I had left the cafeteria as soon as I had finished my breakfast. Fortunately no one had tried to approach me there,
I was heading towards the wilderness survival class. My previous prestigious school had thought me many stuff about the dream realm that I needed to know of. But most of the curriculum was focused on training to fight.
The Wilderness Survival classroom was spacious, tastefully decorated… and completely empty.
Well only two figures in the room. The teacher was a lively old man with messy grey hair, absentminded eyes and a pair of bushy eyebrows that seemed to jump around on their own.
The other figure was the boy that sat with the blind girl. He was small boy with messy dark hair. He had pale skin and effeminate features. He was overall very cute!
Noticing me, both of them looked my way. The smile on the old man's face brightened even more.
"Come on in young lady! I am Awakened Julius, you may call me Teacher Julius."
I approached the desk where the boy had taken a seat and sat down next to him.
"My name is Vera."
I looked around the room.
"Teacher Julius, did I come too early? Why is no one here?"
"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…"
I simply nodded. So the course was not popular. That made me question the class, but Master Jet would not have advised it to me if it was useless.
'Would she..?'
"Who advised you to take wilderness survival?"
"Ascended Jet."
A silence engulfed the room.
"Master Jet brought you here too?"
"Yes. She was on watch duty over me for a few hours."
Teacher Julius coughed to get our attention.
"Well it seems Master Jet has brought me two students. And one of them is the top sleeper in the academy. I might have to thank her sometime."
He then turned his gaze towards me.
"What other courses are you taking?"
"Oh, only wilderness survival. I did not find any interesting classes."
Julius stared at us 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! In four whole weeks, I will make you both immortal…"
***
Lessons with Teacher Julius started without much tension and went pleasantly. For me at least.
The boy next to me looked like he was going to explode at any second given. Due to his poor background he had not attended any school. So he was not knowledgeable.
His name was Sunless.
From time to time, Julius gaped at Sunny's lack of knowledge and relevant experience. However, he had a good attitude and an endless enthusiasm for teaching. Whenever Sunny stumbled, he would patiently slow down and allow his student to catch up.
The curriculum that Julius planned out was practically insane. There was an endless amount of theoretical knowledge to learn, practical lessons both in virtual reality and the real world, numerous subjects and weird things to study. There were even several lessons dedicated exclusively to learning the basics of several dead languages of the Dream Realm!
And on lunch time it was time for me to leave. I shot a grin at Sunless, which was answered with a death glare. He was going to stay behind due to his lack of knowledge. But Teacher Julius decided to let me go early because I was already familiar to the things he was teaching Sunny.
So I decided to visit the combat class.
The class was packed! The lessons were given by Instructor Rock, today was mainly dedicated to testing their general competency and abilities. After that, the Sleepers were going to be separated into groups based on their level, such as novice, advanced or expert, as well as their weapon of choice.
Of course, this was the only time I was going to attend this class. I had only come because Teacher Julius had sent me off early.
Currently, Sleepers were taking turns delivering their strongest punches to a wide plate attached to a special measuring machine. After each strike, the machine would display a number corresponding to the Sleeper's physical strength.
I wanted to try it out with my aspect.
Most people were getting numbers ranging from ten to fourteen. It was considered a good result, something that only the most athletic people could reach. However, a lot of Sleepers, obviously those with enhancing Aspects, were able to achieve a score of fifteen or even sixteen.
Nephis, my fellow proud true name bearer, got herself a sixteen. I did not see her using any enhancing aspects.
It was blondie's turn now! Lee approached the machine, and without really waiting he delivered a punch that echoed through the room. His result was 25. That meant he had used an enhancing aspect.
That Caster guy got himself a 21. His aspect seemed to revolve around speed like mine, from what I heard his aspect rank was ascended.
And now it was my turn. If the instructor allowed, I wanted to strike twice.
Without much preparation, I delivered a sudden crushing punch to the machine.
Seventeen.
I looked at Instructor Rock, asking if I could hit it once again. He simply nodded.
At that moment, I activated my dormant ability. Immediately purple lightning cloaked my body, they were not very visible if you did not pay attention to it much.
'Cool!'
Letting out a deep breath, I flashed my fist and hit the machine with all my might while also activating that duel-strike. The ones who were spectating did not even see my fist flying, it was just too fast.
Eighty.
So it was forty if I did not use the duel-strike ability.
As I turned to look around. Everyone seemed stunned.
"I did not even see her punch!"
"Her aspect must be strong."
The students whispered amongst each other. But Instructor Rock clapped his hands to get everyone's attention. He was the only one who seemed to have remained calm other than he stone-faced Nephis.
"Now, we will move to sparring and evaluate your general level of training. I need two volunteers to begin."
Nephis was the first to step forward and walk to the center of the ring. A couple of seconds later, a tall and extremely muscular Sleeper followed and faced her.
"The rules are simple. Make your opponent's back touch the floor or throw them out of the ring. Use whatever abilities and techniques you find appropriate."
Nephis beat the guy in just two seconds.
Instructor Rock gave her a cheerful look and grinned.
"Next."
What followed could only be described as a massacre. One after another, Nephis managed to defeat almost every single Sleeper present in the dojo. She didn't seem to be faster or stronger than them, but each time someone entered the ring to fight her, they would inevitably end up beaten and thrown to the ground.
'What a battle machine.'
Lee was about to go up when I slapped him on the shoulder, then winced. It felt like I had slapped a metal!
The blondie on the other hand, just gave me the side eye before going up to the ring.
Both took their stance, it was Lee who threw the first punch. But Changing Star ducked under it and took a hold of his arm. Her foot sprung off the ground to kick him in the knee.
Only for Lee to not even react.
When she kneed him in the stomach, he had shot his hand and grabbed a hold of her leg. Then he charged forward with a should bash and sent her flying into the ground.
'Shouldn't have underestimated the blondie.'
Like that Nephis had lost. But she had never used her aspect.
As for Lee, from what I could tell his dormant ability allowed him to enhance his body's durability and gave it a metal like quality. I would approximately be able to tell his aspect rank after the next fight.
Caster was up against him next who had an ascended aspect.
Both legacies took their stance, it was subtle but I could tell there was animosity between them. Perhaps it was clan rivalry.
Within the blink of an eye, Caster disappeared to the naked eye.
Which was what others thought. I could see him move just fine.
He dashed to Lee and delivered a devastating punch, but Lee had managed to block the attack by using his forearms. He did not even move slightly backwards as his messy blonde hair flapped around.
Caster on the other hand, had a scowl on his face. He felt like he had punched a reinforced wall. But he wasted no time and moved in high speeds once again.
He was circling Lee. His plan was very simple: while Lee was still under the impression that the enemy was in front of him, he was going to use his unnatural swiftness to circle around and attack from the back.
The young man appeared behind the oblivious boy, but the moment he was about to throw a punch with all his weight, Lee suddenly spun his fist around in a wide arc.
The fist connected with Caster's face with a loud thud, and just like that he was sent flying out of the arena.
Lee's aspect rank was most likely transcended, or maybe even supreme. That was the conclusion I had come up with.
As Instructor Rock was about to ask me to get into the ring, I activated my aspect and appeared in front of Lee with a few meters distance among us.
Instructor gave us the signal to start. But none of us moved.
Eventually Lee narrowed his eyes, he was about to take a step forward when I suddenly appeared right before him. I grabbed his shoulder, then immediately hooked my leg behind his. Then I drove my weight towards him sweeping Lee's leg out from under him.
He fell to the ground with a loud thud. There was a red tint to his cheeks on his pale face as he stared at me with a bewildered expression.