I woke up to find myself drooling over my clothes. I hastily wiped the saliva away from my mouth and my clothes.
I tried to get up only to find that my joints were extremely tight, as if they were screwed in.
After a few embarrassing and sore attempts at pulling myself up, I found myself in the center of my dorm room looking at the mess my aspect made last night.
This was going to be a pain to clean…
I could probably wash the towels by simply throwing them in while I had a shower but the walls and bed were the tricky part.
The bed sheets…I could say I unknowingly got a cut and had accidentally spread it over my bed. The walls…Yeah, I couldn't see any good way to explain that. I'd just have to slowly scrape the gore away.
Sighing, I turned my attention to the dull metal table which had been my target last night.
A single hole was drilled straight through the metal table. Following the path of the hole, I spotted the crack on the floor which was covered in dried blood.
I didn't know how I would explain this to the teachers of the academy. Sure, I could say that it was the result of my aspect, but I didn't want to let others know of my aspect, especially considering how large the drawback was.
I felt a buzz from my index finger, but I ignored it. Though the mess was unfortunate, there was one good thing.
My aspect, [Blood Purge], could shoot through a table that resisted ascending. My attack power was more destructive than a master's attack.
The attack wasn't even at my aspect's full power either, if I increased the output of [Blood Purge], I could possibly kill an ascent with a single shot. However, the drawback must be even larger.
I shivered, remembering the pain and gore that covered my entire body as I attempted to heal myself. All of that damage was caused by me using a small percentage of [Blood Purge]. I was lucky enough to have [Higher Healing Factor] as my attribute otherwise I might have died on the spot from blood loss.
However, what if I used multiple fingers? A fist? Hell, maybe my arm?
Modern weaponry didn't affect nightmare creatures or awakened unless it was filled with essence, and that was highly inefficient since essence dissipated from an object and needed to be constantly replenished with more essence.
The irrelevance of guns and bullets was a major hit towards humanity in the early days of the spell. Though humanity was able to adapt with the abilities of the awakened, losing weaponry that could shoot bullets that could break the sound barrier, was simply unfortunate.
Yet, here I was, with an aspect similar to shooting bullets. How valuable would I be if I released information about my aspect?
I shook my head, it was still too soon to try to be scouted. I still had the winter solstice coming, and that meant one more nightmare. Though it would be nice to get help from others who wanted to endorse me for my protection, I could unwittingly make enemies who'd like to kill any future competition.
Maybe I was thinking too far into it, but I reached a conclusion.
Considering the drawbacks of [Blood Purge], the fact my aspect was of the supreme rank, and the current situation—I wouldn't use my aspect unless It was a life or death situation.
"But…that won't happen anytime soon." I said to myself, "After all, they'd need to be an ascendant to threaten me."
***
Soon after, I had gotten a message from the academy from the gray tablet: we were to come to the sleeper hall for an assembly.
I now stuck to the surrounding edge of the crowd that formed in the sleeper assembly hall.
It was early in the morning so many of them were yawning, trying to remove the lingering effects of drowsiness. I noticed that the sleepers were clumping up more together in separate groups than before. I imagined that they had somewhat decided on the friend groups they would stick with for the rest of the academy semester.
I easily spotted Ford because of his stature and walked over to him. Once I walked over, more people started to come over to us and talk.
I was happy to know that me and Ford's act made it so that people felt comfortable talking to us while we were together, but also leave us alone when we went our separate ways. It allowed us to keep our true nature and abilities a secret while keeping our connections with other sleepers.
Though group divisions had been made, they all shared one thing in common.
No one seemed to know why we were gathered here.
Itri came over to me, he pushed his sand-colored hair away from his face while looking elsewhere. "How was your first night?" He asked.
"I almost died last night!" I wanted to say, but I held my tongue. "Not bad." I said instead, smiling at him and the other friends he brought with him.
