"Sorry, sorry…" I heard someone say, but I couldn't understand the words.
"Oh, shut up!" I heard another person say, it sounded familiar.
"It's okay dude, I know you were just in the zone—stuff like this happens…" Another new voice, was that Ford?
"Adrenaline is a great benefit in a fight, but it also can derail your logical thinking." That flat voice belonged to…Lorelei?
"Sorry…"
I opened my eyes to hazy clouds of color.
"Oh look, his eyes are open." I could hear Ford, but it felt as though he was speaking through water. Damn, my hearing was really messed up.
"Keep your clumsy hands off of him. The past two months I've spent with you, I've learned that you make things worse when you're trying to fix stuff." I saw the figures of Ford, Itri, Eternity, and Lorelei come into sharper focus. Eternity had just swatted away Ford's hand.
Eternity then raised one hand.
"How many fingers am I holding up?" She asked.
"…6?"
Eternity stared at me for a few seconds before clapping her hands, "Well, Itri you caused irreparable damage to Vincent's brain, he can now legally sue you for a couple hundred thousand credits."
Itri's face fell into despair, "I'm sorry…"
Eternity took hold of my shoulders and shook me, "You hear that, Vincent? A hundred thousand credits. I'll even graciously offer my help to sue that bastard who hurt you. In return, I only ask for a portion of the money you get from draining Itri's pockets dry."
Ford chuckled, glancing at Itri, "Count me in too."
Lorelei stood behind Itri, "Itri, Why do you look like you're about to cry? It's only a few hundred thousand credits, I can provide them for you if you want."
"Get lost, you ignorant fool with more money than sense. A few hundred thousand? Yeah, right!" Eternity mocked Lorelei's nonchalant demeanor towards the large sum of money that it was to the rest of us. I suppose being part of a rich legacy clan would change a person's sense of money value.
I groaned as I pushed myself up onto my elbows, "Damn it…Stop harassing Itri and Lorelei you two." I hissed at Eternity and Ford, the side of my face still felt numb from Itri's heel strike.
"Oh, you seem fine…there goes my hundred thousand." Eternity actually had the gall to look disappointed by the fact that I haven't received lasting injury.
"Eternity, please don't profit from my suffering." Eternity didn't say anything but get up and go to another place in the class.
Ford and Lorelei made their way to their own fighting area, raising their swords to return to their own clash. Only Itri was left, sitting next to me with a guilty expression on his face.
"Sorry again." He said in a small voice. I laughed, "Nah, you're good. I've had worse injuries when I was a child. Anyway, I recover pretty fast."
I wasn't wrong, I could already feel [Higher Healing Factor] working its magic to remove the damage and pain that I suffered. I got up, brushing away dust from my pants. "But I'm going to take a break now. Don't worry I'll be ready when we go to the Dream realm."
I dropped my wooden sword into the weapons rack and laid down against the wall. I let out a breath as I finally had the chance to rest after the exhausting spar against Itri right before I was knocked out.
At first, I wanted to learn Lord Mongrel's swordsmanship, but the mysterious swordsman's skills were beyond my comprehension. I couldn't grasp the underlying logic of his movements. His fighting style wasn't grounded; it was a blend of various contrasting techniques, constantly shifting. He fought like a relentless, raging tide, never ceasing in its ruthlessness.
Instead for the last two months, I've sparred exclusively against Itri. The reason I fought only him was because he was the most willing to teach me how to fight. Itri was from a family of hunting nomads, and so he had plenty of knowledge and experience when it came to fighting and hunting.
Itri's combat style was at a lower level than Lord Mongrel's, but it was much more easy to grasp. His fighting style consisted of using the opponent's attack as momentum for his own. It was relatively easy to learn compared to Lord Mongrel's formless fighting style, but it wasn't a waste in any way. Even if I wasn't going to stick with Itri's Nomadic swordsmanship forever, it would serve as a good base.
I've improved a lot because of his teachings, though I still had plenty of work to do to reach his level.
While drinking from a translucent plastic water bottle, I brought up the screen of the gray tablet to my face, displaying a list of names.
The top three rankers had their names in bold.
Warden of WyvernsFordItri
Ford and Itri were ranked second and third respectively. It made sense, from the time I spent with them, Ford and Itri were a cut above the rest. Their talent and ability allowed them to keep them in their position.
The first ranker, Warden of Wyverns, on the other hand was the true name of Lorelei. It wasn't a surprise to any of the people on the Sleeper compound. Even among the talented Sleepers who reside in the academy, there was no denying that she was something entirely different. From her looks to her demeanor to her deadly swordsmanship, anyone could tell that she was special.
