Quickly, a month passed without me noticing. During this month, I have been quite busy, learning about runes, history, survival methods, and other things with Professor Julius.
Something I discovered was the meaning of my True Name, "Morning Star." The translation by the Spell was correct, but I couldn't grasp the exact meaning.
So, I studied the grammatical structure of the runic language. The more correct translation would be "Star of the Beginning." There were several runes that defined the beginning in different ways depending on the exact rune. So, depending on the rune, it could mean "Shining Star" or "Proud Star."
A small change in wording and the connotation would be totally different.
My destiny, according to my name, was the beginning. My actions were supposed to initiate something, an event, a change, whether for good or bad. It also meant having a lot of attention and, of course, being proud.
Anyway, besides knowing more about my True Name, I finally got to test my aspect ability, "Bearer of Light," and the description was quite literal.
I could shape light as I wished. Whether a sword, a spear, a bow, or a shield.
So, as long as there is light, I can use it to create weapons made of solidified light. Although the energy expenditure was quite high. I changed between weapons very quickly.
Since I wasn't an Awakened, I couldn't use essence to reinforce my body and my aspect ability.
Aside from knowledge, I had made great progress in my combat classes. Surprisingly, Silver wasn't that bad of a teacher after all. He had managed to teach me the basic concept of his fighting style, which was flexible and adaptable, mostly using the opponent's force against them.
It was like judo, only more effective in a real fight against one or several people.
Aside from that, there weren't many things, as at the end of each day I was really exhausted, so I just went to sleep.
Although every now and then a girl would approach me to try to have a fling, which I politely declined.
Life was short, and even more so for Sleepers and Awakened who could die at any moment. For now, I didn't feel the need to sleep with a girl, partly because mentally I was 21 and partly because I focused more on how to survive in the Dream Realm regardless of the area I was sent to.
The Citadels weren't many, and progress was slow. Even recently, last year, the Valor clan had managed to kill the Titan that was in Bastion thanks to Anvil, the Saint of Valor.
---
"Well, this is the last day, I guess," I murmured, taking my morning coffee.
"You're still drinking that brown water when my super drink is a thousand times better?" asked Silver, sitting down with his tray full of food.
"Yes, I do it as a ritual and to develop a habit, to drink it from time to time," I replied, letting out a light yawn.
I was tired and sleepy. In fact, all the Sleepers were in the same state, a bit slow because of this day. Today would be the day they would be taken to the Dream Realm.
I had done everything in my power to prepare for the inevitable. I knew about Bastion, about Revenheart, recently named as such by Saint Ki Song, who was starting to gain more popularity than before.
Also about the Sea of Storms and the Forgotten Shore, which at this time I didn't know if any Sleepers were already trapped there.
"You're quite thoughtful today, Lucian," Silver said, taking a sip of his poisonous invention he called the Raise-the-Dead Drink created by Silver or something like that.
"I'm just thinking about where I'm going to land and how to survive," I replied.
"You'll be fine. You're strong. After all, you're the best student I've ever had."
"You know I'm literally your only student."
"That's why I said the best, right?" Silver gave a shameless smile, which made me laugh a little.
---
Time passed slowly.
When the sun began to set, the Awakened combat instructor arrived at the Sleeper center lobby and led us outside.
In the snowy parks surrounding the building, other Awakened guided their groups of Sleepers toward the same destination: the academy's medical center.
The sanctuary center was actually a kind of hospital with a large amount of advanced technology and Awakened with healing powers providing essence to the machines.
Although in the end, whether they awakened or not depended solely on the Sleeper in question.
After an hour, everyone was taken to a private room where there was a capsule prepared for them to enter the Dream Realm.
I clasped my hands and prayed.
"Please, dead Gods. May I not fall on the Forgotten Shore. That's all I ask," I prayed quietly. I didn't want to be trapped for about 15 years in that place.
Letting out a sigh, I decided it was time to enter the capsule.
'Okay, first is to get a memory, preferably a weapon, and then hunt until I gather Soul Fragments and ascend in class.' With that thought, I watched as the capsule sealed.
And a moment later, I closed my eyes.
Instantly, I heard the voice of the Nightmare Spell.
[Welcome to the Dream Realm, Morning Star!]
---
Upon hearing those words, I felt that I fell onto something hard.
"That hurt," I said quietly, getting to my feet. I tried to look around, but I saw absolutely nothing, and I mean nothing at all.
'Where am I?' Concentrating on my senses, I heard something. At first it was faint, but eventually the sound grew louder, and it was water.
'Well, damn it. Either I'm in God knows where, or I'm on the Forgotten Shore,' I thought, amused by the idea.
"I hate you, damn Spell," I murmured quietly. I had prayed several times, and in the end, I was sent precisely to the place I wanted to avoid.
"I don't know whether to laugh or cry."
Summoning the Sun Priest's Shroud, I felt a bit safer. This was a Transcendent armor, of the sixth rank, so I doubt something like a mere Awakened monster could even scratch it.
Since I couldn't do or see anything, I simply sat down and waited for the nameless sun to rise.
Tomorrow I would start moving toward the headless statue and travel directly west to the Dark City.
