[You have been bestowed a True Name…]

Hope felt like his heart caught in his throat.

A true name?! He barely knew anyone with that kind of appraisal. Maybe there were Awakened with true names at the heart of the government, but he wouldn't know. Nor did he care to know.

But of course, the most famous one known to humanity was Immortal Flame himself!

Hope cleared his throat.

Of course, there was the other legendary cohort with true names besides Immortal Flame. He was just one of many.

[True Name: …]

Here it was.

Hope subconsciously held his breath, his heart pounding fiercely like it was going to burst. A cloud of exhilaration and fear filled his chest when the Spell began to speak. And then finally…

"...!"

And then…

"..."

And then…

"…"

And then-

"The hell?"

He didn't hear his name be called out. No. Wait. Did he?

He was sure the Spell spoke, but it sounded unintelligible. As if it were speaking in the rune language itself. But then that wouldn't make sense.

Hope paused. "...Hey what is my-"

[Your Aspect is ready to evolve. Evolve Aspect?]

"Yes. Wait– hold on." Hope raised his hand in gesturing for the Spell to stop. "My true name is-"

[Dormant Aspect Interloper is evolving…]

"Can you just-"

[New Aspect acquired.]

"Go back to-"

[Aspect Rank: Supreme.]

[Aspect Name: Harbinger of Sleep]

"..."

Hope sighed as he pinched the bridge of his nose.

"For fuck's sake."

What the hell was going on? Did the Spell always act this way?

Well, it would have been nice to get a 'new name.' Hope wasn't exactly thrilled with the name he was born with. He was always met with baffled expressions when he introduced himself. He couldn't blame them. A boy named Hope in this day and age? It was comical.

And now this Spell was behaving strangely...?

"Tsk…"

He'd been having a muddle with the Spell from the beginning that he couldn't properly focus on the appraisal. How many known to humanity have Dreamers experienced this type of problem?

He rubbed his face and took deep breaths.

Hope paused. Now that he thought about it, who told him deep breathing was supposed to help again?

'Ah my commanding officer.'

His commanding officer once mentioned it helped her a lot when she came home to her husband. Whatever that meant. But she was the one who taught Hope all he needed to know as a soldier. She always gave him some sort of solutions and advice. Whether it were battle tactics or reviews on which beverage was the best, coffee specifically, she had a voice almost on any topic if one asked.

He would have to report to her to see if she had any solutions to this problem as well.

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It was too much. Too much. The odd Attribute names and descriptions, and the oddity of his true name. How many more anomalies would he have to take on?

Hope shook his head from his thoughts and waved his hand to summon the runes of his new aspect.

Aspect: [Harbinger of Sleep]

'…It doesn't sound useless. Something to do with…well, obviously sleeping.'

Hope's eyes flickered to the next line.

[Aspect Rank: Supreme]

'Supreme huh? Is that big big? Is that the highest rank? Is it- Wait…How many ranks are there?'

Hope raised his right hand and counted each rank by his finger.

'Dormant, Awakened, Ascended, Transcendent…? And then there are two more. No three.'

Hope frowned. 'Somewhere up there.'

It was never confirmed to him how many there were. Not that anyone had ever reached Transcendence. That seemed impossible. Maybe Immortal Flame could but Hope wasn't going to put so much faith in that guy.

But would a Supreme rank make him work more on the field?

He then peeked to the next set of runes describing his Aspect.

Aspect Description: [Your soul contains fragments of a soul that bears a great burden. It has found a perfect vessel in you; you are one in the same. Fates intertwined. You wish to escape it but instead offer other souls the solace you cannot have but also should not seek.]

…Did Aspect descriptions always read out like some sort of riddle?

Hope read the runes again and still felt puzzled by it.

Maybe his power associated with sleep was the same as just relaxing the body? Or was there more philosophical point to it? There was another odd saying he had heard of dreams being the best escape from reality. That most likely meant when someone was actually dreaming in bed, not exactly going to the Dream Realm itself.

But to recount what he had so far; his Aspect was Supreme which would level up his status in society. Possibly on the field as well. How unfortunate.

