I woke up and, after getting changed, went downstairs for breakfast. Mom and Ellie were at the table; Dad had already left early for work.
While we were eating, Mom glanced at me from the corner of her eye a couple of times until she finally spoke.
"How are you feeling?"
"Good," I replied. "Adjusting."
She didn't seem entirely convinced. She held my gaze for a few more seconds and then asked, in a calm tone:
"You know you can tell me if there's something weighing on your mind, right? Even if you have different hair and eye colors now, you'll always be my son…"
I looked at her and smiled.
"I really am fine. I'm just a little anxious about starting the academy."
She nodded, still a bit doubtful, but decided not to press the issue any further.
Ellie took advantage of the silence.
"I hope with that change in appearance you get a girlfriend at the academy," she said sarcastically. "That way you can move in with her, because I can't stand you."
"Not happening," I replied. "We're going to live together forever, and I'm going to scare off every classmate you bring home."
"It was only once!" she protested. "Are you never going to let me forget it?"
"It's my mission as your older brother!."
From the kitchen, Mom watched the scene with a smile. A few seconds later, she asked:
"Do you want me to drive you to the academy?"
"No need. I'll take the train," I said. "That way I can listen to music on the way."
After breakfast and saying goodbye, I headed toward the station.
I went by skate. The asphalt slid beneath the board as I moved smoothly, black flat-soled sneakers planted firmly on the deck. Light blue pants, slightly loose, shifted with each push. An oversized black hoodie covered my torso, and I wore a wool beanie of the same color, from which strands of my blond hair escaped, parted in the middle and falling to the sides. White headphones isolated me from the noise, and a backpack swayed on my back as I kept moving.
When I arrived at the station, I stared at my communicator while waiting for the train. As I waited, I couldn't help but notice that several people were watching me. Extending my perception slightly with my aether sense, I confirmed that many of those looks were coming from women.
It didn't take me long to understand why.
After what Gray had done, I now had the appearance of someone high-ranked. His perfectly smooth, flawless skin had become mine. That made my golden eyes stand out even more, and the contrast with my pale blond hair didn't exactly help me go unnoticed. Added to my height and a naturally straight posture, it wasn't strange that I drew more attention than usual.
I looked back at my communicator while waiting for the train.
During the train ride, the stares didn't lessen; if anything, they increased, but I didn't pay them any attention. Moments like these weren't for romance. What mattered was making sure I came back from the Winter Solstice, and to do that I would need, first, luck, and second, allies. The only thing I hoped was not to end up in an unexplored area of the Dream Realm.
Fortunately, the trip continued quietly and I arrived at the station where I had to get off. It wasn't very far from the academy, just a couple of minutes away. If I'd had to walk, maybe a bit longer, but since I came on my skate, I got there faster.
Once I was standing in front of the academy gates, I realized just how massive it was. I had come here a few times before, accompanying my mother for work-related reasons, but now, standing in front of the gates, my perspective changed. The academy was, in fact, a city within a city. It was built like a fortress, with a tall wall made of a resistant alloy, a deep moat, and numerous high-caliber turrets placed in specific positions to create a lethal aerial suppression dome.
Snow fell slowly to the ground. It was cold and silent in front of the academy gates, and I was completely alone. Before arriving, I had notified my mother through my communicator that I was getting close, and she informed the academy. I didn't have to wait long before the gates finally began to open. The gigantic and absurdly thick reinforced metal plate descended slowly, forming a long bridge.
The end of the metal bridge locked into special grooves in the ground and stopped after a series of loud clicks. After that, I crossed the bridge and began walking through the corridors until I found myself in a massive hall where around sixty or more sleepers were waiting for the introductory ceremony to begin. Some looked cheerful, even excited to be in this place, but others, and I'd say most of them, wore expressions of concern.
I don't know exactly why, but the moment I entered the hall, all eyes turned toward the door. Noticing this, I stopped abruptly, thinking there was someone important behind me. I turned my head and there was nothing. I looked forward again and now there were fewer stares, but all of the remaining ones were from women. There were even a couple of academy staff members staring at me.
I felt a bit threatened, honestly. The looks they were giving me weren't exactly friendly; they were the looks of someone observing a prey. After thinking about it for a bit, I came to the conclusion that it was probably my outfit. All the other sleepers were wearing the clothes provided by the academy, so me showing up in a more casual outfit likely drew attention.
Either way, I switched to another one of my favorite songs and looked for a place to sit while waiting for the ceremony to start. A few moments later, I found an empty bench and sat down. During the time I waited for the ceremony to begin, through my sense of aether, I could feel several times that someone tried to approach my bench, but they always stopped a few meters away and turned around. I didn't really understand it. I wasn't doing anything strange, just staring forward with my headphones still on.
