Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

The smell was the first thing that registered. I’d never been hospitalized myself, but visiting older relatives impressed the unmistakable smell of antiseptic on my memory. Next was the equally-unmistakable feeling of an IV drip, recognizable from the times I’d donated blood or plasma. The susurration of distant voices underlaid the whirring and beeping of nearby machines. My mouth was dry, but I declined to open my eyes just yet, trying instead to remember how in the hell I ended up here.

Did I get in a car accident?

I didn’t think so… I didn’t remember anything like that. I was also pretty sure that being hit by a car would probably fucking hurt, and that however long I’d been asleep, I would still be hurting now. I didn’t feel sick either, and I wasn’t nodding off again, so I was at a bit of a loss as to how I’d wound up hospitalized.

I heard a small Ping! noise, like an alert on a smartphone, of the type I always shut off as soon as I got a new device.

What’s the last thing I remember…?

My head spun, and it occurred to me that despite all the associated memories that allowed me to identify a hospital and an IV, I didn’t actually remember any of my recent history.

Shit… How the fuck did I wind up here?

I decided I should probably alert a nurse or someone that I’d woken up. I lived alone, halfway across the country from my folks, so unless my buddy from work was somehow aware of what had landed me in this bed, I wasn’t expecting anybody to be in the room.

I opened my eyes, and immediately had… so many questions .

‹???›
LV ???
Indigo Arc

In order, they boiled down to: What the fuck? Who the fuck? How the fuck? 

And then once more just for good measure, What the actual fuck?

Deciding to ignore the words that seemed to be floating above the woman’s head, I squinted at her appearance instead. She was probably in her early twenties, and looked to be above average height. Blonde hair with dark blue streaks in a shoulder-length cut, under a nice-looking beret that was also dark blue, edging on purple. She wore a studded leather vest over a shirt of the same color as her hat. The shirt was tucked into leather pants, which themselves tucked into combat boots. She also had a pair of headphones around her neck and, incongruously, a pistol holstered openly at her hip, which struck me as odd, given we were in a hospital. Even in Texas you couldn't do that.

And I was damn sure I’d never seen her before.

Just then, I heard the Ping! again, and rolled my head back to a neutral position to regard… the glowing blue boxes filled with white text in front of me. They looked two-dimensional, and were semi-transparent and sort of ethereal, like they weren’t actually present. Frowning, I read the most recent one.

[A skill has been created through a special action! Continuous observation has created the skill [Observe] to gather information!]

As I mentally acknowledged that, the box vanished, replaced a moment later with a description of the skill.

[Observe (Passive/Active) LV 1 EXP: 0.00%]
[An ability to examine minute details and gather information. More details can be gathered with experience or familiarity with the target.]
[50% increased visual acuity.]
[ACTIVE: 10 MP]
[Gather information on the target.]
[Range: 10 meters]

This… I’d seen this somewhere, hadn’t I?

Shifting my focus to the other boxes, I slowly cleared them out of my vision in, presumably, the order they had appeared.

[Loading save… Failed!]

[Previous save data corrupted.]

[Attempting recovery... Failed!]

[Searching for alternate save data…]

[Alternate save file found!]

[Alternate save file incompatible with current wetware version.]

[Debugging mode initialized.]

[Creating new save file… Done!]

[Importing alternate save data… Done!]

[Attempting to recover good sectors from previous save data… Synchronizing… {Ongoing in background}]

[Settings updated for current version.]

[Exiting debugging mode… Error! Save file settings incompatible with current world.]

[Assimilating… Done! Assimilation of previous save file resulting in stat point gain. Distributing stat points based on previous specialization…]

[Exiting debugging mode… Warning! Access to the interface will remain active.]

[Recontextualizing… Designating as ‘Semblance’.]

[Exiting debugging mode… Success! Entering interface mode. Beginning recovery…]

[You have slept in a bed. Your HP and MP have been fully restored. All ailments have been cured.]

[Your near-death experience has left you with a scar.]

Well, that certainly explained… precisely fuckall, for the most part. Except…

This all looked a hell of a lot like that Korean webtoon, The Gamer. And the word ‘Semblance’ was familiar, too, from another web series, RWBY. I’d liked both quite a bit, though hadn't exactly kept up to date with either as life got away from me. And come to think of it, there was a character with the name Arc in RWBY, who had a large family that never appeared on screen…

That thought was interrupted by another Ping!, which I now realized was one of the boxes of text appearing. This one read:

[Quest Alert!]

[Who, What, When, Where, Why, How (the fuck)?]

[You have awoken in the hospital with no memory of how you got there. Figure out what’s going on, where you are, and why.]

[Bonus Objective: Keep your new Semblance secret from the medical staff.]

[Time limit: Until Completed.]

[Reward: 1,000 EXP, 1,000L, answers, quest continuation.]

[Bonus objective reward: Immediate discharge from hospital.]

[Failure Penalty: 300 XP, confusion, frustration, remain in hospital for up to another week, quest continuation.]

[Accept/Decline]

“As if I had a choice,” I muttered aloud, which was apparently enough to constitute accepting the quest, for that option was highlighted momentarily before the box disappeared.

It was also apparently enough to awaken Indigo, for her eyes shot open and locked on me immediately. “You’re awake.”

“Could’ve fooled me,” I said instinctively, blinking at her.

Those dark blue eyes narrowed, and she seemed remarkably cogent for having just woken up, especially considering the dark shadows under her eyes that weren’t entirely makeup. “You must be feeling better, if you’re being a little shit already.”

“I feel fine,” I replied truthfully. “But I have a question that you’re not going to like.”

Indigo sighed. “Yes?”

May as well get it over with. “Who am I?”

Indigo rolled her eyes. “That’s not funny.”

“You’ll note I’m not laughing,” I shot back. Sad to say, I wasn’t even acting; even if I was just hallucinating these boxes, I couldn’t seem to remember my name.

We stared at each other for a moment, but eventually, Indigo blinked first. “Are you serious?”

“As a heart attack,” I replied. “Or whatever it was that landed me in the hospital, at least.”

Her eyes drifted to the side of my head, and I immediately reached up with the arm that didn’t have a drip in it. Ah, there were bandages wrapped tightly around my head. Hrmm. I traced a finger along and noticed they crossed my nose, and the right side of my forehead, though both my eyes were uncovered.

“Serious as a head injury, apparently,” I amended. “I knew I was too young for a heart attack. I guess we’d better call a nurse or something.”

Indigo didn’t move, her eyes still locked on mine, but something shifted silently. I glanced down to see… her shadow. It reached up, rippling across the bedspread, and somehow pressed the Call button despite being, y’know, a shadow.

“What the fuck…?” I murmured again, out loud this time.

“…Jaune?” Indigo’s voice sounded plaintive now. Her shadow reached toward me, but stopped shy of my arm.

I looked back up. I knew the question was going to hurt her, but I had to confirm. “Is that my name?”

That was… Was that my name? It didn’t sound quite right to me, somehow, but this woman was talking like she knew me.

Indigo stared for another moment, tears starting to gather at the corners of her eyes, when the doorknob suddenly turned. She blinked, and instantly composed herself, her shadow slipping back off the bed and returning to its expected position based on the lighting in the room.

A moderately-attractive woman in a labcoat swung the door open briskly. “Ah, you’re awake!” she said, sounding pleasantly surprised, though she didn’t miss a step as she swept across the room to examine the instruments and monitors on the other side of the bed from Indigo. “We hadn’t expected you to come around quite so soon. How are you feeling?”

“Pretty well, considering,” I answered politely. Bearing in mind the bonus objective of the quest I’d just accepted, I consciously avoided glancing at the name over her head. “I feel totally normal, actually. What happened?”

“You don’t remember?” she asked, still immersed in whatever she was seeing from the machines. “You were admitted a few days ago; apparently they found you out in the woods. You had some lacerations to the cranium resulting in moderate exsanguination consistent with a Grimm ambush. Given the potential for TBI, we kept you under sedation until last night.”

“I know what all those terms mean, you know,” I pointed out, and the doctor paused, glancing down at me.

“Nerd,” Indigo interjected, apparently automatically.

“Sorry,” the doctor told me, smiling slightly at the interaction. “Most people who ask, don’t actually want to know what happened. They just want to hear that they’ll be okay, but they expect a bit of jargon or they get antsy.”

I ignored that, focusing on something else she’d said. Grimm ambush. This really was fucking RWBY, wasn’t it? I wondered for a moment why I wasn’t more concerned, or excited, but I had a sneaking suspicion I knew the answer. I could confirm it later, though. 

Instead, I asked, “So I was out alone?”

“So it seems,” the doctor replied more slowly. “What’s the last thing you remember?”

“Yes, Jaune,” Indigo said pointedly. “What’s the last thing you remember?”

“Waking up in this bed,” I replied.

Both women waited a moment, before the doctor seemed to realize I wasn’t going to say anything further. “You don’t recall going into the Emerald Forest?”

“Doctor, he doesn’t recall his name ,” Indigo growled.

I shrugged. “She’s right. I don’t know who I am. Or who she is, which I think is upsetting her slightly more. I don’t know where I am, other than ‘in the hospital’. I do know I’d like this IV out, if we could?”

The doctor started. “I suppose so,” she said, busying herself withdrawing the needle. “You recognized medical terminology and abbreviations, and you’re not slurring your speech,” she muttered, apparently to herself. She put a hand under my chin and stared into my eyes. “No pupil dilation…” she added. “Are you experiencing any dizziness? Blurred vision? Tinnitus?” 

“None of the above,” I answered truthfully, flexing my arm now that the drip was out. “I don’t feel concussed. I could do with a drink of water and a trip to the restroom. And maybe a mirror, so I can find out what I look like. Can these bandages come off?”

“They can,” the doctor said, busy scribbling away on a semi-transparent device she’d pulled from her pocket. What were they called?

I must have unconsciously used a skill, because a small box popped up: 

[Scroll. Personal computing and communications device. This model is tablet-sized.]

Ping!

[Observe has increased by 1!]

Ignoring the boxes, I waited for her to finish.

“You’ll need to be careful, but it’s good that you’re ready to get back on your feet. Just call if you start to feel disoriented.” With that, she started unwrapping the bandages from around my head. “There will definitely be some scarring,” she noted. “If you get your Aura unlocked, they may fade a little, but you’ll probably carry them for a while.”

The last bit of cloth fell away. They still looked clean, so whatever injury was under them wasn’t oozing, at least. I shrugged. “Hope it’s not too disappointing.” 

Swinging my legs out of bed, I started to get carefully to my feet. Indigo jumped up and caught my elbow, steadying me as I wobbled slightly. My legs weren’t shaky or anything, but the ground seemed further away than I was used to. 

Indigo helped me get my own balance, and remained hovering as I tottered toward the bathroom door. “Are you sure you’re good?” she asked, clearly reluctant to enter with me but definitely willing to do so.

“I think I can manage the toilet,” I said. “I mean, as long as… There aren’t gonna be three seashells in there, right?”

Indigo just stared. “You remember that garbage movie but not your own name? ” she asked incredulously.

“Hey, that movie is a classic!” I defended instantly. “And I didn’t exactly get to pick and choose what I’d remember, you know.”

Ping! Ping!

[A skill has been created through a special action! Lying about what you remember has created the skill [Deception]!]

[Deception (Passive) LV 1 EXP: 0.00%]
[A skill for leading others to believe what you want them to believe. There are many ways to deceive others; by lying, by manipulating information, by omission, by half-truths, by gaslighting.]
[Passively increases CHA by 1%]
[1% increased chance to deceive a skeptical target.]

[Deception has increased by 1!]

Ignoring the popup for the sake of shutting the bathroom door behind me, I flipped the lightswitch on and met my own gaze in the mirror over the sink. In the space of a blink, the mirrored text flipped so that I could read it.

‹The Gamer›
LV 1
Jaune Arc

Well. Don’t that just beat all?

I was still pretty sure that my name wasn’t Jaune, or at least, that it hadn’t been Jaune before. It was as good a name as any, though, so I was pretty okay with answering to it. 

Until or unless some more memories come back to me… I guess I am Jaune Arc. And… The Gamer. In which case…

“[Skills],” I murmured quietly, and a new box obediently appeared. There were five small images, which clearly resembled Jaune as he’d appeared in RWBY: a picture of my head with eyes closed, my flexed arm, a screen or monitor in a darkened room with Jaune’s face on it, a close-up of my opened eye, and my head again but with the mouth open, showing a glint of silver.

No sooner had I rolled my eyes and wished for a List View did the pictures shrink and rearrange, with names appearing beside them. Oh, thank everything, I wasn’t stuck with a horrible interface. Seeing that the last two skills were the ones I’d obtained since waking up, I focused on the first three. At the top were the two I’d been expecting, but I checked the descriptions of all three to make sure there weren’t any surprises.

[Gamer's Mind (Passive) LV MAX]
[Allows the user to calmly and logically think things through. Allows peaceful state of mind.]
[Grants immunity to psychological status effects.]

[Gamer's Body (Passive) LV MAX]
[Grants a body that allows the user to live the real world like a game.]

Pretty much as expected, yep. The phrasing of [Gamer’s Mind] was also telling, and it settled a debate that I remembered raging among fans of The Gamer – it ‘allowed’ a peaceful state of mind and rational thought, meaning that the emotional-dampening was optional. All the emotions of the human mind were still there, but I was capable of operating sort of… around them. There would be no question of feeling my own emotions, or ending up like some kind of unfeeling machine. 

At least, not any more than people already thought I was. 

By contrast, the immunity to psychological effects, as well as the entirety of [Gamer’s Body] , was ‘granted’ . I couldn’t ‘turn off’ those effects, even if for some reason I wanted to. If this worked the way I expected, then my body was now basically an avatar. Nothing would affect it permanently; afflictions would become status effects that I could shrug off, pain would fade as soon as the source disappeared, and any damage would just be relegated to my hit points. That… was something I should probably test in relatively safe conditions. 

The Gamer webtoon was damn clear that laying low wasn’t an option, because people would inevitably find out that I wasn’t normal and come after me. And hey, Jaune wanted to be a Huntsman, and what nerd hasn’t wished they could become a superhero? I was definitely going to try to get stronger, and that meant I was probably going to draw good attention and bad. Plus, I had a good idea of what would be coming, and staying as a civilian would just mean dying helpless when Vale Fell. Even ignoring the fact that I hated being a bystander, that was not acceptable.

Resolved, I looked at myself in the mirror once more, curled a fist, and punched myself in the jaw, hard enough that I thought it might bruise.

[You have lost 5 HP!]

Well, that answered that, I thought, as I leaned closer to the mirror and prodded at my cheek. At the very least, it should have been a little tender, but I felt completely normal seconds after the hit. 

With that settled, I turned my attention to the last skill I hadn’t read yet.

[Outsider (Passive) LV MAX]
[Acquired by importing previous save data. Grants the perspective of a newcomer to Remnant – you likely know things that nobody expects you to know, but you also lack information that others consider common knowledge.]
[Grants the use of knowledge from previous save file. Allows importing of skill experience from other save files.]
[Assimilation of previous save data granted immediate stat point distribution:]
[+15 base INT]
[+5 base WIS]
[+10 base CHA]

‘Previous save data’… Was that the Semblance’s euphemism for my life? Did that suggest that Jaune Arc, the real Jaune, was my… reincarnation, or something? I thought back to the messages I’d awoken to again. [Previous save data corrupted.] … [Importing alternate save data… Done!] … Something had happened to Jaune, presumably the Traumatic Brain Injury the doctor had danced around mentioning outside the acronym. The System couldn’t recover him, so instead it pulled data from the ‘Alternate save file’. Me. 

Or, I supposed, Maybe I really am Jaune, having lost my own memories and…what? Hallucinating someone else’s memories?

They didn’t feel like remembering a dream, though; it felt like remembering my life. It came to the same thing in the end though: whoever I happened to be, I was still me. And I had to keep moving forward.

That said, since I could remember around double Jaune’s years lived, not to mention being a bit of a nerd, it seemed the Semblance incorporated ‘my’ knowledge and experience as INT and WIS. Which, if I recalled The Gamer correctly, would not only make me smarter and more insightful than Jaune had been, but would also correspond to more MP and MP Regen. The CHA boost was a bit harder to account for, since I didn’t exactly consider myself a hugely charismatic man, but maybe it was just a matter of genuine self-confidence. Most adults were more certain of who they were than teenagers, after all.

I’d been in the bathroom for a while already, though, so I decided to check on my current stats later. Dismissing all the windows, I splashed some water on my face, then combed wet fingers through my hair, drawing the floppy mess – what remained after the hospital had shaved the left side of my head to stitch my wounds – backward to leave my forehead uncovered. I ran a hand over my smooth chin, already missing the goatee that I’d worn for most of my adult life on Earth. Still, it wasn’t a total loss, I thought. Jaune was taller than I remembered being, and I wouldn’t have nearly as much an uphill struggle to get in shape again. 

Which wasn’t to say that I wasn’t having a weird, creepypasta sort of experience, looking in the mirror. The hair and eyes and skin color of my reflection were all way off what my memory said they should be. So much so that if the guy in the mirror hadn’t been moving when I did, I wouldn’t have identified it as me. It was downright fucking eerie. 

All in all, though, I had to conclude that I looked a lot like what I assumed Jaune Arc would have looked like, if he hadn’t been a Poser model. I gave the mirror a sheepish smile, and the image was complete. Jaune Arc, consummate loser, audience surrogate, and comic relief.

No thank you.

I dropped back to a neutral expression, which didn’t suit Jaune’s face quite as well as my old one, then tried a confident smirk. It also didn’t quite fit, but didn’t look completely forced either. Maybe I needed to boost my Charisma stat a bit more for that to work?

Sitting down on the toilet, which was remarkably easy given I was wearing one of those damn hospital gowns, I let the quiet talking from the next room wash over me. Sounded like Indigo was questioning the doctor on what to expect, and when or if my memory would come back.

Ping!

[A skill has been created through a special action! By trying to focus on a distant sound, you have created the skill [Eavesdrop]!]

[Eavesdrop (Passive/Active) LV 1 EXP: 0.00%]
[An ability to hear distant or muffled sounds, or pick individual sounds out of a cacophony.]
[50% better hearing.]
[Range: 10 meters]
[ACTIVE: 10 MP/min]
[Increases range and clarity by 50%]

“–nd fortunately, he’s not showing any signs of anterograde amnesia,” the doctor was saying, “Meaning he seems perfectly capable of forming new memories. His symptoms aren’t exactly consistent with typical retrograde amnesia either, though; most retrograde amnesiacs retain their identity, but lose facts as well as past experiences. This seems much more precise, like all his personal and emotional memories and metamemories have been erased, while leaving behind at least some of the knowledge attached to them. In other words, he probably has a great many facts in his mind, but he won’t be able to remember how he learned them, or even that he should remember how he learned them. To him, it will be as if that knowledge was simply instinctive, and always present, like the need to eat or drink. That being said, it’s very likely that there will be basic knowledge about history and society that he no longer has, and he won’t necessarily realize he doesn’t have it.” 

“Could the memory loss be the result of a Semblance?” my, presumably, sister asked. “An attack on the Arc’s only son, while he was alone? Stealing his memories and leaving him for the Grimm?” Remarkably, she managed to make that theory sound plausible, rather than like someone grasping at straws.

“We can’t rule that out, I’m afraid,” the doctor admitted. “But there’s also little that anyone can do, if that’s the case. For the most part he should be able to function normally, and I would encourage you and your family to try to act as normally as possible. Some of his memories may yet come back, but at the moment it’s best to act as if they won’t. Consider him like a newly-adopted sibling. One from a tiny village on another continent in terms of things you’ll have to explain to him… but otherwise treat him like an adult.”

“He’s only seventeen,” Indigo said, sounding puzzled at the final instruction.

“He doesn’t act like it,” the doctor said, and I could picture her shrugging. “I don’t know what he was like before, but he easily understood a five-syllable medical term and pointed it out with a dryness that’s beyond most teenagers I’ve met. Tailor your behavior to how he acts, but try not to expect too much for him to behave like he used to.”

“My sister and I will keep an eye on him,” Indigo said firmly. “Our parents are on assignment, but we’ve left them a message. None of them are going to be happy about that scar, though…”

I felt a strange twinge, and realizing it was the MP cost, I shut off [Eavesdrop]. 

[Eavesdrop has increased by 1!]

I got up and flushed the toilet, then washed my hands. Leaning forward on the sink, I took a closer look at Jaune’s — my — face. Blue eyes, pale skin, no acne blemishes to speak of. A damn sight better than I’d been as a teenager, and definitely had the potential to be handsome with a bit more time and effort. Then I tilted my head a little, focusing on the scars the doctor had warned about. There were three thin lines of hypertrophy angling down across my left temple, one slash dividing my left eyebrow, another ending just below the eye, and the third about an inch from the corner of my mouth. They had clearly been expertly stitched to minimize their visibility, and perhaps had some kind of healing Semblance applied as well, since they looked much older than the few days I had supposedly been in the hospital. 

Judging by the angles of the cuts, they were probably made by the claw of a Grimm, and it was a damned miracle it hadn’t gouged out my eye or torn off my ear. 

Tracing each line with my fingers, they all ran toward my temple, and there was yet a fourth line running from behind my ear back around the base of my skull. That one seemed to have some sutures still in it. The ones on the side of my head were still red, but didn’t seem inflamed, so I figured they’d probably fade to white like the ones on my face pretty soon.

Damn, but that must have been a nasty injury when it was fresh. If I had to guess, just based on the scars, the doctor had probably been exaggerating when she said she hadn’t expected me to come around this soon — they were probably shocked I was even alive. 

Hmm… If [Gamer’s Body] worked the way I thought it did, it was a little weird that I had a scar at all. But perhaps it was already present before my Semblance kicked in and granted the skill. Or, thinking back to the messages that had appeared when I woke up, maybe it was a ‘narrative’ thing. [Your near-death experience has left you with a scar.] That would probably mean that almost-dying again, even with the Gamer Semblance fully active, would result in another scar. 

I immediately resolved not to test that theory.

There was a knock at the door. “Jaune,” called Indigo. “If you’re feeling all right, they’re going to let me take you home. Do you want your clothes?”

“Please,” I said, opening the door. “Like I said, I feel fine. As soon as you get me out of here and get some food in me, I’ll be on top of the world.”

She didn’t smile, but her lips twitched, and she nodded. 

Shutting the door, I glanced at the pile of clothes in my hand. Thank whatever gods there might be, Jaune was also a boxers man. I pulled off the hospital gown and hung it on the door, then paused as I remembered something that had happened in The Gamer webtoon.

“[Inventory],” I said softly, and sure enough, a new window appeared, complete with a picture of me, equally-naked, but strategically covered with what I assumed were equipment slots. Picking up the boxers, I pressed them against the model in the correct slot. The cloth vanished from my hand immediately, and when I looked down, sure enough, they were now snugly on my hips. Nifty. Shrugging, I equipped the tee-shirt, jeans, socks, shoes, and belt. I would have preferred an A-Shirt under the tee, but it wasn’t a dealbreaker. I’d just have to go shopping at some point, if Jaune didn’t have any decent workout clothes.

Glancing at the hoodie, I shrugged and manually tied it around my waist. While it was very much Jaune’s style, I wondered if Indigo assumed I’d want to put the hood up to conceal the worst of the scar. Maybe that’s what Jaune would have done, but personally, I didn’t see anything to be ashamed of. Trying to hide it completely on a regular basis would be a pain in the ass, considering it wrapped around half my head and a good quarter of my face. I was never a pullover guy, anyway; I preferred something I could unzip and get out of more easily, since I tended to run warm and overheat quickly. I’ll want something nice for winter, though. Mental note, put a nice coat on my shopping list.

