...
{...So basically I've been passed out for the past... week or so?}
{Correct. They also think you've been poisoned. I also concur. You should probably make your own meals from now on.}
Frenrin shook his head slightly. {...No, I don't think I was poisoned.}
{Kid, you must not be in your right mind. I don't think humans just randomly vomit some pitch-black substance from time to time.}
{Well... no, no they don't. But I had a dream—well, I think it was a dream at least. The 'dream' felt incredibly real, like, veritable, to be precise. I can still vividly remember every detail even now. I can remember the titles for the destroyed books and which walls had holes in them—I mean, I can even remember the number of tiles on the floor. My memory has always been good, but nowhere near this good. I can remember every single detail of the dream.}
{Anyway, the main point is that during the dream I vomited the same substance I did earlier, exactly the same. The only difference was the quantity, well, at least I think. I was kind of out of it while it happened... both times.}
Garmr rubbed his paw on his furry chin while racking his brain.
{I've never heard of anything like it. Though the world is incredibly supernatural, it could have been real, or maybe it was just a coincidence. Either way, you should stay clear of any food and drinks you didn't see made.}
{Yeah... probably.}
{Also, you should probably stop pretending to be asleep now. I'm not sure what exactly your plans are, but I overheard the principal muttering something about transferring you after a certain period of time.}
{Yeah, let me just... think about everything. I'll wake up after.}
Frenrin recalled his memories of the dream. It was vivid, and there was nothing he couldn't recall. Unfortunately, he could also recall the pain of suffocating, and even more so the pain of being brutally thrashed... still pale in comparison to whatever he vomited, though.
{That person... he looked like me, if that dream was real... or a vision? Prophecy, perhaps? I'm not sure, but if it was 'real,' then that probably was me, or at the very least someone closely connected to me. It's too big of a coincidence that our 'tone' was the exact same. The color of our hair, skin, and even our eye color was the exact same, well, at least after I came out of the... blood.}
{But now that I think about it, was that even blood? It had a similar metallic taste, but it was clearly different in many ways. The taste itself was different as aswell, and when I left the 'blood,' it definitely didn't have the same smell...}
Frenrin thought about a few other miscellaneous things, then recalled how he emptied his mind while suffocating in the ocean of blood.
{Hey, Garmr.}
{Yeah?}
{I'm going to try something real quick. Is it possible for you to accurately keep track of the time?}
{Yeah... there's a clock right there though?}
{...}
{You don't know what a clock is, do you?}
{I'm starting now.}
Frenrin concentrated for an instant. Shortly after, if you could see beneath his eyelids, you would see his eyes turning hollow, devoid of any light.
...
...
...
Suddenly Frenrin's eyes snapped open. Luckily for him, Charlie wasn't here anymore... unluckily though, Alicia was.
Alicia almost fell backwards when Frenrin suddenly jolted awake, staring straight towards her.
"...Frenrin, are you awake, Frenrin?"
Frenrin smiled slightly, revealing his Christmas-white choppers.
"Yeah, I'm awake."
Alicia wanted to run over and hug him and thank him so much just for waking up. Due to him lifting a huge weight off her shoulders, she wasn't exactly worried about Frenrin's well-being. She was more worried about the 'death' user itself. If Frenrin died not even a week after entering her academy, to say that she would lose her job would be an understatement. It would be more likely that her family's noble status would get revoked, and even then she herself could potentially even get hanged. 'Death' users are simply too rare and too powerful to lose, especially since Avaritia is currently gearing up for war. (Avarita is the country/continent Frenrin is currently in.)
"Wonderful! Well... I'll let you recover for a bit, and then we'll talk about what happened. Do you want me to tell anybody you're awake?"
Frenrin thought about it for a bit, then mentioned two names. Then, after saying goodbye to the principal, he talked to Garmr again.
{How long until I… woke up?}
{Around an hour.}
Frenrin felt as if only a few minutes passed. It was clear that whatever effort he put into the dream transferred back into reality.
...
"Frenrin!" Charlie shouted as he ran inside the room, sitting on the chair beside Frenrin's bed with watery eyes.
"Hello, Charlie. Hello to you as well, Sven."
Sven entered the room shortly after Frenrin called his name. He was pretty confident Frenrin couldn't actually detect him and simply just guessed he was there. Which he would be correct.
"Hey."
...
Frenrin's choices were relatively obvious. Charlie was rather a no-brainer, as he was Frenrin's only current 'friend.' Sven, though, was for a different reason altogether.
"Sven, is it possible for you to train me harder?"
Frenrin invited Sven solely for one reason: strength. After being toyed around with by his... potentially future self, and even back when he sparred against Thomas, it was pretty clear he needed more power, and since he couldn't cultivate ren currently, the only option was strengthening his body.
"Easily."
...Frenrin might not feel inclined to talk to others, but Sven clearly took it to another level, or perhaps he just had a very small vocabulary.
"If that's all, I'll be leaving."
Frenrin watched as Sven left, then turned his attention back towards Charlie.
"Here!" Charlie said as he shoved a box of candy, which clearly had very many missing pieces.
Frenrin gave a side-eye to Charlie, who simply looked away in response, then ate a few of the remaining pieces.
"Did anything happen while I was asleep?"
"Nope, well, I guess there are more people now. Since summer break is closer to ending, it won't be much longer until everybody is back."
"Oh hmm, when does summer break end?"
"About... a bit longer than a month, I think?"
Frenrin thought about how he would basically be at the first steps of cultivating ren by then, and now that he was thinking about ren, he just realized he never got to read those books Sven suggested.
"Charlie, you remember those books we got together earlier? Can you please go get them for me? I'm probably going to be here for a bit longer, so I might as well do something productive."
Charlie, feeling rather guilty about eating Frenrin's chocolates, jumped on the opportunity. "Yeah! I'll be right back."
Frenrin tossed Charlie the key to his room. Charlie then left shortly after.
{Ha... I lost more than a week of progress. Even without losing any time, I'm already clearly behind most people as well.}
Frenrin was feeling down, though, ironically, the reason he was feeling down would likely save his life someday. Unfortunately, Frenrin doesn't realize how great the boons he recently gained was. Well, you can't exactly blame him, as nobody else in the entire world would either.
After a short amount of time, Charlie received the books Frenrin asked for, promptly giving them to him and then leaving shortly after. Frenrin then read around a quarter of the introduction to martial arts before Principal Alicia entered, clearly ready to talk about what happened.