Minutes later, the ceremony began. It was being presented by Awakened Rock, whom I actually knew, though saying I knew him was a very loose way of putting it. I had only seen him two or three times, and those times had been during this same ceremony, so I didn't pay him much attention.
What I did do was look over all the other sleepers at the ceremony to see if I recognized any faces, but my search came up empty. I didn't know anyone. There was only one sleeper I knew inside the academy, and that was Cassie, but I still couldn't go greet her: first because of the ceremony, and second because afterward I had to attend an interview.
The ceremony ended with Awakened Rock saying that those who hadn't yet been interviewed should head to the interview area, while the rest could go to the cafeteria to prepare for the day's classes. My case was the former, so I moved through the academy corridors until I reached a hallway with a line of about ten people. It was the interview line, so I got in and waited for my turn.
For the moment, I kept listening to music and used that time to think about what I was going to answer. On one hand, I wanted to lie and say my aspect wasn't very strong so I'd be underestimated. Mainly because in the Dream World, it's not just nightmare creatures that can attack you; there's a good chance another human might as well. And if it happened to be someone from my same generation of sleepers and they saw me at the bottom of the rankings, they'd think they could kill me easily, which was the opposite of the truth.
On the other hand, I also wanted to tell the truth, though not all of it, obviously, and try to rank high. That could help me gain more allies and generate some respect and, more importantly, fear. If there's a big difference in strength, someone might think twice before attacking you, or simply not do it at all. But I wasn't completely sure.
Before I could reach a conclusion, it was already my turn. When I entered the room, there was a very friendly administrator, and the interview began quickly. First, they offered me psychological counseling, which I declined. Then came the questions about my aspect, such as:
"Would you mind telling me what type of Aspect ability you received? Combat, sorcery, utility?"
'In reality, it wasn't any of those, but oh well.'
"My aspect enhances my perception of the things around me."
Another important question was about rank.
"Would you mind telling me what rank your aspect is?"
'The truth was, yes, I would mind.'
"It's above Ascended rank."
As she wrote in her notebook, she added:
"Congratulations, that's a high rank."
Another thing I wasn't sure whether to reveal was my True Name, but at the end of the day, doing so had more advantages than disadvantages. Besides, making sure I ranked first in the interviews didn't sound bad at all. Who else was going to have a True Name? There were very few cases of someone obtaining one in their first nightmare.
Finishing her notes, the interviewer said:
"Perfect, that's all for now, Arthur. Thank you very much for answering."
"Actually, there's something else I'd like to share," I said.
She looked up.
"Yes, of course, go ahead."
"I also received a True Name in my first nightmare."
The poor woman's eyes widened so much that I almost thought they were going to pop out.
"My True Name is Paragon of Purity," I continued.
Taking the glass of water on her desk, the woman glanced at a tablet functioning as a lie detector and, after confirming I was telling the truth, wrote something down in her notebook and looked at me with a smile.
"Excellent. Congratulations, and thank you very much for sharing that information, Arthur. If there's nothing else, we can conclude the interview."
"No, that would be all," I said as I stood up. "Thank you for your time."
And I left the room.
I went straight to the cafeteria after the interview, intending to find Cassie there. Her parents had told me she wasn't attending any classes, so she should be spending most of her time between the cafeteria and her room. If it was the former, I'd find her quickly; if it was the latter, I'd have to wait until dinner.
Still, I kept walking through the corridors at an unhurried pace. In the end, during those two weeks, I was going to run into her anyway. When I reached the cafeteria a few minutes later, I found a couple of sleepers who were… playing cards? Strange. Either way, my search came up empty because Cassie wasn't there. I grabbed some food that had been left over from lunch and ate that.
Once again, I couldn't help but notice the stares coming from everywhere. It was completely unbearable, and that was with not that many people in the cafeteria. I didn't even want to imagine what it would be like when it was full.
Nothing happened while I ate, and even if something had, I wouldn't have heard it, because after failing to find my objective, I put my headphones back on and ignored the outside world. Once I finished eating, I took my tray to the kitchen and went to my room to change.
Now the fun part began. In a few minutes, I was going to have my first class, and obviously, I chose Introduction to Combat.
My goal was to see more sleepers using their aspects to understand them and, hopefully, apply that knowledge to my own. I didn't know how lucky I'd be with that, but it was better than doing nothing. From what I understood, the "easiest" way to obtain other attributes was through relics, which were found in certain places supposedly marked on my soul.
'For the moment, I didn't feel anything strange. Were they places in the Dream World only?'
