When Kayrus opens the door to his room, his roommate is busy reading a book with a thick plain cover while lying down on his bed.

“A busy day, if I may presume?” asks Jin when Kayrus hangs his uniform jacket on a hanger behind the door.

Anyone can see just how exhausted Kayrus is just from the look of his face alone.

“Yeah, busy day…” Kayrus sighs. And this is just the first day of school as well...

“If I may advise, a bath would be perfect to alleviate your fatigue, much better than a shower would,” says Jin, who clearly has done the former by the fact that he’s now wearing only a tunic shirt and short pants. He’s still wearing his long red scarf for some reason, however, still obscuring the lower portion of his face.

“Yeah, that sounds like a good idea.”

Kayrus walks over to his wardrobe, taking some clothes that he has moved from Charleone’s faculty residence to his dorm room. He walks out of the room, and walks down the stairs to the ground floor, heading to the bathroom area located there.

Due to its nature as a shared facility for students, the bathroom area is much much larger compared to your usual bathrooms, it can fit dozens of people inside, with the bath itself can also accommodate a large group of people at once.

When Kayrus reaches the bathroom, there’s only him and a few other students there, most of which are leaving the place after finishing their baths or showers. That is why Kayrus is the only one that currently uses the bath in that place, sitting alone at one corner of the octagonal-shaped bath full of greenish-scented warm water.

"Ha….." Kayrus sighs rather loudly. "This is nice…"

Even though it's just a dormitory bathroom, they didn't spare any expenses on making it as comfortable and convenient as possible for the students using it.

"I can stay here for hours." Comments Kayrus relaxing by closing both eyes. "I might even get addicted to this."

The steady noise of the water flowing in and out of the bath calms down Kayrus' mind and heart. As he said to his roommate, today is a busy day for him, lots of things are on his mind. The fact that he manages to keep his mind intact actually surprises him.

Kayrus looks at the bathwater's surface, the ripple and flow of the water remind him of the fight he just barely managed to get away from.

I need to learn how to fight soon, he ponders inside his head, there's no way that girl is the only one I have to fight in this place. I need to get ready…

The young man then thinks about what kind of magic he’s going to use for combat. Is it going to be like Max? Edgar? Or even Helena? But then he realizes he doesn’t know how Water Magus usually fights. He doesn’t even know how most Magus fight beside the fight he just got involved in. Should he ask someone? Is Maximillian willing to teach him? Perhaps even Charleone? But then there’s also the fact that his Elemental Affinity is not just for Water Magic, but all of them. How is he going to utilize that? Is he going to even use that in the first place? Should he-

He sighs again.

Kayrus realizes that overthinking stuff like that will be all for nothing, in the end, he still doesn’t even know the big picture of everything and everyone. Even Charleone’s end goal is a total mystery for him right now.

In the end, all he can do is just to meet everything thrown at him head-on at the best of his ability, but not with force. He remembers what Irinna taught in the class today. Sometimes you can’t force things to happen, you can only direct and shape them, just like the flow of water.

That’s why the young man decides in the end to just banish all of that stressful thought, closes his eyes, and just enjoys the bath.

When Kayrus returns to his room, his roommate is already asleep with his long red scarf still obscuring his face. After accepting this certain particularity of his roommate, Kayrus decides that he should rest and go to sleep as well.

Wearing only short pants like he usually does for sleeping, Kayrus lies down on his bed. It’s not as comfortable and nice as the one in Charleone’s residence house and is definitely smaller, but it’s still much better than the bed he has back in the city.

“I hope everything and everyone are fine back home…” he mutters to himself, a little prayer, before tucking the blanket over him.

His exhaustion soon overwhelms him, and he closes his eyes to enter the dreamworld….

At least, that’s what he intends to do before finding himself waking up back at the same dark and mysterious place he did yesterday.

“This place again?” he sighs, already feeling accustomed to the weird sensation and feeling of the place. “I wonder what it is this time…”

As if to answer his question, a bright light shines on him from behind. When he turns around, he finds the usual giant colorful sphere, and the mysterious girl he met before.

“Who are you really?” asks Kayrus. “What is this place, why am I here?”

The girl smiles.

“You are not ready for that knowledge yet.” she unexpectedly answers. Her voice is the same as before, familiar and strange at the same time.

“Then what is it that you want from me? There must be a reason why I’m in this place.”

The moment Kayrus speaks, unknown to him, the colors of the sphere seem….pulsing. The girl knows that however, and after taking a glance at the giant ball of colors, stares back at Kayrus.

“Kayrus, things are larger than they first seem. There are greater machinations and manipulation of matters beyond your imagination, one that shall decide the fate of this world.”

Kayrus is taken aback by what she says.

“There are things that are much clearer than you thought, Kayrus, and things that are much more hidden than what you see. Some are benevolent, but some are sinister. Use your mind and heart to open up the veil of truth, Kayrus. Everything rests on your hands.”

“What do you mean? Why are you telling me this?”

The sphere pulses again, and the girl gives him a faint smile.

“I-No, WE chose you for this specific goal. Only you can do this. But you can’t accomplish this alone. Seek those who are of the same mind and heart as you, and your journey shall be much clearer.”

“What is it? What is it that you actually want?!” Kayrus raises his voice.

The colors pulsate again, this time way stronger and faster than before that even Kayrus realizes what is happening to the giant sphere of colors.

“Time is in your hands….We trust you, Kayrus.”

“What-”

At that moment, the sphere pulses again, and a stream of colors flow out of it at a tremendous speed. It flows towards Kayrus, who is trying to dodge it. But the color is too fast for him, and it strikes him in the chest. A flow of energy suddenly rushes through inside of him from the colors, a flow that reminds the young man of the flow of energy that he feels when casting Magic.

“What is…happening?!” he screams, scared.

“Be at ease, Kayrus, with this the seal on your soul shall be opened soon.”

“Wha-What do you mean? What is-ugh!” The sensation of energy soon turns into something different, like a combination of power and pain, one that in seconds overwhelms all of his senses.

“Wake up now, Kayrus,” she says, “and find her…”