Bael woke up to the very familiar sensation of wind swirling around his body. The healing card worked wonders, which is why he felt none of the dizziness or fatigue that came with a kick that would knock him out, but no spell could heal his wounded ego. Fighting him had been like childsplay to Nero.
From start to end, Nero never saw him as anything more than a means to placate his father, which for some reason infuriated him even more.
"Bael, you are no longer a child, so why are you acting like one?" the commander asked, his massive figure looming over Bael.
"I am not a child, I'm a warrior!" he said through gritted teeth.
"That's what I'm saying. You're not a child, so why are you behaving like one? What sane soldier goes around provoking unnecessary enemies? When have you ever seen me nurture hate in the heart of my subordinates? Not only have you fostered a poor relationship with an artisan with a great future, you have turned a great potential ally into an enemy.
"Now imagine if you and Nero had been friends instead. You could have learned from one another, and aided each other in the battlefield. Now, if you ever face a desperate situation when you get deployed, and Nero discovers it, the best you can hope for is that he ignores you. A more realistic expectation is that he will sabotage you instead."
"You… you think he wants to kill me?" Bael asked, shocked.
"Of course. He is an extremely talented man who works harder than anyone else. He has incredible drive. But at the same time, he is just a kid, and he is predictable. That is why he is being used like a tool by his betters. That is the fate of anyone talented who does not have a background sufficient enough to be protected.
"For example, though he wants to kill you to avoid future potential problems where you target him, he cannot because he does not want to provoke me. He is surrounded by unknown and lacking significant allies, which is why tomorrow I expect him to play directly into my hands. That is what I meant by the fact that he is talented, but predictable.
"The same is true with you, only that you're even easier to manipulate. You did not even realise as the whispers in your ears set you on a path of self-immolation. You ruined your image in the eyes of your superiors, and made enemies among your peers. This is the first and last time I will intervene."
Bael clenched his fists as a feeling of frustration enveloped him.
*****
Nero tried to guess the implications of his most recent exchange. The commander seemed indifferent to Nero's existence entirely save for how he could use him. That was not the best situation to be in, but it was far from the worst. He had promised to keep Bael from targeting him in the future, but Nero was not going to bet on that.
The big kid clearly had anger issues, and if he listened to his father to begin with this whole situation would never arise. Not to mention their original grudge, Nero had beaten that kid up a few more times right now, so he found it hard to believe this would be resolved so easily.
But that was an issue for the future. For now, he had an equally if not even more important task.
Since the major had not instructed Nero to report as soon as he got free, Nero had a bit of time on his hands. Since he had no doubt the army would fill every waking moment of his time with other things, he had to take this small reprieve to complete the one task he had been unable to complete so far.
It was already evening, so he could only hope that the others were free from whatever they were assigned to do during the day.
It did not take him long to find Silas, who was predictably once again trying to have himself shifted from Bael's team. But unfortunately, whatever Bael's mission was, it required an artisan, and besides Silas, very few were skilled enough artisans at the Neophyte level.
Once he found Silas, it was easy to find Gabriel, who brought Nero to a locker where he had everything Nero needed stashed. They were the ingredients for Radix Augmentation, along with many extra and unnecessary ingredients as well. Even if it was Gabriel, Nero could not directly reveal such a valuable recipe, even if he didn't know what it was for.
Unfortunately, while getting his hands on these ingredients was easier, finding someplace quiet and private where he could craft his card was not so straightforward. The army base was not exactly an Inn where he could ask for a room, and technically they weren't supposed to have so much free time anyway.
Nero had to ask for a favour from the artisan who had been assigned to him during his training, and even then he explained it saying that Silas was going to use a recipe privately owned by his father which is why they needed the room. Though Mr. Rodney was a huge ass, at least in Nero's opinion, his reputation as an artisan was still useful.
That is how, by dinner time, Nero found himself locked in a crafting room. Silas had only accompanied Nero briefly, while they were accepting the permit to use the room, but then left Nero to his own devices.
Even though he had been successful in crafting an innate card, he had never tried with any other kind of card yet. If he could not do this today, then he likely wouldn't get another chance any time soon. He didn't even have Arithmetic perception to help him anymore.
He closed his eyes and calmed his mind down, discarding any random or stray thoughts. His fight with Bael had sparked many rumours already, and he had noticed more than a few recruits looking at him oddly throughout the day.
He had no idea what they were saying about him, but he was sure someone would tell him soon. It could not be helped that whether he wanted to or not, he was attracting a lot of attention.
All the way back from the incident with the sage, Nero had been attracting attention, and he was slightly afraid that he was purposefully being propped up for a specific purpose. Although explanations had been given, he often found himself wondering if they were true. Now, with his recent increase in fame with the Clear Path incident, Nero could once again see an invisible hand promoting him.
The fact that he had no idea why all this was happening is what disturbed him the most.
He had been thinking of precautions he could take, and often tried to guess what someone would gain from promoting him, but had not found an answer yet. These were the thoughts he had most trouble pushing away, but somehow he managed.
With a clear head, Nero began his first attempt at crafting Radix Augmentation. He had enough materials for three attempts, in case he failed.
But today, whether it was luck or because of his increased experience, his hand was unusually steady. Every step he performed perfectly, and each ingredient he prepared just as the recipe required.
In one continuous flow, without any breaks or pauses, Nero set everything up and then began crafting the card. Just shy of his second hour, to his genuine surprise, Nero finally managed to craft the card!
Name: Radix Augmentation
Image: The silhouette of a tree with a massive root network
Type: Augmentation
Star rank: 0
Ability: [Use external aids to enhance aether absorption]
Flavour text: "From the earth we are nurtured and grown" - ???
The card was simple, and surprisingly smooth. Nero almost expected to have created substandard work, but the card was virtually indistinguishable from any other card. Yet this card was his mothers family's legacy.
He wondered how they got their hands on its recipe, and what was so special about it. He wondered if other prominent families had similar secret cards that helped with speeding up their growth.
But what others had did not matter to him. With this card, he could absorb the vitality from something recently killed which would help his growth.
To test out the effectiveness of his card, one of the ingredients he asked for was a jar of living cockroaches. These ugly looking insects were actually aether rich, which is why they were used in many recipes. Asking for live specimens was not unusual, since sometimes the ingredient needed to be fresh.
Using his cryoflames, Nero killed one and then placed its frozen body in front of himself, and activated Radix Augmentation. The frozen roach shattered, and Nero felt a trickle of aether flow into his chest. The amount was absolutely infinitesimal, but it mixed perfectly with his own aether, and did not leak from his body.
The contribution was not great, but it was already faster than naturally trying to absorb aether by almost a dozen times!
Nero killed another roach, this time by crushing it, and tried again. He needed to see how much the feedback was affected by the condition of the body and method of the kill.