When I arrived at the class, it was already full and about to start. Awakened Rock was already giving instructions, but he stopped when I entered. He was already aware of my situation, so everything was much simpler. Luckily, in this class everyone was busy with their own thing, and not many people noticed my arrival.
At the moment, the sleepers who had arrived today or who hadn't yet had class were taking turns delivering their strongest blows to a wide plate connected to a special measuring machine. After each strike, the machine displayed a number corresponding to the sleeper's physical strength.
Technique and prior training played a vital role in the number that appeared on the machine. I knew the average was between ten and fourteen. Any value above that meant you were doing very well. Most of those who exceeded that range either had a lot of training and refined technique, or aspects that enhanced their physique.
When it was my turn, I walked slowly toward the machine. On the way, I greeted the professor. I didn't know if he remembered me, but with his stoic face, devoid of expression, he gave me a slight nod, and I chose to take that as a yes.
I stood in front of the machine and, without much preparation, threw a sudden, decisive punch. To an untrained eye, it might have seemed like I didn't put much importance into it, but I'm sure a trained eye noticed the efficiency and speed of the execution.
After a brief pause, the machine displayed the result: sixteen.
'Enough.'
As I stepped away from the machine, I noticed the professor's gaze, obviously, and through my sense of aether I perceived a couple of other looks, but there were three that caught my attention the most.
The first was, surely, from a legacy. From his posture and all the people surrounding him, it was easy to assume. His green eyes practically burned into my back.
The second was a fairly tall girl, about my height. She stood with her arms crossed, leaning against a wall not far from the machine. I felt how her gray eyes followed all my movements from before I struck the machine until that moment. Strangely enough, she also had gray hair, a rather unusual color, I'd say, but I didn't give it much thought.
The gaze that caught my attention the most, curiously, didn't belong to a person at all. It was a shadow hidden in a corner of the dojo. Honestly, I didn't know what was stranger: the fact that there was a shadow watching me, or that I had noticed it.
My theory was that shadows, since they also occupy space in reality, generate a slight pressure in the surrounding aether when they move, and that's why I could sense them. As for it watching me, I couldn't be sure, because a shadow doesn't have eyes… but if there's a loose shadow with no one casting it, that would be something worse, wouldn't it?
Driven by curiosity, I shot the shadow a glance and a smile. Immediately, I noticed it move in panic and retreat to a place beyond the reach of my aether sense.
During my time in the first nightmare, and especially after it, I learned that my sense of aether could be both a blessing and a curse. When I kept it expanded for too long and over a large distance, my head would start to hurt and it would force me to deactivate it. If I didn't expand it too much, nothing happened; I could maintain it at around five meters constantly without issues.
Thanks to that, I understood that this ability wasn't as overpowered as it seemed and that it also came with disadvantages. If I kept it expanded and encountered a creature within that range, there was a high chance it would feel my gaze and attack me, even if it hadn't intended to. For that reason, I had to be careful and only expand it in an area where, if something tried to attack me, I'd have enough time to react.
From the reaction of the group of legacies and the comments they made afterward, I could deduce that the green-eyed legacy had obtained a higher score than mine. That legacy was named Caster, and from the way the others were sucking up to him with their comments, I also assumed he was the leader of that group, a group I had no intention of joining.
I stayed focused on my thoughts, trying to figure out how the hierarchy among sleepers worked, until the professor's voice pulled me out of them.
"Not bad. Now we'll move on to sparring and evaluate your overall level of training. I need two volunteers to begin."
The gray-haired, gray-eyed girl was the first to volunteer, but Professor Rock told her no, since she had already participated in these sparrings. Instead, he looked straight at me. I let out a sigh and had to approach the circle, waiting for him to call another newcomer.
I was lucky he didn't speak to me by giving me an order, because that would have been awkward with my Flaw. I didn't fully understand it yet, but I suspected that since he was a professor and his position within the academy was higher than mine, if he ordered me to do something, my Flaw would activate, and I wasn't interested in finding out what would happen if that occurred.
After I reached the circle, another new sleeper approached. He was about my height but much more muscular. If I remembered correctly, he had scored 17 on the machine, but his technique was poor. With better technique, he would have achieved a much higher score. What I could deduce was that his aspect enhanced his physical capabilities and that he hadn't had much prior training.
"The rules are simple. Make your opponent's back touch the ground or force them out of the ring. Use whatever abilities and techniques you consider appropriate," the professor added.
Before it began, I thought about not using my aspect to put myself at a disadvantage and test how my new attribute [Former King] worked, but I quickly discarded the idea. The power it granted me wasn't exactly mine, and I didn't want to rely on it. My intention was to become strong enough not to need to lean on an external power.
Taking my stance, the professor signaled the start of the fight.
