"Hey," Zain called out as he approached a certain young man with dark black hair, midnight black hair with slightly pale skin.
"Hey, wait up!" Zain called out again, placing his hands on the young man's shoulder as he finally caught up to him, who was walking ahead of him. They both came to an abrupt halt.
"What do you want?" He snapped coldly and turned his head to look at Zain with an intensively sharp gaze contrasting his glinting eyes.
"Hey, chill man," Zain spoke as he quickly removed his hand from the shoulder of the man in front of him. It was as if the gaze had an electrocuting force that sent his hands away.
"Trust me, I mean no harm," Zain spoke. "I just wanted to talk to you, that's all."
"Talk to me about what? You don't even know me, you creep. You think I wasn't aware that you have been following me from behind all this while."
"Well, I guess you caught me," Zain confessed as he scratched his head nervously. "You might not remember me, but I do remember you. You were one of the new intake that was assessed and brought into this school just like me."
"I've seen you fight, and how you fought with experience and smartness inspired me. I would like to be your friend."
"NO!" Kox snapped before walking away.
"Hey, please wait. I need the help of someone like you. I am a weak mage, and I need someone with experience to help me get stronger."
Kox came to an abrupt halt after distancing himself. "So you want to use me as a tool to get stronger, then dump me later."
"This is exactly why I cannot have friends; they are craps. Even if I wanted to make allies, I'll make them with strong ones who can be of value to me and not with weak ones who will hold me back."
"I'll pass, so don't follow me," Kox concluded before walking away.
"Well, I won't dare myself to go further because if that young man was to snap and attack me, then I don't think I will come out from it in good shape," Zain thought, fully aware of Kox's capabilities.
"The fact that I couldn't get him to be my friend now doesn't mean it's over. I will think of other ways to earn his friendship later," Zain was deep in thought while walking on the street, heading back to the school.
"Hmmm, who should I go for next... Chris! He is not one who leaves the school early, so I should be able to catch up to him. I just hope luck should be on my side this time around, unlike Kox's."
"Chris, John Chris for a full is one of the people who was assessed the same day as me, Zain."
"He fought with Thomas Edwin who possessed earth magic, which is also among the people I am planning to be friends with. The reason being that he possesses the magic of one of the elements, earth magic, which may be beneficial to me as a whole."
"Just like Thomas, John will also be a valuable asset for the fact that he as well has a magic of the element, fire. Besides them being valuable assets for now, I also need friends, real friends like Gem and Dem."
"Wait a minute, Dem. I haven't even thought about him much since I came into this city."
"Damn, I was distracted with my aim and magic that I forgot about Dem."
"When I was falling from the clouds after the dynamic wielder sent me out through the portal, even in a state of panic, I observed that even when he was close to landing, Dem still wasn't sent out through the portal. The delay sure seemed suspicious."
"Could it have been that Dem wasn't sent out like I was? If so, then why?"
"He is quite smart; I have faith in him. He should be able to overcome anything that comes his way."
"For some strange reason, I wasn't afraid; I cleared my mind and focused back on what I had to do."
"Knowing fully well that John is a bookworm like me, I could trust the library later for the correct answer. But that will be for later."
Hastening his pace, Zain finally arrived back at the school.
Taking a deep breath, he entered the school building and asked for directions from approachable passersby until he made his way to the library where he knew Chris would most likely be.
He overheard people talking about how Chris was obsessed with the library and knew for sure he would be there.
"I'm starting to love the fact that I have things in common with all the people I'm approaching."
The huge double door of the library was wide open, and Zain made his way in.
The school library is a rather large building. From the outside, it looked like a single-story building, but on the inside, it was actually a multi-story building with the longest stairs going upward that Zain had ever seen. He couldn't even see the ceiling.
Clearly under the influence of an expansion spell.
"This is paradise," Zain muttered with stars in his eyes. Quickly slapping his face, he brought himself back to reality and to the initial reason why he was here.
The library has a long passage with many doors on the first floor having different purposes. For the fact that he had no experience with the modernized library, Zain went and opened the first door to the right.
*Creak!*
The door sounded as Zain opened it.
And, just as luck would have it, Chris could be seen at a corner flipping through the pages of a big old book.
"I just hope I'll have luck in winning him. I can't find any reason why Kox was resisting because I doubt if he would have made a good number of friends. In fact, the way he was behaving, I doubt if he would have even made a single friend by now."
"We are the newbies here and we should all try to gain familiarity with each other and know each other's capabilities, so we all should make friends with each other. I wish I could tell the others this."
Approaching the area where Chris was, Zain then pulled the nearest chair to join him at the round table, sitting directly opposite him.
"Hi!"
Raising his head upward, Chris glared at Zain for a brief moment before turning his head and gaze back to the book.
"What do you want?" He questioned calmly.
*Gulp!*
"Uh, um, I'll start with an introduction," Zain cleared his throat. "My name is Zain Green, and I would like to be your friend."
Chris, who was in the middle of flipping a page, instantly paused, and his gaze slowly turned towards Zain, his eyes wide open.
"No, no, no, shit, don't tell me I screwed up again...."