Irti nodded, his gaze going back to the corner of the assembly hall. Large black industry-grade crates, each as large as the table in my dorm room, were stacked on top of another and sat in the darker side of the assembly hall. An awakened professor stood there with his arms crossed, his icy glare pointed at the crowd of sleepers.
Seeing how stern the awakened was, there was likely something valuable contained within the crates. Other observant sleepers like me and Itri seemed to notice as well.
While I talked to the people around me, I stole more glances at the social situation of the room.
The people who looked weak and irritated were on the outskirts of the crowd, all alone by themselves. They were already made outcasts in under a day.
One girl caught my eye. Her skin seemed to blend in with her plain white clothes that weren't suited for the colder weather of early fall. Though her clothes covered most of her body, I could tell she was extremely thin, maybe even malnourished. Her shoes were worn and tattered, as if she had been wearing them for far too long. She also had a white styrofoam mask that covered half of her face, revealing only her bleached and tangled hair and dull green eyes.
Considering how she looked…was she from the slums of the outskirts? If so, my analogy of the outcasts of the sleepers was worded better than I imagined, unfortunately.
I sent a silent apology to the outskirts girl in my head.
After glossing over a bunch of normal looking sleepers, my eyes landed on someone stunning.
Awakened were good looking in their own right, but like aspects, they had their own ranks. The raven-haired beauty my eyes were stuck to was in her own league. Her gaze, a cool steel blue, was as striking as a summer sky. Her smooth fair skin looked as though it had been sculpted from the most exquisite stone. Lean yet muscular, she had the perfect athletic body.
Though no one could hold themselves back to approach the radiant beauty, they were restrained by a dangerous aura that emanated from her very existence. It wasn't like a saint whose presence extended past their physical bodies, but there was a tangible sense of danger that anyone could sense.
Was she perhaps part of a legacy clan?
She had a calm expression on her face, her steely gaze locked straight in front of her, at the podium which was surrounded by awakened professor's talking to each other. To her left side, she kept on clenching and unclenching her hand. I found the movement odd and I wanted to continue studying her, but I felt that something bad would happen if I kept on staring at her.
Reluctantly, I looked forward to the podium. Above it was a large flat screen that almost covered the entire wall it was situated on. It was turned on and circular beads were spinning around in a circle while the word, loading…, was displayed. Did they gather us here for a presentation?
My question was quickly answered when awakened Rock stood up to the podium.
"Good morning, Sleepers. I want to first apologize for the inconvenient wake up call. We initially were going to let you take your time exploring the academy's courses but we were given an urgent request by one of our old professors."
The flat screen above awakened Rock turned on, displaying a black blur. Awakened Rock got off the podium and let the video play. The black blue turned into a person.
The first thing I noticed was his large and dark pupils, two pools of darkness that seemed to look right through me. A chill ran up my spine when our gazes met.
Most of the figure's clothes consisted of three mundane colors: black, gray, and white. Yet somehow, they seemed to glow while they covered the porcelain skin of the ascended. He almost looked like a doll.
A creepy smile was suddenly plastered on the cute face of the figure, making a few sleepers in the room tremble. In the midst of their fear, I saw a look of recognition cross the faces of some people in the hall.
"Hello, future awakened!" The doll-like awakened said, "I'm Ascended Sunless."
Ascended Sunless!
I didn't recognize him at first because of his mesmerizing eyes that entranced me but now my mind started to race through the information I had on him.
Ascended Sunless was one of the youngest masters in history and was an upcoming potential powerhouse that was quickly rising in the awakened rankings! He wasn't close in rank compared to his other cohort members, Ascended Raised by Wolves and Ascended Nightingale, and was much lower ranked than Ascended Song of Fallen and Changing star.
However, he was no doubt worthy of being part of Changing Star's cohort as their one and only scout! Even Lady Nephis said that the Legendary Forgotten Shore would have been difficult to traverse without him!
Now, this legendary master was now speaking directly to my batch of sleepers!
