After taking a shower in the morning and doing his routine of drying himself, he used some of the products that Master Jet had recommended. She'd given him instruction on how to use them and so, he left his room looking better than ever. And soon hurried to the cafeteria for breakfast.
He was again early much to his delight. After filling his plate with whatever he found, he sat down at the same table as yesterday and started eating. He was unusually tense with all the stares as the cafeteria was filled with Sleepers.
Like yesterday, three striking Sleepers entered the cafeteria and after picking their trays, they looked around as if searching for someone, spotting Li, they approached him with a smile and asked politely if they could sit here again. Giving a nod, Li agreed.
They sat in an uncomfortable silence, none daring to speak. With a sigh, Li started talking. "You know, last night wasn't your fault and I don't blame you for it. I just felt like messing with them, cause their murmurs were getting on my nerves, I'm sorry."
His words seemed to have lifted an invisible weight off of them, they seemed relieved. At that moment Dante wanted to speak but they were interrupted by a sudden commotion. Looking up, they saw that most were gathered around a large screen hanging from the wall. On the screen was a list of names, they seemed to be the ranking of the Sleepers from weakest to strongest.
'So the interview was meant for this, very good' Looking at the list he went from the bottom to the top, but his name wasn't there, He didn't like this. He'd finally found his name, not at the bottom, but at the top. Number one to be exact. Li cringed when most of the sleepers started to look their way, his plan had failed.
But the surprising thing for him wasn't his placement, but the three that had been sitting across from him. They were ranked two to four. Dante was second while Iseul was third and fourth was Gael, much to Li's shock. He thought that Gael would be the strongest of the three, but it seemed he had misjudged their strength.
"I'm not seeing things right?"
"It seems not, he's ranked number one"
"What aspect does he even have?"
"This must have been a mistake, right?"
But there was no mistake, it was clear as day, that he was the strongest of these patch of sleepers. Everyone was now looking at him warily, they didn't want to talk about him when he was around. Especially when he implied last night that he could hear them.
Among the loud whispers that filled the hall, Dante finally found his voice and said with a creepy smile, "So you're number one, very interesting" After saying that however, he received a slap on the back of the head from Iseul as she began to speak.
"I'm sorry, he didn't mean it like that, he's just excited to have found someone stronger than himself. He doesn't mean no harm." She seemed angry because of Dante's antics.
"No problem with that, I admittedly, didn't expect to be number one. More surprising is your guy's rankings."
"Oh, we're not that special." Gael also seemed to have recovered enough to talk now.
"So You are that strong, my assumptions were correct," Iseul said with an apologetic tone, she still seemed sorry for the test yesterday.
"So what else can you do besides this? I have super strength and my aspect ability allows me to heal. sweet right? And My Flaw is that I don't feel pain, Not so sweet." He failed to notice the gazes of his friends as he sat with anticipation written all over his face. But Li didn't seem to mind.
"I can transform in two phases and have some minor control over elements, in short sorcery. I can do things like short flights, making armor of hardened rock or iron, coating my weapon in fire, making drinkable water and so much more. My aspect ability allows me to pass down some of my power to others, although I haven't got time to test that out. My Flaw is that I'm stuck in this form, as I've said before." Li didn't mind sharing this information as he felt that, they were going to see each other often.
Seeing the two share their secrets, Iseul and Gael joined as well.
"My Aspect allows me to manipulate the perception of others and my Aspect Ability is as I'd said before, it makes me invisible to people with bad intentions. You should have noticed by now that you can't make out the features of my face. That is my Flaw, The Ugliest King." Iseul like Li, didn't feel the need to hide her Flaw as it is kinda on the nose.
"My Aspect allows me to absorb kinetic energy and use it to strengthen myself. My Aspect ability also Allows me to heal myself, like Dante. And my Flaw is my eyes. People who look at them will be mesmerized and if they look at them for long, they will forget my existence. Iseul is the only person that can look at them long enough and she helps people around me to look away from them." Gael despite his Flaw, seemed relaxed and comfortable thanks to Iseul. They seemed to have a deep relationship.
They sat in silence as they took their time digesting the information given to them. But this time, the silence was strangely comfortable. After some talk about their chosen classes, they were shocked by Li's answer, they didn't know that a class like that existed. They changed their minds and decided to go with Li's chosen course.
Finishing their breakfast, they sat up and walked to their class.
***
"Is this the right room?" Gael asked, a bit confused.
