Rorik was a Neophyte. While such things hardly mattered in the academy, since the difficulty of the training would be tailored to each cadet, it was a fact that he was far from the best of his batch, at least for now. Nero also hadn’t heard any remarkable or notable things about him, though to be fair only a small amount of time had passed. Even in their shared classes, he did not really stand out.
All in all, at least for now, Rorik was just an average cadet inside KMA. But this average cadet looked Nero straight in the eyes and fought for an opportunity to lead. Maybe it wasn’t to the same extent, but from him Nero felt a drive similar to his own.
Even though he was average for now, as long as he did not die, Nero was certain that he would go far. That was exactly why Nero gave up the opportunity to lead the team to, instead, take this opportunity to form a connection with Rorik.
Compared to the currently strong, but ambitionless prodigy, Nero felt like Rorik had a much greater potential. That wasn’t to say that Nero thought poorly of Vilhelm. The thing was that in the army, each mission he’d taken so far put his life on the line. A single mistake, a single moment of carelessness was all it would have taken to end his life. In a situation like that, not only did Nero have to take care of himself, but also those under him.
In such a moment, someone like Rorik would be a lot more trustworthy than someone like Vilhelm. Besides, he had said it very simply, but Rorik’s words had a big impact on Nero. To claim that he would never be disappointed if he put his trust in Rorik was assuming a great burden upon Rorik, yet he took it willingly. Only someone like that, only someone with such a mentality had what it took to make it far - of that, Nero was sure.
He would like to converse with Rorik some more, but now wasn’t the time.
"We should all introduce our abilities to one another so we can coordinate better," said Rorik, looking from Nero to the other two. "Since we’re not sure of what the course entails, we’ll need to react quickly. Based on the cards we’ve been given, I can at least guess a few things.
"Since I’m the team leader, I’ll go first. I have an active innate ability which allows me to create gold..."
Before Rorik could elaborate at all, one of the listening cadets interrupted.
"Wait, what? You can make gold! Like, actual gold?" he asked, shocked. Fortunately, he had not raised his voice, or his words might have been heard by others as well.
"Yes, real, actual gold," Rorik said as he flicked his thumb, producing a unique gold coin with Rorik’s face on both sides. The gold coin flipped in the air for a bit before falling back inside Rorik’s hand as if it had been an illusion. "But gold is a very dense metal, so I can’t make too much of it at once, or it drains all my aether. Fortunately, I can also absorb gold to replenish my aether..."
The cadet seemed even more shocked, interrupting once again .
"You can do what ? Does that mean you can regain aether from any gold?" he asked.
His questions were valid, but the timing was inappropriate and Nero could easily see that the constant interruptions were irritating Rorik. Compared to how differential the two behaved in front of Nero, their behaviour in front of Rorik was too different. Nero did not intervene, however.
Learning how to subdue one’s subordinates effectively was an important skill one needed to learn. Nero realised that not everyone had the privilege of being trained from birth like him, so for Rorik this was a valuable opportunity.
"I was going to elaborate on that, but since you’re not interested in letting me finish my words, I’ll let it be," Rorik said, staring at the cadet with a clearly dissatisfied expression.
"Oh, sorry," the cadet responded, scratching his head with an awkward smile. He still couldn’t get over the fact that Rorik could produce gold. In fact, even Nero found it incredible. The man was a walking money machine - it was quite a wonder that he wanted to join the army instead of enjoying his literally unlimited wealth.
Gold was valuable not only because of its aetheric conductivity, but because it was highly resistant to the corrosive effects of Cursed energy. It was one of the most standard materials used to construct equipment that could resist Cursed energy.
"I can produce a flame that absorbs energy and produces a cooling effect," said Nero quite simply, without elaborating too deeply. He lit a fire on the tip of his finger to show the group what he meant.
The cadet who kept interrupting scratched his head once more, and looked around awkwardly.
"I guess I’ll go next. The name is Brad from Astarties, and I have a passive that increases my movement speed."
To demonstrate, he quickly took a few steps back before returning to his, his movement an entire blur. Nero raised an eyebrow, impressed. As far as passives went, that was not a bad one at all. It could improve his combat ability drastically, and at the same time it increased his survivability by a lot.
The last cadet, who looked absolutely nervous even now, went last.
"My name is Harvey Bird from Marcus battalion, nice to meet you. My innate ability is... not very helpful in this course. It basically just keeps my mind fresh regardless of the situation - I can go without sleep for weeks and my brain won’t feel a hint of drowsiness nor will it drop in performance."
Nero raised an eyebrow. He could see that Harvey was quite insecure about his innate ability - it was written all over his face. It was true that the innate ability was not the most fantastical, but that didn’t mean that it wasn’t good. Being able to stay mentally fresh regardless of circumstances meant that he would be excellent in prolonged conflicts.
"It’s good to have you with us, Harvey," said Rorik firmly, not even sparing a second. He showed no indication of being dissatisfied with the innate ability, and nor did Nero which put him somewhat at ease. Brad seemed to have some thoughts, but after being told off once, he kept his mouth shut - at least for now.
"Now, I went over all the cards we got, and it seems we all have the same cards. Nero just has a higher rank of the same card. That most likely means that without teamwork, it’ll be incredibly tough to go through this course. I can also venture that, due to his higher ranking cards, Nero’s cards will have the same effect as two or three of us working together - at least for the cards that require teamwork.
"We’ll have to use that in our strategy, yet reacting quick enough not to waste time will be somewhat of a challenge. That’s why I need you all to listen closely to my orders, and try not to act on your own if you can help it, lest it affects the team."
No one had any objections, at least for now, so the team made their way to the starting line behind Rorik’s lead. The professor standing there was surprised to see that Rorik was leading the group, instead of Nero, but did not comment on it. Instead, he started to explain the requirements to complete the course.
"At the start of the course, you all will be given a secure package that needs to be transported to the end of the course. The package is fragile, so some of you will need to work together to keep it protected.
"From the moment you start the course, you will have twenty minutes to complete it, and should you be unable to reach your destination in that time, you will be considered to have failed. Similarly, if the package breaks before the end of the course, you will fail. If any of the cadets in the team are unable to reach the end of the course on their own, your team will fail.
"Also, keep in mind that multiple teams will be running the course at the same time due to time constraints. You are not allowed to attack the other teams, or impede them in any way. You cannot take their package in case your own breaks either. Do you all understand the rules?"
Rorik nodded, so the professor brought them to the ’package’ causing Nero to look at the professor as if he was joking. He was not.
The package they needed to deliver was an empty, green coloured vase. They had literally taken a random, fragile object and turned that into the package that needed delivering.
As absurd as the idea was, Nero had to admit, it worked. Making sure that the vase didn’t break or chip while they completed the course would be a challenge.