Sunless and Cassie make their way to the Wilderness Survival Class.
The pair arrived in front of the classroom. The door was open, the Wilderness Survival classroom was spacious, tastefully decorated… and completely empty.
If anyone happened to pass by and see it, they could think the classroom was closed.
'It's definitely this one.' Sunless thought.
He then spotted a gloomy instructor sitting behind a wide wooden desk. He was a lively old man with messy grey hair, absentminded eyes and a pair of bushy eyebrows that seemed to jump around on their own. Noticing them, the instructor perked up.
"Come in, youngsters!"
Sunny entered the classroom, holding Cassie's hand, causing the old instructor to raise an eyebrow to them.
"I'm awakened Julius. You can call me Teacher Julius. Sit down, sit down! What's your name?"
Sunless left Cassie's hand and obediently sit down.
Cassie sit next to him.
"Sunless."
"Cassia."
Julius raised his eyebrows.
"Ah! What an ominous name you have young man. But that is good, very good. After all, we have to deal with a lot of ominous things!"
Looking around, Sunny raised his hand to warn the teacher about the other classmate.
"Teacher? Actually there is another Sleeper who, like me, has applied to join this class, she will come here later due to her other class. That's not a problem, is it?"
The instructor snorted with disdain but happyness and said:"No, of course not. I'm grateful that more students will be joining our class. Usually those brutes only care about swinging fists and swords. Very few are smart enough to understand the true value of knowledge."
Julius smiled. "Say, youngsters… why did you choose Wilderness Survival, of all things?"
Sunless spoke first.
"The Awakened who watched over me during my first Nightmare, Master Jet, advised me and the other one to prioritize it above all else."
"A very wise advice! That Master truly knows what's important… wait. Did you say Jet?"
His eyes widened.
"Yes, did you know her teacher?" Sunless asked him before he said something he would regret.
"Who doesn't know the Soul Reaper? She might not be the most powerful Awakened out there, but she is certainly one of the most feared. That's because her Aspect Abilities disregard flesh and target soul cores directly. Which means that no amount of armor, damage resistance and physical protection can stop them."
He leaned forward.
"The only good thing is that she's young and not likely to become a Saint anytime soon, or even ever. Yes, luckily, there's a very low probability that she'll ever advance."
'I already knew this, but thanks.'
Then Julius turned again to Cassie.
"And you my dear young lady?"
Cassie, who had remained silent aside from stating her name, turned her head toward where she believed Professor Julius was standing.
"Actually, Sunny brought me here..." She said. "I'm not registered in any class, i'm sorry for causing trouble."
Julius looked carefully at the pair and chuckled. He didn't expect that answer. What a pair of lovebirds!
"Don't worry, we can easily fix this later. I'm glad to have more students who aren't just brutes looking to bash things with swords."
Then Cassie raised her hand slightly, pointing to her eyes. "There's another problem, actually: i'm blind."
"Well... it's not a problem, really! if you want me to i can teach you Braille." Julius said in a cautious, comforting tone.
Cassie felt relieved at this. He didn't treat her like a curse just because she was blind.
"Let's get back to your curriculum. What other courses are you taking?" Julius asked.
"None. For the next four weeks, i'll be fully concentrated on Wilderness Survival. At most i will train in the gym in the free time." Said Sunless.
"Me too. Oh! But i don't think that i will go to the gym too." Said Cassie.
Julius stared at them for a whole minute, an expression of utter astonishment written clearly on his face. Then, slowly, an excited gleam appeared in his eyes. Finally, he grinned.
"Wonderful! This is wonderful! Two brilliant young minds! Don't worry. In four whole weeks, i will make you two and the other one immortals…"
They spent most of the day in the classroom. In his previous life, Sunless was not a bad student, but now he easily learned every new knowledge without much effort.
Julius was very amused teaching to him and Cassie, he also brought some books in Braille for her.
After the first hour, Yuki joined and the lesson went ahead without any problem.
At the end of it, Julius said goodbye to his three students, looking forward to the next lessons.
Yuki offered to walk Sunny and Cassie to their rooms.
Cassie, for her part, asked Sunny to escort her to her room, which he gladly accepted, holding her hand again.
Arriving at her bedroom's door, Cassie let go of Sunny's hand.
Yuki greeted the two in her usual silent manner and left.
Cassie, wishing him goodnight, entered the room smiling. Sunny returned the greeting, resisting the urge to hug her -she was too cute- and returned to his room.
'I really want an hug now.' Thought Sunny midway to his room.
Returning to his room, Sunny locked the door and shut down the lights.
Immediately, surrounded by darkness, he felt stronger, even faster and somehow is essence seem to erupt from every inches of his being.
'Mmm! This should be another effect of [Shadowspawn], interesting!'
Sunless rubbed his chin while smiling smugly.
He already seems to no emit any sound and footprints while walking and don't need to sleep, eat or drink for a long time; But this?
It was really broken.
After the interview, Sunless finally could look at his runes, even though he'd already used his ability earlier to eavesdrop on Nephis and his brother's conversation.
***
Name: Sunless
True name: Lost from Light
Rank: dreamer
Shadow core: dormant
Shadow fragments: [260/1000]
Memories: [Silver Bell], [Fanatic's dagger], [Puppeteer's shroud], [cloath of War], [Pendant of the Nine].