Ping!

[Note created: My Shopping List]
[• A nice coat]

Snorting, I added [• Workout clothes] and set a reminder for the following day, then shut the window.

Opening the bathroom door, I walked out much more smoothly than I’d entered. “Thanks, Indigo,” I said.

She hesitated, then nodded. “The doctor said you’re good to go, as long as you’re still feeling okay.”

“Still ready to get out of here and get some lunch,” I confirmed. “Or dinner. Or even breakfast. I’m not picky and I don’t actually know what time it is.” I moved over and pulled open the door to the hall. “After you.”

Indigo looked at me for another moment, then led the way out of the room. Checking out seemed ridiculously easy to me; there wasn’t a bit of physical paperwork, just a digital acknowledgement that I was being discharged and a swipe of Indigo’s own Scroll acting as a signature.

As she did, I heard a small jingle.

[Quest Complete!] 

[Who, What, When, Where, Why, How (the fuck)?]

[You have gained 1,000 EXP and 1,000L!]

[Level up! Your level has increased by 1!]

“Was that a normal checkout?” I asked as I dropped into the passenger seat of the car she led me to.

“Not exactly,” Indigo answered with a yawn, starting the engine. It was quieter than I’d expected, though it still hummed a little louder than the EV I’d driven back on Earth. “But as a member of your family, your current legal custodian, and an active Huntress, there aren’t many obstacles unless I was checking you out AMA. You could have done it yourself if you were in combat school.” 

I nodded, accepting that. “Food, please?” I requested again as Indigo pulled out of the parking lot.

“Sure,” she said. “It’s actually barely past breakfast. What do you want?”

“What’s around?” I asked.

She glanced at me from the corner of her eye, then named off a series of restaurants. “Redd’s Table. Simple Wok. Der Alte Baron. Hong Futou.”

I gave her a look. “Thanks. I don’t have the context for any of that, so maybe what food do they sell?”

Ping!

[Persuasive action caused your CHA to increase by 1!]

Another sidelong look got a different list. “Burgers and fries. Noodles. Atlesian deli sandwiches. Chicken and rice.”

“Let’s go with that last one,” I said. The restaurant name sounded Mandarin, but since China didn’t exist here, ‘chicken and rice’ could mean anything from curry to paella. But, it was also pretty straightforward no matter what cuisine it was modeled after, so it should all be edible.

Nodding, Indigo reached into the backseat and grabbed something, dropping a backpack in my lap. Blinking at it, I recognized the rabbit mascot from the hoodie I had declined to wear, and presumed it was Jaune’s. Mine. Whatever. Opening it, I found a wallet, keys, and a collapsed Scroll, as well as a pair of wireless headphones similar to the one’s around Indigo’s neck, though in white. 

“No knife?” I grumbled, and mentally added [• Fixed-blade knife] to [My Shopping list]. Weapons seemed pretty free to carry, judging by the gun at Indigo’s hip, so nobody should look twice at a dagger.

Putting the first three items in my pockets with a bit of squirming, I stuffed the hoodie in the backpack instead and tossed it back into the backseat. “Thanks, Indigo,” I said again.

Indigo gave me another of those sideways looks. “You said that earlier,” she said. “You remember my name?”

Shit, she hadn’t given it and neither had the doctor. I had just read it from over her head.

“Not exactly,” I shook my head. “It’s the color of your shirt and it just… sounded right? I guess it clicked, in my head.”

“Hm.”

Ping!

[Deception has increased by 1!]

And yet, I don’t feel proud of the fact , I mused, as the car pulled to a stop. 

I would probably have to tell Jaune’s sisters about my Semblance, if only because I was working at a disadvantage in terms of information and I was desperately going to need allies if I wanted to try upsetting the canon timeline. Which I did, because it went to garbage after Volume 3. Or, in terms of the character’s lives, during Volume 3.

Ping!

[Careful decision-making caused your WIS to increase by 1!]

Yeah, yeah…

‘Chicken and rice’ turned out to be what I would have called Chinese food, although since China didn’t exist in Remnant, I presumed the cuisine was called something else. I looked over the descriptions, and gave my order to the tall, white guy behind the counter, who was wearing a suit and red sunglasses that looked vaguely familiar. Indigo paid another man in a similar suit, and we stepped out of the way, pausing at a spot where I could see into the kitchen.

I ended up with what I would have called kung pao chicken, prepared the traditional Sichuan way; the chicken stir-fried almost dry with just leeks, chilis, peanuts, and peppercorns, and served over fresh steamed rice. It smelled damn good, and was enough to put the lingering question of where I recognized the outfit from out of my mind. 

There were no tables, so Indigo and I wandered a few blocks to a bench facing a park. There weren’t many people around, the only ones in sight being a guy with his arms around two women, who were watching the river. Balancing the takeout container in my lap, I snapped the chopsticks apart and promptly started inhaling the food. Cut me some slack, I just got out of the hospital.

Indigo was staring, too, and I made an effort to pause. Swallowing, I asked, “What?”

She tilted her head, her first bite still halfway to her mouth. “I don’t think I’ve ever seen you use chopsticks successfully,” she said, finally. “It’s been a running joke for years.”

I blinked. “Really?” I glanced down at the chopsticks in my hand, clacked them together expertly, and then picked up a peanut, which I popped in my mouth. “Seems pretty easy. Weird.”

It ought to be easy, frankly, considering I’d learned to use chopsticks when I was younger than Jaune was now. I guessed mechanical skills carried over, but how much of a klutz had Jaune been?

Ping!

[Skillful action caused your DEX to increase by 1!]

Well, all right then.

Starting to eat again in a somewhat more controlled manner, I considered how to go about figuring out where the hell I was in the RWBY timeline, and what things in this reality were different from the web animation I was familiar with.

“So, pretend I’m a long-estranged cousin, coming to visit,” I said, then got into character. “Hi, I’m Jaune!” I managed not to stumble over the name. “You’re Indigo, right? Tell me about yourself.”

Exactly as I’d planned, Indigo stopped looking deeply concerned by my sudden chopstick prowess to roll her half-hooded eyes. She picked at her food for a bit, then said, “Indigo Arc. Sixth of eight children of Jacques and Isabella. Graduated Beacon Academy two years ago.”

“And your Semblance is your shadow?” I asked, glancing downward. Her shadow leaned out from under the bench and nodded, though Indigo herself didn’t move. I waved, and it waved back. “Guess that answers that.”

“Jaune… What are we going to tell everyone?” Indigo asked me, putting her chopsticks down again.

“The truth?” I shrugged, scraping the bottom of my takeout container. “Whatever happened, we can’t pretend it didn’t. Something tells me, by your reactions, that I don’t act like I used to. I’m guessing everyone’s going to rumble pretty quickly that something’s different about me. Are you going to eat that?”

Indigo shook her head and passed her mostly-full box to me, which I promptly began demolishing with just as much gusto as the first. “This is really good. I actually don’t know if I could make this better.”

“You think you can cook now?” Indigo snorted.

I paused. “I… think so?” I said. “I feel like I know a bunch of recipes. I guess it might turn out horribly. Wanna be my taste tester?

“I’ll pass,” she said, leaning back on the bench and tilting her head up to look at the sky. She closed her eyes, and I took the opportunity to hit her with [Observe].

[Name: Indigo Arc]
[LV ???]
[Title: ???]
[Race: Human]
[Age: 23]
[Job: Professional Huntress]
[Class: ???]
[Semblance: Shadow manipulation?]
[Background: Sixth of the eight scions of the Arc family of Vale. Graduated Beacon Academy. Active Huntress.]

Ping!

[Observe has increased by 1!]

She looks exhausted. Is that just how she always is? Or was this because of her brother’s hospitalization? 

Fuck, her brother was basically dead, wasn’t he? I was here now, and I wasn’t really Jaune. Part of me wanted to confess it immediately, to make sure the whole family knew, right away, so that they could mourn their son and brother. But if I did that… Was I expecting them to just let me go? Ignore the stranger walking around wearing Jaune’s face? I could keep that part to myself without much difficulty — I had a ready-made excuse in the form of ‘amnesia’. Even so, was it ethical to conceal it; to hide my actual identity from the family of the body I’d inadvertently snatched? I’d have to deliberate on this more, when I had some time to myself.

Ping!

[Careful decision-making caused your WIS to increase by 1!]

Once again, not something I can really feel good about, I grumbled internally.

“Shall we head out?” I asked aloud, stacking the empty takeout containers to throw in the trash.

Nodding, Indigo dragged herself to her feet, and we trekked back to the car.

The Arcs lived in a village outside of Vale proper, and on the outer edge of the village at that. Presumably because with the city to one side, the sea to another, and the mountains on a third, the only way to approach the village of Ansel other than through Vale itself, was to pass by the Arc house, and the numerous Hunters that lived there. 

The village was… idyllic, in a word. Like a New England small town where everyone knew each other, but was only a quick train ride from the big city.

I’d managed to get the names of all Jaune’s sisters out of Indigo, as well as their current deployments, on the drive home. 

The eldest, Bianca, was stationed in Vacuo. The second, Violet, was in Mistral with our maternal grandmother. Sienna, the older of the twins, was a Specialist in Atlas, while the younger, Shani, was in Vacuo with Bianca. Next was Azure, who had been fast-tracked into some Engineering program in Atlas and had moved up to live near Sienna. Then came Indigo, who usually stayed in the family home. And finally, the youngest daughter, Olivia, who had an apartment in Vale but came home for dinner several nights a week.

None of them knew where their parents were currently deployed. It had been more than six months since their itchy feet had led them to request a long-term mission. Apparently they had felt comfortable doing so since their youngest child, Jaune, had been sixteen and ‘obviously’ not planning on a Hunting career, since he had never asked for training and wasn’t enrolled in combat school.

Well, never let it be said that canon Jaune wasn’t brave, if reckless. Or perhaps ‘stupid’ was a better word, but I didn’t want to speak ill of my apparent reincarnation.

Pulling Jaune’s keys from my pocket, I [Observed] them, gaining another level in the skill thanks to practicing it on the way home, then selected the front door key and let us in. Indigo raised an eyebrow, but didn’t question it.

“Hello the house!” I called out the moment the door was ajar, before swinging it open. It was a habit I’d gotten out of, since I’d lived along for a good few years, but announcing yourself when unexpectedly entering somewhere was simply polite.

“Welcome home,” came a reply from the top of the stairs. Looking up, I saw the youngest Arc sister, wearing a simple green dress, with her hair damp from a shower and loosely tied back.

‹???›
LV ???
Olivia Arc

Huh, once again, no information. I’d been able to see the names and (usually single-digit) levels of people on the street. One of the people at the restaurant had even been level 10. But I got nothing off either of my sisters.

Indigo brushed past me. “Your turn to deal with him,” she grunted as she mounted the stairs, though she winked at me over her shoulder, so I didn’t take too much offense. “I need a nap.”

“Sleep well and wake!” I waved sarcastically at her back, and her shadow gave me the finger as she turned the corner.

Olivia stifled a giggle as she descended. “How are you feeling?”

“Pretty well,” I answered, “Except for the amnesia and this terrible haircut they had to do, to stitch up my head. I don’t suppose you could help me even it out?”

“I probably can,” she said, coming up to me and tilting my head to the right so she could look at the scars on the left side of my head. Then she paused, and her fingers clamped around my chin as she pulled me back around to stare into my eyes. “Wait. What did you just say?”

“This haircut is terrible,” I repeated obediently.

“Before that,” she growled, eyes flashing.

“I said I feel pretty well,” I smirked. Her nails dug into my skin slightly, and I sighed. “Except for the amnesia,” I finished. “Long story short, I don’t really remember anything before this morning, or anything about myself. The doctor isn’t sure it’ll ever come back, so you should basically treat me like a competent adult from another country.”

Ping!

[Deception has increased by 1!]

Hush, Semblance.

“Or maybe more like someone from a parallel dimension,” I offered when Olivia raised a skeptical eyebrow.

Ping!

[Deception has increased by 1!]

Oh, shut up, Semblance.

“What’s that supposed to mean?” Olivia said slowly.

“I mean, I still know how to walk and talk, but I couldn’t tell you the name of this language,” I explained. “I know how to do calculus and drive a car, but I can’t remember ever sitting down in a classroom or behind a wheel on…Remnant? That’s the name of the planet, right? I know how trains work but not where the stations are or where each line goes. I know things that I shouldn’t, given what I’ve forgotten, but there’s also things that should be common knowledge that I’ll need to have spelled out for me. I had to pump Indigo for the names of our parents and all our siblings, and I think she’s still coming to terms with it.”

Ping! Ping! Ping!

[Figuring out how to lie while telling the truth caused your INT to increase by 1! Deception has increased by 1! Deception has increased by 1!]

Enough, Semblance!

“Not to blatantly change the subject,” I said, blatantly changing the subject, “But I really do need a hand with this haircut.”

Olivia snorted inelegantly, but let go of my chin and jerked her head toward the kitchen. 

“Sure, come on.” She steered me into a seat at the counter, then left the room for the stairs. 

As I waited, I let my eyes drag over the room, popping [Observe] on basically everything in what was fast becoming a habit. Most of the popups didn’t tell me anything interesting, and the resulting EXP gain was pretty negligible. On the upside, I now knew which cabinets contained the cookware, flatware, and silverware, so if I decided to try cooking I wouldn’t have to stumble around the kitchen looking for things.

“What do you want to do with it?” Olivia asked, bustling back in with a comb, brush, clippers, and scissors. She dragged the trash can over beside my chair and propped it open, but didn’t lay down a sheet or anything to catch the hair she’d be cutting.

I tilted my head. “There’s no saving the left side with how much they had to trim it to stitch me up,” I said, brushing what was barely more than stubble behind my ear. “I guess trim the rest of the right side to match it, and maybe we can clean up the top for a decent undercut?”

Olivia frowned slightly, circling me. “I don’t know if that really suits you,” she said finally, “But it’s gotta be better than the mop you had before.”

I rolled my eyes. “Gee, thanks.” 

“Any time, Bro-bro,” she ruffled the longer hair on the top of my head. Then she paused, her frown deepening again.

“What is it?” I asked.

“You usually hate it when I do that,” she said, eyes widening as she realized I obviously no longer remembered that.

I shrugged. “I’m not crazy about it,” I admitted. “Seeing as you’re kind of a stranger to me. But I know intellectually that you’re supposed to be my sister, so I’m forcing myself not to mind it.”

She jerked her hand back as if burned. “Sorry.”

I gave a half-smile, meeting her eyes easily. “It’s fine. I’m letting you near my head with sharp objects, aren’t I?”

She considered that, looking between me and the scissors, before she nodded firmly. Nevertheless, she took up the clippers first, and was a bit more gentle than was really necessary in tilting my head down so she could get to the back.

As soon as the clippers touched my hair, I felt… something. It wasn’t exactly brand new, as in a sudden sensation; it was more like something I’d been feeling constantly, abruptly strengthened. My eyebrows creased as I tried to figure out what the hell it was. It was unlike anything I’d ever felt before, meaning it probably wasn’t something I’d ever felt on Earth, so… Aura?

[A skill has been created through a special action! Identifying the sensation you have been passively detecting has created the skill [Detect Aura]!]

[Detect Aura (Passive/Active) LV 1 EXP: 0.00%]
[An ability to detect the presence of life around the user, by sensing the metaphysical pressure of others’ souls. Not effective on those without Aura, as the Aura surrounding them will mask the void they make.]
[Range: 10 meters.]
[ACTIVE: MP: 25/min]
[Increases range by 10x.]

Ah, apparently I was detecting Olivia’s Aura, which meant she was probably plying her Semblance. Flicking my eyes to the side, I saw a very slight ripple in the air, as all the hair that she was trimming away suddenly fell sideways for about two feet before dropping sharply into the trash can. How the hell did that work? Telekinesis? Aerokinesis? 

I didn’t have enough data to make a good guess, but I did remember The Gamer inventing his own spells in the webtoon, so I made a mental note to [Investigate Skill Creation], and set the reminder for tomorrow morning.

Trimming the hair on the sides of my head was a quick job, and a few moments later Olivia passed me a hand mirror, and started twisting her fingers through the hair that was left on my crown. “What do you think? An inch or two off the top?”

I pondered it. “Start with half an inch, but layer it a bit on the sides so it’s longer on top. I’m probably going to keep sweeping it back like I had it.”

This took a bit longer, and since Olivia ended up right in front of me, I went ahead and subvocalized [Observe], wondering if I would get anything more than I had from Indigo.

[Name: Olivia Arc]
[LV ???]
[Title: ???]
[Race: Human]
[Age: 22]
[Job: Professional Huntress]
[Class: ???]
[Semblance: Telekinesis?]
[Background: Seventh of the eight scions of the Arc family of Vale. Graduated Beacon Academy last year. Active Huntress. Aspires to a teaching position in one of the major Academies.]

Question mark for her Semblance, because I’m not sure what it is yet? I thought, before, Ping!

[Observe has increased by 1!]

Curious, there was a bit more description for her background than there had been for Indigo. And [Observe] suddenly leveled again, despite me looking at dozens of things on the way home with barely a blip on the experience bar. So, I get more EXP for Observing people? Or is it powerful people? 

My sisters were definitely strong — if I remembered the rules of The Gamer correctly, he could only see the levels and titles of people within 50 levels of himself, meaning my sisters were at least level 53. Though, I don’t think he could see descriptions of them either, at least until he raised Observe’s experience. 

“How’s that?” Olivia asked, bringing my attention back to the moment. 

I held up the mirror again, raking the fingers of my other hand through my shortened locks. “That’s about what I had in mind,” I grinned. 

Like I had done earlier at the hospital, I couldn’t help but picture the Poser model. Something like this would look weird in the web show’s 3D-anime style, I decided, but it worked well in real life.

She smiled back, leaning away slightly and examining me critically. “It actually does look good.”

“You don’t have to sound so surprised.”

Olivia snorted. “Between the haircut and the scars, you look older. Although, it’s still hard for me to believe my baby brother’s going to be old enough to start Beacon next year.”

“Next year?” I asked. “How old am I?”

“Still seventeen, Bro-bro.” She reached out to ruffle my hair again, but caught herself. “It’s a good look though; between this and the new attitude, you might even land yourself a couple of girlfriends.”

“So Beacon starts at eighteen?” I confirmed, ignoring the last thing she’d said. I was pretty sure it was seventeen in the web show, but that had never really made any sense to me. 

“Well, seventeen or eighteen depending on your birthday,” Olivia explained, apparently adjusting reasonably well to having to explain things that I should have already known. “Academies count your age from the new year, not your actual birthday, so plenty of first-years are seventeen. Your birthday is coming up before school starts, though.”

I hummed. “When is my birthday, exactly?” 

“27th March,” came the answer immediately. “Ten days before classes.”

“And today is…?”

“23rd July.”

“So I’ve got almost eight months to get into shape,” I pondered aloud. It would be tight if I was a normal person, even by Remnant’s standards. I’d probably have to pull canon Jaune’s transcript gambit to get away with it, though I was pretty confident I’d be more prepared than he was, since I wasn’t allergic to asking for help. But given the Gamer Semblance as a variable in the equation… If it worked for me as well as for Han Jee-han, I might be leaving the other students in the dust by then, depending on how obsessively I was willing to grind.

Not that I had a problem with that.

“Are you serious?” Olivia interrupted my train of thought, and I blinked, returning my attention to her. “Jaune, you just got out of the hospital today ; a Grimm almost killed you because you don’t have any training, and you think you’ll be ready in time for Beacon’s entrance exam?”

I grinned. “Wanna know a secret, Liv?” I asked, trying on a nickname. Seeing her grimace, I immediately backtracked. “Olivia. Sorry. But as I was saying… I’m planning to tell the family, but you guys absolutely have to keep it to yourselves.”

Looking intrigued despite herself, Olivia leaned in.

“I may have lost my memories,” I told her, “But I’m pretty sure I gained my Semblance.”

There was that skeptical eyebrow again. “And what’s that?”

I quirked my lips in a half-smile. “I’m pretty sure you wouldn’t believe me if I told you. I haven’t finished testing it yet, either, so I’ll tell you what: Ask me tomorrow and I’ll tell you and Indigo, once I have a better idea of what I can do. But I’ll bet you right now I can get into Beacon for the next school year.”

“And what’s in it for me?” she was grinning now. “Not much of a bet if there’s no forfeit.”

I shrugged. “What do you want? I don’t have any context for what would tempt you. Surprise me.”

Olivia tapped her finger to her lips. “You’ll have to be my errand boy,” she decided. “Until the next school year, when you can try again.” She held that finger up. “You’ll have to clean my apartment, wash my clothes, cook my meals — well, maybe not that last one.” She looked mildly green at the thought.

“Actually, I’m fairly confident I know how to cook. Dunno how that works, if I was hopeless before. But sure, that sounds fine for a forfeit. If I get in, you’ll have to buy me a weapon.”

“Really?” Olivia looked shocked. “You always said you were going to use Great-Great-Grandad’s Crocea Mors…”

“What’s that?” I asked, feigning ignorance.

Ping!

[Deception has increased by 1!]

“A sword,” she answered simply. “The sheath can expand into a shield. It’s very… Classical,” she finished diplomatically.

“Uh, sure, sounds great,” I said, not entirely dishonestly, because I was definitely down for sword-and-board, but still… “Did I have any plans for range? A rifle? Hell, a bow ?”

She shook her head. “Not that you ever mentioned.”

“Well, fuck that–”

“Language!” Olivia interrupted me immediately.

I gave her a dry look. “You're not my mother,” I reminded her. “Anyway, I’m going to want a gun, and if I get into Beacon then you have to pay for whatever I design.”

She considered it for a moment, apparently judging how serious I was. “Done.”

I held out a hand, and we shook on it.

[Quest Alert!]

[The Shining Beacon]

[You are angling to beat the odds, and go from untrained civilian to Huntsman-In-Training in just eight months. Train hard, and legitimately pass the Beacon Academy Entrance Exam, so that you can stay on top of the events to come.]

[Bonus Objective: Keep your Gamer Semblance a secret.]

[Time limit: Beacon Entrance Exam, 20th March.]

[Reward: 100,000 EXP, 1,000,000L, new weapon “???”, Job “Beacon Academy Student”, quest continuation.]

[Bonus Objective Reward: +50,000 EXP, skill book “???”, remain below the notice of ???, ???, ???, and hostile forces.]

[Failure Penalty: 10,000 XP, become Olivia Arc’s errand boy, humiliation, possible quest continuation, destruction and mayhem, likely death.]

[Bonus Objective Failure: ???, ???, ???, and/or hostile forces may take notice of you.]

[Accept/Decline]

So, no fuckin’ pressure, then, I thought sourly, accepting what was obviously the ‘storyline’ quest. I probably had a small shot at disrupting Cinder’s plans from outside Beacon, but being on the scene would give me so much more information and opportunities there was no comparison. In the end, it was the kind of choice that wasn’t one, given I knew where things were headed before that school year ended.

A hundred, maybe hundred-fifty grand in EXP and a million Lien, plus my new weapon? And the skill book, too, for the bonus objective — I had no intention of leaving any of that on the table, considering I definitely didn’t want Salem or her people aware of my Semblance. Especially if it had the potential that I thought it might. I would also be avoiding notice from other persons or groups unknown. I assumed Ozpin’s Guardians were one of them, but fuck only knew who the others were — I was beginning to get a feeling, based on some offhand comments that both my sisters had made, that my own presence was not the only way this world differed from the web show called RWBY.

Standing up, I picked the hairbrush off the table and gestured for Olivia to take my seat. “Your hair’s dry; I’ll brush it for you.”

