It was morning. Sunny was eating a mountain of food in an empty table. Empty, with the exception of a delicate, blonde girl at the other side of said table... she was blind.
'Such a cruel flaw...'
Sunny didn't know what to make of his flaw, but he knew one thing, leaving his destiny in the hands of others or luck itself was the worst thing that could have happened to someone like him. And even if he understood that, his empathy to the girl didn't come from his heart. He was forcing himself.
'I just need to perceive the wrongness as natural...'
The task was harrowing for his inner-self, yet necessary. If he couldn't ignore the wrongness, what hope would the people around him have?
'Talking of which... is it really my flaw?'
Previously Sunny had concluded that interactions were one of the things that he was still connected to, and therefore his flaw was retaliating through them. However, this fundamental wrongness was not a thing related only to people. Even though it is harder to perceive, the world itself feels detached from Sunny and a little bit wrong.
Was it because he was [Devoid] of such connections to the world? Or was it because his flaw was retaliating towards the connections that he still had?
Furthermore, if it was his flaw... what would happen if he grew attached to someone?
'Rain...'
He recalled the image of his sister. A hint of panic in his mind. If he saw this wrongness in his sister... even if it wasn't his fault, even if he had not properly interacted with her in a long time... he would hate himself because of it.
After recalling the image that he wanted he allowed relief to wash over him.
'Nothing changed...'
Of course, this could mean that his flaw or attribute didn't affect his memories, and that a real-life encounter would still produce the feeling of wrongness. However, even if it was an illusion, Sunny allowed his mind to let go of the potential burden that those thoughts represented.
As if for the first time the world wanted to help him, a proper distraction formed in the cafeteria and drew his attention.
'What is it?'
He looked up and noticed that a lot of Sleepers were gathered around the large screen hanging on the wall of the cafeteria, their faces filled with excitement and awe. On the screen, a list of names was displayed, ranking the new batch of Sleepers from weakest to strongest, most likely deduced from the results of the interviews.
A little of excitement reached him. As he forced himself to remain aware of others, he quickly found his own name near the bottom of the list. The only Sleeper who the Academy judged to be less likely to succeed than him was the blind girl. Turns out, her name was Cassia.
But the commotion was a bit too loud to be just the result of the ranking. Forcing himself to be curious, he moved his gaze up. The Sleepers were restless.
"How… how can this be?!"
"I'm not seeing things, right?"
"What kind of a monster is she?!"
Caster was placed in second place. And right above him, the portrait of the silver-haired girl could be clearly seen.
To the right of it, two simple lines of text were displayed:
"Name: Nephis"
"True Name: Changing Star"
So, the silver-haired girl, Nephis, also received a True Name in her First Nightmare. To get his own, Sunny had to deal with Hero and Mountain King while possessing a completely useless Aspect — an impossible feat that seemed to have pleased the Spell very much.
'What kind of things are worthy of a True Name?'
Sleepers in the cafeteria were struck dumb by the revelation of this achievement. They were staring at the screen with astonishment, fear and admiration. Listening to their excited whispers, Sunny wondered for a moment about what happened with his True Name — which he didn't intend to recall in the slightest.
But he didn't have even a suspicion about why.
'Its just some ridiculous honor, isn't it?'
How could something like that connect him to the world?
Looking around, he noticed a young man's gaze fixed on the screen. There was the same wrongness of always on the young man's face, perhaps a little more pronounced, as if mixed with something. But the weird thing about it was that, as far as Sunny could tell, Caster wasn't looking at the line of text containing the True Name.
Instead, he was staring at the line of text that read "Nephis", as though the girl's actual name held more meaning to him than the one given by the Spell.
'Do they know each other?'
Why would a lofty Legacy know someone who came to the Academy in a police-issued tracksuit? Was this the wrongness talking?
Well, now he at least had an objective to befriend, where was she?
Sunny glanced around the cafeteria and after a moment or two noticed the silver-haired girl, who was sitting quietly in a corner with a cup of coffee in her hands. She wasn't paying a lot of attention to the commotion, as far as the wrongness allowed him to tell, seemingly immersed in her thoughts. Her grey eyes were serious and distant. Or Sunny was imagining things...
"A Sleeper with a True Name? That's impossible!"
"It's technically possible. Smile of Heaven received her True Name in the First Nightmare, I think. But yeah, I'm doubtful…"
"Maybe she lied in the interview?"
"Are you stupid? The administration wouldn't be so short-sighted as to believe everything that a Sleeper said."
"Well, why don't we just ask her?"
Suddenly, the room went still... Sunny was having problems to read it. Following the suggestion, Sleepers stopped talking and turned around, staring at Nephis. However, no one seemed to have the courage to approach her first.
'Is this a chance or a blunder?'
Before he could made up his mind, she raised her eyes and looked at them with surprise.
"Mmm. What?"
Even the blind girl, Cassia, turned in the direction of her voice.
After a couple of moments, the guy that was seeing her name on the screen intently suddenly walked over and made a small bow.
"Lady Nephis. I am Caster from the Han Li clan. I see that your trial went well?"
Lady? Why is he addressing her that way? And he had to introduce himself… so, they don't know each other? Is this normal? This wrongness is maddening.
Nephis seemed to be a little bit perplexed by the question. After thinking for a while, she smiled brightly and shrugged.
"It is what it is."
Caster awkwardly returned the smile.
"I see. I am very glad that you returned unharmed. Uh… not that I doubted your abilities."
Nephis nodded.
"Thank you."
