Volume 2: New Life
"Squad 9! In formation!"
The sudden callout alerted every single member of Squad 9. Even though they were caught off guard, there was no delay in their movements.
In less than ten seconds, Squad 9 had entered formation, forming several rows.
In front of them was an official member of the Nell family. His uniform, easily recognizable due to its pristine white color, made him the center of attention.
"I am Leopold Nell, Captain of the fifth Division of the Sixth Squad of the great Nell Guards. And I will be the one responsible to oversee your graduation."
In the formation, Nio raised his eyebrows.
'We are graduating now, couldn't they inform us earlier.'
It was already several months after the fight with 3-1-2, and Nio's life had reached a certain sense of normalcy. After scrambling to explain how the hell he had managed to reach the Martial Beginner Realm, making everyone believe that it was thanks to his shadow training.
Thankfully, a cultivator's healing factor was fast enough to cover the most visible wounds, although he still struggled with certain wounds, like the literal hole in his shoulder, for around a month.
"You will be handed your Stygian clan uniforms, and I will assign your Squad's hierarchy."
The maids that had been taking care of us approached us and handed over the uniforms.
Nio quickly recognized the design. Black in color with a hood, an expressionless mask, and a badge with the Stygian clan symbol.
"Squad 9, into your uniforms, now!"
There were no voices of complaint from the Stygian clan teenagers, who undressed on the spot before dressing into the uniform that had been given to them. They never left the formation and were now looking forward, their masks being held close to their chests.
"Firstly, you all should be knowledgeable in what order it goes in the hierarchy in a Stygian Squad, right? But I am obligated to remind you."
He coughed into his fist.
"At the top, it's the Squad Captain, he is the one who receives the missions from the family in the majority of the cases, the exception being missions personally assigned to a Stygian member. After the Squad Captain, is the Vice-Captain, he is to assist the Captain in his duties as well as aid in personal missions of the captain when asked. And then there are the Team leaders, they are meant to lead their teams according to the missions given to their teams. These teams have around four to six members. Any hierarchy below that is for that Squad's Captain to decide."
He looked at the member of Squad 9, as if checking if they were paying attention.
"Okay then. I will call the position and then the holder of said position, so pay attention, these are the people that you are going to answer to, besides the family, of course.
"Squad 9's Captain, 9-1-2, step forward!"
9-1-2 was the fourth strongest member of our squad, not the best in martial arts but pretty talented in cultivation, only surpassed by Nero and Nio. However, he was a loyalist, there was no need for brainwashing or fear tactics for him, he truly admired the Nell family.
"Squad 9's Vice-Captain, 9-1-1, step forward!"
'It seems that I landed the vice captain role, huh? With 9-1-2 as the captain, this will be a headache. Look! He is already flashing that smug grin of his!'
As ordered, Nio stepped forward, now standing beside 3-1-2, who was side-eyeing me to see Nio's reaction.
But to his displeasure, Nio kept a bored and almost expressionless face.
It's not like Nio was not expecting to be placed in a lower position. He was the strongest and the one with the best grades, however, the instructors had already noticed that he was not to be trusted. Choosing a loyalist was a better choice for captain, and a loyalist like that in Squad 9? Besides 9-1-2, there weren't that many. The others were too afraid and traumatized, they would fit better as soldiers and team leaders at best.
After that, Leopold started calling out those that had been assigned as team leaders. Nero and Notres were among those assigned as team leaders.
They were now standing in a formation meant to show their hierarchy.
9-1-2 was at the front and was the center of the formation. Nio was standing at his side a step back, like a good retainer. The team leaders were standing in a line behind them, with the rest of Squad 9 standing in formation behind them.
"I've been informed that one of you has stepped into the Martial Beginner Realm? Who is it?"
His gaze unconsciously went to 9-1-2, however, his senses told him that 9-1-2 was not there yet.
"It is I, sir."
Nio stepped forward and looked directly into his eyes, ignoring the rules they had been taught.
Leopold frowned for a while before focusing his senses on Nio's cultivation, which prompted him to raise his eyebrows in surprise.
'Not even fifteen and already managed to enter the Martial Beginner Realm, and his cultivation base is so stable, if he keeps in this rhythm, he might one day reach the highest cultivation realm of any member of the Stygian clan. I should report this later.'
'He is probably thinking of reporting this. Good, with this I caught their attention. The next step is to get a mission to guard a member of the family in order to find out who exactly sent an assassin to kill me.'
"As is demanded, like any Stygian Clan member that reaches the Martial Beginner Realm, you will be provided with the "Stygian Beginner Martial Technique." The maid previously tasked to take care of you will give you the books with their contents, study them well, Vice-Captain 9-1-1."
"Understood, sir."
Saying that Nio went back to his position under the watch of the jealous 9-1-2. His jealous gaze was not missed by Leopold, who decided to add it as a footnote on his report about Nio.
"The ceremony has ended! You will be receiving your first missions tomorrow and will depart immediately. You already know the protocols meant for mission completion and mission reports. Dismissed."
As he said so, the formation finally broke apart.
Almost immediately, Nero and Notres approached Nio.
"Wow, I was NOT expecting that guy to be captain! I mean, we are both stronger and smarter than him, why are we the ones below him?"
Nero was the first to complain about the hierarchy.
"It's precisely because we are smarter, we are harder to control, if someone like us becomes a Squad captain, it's not only us that would be under suspicion of betrayal, the whole squad would be. It's better for less controllable subjects to be kept away from positions of too much power."
"But we are still team leaders, right? And Nio is also the Vice-Captain. In that case, aren't we still in the position of power?"
"That's because we have a lot of potential and power when compared to our companions. We are still weapons of the Nell family, it would be a waste to not keep your sword sharpened just because you fear that someone will use it to kill you, no? After all, we are still serving them."
"Notres is right. If we became simple soldiers, we would be denied high-ranked missions, causing our progress to plummet. They still have a use for us, it is better to make sure that we are still of use. Besides, if we have to report frequently, then we will be under the scrutiny of various family members, it would be harder to stay low. In the end, they are just keeping the position of greater power away from us while putting us in a position of enough power for us to grow steadily and be controlled easily."
"Tch. In the end, it's all the same, the Nell family keeps us in check with a leash tighter than it needs to be. I can already feel out of breath. Ugh. And that guy will abuse it too!"
Nio sighed. Nero was right, 9-1-2 was really jealous of the trio's success. He would definitely abuse his new influence to hinder them, either in missions or even in the way the team hierarchy would be divided later.
"Knowing him, he will probably try to rearrange team hierarchy to make the possibility of team leadership changing. Thankfully, his authority does not allow him to challenge my position of Vice-Captain, and he will not be able to make decisions as easily if I can help it."
He patted both of his friends' shoulders.
"Do not worry, even if I fail to stop his changes, I will make sure that you are not as affected as he hopes to."
"Yes, we trust you." x2
Nio smiled.
"Let's go. I will have to meet with him later so we can decide team layouts, so we will not have much time to train, so we should do it as soon as we can."
"Yes! I have this new move that I want to try out!"
"For as long as it doesn't involve me-"
"Notres! I will need you for the demonstration."
"Dammit."
"Hahaha!"
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Author's Note
Volume 2 Starts now. It will be mostly about some missions anf fight scenes, with a pinch of plitics and world building. I'm planning to make it a shorter volume before jumping into the true main plot.
Also, check out my other novel: Unsealed Demonic Dragon Goes to the Academy