Shadow Slave novel Chapter 25

Chapter 25 Wilderness Survival

So, the silver-haired girl, Nephis, also received a True Name in her First Nightmare. To get his own, Sunny had to deal with Hero and Mountain King while possessing a completely useless Aspect — an impossible feat that seemed to have pleased the Spell very much.

'I wonder how she had gotten hers.'

Sleepers in the cafeteria were struck dumb by the revelation of this achievement. They were staring at the screen with astonishment, fear and admiration. Listening to their excited whispers, Sunny felt a childish desire to scream "Me too! I have one too!".

But, of course, he kept quiet.

Looking around, he noticed Caster's gaze fixed on the screen. There was a strange, somber expression on the humorous young man's face. But the weird thing about it was that, as far as Sunny could tell, Caster wasn't looking at the line of text containing the True Name.

Instead, he was staring at the line of text that read "Nephis", as though the girl's actual name held more meaning to him than the one given by the Spell.

'Interesting. Do they know each other?'

Why would a lofty Legacy know someone who came to the Academy in a police-issued tracksuit? And speaking of Nephis… where was she?

Sunny glanced around the cafeteria and quickly noticed the silver-haired girl, who was sitting quietly in a corner with a cup of coffee in her hands. She wasn't paying a lot of attention to the commotion, seemingly immersed in her thoughts. Her grey eyes were serious and distant.

"A Sleeper with a True Name? That's impossible!"

"It's technically possible. Smile of Heaven received her True Name in the First Nightmare, I think. But yeah, I'm doubtful…"

"Maybe she lied in the interview?"

"Are you stupid? If it was that easy to deceive the administrators, the crazy pervert from yesterday would have been in the first place instead!"

Sunny's face twitched. Crazy pervert, huh…

"Well, why don't we just ask her?"

Suddenly, there was a deafening silence in the cafeteria. Following the suggestion, Sleepers stopped talking and turned around, staring at Nephis. However, no one seemed to have the courage to approach her first.

Finally sensing something, she raised her eyes and looked at them with surprise.

"Mmm. What?"

Even the blind girl, Cassia, turned in the direction of her voice.

After a couple of moments, Caster suddenly walked over and made a small bow.

"Lady Nephis. I am Caster from the Han Li clan. I see that your trial went well?"

Lady? Why is he addressing her that way? And he had to introduce himself… so, they don't know each other? Interesting.

Nephis seemed to be a little bit perplexed by the question. After thinking for a while, she smiled brightly and shrugged.

"It is what it is."

Caster awkwardly returned the smile.

"I see. I am very glad that you returned unharmed. Uh… not that I doubted your abilities."

Nephis nodded.

"Thank you."

After that, she returned to her coffee, indicating that the conversation was over or simply oblivious to everyone's attention.

Sunny sighed.

'How mysterious.'

There were a lot of thoughts on his mind. However, none of them could distract him from the most important thing… breakfast. A few seconds later, he had forgotten all about the awkward dynamic between Caster and Nephis and was happily shoveling down his food.

***

The Wilderness Survival classroom was spacious, tastefully decorated… and completely empty. Sunny even thought that he was mistaken, but then spotted a gloomy instructor sitting behind a wide wooden desk. Noticing him, the instructor perked up.

"Come in, young man!"

He was a lively old man with messy grey hair, absentminded eyes and a pair of bushy eyebrows that seemed to jump around on their own.

"I'm Awakened Julius. You can call me Teacher Julius. Sit down, sit down! What's your name?

Sunny obediently sat down.

"It's Sunless."

Julius raised his eyebrows.

"Ah! What an ominous name. But that is good, very good. After all, we have to deal with a lot of ominous things!"

Sunny carefully looked around.