(ch 11) Bridge

"woah its huge"

"Thats what she said"

"SHUT UP!"

"BHAHAHA-"

BZZZZZ

*Cough cough*

"stupid"

*cough*

"bug... it's"

*cough*

"stuck in my throat"

Sunless looked over at red and smiled knowingly

"Dont...you...dare...say...it"

******

Both stood in front of the....impregnable

crimson coloured gates of the Awakened Academy

The whole academy was a city within a city the thick large walls surrounded it

'Im not doing this on purpose i swear'

The entire wall was made of a dense alloy and multiple high-calibre turrets placed evenly on top of the wall made a impenetrable dome of dwath to anything that could fly

Not even powerful colossal titans were supposed to be able to break through its defence

'i love this place because of the amount of webtoons and fanfictions it inspired....i mean who doesn't like fanfictions?'

'unless they are cryngy...then it actually hurts my soul....im looking at you My Awakened Academy fans of course'

Anyway...of course these representations from the media are a lot different to what the academy really is....and she only had four weeks so she couldn't really have her fanfiction dreams.... sunless was also a giant pain is ass and would probably ruin those dreams anyway

He already ruined her mood with his

"You have to learn how to survive, not waste time on such nonsense!"

The snow slowly and never endingly fell from the dark clouds all of them stood in front of the academy gates

Yes all of them. There was another sleeper standing next to them

With her age being around the same, a detached expression graced the face of a slender, tall girl. She possessed clear grey eyes and distinct silver-white hair, neatly cut and parted to the side. Just like Sunless and rin, she sported a tracksuit issued by the police and lacked any personal items. Adorning her head were a pair of vintage headphones, through which she serenely enjoyed her music while they awaited.

'Wow she's pretty'

Rin wasn't going to start a conversation. Who knew what kind of situation she would put herself in with Sunless and his too-honest mouth

She glanced at the girl and sighed.

'I wonder what Flaw she has?'

The door finally opened. Huge, impossibly thick, steel-reinforced metal panels slowly lowered to form a long bridge. Rin looks to the future with unwavering determination.

Master Jets parting words echoed in her head, and perhaps also in sunless

***

The drive to the Academy was silent. With sunless and rin siting in the back of the PTV: personal transport vehicle watching the city fly by as master jet drove. This is the fist time shes actually ever ridden in a vehicle like this. Purchasing and licensing a vehicle like this was a dream that not a lot of people even in the city had a privilege to buy

If she survived and earned enough credits she would buy her own PTV except hers would have two wheels: a motorbike is what people called it she always wanted one

Rin was in her thoughts when a voice broke her focus it was master jet

"Since we all come from the outskirts, I'll give you three pieces of advice. Whether you listen to me or not is your business."

Sunny and Rin turned their heads, waiting.

"First: once you're registered in the Academy, they'll offer you psychological counseling again. There will also be a valuable reward for sharing your experiences in the Nightmare and the details of your Appraisal. You'll be able to receive a soul shard, maybe even several of them."

Without a warning sunless spoke

"Are you trying to convince us to visit a psychiatrist again?"

Jet shook her head.

"No. I'm telling you two to refuse."

Surprised, Sunless raised his eyebrows and was about to ask but Rin beat him to it.

"Why?"

There was a pause before she answered.

"You two are too green to understand, but out there in the Dream Realm, Nightmare Creatures are not the only danger. Once you grow powerful enough, humans will become an equal threat. The less they know about your Aspect, the better."

Oh

"The easiest way to defeat a powerful Awakened is to use their Flaw. That's why young fools in the Academy are encouraged in various ways to share the details of their Aspects. I'm not saying that the government will leak your information, but once two people know a secret, it's no longer a secret. And there's a lot of people working for the government."

"Thank you, Master Jet."

"Thank you, Master jet"

She nodded

"Second: there will be a lot of courses to choose from. All types of combat training, deep dives into Nightmare Creature categories and vulnerabilities, basics of various types of sorcery, artifact study and so on."

Her [genin] attribute will help her in this case so she might pick something else

"Disregard all of that. The only course you have time to attend is Wilderness Survival."

Sunless spoke

"What?"

Jet glanced at both of them

"It's different for city kids, who learn all sorts of useful things in school and from their tutors. But we don't have that advantage, do we? What was the biggest threat to your life during the Nightmare?"

Sunless answered again...

"The cold."

'murderous brother'

Rin internal joked

Jet smiled.

"Smart. You only know how to survive in the city. But the Dream Realm is mostly made of wilderness. Do you know how to make a fire? How to procure food? How to find safe shelter? No. Fighting monsters is important, but it'll be useless if you die of hunger or exposure to the elements. Trust me. I've learned it the hard way."

Rin understood what her point was

Why would you master how to fight if you died to starvation or dehydration or any other mundane thing

Moments later the car stopped and master jet opened the door and got out the duo followed suite

Sunless froze as he viewed the colossal metal gates that stood in front of them

This was... the famous Awakened Academy.

She looked over at sunless and his stupidly baffled expression then to master jet

"This is as far as I go," she said, looking cheerlessly at the walls of the Academy. "I've already notified them. Someone will come fetch you two in a while."

There was something dark in the depths of her icy blue eyes. Rin suddenly felt a cold feeling spreading through her body.

"What's the third advice?"

Master Jet glanced at Sunless, then sighed.

"Remember: no one can survive in the Dream Realm alone. That's not an opinion, that's a fact. Try to get along with your peers, even if they don't treat you well. It might save your life. it seems like you two are already getting along with eachother."

Both looked at each other with distain

Then she suddenly smiled and patted both of them on the shoulders.

"You've both done well to survive until now. Make sure to keep yourselves alive in the future, too."

Then she got back into her PTV and drove off. Just like that, she was gone.

***

The end of the metal bridge hit the special grooves in the ground and stopped moving after a set of loud clicks. Both looked ahead, wondering what kind of life they were going to be living in the next four weeks.

Keep your Flaw and Aspect secret, learn to survive in the wilderness, be nice to other Sleepers. It didn't sound too hard she already had one friend. Even if he was a weird one.

'knowing him he would expose his darkest secrets if you just asked him even his flaw'

But, for some reason, she was sure that these weeks were going to be as challenging as her First Nightmare. Or maybe even worse.

Not caring about the two, the silver-haired girl walked forward and stepped on the bridge.

"sunless! come on let's go"

Rin was already ahead waving to him. Sunless sighed and reluctantly followed.

"Yeah, yeah im coming red"

"THAT'S WHAT SHE SAID!"

Rin laughed as she ran towards the Academy

"IM GONNA KILL YOU"

sunless chased after her