Nero Walker, Book 2 Ch.33 (65) (Patreon)

Cathleen Averett watched as her charge, the new Lord Walker, fought with the pull-up bar. His little body was drenched in sweat as he forced himself to continue. To his left and right, recruits were pulling themselves up, then transitioning into handstands on the bar for an upside down push-up. The recruits shouted out their count as they dropped back down to repeat a rep. It was obvious that they and Nero were in entirely different classes as warriors.

Yet, what amazed Cathleen was that Nero didn’t seem to care. He was all smiles as he shouted out his count. His just kept going. He wasn’t quick, and he wasn’t powerful, but he didn’t seem to be getting tired. She couldn’t take her eyes off him as he just wouldn’t stop. Rep after rep, he just kept going.

She had seen countless children grow into warriors. But she’d never seen someone like Nero. Just yesterday, during orientation, Nero actually looked disappointed when he heard training wasn’t starting right away. Even more, she had been watching closely, and Nero had seemed extremely unimpressed with the training regimen.

As she watched him train, she wondered how could she have been so wrong?

When Vera first introduced her to the boy, Cathleen had thought she had a good read on him. He was just another soft southerner who wouldn’t last thirty seconds in a real fight; the kind of young man who dodged training, and focused on empty words and politics. Yet, she couldn’t argue with the facts in front of her. The boy obviously had the soul of a warrior.

Even in the north, a freshly awakened boy couldn’t have survived the trials Nero had faced. He had killed 5 men in single combat. She had personally watched as he dominated a trained assassin in the arena, and then ask for a sandwich. At the time, she had thought it was possible that he was just crazy, and lucky. But she couldn’t ignore what she was seeing.

The recruits on Nero’s left and right switched out again, and a new pair joined him on the bars. Yet, Nero didn’t stop. It was obvious that every rep was a struggle, but he kept smiling as he forced himself to complete each rep. His voice was clear as she heard him yell, “217!”

She thought about what she had seen in Nero’s eyes during last night’s dinner. Filled with apathy, he tried to hide his disappointment. He had asked why there was no fighting for status, and no battles to be had for leadership. The boy, only 14 years old, was unhappy with the fact that no one would be trying to haze him, or attempting to beat him into submission. His eyes were full of unmet expectations. It was clear that he had been looking forward to a fight.

Finally, his arms gave out, and Nero fell to the ground while panting in exhaustion. Yet, she saw that he was still smiling. Cathleen couldn’t help but grin as she thought, ‘This boy is a monster!’

Struggling to his feet, Nero started laughing. “Hey Cap?” he shouted. “Since each set is supposed to be 25, does that mean I did all nine? Or do they not count because I couldn’t do them all fancy like everyone else. Never mind, don’t answer that. I’ll just go run laps,” he said while still chuckling. Giving his arms and legs a little shake, he took off into a run toward the track.

Cathleen turned to see Captain Angelton shaking his head in exasperation while writing on his clipboard. She could see that he didn’t understand what he was witnessing. This was the birth of a war god. Songs would be sung about this boy. How could he not look past the weak body and see the signs?

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Nero was having a great time. He felt like a super-human. As he ran around the track, he opened his stat panel.

Body 2

Base Operative Level Stress   Presence 11 15.4 0.1   Durability 8 11.2 2.1   Recovery 21 29.4 7.8   Speed 13 18.2 2.3   Adaptability 32 44.8 1.6   Power 8 11.2 4.3   

Mind 4

Base Operative Level Stress   Weight 26 46.8 1.2   Control 29 52.2 4.6   Field 23 41.4 7.2   Precision 39 70.2 9.1   Endurance 46 82.8 5.6   Focus 48 86.4 2.1   

Soul 2

Base Operative Level Stress   Size 29 40.6 0.1   Density 101 141.4 0.2   Intensity 76 106.4 0.2   Pressure 27 37.8 0.1   Harmony 24 33.6 0.6   Adaptability 270 378 0

Nero’s panting didn’t hinder his smile. It was amazing to see his level stress shoot up during his training. His day may not have started that well, but once training began, everything was coming up Nero.

