Nero Walker, Book 2 Ch.41 (73) (Patreon)

Now that Vera was no longer running Gate 7’s Center-Intake, she would be spending most of her time working from home. She had already been spending at least 3 nights a week using her home office to operate her shipping concern, ‘Precision Shipping’, so the office was already well suited for her new duties.

Her local hub was top-of-the-line, and she had spared no expense appointing the room with tasteful furniture. There were floor to ceiling windows which opened up onto a veranda overlooking her courtyard. She even had potted plants to keep the room feeling lively, while she had placed track lighting ringing the recessed ceiling in order to preserve the feeling of professionalism.

Multiple displays were open on her desk, alongside several folders filled with expense reports and project updates. Like a machine, Vera systematically addressed every issue with utmost efficiency. Now that she had time, she was personally making sure the absorption of ‘Dorchen Shipping’ proceeded without any issues. She had already blocked several plots from other noble houses trying to shift contracts, falsify records, and generally cause problems. As the screens flashed, her pen slashed across the pages, and she smiled.

As much as she had liked her job at the Center, this was her guilty pleasure. Plots against her interests were foiled, and then turned against the aggressor. Machinations with many levels, across fiscal and political arenas. Recent events had resulted in her having to face them all at once, and she had achieved victories that made her blood boil with excitement.

Receiving a ping from Nick, she paused her work and opened a connection. “Hello dear. How was your first day of training?” she asked. Feeling his annoyance, she smirked and took a sip of her wine.

Nick replied, “It was fine Vera. You were right about how General Branson responded to Nero’s outing of the spies. From what I can tell, a new batch of actual elite recruits will be here tomorrow. The girl, Rose, is still here though. What did you find out about her?”

Vera changed one of the screens to display the file she had created for General Branson’s spy. “Her name is Rose Vikander. 18 years old. Trained since awakening under Ulric Linderman, a hunter/assassin who was near her town on contract when she awakened. All accounts show that she was trained primarily as a hunter, and her assassination training hadn’t started. Unclear if that was a long-term priority, or if she was only there to learn hunting. She is the 7th child of the town blacksmith and a local hunter. Neither parent is anything special. It appears she fled the town for a city at the first opportunity. Linderman was most likely just a means to an end,” she said while reading the report from the screen.

Vera felt Nick’s interest as he asked, “Have you found out anything about her personality or capabilities? I’m having trouble getting a read on her. At first I thought she was a simple village girl, but Nero seemed to see right through that. Now she’s trying to come off as an air-head, but I’m not buying it.”

Vera sighed and said, “I was able to get hold of her records from the Hall of Hunting, but they weren’t very extensive. All I can tell you is that she is primarily a long range fighter who excels in ambushes. She isn’t level 10 yet, so no pillar. For her personality, all we have to go on is what we’ve seen for ourselves. I’d say she is highly adaptable, and motivated solely by self-interest. She didn’t hesitate to cut ties with her mentor and move on to new opportunities when they were presented. She’s also intuitive, Lord Bennings said that the girl took one look at Nero and decided she didn’t want anything to do with the plot against him. It seems her intuition was the reason General Branson took note of her. In short, I’d recommend caution when dealing with her. Her threat isn’t physical, it’s psychological. You’ll have to limit her information gathering capabilities, I doubt she’s forgotten her mission.”

Nick replied, “I’m pretty sure Nero converted her to our side, but I’ll follow your advice. This isn’t really my area.”

Vera nodded in agreement, then asked, “Speaking of deceptive individuals with a highly developed intuition, did you find out what pillar Nero gained?”

Nick chuckled and responded, “Not yet. He’s leveling as we speak. Cathleen think he’ll gain some type of recovery ability, but I’m guessing something along the lines of an ‘observation’ pillar. But you’re probably right. ‘Deception’ or ‘Intuition’ would fit Nero like a glove.”

