Cassie was staring at her empty plate, her expression one of complete defeat. Somehow, I knew it wasn't because her plate was empty.
Sitting down and placing my tray on the table, I gathered my courage and spoke.
"Hi, Cassie."
At the sound of my voice, she lifted her head. It took her a few seconds to respond, but eventually she said:
"Arthur? Is that you?"
"Yep, it's me."
A smile formed on both our faces, followed by a silence, one of those silences we had shared countless times in the past. Eventually, though, Cassie asked the question that must have been eating her ever since her Nightmare ended.
"Where were you? Why did you take so long?"
I brought a hand to the back of my neck in embarrassment. It wasn't a gesture Cassie could perceive, but it still helped me ease the discomfort.
"Well… where else, in the Nightmare. And as for why, I can't say it here. Too many curious ears in the cafeteria."
Using my aether sense, I immediately noticed that almost everyone in the cafeteria was looking in my direction. At first, I didn't understand why, but then I noticed what was being shown on one of the screens. I assumed it was the interview results, but it wasn't a priority right now.
After saying that, I glanced to the side and noticed that the other Sleeper sitting at the same table was also staring at me. Wanting to defuse the tension quickly, I added:
"Sorry, that last part wasn't directed at you."
He stared at me for a moment longer without changing his expression, then finally said:
"No problem."
I kept looking at him for a few seconds, studying him more closely, and noticed something that should have been obvious from the start. This Sleeper wasn't small because of genetics, his Flaw, or anything like that. His appearance was the result of long-term malnutrition.
With that in mind, I connected him to something my father had told me on the way home, about Master Jet. This boy was the one she—
"Why are you looking at me like that? Is there a problem?"
His voice snapped me out of my thoughts. He was right. I had been staring at him for too long. Before sitting down, he had already been giving me an unfriendly look, and now I was giving him a reason.
"No, no, sorry. I was just thinking about something. One question, if you don't mind. You're from the Outskirts, right?"
The Sleeper, Sunless, I now remembered his name, fell silent for a long moment. Then his expression began to change, as if he were in pain.
"Yes," he said simply.
I put on a smile to ease the awkwardness. "Ah, then you must be the Sleeper Master Jet supervised, right?"
At the mention of Master Jet's name, Sunless's eyebrows shot up.
"Yes. How do you know that?"
His tone was neutral, but it didn't escape me that it sounded more like a threat than a question.
"Relax. Master Jet is a friend of my parents. Recently, they were talking about how she seemed happier than usual. They thought it was because she'd gotten a boyfriend or something, but when they asked, she said it was because she had supervised another Sleeper from the Outskirts like her."
I made a casual gesture with my hand to ease the tension.
After that, he remained silent for a few seconds, clearly thinking. It looked like he was about to say something else, but at that moment we both turned our heads in the same direction.
Sunless wore an expression of pure distrust. Mine was more along the lines of what is going on?
From that direction, voices began to rise, almost shouting. Even Cassie turned her head in surprise at the reactions.
The noise was clearly coming from the screens. I managed to catch a few fragments.
"…Two with True Names?"
"…In the same generation…"
"…Isn't that the one who talked back to the professor?"
'Another Sleeper with a True Name? Who could it be…'
Turning back to the table, I cleared my throat, trying to continue the previous conversation.
"Well, it was nice meeti—"
I didn't get to finish. I felt someone approaching. When I turned around, a pair of green eyes met mine.
Caster. The Legacy.
I stared at him as he came closer.
"Arthur Leywin, I suppose? I am Caster from the Han Li clan. I see your trial went well."
'This bastard is only talking to me because I have a True Name.'
"It would seem so, right? What do you think?"
He smiled politely. "Yes, I'd say so. My group of Legacies noticed that it might be interesting to share stories about our Nightmares, and we decided—" He paused for a moment, glancing at Cassie and Sunless. "—to extend an invitation. What do you say?"
I answered immediately, my tone neutral. "Thanks for the invitation, but I'd rather stay with my friends. We were discussing something important, so if you don't mind…"
He immediately understood the conversation was over.
"I see. In any case, the invitation stands. Have a good rest of your day."
He turned and walked back to his group of Legacies.
Returning my attention to the table, I saw Sunless staring at me with one eyebrow raised, while Cassie looked completely lost.
