The Benefits of Group Study, or Lack Thereof

The past four weeks were some of the most interesting of Jacobs's life.

They weren't as eventful as his first week, where he ended up in the infirmary multiple times.

Instead, they were… fun.

It was a different kind of fun than he was used to.

Until he had left home his routine had pretty much been, going to school, getting home and doing the minimum amount of homework, playing games or reading, and then bed.

But at UDRD he simply didn't have time for that, and it was good.

He spent his time in class learning about a legitimate supernatural society or how to better use his own supernatural ability.

He spent his free time training or joking around with his new friends, all of whom he had better relations with than any of the people he had known back home.

Not to mention the fact that he didn't even have to worry about studying since his ability gave him the equivalent of a photographic memory.

The other dreamers in his course also seemed to be enjoying themselves, Shin was becoming more expressive while Victoria rarely engaged in her usual arrogance, at least not towards them.

Ressana was, well the same. But in her defence, if she were any more relaxed and fun-loving she might end up inciting riots for shits and giggles

Erwin had come out of his shell a little, although he still retreated into it immediately outside of the group, and even Stephanie had been cracking a few smiles.

Arthur also ended up joining their little entourage, often acting as a big brother to Fredrick who sort of assumed the position of mascot among the group.

It was a Friday afternoon when the peace of the library was broken by the voice of an impatient Ressana.

"How the hell am I supposed to know why English is the most used language of dreamer society!" Ressana shouted, in clear violation of library conduct.

"Because it has to do with one of the most important parts of dreamer history" Replied Stephanie without looking up from her book.

"Who cares! Not like it'll help me wrestle with realm beasts or fight other dreamers in duals." The wild one responded.

Jacob sighed, a lot of their study sessions were like this.

Today he was with Ressana, Erwin, Stephanie, and Shin in the library.

He had been enrolled as a type of tutor to help the others since they had their first graded exam in a couple of days.

Ressana would often get frustrated and need things explained to her simply due to her absolute lack of interest in studying. Which led to her having a more practical view of matters.

Which was a nice way of saying she was kind of stupid regarding academics.

A quick check-in with Analysis to jog his memory and he was ready to explain.

"The basic gist of it is this, around the time the English tried to take over the world. The 16th century in case you were wondering. The first proper group of dreamers formed, of course, the group were a part of England, hence their rapid expansion." Jacob began.

"Wait, what? How is that relevant?" Ress asked.

"I'm getting to that. Until that period the only dreamers to exist came sporadically, at random times and places. This period was when the first clan was formed, the Dempster clan to be exact."

"Since the English had an advantage due to having a force of supernatural beings, they managed to expand and attempted to gather more dreamers under their banner. Of course, the English eventually failed in their attempts, hence we don't all bow before the Dempster clan. But their influence remained." Jacob continued.

"Still haven't explained why it's English and not Norwegian or something." Ress prompted again.

"Last bit. After a while 3 other clans managed to form, Azan, Vass, and Jin. The other great clans were a cause of worry for the English who wanted to rule over them, which unsurprisingly, the other clans didn't like."

"The 3 clans fought back and helped each other grow. By combining their forces and sabotaging the dreamers of the Dempster clan they managed to get them to the negotiation table."

"The Dempster clan relented and agreed to allow the other clans autonomy under certain conditions, primarily the founding of The Order, to regulate all dreamers impartially."

"The other clans agreed because they were tired of the war and were worried about infighting once their common enemy was gone."

"The next primary condition set by the Dempster clan was that all dreamers had to speak English."

"From what I can tell this condition was more about pride than practicality, but hey, it means that even though dreamers come from all around the world we can still communicate. So, I'm not complaining." Jacob finished his long-winded explanation.

He had skipped over a lot of the details like the sheer brutality of some accounts of dreamer skirmishes as well as the amount of dreamless that had died due to the clans.

Not to mention the species of how The Order was formed, or its sub-organisations like The Agency and The Guardians.

But he had answered Ressana's question.

"And you couldn't just say that it was because a long time ago the English were on top, so they said we should all speak English" Ress complained.

"I like to think of myself as a teacher" He responded smugly.

"And you like the sound of your own voice" Chimed Stephanie, always eager to get a shot off at him.

The comment elicited some chuckles from the others, Shin even cracked a proper smile. Probably because as his roommate, he had been the one subjected to the most ranting monologues out of all of them.

"Active or passive dreamers, what does this mean?" This time it was Shin asking, much more politely than Ressana ever did.

"Oh, that's simple, Active dreamers are people who are actively completing quests while passive dreamers are people who aren't. you need to register your status with The Order so they can make preparations in case you die in the dream realm." Jacob explained.

Shin nodded in response and made a note of it, glad that the explanation was so simple.

"Wait I have another question" Ressana asked afterwards.

"Yeah?" he answered.

"How have the dreamless not, ya know, noticed we exist?" She asked.