Last night, Nero sulked while retrieving his gear from the equipment hall. His frown remained while he listened to Nick coach him about containing his psychic field to avoid bad dreams. Nero couldn’t focus, and his only concern was how different reality was from his favorite movies. The constant courtesy and kindness of his fellow recruits was more than he could take.

He even managed to take a quick shower before bed, so he would be able to have the bathroom all to himself. Nero knew he’d have to face the community shower eventually, but last night he just wasn’t up to it.

Just like Nick had warned him, Nero had bad dreams. Dreams of brutal training. Broken bones suffered and healed, spirit’s broken, and recruits washing out. Waking up, Nero couldn’t shake the feeling that today was going to be the worst day of his life. Followed quickly by every day being worse than the day before.

As Nero ran, he started to laugh at how different his day had actually turned out. Looking at his stats, Nero figured it was his body’s ‘adaptability’ and ‘recovery’ attributes that were to blame. He just couldn’t run out of energy. Nero could feel his soul pulling on the essence in the air. He could almost feel the facilities’ previous recruits cheering him on as he ran.

Nero had always hated exercise. He had done it, but he hated it. Looking back, he thought it was the feeling of being tired. Bone-deep tired. But in this new world, everything was totally different.

Their first task in the morning had been to do 20 laps. Everyone had outpaced Nero from the start. Even Nick had made Nero feel like he was standing still. Some people must have lapped Nero at least 10 times before he had finished. But while they had gotten tired, Nero had just kept going.

The calisthenics that followed the run were like yoga mixed with aerobics. Intermixed with bur-pees and complicated stretches, they used what looked like an adult jungle gym for their training. Nero had kept falling, his body was unable to complete the exercises. But that feeling of exhaustion never came. No matter how hard he had pushed, Nero just didn’t feel it.

He could only conclude that his stats and the essence in the air were working together to do… something. Whatever it was, Nero was happy about it. The feeling of pushing past his limits was exhilarating. He may not be able to really complete a single task, but he never once felt like quitting.

Nero’s run was interrupted by Sergeant Blackwood shouting, “Alright Nero, that’s enough. Fall in.”

Jogging back to the group, Nero’s smile was met with confused stares by his fellow recruits. Everyone was looking at him like he was crazy. Nero couldn’t help but laugh at their exhaustion. They all looked like they’d been through hell, while he felt like he could go another ten rounds. Wringing the sweat from his shirt, he took his place in line, and stood at attention.

The captain took his place at the front and addressed the recruits. “That’s what we’ll be doing every morning. All of you know what you have to work on. I expect daily improvement, and I will get it from each of you. Now, breakfast is ready and waiting in the mess hall. I want to see you back on this field, ready to work, in 30 minutes. Fall out!” he shouted.

Nero turned to head toward the mess hall, when all of the sudden, everyone cast a cleaning spell on themselves. Everyone was bathed in a white light, as if they were all affected by a mass casting. No one seemed to notice that Nero didn’t follow suit. Without any chatter or whispers, all of the recruits then proceeded to the mess hall with a quick walk.

Amazed at the impromptu coordination, Nero just stood there and watched.

“You alight Nero?” Nick asked, as he approached from behind Nero.

Spinning in place, Nero saw Nick walking toward him. The man looked tired. He had bags under his eyes and his shoulders were slumped in weariness. At this point, Nero’s smile was starting to hurt his face.

Nero replied, “Hey Nick! Looking good. And don’t worry about me. I’m doing great. Let’s go get our chow.” With a pep in his step, Nero trotted off toward the mess hall.

While everyone else was pushing through the pain of a difficult morning training, Nero’s mood was only improving. ‘Even the food looks great,’ he thought.

As he joined the recruits at the table, everyone was eating in silence. Nero was shoveling some kind of thick oatmeal with meat-chunks into his mouth, while looking around to see how everyone was doing. Rather than using a glass, Nero just grabbed a pitcher of water and used it like a giant mug. Occasionally, people looked up from their meal. But in general, everyone was focused on breakfast. The silence was starting to annoy Nero.

