Outcasts

Everything having to do with Sleepers was situated in the same building. Sunny and Fang Yuan followed the instructions sent to their communicator and quickly found the dormitories, which were situated on one of the lowest levels. Their rooms were next to each other. They entered their own rooms.

The room had a bed, a table, a dresser, and 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 several sets of clothes with the Academy emblem provided to them for free.

"This place is the best place I have stayed in the past sixteen years. Time really flies." Fang thought as he changed his clothes.

He finally got some lone time and summoned his runes.

Name: Fang Yuan.

True Name: Abyss Walker.

Rank: Dreamer.

Soul Core: Dormant.

Soul Fragments: [32/1000].

Memories: [Lamenter]

Echoes: —

Attributes: [Perseverance], [Spark of Divinity], [Monolith],[Fate Breaker], [Blade of Struggle],[Reincarnator].

Aspect: [Defyer].

Aspect Rank: Divine.

Aspect Description: [You are a borne spirit of freedom. No shackle, no chain, no order can stop you. Nothing can bound you. You will break every shackle, every chain, every order, every obstacle on your way. You will defy Earth, defy Heaven, defy Gods and defy Fate.]

Innate Ability: [Demon].

Aspect Abilities: [Ultra Sense].

[Blade of Struggle]

Attribute Description: [As long as you persevere, this blade will be your sharpest weapon.]

"So, a permanent weapon type memory." Fang Yuan thought. Fang Yuan focused on the attribute and called out to it.

The sword from his first nightmare immediately materialised in his hand. It wasn't anything of matter, instead it was an ethereal phantom. He swung the sword for a few slice, then dismissed it. Next-

Memory Name: [Lamenter]

Memory Rank: Awakened.

Memory Tier: VI.

Memory Type: Weapon.

Memory Description: [What a mistake! What a sin! Nothing remains, but morbid dreams, borken hopes and shattered memories. Only the lameter remembers of the sorrow in the echos of this morbidity.]

Fang Yuan summoned the memory. The room got illuminated from dazzling particles as a big two handed mace appeared beside him. It was an exact copy of the mechanical mace, just smaller. He gripped the handle and picked up the mace. It was very heavy.

"It would be hard to use it without saturating my core a bit more."

There was a hinge for a mechanism. He pressed it and the jaw of the mace opened and tooths of the chainsaw stood up, making the mace look like a maw of a beast. Unfortunately, it would take the essence of an Awakened to use the enchantment to make the saw came to life. He pressed the hinge again and the jaw closed with a thud.

Then he dismissed the memory and left his room, heading for the cafeteria.

"I will have to make do with it." He thought, recalling all the rewards he had received during and after the First Nightmare.

***

The supper turned out to be as lavish as the dormitory. Sunny's wish to taste real meat finally came true: not only was it freely available to Sleepers, there wasn't even a limit to the amount each of them could eat! More than that, there were rice, bread, various side dishes, sauces, fresh vegetables, fruits, and all kinds of delicious beverages.

'Extravagant!' Sunny thought, steering clear of the coffee.

After building a small mountain of food on his plate,

Sunny found an empty seat and, for a while, forgot about the world's existence. As juicy, textured, perfectly seasoned meat filled his mouth, Sunny's vision suddenly was full of stars. He had to hold back an exhilarated moan. Meanwhile Fang Yuan just calmly ate his food.

Satiated and more than a little gorged, Sunny longingly looked back and thought about getting another serving. He also felt a bit embarrassed as he saw Fang Yuan eating his food calmly while he ate like a savage.

But it was already time for his appointment with the Academy personnel.

Full of regret, he stood up and left the cafeteria. Soon, Fang Yuan's term also came. He left the cafeteria for his appointment.

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.

Fang Yuan was offered psychological counseling again.

He politely refused, and the interview smoothly switched to questions about his Aspect.

"Would you mind telling me about the type of Aspect Ability you received, as in combat, sorcery, utility?" The interviewer asked.

"I can't really categorize my ability."

"That's alright. Are you able to directly deal damage with your Ability?"

"I guess not? Well, the best word to describe my ability is a sixth sense. I gusee it can be called an utility type."

"Well, that is an wondrous ability, I wish, I also had it. Anyways, what is the rank of your aspect? It must be pretty high, right?" The interviewer asked

"I would actually mind sharing it." Fang Yuan said.

"What about your flaw?" The interviewer asked, cautiously.

Fang Yuan shaked his head. The interviewer gave up and said,

"Well, it was a pleasant interview. I wish you good fortune, sleeper Fang Yuan."

Fang Yuan stood up and left the room and started making his way towards the dormitories.

"They were softer with questions than I expected them to be." Fang Yuan thought while walking in the hallway.

"I guess the shackles of the controllers, will fall on us after the awakening."

After that, he returned to his room, undressed, and went to sleep. Today was a long and stressful day. His mind needs some rest.

***

Early in the morning, Sunny washed up in his private bathroom and, bursting with energy, hurried to get breakfast in a happy mood.

The cafeteria was a bit crowded. 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 and Fang Yuan. Their table was empty, since no one wanted to be close to her.

Sunny grimaced. It seemed that the three of them were doomed to be outcasts together for the remaining four weeks. He also felt uncomfortable in the company of someone who was practically a dead person, but there wasn't much of a choice.

Losing his good mood, he sat beside Fang Yuan at the blind girl's table and gave a percursory nod to the social worker who was helping her get around. After that, he tried to pretend that they didn't exist and concentrated on his food.

However, before he could finish, a sudden commotion drew his attention.

'What's going on?'

He looked up and noticed that 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 deduced from the results of the interviews.

Not particularly interested, he quickly found his own name near the bottom of the list. The only Sleeper who the Academy judged to be less likely to succeed than him was the blind girl. Turns out, her name was Cassia.

But the commotion was a bit too loud to be just the result of the ranking. Curious, he moved his gaze up. The Sleepers were restless.

"How… how can this be?!"

"I'm not seeing things, right?"

"What kind of a monster is she?!"

Caster was placed in second place. And right above him, the portrait of the silver-haired girl could be clearly seen.

To the right of it, two simple lines of text were displayed:

"Name: Nephis"

"True Name: Changing Star"