After that, she returned to her coffee, indicating something , but Sunny wasn't able to fully grasp what.
Sunny sighed.
'Amazing, not only they will be wary of me at all moments, I can't even properly read them.'
There were a lot of thoughts on his mind. However, none of them could distract him from the most important thing… breakfast, something that the wrongness couldn't steal from him. A few seconds later, he had forgotten all about the dynamic between Caster and Nephis and was happily shoveling down his food.
***
The Wilderness Survival classroom was spacious, tastefully decorated, with the same wrongness as always... Oh, and it was empty. At that moment, Sunny even thought that he was mistaken, but then spotted a gloomy instructor sitting behind a wide wooden desk. Noticing him, the instructor perked up.
"Come in, young man!"
He was a lively old man with messy grey hair, absentminded eyes and a pair of bushy eyebrows that seemed to jump around on their own.
"I'm Awakened Julius. You can call me Teacher Julius. Sit down, sit down! What's your name?
Sunny obediently sat down.
"It's Sunless."
Julius raised his eyebrows.
"Ah! What an ominous name. But that is good, very good. After all, we have to deal with a lot of ominous things!"
'No strange reactions... odd'
Sunny looked around.
"Uh… I'm sorry, Teacher. Did I come too early?"
"No, no… you're right on time."
"Are other students late?"
The instructor grunted with incredible contempt.
"No one else is coming. Those brutes are only interested in swinging their fists and swords around. Very few are smart like you and know the true value of knowledge…"
Oh. So it was that unpopular. Sunny inwardly sighed, hoping that he won't regret the decision to abandon combat training in favor of this course.
"Say, young man… why did you choose Wilderness Survival, of all things?"
There was no point in hiding the true reason. He had to mentally remind himself of that fact before giving his answer.
"The Awakened that monitored me during the First Nightmare, Master Jet, had advised me to study it above all things."
"A very wise advice! That Master truly knows what's important… wait. Did you say Jet?"
His eyes widened.
"Soul Reaper Jet? That murderous savage?! Hm. Who would have thought that a barbarian like her would know the value of intricate knowledge."
Soul Reaper? Sunny forced curiosity.
"Teacher, do you know Master Jet?"
Julius carefully looked behind his back before answering:
"Who doesn't know the Soul Reaper? She might not be the most powerful Awakened out there, but she is certainly one of the most feared. That's because her Aspect Abilities disregard flesh and target soul cores directly. Which means that no amount of armor, damage resistance and physical protection can stop them."
He leaned forward.
"The only good thing is that she's young and not likely to become a Saint anytime soon, or even ever. Yes, luckily, there's a very low probability that she'll ever advance."
Sunny stared for a moment.
"Why?"
Julius looked at him as though trying to comprehend how someone could be so ignorant, or perhaps picking up on the wrongness that surrounded Sunny.
"Because of her problematic personality, of course! Who would want to help a psychopathic killer become a Saint? You need a team of outstanding companions and a lot of support to attempt conquering the Third Nightmare. Soul Reaper Jet isn't… wait!"
Suddenly, Julius frowned and leaned back.
"Why am I gossiping with you? You're too young to know such things! More than that, it's not in my character to badmouth others behind their backs!
'I would beg to differ,' Sunny thought sarcastically, but didn't say anything out loud.
He already got a lot of information out of Teacher Julius. At the same time realizing that fighting the wrongness didn't let him consistent awareness. He should practice more.
'Maybe choosing Wilderness Survival was the right choice after all.'
"Let's get back to your curriculum. What other courses are you taking?"
Sunny sighed.
"None. For the next four weeks, I'll be fully concentrated on Wilderness Survival."
Julius stared at him for a whole minute, an expression of utter astonishment written clearly on his face — or so thought Sunny. Then, slowly, an excited gleam appeared in his eyes. Finally, he grinned.
"Wonderful! This is wonderful! You're such an astute young man! Don't you worry. In four whole weeks, I will make you immortal…
***
Sunny's lessons with Teacher Julius started without much tension, but just an hour later, he felt like his head was ready to explode. There was so much new information, and all of it was so strange and counterintuitive for someone who had never left the walled-off, sheltered confines of the city.
From time to time, Julius gaped at Sunny's lack of knowledge and relevant experience. However, he had a good attitude and an endless enthusiasm for teaching. Whenever Sunny stumbled, he would patiently slow down and allow his student to catch up.
The curriculum that Julius planned out was practically insane. There was an endless amount of theoretical knowledge to learn, practical lessons both in virtual reality and the real world, numerous subjects and weird things to study. There were even several lessons dedicated exclusively to learning the basics of several dead languages of the Dream Realm!
'Why would I need to learn new languages?' Sunny thought with self-pity. 'The Spell automatically translates everything!'
But Julius was uncompromising.
"The Spell is not a translator! Do you think it has the time to express the intricacies of human speech? Let's say you're seeking shelter in a ruin and find an inscription that reads "certain death ahead". There are thirty words for death in the rune language! Just by knowing the runes, you'll be able to deduce what kind of danger there is!"
On the first day, they studied until the sun was about to set. Only then did Julius decide to let Sunny go. Mentally exhausted and lamenting the fact that he had to miss lunch and dinner, Sunny decided to gently remind his teacher about the importance of food for maintaining high levels of concentration tomorrow.
After returning to his room, he fell on a chair and stared blankly into the distance for a while. Then, as though remembering something, Sunny turned to his shadow.
Right. He had a lot to accomplish before supper.
He observed the shadow for a few seconds and then grinned, slightly.
"Let's see what I can do with you..."