After checking his positioning, his eyes skimmed through the ranking board, this time focusing at the top.
Name: Nephis
True Name: Changing Star.
His spoon hovered over his plate as he stared at the line below her name. Reading the runes he had subconsciously summoned, he felt his jaw stiffen.
Name: Leonar
True Name: -
His hand clenched the table as he listened to the multiple Sleepers around him.
"A Sleeper with a True Name? That's impossible!"
"Maybe she lied in the interview?"
"Are you stupid? If it was that easy to deceive the administrators, the crazy pervert from yesterday would have been in the first place instead!"
His hand paused, before putting the spoon back to the tray.
'True Name... Strongest...'
He pictured himself facing Changing Star, mirroring her entire fighting style, returning every strike with her own precision.
But his thoughts were interrupted by a voice he was familiar with.
"Lady Nephis. I am Caster from the Han Li clan. I see that your trial went well?"
Leon shifted his attention to Caster, who had walked over to Nephis and made a small bow.
"It is what it is."
She said with a bright smile — though it looked forced and crooked, as if she wasn't used to smiling at all.
Caster awkwardly returned that smile.
"I see. I am very glad that you returned unharmed. Uh… not that I doubted your abilities."
Nephis nodded.
"Thank you."
Seeing the two of them, Leon mentally noted how Caster had addressed Nephis as 'Lady'. Perhaps she was royalty? But why would royalty come to the academy dressed up in a police-issued tracksuit?
Nearby, Noah was laughing hard at Caster's pitiful attempts to strike up a conversation with Nephis.
***
Sunny and Leon walked toward the Wilderness Survival Classroom.
Sunny glanced at Leon.
"Leon, are you really that weak? Or were you inspired by me?"
Leon's expression remained indifferent.
"I think I am that weak right now. But who knows what the future holds?"
Sunny gave a low hum as they entered the classroom.
The room was spacious and decorated, but also empty.
Noticing the two of them, a man inside greeted them with a smile.
"Come in, young men!"
He was an old man with messy gray hair and bushy eyebrows.
"I'm Awakened Julius. You can call me Teacher Julius. Sit down, sit down! What are your names?"
Leon and Sunny took their seats.
"I'm Sunless."
"I'm Leonar."
The teacher looked at Sunny.
"Ah! What an ominous name. But that is good, very good. After all, we have to deal with a lot of ominous things!"
Sunny simply nodded. He heard this comment a thousand times.
"Uh… I'm sorry, Teacher. Did we come too early?" Sunny asked.
"No, no… you're right on time."
"Are other students late?"
Julius grunted.
"No one else is coming. Those brutes are only interested in swinging their fists and swords around. Very few are smart like you and know the true value of knowledge..."
Leon glanced at Noah, who had a smile plastered across his face. Leon sighed and looked back at the teacher.
"Say, young men... why did you choose Wilderness Survival, of all things?"
Leon spoke up before Sunny could.
"The Awakened that monitored us during the First Nightmare, Master Jet advised us to go with Wilderness Survival."
"A very wise piece of advice! That Master truly knows what's important... wait. Did you say Jet?"
His eyes widened.
"Soul Reaper Jet? That murderous savage!? Hm. Who would have thought that a barbarian like her would know the value of intricate knowledge?"
Leon's ears twitched.
'Soul Reaper?'
"You know her, teacher?"
Sunny asked, with this tone mirroring Leon's curiosity — though for entirely different reasons.
"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. That means no amount of armor, damage resistance and physical protection can stop them."
Leon felt his admiration for Master Jet grow as Teacher Julius continued to describe her aspect.
"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."
Sunny raised an eyebrow. "Why?"
"Because of her problematic personality, of course! Who would want to help a psychopathic killer become a Saint? You need a team of outstanding companions and a lot of support to attempt conquering the Third Nightmare. Soul Reaper Jet isn't... wait!"
Julius frowned and leaned back.
"Why am I gossiping with you? You're too young to know such things! More than that, it's not in my character to badmouth others behind their backs!"
Leon stared at Teacher Julius. His mouth hanging open.
"Let's get back to your curriculum. What other courses are you taking?"
Sunny exhaled.
"None. For the next four weeks, I'll be fully focused on Wilderness Survival."
Julius stared at him 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! You're such an astute young man!"
Julius then turned to Leon,
"And you, young man?"
"What he said." Leon replied with a smile. "Although I might have to attend a few joint combat classes, I am very bad at combat after all."
Teacher Julius laughed.
"Magnificent! Don't worry boys, with these four weeks, I will turn you immortal!"
Leon smiled.
'This is going to be a breeze.'
***
It was not a breeze...
Leon's fire at the beginning seemed to have been washed out — or rather, flooded.
His head felt like it would explode any second now. There was too much information to process.
All of it was so spread apart — constellations for different regions of the dream realm. The regions themselves working very differently.
Runes were the biggest nightmare to study though. Teacher Julius insisted that the spell was not a translator, and so both him and Sunny had to learn runes.
The only silver lining to all this was that Leon's pace was much quicker than Sunny's.
Leon already had a somewhat formal education on Earth, and combined with his aspect, he mostly skimmed through all of it.
