I've never been in a PTV before. My family wasn't rich, but we definitely had money to call for a PTV. Though my father was a faithful supporter of physical exercise.
"Everything is close by; the grocery store, the park, the gas station, and your school are within a 10 minute walk." He'd say when I was younger. Back then, I was envious of other students who were able to get PTV's.
Though I now saw his logic. The world was ever changing. Territories were being expanded and then being invaded by nightmare creatures. More and more people were being awakened every day. Power dynamics between the legacy clans, the government, and the mundane people were constantly changing.
That meant the economy too was fluctuating rapidly and without warning. One day, everyone would have their pockets full of gold, and the next day, they would be homeless and hungry.
That's why it was important to conserve money and not pour too much of it into services that were considered unnecessary.
The inside of the PTV was slightly warm, the driver having already set the heater before we set foot inside. The cream-colored seats were cushioned and sunk under the weight of a person as if it was pillow.
Me and Ford sat on a long seat in the back of the PTV while Master Jet sat facing us in the opposite seat from ours. She assumed the same pose she had when she watched over me, one leg over the other with her arms crossed.
Once we were situated inside the PTV, the driver started the vehicle and drove us far from my home. I looked through the window of the PTV, seeing my house becoming smaller and smaller the more the PTV accelerated.
We passed the rows of houses, the local plaza, and eventually my school.
It almost was like my old normal life was getting farther away from me now.
"So, what was your first trial like?" Ford whispered to me. I glanced over at Soul Reaper and saw that she had closed her eyes.
She wasn't asleep but she closed her eyes out of courtesy to let me and Ford speak privately to some extent.
"Well, I was basically thrown into a supersized ant colony." I replied to Ford. Ford raised his eyebrows, clearly concerned.
"It wasn't that bad. The colony was already in pretty bad shape. There were only like 50 ants and the ant queen was partially dead."
I decided to not mention Saint Noctis. I didn't have any problem telling Ford about it, but I preferred not to say it in front of Master Jet.
Ford nodded. I expected him to be surprised by the fact that I had to fight 50 enemies but he didn't say anything. Instead, he smiled.
His smile told me that he had an equally difficult nightmare. "Mine…I was stuck in a submarine that seemed to have crashed down to the floor of the ocean."
I stayed silent, letting Ford continue undisturbed.
"Most of the crew was dead besides me and one other guy. He seemed to be an expert in mapping the ocean floor and said that we were approximately on the edge of a large ravine. The sea currents were dragging down the slope to the ravine, and eventually we would fall down and be crushed by the water pressure."
"Initially we tried to fix the submarine but it was honestly a lost cause."
He stopped talking for a while, his eyes looked at the ground.
"One day I found the other guy floating in the water. He didn't move, he just floated there like a dead fish."
He took a sharp breath.
"I obviously didn't know how to fix the submarine, and whatever I was doing to fix it was from the instructions of the guy who drowned. So, I had only one choice now—I had to swim out."
He looked up and then at me, I saw a fire burning within his dark pupils.
"And here I am." There was pride in his voice.
***
We were greeted by the daunting metal gates that reached above the thick concrete walls they were attached to. Actually it was less like a gate but more of a dark steel black wall.
As we got closer, the gate started to shake and I heard the sounds of gears turning as it started to become smaller. I realized that it was actually falling backwards slowly, like a drawbridge.
We were finally in the grounds of the Awakened Academy.
Me and Ford kept looking from window to window to try to get a glimpse of all the details of the academy. It looked like a common college campus except that every building was extremely fortified. It looked more like a sleek military compound than a school for the teenagers.
Though that somewhat made sense. After all, there is plenty of danger when you gather hundreds of people with unpredictable abilities and mindsets.
While the driver moved the PTV into the vistor's parking lot, Soul Reaper was giving us the rundown on what would happen in the awakened academy.
"First, they will pour all of you into one large room for the induction ceremony. Generally an awakened professor will start giving you a speech about the academy and such. Though that isn't the only reason they put all the new students together at once."
"They see how you interact with the other students and try get information about your aspect and potentially your flaw through those interactions."
I could see that. A lot can be figured out about a person if they put them all into a room with strangers.
Awakened can feel the essence of others, even if it is subconsciously, and that affected the way they socialized with other awakened.
The average awakened person would probably stick to a larger group of people who were equal to them. So that would imply that their aspect wasn't that strong.
Uniquely powerfully awakened and legacies would be easily noticed by awakened with a lower ranked aspect simply because of their difference in looks and aura. Those powerful individuals might have been surrounded by a group of awakened.
