The next morning, Reinhard stepped out of his room. This time, he had removed his [Gloom Veil] attribute, and for good reason.
Most students had already formed groups during yesterday's induction ceremony, so far fewer Sleepers would bother him. Besides, he had told the academy enough about his Aspect that they were bound to reveal parts of it anyway. Attention was coming his way either way.
He headed toward the cafeteria. It was more crowded than he expected. Moving quickly, he filled his plate to the brim. After activating the Food Enhancer attribute, he went straight to an empty table, ignoring the stares he could feel on him for some reason.
He sat down and began eating. It tasted even better than yesterday, thanks to the attribute.
Then a wave of commotion pulled him out of his focus. He looked up and saw a crowd of Sleepers gathered around the large screen hanging on the cafeteria wall. Their faces were filled with excitement and awe. On the screen was a list ranking the new batch of Sleepers from weakest to strongest—likely based on their interview data.
Reinhard knew exactly where he would be and looked straight at the top. As expected, he was in first place.
The screen displayed:
Name: Reinhard
True Name: Gilded Saint
What actually caught his attention, though, was the person in second place.
Nephis. She had a True Name too. It was Changing Star.
Reinhard was slightly surprised. He wondered if that meant she had a divine aspect as well, but since True Names didn't necessarily correlate with divine aspects, or atleast there was no reason to assume that they did, it wasn't worth thinking much about.
The reactions from the other Sleepers were much less calm.
"How… how can this be?!"
"I'm not seeing things, right?"
"Two people with True Names? Are you serious?"
"What kind of monsters are they?"
A mix of astonishment, fear, and admiration spread across the cafeteria.
"Sleepers with True Names? That's impossible!"
"It's technically possible. Smile of Heaven got her True Name in the First Nightmare, I think. But yeah, I'm doubtful…"
Truth be told, Reinhard was enjoying the attention. He knew the consequences of standing out, but that didn't stop him from liking the feeling.
"Maybe they lied in the interview?"
"Are you stupid? If it were that easy to fool the administrators, that crazy pervert from yesterday would be in first place instead!"
"Well, why don't we just ask them?"
'Please don't,' Reinhard thought.
Suddenly, the cafeteria fell into complete silence. All eyes shifted toward Nephis and Reinhard.
Nephis held a cup of coffee in her hand, her gaze distant, as if she had no idea what was happening.
'Okay, she's definitely doing that on purpose.'
Reinhard's solution was simple: focus on his food. His face didn't show a single expression.
Then Nephis finally raised her head.
She looked at everyone in genuine confusion and said,"Mmm. What?"
'Okayyy, so she wasn't acting…'
A few moments later, Caster stepped forward and gave her a small bow.
"Lady Nephis. I am Caster of the Han Li clan. I see your trial went well?"
'Oh no. Is he going to do that embarrassing bowing thing in front of me too? Should I just leave?'
Reinhard considered eating faster and escaping, but speeding up would look suspicious with half the cafeteria watching him.
"It is what it is," Nephis replied with a bright smile on her face, which just looked out of place.
Caster offered an awkward smile.
'Does her flaw make her bad at talking to people or something?' Reinhard wondered.
"I see. I am glad you returned unharmed. Not that I doubted your abilities."
'Does he know her from before? Doesn't look like she knows him though…'
Once that little scene wrapped up, Reinhard finished his food—fortunately without Caster attempting the same introduction on him. No one else had the courage to approach him, so he was able to leave the cafeteria with ease.
The downside was that, in his hurry to get out, he forgot to grab dessert.
___
Reinhard now stood inside the academy's large dojo. He was standing in the back alone. All the Sleepers were facing a large metal plate attached to a special measuring machine. The device displayed the strength score of anyone who struck it.
Most students stood in groups; only a few, like Nephis and Reinhard, were spaced far apart from everyone else.
Reinhard silently watched as the others punched the plate one by one. Most scores landed between 10 and 14.
Those with enhancing aspects managed to hit 15, sometimes even 16.
Two things were required for a high score: good technique and raw strength.
Reinhard had the first part covered thanks to [Battle Master].The second part, however…
That was going to be an issue.
[New attribute acquired.]
[Attribute Name: Titan's Corpus]
Attributes: [Radiant Presence] [Calm Mind] [Battle Master] [Titan's Corpus]
'Or i guess not.'
___
Thanks for reading the chapter.
My exams are going on right now, so i wasn't able to upload chapters regularly. This one was already half written so even though my exams are still going on i completed this one quickly.
Hope you liked it, see you next time.