"You understand," Vanessa said, studying Nero’s silent, expressionless face. It wasn’t that his thoughts were revealed on his face, but the length of time he spent silent, as if absorbing the news she shared - or at least considering its insinuations.
With no new Sages, for a time nothing would change. But eventually. A Sage would die - whether it was from war, or from curses, or from old age, a Sage would die. Then, eventually, so would another.
Without Sages to hold down the fort, the curses would wreak havoc. It might not drive humanity to the point of extinction, but the countries would certainly not be able to retain their current state. Without new Sages to bring in fresh blood, and fight off the endless curses, humanity was doomed to a slow, gradual decline.
"How could such a thing happen?" Nero asked, not that he knew much about how one became a Sage.
"It was inevitable, actually," Vanessa said. "Everyone knew it. Think about the ingredients needed to make ordinary cards - ones for Neophytes, for Initiates. They need to undergo special processing, and each one of them needs a certain level of maturity. Now can you imagine the ingredients required to make Sage level cards? Now imagine the resources needed to make an actual Sage. It’s not a simple or ordinary process."
Nero, who was listening to Vanessa seriously, and genuinely contemplating the ramifications of her words if they were true, noticed something strange. Vanessa’s expression, no, her eyes were suddenly filled with pity as she looked at him.
"What does that look mean?" he asked.
Vanessa shook her head, and then sighed.
"There are multiple requirements one needs to fulfil to become a Sage, one of which is to attain the ability to control and manipulate aether more finely than ordinarily humanly possible. There are many ways to make such a thing happen, and all of them are heavily resource intensive, which is another reason why it’s becoming increasingly harder to become a Sage.
"Ah," said Nero, realising what she was hinting at. "Since I was an Initiate when I experienced the baptism, I missed out. Is that what you are saying?"
Vanessa nodded, but to her surprise, instead of sharing in her disappointment, Nero softly flicked her forehead.
"It’s a little too early to be worrying about being able to become a Sage. The benefits I’ve gained are more than enough for me for now. Who in this world has the right to look down on me with pity? No one. When the time comes, this is not the thing that will be able to prevent me from becoming a Sage."
Nero’s words were arrogant, staking claim to a rank so many people stronger than him had been unable to reach. His voice, however, was warm, reassuring almost.
Vanessa composed herself, and continued.
"Well, moving on, all the countries can foresee an end, and many different people are all reacting differently to the news," she stated as she opened up another folder and showed Nero what looked like documents detailing the terms of cooperation between Kolar and Nova.
It seemed that foreign exchange students would become a far more common concept than it was, as Kolari students went to Nova to receive training in using their technologies, and Novan students came to Kolar to study war.
Of course, there were many other, finer details listed in the documents as well, including the sharing of weapons and manufacturing research, resources, manpower and more.
"One of the main ways in which the countries are responding is by getting ready to cross through the Fog Clearings - the ones found in Creta, Nova and New Velariya. We’ve been working towards that for a while, but others have different plans. Creta has been trying to access the ruins in the center of the cursed zone in their country, while New Velariya has been trying to find a way to reach Mirage Isle, which also has some ruins."
Mirage Isle was an island close to Dolziya and New Velariya that was visible in the fog that often covered Lake Natura. Despite being visible, no one had ever been able to reach it, keeping it forever out of reach.
The situation in Creta was similar. There was a set of ruins visible in the center of the massive cursed zone in their country, but no one was able to reach it..
"So when a new set of ruins was discovered in Kolar..." Nero said slowly.
"Yes, everyone
"The situation has not yet deteriorated to the point where Sages will fight to the death. Anyway, the reason I’m telling you all this is not because you need to be aware of the geo-political situation of the world. The reason is because of a recent agreement between Nova and Kolar, where Kolar agreed to help Nova gain another Sage."
This time, Nero sat up right as he heard her words, immediately realising that this could hardly be a popular deal.
"With a global shortage of resources to become Sage, Kolar actually decided to not promote one of our own Ascendants into a Sage, and instead promote one of yours?" he asked, just to make sure he was clear.
"Yes. Now you understand why I said there might be many people who might want to deal with me. After all, my parents are among the candidates who might benefit from this deal. Meanwhile, all the Ascendants in Kolar are potentially people who could find issue with this deal. This is not about a little corruption, or a little personal benefit.
"This is about the official position of Kolar as a country, and the stakes involve the birth of a new Sage. To be honest, there’s really no way of knowing who is a genuine ally, and who is an enemy in this situation. There are too many hidden factions involved."
Nero frowned as he thought about Vanessa’s claims, looking at the documents in his hands.
"If this decision is so unpopular, why did Kolar make this decision to begin with?" Nero asked, not forming any speculations just yet. He didn’t know enough about the situation.
"For a few reasons, but one of them being that whatever happens, Nova will be the one most in danger as they attempt to claim territory on the other side of the Fog Clearing. When the time comes, Kolar will provide support, of course, but this is also one of the requirements set forth by Nova.
"It’s not like Kolar isn’t getting anything in return. A lot of Novan research will be made available to Kolar, and that includes the methods by which we raise and cultivate ingredients to be used for the manufacturing of high level Eldrim cards. We’re also sharing some of our classified documents pertaining to ruins to make all future explorations by Kolar easier.
"So, everything considered, it’s not like this decision is actually disapproved of in Kolar. The main, ruling faction certainly agrees with it. But there might be hidden factions composed of Ascendants who secretly covet those resources. Heck, even some of the Sages might secretly be backing the Ascendants from their family. After all, not everyone can put the general good of everyone over their own needs or wants."
Nero took a deep breath as he composed his thoughts, though he did not say anything. If what Vanessa was claiming was true, and it might really be true, then the situation was probably a lot more complex than even she realised.
His mind went to not just his own assassination attempt and the kidnapping attempt on Vanessa, but on countless, seemingly insignificant events. He thought of how quickly his brother was sent away - was it possible that he became privy to certain knowledge relating to this? It seemed unlikely, but who knew? Those circumstances had been odd back then.
Moreover, Nero thought of Clear Path, the terrorist organisation that had somehow so easily kidnapped drafted soldiers from within Kolar - all of them with extremely valuable innate abilities. He even thought of Unity, the intelligence organisation that had contacted Nero to try and ascertain Noman’s innate ability.
At a glance, they all seemed unrelated, but Nero started to feel like the lack of Sage level resources might somehow be motivating a lot of these forces.
At the same time, he could not help but think of his parents. He thought of the Whisper Guard and the Ministry of Internal Affairs (MIA). He wondered what their position was on this issue, because one way or another, that might end up becoming his position. After all, whether he wanted to or not, he was already linked to them.