Aelon extricated himself from the crowd and reached the corner. For some reason, Sleepers were unwilling to approach it: currently, there was only one girl sitting quietly on the bench. He gave her a look.
The quiet girl was delicate, demure and very pretty. Her clothes were tidy and neat. They weren't very expensive, but still rather tasteful. With her pale blond hair, big blue eyes and exquisite face, she looked like a beautiful porcelain doll.
She was subtly breathtaking.
However, there was something wrong with her.
That's when Aelon saw that there was no comprehension of her surroundings in her eyes. They looked empty.
'I thought my flaw was bad... she's blind?'
As that conclusion reached his mind, he immediately felt his own flaw ease up around her. The fact that she couldn't see him seemed to lessen the effect of his flaw.
Quietly the thirteen year old sat down, and made sure to sit on the other side of the bench, leaving a big gap between them. Due to the lack of people here, and the blind girl his pulse steadied a litte, and he found himself calming down.
[Concentrated Existence] helped him a lot here, since she didn't sense his presence, and her blindness prevented her from seeing him too.
After a few seconds, Aelon saw Sunny walk towards him with a grim expression on his face.
A questioning look arose on his face. Sunny seemed to pick it up immediately, and just shook his head, nonverbally telling him not to ask.
That was when the blonde girl seemed to finally notice that someone was approaching, and her eyes turned in Sunny's direction.
The black haired boy just sat down next to Aelon though, putting himself between him and the girl.
After a while the instructor came, and explained everything to them.
***
Everything having to do with Sleepers was situated in the same building. Aelon followed the instructions sent to his communicator and quickly found the dormitories, which were situated on one of the lowest levels. To his surprise, he actually got a whole room to himself.
It had a bed with a soft mattress, a table, a dresser, and even a separate bathroom! The materials were new and aesthetically pleasing, the air crisp and sterile. It was warm inside, and the outer wall was equipped with a hidden screen that seamlessly imitated a wide window, opening to a picturesque vista of a snowy park.
There were even several sets of clothes with the Academy emblem provided to him for free.
'How extravagant,' he thought, a little stunned.
Now that he was all alone, he finally had time to check out the memory he had gained during his first nightmare.
Silently he summoned his runes.
Memory: [Minos' Soulblade].
Memory Rank: Awakened.
Memory Tier: III
Memory Type: Weapon.
Memory Description: [A warrior feared death more than defeat. In his desperation, he taught his blade to wound what could not be healed. In the end, the soul it scarred most deeply was his own.]
Summoning it, a blue blade appeared in Aelon's hand. It seemed weightless, yet corresponded to gravity the same as a heavy blade. Rather than weightless, it was that the weight was eased when Aelon used it.
Checking it's enchantments he found a few useful aspects of it.
Enchantments:
[Soulrend]
[Wounds inflicted by this blade reach beyond flesh, striking the soul itself.]
[Physical Soul]
[This blade can change from a physical to a non-physical state, where it can only touch the soul.]
Seeing the latter enchantment, Aelon tried to activate it, and the previously blue blade, now only had a blue sheen surrounding it, and seemed as if it were made of metal.
When he changed it back, and slowly inserted it into the wall, it simply passed through though.
'This... this is extremely useful!'
Quite satisfied, Aelon dismissed it and left his room, heading for the cafeteria.
The food displayed was truly extravagant, with real fruit, and meat. Even though his first nightmare was a place he never wanted to return too, Aelon had to admit to himself that the food there beat anything he had managed to get in the Outskirts, and found himself missing it a little.
Now what was before him, was much better than what he had there, unlike the colosseum, where they barely gave you carbs other than stale bread, he could see mountains of rice, noodles, and desert here.
What caught his eye the most... was the chocolate though.
The crowds weighed against him, making him reserved and barely look at anyone, like usual, but the chocolate certainly eased his mood.
Quickly he grabbed a tray, and loaded food onto it.
In the corner of the room there was an empty table, with not many people surrounding it, so he quietly sat down, and started devouring the food on his tray. This made him forget the sleepers in the room, because he was entirely focused on the food. His flaw disappeared.
