The Sleeper part of the compound was relatively small and situated in the southern part of the Academy, surrounded on all sides by training fields and parks.
"An academy to help sleepers?" Warden was more than pleasantly surprised, it was a good idea afterall.
Lord of Shadows on the other hand, cursed to himself. His thoughts already wandering to the inevitable show of his past self trying to talk to other students.
The skull, Eurys was already cackling from the curse. He already understood enough, something truly fun was on the horizon.
The cackling bought many gazes towards them, what was that skull laughing about?
It was a low, modern building constructed with reinforced materials. Like the majority of buildings in the Academy, most of it was hidden below the ground, leaving only a couple of floors above it. With its white, pristine alloy walls and wide windows, it must have looked beautiful in the summer, contrasted against all the greenery around.
Eurys cackled, "I saw better views in the shadow realm!" His bemused reaction was genuine.
Sunny looked at the skull and said, "well, it isn't summer is it?"
"Acting as if the summer would've changed a thing, Ugly either way even more so that it was created by a filthy warmonger." Mordret sneered as he said this, completely and utterly unprovoked mind you.
Morgan merely gave him a side eye, "Jealous that you didn't create anything?"
Mordret's expression changed, from sneering in contempt to genuine amusement and pity overflowing on his face!
"I've been imprisoned for years upon years and you still created less than I! Afterall I can atleast create my mirror beast, warmonger. What did you create? Nothing! The only thing you can do is kill like the absolute barbarian that you are!"
Morgan glared full of contempt towards her brother who now was in an happy mood simply from talking down towards her.
Inside, the building was spacious and well-lit. Sunny and the silver-haired girl were taken to a large hall where a hundred or so of young men and women — Sleepers of the same unfortunate timing as the two of them — were already waiting for the beginning of the induction ceremony. Most of them were nervous, tense and excited.
"Oh, Nephis... are you two acquaintances?" Immortal Flame asked his granddaughter who in turn shook her head and answered.
"Never met him before, but it seems I will in the near future."
Mordret simply looked towards her with disdain, disgust filling his gaze as he nearly spat out, "Not if I have a say about it!"
Truly there just might be something wrong with Mordret, but everyone accepted it. He was just mentally unwell, but it was to be expected. Spending years alone in the depths of who knows where. Forced to see, smell, hear and feel nothing. Who could blame such an person? Merely an slave to circumstance!
Logistics of the Academy were a constant headache for the administrators since the rate at which the Spell infected people was always chaotic. There was no way to orderly structure for batches of Sleepers to undergo any type of standardized education on a shared schedule: some of them had a full year to prepare for the Dream Realm, some only months, some even mere days.
"How unfortunate! Truly unfair to some but such is life!" Noctis smiled brightly, teeth showing as light seemingly from nowhere illuminated his frame majestically in this otherwise dark theater.
Ananke smiled solemnly on the otherhand, some would die indeed, but it would be very helpful to as many!
Nephis on the otherhand had a dark look, quickly spotted by her grandfather who merely patted her on the back. It seems she blamed her parents death on the spell...
When In reality it was their own fault! Immortal? Ridiculous!
Atleast the last part was the thoughts of Mordret.
That's why these induction ceremonies were held each month at the beginning of the year and then every week once the winter solstice began to loom near. Some of the Sleepers in the hall had to wait days to be inducted, while Sunny had lucked out and was delivered to the Academy just hours before the scheduled event.
"How utterly retarded! Wasting precious time for nothing. What was the point of induction? Just take the damned papers and let the kids sign up for the courses." Solvane had such a thought that she expressed easily. She found this ceremony completely nonsensical.
Sung jin woo merely nodded in agreement, she agreed edge wholeheartedly with the prehistoric women and told so to her daughter responded quickly,
"There is not much I can do, the academy belongs to the government and the clan's are not to interfere too closely and let them be for now."
Song jiwoo sighed in dismay.
Once inside the hall, he understood two things.