Yet it never seemed to end.
The first day, lessons continued till the sun was about to set.
Leon and Sunny walked to their dorms with exhausted faces.
"Sunny, you won't attend combat?"
Sunny looked up with a tired expression.
"Don't need to."
Leon sighed and they both entered their own rooms.
He fell onto his bed face first as he groaned. The usage of his aspect seemed to have taken a huge toll on him.
"Noah. Any idea where I am ending up in the dream realm?"
Noah was staring out the window, his face hidden from Leon.
"If you're ending up where Sunny will, you're gonna have a hard time."
"And where's that?"
Noah remained silent.
Leon continued resting on the mattress.
He closed his eyes, trying to sleep.
The moment he decided to rest however, Noah's voice cut through the room.
"Get up Leon, time to head to the dojo."
Leon grunted.
"We can do it from tomorrow."
"Today will be interesting, you know." Noah said with a faint smile.
Leon groaned — his attribute prickled under his skin.
He picked his body up and headed to the dojo.
***
In the dojo, Leon saw various Sleepers taking turns punching a wide plate attached to a measuring machine.
Most got 10-14.
The instructor was Rock, who had noticed Leon entering and called him up for the measuring.
Leon walked up to the machine, and drove a solid punch into it. He turned away, already expecting at least a seventeen. Still, he glanced back at the display.
Seven.
Leon's eyes twitched,
'Surely... it's broken.'
Laughter spread throughout the dojo as the Sleepers took notice.
Elsewhere in the boys' dormitories, a young man rolled off his bed, clutching his stomach as he laughed, watching the scene through his shadow.
Leon's attention shifted as he noticed Nephis heading toward the machine.
She got a 16.
Leon grimaced,
'Was she even using her aspect?'
Next, Caster went ahead and scored a 21.
Leon's eyes flickered as he noticed Caster disappear for a quick second.
'Speed?'
Leon raised a brow. Caster shot him a look of open disgust.
"Not bad. Now, we will move to sparring and evaluate your general level of training. I need two volunteers to begin." Rock said.
Nephis volunteered. Leon sat back and watched as she tore through Sleeper after Sleeper.
It was a massacre.
As he continued observing, his aspect stirred. He tracked her movements, breaking them down piece by piece, until most of the pattern became clear.
'I see.'
Leon pieced together her fighting style little by little. Each fight fed into the missing pieces, the pattern sharpening with every exchange. A restlessness settled under his skin. At last, his name was called. He smiled in excitement, stepping onto the mat.
Nephis straightened her back, settling into her stance.
Leon had run her fighting style through his mind countless times by now.
The battle began.
Nephis lunged, her sword cutting down in a clean arc.
Leon stepped aside, while the sword skimmed past him. Nephis pressed the attack — another strike, then another. He kept moving, slipping past each swing, turning aside the ones he couldn't avoid.
'I see it!'
Leon started to mimic Nephis — and for a moment, it almost worked.
He drove her back. One strike nearly landed.
Then something tightened behind his eyes as he forced his body to obey understanding it did not yet deserve.
A dull ache spread throughout his mind from overusing his aspect. But he still continued to move, dodging most of her blows.
Until one of her strikes was too fast to avoid.
No — it was his body that was too slow. It couldn't keep up with his thoughts.
Nephis seemed to catch on. He was trying to copy her. A flicker of irritation crossed her face as she drove more force into the next swing.
Leon took the strike head-on, and was thrown off the mat.
A thin white flame clung to Nephis's blade, faint enough to miss if you weren't looking for it.
As he remained on that mat, Instructor Rock declared Nephis the winner and glanced at Leon, making sure he could stand.
Leon stood up shakily. His nose was definitely broken, blood pouring from it.
He looked at Nephis, who had a look of concern.
Before she or anyone in the dojo could speak, Leon dropped his sword.
He gave a slight bow, then walked out as the room watched in silence.
***
"That was uneventful," Noah said.
Leon clicked his tongue and walked toward his room. His fists clenched as he opened his door and slammed it shut behind him.
In another room, Sunny watched through the shadows and grimaced.
'That must have hurt...'
***
The next morning, Leon did not leave his room. He tried to reconstruct Changing Star's style, but gaps remained.
With a quiet exhale, he stood and showered. After a cup of water, he returned to the floor and began again — this time running Aurelia's patterns through his mind.
On the second day, he still didn't step outside. His stomach tightened with hunger. His limbs felt heavy — yet he continued.
Rumors moved through the academy. Some said he had locked himself away after losing to the holder of a True Name, while some said he was still hospitalized from that brutal blow.
On the fourth day, he rose on unsteady legs and began swinging at empty air, shaping an invisible blade in his grip. He summoned Nephis in his mind and ran through duel after duel.
By then, others claimed he had left the academy entirely.
The fifth day. The sixth. The seventh. He repeated the same cycle — meditation, water, shadow sparring. His body slowed. His thoughts dulled. He did not stop. He was already used to the hunger long before he came to this world.
Near the end of the seventh day, he stood in his room, facing Changing Star once more. Steel met steel in his mind.