"Uh… just ignore that. I don't know what that Legacy was trying to do, but it's not important."
Cassie spoke first. "I heard something about another Sleeper with a True Name. Who is it?"
At her question, Sunless stood up, picked up his empty tray, and left. Apparently, he had kept eating while all of this happened.
Watching him go, I couldn't help but think:
'That guy is strange. And it's obvious he didn't believe most of what I said. Still… that's mostly my fault for acting like this.'
Turning back to Cassie, I said:
"Yeah. The other one is me."
She gasped. "You have a True Name, Arthur?"
"Yep. But that's not important right now."
"And what is important, then?" she asked, raising an eyebrow.
"You. I wanted to ask how you were doing."
She replied with a quiet, almost whispered, "Oh."
She lowered her head, and I noticed her fists clench so tightly I thought she might hurt herself.
Seeing that, a pressure formed in my throat. I didn't like seeing her like this—so fragile. As if the slightest touch could break her.
Memories flooded back. Our first sparrings, when she always kept up with me. Her talent, which often surprised me. The countless times I thought her smile could light up the world.
And now… seeing her like this. Fragile. Weak.
And what hurt the most—knowing she had already accepted her death.
I stood up from my side of the table and sat next to her. I wrapped my left arm around her left shoulder, pulling her gently toward me. Her head rested against my collarbone, and a few seconds later I felt small tremors run through her body.
You didn't need to be a genius to realize she was crying.
Seeing her like that destroyed me, but I understood this wasn't the moment to interrupt her. She needed to let it out, whether through words or like this.
We stayed like that for a long time. The cafeteria slowly emptied, but neither of us wanted to move. Eventually, we were the only ones left.
Cassie's assigned assistant came to help take her back to her room, but I gestured for her not to worry. I would take her myself.
We walked through the halls in silence. She held onto my arm, still having some trouble walking. When we reached her room, I had to stop at the door. It was forbidden to enter rooms that weren't your own.
Before leaving, I considered suggesting training, helping her learn to navigate better using her other senses. But seeing her state, I knew it wasn't the right time.
First, she needed to accept reality.
Then, she could train and overcome it.
After that, the walk back to my room was calm. Most Sleepers had already returned to their rooms, and the halls were nearly empty.
Before reaching my room, I took a small detour to look at the interview result screens. I was curious about who the other Sleeper with a True Name was. My first theory was Caster, judging by how much the Legacies fawned over him.
I couldn't have been more wrong.
Caster was third.
In the first place, the portrait of a silver-haired girl could be clearly seen.
Name: Nephis
True Name: Changing Star
Name: Arthur Leywin
True Name: Paragon of Purity
Name: Caster Han Li clan
'Nephis… so that's her name. And she has a True Name too.'
Furrowing my brows, I thought:
'I wonder how much she said during her interview. I claimed my Aspect was above Ascended rank and still placed second. What made the difference? The nature of our Aspects? Or did she claim a higher rank?'
Either way, I'd need to be careful around her from now on. Knowing a bit about rune linguistics, it was clear her name meant more than just the translation the Spell provided.
After that small detour, I went back to my room to end the day and prepare for tomorrow. My first day at the academy had been interesting but it lacked something.
I hadn't trained enough.
And I still hadn't uncovered my Aspect's full potential, something I needed to do before the Winter Solstice.
***
I woke up quite early. I considered sleeping a bit more, but went against the impulse. I showered, and while getting ready for breakfast, I noticed something strange.
I wasn't hungry.
Thinking back, throughout the entire previous day I had only felt hunger in the morning. After that, nothing. I had eaten out of habit, not need.
In my first Nightmare, I hadn't eaten or drunk water at all. It had all been sustained by the aether I absorbed from the creatures I killed.
But here… I hadn't killed any.
'Wait—that's it!'
My innate ability literally says: "You are integrated with reality through aether."
How hadn't I realized sooner?
My attribute [Being of Aether and Flesh] made it even clearer.
'So if I'm integrated with the surrounding aether… does that mean as long as there's aether, I'm immortal? Not immortal exactly but when I consumed aether from creatures, my wounds healed. So if I cut myself now, would it heal instantly?'
Since I wasn't hungry, I decided to stay in my room and meditate. There was still something that didn't fully make sense to me.