Firstly, everyone was well-dressed and in possession of a suitcase, a duffel bag, or at least a backpack carrying their personal belongings. They were obviously coming prepared, most likely from home, sent off by their families. So Sunny and the silver-haired girl, who came empty-handed and wearing simple police-issued clothes, were not a norm like he had assumed, but actually an eye-catching anomaly.
'Right. That makes sense.'
Caster looked towards Sunny, looking him up and down before saying, "Not everyone is dirt poor, like you!"
"Barking like a dog, huh? Can't you do anything else?" Sunny smirked.
"A dog, you say. That dirty vermin like you dares talk to someone like me this way is beyond me! You truly are a frog in the well! You should be grateful to be in my presence, you...!"
Lord of Shasows sighed, those two had no shame! None at all, to be so frank and abhorrent around so many powerful people.
Noctis on the otherhand smiled. To him watching the people bicker was an even better show than the actual thing, It was just so amusing! It was the second best thing in the world at this current moment in his opinion! Of course only surpassed by his own sheer greatness. A grand person like him obviously deserved jesters of his own, it was great that the world had noticed.
Secondly, Master Jet was not being overly humble when she called herself below average by Awakened standards. Even though these young people were just starting their paths as Awakened, their looks were dazzling. Everyone was handsome, beautiful and radiated health.
"See? I was merely telling the truth, the whore is completely below average unlike me!" Mordret smirked
"Ill definitely kill you after this." Jet glared, her eyes full of contempt.
"Shut it, foid. I'd rather not hear your voice any longer!" Mordret said a smirk across his face.
Many Women glared at Mordret, only fuelling his amusement.
Sunny just blinked a couple of times, this guy was genuinely insulting only for the sake of insulting! Did Mordret really have nothing better to do than this?
He swallowed.
"I'd swallow it, sunny." As if nothing had happened previously, Mordret was back to his normal behavior towards Sunny.
Sunny on the other hand leaned away from the disgusting creature next to him.
'Still, I feel like none of them compare. She might not be as perfectly shaped, but… I don't know… she has a presence. It's like shadows become deeper and the temperature drops by a couple of degrees when she's in a room.'
"Is that so? I would say that her presence is..." mordret started talking again.
"Just shut it!"
Fiend on the otherhand trying to finish Mordret's sentence said, "compereble... Bonnie... Blue..."
He seemed to be absolutely and utterly proud of his sheer intelligence and deep knowledge!
Lord of Shadows merely sighed deeply, how did his shadow even know of her? He himself has only seen that thing on Instagram reels when he had been bored! She supposedly was even gonna have a child...
He feared what kind of horror would erupt from the depths of her cave! Was it gonna be a Cursed or perhaps even an Unholy creature?
Was this the difference between a Sleeper and a Master?
Daeron simply said, "It could be, yes. Afterall, the stronger one became, the more they could use their will to affect the world. An powerful enough Master could have a slight presence upon the world."
Some that had not arrived to an high enough level and thus had never heard of this, nodded in understanding. Though they did not understand fully what meant with will?
But all of these thoughts were just him trying to postpone the inevitable. Sunny already knew that he was in for a wild ride.
Because he could not lie, and all of these excited youths, regardless of their clothes, gender and looks, wanted to do one thing.
Talk.
Asterion looked towards the side, "You could ignore them and even if your Flaw forced you to talk, simply showing an attitude would be enough."
Sunny who now was in the sights of the Sovereign said, "That... that is a way, Sovereign Aste..."
His mouth was closed forcefully by Lord of Shadows... the man holding his mouth closed looked completely and utterly... horrifying, yes horrifying.
The horned mask with eyes of darkness, lacking seemingly any desire or such...
Than the Lord of Shadows brought a finger to where his lips would be under the mask.
Obviously
Sunny nor near anyone else understood what warranted such an reaction. His movement so sudden that he even let Eurys be thrown again...
