“It will only take up a few hours of your day to be a Drill Sergeant,” Edraine continued to speak as Randidly pondered the suggestion. “It will leave you plenty of time for your own training. Especially if you have subordinates you can reliably use to oversee the base level training of the recruits. Most importantly… this is an emergency mission with the reward of one Tier 1 Nexus Citizenship coin for completion. That enough makes it an attractive offer… but also talks between the military council, the Xyrt Brigade, and the NLC have stalled out. Everyone wants their own representative in this position and not someone who professes loyalty to one of the others. At this point, the entire program will need to be delayed if they don’t select someone by the end of the week. Which gives us an opportunity.”

“What is the NLC?” Randidly wondered out loud, picturing the vicious punch the uniform worker had slammed into the over-muscled humanoid. The casual use of violence did not earn the organization any points in Randidly’s book. “Also… even if they need to pick someone, why would they pick me?”

“The Nexus Labor Collective,” Octavius interjected. “They are a technically unofficial body, but since the Nexus Council never bothered to make a legitimate civil service for its many pieces of infrastructure, it was able to take over that role. In the past, the teleporter system and Aether valves were basically left unguarded… the NLC rose to ensure that the powerful couldn’t so easily abuse the System. Or at least, the powerful without any shred of legitimacy.”

Edraine cleared her throat. “As to your other question… In this case, what is important is that Octavius here is a former member of the NLC. They plan to select a hundred and one drill sergeants, with most being given control over ten thousand recruits after they cull the chaff applicants that are flooding in. So when you come with his recommendation, as well as with a successful track record of repelling the Nether attack on the frontlines, you should get the support of two factions and slide into one of those spots. You are a compromise candidate with enough experience to be credibly competent. So, are you interested?”

Randidly flexed his fingers. Almost idly, he took in the surrounding room. There was no furniture but the wooden table in the center of the room, but the walls were covered with maps and graphs. The immense Nexus was shown in cross-section, with lines to the important places within the supercity. There was notations about the Nexus’ Aether expenditures compared to the amount of energy it generated. There was even an entire wall dedicated to the different factions and how many powerful individuals each definitely had and was suspected to have.

This was clearly the home base of a group that had plans for the Nexus. From sensing the images of the surrounding two individuals, it was clear that they shared his goal, too. Randidly just had to decide what his role would be in the whole machine.

His mind continued to whirr, even as Revelation energy crept into his right eye. Purple-black energy danced across his cornea. He saw the branching lines he might take stretching out before him. Truthfully, a part of him just dearly wished to hole up down here in the Undercity and train for a while. The Grim Chimera was just a little bit away from a qualitative transformation. The Stillborn Phoenix would undoubtedly begin to grow if he could go deeper and absorb more of those ambient emotions, perhaps using Yggdrasil’s natural filtration to keep out the unwanted energy.

Congratulations! Your Skill Revelation of the Atramentous Threshold (T) has grown to Level 329!

But he didn’t forget the disappointment he felt upon initially arriving at the Nexus. Everyone he saw during his brief, meandering walk had been weak. It was only when Octavius was able to guide him through the maze-like Nexus to a very specific location that he was able to encounter Edraine.

The powerful were present here, but the Nexus was so large that it was very easy to miss. What Randidly needed was a way to connect with and encounter these powerful people. At first blush, becoming a drill sergeant definitely seemed to be an excellent opportunity to do so. But before he agreed, Randidly asked the other large question that hovered in his mind. “But… why does the Nexus need so many drill sergeants right now? Don’t they usually just throw people into the fire and train those that survived?”

Edraine and Octavius shared a glance. It was Octavius that eventually spoke, leaning against the table in the center of the room. “You’ve heard about Nether’s attack on the Fifth Cohort, correct? From the reports sent back by the initial Xyrt Brigade deployment, the Nether taint has spread much farther than we had expected. Some suspect that almost half of the Fifth Cohort has been compromised. Although they are elite, the Xyrt Brigade cannot be everywhere, and all the frontline deployments have seen an increase in Nether Raids. No serious attacks, but enough of a mobilization of Nether forces to make the military council unwilling to redeploy a serious amount of troops to a Cohort. So the Nexus is doing something… rather unprecedented. A draft, pulling from all the old Cohorts.”

“That’s why the teleporter relays were acting at max capacity when you arrived,” Edraine added. She pressed her fingers down against the table, looking at her nails with the detached and idle curiosity of a child. “These worlds might have been surviving, but they already endured the Calamities; their Aether stream is currently rather minimal. And most planets have established hierarchies where those at the top maintain their strength with what little Aether the planet receives. There was always the opportunity to become a Village Spirit, Champion, or Nemesis for new Cohorts, but those numbers were a pittance compared to the population of all the Cohorts. For the first time in a long time, a planet’s youth broadly has the chance to leave their home and seize their own power.”