'If I'm integrated with reality through aether… could I strengthen my body with it?'
The idea was solid. Awakened circulated essence through their bodies if I used the same method, I could circulate aether through the channels formed during my first Nightmare.
With the plan in mind, I sat in the center of the bed, crossing my legs until I found a stable position. I straightened my back carefully, relaxed my shoulders, rested my hands on my knees, slightly lowered my chin, and closed my eyes.
I used a technique I had read about in a book, but instead of focusing on essence, I searched for the aether channels extending from my core like veins. I guided the aether entering through my pores toward the muscles and tendons I wanted to strengthen.
Progress was slow, until I activated [Realmheart].
Immediately, I felt runes activating across my body. When I opened my eyes, I saw that they were purple. I also saw aether particles filling the environment.
The sight was breathtaking.
I could see the particles vibrating freely, some drawn toward my body. Then I felt another set of runes activate beneath my eyes.
With that, I noticed something else, another type of particle. Not purple. Red, green, blue… and brown.
I didn't know what they were, but I noticed they interacted strangely with aether—not antagonistically, just independently.
I continued meditating as my body grew stronger, fueled by ambient aether. At what felt like my current limit, I deactivated [Realmheart] and tried to maintain the state on my own.
At first, my body weakened quickly but with repetition, I began to understand the process. Each cycle took less time to gather aether and more time to lose it.
I didn't know how long I stayed like that.
When I finally opened my eyes and looked out the window, it was dark.
Checking my communicator, I realized I had been meditating for over sixteen hours.
'WHAT THE HELL?!'
I changed clothes to go to the cafeteria, at least to have dinner. Even though I wasn't hungry due to all the aether I had absorbed, I still needed to meet Cassie and talk to her about training.
I put on a light blue outfit paired with white shoes and headed out.
No matter how rushed I was, I would never, ever run through the academy halls.
When I arrived at the cafeteria, I noticed there were fewer Sleepers than the previous day. That was normal it was quite late. Fortunately, my objective was still there, sitting at the same table as yesterday.
The other boy, Sunless, wasn't present today, but the girl who had ranked first in the interviews—Nephis—was seated at one of the tables closest to Cassie's.
As I walked toward Cassie's table, I wasn't sure if she felt my gaze or something else, but Nephis stopped looking at her food and her gray eyes met mine. Neither of us looked away, but after a moment I lost interest and shifted my attention back to Cassie.
She was sitting still, doing nothing. Her plate was already empty, and it looked like she was waiting for her assigned assistant to come pick her up.
I made some noise by moving the chair before sitting down in front of her.
"Hi Cass, it's me again." I said.
"Art? You disappeared all day…"
I let out a small snort, more surprised than anything.
"Huh? How did you know? You don't attend my classes."
She coughed lightly before speaking, lowering her voice a bit.
"Um… I asked the other boy who sits here if he had seen you."
I let a second of silence pass.
"Mmm… are you sure? What, did you miss me already?" I said in a clearly sarcastic tone.
"NO!" she replied immediately, far too fast.
I let out an exaggerated sigh.
"Ouch, you're breaking my heart, Cassie."
"Idiot," she muttered, turning her head slightly to the side.
I let out a short laugh before continuing.
"Anyway, the reason I came here now, I wanted to propose something to you."
She looked at me again (or at least tried to) and with a mischievous smile said:
"No, Arthur, I'm not going out with you."
I froze completely. I felt my mouth fall slightly open.
"WHAT?"
I quickly recovered, bringing a hand to my face as I let out a long sigh.
"What did they do to my innocent Cassie?"
As soon as I finished speaking, I heard a muffled sound, like someone trying to hold back laughter. When I lowered my hand, I saw her covering her mouth, her shoulders shaking as small tears formed in her eyes.
I couldn't help but smile at the sight.
Yesterday, seeing her like this would have been unthinkable.
Her laughter, brief as it was, eased me more than I expected but I knew what came next would break the moment.
I adopted a more relaxed, almost playful tone.
"Alright, very funny, Cass. But seriously, I wanted to talk to you about something important."
She slowly composed herself, wiping the tears away with the back of her hand, then oriented her face toward me.
"You want to train me, don't you?"
"Yes," I replied immediately. "Was it that obvious?"
