When the group stepped out of the inn, day had already turned into evening. The patrols could be seen everywhere, and it was the part of the day where everyone usually returned home. Although the town had lights, and protection, so it wasn’t too dangerous, everyone usually preferred the safety and comfort of home during the darker parts of the day.
Of course, as a town, the population of Abboton was not too large - less than fifteen thousand on a whole. While that may sound like a large number, considering that a large part of that included the soldiers stationed in the town, it really wasn’t.
For them, though, moving around before dark wasn’t so big a deal as long as they did not stray too far from the town. With Marilyn’s rank, she would easily be able to handle whatever minor curses appeared near the town. Nero and Irene weren’t pushovers either, though technically speaking both of them should be considered weaker than the average soldier.
Despite all the strength Nero had, he was still only a new Initiate. Compared to soldiers who were Initiates for a long time, or even higher, and had received a lot of training, he was still lacking.
Of course, this was only a temporary issue. Everyone who lived long enough reached the Initiate rank, but most never surpassed it. As long as he continued to make progress, it would not take long before he surpassed the average. But that was far from the extent of his goals.
At the moment, though, Nero’s focus was elsewhere. Due to the close proximity to the mountain range, winter was the longest, and harshest, in Kolar. Eight months out of twelve were spent filled with cold winds, icy chills and solely winter crops. It was also one of the reasons that so many Kolari’s had innate abilities related to the cold.
Now, though, spring was practically around the corner, which was particularly troublesome. Along with spring came the bloom of countless flowers and plants, which would prompt a tide of Malflora - vegetation that had mutated due to cursed energy. Compared to the icy winter months, the mix of soft chill and subtle warmth of spring was far more deadly.
At least the days were somewhat longer, though since Abbotton town was so close to the western arm of the Aether mountain range, it was less true for it.
In short, the air was quite refreshing as they walked to the edge of the town, filled with the scent of countless plants beginning to emerge from underneath the thinning snow.
"Not this time around," Marilyn said. "Although Sage Morphius’ sentence has already been completed, the Sage has announced that he will personally be overseeing the purge this year. After all, soon enough, it’ll be time to enter the Lumina ruins. To avoid any unexpected occurrences, all Sages are putting in extra work."
Though the three of them were talking casually, Nero and Irene had drawn their daggers and were ready for anything as they walked. As mere Initiates, they could not afford to lower their guard. Comparatively, Marilyn was more than strong enough to take on weaker obstacles, but her high rank had greater chances of attracting stronger curses, so her vigilance was on an even higher level than the kids.
"Does that mean the Sages could have kept things safe all year around?" Irene continued to ask.
"No," Nero answered instead of his mother. "Between our two cursed zones, and our two borders, not to mention our vast lands, Kolar is far from easy to manage. Keeping the peace like this probably means that the whole army is fully deployed, including primary reserve forces. Something like that is not sustainable long term, not to mention it would leave us vulnerable in case of an emergency."
While many secrets were out of Nero’s reach, he had kept himself well informed of all public knowledge and the basic affairs of the country. Not to mention, reading the news everyday had its benefits. Not only did it keep him up to date on what was happening, it gave him a lot of general information from which to form his conjectures.
"In that case, this year’s army recruitment drives might have the chance for a visit from the Sages. I’m sure that will cause a lot of new soldiers to join," she continued, though this time Nero didn’t say anything.
It was true. Over the next couple of years they needed to put in extra effort in recruitment, because eventually when his generation grew, there would be a sudden gap in recruitment due to the lacking numbers. The army was already planning ahead.
Nero wondered if Neophytes would be sent into the basements again this year. Although they had already announced that such wouldn’t be the case, who could say? Or maybe a few Ascendants with Fair Weather would take over.
For a brief moment, Nero couldn’t help but wonder about the research building he had found the Vault in. What had the army been so desperately looking for on the upper levels? He had no idea, and no one seemed to have mentioned it since.
"There, do you sense it?" Nero asked, pointing towards a seemingly ordinary patch of grass. It grew at the base of a pine tree, where the least amount of snow had accumulated.
Irene turned to look towards it, though Marilyn simply nodded approvingly.
"It’s a weak Malfora, possibly formed only today or maybe even just a few hours ago," Irene deduced. Among the ordinary patch of wild grass was a single blade - one that kept slowly absorbing aether. One might think that absorbing aether might be a sign that it had a unique aetheric ability, but the chances were much higher that it had been mutated into a Malflora.
Nero walked on over and held Pale Virtuous Moonlight, anticipating the card’s effects. Even if they really were just a pale imitation, it was good enough.
"Are you ready?" he asked with a smirk, not letting even the faintest of his doubt appear on his face.
"Go ahead," said Marilyn, as if waiting to be impressed. Irene, by comparison, was observing keenly.
Nero nodded, and channeled his aether into the card, causing a thin beam of pale, silver moonlight to shoot out of his hand. Compared to the true purity of Virtuous Moonlight, the effects of the card, at least in terms of appearance of the light, were like a long faded memory of the original.
Still, as the beam touched the grass, the normal blades gave off a soft, black smoke while the Malflora blent downwards, as if trying to avoid the light entirely. Nero smirked, and didn’t push the light down all the way. Instead, he turned to observe the other two.
Marilyn was observing with a keen eye, but Irene looked absolutely stumped. What Nero didn’t know was that more than the effect of the card, Irene was observing the Spell Model. The more she looked at it, the more she was sure it was eerily similar to the one Invictus used. How that was possible, she didn’t know. After all... his card was provided to him by Whisper Guard.
As someone uniquely suited for that card, he had been chosen to be its bearer since he stabilised. It was also why he was normally followed by a guardian wherever he went - at least within Kolar. Even if Nero’s father had all the pull in the world with Whisper Guard, there was no way he could have given Nero that card since it was already in Invictus’ hands. So... how was this possible?
Nero pressed the light into a blade of grass and watched as it writhed on the ground, a dense cloud of black smoke coming out of it. The effects of the card were distinctly weaker than his new, upgraded Virtuous Moonlight II, but it was good enough.
"Here, try using the card, but flood it with your full aether," Nero said, handing the card over to his mother.
Pale Virtuous Moonlight was only a 2 Star rank card, meaning it could only be used up to the Initiate level. Higher ranked Card Masters could naturally use it, but they would need to be careful to control the amount of aether they used, lest they damage the Spell Model. That would naturally affect the durability of the card, causing it to fall to ruin quicker. Of course, if done purposefully, it could also cause the card to be used once at a scale far higher than it normally produced, right before the Spell Model collapsed.
Marilyn obliged, taking the card from Nero’s hands. She observed it for a moment. Its effects of pushing away Malflora were certainly interesting. If the effects extended to other curses, it would be a useful card. Of course, limited to 2 Star, it was far from useful for any foe that would give her trouble.
The concept was interesting anyway. If she could learn the recipe and recreate it at a higher rank, it might just be useful. But such a thing was not always possible. Some higher rank Spell Models required ingredients that were far too rare, and couldn’t be acquired at all.
Marilyn put the thought out of her mind and flooded the fragile card with her aether, instantly causing it to blow up. At the same time, a far stronger, brighter beam of silver light shot out of her hand at the grass.
Yet this time, it didn’t bend it, or cause black smoke to emerge. No, this time, it burned through everything, digging into the earth itself as the beam kept on going farther until the tunnel it dug collapsed, hiding the true depth that the beam had reached.
"Huh?" Marilyn said, shocked. That... was far more powerful than she was expecting.