Gwin had almost finished packing all the things he needed in his duffel bag. His cargo included only a few things like clothes and such. Most of his needs would be met by the academy after all. He finished packing and heading downstairs while rubbing his still sore forehead.
Yesterday after trying his dormant ability for the first time, Gwin had suffered from essence exhaustion for the first time. He wasn't even able to get a shower until this morning when thankfully he recovered from it. Gwin had learned a few things from this though.
First was the fact that an awakened devil seemed to be too much for his dormant pool of essence right now. Second was the fact that his dormant ability was extremely hard to look at. He felt squeamish just thinking about the long blade that emerged from his forearm.
'Where did that thing even fit?…..Ayo pause."
Last was discovering what spirit essence truly did. He had checked his runes upon waking up only to see his spirit essence counter was now zero.
He had used them when transforming himself and they had been used up entirely instead of recharging . He understood what [Bounty] meant by exhaustible now.
He would have to be careful about how he used his spirit essence from now on. Storing it up for a desperate situation would be smart. He made his way downstairs and threw his bag by the door. Today was going to be his last day with his family until he returned from the dreamworld. He would be spending the rest of these six months preparing for the dream world at the awakened academy. He wouldn't get to see their faces again for at least six months which made him feel wistful. His family was waiting by the PTV all dressed up. Yoru had skipped school for today and his dad was free so they were going to spend now until the induction ceremony started together and having fun.
They had gotten up early to enjoy as much as possible with each other. The induction ceremony was going to happen in the afternoon.
Time flew by for Gwin.
They had done everything worth talking about in that amount of time. They visited several cafes to get all of Gwin's favorites and visited every place Gwin had even shown a modicum of interest. They pulled out all the stops. It was an amazing day for Gwin. He had forgotten all about his looming fate with the dream world. His sisters practically clung to him the entire time. They babied him like he was the youngest and not Yoru. Verene hadn't even said one rude thing to him the entire time. They hadn't argued either which was kind of impossible right now anyways because of his flaw. His family seemed to have figured out his inability to speak without him ever telling them. He was relieved by that. Some things are safer not said out loud after all. Instead Gwin was communicating in very animated facial expressions and projecting words into the air with his communicator. He had been genuinely smiling for most of the day which was just a little scary looking now with his sharp teeth but they didn't let him know. Their love and worry for him overshadowed fear a hundredfold.
By the time they were pulling up to the monolithic red gates of the awakened academy Gwin was melancholic. He shared one, hopefully not final, hug with his mother and sisters before opening the door to the PTV. His dad waited on the other side. He took Gwin in for a hug.
"I wish I could do more for you."
His voice was barely a whisper. It disappeared a moment later leaving Gwin feeling sympathetic. His father had done all he could, in fact he wouldn't have survived if not for the wisdom his father had given him. He pulled his communicator from his pocket and began typing.
{You already saved me once!}
Gwin flashed another genuine smile as the words played for his dad to see. His dad relaxed slightly before patting him on the back and getting into the PTV. With one final wave he turned and faced the gates. It was now all up to him.
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The Awakened Academy was a literal city inside of a city. Fortress walls that stood impenetrably tall and a huge and deep moat surrounded all of it. Large turrets stood as steel sentries watching the skies, their purpose to reduce any flying terror to red mist. In front of Gwin stood the towering and imposing Red gates of the awakened academy. They were utterly intimidating. Gwin hated them for some reason. In front of the gates was a handsome young man with lustrous blonde hair. His blue eyes scanned the area cheerfully before locking onto Gwin.
'He must be the guide to the induction ceremony.'
The young awakened man was polite and guided Gwin to where he needed to be. The sleeper compound was located in the southern part of the academy.
Gwin was currently standing in front of an alloy building. It had large windows and was relatively low to the ground. Gwin knew this was because most of it was situated underground. He could also see fields and dojos surrounding the building.
"Right inside here!"
'He's too cheerful…I don't like it'
Thankfully Gwin didn't need to speak with him anymore, hopefully he wouldn't need to speak at all. He prepared himself before entering. He put on his best scowl and fixed his posture. He needed to look completely unapproachable. He pushed open the doors in his best attempt at a dramatic entrance.
To his dismay and slight embarrassment nobody even noticed his efforts. The hall was large and spacious and was already filled with young sleepers. The conversations were loud and bustling. He was worried about standing out but he only now realized how naive he had been. Everyone here was absolutely stunning. If he himself wasn't a bit of a looker now he would be more nervous right now than he was with the Disciple of Kesh!
'Don't look around, keep posture straight, wait…how long do I have to keep this up?'
The idea of keeping up appearances for six months seemed like effort better allocated to preparing himself to survive.
'...I'm not doing all that'
Gwin dropped his persona and began to glance around. No matter where he looked, everyone looked so…interesting. He was still different from most though. Not everyone experienced physical changes like different colored eyes or hair color changes. Most just got more attractive.
He was able to hear conversations on all sides. Some spoke about the nightmares creatures they faced while others spoke of memories.
"I fought a dormant monster!"
"How the hell did you survive?"
Gwin felt a little overwhelmed. Ever since he had received his dormant powers his senses had skyrocketed. All these noises were beginning to overwhelm him. Looking around he began to spot different social circles. There were a few well dressed sleepers who carried a different air to them. Each was surrounded by a small circle of enthusiastic sleepers trying to get into their good graces. He had only earned a few passing glances so far, some even had the nerve to look at him with pity for his prosthetic arm.
'As if that'd help them survive…a missing arm won't matter in the dream world anyways, not even my real body.'
He was feeling a little bitter he didn't have his own circle, not like there was much he could tell them though.
'I hate this'
To his left he noticed a small group of sleepers approaching him. There were four of them with two girls and two boys. They seemed equal parts nervous and excited. One of the girls spoke first.
"Hi! I'm Aza, what's your name?"
Her greeting was polite and confident. Gwin wanted to puke. He didn't know whether to put on an act or make up some kind of lie. He was panicking on the inside right now. He didn't know what persona to put on.
'Wait…do I even need to pretend? Can't I just be honest? How can I even hide this flaw, and should I even try? How could someone use my inability to speak to kill me?'
Now that he thought about it someone probably had an aspect that could do just that.
'Whatever..'
Gwin turned to face her and simply nodded his head at her in acknowledgement as if to say "What's up?". Thankfully his name didn't seem important to them. They really just wanted to talk about their first nightmares and their aspects. Even Gwin knew they shouldn't be sharing such information so easily but on the other hand he knew most wouldn't survive the winter solstice so they had every right to be excited over still being alive for now. After being asked about his first nightmare he did an exaggerated shiver and threw out a thumbs down which earned him some laughs. Gwin had always been surrounded by people so he was not lacking in charisma or social skills even if he didn't have a voice anymore.
Eventually he weaseled away from their attention. Well it was more like they went on to the next person to interview which was good for him since there was something he needed to address.