The Academy, as it turned out, takes this matters very seriously. Once he told Instructor Rock his suspicions and how he found out, they brought in a whole investigation team to search his room. Once he started the explanation, he couldn't really hide the [Echoes of the Dead] attribute anymore; it wasn't ideal.
But he explained just enough to make them ask fewer questions. The Investigator was creeped out when he explained that one of the memories told him someone was watching him and how he discovered the scent of the culprit.
They wanted to search the sleepers for a chance that one of them might be him, but Li shut that down quickly. None of the sleepers he had seen or smelled, for that matter, was the culprit; it was someone outside the Academy.
Someone who seemed to have ignored all the security measures and somehow spawned in and out of his room. There were very few Awakened, much less Master or saints, who could do that and one that was capable enough to have left no trace of themselves seemingly.
So, after a Night of Investigation, Li was sent to his dorm since he didn't add much to offer for the following work. He was told that he would be summoned once they found someone so he could identify them.
It was already morning when he returned to his room, so he just showered and went to the cafeteria for breakfast. They still needed to discuss what had happened the previous night in the dual.
.
.
.
Entering the cafeteria, Li went and grabbed a plate. Today, the scent of the food was intoxicating. Filling his plate to the brim, he went and grabbed a large cup of coffee. After searching the hall, he found his friends and went to their table.
"Hi, ladies and gentlemen. May I have a sit?" saying this with a straight face and not cringing, he waited for their response.
"What's up with the way you're talking? Never mind, come sit." After saying that, Gael moved aside to let Li sit.
"Nothing, just tired… you won't believe what happened last night, although I'm not supposed to tell you, but it would be our secret, RIGHT?"
They all looked at each other, a silent question lingering in the air. The desire to know the unknown was so palpable that they instantly nodded. There was no room for doubt.
.
.
.
"And that's how my night went, nothing serious, right?" Li shrugged with indifference.
The others, however, were not responding. They seem to be deep in thought.
"Well, that wasn't creepy at all…" said Dante, who was now looking weirdly at his food.
"There was no other evidence, like at all?" Iseul seemed more troubled than the other.
"No, he just went in and out; even now, I scanned the hall for a similar scent, but nothing matched our guy." Li said, "At this point, I'm curious, why would someone of that power mess with me, of all people?"
"Do you have any enemies? Someone you have offended?" Gael added after a short pause. "Hell, it might be one of these kids; maybe some legacy kid got heated and tipped someone to do this."
"I doubt it. They are all nervous and chatty, just like before. I can't feel any anomalies in their behavior." Li had double-checked everyone around here just to be sure. Still, he found nothing. If only he knew.
"How about you guys? Did anything weird happen to you last night?" Li was okay with being targeted, but if anything happened to his friends, he would kill the bastard with his own two hands.
"Nothing noteworthy, No."
"Me neither."
"Nope, none."
Li sighed with relief, it seemed there was no need for him to murder someone, for now.
"Well, we should get going to class now; we're running late." Li said as he looked at his communicator.
They all seemed to have forgotten that they had a class to attend. With a sigh, they stood up and bolted to the class. They did, in fact, arrive late.
***
Saying their goodbyes to Teacher Julius, they exited the classroom and went for dinner. They have learned a great deal today, mainly about the topic of creating medicine from various sources, such as poisonous plants or the saliva of particular species of Nightmare creatures.
Li thought of many ways to utilize this knowledge, such as making a conditioner, for example. He can't bring that sort of thing with himself to the Dream Realm after all.
Reaching the cafeteria, they selected their food and sat at a nearby table; the previous sleepers seemed to have left recently, as the table wasn't thoroughly cleaned yet.
Today, they had a variety of spicy dishes for dinner, much to Li's delight, as he filled his plate with everything spicy he could find.
Sitting down, Li took a deep breath and scanned the hall again, but still, there were no matches; with a shrug, he attacked his plate.
The others seemed a little tense, as did all the other sleepers. Noticing this, Li asked, a bit confused, "These guys are always chatty; why are they so quiet tonight?"
"…"
"…"
"…"
"Guys…?"
"…"
"What is going on? Something doesn't seem right…"
"Hi, Aian… or should I call you Li?"
