The Fifth Cohort Rally Station reminded Randidly of the teleportation relay stations pretty directly. It was perhaps five times the size of the initial teleporter relay that Randidly had landed on as he arrived at the Nexus and was part of a closer orbiting ring of landmasses, but otherwise, it was the same rather dusty stone plateaus floating below the brilliant star system that felt so close to the Nexus.

In addition, it didn’t appear to be a very well developed area. There were a few cramped buildings toward the middle of the Rally Station, and there appeared to be a few construction crews working to throw up a few more hunched buildings, but it was obviously a desolate location.

Randidly paused as they arrived and looked to his left, off the edge of the Rally Station and toward the Nexus. Because the Rally Stations were floating in a much closer ring, the Nexus was no longer just a lurking shadow in the distance. Now, Randidly felt like he was standing at the base of an enormous mountain range. The bottom portion of this central gathering place was covered in thick mist, but Randidly could now see exactly how massive the foundations of the Nexus truly were.

From that churning, rumbling, mysterious machinery rose the Nexus proper. It was a towering pillar that was topped with a gleaming city of which Randidly still couldn’t make out any distinct details, despite his 200 more points he put into Grim Intuition. Narrowing his eyes, Randidly stared toward the massive Nexus for several more seconds. Then he turned and followed Octavius toward the grouping of buildings at the center of the Rally Station.

“Are you ready?” Octavius asked in a low voice. “You just need to report to the Rally Station Superintendent. He will indicate where your recruits will be reporting in twelve hours. Then you should proceed to that area and begin making preparations-”

“I got it, Octavius,” Randidly waved his hand tiredly. The Overseer had been nagging at him the entire trip to the Rally Station. In spite of himself, Randidly couldn’t help but spare another glance toward the Nexus. At the very least, he was beginning to understand why the Nexus was so difficult to perceive with his senses: there were different layers to its reality.

When Randidly had activated his Tier I citizenship, he had felt another piece of Aether attach to himself. But rather than affecting his body, it seemed to act as a lens that let him witness a layer of carefully manicured Aether that layover and under certain portions of the Nexus. The reason that he needed Citizenship to work here was because he would have been unable to perceive the Rally Station without this Citizenship.

That realization had been… disturbing. He had been walking past an entire Nexus that hadn’t even been able to notice. Not that Randidly had spent much time exploring the Nexus, but it still bothered him quite a bit. The more time he spent here, the more he realized he might still be underestimating what was present here.

However, now that he was aware of what he had been missing, Randidly could see the ‘shadows’ of these other layers all around him. They were especially dense around the Nexus proper, but he could tell that there was a lot to the Nexus that he wasn’t currently seeing. As he now looked through space, his Aether Perception just barely was able to brush against those secret places. What had briefly appeared to Randidly as a strangely industrial energy plant with a city built on top of it now became only the barest tip of the iceberg.

Octavius looked at Randidly with an exasperated expression as he continued to focus toward the Nexus, and not on the task at hand. “...if you understand, that’s fine. Just remember that although the compensation you can receive is lucrative, that’s not just because of the Nether threat. It’s because these ‘elites’ you’ll be training are the pet projects of people of actual clout. This might be a time where the pen will be mightier than the sword; making some connections in the Nexus wouldn’t be such a bad outcome from this. Earning the approval of the Superintendent would be a good start.’

Randidly nodded to show his agreement, while inwardly knowing that him being able to charm some of these people into friendship was almost guaranteed to be impossible. But there was no reason to so obviously douse Octavius’ hopes.

Three squat and grey buildings crouched in the middle of the Rally Station with only a few feet of space between them, as though they were gathering together for warmth. A featureless grey flag flew at the top of the largest and, seemingly, the squattest. Randidly raised an eyebrow at Octavius. The Overseer shrugged. “An old habit of the Nexus military. They fly a blank flag over their central commands due to one of the only successful attacks on Elhume to ever occur. Apparently, his images were so damaged that they were unrecognizable for months afterward. This blank flag is a symbol of the Nexus’ ability to recover from anything.”

Randidly nodded idly. There weren’t any guards at the door, but as the duo approached the doors opened and two sharply dressed lizard people stepped outside to hold the doors open for them. They both had a sword strapped to each hip and saluted as Randidly and Octavius approached. Randidly pressed his lips together slightly when neither would meet his gaze. Somehow, that irritated him.