It took three trips to the counter for Nero to finally feel full. Finally satisfied, he was about to start forcing some conversations, when they all heard a trainer shout from the door, “2 minute warning recruits. Get your dishes bussed, and get your asses back on the field.”

Sighing, Nero went to drop off his pile of dishes.

Surprisingly, Nero was stopped short by a familiar looking young woman with light brown hair. Although Nero couldn’t remember where, he was sure he had seen her before. Her intense blue eyes held him in place as she stood in his path with her arms crossed. As she was over a foot taller than Nero, she had no trouble blocking his path.

Although her stare was intense, her tone was confused as she asked, “Why haven’t you cleaned yourself up?”

Everyone in the area seemed to pause what they were doing and look at Nero and the mystery woman. As Nero noticed this, he didn’t want to look like he was intimidated. With that in mind, he responded with his typical snark. “We’re just going to be getting dirty again, what’s the point? If my manly musk is too much for you, don’t feel bad. I’ve been known to have that effect on people. But for you, I’ll try to keep it in check,” he said in an apologetic tone.

Nero’s hands were full, so he just cast his cleaning spell by stamping it with his field. The gasps from the surrounding recruits were music to Nero’s ears. With a grin, Nero held her stare with one of his own, then deftly stepped around her to drop off his dishes. Moments later, he was quick-stepping out the door back onto the field.

While he stepped back into formation, Nero examined his clothes and hair. The spell he had used was the one Vera had shown him for his clothes. He had just targeted ‘all’ of himself. Apparently, it worked just as well for a full body. He felt scrubbed clean, but it felt weird. It didn’t feel like he had washed. The spell seemed to have just removed all the ‘dirtiness’ and left him feeling clean, but not refreshed. All in all, Nero found the feeling rather unsatisfying.

His musings were interrupted by Captain Angelton shouting, “All right elites, time for combat training. We’re doing two hours of hand to hand before we move onto weapons. You’ll be broken into 5 groups of 4. Listen for your name and join your group’s trainer at their circle.”

Nero watched as people’s names were called out and they filtered to their large fighting circles. Nero heard his name and went to join his group. Unsurprisingly, he saw that Nick and Ms. Averett were in his group. However, he was surprised to see the girl he had a mini-altercation with as their fourth member. Nero didn’t know if this was by chance or design, but he figured he’d treat it as an ‘enemy action’ regardless.

While trying to watch the girl with his psychic field, Nero studied their combat trainer. The man was a little under 6 feet, and looked like a typical soldier. Close cropped hair, strong chin, and he even stood like he was always at attention. His blue shirt identified him as a trainer, although the clipboard helped.

“My name is Sergeant Wesker, and I’ll be supervising your unarmed combat training. No magic. No weapons. When all else fails, you will face your enemies with your bare hands, and I’ll show you how. For the next ten days, we’ll meet after breakfast. I’ll have you for 2 hours every day, unless you require more training. Then I’ll have you until I’m satisfied,” he said while staring them down.

Looking at his clipboard, he continued, “I have files on all of you, but I don’t know what you can do. So we’ll just have to see what we’ll see. Be sure to call for a medic if you’re injured. I don’t want your training affected by you thinking about training your recovery. There will be plenty of time for that later.” As he spoke, he gestured to some trainers wearing green interspersed among the training circles.

Walking a little off to the side, he said, “Alright, we’ll start with Verena and Averett. Head to the center, and start when ready. Fight until knockout, common rules are in effect. Start when you’re ready.”

Nero joined Sergeant Wesker and the young woman off to the side of the ring. Although Nero was nervous for Nick, he was just glad that Ms. Averett wasn’t going to be his opponent. Glancing over at the girl, Nero realized that it wouldn’t have mattered. This girl was going to kick his ass.

As they watched Nick and Cathleen take their places in the center of the ring, Nero asked, “What are the common rules?”