Taking a sip of her wine, she said, “You’ll be unable to keep his pillar secret, so don’t bother trying. Don’t make your moves in the open, you -”

Nick interrupted her with annoyed tone. “Yes, I know. Move in the shadows, and don’t appear until I’m ready to strike. I know dear,” he said.

Smiling, she said, “I’m sure you’ll do fine. One spy isn’t a concern. Just consider it training for Nero. Now you should get some meditation in, this change of pace will be good for you. Don’t waste this opportunity Nick, you’ll regret it if you do.”

Vera felt her husband’s acceptance of her words. He said, “I won’t. Don’t worry. I’ll keep you updated on what’s happening. Expect a ping around this time tomorrow.”

“I’ll be available. Talk to you then my love,” she said and then closed the connection.

Sipping her wine, she looked at the file on Rose that was still up on her desk. With a thoughtful look on her face, she debated what, if anything, she should do about the girl. Deciding that it was still too early in the game to make a move, she closed the file and returned to work.

She had less than a week before Nick and Nero were out in the wilds, and she wanted to get their trading posts up and running before they got back. As the screens on her desk starting flashing, she smiled. She was really enjoying her new job.

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Waking up to morning reveille, Nero threw on a fresh pair of training clothes and dragged himself onto the field. Cathleen and Rose looked wide awake, but Nero took solace in the fact that Nick looked exactly how Nero felt: tired.

Captain Angelton must have sent the other trainers away, because he was personally running their morning training. There were only 4 recruits remaining: Nick, Nero, Rose, and Cathleen. Nero wasn’t able to hide his shortcomings in a crowd any longer.

During the run, Nero was lapped by everyone multiple times. After which, he still couldn’t perform the physical training at all. While everyone else was contorting their bodies, and performing feats of gymnastics on the adult sized jungle gym, Nero was falling on his face with alarming regularity. Yet, he persisted.

Captain Angelton spent the morning offering compliments and encouragement to Rose, Cathleen, and even Nick. He praised their successes, and encouraged them to push their limits. But all Nero heard was, “Way to keep trying. You’ll get it eventually. Don’t give up.”

Rather than get angry, Nero just kept plodding along. His inexhaustible well of stamina was still working, and Nero didn’t hesitate to keep trying. He knew that it would take time and effort. Occasionally, he’d check his stat panel and watch the stress pile up. It was growing slower than the day before, but it was still growing. Once again, his smile was eternal in the face of the physical torture he was enduring.

Eventually the morning training ended, and the captain sent them off to breakfast. As the group of four were heading off to the dining hall, they saw the new recruits being organized across the field.

Nick said, “Looks like the replacements are here. You think the general just pulled them from the monster-hunting teams?”

As they walked, Cathleen was the one to respond, “Probably. Some of them might have been on the road teams, but I doubt it. He’ll have wanted the best of the best to make up for his previous gaff.”

While Nick and Rose nodded, Nero just looked over at the group and wondered if it really mattered. Taking his past into account, Nero doubted he would be able to tell the difference between someone’s skill level. They could have been from maintenance and would still probably be able to kick his ass.

Small talk ensued while they collected their food and took their seats at their table. Nero stayed rather quiet, as he was busy day-dreaming about the future. He imagined being a physical powerhouse that could throw around magic as if he were Superman crossed with the God-Emperor from Warhammer.

Nick seemed to not be able to hold back his questions any longer, and made Nero jump when he nearly shouted, “Nero! Seriously, just tell us what pillar you took. I can’t keep talking around the subject. You did level, right?”

Nero looked up from his meal to see everyone staring at him intensely. Sighing, he said, “I took the ‘adaptation’ pillar. Hey, do you guys go into a kind of mental world when you meditate? It started happening to me, and it’s weird.”

Nick’s eyebrows rose in interest, as he said, “Mental world? We’ll definitely have to talk about that. But what do you mean you took an ‘adaptation’ pillar? What is that? I don’t think I’ve ever heard of that.”

