The silence that followed Nero’s words was deafening. Marilyn stared into the eyes of her young boy and found that... they were no longer the eyes of a young boy at all. In those bright blue eyes was a fire that the return of his brother could not extinguish.
There were no words that could be said - by her at least - that would bring back the Nero of old. The irony was that his whole life, she had trained him, raised him to be tough, to be fierce, to be the best warrior that he could be, yet now all she wanted was to see Nero how he once was. She wanted to see that bright, loving boy he used to be before his brother disappeared.
Although he still smiled now, and though he still made friends, and still lived life with purpose, it was not the same.
She sighed internally, though she did not let any of her emotions show on her expression. Motherhood had really made her sentimental.
"Alright, then," she said with resolve in her voice. "I won’t stop you, nor will I ask you to slow down. I will just teach you one lesson I hope you never forget - a lesson the sharp decline of my family taught me. Sometimes, in this world, we get things, we get opportunities, and start thinking we’re special."
She paused, and looked at Nero, as if she knew something. Nero, in turn, listened to her instructions attentively, giving away nothing of his actual thoughts.
"But we do not exist in this world alone. If we can have special encounters, others can too. If we have a strong lineage, then others can too. Never, never, never assume that you are special, or that you are the exception. The moment you begin feeling superior, and start treating the enemy as inferior, is the moment you cement your death. Although a soldier’s death is already written, there is no need to rush to it either."
Nero nodded seriously, not cracking any jokes, though he could think of a few. This was a lesson both his parents had repeatedly tried to teach him, and though he never underestimated anyone, it was true that he had a tendency to be slightly arrogant. It seemed like this was a family trait coming from his mothers side of the family.
"Good," said Marilyn as she nodded, appreciating the seriousness he was displaying. "In that case, we can get to the second reason why I brought Irene here. When I met her, she told me about your tattoo ..."
"She said that she had recently improved her skills by a lot, and wanted to refine your tattoo. Moreover, now that you’re an Initiate, you can tolerate a whole lot more, so she wanted to take this opportunity to help you improve it."
Nero smiled, as if he didn’t sense the hidden message in his mothers word.
"Irene you’re awesome," he said, unbuttoning his shirt. "It didn’t even occur to me that the tattoo could be improved. If you can make its function even better, that would be awesome."
Irene stepped forward and pushed up a chair where she indicated that Nero sat down.
"I’ve got my hands on a few improved Spell Models," she explained as she stepped behind him and observed his tattoos. "Moreover, I wanted to make sure your ascension didn’t cause any unexpected issues with the existing ones."
Though her words and tone didn’t reveal it, her expression was a whole lot more solemn as she studied Nero’s back. Originally, she had created an abstract, but symmetrical tribal pattern on his back, and within imbued a very strong anti-tracking spell model. Basically, if anyone tried to tag or track Nero through any means, Nero would immediately realise it.
But just as Edward had said, the tattoo had changed. Although there were still hints of the original tribal pattern in the tattoos, they looked a whole lot more like the contours of a drawn flame than a random pattern. Moreover, the symmetry was still there, but only because the tattoos had morphed to look like eyes.
So, in essence, Nero had two eyes made of flames drawn on his back. As if that wasn’t enough, just standing there, Irene almost felt like she was being watched by those eyes - as if she was the target of the fury contained within them, and it made her heart skip a beat.
Yes, that’s just how excited she was! How could a tattoo frighten her ? She, who could imbue Spell Models into her tattoos, literally had access to a whole other method of manipulating aether than others. She was not limited to just cards, she could put her spell models anywhere. Much more importantly, she could directly mimic Spell Models, which was the crux of her innate ability. What she could do far exceeded the limitations imposed upon the entire human race!
But just as Eldrim Cards had rules, so too did her tattoos - it was just that she had to decipher and understand those rules on her own. Now that she saw a self altering tattoo - one that had done so without interfering with the Spell Model she left inside - how could she not be excited?
Irene could not help but lick her lips as her imagination ran wild. Slowly, softly, she touched Nero’s back, following the lines of the tattoos with her fingers, studying their structure.
She could feel that whatever had caused the tattoos to change, it was perfectly complimenting Nero’s body, far more than her original design.
"Yes, there’s space for improvement here," she whispered as she delved her focus into the internal structure of the tattoo. "I can work with this. I could probably even..."
Irene started whispering and murmuring so low that not even Nero could hear what she was saying, but he could definitely feel her working on his back.
Irene had originally come here to study if the change in the tattoo posed any risk to Nero, yet there was no risk whatsoever. Maybe once there had been, but it was as if the tattoo had undergone intense purification, eliminating anything harmful towards Nero.
What’s more, the capacity within the tattoo was so large, Irene innately felt like she could fit two Spell Models inside of it, which should not have been possible. That was like one Eldrim Card having two different Spell Models.
Normally, if she wanted to add another Spell, she would need to add another tattoo, but that wasn’t the case with Nero.
Irene lost herself in her work, not only improving the function of Nero’s tattoo, but thoroughly studying it as well. If this was possible, then it should also be possible to fit two Spell Models onto one card without conflicting. That was groundbreaking news - it was something no one had even imagined before.
She did not even notice as the hours passed by, though Marilyn used that time to cook some food while Nero simply closed his eyes and meditated.
It was already late evening by the time Irene withdrew her hands, taking a look at Nero’s back. Visibly, there was no change, but functionally a lot had changed.
"Done," she said cheerfully as she dusted off her hands and happily observed her work. "Your anti-tracking has been strengthened. Same as before, if someone tries to leave any kind of aetheric mark on you to track you, you’ll know it. But it’s even more sensitive now. You’ll be able to sense it as long as anyone is using any aetheric means to observe you, even if they’re not tracking you. I’ve also added an element of aether suppression to it now, which is a passive ability. So, basically, unless you’re using a card or your innate ability, your body won’t emit any aetheric signatures, making you even harder to track. It can even help you in stealth."
Nero walked up to the small mirror in the room and turned to try and get a look at his tattoos, fairly impressed by the upgrades - both visual and functional.
"That’s awesome, thanks," he said, feeling pretty great. "Do you think you could give me more tattoos with some cool Spell Models? That way I could eliminate my reliance on cards altogether."
Marilyn gave Nero a silent glare, but both Nero and Irene ignored it.
"It’s not so easy to give such long term tattoos," Irene explained. "I can probably give you a dozen or more tattoos, but the Spell Models within them will degrade within six months. The reason the one on your back is so massive, despite the function being so straightforward, is so that the Spell Model can last as long as possible. I’d say you won’t need any touch-ups for a decade.
"The tattoos draw a hint of aether from your body as well. While it is possible for me to give you one or two other tattoos that are as large, they may begin to interfere with your internal aether. It’s best you stick with this for now since you’re going to KMA. Of course, if you’re ever going on a mission or something, it’s not a problem for me to slap on a dozen or so temporary tattoos. Feel free to look for me whenever you need."
Marilyn sighed from the other side of the room, giving up.
"If you’re going to get more tattoos," Marilyn spoke with a hint of defeat in her voice, "I recommend Radix Augmentation. But like Irene said, since the tattoos won’t last so long, it’s best you do it after KMA."