"It's unfortunate that I couldn't be there in the sleepers hall, but I have had…personal matters to attend to."
Though he didn't say it directly, Ascended Sunless didn't attempt to hide it either. Most everyone could guess what those personal matters were and who they referred to.
Changing Star had recently come to the waking world only a few weeks ago. The arrival of humanity's main heroine has created a large uproar in the entire world. Not only that, she had challenged not one, but two nightmares as a sleeper. The impossible task of overcoming all those trails that Lady Nephis was given was nothing short of a miracle.
Though the entire world wanted to meet with the legendary ascended, she had been under the radar for a while. Most people would guess that she was being taken care of by the rest of her cohort. Master Sunless's words seemed to confirm that, but the fact he revealed it in the first place must mean that Changing Star was now fully recovered.
"Though, I can't make it there, I don't want to abandon my teacher job with no parting words-or gifts." A grin appeared on his face that made me ecstatic.
"What sort of person do you think survives in the dream realm?" He asked.
There was a silence as Master Sunless let the sleepers talk amongst themselves.
"Mastery of Aspect?" I heard Itri mutter next to me. His sparkling sea colored eyes were narrowed at the image of Ascended Sunless on the screen.
The dark figure on the screen talked, seemingly disinterested by the mutterings of the sleepers. "I heard a lot of things from you guys: Power, Aspect rank, Battle style, speed, mastery of your abilities, memories, echoes…" He listed off the things that the sleepers had said. He then waved his hands behind him, as if he was throwing those ideas away.
"It's nothing like that. Many people's perception of reality has been thoroughly twisted since the arrival of the nightmare spell. Sure, aspects, memories, and fighting styles are all vital for you to kill a nightmare creature and gain victory but there is something much deeper than that, much more important. It's something that not even the spell had changed."
A pause.
"Food, water, and rest."
The sleepers looked into the two abysses which were the eyes of the ascended speaking to them.
"These three fundamental parts of what allows a living being to survive. The spell hasn't changed that, and if anything it's become much more important. The reason you haven't noticed it is because the Nightmare spell is trying to hide those thorns by showing you the delicious fruits which are the abilities it gives you."
"Don't be blinded by it. You might be superhuman now, but you aren't immortal. You can starve, you can die of thirst, and you can die of exhaustion. You can be killed, and the spell will try its damn hardest to make sure you are dead."
A silence permeated the hall of sleepers, everyone was speechless. Though it was completely silent in the room, there was a loud sound from inside the sleeper's hearts. A burning drive that was growing stronger and stronger until it turned into an inferno. The simple innate sense of wanting to survive.
And not just to survive, but to thrive.
Ascended Sunless looked satisfied by the expressions he saw on the sleepers. He then pointed down, at the row of professors that lined under him, right under the screen from where he was talking from.
"All of that good advice is from my favorite professor, awakened Julius by the way. Make sure you take his class on wilderness survival." A messy gray haired man with bushy eyebrows turned tomato red, he was probably professor Julius. I also noticed that awakened Rock was moving past all the sleepers, getting closer to the black industrial crates.
"However!" Master Sunless said. "I promised parting advice and gifts."
I spotted awakened rock and the other awakened turned towards the black crates.
"I wish knowledge itself would be important enough to help you guys, but there is still the problem of the nightmare creatures. Food, water, and rest aren't that useful when you're fighting against a nightmare creature in a head to head."
Awakened rock was now starting to rip open the crates with his bare hands.
"So here's the little gift." A mischievous smile appeared on Ascended Sunless face.
The top of the crate was fully ripped off, unleashing an ethereal glow that blinded everyone in the room for a second. My eyes quickly adjusted as I tried to get a glimpse of the contents inside.
Whatever was inside the crate, it resonated with me on a deeper level, resonating with my soul itself.
Inside the crate were tens, no….hundreds of glimmering soul shards.
"Good luck." Ascended Sunless's words echoed through the entire hall.