People who stick to the outside, and don't socialize might imply that they have a weak aspect. But it also potentially means that they have a powerful aspect which they don't want others to notice, or perhaps a serious flaw that was vital to them.
I glanced at Ford and we both nodded. We'd most likely stick close to each other, after all, trust was the most valuable thing to awakened in the dream realm.
Soul Reaper put one finger up, "After the assembly, you'll have individual interviews. There is a waiting room outside every interview room. Make sure you don't look too fidgety or else others might think you have a flaw or aspect that is important. They can exploit that."
She put a second finger up, "During the interview, they will ask you multiple questions about your first trial, aspect, and maybe even your flaw if they're stupid enough. Answer as little as possible or don't answer at all."
"The awakened academy might look like a normal school who are trying to help you prepare for the Winter Solstice when you go to your first nightmare, but it's beyond that. They're also a scouting organization for the government and legacy clans, but the chance for a normal awakened to even be referred to those two entities is low."
Master Jet crossed her arms again, "That's really, all I can say."
That was the end of our interaction with the infamous government acsended, Soul Reaper. She was nicer than I expected, and she gave me and Ford some crucial information and advice. I didn't know if this would be the only time we talked, but I felt happy knowing that she did her best to help us.
***
The sleeper compound that me and Ford walked into already had about a hundred different sleepers.
The sudden number of people, who all looked so distinctly different and beautiful stunned me for a second. I knew becoming awakened increased the natural attractiveness of a person, but it was weird to see so many good-looking people at once.
It was like watching well-sculpted colored statues talking to each other.
Though Ford didn't seem to be affected by the array of radiant people in front of him and walked straight toward them. I noticed that he was also affected by the beautification of the spell, his hair was more voluminous and had a shine to it. His dark skin, which I remembered having acne scars previously, was smooth and flawless. I also think he got slightly taller.
I slightly bit my bottom lip, how was this tower of a human still growing?
I followed behind him and I immediately saw the glances of the awakened in the room fall on Ford and me. Though it was more likely that Ford was their target.
Ford was unnaturally tall for his age, and his athleticism didn't fall far behind. He was scouted for teams when he only just joined highschool. Though he wasn't a genius or anything, it was simply the combination of his physical qualities that made him stand out.
In this crowd of people who were all dazzling, he had become the center of attention for some of the sleepers in the room.
I saw a person break away from his group of friends and walk towards Ford.
"Hello there, I'm Itri." The male sleeper greeted Ford with. He had a slight accent, maybe from one of the regions in the Eastern quadrant. "Who might you be?"
He had tanned skin like me, but had sandy blond hair and crystal blue eyes. Even among the other sparkling awakened, I had to admit he looked unique. His kind and gentlemanly demeanor, not to mention his accent, probably allowed him to gain popularity with both the boys and girls quickly. I saw the group of friends he broke away from him and followed him to me and Ford.
Ford looked at the outstretched hand belonging to Itri and simply stared at it for a bit.
So we're going with the puppet duo, I thought to myself. I walked up to the sandy haired sleeper and shook his hand with a bright smile on my face.
"Nice to meet you, Itri. I'm Vincent, though you can give me a nickname if you want!" The action confused Itri, who still shook my hand. I smacked Ford's forearm with the back of my hand while laughing. "This tree here is Ford. He's a pretty big introvert and isn't good with strangers. Ha, He's sort of like a cat."
"A Chat(kha-t)?" Itri said. I grinned, happy that I figured out that his accent was from the Eastern quadrant. Some regions in the Eastern quadrant pronounced their c's and k's with more breath than the northern quadrant among other pronunciation differences with certain words.
"Yeah! They're pretty cold at first, but they'll get warmed up with you once they get used to your presence."
"I see…" Itri muttered, looking at Ford who was doing a great job at acting like he was mute. I smiled at Itri, prompting him to continue talking with me.
Me and Ford have been together for most of our childhood, and so we were pretty much prepared for any social situation, and that included meeting new people.
Currently, we are doing the puppet duo. Ford, who was generally the more extroverted person, would become mute and let me handle the talking. Using his tall stature, he would bring over people while I chatted with them.
This allowed the unremarkable and introverted me to have the chance to talk to a lot of people, instead of being outcast by the group of awakened due to my normally quiet nature.
Anyway this gave both Ford and me one important thing: connections. There was no guarantee that me and Ford would both be transported to the same exact location in the Dream realm. So we needed to get to know as many people as possible, so that if me and a stranger were transported to the same location, there was a high chance we were familiar with each other.
While we were talking, an awakened, a real one, not the casual title that I threw around for all superhumans, walked up on stage. He introduced himself as awakened Rock, and that began the induction ceremony.