Sergeant Wesker tilted his head at Nero in confusion. Nero thought he was either surprised that Nero would talk to him, or surprised at the question. “Common rules for a fight means that no instant killing moves are allowed. Obviously, no magic or weapons. Breaking bones is fine, but avoid breaking anyone’s neck. Accident’s happen, but deliberate attempts to win with a kill results in a loss,” he said.

Nero returned the look of confusion and said, “Isn’t that a little much for a training match?”

Seeing the look of disdain on Wesker’s face made Nero rethink what the man said. How could such practical people waste soldiers with training like that. Seeing a green shirt out of the corner of his eye gave Nero the answer. He snapped his fingers and said, “Magic! Wait… is permanent injury a thing? Or how about resurrection magic? How long do you have before a body is unable to be resuscitated?”

Before Nero could get his questions answered, he saw movement in the center of the ring. Looking over, Nero saw exactly what he was expecting to see; Nick getting his ass kicked.

Ms. Averett shot across the ring like a bullet. She led with a front kick that Nick side-stepped. Nero was impressed, but only for about half a second. Instead of dropping her foot, she jumped off her back foot with surprising strength. Corkscrewing, she whipped the leg she just kicked with around her body. As Nick had planted his feet, he chose to meet the kick head-on with his forearms.

To Nero’s shock, Nick’s block succeeded. Unfortunately, that didn’t seem to faze Ms. Averett. She just dropped the ground, landing lightly on her feet. Her landing allowed her to have a clear shot at Nick’s ribs. Her left hand performed a textbook hook into Nick’s side and Nero watched him fold. As his right arm dropped in pain, Ms. Averett’s follow-up right took him square in the nose.

Instead of continuing, she just stood up straight and started walking away. Nero could see her grin, as behind her Nick was frozen like a statue. Like a tree falling, he just tipped over. She had knocked him out cold while he was still standing. Feeling a chill down his spine, Nero tried to imagine anything he could have done to avoid Nick’s fate. Without having come up with an answer, Nero heard Sergeant Wesker.

“MEDIC! RING 2!” shouted the sergeant. He didn’t seem worried, and just started writing some notes on his clipboard.

Nero watched as Ms. Averett walked over to them and stood next to Nero with a grin on her face. Following her eye-line, Nero saw that she was watching the medic run over to Nick’s prone body. It was a little far away, but Nero tried to watch the medic healing Nick with his psychic senses.

Nero recognized a complicated diagnostic spell form. Although he couldn’t cast it, he had seen the diagram in one of the books Jennings gave him. Yet, he could cast the healing spell that the medic used. It was a basic influx spell. It channeled restorative essence into a living person. From what Nero read, it was like a healing-accelerator. It wouldn’t restore things into place, like broken bones or messed up organs. But if a person had everything in the right place, it worked like a charm. In fact, it was the only healing spell form that Nero could cast.

As the entire fight only lasted a few seconds, the healing seemed to take a while.

Soon enough, Nick was back on his feet and walking over to the group. Ms. Averett still hadn’t said anything, and Sergeant Wesker hadn’t stopped writing. Nero watched Nick cast a quick spell to clean the blood off his face.

“Really Cathleen? You couldn’t at least let me throw a few punches? This was supposed to be a demonstration of our skills,” said Nick as he approached.

Ms. Averett just smirked and replied, “That was an accurate demonstration of your skill level. I’d require someone who actually knew how to fight in order to show the sergeant what I’m capable of.”

Nero was about to shout ‘burn’, but was interrupted by Sergeant Wesker.

“Walker and Vikander, you’re up. Show me what you got,” he said while still writing on his clipboard.

Nero gulped as he saw his opponent jog into the center of the ring. Following suit, Nero took his place and looked across the few feet separating him from an ass-whooping.

Maybe it was the distance, or the light, or any number of things. But as Nero looked across the ring, he remembered where he had seen the woman. She had been standing with the assassin’s. Obviously, she was wearing different clothes back then, but Nero was sure it was her.

He watched as she raised her fists, preparing for combat. Nero’s heart started beating a mile minute. ‘Not good. This is definitely not good,’ he thought.