She could swiftly defeat any opponent in seconds. Even when some opponents used their aspects, she remained the champion. However, her undefeated record made others unwilling to truly challenge her. Sometimes, she asked the awakened instructors for a sparring match, but they always declined, claiming they were too busy teaching the hundreds of sleepers assigned to them. Though most of the sleepers knew the instructors refused because they would likely lose to Lorelei and were simply trying to save face.
The only person willing to fight Lorelei was Ford, who had the spot of runner up in the rankings. When the two initially fought, it went the same way that most of Lorelei's spars went: overwhelming victory in seconds. The difference between the other challengers and Ford though was that he never stopped asking her for a rematch. The outcome of their matches never changed, and most sleepers teased Ford. But over time, people began to take notice of the sparring sessions. The spars lasted longer, became more fierce, and the two fighters were moving around a lot more.
To everyone's shock, Ford was catching up to Lorelei's level. Although there was still a sizable gap between the two fighters, Ford was steadily closing it. People were amazed that Ford could keep up with Lorelei's fast and relentless swordsmanship, which systematically wore down her opponents. Lorelei's technique was fluid and precise, each strike aimed to exploit any weakness, yet Ford was beginning to anticipate and counter her moves.
The secret to Ford's rapid improvement lay in his mindset. Instead of striving to match Lorelei's skill level in the sword, he entirely gave up in working his head around learning Lorelei's swordsmanship and sticking to what he already knew, which was swinging his fists. Currently Ford adorned a pair of gloves clad with wooden slabs on the knuckles. This change in weaponry allowed Ford to use his innate strength and close combat abilities. Ford also studied the matches that Lorelei would have with other sleepers, taking into note of her habits and patterns. His obsessiveness with fighting Lorelei became so serious that I actually became concerned for him. Though if I asked him, he would go on a long monologue about Lorelei's excellent foresight in battle and her perfect forms.
It was a unique situation considering the assortment of sleepers we had. Like the Forgotten Shore sleepers, everyone seemed to fit some form of character archetype that you would find in a storybook. Lorelei would without a doubt be the skilled main character with an equally impressive backstory, Ford would be the rival who saw Lorelei as both an ally and a challenge to overcome to become more powerful, Itri would be the balance between the two main characters and Eternity would be the healer who would always come in handy during the most dire situations.
Then what would I be? Compared to the other three who ranked in the top of the class, I was ranked 42nd. Sure, I was better than the average sleeper, but that was because I was surrounded by the best the current sleeper batch could present. I had [Blood Purge] with its deadly attack power but it was a last resort if anything, and considering the current character line up, my abilities would probably be never needed.
But my aspect would only go unused if I was sent to the same place in the dream realm as the others or close to a citadel. Otherwise, if I ended up alone in a place far from the known citadels in the dream realm…
I hissed through my teeth, pulling on a few strands of my hair. I still maintained my joyful persona that I made on the first day in the academy, but underneath, I was a messy tangle of anxiousness, dread, and fear.
I had somehow lucked out on making friends with the strongest people, but considering how the spell worked, it would mean nothing if I wasn't with them in the dream realm.
…Damn it all.
***
The winter solstice had come, marked by the longest night of the year along with the nightmare that every sleeper in the world would be sent to.
The room all of the sleepers were put into reminded me of a package of eggs one would buy in a supermarket. The eggs were the white sleepers pods stacked in rows together leaving barely any space in between. Soon enough every one of those sleeper pods would house one sleeper each, one embryo which might hatch a new and powerful awakened, or a dreadful nightmare creature lusting for bloodshed.
Each and every one of the sleepers hoped they would be the former, but everyone knew of the harsh reality that not everyone would come back. The most people who ever came back from their winter solstice nightmare was less than 40%, and the smallest number of sleepers that ever survived was one person.
Even the Forgotten Shore sleepers, with the power of Changing Star's cohort, had only managed to bring back 23% of the sleepers that were stuck in the dream realm.
The awakened professors all told us our sleeper pod label, a row and a column number.
Mine was row 6, column 4. 64. The number didn't really hold any meaning but seeing the number labeled on the black glass door of the sleeper pod created an unnerving feeling inside of me. To the people who watched the current batch of sleepers, to the world…the sleepers were just a bunch of numbers on a digital spreadsheet.
Either these numbers would succeed in the nightmare and become valiant fighters in the awakened world, or they would become a nightmare creature which the awakened professors had to kill. Then we'd just be a number crossed out in that spreadsheet. I didn't want that. No one did.
I placed myself inside the sleeper pod carefully, letting the padded inside of the pod remember my physical form. My eyelids feel heavy, the power of the nightmare spell already in effect, calling me to the dream realm.
Finally, the pod's door shut with a hissing sound and then a click.
I took one breath.
I sincerely hoped it wouldn't be my last.