Caster stopped beside their table and smiled politely, his calm green eyes moving between Sunny, Cassie, and Elysia before eventually settling on the two thugs standing nearby with ugly expressions on their faces.
"They're friends of mine."
The two n imdiately hesitated.
The arrogance that had filled their faces monts ago visibly weakened.
Neither of them looked happy about backing down, but neither looked stupid enough to challenge Caster openly either.
After all, no matter how much authority they possessed as soldiers of Gunlaug, there were still differences in status within the Bright Castle.
And Caster stood far above ordinary Sleepers.
Among the residents of the castle, his reputation was already famous.
Not only was he a Legacy from the prestigious Han Li Clan, but he also possessed imnse talent, exceptional combat ability, and connections that stretched throughout the castle.
He had friendly ties with Seishan, the leader of the Headmaidens and the rumored princess of Clan Song.
Whether those rumors were true or not hardly mattered anymore.
The attitudes of other Legacy Sleepers whenever Seishan appeared spoke loudly enough.
Then there was Harus.
The most feared lieutenant of the Bright Castle.
The sharpest sword under Gunlaug's command.
The Sleeper most people avoided provoking under any circumstances.
And Harus happened to be one of Caster's acquaintances.
Compared to that, the two thugs were insignificant.
After a brief exchange, they reluctantly retreated.
Only after they disappeared back into the crowd did the tension finally begin to dissipate.
The dining hall slowly returned to life.
Conversations resud.
Utensils clattered.
People pretended they hadn't been paying attention.
Sunny relaxed slightly.
Only slightly.
The truth was that he probably could have killed those two.
The problem was everything that ca afterward.
Killing them would've been easy.
Surviving the entire castle trying to kill him afterward?
Not so much.
Besides...
Sunny had spent months being trained by Senrix.
And Senrix was the strongest Sleeper he knew.
Perhaps even stronger than Gunlaug himself.
Just thinking about so of those training sessions made Sunny feel phantom pain throughout his body.
His eye twitched.
'That man calls torture practice.'
anwhile, Caster pulled out a chair and sat beside them.
The handso Legacy still looked genuinely surprised.
Which was understandable.
Most people assud the Forgotten Shore killed anyone weak.
And according to the Academy rankings, Sunny, Cassie, and Elysia should have been dead months ago.
Yet here they were.
Alive.
Healthy.
Mostly sane.
Well...
Sunny was debatable.
"I honestly never expected to see any of you here."
Cassie smiled politely.
"Neither did we."
That answer earned a laugh from Caster.
Elysia grinned.
"I expected to be alive."
Sunny looked at her.
"You literally got swallowed by a giant sea monster."
"I survived."
"You were screaming."
"I was surviving dramatically."
Caster blinked.
Then laughed again.
Sunny groaned.
Traitor.
anwhile, Cassie quietly hid a smile behind her cup.
The conversation gradually shifted toward the Academy.
Old mories surfaced.
Teachers.
Classes.
Training sessions.
Other Sleepers.
The Academy suddenly felt impossibly distant.
Like sothing that belonged to another life.
Eventually, Caster leaned back and laughed.
The sound imdiately attracted the attention of the three Sleepers sitting across from him.
"What?"
Sunny asked suspiciously.
Caster shook his head.
"I just rembered your stories."
Sunny frowned.
"My stories?"
"The ridiculous ones."
Elysia imdiately burst into laughter.
Cassie smiled knowingly.
Sunny looked deeply offended.
"They weren't ridiculous."
Caster raised an eyebrow.
"Oh?"
"They were true."
"Of course they were."
"They were."
"No doubt."
Sunny pointed at him.
"You're being sarcastic."
Caster nodded.
"I am."
Sunny sighed.
Nobody ever appreciated honesty anymore.
The world was truly dood.
Caster chuckled.
"I still rember that one story where you claid to have received a Divine Aspect."
Sunny blinked.
"That happened."
Elysia nearly choked on her drink.
Cassie quickly looked away.
Caster completely missed both reactions.
