NOVEL NEXT Chapter 4: Academy
Ares and Sunny were standing in front of the red gates of the academy, and it was massive. The Academy was, in fact, a city within the city. It was built like a fortress, with a high wall made of hard alloy, a deep moat, and numerous large-caliber turrets which were placed in certain positions to create a deadly air-suppression dome. No Nightmare Creature was supposed to be able to break through its defenses.
It showed humanity's hope, creativity, and will to survive.
The place was empty and silent, with snow falling slowly, apart from the duo, there was also another sleeper.
It was a tall, slender girl around his age, with clear grey eyes and a detached look on her face. She had strange, silver-white hair that was cut short and neatly parted to the side. Just like them, she was dressed in a police-issued tracksuit and had no personal belongings with her. On her head, there was a pair of old-fashioned headphones. She was calmly listening to music while they waited.
There was a certain vibe to the silver-haired girl. It was sort of… as though she was apart from the world. She looked confident and self-sufficient, but also a bit lonely.
Ares was the first to notice her, his instincts warned him to not underestimate the aloof-looking girl.
He could see that Sunny also noticed the white-haired girl, it seemed she even wanted to go talk to her.
The person in question felt eyes on her and looked toward the duo, she first noticed Ares due to his tall stature and crimson hair, she did a quick body check and nodded, then she fixed her gaze on little Sunny...and looked somewhere else. Sunny visibly deflated.
"pfft, way to go midget-hey hey hey don't hit me I'm kidding"
Sunny had a red face as she gritted her teeth, "It's cuz of your unnatural size you beast!"
"unnatural? Big talk for a small brat" Even the other girl held her laugh in, I could see it.
"...just shut up, the gate is opening..." she looked defeated as she went ahead.
'Tch tch brats these days, anyway, what did Jet say earlier?' mused Ares as he walked inside his new 'home'.
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Back on their drive to the academy, areas, Sunny and Jet were seated in the latter's PTV, it was a luxurious first time for the two sleeper duo.
At some point, Master Jet looked at them and said:
"Since both of you also come from the outskirts, I'll give you three pieces of advice. Whether you listen to me or not is your business."
the duo paid full attention.
"First: once you're registered in the Academy, they'll offer you psychological counseling again. There will also be a valuable reward for sharing your experiences in the Nightmare and the details of your Appraisal. You'll be able to receive a soul shard, maybe even several of them."
Sunny frowned.
"Are you trying to convince us to visit a psychiatrist again?"
Jet shook her head.
"No. I'm telling you to refuse."
Surprised, Sunny raised his eyebrows.
"Why?"
There was a pause.
"... I see, so they want to know our flaws and powers for future use In the case we stay alive long enough, human greed and malice don't change after all." 'oops, didn't mean to say the last part aloud, now that I think about it, my thought process and personality have subtly changed after being 'reborn', I should look at this later.
Jet was slightly surprised.
"what Ares said is true, out there in the Dream Realm, Nightmare Creatures are not the only danger. Once you grow powerful enough, humans will become an equal threat. The less they know about your Aspect, the better."
Ares learned a lot of things from Jet's talk.
"The easiest way to defeat a powerful Awakened is to use their Flaw. That's why young fools in the Academy are encouraged in various ways to share the details of their Aspects. I'm not saying that the government will leak your information, but once two people know a secret, it's no longer a secret. And there's a lot of people working for the government."
That made a lot of sense.
"Thank you, Master Jet."
She gave her a nod.
"Second: there will be a lot of courses to choose from. All types of combat training, deep dives into Nightmare Creature categories and vulnerabilities, basics of various types of sorcery, artifact study, and so on."
Sunny gulped, but Ares didn't worry much, from some slight investigation, he found that the only weapons he currently has are his fist and claws provided by the armor, it's sad that he won't be able to get 'memories' like the others, little put him in a severe disadvantage.
"Disregard all of that. The only course you have time to attend is Wilderness Survival."
They blinked.
"What?"
Jet glanced at her.
"It's different for city kids, who learn all sorts of useful things in school and from their tutors. But we don't have that advantage, do we? What was the biggest threat to your life during the Nightmare?"
"The cold." Sunny answered after thinking for a while.
'what about me? Was it a lack of information? Or simply not being strong enough.'
Jet smiled.
"Smart. You only know how to survive in the city. But the Dream Realm is mostly made of wilderness. Do you know how to make a fire? How to procure food? How to find safe shelter? No. Fighting monsters is important, but it'll be useless if you die of hunger or exposure to the elements. Trust me. I've learned it the hard way."
At that point, Master Jet had stopped the car and opened the door, getting out. Ares and Sunny followed her and were momentarily stunned, staring at the colossal metal gates in front of them.
This was… the famous Awakened Academy.
After a few seconds, he shook off his amazement and turned to his senior.
"This is as far as I go," she said, looking cheerlessly at the walls of the Academy. "I've already notified them. Someone will come fetch you in a while."
There was something dark in the depths of her icy blue eyes. '..again, what a dangerous feeling, feels like being swimming in that cold blood sea again.'
"What's the third advice?" Sunny hesitantly spoke, if you look closely you'll see her shivering.
Master Jet glanced at her, then sighed.
"Remember: no one can survive in the Dream Realm alone. That's not an opinion, that's a fact. Try to get along with your peers, starting with the both of you, you share the same shitty start after all. It might save your life."
Then she suddenly smiled and patted the both of them on the shoulder.
"You've done well to survive until now. Make sure to keep yourselves alive in the future, too."
Then she got back into her PTV and zoomed off. Just like that, our 1-month stay at the academy began.
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Ahh these two chapters were mostly copy-paste, I can't wait to move on. btw, did you know I have bac this year xD, hope you liked my trashy interactions *like emoji*