Fors' first week at the Academy has gone horribly. She expected to take some classes, make some friends, and hopefully release a few more chapters of her book, and technically all of that has happened.
She's doing great in Wilderness Survival and learning a lot in the combat class. She's made a friend named Klein and even managed to write the end of the first volume of her book.
However, ...
Her true name had been revealed!
She doesn't even know how!
She hasn't told a soul, and yet there it was. Number three on the rankings.
Name: Fors Wall True Name: Ms. Door
Not only that but Klein also had a true name, and so did Amon, the prince of the most famous clan on earth.
But the absolute worst part was that their true names were better than hers!
Mr. Fool and Mr. Error are mysterious and strange, like the secret code names of an evil organization. They possess an air of secrecy, but Ms. Door! Ms. Door isn't mysterious at all! I sound like a One-Piece side character!
Flopping down onto the bed, Fors sighed.
She had figured out there was something connecting her to Amon and Klein, but she wasn't entirely sure what it was. This was because they had similar true names. True names were supposed to be unique and yet the three of theirs were eerily similar.
Not to mention the fact, Klein clearly blamed Amon for their true names being revealed.
Her and Klein were enrolled in the same two classes, so they talked quite a lot. After the initial surprise about each other's true names, though Klein didn't seem as surprised as she thought he would be, in fact he seemed to pity her a bit, she asked him if he knew how their secrets got revealed.
Both had planned to keep it a secret and Fors hoped Klein knew how they were figured out, but all he said was "It was that damn, monocle wearing trickster."
Fors only knew one person who wore a monocle and that was Amon.
That still didn't answer the question of how Amon knew her true name.
She wanted to try and divine it, but astrology-based divination was incredibly complex, and she was still a beginner. Maybe if she knew the relevant dates and star positions, she could figure something out, but currently she was lost.
If only I had a teacher... Teaching myself is so much harder.
Having to learn everything herself was definitely slowing down Fors' progress, as compared to Wilderness Survival and the Introductory Combat Class, where she picked up everything faster.
She attributed this to her [Apprentice] attribute.
Sitting up on her bed, Fors considered what she wanted to do for the rest of the day. She had already finished classes even though it was only midafternoon. Considering her options, her choices boiled down to go eat or explore her aspect ability.
She had been putting off her aspect ability all week, because between the choice of writing, sleeping, or being productive, she would always choose the first two!
And now faced with a similar choice, she was inclined to the first option.
However, Fors did not like being in the cafeteria. Ever since her true name got revealed, she was always the center of attention, with constant whispers and conversations targeted at her.
Not only that, but apparently having a true name is incredibly attractive, because ever since those rankings, she has had a never-ending stream of vain sleepers coming to hit on her.
She knows they only care about her true name, so she does her best to not pay attention to them.
None of them are my type anyway. Now if it was a cold and crazy awakened... Strong, scary, but also gentlemanly, secretly kindhearted... hehe, then I definitely wouldn't mind if-- No, Fors, focus. We have an ability to explore.
Standing up, Fors decided to finally experiment with her ability.
Opening her runes, she read the description again.
Aspect Ability: [Door Opening]
Aspect Ability Description: [You can open all manner of doors around you.]
Staring at the runes, Fors felt frustrated just reading them. A large reason she has put this off for so long.
I can open doors. Everyone can open doors, that's how they work!
She simply could not guess what her ability was.
Walking over to her dorm room door, Fors twisted the handle and opened it.
And it opened like a normal door. Swinging it back and forth, Fors began to complain out loud.
"See, I can open it. Just like everyone else."
An idea suddenly came to her mind.
Locking the door, Fors walked out of her room, shutting the locked door behind her.
Maybe it means I can open any door, even if it's locked...
Wait. If this doesn't work, won't I be locked out of my room...
Struck by her realization, Fors stood, mouth agape, for a few seconds.
Coming back to her senses, she hesitantly reached for the door handle and twisted it, praying her guess was right.
Surprisingly, there was a clicking noise, and the handle twisted easily! It opened as if it had never been locked!
She could open locked doors!
Excited by her discovery, Fors immediately relocked her door, and repeated the experiment, with the door once again unlocking for her.
She had the urge to repeat this process some more; however, a thought quickly killed her joy.
Is that seriously all my ability does... It unlocks doors, how is that supposed to help me survive in the Dream Realm. It's practically useless.
Once again, Fors mood plummeted to frustration and despair.
No, there has to be something else... It says all manner of doors... maybe I can turn things into doors and open them?
