The walls of Fordham base were grey, and rose five metres (16 feet) high, with countless watchtowers spread out behind the walls every thirty or fourty metres. In each watchtower, Nero could see three soldiers, keeping an eye out for trouble while entire teams of soldiers patrolled the grounds all around Fordham.
Past the first gate, which was a part of the metal cage fence 20 metres (65 feet) in front of the walls, the floor was made entirely on concrete, and there wasn't a single blade of grass or leaf in sight.
Nero observed the soldiers, taking in their synthetic armour and observing their spears. They cut an impressive sight, and looked incredibly intimidating. Nero had to remind himself that their greatest weapon wasn't their spears, but their cards which were hidden.
When he approached the thick, metal gates attached to the base's boundary wall, he was told to place his bags aside for inspection.
"Why do you have so many pine cones? They even carry aetheric signatures. Are you aware that they're highly flammable and can be used for incendiary purposes?" asked a soldier, glaring at Nero.
"They're for my card crafting lessons," Nero answered truthfully. "My family has a few unique recipes, and I am training my skills to be able to craft them myself since they're not available to the public."
That was a little more information than was necessary, but it couldn't help.
"These ingredients will be temporarily confiscated," the soldier informed Nero. "Once you get a signed authorization slip from your CO (commanding officer) you can present it at the logistics office to get these back."
Nero could only nod and watch as they took most of his bags away, leaving him only the bag in which he carried his clothes. Then someone came and patted Nero down, which revealed the second problem.
"In the base you are not allowed to carry weapons or cards until you've been fully signed in. Disarm yourself and hand them over. You can get them back in the same condition from the armoury once everything is approved."
Without protest, Nero unstrapped his knife from his leg and handed it over, as well as his card case. After another patdown, once he was cleared, Nero was finally allowed to enter Fordham base.
Yet if he thought security was high outside, he was stunned by what he saw as soon as he entered. The base covered a large area, easily enough to be a district in a city, and so there were quite a few buildings inside. But much more than the buildings, Nero was surprised to see how densely packed it was.
If there were a few patrols outside, then the number of squads patrolling within the base were easily double or triple. Furthermore, the patrols did not seem like they were just routine. Each soldier carried their spears as if they were ready to use them, and their expressions were as if they were in an active warzone.
In fact, the added security did not ease the atmosphere in the base, but made it seem more tense.
Nero followed the soldier leading him into a jeep that quickly drove them deeper into the base on their wide and relatively empty double roads. There were boards and banners every now and again, indicating the direction of certain buildings, and there were many monuments as well, making the base look aesthetically pleasing, as well as neat and clean.
The soldier escorting Nero saw how he observed everything around him and only chuckled.
"I remember my first day here as well," the soldier said, his tone a little more relaxed now that they were on their way. "I kept wondering why the roads were so wide. Back in the town I'm from, all our roads are a lot narrower, and they're single roads so vehicles travelling both ways use the same road. But here, in the base, with no cars at all, they have massive, double roads.
It was a grand mystery to me."
"Did you find out why?" Nero asked. "Is there a good reason?"
"Haha, it's still classified for you, but since you're in Fordham now you'll find out sooner or later so I'll tell you. It's for the latest weapon we're testing out that was built in cooperation with Nova. They're called Juggernauts, and they're massive. They don't do well on rough terrain, so the need for roads."
"Juggernauts? I've never heard of them. Are they powerful?"
"Very," the soldier said with a nod. "They're about to exit the testing phase, which means they'll enter into mass production after that. If you're lucky, you might even see one in action. They're the latest in anti-curse technology. I've heard a direct hit from them can even kill a Mystic, although we haven't had a chance to test that out."
"One shot can kill a Mystic?" Nero asked, taken aback.
The soldier only chuckled upon seeing Nero's reaction.
"You haven't seen anything yet. Juggernaut is just one of the things going on in Fordham. This is a whole other world. Since you'll be here for the foreseeable future, you'll get to expand your horizons."
"Looking forward to it," Nero said, and then saluted the soldier. "I haven't officially introduced myself. I am Private Nero Grant, here for my military service for the next six months."
"At ease, soldier. I'm Corporal Lance Burrow. We might not run into each other much, since I'm on perimeter duty, but it's good to have you here. Now let's go see your new CO."
The jeep came to a stop in front of a double story office building with a couple of flags hung outside.
The first, Nero recognised easily. It was grey with a white outline of a sword and axe crossing each other in front of a shield in the centre, with the outline of a spear on the side vertically going from the bottom to the top. It was the flag of Kolar.
The other, however, was black and white with an unusual symbol drawn in the middle. Nero thought for a moment, but was sure that it wasn't a flag of any of the other countries, but simply shrugged.
He followed Corporal Lance inside, walking past the surprising number of office workers sitting in booths handling some kind of paperwork, until they reached an office inside.
"I'm here to report to Lieutenant Earl - he's expecting me," he said to a tense secretary who was furiously scribbling in a notebook. Upon hearing his words she looked up at the Corporal, and then at Nero and then grinned as if she'd heard the best news of her life.
"Wait right here!" she exclaimed as she hopped out of her chair and ran into the office. The secretary was of medium build, and looked like she was in her 20s, yet her voice was incredibly sweet and tiny, as if that of a young child.
For a brief moment, when she opened the office door to step inside, Nero heard the sound of screaming. But it suddenly vanished when she closed the door.
Nero could not help but remark that the sound insulation was pretty great.
A moment later, she opened the door and waved at them.
"You may come in now."
Mentally preparing himself, Nero followed the Corporal in, making sure that his posture was perfect and marched perfectly. Technically, since he hadn't been through official training or the academy, it was fine if he had any lapse in such matters, but Nero wanted to be at his best.
When they entered, Nero laid his eyes on the surprisingly plain office, and more importantly, the man behind the wooden desk.
The fact that there was an entire desk made of wood more than made up for how plain the office was, but the man seemed even more impressive.
His right arm was in a cast and hung on a sling that went around his neck, but that did not reduce the man's presence. He had an aged look, a few wrinkles around his eyes and on his forehead, but who would even notice that?
The most eye catching thing was his magnificent, golden beard, woven into three braids. There were two braids on each side, and were smaller, but eventually mixed in with the third brain going down the middle.
The next most striking thing about the mark were his sharp blue eyes. The fact that his hair and eyes were of different colours meant that his ability was not elemental.
He was muscular, even though he was not bulky, and even his uniform, on which there were quite a few medals, could not hide the strength packed in his body. He had a couple of small scars in his cheek, and a couple of big ones on his neck, but they only complimented the man's ferocious look.
Everything came together to give Nero the impression that the Lieutenant was more a warrior than a leader. Or maybe he was also just a good leader, but he was definitely a great warrior, and currently his eyes were trained on Nero as if looking at his next target.
"Private Nero Grant, I have been informed that your innate ability can eliminate curses. Is that correct?"