Sunny was walking through the halls of the academy at a leisurely pace. It was quite early now, and classes would only begin in an hour or two.
After the last night, Sunny had not really paid attention to how tired he had been. No, it was not that he had not realized. It was more so that he was able to push through the tiredness because he had a few goals he was trying to accomplish
He had barely slept aside from the moment he had died and the day after, where he had rested for about 5 hours before waking up to train his body again.
But now, having made a start on all 3 of his goals he felt relaxed
Slowing his walk down Sunny had made his way to the destination he was planning on going to
Cassie
Just as Sunny stopped his walking, the door of Cassia's room had opened, and she stepped outside with her assistants... well, assistance.
'She really looks a lot less tense...'
Of course she looked a lot less tense; she found out that she was not going to die.
"Morning, sleepy," he said with a chuckle
Cassie's face seemed to light up with a smile—"Good morning, Sunny!"
He looked at the assistant, who had already guessed his own understanding—"I will take care of her for a bit; you can take her to class later?"
"Sure," the women replied with a smile and walked off
Sunny slid his hand under Cassie's and walked with her through the halls while they spoke about what they had both learned in classes.
"So, how's adapting to your flaw going?"
Cassie had an almost confused expression—"Honestly... better than I had expected."
"Really?"
"Yeah, I can't explain it."
"Well, if you think about it, it does make sense in a way."
They had reached the cafeteria and moved to the kitchen to go and get their food, with Sunny placing Cassies hands out to hold her tray while holding his own
"My aspect gave me an ability to perceive the world through shadows; it honestly became like a sixth sense, and since it's always working, unlike my eyes, which I can close, it's pretty much replaced my sight."
"Uh..." she said, confused.
"What I'm trying to say is that our senses work in weird ways—now that you've lost one of your senses, your others are going to adapt to being used more and become more powerful—that's why you are adapting decently."
"Well, I hope it will adapt faster."
"I'm sure it will," he said, taking her plate now that he had filled both of them.
Cassie held his forearm as they walked to their place that now had a lot more people due to the revelation of Sunny's rank, not that they interested him in the slightest. The only person who actually interested him was...
"Good morning, Nephis."
Nephis was currently sitting in her place at the table; she was holding a small sandwich in her hands and had just swallowed before turning her gaze to Sunny and the blind blond holding his hand—or maybe her eyes went to the mountain that was his food—who knows...
"Good Morning Sunless"
'... She used Sunny yesterday...'
But once he sensed the person walking closer—Caster—he had an idea of why, not to mention the fact that there was a 0% chance that she 100% trusted him too. It may have been enough to be around him alone but not enough to have eliminated the thought completely
After all, the reason of him not being the assassin because he didnt kill her last night could instantly be overcome by the fact that Sunny did not want to risk someone finding blood or a body
Sunny silently moved to the other side of the table after sliding his and Cassie's plate over.
He had not noticed Cassie's expression change when Nephis was mentioned
After sitting down, she mentioned it
"Uh... Lady Nephis... Why are you... well, why are you sitting here? Oh, and good morning too!"
She rushed that last bit, not wanting to be rude.
"...Good morning, Cassia."
She paused for a second, thinking of a reason—Caster was sitting less than 2 meters away, and her suspicion of him was far too great compared to what she had for Sunny now.
"I just wanted to be alone for a bit, so I came here... people seem to avoid this table."
Cassie went silent again as if she were wondering if she should speak since Nephis had just said she was here because people are not here—did she and Sunny have to leave?
"Well anyway... as I was saying, the more you practice and focus on your other senses, your reliance on your sight will lessen slowly."
Was Sunny just ignoring Nephis?
"I...uh...yeah, I will practice as much as I can—maybe I can adapt a bit more in this month."
Sunny had shadow sense extended and was watching his surroundings. Once it was established that everyone was eating and not directly looking at them, he sent Gloomy onto the table and made him wave at Nephis to get his attention.
After a few seconds Nephis had noticed and looked at Sunny, who just shot his eyes at the shadow, gesturing for her to look at it
Gloomy himself was making letters with his fingers, which Nephis was now trying to decipher.
'G.O.
T.O.
C.L.A.S.S.
A.N.D.
A.T.
N.I.G.H.T.
G.O.
T.O.
T.R.A.I.N.I.N.G.
R.O.O.M.
T.O.
D.I.S.C.U.S.S.
D.R.E.A.M.
