.
The three pieces of advice from Master Jet went through his head:
"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."
And how he should not reveal much, since...
"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."
Which was nothing new to him—in the other world hewent after people for the Celik clan, after all.
"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." And how I should...
"Disregard all of that. The only course you have time to attend is Wilderness Survival."
And lastly: "Remember, no one can survive in the Dream Realm alone. That's not an opinion, that's a fact. Try to get along with your peers, even if they don't treat you well. It might save your life."
With this, she left Sunless to wait to be picked up, giving him time to think about his next step. He could not disagree with the last two pieces of advice. Be it in the Dream Realm or the streets, one has to know about their environment and have others to rely on. The only problem here would be his True Name, but he was confident in his ability to outwit some stuck-up brats.And with [Trinity], he would be able to get more out of the classes as it eliminated his bodily inadequacies like the ability to forget or the need for sleep. All he had to do was convince the administrators to find some way to give him extra classes.
But there was one thing that Jet said that interested Sunny: the prospect of a valuable reward for sharing his experiences in the Nightmare and the details of his Appraisal. The last part was out of the question, but if he could worm his way into getting a Memory instead of a soul shard, that would make his life easier.
The question was just what he should reveal—and more importantly, to whom?
'*'
As Sunless thought about ways to gain the most out of his knowledge without revealing his hand too much, he barely noticed a gray and silver blob appearing to his left.
His first instinct was to turn his head to see who it was, which he nearly did. Instead, he focused on his shadow sense and continued to look at the gate of the Awakend Academy in front of him.
Through his shadow, Sunless saw, in shades of gray, a girl with simple short hair that was parted to the side. She wore the same police-issued tracksuit and had no personal belongings with her. The detached expression on her delicate face, along with the pair of old-fashioned headphones she had on, gave him the impression that she was retreating into herself to cope with what was ahead. Oh she was also taller than him but that is nothing new.
That being the Awakend Academy—a place that was only known to him through fiction. The Academy was no mere school; it was a city within a city. It was built like a fortress, with a high wall made of hard alloy, a deep moat, and numerous large-caliber turrets placed in certain positions to create a deadly air-suppression dome.
It was a legendary place. Actually, many of the most popular webtoons, youth dramas, and novels took place right behind that wall. Adventures, rivalries, and romantic entanglements of the young Awakened heroes were the mainstream themes of modern entertainment. Never in his wildest dreams did Sunny imagine actually becoming one of these heroes.
'*'
It spoke volumes about the administration of the Academy to be able to adapt to the random number of Sleepers that appear at the whim of the Spell.
And thanks to this ability, Sunless only had to wait an hour to set his plan in motion. He knew that he had to make that hour count if he wanted to go unbothered—and more importantly, unquestioned—during his month-long stay here. So, he started to observe the group of teens in front of him, along with the gray blob, as they entered the main hall.
Firstly, everyone was well-dressed and in possession of a suitcase, a duffel bag, or at least a backpack carrying their personal belongings. They were obviously coming prepared, most likely from home, sent off by their families. So, Sunny and the silver-haired girl, who came empty-handed and wearing simple police-issued clothes, were not the norm like he had assumed, but actually eye-catching anomalies.
'Right. That makes sense.'
Secondly, Master Jet was being overly humble when she called herself below average by Awakened standards. Even though these young people were just starting their paths as Awakened, their looks were dazzling. Everyone was handsome, beautiful, and radiated health.
He took a deep breath.
'Still, I feel like none of them compare. She might not be as perfectly shaped, but... I don't know... she has a presence. It's like shadows become deeper and the temperature drops by a couple of degrees when she's in a room.'
In these short moments, Sunny knew that he had his work cut out for him.
As the first thing one should do to avoid getting noticed—at least according to his old boss—was to look and act like one belonged.
This was going to be a problem, as he was not only one of the two people who had no personal belongings with them, but he looked like a starving Victorian child next to these people. And with this, his first plan of just fading into the background was out of the question.
That left him with the tactics he learned when he first started transporting contraband for the Celik clan: The three Bs. Be Boring, Be Busy, and Be Polite. The idea is that people approach or question others less if they appear busy, and boring people tend to slip their minds. If these don't work, be polite, as it is easier to end a conversation by being polite.
By doing this, he was able to limit the conversations he had to a handful, during which he managed to be slapped once. Thankfully, he was able to hide something about his true self — namely, that deep down inside, he was rude, arrogant, and more than a little bit lustful.
The conversations went something like this:
"Look at all these young people. How many do you think will return from the Dream Realm? How many will perish? What do you think our own chances of survival are?"
"I don't know, but I believe my survival chances are not that different from the average."
Or:
"I even received an armor-type Memory in my Nightmare. It's an enchanted robe. Would you like to see?"
"I would love to see it, but I'm a bit busy right now. Maybe some other time?" He actually was interested in this conversation, or at least the girl. But He was called by a teacher.
During this time, he found what he was looking for.
It is without a doubt true that once groups form in a school environment, they rarely change or interact with outsiders, so it was paramount for Sunny to find just the right person to be grounped together with — someone who not only did not have a large group but also repelled others without any social stigma attached to their behavior.
And thanks to his scar acting up and causing his sight to linger, he found his perfect partner for the time being. There, in an empty corner, was only one girl sitting quietly on the bench. Sunny gave her a look.
The quiet girl was delicate, demure, and very pretty. Her clothes were tidy and neat. They weren't very expensive, but still rather tasteful. With her pale blond hair, big blue eyes, and exquisite face, she looked like a beautiful porcelain doll.
She was subtly breathtaking.
However, there was something wrong with her. Sunny frowned, trying to understand what exactly about the girl made him uncomfortable. After a while, he realized that her empty, expressionless stare was reminding him of himself and the Mountain King.
Startled, Sunny understood that the girl was blind. It took him a couple of seconds to compose himself.
One thing was clear: no matter what her Aspect Ability was, the blind girl — the Winter Solstice — was effectively a death sentence. A blind person had no chances of surviving in the Dream Realm, at least not with a dormant core. In some sense, the girl was already dead.
She was effectively a walking corpse.
So, Sunny calmed himself, stopped scratching his scar, and approached the blind girl. "Hey, I don't want to intrude, but may I sit here?"