Looking bemused, she humored me, and I gently tugged out the tie holding back her ponytail, slipping it around my wrist as I started to work on her hair, brushing out a few tangles and checking for split ends.

Ping!

[Importing Outsider save data… Save data loaded successfully!]

[Synchronizing with previous save data… Done!]

[You have remembered the skill [Hair Brushing]!]

[Hair Brushing (Passive) LV 47 EXP: 84.19%]
[Far more than just moving bristles through hair, this skill covers all aspects of hair care and styling (but not cutting), from comb to brush to updos to product.]
[Increases hair care capability by 94%.]
[Increases hair styling capability by 47%.]

Hmm… I guess it synchronized Jaune’s experience as well as importing mine, I thought, continuing mechanically. I had worn my hair long for a few years, all the way down my back, so I had practice doing it for myself, and it seemed like Jaune had probably been roped into doing his sisters’ hair at some point.

Setting the brush down, I gathered Olivia’s honey-blonde tresses into three bunches, and wove them quickly into a simple braid, the way I’d once worn mine. Rolling the tie off my wrist once more, I wrapped it around the tip of the braid a few times. Satisfied it wouldn’t fall out or tug, I tossed the braid over her shoulder so she would know I was done.

“You’re at least as good at this as you used to be,” Olivia commented, running her fingers over the braid. 

“Muscle memory, maybe,” I mused.

Ping!

[Deception has increased by 1!]

I get it already, I’m becoming a pathological liar, I grumbled mentally.

Running my fingers through my own hair again, I tilted my neck one way, then the other, until the vertebrae popped. “Think you can show me my room and bathroom?” I asked. “I want to get cleaned up and play with my Semblance, see if it works the way I think it might.”

Olivia smirked. “Sure, just wash your hands after you’re done, before you come down for dinner, kay?”

I rolled my eyes, but declined to respond beyond that.

My room turned out to be third on the left at the top of the stairs, directly across from a bathroom that I nominally shared with Olivia and Indigo, but since there were three bathrooms on this floor alone and none of our other siblings were living at home, we had each taken one for ourselves. I also noticed as I stepped in that sounds from the rest of the house were curiously muffled. Wonder if soundproofing like that is standard for Hunting houses?

Jaune’s room was… a bit of a disaster area, frankly. Ugh, teenager, I thought, uncharitably. I wasn’t the neatest dude, being a bachelor, but I didn’t leave clothes and books scattered all over the floor.

“Washing machine?” I asked, before Olivia could leave.

“Off the kitchen,” she called, turning into her own room. “See you for dinner.”

Poking around, I eventually found a hamper, and loaded it up with all the dirty clothes on the floor. The washing machine had a brand name I’d never heard of, but water and detergent turned out to be pretty universal. Starting a load of dark clothes, which fortunately included socks and athletics shorts, as well as Jaune’s many pairs of jeans, I blinked as I noticed a timer for the cycle appear in the corner of my vision. Convenient.

Climbing the stairs again, I decided against stripping the bed, and instead set about picking up all the novels and comic books that were scattered around, setting them on the shelves where they presumably belonged.

Pausing as I passed by the bed again, I sighed and lifted the mattress. Predictably, there was a magazine, Enchantress , that looked to be somewhere between Penthouse and Hustler in terms of its content. I tossed it into my Inventory without a second glance. Also under the mattress was a small book that looked like a diary.

I picked it up and fanned through the pages curiously, but it looked like Jaune had never written in it. I placed it in my Inventory as well, since it was still open, and promptly got an alert.

Ping!

[Physical journal detected. Synchronizing mental notes and quests.]

[Unlocked [Journal] function. Quests, notes, and codex entries will be recorded in the [Journal] automatically. The [Journal] can be accessed via the HUD or by withdrawing the physical book.]

Hmm, more interface stuff, I mused. I’ll need to check into that later. Maybe I can link other real-world things to the interface as well.

The room now basically clean, I trooped back down the stairs to start another load of laundry while the dark load went into the dryer. Seeing the dryer start a longer timer in my HUD, I decided the room was clean enough to sleep in, and I was ready to shower.

Tossing a few clean outfits into my Inventory as well, I spent a few moments experimenting with the hot and cold taps before getting under the spray. Jaune’s shampoo was unfortunately cheap, and I immediately added [• Good hair product] to my [Shopping List]. 

Taking care to wash all suds away from my scars, I patted them carefully dry before toweling off the top of my head and the rest of myself normally. Standing there in front of the mirror, I opened my Inventory again and started flipping through it, eventually equipping a pair of boxers and a gold-colored tee-shirt, before toeing on some house slippers.

I had about half an hour before the laundry needed another rotation, so with a sigh, I threw myself onto Jaune’s bed. It was… mediocre. I immediately wanted a nicer one, and after mulling it over a moment, I added  [• Queen+ bed] and [• My own apartment] to my growing [Shopping List]. The last one wasn’t necessarily important, but depending on how easy making money ended up being for me, I might go for it anyway. I’d probably see about getting my own transportation first, though. Maybe a motorcycle? 

Rolling over to stare at the unfamiliar ceiling, I figured there was one more thing I should check on before I started making plans. 

“[Status].”

Name: Jaune Arc
Level: 2 (Next: 77.78%)
Title: Newcomer
Race: Human
Age: 17
Job: None
Class: The Gamer
Semblance: The Gamer
HP: 250/250
MP: 335/335
STR: 10
CON: 10
DEX: 11
INT: 26
WIS: 17
CHA: 22.9 (21)
Points: 10
Money: 1100L
Status: Cursed – Yellow Death [Highest]

Chapter Text

My physical stats were pretty garbage, probably because [Outsider] only imported my mind, not my body. Then again, maybe that was a blessing in disguise, since it gave me a blank slate to work from. More importantly, though… 

What the fuck is that Status?

[Yellow Death]
[Debuff - Curse]
[Experience is the teacher of all things.]
[Current level: Highest]

Excuse me, what the fuck? Where’s the part where you tell me what in the fuck that means, or how I got cursed, or how to get rid of it!?

I prodded at the status, seeking more information, but all I got was a description of debuffs — status effects with a negative impact — which I already knew, and broad definition of curses in that context.

[Curses are a type of debuff which can have a variety of sources. While most debuffs are straightforward effects which strip positive effects from or otherwise weaken the target, curses can be far more oblique. The effects of a curse can vary from mild to extreme, and can be inflicted by anything from karma to malediction. Curses do not end naturally, and must be actively broken.]

What in the Kentucky Fried Fuck… There’s nothing on how to break it! I still don’t even know what it actually does!

Huffing in frustration, I returned to my [Status] page, and selected the [Newcomer] title instead.

[Newcomer]
[You are from a (very) distant land, so far removed from Remnant that nobody has ever heard of it, though you know a little of Remnant from stories told in your homeland. Although you will undoubtedly find some of this land’s ways to be strange and discomfiting, you can also be sure that some things its people take for granted will be to you new wonders that you’ve never laid eyes on before. If you’re not careful to conceal your origin, you may find more attention on you than you wish.]

I frowned. That’s just a rephrased Far Traveler background from D&D. 

I checked the dropdown, but I didn’t seem to have any other titles available. Hopefully those would come when I got some adventuring under my belt. Han Jee-han’s first title came from killing enough zombies in an instanced sort of dungeon, as I recalled, so maybe I would get one for slaying Grimm. I could definitely see that being useful as a Huntsman.

Next up, to see exactly how far this was going to go… 

“Pause,” I tried. Nothing happened. “No such luck, eh? Okay, how about… Settings? Configuration? [Options]– Ah, there we go.”

[Gameplay]
[Audio]
[HUD]

“From the top, I suppose,” I murmured, selecting [Gameplay].

[Gameplay]
[Mode: Interface (Locked)]
[Difficulty: Death World (Locked)]
[Auto-Loot: Off]
[Instances: Limited (Locked)]
[Auto-Enter: On]
[Hints: Limited (Locked)]
[Controls: Regular]
[Multiplayer: Party (Restricted)]

Tapping on each [Locked] option in turn simply played a negative buzz tone. Fuckall I can really change in here, huh? I snorted. Of course there’s no easy mode… And limited hints, wouldn’t want to take the blinders off the horse. Fuck’s sake…

I did change [Auto-Loot] to [On] for my future convenience, and [Auto-Enter] to [Off (Ask)]. Instances might be ‘Limited’, but I didn’t want to trip into them by accident.

The only other one I could change was [Controls], which could toggle between [Regular] and [Inverted], whatever the hell that meant in this context. 

Out of curiosity, I switched over to [Inverted], but after an instantaneous bout of vertigo, it just seemed to have turned me into a Lefty. Seeing no real benefit, and the distinct possibility of screwing with my muscle memory, I switched back to [Regular].

With a resigned sigh, I moved on.

[Audio]
[Master Volume: 100%]
[Voices: 100%]
[World Sounds: 100%]
[Semblance Music: Disabled]
[Semblance Sounds: 80%]
[Background Music: Off]
[Character Image Songs: Off]
[Captions: Off]

I frowned at this set. I would probably have to come back here fairly often, to fine-tune sound settings for different scenarios. For the moment, I left [Captions] at [Off] , but bore the option of [Subtitles Only] in mind for situations where it was noisy and [Eavesdrop] wasn’t the way to go. I toggled on [Background Music] and [Character Image Songs] , and set the newly-enabled slider for [Semblance Music] to 50% to start. Background music in a game could give you a feel for the relative danger or intensity of your current situation, and a person’s theme tune was often quite telling. Then I dropped [Semblance Sounds] to 0%. This unlocked an option to switch to [Vibrate] , which I decided to test out — if I had this right, I had just disabled that annoying Ping! that new messages generated, and instead turned on a sort of nerve-buzz to replicate a vibrating phone. Or Scroll, rather.

Backing out, I checked the next Option group.

[HUD]
[Display: On]
[HP bar: On]
[MP bar: On]
[Ammo: On]
[Available Skill icons: Off]
[Current Buff icons: Off]
[Cooldowns: Off]
[Compass: Off]
[Minimap: Off]
[Objective Markers: Off (Locked)]
[Waypoints: Off]
[Music controls: Off]
[Transparency: 50%]
[Color: Classic]

Humming, I checked over the colors, and settled on a color scheme labeled [Matrix] , with green text on green-outlined black boxes, that I thought would be less distracting than the current white text on blue. I had a feeling that allowing my skills and cooldowns to populate my HUD would leave it very crowded in short order, but I set [Current Buffs] to [Active Only] , then tested by activating [Eavesdrop] . Sure enough, a new icon appeared, indicating that the buff was active and currently consuming mana. Cutting it off when I didn’t hear anything interesting, I returned to the menu. [Compass] and [Minimap] were both getting switched on for sure; bring on the Augmented Reality. I couldn’t activate [Objective Markers] , probably because that fell under ‘Hints’ as described in the Gamplay section, but I was able to toggle on [Waypoints], so I should start seeing those as soon as I figured out how to set them.

After a moment’s thought, I also switched on [Music controls] for kicks. This left my current HP and MP at the bottom of my vision, wherever I turned my head, a compass near the top, a minimap in the bottom-right, and the usual Play, Pause, Seek, and Skip buttons in the top-right. There was a small window underneath them, which I presumed would display the current track if I was listening to music.

Thinking about it, I reached over and grabbed Jaune’s backpack, pulling it into easy arm’s reach and digging out the contents. The hoodie went straight into the Inventory, as did the headphones, which prompted a message. 

[Syncing music collection to Semblance player.]

Ah, so they weren’t just headphones, they were the music storage as well? I had just assumed the music was streamed from the Scroll. Speaking of which… I placed Jaune’s Scroll in my Inventory as well.

[Syncing Scroll to Semblance communications…]

[This Scroll was locked by a different save file. Would you like to set a new PIN?]

“Yes,” I said aloud, and a ten-key number pad appeared. Submitting the street number of the house I grew up in back on Earth, I read:

[Syncing Scroll… Done! The Scroll may now be used via the HUD as long as it is in your possession or in the Inventory.]

Nifty. Why carry anything in my pockets if I don’t have to?

I tossed Jaune’s keys into the inventory as well. Then, pressing the empty backpack into the Inventory as well, I was rewarded with the message I wanted to see.

[Syncing storage device to Inventory… Done! Items small enough to fit inside the [Backpack] can be retrieved from the inside the Inventory by reaching into the backpack.]

Seeing that, I quickly added Jaune’s wallet as well.

[Syncing to currency inventory. The desired amount of currency may now be retrieved from the Inventory by reaching into the [Wallet]. Money cannot be stolen from the wallet in this way except by a special skill.]

Sweet, no more worrying about getting robbed.

Overall, not as many options available to me as I would have liked, but I suppose I didn’t have too much room to complain. Most people didn’t have an Options menu at all.

That left me with some time on my hands, a good deal of energy, and not much else to do, so I decided to take some time to plan. What did I think I know about my Semblance, that I would need to test? The Gamer could gain skill points by improving the relevant talent — STR points by lifting weights, for instance. That would be a good place to start, since most likely I wouldn’t get tired in the same way as a normal person, thanks to [Gamer’s Body]. My Level would go up as I gained EXP from completing quests and, most likely, from fighting monsters. Given that I was on Remnant, that would probably mean Grimm. Skills gained experience just by using them, although it was possible using them in combat might result in an EXP multiplier. New skills could be created by performing an action, manipulating my mana in various ways, or by consuming skill books. 

I’d run my finger along all of Jaune’s books while cleaning, and none of them had offered a skill creation prompt. And somehow, I doubted Olivia and Indigo would be sanguine about me wandering off to look for Grimm to kill, especially since from their perspective, a Grimm had almost killed me less than a week ago. That left training stats, creating skills, or grinding skills. My current skills were [Deception] , [Observe] , [Eavesdrop] , [Detect Aura] , and [Hair Brushing] ; the last one didn’t offer any direct benefits, the first required me to actively lie to someone, and I’d already used [Observe] on everything in Jaune’s– my room.

That left [Eavesdrop] and [Detect Aura] that could actually be activated and kept active to gain EXP, at least until I ran out of MP. Given my current MP regen, that would be… about fourteen minutes. After which I’d have to wait over an hour before I was full again. Not having anything else to do with my MP for the moment, I activated both, and consequently found myself hyperfocusing on the birds outside, which I could both hear more clearly and feel in a way that was very difficult to articulate, since I was using a sense that didn’t have words to describe it, at least on Earth.

It was absolutely fascinating, and I didn’t notice my attention had been fully captured until I felt a strange twinge, and both skills shut off. Blinking at the odd, empty sensation, I surmised I must be out of MP.

[Eavesdrop has increased by 1! Detect Aura has increased by 1! Detect Aura has increased by 1!]

Decent enough, although I’ll have to work on not being distracted by my heightened senses. Nobody ever considers that drawback.

Realizing the fourteen minutes were up, I now had an hour to kill, and no more to do than I had before. While laying around doing nothing was formerly one of my favorite pastimes, I now found I had too much directionless energy for it. Was that because of the technical age regression, or was it just the nature of being the Gamer? 

After all, most games exist to be played .

Fortunately, the timer was almost done on the washer and dryer, so I headed downstairs to shuffle the loads again. The dry clothes — jeans, athletic shorts, and some dark shirts — went straight into my Inventory because screw carrying things. Equipping one of the pairs of shorts, I decided to poke around the rest of the house until my MP recovered.

The first floor had the kitchen, where I'd already been, just off the entryway — the foyer, I guess you would say, although the whole Arc home was pretty un-pretentious. Laundry was off the kitchen, which also connected through to the dining room. Interestingly, despite having a table in one corner for informal dining, the kitchen wasn’t an ‘open concept’, as had been so popular on Earth. It had actual doors, which made me think the house was probably built with the idea of a live-in staff. Then again, considering how many Arc kids there were, maybe it had actually been necessary to hire cooks and such at some point in the past. There definitely weren't any currently, or I’d have felt them with my [Detect Aura], but I made a note to look for hidden stairs to test my theory, since such things were almost always present in houses built with a staff in mind.

There was also a library, a weight gym, an open room with wooden training weapons on the walls and honest-to-Japanese tatami-mat floors that I could only think of as a dojo, and an armory lined with actual, live weapons. It was here that I found Jaune’s, and hopefully my, future weapon: Crocea Mors. It looked exactly like it had in the show, blue-wrapped hilt and all, and I popped an [Observe] on it immediately.

[Sabre de la famille Arc (Artifact) — Rank: Legendary (Debuffed)]
[A shining, eversharp silver blade, within which sleeps the Arc family heirloom, lost but not forgotten.]
[Carries a legacy which can only be awoken by one willing to experience the journey, walk the path, and learn its lessons.]

That… That does not say ‘Crocea Mors’, I thought. I knew I was pointing out the blatantly obvious to myself, but I couldn’t help it. My French was crap, but I was pretty sure that just said ‘Sword of the Arc Family’. Its rank is… debuffed from what it should be? What’s above Legendary rank? And what’s that description about? It reminds me of my Yellow Death debuff, actually; maybe they’re connected? It was still ‘eversharp’, though, so I definitely still wanted it. Apparently the previous Jaune had good taste in weapons, despite the implied derision in having a weapon that wasn’t also a gun.

Of course, I was still planning to carry at least one gun. Simple rule of thumb for fighting: if you can hit your enemy, and he can’t hit you back, you win every time.

I thought about taking it off the wall right then, but I should probably at least let someone know before I disappeared it into my inventory. Reluctantly, I backtracked into the dojo and pulled a wooden sword of about the same length off the wall. I gave it a few experimental swings, noting that it seemed to have a weighted core, then opened my [Inventory] and formally equipped it in my right-hand slot. The ‘sword’ vanished from my hand and a bandolier appeared across my right shoulder, leading down to the sword now hanging at my left hip. I reached down and found it was at a height where I was able to draw it easily. Shrugging, I put it back, planning on whacking some trees later and hopefully picking up a sword-user skill. And since the Family Sword came with its own shield, I also equipped a light wooden shield on my left arm. My Semblance stored it on my back, which meant that getting it actually onto my arm took a bit of fidgeting, but I got the hang of it fairly quickly, finding that it didn’t restrict my range of motion by much in either position.

Storing both in my inventory for the moment, I wandered back through the foyer and found Olivia in the kitchen for a glass of water. 

“Hey,” I said. “Is there anywhere around here I can do some shopping?”

Olivia frowned slightly. “What are you looking for?”

“Right now?” I asked. “Shirts I can wear to work out. Better shampoo and conditioner. A decent knife. Although, now I think about it, I don’t actually know what things cost.” I pulled out my wallet and withdrew 1,000 Lien, fanning it out. “Would this cover that?”

“The shirts and hair product, definitely,” Olivia said. “The knife might be a little more. That’s a decent amount of money, though; you been saving your allowance?”

I shrugged.

“Oh, yeah,” she said, looking momentarily guilty as she remembered my amnesia. “Well, Mom and Dad usually gave us 200 Lien a week for allowance, which is enough to buy a pretty nice meal, or plenty of snacks.”

I glanced at the money still in my hand, before slipping the plastic cards back into my wallet. “So what are some rough prices for things?” I asked. “A soda, a cheap meal, a train ticket? How much is, say, a motorcycle?”

“A bottle of soda is maybe 20L,” Olivia replied, once again adopting a professorial tone. “A place like Redds does a burger, fries, and drink for about 60L, more if you want to upsize; or they also have a Tenner Menu for cheap stuff a la carte. A bowl of noodles at Simple Wok would be about the same. A nicer restaurant, you might pay 120L for a roll of sushi, or a little more if your chef is actually Animan. The train is 25L for a single ride, or 50L for a day pass; Academy students ride free. Buying a motorcycle new? I haven’t priced them out, but I’d imagine at least 100,000L. Why? I know you were never taught how to ride one.”

“Seriously?” I said, trusting in my [Deception] skill that had been serving me in such good stead — and sure enough:

[Deception has increased by 1!]

Of course it did. I guessed the fact that Jaune’s sisters all wanted to believe me probably helped, because I was still getting huge experience gains for successfully fooling people with levels so much higher than mine. 

Mentally shrugging it off, I finished, “Did I learn to drive a car? I’m almost positive I can do both.”

“You did not. That’s… bizarre,” she observed, and I shrugged physically this time.

“How about if you were going travelling, and you needed to spend the night somewhere?” I asked, to keep the conversation moving.

Olivia hummed. “You’d probably budget 500L per night at an inn, which might come with a meal depending on where you are. That’s a bit more common out in the smaller villages. In the city you might just get a Valic Breakfast–”

“Which is?” I interrupted.

“Muffins, croissants, juice, that kind of thing,” she answered, her frown returning. “You understood everything else I said, but you didn’t know what a Valic Breakfast meant. They use that term everywhere. There really is no consistency to what you do and don’t remember, is there?”

“None that I’ve found,” I lied. Rooster Teeth hadn’t been great about weaving exposition into the narrative, and I had never gotten around to watching the side-series. 

[Deception has increased by 1!]

Sigh. At least I’d gotten rid of the pings.

“Well, I guess there’s no problem with you going around the village…” Olivia said slowly. “Try to be back by dark?”

“When’s that?” I asked, looking around for a clock since my Scroll was still in my Inventory.

“You’ve got maybe three hours,” she told me. “Just hang a right out of the driveway and the road will take you to the square; you can get clothes at Taylor's, and Lilac at the salon will sell you some shampoo and conditioner that’s actually worth using.”

[Quest Alert!]

[Shopping Trip]

[You have decided to invest in some undershirts and better hair care products. Your sister is allowing this, despite you just getting out of the hospital, on the condition you return before dark. Complete your shopping and return home before night falls.]

[Time limit: 3 hours]

[Reward: 250 EXP, 150L, skill book “???”, increased closeness with Olivia Arc]

[Failure Penalty: Decreased closeness with Olivia Arc, decreased closeness with Indigo Arc, likely embarrassment, skill ???.]

[Accept/Decline]

Not much of a reward, but then, it’s not much of a quest, I thought. Might pop me over the threshold for third level, though. And who knows, the skill book could be good.

“Don’t buy a knife though,” Olivia was saying. “I’ll give you one — what did you have in mind?”

“Something with a fixed blade that I can carry here,” I said, patting my right hip. “Since I’ll have the Family Sword on the left and whatever gun you buy me on my back, probably.”

That made my sister finally crack a grin. “You’re really that cocky about winning our bet, Bro-bro?”

“More than I was before,” I told her. “By tomorrow I’ll give you a final answer on how confident I feel, but I’m shooting for it regardless.”

“Good luck, then. You’ve got the right attitude about weapons now, at least,” Olivia said. “Let me grab you that knife before you go.”

“Got any others you don’t want?” I followed her up the stairs, seeing no downside to asking. “A folding knife for my pocket, and maybe something smaller I can stick in my boot?”

“Jeez, Jaune, paranoid much?” Olivia asked, amused. “Sure, Bianca gave me a boot knife you can use, and I think I can dig up one of Azure’s old butterfly knives.”

I grinned, pausing at Olivia’s door rather than follow her inside. “Is it paranoia when the entire world really is out to get you?” I asked rhetorically. “I’m not looking to add to my collection of scars anytime soon. Hell, I’d take the Family Sword right now, if I could.”

Olivia turned around with two of the promised knives in her hands, looking serious. “Let’s hold off on the actual weapons until you're ready to tell us your mysterious secret, Jaune.”

“Well, not all my secrets,” I laughed. Taking the knives, I said, “Let me get dressed while you look for that knife of Azure's.”

Stepping back into my room, I shut the door and started flipping through my inventory. Unequipping the workout shorts and house slippers, I replaced them with some dark-washed jeans with a wide brown belt. I pulled on some socks, and then equipped Jaune’s boots, which were surprisingly nice considering the general mediocrity of his wardrobe — his clothes weren’t ratty or anything, but they were clearly chosen for comfort over style, whereas the boots were very high quality, complete with steel shanks and toe-caps.

