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 sour

is not that terrifying. Yeah. I'm not creeped out at

first creature he killed was called a larva. If he were to assume that Mountain King was a mature Puppeteer Worm — and already

better not

sigh, 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 of dark-gray, soft fabric with several

at all. It also made no sound

any Creature below the Awakened rank, which gave him a great advantage in dealing with all dormant monsters. He also

it have enhanced protection against

was sure

wouldn't expect anything less from the Memory of a

meant to be worn on top of a full set of clothes. Quite satisfied,

thought, recalling all the rewards he had received during

supper turned out to be as lavish as the dormitory. Sunny's wish to taste real meat finally came true: not only was it freely available to Sleepers, there wasn't even a limit to the amount each of them

thought, steering clear of the

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

have lived like that for

why didn't you infect

food, decimating the whole plate in no time. Satiated and more than a little gorged, Sunny longingly looked back and thought about getting another serving. But it was already time for his appointment with

stood up and left

found himself in a small office, sitting across from an administrative worker. The worker was

him, Sunny was offered psychological counseling again. Remembering her advice, he

his abilities, but also knew that he had to tell the worker something. Luckily, the questions were worded in a way to put Sleepers at ease. As such, most of them started with nice and polite preambles like "would

telling me about the type of Aspect Ability

did mind, but

not sure. I haven't had

alright. Are you able to

Earlier, I wasn't

end, Sunny shared just enough information to create an impression that his Aspect was weak, harmless and

returned to his room, undressed, and went

fact, it was surprisingly easy. Lying on a soft mattress, with his skin against clean bedsheets and a fluffy pillow under his head, he slept