Lec wasn't too sure what to think about his current predicament. Opening the door to the Wilderness Survival classroom, he was met with a strange sight. 'That can't be right...one other student!?'
Already regretting his decision to sign up for this, Lec quickly scurried inside and shut the door behind him. But before he could get settled, a voice suddenly came out of nowhere, causing him to jump, letting out a rather high-pitched yelp.
"Ah, sorry, young man. Lec, was it?" Turning around, Lec glared at the old man who had scared him before nodding his head. "Yep, that's me."
The old man soon gained a kind smile as he introduced himself. "Well then, it's a pleasure to have you in my class. First, it was young Sunless, and now the talk of the entire Academy! Goodness, where are my manners? I'm Awakened, Julius. You may simply call me Teacher Julius."
Lec blinked at how excited the older man seemed, but simply assumed that it was due to how few students he got. "Come, come sit down next to young Sunless."
It was then that Lec finally registered the other person in the room. They looked somewhat familiar, but he couldn't quite place where he remembered them from. "Alright then." Walking towards and taking a seat next to Sunless, Lec would stare at the older teen intensely, analyzing his face.
Sunny could only look around uncomfortably as Lec's red irises glared at him. "Do I know you from somewhere?" Sunless groaned as he heard him ask that, clearly not really wanting to interact with him.
"Yes, we met right before our first nightmare, remember?"
Lec's eyes lit up with recognition as Teacher Julius butted in. "Ahh, both of my students are already acquainted. Isn't that marvelous? Sunless, why didn't you tell me that you knew such a spectacular young man?"
"I don't really know him," Sunless muttered as Lec blushed lightly at the praise.
"Well, then you'll both get to know each other. Come winter solstice, you'll be the best of friends!"
***
Lec's head was about to explode from how much information was being shoved into it. It made sense, though. Lec had joined the Academy incredibly late and had a mere week to learn all that he needed to know about surviving in the wild. Sunless was a bit upset over having to go back to a few topics, but he quickly got over it.
The curriculum that Julius planned out was insane. There was an endless amount of theoretical knowledge to learn, practical lessons both in virtual reality and the real world, numerous subjects, and weird things to study. There were even several lessons dedicated exclusively to learning the basics of several dead languages of the Dream Realm!
Lec wasn't too sure why he needed to learn any new languages if the Spell translates everything already, but he didn't mind too much.
They studied until the sun was about to set. Only then did Julius decide to let both of them go. Mentally exhausted and lamenting the fact that he had to miss lunch and dinner, Lec trudged to his dorm room, Sunless walking beside him.
"Is that what I'm going to have to do every single day?"
"If you think that's hard, then try doing the same thing for almost an entire month. Lec couldn't help but shiver at that. "No, thank you."
"Anyway." Lec continued completely unbothered. "I'm Lec. We didn't really get to talk back there. In the police station, I mean." More so, Sunless wasn't too interested in talking back then.
Sunless shrugged at that. "Basically, everyone in the academy knows who you are. I'm not too sure I'm special for having met you first."
"Well, it's whatever. At least you aren't a suck-up or hate my guts."
Grimacong at this, Sunny replied. "Isn't it your fault that public opinion on you is so split. You didn't need to draw that much attention."
Lec just waved his words in return, signaling that he thought that it was no sweat. "My intention was always to draw attention to myself. I'm trying to become rich and famous after all...But I will admit that I may have gone too far earlier."
"It's like my brain just can't keep up with my mouth," Lec said as he chuckled, with Sunless staring at him, a pensive expression on his face.
Eventually, both of them would make it to a crossroads, Sunny heading to the dorms, and Lec turning right and going out into the courtyard. "Well, it was nice talking to you, dude! See you when I see you."
Lec waved as he walked off, leaving Sunless with a strange expression. 'What a strange person.'
It didn't take too long for Lec to reach his destination, a decently sized park-like area. With outdoor tables and the like. It was the Sleepers outdoor park...thingy? Lec wasn't quite sure what to call the place, but he knew that it was relaxing.
