Chapter 904: The 9th Division's New Members
Menerva narrowed her eyes as she looked at Niflheim.
After a brief moment of thought, she closed her eyes and released a small sigh.
"I admit my defeat. This round goes to you, Lieutenant Niflheim. Next time, I will be choosing the game." Menerva said calmly.
"Sure. But, you should know—I have no plans on losing next time, either." Niflheim replied with a friendly grin.
When Menerva finished wrapping up her conversation with Niflheim, she walked over and faced Izroth.
"I have disappointed you..." Menerva said as she slightly bowed and spoke in an apologetic manner.
Menerva was highly conscious of the fact that Izroth brought her on with the intention of being his strategist. However, to lose a game of rock, paper, scissors in front of him—even if she graciously admitted her defeat, how could she not feel ashamed?
"Disappointed? You're mistaken. I just want you to do what you do best." Izroth responded.
"What I do best?" Menerva 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—something that you find yourself unable to follow." Izroth explained.
"I see. I concluded that the purpose of you sending me to Xanaharpe ahead of time 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." Menerva 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 meet 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 merely 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..." Menerva uttered to herself as she seemed to be pulled into deep thought.
"If it were anyone else, I would not bother suggesting this method. 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 moment he discovered Menerva'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 came up with.
Menerva was capable of doing something others could not, and that was blurring the lines between intuition and instinct. But, Izroth did not intend for her to merely blur the lines. Instead, he wanted Menerva to merge them together into one.
"I understand. I will do my utmost not to disappoint you." Menerva affirmed.
"I know," Izroth replied with a carefree smile.
...
A few minutes later...
Not long after Menerva finished her talk with Izroth, she and Niflheim went on to select the members of their Squadron.
Although they did not formally agree on it, since he was the first to select the player he wanted, Niflheim gave Menerva the second and third picks.
In the end, Niflheim felt a little bad for pulling one over on Menerva; therefore, he decided to extend an olive branch to make up for it.
Of course, Menerva readily accepted without a second thought. After all, there was no downside for her, only an upside.
By the time the two completed their selection process, Menerva's Squadron had 19 members, while the remaining 20 members 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 Menerva 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 immediately after crossing the first line. Naturally, this caused her to come in dead last among those who successfully passed the test to join the 9th Division.
But, there was a good reason why Niflheim and Menerva 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 welcome 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 Menerva were sharp enough to take notice of it. But, neither one of them said anything in hope that the other somehow missed it. Needless to say, their hopes did not come true.
Izroth also took note of Bellum; however, in order to let things take their natural course with Niflheim and Menerva, 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 came 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 welcome 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 some resources. Think of it as a welcome gift. And, an insight into what can be gained if you show good results." Izroth stated.
The next moment, 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 moment? The last thing he could care about right now was some 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 moment 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 immediately popped into his mind—was this really just a reward for joining some random GSU division?!