The belt knife was equipped in my hip slot, materializing an extra strap to hold the sheath against my thigh, while the boot knife was completely out of sight as the jeans dropped over them.

Pausing to examine myself critically in the mirror, I picked up the comb and ran it through my hair a few times now that it was mostly dry, teasing it upward and then raking it back with my fingers until it looked both well-maintained and careless.

Something was still missing, though. I walked over to the closet and rifled through it until I found a nice white overshirt that it looked like Jaune had never worn. Moving back to the mirror and equipping it over the gold tee, I nodded approvingly. It wouldn’t have worked for me on Earth, but it was a much better fit for Jaune’s complexion. Unless I had a better idea, this would probably be my color scheme as a Huntsman.

Opening my door again, I found Olivia coming out of another bedroom idly playing with a balisong. Flipping it closed, she handed it to me. “Here you go, the third in your newly-established knife collection. Remember to be home by dark, or I’ll send Indigo to go get you.”

I paused, slipping the butterfly knife into my pocket, and said, “I don’t have the context to parse that sentence, but it sounds like a threat.” The failure condition on my quest said ‘likely embarrassment’, as well…

Olivia grinned evilly. “It is one-hundred percent a threat. Trust me, you’ll want to try not to find out what it means.”

“Noted,” I said, heading for the door. “I’ll try not to get swept off my feet by pretty ladies moved to sympathy by my recent injury.”

Grinning as I heard Olivia’s snort of laughter, I shut the door behind me, calling out, “Long days and pleasant nights.” 

I felt pretty good about my interactions with my new siblings. Hopefully all of Jaune’s family would be equally as accepting of the ‘new me’.

On the way home an hour later, almost a thousand lien poorer but possessing a dozen new A-shirts to wear as both undershirts and workout clothes, plus some high-quality shampoo and conditioner in my inventory, I paused on the way back to the Arc house as I ran out of MP again. I had been popping [Eavesdrop] and [Detect Aura] on as frequently as my MP would allow, while spamming [Observe] like a true Gamer on every tree, stick, and blade of grass, gaining one, two, and one levels respectively. 

There was still over an hour until dark, so I stepped off the road toward the treeline, drawing my knife from my belt. It felt… not awkward in my hand exactly, but it also didn’t feel as natural as I expected. I knew how to hold a knife from Earth, so I wasn’t sure what was putting me off so much. I took a few swipes and test stabs, but the feeling didn’t go away.

Pondering, I assumed a basic knife-fighting stance, right foot forward with the blade in my right hand, edge toward the knuckles, almost like a sword. I swung at the nearest tree, scoring a long slice along the bark. Flipping the knife over, keeping the edge knuckle-out, I took an upward swipe, then stabbed, sinking the tip an inch into the tree.

[Importing Outsider save data… Save data loaded successfully!]

[You have remembered the skill [Knife Mastery]!]

[Knife Mastery (Passive) LV 15 EXP: 0.00%]
[A skill that allows the user to freely handle knives and other short blades. The predominant advantage of a knife is its maneuverability, allowing the user to attack enemies from any direction.]
[25% increase in attack damage with short bladed weapons.]
[9% increase in attack speed with short bladed weapons.]

There we go, I thought. Fifteen ranks was more than I expected to import, actually, but I wasn’t complaining. The knife felt much more solid in my hands, now, and I didn’t feel as worried about possibly dropping it. I twirled it in my hand a few more times, testing different grips and orientations.

[Skillful action caused your DEX to increase by 1!]

Nodding, I slid it back into the sheath on my hip and equipped my wooden sword and shield instead. I swung it at the tree experimentally, first with simple taps, then with better form. It wasn’t until I really put my back into it, and committed to the swing, that I got the popups: 

[Sword Mastery (Passive) LV 1 EXP: 0.00%]
[A skill that allows the user to freely handle swords of all kinds. The predominant advantage of a sword is its versatility, allowing the user to attack enemies in a variety of ways.]
[10% increase in attack damage with swords.]
[5% increase in attack speed with swords.]

[Blunt Weapon Mastery (Passive) LV 1 EXP: 0.00%]
[A skill that allows the user to freely handle bludgeoning weapons. The advantage of blunt weapons is that they can be easily used for non-lethal takedowns, and are easy to improvise.]
[10% increase in attack damage with blunt weapons.]
[5% increase in attack speed with blunt weapons.]

[By pushing your body past its limits, you have increased your physical abilities! Your STR has increased by 1! Your CON has increased by 1!]

Hah… Guess I got both because this wooden sword doesn’t have an edge, I mused, panting. I glanced at the shield on my arm. Nothing was coming at me, so I didn’t think I’d be able to gain a Shield Mastery sort of skill.

Putting the practice sword and shield away, I pulled out the balisong and started playing with it as I started toward the Arc house again. I botched a few flips, naturally, and closed the knife on my fingers once or twice, but it only cost me a few HP and there wasn’t any blood to show for it, thankfully. Truth be told, I barely noticed, because I was deep in thought and just following the waypoint I’d placed on my map.

So, the Gamer went for an INT build, I recalled. And I’m already slightly skewed that way myself because of [Outsider] , but I’m not sure that’s actually the best call. Han Jee-Han got discovered almost immediately, and my current storyline quest was very clear that I need to conceal the Gamer Semblance from the powers that be, both Ozpin and Salem, and probably the governments as well.

It didn't say or imply anything about my family, though, fortunately. I was hoping to rely on my sisters' experience to get better at Hunting, and having to conceal what I could really do would cripple that.

Plus, magic is barely a thing on Remnant, I returned to my train of thought, so if I start running around doing things that can’t be explained by a single Semblance, or Dust — which I still don’t really know anything about — I’m going to draw attention in a hurry. And on top of all that… it makes me dependent on magic for defense, and if I run out I’ll be screwed, because my physical stats will be relatively neglected. On the other hand, physical stats are way easier to train directly, and I’ll have the additional lifeline of not being one-shot if I run out of MP, or rather, Aura.

I paused in that train of thought, then shook my head.

No, that’s unnecessarily limited. I don’t want to be a straight fighter, more like a paladin. I want to improve myself all around. I won’t neglect creating spells, if I can do that, but my focus should be on subtle ones. Buffs, rather than flinging destruction; I can do that with Dust anyway. On the subject of D&D spells, maybe I’ll try inventing the Smite group of spells regardless, since I can explain it away with Dust, but I think the animal set of buffs will be more valuable in the long run if I can pull that off.  

With a thought, I added that to my [To-Do List] .  

I want enough MP and regen to keep important buffs going, ideally twenty-four/seven, but my focus should be on getting stronger and tougher. One near-death experience is enough, thanks. Let’s call Not Dying Again my paladin’s oath. I’ll write something up later.

Another mark on my [To-Do List] .  

That means my focus right now needs to be on raising my base stats and stacking passives; I’ve already got a quickly-growing CHA boost from [Deception] , so hopefully I can find an equivalent passive for the other stats. Fortunately, I’m not locked into my ‘class’ choice, so I’m not actually restricted from gaining points in other categories, and there’s no need to have a dump stat. I can just be good at everything. Besides, if I recall, Han Jee-Han got a special skill upon raising his INT above the 50 threshold; I’ll have to see if that’s true here too, because if it is, then spending points to bump WIS up to at least that level will probably be worth the cost.

I paused as something loomed in front of me, and realized I was standing at the front door to the Arc home, so I flipped the butterfly knife closed once more.

[Skillful action caused your DEX to increase by 1!]

Quickly pulling the bags of my purchases out of my Inventory, so my sisters wouldn’t ask where they were if I encountered them on the way to my room, I unlocked the door with another, “Hello, the house!”

“Welcome back,” I heard Olivia reply from the kitchen.

[Quest Complete!]

[Shopping Trip]

[You have gained 250 EXP and 150L!]

[Level up! Your level has increased by 1!]

“I’m going to work out in the gym,” I called, mounting the stairs to put the shampoo and conditioner in the bathroom, then closing the door to my room behind me. “[Inventory].”

I put the undershirts back away, equipped one under what I was currently wearing, and then peered more closely at the options available on this screen. Specifically, at the tabs above my character model, which read [Armor Set (+)]. I glanced over my current outfit, and nodded, tapping the tab and saving it as a Set called “Casual”. I even had the option to automatically swap out exactly which jeans, undershirts, gold shirts, and white overshirts would be selected, based on how dirty they were.

Not seeing a limit to the number of Sets I could create, I made another called “Workout”, consisting of underwear, shorts, and an undershirt; then equipped it. Looking down, I found that I was indeed dressed to work out, so I added my headphones to the armor set. Reaching up to where they were now hooked around my neck, I found the power button and toggled them on, settling them over my ears.

[Importing Outsider save data… Save data loaded successfully!]

[Syncing music library… Warning! Not all tracks available.]

[Missing tracks may be found in the world as Image Songs.]

Okay, wasn’t expecting that. I glanced through the song library via the Gamer interface. That looked like… most of my albums, I thought. Maybe there were some missing, but I couldn’t tell at a glance. Unfortunately, it looked like I’d have to rebuild all my playlists, but I was the kind of guy who listened to music all the time, so having my old collection of my fingertips was a big comfort.

With a few taps, I threw together a playlist of a few metal albums plus some other essentials — no workout playlist was complete without Eye of the Tiger, after all — then hit Shuffle a few times as I headed down to the family gym, humming along to the opening riff of the first song. Hefting a barbell into the power rack that was thankfully present, since it meant I could work out safely without requiring a spotter, I had to wonder how much I could realistically lift with a STR of… what, 11? The weights were in kilograms, which threw me off a bit, but hopefully the math would become second nature.

50kg on the squat bar was a decent warmup, but it was a little too easy, so I threw on ten more. Hefting it, I immediately felt the difference — to my frustration, since it still wasn’t very much weight in the grand scheme. I had been able to squat way more than this, before. 

It was such a huge difference in the effort required, though, that I had to wonder if each point of STR was only good for a certain amount of weight, and I would have to exceed that to actually struggle with my workout. If so, and if I could figure out what each STR was worth, I would be able to calibrate my lifts way more easily, at least for squats. Presumably benching would be different, since less muscles were involved. If my STR score made all my lifts the same that would be utterly bizarre.

These thoughts and the driving music carried me through the set and I racked it with a grunt. 

[By pushing your body past its limits, you have increased your physical abilities! Your STR has increased by 1!]

[Importing Outsider save data… Save data loaded successfully!]

[You have remembered the skill [Weightlifting]!]

[Weightlifting (Passive) LV 12 EXP: 67.37%]
[You are experienced at weight training, and have knowledge of proper weightlifting form and breathing techniques to better control your body when working out.]
[Increases balance when lifting weights by 26%]
[Improves breath control by 31%]

It felt good to be back in the gym, frankly, even if the ache in Jaune’s muscles made me wonder if he’d ever lifted anything heavier than a comic book. Wiping the sweat from my face, I found my fingers worrying the gap in my eyebrow just as the song’s final chorus ended.

“Every wound will shape me, every scar will build my throne!”

Considering the prominent scars on my new face, and the drive I possessed in spades at the moment… if I had a theme song for this new life, I thought that might be it.

[Image song selected: Jaune Arc – “Throne” by Bring Me The Horizon]

And apparently it now is. You know what, I can live with that.

Straightening up as my fatigue faded, (thanks [Gamer’s Body]), I got under the bar for another set, but as soon as I lifted it, something felt wrong. The 60kg that had been a genuine struggle to lift was now… easy. I could still feel it, but it barely registered. 

Frowning, I racked it again and pulled up my [Stats] page. 60kg had been challenging at 11 STR, but was nearly trivial at 12. Was this like a carrying capacity, at literally 5kg/STR? 

To test it, I loaded another half-kg onto each side, then tried again, and… Yep, now I’m overencumbered, , I thought, feeling way more strain than going from 60kg to 61kg should have been capable of causing. Deciding to experiment, I racked the weight once more, and removed the half-kg weights. Going up to 65kg felt the same, as did 70kg; I could tell that it got heavier each time, but it wasn’t significantly harder to lift each time. 

When I tried 75kg, however, I couldn’t lift the bar at all, so whatever the final threshold was, I had obviously passed it. Going back to 70kg, I started going up by 1kg and hit failure at 72kg. If I assumed it used whole numbers, then 72 kg was my absolute limit, meaning it topped out at 6kg/STR. So, with a 12 STR, where I was overencumbered at 60kg and overloaded at 72kg, my training sweet spot would be in between that.

[Clever intuition caused your INT to increase by 1!]

Apparently I’m on the money, then. I’ll run through my usual routine, but increase the weight as much as I can stand on each set since I don’t think I have to worry about overtraining. Then I’ll cool down with a run, shower, and do some stretches after dinner.

Dropping back to 70kg, I pushed through another set: 

[Physical exertion caused your STR to increase by 1!]

Then another at 75kg, just under my new max: 

[Repeated struggles caused your CON to increase by 1!]

Awesome. 

I ended the night on the treadmill, pushing it as hard as I could to see what kind of speed I could keep up at a sprint, and for how long.

[By pushing your body past its limits, you have increased your physical abilities! Your DEX has increased by 1!]

Awesome to the max.

I worked out until dinner, gaining seven more points in STR, two more in CON, and three in DEX, as well as two in WIS for coming up with a good routine and vowing to stick to it. I was pretty sure I wouldn’t be getting this many points in a row again, but being able to quantify my progress was really nice.

I also netted another level each in [Eavesdrop] and [Detect Aura] , and had [Observe]d everything in the gym until doing so stopped giving me EXP for the skill.

By the time Olivia called out that dinner was nearly ready, I was well into my cooldown and my breathing was steady enough to sing along to the music from my headphones. I almost tripped off the treadmill when I got a popup for it.

[A skill has been created through a special action! Determinedly ignoring your shortcomings in maintaining a note has created the skill [Sing]!]

[Sing (Passive) LV1 EXP: 0.00%]
[A skill that represents your ability to create music with your voice.]
[Improves singing ability by 10%.]
[Improves breath control by 10%.]

No import? I used to sing all the time, though. I thought about what that must mean. ‘Determinedly ignoring my shortcomings’? I was THAT untalented in my past life? Ouch… True to the description, I was finding it easier to stay on-key now, but still. I guess you can only fail at something for so long before you figure out all the ways that don’t work.

I was dripping with sweat when I emerged from the gym, heading for the stairs to clean up before we ate.

“Hey, Jaune? After you shower, can you wake Indigo up for dinner?” Olivia asked from the kitchen door. “I should have it on the table by then.”

“Sure,” I replied. “She's second on the left, yeah?”

Olivia nodded.

Humming in the shower netted me the [Humming] skill, which was basically the same as [Sing], just for humming, obviously. 

I made good use of my new shampoo and conditioner, feeling the difference immediately, and after drying off got dressed again by equipping a pair of black silk boxers I had bought earlier for sleeping in. Then, as a courtesy since I wasn't getting in bed right away, I also threw on an oversized tee-shirt to cover up for dinner.

I knocked on Indigo’s door on the way back down the hall, and it was unlatched, so it swung open. Hearing no reply, I glanced in, but the bed was empty.

Puzzled, I went back downstairs. “Where’s Indigo?” Olivia asked, stirring a pot on the stove. “You know you have to chivvy her down or she’ll go back to sleep and won’t eat.”

“She’s not in bed,” I replied. “I didn’t check the bathroom; maybe she’s already up?”

Olivia snorted. “That would be a first.” Then she looked back at me and seemed to realize something. “Did you look under the bed?”

Raising an eyebrow, I shook my head.

“Would you, please?” she asked. “The soup is almost ready, or I’d do it. Get her shadow’s attention before you shake her.”

Nodding as if that made sense, I backtracked up the stairs. Knocking on Indigo’s doorframe, I waited, but there was no more answer than before. Stepping inside, I crouched down beside the bed and looked underneath. Sure enough, there Indigo… lay? She was still wearing her day clothes, minus the hat, but was covered in writhing shadows, which twisted over her limbs like snakes, and she seemed to be actually halfway submerged into the shadow on the floor. It was decidedly non-Euclidean, and my eyes didn’t want to interpret it. It didn’t seem comfortable, but then, it wasn’t my Semblance.

I knocked softly on the floor where the light from the hall lay, and a moment later, the head of Indigo’s shadow stretched into view. It nodded, and I took that as permission to touch Indigo’s shoulder. The shadowy tendrils pulled away as I shook her gently, until one dark blue eye cracked open.

“Hey,” I told her. “It’s dinnertime; Olivia made soup.” I released her shoulder, but left my hand outstretched under the bed. She stared at me unblinking for a good ten seconds before she reached out and grabbed it. I drew her slowly out from under the bed, and upright, where she stretched and yawned hugely before shuffling toward the door ahead of me. Apparently she knew the score, and had decided not to make me work at getting her down for dinner. By the time we hit the stairs, her gait had steadied and she seemed at least as awake as she had been this afternoon.

There were three steaming bowls of onion soup on the kitchen table — I would have called it French onion, but that wouldn’t make sense on Remnant — and as Indigo and I sat down, Olivia stood up from the oven with a fresh loaf of what smelled like sourdough.

“This is what I’d planned on making for when you got home,” she said, setting the bread down along with a serrated knife. “I didn’t expect you to be well enough to spend the afternoon running around town and working out, but no sense in wasting the ingredients.” 

“I appreciate it regardless,” I replied. I waited to see if there was any sort of prayer or ritual expected before eating, but Indigo dug right in while Olivia carved off slices of bread for everyone, so I shrugged and went for it. 

It wouldn’t have been ideal after a heavy workout, on Earth, but I didn’t think [Gamer’s Body] cared about whether I ate sufficient protein. I wasn’t entirely sure I even needed to eat, although I did still feel a desire to do so. My guess was, I would get some negative status effect if I neglected my physical needs, but I probably wouldn’t die from it unless such a ‘starvation’ effect started draining my HP. I still definitely enjoyed food, though, and Olivia’s soup was excellent. 

“You spent the afternoon working out?” Indigo asked casually.

“After I went shopping,” I explained. “I wanted some new clothes, and I needed some better shampoo.”

“Oh, that’s right,” Olivia said, leaning back in her chair and snagging a book off the counter behind her. “I meant to give you this when you got home. It’ll be good to have studied when you unlock your Aura.”

[You have received the skill book [Unity: Remnant’s Heartbeat]!]

[Would you like to learn the skill [Gaia’s Pulse]?]

[Y/N]

Ah, this must be the book that was a reward for the shopping quest. I wondered why I hadn’t gotten it. I ignored the prompt for the moment.

“You do remember that you just got out of the hospital today, right?” Indigo asked pointedly. “Hell, you remember that you just woke up from a short coma earlier today , right?”

I shrugged. “I feel fine,” I told her. “Better than fine, even. I feel great after that workout; like twice as strong.” That wasn’t even an exaggeration; my base STR was already 20 compared to the 10 it had been when I woke up. “I’m feeling good about my chances of getting into Beacon.” I grinned at Olivia.

Indigo’s spoon froze. “You still want to be a Huntsman, then?” she asked tonelessly.

“Sure,” I said. “The entrance exam is in March; I should be in great shape by then if I train my butt off.”

“We made a little wager,” Olivia told her sister. “If Jaune makes it in, I’ll buy him a weapon he designs to go along with Crocea Mors. But if he doesn’t make it, he has to be my errand boy for a whole year until he can try again.”

“I’ll start working on blueprints,” I said, smirking cockily as I finished mopping up the last of my soup with another slice of bread.

“Unbelievable,” Indigo grumbled. She pushed her bowl away and stood up. “Jaune. Dojo. Get dressed.” She stalked into the foyer, turning sharply down the hall.

“Uh, did I miss something?” I asked aloud.

Olivia bit her lip. “I guess she was more upset by you getting hurt than I realized. I should have, though, since she volunteered to stay at the hospital with you a lot while you were out.”

“And because of that, she… wants to fight me?” I said, trying to follow the logic. “Why?”

“To make you reconsider not taking it easy, I suppose,” Olivia mused. “Or maybe show you how far you have to go. Just do your best. Go change while I clear the table, and I’ll referee.”

I sighed, opened my inventory, and switched to my ‘Workout’ clothes. Olivia’s eyes widened, so I explained, “It’s part of my secret. I’ll tell you tomorrow, like I promised?”

Shaking her head, Olivia said, “This had better be one heck of an explanation.”

Sure enough, Indigo’s slippers were waiting by the door to the dojo. My Workout ‘armor set’ didn’t include shoes at the moment, so I simply slipped inside. Indigo was waiting with her arms folded, tapping her foot impatiently. Her shadow, I noticed, was tapping the opposite foot, slightly out of sync. It might have just been me, but I found it incredibly distracting.

“Something bothering you?” I asked unnecessarily.

Scowling, Indigo jabbed a finger at me. “I thought that being attacked by a Grimm, winding up comatose in a hospital bed for three days, and gaining a horrible scar in exchange for losing your goddamn memory might have instilled some survival instinct in you, but apparently not.”

“On the contrary,” I said. “I have a very strong desire to survive. I decided that the best way to ensure I do, is to get stronger so that something like this can never happen again. I’ve got eight months to get up to snuff, and after today, I think I can do it.”

Olivia had slipped in behind me while I was talking, according to the passive portion of [Detect Aura], and I could hear some vaguely familiar music with no discernible source, that nobody else was reacting to, starting to pick up on volume. Taken together, these events hinted that this spar was going to kick off soon. I’d hoped to avoid it by staying calm and rational, but Indigo wasn’t going to be so easily dissuaded.

As I’d feared, Indigo shook her head, dropping into a combat stance.

With a sigh, I moved over to the wall and pulled down a training sword and shield, identical to the ones I had stored in my Inventory. “As you wish.”

“I won’t use my Aura or Semblance,” Indigo told me. “If I do, that’s a forfeit. Force me to use them and it’s your win. Otherwise, there’s no rules, and we’re going until you can’t get back up. Let’s see how determined you are, Jaune.”

[Duel Alert!]

[First Duel Note: Duels represent any fight that ends in any win/loss condition where the terms are agreed upon beforehand. Duels are never a part of quests, and any fight that is part of a quest’s progression will not be a Duel.]

[Combatants: Jaune Arc vs. Indigo Arc]

[Victory Conditions: Impress Indigo Arc]

[Optional Objectives: Indigo Arc activates her Aura or Semblance]

[Loss Conditions: Inability to continue]

[Victory: 5,000 EXP, 10,000L, increased closeness with Indigo Arc]

[Bonus Reward: +2,500 EXP, +5,000L, skill book ???]

[Loss: 1,000 EXP, decreased closeness with Indigo Arc]

As I resignedly accepted the Duel message — not that it gave me a chance to decline — the background music suddenly kicked into gear, and I finally recognized the song.

[BGM Unlocked! Arc Family Sparring theme – “This Is Gonna Hurt” by Sixx:A.M.]

Oh, dear…

Name: Jaune Arc
Level: 3 (Next: 3.33%)
Title: Newcomer
Race: Human
Age: 17
Job: None
Class: The Gamer
Semblance: The Gamer
HP: 340/340
MP: 370/370
STR: 20
CON: 14
DEX: 16
INT: 27
WIS: 19
CHA: 23.3 (21)
Points: 15
Money: 275L
Status: Cursed – Yellow Death [Highest]

Chapter Text

This… was not going to go well. My only condition was to ‘impress Indigo’, and I had no idea what might do that, other than completing the bonus objective and forcing her to activate her Aura or Semblance. Encountering an enemy this far above you in power so early in a game usually meant a narratively-driven ‘Supposed-To-Lose’ fight, but given my Semblance had labeled this a ‘duel’, it suggested that there was a way I could win.

