Sunny started making his way to the deserted corner of the hall. He could clearly see how people looked at him with contempt, mockery and pity. No one really wanted to get close to him, with the sole exception of Nephis of course. Well he did not really want to talk to anyone besides her anyways.
He had not expected his social engineering to work to work this well, especially when he could not lie, but its safe to say that he was pleasantly surprised. Maybe deep down he really was a weird, creepy and perverted.
'Yeah right', he thought to himself with a tinge of sarcasm, and if he really was like the Sleepers perceived him it was not like he would ever admit it.
Finally, he got to his destination. For some reason, no one was willing to go here. Right now there was only one girl sitting quietly on a bench.
The quiet girl was delicate and very pretty, her clothes were tidy, they were not expensive, but still tasteful. Her pale blond hair and blue eyes along with a pretty face made her look like a beautiful porcelain doll.
She was breathtaking.
However there was something wrong with her eyes. After a careful examination Sunny frowned, he realized that her eyes reminded him of mountain king, a blind Tyrant he encountered in his nightmare. she was blind. 'What a pity'.
There was no way a blind person could survive the first nightmare.
It had to be her flaw.
A cold sensation dawned on him.
'And I thought my flaw was bad'.
The girl could be considered as good as dead. no matter what aspect she received in exchange.
Sunny understood why no one approached this corner, the girl gave off a weird presence of death. Sleepers were not superstitious, but they could still feel the faint presence of death she exuded.
Sunny looked up to study the group of sleepers. They seemed to subconsciously arrange themselves based on their circumstances.
The group was made up of the legacies of course, they were circled around a certain man with brown hair and electric green eyes, caster. These people had a high chance of surviving the dream realm. After all Legacies were trained from the second they could wield a sword for their eventual infection of the nightmare spell. For them the day when they would first enter the dream realm was a certainty.
The next group was comprised of those from well off families, these people had ample time and funds to prepare for their first visit into the dream realm.
The next and the largest group was made up of children from the middle class families, most of them seemed nervous. Schools taught basic combat and survival, in case students did get infected by the spell, but their knowledge was rudimentary at best.
And at last it was his group, "The corpse corner". No one wanted to say it, but they did not think the blind girl or Sunny would survive, he was sure the blind girl would not survive as well, but maybe the strings of fate had decided that she would end up right here, next to him, maybe she would survive, if his damned [Fated] Attribute deemed it necessary, maybe she would. But who was he lying to? She most likely would not survive, but him? He had to survive, he had to get revenge. He had to live, every second he lived spited the ghouls, every second he lived was a testament of their failures.
Rage, resentment, revenge, spite and Nephis, they pushed him to live, if he did not have these he most likely have already given up on the harsh environment of the black mountains. If he was not alive, he could not be mad at them, if he was not alive, he could not resent them, if he was not alive he could not take revenge, if he was not alive he could not spire them and if he was not alive, who would Nephis have? Who would she be able to count on? Just as he has her, and just as he relies on her, just as he counts on her, she counts, relies and has him, but if he was not there she would have no one.
His heart churned at the thought of Nephis being all alone, scared and hunted. He did not want to think about it, what would happen to her if he died? And what would happen to him if she died? Sunny dreaded knowing the answer to that question. She could have died, he could have died as well, they were lucky to not find out the answer, but if one of them died would the other have the strength to keep going? Somehow he doubted they would. Or perhaps they would be filled with rage and resentment so strong that not even the nightmare spell would dare to stop them in their tracks.
He was snapped out of his thoughts as soon as he heard an angelic voice, voice of someone he had longed to see all his years in the outskirts, it was the voice of Nephis of course. It reminded him that she was alive, and she was right here, with him.
"So? Did it go well? …I mean whatever image of yourself were trying to create" she asked
he chuckled, a gesture he had not done in a long time "Yeah it did. Now everyone thinks I am a perverted creep.".
Nephis chuckled as well. Her laugh was rare, it brought him a small tinge of melancholy, he did not know if he would get to see the look of her pleasant smile or hear the melodic voice of her laughter anytime soon, especially in the world that was ruled by the nightmare spell.
'By the dead gods, why couldn't she smile more often!?'.
"Really? I noticed. Half of the hall is talking about you. If I did not know you beforehand I might have believed them.".
He really wanted to make a smart retort but he noticed a man, no… he could not even be considered a man… he was an actual giant. His sight might have been overwhelming if it did not cause Sunny so much fury. 'Damnation! Is this Fates way of calling me short!? HUH!?'
The giant had wide shoulders, an athletic build and gorgeous brown beard. The look in his eyes was calm and serious. After reaching the center of the stage he gave everyone a serious look.
He did not pay much attention to the corpse corner and turned his gaze to the most populated part of the crowd.
"I Am awakened Rock. Sleepers, welcome to the Academy"
'Rock? What a fitting name for someone like him'. Sunny thought.
The rest of the speech was not of much value to him. Awakened Rock had talked about the dream realm, nightmares and many other functions of the spell. The speech was designed to make the Sleepers more informed and also more afraid, fear caused caution after all and caution kept people alive.
