Killian and Reginald walked back to Dorm Dragon with Reginald ranting about something Killian had stopped listening to for a while.

He raised the box above his head again, reminding himself that for some reason, the box looked empty even if it had something that weighed on his hand.

’This makes me really curious. Keith said it was ’food’, but this doesn’t feel like it.’

"Are you listening to me?" Reginald looked over his shoulders toward Killian.

Killian nodded once, then summarized. "You and your ex-best friend fought over a girl and your relationship hasn’t been the same since then. Right?"

"Yeah," Reginald sighed, feeling relieved that he had a listening ear even if he had been repeating the same thing for so long that Killian only had to hear it once to summarize it. "It kind of hurts, actually."

"I understand."

"You understand me?" Reginald stopped walking and watched Killian attentively. "Have you also gotten rejected before?"

Killian paused. "Um, no... I mean I understand falling out with a childhood friend and being almost strangers now." He kept the box under his arm.

"But since it was mostly a misunderstanding and the girl was the one pushing herself on your best friend, why did you cut him off?"

Reginald opened his mouth to speak, said nothing, then looked away. He huffed, and continued leaving. Killian followed.

"Also, Lucas’s parents didn’t want me hanging around him." Reginald added after a while, like he had been thinking of an excuse. "They have a prejudice against orphans and people who aren’t as affluent as they are. So, yeah. I know when I’m not needed."

His words made Killian slow his steps, but not too slow that Reginald noticed. ’So he’s either an orphan, not rich, or both.’ He paused, looking ahead. ’Why is he suddenly telling me all this?’

"He probably thinks you can relate to it since they think you are a bum. Country bum, to be exact."

Killian rolled his eyes and continued to the room, since he had no response to Reginald’s words he completely ignored it and unlike him, Reginald didn’t ask him if he was listening.

Killian assumed the boy had realized he was oversharing so didn’t make it more awkward. They both entered their room.

’I don’t think that blond boy even realized that I was a Void user.’

"Of course, he wouldn’t. Only heaven’s immortals can tell from a glance that you are a Void user. And you wouldn’t know that he was a Light User either if I wasn’t inside you."

Killian hummed, taking in his words. In other words, he didn’t need to worry about a Light User till the Rulers arrived at the academy. 𝓯𝓻𝒆𝙚𝒘𝓮𝙗𝓷𝒐𝓿𝙚𝒍.𝙘𝓸𝙢

He fell on his bed with the box in his hand, and carefully opened the package. An aromatic scent filled the room the next second, and it took Killian a while to realize that it came from his package.

He looked in, and found a green crushed leaf paste in a transparent box. When he looked closely, it seemed parts of the paste moved like worms.

His stomach churned and he grimaced but his nose got hit by the scent again. "I don’t understand why it smells like this while looking like—"

"Bro, is that a manalgae!" his roommate towered over him, keeping a knee on his bed. Killian stared at the boy quizzically, wondering why the one who called him a bum was suddenly calling him ’bro’. ’Truly, these rich kids are shameless.’

The boy tried dipping his hand inside, and the box moved.

"Would you move away? You are invading my privacy." Killian spoke as calmly as possible, staring down at the knee on his bed. His red eyes shifted to him. "Or should I remove you myself—"

Someone picked the boy off the bed with one arm, and sighed. "Arisa, you are really going to get beaten up again."

Killian recognized him as the other roommate who had been arguing with the smaller one over soap.

He looked away from both of them, took a picture of the ’organism’ his mother sent him, and tucked the thing away under his bed. He turned back to see the other two watching him. "What?"

"Ah, sorry, man. My name is Garfield," the other roommate smiled, before pointing at the smaller boy he had dropped on the ground.

"My guy here is Arisa. I low-key forgot to introduce myself earlier before the coordinator came and made everywhere weird. You are from Leta too, correct?"

Killian frowned. "No, Olpha region."

He noticed Arisa scowl, and rolled his eyes as Killian deduced he was from the Leta region.

Their two regions, apart from Amega and the capital (Central) which were geographically and culturally different, were two sides of the same coin that occasionally argued.

Of the four regions, Leta was known for its notorious discrimination against non-basic elements and derived elements, hence their relationship with Amega— a region consisting of mostly Sound and Mist element users— was mostly hostile.

"No wonder, you two didn’t get along right off the bat." Reginald chipped in from his bed at the far end of the room. "But Arisa grew up here in the capital, so let go of your inborn prejudice against others, kay?"

Garfield laughed, walking away from Killian’s bedside. "It’s inborn. How do you let go of what’s inside you?"

Arisa left with him. "I actually thought he was from Amega because he was wearing their wristband. They are the real bums."

Killian stared down at his wristband, given to him by the leader of the Amega as the regional team leader.

He only remembered then that he had to check up on the girls and know how their match had been. ’Goodness, this room is going to age me a bit before I leave this academy.’

He sent a message to George to meet up. Before he could leave the messaging app, he got a text from an unknown number.

He opened it, and paused when he saw that the message was a little too long. Just before he used the AI-summarize feature, he saw a name that worried him.

[Unknown Number]

’Hello, this is the coordinator in charge of the trial of the Amega Region. I would like to speak to you about the release of the Fire Centurions and the Withered Fae sealed within the realm.’

’Let me know when you’d be available to talk.’

’Privately.’