Unfortunately, Indigo wasn’t inclined to give me time to think about it; as soon as the music only I could hear kicked off, she was charging. [Sword Mastery] gave me just enough time to firm my grip before she was on me — which meant she was obviously going somewhat easy on me. I couldn’t see her level, meaning she was at least fifty levels above me. Probably more. That didn’t stop her from hitting like a truck, though, as I caught her backfist on my shield and almost got knocked prone. And that was without Aura? Jeez, what the hell is her STR?

I felt the slight nerve-tingle indicating my Semblance had created an alert, but it had the courtesy not to pop up and block my field of view, so I ignored it. Bracing against the force still pressing on my shield, I just barely managed to hold. I attributed that entirely to the 20 STR I now had, but something told me now that Indigo had the measure of what I could resist, it was going to get even more difficult. Even if I didn’t have amnesia (read: wasn’t literally new here), Jaune was just as untrained as I was. There was no way I could win this fairly. But, then again… 

If you ever find yourself in a fair fight, you are surely a poor tactician indeed. Advice I’d read… somewhere, that immediately took root in my brain. I needed to unbalance this fight in my favor, immediately, before Indigo could adjust and make it harder for me.

So instead of deflecting her fist to the side and swinging my sword, I brought my sword-hand behind the shield as well, and shoved with all the strength I could muster. It wasn’t enough by itself, but as Indigo started to push off the shield to back away, I suddenly pulled back just as hard. As the counterforce under her hands disappeared, I twisted on the spot and kicked her in the knee.

Or tried to, anyway. Somehow, even while off-balance, Indigo lifted her leg and caught my foot on her shin. I was at a terrible angle to swing my sword, so instead I tried to jab her in the face with the fist wrapped around the hilt. She blocked that too by grabbing the ‘blade’ just above the hilt and turning her fall into a twist, wrenching the wooden weapon out of my grip. Rather than fight her over it, I let the sword go and made a grab for her right hip as she finally surrendered to gravity.

I jumped back as Indigo hit the ground and rolled away immediately, slapping the mat with one hand to propel herself back to her feet even as she flipped the wooden sword in midair to catch it by the handle.

And then she froze, because I was pointing her own gun at her.

“Maybe you can block or dodge this without your Aura or Semblance,” I said softly, racking the slide in case it wasn’t cocked. “But I’d rather not test it.”

Indigo blinked at me. “You should have fired before I had time to react,” she criticized, not dropping her ready stance.

“You’re not a Grimm,” I replied. “And you didn’t know I had it.”

Now she scowled. “You asked Olivia to buy you a gun if you make it into Beacon,” she reminded me. “You think you won’t have to shoot your classmates in training?”

“Are we going to be training with whatever you have loaded in this?” I retorted. 

Indigo’s hesitation was answer enough.

I shook my head. “I don’t know exactly how Aura works, but I do remember how guns work. Maybe you can react fast enough to shield yourself from the sound of a shot going off four feet from you that you’re not looking at or expecting, but I decided not to gamble on accidentally putting you in the hospital when I just got out of it.” 

The gun in my hand looked and felt like a Glock G21, meaning if munitions here operated anything like on Earth, that bullet was going to come out travelling at least 800 feet per second, and last time I checked, human reaction time was way slower than 1/200th of a second.

Indigo was still watching me, and didn’t seem inclined to move while I was covering her with the gun, but the music hadn’t stopped, so I presumed the duel was still going. Sighing, I asked, “You’re going to make me do it anyway, aren’t you?”

My sister folded her arms. “If you don’t shoot, I haven’t activated my Aura or Semblance, so I haven’t forfeit. I was planning to beat you up and force you to prove you were actually determined to go to Beacon. Instead I learned you’re willing to fight dirty, which I honestly didn’t expect, so consider me surprised. But this fight isn’t over when I’m surprised. Impress me.”

“What, so I was just supposed to sit here and let you whale on me?” I demanded. “You’re an active Huntress and a graduate of the school I’m too weak to even test into right now because I’m completely untrained! And you put me into a fight and just say ‘impress me’? The hell am I supposed to do except stop fighting fair?”

Indigo didn’t answer that; simply glared. “Pull the trigger, Jaune.”

Listen up, listen up, there's a devil in the church
Got a bullet in the chamber and this is gonna hurt!

Grinding my teeth, I growled, “Fine, I’m firing!” Adjusting to aim at her abdomen instead of her heart, I squeezed the trigger twice, bracing for the recoil.

There was actually less kick than I expected, presumably because the propellant wasn’t regular gunpowder, and both rounds impacted right over her solar plexus where I’d intended. ‘Over’, because they crumpled against her dark blue Aura, to my relief. My Semblance pulsed a pattern that I thought would have been a jingle if it was out loud, the music faded, and I immediately flipped the gun to point at the ceiling. “How do I safety this?”

“Just take your finger off the trigger,” Indigo said, crouching to pick up the spent rounds. “It can’t fire if you don’t pull.”

Exactly like a Glock, then. I had already pulled my finger out of the trigger guard entirely, but I nevertheless kept the barrel pointing upward until Indigo came over and tugged it out of my hand, slapping the wooden sword in its place. Scowling, I stomped over to hang it and the shield back on the wall.

“Oh, what are you so grumpy about?” Indigo asked lightly. “You won. Great success.”

I whirled around. “You just demanded I shoot a member of my family. What the hell do you think I’m upset about?”

Indigo rolled her eyes. “I’m fine, stupid; I’m a trained Huntress, aren’t I?”

“I said I was fine at dinner, and you got all pissed because you thought I shouldn’t be exercising yet,” I shot back. “But my discomfort at discharging a lethal weapon at someone I had no intention of killing, in a fight that I didn’t even start and didn’t really matter, is somehow invalid? Just because no harm was done? Fuck you, Indigo.” 

I was really fuming now. Gun safety was important , dammit!

“Jaune,” Olivia broke in gently. “Even if you’d fired while her back was turned, Indigo’s Semblance could have blocked it. Her shadow would have protected her even if she was asleep. And even if that wasn’t true, if you’d fired immediately, I would have stopped it with my Semblance.”

I threw my hands up in frustration. “Maybe you keep forgetting, ironic as that is, but I don’t know your Semblances! ” I was yelling by this point and forced myself to lower my voice, though I noticed that despite my definite anger I was still thinking clearly. “Do you think I’m yanking your chain with this amnesia thing? Because it’s not a fucking joke! I! Don’t! Know! You! ”

Both of them looked stricken, but I was building up to a good rant now.

“The only reason I even know we’re related is that we look a bit alike, and because the last name on my ID matches yours. All I know is that you’re both Huntresses and stronger than me, but I have no context for what in the hell that means. I know it means you have Aura but I don’t have the first clue what that does or how it works or what it’s capable of. I know Indigo is an umbrakinetic, but I have no idea what the applications of that might be, much less how it would protect her from small arms fire. Olivia, I don’t know anything about your semblance at all. So I’ll thank you to cut me some damn slack here!”

Turning and stalking out of the dojo, I went back into the gym and jumped on the treadmill, setting it for a fast jog. I felt my anger fading already. It was my own ignorance that annoyed me, far more than Jaune’s sisters not realizing how far that ignorance stretched. After all, they didn’t know that I wasn’t really Jaune, and there was still no good way to bring that up. My Semblance had said it was trying to recover good sectors from Jaune’s save file. Hopefully that would mean some background knowledge that I was currently missing, even if the file wasn’t fully repaired. I wasn’t sure if me living in Remnant was some kind of monkey’s paw wish, but I was going to make the most of it.

If Jaune’s save file was ever repaired… Well, I wasn’t such a monster that I wouldn’t give the kid his life back, but I would surely miss this opportunity to live in one of my favorite fictional worlds. Maybe I could convince the kid to find a way to stick my save file in a clone body. Or a robot body like Penny’s. Mental note, see if I can recruit Penny. The true Best Girl must be protected.

Taking a deep breath, I started sorting through the many messages that had come in during my fight with Indigo.

[A skill has been created through a special action! Blocking an attack with a shield created the skill [Shield Mastery] to mitigate damage taken!]

[Shield Mastery (Passive) LV 1 EXP: 0.00%]
[A skill that allows the user to freely handle shields and bucklers to both defend and attack.]
[10% minimum damage reduction applied to attacks blocked with the shield.]
[5% chance to Stun an enemy when shield-bashing.]

[By pushing your body past its limits, you have increased your physical abilities! Your CON has increased by 1! Your STR has increased by 1!]

[Importing Outsider save data… Save data loaded successfully!]

[You have remembered the skill [Martial Arts]!]

[Martial Arts (Passive) LV5 EXP: 0.00%]
[A skill that allows the user to fight without external tools. Mortals, born from Dust, fought first with tooth and nail, before refinements to the movement developed into disparate arts.]
[10% increase in attack speed with martial arts.]
[5% increase in attack damage with martial arts.]
[5% increase to evasion.]
[Bonuses are halved if an unarmed attack is not part of a martial arts school practiced by the user.]

[Adding the skills [Shield Mastery] and [Martial Arts] to your repertoire has unlocked the skill [Melee Combat Mastery] to represent your practice of close combat in all its forms!]

[Melee Combat Mastery (Passive) LV1 EXP: 0.00%]
[A skill that represents the user’s flexibility in close quarters combat, having begun to master at least three relevant offensive and two relevant defensive skills. You are now able to attack and defend efficiently at close range, in equal measure.]
[5% increase in physical attack damage.]
[5% decrease in damage taken from physical attacks.]

[Skillful action caused your DEX to increase by 1!]

[A skill has been created through a special action! Stealing an item off of someone’s person without their notice has created the skill [Sleight Of Hand]!]

[Sleight Of Hand (Passive) LV1 EXP: 0.00%]
[A skill that represents your capacity for skillful hand movements designed to move or manipulate objects without being seen.]
[Passively increases DEX by 1%.]
[Increases chance of successful legerdemain by 50%.]

[Importing Outsider save data… Save data loaded successfully!]

[You have remembered the skill [Small Arms Mastery]!]

[Small Arms Mastery (Passive) LV 10 EXP: 0.00%]
[A skill that allows the user to freely handle handguns.]
[11% increase in shot accuracy with small arms.]
[11% increase in shot damage with small arms.]
[14% increase in reload speed with small arms.]

[Duel Alert!: Jaune Arc vs. Indigo Arc]

[Result: Victory!]

[You have gained 5,000 EXP and 10,000L!]

[Optional Objectives: Fulfilled.]

[Bonus: You have gained 2,500 EXP and 5,000L!]

[Level up! Your level has increased by 1! Your level has increased by 1! Your level has increased by 1!]

[Deception has increased by 1! Deception has increased by 1!]

And then, as I finished reading all of that, still jogging: 

[Swift movement caused your DEX to increase by 1!]

Fuck me, but winning that spar did amazing things for me. And what did that take, a minute, tops? This is the difference between grinding skills without a target, huh? There’s definitely a multiplier for EXP you gain in combat.

I was still pondering this when I noticed that there was music playing, even though I hadn’t put my headphones back on.

I look inside myself and see my heart is black
I see my red door, I must have it painted black
Maybe then I'll fade away and not have to face the facts
It's not easy facin' up when your whole world is black

[BGM Unlocked! Image Song: Indigo Arc – “Paint It, Black” by The Rolling Stones]

Focusing on my passive [Detect Aura], I realized Indigo had walked in.

I hadn’t registered her presence because she had been in my passive radius for the skill all along. Because she hadn’t entered that radius, the feel of her Aura wasn’t ‘new’, and I hadn’t noticed her getting closer while I was distracted. Hitting the switch on the treadmill, I came to a stop. 

“Hey,” I said, without turning around.

“Hey yourself,” Indigo replied softly. There was a pause, then she said, “I wasn’t looking at it from your perspective. Your new perspective, I mean. Before your accident… yeah, you would have hunkered down behind your shield and barely fought back, even though you knew full-well that you couldn’t hurt us if you tried. And we knew you wouldn’t try; you were never the type to fight back, even when you were getting picked on at school.”

I shrugged. “I can’t remember any of that. You offered a challenge and I tackled it the only way I could see a chance of winning.”

“You weren’t supposed to win,” Indigo murmured. “That was the point.”

Now I turned around. My sister was sitting against the wall by the door with her legs folded. Her hair was damp, so I guessed she’d showered in order to cool down. Her shadow was on the wall behind her, with its arms wrapped around her shoulders like a hug.

“I don’t believe in the no-win scenario,” I told her flatly, leaning back against the front of the treadmill. “If life deals you a shitty hand, then you flip the table.”

Indigo watched me from under her drooping eyelids for a moment, before she gave a lopsided grin. “I should have listened to you at the park this morning. I guess it didn’t sink in until you started yelling, ‘cause you’ve never yelled at us like that before, either. You really are like a new person, huh?”

“In fairness, I’m guessing Olivia didn’t get it either,” I sighed. “She was just humoring me more, so I didn’t realize. I think there’s parts of me that are still the Jaune you knew, even if I don’t consciously remember them. I still want to be a Huntsman, for instance. But,” I knocked my knuckles against my skull. “It’s pretty much a blank slate up here right now. We don’t actually have to do the cheesy ‘new introduction’ thing, but the Doc was right that you should treat me like someone newly-adopted.” I waited for a beat, then added, as if it was a punchline, “From a parallel dimension where Grimm and Aura don’t exist.”

[Deception has increased by 1!]

Indigo’s lips twitched, though she didn’t laugh. “Fair enough. I’ll train with you, if you want?”

“Hell yes,” I replied immediately. “I’ve got something to tell you and Olivia tomorrow, once I figure out how to explain it. Then I’m all yours.”

Indigo nodded. “All right then.” She rose to her feet, her shadow seeming to lift her by the elbow before dropping back to the floor, all without ever becoming three-dimensional. She eyed me critically for another moment, then said, “You did impress me tonight, for the record. Olivia gave you a book to help you out earlier; I’ve got one for you, too. I’ll leave it on your bed.”

“Thanks,” I said, figuring that would be the skill book I earned by forcing Indigo to use her Aura in our duel. I pushed off the treadmill, and we left the gym. “I’m sorry I blew up earlier, but–”

“It’s fine,” Indigo interrupted as we mounted the stairs, shaking her head. “From your perspective, based on the information you had, it’s not like you were wrong. We should have realized that you didn’t know our Semblances anymore, for one thing, and I shouldn’t have treated you like nothing had changed. I’ll talk to you in the morning.” 

“Sleep well and wake, Indigo,” I gave my traditional goodnight as we passed her door, and she turned in.

“‘Night, Jaune.”

“Goodnight,” came Olivia’s voice from across the hall.

“‘Night, ‘Via,” Indigo yawned, already closing her door as the shadows in her room seemed to deepen and writhe.

“So it’s Via, not Liv?” I asked, remembering her reaction when I’d tried shortening her name earlier.

Olivia shrugged. “I prefer to go by ‘Olivia’,” she said. “But Indigo and I are only a year and a bit apart, and ‘Via’ was how she said my name when she was learning to talk, so she’s never given it up.”

“I see.” I leaned against the wall. “So what’s on your mind?”

Olivia was hugging herself. “We screwed up, huh? Treating you too much like we would have before.”

I hummed. “That’s not untrue, but it’s also not exactly fair,” I decided. “I just came home today with no memories and, from what I’ve gathered, a fairly different personality. I definitely can’t blame you for wanting to act normal. If anything, I’m sorry I didn’t know enough to play my part.”

Olivia shook her head. “That’s not fair to you , though. We should be accepting you as the person you are , not treating you like who you used to be.”

“Let’s make a fresh attempt tomorrow, then,” I offered, extending my arms. “Awkward sibling hug?”

Snorting, Olivia moved forward and wrapped her arms around me. 

“Pat, pat,” I narrated, patting her on the back, and she hiccuped a laugh into my shoulder. Seeing she wasn’t ready to let go, I closed my own arms and gave her an actual hug.

When she finally backed up, I gave her an understanding smile. “I’ll tell you what I told Indigo — I think I still have some of your Jaune behind the scenes up here.” I knocked on my head again. “But for the most part, it’s probably best to try starting over.”

Wiping her eyes, Olivia smiled and nodded. “Goodnight, Jaune.”

“Sleep well and wake, Olivia.”

Hearing her door close behind me, I headed to the bathroom for my third shower of the day to rinse the sweat off me again, dried off, and re-equipped my silk boxers. Entering my room, I found that Indigo had, indeed, delivered a book onto my bed.

[You have received the skill book [Huntsperson's Basics of Modelmaking and Drafting: Make Your Blueprint Comprehensible!]!]

[Would you like to learn the skill [Weapon Design]?]

[Y/N]

What an ungainly title. The writer in me was mildly appalled, but the Gamer was definitely pleased. This was exactly what I would need to design my alternate weapon once I won the bet and got into Beacon — I wasn’t really uncertain anymore that I would manage it; my growth across one single day was preposterous, and while the growth to my base stats was obviously going to slow down, I was nevertheless going to be training at least part of the time with qualified Huntresses, meaning I was going to be riding the bus when it came to EXP gain during that time, while getting solo EXP the rest of the time.

I was extremely tempted to learn the skill immediately, but on second thought, I might need an example to demonstrate my Semblance to my sisters, and ‘eating’ a skill book made for a decent one. Setting it on my bedside table, I dropped onto the bed, rubbing my chin thoughtfully. With my direction in life for the next eight months settled, I just needed to decide once and for all how I was going to go about it.

I still think that I can’t use INT as my main stat if I’m going to keep my Semblance under wraps, I mused. Especially given how much easier it is to raise physical stats, at least right now. Presumably I could raise INT in a similar manner by studying, but how does that work? I can’t just stare at a book; presumably I have to actually learn something. Does it matter what? Would learning the history of this world give me INT? And even if I figure that out, how the hell would I raise WIS? I’ve only gotten WIS points from ‘careful decision-making’, and that’s just so… abstract. I wouldn’t know how to extrapolate that like I can my physical stats, and I besides, I want to be better at everything.

Besides, while I liked playing wizards fine, my real bread-and-butter was a paladin — a white knight; someone that people trusted like a rock in a storm. Someone who could live up to ideals of doing good, helping people, and fighting evil. Someone comfortable with all aspects of combat, but who was above all else, absolutely impossible to put down between his stats, skills, and buffs. 

And frankly, I am in no hurry to die again. Heroic sacrifices can have their place, but unless I’m unquestionably saving the world by my death, I’d rather live, thanks.

[Quest Alert! A self-assigned Quest has been created!]

Wait, what? I can do that?

[En Taki'amin Kine]

[You have decided to become a paladin; to walk the path of a knight to preserve life. To accept this path, swear your oath upon your mind, body, and soul, and uphold it with your every breath.]

[Time limit: None. This quest cannot be abandoned once accepted.]

[Accept: 2,500 EXP, Paladin class, new title, Detect Grimm skill, Lay On Hands skill, Crusader’s Smite skill, self-confidence, purpose in life]

[Decline: Uncertainty, self-doubt, lack of conviction]

Rolling my eyes at the failure penalty, I considered the quest carefully, since I wouldn’t be able to back out if I accepted. In all honesty though, I couldn’t see myself regretting it, especially if the Lay On Hands skill worked like it did in D&D — healing touch could probably be played off as Aura manipulation, and if it couldn’t, I’d just have to use it subtly.

Hope those spells don’t all scale off CHA; I’ve got no idea how to reliably scale that either, even if I’ve been getting bonus points in it by lying so much.

Speaking of which, Honesty was a tenet of a standard Paladin of Devotion, but while I liked to think of myself as an honest guy, it wasn’t something that I considered of paramount importance. I didn’t exactly enjoy lying, but there were truths that shouldn’t be told, and I liked being Lawful Good, not Lawful Stupid. If I was going to create an oath for myself, it would be about the things that I valued.

Well, I had put ‘Write up a paladin’s oath’ on my [To-Do List], mostly as a joke, but apparently I was being called on to put my money where my mouth was.

Shrugging, I withdrew my [Journal] from my Inventory and dug around in the mess of Jaune’s drawer until I found a pen, then set to work scribbling. I wanted to be stronger in every aspect. I wanted to do good. I wanted to help people. Should be easy enough, right?

Some twenty minutes later, I’d outlined five guiding points, and some injunctions that went along with them. Reading over them once more, I decided they were good enough to swear by. As I recited each one, it appeared in a new box titled [Oath]:

[Holism]

Improve yourself relentlessly. A sound soul dwells within a sound mind and a sound body. 

Preserve life and do not spend it without cause.

[Goodness]

Help people wherever you go. Right wrongs. 

Take charge and set an example. Be the change you want to see in the world. 

[Justice]

Do not suffer the wicked to harm the innocent. 

Good is that which Evil fears, and Justice is when you make those fears a reality.

[Steadfastness]

Be Resolute. 

When the whole world in its laziness and corruption tells you to move, plant yourself like a tree and say, ‘ No. You move. ’

[Joy]

Revel in Life. Delight in song and laughter and beauty and love.

It is not enough to preserve life, it is even more important to enjoy it, so that you never lose sight of what you are fighting for. 

Taking a deep breath, I straightened my back. “Upon my mind, my body, my soul, and my very life, I do so swear.”

[Quest Alert!: En Taki'amin Kine Accepted!]

There was no flash of light or choir of angelic voices, just a simple prompt, but I could feel the oath itself, the tenets imprinting on me; my very soul making them more than just words. There would be no accidentally violating the spirit of the agreement I had just made with myself; it was as much a part of me now as the Aura I had yet to unlock.

I wondered for a moment why the notification read ‘Accepted’ rather than ‘Completed’, but the quest prompt had read like that too. 

That quest title seems familiar, too, I thought, racking my brain to figure out where I knew it from. It wasn’t any language I knew, but my brain was associating a meaning; something about ‘the path of a Knight’. Maybe that’s the answer to my question, then. I’ve only just taken the first step on this path by swearing an oath. Just because I can’t go back on it doesn’t mean I’ve finished.

[Reflecting and showing deeper understanding caused your WIS to increase by 1!]

Oh, bite me, I snarked back at the popup. So, what did I get for that?

[By swearing the Oath of a Paladin, you have gained the class [Paladin]!]

[By swearing the Oath of a Paladin, you have gained the skill [Detect Grimm]!]

[Detect Grimm (Passive/Active) LV 1 EXP: 0.00%]
[An ability to detect the manifestations of anonymity around the user, to be ever aware of the darkness that would snuff out the light you have sworn to protect. Soulless constructs of negative emotions occlude Aura, making them detectable by those few who learn to tune out the light of life to focus on the gaps between.]
[Range: 10 meters.]
[ACTIVE: MP: 25/min]
[Increases range by 10x.]
[Disables [Detect Aura] when active.]

[By swearing the Oath of a Paladin, you have gained the skill [Lay On Hands]!]

[Lay On Hands (Active) LV 1 EXP: 0.00%]
[It is the very nature of a paladin to, by the strength of your soul, share another’s burdens. In so doing, you can soothe another’s wounds, bolster their spirit, and succor their weariness.]
[Grant 50% of your HP regen, MP regen, and stamina regen, to a target you touch.]
[-50% personal HP regen, MP regen, and stamina regen, while active.]

[By swearing the Oath of a Paladin, you have gained the skill [Crusader’s Smite]!]

[Crusader’s Smite] (Active) LV 1 EXP: 0.00% MP: 50]
[Mortals, cowering from the darkness, sought shelter in the light of their souls. Soon, it was learned that the servants of darkness shrank from the light, even as they sought to extinguish it. By bearing the light of your soul outward through your weapon, you can strike a mighty blow against the darkness.]
[+100% bonus damage vs. Grimm.]

