As the last hints of winter pulled away from the slopes of Sonne city, the spring rains became the signals for the start of a new year. The weeks staying at Lita's new home consisted of further training with the Twin Generals in the palace, helping out around the house, and Wu and Lera touring around some of Sonne city's famous sites that he didn’t quite get to see on his first time around.

If it had been even a year earlier, Wu would have been able to visit the Pinnacle Research Institute and all of its glory, but he took plenty of pleasure out of teasing Lera for her statue.

And just like that, the much-needed break came to an end. With a fresh new set of luggage packed up thanks to the support from the Twin generals, Wu and Lera once again departed for the Infinite Academy, this time knowing their purpose would have slightly shifted.

"See you soon~" Jolyne said, winking towards Wu before blowing a kiss in the air. Then, she playfully glanced towards Lera, noting her cute reactions before letting out a chime-like giggle.

"See you at the selections." Joseph said, his low voice rumbling despite the smile on his face, "The king also sends his regards."

"Alright now, go." Lita lightly pushes Lera forward before sliding some of the sweet buns into her backpack, the warm sweet aroma immediately making Lera hungry again, "I love you. Be safe out there."

"Aren't we always?" Wu joked as Lera and Lita both rolled their eyes together. However, knowing that there is nothing further Lita could do for her daughter, she simply hugged her daughter as tightly as she could and let her go.

"You seemed to be enjoying Jolyne's company?!" As Lera and Wu hopped on the next chariot, that was the first sentence dropped by Lera as she tossed her book of Cast onto the seat next to her, "Hmph!"

"Ah...apologies~" Wu chuckled, observing Lera's expressions as she pretended to ignore Wu. However, that little timeout didn't last too long.

"Are you heading back already?"

Ver tightened up her light armor before letting out a sigh. After receiving the token and fighting brilliantly at the Winter Wars, Ver's standings within the Vaughan family had greatly improved, especially as the new head of the Vaughan family, Stark Vaughan, didn't much care for her past. Rather, he valued Ver's practical experiences, asking for her to act as instructors for the younglings as they prepared for the forthcoming Ethereal Tournament.

Though, of course, he welcomed her challenge for position of head at anytime, and even Ver knew that she wouldn’t be able to challenge him at this time.

Ver would have refused the teaching duties if not for the promise of generous pay. Instead of a family favour, Stark Vaughan, at the very least, had the decency of compensating Ver for her time and efforts. So two weeks of surprisingly fun instructions flew by, and Ver's mother quickly came to learn her daughter's talents in teaching and instructing, her style starkly different from those developed over years of family politics as she quickly became a crowd favorite.

"Yes," Ver said, turning around as her newly cut short dark blonde hair wobbled behind her with the movement, "I am heading off now."

"Be careful." As Ver headed further and further away, her mother's body seemed to have become shorter and more slender, though her spirits are high now that her daughter had been coming home more.

As the wheel of time turned slowly, our groups of characters all made their way back to the island before taking the dozens of golden chariots straight up, arriving at the Infinite Academy on the other side of the clouds. There is an exceptionally high number of air traffic as the majority of students planned their return to be days before the commencement of the Spring term.

Academic terms had been a weird concept at the Infinite Academy regardless, as the classes and lectures are mostly posed as optional courses taken by the students that wanted to take it. Each of the students is given three years to pass their graduation exam in the academy, then after the third year, those that remain will be charged a daily fee. For those that are perfectly capable of earning enough to pay for those daily fees, they are able to remain in the academy and continue whatever their activities were.

In order to graduate from the academy, the students will have to enter into a final exam, organized on a term-by-term basis as their Wave abilities on all fronts are tested. A satisfactory score given by a panel of Boarded members will then be the basis for graduation.

Not that any of this truly mattered for Wu, as he didn't even take a single class, and it won't take a genius to figure out his archetype not exactly being the one the graduation process is designed for. But all of those are still a long long time away...Because right now...