Echoes: -
Shadows: [Shadow Priestess], [Soul Serpent].
***
'Seriously, how in the Spell can i keep two shadows with only one core? And this before absorbing that drop of Ichor.'
'...'
'Does that perhaps mean that i can have more than seven shadows?'
Maybe yes, maybe no. Sunny had no clues, but still he didn't want the original shadows like Saint or Nightmare to change.
They were far too iconic to replace them.
Clueless, he postponed the issue.
Sunny went first to his next point on his list to-do-things.
Looking at his Memories, Sunny considered which one to use and which one he could even trade.
Selling [Puppeteer's shroud] and [Silver bell] was out of the question.
[Fanatic's dagger] was practically useless with Serpent by his side. Besides, if the Priestess's ability [Shadow shaper] worked as he thought, he could easily have her make him a weapon on the spot.
[Cloath of War] had a good buff, but its enchantment [blind glory] was a double-edged sword, and besides, Sunny didn't want to carry a Memory of the ba***** who killed his Thene.
It was better to ask Jet if he could exchange it for other Memories.
Finally, there is [Pendant of the Nine], obtained from Auro.
Sunny still hadn't see it yet.
***
Memory: Pendant of the Nine
Memory Rank: Awakened
Memory Tier: I
Memory Type: Garment
Memory Description: [Nine were Fated. Nine went through an harrowing mission.]
Memory Enchantments: [soldier's will].
.
.
[Soldier's will] enchantment description: "it increases the strength of its bearer."
***
Summoning the Memory, a spark of light appear around Sunny's neck. Soon a golden chain fastened in front with a green prism-shaped pendant appeared.
'Hmm! So, it's basically like the cloath but without that wretched enchantment and less boost. Quiet good actually.'
Sunny decided to keep it and exchange [cloath of War] for other memories.
As for [fanatic's dagger], he preferred to think about it for a couple of days before feeding it to the Priestess.
With that done, Sunless focused on his aspect.
***
Aspect: [Lightless Crown].
Aspect Rank: Divine.
Innate ability: [Lightless reigns].
Ability Description: [You hold domain over shadows and death. You possess incredible authority over shadows and death. Since death is the end of all things, you bring death to all that touch your domain.]
***
"All that touch my domain?" Sunny reflects, scratching his chin. "What should this mean?"
He knows that from the moment he absorbed the drop of Ichor, a sort of Death energy flow inside him, but how should he even use it?
Clueless again, Sunless focused on the "shadows" part of his aspect. Sitting on his bed and crossing his legs, he used the [Shadow guide] of Serpent for circulate his essence.
[Essence of divinity] was doing its job.
He ordered Gloomy to separate from him.
"Wow!"
He had already tried this feeling before when used it in the cafeteria but now that he can focus on it, it really give him the chills.
immediately, he could sense all the shadows in the Academy, even recognize who were cast from a person or a thing.
Sunny looked at his shadow, and the shadow looked back at him.
With Serpent circulating his essence and Closing his eyes, he focused on his shadow sense.
First, he limited his perception to the shadows in his room, then to those in the immediate vicinity.
Surprisingly, he had no problem in doing so.
From the shadows, he sensed the presence of his roommate in the room next to his. He was sitting in his bed playing video games.
So he sent Gloomy into his room.
The shadow slipped from under the door and arrived in the next room where the boy was sitting slouched with the console in his hand.
Sunny stopped his shadow in front of him. The boy, distracted by the game, didn't notice anything.
Seeing his shadow, Sunny tried to use his shadow control.
Immediately, the boy froze. Not understanding what was happening, he was frightened. He tried to move, to speak, to do anything, but he couldn't. The console fell to the floor without the grip of his hands.
Sunny observed the scene with curiosity. It seemed as if the Shadow lineage had given him some authority over the shadows casted by the livings.
But his grip didn't seem to last long.
"What the f*** just happened!?" The boy shouted after regaining control of his body. He looked around his bedroom but found nothing.
"Maybe it's better if i stop playing for today."
So he turned off the lights in his room and went to sleep.
Gloomy, still in the boy's room, approached the boy's shadow. Looking closer, Sunny, who shared his shadow's vision, saw that the boy's shadow had weaves on it.
He soon realized that those weaves were the natural ties of the shadow to its caster.
"So that's the utility of [Shadow Weave]," Sunny said, thrilled by the discovery.
Gloomy moved even closer, until he was overlapping the boy's shadow.
Full of curiosity, Sunny made his shadow reaching out for one of the weaves, the shadow tried to touch it...
and pulled it.
"AAAAAAaaaaaaah!!!!!"
The boy fell to the ground, writhing in pain. Seeing this, Sunny immediately sent Gloomy back to his room. The boy, still injured, did not notice anything.
"Gods! Please tell me that i didn't kill him." Sunny said in panic with his hands covering his mouth.
Fortunately, hearing the boy's swearing from the next room, he sighed with relief.
Scared for almost killing a person next to his room, Sunny decides to leave the matter of [Shadow weave] alone for now and deal with the other points on his list.
"Ok. Now the important things."
Sunny sent his shadow out of his room again.
The Gloomy shadow wandered around the Academy for a while.
Until it found the Combat class.