Shadow Slave

In one of the fortified lecture halls of the Awakened Academy, a large auditorium was slowly filling up with students. These young men and women, however, did not look like inexperienced Sleepers. Instead, most of them possessed the grim confidence of battle-tested veterans.

They were sharp and rough around the edges, exhibiting the tell-tale signs of those who had just recently returned from the Dream Realm. For the same reason, the crowd of students was suffused with a sense of energy and liveliness typical to people who had recently brushed with death, but managed to escape its clutches alive.

These were the newly Awakened. Several weeks after the winter solstice, most of those who were destined to survive had already found their way to a human Citadel and returned to the waking world. Now, they were settling into their new lives and responsibilities.

While some chose to forge their own path, many decided to remain in the Academy for a while longer. Its curriculum was not only aimed at Sleepers, after all. A larger part of the complex was dedicated to continuous training of the Awakened students.

Just because one had survived the crucible of their first venture into the Dream Realm did not mean that they could stop learning, after all. In fact, faced with its many challenges, most of the survivors learned one crucial lesson.

No matter how prepared they were, that was never enough.

…Granted, the lecture that these particular young Awakened were about to listen to was not from a popular course. Titled "Resource Management during Prolonged Expeditions and Intercitadel Travel", the course had nothing to do with battle training or Aspect proficiency. As such, it was rather obscure and unpopular.

The large crowd of students had more to do with the identity of the lecturer as opposed to the theme of the course. As an actual Ascended and a person of wide renown, this star lecturer presented an irresistible attraction to the Awakened students.

Who was better to teach them than a person who had braved the dangers of the Dream Realm and slain countless Nightmare Creatures with their own two hands?

As the time of the lecture approached, the students settled on the seats in the auditorium and waited for the lecturer to arrive.

One of the last to come in was a young man in stylish civilian clothes. They were predominantly black, with subdued grey accents. The young man glanced at the young Awakened, then proceeded to walk to the center of the auditorium.

A few people looked at him in confusion.

Instead of joining his fellow students, the young man walked to the teacher's desk and outstretched one hand. To everyone's bewilderment, he was summoning a Memory!

Stranger still, that Memory turned out to be in the shape of an exquisite wooden chair. The strange guy put it down, then took a sit behind the desk and looked at them as if this was the most natural thing in the world.

Several Awakened opened their mouths to condemn his childish antics, but then hesitated. Although the eccentric student was bound to anger the lecturer with his disrespectful behavior, there was something about him that demanded attention. Another reason for their hesitation was that he was… incredibly attractive.

The young man was not very tall, but his slender build and stylish attire made him look very charming. With his porcelain skin and raven black hair, he looked like an exquisite doll. His striking dark eyes seemed to glint with good-natured humor.

cold about them that made those who looked at the

shadows grew a little deeper

one of the young women in the first row cleared her

arrives. Here, there is a

young man looked at her and

girl

This is Master Sunless,

her eyes wide, then turned beat-red and raised one hand to cover

wave of whispers

is Master

"But he's our age!"

two years to Ascend! Why

the actor who played him in the Song of

with the same pleasant smile,

Master. Welcome to the first lecture of the Resource Management during

few polite chuckles resounded from

'Damn. Tough crowd!'

unsurprisingly nervous. He would much rather fight a room full

could kill the

for a moment,

explore various topics in the course of these lectures. But first, let me

his students

to your

***

better than Sunny had expected. If not for the fact that many female students had stared at him a bit too intensely, for

was basing the lessons on his own experience, and the students, while not as battle-hardened as him, were not amateurs themselves. Each of them had survived the First Nightmare and a journey to the Dream Realm. So, the lecture was more

was even refreshing, compared to his tutoring sessions with Rain. Although his sister was incredibly talented and hard-working, not to mention nice to be around, there were many things he simply couldn't

off the projector and looked at the empty

his life