[By swearing the Oath of a Paladin, you have obtained the title [Initiate]!]

[Initiate (Paladin)]
[Obtained by taking an oath. You have committed to upholding an oath of your selection, now you reap the benefits and consequences of your convictions.]
[While title is active, beneficial status effects for you and your party last 10% longer, while maleficial effects are 10% shorter in duration.]
[Benefits increase based on your CHA.]

[You have gained 2500 EXP!]

[Level up! Your level has increased by 1!]

Gooooood, good, I hummed. There’s no such thing as a binding oath that doesn’t become a trap at some point, but I think I’ve set up one that won’t be restrictive or no fun to obey.

Having no other titles with any benefits, I went ahead and equipped [Initiate]. That done, there was only one item left on my [To-Do List] ; namely, to see if I can create skills based on things like D&D spells. The very fact that I had a [Lay On Hands] ability suggested it was possible, so I closed my eyes and reached out to the energy I could feel inside me.

My MP, presumably my Aura, was like a shuttered lantern inside me. I couldn’t unshade it, for whatever reason; but I could siphon out a little to use for my skills — as I’d done when practicing [Detect Aura] and [Eavesdrop] earlier. My current guess was that, since at this point Jaune’s Aura was not unlocked, neither was mine. The way the web series had showed Aura glowing over or through the skin made me think that the ‘shutter’ I could sense was in fact the ‘lock’ hiding my soul inside, where it generally speaking belonged.

It was just that my Semblance, apparently, didn’t require an active Aura to function, and was capable of drawing on MP regardless, presumably because it was still my soul, even if I didn’t yet know how to impress it on the world in the way a Huntsman did.

That being the case, drew out a trickle of power — about as much as [Detect Aura] took — and distributed it throughout my body, diffusing it through my bones and muscles and focusing on it making me stronger.

[A skill has been created through a special action! Focusing your MP into reinforcing your body has created the skill [Reinforcement]!]

[Reinforcement (Active) LV 1 EXP 0.00% MP: 25/min]
[A primitive method of empowerment; before the secret to fully unlocking Aura was discovered, Mortals would strengthen their bodies with their conviction, resulting in greater strength, at the risk of greater injury if their focus was interrupted.]
[+10% increase to STR while active.]
[+10% increase to CON while active.]
[+10% increase to DEX while active.]
[50% chance to take additional 50% damage, ending the technique upon losing HP.]

Not quite what I was looking for, I thought. That’s more of a Fate-style spell, especially with the bonus damage taken if concentration is broken. I’d have to block or dodge rather than tanking if I wanted to use it, or else avoid keeping it active when I’m defending. Still, I’ll have to see how it improves with leveling. If I can mitigate the downside, it could turn out damn impressive.

Frowning, I focused again. This time I drew out less MP to start with, so that I would hopefully have more control over it, and tried to concentrate harder on a specific outcome. It was a lot like [Reinforcement], but I was letting my Aura flow wherever and however it wanted to achieve my goal. I wanted to be tougher, healthier, more durable, more difficult to injure; I wanted the buff to be fully under my control, dependent on me feeding it MP but not able to be disrupted. Once I was sure I had it, I started increasing the MP flow, keeping it all under control, until: 

[A skill has been created through a special action! Focusing your MP into reinforcing your body has created the skill [Bear’s Endurance]!]

[Bear's Endurance (Active) LV 1 EXP: 0.00% MP: 50/min]
[An invention by The Gamer, based on the much older [Reinforcement] technique. Using the desires of the caster as a guide, it is possible to focus Aura to boost one’s capabilities in specific ways. While active, the user gains a fragment of the toughness of an Ursa.]
[20% increase to CON while active.]

Much better, I nodded approvingly. Definitely what I was aiming for; not so easily dispelled. Then I frowned slightly, considering the differences. Not nearly as efficient, either. Even though it’s a higher buff to the single stat, the cost is also doubled. I pulled up my Status screen to check on my current stats and did some math using the calculator app on my Scroll. Bit over ten minutes if I kept it up constantly, and if the others are the same way, then including [Reinforcement] I’d only be at full power for two minutes before I’m out of MP.

Regardless, it was technically what I’d set out to accomplish, so with the estimate of 50 MP/min in mind, I started focusing on what I wanted out of each stat in turn. STR and DEX were relatively easy now that I had the knack for spreading MP through my body. The mental stats were harder, since I didn’t want to accidentally cook my brain by just flooding it with Aura, but after a while I picked up the buff for INT. WIS was even more difficult, as expected, since wisdom wasn’t just a function of being smart, it was soundness of action that came from experience as much as anything else, but I finally managed that one as well. CHA was… different; it wasn’t so much about boosting anything about myself physically or mentally, so much as changing people’s perception of me through my Aura. Once I realized that, everything seemed to click, and I could actually feel the difference as I looked in the mirror across the room, all but seeing an air around me that seemed almost magnetic.

[Bull's Strength (Active) LV 1 EXP: 0.00% MP: 50/min]
[An invention by The Gamer, based on the much older [Reinforcement] technique. Using the desires of the caster as a guide, it is possible to focus Aura to boost one’s capabilities in specific ways. While active, the user gains a fragment of the power of a Cretan.]
[20% increase to STR while active.]

[Cat's Grace (Active) LV 1 EXP: 0.00% MP: 50/min]
[An invention by The Gamer, based on the much older [Reinforcement] technique. Using the desires of the caster as a guide, it is possible to focus Aura to boost one’s capabilities in specific ways. While active, the user gains a fragment of the agility of a Maneki.]
[20% increase to DEX while active.]

[Fox's Cunning (Active) LV 1 EXP: 0.00% MP: 50/min]
[An invention by The Gamer, based on the much older [Reinforcement] technique. Using the desires of the caster as a guide, it is possible to focus Aura to boost one’s capabilities in specific ways. While active, the user gains a fragment of the cleverness of an Inari.]
[20% increase to INT while active.]

[Owl's Wisdom (Active) LV 1 EXP: 0.00% MP: 50/min]
[An invention by The Gamer, based on the much older [Reinforcement] technique. Using the desires of the caster as a guide, it is possible to focus Aura to boost one’s capabilities in specific ways. While active, the user gains a fragment of the shrewdness of an Ezyl.]
[20% increase to WIS while active.]

[Eagle's Splendor (Active) LV 1 EXP: 0.00% MP: 50/min]
[An invention by The Gamer, based on the much older [Reinforcement] technique. Using the desires of the caster as a guide, it is possible to focus Aura to boost one’s capabilities in specific ways. While active, the user gains a fragment of the majesty of a Gwaihir.]
[20% increase to CHA while active.]

Sheesh, those costs... No wonder Han Jee-Han went for a mage build. Just seeing what these buffs were capable of doing for me at only level one was almost enough to make me change my mind about focusing on mental stats, but with an effort I shook off the feeling. I had chosen my path and there wasn’t a way off it; these were side benefits, not the main things I would be focusing on. Though, having said that, I was definitely going to make an effort to bring them up, both to increase the benefit and also hopefully reduce the cost.

My points from leveling up, I would hold on to for now, but I had a feeling they were going to find themselves in WIS eventually, simply because that was the hardest stat to raise organically, and also one of the most valuable given it increased my MP regen. Hopefully I could also pick up some skills to expand my mana pool, and/or boost my regen.

Glancing at the clock in the corner of my HUD, I wondered why I wasn’t getting sleepy, as it was getting on toward midnight. I felt tired , physically, but I wasn’t nodding off like I would have expected. Shrugging, I laid down on the pillow anyway and pulled up a thin blanket for the warm night.

[You are resting in a bed. How long would you like to sleep?]

“I have the best fucking Semblance in the world,” I muttered, dragging the dial to 8 hours and hitting OK.

I was out like a light before my hand dropped to the bed.

Sure enough, my eyes popped open eight hours later on the dot.

[You have slept in a bed. Your HP and MP have been fully restored. All ailments have been cured.]

Getting up and stretching, I blinked at a new icon on my HUD, with a timer counting down 8 hours, 48 minutes. That’s right, I turned on HUD indicators for [Active Buffs]. What’s this one, then?

[Well-Rested]
[You have slept in your bed! You will gain 10% more experience for the same number of hours that you slept.]

Neat, that seemed to match the one from Skyrim, and was a pretty good reason to not skip sleeping entirely, even if I could still function okay when tired. Frowning at the timer, I glanced at the clock again, but it was exactly eight hours later than I’d gone to bed; just before 8 AM. Where’s the extra 48 minutes coming from, then? I wondered, before I remembered my new title. This would obviously count as a beneficial status effect, so [Initiate] was boosting it.

Nodding as I solved that mystery, I applied some fresh deodorant, then opened my [Inventory] and equipped my Casual set, finding fresh pairs of boxers and jeans, a new undershirt, and a clean gold tee and white overshirt had all appeared on me in an instant. A glance in the mirror showed that it did nothing to untangle my hair, so I sat down and started working a comb through it. Fortunately, the new shampoo and conditioner were already doing their work, and in no time I had it teased straight. Raking my fringe casually back with my fingers a few times, I deemed it sufficient and nodded again.

[Excellent grooming caused your CHA to increase by 1!]

Cool.

Heading downstairs, I found I was the first one awake. I wasn’t surprised that Indigo was still asleep, she had struck me as someone who woke up before noon only under extreme conditions; I had expected Olivia to be up, though.

I guess it’s July; schools are on summer vacation probably. Maybe Hunting has a summer lull? Humans’ moods tend to trend higher when daylight is longer, so it might make sense that Grimm activity would be lower. I should research that.

Shrugging, I headed into the kitchen and checked the fridge. Milk, eggs, bread, fresh…berries of some description. I mentally ticked off. Let’s make French toast. Huh, wonder what it’s called here.

Making a mental note to look that up as well, if my sisters couldn’t tell me, I pulled out what was left of last night’s bread, one of several cartons of eggs, a jug of milk, and a container of butter that was shaped like an earthenware crock but was made of some sort of hard plastic. 

Slicing the slightly stale bread moderately thin, I piled the slices up on one end of the kitchen counter so I could set up an assembly line heading to the stove. Cracking several eggs into a bowl, I whisked them up with a dash of milk, then poured the mixture onto two plates. Dropping slices of bread into one, I went looking for a decent-size skillet and happily found a square one that would accommodate four slices of bread at once. Setting it over medium heat with a bit of butter to melt, I transferred the bread from one plate of egg-mixture to the other, flipping them to coat the other side, then filled up the first dish again.

Swirling the melted butter to coat the pan, I dropped the coated bread onto it and kept up the assembly-line motion of moving the bread from plate to plate. Soon enough, the whole loaf was French-toasted on three plates, topped with strawberries, blackberries, and… something else I didn’t recognize. Figuring Huntresses would want some more protein, I used the same bowl to scramble three eggs at a time, adding those to the plates and poking around the fridge until I came up with sausages. 

[Importing Outsider save data… Save data loaded successfully!]

[You have remembered the skill [Cooking]!]

[Cooking (Passive) LV 28 EXP: 14.79%]
[The art, practice, and skill of preparing food by combining, mixing, and heating ingredients.]
[Improves quality of cooked meals by 56%.]
[Improves chances of flawlessly making a meal according to a known recipe by 56%.]
[Improves chances of correctly making a meal according to a new recipe by 28%.]

Thank you, bachelor life. Now, what was missing? Ah, coffee! There was a percolator in one of the cupboards, next to some beans that were ‘collected fresh from the jungles of Southern Anima’ according to my Semblance. Not knowing where that was, I shrugged and ran some beans through the grinder. I set the percolator on the stove and fetched some mugs, then moved the plates to the table with silverware as I dug out the sugar.

The smell of coffee (or perhaps the sound of the grinder) turned out to be what drew Olivia downstairs, nudging a shambling Indigo in front of her. Olivia paused, taking in the meal set out, but Indigo pushed me out of the way and poured herself the first cup of coffee, dropping into a chair and sipping at it black. Her shadow waved at me and dragged Indigo’s plate closer to her.

Grabbing a mug for myself and adding a dash of cream first, I poured the coffee over it and watched, amused, as Indigo downed half her mug and started eating.

“You made all this?” Olivia asked, uncertainly, examining her plate and presumably not finding anything that looked inedible. Indigo froze with her mouth full, then shrugged and kept eating.

“Again with the tone of surprise,” I smirked. “How do you take your coffee?”

“Milk, two sugars,” she answered automatically, then shook her head. “We’re doing it again; relying on what we remember instead of what you’re showing us. I guess there’s no sense asking when you learned to cook.”

“Not a clue,” I agreed cheerfully. “Smells good, though.”

[Deception has increased by 1!]

With a mental sigh, I brought up the skill’s description, and renamed it [Acting], so that at least it didn’t sound like my Semblance was constantly berating me for lying all the time when it was, unfortunately, necessary.

[For successfully rationalizing your motivations to yourself, Acting has increased by 1!]

Oh, fuck off. I would accept the drawback since my Semblance was otherwise incredible, but I bet other people’s Semblances weren’t fucking sarcastic at them.

“You said you had something to tell us?” Olivia reminded me, hesitantly taking a forkful of eggs. 

Sighing, I lowered my coffee. “Yeah. There’s no way to really ease into this, so I’ll just go for it: When I woke up in the hospital, I didn’t know who I was or where I was or how I’d got there, but I did know what my Semblance was.”

Olivia blinked in shock, and Indigo’s heavy eyelids shot fully open. 

“You unsealed your Aura when you were attacked?” Indigo guessed. “But then why-?” She cut off, looking at the scars on my face.

“See, that’s the thing,” I said, shrugging. “My Aura still seems to be sealed.”

“That’s impossible, Jaune,” said Olivia patiently. “Semblance is a personal expression of your soul, impressed onto reality. That can’t happen if the soul’s light is still entirely within the shroud of flesh.”

“That’s poetic,” I mused. “It also fits with what I’ve observed. But nevertheless, while I can’t bring up a forcefield, I can do this.” 

After taking one more sip of coffee, I deposited the half-full mug in my [Inventory].

Indigo blinked. “A spatial fold? You have a pocket dimension?”

“More or less,” I agreed. “But that’s only one facet of it. Refresh my nonexistent memory, are either of you big into games?”

Both my sisters shook their heads.

“Not really,” said Indigo.

“The twins used to be, before school started taking up too much of their time,” Olivia added. “But we’ve watched you play plenty. It was probably your biggest hobby, before your accident.”

“Really? Maybe that’s the reason, then…” I pondered. “Anyway, my Semblance is apparently called Gamer. It…makes my life behave like a game. What you just saw was my [Inventory]. I have Skills that represent things I can do, and Stats that seem to represent my attributes — I gained a bunch of STR from working out and I was able to lift noticeably more weight with each new point. I’m literally twice as strong now as I was when I woke up yesterday.”

I pulled the coffee back out, then reached in and pulled out the books they’d given me yesterday.

“And these are both Skill Books, from what I can tell. Every time I pick them up, it asks if I want to learn the skills contained in them.”

Olivia and Indigo both looked dumbstruck, so I tapped the cover of “Huntsperson's Basics of Modelmaking and Drafting: Make Your Blueprint Comprehensible!” and accepted the offer to learn [Weapon Design]. The book dissolved into motes of light, and my Semblance ‘vibrated’ the New Skill jingle.

[You learned the skill [Weapon Design]!]

Clearing my throat, I read the skill aloud to the table.

[Weapon Design (Passive) LV 1 EXP: 0.00%]
[If Aura is a Hunter’s defense, then a weapon is the corresponding offense! Many Hunters combine melee weapons with firearms, customizing their preferred weapon to suit their individual style and aesthetic.]
[Improves drafting ability by 50%.]
[Can design Hunting weapons incorporating up to 2 simple weapons.]

“Hope that wasn’t your only copy of that book,” I added apologetically. “Apparently using a skill book consumes it. Oops.”

Olivia blinked, looking from me to the book still on the table. “What skill is in the book I gave you?”

“It’s called [Gaia’s Pulse], apparently. I can’t see the details of what it does until I learn it. What’s the book about?”

“It’s a treatise on Aura, and how all living things have it,” Olivia lectured, sounding very much like the teacher she apparently aspired to be. “A lot of it is very poetic, talking about learning to tap into the life-force of Remnant itself through meditation. That’s not really possible, as far as I know — although there are some monasteries in Mistral that profess similar teachings — but it’s usually a big help for aspiring Hunters to get a feel for meditation and maybe learn to feel their Aura.”

I rubbed my chin, thinking about that. “Given the skill’s name, maybe I will be able to actually do what it describes?” I tapped the cover and accepted the offer to learn it. “Let’s see– ah.”

[You cannot learn this skill. Required: WIS 40]

“What’s wrong?” Olivia asked, concerned.

“There’s a prerequisite,” I explained. “I have to have at least 40 points in WIS to learn it, and I’m only at 20.”

“How do you gain points?” Indigo asked curiously.

“Exercising the attribute seems to do the trick,” I said. “Lifting weights gave me mostly STR and a little CON since I was working out a lot without stopping. Running gave DEX and a bit of CON. I’m pretty sure I could gain INT by studying, but I don’t know exactly how that would work yet. I’ve only gotten a couple of WIS points, for — and I quote — ‘careful decision-making’.” I spread my arms in a shrug. “I have no idea how to replicate the scenario like I can with STR, so I’m probably going to have to use the free points I get on level-up.” 

Calling up my [Stats] screen, and already wincing at spending nearly half of my available points even if I’d already decided that WIS was the best stat to spend them on outside of an emergency, I suddenly had a thought. What if I activated [Owl’s Wisdom]? That would give my WIS a boost, and I wouldn’t have to spend as many points, right? Or was the prerequisite for the base score only? That would make more sense, but may as well be scientific about it.

Popping the buff, I raised my base WIS to 34, which came out to 40.8 after the 20% bonus. I tried learning the skill again, but got the same answer. Nodding to myself, I brought WIS up to an even 40, deciding to leave [Owl’s Wisdom] running to gain some EXP in it. 

[You learned the skill [Gaia’s Pulse]!]

[Gaia’s Pulse (Active) LV 1 EXP: 0.00%]
[Long ago, Mortals learned to harvest Nature’s bounty to sustain their bodies. All living things possess Aura, the light of the soul, and Nature’s power runs through the World, sometimes crystalizing as Dust. When faced with extinction, Mortals learned to wield Nature's wrath to forge hope against the hostile darkness. This technique enables the user to directly touch and take in power from the World, drawing from it the strength to survive through the practice of meditation.]
[Increase HP recovery per minute by a WIS-based percentage of max HP while meditating.]
[Increase MP recovery per minute by a WIS-based percentage of max MP while meditating.]
[Increase Stamina recovery per minute by a WIS-based percentage of max Stamina while meditating.]
[Aura (MP) can be improved through meditation.]
[Stillness must be maintained to achieve meditation. ]

“Hmmm…” I said aloud, before closing my eyes and activating the skill. Immediately, I felt my senses open up, making me aware not just of the aura of my siblings at the table — although I could ‘see’ them as clearly as I had with my eyes — nor the birds in the trees outside, but the life absolutely teeming in the planet itself, from the insects to the plants. True to the skill’s name, it was like putting on a stethoscope and suddenly hearing a heartbeat, but this was the heartbeat of Remnant itself, rejuvenating me as a part of itself, just as it sustained all the living things on it.

“Holy shit ,” I said aloud. Even that slight movement broke the trance, though I noticed that [Owl’s Wisdom] had remained active throughout, which with my new WIS score meant that I’d been regenerating just a hair over 49 MP/min while spending 50/min. If I had the time to meditate, I could keep one of my buffs up almost constantly.

“What’s wrong?” Olivia asked urgently.

I shook my head. “Nothing. I had thirty points to spend, and that cost half of them. I’m glad they went into WIS, since I don’t know how else to reasonably raise it, but spending so many at once was still a wrench. This skill though… This is completely worth the points.”

Noticing both my sisters staring, I tried to explain what I’d felt, even knowing I wasn’t doing it justice. They both continued to look confused, so I gave up and explained the skill’s benefits. Doing some quick math in my head, I ended with, “Basically, my rest breaks just got shortened from an hour to a bit over fifteen minutes, because it gives me a percentage return on top of the flat one. If I’m meditating, it would take just over… seventeen minutes to completely refill my HP and MP from zero.”

“Wait,” Indigo said. “You’re saying you can recover from complete Aura Exhaustion in fifteen minutes? Jaune, that’s insane.”

“Assuming there isn’t some debuff that happens when your Aura gets fully depleted,” I temporized. “I’ve hit zero MP from working my active skills, but obviously that’s the only way I can spend MP right now. What happens if your Aura breaks in a fight?”

“When Aura is shattered, it takes some time to start recovering,” Olivia confirmed.

“Well, I don’t have a way to test that until my Aura gets unlocked.” I shrugged. “How does that work, anyway? I can tell mine’s still locked; if nothing else because I don’t have a way to use it as a shield.”

“The three generally-accepted methods are learning to draw out your soul’s light through rigorous training and meditation, having someone else draw it out for you, or doing it spontaneously when your life is in danger.” Olivia paused, glancing at my scars. “It…would have made sense for your accident to result in an unlock, I would have thought.”

“But instead I got the Semblance by itself, despite that not making any sense,” I mused. “Bizarre. Why didn’t I have it done, though? It sounds like I definitely let people know I wanted to be a Huntsman.”

Both Indigo and Olivia looked extremely uncomfortable. “Unlocking someone’s Aura is an extremely intimate act,” Olivia said eventually, with clear reluctance. “You’re literally touching their soul with your own. It also takes a lot of power and no small amount of precise control to do correctly, so it’s not something that you can just have done on a whim. And… you’re the only son. Mom and Dad already didn’t want any of us to follow in their footsteps, and one by one all of us did it anyway. They wouldn’t unlock any of our Aura for us, so Bianca trained her butt off until she managed it on her own. She coached Violet, and they both helped the twins, and so on. Ideally we would all have helped you, but…

“Like I said. You were the precious son after seven daughters, and with the birth rates for boys being so low, Mom and Dad laid down the law: None of us were allowed to unlock your Aura, or train you, or even really give you more than the bare minimum of help. They wanted us to discourage you from it, if anything. I remember Bianca asked once if they would allow you to train if you unlocked it on your own, the way she did, and Dad just said that you’d have proved you didn’t need the help.”

I frowned, deciding not to address Jaune’s parents apparently making that decision for him, and instead nitpicked, “What do you mean about low birth rates? There’s eight of us; are you saying that’s below average?”

Indigo shook her head. “No, Mom and Dad have more kids by themselves than most polygroups. The issue isn’t birthrate, it’s male birthrate.”

When I continued to look confused, Olivia elaborated. “The ratio among us is about average for the world — ever since the Great War, women have outnumbered men by something like five or six to one. No one knows why.”

I frowned. That’s… the web series never mentioned anything like that. Did they? I guess I never watched the side series…

“So wait, when you say ‘polygroups’…” I asked aloud.

“Our parents are weird for being monogamous,” Indigo said bluntly.

“Wait, really?”

Olivia spread her arms in a shrug. “It’s not discriminated against or anything, just… statistically unusual. At least, here in Vale. It’s pretty much expected for a man to have multiple wives in Vacuo, and Menagerie from what I’ve heard. Mistral isn’t too different, except that you’re only allowed to ‘marry’ your first spouse, so any other women involved are considered ‘mistresses’, even if they still have similar rights and everyone treats it the same. Atlas is gross and conservative about it, but it happens there too. I mean, being a woman, unless you’re a lesbian, your pickings are going to be slim if you’re not willing to share. Everyone makes their own rules, but…”

“But polycules have become the expected form that a family takes,” I finished. “So like… on a scale of one to ten, how weird is our family?”

