Shadow Slave

Everything having to do with Sleepers was situated in the same building. Sunny followed the instructions sent to his communicator and quickly found the dormitories, which were situated on one of the lowest levels. To his surprise, he actually got a whole room to himself.

It had a bed with a soft mattress, a table, a dresser, and even a separate bathroom! The materials were new and aesthetically pleasing, the air crisp and sterile. It was warm inside, and the outer wall was equipped with a hidden screen that seamlessly imitated a wide window, opening to a picturesque vista of a snowy park.

There were even several sets of clothes with the Academy emblem provided to him for free.

'How extravagant,' Sunny thought, a little stunned.

Rationally, he understood that such an arrangement was not really luxurious. However, to him, who grew up wandering the outskirts, this room was like a palace. He scratched his head.

'Looks like… I've made it?'

Sunny glanced around, then winked at his shadow and smiled.

"I guess we're moving up in the world, huh?"

The shadow didn't respond, apparently not very impressed. Perhaps it didn't care about such things.

'Right, what would a stupid shadow know?'

Sunny changed into new clothes and studied himself in the mirror. Then, remembering something, he summoned the runes.

He finally had time to study the Puppeteer's Shroud.

Memory: [Puppeteer's Shroud].

Memory Rank: Awakened.

Memory Type: Armor.

Memory Description: [A worm of doubt once found its way into a righteous king's heart. With time, the king was devoured from inside and became its puppet. A lifetime later, the Puppeteer Worm escaped from the king's dead body, leaving behind a cacoon of black silk. No one knows where it went; however, once people dared to approach the silent castle, they found the silk among the mountains of gnawed bones and fashioned it into an armor.]

made a

Yeah. I'm not creeped out

a larva. If he were to assume that Mountain King was a mature Puppeteer Worm — and already a tyrant… then

it's better not

he summoned the Puppeteer's Shroud. Thin black threads immediately appeared around his body and wrapped it into a set of armor. It was made

armor was light, understated and did not restrain his movements at all. It also made no sound when he moved. Perfect equipment

for any Creature below the Awakened rank, which gave him a great advantage in dealing with all dormant monsters. He also felt a sort of strange, faint

worm of doubt… does it

was sure

He wouldn't expect anything less from the Memory

problem was that the Puppeteer's Shroud was obviously not meant to be worn on top of a full set of clothes. Quite satisfied, Sunny dismissed it and left his room,

bad, not bad,' he thought, recalling all the rewards he had received during

not only was it freely available to Sleepers, there wasn't even a limit to the amount each of them

steering

he found an empty seat and, for a while, forgot about the world's existence. As juicy, textured, perfectly seasoned meat filled his mouth, Sunny's vision

to think, he could have lived like that for

you infect me a few months

Satiated and more than a little gorged, Sunny longingly

he stood up and

from an administrative worker. The worker was very friendly, and started the

again. Remembering her advice, he refused, and the interview smoothly switched

tell the worker something. Luckily, the questions were worded in a way to put Sleepers at ease. As

type of Aspect Ability you received, as in combat,

did mind, but had

I'm not sure. I haven't had

alright. Are you able to directly deal damage with your

I wasn't even able to harm a

like that. In the end, Sunny shared just enough information to create an impression that his Aspect was weak, harmless and most likely having something to

his room, undressed, and went

that falling asleep for the first time after the Nightmare would be weird, but in fact, it was surprisingly easy. Lying on a soft mattress, with his skin against clean bedsheets and a fluffy pillow under his head,