When he was done, only one thing was left.
The chocolate.
With trembling hands, he tore a piece off, and put it into his mouth.
Instantly, sweetness, and a new flavor that he wasn't able to describe exploded in his mouth, making his eyes kind of teary.
'I knew it would taste good!'
Not after long, the chocolate bar was finished, and Aelon had a satisfied stomach.
'Should I get another chocolate bar?'
That was when he looked at the time. His meeting with the academy staff was one minute away.
With a frown he stood up, put his tray away, and walked towards the agreed spot.
Soon, he found himself in a small office, sitting across from an administrative worker. The worker was very friendly, and started the interview right away.
Just like Master Jet had warned him, Aelon was offered psychological counseling again. Remembering her advice, he refused, and the interview smoothly switched to questions about his Aspect.
"Would you mind telling me about your first nightmare, and what exactly transpired there?"
Immediately Aelon's gaze stuck to the floor.
"I... I was put into the body of a combat slave. It was in a colosseum, where one had to fight if they wanted to receive food. I stayed there for a little more than a month, and survived thirty three battles. You would receive Soul Shards depending on how difficult your battle was for you. If you defeated an awakened you would receive fifty. You needed a hundred to leave, and that was eventually the goal of the nightmare. On my thirty-second fight I got stabbed, and my wound was infected, so I was forced to fight an awakened in my thirty third.
I killed him and got out of the Nightmare."
"You killed an awakened, and thirty two other people?!"
Aelon remained silent.
"May I ask what your evaluation was? And what Rank of a Aspect did you receive?"
"My evaluation was... wonderful. My aspect rank is sacred."
"Sacred?!"
Aelon nodded.
"That... we just had someone with a true name... What about your aspect abilities?"
"My innate... draws strength from the souls of surrounding people, and augments me with it, I think.... my sleeper ability I don't know what it does. I think it acts as a sort of debuff..."
"A support type sleeper ability? Interesting... do you mind telling me what your flaw is?"
Normally, one would remain silent, since it would tell the academy staff their weakness. But his flaw wasn't really a weakness one could exploit in a fight, if they tried it would make him stronger if anything. So Aelon decided he would tell the academy staff.
"It's called Self Erasure... and the description is 'The presence of others fills your mind with dreadful thoughts, as panic and shame seep into your heart.' As far as it went I figured it's a sort of extreme social anxiety... if I grow close with people, it eases up, and is dependent on my mental state too..."
Aelon thought about when he ate. When he was focused solely on his food, and forgot the surrounding people, it was as if his flaw vanished as well.
So he figured it was entirely psychological, and had nothing to do with the actual presence of people.
***
In the morning, Aelon stood up, showered, and went to the cafeteria to eat breakfast. The place in question was extremely cramped though, making his flaw spike in activity.
He felt like vomiting before even grabbing his food, although he was extremely hungry just moments prior.
After filling his plate with all kinds of delicious stuff, he quickly realized that the only place he could sit was near the blind girl from yesterday. Her table was empty, since no one wanted to be close to her. Ironically, Sunny sat next to her as well.
Without saying anything, he simply sat down and started eating. Just like yesterday, the blind girl didn't notice him, but Sunny did.
'Did [Faint Remembrance] trigger on him? I didn't do anything to be memorable though...'
That was when suddenly commotion built up around them. Specifically in front of a monitor.
It was the rankings which showed the survivability rates based on the interviews in the dream realm.
Looking up, Aelon found himself in fourth place, which was certainly a pleasant surprise, but when he continued looking up, he found names he had expected, and one he hadn't.
Two above a portrait of Caster, who was in third place stood the portrait of the beautiful grey eyed girl he had antagonized during the phase where all the sleepers talked to each other.
"Name: Nephis."
"True Name: Changing Star."
'A true name in her first nightmare?! Oh fuck... I really hope she doesn't have a grudge against me.'
One above Caster was something he had never expected though.
"Name: Lyra."
"True Name: Mindreaver."