"Welcome to Illiol college!" Lily said, appearing at the front door as Wu and Lera's chariot landed alongside the Illiol college gates, "Here's your identity Cast."

"So...it's just that easy?" Wu asked, sliding the Cast into his chest pocket, "I thought by the rules, I am expelled from the academy by the Principal himself."

"Well, there are rules, and then there are rules behind rules." Lily shrugged, "The principal couldn't care less about the details, so it's really up to the Boarded to run the actual Academy, which means...me."

Wu knew that the Boarded also would be exempt from the three-year rule, due to their roles within the Academy.

"Anyway, settle in, and I am sure Lera will be more than happy to show you around," Lily said, her body dissolving into flames before her body vanished from thin air.

"Did...have you seen her done that before?" Wu asked, turning to Lera who was equally shocked at the display of Lily's new abilities.

"Who knows..." Lera said, "Come on, let's go see Fatera instead."

"Ahahahahah!" Fatera's laugh was audible before either Lera or Wu ever caught glimpses of her floating house. The two of them shared a glance of amusement when suddenly, a purple whirlpool formed on the chariot and Ver jumped out from within, her arms locking around Wu and Lera's shoulders.

"Nice hair cut." Wu said, as Ver smirked and shook her head, letting the short strands slap onto Wu's face.

"Of course it's nice." Ver said, "What the hell is going on with Fatera?"

"Don't know...probably some crazy shit with Augen..." Lera speculated as their chariot stopped just shy of Fatera's house. Then, Ver spun her finger around, creating a whirlpool on the door as they walked straight through.

"INTRUDERS! Come and get me! HAHAHAHAH!" Fatera shouted, laughing and turning her body before Wu, Lera, and Ver walked in. Then, they saw Augen's slim naked body plopped on the ground as his soul seemed to be dangling out of his mouth, threatening to exit it should Fatera be even a little more careless.

Then, the wild girl stomped her feet hard, nearly crushing the last of Augen's spirit before his head flopped to the other side. She had been naked for god-knowns how many days knowing that Augen is incapable of telling the difference, and she had been terrorizing her poor partner ever since Wu, Ver, and Lera had each gone back to their respective homes.

"Please...help..." Augen said, swallowing his spirits back up before his body floated up from the ground and started sliding towards Wu as if someone's holding him by the back of his shirt. He landed softly in Wu's embrace, and he let out a sigh of relief, "The demon's reign is at last...over..."

"Oh come on...You three." Fatera said, puffing her chest out at her squadmates before Lera gestured a hand forward, creating a layer of light shields that acted like Fatera's clothes for the moment, "Has it already been two weeks?"

"Yeah. Did you not smell yourself?" Ver said, pushing Fatera into the shower, "You go revive Augen, we got the announcements for the Summer Selection Preliminaries coming up soon."

"Revive him?" Wu said, looking at Augen's skin which appeared far paler than usual. At this point, only god knows what sort of ordeal Fatera put him through...though judging from the size and build of his arms, he seemed to have put on some muscle over the past few weeks, "Which one is it...Forbidden Spring?"

"Forbidden?" Augen's eyes moved a few times under the layers of scar, and he reached out towards Lera as she took his hand.

"Aha, Lera. You are back." Augen said, "And this strange void in front of me must be Wu."

"Urgh, I am actually on your right. And I am holding you."

"Damn it."

With Fatera cleaned up and clothed, Augen revived and rested, Wu's squad finally came back together once more. Fatera seemed to become more like...Fatera over the holidays, and no one was sure if that's a good thing or not. Augen seemed to have become normal after talking to Ver for a little while, and Wu and Lera went around, cleaning and wiping down the common room as Fatera the messy one was benched from doing any literally anything.

"Hurry and eat." Ver said, laying out sets of dishes she managed to pick up from the chefs at Vaughan's mansion, "Then, let's go and listen to the announcement at the Arena."