After a while, Mary finally woke up from her meditation before Sophia woke up next.
"Good job, Sophia and Mary. You two must have made a lot of progress," Amelia complimented as she continued to look at the crystal ball.
The two nodded as they joined in the waiting. But the entire class was starting to get a little impatient again, waiting for a single person.
Still, nobody dared to move an inch, not wanting to repeat the same mistake as the person earlier.
Suddenly, a layer of ice covered Justin's entire body, freezing him in place and kicking him out of his meditation.
"This is what happens when someone tries to over-extend themselves. If I let go of this ice right now, his mana will cause his blood to boil and burn him alive."
As Amelia chanted something beneath her breath quietly, the ice slowly disappeared on his body.
"I'm Sorry, Miss Amelia. I shouldn't have rushed it." Justin apologized, standing up before bowing down.
"It's fine. Just remember to write a report for Miss Amy next week. Now, with the meditation over, let's go back to learning about spells..."
---
After ten minutes of lecture, the day was finally over as Amelia dismissed everyone from class. But before anyone could leave, she assigned one homework for everyone.
"Try to meditate in your free time, but do not overdo it. If you can't control yourself or are unsure, have a higher-level mage watch over you."
As Amelia left the classroom, people quickly started leaving the class right after.
Alex quickly started packing up and getting ready to go back home. But his older sister stopped him.
"Alex! Come over here!" Sophia excitedly waved her arms in the back, with Mary and her four new friends next to her.
"What?" Alex asked as he walked over to the six of them.
"Come on, Alex. Are you still jealous of your sister's meditation time?" Evelyn asked, noticing his irritated tone.
"N-No. I just want to go back home to finish up with the textbook," Alex replied, shifting his tone back to normal.
Sophia didn't mind it as she patted Alex on the shoulder before giving him a suggestion that he couldn't refuse.
"Alex, don't you want to see what the school dorms are like? You sure you want to go home so early already?"
Alex fell into silence for a second before nodding in agreement. But he still had a concern in his mind.
"I... I do. But how about Mom picking us up?"
"I went to the restroom earlier during the break and ran into Mom. She said we can just go home on our own instead." Sophia reassured.
"Okay, then..."
"Let's go! Camille lead the way!"
---
The three of them quickly followed the four girls as Alex learned that they had been friends for only three months. In other words, they had been forming together since school started.
As they walked down the stairs out of the school building, they began heading in the opposite direction of the residential area where Alex lived.
After walking for a bit, they finally saw ten different apartment buildings right in the distance. Two of them were super close to each other, and the other eight were paired up and spread out in the distance.
"We live in the blue and white one over here... Usually, each building is meant for one level of mages."
Camille explained as she pointed at the closest one, which was ten stories tall with another apartment right next to it.
"The one on the left over there is the boy's dorm. And on the right is the girl's dorm that we live in."
Up close, Alex could see both dorms surrounded by a stone fence and an iron gate at the entrance.
As the seven of them approached the girl's dorm, they were immediately stopped by an old lady who looked to be in her sixties.
"No man after six o'clock." The old lady warned before letting them go.
"Of course, ma'am. We'll have him out before then." Camille reassured.
"Wow... This park is so big and beautiful," Mary murmured, unable to believe how beautiful the inside looked past the stone fence.
"Yeah, but you'll think it's pretty boring after you live here for a while... Anyway, let's head inside."
Luna took charge this time, heading into the porch of the apartment before taking out her ID card.
With a scan, the door opened, allowing them to go inside the building before it closed on its own.
As Alex stepped inside the house, he couldn't believe how spacious it was.
The main lobby was almost double the size of their house, with several sofas and sitting areas.
On the right were three elevators on the side that Luna had led them towards.
"It feels a little empty, doesn't it?" Chloe commented as she pressed the elevator button.
"A little bit," Sophia replied as the spacious feeling was soon replaced by a feeling of void.
After waiting for a bit, the elevator finally came down. Several girls exited the elevator before Alex followed the six of them inside.