"About that… I'm not gonna lie I wanted to know too. Problem is there's not much information on it. As far as I can tell at some point after the great clans came to their unsteady alliance this thing they call 'the mist' came along. There's a parody of it mentioned in a pretty popular book series at one point, probably written by a dreamer. Anyway, for whatever reason it kind of makes dreamless sort of… forget about the supernatural, or rationalise it. On a global scale. There's no real information on where it came from or any studies on why it exists or if it can be manipulated. So, I reckon it's on pretty tight lock and key by the order, otherwise, somebody would have tried something by now. They also seem to have a way of making some people immune to it, so that dreamers can tell their parents and partners and all that" Jacob explained, a little annoyed by his inability to find anything.

"Good enough for me, though I'm a little pissed that people won't remember seeing my awesomeness in the wild!" she said with a grin.

Ress went back to looking at her book with a satisfied expression.

"Ohhh, me, me, pick me!" Joked Erwin, his hand raised enthusiastically.

"Yes, my eager student." Jacob responded as he turned towards his pupil.

"Oh, mighty Jax the omniscient, what is the significance of dream realms and geography?" He asked in reverence.

"Ahh, that's actually kind of interesting" Jacob started, his eyes glinting in excitement.

"You've probably noticed the similarities between the culture of clan origins and their abilities."

"For example, the Jin clan has mostly martial abilities and Chinese culture primarily focuses on cultivation and martial arts, the same thing with Korea and to some degree Japan."

"You'll also notice that the islander nations that tend to be populated by Azan clan members have abilities related to spiritualism."

"On the other hand, places like Norway and the like are where the Vass clan, with elemental abilities like the Norse gods reside."

"Originally it was thought that people and cultures influence these realms, or attracted them, hence creating fitting skills based on the location."

"But later it was theorised and nearly proven that it was the other way around. People who failed nightmare trials have steadily influenced culture by introducing what they could remember into their country."

"The only part of the puzzle that never really fit was why certain geographical areas seem to incite certain dreamer abilities." Jacob once again finished, panting a little as he sped up towards the end.

He legitimately found this interesting, just how many people had attempted the nightmare trials back then?

Why had clans only formed a few hundred years ago?

Just when did their world connect with the dream realms?

Was it only possible for humans to enter?

If that was the case, then did the dream realms only connect when humanity was born?

At what stage did humanity count as being born?

When the homo sapiens evolved?

If that wasn't the case were the realms and this world always connected, and why?

He had so many questions. The same questions that many researchers had put in the books on these library shelves.

Unfortunately, they too, lacked the answers.

"Man, none of this stuff mattered back home" Mused Ressana.

"Back home? You never mentioned where you're from?" Erwin asked.

"It's no secret, I'm technicity from the Caribbean. But I grew up on ships, so I don't really think of the place as home." She explained.

"You grew up on ships?" Stephanie asked, finally looking up from her book.

"Yeah, mum was nowhere to be found she was a whore who didn't want a kid, and dad was a drunk prick. Luckily there was a decent bloke who ran a fishing business, basically raised me. Taught me to fish, swim, and drink. Everything a girl needs in life!" She explained.

Jacob wasn't going to lie.

He was a little shocked.

No, not a little, a lot.

He was the first to admit that he had lived a fairly sheltered life.

Growing up in a first-world country tended to have that effect.

But he never really thought of stories like Ressana's as… real?

It was almost like another world to him, like the dream realm.

It was so far removed from his version of normal that he found it difficult to even imagine.

"I heard something about drinks, and I see my good buddy Jax, a recipe for success by any means" a merry voice interrupted.

It was Sully, the Vass clan water user, and the only person that Jacob had talked to on his first day who hadn't assaulted him.

Well apart from the nurse, but even he didn't have such bad luck that a healer would injure him for no good reason.

'...Why do I tempt fate by thinking these things?' Jacob wondered.

"Sully, what are you doing here?" He asked as he pushed the thought from his mind.

"Well, I haven't seen you in a week, and honestly, I'm bored. So, WE are going out on the town! Present company included" Sully announced.

"HELL YES, let's blow this bitch out of the water and get some DRINKS!" Ress shouted, free of her studying shackles.

"Well, I must admit I haven't exactly gotten out much since I got here" Erwin said, scratching his cheek in embarrassment.

"Right, that's two in, what about the rest of you" Sully asked.

"Fine, but only because it's against the Aussie code to reject a drinking invitation." Jacob relented.

Shin looked back and forth between Sully and him before nodding.

"Are you buying?" Asked Stephanie, her usual deadpan staring into Sully's soul.

"Ahhh. Yep, sure, will do!" He answered her gaze, it was the most nervous Jacob had ever seen the easy-going young man.

Stephanie tended to have that effect on people.

Although Jacob's sheer shamelessness had made him immune. The same went for Ressana and Shin, though for different reasons.

It helped that he knew it was only half intentional.

Or at least he hoped it was.

With that, they were set.

Six dreamers unleashed upon the nightlife of the dreamless world with an abundance of alcohol and a craving for chaos.

What could go wrong?