Taking a seat on a bench, Lec found himself absent-mindedly scrolling through his runes. Eventually making it to his first aspect ability. Chaos Snap.
After returning to the waking world, Lec had never found the right time to attempt using it. So with the remainder of his time before he had to return to his dorm, he figured that he'd at least attempt it in such a large open space.
Stretching as he stood up, Lec would try to remember the feeling of using chaos control back on the Ark. He figured that the feeling must be the same, after all, Chaos Snap was described as a weaker version of chaos control.
"Should be easy enough. Especially since I won't need an emerald to do it..." Focusing, he'd raise his right hand and ready his fingers to snap. Of course, he didn't necessarily need to do that, but style points were everything.
Steadying his breath, Lec focused his intent on a spot roughly five meters ahead of him. Not too far, not too close. A good test run.
And with a deep breath, he snapped.
The world lurched, and suddenly the bench he'd been standing in front of was behind him. Five meters ahead, exactly where he'd aimed.
Lec stood completely still for a moment.
'...That was it?'
He looked back at where he'd been standing. Then forward. Then back again.
"LET'S GO!" The yell escaped before he could stop it, earning him several startled looks from other Sleepers relaxing nearby. He didn't care even slightly. Snapping again, he reappeared at his original spot. Then forward. Then sideways. Then diagonally. And before he knew it, he was exhausted.
Still, this was amazing, unlike the teleportation aspect of a full-strength chaos control; Chaos Snap didn't fully drain him. Which meant that once he gained more soul essence, he'd be able to spam short-distance teleports in quick succession.
He was grinning so wide his face hurt.
Eventually, he decided that it was probably time for him to leave, but just as he attempted to do so, a voice cut through his private celebration like a blade.
"Oi. You're the Black Wind kid, yeah?"
Lec snapped his head back to his original position, turning toward the voice. Leaning against a nearby tree with both arms crossed was a boy who looked maybe a year or two older than him. He had sharp blue eyes and emerald green hair pointed up in spikes. All complete with a smirk that somehow managed to be even more irritating than Lec's own.
'Who the hell is this guy???'
'And...is his hair natural?'
Lec glanced around first to make sure the green-haired dude wasn't confused before hesitantly nodding. "Yep, that's me...Why, ya need an autograph."
"As if I'd ever need an autograph from a fraud like you." The stranger replied smugly as he got off from the tree he was perched on and began making his way towards the shorter boy. Lec just rolled his eyes before putting on his own infuriating smirk. "Ah, well, what do you want, no name?"
"I see the rumors of your ego were true then, ha! To make it even better, you look like you're built for speed. What I want...I want a race."
Lec simply raised his eyebrow before breaking down into mocking laughter. "You want to race me? C'mon, dude, it's like you're asking to be beat." Although at those words, the green-haired stranger shrugged, a confident grin on his face.
"It doesn't matter if you've got a true name or not. It doesn't matter if you're from the outskirts or not; nobody could ever be in my league in terms of speed." Smirking at the overly confident words, Lec responded, "And pray tell, who might you be?"
"The name's Jet. Jet of the Babylon clan, but you may simply refer to me as The Hawk."
'Another Jet!?'
"Ah, so you're a Legacy with a shitty nickname, then it'll be all the more satisfying to kick your sorry butt."
Jet stared at Lec for a few moments before turning around and waving the shorter boy off. "Well then, if you accept, the race will take place tomorrow in the afternoon during lunch. No speed-altering memories allowed, so take off those dumb looking shoes." Lec grit his teeth, his mind already brewing not-so-kind situations this other Jet could find themselves in. 'I already hate this guy!'
Turning his head, the emerald-haired boy said one last thing, his mocking tone remaining ever present. "You could also just bail on the race as well, showing everyone the fraud you are. But I trust that you wouldn't do that, right?"
Lec glared at the moss-haired brats retreating back. True, that he really had no reason to accept that, and honestly, at first, he was just not going to show up. But after all that smack talk, any choice of not racing went out the window.
'I'll kick that bastard straight to the curb!'