Academy days (2)

Sunnys eyes flew open as rays of light cascaded along his eyelids irritating him, unable to fall back to sleep sunny stood up and made his way toward the bathroom where he sluggishly got ready for the day. Brushed his teeth with fake toothpaste and took a long warm shower, in the kitchen the kettle went off which he had set just before he got in the shower.

Trudging his way into the kitchen Sunny poured the water into a glass with what looked like coffee beans and stirred, the water slowly turned murky before turning pitch black. Looking at it in disgust he poured some sugar in and began to stirnit some more.

Sunny never had coffee before so he wanted to try it and see what all the hype among those of higher classes was, so he hesitantly raised the mug of black liquid to his mouth and took a long sip, instantly his face contorted and he spat out the drink.

'Holy spell that was disgsting!' he remarked the bitter taste lingering on his tongue before eventually fading into nothingness.

After that gruesome encounter with coffee Sunny looked up at the digital clock on the wall, the time read 9:45 but he didnt know that he was from the outskirts! only the prim and proper kids learnt how to tell the time.

"Ahem, i suggest you get moving you may be late!" Alan spoke to him, a hint of worry in his voice.

'Damnation' sunny mentally cursed as he threw his academy uniform on and began to make his way to the door almost falling face first in the process thank the spell there was something on the wall to catch him, it was unfortunate that it was a scalding hot radiator but atleast he didnt land on his face.

He exited his dorm room rubbing his palm as he winced in pain, he had burned himself saving himself from the fall. But oh well! he was going to be late if he didnt hurry.

So he began at a speedy pace toward his first class which was combat class, he had chosen this class as per Alans suggestion. Truthfully he wanted to do this aswell but couldnt bring himself to tell Alan, so he was thankfull they were along the same line of thought. 

He also had to take wilderness survival during the afternoon but that was his own choice as he believed he knew nothing about how to survive in the dream realm which was the truth.

Sunny had missed the rankings by an hour due to him oversleeping, it was his first time sleeping in such a comfortable bed so who could blame the boy.

He drew closer to the classroom which was located further from the dorms than expected, most likely so that those with 'destructive' aspects didnt blow up the dorms while training.

Once he arrived he drew back the dojo style door to reveal a group of people all huddled together, they were all looking at the front where a machine was set up and people were taking turns striking the machine with a number appearing on the top. 

Though he wasnt too late he still missed the explanation on what was happening, luckily he had Alan with him who suggested he would have to strike it as hard as possible and a number will come up, his combat score.

"I reccomend wrapping your shadow around your fist when you punch it" Alan mentally interjected. to which sunny had agreed, he did not know why but he had grown to trust his companion since they were in the same boat as eachother.

'yeah okay' sunny mentally replied, he seemed nervous.what if he got a bad score? what if his score was too good and those who felt they were stronger would challenge him to a duel of sorts.

But all those thoughts were quickly swept away when he heard his name ebing called by the teacher, he had recognised the voice it was Awakened rock the same one who had welcomed them here.

Sunny then began his way to the front willing his shadow to come to his hand and coat it, leaving a faint wisp of darkness around his hand.

He soon arrived at the Machine where rock told him to punch as hard as he can.

So he did so, he formed a fist and cocked it back swinging his whole body with him he tried to generate as much force as he physically could. His hand met the machine with a sonorous boom, it recoiled in response and above the machine on a little number 22 appeared.

Shocked gasps appeared all around the room, even from sunny he himself did not expect himself to be this strong until Alan mentally told him his strength seems to have doubled. Maybe it was because he had and extra soul core within him along with Alan. 

Even Alan was shocked he didnt think that Sunny would score this high but he had already formuated a theory that his strength may have been doubled from the origional in the novel, as he only had 1 core then but now he had 2 in the same body albeit not both were technically his but still they were in his body.

The white haired girl stared at sunless's score before walking away to a corner to seclude herself until the second part of the lesson the mock fights.

Sunny was shocked he had gotten the highest core albeit by 1 point but still! he was strong but he knew deep down that this wasnt enough.