"To someone who knows you? Yes. Very," she said without hesitation. Then, before I could add anything else, she continued, "I accept but on one condition."
I rested my elbows on the table.
"Let's hear it."
"That it's like the old days," she said firmly. "Don't treat me like I'm broken. Or like I'm something fragile that'll shatter if you touch it."
I looked at her for a few seconds before nodding.
"Alright. Deal. How about after class?"
"Any time works for me."
A couple of seconds passed before I realized something:
"Oh, right… you don't attend any classes."
"Why don't you attend Wilderness Survival?" I added.
She stayed silent for a moment.
"Um… I didn't know that class existed."
I stared at her seriously, incredulous.
"Well, it does. And it could be really useful for you. I know the instructor, and he can teach you a lot about orienting yourself using your other senses. He can even teach you Braille."
"Well… if you say so, Art. I'll sign up tomorrow."
After a brief pause, she added:
"Can you walk me back to my room? I'm sleepy."
I stood up and moved to her side.
"Yeah, of course. Let's go."
We walked to her room talking about more trivial things. Nothing important, but enough to make the atmosphere feel lighter.
At the door, we agreed that the next day I would accompany her to her first Wilderness Survival class.
After that, I returned to my room and went to bed.
Even though I hadn't done any physical activity, my head hurt from concentrating so much on circulating aether.
Tomorrow looked like it was going to be a good day.
***
I woke up like on the previous days, but this time I learned from my mistakes and set an alarm so I wouldn't miss the time I had to help Cassie.
While waiting, I meditated, following the same procedure as yesterday, focusing on absorbing aether faster and retaining it for as long as possible.
Eventually, the alarm rang and I went to Cassie's room. I still wasn't fully used to the looks people gave me, but they seemed to have calmed down a bit. Spending time with Cassie probably sparked a few rumors about some kind of relationship between us.
As long as they didn't think I was taking advantage of her, I couldn't care less.
When I reached her room, I knocked on the door using a sequence only the two of us knew, so she'd know it was me. A few seconds later, the door opened.
Cassie was wearing the academy-issued outfit, but there was something new.
A blue blindfold.
"Hi, Cass," I said.
With a smile, she replied, "Hi, Art."
Raising an eyebrow, I said, "I see you added a new accessory. It suits you."
"Yes. I thought it was appropriate. Thanks," she replied.
"Why did you think that?"
With determination in her voice, she said:
"Because I didn't want to stay tied to who I was. The blindfold is my way of acknowledging the person I am now… and moving forward with her."
I smiled.
"I think that's perfect. Come on, I'll take you to class."
The walk to her class was calm. We talked about rumors we had heard around the academy and other unimportant things. Eventually, we arrived at the Wilderness Survival classroom.
I wasn't sure what to do, whether to walk her inside or leave her at the door but the decision was made for me when I sensed a new presence behind us.
When I turned around, I saw Sunless.
It made sense that he would choose Wilderness Survival if he came from the Outskirts. I let him pass first, then entered with Cassie.
Professor Julius, as always, was buried in his academic books, but when he heard the door open, he lit up like a lantern.
"Come in, Sunless!"
"Oh! It seems we have more students today!" He added.
Rubbing the back of my neck, I said, "Good morning, Professor Julius. Actually, only my companion Cassie will be attending your class. I just walked her here."
Somehow, his smile grew even wider.
"Oh, that's perfectly fine! Come along, young lady!"
I gave a small bow and left the classroom after guiding Cassie to one of the seats. Just before I could fully leave, I heard:
"Ahh, young love."
My cheeks warmed immediately. Lowering my head to hide it, I hurried off to my own class.
This time, I arrived early. Seeing that there weren't many people yet, I sat in a corner and meditated for a while.
A few minutes later, Professor Awakened Rock entered the room. When he noticed me sitting there, he approached.
Before he could speak, I opened my eyes and waited.
"Sleeper Arthur, since you didn't attend yesterday's class, today you'll be the first in the sparrings, if you don't mind."
'If I don't mind? Academy professors really are quick at understanding their students.'
"That's fine," I replied.
"Perfect," he said, returning to his desk as the rest of the students arrived.
It didn't take long for the classroom to fill up, as usual. After all, this was the course with the highest enrollment.
Standing up and walking toward the ring, I exchanged a glance with the professor.
With a nod, he began to speak.