While Rose and Cathleen kept silent, they were paying close attention to the conversation. Nero didn’t see the harm in telling them about his pillar, as everyone else freely discusses their pillars.

Tapping his fork on his plate while trying to figure out how to describe his pillar, Nero took a large drink from his water. Setting it down, he gave Nick a serious look and said, “It’s about acceptance and change. When I was on the path, it felt like I could become anything I needed to be. The pillar is all about internalizing change, and growing in the face of challenges.”

The table was quiet as they thought about Nero said. Nick spoke up with some confusion in his voice, “So your pillar is about growth? You’re already leveling at ridiculous speeds, I guess it makes sense in a way. Compared to where you were, you’ve changed a great deal in a very short amount of time. I can’t say that the pillar isn’t appropriate. But it seems like a very ill-defined pillar. Did you gain an ability? Or is it more passive?”

Nodding as he ate, Nero took a sip of water to wash down his morning sausage. “I gained an ability that helps me handle level stress. I’m guessing it has something to do with how much I can gain while infusing stars. I’ll just have to see.”

Rose joined the conversation. “Why didn’t you choose a more useful pillar? Like one for observation, or recovery?” she asked with interest.

Nero said, “I didn’t really feel like I chose a pillar. It was more like there were many paths in front of me, and the one with the ‘adaptation’ pillar just felt the most… right. The other ones felt like half-truths. My pillar was always ‘adaptation’, I just didn’t know it until I saw it.”

Nick nodded and said, “That’s how it is with some people. They just know what they should pick. Now what did you mean when you said you saw “paths” in front of you?”

Looking at Nick, Nero replied, “It’s like I said. Lately, when I’ve been meditating, I feel like I’m mentally projecting myself into my soul. This time, I saw a path surrounded by my memories. I even had a body! It was kind of trippy. Then there were all these paths that were associated with the different pillars. They were layered on top of each other. It was like I could scroll through them in order to choose which path I wanted to put in front of me. I didn’t read anything about that, so I was curious if that was weird.”

Once again, silence met Nero’s words. Everyone had stopped eating and was staring at Nero like he was crazy.

Nick said, “Yes, Nero. That is weird. Most people just see an interface they can interact with at level 10. I’ve never heard about anyone experiencing what you just described.”

Shrugging, Nero said, “Eh, I’m sure it will be fine. Let’s finish our meal and get back to training.” Pointing at Cathleen, Nero said, “Today I’m going to at least make you earn it.”

Cathleen smiled as she stabbed a sausage and pointed it at Nero. “I always earn my victories. Learn quickly little lord. Right now you are nothing but a crappy training partner. Hopefully you’ll be more dangerous than a puppy by the time we head into the wilds.” After she finished her taunt, she ripped the sausage from her fork with her teeth.

Snorting, Nero said, “That was the lamest trash talk I’ve ever heard. It felt like you were encouraging me. What the hell is wrong with you. Let me show you how it’s done.” Clearing his throat, Nero straightened in his chair and scowled at Cathleen from across the table. In a cold voice he said, “I’m gonna kick your ass so hard that your pillar will change to ‘shame’. You’ll rue the day you stepped into the ring with this little lord. You hear me, you ancient harpy!”

Rose couldn’t help it, and burst into laughter. Nick hid his head in his hands as his shoulders shook in amusement. Cathleen, however, was smiling ear to ear when she said, “Oh, it’s gonna be a great day. I can feel it.”

Feeling a shiver down his spine, Nero gulped and forced himself to return a smile of his own. Maybe he went a little too far? This wasn’t a mmorpg, he was going to be within arms reach.

On the way to the training ring, Nero could only take comfort in the fact that there were two green shirt medics waiting for them. Even death wouldn’t stop him. Telling himself that it would be fine. Nero faced off against Cathleen and prepared himself to receive an ass-kicking of epic proportions.