The atmosphere in the garrison was heavy, despite the fact that it was deep within Kolar. The soldiers displayed signs of recently facing combat, and even the recently erected buildings showed subtle signs of being rebuilt in certain areas.
Patrols were just as frequent inside as they were outside, and there was not a single soldier in sight who was lazy or lacklustre in his duty. In a way, Nero and the rest had entered the most crucial place in the entire war, and that's exactly what it felt like.
The tests they faced did not come to an end, and each one of them was scanned thoroughly time and time again for any anomaly. Eventually, though, they were finally brought to a room where major Liam seemed to have been waiting for them.
This time there was no small talk or motivational speeches or anything. The major directed them towards a few sealed cases which contained the gear they would be using during their missions. Nero and the rest found the cases which contained their specific armour sets and entered the small changing rooms that were provided for them.
But unlike his excursion in the forest, the armour Nero wore was not designed to block physical damage, but was instead designed to resist curses. As a result, it was lighter and easier to move in, but alternatively, it provided little to no physical protection.
This was a sacrifice that needed to be made, since the areas they were going to venture into might have harboured curses for an untold number of years.
As usual, his armour contained six slots for cards, which Nero selected now. The reason all these armours contained six slots was based on the result of a very detailed study that had been conducted over a course of many years.
Simply stated, regardless of how smart or aware a soldier might be, if too many cards were strapped on their bodies, then they would end up mixing the cards. For example, if there were two cards on their chest, in the heat of battle, there was a high chance that the soldier might mix up the two cards and use the wrong one.
In a high-risk situation, even a single mistake could be lethal, so this was not a mistake they could afford. Of course, with special training using a fixed set of cards over a period of time it was possible to overcome this barrier, but it was hardly worth the invested time.
By having six cards, and associating them with significant body parts or limbs, not only was it easier to remember the location each card was in, but soldiers could tap into their body's instincts associated with the limbs to activate cards faster.
There was one more reason for six cards, though. This phenomenon was not so prevalent, or rather prominent, in 0 star cards used by Neophytes, but in higher levels, cards, when activated, usually exhibited certain energy fields around them.
If two cards were activated together, and their energy fields intersected each other, there was a small risk of causing unexpected changes to spells. These changes were a topic of extensive study, and some people had even made ways to profit off this phenomenon when specific changes were consistent between two specific cards.
But for the most part, it was unpredictable, and so cards were kept at a distance from one another.
Which cards to use in his slots was something Nero could decide on his own, though over the past few weeks of training with a personal artisan, he had come up with a good combination.
The first card he would use was called Flare.
Name: Flare
Image: A flare shooting through the night sky
Type: Elemental
Star rank: 0
Ability: [Shoot a fire cluster in a straight line. The fire, while not initially hot, spreads easily and has the potential to turn into a massive flame]
Flavour text: "A shooting star reaches for the ground, and a flare reaches for the sky," Alex Harrera.
Alex was the artisan he had been working with, and took an oath under a card to never reveal information about Nero's innate card. The reason he took this oath was because he asked Nero to share the description of it, and then worked out many ways to maximise on its traits.
What 'heat' actually represented in the description of his ability aside, it was obvious that his flames most easily absorbed thermal energy to expand and grow. As such, it did not take a genius to imagine using actual flames to get the most out of his ability. Nero had thought of this too but never had access to a sufficiently useful card.
Alex, however, provided him with a number of flame based cards for him to experiment with. Ultimately, they settled on Flare after countless tests.
The second card was naturally going to be Snowflake. Despite the fact that Nero had used it countless times, it still showed no signs to wear and could obviously be used for a long time.
The third was FAK, which was still one of the best First Aid cards he'd been able to get his hands on.
The fourth card was called Aether Pulse.
Name: Aether Pulse
Image: A sonar radar
Type: Scouting
Star rank: 0
Ability: [Release a pulse of aether up to 30 metres (100 feet) in front of you, revealing curses. Might also work on non-curse, camouflaged targets]
Flavour text: "Abra Kadabra in reverse," Alex Harrera
This one was a card that he had been strongly recommended to keep. Considering that nobody knew what kind of situations they might face, keeping cards with great utility was absolutely essential.
Nero knew that some people preferred to have all combat oriented cards. He was not pointing any fingers, but prior to Wendy, Harold might have been like that. Who knew if he still subscribed to such a mentality? But Nero at least preferred versatility. That was also why, once again, he decided to keep Dark-vision as his fifth card.
The sixth card was one he changed last minute, based on advice given to him by commander Dagon. It was called Double skin.
Name: Double skin
Image: A very tight piece of armour
Type: Defensive
Star rank: 0
Ability: [Wrap the users body in a bubble of protective aether that protects equally from physical harm and aetheric pressure, though it is more focused towards resisting aetheric pressure]
Flavour text: "Protect the body and soul, my mind is long gone," - Maxim.
Since manipulating his internal pressure was a very effective combat tool, Nero did not want to eliminate it from his arsenal. With this card, which Alex was able to find from Maxim's card shop, Nero could continue to use it.
Although, admittedly, he was going to be a lot more careful with it now that he knew the dangers associated with it.
These were the six cards he fit in his slots, but Nero added a seventh card as well. The reason why he was doing this was because he did not need it during combat, so it would not be an issue. Moreover, he would be careful to not activate any other card at the same time as it to avoid any unexpected surprises.
At the bottom of his right foot he placed Radix Augmentation. Realistically, Nero would not even get a chance to use this card since he would be surrounded by his team if not more people. But even so he wanted to keep it.
He was already at 9%, and if he managed to reach 10% his abilities would increase substantially, since every 10% of his innate card absorbed was considered a watershed. Though, it was also true that after every 10%, absorbing the innate card also became a little tougher, but he was not concerned with that. Nero just did not want to waste an opportunity.
Nero checked his armour one more time, making sure everything was latched on correctly, before exiting.
Besides just armour, more gear had been prepared as well, including his weapon, emergency rations and first aid, as well as a number of miscellaneous items he might need. He, of course, also had his own card case, as well as an emergency knife. Almost everyone was ready to leave, but the major surprised them with one final action. He had some soldiers bring in some food.
It was nothing extraordinary, just some sandwiches, but it was still better than dry rations. Nero felt like this was an uncharacteristic display of kindness. Maybe it was some kind of army tradition. He had noticed that there were a lot of those.
But once everyone ate, there was nothing left.
The major brought them to a truck that would bring them all the way to Lumina. There were no final words. Just like that, they were off on their first mission.
While others felt a tinge of nervousness, Nero only felt satisfaction. He was one step closer to his goal. Now he just had to make sure to succeed in his missions and come back alive.