Being looked at by an entire room full of recruits might give others pause, or even make them feel intimidated. But Nero did not even pause his steps and approached the lecturer alongside the escorting soldier.
The lecturer did not seem to recognise Nero, but as soon as he read the folder that was handed to him his face snapped up and he looked at Nero with surprise.
'Yup, there was definitely something he didn't know,' Nero thought to himself.
"You're just in time," the lecturer said to Nero, his voice clearly tinged with a hint of favour. Whatever it was that Nero didn't know, clearly it wasn't a bad thing. "Have a seat. I was just about to begin the briefing."
Nero nodded and walked to the only remaining empty seats which were all the way at the back.
"Alright, pay attention everyone," the lecturer said, putting an end to the whispering and murmuring in the room. "I am now going to begin sharing all the pertinent information about the Eldrim ruins we have gathered so far, including all the obstacles our forces have faced inside of them.
"The ruins were discovered months ago around 190 km south of Aetherpeak, following a large earthquake which caused a side of the mountain to collapse. This actually contradicts common sense, because the ruins being uncovered after the collapse insinuates that the 'ruins' were buried under the mountain, and so should be nothing more than rubble, but their state is perfect.
"In fact we can confirm that the few collapsed structures are a result of our uncovering efforts, and not because they were in that state when discovered. The ruins, because of their state, have been given the designation as Lumina city, or just Lumina, so that is how they will be referred to for the remainder of this briefing.
"Studying the layout of Lumina, it can be concluded that the city continues, even under the remaining, uncollapsed mountain, so efforts are already being made to remove the mountain in a way to avoid damaging the city underneath. But that has nothing to do with any of you. Instead…"
The instructor turned around and displayed a picture of Lumina, the same one he saw long ago when he went to receive his commendation award. Everyone immediately realised what the issue was. Most of Lumina was covered in fog, and entering the fog was a death sentence. There had never been any exceptions.
"Approaching the fog is strictly prohibited, and even if it wasn't most people would not be interested in it anyway, which is why there is a certain phenomenon that most people don't know about. No, I am not referring to the Fog Angel. Instead, I mean that as summer approaches, the wind patterns change, and that brings about changes in the fog as well."
The lecturer changed the picture to one of all six countries surrounded by fog, and began drawing large arrows coming from Nova, across Lake Natura, and towards the Aether mountain range.
He split the arrows in different directions, but in general, the winds were always blowing towards the mountains. Nero's eyes widened as he realised that this was something so obvious. How had he never thought of this before?
"In the summer months, various jet streams are formed, which are basically just wind currents high in the atmosphere. But they also bring about winds closer to the ground, especially after crossing Lake Natura. The strange nature of the lake means that we cannot determine why exactly the jet streams experience a change, but the result is the only thing we're concerned with right now.
"As of last week, the effects of the Chinook jet stream, as we call it, have already been detected. The fog is beginning to move backwards, making more of Lumina accessible. To those wondering, this natural cycle of the fog retreating cannot be manually recreated, as it is something that has already been attempted.
Many of you are also going to be deployed, and as you can guess, your deployment is also related to the retreat of the fog.
"Lumina is divided into several levels. There is the ground level, the higher levels in the buildings up above, and the underground levels, or basement levels."
The lecturer paused at this point, and his expression changed and became much more serious.
"Although the fog will retreat on the ground and above levels, for reasons we cannot yet ascertain, a thin layer of fog continues to remain in all the basement levels. The reduced density of the fog does not, in any way, reduce the associated dangers of the fog… at least for those above the Neophyte level."
A sudden wave of understanding washed over all the recruits, and with it came a level of fear and apprehension. For as long as they have been alive, everyone has heard of the only thing that is definitely more dangerous than curses, and that's fog.
Not all fog is dangerous. No, only the fog that surrounds all six countries, keeping them trapped within the bowl shaped region, is dangerous. None who venture too deep ever come back. Comparatively, at least curses, even abstract curses, leave a chance for whoever is affected to survive.
But now, most likely, they were going to be sent into the fog. Even Nero was not immune to the effects of this news, though he maintained his composure since he knew there was no point in sending them all to die in the fog - hopefully.
The lecturer could clearly tell what was on everyone's mind. He cleared his throat, attracting everyone's attention back to himself.
"Like I said, the fog does not affect Neophytes at all. This is something that has been confirmed already, time and time again. Hundreds of Neophytes have already entered the basement and come back, providing detailed reports of what they saw or experienced. Nothing suggests that the fog affects them in any way.
"Unfortunately, that does not mean that the lower levels are safe. As countless curses have taken root there. Moreover, the more important portions of the basements still have functional Eldrim security protocols. Both of those are going to be your main obstacles.
"Now I am going to begin detailing all the obstacles that our forces have faced in the basement. Remember them well, for you might have to face them in the near future. The first and most common obstacle is access authority cards…"
For the next two hours, the lecturer listed out, briefly, many of the problems that had been encountered in the basement, and they were not few. Ironically, the pristine condition of the city had actually become a detriment in exploring it, since many Eldrim structures were still operational even if no one understood how or why.
The only piece of good news amongst all of that, really, was that if the curses became too strong, even they would be affected by the fog and killed off, so although they probably had to face hundreds if not thousands of curses, at least they wouldn't be too far beyond their means to handle.
Nero listened carefully, memorising each and every detail, and noticed that everyone in the same room as him paid the same amount of attention. While such a thing should be normal, in practice, most people were not able to stay focused on one subject for a long time. They would naturally get distracted, or lost in their own thoughts.
It was a small detail, but it let Nero know that the recruits in that room were definitely the cream of the crop. They all carried themselves with an air of confidence, but when it came time to pay attention, they were not arrogant at all and seriously listened. Eventually, the briefing came to an end - not because they had learnt all the problems they were going to face.
Rather, it was because they would now be divided into groups, and each group would be focusing on a different part of the various basement levels. No one knew how many levels there were, but the army had already confirmed four.
Instead of knowing everything about the entire city, it would be better to simply focus on the regions where they would be deployed.
It made sense, though Nero also got the feeling that even though they had shared sensitive information, they were trying to keep the really sensitive information as locked down as possible.
Nero got up, but immediately noticed that a number of recruits near him were staring at him. Well, there was no point in picking a fight, so he might as well pick a friendly route.
He walked up to three recruits close to him who were openly staring at him, and with a smile said, "Hey, my name is Nero, though I sense you guys might already know that. Would you mind sharing why everyone is looking at me? I hope I didn't forget to shave a patch of hair on my face."
It was a poor joke, since Nero did not shave yet, but he hoped they'd respond to his friendliness, and they did. Just not in the way he was hoping.