After a final exchange, she fell.
His eyes burned. His limbs gave out.
'I... can do it...'
Leon then collapsed onto the floor due to exhaustion. A week had flown by this way.
All around the academy, they only talked about the white-haired boy losing to Changing Star.
"Changing Star was pretty brutal with him."
"That guy was too arrogant. She probably got annoyed."
Sunny left the cafeteria as chatter about Leon's duel followed him down the hall. On his way back to his dorm, he tried to knock on his door but got no answer. He wasn't concerned. But he had seen Leon sprawled on the floor with his eyes shut a few hours ago.
'Is he dead? Should I report this?'
Sunny had simply felt some sort of kinship because of their origins. He had never seen someone so determined as Leon.
Cassie had asked Sunny about Leon, concern clear in her voice, but he offered only vague remarks about the duel.
Inside Leon's room, he slowly stirred awake.
Pain ran throughout his body, he could feel his muscles throbbing.
His stomach growled in hunger.
Noah constantly complained about how boring it was — until he realized the effective range as a ghost was further than he expected.
Noah had simply stepped out the door and wandered around the corridor.
Leon pushed himself up, took a quick shower and headed straight to the cafeteria.
***
Leon filled his tray and found his seat near Sunny and Cassie, who were already eating.
Sunny raised an eyebrow. "Where were you all this time?"
"Leon? Is that you?" Cassie asked in a nervous tone.
"Yup, I was training in my room. Nothing serious." Leon smiled weakly.
He looked thinner than before, yet his movements carried a quiet precision.
"I will be asking for a rematch with Changing Star," he said casually while he slowly chewed on his food, trying to avoid choking.
Sunny's eyes widened. "You've actually lost it."
Cassie remained silent. Her expression distant — lost in thought.
Leon finished his food, and rose with a faint smile. "Wish me luck."
He glanced around the cafeteria, his smile turning into a grin.
"I probably don't need it though."
Though he had initially planned on challenging her the next day, he simply couldn't wait anymore. He scanned the room before his eyes settled on a silver-haired girl. He immediately began walking toward her.
Sunny sighed.
"He didn't even put his tray away."
***
Nephis was having her breakfast like any other day. Her routine was rather dull. It was filled with combat classes and a few other ones that included a class about Nightmare Creatures.
The only rest she got was when she slept, and occasionally listened to Nightingale. Even so, her thoughts occasionally drifted back to the silver-haired boy.
True to her thoughts, she saw the same man approaching her.
Leon approached Nephis with a faint smile. "Changing Star, I would like to request a rematch."
She froze for a brief moment, taken aback by his sudden request.
"Alright. Let's go."
She stood up without another word.
They both headed toward the dojo while the Sleepers around stared with curiosity.
***
Leon and Nephis entered the mat with their swords.
His fingers coiled around the hilt of the sword, struggling to hold back his eagerness.
Nephis lunged, just as she had before. Leon pushed forward, feeling the edge of her blade brush past his hair.
Her sword, aimed for his head, slashed forward.
Leon ducked as he pushed his sword upward.
Tap.
His sword hit her jaw as she staggered back.
Nephis closed her eyes and opened them again.
"I won't be holding back now." She said in a calm tone.
Leon grinned.
She closed the distance in an instant, unleashing a barrage of strikes. Leon dodged and parried nearly all of them.
Then he stepped back—
and settled into Changing Star's stance.
Nephis froze for a moment, but that moment was all it took for Leon to land a flurry of clean hits before she recovered.
Nephis staggered back as he pressed forward with another strike. This time, she immediately gripped the hilt of her sword and parried it with as much strength as she could.
Leon's sword flew out of his hand. His eyes widened.
'Not strong enough yet...'
Her blade came for his face again. He leaned back at the last instant, the edge cutting through empty air. Then he rotated his body at an unnatural angle, sprang upward, and drove a kick toward her head.
Nephis raised her arm, blocking the impact, sliding back a step.
"Where did you learn that style?"
He smiled. "You taught me."
Her eyes widened as she tightened the grip on her sword.
Although Leon could have used any other style — even Aurelia's, which was sharper and more efficient — he wanted to defeat her with her own technique.
She charged ahead again. This time, however, her entire technique had shifted. Leon rushed to grab his fallen sword, but she swept his leg out from under him, causing him to lose his balance. A fist then shot at his face, throwing him on the ground.
'Why does she always go for the nose...'
He could have simply pushed her back, but his body was too weak. Right now what he needed wasn't skill, but rather strength.
Nephis stared at Leon for a while. "Good match."
She gave him one last look and left the dojo.
Her fists were clenched, giving way to her pale knuckles.
Leon groaned and pushed himself upright.
He glanced around and saw countless Sleepers in the dojo, all here to witness his fight with Changing Star. Leon let out a low laugh.
He left the dojo and headed to the infirmary.
His hands trembled, not from fear but from strain.
***
Sunny sat in his room, watching the fight through his shadow.
His mouth hung slightly open.
"This guy…"
He fell silent, eyes narrowing as the exchange replayed in his mind. After a moment, Sunny sighed and leaned back.
A small grin formed on his face.
"Useful."