The walk from the school campus to his hostel was barely five minutes long, but as Nero took slow, wobbling steps he suddenly regretted training to such an extent. The simple walk turned into an entire ordeal for him. He pretended to saunter along, but his sweat drenched clothes were a clear indicator of his condition at the moment.
The only redeeming part of the walk was that Nero had become immune to the cold, so the chilly wind did not affect him even in his condition. It was a good thing too, or he'd be suffering from a cold the next day.
Eventually, though, he made it, and felt immensely grateful that his apartment was on the first floor because he was not looking forward to climbing many stairs. Before heading towards his apartment, however, he took out his keys and checked the apartment mailbox.
Mail meant for anyone from 1 G would be put in this locked mailbox, and they all often took the mail back to their apartment and handed it to whomever it was addressed for.
Since Nero had been anticipating a letter from his father he checked every day, though so far he had been met with disappointment. Today he was expecting nothing different, but a single, white envelope was placed inside of it, addressed to Nero Grant. There was no sender's address.
Feeling slightly energised and hopeful, he grabbed the letter before undertaking the arduous journey back to his apartment.
Anthony was cooking something, but no one else seemed to be home. After greeting him, Nero went directly to his room and threw himself on his chair, at last. It seemed that, in his zeal, he had thoroughly overdone it.
He allowed himself a moment to let his body rest, before turning his attention to the letter. Careful not to tear it, he opened the envelope and pulled out a folded piece of paper from within.
Nero gathered himself up and read the letter meticulously, but the more he read, the more confused he became. The letter was… extremely ordinary. It mentioned a few things about his mothers recovery, and even delivered her love and concern. It asked several questions about how he was finding hostel life. It even shared some stories from his fathers own experiences, and gave plenty of advice.
It was a perfectly mundane letter. The handwriting and content assured him that this was not a generic letter, but indeed was one written by his father. But… what was the point of writing such a letter? The entire contents of the letter could be discussed in a two minute phone call. Was there… supposed to be some kind of code? How was he supposed to crack it?
He had no experience in cryptography!
He narrowed his eyes, and then tried to recall the last conversation he had with his father. Had he dropped some kind of hint? If he had, Nero could not recall. He checked the envelope once more to ensure that there was nothing else in it, then reread the whole letter again, but this time even more slowly.
At a glance, the entire letter seemed ordinary. Unfortunately, even under scrutiny, it revealed nothing spectacular. He was almost done reading the letter for the second time when he felt a word in a sentence near the end didn't fit right.
The sentence discussed how, when his father lived in a hostel, he kept a luminous side lamp in his room to avoid complete darkness in case of a power outage, which were frequent back then. Did he mean glow in the dark?
Although Nero understood what he meant, the strange wording confused him for half a second before he instantly realised something. He reached into his card case and shuffled through the cards until he felt a particularly smooth texture.
It was his fathers 0 star innate card - Luminalink!
Name: Luminalink
Image: A golden flame, resting in a hand.
Type: Innate
Star rank: 0
Ability: [Transmit any kind of data through light]
Flavour text: "Knowledge will light the way forward," - Edward Grant
Damn, he just realised that if this card really worked the way he might be thinking then… his father might really be the perfect spy!
Filled with anticipation and excitement, he channelled his aether into his fathers innate card for the first time, and targeted the letter.
He saw a bright flash of light, and then found himself standing somewhere unfamiliar. To be more specific, he was standing in an empty, white room.
"Ah, my child, how is adulthood treating you?" came a familiar voice, causing Nero to turn around. His father was standing right there, behind him, wearing a gloating smile. Why was he so good at hitting people exactly where it hurt?
"I didn't move out to be an 'adult', I moved out so I can spend more time training. This does not mean you guys are free from your duty as parents. For all I know, you and mom have actually run away to your second honeymoon!"
His father continued to stare at him for a few seconds more, before he burst out laughing.
"Stupid child, did you actually give me an answer? You do know that this is just a prerecorded message, right? I cannot hear anything you say."
Nero clenched his fists and grit his teeth. Such an obvious thing should have been his first thing he realised upon coming here, but because of his exhaustion, paired with the relief of finally seeing his father, he had fallen perfectly into this trap.
"Can you grow up?" he muttered, even as he smiled. He knew the answer to that. His father would absolutely never grow up, much to his mothers remorse.
"By the way, how do you like my ability? If you are using the 0 star card to record a message, you could probably only record for a minute. But since you're only receiving the information, it can basically continue till the card's durability runs out, or your aether does. So that gives us plenty of time. Sit down kid, we have much to talk about."