Chapter 270 Humbled
Going through Noman's file did not take long, nor was there a lot of information available about him.His service record was classified, and even when Unity was able to get their hands on some of those records, it did not reveal much.
Most of that was because, at the end of the day, Noman was a kid. He was a prodigy, yes. Many had great expectations of him, yes. But no matter what, he was still weak, not to mention that he hadn't had time to gain much experience. Despite completing highschool and being eligible for KMA, Noman's father had insisted that the kid not go before he turned fifteen. In the meantime, he was merely meant to do some service in Fordham base, under his fathers supervision, and get some experience for the more mundane parts of being a soldier. The fact that he had forcibly been pulled into the team heading into Perilith was something the Lieutenant was not very happy about.
That also explained why the Lieutenant had been so critical of Nero's addition into the team. Any and all unknown or unstable factors increased the danger Noman faced. Considering that he was the Lieutenants only child, it must be quite unnerving for him.
Once Nero had gone through the whole file, he looked up to the darkness, but sensed that Flintlock was no longer there. As soon as he put the file down, the lucid dream ended, and Nero finally got some semblance of rest.
When his alarm went off, Nero felt a trace of mental exhaustion, no doubt an after effect of the visit in his dream, but it was nothing a good, cold shower couldn't fix. As soon as he was ready, he quickly made his way to Corporal Thomas and his team.
The day was extremely busy, and at the same time simple and straightforward. The corporal was a good leader, not just to Nero but the others as well, always making sure they got the exact guidance and instructions they needed while proactively helping anyone who lacked.
Since the mission had been delayed, they spent a majority of the day around the researchers, which might have been boring to others but Nero found it very interesting to listen in to what they were talking about.
All of their research was centred around samples from Perilith, which were all invaluable. The Primeveil, as Nero learned their dimension was called, was the most stable one. But all other dimensions had a strong affinity of some sort. While Nawia was great for hurting others and even curses, Perilith had an extremely high density of aether as well as cursed energy, which meant even the dirt collected from there was akin to a valuable ingredient here.
Unfortunately, containing and transporting samples from the dimension to this one was not easy, as the lower aether concentration often caused the samples to dissipate in essence and lose value. That's where Noman's sealing ability came in quite handy.
In the afternoon, they were relieved from security detail earlier than usual, but that did not mean they were done. No, the fact that they were a part of the security detail meant that they would then oversee all of the gear and equipment that was to be taken with them, ensuring that it had not been tampered.
The corporal once again proved himself when he taught Nero how to evaluate the condition of the many pieces of gear he was not familiar with, even if that did slow them down quite a bit.
In the evening, after a small break, the all gathered for a training session so that Nero could at least have some idea of what his role would be. They were going to be practising against another squad who wanted to train as well.
In hindsight, Nero might have gone into the training feeling a little full of himself. He was certain that his physical capabilities were more than enough to keep up with the others. He thought he would end up surprising everyone with his ability to keep up. Fortunately he had listened to his fathers advice of not acting arrogantly, for he quickly learned why no one took Neophytes seriously.
Nero himself had once faced a lone Initiate in combat, and through the clever use of spells and innate abilities, he had come out victorious. But it also had to be kept in mind that the Initiate at that time had been severely limited for a majority of his focus was on remaining undetected.
When Nero finally witnessed up close how a well coordinated, well directed team of Initiates fought, he finally realised how much of a handicap he was truly under. Neophyte cards were all usually simple and singular in function, but that was not the case for Initiates.
They were called card masters, but sometimes they were also called mages, for what they were doing was akin to magic. Nero's physical strength, speed and endurance counted for naught in the face of the overwhelming might of some of the cards he witnessed that day. He was once again reminded of when his father told him that the true strength of card masters was not their body, or even their innate abilities, but it was their cards!
After being thoroughly humbled, Nero focused on following his role as a support character very well, and it was then that his surprising physical abilities finally shone. To be clear, almost none of the cards Nero could wield would effectively augment, heal or defend one of the Initiates, but in a critical moment even the slightest bit of aid could help.
Ultimately, most of Nero's time was spent carrying the dummy, which was supposed to represent a researcher, and dodging attacks.
After the fight was over, however, Nero still had many hours left till the curfew and he decided to use that by spending some time with his Neophyte teammates. Most of them were busy during the day, but had all gotten free in the evening as well and gathered once more in the same room they had a meeting with Nero in.
When Nero entered, he saw Noman talking animated to Daisy, with the others not having arrived yet. Despite the good opportunity to make contact, for now, Nero merely greeted them and took a seat.
One of the reasons Nero had been assigned the Noman mission was because according to their personality analysis, Noman was friendly with everyone but would not get close to anyone lest they impress him, and impressing a prodigy was far from easy.
As it happened, though, Nero was extremely suited to the task given his excellent command over combat, and had unknowingly done so already. Even then, he was not going to rush. Trust was more easily earned on the battlefield, so only after they had faced their first obstacle together would Nero work on befriending Noman. Until then, he just wanted to become more familiar with the whole team.
One by one, the whole team came in, until eventually Gideon burst into a room holding a tray of cupcakes. If Vanessa were here, Nero could have pointed out to her how his mentality of assuming everyone was inherently selfish worked.
He believed that Gideon had either poisoned the cupcakes, or just wanted everyone to really like him - possibly with this whole act of bringing cupcakes specifically just targeting Nero. Either way, Nero did not do anything to raise suspicion.
He smiled, chatted, joked with everyone, and even 'ate' three of the cupcakes to show he really liked them! Especially since a good dessert wasn't really common. Not like one could go around looking for pudding on an army base.
In reality, Nero was doing two things to avoid actually eating the cupcakes. Since the first thing he ever learned was manifesting his flames wherever he wanted, he filled his mouth with flames so that as soon as a cupcake entered his mouth it froze and shattered. It would take a few seconds, given, but the act of chewing was a good way to fill up that time.
The second thing he did was use the illusion card his father had given to make it look like there was no flame in his mouth, and even covered some of his teeth with icing. The illusion card was given to him for when his hair or eyes began turning white, but using it to put fake icing on his teeth worked just as well.
Eventually, everyone went their way to rest for the night. They were set to leave the base at dawn, which meant they had to be ready and with their teams long before then. They would be getting very little sleep that night.
While Nero returned to his room to sleep, a dark figure returned to his room and once more contacted the blurry figure.
"I'm pretty sure I succeeded in poisoning him, but seeing how freaky he is, I'm not sure if it will work. How about we use one of the contingencies you talked about?"
The room was filled with silence, and for some reason, the Neophyte felt like the darkness began to weigh on him.
"Fine."