R.E.A.L.M'
Nephis raised her head again with a curious expression—did he not say they were going to spar each night? Why was he asking to discuss something now—and why the dream realm, especially since he had said that speaking about things would make them worse?
She did not really have a choice if she wanted to know
But that was something she would think about after a while; right now she was thinking about Eating, class, and then the discussion
...
The day had been similar to the previous one
Sunny went to Teacher Julius's class, and today they had practiced swimming; afterwards, he had walked to the combat class and engaged in some sword sparring against the other sword users—naturally, they had all been decimated aside from those who decided not to face him, namely Caster and Nephis
Caster was not to lose to an Outskirts rat again, and Nephis did not want to put her skills on display while the enemy could be in short range.
He then went to his room and took a long warm bath and then ran to the kitchen and swiped a whole lot of food, and now he was sitting in the combat class that was empty aside from himself, Cassie, and Nephis.
"So... why did you bring us here?" - Nephis asked, her eyes narrowing as Sunny bit into an apple
"Yeah, it's late..." - Cassie said, rubbing her eyes
He swallowed—"Well, I am here to reveal things about our trip to the dream realm."
'...'
'...'
Silence
"Uh... do you not want to know?"
"No, it's just that you say it like it's such an insignificant thing..." - Cassie said.
"Well... I guess I've seen worse."
He had. Sunny had seen so many horrifying things that he was barely able to comprehend, and even then he was only able to do so because of the forceful mind expansion, and even then his mind had only reached the state it was in when he became a saint.
"Listen, I know that you two don't trust me; honestly, I'm not sure if I'm supposed to trust you myself."
It was truly a confusing thing—both Cassia and Nephis were going to stand as two of the few beacons of humanity. Cassia and Nephis had also been a significant thorn in his life that just seemed a lit smaller when compared to Fate or Weaver for example
But he had seen their journey together—their lives together—their suffering together
"But I want you both to know that I have no bad intentions; I just want to increase our chances of surviving and returning stronger."
Nephis looked at him with a complicated gaze, and Cassie seemed to grow more quiet than she had just been.
"So... what can you tell us," she paused, "without making the future worse?"
Nephis had asked him
And Sunny had responded
For a while,
He had given them many bits of information that would make things easier on them mentally when the challenges would come to face them
He had explained to them that the sea would surround them and leave in the morning
He explained that they should not light a fire, as it would attract nightmare creatures
He had spoke about the land they needed to get to, although he managed to twist some words to make it seem he didnt know the direction they needed to get to
He gave them some basic rundown on the nightmare creatures he had seen
By the end of it, their silence seemed to deepen
"It may seem daunting right now but we will get through it—I know it."
Both Nephis and Cassie hearing that seemed to relax by a little—he could not lie after all
"Well, I cant tell you guys anymore because if you change anything something worse might happen—but for now we can train and practice, so let's get to it."
He smiled and stood, allowing serpent to become a blade once more
"Uh... this is a lot to digest, and since I'm not sparring, can I go to bed?"
Cassie asked, holding her head
Sunnys eyes softened slightly, and he turned to Nephis, his eyes asking the question, 'Cancel the spar today?'
She nodded.
All 3 of them left the room, and while Nephis left for her own, Sunny delivered Cassie to hers and then left to his own.
Jumping onto his bed Sunny let out a happy smile onto his face and though Gloomy was blank constantly, the shadow seemed to have the same expression
In the corner of his eyes, he saw the 3 shards glistening on the desk
'Will i be able to weave anything using that?'
He would not be able to.
Sunny possessed the knowledge of weaving and its applications, but he currently lacked 3 important things he would need to weave: BloodWeave, which would allow him to see the essence strings; BoneWeave, allowing him to interact with it; and also the Weaver's Needle, which would be an aid in interacting with it.
Rolling on the bed to the edge and stretching his arm out Sunny looked at the glistening white shard
It was awakened—without a doubt. The shine was almost unmistakable.
Sunny stared at the glistening shard for a few seconds and then woke up from the bed while still holding the glistening structure; just as he did, he had slipped on the smooth floor and landed face first onto the ground
'Ow...'
All this power, all these abilities, and he fell down because of a damn smooth floor—well, he wanted to sleep too and was really tired.
Sunny had tried to push himself up and suddenly noticed something wrong—the shard he was holding was crushed when he fell down and his hands hit the ground, the shard being crushed
Just as he managed to stand, he felt something off, a feeling completely foreign to him.
The essence from the shard had entered his soul
[Your Shadow grows Deeper.]