The first stop on Klein's search was the cafeteria. It was still breakfast time, so there was a good chance he could find the monocled sleeper there; however, his pointed hat was nowhere to be seen.
Without a medium for divination, Klein could only search around blindly, so he began to check the various classrooms, but since classes didn't start till tomorrow, most of the classrooms were empty.
A few of the sleepers were using the empty rooms to make out in, but the monocled sleeper was unfortunately not among them.
Or maybe it was fortunate, because trying to start a conversation during that would be incredibly awkward.
The dojo, locker room, pool, and dreamscape pods were also devoid of monocled sleepers as well. In fact, Klein was beginning to suspect the sleeper wasn't even on Academy grounds. He had been walking around for about an hour and hadn't found a trace of his target.
Am I going to have to knock on the dorm rooms one by one until I find his? I could just sit in the cafeteria and wait for him to get hungry, but I don't know if he'll sit with anybody, and I want this conversation to remain private...
There's still the library. I'll check there and if I can't find it, I'll just camp out in the cafeteria as a last resort.
Klein began walking with a sigh, heading towards his last destination.
The walk to the library wasn't long and soon he was amongst the tall wooden shelves, the same as the last time Klein had been there. He began to make rounds, searching for a monocle and a black pointed hat.
After a few minutes, Klein finally spotted his target amongst the history books.
Broad forehead, black hair, black wizard robes, and a silver monocle on his right eye. The third host of Sefirah Castle.
Now all he had to do was act natural.
"Oh, hey, I don't think I've seen you around before, I'm Klein. I'm kind of surprised to see you here, most sleepers don't bother coming to the library."
Klein was trying to play the role of a friendly sleeper just making small talk. It wasn't too hard to do since a lot of the new sleepers liked to chat and share experiences; however, when the monocled sleeper turned to face him, he couldn't help but shiver.
It felt like the sleeper's gaze pierced through his body and gazed directly into his soul, staring at his secrets. Klein stood still waiting for a response as the sleeper observed him.
Eventually the man nudged his monocle, as the end of his lips curled up.
"Sorry about that, I should introduce myself as well, my name is Amon."
Klein's mind froze.
"Amon? As in the prince of the Ancient Sun Clan?"
The Ancient Clan used to be the most powerful of the great clans and it was the oldest. Its founder was the first to receive a true name as a sleeper, The Omnipotent and Omniscient One. However, several of the vassal clans banded together and murdered him, stealing several relics and leaving behind two princes.
Amon who Klein just learned is a sleeper at the Academy and Adam, who awakened a year ago, even receiving a true name, The Visionary.
Amon's smile only seemed to grow.
"Yes, I suppose I could be called that, though my brother has more claim to that title than me."
"Why do you say that? Is it because he's older?"
Swallowing his shock, Klein focused on keeping the conversation alive, till he can get to topic he wanted.
"It has nothing to do with age, but with our aspects. My brother's aspect is very similar to our fathers and thus has great affinity for our various heirlooms and relics. My aspect on the other hand... well let's just say it follows a different pathway."
So, the Ancient Sun Clan doesn't seem to be related to the mysterious fog, that's good to know.
"Well, aspects aren't hereditary, so I guess that's to be expected. Still, you should at least be incredibly powerful, if your brother and father are anything to go off of. Your dad even unlocked his true name as a sleeper."
Amon nudged his monocle again, staring at Klein in interest, causing a shiver to go down his spine.
"Yes, my father is truly impressive isn't he, but then again the world does not lack extraordinary people. I'm sure some other sleepers have unlocked true names as well."
"Maybe... but I doubt they'd say anything. I knew I wouldn't if I had received a true name."
"And why is that?" Amon asked with interest.
"It would draw too much attention, and attention can be a death sentence. This might be a bit rude to say but your father was a good example of this. Betrayed by his vassals because they all knew how strong he was and what sorts of items he had."
Amon chuckled faintly.
"No, it's not rude at all. In fact, I agree with you. Showing one's hand can be a fatal mistake. If I met a sleeper with a true name, I would encourage them to keep it hidden as well."
He agrees with me. This is fantastic, now there's nothing to worry about. I just have to convince Fors, and all of our secrets will be hidden.
"I'm glad we're of the same opinion. I believe most sleepers would whole heartedly disagree," Klein said with a small smile.
"We are quite similar, you and me. Anyway, I have some things I need to attend to, but I'm sure we'll meet again."
With that Amon walked away, a small smirk on his face, and Klein letting out a relieved sigh the moment his he lost sight of him.
That went a lot better than I expected.
Turning around and walking out of the library, Klein was in high spirits; however, looking back at the conversation he had with Amon, he felt like something was odd.
Wasn't he too friendly... I struck up a conversation out of nowhere and immediately directed the topic towards the importance of keeping secrets, but he simply went with it. Anybody else would have been suspicious of me.
Why was I even so direct? I planned on having lengthy conversation and slowly moving towards the topic I wanted, yet that isn't how it happened at all. Amon brought up true names almost immediately.
