The next day. Dein woke up early. So early in fact, the same as the workers of the academy.
And by the time the other sleepers were starting to wake up as well and enter the cafeteria one after another. Their eyes went wide in shock by what they saw. At least, that's what the first three people in front of Dein is doing right now.
"Wha… aren't you one of us? What are you doing?"
A guy said with trembling hands as he pointed at Dein. Next to him, a man with red hair rubbed his chin, amused.
Dein didn't respond to them. Instead, the third guy with body full of muscles spoke instead. His voice loud and like an old man despite his supposed age.
"Hmm… is this some kind of new training regime?" He looked around the whole cafeteria with genuine curiousity. "…Cleaning the whole cafeteria and such? Will that make me stronger?"
Hearing them, Dein rolled his eyes. He knew this would happen! Even though he did everything in his power to prevent it from happening, waking up so early in the morning. He really doesn't want his classmates to know about it but it seems it really can't be avoided.
After all, Dein would have to do this now every single day for the next four weeks. So he could earn his right to eat breakfast.
Last night. Dein snuck in the kitchen to steal some food but unfortunately he was caught by none other than Awakened Rock! That bastard just don't want to rest and happened to monitor every camera in the sleeper's building last night!
What kind of awakened does that!
Probably the crazy ones. But anyway, after being caught stealing even though other sleepers doesn't have to. Dein spent the whole night explaining his reason and managed to convinced Awakened Rock to let him work here in exchange for food.
Of course, Dein did not tell him about his flaw directly but awakened Rock seem to have cought on.
And even though Dein doesn't believe Awakened Rock knows the specifics of his flaw, it pains him to know that someone outside of his family knows his flaw. But alas, Dein really needs help. Which is ironic because his flaw doesn't allow anyone to help him, forcing him to earn everything and yet he needs help to fulfill that.
It almost made him laugh if not for the fact that the three are now circling and studying him as if they just found a rare gemstone.
"Huh, he really is a sleeper…"
"Then why is he cleaning…?"
"I don't know? Wait, maybe he's a robot that's why he doesn't respond!"
The three argued. After a while, Dein sighed. He felt the urge to palm his face but remembered how dirty his gloves is.
"I'm not robot dumbasses."
He corrected them tiredly. Not even having an energy to get angry like he usually do. Meanwhile, the smallest of them. The one who called him a robot and pointed a trembling finger at him, almost fell to the ground when he spoke.
"Waa! He's not a robot guys!"
"Of course I'm not, idiot!"
Dein answered immediately as he turned to continue wiping the last table. This time, the curious guy with red hair watch him with a smile and asked.
"Say, aren't you a Legacy? I saw you talking to that Caster guy and the others yesterday. Why are you cleaning here?"
The other two was taken aback when he mention Dein being a Legacy but Dein simply shrugged as he turned around to leave.
"Just a hobby…"
Red hair seem to find that answer amusing as he followed to ask more questions, however at that moment. All four of them suddenly paused on their track as the huge screen on the wall flickered and opened on its own.
All four of them turned to the screen.
There, a list of names appeared one after another. With pictures on the left and then the person's name on the right. It was the sleepers. Sixty three in total.
However, the four of them did not care about that as all of their wide and disbelieving eyes focused on the one at the very top.
"W-what the hell?"
"Who would've known there's such a monster among us…?
"This woman…"
The three voiced their own disbelief to each other but Dein only found himself gritting his teeth as he pressed his lips tighter. A seed of jealousy blooming in his prideful heart.
'How… how is this possible…?'
Right there, on the very top of the sleeper's board, shows a picture of a strikingly beautiful young woman with short silver hair. And beside her picture. Two names were written.
Name: Nephis
True Name: Changing Star
*****
An hour later, the silent cafeteria turned into a bustling place. Everyone gathered on the sleeper's board, exclaiming in shock, disappointment, and delight when they saw their name.
Except, everyone has the same reaction when they saw the person at the very top. It was total disbelief…
Even Dein himself sitting on one of the tables still can't believe it as he play with his food. Totally losing all of his appetite.
He turned his gaze on the board again. On the very top, he saw the same picture of the beautiful young woman with short silver hair. Beside her picture is her name. Two of it.
Name: Nephis
True Name: Changing Star
Dein gritted his teeth then his eyes wandered down. The second strongest ranked sleeper was there. Green eyes, tanned skin…
It was Caster.
Dein's face turned into a scowl when he saw that. He clicked his tongue and his eyes wanders down again. There, he saw the third strongest is a guy with red hair and an eyes that seems to look at the world with amusement. His name stretch.
Name: Arthe
It was one of the people who spoke to Dein earlier. And speaking of the other two. Dein found the mascular guy at thirteenth placed and the weird guy at thirty-three. They're named Grob and Nervig
But that was not all, among the top Ten. Dein found some interesting people that he slightly observed yesterday. There was the flashy guy who's surrounded by women at the induction, his name is Shawn, sitting at the fifth place while the tenth itself is secured by the stranged girl who called Dein weird.
Her name was…
Name: Meeka
There was a strange feeling when he read that. After all, all this people that he had just seen once or twice turns out to be people far stronger than him. In the ranking at least. And… none of them are even from a Legacy Clan.
In fact, they even beat some of them since most of the Legacies except for Dein are in the top twenties.
As for Dein himself, he found his name on the sixtieth mark with only three other people ranked below him. The blind girl at the very bottom, named Cassia and the short guy who sat on the same bench as her yesterday named Sunless, he's second to last. The third to last was a guy named Nile. For some reason, Dein cannot seem to remember his face when he saw his picture.
But Dein also couldn't care less as he looked down and clicked his tongue.
He was ranked fourth of the weakest sleeper in their batch… despite his attributes that almost made him unkillable, he's still ranked as one of the weakest…
Of course he knew the reason for that.
Being able to survive better than anything ain't shit in dream realm. If Dein's arm got chopped off, it won't grow back. Same for any part of his body. Even if we say he can feel the pain of an attack before it could land, almost everything in the Dream Realm will be faster than him to even dodge.
To the eyes of the people who made the list, Dein's attributes are simply made to make him suffer more.
That… left a bad taste in Dein's mouth. He just couldn't accept any of that!
He looked up again at the very top of the screen, gritting his teeth.
'Changing Star…'
And just as Dein thought of that, the sleepers bustling caught his attention as they finally made their way towards the aloof Changing Star.