Gwin walked through the halls of the academy deep in thought. A large circle of emptiness surrounded him as sleepers scurried away from him. The reason was simple. Gwin's face was contorted into a deep scowl that was partially covered by a large bandage over his nose. The winter solstice was only a month away now and Gwin was in a foul mood.
His nose had just finished healing from the results of his failed gamble in train so not only had Gwin just had his nose broken again by Elena just yesterday, news had also just come out of a sleeper emerging from their first nightmare with a true name.
'I didn't get a true name and I have a damn divine aspect!'
Nephis of the immortal flame clan was currently in her induction ceremony and the news of her true name had already reached the entire academy by now. Gwin couldn't help but feel jealous. He still hadn't won a match against Elena nor had he made any progress with his aspect and his preparations for the dream realm were going to be put to the test soon. He didn't have time for distractions.
'This sucks!'
How was he even supposed to master his aspect if he could hardly use it without passing out? It seemed like he was going to be forced to wait until he entered the dream realm so he could gather soul shards and slay a weaker nightmare creature before he could even begin mastering his aspect!
On a brighter note though, Gwin had made decent progress in learning swordsmanship and improving upon his bad habits. He still hadn't made any friends in his stay yet mostly by choice but he was on friendly terms with the other legacies in his group. Gwin had been feeling this strange sense of alienation recently. It seemed most people had been avoiding him lately and instead of being awkward he felt…normal? Like it was the natural course of things? He wasn't sure what he felt himself.
'Is this what self confidence is?'
He wasn't experience in not needing attention.
Gwin was confident in his ability to recognize most types of nightmare creatures he could encounter and how to kill them by now too. Humonoid nightmare creatures were typically weak in their necks and eyes while the more bug-like one usually had weak gaps between their chitin plates. Gwin felt that having more knowledge on a creature when he transformed into it would help him control himself better. He still did not know the full extent of his dormant ability but he wished to be prepared.
He had quickly become Professor Alma's favorite student because of how quiet and eager to learn he was. Of course it's not like he could make any noise besides barking even if he wanted to. He genuinely enjoyed that class though and his few classmates. It only consisted of six people including himself. He hadn't spoken to them directly but they were the respectful types who didn't make trouble. Or maybe they were just scared of Professor Alma…or him.
He was getting kinda tired of people visibly recoiling as he walked by.
'That's just being dramatic!'
His combat Professor was Awakened Rock who was currently giving the new sleepers the same speech he had gotten.
'Poor suckers'
He couldn't help but smirk while imagining how scared the sleepers must be, just like he had been and still was.
He was free for the rest of the day which was rare so he decided to go to his room and study his notes. He had been practicing his drawing skills lately with a notebook full of diagrams of the biology of different nightmare creatures. He had paid special attention to the ones in the Song and House of Night territories.
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Gwin was walking around the sleeper compound with his hand in his pocket. This close to December the weather was freezing and snow had begun falling. It had been during these weeks that Gwin had discovered another component to [Bestial Vitality]. He summoned the runes and looked at his attributes.
*****
Attributes:[Elusive Presence] [Bestial Vitality]
Attribute description: [Bestial Vitality]—Your body is a well of endurance that responds to your environment quickly making you an efficient creature.
*****
He finally understood what it meant by responding to his environment quickly. Over the past few months he had noticed subtle changes about himself. For one he had noticed his skin getting even lighter as the cold weather rolled in. The cold was noticeably less than it should have been. His hair had also been growing at an unnatural rate as it now reached his shoulders and it also seemed to have gotten thicker. In the same way his skin would get tanner to avoid damage from the sun his body changes in subtle ways to adapt faster and more extremely than others. This was a useful if not unsettling thing since his arm had also grown hairier than usual. He wasn't a fan of body hair which seemed ironic given his aspect.
'If I get any paler I will look like I'm made out of snow.'
The sun had already set on the sleeper compound due to the shorter days of winter. Gwin was walking by when he noticed the new class of sleepers training. He spotted their roles swiftly. It was easy to tell who was a legacy and who wasn't but that's not what Gwin cared about currently, he was looking for someone.
'Where is she…'
He spotted who he was looking for. A tall and lithe girl with short silver hair that went to her shoulders.
'What's so special about her…'
Awakened Rock then instructed them towards the same plate connected to a measuring machine meant to calculate their strength from a blow. Those with higher training and skill were bound to score higher. A combat oriented aspect helps as well.
One by one they struck the machine getting a variety of scores. Eventually it was Nephis's turn.
She approached the machine with an aloof expression before striking it.
'Sixteen? That's only one point above me..'
Nephis had scored higher than him even without the help of her aspect, Gwin noted. That felt awful. Next was a sleeper with brown hair and green eyes. He struck the machine faster than Gwin could even track.
'Woah! Twenty one!'
For some odd reason it made him feel better to see her outdone.
Gwin had come here to see Nephis in action. He was still indignant about her having a true name when he didn't. After testing their strength, awakened rock asked for two volunteers to spar. Nephis was the first to step in the circle followed by a muscular sleeper.
'Dang…'
'Ouch.'
'That's embarassing'
It seemed the new sleepers wanted to test her prowess as well and Gwin was watching them get clobbered with a grimace.
'She's on another level, and she hasn't even used her aspect…'
Gwin was curious as to what her aspect would be but he was left disappointed. Even when a young legacy with brown hair dueled her using his speedy aspect she didn't use it. That was the only loss she had taken and even then it wasn't a beatdown. Gwin watched a while longer with a growing sense of inferiority in his stomach. He slunk back towards his room feeling bitter.
'I don't have time to watch others, I need to get ready'
He spent his night thinking of his family and his desire to see them again.