He also got a Memory, but it was a shield.

In his days as a trainee, he was trained in close combat with comrades and beasts but now his usual range of attacks were with firearms. He was not directly on the front lines with the Awakened cohorts either. Although he may lead from either front or back when it came to transporting the convoys, he was less vulnerable compared to what the Awakened usually do.

He'd have to check on the Memory later.

[The First Seal is broken.]

[Awakening dormant powers…]

!!!

Hope made a noise of surprise as he hunched over, clutching his chest as he felt something stir inside of him. It was like a glow. No. Another spark. A small fierce flame that had been brought to life as if desperately waiting for this moment. It felt distant and yet its warmth began to grow strong with a brilliance that slowly started to become ablaze.

What was this feeling?

He couldn't properly describe it, but it felt…euphoric?

A strange exhilarating energy was blossoming inside of him. He felt it course through his body, invigorating him with its warmth that made his blood run hot. Even the tips of his fingers tingled and pulsed like tiny heartbeats.

Yet for some reason, Hope felt like it wasn't at its full potential. Probably because he wasn't an Awakened, or that there were still six or seven other ranks to go through.

As if he would want to climb higher ranks.

Slowly but surely, he felt his tired muscles in his chest and shoulders start to swell, his weak bones began to strengthen, and his sight increase double in vision. He flexed his fingers and slowly brought them up to his face. His skin felt slightly smoother.

Right...Every Dreamer's body became enhanced when they completed their First Nightmare. Although on a much smaller scale compared to an Awakened. As they rank up, they also almost tend to look like demigods. At least that was how people described Immortal Flame who apparently looked fairly young for his age. Weird. Either way, people noticed that the Awakened have become healthier, and stronger.

But that caused a lot of misconceptions around the time the Nightmare Spell first arrived.

There were a lot of diseases spreading around after humanity's nuclear wars, chemical wars, etc. It destroyed nearly all crops and livestock. With the sky shrouded in ashes for many many years, the deficiency in vitamin d was even worse and eroded the body. After the Nightmare Spell's arrival, when they saw the Awakened looking better than ever, people desperately wanted to be infected by the Spell.

How ironic. They wanted that transformation to escape their incurable illnesses.

But in the end, it didn't matter.

Their perfect bodies were in the Dream Realm, and their real physical bodies were still as broken. They thought becoming an Awakened was the solution, but it was not. One's body just becomes more enhanced than an average human. They don't become immortal.

Hope had to admit that he was fooled with this misconception. Although, he didn't seek out to be infected, it was a theory that ignited the hearts of many.

After what seemed like a couple minutes, the euphoric sensation dissipated and was replaced with a wash of coldness. The simple aches and discomforts completely disappeared, and he felt new strength flowing through his limbs.

Shiiiiing-

Hope's head reflexively looked up and noticed there were suddenly random motes of light swirling around each other over the sea. They merged one by one and swelled into a bigger ball of luminescence, its light filling the vicinity as it slowly rose higher and higher above ground that Hope had to bend his neck.

Eventually, another orb of light formed but a much smaller one. It circled the Star like some loose pendulum, but Hope noticed a small shield inside of it.

That must be where his Memory was stored. His [Ashen Shield.]

He blinked as he stared at it. 'So, this is what they call Soul Sea huh? Or Sea of Soul…?'

Hope had heard the names many times used interchangeably so he wasn't sure which he preferred.

The void around him began to grow just a little bit lighter. A viridescent warmth illuminated the edges of the sea, making it seem as if twilight had emerged.

But what was most peculiar of this whole process was a black speck at the heart of the Star. Like a seed of darkness.

It was hard to see if one didn't take their time to observe it, but it was undoubtedly there. It neither blossomed nor contracted, neither pulsed nor murmured, just existed at its center.

A Star...shouldn't be like that right?

Hope subconsciously felt himself walk towards it. His own soul calling to him.

But intruding Hope's thoughts and actions, the Spell spoke again.

[Awakening Aspect Ability…].