A few minutes passed until a new figure entered the classroom, making Julius's face light up even more than before. Apparently, this year he had two students – a good streak, considering that some years he had none. So having two young people he could teach to survive was a reason to celebrate.
"Come in, young man, we were waiting for you!" said Julius.
The black-haired boy looked inside the room, recognizing the guy he had shared a table with just a few minutes ago.
"I'm Julius, an Awakened. You can call me Master Julius. This young man here is Ashfall," he said, introducing Ash, who nodded.
Ash watched with slight curiosity as the black-haired boy's eyes widened for an instant before recovering his usual expression.
"What's your name?"
"Sunless," he said, also sitting in the front row, leaving one seat between them.
"Ah. What curious names you have. And not to mention ominous. Very good, after all, we have to deal with ominous things," said Julius.
"Uh... sorry, Master. Did I arrive too early?" asked Sunless.
"Oh, no. You arrived right on time."
Sunless frowned slightly.
"Are other students arriving late?"
"No one else will come apart from you two. Those brutes are only interested in swinging their fists and swords. Very few intelligent ones know the value of knowledge..."
"Tell me, why did you choose this class among all the options?"
Ash yawned a bit, ignoring the conversation for a few moments, letting his mind wander about which part of the Dream Realm he would fall into.
His Mantle of the Mist was useful in any type of situation, as long as he didn't appear a few hundred meters in the air – the fall would kill him instantly – and as long as he didn't run into a Fallen monster, much less a Corrupted one.
After a while, Ash paid attention again when he heard Julius address him.
"And you, Ashfall?"
"Oh, unlike Sunless, the Awakened who supervised me only explained the basics and told me not to die uselessly. So I simply chose the one with the highest survival probability," he explained sincerely.
Vicky the Awakened, after explaining basic things, simply left him outside the Academy gates and nothing more.
It's not that it made him angry or really affected him. That woman was one Awakened among thousands of Awakened, and he was one Sleeper among hundreds of Sleepers. Even now, he no longer remembered her face.
"I see. It's a good choice you made," said Julius.
"Let's move on to your study plan. What other courses are you taking?"
"None. For the next four weeks, I'll focus completely on wilderness survival."
Julius's eyes shone, and then he looked at Ash.
"Combat class. But it doesn't start until four," he replied, checking the schedule on his communicator to be sure.
"Excellent. Wonderful, don't worry, my students. In four weeks, I'll make you immortal..."
Ash yawned slightly. Lately, he'd been more sleepy than normal.
...
The classes began in a pleasant way and without too much tension. However, after an hour, Ash felt a slight headache due to the large amount of information Julius was continuously releasing.
Due to the time lapse and the different things, Ash had to pay close attention and ask about things that were supposed to be basic knowledge for the current era.
His lack of knowledge not only disconcerted Julius but also Sunless, who looked at him strangely every time he asked a general knowledge question.
This caused Julius to start assigning him history books to catch up on his lack of basic knowledge.
That, added to Julius's knowledge about the runes the Spell used to communicate, where Ash discovered he was quite good and understood the runes and their different meanings well.
In the end, after about six or seven hours, Julius let them go, with Ash carrying a pile of books he had to read throughout the week.
Upon returning to his room, Ash left the books in a corner before simply going to the cafeteria to eat something light without filling himself too much, and heading to his second class, combat.
Using his Guide ability, he simply thought of the place he wanted to go – the training dojo – and his ability began to guide him. After taking the elevator with other Sleepers, walking a bit, and after a few minutes, he observed the dojo where there was a group of Sleepers like him, guided by Rock the Awakened.
Ash joined the group of Sleepers in silence. The instructor explained that today they would only cover ability tests and their general competencies. After that, they would be placed in groups according to their level.
Ash knew he was a novice when it came to combat, so he wasn't going to bother challenging Nephis and simply lose.
Ash watched as the Sleepers took turns hitting a measuring machine. After each hit, the machine showed a number.
From what he saw, the numbers ranged from ten to fourteen for those who weren't trained, and others who had received training would get fifteen or sixteen points.
Ash thought he would probably get a twelve or thirteen.
Ash observed that it was his turn.
Walking to the machine, he threw a punch with all his strength, hitting the plate. The machine trembled for a moment due to the force he had used.
After a few beeps, the number eighteen was displayed, being the highest counter so far.
'I guess that's not bad,' he thought, ignoring the impressed looks from the Sleepers.
Then it was Nephis's turn, who scored a sixteen, and then Caster, who got a total of twenty-one, being the highest of all.
Instructor Rock smiled satisfied.
"Not bad. Now we'll move on to the combat part and evaluate your general training level. I need two volunteers to start."
Changing Star stepped forward, walking to the center of the ring. A few moments later, a tall, extremely muscular Sleeper followed her, ready to fight and prove his worth.
Rock was standing outside the ring.
"The rules are simple. Make your opponent's back touch the ground or throw them out of the ring. Use the abilities and techniques you deem appropriate."
Ash watched as the tall, muscular man launched himself forward like a wrecking ball, throwing a high kick.
A second later, the tall, muscular man was lying on the ground on his back with a stupefied look on his face. Changing Star hadn't even changed her posture.
Ash blinked and tilted his head to the side. He had seen the movement.
She simply grabbed his ankle and, using his own momentum, threw him like a sack of potatoes against the ground.
'That's Aikido, if I'm not mistaken,' Ash thought, watching as the bruiser with wounded pride stood up and left the ring.
Ash looked at Changing Star, who, upon feeling his gaze, directed her own expressionless and impassive look at him before the next person stepped forward to face her.
Ash watched without moving or changing his expression as one after another after another was defeated with the same ease, the combat not lasting more than a few seconds.