This time as he flew through the air with annoyance, he spat out a couple ancient curses at the Lord of Shadows.
Till he fell on his next holder who was Cassia!
In the next instant he started speaking of endless blessings and singing praises towards the Lord of Shadows! A wise man submits to circumstance, afterall!
Every one of them wanted to talk with fellow Sleepers. They wanted to discuss their Nightmares, their future journey into the Dream Realm, and everything in between. They wanted to ask questions. They wanted to be asked questions. They wanted to discuss something important or just chit-chat about stupid things.
Everyone wanted to share.
"I-It can't be that bad to socialize." Aiko said a bit meekly, afterall with so many powerful people around it was only normal to be a bit... meek, no? She couldn't understand how the others could be so outspoken!
"Sunny froze, shivering as if more frightened by those words than the Lord of Shadows that had forced his mouth closed. The only thing though that he was more scared of, than socializing, was getting a real job, something that the author of this reaction fic could closely relate to!
'It's a nightmare!' Sunny moaned, disturbed and fearful. 'I'm doomed!'
Athena smirked, her gaze full of amusement! Her voice was teasing "More scared of talking to some brats than talking next to Sovereigns, huh?"
Then, with a bit of grim determination, he gritted his teeth and slowly exhaled.
'Just think about it as a continuation of your trial. You survived the black mountain, so you can survive this, too.'
Kai smiled gently, his face outshine that of the saints and Sovereign as his eyes glinted with light. "It's not so serious, sunny, but... I hope you get through it."
Sunny on the otherhand was frozen, he not only was completely mogged just now but also... he couldn't even be mad about it... "Yeah... Thanks..."
Mordret gritted his teeth, Sunny was his! Sunny should only be so mesmerized by mordret! He himself only should mesmerize Sunny this way!
He had faced heroes, villains, monsters and even gods. Was he going to be afraid of a bunch of teenagers?
"Gods, huh? Look at this guy!" Eurys snorted, the skull somehow showing pure ridicule!
Sunny glared, "What do you want to say with this!?"
Cassia on the otherhand said in her meek voice, "uhh, is... Do you know any gods, Eurys...?"
Eurys, completely ignoring Sunny smiled. "Indeed would you believe that I Slit one's throat? But after that I was cursed to immortality! Reduced to a feeble skeleton! Oh such tragedy!
Many of the people froze, breaking out a cold sweet... this guy slit a gods throat...
…He might have underestimated how scary teenagers can be.
In half an hour, pretty much everyone in the room hated his guts.
"What an talent! I must commend you!" Athena said, her voice teasing.
Morgan simply snorted, "As unlikable as his little friend!"
Sunny froze, his eyes full of absolute anguish! Don't compare me to this weirdo!
Noctis merely patted his ugly friends back, well everyone was ugly compared to him afterall!
After a short series of conversations, Sunny had acquired a reputation of an obnoxious, foul-mouthed pervert. This reputation was quickly solidified. He was slapped a few times and even punched once. He also discovered a couple of new things about his true self — namely, that deep down inside he was apparently rude, arrogant, and more than a little bit lustful.
"Nothing new." Said Solvane
Tyris on the otherhand just shook her head in dismay
Sunny glared, what's that supposed to mean?
"Lustful, huh?" Beastmaster muttered to herself, a glare from her adoptive mother stopping her from saying anymore.
Seishan looked at her sister in disappointment.
The conversations went something like this:
"Look at all these young people. How many do you think will return from the Dream Realm? How many will perish? What do you think our own chances of survival are?"
"I don't know, but I'm pretty sure that a pompous fool like you will die first!"
Caster glared, "As if you are one to talk! Disgusting creature!"
"Disgusting Creature? You're talking as if I'm not even human!"
Caster seemed to be repulsed at the idea of even thanking of Sunny as more than an animal or beast! The closest he could give to sunny is being sub-human trash!
Or:
"I even received an armor-type Memory in my Nightmare. It's an enchanted robe. Would you like to see?"
