"You seem distracted," Nero said as he looked at the charred remains of his final card fusion attempt. Silas had thoroughly explained to him why Nero had messed up, and at each attempt, the reasons were different. The constant failures did not fluster him, though he did gain a new appreciation for Silas' talents.
Knowing a good artisan was key for any card master, and if Silas continued to develop at his current rate, he would become an excellent artisan in no time. Getting his hands on recipes would not be a problem with his family's backing, and Nero was fairly certain that he would be able to make high-quality cards in no time.
"Do I?" Vanessa asked forlornly. "Maybe it's just the vine incident. I am not used to such things."
"Really? I thought the fact that Nova had a fog clearing meant that the rate of cursed events is even higher over there."
"They are, but we've learned how to deal with them. Just think about it. With the level of technology that Nova sells to the other countries, you can imagine what they keep for themselves. It's been a long time since a cursed event on such a massive scale has occurred in Nova."
Either she was a really good actor, or she really was shaken up by the incident. Her voice was low and for once, instead of making eye contact, she kept looking down.
"Were any of your… your friends or roommates hurt?" Nero asked.
"What? Oh! No, no, they're all fine. Credit where credit is due, you Kolari's are definitely not scared of a fight. Even though none of them specialise in fighting, they handled the situation way better than myself. Thankfully, none of them were infected to begin with.
We fought our way out of the hostel, and then just stayed out of the way till the military came."
"Oh. You seem despondent, so I thought maybe something had happened. Glad to know you were safe."
Vanessa was surprised to hear him, and suddenly picked herself up, as if filled with energy. But the expression on her face seemed a little forced.
"No, although it was definitely an experience, it's nothing like that. I just expect my family to be a little worried about me. They might want to call me back after hearing what happened."
"Oh, yeah. That makes sense," Nero replied.
The group walked out of the school together, and although it was only noon, it was considerably dark out due to the heavy clouds. They must have rolled in while they were studying.
"Do you think it's going to snow?" Vanessa asked, looking at the clouds.
"In the mountains, perhaps, but not down here," Nero answered. "Winter's already behind us, so I wouldn't expect it. It definitely looks like it's going to rain, though. Might even get some lightning."
As if to confirm Nero's statement, streaks of white lines flashed through the clouds, followed by heavy thunder a few seconds later. The group split up, and Nero found his way to Footer to resume his training.
At some point during the day, a deluge of rain began to pour down, which kept on going throughout the night and until the next day. The soft pitter patter on his window created a cosy environment for sleep, with suppressed sounds of occasional thunder outside punctuating the otherwise consistent tempo of the rain.
The lack of sunlight, however, swept the hostel with an even more depressed mood. Despite the massive floodlights that illuminated the entire city, ensuring that it never got too dark, the artificial, man made lighting could not hold a candle to the real thing.
Nero stood at the hostel door, looking out at the rain and the field of tiles in front of him, as well as the blanket of darkness above him which were the clouds. The air was even more crisp than usual, and the smell of rain hung heavy around him. A few insects had gathered in the relatively dry, covered area in front of the hostel door.
Rain had a way of seeping melancholy into one's bones, and Nero was not immune to it either. As he held out his hand and felt the raindrops pelting his skin, he could not help but wonder about something that often plagued his thoughts.
His hostel was not poorly built, so then why did he still prefer the sights of the distant mountains to these monuments of man? The floodlights ripped through the darkness just as well as the sun, so then why did he prefer the light of that distant ball of furious fire? The tiles in front of him were laid out in a beautiful pattern, so then why did he still prefer the sight of fields of green?
The tiles didn't even threaten to kill him if he stepped on them by accident?
Why did the fresh morning air smell better than the filtered air inside buildings? Why did fresh water taste better than the one that they distilled?
It was not as if any of these things, whether it was the buildings or the tiles or the lights, were results of shoddy workmanship! In fact, each and every one of them was a testament of mankind's dominance over a cruel world that desperately tried to devour them. So then why was it… that in his heart of hearts, he still found this cruel world to be so beautiful?
Was it a trap? The ultimate lie. The diaphanous illusion of gorgeous landscapes, arresting your attention so that danger could more easily close in. Was deceit woven into the very nature of this world?
He wanted to believe otherwise, but that was never the answer his mind arrived at.
Nero stepped into the rain and walked towards school, leaving the umbrella in his hand unopened. He was not really at risk of catching a cold anymore, and he didn't particularly mind being wet. Perhaps the rain held some answers.
He had another tuition session with Silas and Vanessa, after which he procured the ingredients Silas handed over. But, to his surprise, alongside the ingredients he asked for, Silas slipped him a card.
"Don't tell anyone," he whispered as he looked around for any eavesdroppers. "My dad would be furious if he knew I gave one of these out. But, I reckon this could help you a lot in improving your card crafting."
Curious, Nero looked at the card and was stunned to discover that it was Silas' innate card!
Name: Arithmetic Perception
Image: A flower drawn on a graph paper
Type: Innate
Star rank: 0
Ability: [Augment all senses, allowing extreme precision]
Flavour text: "Whether you're a farmer, a soldier, a businessman or a king, it's all about the numbers" - Iskunder Macedon.
Nero was stunned, as he had not been expecting such a card, but instead of falling into formality, he accepted the card and gave Silas a grateful nod. He was not one for false modesty. The card would be useful for him, and so he took it.
Their latest tuition session let Nero know that he was nowhere near being able to craft a card, even a relatively easy one. But having Arithmetic Perception would make it much easier for him to at least prepare the necessary components for Radix Augmentation, not to mention crafting the card itself.
With everything ready, instead of returning to his room, Nero went to another private card crafting room and locked it. He set aside the box handed to him by Silas, which contained the ingredients he asked for, before also placing a backpack on the table.
In the waterproof backpack were the ingredients that he had already procured, which he took out and neatly placed one by one, before arranging the ingredients given to him by Silas.
The recipe for the Radix Augmentation card required only seven layers, including the base. Considering that each layer had to be prepared by hand, and had a miniscule margin for error in each, the difficulty of creating the card was evident. But it was not impossible - far from it, in fact.
Within the card crafting room that he was in were countless tools specifically designed to help process various materials so that they can be used in card crafting. Moreover, now he had even received Silas' innate card, which should make things easier.
He took a moment to clear his mind. Right now, it didn't matter that his body was sore, or whether the world was deceitful, or anything else. Right now, the only thing that mattered was his task.
Nero held Arithmetic Perception and activated the card. He felt the spell within it activate and flow into his body. A chill ran down his spine, despite the fact that he had long since stopped feeling cold.
Then the world changed. He did not suddenly get barraged with a lot of new information. Instead, he felt like he was getting more out of whatever he was feeling. When he looked at his hand, he could tell the exact dimensions and curvature of every bit of it. Where his clothes touched his skin, he could tell how many centimetres of cloth touched how much skin.
The silence in the room was no longer silence, as he could hear how far the walls and various objects were around him.
It was strange.
The first thought Nero had after he recovered was what the sunset might look like under the effects of this card. But then he focused back on the task at hand. He had work to do.