On one of the underground levels of the Academy hospital complex, in a small room that was filled with the massive rectangle of the dream pod and various pieces of medical equipment,
Abner woke up in his dream pod. He saw nurses rushing all over the place; after all, about 70 sleepers had escaped the Forgotten Shores, and, unlike most sleepers who arrive in January or February at the latest, they arrived in August.
It was extremely unusual; the nurses have probably already reported this event to the great legacy clans.
Abner thought absentmindedly; he didn't want to think of what happened in the spire or what the spell said when he took that stance.
He looked around, noticing the medical equipment and the sleeping pod, all of which were currently ablaze with the light of alarms. The pod was still closed.
'How am I supposed to get out?'
Speaking of which…
Looking down, Abner realized that he was naked. To avoid any awkward situations, he summoned the underworld armament armor
Abner resisted the urge to arm himself in the unfamiliar environment; if he started acting crazy, it would only complicate things.
The decision to clothe himself turned out to be the correct one. Just a few moments after he had made it, the door of the room opened, and a woman in a white coat rushed inside.
Noticing Abner, she froze. Her eyes widened in horror, and she raised a hand to cover her mouth, as if suppressing a scream.
'What's wrong with her?'
Abner frowned, blinked a couple of times, then looked at his reflection in one of the medical machines.
'... Oh.'
Since both Sleepers and Awakened traveled to the Dream Realm in spirit, his actual body was whole and pristine, without even a single scar.
However, the same could not be said about his armor; the Underworld Armament had taken many hits in the siege of the Crimson Spire; it was dented and had some holes in it made by the claws of some nightmare creatures.
Abner's armor looked like it just came out of a war, with all the blood still on it, which was not entirely wrong; the siege of the Crimson Spire did resemble one.
Looking at the doctor in embarrassment, Abner forced out a smile and said with the raspy voice of someone who had not spoken in more than 3 years:
"Uh… hi? Can I maybe get some clean clothes?"
The woman stared at him for a few moments, then said in a trembling voice:
"Slee… Awakened Abner? Sir, you are awake?"
'Sir… did she just call me sir? But I'm not that old yet!' Abner didn't voice out his complaints and just nodded, saying, "Yes."
The doctor finally seemed to relax and looked at him with a relieved, joyous expression in her eyes.
A few moments later, she smiled slightly and said, her voice full of sincere admiration:
"Welcome back to the real world, sir!"
The hospital complex and the administration of the academy were in complete chaos today. Since most of the Sleepers who had ventured into the Dream Realm that year usually returned in a span of one to two weeks, very rarely a month.
… Those who had survived, of course.
The sudden awakening of so many Sleepers who had been gone for years, counted as irrevocably lost, created a shockwave that spread through the entirety of humanity. And people at the academy were at the epicenter of that storm.
It was a joyous chaos, nevertheless.
In a small office at the surface level of the hospital, a young woman dressed in black slacks and a white blouse was sitting behind a desk, hastily compiling a short report. She had dark brown hair neatly tied into a high ponytail and thick glasses that were constantly sliding down her nose, forcing her to push them back up.
The young woman was one of the administrative workers tasked with the initial debriefing of returning Sleepers. As such, she had seen a lot of incredible things and heard a lot of incredible stories.
But today was like no other day in her career.
The Sleepers that she was debriefing today were all anomalous, each and every one of them. The things they told her made her blood run cold, and her imagination fail. She even had an urge to dismiss their reports as false, but knew that it was nearly impossible — the lie detection technology built into the walls of the office would make lying very hard to pull off.
'Incredible… they are incredible, every single one of them…'
To survive for that long in a region of the Dream Realm completely cut off from the rest of the human territory, one populated by Nightmare Creatures much more powerful than any Dreamer could ever become… the achievement of these brave young men and women was truly remarkable.
It filled her with a sense of compassion, pride, and hope.
Humanity received an unexpected, but wonderful gift today.
But the one she was told about by these sleepers was even more impressive: an unregistered sleeper with a divine aspect and a True name that no one knows the origin of discovered natural awakening and gave shelter and food to anyone who arrived on the forgotten shores, going as far as looking for them when they arrived.
