POV: Recruit 79
I was sitting down on one of the benches that lined the sandy patches, casually waiting. It had been but a few hours, which went by a lot faster than I had expected.
Zero had definitely gotten on my nerves, no less. And the fact that he would be the one teaching me at Zhang's order himself, I couldn't refuse—but that didn't exactly mean I was happy. He didn't have the decency to have a conversation longer than 5 seconds with me.
And those conversations were nothing but degrading me, of course. Not even actual talk.
Just a few minutes later, Zero walked through the shadowy gate, defeated.
'It seems his talk with Zhang about being forced to train me was nothing but futile,' I thought to myself, annoyed at him still.
I guess it was too good to be true when I saw General Aurelian's personality. On the field he's strict, unforgiving—relentless, and harsh. However when you actually decide to talk with him, he seems like a very relaxed person—an embarrassing contrast towards General Zero, who would benefit from learning a thing or two about him.
Zero had walked on over to me and sighed.
"Well, under Zhang's order and some gracious miracle that has blessed you, I've been forced to train you, and I promise It'll make your life a living hell."
I managed to force a grin, excited that he finally caved in the fact that he can't change Zhang's decision. After all, he is the future Emperor.
"Is that because you hate me or... literally?"
"Both," he replied.
Zero scoffed, trying anything to vent his frustration.
"What makes you so special that I'm supposed to train you anyway?"
"I don't know, even I'm confused why I'm here," I answered truthfully. Outside of my unusually high increase in NB, there wasn't really much to me still. I was very weak, despite everything.
It seems he was disappointed by my answer, as he crossed his arms with a sigh.
"I did score a 980 NB though..."
Zero's eyes widened, so wide that I had thought for just a moment that his eyes would pop out of his skull. This was definitely an answer that shocked him to his core, despite the expressionless facade that he tries to wear.
"W-What? A 980?" He stuttered, still unrelenting surprise washing over his face, which left me grinning from ear to ear.
***
POV: Zero
'A 980 NB? How is that possible? He's just a recruit!' I thought.
Scum at the bottom of the barrel are just disposable, everyone including him knows that. They serve no other purpose than practical meat shields for those who really matter.
When I had gotten word of a recruit being shipped to the manor, I didn't think much of it.
Maybe the scum would've been useful to Emperor Zhang—a lab rat, used for whatever experiments he pleases, maybe even a training dummy. Even when I figured out he was undergoing a nexus capacity evaluation here, I didn't think much of it.
The standard issue machines can only record up to 250 sometimes.
I, myself, was a 1050 NB. Which means this lowlife wasn't that far behind me in capacity...
This boy...
Maybe he'll become something after all.
***
POV: Recruit 79
Zero had seemed lost in thought after I had told him my NB score, and as expected. While I didn't know his exact score, he was definitely over 1,000—one of the many minimums to being a general in The New Order. However, he couldn't have been much higher than that...
Which means, my score wasn't too far off of his.
'I wonder if that hurt his ego...' I thought, which only made my grin unrelenting, my dull face becoming a thing of the past.
Just as I had finally began resting once more though, a fist came flying into view.
My eyes were just about to close before I caught sight of it—whipping through the wind, a force so powerful that it could knock me unconscious the moment the impact even breathes upon my skin—nexus energy swirling around the knuckles graciously.
It was Zero's fist.
'What the hell?' I thought, enraged.
Time seemed to slow as I watched it burn through the air, just about to hit me.
However, to my surprise, it felt like a weak jab.
While it was probably nothing more than a weak attempt to gauge any potential strength I had—even I expected to get hit by it, which wouldn't have been pleasant.
Yet it feels...
Like I can dodge it!
As time still felt like it halted to a complete stop, I slowly rotated my body around to avoid the blow. My body felt heavy, like I was pulling hundreds of pounds—if not, tons, on my back. Every inch I moved felt slightly painful down to my core, however I tried my best to ignore it. I had to understand what I can do fully to even begin growing stronger.
Fully clear of the blow, time resumed it's pace. In a split second, the fist cracked through the thinning air, thanks to the roaring nexus energy around it.
Zero's brow furrowed slightly at my dodge—not surprised, but definitely impressed.
"While that hit was nothing, no regular soldier should have the potential to react to it. At all. Not only did you react, but you fully steered yourself out of it's planned trajectory—how you knew that it was going to curve around even beats me," Zero began explaining. "Maybe you are worth something after all."
Zero's words made me notice something even I didn't.
He was right.
His blow, in my head—was just a straight line.
However taking the time to properly analyze where his fist left, he clearly had slightly curved his blow towards me even more.
Which means not only did I have the speed to react, but I subconsciously saw where it was going to land—and reacted accordingly.
'Maybe there's a lot more to me than I thought...'