A couple minutes later, Epsilon awoke on the cold floor of the dojo. His left cheek ached, and he could taste a little bit of his own blood in his mouth.
'My head hurts.'
It looked as if the class was still on going, but his body was just tossed to the far corner of the room to make space. They probably thought that he would wake up soon since they didn't take him out, but he felt a little objectified.
While Epsilon was knocked out, everyone seemed to be sparring in the centre. The most vicious conflict though, was between Galahad and Sylas. The former seemed to be very angry though.
"STOP DODGING AND FIGHT ME PROPERLY YOU F#}+&@!"
"But I am? I'm going all out here."
Galahad moved like a storm, his staff whirling through the air in a relentless flurry of strikes. Each blow came with the force of a hammer, sweeping low, then high, then twisting in a rapid arc meant to break defences. His grip was firm, his footwork precise, pressing forward with unwavering aggression.
Yet, despite the speed and precision of his assault, Sylas weaved between the strikes like a shadow, each movement a perfect evasion. A slight tilt of the head, a sidestep, a graceful lean—it was as if the air itself bent to accommodate him. The staff struck nothing but empty space, the effort relentless but fruitless.
With each failure, Galahads anger slowly rose and grew, until...
Sylas's eyes glinted, and his sword likewise shot forwards. In the next few moments, the top half of a broken staff clattered to the ground.
It was an overwhelming victory.
"..."
Galahad threw the broken half of his weapon to the ground, before stomping out the room in frustration. Awakened Orum didn't even try to shout him back in, he knew he was a lost cause.
His head did turn to Sylas though, who just shrugged.
**
Once class ended, Epsilon found himself in the cafeteria hall where he had lunch with Emma as per usual. After wards though, he went straight to the schools library to do some research on that strange memory he had.
Walking around the forest of books, he noticed that he was one of two students in here. It was just her and one other girl who he recognised as the awkward one next to the corner of loners.
There were a wide variety of books for Epsilon to choose from, in the end though, he picked out three books that interested him.
[The Distant Past, by Julius]
It was a book on what humanity currently knew of the dream realms history. Events in the nightmares took place in the dreams realms past, and so one of the only ways that humans could learn anything, was by telling each other their nightmares trials. This book contained a few of those trials from several awakened so Epsilon hoped to find anything connected back to his own.
[The Nightmare Spell For Dummies, by Gookin]
This book was a guide on everything having to do with the Nightmare spell. Whether it was on how it worked at a fundamental level(what humanity knew about it so far, at least), to memory types, echoes, and even enchantments and their limits. Epsilon hoped to learn about his memory in here. It was the last book though, that Epsilon had the most interest in.
[The Rise Of Kingdoms, by Seeker]
It was a book on the creation of the current world government, as well as the legacy clans that defend the dream realm. Since Epsilon wanted to create his own, research into them was inevitable. The best way to learn after all, was to observe others.
Taking all three books with him, he sat down at a desk and got to reading.
**
His time wasn't completely wasted. He actually managed to learn quite a bit, especially from the last book, but the other two were a bit of a disappointment.
For starters, Epsilon learned that the place his Nightmare took place in, was an area of the dream realm called the Hollow mountains. It was a dangerous part of the dream realm that was forever drowned in a mist that no awakened dared to get to close too. It was so dangerous in fact, that it was labelled as a death zone, and so knowledge about it was very little since explorers didn't go in it.
No wonder their first Nightmare was so difficult. Unfortunately though, him and Nero seemed to be the only case of ever sharing a Nightmare, and having one that took place in the Hollow Mountains, or rather, below them.
'Then the information I have must be valuable... I wonder if I can sell it?'
The next book was completely useless though. It mostly spoke about stuff that Epsilon was already familiar with, or mostly knew. It didn't say anything about consumable memories, but it did introduce him to something that actually tied in with the next book.
The Aspect legacy.
'To make a legacy clan, I need three things. A citadel to mark my territory, an aspect legacy to show it's power, and a cohort of companions I can trust.'
A citadel was vital, otherwise where would his clans centre of operations reside? Why would he tie it down to another clan which would hinder him?
Although an aspect legacy wasn't necessary to make a clan, if he wanted to slay powerful titans in the future, he needed the memories and echoes to do so. All of which an aspect legacy granted. Since his own was Divine, the memories or echoes it offered should be at that level.
Not only was it uniquely tailored for every Aspect, but so were its unlock conditions. Since he had a Divine Aspect, its unlock conditions must also be just as pricey. He might not even be guaranteed to awaken one in his lifetime, however long that would be...
And the last item, a cohort of companions. Although his dream was bonkers, he was not insane. If he wanted to challenge future nightmares, he needed a cohort to do so, and he had no plans on soloing one by himself. These companions couldn't be weak, and needed to be faithful people that he could trust with his life. His brother fit that description...
'Too bad.'
He had already put that behind him though. Well, there was Sylas, but he seemed rather attached to the Gracia.
'Who else...?'
Galahad already belonged to a legacy clan it seems, so its unlikely that he would leave them for his non-functioning own, and Bors...
'That's an obvious no no... who else who else?'
There was also Emma, but he didn't want to get her roped up in this. He wasn't just doing this for his mother, but for her as well.
He hadn't even decided on a name for his clan, and then he would have to deal with accounting, politics, and a bunch of other tiring stuff. This was more difficult than he thought..
'Maybe I should pause that idea until I come back from the dream realm.'