“Maybe a seven overall?” Indigo shrugged. “Eight if you take into account the sheer number of kids, especially given we all went into the Hunting business, but like I said, the weirdest thing about it is that we all have the same parents.”

That… sheds a new light on the half-sister dynamic Yang and Ruby had in the show, I thought suddenly. Does that mean that rather than getting together with Summer after Raven left him, he actually just married them both?

Not something I could answer now, but something to remember to look into, if only for my own curiosity. If I was right… well, no wonder that family had such a rough time of it, if the man’s wives left him and died after being married to him together.

“So I guess you can’t unlock my Aura?” I asked, bluntly circling back to the original topic. Olivia looked extremely conflicted, but Indigo reached across the table and took my hand.

“For it is in victory that we attain glory; through this, we become a symbol of triumph to resonate throughout the ages, unforgotten even in death,” she intoned. “I release your soul, and by my hand, uplift thee.”

Her hand glowed with dark blue Aura, but after a moment it faded, and a new message appeared before me.

[Yellow Death] prevents this action!]

Well, that explains why I don’t feel any different. I shook my head, taking my hand back and picking up my fork to finish eating. “Thanks for trying, but apparently I’ve got a curse that’s stopping it.”

“A… curse?” repeated Indigo, who had been staring at her hand as though it betrayed her.

“Yeah, I noticed it on my [Status] page. And before you ask, no, it doesn’t explain where it came from, or how to get rid of it. I only know it’s stopping you from unlocking my Aura because I got a message specifically telling me. Don’t worry about it. Are you okay?” 

Indigo was still flexing her hand, and I suddenly noticed she was wincing.

“It…hurts,” she said uncertainly. “And I have this nagging feeling that it’s because I went against our instructions to not do that. I feel… more guilty than I should, seeing as I never agreed with the decision.”

“[Observe],” I said, sharply.

[Name: Indigo Arc]
[LV ???]
[Title: ???]
[Race: Human]
[Age: 23]
[Job: Professional Huntress]
[Class: ???]
[Semblance: Umbrakinesis?]
[Background: Sixth of the eight scions of the Arc family of Vale. Graduated Beacon Academy. Though an active Huntress, she lives at home because her team disbanded after the death of her partner.]
[Status: Geas Conflict – The Emperor Moth] 

“You’ve got a status effect,” I informed her, already tapping it to seek more information. I didn’t find what I was looking for, though I wasn’t sure if that was due to Observe only being level 5. Similar to when I’d examined [Yellow Death] and only learned about curses in general, I did receive information on what a geas was.

[A geas is a type of debuff similar to a curse. A geas is an idiosyncratic taboo, whether of obligation or prohibition, which forces or prevents certain actions from being taken. There are broadly two types of geasa: those which punish, and those which bind. The former is a geas that is imposed by another, and punishes the bearer when the terms of the geas is violated; while the latter must be voluntarily undertaken, and is literally impossible to violate.]

What’s the bet my paladin oaths are the latter type? I mused. Oh well, no regrets.

“Looks like you’re under a geas,” I reported. “It’s called ‘The Emperor Moth’. Which, if I remember that story correctly, is a parable about how you’ll only be strong enough to survive if you achieve your goal without help despite struggle. So I’m guessing you’re literally not allowed to train me. I wonder if that was placed intentionally…” I trailed off, glancing pondering at Olivia. “Why were you able to give me that book, then? It ended up being extremely useful. I’m guessing that didn’t hurt you or anything?”

“No, but then, I had no idea you’d be able to use it like that.” Olivia scowled. “What we were always told was, we weren’t supposed to offer you any training, and we weren’t allowed to unlock your Aura for you. Giving you books to read was as close as we could get to the spirit of the rules, especially since that Unity book was all abstract.”

“How about the knives?” I pressed.

“I was actually really conflicted about giving you those, I could barely focus while you were out of the house,” Olivia confessed. “But I rationalized it since they weren’t really Hunter’s weapons, just a bit of practicality since the last time you went out alone, you got hurt.” She swallowed. “It’s why I discouraged you from taking Crocea Mors, though.”

Mental note: Don’t wait for permission, just steal the Family Sword as soon as both siblings are out of the house, I decided, slotting that onto my [To-Do List].

“I felt a little guilty after giving you the book on weapon design,” Indigo offered. “Not for any reason I could trace, just… vaguely uneasy about it. I guess because it had more immediate practical value for a Huntress.”

“And our duel last night?” I asked Indigo, more curious than upset. “You were able to spar with me just fine.”

“You weren’t supposed to win that,” Indigo reminded me. “It wasn’t supposed to be a lesson, it was supposed to be a beatdown.

“I still leveled up three times just from that,” I informed her. “So I bet if I were to ‘attack’ you for a spar, you could ‘defend’ yourself as long as you didn’t actively try to teach me anything.”

Olivia frowned. “Maybe, but that’s no way to learn. You won’t have anyone to point out your bad habits, or teach you better ones.”

“Well, I could say that I’d quickly learn all the ways that don’t work, since I’d be fighting someone way above my weight class, but…” I grinned. “I also have a [Sword Mastery] skill, which is passive and gains experience as long as I’m hitting something. If I understand how it works correctly, I’ll literally be getting better at sword fighting as it levels up, regardless of any actual lessons taught.”

Indigo started to grin. “I think that’s a loophole that would work. After all, if my runty little brother came at me swinging a sword, I’d be well within my rights as an older sibling to smack him around a bit.”

“Riiight…” I drawled. “Well, I’ve got just eight months to train myself up, so if you’ll excuse me, I think I’m going to head into the gym and figure out a new routine now that I have this meditation skill. Cutting my MP recovery down by eighty percent means way less sitting around doing nothing.”

“We’ll give you whatever help we can,” Olivia promised, glaring at the portrait of our parents just visible through the door to the foyer.

“If you doubled your strength since yesterday, how far do you think you can go by Beacon?” Indigo asked rhetorically.

I grinned cockily. “I can’t wait to find out.”

My schedule didn’t vary appreciably through the end of July; I would get up and make breakfast, then start training like crazy. Between weightlifting, running sprints, swinging my practice sword or throwing punches and kicks at the training dummies I found in a closet off the dojo, and flipping around the balisong whenever I had a moment free in between all that, I added a total of 12 points in STR, 7 in CON, and 8 in DEX. The other three stats each gained a modest 1 point, since I was focusing so heavily on my physicals at the moment.

I also gained ranks in most of my active and passive skills; 3 ranks in [Sleight of Hand] and to my chagrin, 2 more in [Acting]. I even got a new CHA passive when I went shopping again and wound up haggling over the price of some blackberries. 

[Bargain (Passive) LV 2 EXP: 12.89%]
[A skill that represents your salesmanship, making purchasers offer you better prices for your goods. Haggling when purchasing is a near-lost art in the cities, but barter trades are not uncommon outside the Kingdom proper.]
[Passively increases CHA by 2%]
[2% better prices when selling items.]
[Improves haggling ability by 25%.]

Being able to maintain any one of my animal buffs full-time while meditating meant that any time I needed to take a break from working out, I was still grinding two or more skills. 

I even found I only needed to sleep every other night or so; if I spent the time instead meditating with [Gaia’s Pulse] active, I still had plenty of energy the following day, although my unseen Stamina meter seemed to deplete faster. It wasn’t until the second time I’d tried it that I realized I was passing up on [Well-Rested] by not sleeping. While my gains to [Gaia’s Pulse] were higher by sheer time spent, I was missing out on the EXP boost to all my other skills, so I went back to sleeping normally on the fourth night. Working that out actually got me a bonus point of WIS for being efficient, so I called it a win even with the ‘lost’ time. [Gaia’s Pulse] leveled extremely slowly, and didn’t seem to improve level-by-level the way most skills did, although I was definitely slowly expanding my MP pool the more I meditated.

I was still having trouble finding a good way to train my Paladin skills, unfortunately. [Crusader’s Smite] could be activated while I swung against a tree, but it didn’t deal any bonus damage, and the EXP gain was negligible, even compared to much slower-leveling skills like [Gaia’s Pulse]. And I couldn’t seem to activate [Lay On Hands] on myself, so I was a bit stymied in how to gain respectable EXP in those without actually fighting Grimm or having someone to heal.

Overall, I’d grown a good deal in power, so I felt justified in taking a lighter day on 1st August. It was a Friday, after all, so I decided to take the train into the Vale and familiarize myself with the city — no sense in leaving it until I was already a student. Also, I was vaguely hoping there would be somewhere I could pick up an easy freelance Hunting assignment. For all my skill training, I hadn’t been in a position to spar with my sisters, so I hadn’t gained any actual EXP since the duel with Indigo, but I didn’t think anything would catch me too off-guard on a simple weekend trip.

I really should have known better.

Name: Jaune Arc
Level: 7 (Next: 11.51%)
Title: Initiate
Race: Human
Age: 17
Class: Paladin
Job: None
Semblance: The Gamer
HP: 620/620
MP: 595/595
STR: 33  
CON: 22
DEX: 28.1 (27)
INT: 28
WIS: 41
CHA: 27.6 (23)
Points: 15
Money: 275L
Status: Cursed – Yellow Death [Highest]

Chapter Text

I left a note in case one of my sisters came home, and made sure my Scroll was fully charged before tossing it in my [Inventory]. My headphones went on my ears so that I had an excuse not to talk to people, and I topped my ‘Casual’ outfit with a nice pair of wraparound sunglasses I’d found in my sister Bianca’s room. I didn’t recognize the brand name, but they looked designer and worked with the aesthetic I was going for: a sort of casual elegance. My HUD also seemed to be projected onto the lenses once I put them on. The difference didn’t seem to be anything other than cosmetic, but it looked cool. It also made me wonder if it would also update if I wore a motorcycle helmet or something. The clothes as a whole fit me differently than they had a week ago, but apparently my [Inventory] was doing a one-size-fits-all thing, because they weren’t actually too small despite how many points I’d gained in my physical stats. I wasn’t suddenly a bodybuilder or anything, but I was decidedly ‘lean’ now rather than just ‘skinny’.

Jaune’s canon armor, which was not much more than a breastplate, pauldrons, and fingerless gloves reinforced at the wrists, had been in the back of his closet. I wasn’t sure why he had them, since apparently his parents hadn’t wanted him to Hunt, but perhaps they had been a gift from one of his other sisters toeing the line of their geas. I dropped them into my [Inventory], naturally, setting them as a new armor set cloned after my Casual set. 

I had also swiped the Family Sword a few days ago, simply dropping it into my [Inventory] when Olivia went back to her apartment in the city to get her mail, and Indigo went out on a Hunt — I’m sure both of them noticed, but neither said anything — and included that in the Combat set as well. 

Buying a day pass for the train with the glut of cash I had after fighting Indigo, I watched from the corner of my vision as my minimap filled in all along the track. Not having anything else to do, I actually stayed on the train until the end of the line by the docks, then turned around and rode back to an arbitrary stop in the middle of downtown. There were still blank spots on my map, but I had cut a wide swath across the valley where I’d actually explored.

Plucking a transit system map from beside the door as I stepped back onto the street, I was pleased to accept the offer to add the information to my map and [Journal]. Dropping it into my Handy Haversack — AKA Jaune’s backpack now linked to my [Inventory] — before accepting, so that nobody would see the pamphlet disappearing into thin air, I nodded as the various train lines and bus routes traced themselves into visibility through the fog of war. I had no idea what parts of town were to the North and South of me, aside from the obvious Beacon up on the cliff, but at least I wouldn’t get lost. Setting off through downtown, I listened to the ambient BGM of the city for a bit before putting on something I could hum along to. 

Vale was a big place, and I stepped around all kinds of people as I took in the sights like the tourist I technically was. It was a good-size city; but more like Miami-big rather than NYC-big. The computer animation did not prepare me adequately for seeing an actual person with faunus features, though thankfully I caught myself before I started actually staring. I didn’t even realize at first that the guy — a kid, really, around my now-reduced age — was panhandling, because I was busy mentally processing his feline snout and whiskers. Once it did click, I paused, casting around and noticing what looked like a fast food joint called Redd’s Table. I vaguely recalled Indigo mentioning that as an option when I’d gotten out of the hospital; apparently it was a chain. 

Given the way people were looking past him, it seemed like homelessness was treated about the same as it had been on Earth. I didn’t know if it was because he was faunus, or if that was unrelated, but he definitely looked underweight. I’d been homeless once myself, for just long enough to have extreme sympathy for anyone dealing with the same situation. There were lots of stories about homeless people allegedly turning down food because they wanted cash for booze or drugs, but I’d never encountered that. Fuck knows I’d have accepted a meal of any kind back then.

Approaching slowly, I pulled my headphones off and slid my shades up onto my forehead, waiting for him to glance up.

“Hey man, can I buy you some lunch?” I said, jerking a thumb over my shoulder at the restaurant.

He stared up at me for a solid minute, apparently waiting for me to change my mind, before he nodded and picked up the hat he’d been panhandling with. I waited for him to grab his bag and get up, then led the way over to the restaurant so he wouldn’t feel nervous about giving me his back — like I said, I’d lived on the streets for a little while. I’d been fortunate enough to recover fairly quickly, but I knew how easy it was to get paranoid, because people treated you differently when they saw you sleeping in parks or panhandling. 

“Welcome to Redd’s, what can I get you?” asked the tired voice of the pimply teen behind the counter. He glanced at the faunus kid’s dirty clothes and wrinkled his nose, but at least he didn’t seem to have a problem with serving a faunus.

“Just get me a number three, I guess,” the kid said softly.

“Triple that, and bag it up to-go with a cup for water,” I requested. “And a medium fry and chocolate milkshake for here.”

Nodding listlessly, the employee took my lien and turned to pass the ticket to the cook at the fryer. Stepping back, I glanced at the faunus kid to find him still avoiding my gaze, so I pulled out my Scroll and started scrolling through a local news ticker. He was watching me out of the corner of his eye, but any time I glanced up to check on the food he quickly looked away, so I assumed he was still too nervous to talk. When our order was called, I peeked in the large bag next to the cup of water, reached in, and pulled out a single fry. Winking, I grabbed the tray with my own fries and shake on it, then inclined my head at the kid.

“You don’t have to hang around and eat,” I told him, figuring he wouldn’t want to sit awkwardly with a guy he didn’t know. I turned to look for a place to sit.

He picked up the bag, looking like he didn’t quite know what to make of me. “Thanks,” he murmured.

“Take care out there,” I replied solemnly. “Long days and pleasant nights.”

He hesitated like he might follow me to a table, but decided against it. Nodding sharply, he slipped out the door and left. Sighing, I dropped into a seat facing the door, popping another fry idly into my mouth. Fuck, I hope he makes it. If I see him again he might trust me more, maybe I can buy him a jacket or something.

I was about to put my shades and headphones back on when a big hand fell on the back of the chair opposite mine. Following the arm up to the man’s eyes, I found sharp hazel eyes in a rough face with big sideburns.

‹Thus Conscience Makes A Coward›
LV 12
Tukson Mayes

Hot damn, someone who’s title I can actually see, and it’s… Hamlet? I wondered. Do they have Shakespeare on Remnant? Or is it just my Semblance?

“Yes?” I asked politely.

“What did you put in the bag?” Tukson asked softly. “Your hand wasn’t empty when you put it in, and it came out with just a fry.”

I raised my eyebrows. “You have sharp eyes,” I praised him.

His fist tightened on the chair back, though his expression didn’t change. “What did you put in there?” he repeated.

I shrugged, leaning back and picking up my milkshake. “About three grand in cash.”

Tukson blinked. “Why?”

“Why not?” I shot back. “He needed some help and I was in a position to give it.” I ate another fry. “I don’t need a better reason than that.” 

The older man frowned down at me for a moment. “May I sit down?” he asked, politely.

“Suit yourself,” I replied.

Tukson nodded and went to pick up his food from his table. I picked at my fries, and while he was facing away, I took the opportunity to [Observe] him.

[Name: Tukson Mayes]
[LV 12]
[Title: Thus Conscience Makes A Coward]
[Race: Puma Faunus]
[Age: 36]
[Job: Bookshop Owner]
[Class: White Fang Informant]
[Stats: 15 STR, 12 CON, 10 DEX, 9 INT, 12 WIS, 12 CHA]
[Background: A native of Vacuo, he joined the White Fang prior to its recent radicalization. Unhappy with its new, terrifying image, yet uncomfortable turning his back on his friends, he is caught between a rock and a hard place, unable to safely withdraw and yet unwilling to participate beyond passing information. He wants a peaceful life.]

So, not that different from what was briefly presented in the show, I pondered. Most likely a coincidence that he’s here. He was probably in the area and saw me approach a faunus kid, then got more suspicious when he saw me slip something in the bag. Guess the show must have really glossed over day-to-day racism and shit the faunus deal with, if he’s this nervous over me just buying some food for a homeless teenager.

Tukson sat back down, and I blinked, having been lost in my thoughts.

“What can I do ya for?” I asked around the straw of my milkshake — which was better than a fast food milkshake had any right to be, I might add.

Tukson gave me a searching look. “I wanted to know why you were buying him a meal,” he said finally. “I was here for lunch anyway and I saw you approach him through the window.” He nodded toward the outside, and with a glance I confirmed you could indeed see the spot where the kid had been panhandling. He hadn’t returned there, so apparently he went somewhere else to eat.

“I already gave him what pocket change I had on me,” Tukson continued. “And I was thinking about buying him some food myself on the way out, when you bought him in here.”

I raised an eyebrow. “So, why did you question me buying him lunch, if you were going to do it yourself?”

“You’re Human,” Tukson answered, as if that explained everything. Which, maybe it did, but I lacked the context to appreciate it.

“So every faunus would have done something?” I asked, knowing we both knew it wasn’t true. Plenty of faunus on the street had walked straight past him too.

Tukson sighed. “I’m from Vacuo,” he rumbled. “And while there’s just as many folks there who would as soon step on you as help you up when you’re down… I always try to be the latter.”

I rested my elbows on the table and steepled my fingers. “Then it sounds like you understand exactly why I helped him out.”

Tukson chewed his burger for a moment. “I try because I’ve been where he is,” he said. “I don’t have a place to offer him, but there were times I’d have taken a meal from anyone, even a Human I didn’t trust.” He shook his head. “No offense, but there’s no way you have that motive.”

Wrong guess, but I can’t actually explain that. …Or can I?  

I shrugged, momentarily triggering [Eagle’s Splendor]. “I feel as if I have,” I said smoothly. “But then, I woke up in the hospital with amnesia two weeks ago, so I don’t really know. Maybe it’s a memory from a past life.”

[Acting has increased by 1!]

Thank you, thirty-something boosted CHA, I thought with satisfaction.

Dropping the buff, I ate the last of my fries. “All I know is, I saw an opportunity to do some good. It didn’t really cost me anything but time, and that kid might have an easier shot of it. Punch up, but lend a hand downwards. There’s no strings attached, and maybe that’ll help him hang on to some hope. I’d like to do more, but he was nervous enough waiting for a catch that wasn’t coming, so I decided to let him leave.”

Tukson frowned thoughtfully. “Amnesia?” he asked, apparently just catching up to what I’d said.

I nodded casually, picking up my shake again. “Total blank before I woke up morning of the 23rd,” I said easily. “Apparently I have seven sisters? I’ve only met two of them.” 

I extended a hand across the table. “Jaune Arc.”

Tukson blinked, seeming to realize he’d been all but interrogating me without even introducing himself. “Tukson Mayes,” he replied, clasping my hand briefly. “If you don’t mind me saying, you seem very… upbeat? About the whole situation.”

I shrugged. “Que será, será,” I opined. “Most things that happen in life can be either tragic or comic, depending on how you choose to look at them.” I was probably butchering the quote, but the sentiment fit all the same. “So, is life a big, long, tiresome slog from sadness to regret to guilt to resentment to self-pity? Or is life weird, outrageous, bizarre, ironic, and just plain stupid? Me, I gotta go with stupid.”

Tukson nodded thoughtfully. “I guess I can see that,” he said, balling up his burger wrapper. “It’s a good attitude, if you can maintain it. What brings you to the city, if you don’t mind me asking?”

“Trying to get the lay of the land,” I replied. “I’ve got a feel for the transit system now, so I just need to get a handle on what parts of town are where. I had some vague idea of getting a freelance job that I can do in between Huntsman training.”

“Aiming for Beacon?” Tukson asked. “Even with your new…” He trailed off delicately.

I tilted my head. “I guess it could be considered a disability?” I pondered. “But it doesn’t feel like it, since I’m still on track to pass the exam.” I shrugged. “It's not like I remember being different.”

Tukson got to his feet, picking up his tray to throw out. “I don’t have anything long-term, but I have some deliveries you could make for me. I was wondering how I was going to get them all sent out today.”

“Sounds good to me,” I said. “What do you need me to do?”

I got an alert as soon as I asked, and ended up tuning out most of Tukson’s explanation in favor of reading the quest’s description.

[Quest Alert!]

[Special Delivery] 

[Tukson offers an occasional parcel delivery service, but he has accepted too many contracts today and doesn’t have time to deliver them all. Deliver at least two of Tukson’s packages to their recipients.]

[Bonus Objective: Volunteer to deliver all four packages.]

[Time limit: 8 hours.]

[Reward: 1,000 EXP, 2,000L, Job: Courier (Temporary), increased reputation with Tukson Mayes.]

[Bonus Objective Reward: +10,000 EXP, +20,000L, increased closeness with ???, ??? becomes your enemy, greatly decreased reputation with ??? (hostility guaranteed).]

[Failure Penalty: Decreased reputation with Tukson Mayes.]

[Bonus Objective Failure: ??? will not trust you, ??? becomes your enemy, decreased reputation with ??? (hostility likely), serious injury, likely death.]

[Accept/Decline]

What’s with the disparity between the regular and bonus objectives? I wondered. Who the hell is the last delivery to, that it’s worth so much more, Cinder her-fucking-self? And is that the same person becoming my enemy in both bonus scenarios? Why is it phrased like a reward? Making an enemy is supposed to be a good thing? Fuck me.

I was obviously going to do it, but I didn't have to be happy about the implied danger. I followed him a few blocks back to his bookshop, deciding to browse while he went in the back to get his boxes. Trailing my finger along the spines, I found that unfortunately they mostly weren’t skill books, but there were a couple of promising titles, namely [On The Origin of Nature’s Wrath] and [The Art of Parkour], which I plucked from the shelves to purchase on my way out.

“I’ll still have to close the shop,” Tukson said as he came back out, carrying two boxes that weren’t huge but seemed heavy. “But we can each take two and I won’t miss my promised delivery time today.”

“I can take them all,” I said immediately. Sue me, I wanted the EXP, and the cash was way better too. I had looked up motorcycle prices on my Scroll and they were indeed in the neighborhood of a hundred grand, as Olivia had estimated. “How much for these books?”

“Two thousand,” Tukson said, glancing at the section I’d taken them from. “But you can have them for the delivery; I’d say that’s worth delivering the two I was planning to give you. You really think you can deliver all four today?”

[Quest Alert: Reward updated! 2,000L 2 Skill Books]

Excellent.

“I’ve got nothing else to do today,” I told him, dropping the two books into my Handy Haversack and reaching for the first parcel.

[You have obtained the Job: Courier (Temporary)!]

I plucked the note off the top with the address on it and set it aside, before carefully sliding the box of books into my backpack as well. Fortunately, all the boxes were narrow enough to fit into the mouth of the backpack, even though it was patently too small to hold all of them.

“You’ve got a space-expanded bag?” Tukson asked as he returned with the second pair of boxes. He sounded surprised. “I guess you really aren’t hurting for money.”

