282 Spirit
Nero woke up feeling completely refreshed, though the unfamiliar surroundings had him confused for a time.The sight of a doctor put him at ease, however, when he recalled everything that had happened.
"Looks like you're up," said a nearby doctor. "Don't move while we do a final check. Once we're done, someone will come and explain things to you."
The doctor pulled out a few cards and began to check up on Nero, while Nero himself checked the condition of his body. Previously, he thought he was absolutely fine, but only now that he had rested for a time did he realise the mistakes he made.
His body was suddenly much stronger, and a doctor's evaluation would definitely reveal as much, which wasn't good. The fact that he hadn't even thought as much revealed just how mentally drained he had actually been.
There was also one more, critical piece of information he seemed to have overlooked. Virtuous Moonlight did not completely eliminate curses, but just put them in a sealed state. Whatever had happened to him was a result of a curse - that much was obvious. He had used that innate ability to save his life, but where did the sealed curse go? Was it inside his body?
He could not inspect his physical body for signs of abnormality, at least without any cards that did specifically that, but he closed his eyes and checked his internal aether. After months of manipulating it, Nero had become extremely familiar with how aether was distributed across his body.
If there was an abnormality, he should be able to find it. n/ô/vel/b//in dot c//om
Slowly and meticulously, he went over the aether distribution in his body, checking to see if everything was normal. A few times, he even manipulated his internal aether to check for anything that might be amiss, and learned two things.
First, with the newfound strength of his body, manipulating his internal aether was not nearly as effective as it used to be. It was as if the technique had an upper limit of power it could achieve, and Nero had naturally crossed that. In a way, that was a good thing. Multiple people had warned him of the dangers of internal aether manipulation, which had caused Nero to use it less, but it was still an effective tool for him. Now that he naturally surpassed what aether manipulation could do, he could finally stop using it. After a few more tests, of course.
The second thing he learned was that there was indeed something inside his body - something that displaced the aether of the region it occupied. The problem was that it was within the base of his spine, and Nero could not move it using his aether.
If he wanted to get it out, he'd have to find another way. That curse was really not something he wanted to carry around with him. Then again, if he could somehow find a way to ensure the seal on it would not break, it would be a highly lethal weapon for him to use against someone else. But, yet again, that would require him to first remove it from his body, so he was back to square one.
"Your tests are clear," said the doctor who had seen Nero the day before. She walked in holding a number of tests which she showed Nero, though he could make no sense of them at all. "You were suffering from a Spirit drain - an uncommon phenomenon among Neophytes. I don't expect you're too familiar with the application of Spirit, are you?"
It seemed he had missed the part of the briefing where they discussed Soul curses, but Vanessa filled him in. Basically, it was not something that Neophytes could easily defend themselves from.
The artisans in the base were working on an incredibly rare 0 star card that would help them defend against such curses, but it was uncertain when it would be produced, so at least for the next excursion they would have to go without it.
The briefing finally ended and the Neophytes gathered together to go for breakfast. Considering the fact that they would be spending hours and hours in Perilith, getting a good breakfast was exceptionally important.
"Hey, I'm glad you're doing alright," Daisy said, walking up to Nero. "That was really scary when you started producing black smoke yesterday."
"Yeah, I'm glad you're alright man," said Mel. "I'm not saying we can't hold our own without you, but it feels a hell of a lot safer with you around."
Nero grinned, yet scratched his head awkwardly as if the compliment was making him feel shy. Vanessa, who knew just how confident Nero really was, rolled her eyes. He was putting up a front for them to see, she could tell. The two girls getting chummy with Nero irritated her, though, for some reason.
"Yeah, you're strong," Clarissa said with a nod. "I'd love to fight you properly once all this is over."
"Do you think you could give us some fighting tips?" Noman asked.
This time, as he was surrounded by the whole group who kept focusing on him and asking him questions, Nero's smile was genuine.
From the get go, his intention had been to make a good impression, and he had achieved. From experience he knew that everyone gravitated towards the strong, so by proving himself strong, he'd gotten rid of any feeling of alienation that had existed between him and the rest of the group. Now they gathered around him on his own.
"You guys are pretty good too," Nero said modestly. "If we all train together regularly, our teamwork is bound to improve, which will raise everyone's strength."
It would also bring him closer to Noman, who would trust Nero more, but that was not something he said out loud. December release schedule