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.]

a sour

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

called a larva. If he were to assume that Mountain King was a mature Puppeteer Worm —

it's better not to think about

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 elements, such as bracers

understated and did not restrain his movements at all. It also made no

to pierce for any Creature below the Awakened rank, which gave him a great advantage in dealing with all

doubt… does it have enhanced

was

trophy! He wouldn't expect anything less

on top of a full set of clothes.

not bad,' he thought, recalling all the rewards

was it freely available to Sleepers, there wasn't even a limit to the amount each of them could eat!

thought, steering

food on his plate, 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 suddenly was full

to think, he could have lived

Spell… why didn't you infect me a few months

no time. Satiated and more than a little gorged, Sunny longingly looked back and thought about getting another

stood up and left the

found himself in a small office, sitting across from an administrative worker. The worker was very friendly, and started the interview

him, Sunny was offered psychological counseling again. Remembering

in a way to put Sleepers at ease. As such, most of them started with nice and polite preambles like "would you like to tell me" or "if you're willing to share", which gave Sunny an opportunity to give neutral

type of Aspect

but had to be

I'm not sure. I haven't had time

you able to directly deal

not? Earlier, I wasn't even

the end, Sunny shared just enough information to create an impression that

that, he returned to his

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