Nephis and Sunny already knew almost everything the academy could teach them, they were also as wary and cautious as needed to be. The dream realm was a dangerous place after all, the compound thought he was crazy, but he was not crazy enough to jump in a fight against a Awakened Tyrant, not again at least.
Sunny looked down to see the instructions sent to his communicator and started heading towards his room. The room looked exactly as he expected it to look. It was a spacious room. it had a bed with soft sheets, a quite large desk and a dresser, it even came with free clothes to someone like him who had not brought any personal possession, well with the exception of his memories of course, Awakened always carried their memories and echoes everywhere they went.
And speaking of memories he summoned his runes.
Memories: [Silver Bell], [Puppeteers Shroud].
The silver bell was a small bell, its sound could be heard from a long distance. The memory was… mediocre to say the least, the only value it had was sentimental, it was his first memory after all. The puppeteers shroud though, it was a memory that came from an Awakened Tyrant, a memory of the Fifth tier, an Awakened one at that. With the exception of rich legacies no other sleeper would have a memory like this one.
He did not have time to examine the memory but he was sure this memory would come in handy during his expedition into the dream realm, which was all but guaranteed to be perilous. It was an Awakened memory from a tyrant after all, he focused letting the runes appear right in front of him.
Memory: [Puppeteers Shroud].
Memory Rank: Awakened.
Memory Type: Armor
Memory Description: [A worm of doubt once found its way into a righteous king's heart. With time, the king was devoured from inside and became its puppet. A lifetime later, the Puppeteer Worm escaped from the king's dead body, leaving behind a cocoon of black silk. No one knows where it went; however, once people dared to approach the silent castle, they found the silk among the mountains of gnawed bones and fashioned it into an armor.].
It was an armor, an Awakened armor, of the fifth tier. Sunny was left in shock. He could not have asked for anything better than an armor. Sure a weapon memory would make it easier for him to pierce, cut and mangle creatures easier, and sure a charm could give him invaluable boosts in battle, but an armor, an armor would save his life. It was safe to say that he was pleasantly surprised. Sparks of essence surged from him as they took shape.
Puppeteers shroud was made out of soft fabric, it was made with gray fabric and lusterless leather. To his surprise it also came with high rise leather boots. Sunny grimaced, the armor was clearly not meant to be worn on top of clothes. He dismissed the puppeteers shroud to save him from the discomfort.
It seemed durable, more durable than anything woven from fabric and leather should have been, even if it was an Awakened memory, it still felt unnaturally durable. 'It might have an enchantment that makes it more durable.'
Sunny dropped on the bed and immediately got up. It was time for dinner. He would be an absolute fool to turn down free food.
He made his way over to the cafeteria. Food was served in a buffet style. There was everything: salads, soups, vegetables and even meat, real meat, for free. Sunny almost couldn't believe it. He grabbed a tray and put a generous amount of mashed potatoes along with some beef on it. He was not going to let all of these delicious food go to waste.
He looked around to find a free seat. Nephis was not here yet, so he could not just take a seat right next to her. Due to his… reputation, he was not welcome to sit anywhere, except right in front of the blind girl from yesterday.
People still seemed to avoid her like a plague, 'Come on guys its not like she carries a disease… except for the spell I guess, but as far as humans know the nightmare spell is not really a disease.' He thought as he made his way over to the table she sat at.
Sunny sat down right in front of the blind girl. She flinched, seemingly hearing him sit down, but not saying anything. It seemed like this is as far as their interactions would go at the academy. He was fine with that, he already had plenty friends… yeah he only had one friend but that was enough for him, and speaking of friends.
Nephis was walking towards them, already noticing where he sat. They would not be discussing anything regarding their plans here. Both of them were unwilling in front of the blind girl, after all the only people they could trust in this world was each other.
They had talked about their plans in private already. Sunny was going to pretend to be weak and she was going to flaunt all her strength. This way everyone's gaze would be diverted from him to her, no one would pay attention to him and most importantly no one would find out his true name.
They were also going to be very cautions about the popular legacy, Caster. The han-li clan served right under valor, he was most likely sent to kill Nephis and finish the job. They most likely had a couple of assassins sent for Sunny as well, but they doubted the proud legacy was one of them, after all Shadow Clan was very secretive, Caster might have not even known it ever existed.
Sunny looked at the leader board glowing with bright light, the leader board showed the ranking of Sleepers based on their chances to survive their first visit to the dream realm. It had not yet updated to include the Sleepers that just got inducted, after all they were yet to get interviewed.
Every Sleeper had to go a mandatory interview to gauge their skills and abilities, they were not forced to say anything of course, but with Sunny's flaw it did not matter if he wanted to say something or not, as long as he was asked it did not matter.
He was going to have to make himself seem weak and pitiful in front of the interviewer. With the limitation of his flaw. He had to overcome it.
Tomorrow. That was when the interview was going to take place. He had to be ready…