“...but they were so weak,” Randidly couldn’t help but blurt out. There hadn’t been a single eye-catching individual amongst the thousands of bodies that had churned around him. Huang Li would be a wolf among sheep if he was similarly drafted. Of course, that was a minuscule sample, and perhaps some had been rather capable at concealing their capabilities from Randidly’s casual examination, but even so…

Edraine shrugged. “What do you expect? These people had basically no opportunity to absorb energy and strengthen themselves. Why would the dominant forces raise Aether sucking individuals? Plus, most threats to their world have been dealt with. There was no real pressure on any of them to improve. But… there is an even more thorny difficulty, which is the real reason that a drill sergeant selections is such a mess. Octavius?”

Octavius straightened and grimaced. “Because these recruits are from planets that have passed three Calamities in the past, most have a very powerful and influential benefactor that currently resides in the Nexus: this is the individual whose images allowed them to originally pass the Calamities. Largely, these individuals have left their planets to develop without their interference in the past, but now that their descendants are coming into the Nexus… they want only the best for them.

“To the point that they’ve created an ‘elite’ brigade of two hundred that will be personally instructed by Head Drill Sergeant. However…” Octavius displayed a sour expression. “The selection criteria for these is ENTIRELY based upon who you know. It is the farthest thing from elite as possible. Just two hundred old monsters of the Nexus pointlessly meddling where they don’t belong.”

Edraine waved a hand. “Such is the truth of our world. Nepotism will never disappear. But we need to move quickly if we want to seize this opportunity. Again, let me ask you: are you interested in instructing these weaklings? Teaching can sometimes be its very own sort of training.”

“...I’m interested.” Randidly finally said. Ten thousand people… that would be a lot, but both Heiffal’s unit and Helen had been unknowingly practicing for a challenge just like this as they had boosted the image capability of those on Earth. And it seemed like this would perfectly serve as a way for Randidly to come in contact with the powerful individuals in the Nexus. “I’ll be able to manage those numbers.”

Plus, Randidly hadn’t forgotten that Vualla’s deployment date had been pushed up due to this very same Nether invasion of the Fifth Cohort. If he could provide some assistance to her by training up these individuals...

“Oh, perhaps I was unclear,” Edraine said. She smiled and for a split second, the image behind her stirred. Randidly felt the eerie sensation of his body resonating with that shift. The porcelain and pewter fingers of her image tightened on air. The table beneath her fingers began to hiss, seared by the ambient power she so casually released.

Frowning, Edraine pulled her hand back from the charred handprint she had left on the table. Then she shrugged and spoke to Randidly. “You’ll be going for the hundred and first position available: the Head Drill Instructor. Personally, you’ll only have to assist with the riff-raff elites. But it will mean you will have all the elite benefactor meddling in your affairs. Will really add some tension to your time here in the Nexus, eh?”

*****

Lady Iellaya folded her arms and crossed her legs as she sat in the large amphitheater. She had arrived early here just so she could avoid a situation like this, but her tormenter was a wily fox. A slow burn of irritation smoldered in her heart. At moments like this, she missed Abiodun more than she could express with words. His stoic presence would have deftly turned aside conversations like this before they even began. Even senior officers had found her closest supporter off-putting.

So much lost for the sake of power… Lady Iellaya allowed a sliver of melancholy to swim through her irritation. But it was swiftly overwhelmed by her tightly controlled annoyance as the man continued to doubt her.

“Are you sure this applicant… will be suitable?” Commandant Shevran Wick spoke in a gravelly voice, his substantial jowls shaking as he did so. The man was covered in thick brown fur and had the build of a bear. The only hint of his truly impressive age was the long grey stripe that ran through his furr down his spine.

It was clear both from his tone and the grand history of their interactions that Commandant Wick would like nothing better for Randidly Ghosthound to show up and be a steaming pile of donkey shit. Then he could sorrowfully shake his head and lecture her on the importance of tempering and patience. Her applicant, like Lady Iellaya herself, was too young, too fresh. What would be implied was that the Commandant himself was beyond reproach and capable of doing no wrong.

“You’ve seen the survival rate of the men under his command during that particular attack,” Lady Iellaya said, doing her best to keep her voice even. The Commandant was not her direct superior, but he was the senior member from the Military Council in charge of this project. If she wanted to pull this off, they needed his support. She had no doubt that the Xyrt Brigade representative would continue to abstain. “Soon, you will see him in person and taste his image. But I assure you, he will suit your purposes.”

