"Fine...I admit, little one. I am bored." Letting go of the collapsed bodies of other applicants as they flopped and rolled on the ground, the Kraken complained as it retracted back into Ver's body through a black whirlpool forming behind her back. "This is not where the true competition lies." Ver shook her head and collected the stamps when a few other applicants ran away from her after seeing what the Kraken did, "Anyone decent enough can get in, but not many can survive within the academy. That's what I have been hearing." "Is that why you have held onto the Token?" The Kraken asked. Ver nodded slowly and looked up into the air at one of the hovering Scouting Eye that's looking down in her direction. The Token is a recognized special currency, and she is certain that it will open many doors for her within the Academy. "Eventually, it will become useful. Since the old man didn't give a shit about it." But...what about him...? Ver looked down once more and slowly wraps her eyepatch back around her head as the Kraken's voice quieted down. She wondered if he is going to be here as she wanted him to. However, it's not like the list of all the applicants are released widely anyway, so she could only hope. For the rest of the day, she wandered the island, hoping for the same lucky encounter that brought them together, but it was unsuccessful. Unknowing to her, Wu and Lera's tactics of avoiding everybody actually made it so much harder for them to meet. As the night approaches, the final bouts of battles raged on, though the impacts were felt less and less as the heavy weight Wave users would have already gotten all they needed by this point. As the crowds of judges watches through the countless Scouting Eyes placed all around the island, a list of all of the new students were generated based on their identity casts. A bell was rung at last, signalling the end of the exam and those that barely made the threshold of twenty cheered as those that failed wept. "Look!" Wu pointed overhead as countless shiny dots dropped down form the air like falling stars, "Make a wish!" "Those are not falling stars...." Lera said as she wrapped herself around Wu's arms and dragged him onto the clear as the tiny golden dots became larger and clearer. That's when Wu realized those are in fact chariots with a fabulous golden glow around its body. Those actually looked more like fancy chandeliers compared to Lera's car. A single of those landed in front of the two, and its doors opened after registering their identity Casts. Similar chariots landed all over the island near where all of the qualified applicants were, and those that didn't make it watches as those that did victoriously stroll onto the chariots. A few tried to force their way in, but they were blasted back by the chariot's self-defense Casts. "This is it...the start of our second adventure." Wu smiled, closing the chariot door as it once again rose through the air. Lera seemed extra clingy today, and she rested her head on his shoulder as the island underneath them slowly shrunk away into the dark, merging with the seemingly endless ocean. At that moment, they were surrounded by the other glowing chandeliers. The golden shine breathed warmth into the accepted students and the sights were as if stars were picked from the heavens just for them. Lera was in awe at all that's in front of her, and she felt for Wu's body heat as her heart continued to race. "I...look forward to our future." Lera said, looking up at Wu and their face so incredibly close to one another. Under this light, Wu's lips looked so...soft and tasty. So lethal, so inevitable, drawing her in like a spell of enchantment, one that she has become obsessed with ever since that night. The night that Wu returned from death to seeher. Lera swallowed before slowly nudging forward, pulling his arms down as she extends herself forward. Wu's breaths halted, and he watched Lera as she slowly closed her eyes. Maybe just a kiss is okay...She thought, before the romantic atmosphere was snapped away by a sharphigh-pitched feminine voice. "Don't think you have gotten away for what you have done!!!" The voice of the little white-haired girl came from above, and her white elongated hair reached towards Wu like accusing fingers, doubling down on what her fingers were actually doing, "I will never forgive you for hitting me that hard!" Wu looked at her, and her cheeks were dirty with her white dress ruined by the mud. Thinking back, Wu did kind of dunk on her... "I...sorry about the dress. I promise it's not personal! I mean, you also got in, right? Can't really complain?" Wu said as Lera covered her mouth in a giggle, her arm still wrapped around Wu's. 'Hmph!" The girl turned her head away before opening up one of her eyes and peeking towards Wu, "I am Princess Ita Leodora of the Kingdom of Talonia. You'd better remember that name!" "I am Wu Hui, and this is Lera Huten." Wu smiled, "I suppose it's nice to meet you." "No it wasn't nice! You made my clothes dirty and made me look bad! I will kick your butt next time we meet! Remember that!" Ita turned her head around and jumped back down into the chariot, "You'd better not forget me!" "Well...that was strange." Wu chuckled and looked back at Lera as she sulked at the ruined moment all on her own. Just now, surrounded by the golden glow, she almost did it again...Pretending to be reading her Book of Casts, Lera let go of Wu's arms with difficulty. Not now...Lera. You promised him that it will all come after you have gotten strong enough... As the fleet of Chariots carrying the hundreds of new students rose into the air, it's glowing beauty rivaled that of the galaxies of stars far above them in space. However, as the island became nothing more than a dark dot underneath and the vague outlines of the continents far out in the edges of the horizon poked through the darkness of the night, all of the individual Wave users started trembling uncontrollably as even Wu's One-Shotter Gauntlet sprung into life uncharacteristically. "This..." Wu looked down in confusion as Lera grunted painfully and bent over. He rapidly tended to her as she murmured. "...what...power...too much...my head..." Wu looked up, and a seemingly endless obscurity hovered right over the fleet of Chariots. The chariots made a slight turn and moved their way around the strange object when Wu realized that it is actually a massive manmade island floating in the air. However, from its sheer size, it looked more