Both Koda and Fischer’s eyes widened.
‘A… True Name in the First Nightmare?
What the fuck?’ Koda thought.
‘Only… only Lady Changing Star and her mother had gotten theirs from the First Nightmare.’ “Well damn, he must’ve gone through some crazy shit.” Fischer said with a heavy sigh.
Koda nodded, if what he went through only gave him a Supreme Aspect, he could only imagine what this guy went through and what his rewards were.
Everyone was struck dumb by the revelation of this achievement.
They were all staring at the screen with astonishment, fear and confusion.
Everyone knew about Changing Star getting a true name as a sleeper, but she was stuck forever wandering the forgotten shore.
Except for one, one singular boy was staring at Dale’s name.
Not his True Name, but the line saying ‘Dale’.
Koda’s eyebrow raised slightly.
‘Hmm… do they know each other or something?’ Who even was this guy?
Koda had seen him hanging around the largest group of people, but didn’t actually care enough to find out who he was.
Looking at the leaderboard, it turned out he was right beneath Dale at the 2nd place spot.
His name was Max.
He was a handsome boy with dark brown hair and tanned skin, but not as tanned as Koda’s.
But… where the hell was Dale during all of this?
Koda looked around and finally spotted him sitting by himself, staring down at his short sword.
He couldn’t see much, but he knew that the blade was slightly curved and blood red.
On the hilt, Koda could almost make out a strange anvil shape imprinted into the metal.
And at that moment, the boy who was staring at Dale’s name approached him.
“Sir Dale.
I am Max from the Steel Bones clan.
I see that you are alright?” Sir?
If this guy is a Legacy?
Then why is he treating him with so much respect?
Despite everything, Dale’s response caught everyone including Koda off guard.
“Fuck off unless you want your head on a pike, filthy legacy pig.” The boy, Max, scowled.
“You dare!” He yelled as white sparks erupted around his palm as his skin darkened and became a shiny silver.
Dale didn’t even turn his head.
Before anyone could stop it, Max summoned a large sword and swung, slicing Dale’s head clean off.
Max smirked.
“That is what you deserve for slandering my Clan, your family had it coming.” He said, turning around to face everyone again.
Koda looked around.
“Where are the teachers?
Where are the Awakened?
This dude just killed someone!” But at that exact moment, a red blade shot through Max’s chest and blood started to pour out of his mouth.
“H-how…” he asked.
“My skin… is indestructible…” he continued, blood pouring all down his body.
“Pig.” The red blade twisted and sliced upward, cutting through the boy’s torso and separating it from the shoulder.
As his body fell, the only one visible was Dale.
Who was standing there, dark red short sword in hand.
Koda’s eyes widened and people started to scream.
“How?
How is he still alive?
I swear his head was just taken clean off?” Koda said, covering his mouth as he watched Fischer do the same.
At that moment, a large number of Awakened Staff rushed over and escorted Dale out while what appeared to be Healers immediately began tending to Max’s wounds.
Koda had no idea if the guy could come back from that, but he was thankful he wasn’t the one that was attacked.
Looking around, Koda noticed that a few sleepers were unconscious or had soiled themselves.
Was it their first time seeing a corpse?
What the hell did these guys do in their first nightmare if they hadn’t even seen a corpse before?
Fischer whistled.
“Damn, that was… pretty scary.
Did you see how he survived that?
I didn’t get the chance to see.
It was like he wasn’t even attacked in the first place, there’s no blood anywhere nor is his head on the floor.” He said, staring at the pool of blood.
Koda felt a strange urge… a strange urge to drink that blood and chase after the medical staff and eat… eat max.
But he shook his head, stopping himself.
… A few hours later, a few of the sleepers were sent back to their dormitories for the day to take a breath, but Koda was heading to his first class.
He had chosen to take the combat course, he figured needed as much fighting mastery as he could get.
He didn’t need to learn how to survive, he could literally eat dirt and survive for all he cared.
As soon as he entered the room, he noticed that Awakened Rock was the instructor.
The man perked up when Koda entered, “Oh?
Come in.” He said, slightly surprised and already looking at Koda’s hands.
“I am Awakened Rock.
You can call me Teacher Rock.
Come in, sit down.
What’s your name?” He asked.
Koda sat down on the padded floor of the dojo.
“My name is Koda.” Rock nodded.
“Good.” Koda looked around, noticing that there was no one else in the dojo with him.
“Uh… did I come early?” He asked.
Rock raised an eyebrow.
“No.
You are right on time.” He said.
“Ah… is everyone else late?” Koda asked.
Rock laughed.
“Almost everyone went back to their dorms after that incident today, that is why I am so surprised to have you here!” But at that exact moment, three more Sleepers walked in at the same time.
Koda recognised two of them, it was Fischer and Irene!
The third was a girl with light brown hair and brown eyes.
She was around the same height as Irene and looked to be a little uncomfortable, probably because she was standing next to the poor androgynous person.
Awakened Rock clapped his hands happily.
“Good!
Very good, it’s not just you, Koda.
Come in, what are your names?” “Fischer!” “Irene.” “Nathalia.” Everyone sat down on the floor next to Koda as Rock explained what they’d be doing.
To sum it all up, they mainly dedicated this lesson to testing their general competence and abilities.
After that, they were going to be separated into groups based on their level, such as Novice, Advanced or Expert as well as receive their weapon of choice.
Some would be assigned a personal tutor or be paired together.
Well, Koda already knew he’d have to choose a large sword, anything close to a large meat cleaver anyway.
“Alright, first and foremost let’s test out your individual striking strength.” Rock said, looking over at a wide plate attached to a special measuring machine.
“I want each of you to punch that machine, it’ll display a number corresponding to your Physical Strength.” The girl with brown hair stood up first, her name was Nathalia if Koda could remember correctly.
She walked over to the machine as the others stood up to get prepared.
Rock watched.
The girl pulled her fist back and swung.
The machine whirred and a number was suddenly displayed.
Koda saw the number eleven.
The girl sighed and walked back over, Rock gave an approving nod.
“Cool.” Koda muttered, watching as Irene went up next.
Fischer grinned.
Everyone watched as Irene pulled their fist back and swung, the swing was a lot more sloppy than Nathalia’s, but it didn’t look weak at all.
Their fist hit the machine with a dull thud and the number appeared.
Koda hummed in thought.
The number displayed was Thirteen.
Fischer went next, giving Irene a thumbs up as he walked past.
Rock smiled at Irene and then watched eagerly as Fischer went up and swung without any preparation.
The number was Twelve.
Koda was disappointed.
He felt like he could’ve gotten way more if he actually tried, not just walk up there and swing for the point of swinging.
Either way, it was his turn now.
Koda walked up, flexing his claw as he balled it into a fist.
He remembered all the times he had punched Bram in his first nightmare, he remembered the correct grip and form and… swung.
Everyone stared with widened eyes.
Koda looked up to see his result and… Twenty.