nerva narrowed her eyes as she looked at Niflheim.
After a brief mont of thought, she closed her eyes and released a small sigh.
"I admit my defeat. This round goes to you, Lieutenant Niflheim. Next ti, I will be choosing the ga." nerva said calmly.
"Sure. But, you should know—I have no plans on losing next ti, either." Niflheim replied with a friendly grin.
When nerva finished wrapping up her conversation with Niflheim, she walked over and faced Izroth.
"I have disappointed you..." nerva said as she slightly bowed and spoke in an apologetic manner.
nerva was highly conscious of the fact that Izroth brought her on with the intention of being his strategist. However, to lose a ga of rock, paper, scissors in front of him—even if she graciously admitted her defeat, how could she not feel ashad?
"Disappointed? You're mistaken. I just want you to do what you do best." Izroth responded.
"What I do best?" nerva asked as she stood up straight with an inquisitive expression.
"I know that you can't turn it off. That's why, instead of trying to turn it off forcibly, we'll add a safety switch. That safety switch will be in the form of instinct—sothing that you find yourself unable to follow." Izroth explained.
"I see. I concluded that the purpose of you sending to Xanaharpe ahead of ti was to recruit players for the 9th Division and prepare for the upcoming raid, but it seems in the process, I misunderstood your true purpose." nerva sighed lightly.
"Do not feel disheartened. In terms of possessing a purely strategic mind, I'm afraid even if you search all of RML, you will find it difficult to locate anyone remotely close to you. However, as you've just learned, your weakness is too easily exposed when you et an opponent that knows you head-on. Of course, the simple solution is just to keep you hidden forever. But, in the long run, that would rely be putting a bandage over a fatal wound." Izroth stated.
He then continued, "That is why you must do what you do best, which is absorb all the information you can. You are to observe and analyze every one of Niflheim's moves until you manage to form your safety switch. In other words, I will have you develop an artificial instinct."
"An artificial instinct..." nerva uttered to herself as she seed to be pulled into deep thought.
"If it were anyone else, I would not bother suggesting this thod. But, if it's you, there's a good chance it can work—converting logic to instinct and instinct to logic." Izroth explained calmly.
From the first mont he discovered nerva's flaw, Izroth understood what had to be done in order to correct it. However, he also knew the unique nature of the solution he ca up with.
nerva was capable of doing sothing others could not, and that was blurring the lines between intuition and instinct. But, Izroth did not intend for her to rely blur the lines. Instead, he wanted nerva to rge them together into one.
"I understand. I will do my utmost not to disappoint you." nerva affird.
"I know," Izroth replied with a carefree smile.
...
A few minutes later...
Not long after nerva finished her talk with Izroth, she and Niflheim went on to select the mbers of their Squadron.
Although they did not formally agree on it, since he was the first to select the player he wanted, Niflheim gave nerva the second and third picks.
In the end, Niflheim felt a little bad for pulling one over on nerva; therefore, he decided to extend an olive branch to make up for it.
Of course, nerva readily accepted without a second thought. After all, there was no downside for her, only an upside.
By the ti the two completed their selection process, nerva's Squadron had 19 mbers, while the remaining 20 mbers were placed under Niflheim's command.
As for who Niflheim chose as his first pick, surprisingly, it was not one of the four players who managed to step past the fourth line. Rather, the person he chose stopped as soon as they walked past the first line and never proceeded any further.
Nevertheless, it was this player that not only Niflheim but also nerva had an eye on.
It was a young woman with flowing golden hair and a pair of observant aquamarine eyes. She wore a refined gold and white robe with mystical patterns inscribed onto certain parts of its surface.
This young woman was called Bellum.
Unlike the majority of players that participated, Bellum was the only one to give up imdiately after crossing the first line. Naturally, this caused her to co in dead last among those who successfully passed the test to join the 9th Division.
But, there was a good reason why Niflheim and nerva were willing to give up the second and third picks to choose Bellum despite her underwhelming performance.
When Izroth first arrived on the scene and gave a strong welco to those present, everyone could barely stand straight and had been completely caught off guard. That is, except for one individual in the sea of sixty players—Bellum.
Not only did she not seem surprised by Izroth's abrupt appearance. She also had no problem enduring the force he unleashed using his Soul Pressure.
Of course, Niflheim and nerva were sharp enough to take notice of it. But, neither one of them said anything in hope that the other sohow missed it. Needless to say, their hopes did not co true.
Izroth also took note of Bellum; however, in order to let things take their natural course with Niflheim and nerva, he intentionally ignored her presence. Though even he was surprised that she chose to stop after walking past the first line.
The sole reason Izroth bothered to even make the fourth line was due to Bellum's presence.
Despite their best efforts, the last two players standing could not do so long enough to gain the rank of Lieutenant.
But, this was not surprising since Izroth intentionally made the fourth line for Bellum to challenge.
'It's clear she didn't choose to join the 9th Division for the sake of increasing her rank. In that case, what does she hope to accomplish?'
If she was capable of enduring his Soul Pressure to that extent, at the very least, she was well above that of the average player.
Of course, there was always the possibility that she simply didn't care about rankings when it ca to this event. However, Izroth had a feeling that things weren't so simple.
That being said, Izroth had no intention of prying into Bellum's private matters since she was not displaying any kind of suspicious behavior.
'I don't know her intentions. But, as long as she follows the rules I've set, it doesn't matter. For now, we have more important matters to prepare for.'
"Now that everyone has their assigned squadron, I want to officially welco all of you to the 9th Division. I won't speak for other divisions, but I will always reward those who perform well. And, as a reward for your efforts just now, Lieutenant Niflheim will be distributing so resources. Think of it as a welco gift. And, an insight into what can be gained if you show good results." Izroth stated.
The next mont, Izroth looked over toward Niflheim and gave a small nod.
Niflheim removed the first set of small bags from his inventory and started to personally distribute them among the players present.
Soon after, Niflheim walked in front of Champion and handed him one of the bags.
"Hold your head high. You did well." Niflheim said before he moved on to the next player.
"Thanks..." Champion muttered as he released a heavy sigh.
There was an aura of defeat about Champion as he had a gloomy expression. One more second... Just one more second, and he would have grabbed the rank of Lieutenant!
How could he not feel dejected after coming that close only to have it slip away at the final mont? The last thing he could care about right now was so small rewards bag.
"Might as well see what's in it..." Champion sighed again as he checked into the bag Niflheim handed him.
However, the mont Champion looked inside the bag, his eyes widened in shock as the air around him underwent a drastic change in the blink of an eye.
Champion had to check again just to make sure he was not just seeing things. But, there was one question that imdiately popped into his mind—was this really just a reward for joining so random GSU division?!
Reviews
All reviews (0)