One of the first things I did, obviously, was ask for the date upon entering the Academy. Turns out, that was useless because concrete numbers were never actually given as far as I could remember. So instead I had to vaguely ask about big matters or large-scale events, trying not to appear stupidly ignorant of what was going on in the world.
While it might be dismissed as the ignorance of someone from the Outskirts, the Government knew I had been adopted by Father Malachi and had received a homemade but proper education. News to me actually. Given Malachi's weird reaction to my blank cross, I had assumed the Curator had just popped me into existence and rewrote everyone's memories to make me fit. But no, this body had a proper past and history, albeit one that didn't concern me now.
Where was I? Ah yes, the timeline. I'd finally pieced it together from news archives and academy bulletins. I wasn't just a few months early.
I was years early.
Two, maybe even three full years before Sunless would find himself on that cramped ship, heading for his first Nightmare. Five years before Nephis would wake up in the Academy as a Master and plunge the world into chaos, seven years before Antarctica and the Tomb of Ariel.
And my current body was fifteen. Damn, that was young. Did the Curator have a preference, or was their some other power at play I didn't understand. I mean, he was a God for crying out loud. Did he even have restraints?
My first thought had been a frantic, "What do I do? How do I change things?" But the more I pondered, the more I realized this changed nothing about my core plan. In fact, it was the biggest boon I could have asked for.
The key was the Solstice. The one that would send them all to the Forgotten Shore. As long as I didn't get pulled into that specific hellhole—and the odds of that were astronomically low, given the infinite possibilities of the Dream Realm—I was golden. I mean, what would be the point of sending me there without the main cast?
I may have faced down a horde of thousands of foul rejects of nature, but a Carapace Demon would still shred me within seconds. Three Soul Cores be damned, my Aspect was useless in that kind of environment.
But yes, I had time. Precious, invaluable time.
While they were still Sleepers I would be an Awakened. While they were fighting for scraps on the Forgotten Shore, I could be building my power base, gathering Memories, forging connections. I wouldn't be some random Sleeper struggling to catch up when the real chaos began. I could be established. I could be strong.
The end goal was the same: survive the Chain of Nightmares that was destined to tear reality apart. But now, I wouldn't be starting from scratch when it happened. I could have a head start that nobody else on Earth even knew was possible.
A slow smile touched my lips as I took a final sip of coffee. The future was still a terrifying, broken road, but for the first time, I felt like I had a real map and a head start. I just had to make sure I didn't take a wrong turn into a certain cursed shore.
I stood up, placed my tray on the conveyor, and headed for my first class of the day. The path was clear. Train, awaken, get strong. Everything else was just background noise.
I had already received my mandatory induction ceremony two days after I arrived, and it was honestly just filled with the common sense type of boring talk you would expect. I still paid attention though, since my "common sense" originates from a different reality than here's.
I had ignored the big Legacy kids of course, instead talking to those around me. I got more than a few pitying looks, given my young appearance and lingering signs of malnutrition, but most were kind enough for strangers.
I got a number of snide looks and comments when trying to start up conversation too, but that was neither here nor there. There were no fools going around running their mouths like Sunny this time, nor was it such any major figures coincidently arriving together at the same time. It was just a normal week at the Academy.
So, where would I end up? The Chained Isles, Bastion, Ravenheart, the Storm Sea? I prayed to every God I could name that it wasn't the Hollow Mountains on the Desert of Ariel.
The former would kill me within the hour; the latter would likely have the Skinwalker wear me as its new suit. A quick and easy trial-by-fire for me please, no need to pull any extravagant tricks...was what I would say, but I knew that I was currently being broadcast to at least one eldritch God, so I had already resigned myself to some degree of roughness.
In my time here, I had also explored the only other gain I received from my Nightmare apart from the bonus Soul Cores: the Memory of the Unshadowed Crucifix. I had initially been quite shocked to see it here, but in the end I found it thematically fitting. It was the first item Grisha held upon walking out of the Chaos Sea and initiated "His" journey to Godhood. Perhaps it was here to do the same for me?
Memory: [Unshadowed Crucifix].
Memory Rank: Transcendant.
Tier: V
Memory Type: Utility/Charm.
Memory Description: [By sacrificing some blood to the Unshadowed Crucifix, it will exude a bright light that purifies any evil influences. It could cleanse powers of degeneration, corruption, corrosion, darkness, evil, ailments, and other domains, quickly causing them to dissipate until nothing was left.]
[In addition to purifying effects, this item also has Transcendent-level abilities in the field of 'Sun', such as 'Sun Flare', but this requires exponentially more blood to be sacrificed, and it can only be the users.]
[God said, "Let there be Light!"]
The Memory description was also quite different from normal, because it directly listed the abilities-granted I already knew them-and that it lacked the lore component the Spell always gave out. It was 100% an item parachuted in by the Curator. The Purification alone made me comparable to a Saintified Nephis, but the ability to also access the previous Sequence abilities was even more broken.
The blood cost was a major restriction on that though. If I remember correctly, the Sequence 5 Derrick was already suffering anaemia from using the basic effect only three or four times. I would be lucky to get a single Unshadowed Spear off before collapsing as a dried out corpse.
Another weird thing was that the crucifix had refused to be dismissed after my first summoning, and then fused the cross hanging around my neck. The design stayed mundane thankfully, but I had no doubt it would revert to its "sharp and spikey" mode when fed blood.
Great, I had just escaped from the clutches of the Radiance, and now I had this hanging around my neck. I wondered if I was secretly a Moon Beyonder with all the blood-sucking I was involved in.
The negative effects of the Memory weren't listed, so I didn't know if they applied in this world, but if they did then I couldn't use other Memories alongside it. I would have to test that soon.
"Mr Adam, pay attention" called Teacher Julius, looking down at me seriously. I apologized with a small smile, and the other three in the room looked back on their own work. Yes, like Sunny, I had also chosen Wilderness Survival.
I could probably build up some muscle in the months I ha before entering the Dream Realm, but I still lacked the puberty-induced testosterone to make any significant progress. Instead, I focused on sharpening my mind and ways to survive through means other than just fighting and killing. Teacher Julius here was happy to provide.
....
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