Everyone lined up wearily, and many of the Sleepers furtively attempted to hide in the back.
Even Day was wondering what could have possibly made their teacher so upset in such a short time.
Day walked up to the line and simply allowed himself to be put wherever the Sleepers wished. He was pushed around a fair bit, and ended up near the middle; a place that put him in a position where he was only partially able to see up to where Awakened Rock was standing.
When everyone settled down, Awakened Rock began to speak:
"Earlier today, after classes… Someone came into the Dojo. Now, as you all know- Such things aren't forbidden, but if one of you may, what was the one singular thing that I said during class that wasn't allowed?"
One of the Sleepers raised their hand. She was sporting rimless glasses and had a long, flowing ponytail, but was rather off putting due to her height and wider build. At least to Day, but he quickly chased those thoughts out of his mind, thinking them too disrespectful.
"The Sleepers are not allowed to use the strength machine unless class is in session."
Day tensed up.
"Yes, correct… Now, would you like to guess what one of you did?"
The girl answered quickly, her voice certain.
"Use the machine when class isn't in session."
"Yes… Thank you. Whoever did this act kindly left the machine on for me to see when I arrived at class. Now, this may seem obvious, so why am I saying this?"
The girl with glasses spoke again.
"Because-"
"Rhetorical question!"
Awakened Rock coughed.
"Generally, I wouldn't care if someone used the machine, because I wouldn't know… But the machine can cause problems when left on for long, and that it did."
"I won't go into the details of the problems it caused, but just know that whoever left it on caused me great problems. If I find who it is, there will be consequences."
A chill went up Day's spine.
'Yeesh… He's really intense.'
"Now, since all of you are here, I'll say this one more time- Don't use the machine unless class is in session."
After Awakened Rock finished talking, everyone had visibly cooled off, relieved that everything had cleared up easily… And that they weren't involved.
Day, however, was still tense. So much so that he forced himself to calm down so he didn't catch the attention of Awakened Rock.
'I can't believe I didn't hear that… I should pay more attention to what people are saying. Thank goodness they aren't investigating the Sleepers. Unless they are? Man, I need to lay low for the next few weeks. Wait…'
Day put his hand on the bridge of his nose and massaged it with a soft groan.
'Damn it… That's not possible. Ugh, I'm starting to regret sharing my True Name.'
Awakened Rock quickly segwayed into talking about something different. He explained to the Sleepers that there would be two tests today, one of them would be with the machine that, to Day's relief, was still working…
While the other would take place later on, likely about forty five minutes before class ended.
This one would be scrimmage battles between the Sleepers, with a knockout format where whoever stepped up could stay until everyone else lost.
The first section of class went by quickly. People stepped up to the machine and punched it. Most people obtained fair scores, but for the group of Sleepers, there were a few people who stood out among the crowd.
One of them was the silver haired girl. With near flawless form, she slammed her fist into the metal plate and received a whopping sixteen from just her strength alone. Another was Caster, who received an unbelievable twenty one from using his Ascended Aspect ability… An unbelievable number.
Day could hear whispers when their scores appeared.
"As expected of the rank one and two!"
"Well, what if Nephis isn't using only her strength? Wouldn't that make Caster more powerful?"
"There's no way that's true! She isn't ranked one for no reason… Right?"
'So that silver haired girl is rank one? And Caster is rank two? I wonder where I am… Ugh, I feel like I remember someone asking me why I'm ranked so low. I really should have checked, instead of focusing on the food so much. I need to be more aware of my surroundings…"
With a sigh, Day focused his attention away from the whispers. It was his turn to step up.
He decided to be secretive of his Aspect Ability, so he only used his fists as well.
Once again, by doing what he did the night before, Day obtained a thirteen.
This time, the whispers weren't as kind.
"Seriously? Thirteen? His form was so off… He certainly has worked out, but a thirteen feels sort of…"
"Maybe he really did lie? I would have expected more from someone who bears a True Name."
One of the whispers he heard that made his stomach churn was:
"Does he even deserve it? Seems to me like someone more fit for a True Name would be Caster…"
'You try killing a Dormant Beast with no training, bums… Ugh, maybe I should have used my Aspect Ability after all.'
When he stepped away from the machine, Awakened Rock was giving him a disappointed look.
After that display, nobody seemed to care much about him anymore. They all seemed to have completely forgotten about him, like he never existed. Day had to admit, he probably wasn't doing the most he could to keep his social image high. His peculiar conversation with Caster, his choice to sit near the social outcasts, and his lack of strength really were starting to have an effect on the Sleepers views of him.
'That's not really fair, to judge me like that. Well, whatever, at the end of the day; I still have time to improve.'
All this did was give him another reason to work hard in the future, to prove all of the people who thought upon him ill wrong. For now, he couldn't let himself lose sleep over being low in the social economy of Sleepers who he wouldn't have even a second to worry about when the winter solstice came.
Day lost himself in his thoughts until everyone finished testing themselves with the machine. After Day, Nephis and Caster, nothing else particularly interesting happened.
To Day, even the second half of class wasn't interesting. Nephis, the rank one, stepped into the ring first and started to decimate every single Sleeper who stepped up and tried to contest her. Day really didn't want to step up, but he did.
Nephis looked him in the eyes calmly and silently. Day was a little afraid, so he decided to break the silence with a whisper.
"Please go easy on me?"
She did not go easy on him.