Nero had naturally given his name to the front desk of the Inn where he was staying, so when someone showed up and gave them a parcel to deliver to him, they were not too surprised. Such things were not uncommon, so when Nero came down for breakfast that day, the staff handed him the parcel.
Nero accepted the parcel after a simple evaluation. He used one of the cards he had learned to craft from a researcher in Fordham to check if the parcel had anything dangerous on it. The card was not classified, nor rare. It was simply a little better than what was commonly available on the market - something the researcher had learned from his teacher.
Name: Swift Appraisal
Image: A gloved hand, holding a magnifying glass over a gem
Type: Evaluation/Scanning
Star rank: 2
Ability: [ Scan a target for common poisons, traces or curses, aetheric traps etc. Reveals basic traits, both positive and negative of target ]
Flavour text: " Beware the eyes of the vigilant, for they see even in the dark," - Julian Barro
The parcel contained no traps, at least that Nero could detect, though within it he sensed that there was something that absorbed a hint of aether, which was to be expected. He had his breakfast on the front porch of the inn, from where he could see people coming and going in the town.
It was a light read, and just enough to stay in touch with the happenings of the world. The latest news was of an official army delegation going to New Velariya to conduct joint practice, as well as exchange some pointers.
Such exercises were common, and were a way of deploying soft diplomacy with other countries.
New Velariya, despite being a small country, was very rich in food and resources, not to mention that the might of the ruling family, the Barakus family, could not be underestimated in the slightest.
Besides that, the only interesting thing was news of a dozen cadets who had completed a two week assignment at the nearby orchards, returning after a successful mission with no wounded or dead.
Once he was done eating and reading, Nero returned to his room casually, as if there wasn’t the slightest bit of rush. Once inside, he quickly opened the parcel, revealing a hardcover book within.
The book was random, yet still interesting. It was the History of Weapon Evolution - a topic Nero would no doubt love to learn about, just not at that exact moment.
The parcel contained nothing else so Nero flipped through the pages yet found nothing. Not discouraged, he studied the book in closer detail, and discovered a soft spot in the back cover.
Using his trust dagger, Nero neatly cut the fabric on the back cover and lifted it to reveal a card stuck within.
Name: First Knock
Image: A hand, knocking on a door
Type: Initiation/Consumable
Star rank: 2
Ability: [ Knock on the door of knowledge, and enter ]
Flavour text: "
The card was just as obscure in explaining its function as Nero expected, though the quote from Prince Felix took him by surprise. For some odd reason, there wasn’t much clarity on how many children Emperor Iskunder had, although it was generally agreed upon that he had several.
Prince Felix was his first son, and was a prominent figure in that time, having made many great contributions to his fathers many expeditions. One could say that much was known about him, and at the same time, very little was known about him.
Even his Profession remained a mystery, which was perhaps the oddest mystery. Why did his Profession even matter? If his name could be recorded, then why not that?
It didn’t matter. Nero scanned the card again, making sure there was no trap, and then used the card.
In his mind, he could see a door, and saw himself knocking on it.
" Who is it ?" a neutral, almost robotic voice asked.
Nero felt an urge to say a name - any name. This is the part where he would state his alias.
He had thought long and hard about his alias. He needed something that no one would connect to him, so it was best to avoid any names that might remind one of him. In fact, there was no need to think too much. Any random name would do.
The first, random alias he thought of was lifesketcher, but quickly discarded that. What did that even mean? He needed to be random, but not that random. Then he thought he’d just use a real name as an alias, so he thought of the name Lex. But nah, that also didn’t feel right. Maybe he could just use a letter as his alias, like Z or something.
Unfortunately, while all of these were viable options, technically, he felt like they didn’t suit him too much. In the end, he thought of a decent alias, one that he actually liked, and one he was sure that no one would associate with him.
"The Scholar," responded Nero, stating his new alias. Henceforth, in reality he would be the ultimate soldier, so no one would connect that identity to-
" That name is already taken ," the voice from behind the door interrupted his thoughts. " Please try again ."
Nero blinked, but couldn’t come up with any kind of objection. Sure, it wouldn’t make sense for multiple people to have the same alias. He thought for a second, and wondered if he should add an adjective, like the Awesome Scholar, or Ancient Scholar. But it just didn’t have the same feeling.
"The Historian," Nero tried again, and this time the voice didn’t raise any objections. Instead, the alias seemed to appear on the frame of the door, before the door itself opened. Behind the door, Nero almost expected to see the so-called Unity network he had heard about. Instead, the only thing waiting for him was a recipe. It was a recipe for a card to access the network.
The vision slowly faded, leaving Nero with no way to access the network except to craft the card himself.
He narrowed his eyes, and flipped over the book again, cutting open the other side of the cover, revealing yet another card, this one inside a thin, crystal case. The case served two purposes: first to prevent the same soft patch which revealed the presence of the First Knock card, and secondly to aetherically isolate the card for whatever reason.
Nero squinted his eyes as he studied it.
Name: Unity’s Network
Image: A vast web filled with countless spiders
Type: Network
Star rank: 2
Ability: [ Access the Unity Network ]
Flavour text: " From the darkness of ignorance..." - Iskunder Macedon
While First Knock had been so obscure in its purpose, this card was ridiculously on point. What’s more, the ability was unlike anything Nero had seen before, as this did not seem like a recreation of any naturally occurring ability. Even the card type was unusual, not to mention the flavour text, which was an incomplete quote.
Everything about this card was unusual so after studying it for a while, Nero decided not to remove it from its case. In case removing the card from its isolation would attract some kind of attention, it would be best to practice caution.
Since he had now joined Unity, Flintlock would contact him soon. Since he had the rest of the day to himself, Nero decided to spend it practicing his card crafting, not only studying the new recipe, but practicing with Virtuous Moonlight as well.
At the same time, his thoughts could not help but wander. If his mothers family had devised a way to change innate cards, who’s to say that others couldn’t find ways of altering cards as well?
The Unity Network card went against Nero’s perception of what cards should be able to do. What if the world was actually far more advanced than he knew? The thought... somewhat excited him.
He was also looking forward to seeing what Unity could do for him. So far, he had no choice but to do everything that the army wished from him. It wasn’t like he would waltz out of Lumina with black keys and awesome daggers and not have them confiscated by the army. All news and knowledge he had were what the army dictated he should have, and all his growth was dependent on relying on the army. Unity presented the first possibility of loosening the chains that the army had on him, and gaining a bit of independence.
If only Nero knew how addictive the taste of freedom could be, he would have been more cautious in his approach.