three other colleges. Before he made it to the first college away from the Ville college, he felt the presence of a group of students in uniforms subtly surrounding him. He casually glanced around, his eyes brushing over the treetops of the forest below and then at the trio of Wave users with two in front of him and one behind, and he sighed before tapping his gauntlet lightly. "You have ticked off the wrong guy." One of the boys with short black hair, white skin, and speckles over his cheeks said, moving forward and tying his gown together. The symbol over his gown is a triangle with black and gold lines, meaning that he's an accomplice of Charlie's in another college, "Charlie told us to teach you a lesson." "Is this how it is?" Wu said, looking around at the two boys behind him, all of them looked to be around his age. "Yep." The first boy said, tapping his palm against his book of Casts before conjuring up a dragon made of condensed pressurized air, "Surging Dragon!" At the same time the Caster moved from in front of him, the person behind Wu charged forward, powering up his steps and channeling the Wave all throughout his body. Wu counted his footsteps before quickly glancing over at the distance in between the two. Then, he spun around, blasting an orb of Wave into the ground and propelling himself up and over the charging bull coming in from behind. The Surging Dragon was going to ram straight into the other student before it rapidly curved and went around his body, locked on onto Wu still. He landed and slammed his fist right into the head of the Surging Dragon, shattering the Cast apart as he felt his right fist dull and tingling from the impact. Then, a ghostly shadow emerged from behind the dragon and tackled Wu to the ground. That ghostly shadow had a pinkish color, and it was a Manifest from the third person. The trio had a standard attack composition with one of Caster, Channeler, and Manifester, and their teamwork was sequential and tightly coordinated. Wu felt his arms and legs becoming heavier as the ghostly shadow merged into his body and slowed his movements. He tried pressing himself up off the ground, but it is as if someone has laid out a weighted blanket over his body and refused to let it go. He struggled to breathe as his ribcage creeks and screeches. With pain coming from all over the body, Wu had to let out an overwhelming shot from his gauntlet at himself. The orb of Wave scraped against his own body and blew off the ghostly shadow. However, before Wu could roll away, the Channeler dashed in front of him and kicked him back towards the Ville along the walkway. Wu's body bounced against the railings of the walkway, and as he tried to get up, the Surging Dragon flew towards him again. "Bubble bubble!" Wu shielded himself with instant activation of Lera's Cast, though right as he defended himself from the frontal attack, the ghostly shadow snuck right from underneath his feet and knocked his knees loose. Forcing him to kneel, the Channeler then broke through Wu's shield with his raw physicality, sucker-punching him and making him bend over. Wu vomited nothing but stomach fluids onto the ground as the world around him started to spin. The students continued beating on him as he tried to curl up in a ball. The first few punches felt viscerally painful, but soon, all of the subsequent hits started to meld together. "Shit...it hurts...it fucking hurts..." Wu grunted and growled, but his every attempt at fighting back was distinguished like matches in a storm. Reaching his jammed fingers into his chest pocket, he took out the communication cast left to him by Lera when the Channeler stomped onto his wrist and kicked the Cast away from his hands. "NO!" Wu shouted, reaching for the Cast as the ghostly shadow swallowed it up. Then, a heavy boot found its way to Wu's chin. He was out, and his consciousness faded in and out as groups of other Ville students department from the college using the same walkway. He may have spotted Ita walking past him, though she didn't even look at him for a single moment. Wu didn't know how many hours have passed, but when he opened his eyes, he found himself back in his own room. His entire body was beaten and battered up, and a note was left on his desk. He winced in pain with every movement, and he slowly rolled off the bed only to see what Charlie has left behind: YOU WILL NEVER MAKE IT OUT OF HERE. ENJOY YOUR HELL.