Evacuate Covertly

Under ordinary circumstances, Nero was very particular about maintaining his awareness of his surroundings. Nearly dying an excruciatingly painful death because he accidentally stepped on a barely visible blade of grass once was enough to ingrain the habit deep in him. It was something he actively and consciously trained, and not something that just appeared in him overnight.

As a result, he became a relatively light sleeper, and even in his focused state, maintained a level of vigilance. Since he and his brother had both been training fanatics when they were young, they had devised an ingenious training method.

They used to take turns meditating, sometimes for minutes, sometimes for hours. As meditation would become a crucial skill when they became card masters, they did not mind practising it early.

But during their meditations, intermittently, the brothers would silently attack one another. They did not do it every time they meditated, and they made sure to change the method each time as well.

At first it had just been a fun game between the two of them, but eventually they did pick up vigilance, as well as stealth, and a few other skills. Training was quite convenient when it turned into a game rather than a task.

But this was one of the rare circumstances where Nero truly lost himself in his observations, and his vigilance dropped to its lowest level. To be fair, during the synchronisation process, he could not move or allow his body to undergo any sudden changes, or the synchronisation would fail.

The consequences of that can vary from nausea to heart failure, and such a thing was usually called cultivation deviation. At this level, it was rare, but not unheard of.

So Nero remained completely relaxed, with his eyes closed, his entire focus on his chest. Before this very experience, Nero did not have what was called inner-vision mainly because he could not perceive aether. Now that he could, he could feel it flowing, pulsing even, inside of his body.

Following those feelings, Nero could rely on his imagination to see what was happening inside of his body.

Somewhere inside of his chest, between his lungs, or maybe in front of them or behind them, there was an unusual node of aether gathered. Although it was a collection of aether, it was at the same time very much a part of him. The Blank Template card was dead-center inside the node, slowly absorbing it.

Nero had questioned Patrick extensively about his synchronisation, so he knew well what was happening. The node represented his innate ability. When the Blank Template card completely absorbed the node, it would undergo a change. It would no longer be a Blank card, but would form a card that carried the ability of his innate ability.

Their discussions into the process had been long and thorough, and even reached the point of philosophy. Without any proper knowledge related to the field, he and his brother cooked up many theories about the synchronisation process without fear of being grossly incorrect.

They supposed that since synchronisation could allow humans to step onto the Eldrim cards path, if an alternate path with a proper sequence and progression was introduced, humans could potentially follow other paths as well. But no such path existed, as far as they knew.

It did not matter - they were just the ramblings and musings of two kids. Nero was just feeling reminiscent during this important moment.

But that did not mean he was not observing the ongoing process. No, instead Nero was thoroughly analysing how aether moved around in his body, and how his innate ability behaved. He dared to say that he would be able to grasp basic mastery of his innate ability as soon as he tried it for the first time - whatever it was. At least he'd know how to control aether.

The node was not too large, the card was of exquisite quality, and he provided the best possible environment for the synchronisation, so the entire process only took Nero about one hour and twenty minutes.

Although Nero had used his imagination for his inner-vision, once his synchronisation was complete, he could see the newly formed card in his chest clearly, as if it was right in front of him!

The back of the card was divided into three shades of blue. The background was an extremely deep blue, approaching navy, with crisscross patterns in a lighter shade of blue, forming a sort of field. In the middle of the pattern, in the centre of the card, was a vibrant, cobalt blue flame!

On the front of the card, the silver border had been replaced by a blue that was matching the flame on the back, and in the top right corner where the symbol of a slate had been, a small flame appeared. The image of the slate had also been replaced, and in its place was an image of Nero, his hair and eye colour changed to match that of his flame, which he had conjured in his hand.

Right below the image was a line of text, indicating what the ability was! On the top left of the card, where there was previously nothing, a name appeared: Cryoflame. Likewise, at the bottom of the card, where there was previously a quote from the emperor, appeared a line his mother told him often.

"The death of every Kolari is already written, and it is on the battlefield."

This… this was his innate ability card! Certain things on it could change, of course, such as the image and the flavour text, but in essence, this was his innate ability!

Unable to suppress his grin, Nero focused on the words that described his ability!

[The Cryoflame burns with a brilliant blue hue, its flames shimmering with icy tendrils and frosty wisps. Instead of consuming fuel and emitting heat, it consumes only heat and produces more flames, leaving the target frozen whole instead of ash.]

Nero could not suppress the excitement in his heart. It was not exactly what he wanted, but the ability was good enough. It was very similar, if not nearly identical, to his mother's ability, which means he could consult her on how to train with it, and how best to use it. Besides, she was an elite soldier, which meant that this ability was more or less good enough for him to achieve the same.

