The moment Gabriel pointed out he was laughing like a maniac, Nero stopped, feeling a little embarrassed at his display. The main reason he had gotten carried away was just because he learned something new that was also very useful, but also because it did not use up a lot of his aether!
Sure, covering his body with aether to use it as defence actually ate up a lot of aether, but only when it was actively defending against something, such as the effects of the red sand. Otherwise, it barely used up any aether at all, because Nero could just pull it back into his body.
It was the same with boosting his speed and strength! Manipulating the aether within his body, and concentrating it in specific locations was harder than it seemed. In the midst of a fight, Nero could not quickly strengthen his hand for a punch while also keeping track of everything that was happening, responding to all threats and taking advantage of any openings.
But whenever did have some leeway, he could boost random punches.
Then again, this was the absolute first time he was using this ability, and he had never trained with it before, so who knew what he might achieve in the future?
The most amazing part was that Nero had tried reducing his internal aetheric pressure in the middle of the fight as well. The ability worked incredibly well with feints, and made his other attacks harder to detect.
Nero turned to Gabriel. He could not actually reveal the research paper, or the extent of what he learnt, but it should be fine to reveal what he had learnt about the basic level of aether sensitivity.
Although the information had a great impact, he did not believe that it could be such a big secret. Most people would figure it out, at least partially, over time. Probably. How could they since aether was such a big part of everyone's life?
Nero had no problem making it look like he figured everything out on his own, especially once he gave the background that he had been trying to figure out how Footer avoided getting cursed the day prior.
Since Nero did not sense him use his innate ability, and he did not use any cards, logically speaking, aether manipulation was the only option left to him.
He could tell that this was all new information to Gabriel, as the redhead asked numerous questions about how to sense internal pressure as they walked back.
Their early morning spar only slightly disrupted their routines, and soon Nero found himself with Footer back at the tiny building.
Testing continued, as usual, and fighting against cursed beasts provided Nero with great experience if nothing else. At the same time, he was able to sense the countless subtle influences he was subjected to while fighting cursed beasts.
Their means were truly insidious, as at a glance, it seemed like Nero was blocking all of their attacks. But if he had not strengthened his aether boundary, then more than once he would have been cursed all without knowing.
He even got a sense that the beasts were not doing this consciously. Just close proximity to curses put him at risk of being cursed!
Nero felt incredibly confident walking out that day, and true to his expectations, he went through the purification without issue, for he had no latent curses in his body!
Footer did not show any form of acknowledgment at the feat, and treated it as if it were completely ordinary. Since their training that day ended there, Nero spent the rest of the day with Ms. Zim, practicing card crafting.
The next day Nero went through training as normal, but when he reached the tiny building once more, he finally got a sense that something was different. Both Footer and Nero were given a special uniform to wear, which would help them resist the influence of curses!
Nero was bewildered that such a thing existed, since it hadn't been given to him the last couple of days, but put it on regardless.
The material of the special uniform was rough, and filled with a lot of padding. It made movement slow and difficult, which was highly impractical. But to Nero, that only reflected the difficulty of what he was about to face.
He recalled Footer mentioning that today he would face abstract curses. He had already dealt with cursed plants, objects and creatures, which consisted of all the kinds of curses he could imagine. What was left?
Not willing to take any chances, Nero paid special attention and waited for any instructions he might receive. But there weren't any more instructions. Instead, a team of four guards would accompany Footer and Nero for the remaining tests.
They were led deeper into the building, and then to a vertical ladder that descended into a basement. After travelling through an unnerving number of security checks and blocks, even Nero's patience wore thin.
"Are you going to tell me exactly what we're about to face?" he asked, looking at Footer.
The man looked at Nero and, after his usual bout of looking at him sternly, responded.
"Something you should ordinarily have no opportunity to face securely at all. With all my experience, I would like to think myself a cognoscente in curses, but even I would not dare take this specimen in alive. The only reason we have it is because it was personally caught by Sage Haiden.
The only reason it is secure is because it is still being bound by the power of the sage, and the only reason it has not been killed immediately is because the sage has need of it.
"What you are about to see is an abstract curse. Abstract curses are the most bizarre curses to exist, and most recorded sage deaths that have occurred due to a curse are likely a result of abstract curses. The only reason you have permission to conduct a test on it is because of approval from the sage. You see these four men with us? They work directly with sage Haiden. You know what that means?
That means that they are at least all Arcanists."
Nero was stunned, and looked at the men who were walking beside them, only to receive a wink from one of them. Well, at least it was good to know that they were friendly. But they still didn't talk.
He felt a strange surge of excitement and nervousness as he walked deeper into the underground labyrinth.
"Wait, why is something so dangerous being kept in our school?" he suddenly asked. "Shouldn't it be in a secure base somewhere?"
"That's classified," said one of the four men.
A moment later, Footer said, "it needs to stay within a certain proximity of the sage. This underground storage area was built just a few days ago to store it."
The four men glared at Footer, but the man's expression didn't shift a bit. The man just did not care about propriety at all. Nero, instead, was amazed at how quickly such an amazing underground prison, basically, was built. It had to have been the work of someone with a profession, or maybe a few of such people working together. He wondered what professions would be good for this.
Most likely Eldermyst, and maybe Agha.
At last, after a few more security checks, they reached their destination. Nero could not help but gulp, before he collected himself, and maximised his internal pressure as much as he could manage.
He was not about to take a chance with something that could kill sages, regardless of how many other precautions were in place.
The four guards all used certain cards, activating protections around themselves as well as Footer and Nero. Then the doors opened, and they stepped in first, before allowing Nero and Footer to follow.
Nero did not know what to expect, since the name was not exactly revealing. The room was covered in a light mist, and as soon as Nero was exposed to it, he felt something pressing against his internal pressure, though only lightly.
He waited for something to change, but nothing else happened. There was just mist in the room, which kept moving. It circled around everyone, though for some reason, it seemed to circle Nero more than the others.
This slight anomaly was picked up by everyone, immediately causing them to raise their guards, but nothing happened.
"Use your ability," Footer whispered. "See how it reacts."
Nero nodded, and lit a small, azure flame on his hand. The fog seemed to react immediately, though not in any way that Nero had expected. The fog in the room began to gather to a sphere, and began to darken. After a few moments, it looked like there was a black ball just floating above his blue flame, almost as if it was enjoying itself.
But then Nero immediately noticed something. The sphere was not perfectly uniform. There were bumps and shapes on it. It was a replica of the ever present Dark moon!