"Aren’t you a little too friendly with him? What exactly is his background? According to my own research, it’s not that special," Vanessa said, turning to look towards James. Though the old man was still smiling, he was nothing if not shrewd. His overly friendly behaviour piqued her interests.
"You are correct in the assessment that there are many with a family background surpassing him. On the surface, he just has two powerful parents, and there are numerous families far greater than that in size. But the reason why his situation is special is because… well, because his parents are exceptionally skilled in killing people, and more than that, they’re desperate. Desperate people are dangerous, and no one wants to provoke them
"Unfortunately for them, their desperation is clear for all to see, so the army is making heavy use of them. The more that the army uses them, the greater their backing in the army becomes, but the more enemies they make outside of the army - and even within. A story like that… everyone can guess how it will end. It’s just that no one wants to be the one to suffer the consequences of being the one to make it happen."
"Desperate? Why are they desperate?" Vanessa asked, even more confused.
The old scientist turned and looked at her, pondering for a moment, but then eventually shook his head.
"These things are too intertwined with the history and politics of Kolar. They’re not easy to explain, and cannot be understood swiftly. You just need to know that if the Grant family survives, they will become very powerful. But… it is not so easy for such a family to survive."
Vanessa frowned slightly, but then looked towards where Nero left.
"I wouldn’t be so sure about that," she said softly. Even in this world, where death was around every corner, she could not really imagine Nero dying so easily.
The fight outside the base continued, and Nero returned to his room, countless thoughts running through his head.
He thought about Corporal Thomas, he thought about the Sage, and the scientist and countless other things. Normally, Nero would use this time to practice his spell model alteration, but today he felt too distracted to practice. He wanted to clear his head, and sort through some of his thoughts.
There were too many things going on here, too many undercurrents. He could feel them, but at the same time he could not see through them. He recalled the expression on Dave’s face before he passed out. Bael was there too, but his expression hadn’t stood out to Nero. Dave on the other hand, for some reason he couldn’t forget his expression, as if it was more important somehow.
But even that could wait for now, for Nero couldn’t focus on it. The most important thing he had to focus on was the fact that he had almost died. Nero hadn’t given himself the time to really think about it, but this latest incident was the closest Nero had ever come to death, though he was no stranger to such danger.
To a degree, Nero could not be blamed, for how was he supposed to combat that Primal Exarch? The creature had been able to freeze Nero where he stood. In fact, Nero was certain that the reason he had lived, despite how grievous his injuries were, was probably because the Exarch did not want him to die. He probably did something to ensure that Nero lived. Perhaps it was because the creature thought that Nero was a vessel for the Virtuous Aeon, whatever that meant.
But the thing was… this is exactly what their world was like. It was unfair and unreasonable, and they could not change that, they could only adapt to it. Nero could not possibly prepare for every possible scenario he could face, but he could improve himself.
So that night, Nero thought about all the flaws he had and how he could address them. Surprisingly, once he actually stopped to think about it, he picked out many flaws in himself, not just one.
The most prominent was still his own arrogance. His father had told him to temper himself, but it was not so easy to just change an aspect of himself. His self confidence often caused him to push himself into a scenario that surpassed his ability. Somehow balancing himself so that he continued to pursue his goals, while not pushing himself to the extent where he overreached, would be difficult.
In fact, Nero could only think of one solution for this, since when one was in the moment, faced with a certain situation, they could not stop and think. They had to react. As such, he decided to create a mantra he would repeat to himself to remind himself not to be arrogant.
The second significant flaw in his personality was something he always thought was a strength. As a result of his habit, he always paid great attention to his surroundings. That habit saved his life numerous times so he did not intend to stop.
But as a result of having his attention spread out all the time, it seemed like he developed a habit of multitasking too much. Sometimes, he needed to let go of certain things and instead prioritise on the most important tasks.
Right now, his most important tasks were to complete his mission, raise his absorption percentage as high as he could without becoming an Initiate, and lastly, to learn about Noman’s innate ability. He also wanted to help out Vanessa.
For the next few hours, Nero spent contemplating his actions, until finally he decided he needed to sleep.
The next morning he woke up before dawn, naturally, and reported to the command center, surprised to find that Vanessa was already there.
"We’ve discussed your strategy at length," Vanessa said. "We’ve received permission to approach some more dangerous areas, though we are not heading into the most dangerous areas just yet. It’s best to test out your theory of being able to resist curses against a more manageable threat before going all in."
"That sounds fair," said Nero, mentally reciting his latest mantra.
’Be humble, be humble, be humble…’
"But there is one significant issue," said one of the commanding officers. Nero hadn’t seen him before, but considering that a majority of the forces were still fighting outside the wall, it was not unusual to see a change in personnel handling these matters.
"Most of the Neophytes have not been cleared for active duty yet after the last debacle. The team you’ll be going with is only five people, including Vanessa. Under ordinary circumstances, such a team would not receive deployment permission, but your history has given the CO confidence. Do not let them down."
"I will handle it," Nero said, while internally repeating his mantra even more vigorously. He couldn’t let praise and recognition make him arrogant.
"Good. Gear up and get ready for deployment. This time, you’ll be heading into only partially scouted territory, so be ready for anything."
Nero saluted, and quickly went to gear up. Considering that the Primal Exarch had literally eaten his Spartan-II spear, Nero went to get another one, yet he was stopped by the armourer.
"You’re private Nero Grant?" the burly man asked, looking Nero up and down as if surprised.
"Yes. Is there some problem?" he asked.
"No problem. It’s just that last night, Colonel James submitted a live combat report for a new, experimental weapon. You have been named as the person to conduct the live combat review?"
"What? No one told me about this!" Nero exclaimed, taken aback. This was no joke. He was about to venture into Perilith, and he couldn’t just go there wielding some unfamiliar weapon - one that even the armourer admitted was experimental!
But… he was just a private, and James was a colonel. Even if the order was stupid and suicidal, he had no choice but to obey.
He quickly controlled his expression, gathering himself, and reminded himself that he was in this position due to his arrogance yesterday…
Nero suddenly felt doubtful as he saw the armourer pull up a massive, metal container that looked like an elongated briefcase. The length of the container suggested that the experimental weapon might be a spear. In that case it wouldn’t be so bad.
Then the armourer opened up the case, and revealed what lay within.
It was a glaive, a masterpiece of craftsmanship, its grey shaft exuding an understated elegance, smooth to the touch with subtle engravings that seemed to emanate aether. Where the pole met the blade, a golden guard shimmered - a protective embrace as functional as it was regal, its intricate filigree curling like flames frozen in mid-dance.
Extending from this union, the silver blade gleamed, its edges laced with veins of gold, as though molten sunlight had been imprisoned within.
The fusion of metals formed an iridescent pattern, but more importantly, seemed to create a vessel thirsting for aether. Nero could almost feel the weapon calling to him, asking him to channel his aether within it.
Slowly, he reached out and touched the cold metal shaft.