Not that just having a good ability is all it took to become an elite, but at least it would not be a detriment in any way.

Nero could not wait any longer and instantly activated his ability. He instinctively knew how to do it, in the way one knows how to breathe, or blink.

He could see his innate ability card glow softly, and in his right hand, he conjured a beautiful blue flame. Before he could lose himself in admiration of the dancing flame, he became distracted when he felt the aether flow in his body and completed a cycle. Starting from the card, the aether travelled across his torso to his hands and his head, before going down to his feet and then returning to the card.

He felt a distinct click, as if something in his body had snapped into place. Nero knew what that was as well. It was the end of the malleability that Havaal had mentioned, as well as the process by which eye and hair colour changed. Well, the hair was more of a gradual process, but his eye colour ought to have changed by now.

But with that thought, Nero's attention was once again diverted, preventing him from admiring the flame, as well as the mist coming out of his mouth. 

Havaal was not in the room!

His eyes immediately located the note the polite man had left behind, and it stated only two words: evacuate covertly!

The sudden development surprised Nero, but he responded promptly, suppressing his flames until they vanished. There was no time to revel in his new status as a Neophyte. A single sweep of the room was enough for him to assess the situation.

He was left alone in the room, which was already established considering the note, but a thin layer of dust had accumulated around him. In fact, now that he thought about it, he was pretty sure even his hair was covered in small bits and pieces of sandy debris.

He looked up, and noticed a small crack had appeared on the ceiling, starting from one corner of the room and travelling towards the other. As if to explain how that happened, the building trembled softly, and more dust fell from the crack.

There was no panic in Nero's eyes as he promptly stood up and took out his metallic card case. Within was a carefully selected collection of 0 star cards that he had gathered, prepared for any kind of emergency situation he might face. The two cards his parents had given him were also in the case, but he didn't reach for them right now.

Instead, he took out another, extremely common card called Muted Self. It was an illusion type 0 star card, with an image of a broken musical instrument.

[Eliminate the sounds produced by the caster for 20 seconds.]

As a fresh Neophyte, Nero did not have unrealistic expectations that he would be able to wield cards masterfully, or even remotely competently. But a card such as this did not rely on Nero's execution, and so he did not mind using it. In critical situations, it was best to stick to skills and abilities he was familiar with rather than trying something new and untested.

He reached into his duffle bag, which he had naturally brought into the room with himself, and took out a serrated knife that was approximately 17 cm (7 inches) and unsheathed it. Since his mother packed the bag, how could she leave him without this basic, essential tool?

The entire process of taking out the specific card as well as his knife was extremely smooth and Nero barely took a moment. He took one deep breath, as if he was flipping a mental switch to enter a specific state of mind, before he stepped forward, closing in on the door and putting his ear against it.

Muffled sounds on the other side told him that something was definitely going on outside. After all, this was supposed to be a completely insulated room. Even muffled sounds should not have entered.

Nero channelled his aether, all of it collected in the Cryoflame card in his chest, and channelled it across his body, into his arm and poured it into Muted Self, activating it. He felt the ability take hold as even the sound of his breathing disappeared.

Softly, he cracked open the door to the room where the Heralds were supposed to be standing to give him a farewell as he left, now as a card master and one of them, and peeked in. But the once dimly lit room was dark, illuminated only by a thin line of light that escaped through the door Nero had opened.

The Heralds were missing, and in their stead, what remained in the room was the thick smell of blood, as well as a few dark figures laying on the floor in the distance.

For a time, Nero did not move. He only observed silently, as he counted the seconds in his head. Entering the dark was dangerous anywhere, let alone in such a situation, but he also could not stay in the synchronisation room.

The sounds of fighting in the distance became more prominent once he had opened the door, the temple vibrating due to the fierce battle on and off, but there seemed to be nothing happening nearby for the moment.

He counted till ten, and when he neither heard anything or saw anything in the room move, he quickly slipped into the darkness, closing the door behind him.

Nero did not look down, for he had already observed the floor, but when he stepped onto the carpet he could tell something was different about it. It felt… damp. A moment later, a brief increase in the stench let him know what it was soaked in: blood. Predictable.

Unperturbed, Nero made his way through the room while he still had the benefit of Mute Self still active. But he did not cross the trail of blood like he had last time. Instead, he traced the wall beside him as he counted his steps, mentally picturing where he was in the room.

He had memorised the layout of the room when he crossed it the first time, and recalled an air vent on the left side of the room, which was his target. Entering a constricted space presented its own risks, but Nero evaluated it as the least risky option available to him.

Without warning, something grabbed his leg!