That's right, Amon was the one who led the conversation, did he know what I wanted to talk about? That should be impossible... unless he knows we share an aspect. It is possible, since I also figured it out. Can he also perform divination? But he wouldn't have a medium for me...
There was that statement he made... 'We are quite similar, you and me'... was he hinting that he knew. For now, I'll just assume he knows about our shared aspect.
The weird thing is, I didn't notice any of this during the conversation. I simply went along with whatever he said. His aspect? An attribute? Either way he's on my side, so I don't have to worry for now, but I should still be wary of him and his silver tounge.
Having sorted these thoughts, Klein began making his way towards the cafeteria for lunch, and also to talk with Fors. He still had to convince her to keep her aspect and true name a secret.
However, he did not believe such a task would be difficult.
The cafeteria was fairly packed, but he spotted Fors sitting alone at the same table as that morning.
Grabbing a plate of food, Klein moved and sat across from her.
"Hey, Fors."
"Hey, Klein..."
"You looked pretty stressed, is everything alright?"
"I'm just worried about the interview tomorrow, I'm not sure how much I should actually say."
Klein struggled to keep his lip from twitching.
Isn't this too coincidental.
Though I guess it makes sense. If anyone had a true name and divine aspect, they would be torn over revealing it or not, and Fors enjoys talking so it's reasonable for her bring this up in conversation.
"In my opinion, you should reveal as little as possible or rather make yourself as average as possible."
"Why do you say that, Won't that get you a bad ranking?"
"Rankings don't mean anything; however, the attention you would draw to yourself by revealing your secrets will follow you forever."
"So, I should lie and make myself average?"
"Don't lie, they will probably have a way to tell if you're speaking the truth, but you can control what you reveal. Leave things out, explain things vaguely, stuff like that."
Fors slowly nodded, contemplating Klein's explanation.
"So, I should make myself as unnoticeable as possible to avoid being watched."
Klein shrugged, putting on a mask of light indifference. He was worried Fors would be suspicious if he came off too strong, since they hadn't known each other that long.
"Thats what I'm doing, and what I would recommend, but the choice is ultimately yours."
Fors' nodding turned more eager, buying into his plan.
"That sounds like a good idea... Yes, I should keep my secrets close."
Poor Fors, I already know your secrets and Amon probably does as well.
They spent the rest of lunch idling chatting, as the conversation steered away from the interviews.
All in all, Klein was in high spirits. He had convinced Amon and Fors to keep quiet like himself and therefore had no other goals for the rest of the day, so he spent it in the library reading some books on the Dream Realm before going to bed early, wanting to get a good night's sleep.
The next morning interviews began, and Klein's went perfectly. The awakened interviewing him didn't push very hard and allowed Klein to say what wanted and keep quiet about what he didn't.
Klein gave some vague information about his ability, since he wanted to say as little as possible and also because he didn't understand it well, and spoke a bit more about his attributes because they didn't contain any secrets.
After he was released, Klein headed to the cafeteria for lunch, sitting down with a loaded plate and a satisfied smile on his face. Life was good.
Fors appeared shortly after looking just as happy as Klein was.
"Did your interview go well?" he asked.
She nodded eagerly.
"Yes, it went great. The lady interviewing me wasn't very nosy. She actually let me turn down most of the questions and the rest of them I answered vaguely. He he, it was like writing a mysterious scene is a novel, obscuring the truth and all."
The two of them were from the last batch of interviews meaning the rankings would be posted soon.
Klein watched the screen with only partial attention. He expected to be near the bottom due to how little he gave away, but he didn't mind.
The large screen came to life as Klein raised his cup of black tea, planning on taking a sip; however, the cup never made it to his lips.
Rather, in utter shock, Klein had dropped his cup causing it to shatter on the floor. He heard something else shatter across the table, but he wasn't paying attention. His focus was solely on the large cafeteria screen, because the rankings had just come up, and the top three ranks were revealed.
1. Name: Amon True Name: Mr. Error
2. Name: Klein Moretti True Name: Mr. Fool
3. Name: Fors Wall True Name: Ms. Door
Various murmurs and exclamations resounded through the cafeteria, but Klein didn't notice because he was in complete shock.
How!? I didn't say anything! How could they know!? Did one of them sell me out?
Swinging around to look at Fors, Klein found her in the same state of shock as himself. Her mouth agape and surprise evident on her face.
If not her then...
Spinning around once again, Klein's gaze locked onto a sleeper across the room. One wearing a monocle on his right eye.
Amon met Klein's gaze, smiled, and then waved cheerfully.
It was him, that bastard!
***
Author's Note
Sorry, this took so long, school just takes up a lot of time, so uploads are sporadic, but I'll try to at least get one chapter a week.
Ancient Sun Clan is replacing Immortal Flame Clan
The seventh orthodox churches will be the great clans.
The Storm Clan, the Sun Clan, and Wisdom Clan rose to become great clans after killing the Omnipotent and Omniscient One and stealing several relics, memories, citadels, echoes, etc.
Probably only one more chapter before Dream Realm. It will cover brief overview of classes, and Klein and Fors exploring dormant abilities.
Amon's will be revealed once they enter the Dream Realm unless y'all want it sooner.
Thank-you for reading.
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