"I'm pretty sure it is, I checked the list again just now," Li answered as he checked the list of classes once again.
"You don't have to dude, the name's above the door. He's just being tardy." Dante said while trying to balance his weight on one leg of his chair. He failed miserably.
"Fuck— you useless piece of—" Dante cursed as he fell on his ass.
CLINK—
They became quiet as the handle of the door began moving, someone was coming in. Coming in was a lively old man with messy grey hair and a pair of bushy eyebrows.
"I'm so sorry for the delay, I'm Awakened Julius. You can call me Teacher Julius. The class seems more lively today, welcome, welcome."
'What an energetic old man' all four thought at the same time.
"How about we introduce ourselves, what are your names?" teacher Julius said very excitedly.
"I'm Gael, these are my friends. Iseul, Li and Dante" Gael answered while pointing to them as Dante just finished cleaning his mess as he sat very still, acting like nothing had happened.
"What beautiful names, it suits you well."
"I'm sorry, teacher, did we come at the wrong time, where are the other students?"
"No, no you guys even came earlier than me, but No one else is coming. Those brutes are only interested in their strengths, you all are very smart to have chosen knowledge over your fists."
'So it's an unpopular subject' Li thought to himself. It was better for him that way, otherwise the atmosphere of the class would have become very awkward.
"What made you guys choose wilderness survival, of all things?"
"Well we don't even know how to make a fire, so it was better this way. We didn't even know that there was a class like this until Li mentioned it to us" Iseul answered for the three of them.
"Wonderful, and what about you young man?" Julius said while looking at Li.
"Well, I can learn how to fight all I want in battle and still barely survive, but it would take one mistake of eating, for example, a poisonous plant in my hunger for me to die. So I'd rather learn this now than on my own."
"Very true, you've made the right choice. I can assure you that I'll teach you anything I know to prepare you for the dream realm. What other courses are you all taking?"
"None. Only this for the next four weeks." All four answered simultaneously.
A few moments passed in silence as teacher Julius stared at them, then he said with a barely concealed excitement.
"Wonderful!"
***
All four left teacher Julius's classroom half a day later, completely drained and exhausted. The amount of new information was mind-boggling. Luckily each of the sleepers seemed to know one part of the subject that Julius was teaching, so they helped the others understand them faster.
Among the endless amount of knowledge, one thing that intrigued Li the most was the lessons about learning the dead languages of the dream realm. Another exciting thing to learn. He helped the best as he could in this part since he had learned some runic language in his first nightmare, teacher Julius was thrilled about this and asked him a lot of questions about how he had learned them.
There were even practical lessons in both virtual reality and the real world. Much to everyone's delight.
Sadly they had missed lunch and dinner, they had some time left so they decided to head to the combat class. Arriving in a spacious dojo, they each found a seat and watched as each Sleeper went and punched a wide plate attached to a measuring device. After each strike, the machine would display a number for their physical strength.
Most were getting a number of ten to fourteen and some managed to get up to sixteen, they were good results. Finally, it was time for Gael to go.
Standing in front of the machine he delivered a devastating blow using his aspect. After a short pause, the machine displayed the result: twenty-two.
The crowd watched in stunned silence as Iseul went next and with a fast punch shook the machine, then she straightened herself and went back to her seat. As she settled the machine lit up with a number: eighteen.
Next was Dante. He went up to the machine with confidence and punched as the ground beneath shook a little. The number was instantly shown: twenty-five. New record. He looked back at the crowd behind him and stuck out his tongue. "Weak ass twigs"
The sleepers were not amused as they looked at him with not so concealed murder on their faces. 'It's just one guy. twenty-five or not, he can't handle all of us' it was clear what they all thought, considering killing him.
Next was Li's turn, he sat up and jumped from his seat to the front of the machine in a flash. The punch came almost as he landed, then the air rippled around him as the machine lit up with a number: thirty.
Without saying anything he went to his seat and sat down. Nothing was said as everyone was processing the results of the top four, even the instructor was somewhat surprised.
Looking at Li with a wide grin, Dante extended a fist towards him for a fist-bump. Grinning in return, Li clashed his fist with Dante's as both Gael and Iseul watched with a small smile on their faces.
Seeing the exchange, Instructor Rock shook his head with a smile and said in a whisper, 'Kids'
"Not bad. Now, we will move to sparring and evaluate your general level of training. I need two volunteers to begin." As he said that, two figures stepped forward and walked to the center of the ring, facing each other with a smile. They were Dante and Li.