Social Darwinism
Shin was asleep, his eyes closed as his body lay in suspended animation.
The only indication of the fact that he was actually in the dream realm was the feeling Jacob got. Like a sixth sense, the hair on the back of his neck standing in alignment. It was an odd experience, to say the least.
To suddenly be aware of another sense he had never previously felt. He wondered if this was how other people felt with mana.
He had long suspected that his ability somewhat filtered and manipulated his mana for him.
It meant that it was probably being used as efficiently as possible, but it still made him feel like he was missing something compared to his peers.
He went over to his friends and took a closer look at him.
He looked normal, well not normal exactly.
He wasn't breathing, and supposedly he didn't need food and wouldn't need to excrete any waste while in the dream realm.
Convenient for sure, although Jacob did wonder about how safe the body of a dreamer was.
Wouldn't this period be when they were most vulnerable?
At the UDRD they were relatively safe but if they did so outside the only real safety precaution would be what they set up themselves. Along with the lack of importance that went with being a nobody.
Why would anyone bother to assassinate someone they didn't care about after all?
He stopped his musing and went to meet with his friends, he made sure to send a message to Professor Howinster about Shin's situation.
Partially so his friend wouldn't get in trouble for not being in class, but also so that he could safely report what had happened with the least trouble possible.
Despite being at the UDRD for a decent while now he still didn't have any contacts in The Order that he trusted.
Well, there was his sister, but he'd rather avoid going to her for help if he could.
His friends were excited to hear about Shin's condition.
"The mozzie went in? Damn, I wanted to be first!" Ressana griped at her failure to beat them to the punch.
The mozzie nickname had come along after Arthur had innocently said it when trying to describe what he thought of Shin's combat style.
It was an Australian nickname for mosquitos, a small and annoying bloodsucking pest that inhabited pretty much every Australian state.
It had caught on quickly, and Shin seemed strangely fine with the nickname despite its origin.
"I'm not surprised, he's always been the type to just quickly do things rather than announce them" Erwin commented.
"I can't believe I was beat out by a new dreamer…" Victoria said in indignation.
Stephanie had little to say while Fredrick was simply excited for Shin to return and share stories.
The boy was still just a little kid in the end.
Jacob felt the furthest from him in the entire group. It wasn't that he didn't like the kid, he just didn't know how to communicate with such an enthusiastic young boy while maintaining the right distance.
He was still an introvert at heart.
Arthur on the other hand simply seemed excited that their friend was growing stronger and wanted to get stronger as well.
That was mainly because he'd have to work three times as hard due to his triple affinity.
Nevertheless, his optimism was infectious, and the group was soon excitedly talking about what their next abilities could be and how they could use them.
Well, except for Jacob.
He didn't know where to start when guessing at his next ability.
He could certainly see how his original ability could be upgraded.
Faster processing, higher limits on Overclocking, or just a larger mana pool to draw from.
But none of that was a new ability.
Even Erwin, another outsider had an idea of his next abilities.
From being able to merge with his summons to learning how to summon more creatures he had plenty of ideas.
Jacob was the only one with no clue what his dream realm held.
With the discussion further trending to the kinds of quests they might get Jacob excused himself and decided to make his way back to his room to do some study.
He was currently flipping through a bunch of English-to-Spanish dictionaries. He was also listening to lessons online at four times speed.
He wasn't learning the language, but analysis was, and that meant he was.
Kind of.
He would be able to translate the language and copy the guidance given to him to speak the language when he needed to.
He had figured out that while analysis preferred displaying its data through text, it could also communicate through audio.
He tended to avoid using it due to the way it sounded though.
Because it used his voice when doing so.
If you've ever heard yourself in a recording and thought, you sounded weird then imagine not even being the person saying it and hearing your own voice.
Suffice it to say it wasn't his favourite.
Plus, he liked reading the text, it was faster than listening anyway.
But for the purpose of pronouncing words correctly he would have to resort to using the audio function.
The English language couldn't quite express the exact way to say foreign words properly so he couldn't use the text version of analysis.
He spent most of the day studying, deciding to take a day off and surround himself with books.
It had been a while since he'd had a day off after all, and he'd be back at it tomorrow anyway.
So that's how he fell asleep, with a book in hand.
He felt good, comfortable, at home with the world.
He slept like a baby for the first time in a while.
The next day he met with his friends and was about to explain his impromptu day off when he noticed something.
Victoria was nowhere to be found.
She couldn't be late, she often made a point of mentioning that it was a low-class habit to be late to a promised appointment.
Stephanie soon explained her usual style.
"She went to the dream realm" the taciturn girl said.
"God dammit!" Ress shouted.
"I'm gonna be next! Mark my words" she promised.
"Something tells me that saying that just lowered your chances…" Jacob joked.
"Nope! Even if I have to force my way in with sheer willpower I'll do it!" She said, as energetic as ever.
The rest chuckled at what had become normal antics for them.
Jacob found himself slowly retreating from the conversation again as the topic turned to dream realms, quests and abilities.
It was a normal thing to talk about.
They were all new dreamers and such things were at the forefront of what they should be concerned about.
The fact that it reminded Jacob so much of his school days was just a coincidence.
He was used to being an outsider, not really having anything in common with the others and eventually getting bored with trying to stay in conversations he couldn't contribute to.
It was like a social form of Darwinism.
Eventually, Jacob excused himself and got back to what he knew.
Gaining data.
He first checked out some more language books from the library and spent the rest of the day adding as much as he could to his storage banks.
Maybe it was the satisfaction of a hard day's work or maybe it was just his mind finally getting a break from being social, but he slept like a baby for the second night in a row.
He did the same as usual the next day, meeting his friends before class.
Again, another member of their group was missing.
Not to mention Shin and Victoria who were still in the realm.
But this time it affected Jacob a little more than he cared to admit.
Erwin had entered his dream realm.