Her idea had no basis in reason, but she had to come up with something.
Walking over to a bare wall in her room, Fors pressed her palm against it. Calming her mind, she took a step forward.
Truth be told, she fully expected to walk straight into the wall. This experiment was based on a far-reaching idea formed from the imagination of an author, so she did not expect anything to happen.
However, her face never met with the wall, instead she felt a weird illusory feeling surround her. Confused she took another small step, and then another.
Suddenly the illusory feeling faded, but she still hadn't hit the wall.
Opening her eyes to see what happened, Fors discovered that she was in a different room.
It was still a dorm room, but it was not her own.
Did... did I walk through the wall...
Feeling excitement bubble up in her chest, she looked around, even examining the wall behind her before quickly walked to the other side of the room and pressing her palm to the wall.
Keeping her eyes open this time, she watched as a strange illusory ripple covered the wall Infront of her forming a vague door shape.
Walking forward, she felt the illusory feeling cover her again as she passed through the wall and walked out on the other side and into a new dorm room.
She could walk through walls!
A sudden rush of joy filled her mind as she rushed to the next wall and pressed her palm to it before walking through the new illusory door. Again, she found herself in another room.
I... I can walk through walls! My ability is to phase through things!
In her rush of excitement, Fors, again walked up to the next wall, planning on continuing to use her powers; however, she quickly realized that if she kept barging into dorm rooms, she'll eventually walk in on someone and that would be a very awkward situation.
So instead, she turned around and began walking through several illusory doors back to her own room.
Yes, this is for the best, barging into people's rooms is very rude.
---
After spending around an hour experimenting with her dormant ability, Fors roughly figured out it's uses.
Her ability didn't allow to become intangible or phase through things like she first though, instead it let her turn physical objects into 'doors' by touching them. As long as the objects width was less than one meter, she would be able to travel through the door.
She could only maintain one door at a time, but once she placed it, she could maintain it for as long as she wanted, though it would close if she opened a new one.
The size of the door was limited as well. The largest door she could make was two meters tall and one meter wide; however, however the shape was not stuck as a rectangle. It would naturally conform to the object it was placed on.
So, if she placed her door on a sword, it would wrap around the entire surface area of the sword, and she could pass through it if it tried to hit her.
If I reacted fast enough, could I place a door on the claws or jaw of some terrifying nightmare creature to escape their attack... yes it could be a form of parry, though my reaction speed might not be fast enough....
Sitting on her bed, Fors reviewed her ability with a smile on her face. Her joy and excitement evident on her face, but despite that a seed of worry planted itself in Fors' mind.
She loved her ability. Not only was it magical and everything she expected from an aspect ability, but it would also be great at infiltration and escaping capture. Any of the great clans would value such a power, and Fors could surely secure herself a well-paying job, especially with her true name factored in.
However, it would not help her survive. It did not help her fight monsters. It did not help her sneak by them either. It might help her run away, but almost any nightmare creature will be faster than her and will likely catch up no matter how much distance she gains with her ability.
It also lacked the utility to help a cohort.
It would be amazing when she awakened, but she would have to survive the Dream Realm while the greatest strengths of her ability are useless.
I can still enter near a citadel right... Y-yes, I might get lucky. I can enter near a citadel or maybe even other sleepers. Surely, they would agree to help each other out...
Doing her best to convince herself, Fors still felt her worry grow. At the end of the day, she was inexperienced, lacked powerful memories, and her dormant ability was not suited for the Dream Realm.
There were only three weeks until the solstice and her greatest chance on survival was pure luck.
It left a bad taste in her mouth.
Suddenly she rose from her bed and walked towards the door.
The dojo is still open, maybe somebody would like to spar... I can read up in the library as well. Yes, I can't be lazy. I need to work hard and improve myself.
Filled with enthusiasm, Fors pressed her hand against her door and walked through it without opening it.
Why should she open a door if she doesn't have to?
That's just a waste of energy.
***
Author's Note
I know this one took a while, but with midterms done I should be posting more often.
Next chapter I plan on doing solstice, and first day in the Dream Realm.
I'll include a small flashbacky scene at the beginning of Klein discovering his aspect, and a brief description of it. It won't be very long or detailed since this entire chapter is about discovering an ability, and I feel like having two ability chapters back-to-back would be boring.
Plus, I feel like I'm dragging the academy arc too long and don't want the pacing to be too slow.
If you want a whole chapter dedicated to Klein experimenting with his dormant ability just let me know, but otherwise I'll begin Dream Realm next Chapter.
Thanks for reading.
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