As he walked past them, he sensed the first thread of strangeness and paused as he passed over the threshold. Randidly didn’t miss the way one of the guards audibly gulped as he did so. Pursing his lips, Randidly continued forward.

The mood within the building was just as intense and foreboding as the exterior would have suggested. In front of them was a long grey hallway lined with black doors. The handles to the doors were white. They passed quickly through this monochrome limbo, Octavius heading straight down the hall and Randidly followed at a more considered pace. He focused on the emotions in the surroundings. The Stillborn Phoenix was still working on improving, but he could gradually get a sense of a place by breathing in some of the ambient emotions.

This place… Randidly frowned. He could taste the edge of madness on the air. And it seemed to seethe around them, constantly growing worse.

At the end of the hallway was a black door that was larger than any of the others, manned by a guard. The doorknob on this door was silver, which a nearby guard twisted to open the door for the duo. This guard did glance at Randidly, but his eyes were narrowed and nervous. What was the strangest was that the fear that Randidly sensed… was clearly directed toward him.

That caused Randidly to blink.

Within the door was a normal office, if a bit tackily decorated, also in monochrome. There were impressively large windows along the far wall, but without curtains, they were just rectangles hanging on the wall. A humanoid with pale skin sat behind the desk, his eyes moving rapidly back and forth Octavius and Randidly, searching for something in their expressions and postures. Randidly’s mind began to spin with more certainty. The madness that he had briefly sensed outside was originating from this room. It even smelled like desperation in here. The pale-skinned humanoid had started it, but now the emotion had spread to cover the whole of the building.

Worse, there was a familiar image lingering here.

Witnessing this central point of the madness, Randidly almost immediately recognized that image. Gradually he began to frown. Commandant Wick…?

“Drill Sergeant Ghosthound, Sir!” The man behind the desk sprung to his feet as though his completely obsidian chair had only just been belched out from the mouth of a live volcano and walked around the desk with a face covered in fake smiles. As he was wringing his hands, his pale knuckles were red from the stress-induced pressure. “So glad to finally meet you sir. I’m the Rally Point Superintendent, Jym Xeruth. Ah… I bet you want to see the new plans, sir. No doubt you noticed the construction outside. If you will look right here…”

Superintendent Jym twisted and pulled a large scroll off of his desk. While he was doing so, Randidly looked sideways at Octavius, who had spent most of their journey over here reminding Randidly to think before speaking around the stern Superintendent. Meanwhile, the effusive and antsy Superintendent Jym continued to speak as he unrolled the scroll. “One-fifth of the surface area of the Rally Station will now be dedicated to your elite team. Per your orders, we’ve begun erecting ten solitary training pods in your area-”

“My orders?” Randidly frowned, unable to stop himself from feeling somewhat annoyed that someone had so obviously approached the Superintendent and used his name to change the training arrangement. Still, Commandant Wick did strike Randidly as someone that overbearing...

His irritation only got worse as Superintendent Jym flinched from the obvious display of disapproval on Randidly’s face. “Believe me sir, we are staying very close to the request made by your representative. We… your sterling and unimpeachable reputation proceeds you! We understand how exacting your standards are. If you look at these plans-” Jym was so close to Randidly that he couldn’t avoid noticing the sheen of sweat across his skin as the Superintendent put away the general plan and pulled out a scroll that showed the details of the training pods. “You’ll see that we are sparing no expense with the materials. Consider this a gift, from The Fifth Cohort Rally Station. We are deeply invested in seeing you succeed. Ah… I hope every one of your recruits will fruitfully enjoy your instruction.”

Randidly gritted his teeth to keep himself from reacting with a sarcastic comment. He didn’t like the fact that he didn’t really know what was going on. But for now, he could only roll with it. There was no reason to worsen whatever misconceptions this man had about him. What Randidly was really reacting to was the fact that Commandant Wick had moved behind the scenes. Was it really a move just to increase the resources that Randidly had access to? Or more likely, were these training pods connected to a broader plan?

Still, Randidly’s gaze slowly turned serious as he focused on the scroll that Jym offered to him. He recognized some of these Engraving patterns. Gradually, Randidly began to grin. Heh. I can work with this. “Have you begun Engraving yet?”

Instantly, Superintendent Jym flushed. “Ah… we only heard about… about your requests a few days ago, so we haven’t had the chance-”

“Forget it,” Randidly announced decisively. He waved his hand and turned away, as though he couldn’t bear to look at the scrolls any longer; if he was going to be made out to be a brutal dictator, he was at least going to enjoy the benefits. “Don’t bother to bring the Engravers in. I will need to handle this myself.”