like a quarter of a continent was plucked out and placed in this perpetual state of...floatation. As they got closer and closer, the island appeared to have blocked out the entire night sky overhead. That was when Wu saw near infinite lines of Cast writing on the under-face of the island, all of it powered by a semi-transparent column of flowing Wave far out in the distance. His eyes traced downwards, and it appeared those sky-scraping surges of the Wave started all the way back at sea level, somehow. However, because of its faint glow and the darkness of the night, all of this is extremely hard to see, and the only additional hints of this thing existing are the extreme reactions of the Wave-users as they near such a colossal Structure Cast. As the moaning and grunting from the Wave users filled the air around him, Wu held his arms around Lera as she tried to cast a bubble bubble to reduce the influence of the Structure Cast on her body, though the bubble was instantly melted away like butter on a hot pan. The mental torture lasted for a good few minutes until the fleet of chariots finally wrapped around the bottom side of the island and circled up onto the top side of the Infinite Academy as its true grandeur is revealed to all. It is truly a sleepless city in the sky. Countless brightly lit buildings floated in the air over a dark forest that spanned the entire area of the quarter continent. The individual buildings are then connected by tendrils of light, forming a vast network of connections. In the middle of the network, a massive arena of sorts presented itself and that's where the golden chariots are all flying towards. Wu looked out and down as the various floating buildings seemed like a single block from this distance, but in reality, each of them are a sprawling college in itself. As the chariots moved over one of those lively buildings, there were silouttes of people moving back and forth through the curtains of the flying fortress capable of housing hundreds. The top side of the arena opened up as the individual pedals of the building bloomed like a flower, allowing the chariots to fly in from the top. The arena is currently empty, though colossal Lighting Casts kept the night away. As the gold chariot slowly drops onto the ground and its doors were again unlocked, Wu and Lera stopped off onto the solid ground of a structure floating on a forest which is floating kilometers in the air. All of this felt incredibly trippy, but after Wu jumped around for a bit, he convinced himself that everything won't fall down just yet. After all, the Infinite Academy has been in the air for thousands of years. There is no way that it's going to crash down just because Wu's here, right? "WELCOME, SUCCESSSFUL APPLICANTS!" The loud commanding voice of the announcer returned as all of the chariots landed and let out the individual students. Then, the voice of the announcer slowly drifted inward and focused around a single person before he stepped forward onto the spotlight. He is a man wearing a grey robe of an infinity symbol over his left chest. He is bald and carried no facial hair, though his eyebrows and eyes were as lively as it can be with every sentence he spoke. His movements are swift and efficient, and he projected his voice easily, drawing the attention of all of the applicants. Similar to Wu, he has not a hint of power, though the more skilled of the Wave users can catch onto the fact that he's simply hiding away the true extent of his power by how unnaturally still the Wave is around his body. "I am Principal Noland Khan." The principal said as a few of the people in the crowd raised their eyebrows, "Yes. I am a descent of the Immortal General, but I promise that I have channeled all of my energy into making weird Casts, like the Golden chariot you lot rode in." A handful of people laughed nervously at Principal Khan's attempt at humour, but the rest just watched him in anticipation for the announcement that truly matters. "On your way in, you would have witnessed the sprawling Structure Cast that kept this island in the sky." Principal Khan said, "And you also would have seen what we call the Infinite forests, and the various colleges and shared areas connecting between them. All of you have already been designated your own college, and a specific Golden chariot will take you there. Your initiation will begin then." The identity casts held in Wu's pocket vibrated once, and Wu took it out to see a designation showing up on it. His new college at this Oxford wannabe is called the Ville College, and it's almost like god himself is too lazy to change things up from the last world to this one. "What did you..." Lera asked, moving over with her head before being disappointed by the result, "I was assigned to Illiol college..." "It's going to be okay." Wu smiled, "Didn't the Principal say all the colleges are connected?" "I did indeed." Principal Khan replied, his eyes cutting through the crowd and focusing on Wu specifically as his eyebrows raised slightly, "Through the university-wide currency or through the Law of Combat, you may also obtain your own Golden Chariot, which is the only form of transportation capable of travelling in between the chaotic wave fields in between the structures. If you don't mind crashing, then feel free to try with your own chariots." Law of Combat? Wu's tilted his head slightly when the crowd slowly started to move and scatter. Before Lera set off, she stuffed a communication Cast in Wu's hand before clinging onto his hand. He smiled and squeezed her once to assure her that everything will be okay. "Promise me to call me whenever something's up." Lera said, biting her lips unwillingly. "I promise." Wu said with a serious tone as he hugged Lera briefly, "Let's not act like we are separating forever, okay?" Lera nodded in his embrace before she took in the last sniff of Wu's smell and let him go. Among the six newly admitted students into Illiol, Lera was one of the three girls. She, of course, didn't recognize any others from the entrance exam, and the six strangers were cramped into a single chariot before it lifted off. She traced Wu's figure through the crowd until he also boarded his own chariot. "HUH?! WU HUI?! WHAT ARE YOU DOING HERE?" Princess Ita Leodora's shocked voice came from Wu's side as he stepped foot onto the chariot to Ville college first, and he slowly turned around to see the white-haired loli with an annoyed look on her face, "What the actual fuck?!"