"I think at this time the First Lord should be alive. If so, I can avoid his death and gain a powerful ally in the future."
The First Lord's actions were amazing for just a Sleeper. No, in fact, his cohort was incredible. If they had been alive, there's no doubt they would be among the most powerful Saints humanity would have.
"Well, until those two appeared, at least," I murmured.
Lying on the ground, I used my arms as a pillow.
The Sun Priest's Shroud was quite comfortable and warm, so I wasn't cold.
I could hear the sound of the waves and the dark sea with perfect clarity.
I closed my eyes and relaxed. Minutes passed, which turned into hours. Finally, after an eternity, the first rays of the sun began to manifest on the Forgotten Shore.
The dark sea stirred at the presence of the nameless sun, beginning to retreat quickly.
Sitting up, I watched as the sea receded rapidly, revealing meters and meters of rock underneath.
In a matter of minutes, the dark sea had disappeared, leaving behind nothing but small black algae. The nameless sun began to take its position in the sky, illuminating the entire Forgotten Shore.
"So, I'm in the same place where Cassie and Nephis fell within 15 years," I murmured, observing the large coral where I was. Looking down, I saw how the shell scavengers began to emerge from their hiding places after the retreat of the black ocean.
"Well, this is a problem," I murmured, watching the number of monsters increase rapidly.
"They're out of my reach for attacks with arrows of light. So I have no choice but to descend and head toward the statue before nightfall," I murmured, planning my strategy.
In the distance, about five or six kilometers away, I could see a dark spot. It was the headless knight statue.
Looking down, I sighed.
"This will take me a while."
Using my aspect ability, I felt the light and manipulated it. It was a bit weird; the light felt like something I could feel and shape according to my will.
Using the light, I created a rope about two hundred meters long. Tying it firmly to a large branch, I began to descend, using the larger areas to hide from the view of the scavengers.
Landing on the ground, I created a sword of light. Quickly, I ran, hiding in a large red coral just in time to see a shell scavenger passing by. It was weakened, apparently having had a fight recently.
Letting it pass without noticing me, I jumped onto its back. Upon landing, the monster noticed my presence.
Quickly, I looked for the weak point and found it. I plunged the sword of light directly into it, eliminating the nightmare creature.
[You have killed an Awakened Beast, Shell Scavenger.]
[Your core grows stronger.]
[You have obtained a memory: Blue Sword.]
'Oh, but that's awesome,' I thought, summoning the memory.
The sword was metallic blue with a blade slightly wider at the top and thinner at the bottom.
I looked at the memory's description.
[On this Forgotten Shore, only steel remembers.]
"Good, I already have a sword," I murmured.
Looking at the scavenger's corpse, I used the sword to open it and take out the soul fragment. Looking at the crystal, I crushed it in my hand and felt the essence of the crystal flow, strengthening my core.
A smile spread across my face.
"Two for one, excellent."
Quickly, I hid back on top of a coral very close to the scavenger's corpse. Soon, the smell attracted another shell scavenger, which, seeing free food, didn't hesitate and lunged, beginning to devour the flesh ferociously.
Falling from the sky, I repeated the process, killing a second scavenger.
Taking the fragment and crushing it, I gathered some algae and wove it into a small backpack. Using a light knife, I began to cut large pieces of scavenger meat for my afternoon meal.
I wanted to kill at least ten more scavengers by the end of the day. That way, it would take less time to become a monster.
After finishing cutting the meat I needed, I hid, leaving the meat on top of where I carried out my surprise attack.
Soon, two more scavengers appeared. As mindless monsters, they lunged to eat the corpses, which was their downfall.
Creating a spear of light, I threw it with all my strength at the Awakened Beast's face. To my surprise, the spear pierced its head.
Not having time to be surprised, I lunged at the second beast and eliminated it at its weak point.
Taking their cores, I crushed them, and then repeated this action several more times.
Finally, when the sun began to set, I was climbing the large coral again. I had managed to kill about twelve Awakened Beasts with nothing but surprise attacks.
Of course, being beasts, they lacked intelligence, which made the job easier.
Upon reaching the top, using Julius's teachings, I lit a campfire and cooked the scavenger meat to eat it. I casually observed the pile of 12 scavengers I left, noting how several had arrived, feeding on the corpses.
I shook my head and focused on my own food.
"I wonder where Silver is. It's weird not having him around to hear his bad jokes and strange taste for giving ridiculous names to anything," I said with a small, amused laugh.
While the scavenger meat cooked on the fire, I watched the sea of gray clouds that grew fainter with each moment.
Looking west, I sighed.
Somehow, I would have to find a way to kill the Shell Demon and obtain the Midnight Shard. I'd surely think of something. The problem was the Soul Devourer Tree.
I had no methods to deal with mental attacks. Unless the Sun Priest's Shroud has some enchantments to reduce mental attacks to a certain extent. Otherwise, pain would be my best option to stay lucid against that thing.
Once the meat was ready, I began to eat it.
[Soul Fragments: 50/1000.]
After eating, I put out the fire. When the darkness began to devour the Forgotten Shore and with it the dark sea returned, leaving behind only absolute darkness.
