Besides Nero, Bael, and the now awakened Clarissa, there were seven others in the team though Nero gave special attention to two.
The first was the thirteen-year-old who was introduced as Noman Berkin. Though the kid had not said much about himself besides a simple introduction during their walk from the combat hall to the mess hall, Nero had seen the way everyone else treated him with respect. That, alongside the accolades stitched into his uniform, let Nero know that was probably some kind of child prodigy. Also, he was probably one of the few who had not been intimidated by Nero's performance during the spar.
The second person of note was called Gideon Hither, from the Hither Great family. They had a strong background in weapon manufacturing, and many of the alloys used by the army for their weapons had been discovered or designed by their family.
The reason Nero took note of him was because Nero considered him highly suspicious. Although Nero would naturally be suspicious of anyone from a Great family considering his recent history, Gideon had given him a few more reasons as well.
The grey-haired boy had been behaving strangely from the first moment Nero saw him. While it was not obvious, considering that Nero had been on the lookout for any behavioural anomalies, he had seen the odd smirk here and the random frown there. He also had a mild intensity in his eyes when he looked at Nero.
While just that on its own was not nearly enough to conclude that Gideon had some hidden agenda against Nero, it was enough to put Nero on guard. Discovering people like him was one of the reasons why Nero had been acting so boldly this entire time as well.
Well else would he smile like a maniac while fighting? It was to make others think Nero was lost in the heat of battle while he secretly observed and analysed everyone else.
He had noticed a few other oddities in others as well, but for now they could be attributed to individual quirks.
Besides them, there were three other girls and two guys in their group, all of whom had arrived in the past two days. That meant that in terms of time spent together, they were not that much ahead of Nero.
"Over the past few days, we've gone over a few strategies based on our general strengths and weaknesses," said Gideon, who was acting as the group head despite being the youngest. "Whether it's now, or in Perilith, our goal will remain the same. Our first priority is to protect the researchers, of which there are four.
"Even among our group we have one non-combatant - Daisy. Daisys innate ability is a rare generic healing ability, meaning it can heal any kind of wound within reason. Although she herself is quite capable in fighting, we have decided that within our formation, she will act as a non-combatant or long range combatant at most."
Nero glanced over at the blonde girl with clear surprise in his eyes. Despite how it sounded, generic healing was just a classification for a specific kind of healing
that was actually quite rare
!
In truth, any healing ability that targeted others was rare, but even within them there were distinctions. For example, some abilities focused on healing surface wounds, while others only healed bone or deep tissue and so on. Generic healing meant that it was not overwhelmingly effective in any specific type of healing, but also that it could basically heal anything.
"The rest are divided into defenders and attackers. Considering our limited time, everyone chose on their own their positions. For example, I myself am more suited to defending while Bael and Clarissa are focused on attacking. Of course, our response is also determined by the kind of opponent we face. So, keeping all of that in mind, why don't you introduce your strengths to us so we can determine how to include you within our formations?"
Nero smirked, maintaining the persona of a friendly but overconfident person he was building in front of them.
"I would like to say I'm good at everything, but let's just stick to a single role for now. I think, primarily, I'd serve best as an attacker. Considering my flames are very strong against those with heat based abilities, and competent against curses, I can take the lead against such enemies."
Bael had flashbacks of how Nero fought back in the library, and couldn't help but nod. Considering he did not actually know Nero too well, he could not pick out the differences in Nero's behaviour at all.
The group actually spent quite a few hours discussing various formations, but around 10 pm there was a siren across the base, which caused the group to end their meeting.
"The siren is a reminder for a base wide curfew. Everyone not specifically on duty cannot be outdoors after 11 pm. Everyone has to return to their barracks, or in case they're working, remain indoors till 7 am," Bael informed Nero as the group left the room.
Others introduced themselves to Nero as well, and though their impression of him introduced, none of them were too comfortable around Nero. In fact, even Bael himself was feeling incredibly awkward with him.
"Good to know. You can head on ahead without me. I still need to report to a few other departments since its my first day. Considering a curfew is coming up, I should really hurry."
Bael felt an odd sense of relief, and left. Prior to his encounter with Nero, Bael had always been the center of attention within his group, his confidence overflowing in his every action. Since then, he had faced numerous defeats, and not just at Nero's hands, which had caused his confidence to take a great beating. That was not to say that his confidence had withered.
It was just that at random moments, he no longer knew how to behave. Previously, he would have at most nodded to Nero as a peer and continued on with whatever he wanted. But now, being around Nero who had defeated him on multiple occasion, he suddenly didn't know how to behave.
He
certainly
wasn't going to behave submissively like the crowds that used to hang around him in school. But he also hesitated to show the same, unyielding expression he once had.
The lost and confused boy was too lost in his introspection, figuring out how to live in his new reality, to notice that Nero kept an eye on him as he left. It was only once Bael was far enough that Nero turned and left as well.
In truth, Nero had nowhere else to go. His plan was to return to his barrack, practice his spell model modification for a while, and then sleep since his duty would begin early in the morning. Even if he was meant to be with the other Neophytes, he also wanted to establish a good relationship with the Corporal above him and his team. It was important to make contacts, as per his father, and one need not only consider people in high positions as contacts. In fact, it was much easier to build a relationship, while all of them were in relatively unimportant ranks. It was true as much for himself as anyone else.
But much more importantly, one reason Nero wanted to be alone was because he didn't know how Unity would contact him. Within his barracks, where there would be others around, was not exactly an ideal location.
To be fair, he also wasn't technically alone on his walk back either, since groups of soldiers kept marching by every few minutes. Yet the walk back to his barracks from his current location would easily take twenty or thirty minutes, depending on how leisurely he walked.
Though each building in this base was spaced out, and there were large patches where there were no buildings at all, there were roads, paths and smaller check posts everywhere. There were also hundreds of streetlights, each one shining a soft, yellow light onto the base, illuminating it within the darkness of night, yet where Nero walked, hints of blue mixed in with that yellow.
Where there were so many lights, there were also countless shadows, and at night observing and picking out the subtle details in the countless shadows was practically impossible. In fact, to the untrained eye, telling an anomaly in any shadow at any time of the day was near impossible.
That was why Edward had recommended that he randomly produce lights and observe how the shadows reacted. He had been walking, Nero had been snapping his fingers, and with each snap he produced blue embers - the remains of a flame only partially formed.
Nero could only keep an eye out, hoping he saw a shadow that didn't retreat as quickly as it should have, when he encountered just such a thing - though to be fair, the shadow was not exactly hidden.
The shadow of a streetlight that fell across the path Nero was walking was, and when the sparks flew, the other shadows flickered, but not that one.
He paused, and a few moments later, from within the shadow, a familiar face emerged.