"Actually, I would prefer to see you without a robe…"
Instantly, many stares fell upon him.
Beastmaster was about to say something bit was quickly stopped...
Someone else was not tho!
"You could see me with no robe!" This was Mordret with the biggest grin ever!
Fiend smiled, "Worse... Than... Sovereigns" Saint nodded in agreement.
Or:
"Then those lowlifes began to rob the bodies. It was disgusting! They even took their shoes! What kind of degenerate would take a dead man's shoes?"
"I once killed a man and took his boots. They were nice boots."
"No virtue, none at all!" This was said by none other than Eurys, shaming Sunny for killing someone for boots.
Sunny glared, "You've surely done worse!"
"Such slander!"
Cassia looked down on the skull and asked, "D-did you do something akin to this?"
Eurys frowned, deciding to keep silent!
"... What? You killed someone just for a pair of boots?"
"Of course not! There were other reasons. I also took his cloak."
"How valiant! You also wanted his cloak!" This was said by none other than Jest!
Warden looked at his friend, a sigh coming out if his mouth as his granddaughter smirked. As she looked at him and said, "Surely you jest!"
Mordret with clear disgust on his face, snorted in contempt. He looked towards Sunny and said, "Junior martial brother, this is exactly why brothers are like hands and feet, while Women are like clothes. Replaceable! Even my warmongerer of an old men could make a better joke!"
Sunny sighed, putting his head in his hands.
Noctis looked at mordret and said full of actual deep curiosity, "It's obvious you like men, but I wasn't aware that you also despised women. Does the liking of men come from the dislike of women or the other way around?"
Mordret snorted in frustration!
Once again an outcast, Sunny was eventually left alone. People seemed to be avoiding him. Unperturbed, he found a quiet corner and stood there, glad that no one wanted to talk to him anymore. His face hurt, and there was blood dripping from his nose. Being ostracised from a group was nothing new, but it still stung.
Cassia smiled sweetly towards Sunny, "I hope you are alright."
Sunny froze for a second, "Yeah... thanks!"
Eurys sneered, this kid did not deserve such well wishing words after his future self threw him across the room even if he was great full he was here!
However, he was smiling.
Because in the process of turning the whole batch of Sleepers against himself, Sunny had discovered something vital.
He learned how to control his Flaw.
Once asked a question, he could not keep quiet. He also couldn't lie. However, after a lot of experimentation, Sunny had found out that with a bit of practice, he could influence the exact way the truth eventually came out.
Anvil's gaze darkened, how lucky...
Roan smiled, this kid was indeed quite smart it seems!
Eurys cackled, "I would've clapped if I had hands for your grandiose achievement. Truly ingenious, you just might be a once in zero generations talent. As an opportunity because I see how much potential you have and wish to cultivate that talent, I will offer to slaughter your seven ancestral generations."
Mordret near shed a tear! "You should take this opportunity junior brother! If i had the choice, I would take it with no hesitation! It grants you unmatched potential as an orphan!"
Sunny was unfazed, saying darkly, "My parents and grandparents that I never met are all dead already. How would you kill them over again exactly?"
"Tch! That indeed might prove to be a problem!"
It was like this: after receiving a question, his mind automatically produced a truthful answer. After that, the Flaw would force him to say that answer aloud. Refusal to speak would result in the buildup of pressure, then piercing pain. The longer he kept quiet, the worse the pain would become. Eventually, he would have to surrender and reveal the truth.
However, in these moments between receiving the question and surrendering to the pain, the actual wording of the answer could be changed. The more it strayed from the initial thought, the more resistance he would meet — once again in the form of pressure, then pain. It still had to be truthful, but it didn't have to be so stark.
Kai smiled solemnly,It was good that Sunny atleaat would not have to hear of the lies throughout the world like he himself. Truly the greatest torture!
Cassia smiled, full of her good nature. "She hoped, he would have a long and good life... She herself pretty much accepted her own death. She was completely blind afterall...
