The Sleeper part of the compound was relatively small and situated in the southern part of the Academy, surrounded on all sides by training fields and parks.
It was a low, modern building constructed with reinforced materials. Like the majority of buildings in the Academy, most of it was hidden below the ground, leaving only a couple of floors above it. With its white, pristine alloy walls and wide windows, it must have looked beautiful in the summer, contrasted against all the greenery around.
Inside, the building was spacious and well-lit. Luke were taken to a large hall where hundreds or so of young men and women, Sleepers of the same unfortunate timing as the two of them, were already waiting for the beginning of the induction ceremony. Otto was taken to a small room, where they gave him something to dress. A dark blue uniform, the standard dress for most people around here.
Thankfully, no one seemed to care about the fact that he didn't have a communicator. Neither as to why no one had notified about him. Either these were the most incompetent workers of the world, or his story was really convincing. In any case, Otto could only thank Lady Luck one more time before eventually being led to the main hall himself.
Once inside, Otto couldn't help but notice the similarity to how the scene was described in the novel.
Everyone was well-dressed and in possession of a suitcase, a duffel bag, or at least a backpack carrying their personal belongings. They were obviously coming prepared, most likely from home, sent off by their families, just like Luke were. Thanks to his new uniform, Otto wasn't an anomaly between them, despite not having any belonging whatsoever.
'It's so good not to stand out.'
Tired as he was, Otto was in no mood for all the talk he knew were gonna happen, after all, they were all youngests, and if there is one thing they liked was to talk. His eyes were heavy under his bangs. He looked around, searching for someplace to sit, maybe even take a nap.
Eventually, he got to a desert corner of the hall. For some reason, the Sleepers were unwilling to approach it. Perhaps if gave it a thought, he may had remembered the reason why. But, because of the tiredness that still clung to his mind, he didn't. He sat at the solitaire bench with his eyes nearly closing behind his hair. He didn't even notice the quiet girl seated at his side, it was fine though, as the girl didn't notice him either.
'I will just rest my eyes a little…'
***
"I would let you know… my Appraisal was, uh, it was "glorious"! Yes, glorious. And the Aspect I acquired was of the Divine rank."
Otto were awaken by a commotion. He scratched his left arm, it seemed Silk finally finished patching him up. With a yawn, Otto looked around, trying to understand what was happening.
"Mind you, I'm not some lofty Legacy. Pfft! I'm from the outskirts. I've never even received combat training. All that training and he only got an "excellent"? What did he do during the Nightmare, pick his nose the whole time?"
He froze. Not too far away, something he only imagined was unfolding in front of his eyes. Sunny was making his "First Performance" to Caster and his… hm… 'friends'.
Otto couldn't hide his excitement. He started patting his body.
"Hey, you silly spider. Come see the show."
Startled was the girl at his side by the voice she didn't see coming. Even more startled was Otto, who hadn't noticed the girl before she suddenly jumped from the fright. And even more frightened was Silk, who had just jumped out of Otto's body. Thankfully, distracted by the show that was happening, no one noticed the three of them.
"Where did you come from?" The girl asked.
But Otto didn't respond, couldn't respond, his heart almost stopped. Not by what just happened. He eyed the girl carefully.
She was delicate, demure and very pretty. Her clothes were tidy and neat. They didn't seem expensive, but still rather tasteful. With her pale blond hair, big blue eyes and exquisite face, she looked like a beautiful porcelain doll. It was impossible not to recognize her, she was exactly how he had imaginated.
Despite not being able to see him, Cassie was looking in his direction. Strangely for her, she didn't sense the person at all. It was the first time she was truly blind to someone else's presence.
"Hello? Are you there?" she raised a hand towards where she believed the voice had come from. But Otto was long gone. In his desperation, he had crawled up the wall behind him, not caring if someone would see him.
Being involved with the main cast was his worst nightmare.
Firstly, they were magnetic problems, especially Sunny, which was natural since, well, this world is a novel and they were the protagonists. But most important, because if he got too involved with them, he would be dragged by their Fate and that, for someone who wanted to see what wasn't written in the novel, was the worst case scenario.
Worse than riskinging changing it.
Had escaped his embarrassment, Otto found himself on the top of the roof.
His hair and clothes being pulled by gravity, as he standard perfectly vertically. Normal people would probably feel their blood flowing straight to her head by now, as it was impossible for humans to live more than two hours upside down, but Otto was no normal human.
He felt that he could probably live like this, upside down in some random ceiling, it probably would be even safer.
Unfortunately he couldn't. He knew that in a few minutes Instructor Rock would get into the room to explain something and he didn't want anybody finding out about his powers, at least not yet. After all, these powers were the perfect thing to show a fake aspect.
Still, he enjoyed as much as he could, his hair and clothes being pulled by gravity didn't bother him at all. As he sat on the floor, Silk, who had been on his hand, eyed curiously all those humans down there.
"Trust me, you don't want to get too attracted to them. Most of them are Fated to die, you know."
It was a harsh truth, but a truth none the less.
Silk didn't seem to understand, or probably didn't want to understand.
Ignoring that, Silk turned and looked at him straight in the eyes. Their gold eyes met in a showdown that Otto didn't understand why, until she began to laugh. Laugh so much that she almost fell.
Otto was confused, but only for a few moments, before his ears turned into a deep crimson.
"That's not what you are thinking. I didn't run away because she was pretty. I did because–"
he stopped himself mid sentence,
'Wait, can I even tell her that this world is a novel and that was one of the main characters?'
He thought about that for a few minutes, ignoring Silk smug expression.
In the end, he chose not to tell her anything. What if she becomes corrupted by this secret? Or worst, what if she gets erased by it, just like the corruption in his mind had. He wasn't gonna take that risk. So he tanked her annoying face, saying things like:
"Yeah,yeah. You got me."
"What can I say? She is pretty."
"Indeed you are the smartest spider in the world."
Just anything to make her shut up, even though she couldn't talk.
Now that he thinks about it. Why did she even got startled? Because of her dormant ability, she should have known that he was at her side. So, why?
"Inexistent?" That was the only thing that could explain it.
[Fateless] also could, that was if he didn't know how being Fateless worked in her powers. She would see him as a blank or something like that, just like she did to Sunny. So [Inexistent] was the next on the line.
It made sense, after all, if he shouldn't exist in this world, neither should his Fate, thus making him Fateless.
'So, in the end, is it all because of [Inexistent]? What else does it do…?" He had a hunch that he would eventually find out.
Anyway, he stayed up there long enough. Sunny's performance had ended a few minutes ago, meaning that Rock wouldn't take long. Looking at the people down there, no one seemed to have noticed him. He gave a quick look towards Cassie, the girl had come back to her place, quiet as ever. And Sunny was there too, keeping his distance from her, just like in the novel.
"Now, how do I get down without being noticed?"
Getting up was easy, but getting down without being seen would be tricky.
Looking down, he saw a less crowded area. Coincidentally, he could see Luke's blond hair there, surrounded by two young women.
'Is that guy some sort of playboy?'
He got up and, careful not to make a sound, walked towards them. Stealthily crawling down.
No one saw anything, all of that thanks to the giant man who had just stepped on the stage. The giant man had wide shoulders, an athletic build and a gorgeous brow beard. His eyes were calm and serious. Otto didn't even need an introduction.
Instructor Rock had entered the room.