The other sleeper attacked. I saw his muscles tense beneath the dobok. His first attack was a straight punch to my face. Having anticipated it seconds earlier, my intention was to act out of time.
When his fist was about to hit me, I shifted my center of gravity to my left leg, lowering myself slightly. The punch passed centimeters from my face, but I never closed my eyes. Taking advantage of having moved in a different timing, I drove my right fist into the lower part of his sternum. Combining his speed with my strength, the impact was far more powerful than normal.
I didn't give him time to react. I was already pivoting to my left, and at the same time I raised that hand. After taking the blow to the sternum, his spine bent as he struggled to recover his breath. That left his neck at the perfect height to receive a strike that would undoubtedly have knocked him unconscious, but before I could deliver it…
I felt a hand gripping my left wrist.
During the fight, I had reduced my sense of aether to about two meters, and unconsciously, when the other sleeper got close to me, I suppressed it even further. That's why I didn't realize someone else had entered the ring. That person was, obviously, the professor.
Before I could ask him why he had intervened, he released my wrist and said in a deep voice, putting weight into every word:
"Enough. If you don't know how to measure your strength, you're out of the class."
When I looked at the other sleeper, I realized he was already unconscious, even without me having delivered the final blow. I was about to apologize, but those last words triggered my Flaw.
I didn't quite understand what happened in my body, but it was as if I lost control for a few seconds, and that was enough for me to stare at him coldly and say:
"No, I don't think I will."
The moment those words left my mouth, I realized I had screwed up. All the students in the dojo stared at me wide-eyed. Some wore expressions of fear, others of absolute shock at seeing a student speak to a professor like that.
Long seconds of uncomfortable silence passed, but finally Awakened Rock, keeping his gaze fixed on me, let out an overly long sigh, turned around, and ordered a couple of students to take the unconscious sleeper to the infirmary.
After that, the class continued with other sparrings. I went to a corner without anyone ordering me to do so and started practicing a fighting style I had learned recently. I obviously noticed the constant stares from the other sleepers, but I ignored them and focused on my own training.
Eventually, the class ended and the students began to leave. Intentionally, I waited until everyone was gone and then walked toward the professor, who was also watching me.
When I stopped in front of him, I straightened up and apologized.
"I wanted to apologize for my reaction during class, as well as my behavior during the sparring."
He studied me for a few seconds, as if verifying whether I was telling the truth, and then replied:
"You have nothing to apologize for. All the academy's professors know that there are students with complicated Flaws, and we try to be as neutral as possible."
He took a few seconds and added:
"If that's all, you may leave or stay a bit longer in the dojo, but don't forget to turn everything off when you go."
Smiling, I replied:
"Thank you very much. I'll be leaving. I'll try to make sure it doesn't happen again in the future."
He nodded, turned around, and continued packing his things. I took the opportunity to head back to my room. On the way, I couldn't help but hear people talking about what had happened in class. Some called me crazy, others disrespectful, but I didn't pay any attention to them.
When I reached my room, I took a calm shower and lay down for a while to wait for dinner time. I watched videos on my communicator to kill time, and when the moment came, I headed to the cafeteria. I had chosen white sneakers, loose black pants, and a white sweater with the design of one of my favorite bands. I put my headphones on to isolate myself from the rumors I knew would spread quickly, as well as from the unpleasant comments of certain groups of women.
When I arrived at the cafeteria, I served myself a plate full of food and started looking for a table to sit at.
The place was clearly divided into groups. There was the legacy group, led by Caster; another group of sleepers who didn't seem related to each other at first glance; and finally, the area of those I assumed had the lowest chances of surviving in the Dream Realm, whom I mentally called the group of the living dead.
Looking at that last group, which wasn't really a group at all but rather isolated individuals, I saw a boy devouring a plate even larger than mine. He had black hair, deep dark circles as if he hadn't slept in weeks, and completely black eyes. His physique looked like that of a thirteen-year-old child.
At another table, farther away, was the gray-eyed girl from combat class. She had headphones on, just like me, and ignored everyone.
But going back to the first table, it wasn't just that boy. There was also someone I knew very well. Blond hair falling down her back like a waterfall, a small physique not very different from the boy's, though surely for very different reasons. If she were facing me, I'd see a delicate face and a pair of blue eyes… blind.
It was Cassie.
After analyzing the situation, I took off my headphones and let them hang around my neck. As soon as I did, I heard a commotion of voices coming from a screen showing something, but I ignored it completely.
As I approached the table, a pair of black eyes fixed on me. The boy's expression reflected something like fear and distrust. It struck me as strange; I had never seen him before. Why would he be afraid of me?
I set down my tray, sat in front of Cassie, and, gathering my courage, spoke:
"Hi, Cassie."