Caster sighed, He would trade near everything for such a simple flaw, truly a godsend it would've been!"
Jet snorted, dead and in need of endless slaughter to live... atleast the kind would be able to have an better life than her if he simply stayed aside and did not bother himself with the clan's or the government. She had a feeling that he would be deeply apart of great changes that will come.
For example, if Master Jet were to catch him staring again and ask what he was looking at, instead of embarrassing himself Sunny would have been able to endure a bit of pain and simply say "You."
That would still be the truth, however, the result would be entirely different.
Hidden in the corner, Sunny grinned as he observed the Sleepers.
'This is good. This is great. This is something I can work with!'
After all, one didn't have to lie to deceive a person. Sometimes, truth was the best material for creating deceit.
Jet moved her breasts away once again, "Is this supposed ro mean that you are planning to stare upon me again with those filthy eyes of yours?"
Sunny froze while Lord of Shadows started to cough repeatedly. He choked on his own spit!
***
If used with a certain devious type of intelligence, truth could be as misleading as lies. For example, in one of his previous conversations, Sunny had confessed that he had once stolen boots from a dead man. The other guy was horrified and asked if he had really killed someone just for a pair of boots. The answer the Flaw forced him to give was that there were other reasons and that he had also taken the man's cloak.
The true reason for killing the veteran slaver was that he had whipped Sunny a few hours prior. Besides, he was already dying. The cloak had nothing to do with the killing itself. However, the wording of the answer created an impression that it did.
Thus, two truthful statements, when put together, created an effect akin to a lie.
"How devious!" This was beastmaster who said this teasingly.
Sunny bit his tongue, he was getting teased by so many people! Could they not just stop and focus on someone else!?
Well they indeed couldn't... They have been kidnapped and forced to look at this quite interesting kid with an divine Aspect.
This was just a simple example. With a lot of effort and intense thinking, Sunny could create other types of manipulative truths. It was going to be extremely difficult and risky, but it could be done.
He just needed a bit of luck.
Nephis nodded in understanding as if she had achieved some new insight in her endless pursuit of dao!
It was time to put his theory to practice.
Sunny didn't forget what his main goal was — to make sure that no one ever finds out his True Name. To achieve that, he had to create an impression that he was the most pathetic, weak person in this whole building. Someone who would never receive a positive appraisal, let alone a divine Aspect and a True Name.
However, since this would be a lie, he couldn't just go and say it.
Eurys looked towards the boy and said, "How do you plan to do that, brat?"
Seeing the devious smirk upon the dirty boy, the skull cackled.
So this is it! He wanted to make the students see himself as a delusional, already dead prior to even entering the dream realm, bastard!
So how was he to convince everyone that he definitely did not have a powerful Aspect and an impressive record with the Spell?
His eyes fell on a particular group of Sleepers. There were five or six of them, gathered around a tall, confident young man.
Caster gritted his teeth! This bastard better not try to use him to do this or...
Athena laughed, using those 'nobles' like that was well deserved. Maybe that shorty was not that bad!
The young man had brown hair and a gentle, handsome face. His eyes were green, with a hint of friendly humor. His posture, figure and attentive gaze betrayed someone who went through extensive training. Everything about the young man screamed of nobility and strength.
Just at that moment, one of his companions was saying with a tone of amazement:
"Ascended? You have received an Ascended Aspect? What… what was your Appraisal?!"
Mordret started to laugh historically, his finger pointing towards Caster in sheer delight! He was ridiculing him to no end.
Caster had a dark expression, those bastards!
The young man smiled humbly.
"Oh. It was "excellent."
Sunny stopped in front of the group, as though by accident. After hearing the young man's answer, he frowned and looked at him with disdain.
Then, with a voice full of utter bewilderment, Sunny said:
"Ascended, excellent? That's it? What's the big deal?"
Mordret laughed harder while Caster's gaze darkened endlessly!