"Naturally."
Sunny continued.
"And the one where I was appraised as Glorious."
"Mm-hmm."
"And the one where I killed an Awakened human during my First Nightmare."
Caster stared.
Then slowly rubbed his temples.
Elysia was practically shaking from suppressed laughter.
Cassie looked seconds away from losing composure entirely.
anwhile, Sunny remained completely serious.
Because unfortunately...
Every single one of those stories was true.
His Flaw wouldn't allow anything else.
Eventually, Caster sighed.
"So tell ."
He leaned forward.
"What impossible achievent have you accomplished recently?"
Sunny paused.
Then thoughtfully tapped the table.
Several mories surfaced.
His first nightmare.
The Dark Sea.
The Mountain King.
The Labyrinth.
The Stone creature.
The Carapace Demon.
Most of those stories sounded fake even to him.
Then he rembered sothing particularly absurd.
A slow smile appeared on his face.
"Oh, nothing much."
Caster nodded.
"Good."
Sunny continued casually.
"I killed an Awakened Tyrant with a single drop of blood."
Silence.
Complete silence.
Elysia froze.
Cassie lowered her head.
Caster stared.
Sunny calmly continued eating.
A few seconds later—
Elysia almost choked.
"Cough—"
She imdiately grabbed her drink.
Her shoulders started shaking.
Because the worst part was that Sunny wasn't lying.
She knew he wasn't.
His Flaw made sure of that.
But the statent was so absurd that even knowing it was technically true sohow made it worse.
An Awakened Tyrant.
A single drop of blood.
Who would believe that?
anwhile, Cassie's lips trembled slightly.
She was trying very hard not to laugh.
Caster stared at Sunny.
Then at Elysia.
Then at Cassie.
Then back at Sunny.
"...What?"
Sunny calmly swallowed his food.
"I killed an Awakened Tyrant."
"With one drop of blood."
Caster blinked.
"One drop."
Sunny nodded.
"One drop."
"..."
"..."
"..."
Elysia finally gave up and buried her face in her hands.
Sunny looked at her.
"What?"
"You sound insane."
"I'm telling the truth."
"That's the problem."
Cassie quietly laughed.
The sound was soft.
Warm.
Almost musical.
Caster looked between all three of them.
Then suddenly frowned.
Because none of them looked like they were joking.
Which sohow made everything worse.
Slowly, cautiously, he asked:
"And then?"
Sunny answered imdiately.
"It died."
"Instantly?"
"Instantly."
Caster opened his mouth.
Closed it.
Opened it again.
Then tried another approach.
"And after this Awakened Tyrant supposedly died from your blood..."
Sunny nodded.
"It gave a mory."
Caster sighed.
Naturally.
"Naturally."
Sunny pointed at his armor.
"This armor."
Caster looked at the dark armor covering Sunny's body.
Then looked back at him.
Then back at the armor.
Then back at Sunny again.
The handso Legacy genuinely didn't know whether to laugh or be concerned.
The worst part was Sunny's expression.
There wasn't even a trace of humor on his face.
The black-haired Sleeper looked completely serious.
As though everything he said was perfectly reasonable.
As though people killed Awakened Tyrants with blood every day.
As though this conversation wasn't completely insane.
Finally, Caster leaned back and rubbed his forehead.
"I forgot how exhausting talking to you is."
Sunny imdiately nodded.
"Most people say that after hearing the truth."
Elysia laughed so hard she nearly fell off her chair.
Cassie finally stopped trying to hide her smile.
And for the first ti since entering the Bright Castle...
The three mbers of the cohort genuinely relaxed.
anwhile, Caster could only stare at Sunny and wonder whether the black-haired Sleeper was a genius, a lunatic, or sohow both at the sa ti.
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A/N: for anyone wondering, it's who's making it dramatic, it's my way of adding more word to make the word count higher.
It's definately working.
Oh and the jokes here are made by , notice the difference between the AI's joke and mine? None because my jokes is la asf like the ai.
I'm more tuned to lore reveal type shit.
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