"So, what do you say? Do you want me to take you to the Academy?"
Fang Yuan had to research and experiment soul guts to increase his strength as fast as ordinary awakened. Moreover he had to hide the fact that he has a divine aspect to avoid suspicion.
"…yes"
The Sunless however was much more happy about going to the academy.
Fang Yuan had the rest of the day to himself, thus he was checking his runes on a street bench right now.
Name: Fang Yuan.
True Name: Heaven refining demon.
Rank: Dreamer.
…
Memories: [Incomplete Freedom], [whistle blower], [Red katana], [Three eyed mask]
Memory: Incomplete Freedom.
Memory Rank: Awakened.
Memory Tier: VII.
Memory Type: Garment.
Memory Description: [This is a replica of a long lost divine memory which once belonged to a stunningly cool demon.]
Memory Enchantments: [Enduring], [Enhancing], [Path].
"This memory is a replica of the immortal killer move incomplete freedom huh" Fang Yuan summoned the memory, instantly red sparkles appeared on his back.
"Red? A replica of Reckless Savage Demon Venerable is still a Venerable replica after all"
The sparkles turned into a blood red cape seemingly made from skin of beasts, it was astonishingly cool.
Fang Yuan felt his strength increasing and his stamina multiplying.
"Wait… when I used my aspect, how did my soul essence plummet? I am merely an sleeper?"
Could it be that ascension is merely increasing control of essence, thus the aspect could forcefully reduce it?
"Or instead of my soul essence being used, in actuality my soul was getting damaged?
My soul had healed in some hours then instead of essence getting produced once again?"
Fang Yuan sighed and stood up, he can research about aspects later. Right now he had to test his memories.
He flexed and stretched his muscles and picked up a metal pipe…
he could feel him reaching strength equal of half of an awakened!
Of course this was only a rough estimation but an awakened is significantly stronger than an sleeper.
Fang Yuan then checked his other memory, namely three eyed mask
Memory: Three eyed mask.
Memory Rank: Awakened.
Memory Tier: V.
Memory Type: Garment.
Memory Description: [This is a lesser replica of an imitation of a divine power bestowed to mortals by a daemon]
Memory Enchantments: [Enchanted eye], [Weaver's vision], [Faster eye].
After checking the runes, Fang Yuan summoned the memory; white sparkles shimmered as a roughly cut black wooden mask appeared on Fang Yuan's face.
He could feel three different visions being input in his mind at the same time, it was quite jarring — straining his brain.
He could sense something mystical in his red cape which was the memory [Incomplete Freedom]. He could not however see anything from the second eye or the third eye at all.
"They must be active enchantments!"
The mask was definitely extraordinary but Fang Yuan was not strong enough to use it.
Fang Yuan kept his two memories and kept checking the other ones. Once he was satisfied with the knowledge of memories he went back to his makeshift place and slept.
…
was standing in front of the massive, seemingly indestructible red gates of the Awakened Academy. The Academy was, in fact, a city within the city. It was built like a fortress, with a high wall made of hard alloy, deep moat and numerous large-caliber turrets which were placed in certain positions to create a deadly air-suppression dome.
Fang Yuan felt that the defences were good but not good enough for it to survive anything of high caliber. He did not feel any sense of safety here, rather he was more wary of such preparation.
Fang Yuan had two main goals in mind, one was to learn about dream realm and nightmare creatures and other was to study his aspect and experiment on souls for soul guts.
A pale boy was also standing beside him, staring at a young girl. Sunless was looking at a tall, slender girl of around his age, with clear grey eyes and a detached look on her face. She had strange, silver-white hair that was cut short and neatly parted to the side. Just like him, she was dressed in a police-issued tracksuit and had no personal belongings with her. On her head, there was a pair of old-fashioned headphones. She was calmly listening to music while they waited.
"Sleeper Sunless, I have a suggestion."
Sunless — who was dressed in black clothes similar to Fang Yuan's own black clothes — turned to him, waiting for him to continue.
Fang Yuan sighed in his heart and offered a warm smile "You should hide your flaw better.'
Sunless was visibly taken aback and agitated. Fang Yuan smiled with sincerity and continued "do not worry I will not tell anyone, however you should try saying half truths or technical truths."
Sunless's gaze turned murderous, while Fang Yuan looked into his dark eyes.
"For example, if someone asks your aspect rank, just say that it's divine, the other might think you are joking."
This was his biggest gamble in the new world. Fang Yuan did not believe that Sunless's aspect was of divine rank, however, the attribute he gained from him was extremely strong.
[True shadow] Attribute Description: "Your shadow is a little more independent than normal."
[True shadow] allowed him to wrap the shadow around him, making him equivalent to one and a half of his stronger than his original strength. More over it allowed him to move his shadow around a bit independently. It could move about half a metre away from him.
It offered both strength and utility, and it was merely a lesser version of Sunless's real aspect!
"How do you know?" Sunless spewed with anger, his face full of murderous glee.
"Know what?" Fang Yuan answered in a confused tone, his face polite and calm
"My aspect's rank!" Sunless said with his voice full of unconcealed wariness and fear.
"It was merely a guess" Fang Yuan shook his head helplessly "I am not a seer, Sunless."
Sunless was calming down, the anger and murderous intent in his face reducing steadily.
Finally, the gates began to open. The thick sheet of reinforced metal slowly descended, creating a long bridge. Sunless finally stopped staring at Fang Yuan and looked ahead.
***
On their drive to the Academy, Sunny didn't speak much, looking at the sights of the city that were flying past the window of Jet's personal transport vehicle. Fang Yuan was calmly studying Sunless.
"Who knew it would be this easy to find a fellow divine aspect holder." Fang Yuan thought as Master Jet looked at them and said:
"Since we three come from the outskirts, I'll give you three pieces of advice. Whether you listen to me or not is your business."
Fang Yuan turned his head, waiting.
"First: once you're registered in the Academy, they'll offer you psychological counseling again. There will also be a valuable reward for sharing your experiences in the Nightmare and the details of your Appraisal. You'll be able to receive a soul shard, maybe even several of them."
Sunless frowned and said "Are you trying to convince me to visit a psychiatrist again?"
Jet shook her head.
"No. I'm telling you to refuse."
"Information" Fang Yuan said in his heart
Sunless's face turned surprised
"Why?"
There was a pause before she answered.
"You're too green to understand, but out there in the Dream Realm, Nightmare Creatures are not the only danger. Once you grow powerful enough, humans will become an equal threat. The less they know about your Aspect, the better."
"The easiest way to defeat a powerful Awakened is to use their Flaw. That's why young fools in the Academy are encouraged in various ways to share the details of their Aspects. I'm not saying that the government will leak your information, but once two people know a secret, it's no longer a secret. And there's a lot of people working for the government."
Sunless looked as if he had never thought of that, replying
"Thank you, Master Jet."
"Second: there will be a lot of courses to choose from. All types of combat training, deep dives into Nightmare Creature categories and vulnerabilities, basics of various types of sorcery, artifact study and so on."
Sunless gulped, visibly undecided on what to choose; Unlike Fang Yuan he did not have more than 500 years of experience, thus he had to choose the basics. But he would not have thought that, after all humans get accustomed to their environment.
"Disregard all of that. The only course you have time to attend is Wilderness Survival."
As expected Sunless was confused.
"What?"
Jet glanced at him.
"It's different for city kids, who learn all sorts of useful things in school and from their tutors. But we don't have that advantage, do we? What was the biggest threat to your life during the Nightmare?"
Fang Yuan thought for a bit and replied "The awakened"
"What?"
"The group of awakened hunting for me"