He could hear distant murmurs from the other classmates stuff like how is number 2 stronger than number 1? and how did he do that did he cheat?. Honestly it just boosted sunnys ego more which wouldnt and couldnt be good for him.

Sunny walked away from the front and waited patiently talking to Alan in his head.

'So what should i do next, in the fights i mean?' he asked unsure of what to do next.

"I suggest you dont participate for your own good, the white hair girl seems to be out for you" Alan spoke nonchalantly as if he didn really care all too much about the situation, though he did he just didnt want sunny to see that.

Sunny hesitantly agreed, he wanted to test his skills but he did have a feeling he knew why Alan told him to not fight. It was so that the others couldnt see how he fought and form a plan on how to take him out eventually be it in the dream realm or afterward.

Soon came the duels and sunny sat out garnering many wierd looks from all the other students, Nephis went up to the front to take on a duel. Sunny had learnt her name through the use of his shadow he was using it to sneak in on the conversations of the other people to try and get some information.

Of course if he woke up on time he wouldnt be having this issue so sunny couldnt help but mentally curse his bad sleeping habits, which garnered a snicker from Alan. Sunny suspected that he knew he was going to be late and didnt wake him up on purpose but in the end he chose to just simply ignore it.

He instead decided to keep his eyes on the duel which was now happening between some guy named Caster of Han LI and Nephis, it was rather intesresting for sunny he had never really seen an aspect other than his own before and casters seemed to be really powerfull it seemingly gave him a 10 times increase in his speed and strength which put him at a great advantage.

Caster was a big teenager atleast compared to sunny, he looked to be around 20 years old when he was in fact only 17 like the others. He was well defined perhaps he had gone through rigorous training, he was from a legacy clan after all. Sunny didnt know that much about legacy clans, he only really knew the basics, they were strong and they had a say in the things that happen in the world.

The fight came to a rather anticlimatic end with Nephis not even using her aspect, she simply pinned the brutish man to the ground and the duel was called a victory on her side.

Sunny was shocked but he didnt let it get to him too much, instead he simply waited until the lesson ended.

When it did eventually end Sunny was the first one out and made his way to the cafeteria, grabbing a tray and piling his plate with food. Once he got the food he took toward a table with only one person occupying it, it was Cassia.

Sitting down sunny ate his food in peace and quiet, until Cassia spoke up.

"You're Sunless right?" she questioned with a raised eyebrow.

"i am" He replied still stuffing his face with food, Alan mentally laughed at him saying he should be thankfull she cant see the state your in right now!.

"Why are you sitting with me, your ranked 2nd on the list so why would you sit with me i am ranked last." she asked confused with the boys actions.

Sunny looked at her shocked, "Sorry did you say im ranked 2nd?" he questioned her with a shocked look oon her face.

"Yes didnt you see the rankings this morning?" she asked confusion strewn across her face.

"No, i overslept and was almost late to class." sunny replied embarrassed at the fact he missed something so crucial.

"Should i not sit with you then?" He asked which garnered a shocked look from the girl.

"I mean you can.... if you want" she replied with the pause being intentional it seemed she didnt really trust him all that much.

"okay i will stay then!, whats your name?" he questioned attempting to gather more information about the girl.

He knew the spell was fair i its own demonic sort of way so if her flaw made her blind then she must have recieved an extremely powerfull aspect ability.

"ah im cassia but you could just call me cassie!" she spoke with excitement in her voice it was clear this was the frst time someone had spoke to her since she had arrived, it would seem everyone avoided her like the plague. Deeming her already dead with no chance of surviving the dream realm.

Sunny didnt want to admt he agreed with that statement but he truthfully did, without someone to help her she wouldnt make it. But couldnt that be said for all sleepers here, no one would survive if they were on their own in the dream realm he atleast knew that much.

"ok cassie nice to meet you!" sunny replied with an excited voice. Befpre evetually calming down and tuffing his face with more and more food.

The two sat in awkward silence throughout the rest of lunch, and when it came to an end Sunny swiftly removed himself from the table and headed toward his next class.

Wilderness Survival with teacher Julius.