And he didn't ask for anything in return! He became the First Awakened on the Forgotten Shores and killed a Fallen Tyrant, a Fallen Devil, and a Fallen Terror together with the son of Nightwalker, who awakened after him and another who Awakened named Glorielle
From the stories told by the newly awakened sleepers, he seemed to have been an extremely altruistic and powerful person; if he had come to the real world, then he would have become a pillar of humanity in a short time; he might even become the First Supreme of humanity, she was sure, despite never meeting him.
But a few awakened, who were deemed 'The Attendants of Mysteries', confirmed that he stayed behind due to the mechanism of the citadel and couldn't come back.
She sighed, thinking, 'What a pity a talent like that isn't so easy to come by, and it's even rarer that it's accompanied by a kind heart.'
Finishing the report and sending it to her superior, the young woman pressed a button to let the next sleeper know that it was their turn to come in.
Abner entered the room, his blonde hair and golden eyes drawing attention towards him. He didn't always look like this, but after evolving his aspect, his looks started to change.
Because of the nature of her job, she was accustomed to interacting with incredibly attractive people—almost every awakened was pleasant to look at, after all. The young man in front of her though was one of the most outstanding in terms of appearance among them; he gave of the feeling of comfort and warmth she was unable to look away for a couple of moments, a natural smile finding its way onto her face.
She greeted him, "Good day, my name is Watermelon, and I will be interviewing you today, Awakened..."
Of course, she already knew his name. His file was opened on the screen in front of her, containing all the information the academy had on the pleasant young man. But it was important to create a friendly environment to allow the sleepers to relax. After their experiences in the Dream Realm, most were tense and on edge.
'First place in the academy rankings a sacred ranked aspect; this kid is a genius!'
Abner couldn't help but think after hearing her name, 'watermelon? Do your parents hate you that much, or are they that lazy?' However, his thoughts didn't show at all as he answered, "I'm Abner."
Watermelon nodded, then typed a few words on her pad.
"I will ask you a series of questions about your time in the dream realm. The purpose of this briefing is to enrich our base of knowledge about it, as well as let us know how to better assist you in the future. Any little bit of information you can provide might help future Dreamers in their own trials, but you don't have to answer if you don't want to, of course."
Awakened, Abner nodded seriously.
Watermelon smiled and asked the first question:
"How long have you spent in the Dream Realm?"
Abner answered calmly, "about 3 years."
That matched the information in the file.
'This is so terrible. Three whole years out there... even for someone so talented, it must have been hell.'
She smiled with encouragement.
"I see. You did very well, Abner. Very few Dreamers had managed to survive for that long, especially in a region such as the... the Forgotten Shore, right?"
He shivered slightly before answering:
"Yeah. That's what we called it."
Watermelon typed a few more words.
"From the interviews with the other dreamers, we have confirmed that the region of the Dream Realm you were sent to is populated with Nightmare Creatures of the Awakened Rank and above. Can you confirm that information?"
The young man grew a little paler and nodded again.
"Yeah. Awakened, Fallen… Corrupted, too, although those only appeared at night."
Watermelon added a couple of lines to her report and asked:
"Have you participated in the battles against such nightmare creatures? If so, how many have you killed?"
Abner was silent for a second, then raised his hand and began counting on his fingers with a thoughtful expression.
"Uh, more than a thousand; I didn't keep count."
Watermelon froze, staring at the monitor.
"Excuse me?"
The young man thoughtfully scratched his chin and said:
"Yeah, I think that's right. It's definitely more than a thousand, but I don't know how much."
After a long and awkward silence, he asked:
"Miss Watermelon, is everything alright?"
She nodded slowly, then forced out a smile.
"... Everything is fine, Abner. I… I am sorry. We'll have to pause the interview now."
He looked at her with sincere surprise and blinked a couple of times.
"Really? Why?"
She cleared her throat, then answered in a small voice:
"I'm... afraid that I am not qualified to conduct this interview. My… my superior will be with you shortly, Ab… Awakened, Abner, please wait for a few minutes."
Abner sighed.
"Oh, well. Alright. It's been nice to meet you."