'In a way, watching this is quite entertaining,' Ash thought with a slight smile, watching another Sleeper fall to the ground like a sack of potatoes, joining the line of losers.
Finally, there were two who hadn't fought yet. The first was the handsome guy with brown hair and green eyes, loved by all the Sleepers – Caster – who stepped forward.
And the second wasn't worth mentioning; he simply existed quietly, like someone forgettable, although his face was attractive to girls.
'Well, let's see how this plays out. In the novel, the combat was intense and hard, lasting less than ten seconds, with Caster winning by using his cheater Aspect.'
"Lady Nephis. Please forgive me in advance," expressed the Legacy.
A moment later, he disappeared in a blur of speed.
Ash watched as Caster became a blur that he could barely distinguish as he moved at great speed, sizing up his opponent to see where to attack. After finding a weak point in less than a second, he delivered a blow at great speed against Nephis, who moved just enough to avoid the main force of the attack, reducing the impact area to her shoulder, causing her to spin several times.
Caster moved again to attack from behind, taking advantage of the brief surprise.
Confident, Caster launched his attack at her back. However, Nephis had anticipated the movement, moving her arm to attack with her elbow.
Somehow, Caster managed to avoid the direct attack by a hair's breadth. Ash guessed that although his advantage was speed, it was also his weakness, as he couldn't alter his trajectory so quickly.
Ash wondered if perception also increased to be able to move at such speed when using that Aspect.
Ash watched as Caster tried to trip Nephis, but she grabbed him, doing the same movement she did with the first Sleeper, throwing him to the ground without the Legacy being able to react in time.
Caster's back hit the synthetic wood floor, resulting in his total defeat.
'Strange. Caster was supposed to win that exchange, but that changed. Are things changing?' Ash thought.
'Well. It's not like it really affects me.' And just like that, he stopped giving importance to that change.
Ash heard some murmurs from the Sleepers upon learning that Caster had lost.
After Caster stood up and thanked her for the fight, the whole exchange was intense. Ash had seen it from start to finish and learned from it, although for the Sleepers it didn't last more than about five seconds.
"Next," said Rock the Awakened.
Ash looked to both sides, noticing that he was the last one left.
'Well. This is shit.'
Ash looked at the instructor.
"Can I surrender directly?" he asked, making the instructor blink, somewhat confused, as did the rest of the Sleepers in the room.
"Why?" asked a Sleeper, voicing what everyone was thinking.
Ash shrugged, looking at them, and then said in a calm voice.
"You guys lost, and you know how to fight. What hope do I have of even doing anything?" he asked. "Besides, she's very strong." He pointed to Nephis, who remained impassive without saying a word.
"So, can I skip the fight?"
Rock shook his head.
"No. Combat is necessary to know your level, whether you win or lose the encounter," he responded with a serious tone.
'Well, there goes my get-out-of-jail-free card.'
Ash began to walk until he entered the ring, stopping in front of Changing Star.
'Well, let's get this over with.'
Without further hesitation, Ashfall launched himself forward, throwing a punch he had seen Dren use during his Nightmare.
As expected, Nephis grabbed his wrist and with a quick movement spun him. His world turned upside down.
Freeing himself from the grip, he twisted, landing on his feet about three meters away.
Looking at Nephis, who seemed surprised.
'Well, that was the first second,' he thought.
Then he thought for half a second about how to attack his opponent, replicating the movement he had seen the veteran woman use to destabilize her enemies' legs.
Throwing a low circular kick, Nephis stepped back. However, she didn't expect a second kick to fly directly at her face a moment later, hidden by the first movement.
Changing Star leaned back, letting the kick pass within centimeters of her face.
Taking advantage of the opening, Nephis executed a movement that made Ash lose his balance.
Ash knew that movement. In fact, he had prepared for it, and could have dodged or moved away. However, instead of doing either of those two options, he simply let himself fall backward, losing, looking at the dojo ceiling.
'Nine seconds. I managed to last nine seconds. That's a new record,' Ash thought, getting up.
He silently nodded to Nephis before leaving the ring, hearing the murmurs of the Sleepers surprised that he had lasted so long against Changing Star.
...
After that, the introductory class had ended with Sleepers aching all over, except for Ash, who had no injuries from the brief exchange.
Ash headed to the locker room, where he took off his white training suit and began to put on his attire to leave as quickly as possible, but fate was not on his side, as a group began to ask him questions.
"Hey, that was incredible!" said a Sleeper with excitement.
"You lied about not knowing how to fight; you lasted longer than everyone," said another Sleeper.
"The truth is, I just got lucky. She was tired from so many fights," Ashfall responded.
"Anyway, Caster was incredible... did you see his Aspect? I didn't even know what he did," Ash lied.
In this type of situation, he could only do one thing: redirect attention to a scapegoat, which was the Legacy guy.
As he expected, the Sleepers changed the subject to cover Caster and flatter him about his cheater Aspect and how his battle with Nephis went.
Ash took the opportunity to simply slip silently out of the locker room, beginning to walk towards the elevators.
'Well, today was undoubtedly a productive day. Now I guess I'll put on some white noise and start reading the books Master Julius lent me,' he murmured.
Then he sighed.
'I feel like writing a story and then deleting it, but I won't. I don't want to end up in God knows where this time. I guess I should have tried that cooking and ecchi anime.'
...
Once Ash returned to his room, he sighed and summoned the Fang of Mist.
The familiar sword appeared in his hand, and with it, he began to swing it a thousand times, making sure the movement was correct.
After about two hours, his body bathed in sweat and his arms tired, he took a shower, read a little, and went to sleep early.
Early in the morning, after a hearty breakfast, he continued taking Julius's classes.