"How does this elevator work," Alex wondered, imagining nothing pulling this thing up mechanically.
"It's just an elevation magic on the bottom of this elevator," Luna replied as she pressed the eighth floor.
"Are there no stairs at all?" Alex curiously asked, thinking back to the main lobby earlier.
"Why would there be a stair? The elevator is almost instant."
As soon as Luna finished speaking, they were already on the eighth floor as the door opened.
Alex thought for a second, then quickly realized that his concern about needing a fire exit was practically useless in this magical world.
Everyone in the school was a firefighter, considering how easy it would be for a mage to put out a fire with a water spell.
After walking down the hallway, they finally stop at 805.
"Okay, you guys ready to see our dorm rooms?" Camille asked as she put her key into the door.
Slowly, Camille pushed the door open, revealing the living room before their eyes.
"Wow, it looks so comfortable in here... Sofa!"
Mary excitedly jumped onto the bluffy sofa before diving face-first into it as Sophia and Mary followed the other four to the living room.
"This place is pretty big," Alex commented, as the dorm looked heavily decorated in various styles.
The left was full of plants and wooden furniture, while the right was full of furniture that looked super soft with fur edges.
Meanwhile, the open kitchen on the back was filled with unwashed utensils, plates, pans, and pots stacking up.
"Yeah, it's pretty big. It's actually an eight-person dorm, but we only have four people to fill in. If you guys want, you can live here too... Except for Alex, of course."
Evelyn offered, quickly adding the last part after remembering Alex was still a man.
"Um, I need to talk to Mom first," Sophia replied, with Mary nodding in agreement as she finally got out of the sofa.
"That's fine... Actually, you guys live in the school, too, right?" Evelyn curiously asked.
"Yeah... Our mom has a house in the residential area——"
"You mean the Professor's area," Luna added.
"I don't think my mom is a professor or a teacher... She said she has a professor in the past though." Sophia replied.
"Really? Then maybe your mom has a good professor in a pretty high position to give her a house... My dad has been working here for a few years now and still doesn't have a house."
Luna and Evelyn both looked a little jealous, as having an independent house sounded like a luxury in the school.
After touring the living room for a while, the four finally brought the three to the bedroom.
Just as Alex expected, the bedroom technically had eight beds, or four bunk beds, on each side of the wall.
"Damn, this bed looks so soft," Alex murmured as he watched Chloe bring Mary to lie down on one of them.
"Well, it's a bed made out of blue goose feathers... Anyway, let's go bring you guys to the next place."
As the three of them followed Evelyn out of the bedroom, they took a right turn before arriving at the bathroom.
To their surprise, there were two bathrooms inside the bathroom itself.
The first one was several curtained-off shower areas with two bathtubs with mirrors and sinks.
The second one, meanwhile, was fully sealed stalls with a toilet inside and a row of sinks outside.
"That's our dorm. So what do you guys think?" Evelyn curiously asked as they headed back to the living room.
"I think it's pretty neat... Although it might feel a little crowded if it really becomes full for eight people." Sophia replied.
"I think so too..." Mary added.
"Alex, what do you think?" Luna curiously asked after noticing him being silent the whole time.
"I think it's fine... But I don't like this balcony. Does it really have to be this tall?"
As Alex looked down to the ground below, his leg was starting to feel uneasy.
"Well, it's not that scary after you get used to it... Hey, Sophia, since you guys live in the school as well, can we visit your house next?"
Before Sophia could answer Luna's question, Alex interrupted with his answer.
"We'll need to ask Mom first. I'm not sure if Mom wants visitors——"
"Come on, Alex, your mom would say yes to her daughter's classmate visiting her home, right?"
Alex slowly nodded in agreement as Camille's 'gentle' pat almost dislocated his shoulder.
With him out of the way, Sophia didn't really think much of it as she accepted Camille's suggestion.
"Yay! Let's go give our house a tour!"
Mary immediately jumped to the front, getting ready to guide her four new friends to their house.