On the street where Aqueo blasted his first magic with his water spirit, Aquifer, everything was in shambles—wreckage of merchant stands, wood planks, foods and other broken things littered the road, and escaped live animals and beasts flying and running around made it more difficult for the people to salvage the goods that weren't spoiled yet.

    In the middle of that commotion, a young man wearing the uniform of Hyndrel Academy was looking at Aqueo as he ran through the ruins caused by his own magic. On his side, another young man wearing the same uniform was struggling to free half of his body from a heavy pile of wood and sacks of grain that fell on him while Aqueo was fighting his stalkers.

    "Rinoan," he shouted through the noise. "What are you looking at there? Help me here!"

    Rinoan sat beside him. "He dropped his book," he said while raising Aqueo's book in front of him.

    The young man just gave him a puzzled look, "So what? He buried me alive. Let's just burn it."

    "I've never seen him before. We need an extra member for the tournament. I think he's the one."

    "What? Didn't you see they were trying to catch him? He's going to be caged!" he said while still trying to free himself.

    "We don't know the story yet. People here will help you. I'll try to make him join us."

    "What?" He was about to say more but Rinoan was already running to follow Aqueo.

    . . .

    Aqueo continued to run with Aquifer. The three remaining stalkers were still after him, who obviously got careful about approaching him. He was almost caught again and again, but he wasn't panicking anymore. After casting his first magic spell, he gained a newfound hope that he could defeat them and go back to Hermina.

    That was until he casted another spell and it blasted one stalker a couple of yards away and ruined one unlucky merchant shop—swearing to pay them back for the damages when he was finally able. He tried to run again but realized that his body was feeling weak. The spirit was consuming his energy again. He had completely forgotten about it and didn't even consider it. Now he was just standing there, trying to think what to do. And flying with Aquifer as a last resort looked like an impossible thing right now. He would go weaker at a faster rate and they would catch him in the air.

    The remaining two stalkers were both dumbfounded, again, looking more careful than ever. They looked at each other and nodded. One took out a piece of fabric from his clothes. Aqueo realized it was a pouch when the guy pulled out a few small bottles of pink colored liquid and gave some to the other stalker. Both of them were now holding one bottle of pink liquid in both hands.

    Aqueo had a bad feeling about this. He had seen similar looking potions that had been used in battles in Aquifer's memories, but he wasn't exactly sure what those things were for. He had some ideas, but most of them were too terrifying to imagine that those things would be used against him.

    Aqueo picked up a broken wooden pole on the ground and held it tightly with both hands. If he was going to use magic again, he had to make sure to take out both of them. He wasn't feeling as weak when he met Himi, but he also couldn't bet that he could cast more than one without completely draining himself. He had no idea what would happen to him. He might end up rendering himself unconscious or even dead.

    He decided to run to another street again but before he could cross the corner, he saw two of the bottles hitting the stone road in front of him. Pink gasses immediately formed from the broken bottles and spread out in that corner of street where Aqueo stood.

    He felt terrified about the possible effects on him. He looked around and saw that the bystanders around him started to act weird. It looked like they were hallucinating. Panicking, Aqueo started to feel dizzy himself as if the world around him was moving sideways back and forth. He saw that his two remaining stalkers were walking leisurely toward him. The broken wooden pole he was holding clanked loudly as it fell on the stone ground.

    . . .

    Rinoan finally caught up to them. Clutching Aqueo's book in his arms, he quickly followed the mess on the streets to know which way they went, even asking people around for directions.

    When he finally caught up to them, he saw how Aqueo casted the same spell again, and still expressed the same amazement by the magic he displayed. He was just a first year and yet already capable of performing that level of magic.

    He stopped and decided to just watch them from a distance. With that level of magic his help wouldn't be needed, he thought. But that was until he saw Aqueo's stalkers pull out the dreaded hallucination potions that could render anyone unable to fight.

    He saw Aqueo pick up some broken wood poles on the ground and ran to another street. He was about to run to him when Aqueo's stalkers threw the potions in his way. He felt hopeless when the pink gasses surrounded that entire corner, including Aqueo. All the people in the vicinity who saw it scrambled away.

    The gasses kept on spreading and Rinoan couldn't do anything to get near. He saw Aqueo drop his weapons and was unable to move from his position, just like the people who got caught in the gas, and he just helplessly stood there and watched how the two stalkers approached him.

    He had to do something. But the hallucination gas was too much for him. He decided he would try to save him after they got out of the pink gas. So he did his best to study their current surroundings and planned how he was going to do that.

    When the two guys finally reached Aqueo, Rinoan was astounded when he saw him quickly pick up his wood weapon and hit one of his stalkers with it. The guy stumbled and fell unmoving on the ground. The other one tried to grab Aqueo but he fought back and swung the wood at the guy. The guy evaded and tried to take the wood from Aqueo. They both struggled until the guy finally managed to take the wood away. Rinoan's heart skipped for him, but was once again astounded when Aqueo shouted, "Aquifer!", and the stalker in front of him was blasted away.

    Rinoan couldn't believe it. He managed to defeat them in the middle of the dreaded hallucination gas. 'He is so going to be my teammate!' he thought excitedly.

    Aqueo appeared to be struggling to balance himself. Rinoan wanted to help him but he could only wait for the gas to subside or for Aqueo to get out of there himself. If he only had the same mask they were using to cover his face, he would've already rushed there.

    Just when he thought he only needed to wait for him, the guy who fell on the ground started to get up. Rinoan felt helpless once again. The guy wobbled, as well as Aqueo. He saw how Aqueo struggled to run again, but now slower. He went into another street.

    Rinoan had to follow him, he thought. But the street was still filled with pink gas, so he ran to the next street knowing he would meet him at the other side, hoping he would reach him first before the masked guy.