The Commandant reached up and physically grabbed his furry jowls, lightly massaging them as he considered what she had said. Likely, he was looking for any word that was a bit too hasty for his taste. Lady Iellaya found herself less concerned about his general disbelief and more disturbed by the weird physical gesture she was forced to watch. But she held her tongue. The Commandant cleared his throat. “There are… many methods to achieve such numbers on a battlefield. Especially as one as chaotic as that one. Many of those behaviors shouldn’t be casually rewarded.”

You weren’t even there, you bastard. You have no idea what it was like. Lady Iellaya felt acid running through her veins, eating out through the capillaries and sizzling, hot and dangerous, in her flesh. For a brief second, images of that haunting melee of bodies appeared before her eyes. If there was a method of challenging and killing the man next to her without turning the entire military council against her, she would do it. But truthfully, Lady Iellaya was unsure of whether she could manage it. None of these ancient Commandants could be underestimated.

Instead, she offered him a brittle smile. She never had hated an action as much as smiling at this man in front of her. “I believe that with your insight, you will understand the truth when you see him.”

“Hmmm.” The Commandant fell back into the process of stroking his jowls and considering. Luckily, some of the other examinees arrived. They greeted each other quietly, less out of professional courtesy and more with the tired acknowledgments between laborers that had been grappling with a particularly difficult problem for far too long. A giant tree had fallen across their road and now the investors were demanding assurances the thoroughfare would still open on time. Some concessions needed to be made.

Lady Iellaya and the Commandant represented the Military Council. There were also two stern-faced women from the NLC. They sported identical glasses and frowns as they nodded toward the military representatives. Last but not least, the one Special Investigator from the Xyrt Brigade walked into the room and yawned. Then he waved at the others while walking toward his seat and casually scratching his lower back. Next to her, Lady Iellaya felt the Commandant bristle at the unseemliness of the display.

Together, they formed the special tribunal on Drill Sergeant Selection.

Lady Iellaya lifted her head as they settled into the five seats at the table, peering through the doors of the amphitheater to the two figures that had arrived outside. This was the first of the three candidates they were considering for the position of Head Drill Sergeant. It was already tacitly agreed that they would choose one of these three.

Octavius Shrike had brought Randidly Ghosthound. And he had the advantage of being the first candidate they saw.

Lady Iellaya’s loyalty to this newly created, rather small faction based around Edraine and the idea of radically altering the Nexus had been relatively shallow at the time of its creation; she had just been named Supreme Commander of the frontline and was content to nap in her victory like a cat in sunlight. Plus, her emotions were extremely turbulent, making her unwilling to commit for too much. She was high from her success, grieving over the loss of Abiodun faction, and deeply skeptical of the rather unknown Edraine’s capabilities.

But then Lady Iellaya had been forced to interact with the Military Council for three months. The invisible limits had become obvious. She clearly felt that she was currently at the apex of what she could accomplish, without someone dying above her on the totem pole. Many a time she had been sent away from a meeting while all the established Commandants of Central Command remained behind, drinking brandy.

There was a greasy edge to their smiles as they watched her go; they knew exactly what they were doing. And although there might occasionally be internal disagreements, they delighted in keeping the power just amongst themselves.

And then Edraine had returned and Lady Iellaya had met with her. The raw power that woman could release unnerved even Lady Iellaya; she possessed the sort of power that could shake even the Military Council. Gradually, Lady Iellaya started to take their faction’s abilities quite seriously. She agreed to go along with their plans, at least for now.

They just needed the smallest crack to form a grip on the army. Then they could begin to tear everything down and remake it as they wished. And Randidly Ghosthound was the key to that.

Honestly, she had been rather surprised that she had so easily gotten a seat on this Tribunal. But from what she learned after the fact, most of Central Command believed that these troops were being sent to die. There was a strange certainty amongst them that if these youths were really so talented, they would have already been noticed. Therefore, it was for the best to stay some distance away and blame others when the recruits started dying.

The only reason that Commandant Wick became involved was he did have a descendant that seemed quite talented and insisted on participating in the draft. So the Commandant moved directly, determined to shield this seedling from harm.

We have the opportunity now. All we need is for the impression that Randidly gives off to be the right balance between controllable and capable… Once more, her gaze went out through the still shut doors. Her examination was acute, relying on their prior interactions to judge him. As Lady Iellaya sensed the changes in Randidly Ghosthound, her eyes began to glow. It was almost too much, the speed at which this man improved. To the point that he was becoming somewhat… unsuitable for this role.

No one of any true power was going to be allowed anywhere near the ‘elites’. What if their instructor earned their loyalty and had the power to pry them away from their original factions?

Which prompted Lady Iellaya to send him a quick message. When you come in to the interview, focus only on your tree image. And especially emphasize its ability to heal and alleviate mental damage. I’ll take care of the rest.