“Of course, Head Drill Sergeant, anything you say,” Superintendent Jym parroted, tossing the schematics scroll across his office like it was an oozing, virulent plague bearer. In the obsessively clean office, the crumpled scroll against the wall was extremely eye-catching. “Do you need any other assistance?”

Randidly kept his expression mild as he did some mental calculations. He was actually quite getting into this persona that had been made for him. Despite the violence usually required to cultivate such a reputation, he couldn’t deny it certainly made the people around him more amenable. So instead of speaking, he gave a pointed glance at Octavius.

Octavius cleared his throat. “I believe that for now, we will inspect the grounds. Perhaps you could find a guard to escort us…? Oh, in addition, we would like files on all of the other Drill Sergeants that were hired. To understand their… standard.”

Superintendent Jym’s eyes bulged at the sudden request, but a single glance at Randidly seemed to make him rethink any objections he had. Randidly walked away while the man complied, both so he didn’t need to constantly feel the anxiety and slight scent of madness from the Superintendent but also so he didn’t roll his eyes at this obvious attempt by Octavius to gather information.

So Randidly walked down the hall and out of the central building. The guards carefully avoided catching his eyes as he waited outside, to the point that Randidly moved about twenty meters away from the doors so their frantic emotions didn’t disturb him. Then he closed his eyes and began to steadily refine the details of Yggdrasil.

He opened his eyes again when someone walked out of the headquarters of the Fifth Cohort Rally Station, but it wasn’t Octavius; it appeared the documentation request was much more time-consuming than Randidly had expected. The individual who walked out was tall and slender, reminding Randidly vaguely of Expira’s impression of elves. Like Randidly while under the influence of Yggdrasil, the man’s shoulder-length hair was emerald. His golden eyes flashed as they caught the light.

The man glanced at one of the guards. “Let’s work hard together in the future. It’s the average soldier like us that will make the difference, you know. Most of Command doesn’t know anything about the actual war. We will be the ones fighting and bleeding, so don’t be so stiff. If you have any problems, you can come to me for help.”

Both of the guards regarded the elf man coldly. Neither responded. Randidly’s lips twitched; although the two lizardmen guards were staring at the elf with all the enthusiasm as a dog owner regarding a runny shit, their attentions had clearly shifted toward Randidly. Heh. As Head Drill Sergeant, do I count as Command…?

The elf’s enthusiasm faltered as the guards did their best to glare at him. But very quickly, he caught sight of Randidly and immediately brightened. He said to the guards, “have a good day,” then strode confidently over toward Randidly.

The elf had a wide smile on his face. “Hello friend! I’m Lay’mel Tuuellethe, a Drill Sergeant here. Did you just arrive? I know those guards can be rather unfriendly, but it’s just because a VIP is supposed to arrive today. Heh, in one way it’s understandable, but in another, it is extremely tragic how much effort is put into sucking up to superiors in the military. ”

The two guards paled and looked up at the sky. Randidly had the strangest sensation that they were mentally sending him assurances that he wouldn’t be reported for disciplinary action if he were to smite Lay’mel Tuuellethe into a puddle of gore right in front of them. The certainty Randidly conveyed to him about this, just from reading the guards’ emotions, was honestly impressive.

Lay’mel leaned forward, a conspiratory expression on his face. “Apparently, the Head Drill Sergeant is a real brute. He sent one of his lackeys from Nexus High Command to prepare for his arrival. When he saw the space he would be given, he went on a rampage and demanded more; now average Drill Sergeant’s like you and I will be using the service tunnels for our daily training, only allowed to head up to the surface based on a rotation schedule. At first, the Superintendent rejected the request… but then the Head Drill Sergeant had the Superintendent’s son conscripted on a minor prior infraction and placed within his own camp for ‘special training’.

“And the worst part…” Lay’mel dragged out the phrase, savoring the obvious interest on Randidly’s face. “Is that the Head Drill Master is taking pages out of the Xyrt Brigade’s playbook. He has made training chambers that are exactly like the torturous isolation chamber the Xyrt Brigade uses to deal with particularly rebellious recruits. Extreme, barbaric stuff. Already, there is a lot of antagonism directed at this extreme new Head Drill Sergeant.”

Such is my life, Randidly sighed inwardly.