Closing my eyes, I began to sleep deeply.
I thought minutes had passed until I heard a tremendous crash, as if something had impacted the water with an impossible mass.
Quickly, I stood up and looked around, but I saw absolutely nothing. I could only hear a huge howl that came from the dark sea, and then silence.
I waited for a few minutes, but there really was no more noise. Everything was in an unsettling calm.
'Wait. It was mentioned that in the dark sea lives a great Titan. I guess it must be hunting at least a Titan or a great Tyrant to devour,' I thought with a worried expression.
After an eternity for me, the nameless sun began to rise again, causing the dark sea to retreat.
After about 10 minutes, the entire sea disappeared, and finally, I could see the cause of all the noise last night.
"What the hell..."
The body of the nightmare creature was enormous. It was a creature between a mix of a shark and a whale, except it was incredibly terrifying, of a dark blue hue. A huge bleeding wound was on its side.
The coral pillars around it were destroyed.
I noticed that parts of its skin were missing, but it was still alive, barely clinging to life.
"It's a Titan. And it at least seems to be a Fallen one," I murmured, watching as hundreds and hundreds of scavengers tried to get a piece of the Fallen Titan, but the Titan simply turned its body, crushing countless scavengers under its enormous weight.
Its body, falling to the ground, caused a small tremor.
The strangest thing of all is that it was only about 300 meters away from where it was, blocking my way to the headless knight statue.
"Could this be because of 'Destined'?" I murmured thoughtfully.
"Hmm. Anyway, maybe I can deliver the finishing blow from here." Using light, I created a bow and arrow. Drawing the bow as much as I could, I released the arrow.
The projectile flew at great speed, managing to hit a large, exposed bleeding wound.
Drawing the bow, I continued shooting arrow after arrow.
When I got tired, I ate scavenger meat and kept shooting arrows.
Finally, when the sun of the Forgotten Shore was about to set, I released a last arrow that lodged in the wound, and with that, the Titan died.
It didn't die from the arrows but from blood loss and weakness. It was half a step from the grave, and I was just throwing arrows to cause minuscule damage, thus securing the kill by causing the final wound.
[You have killed a Fallen Titan, The Great Leviathan.]
[You have received a Memory: Leviathan's Sword.]
[Your core grows stronger.]
"Finally, my fingers hurt from target practice with a Titan," I said, letting the bow disappear.
I summoned the runes, looking at my new memory.
Memory: [Leviathan's Sword]
Memory Rank: Transcendent
Memory Type: Weapon.
Description: [An ancient navigator wanted an incomparable sword on the seas. So, guiding his crew into the depths of the sea, he hunted a powerful beast. Upon killing it, he used its materials to forge an incomparable sword.]
'This is good. Who am I kidding? This is damn good! It's a Transcendent memory, and better yet, a weapon. With this armor and now this Transcendent weapon, I can fight without worrying about dying so quickly.'
Quickly, I summoned the sword, which materialized after a few golden sparks. It was about a meter long, including the hilt. It was slightly curved with a single-edged blade. It was a dark blue, almost black color.
The sword lacked ornaments or decorations; it was simple. A weapon used in battle and only in battle. The hilt offered a fairly comfortable grip in the hand and was non-slip. Undoubtedly an excellent weapon.
"With this weapon, I can make my way through the Forgotten Shore to the Dark City."
I heard the dark sea beginning to rise again.
"Well, but I'll move tomorrow."
Fortunately, nothing relevant happened during the night.
The next morning, I quickly descended to the corpse of the shark-whale, where I used the sword to cut its body and take out three Transcendent soul fragments from inside. After storing them, I observed the hundreds of dead scavengers.
"It would be a shame to leave their soul fragments."
With a smile, I began to take out fragment after fragment, crushing them. Today was definitely my lucky day.
When I could only take about 100 fragments, scavengers began to arrive, so it was my signal to leave this place. They would be busy for several days devouring the shark-whale's corpse.
Using the crimson corals, I advanced slowly, avoiding the larger groups of scavengers. Those that were alone or in groups of two, I eliminated quickly.
The Leviathan's Sword cut through their bodies like butter, offering no resistance.
At this pace, it only took me about 8 hours to reach the clearing where the headless knight statue was.
Grabbing onto the rock, I began to climb. The process was quick. Since I had already climbed the enormous coral, climbing the statue wasn't so difficult. It took me about 20 minutes to reach the top.
Looking in the direction of the dead Titan, I saw how countless scavengers were beginning to devour the Titan's flesh, even the ones it had crushed initially.
If I had stayed one more day, it would have been truly impossible to leave that place in the near future.
Yawning, I took out strips of scavenger meat and ate them without cooking them. Their taste was disgusting, but my hunger was greater than my palate.
After eating, the dark sea returned with the night on the Forgotten Shore.
My next objective would be to find some higher ground until I reached the Leviathan Graveyard, and from there gather materials to kill the demon. Although before that, I should at least have about 500 Soul Fragments to be more secure.
Lying on my back, I used my arms as a pillow and closed my eyes to sleep.