Chapter 7: A Fight Part 2
The next morning, Sunny headed to the cafeteria. Sunny saw that many sleepers were already sitting down and having their breakfast. He quickly grabbed a plate for himself and began filling it with food. After filling up his plate, Sunny looked for a place to sit. Sunny scouted for a place to sit, but almost all the tables were full except one.
Sunny approached the table where only one person sat, the blind girl from yesterday. Sunny instantly lost his good mood, but he did not have a choice. He put his plate on the table and sat down. Sunny gave a precursory nod to the social worker who was helping her get around. He tried his best to ignore them and began eating his food. But before he could finish, Sunny heard a commotion that drew his attention.
' What's going on ?'
He looked up and noticed 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 deducted from yesterday's interviews.
Not particularly interested, he quickly found his name near the bottom of the list. The only sleeper below him, whom the academy judges less likely to survive, was the blind girl. Her name was Cassie.
But the commotion was too loud to be just the result of the ranking. Curiously, he moved up his gaze. The names he found in the third and first place shocked him.
'How can this be?' thought Sunny. The first place holder was the silver-haired girl. Her name was boldly written in the first place, Nephis, and next to it was written, True Name: Changing Star. This was already shocking enough, but the name in the third place shocked him even more. Just below Caster, who was in second place, a name was written in bold too, it was of Amon.
A picture of Amon, then his name, followed by True Name: Celestial Worthy of Heaven and Earth for Blessings.
'How did he get a true name?' Sunny thought, Sunny was really confused by Amon. He thought Amon was sucking up to others because he was weak and had a useless aspect.
'So beside me, there are two others who had received their True Name in their first nightmare.'
Sleepers in the cafeteria were struck dumb by the revelation of this achievement. They were staring with astonished gazes. Sunny wanted to shout, "Me too! I have one too". But he kept quiet.
Then out of nowhere, one of the sleepers shouted. "Ahh, I remember him now!" looking at Amon's picture and pointing at it. Another one in the group asks, "You know one of them?". The young man who had shouted before nodded and said, "Yes, you remember that my father is a professor in Sainthood University right and every year we held a scholarship exam for each major right, if I remember correctly he was this year physics major scholarship winner." " I failed to recognise him yesterday since his appearance had changed a bit."
Sainthood University was one of the best universities in NQSE. Only the smartest and the most elite of children could attend the classes there.
Their conversation was loud enough that everyone could hear it. Sunny was especially shocked by this revelation. He then looked at Amon's picture again, then scowled.
"Well, I am not surprised now, to be able to get a scholarship there, he must be really smart, and he is from the outskirts too, so things must have been tougher for him. No wonder he got a true name."
"Do you know anything about the Nephis girl?" asked one of them. The man who had shared information about Amon shook shily in refusal and answered, "No, I have never heard of her. I was only able to recognise Amon because of his name and his appearance."
Sunny quickly searched for Amon among the crowd, but he did not find him. Sunny then searched for the silver-haired girl. She was sitting in a corner drinking coffee. She too was looking at the screen. Her gaze was fixed on the text that read Name: Amon, True Name: Celestial Worthy of Heaven and Earth for Blessings. Sunny looked at the silver-haired girl, her gaze hard and focused. Sunny could see a bit of shock and disbelief on her face.
" A Sleeper with a True Name? Impossible," shouted a person in the crowd.
"Technically, it's possible. Smile of Heaven received her true name in the first nightmare, I think, but yeah, I am doubtful," one replied.
"Maybe they lied in the interview."
Such murmurs began to form in the crowd.
"Are you stupid? If it were that easy to deceive the administrators, the crazy pervert from yesterday would have been in the first place instead of her."
Sunny's face twitched.
Suddenly, a voice caught everyone's attention. Even the blind girl turns in the direction. "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?
Nephis seemed perplexed by the question. After thinking for a while, she smiled brightly and shrugged, "It is what it is."
Caster awkwardly returned the smile.
Nephis then continued drinking her coffee. Caster then just bowed and left her.
****
After the commotion, Sunny headed for the Wilderness Survival class. He thought that he would find Amon there, but he was not there either.
Amon, not knowing about the commission, was still lying down on the bathroom floor, still passed out.
A few hours later, Amon opened his eyes. His body did not feel sore sleeping on the hard bathroom floor. Amon quickly connected this to his Divine Protection attribute.
His body felt refreshed or even renewed, and he even felt stronger and tougher. Amon opened his golden eyes. Still groggy from the sleep, as if yesterday's pain was just a dream. After a few seconds of just sitting in a daze, then, he remembered yesterday's event, and panic struck him. He checked his body for any injury or abnormality.
Not finding any injury or abnormality, he sighed in relief. Amon then summoned his runes, which appeared before him.
Checking his runes, he noticed a new attribute.
The Apprentice: [Those who tread the path of the Door begin as Apprentices — initiates of thresholds, students of seals, and servants of boundaries. Their domain is neither the world within nor the world without, but the fragile seam between them. Apprentices learn to trace the outline of what should not be crossed, to hear the heartbeat of things waiting to emerge. They are gatekeepers of shadows, though the gates themselves may not yet obey.
Each step into their progression is a step deeper into liminality. Their strength lies not in brute force, but in the hidden hinge, the pause between breaths, the lock before release. They do not command the storm or the flame — instead, they command access. ]
Amon read the description with confusion. 'What the fuck is wrong with this spell? Why is it that I always have to figure things out myself?' Amon complained. But because of his Celestial Concept attribute, he had an idea for this new attribute.
Then his gaze fell on an attribute, Amber of Divinity. It had replaced his Mark of Divinity attribute. Amon had a hunch that this new attribute and change in his divinity attribute must have been because of that Celestial Body.
Amon checked his memories, and Celestial Body was gone. A terrifying thought formed in Amon's mind. 'What if the level of divinity represents how much CW had awakened inside me?' Amon gazed hard as this thought formed.
Amon had not truly believed that he had transmigrated to Lotm; he had just entertained the idea, but his True Name had concerned him, so he did not remove that from a possibility. Amon tried to think of any new possibility that he had not already thought of as he sat on the toilet, but he was not able to come up with any new hypothesis.
Amon thought, 'I can just accept this for now, but I should be careful from now on.'
Amon walked out of the bathroom and looked at the time on his communicator. 12:26 PM.
Amon was shocked at how late he was; his wilderness survival must have long begun.
[A/N: I've got a bunch of tests this week, so updates might slow down a bit. I'll try to get a new chapter out by Saturday if I can. Thanks for being patient with me. Also, quick note—I'm planning to change up the cohort's personalities a little. They all come off way too self-important for my liking (except maybe Kai), so expect them to feel a bit different going forward. Please drop a comment or review, it really helps keep me motivated.]