"What the Fu—"
Looking back, Li saw King Night standing behind him. He was smiling.
"How did you… what happened to everyone?" Li asked, clearly perplexed as Night moved forwards and sat beside him.
"It's your gift, you don't know? Well, that explains a lot."
"You mean my [Echoes of the dead] attribute? How are you doing this? Am I doing this?"
"Yes, that's it; you did summon me here, albeit subconsciously."
"Well, that is… ominous. Now, what should I ask?" after a moment, Li asked the obvious.
"The guy last night, what does he look like, and how could you tell that I was being watched?"
"Sorry to disappoint you, but I didn't see him either. We just felt someone's presence invading the space here, so I felt I should inform you."
"God dammit—Wait, invading the space here? Where are we exactly?"
"This is the Realm of memories, where we reside, echoes of the forgotten. When you kill someone, you get all their memories or their essence, and they will rest in your soul. That is your gift, your inheritance, and your domain."
"What do you mean by 'inheritance' exactly?" Li was very confused, and for once, he was about to get answers.
"Oh, that's because ■ ■ ■ ■ ■ ■ ■ "
"What… can you repeat that? I didn't hear you."
"…"
"—Sigh—"
"Well it seems that ■ ■ ■ doesn't want you to know yet… you will learn when the time is right." King Night said as his form began to disappear.
"Wait, who is this guy you're talking about—Li, Are you alright? You have been staring at your food for a while now." Li was brought back to the real world by Gael's voice.
Looking at them with a deadpan expression, Li looked at his food again and sighed.
"I lost my appetite."
———————————————
The rest of The four Devils stay in the Academy went to be uneventful, it was somewhat disappointing. They ate their breakfast and went to the wilderness survival class to learn from Teacher Julius.
At night, they ate dinner and chatted about their lives before the Academy. If there were still some time left, they would go to the combat class, and when everyone left, they would spar with each other.
Their coordination and teamwork improved drastically with the help of Instructor Rock. And this routine continued till their last day, the day of the Winter Solstice.
YAWN—
"I just woke up, but I'm still sleepy…" Li said while trying to stand up, but he miscalculated how tired he was as he went face-first to the ground.
But he never hit the floor. Hovering just inches from the ground, Li was levitating. He had learned this trick a while back. He can now levitate himself and others as well as objects more easily.
The limit of this, he had come to learn, is seven objects at a time. He can levitate three people and make them fly where he wants. The interesting part was his Aspect Ability [Teacher]. With it, he can transport ownership of the wind that controls the flight to others.
For example, if he passes a giant fireball to Dante, he can make them the owner of that ball, and they will have limited control over it for thirty minutes. He can add to that fire at any time and also relinquish ownership of them forcefully.
They had fooled around with it so much that all four had learned to fly and balance themselves in the air. It made for a great escape plan if they were going to be together. Standing up, Li went to take a hot shower.
Finishing his morning routine, he went to the cafeteria. This was supposed to be his last day on earth for a while, but Li, strangely, didn't feel anything today. He did everything he usually does and went for breakfast.
Well, it wasn't like he didn't feel anything; he just wouldn't want to admit it.
'God, I hope I don't just fall in the middle of an ocean. I hate large bodies of water.'
Today, he wanted a big breakfast; he wasn't going to be all negative today. He believed that he and his friends would make it. No, he knew it. They had spent the last month practically glued to each other. He knew all their strengths and weaknesses; he knew they would make it.
And that's when he heard his name being called by Iseul.
"I see you're early today, like always," Iseul said as she involuntarily looked at the gloomy sleepers gathered In the cafeteria.
"Yeah, almost face-planted the floor—ACHOOO."
"Uh.. Sorry."
"Bless you. Now let's grab a bite and go; this place smells like death." Dante said, visibly shivering.
They all nodded and went to their table. No one said a word as they ate. No one was in the mood for talking. After finishing their meal, they got up and went to the combat class.
There were no classes today, but they wanted to spar; they had done it so many times that it had become a reflex at this point.
Reaching the class, they heard some voices, Grunts and pants. Opening the door, they saw the class was filled with sleepers; It seemed they all had the same idea as them.