I glanced up. “These are rare?”

I was pretty sure my backpack was unique, given it was linked to my [Inventory], which didn’t seem to have any weight or capacity limitations, but the fact that space warping was a thing at all in Remnant was news to me. 

Tukson looked incredulous. “Rare? Hell, even one that size would probably cost a half a million Lien; how could you not know…? Ah. Amnesia, you said.”

“Yep,” I bobbed my head, zipping the backpack up after the last box was in. “As far as I knew, this was just a regular thing. Thanks for letting me know to keep it under wraps; I don’t want to get mugged for it. Fortunately, it looks big enough to hold a single one of these boxes, so as long as I only pull out one at a time nobody should suspect.”

Tukson still looked uncertain, but he nodded, so I made a show of pulling out my Scroll and looking up the address on the first paper. It was only a few blocks North, and I tapped the place on my Scroll to set a Waypoint on my [Map].

“I’ll stop back by when I’m done, assuming you’re still open,” I told him. “If not, I can text you?”

I held up my Scroll, and Tukson withdrew his own to hold next to it; we both pressed the central button, and with dual beeps they exchanged contact info. 

Nodding a farewell, I headed out of the shop, following the waypoint as I wondered what the hell was going to go wrong. Hopefully nothing in the first two deliveries, since I’d made note of which ones Tukson had originally intended for me to take, but just in case I paused by a park bench and opened my backpack again. Reaching in, I thought about withdrawing one of the books I’d ‘bought’ and closed my hand around the spine in what had previously been empty space.

[You learned the skill [Dust Mastery]!]

[Dust Mastery (Passive) LV 1 EXP: 0.00%
Mortals were born from dust, and the spark of hope and ingenuity led to the mastery of Nature's Wrath—Dust: a naturally occurring energy propellant that can be triggered by the Aura of Humans and faunus.
1% increase in power of Dust techniques.
Able to refine and craft Grade I Dust.

[You learned the skill [Parkour]!]

[Parkour (Passive) LV 1 EXP: 0.00%
A skill that represents your ability to navigate a complex environment in the fastest and most efficient way possible; seeing your environment in a new way, and imagining the potential for navigating it by movement around, across, through, over and under its features, whether by running, climbing, swinging, vaulting, jumping, plyometrics, rolling, crawling, or any other movement necessary.
Passively increases DEX by 1%
Movement speed reduced by 50% while changing direction or traversing obstacles.

The ability to use Dust was something I’d been planning on picking up as soon as I realized I was in Remnant, although it probably wouldn’t be very useful until I actually had some Dust to play with and figure out how it worked. Maybe that was something I could get my sisters to help me experiment with. But that other skill… 

[Parkour] was a lot more than it seemed at first glance, as the description suggested. It was more than just freerunning, it was visualizing how you were going to move through the space around you. Suddenly fences and rails were things to vault; trees were things to scale and branches things to hang and swing from; bollards were things I could hop up to and run across; narrow alleys were invitations to triangle jump and traverse the rooftops; and falling was something I could simply tumble out of to avoid taking damage. It was about the most all-around useful passive skill I’d found yet, and that was before taking into account the actual percentage bonuses it provided.

Grinning, I slipped my headphones back on, tightened the straps of my Handy Haversack, and took off at a fast jog, activating [Cat’s Grace] as I went. Hopping up onto another bench, I stepped onto the back of it, then jumped diagonally onto the top of a metal sign that was riveted to the concrete frontage. The sign ran out, and I took two steps on the wall before jumping, which just barely gave me the height to jump and catch the overpass with my fingertips. Hauling myself up and vaulting the railing, I couldn’t help grunting out, “Parkour!” 

I mentally dismissed the notification that the skill had gained a level, waved at the people staring, and took off again.

Between the buff and my new mindset, I was able to make it to the first drop-off — the penthouse of a fairly nice apartment building — within the 13-ish minutes it currently took for one of my animal buffs to drain my MP. 

Panting, I glanced around to confirm I was alone, then just pulled the box out of my [Inventory] rather than go through the charade of using the Haversack.

I knocked, then took a step back and breathed deep, trying to stop gasping for breath. It took my deliveree almost a minute to answer, so my breathing was regular again by the time the knob turned. I just barely had time to refocus on my surroundings, and register that the Aura inside the apartment seemed familiar, before Olivia opened the door.

“Jaune? Is something wrong?” she asked, looking alarmed.

“Nope,” I said easily. “Delivery from Tukson’s Book Trade.” I hefted the box.

“I’m pretty sure I would remember you having a part-time job,” Olivia drawled, standing aside so I could come in. 

“Just trading favors,” I replied. I waited until she shut the door behind me, then unequipped my boots and set them by the door. 

“Gods, that’s still weird to watch,” she said, dropping onto the easy chair and waving me to put the box on the table. “What’s this favor earning you?”

“Ten thousand experience and twenty thousand lien,” I grinned.

Olivia started. “That much to deliver a box of books?” 

“To deliver four boxes,” I corrected. “The quest said I’d get two grand for delivering two boxes, or ten times that for four; seemed like a no-brainer. I’m guessing there’s going to be some complication, but better I deal with it than Tukson, I figure.”

“I guess,” Olivia said slowly, opening the box to check her purchases. “How’d you land the quest?”

She listened idly as I told her about the morning’s events, looking thoughtful when I mentioned my new skills. “Grade 1 Dust is fairly cheap,” she said. “I can give you a few crystals before you go, but be careful with it.”

“No worries, the knowledge for safe handling came along with the skill,” I reassured her. I looked around and added, “This is a really great place. I have no idea what a Huntress’ salary looks like, but a loft can’t come cheap. Doesn’t seem so messy that you’d need a housekeeper, though,” I teased, remembering our bet.

Olivia chuckled. “I’d just make extra messes for you to clean up.”

I rolled my eyes. “Naturally.”

“Actually, I’m hoping I get that job in Mistral, so I’d have let you out of the deal anyway,” Olivia added, lifting her purchases out of the box and revealing some juvenile psychology textbooks, a history of the Academies, and a collection of essays on teaching Hunters. “I should get a yea or nay before my lease is up.”

“If it’s yea, see if they’d mind me taking over the lease,” I said, only half-joking. It was a really nice apartment, after all. The Arc household was spacious and all, but I had memories of years of living independently, and alone. Maybe it was just my nature, but I really wanted my  

Olivia snorted. “Even if you could afford the rent, you wouldn’t be able to spend much time here while you’re in school, Bro-bro.”

“Twenty grand for a simple quest,” I reminded her. “Plus, in games, you usually get loot for killing monsters. I haven’t gone Hunting yet, since you and Indigo can’t take me, but there’s a possibility Grimm will literally drop Lien when I kill them.”

“If they do…” Olivia pondered, rubbing her chin. “Depending on how much you got, you could end up essentially getting paid twice for every mission. I’m not sure how any Semblance could do that, but you’ve been right every time I second-guessed you on how yours works, so who knows?”

I shrugged. “Not today’s problem,” I said. “You mind if I crash here for like, ten minutes? I want to meditate back to full MP before I run the next delivery.”

“Sure,” Olivia smiled. “Add it to your map. Actually, let me add the door code to your Scroll. I don’t know about turning the place over to you, but I don’t mind you crashing here whenever.”

“Thanks, Via,” I smirked, then ducked as she swiped playfully at me for using Indigo’s nickname.

I pulled my Scroll out of thin air and tossed it to her before folding my legs underneath me on the couch and triggering [Gaia’s Pulse].

Feeling for the planet’s pulse in the middle of Vale was very different from the near-rural village where the Arcs lived. For one thing, I became hyper-aware of every soul within the passive range of my [Detect Aura] skill, and tended to [Eavesdrop] unintentionally. Since I was activating it as a skill, the noise and distractions of my sister flipping through her books, or the bustle of the city around me, didn’t actually prevent me from achieving a meditative state, but I was still aware of the sounds and energy of the urban jungle around me, pulsing in a way that the more literal forests around the Arc home never did. There was a lot more ‘empty space’ in my Aura sense, because the steel and concrete weren’t alive the way trees and grass were, but there were many more people around, moving in and out of my range constantly.

At first I had wondered if being so far from nature would affect the skill, or prevent me from activating it at all, but it seemed that even in the middle of Vale I wasn’t so terribly far from nature. Or perhaps it was arrogant to think otherwise — humans and faunus alike were still animals, after all; jumped-up apes who weren’t so far away from our baser natures as we liked to pretend, most of the time. The steel and chrome and concrete were our chosen habitat, but simply represented a new ecosystem, not the lack of one.

[Recognizing your place in the world caused your WIS to increase by 1!]

My MP was full up just inside the twelve-minute mark, and my eyes opened to find a sandwich on the table in front of me. Smiling in thanks, I stuffed it into my [Inventory], then pulled out the notes with the addresses off the other boxes, and opened the map on my Scroll. I found the first place pretty quick and set a waypoint, but couldn’t figure out where the second stop was. “Any idea where Slye Blvd might be?” I asked Olivia.

“Up near the fork in the river, I think?” she replied, not glancing up from her Scroll. “Somewhere around there. I’m adding you to our group chat, by the way. Check it out next time you take a break.”

“Later.” My Scroll buzzed, but I ignored it for the moment. Scanning street names as I panned around the map, I eventually found the right one and set another waypoint. The fourth address was even further West, across the south fork of the river into the Industrial District. I had a premonition that was the one that was going to be a problem, but I shook it off and got to my feet, stretching.

“All right, I’d better get back in motion,” I said, moving to the door and re-equipping my boots. “Got more of my personal map to fill in, since it doesn’t give me the details until I’ve physically been there.”

“If it’s late when you finish, come back here,” Olivia ordered me, looking up at last as I unlocked the door. 

“Jeez, you’re not my mother, you know?” I joked, which she ignored.

“And call if you run into trouble,” she finished.

“If I can’t handle it,” I agreed.

Olivia narrowed her eyes at my lack of a simple affirmative, but nodded as I pulled the door closed behind me. “Good Hunting, Jaune,” I heard her call as the lock clicked.

“See you,” I called back, jogging toward the stairs and already planning on vaulting the railings repeatedly rather than using the landings.

The route to my next two deliveries was pretty simple, though the slowdowns when I ran out of MP and had to [Parkour] without [Cat’s Grace] made them take a while, not to mention taking a break just before approaching each door to meditate my MP back to full. With two hours of my time limit still remaining after dropping off the third box, I decided to leave the buff off and just jog along the river until I found a place to cross. If anything did happen, my MP would be topped off.

Actually, I should probably eat that sandwich now, because I might not have time later. Retrieving it from my Haversack, I sat down on a bench, balancing my Scroll on my knee as I peeled back the bread to see what was in it. Ham, good; cheese, looked like gruyère, not bad at all; a swipe of mustard, excellent; on the other slice, mayo, ugh. Sticking out my tongue, I stuck the mayo-encrusted slice of bread back in my [Inventory], folding the rest of the sandwich in half and munching on it as I flipped through my Scroll to the chat feature, which had been triggering notifications all afternoon.

     Gardevoir added JauneArc to the group Seven Deadly Sisters | Friday, 13:29

     ‹Zapdos› what.

     ‹Gengar› took u long enough

     ‹Reuniclus› NO WAY !

     ‹Gardevoir› He dropped by earlier on a part-time job. Since he’s taking this whole Hunting thing so seriously for a change, I thought this might be appropriate. 

     ‹Reuniclus› I DUNNO ABOUT THAT .

     ‹Reuniclus› SEEMS KINDA LIKE ITS AGAINST THE RULES ?

     ‹Gardevoir› Then don’t feel like you have to encourage him. Although we did find out something that merits discussion. We’re being forced to feel guilty when we offer him help. Like, by a Semblance-like effect. Jaune was the one who figured it out.

     ‹Zapdos› how’s that, exactly?

     ‹Gengar› turns out the rents were so srs abt not training j that they decided 2 enforce it w a geas

     ‹Reuniclus› WAIT LIKE IN THE STORIES ?

     ‹Gardevoir› So it seems. I’ve been trying to find information about the actual effect, but outside of fairy tales I can’t find much of substance. Usually it’s about an obligation that an individual takes so seriously, it becomes a part of their very soul, so their Aura fizzles if they try to go against it.

     ‹Zapdos› and because the folks made not training Jaune such a rule… 

     ‹Gengar› weve all been goin along w it even if we disagree

     ‹Gardevoir› Implying we have at least accepted the geas. Even just supplying a knife, not even of Hunting quality, racked me with guilt. I dislike the implications of this.

     ‹Reuniclus› I’LL LOOK INTO IT !

     ‹Reuniclus› MY LITTLE BUDDIES ARE STILL BUILDING THIS RAILGUN THOUGH SO HALF MY BRAIN IS STILL FULL OF ELECTROMAGNETISM AND SHRAPNEL-HURLING !

Chuckling, I decided I may as well fit the theme, even if I wasn’t sure why Pokémon existed on Remnant.

     JauneArc is now known as Aegislash.

     ‹Aegislash› I assume Olivia and Indigo have filled everyone in about my amnesia by now

     ‹Aegislash› don’t suppose I could get a roll call? 

     ‹Reuniclus› GUESS !

     ‹Aegislash› how.

     ‹Reuniclus› NOT MY PROBLEM ~ !

     ‹Gardevoir› How are your deliveries?

     ‹Aegislash› three down, easy enough

     ‹Aegislash› I’m procrastinating the fourth; better get to it

     ‹Aegislash› later

Getting back to my feet, I made sure the park was empty, then called up my [Inventory] again to put away my Scroll and give the final parcel I was delivering a closer look, since nobody was around to see me poking at empty air. Tukson’s bio said he was an informant for the White Fang, and since nothing had interrupted my first three deliveries, that meant that something was probably going to go down with this one. I tapped the icon for the parcel, hoping for some additional details, but apparently my Semblance couldn’t or wouldn’t tell me what was inside it. Oh well. Glancing around to make sure I was alone, I pulled the box out and glanced at it. It was definitely heavy enough to be a bunch of books, but the note on top was addressed to “Blake”, and given this was Remnant and I was heading into the bad part of town… 

Actually, did my suspicion even make sense? In reality, there could be, and probably were, any number of Blakes in Vale. Blake Belladonna, as far as I remembered, had been on the continent that Mistral lay on, before cutting ties with the White Fang during the Black Trailer. 

On the other hand, there was no real indication of when the trailer took place, relative to the start of the series. I hadn’t heard about any train robberies in the news, but that just meant it hadn’t occurred in the last two weeks since I’d ‘arrived’ on Remnant.

Absently crossing the bridge and heading for my waypoint as the sun sank behind the Bay, I ignored the glances I was getting for, presumably, being a Human heading into the ‘Hood. I’d lived in neighborhoods like this on Earth, so I was honestly kind of impressed at seeing the Remnan equivalent — the streets were pretty clean, and there weren’t any broken windows or gratuitous amounts of visible graffiti, just a vague atmosphere that set me on edge and made me hyper-aware of the people around me. I vaguely wished I had kept Jaune’s hoodie, because putting the hood up to cover my bright hair would probably have made me a lot less conspicuous.

Still, nobody seemed to be paying me any special attention, so I trotted up to the sixth-floor walkup. I was about to knock on the door when I noticed it was already ajar.

That… made all my fledgling instincts flare at once, and I popped [Detect Aura] on reflex. There were six people inside. Four of them felt like civilians, one was a bit stronger than me, and the last…was even stronger than my sisters, which was more than a little terrifying. Swallowing, I activated [Eavesdrop].

“–why you’re doing this!” It was a young woman’s voice; low, angry, and desperate. “I’ve made it clear I don’t want anything to do with the White Fang anymore. I haven’t told the police anything either, I just want to be left alone!”

“Why do you say things that you know will make me angry, darling?” the second voice was male, and soft with repressed fury. Based solely on his possessive tone, I hated him immediately. 

An instant later, I jumped as a gunshot went off inside the apartment, loud as hell, and followed by a scream of pain from someone who hadn’t spoken yet. 

“Look what you’ve made me do,” the man who’d spoken before added. “She’s going to die now, because of you.”

“Because of you!” the girl snapped back. “You don’t get to blame me for the things you do anymore, Adam!”

Adam. A very powerful man named Adam, in a mostly-faunus neighborhood, trying to bring someone back to the White Fang, in an apartment where I was supposed to deliver a package to a Blake. That added up to a very dangerous picture, and one that I wanted absolutely no part of. At least, not until I was a hell of a lot stronger than I was now.

But as badly as I wanted to flee, I found myself rooted to the spot, and I knew I wasn’t going to be able to walk away. I couldn’t just leave someone in trouble. I took an Oath.

It was probably suicide, but I didn’t have a choice if I wanted to remain true to the path I’d decided to walk. To the man I’d decided to be. There wasn't a choice at all.

Swearing internally, I shoved Tukson's box back into my Inventory and equipped my Combat armor set, flexing my hands as the gloves, breastplate, and pauldrons settled on me, and silently drawing the Family Sword. Paying closer attention to [Detect Aura], I was pretty sure that two of the people inside were either side of the door, which opened inward. Neither of them was very strong. The presence I thought was Adam was a little ways in, along with another weakling who I assumed was the gunman. A bit further were two presences closer to the floor, presumably the shot person with Blake kneeling over them.

Drawing a deep breath and activating all my buffs, including [Reinforcement], I burst into motion, knowing I had barely two minutes before I was out of MP.

I kicked the door open as hard as I could, sending it slamming into the sentry standing behind it like an idiot. Stepping into the room, I swung to the other side of the door, wielding the Family Sword with both hands at chest height. It slammed into the chestplate of the other guard, who cracked his head against the wall and dropped to the floor, not moving. Before the door could swing back, I threw my back against it and slammed it open into the fool behind it again, who groaned and dropped a gun that I snatched up.

By this time Adam and the other White Fang had turned, the latter levelling his own gun at me, so I dropped the Family Sword onto the floor in front of me and pulled the shield off my back, hunkering behind it as he opened fire.

Unfortunately, the shield on my back was the wooden practice shield, since I was used to practicing with it, and not the expanding sheath of the Family Sword. While it might have caught a melee weapon once or twice without much trouble, it did precisely fuckall against bullets, and splintered immediately as the White Fang goon emptied the clip. The shield managed to deflect less than half of them, and four more pinged off my pauldron or breastplate, but the last three tore through my arm and shoulder.

“Fuck!” I screamed in agony, bringing up the purloined gun and firing back twice as the goon reloaded. Adam’s sword flicked out and batted my shots out of the air before they hit. 

‹???›
LV ???
Adam Taurus

Oh, and of course I can’t see his information. Fucking great. 

Before I could even curse again, though, he had to turn and lock swords with the girl I’d heard earlier.

‹On Whom The Pale Moon Gleams›
LV 22
Blake Belladonna

“Who is this, Blake?” Adam demanded, rage and jealousy detectable in his tone. “You know I’m the only man for you.”

“Candygram,” I spat. 

Letting the remains of the wooden shield drop as my arm fell limp, I took two steps forward and kicked the other White Fang goon between the legs before he could reload, then slammed my new gun into his temple. He dropped like a stone, and I tried to shoot Adam again, who shoved Blake back and blocked the bullets contemptuously.

I threw myself back as that red katana flicked out, seeking my throat. Dropping the stolen gun into my Inventory, I picked up the Family Sword again, remembering to deploy the sheath into a real shield as [Gamer’s Body] repaired my shot arm perfectly. Glancing at my HUD, I had barely half my MP left, and I realized that [Reinforcement] had dropped when I got shot. 

Reactivating it, I stepped forward again and attacked in concert with Blake. Neither of us was a match for him, and never having fought together we weren’t very synchronized, but between us we managed to push him back. I wasn’t sure what Blake’s plan was, if any, but I was trying my damnedest to maneuver Adam into a specific position in the apartment before my MP ran out.

Finally, gritting his teeth, Adam accepted a hit from Blake’s weapon to plant a boot in her gut and kick her across the room. An instant later, her body dissolved, revealing it was a clone, and she slashed at his shin instead, glancing off his Aura but making him flinch nevertheless.

I wasn’t going to get a better opportunity, so I brought up the shield to bash him with all my buffed strength. Again, he must have decided to take the hit in exchange for giving one, because his sword sank into my side before catching against my ribs, ripping another scream from my throat. Fuck me, but that had done a good 400 damage right there, and I could tell that [Reinforcement] ’s enemy damage buff hadn’t proc’ed — if it had, I might very well be dead, after the bullets I’d taken earlier.

I didn’t stop moving though, and used my temporary 45 STR to shove him as hard as I could against the wall.

Only, there wasn’t a wall behind him, but a window, which shattered under the inertia of a grown man moving as fast as I’d pushed him. His hands reached for the edge, but with his sword in one hand and sheath in the other, he didn’t have the chance before I kicked him in the chest the same way he’d kicked Blake.

His roar of rage faded as he fell, but I wasn’t taking any chances. I sheathed the family sword as fast as I could, deactivating my buffs while I still had a sliver of MP remaining, and ran to the downed man that Blake was already moving to kneel beside again.

Woman, rather; a woman a few years older than Blake, with a round, striped tail, who was extremely pale and clutching at a wound in her lower abdomen.

“Hold on, Jazz,” Blake was begging her, pressing a towel that was rapidly staining with blood. Her cat ears lay back flat against her hair.

The woman, Jazz, choked on a hysterical laugh. “I know what a gut shot does, Blake,” she said bitterly. “I’m done for, but you need to run before he comes back.” She looked at me, eyes widening. “You, too, buddy. You can’t stay here; that fall won’t kill someone with Aura.”

‹Why Fell Trees But Leave Men Standing?›
LV 3
Jazz Minnewether

Ignoring the woman’s dire warning, I clipped the Family Sword onto my belt, then knelt and grabbed Jazz’s wrist. “This is going to hurt, but I can heal you while we run,” I said. Before she could ask, I hauled her up over my shoulder, clamping my hand over the exit wound on her back and triggering [Lay On Hands]. Jazz groaned when I moved her, but didn’t struggle much.

“Tell me you have another safe house,” I begged Blake, who was watching me warily, her sword still out. 

“Why should I bring you there if I do?” she demanded.

“I don’t have another fight like that in me.” I was at barely 10% HP and MP, so if we didn’t get away clean, I was fucked. “Do you think that guy won’t kill your friend if I heal her and leave her here?” I added wearily. 

“Why are you helping us?” Blake insisted, even as she started moving toward the door.

“Would you rather I let you both die?” I asked rhetorically. “I’m just trying to do the right thing, and I can heal her with my Semblance if I have the time. I don’t understand why everybody is so damn suspicious today.”

“You’re Human,” Blake echoed Tukson’s excuse from earlier, and I scowled at her back.

“Oh, so every faunus in the neighborhood would have sprang to your defense?” I growled as I followed her toward the hallway. The first White Fang goon I’d hit was stirring, so I kicked him in the head as I passed. “Oh, wait, nobody came to help you except me!”

“I didn’t ask for your help!” Blake shouted as she shoved open the door to the staircase. “I could have gotten away from them!”

“And your friend would have died,” I shot back, following her up instead of down and hoping like hell she had a plan. “Instead you get away uninjured, and your friend gets to live, so what’s the damn problem?”

“I don’t know you,” Blake said flatly as she peeked out the roof access door. Apparently it was clear, because she pushed it open a moment later. “I have no idea where you came from or how you happened to be here at exactly the right time; it’s suspicious!”

“I’m a fucking courier,” I said, trying not to stumble. Jazz didn’t weigh so much that I was over my carry limit, but I had to balance her weight on my shoulder and I was still tired and aching after the fight, not to mention that [Lay On Hands] was redirecting half my usual regen to her instead. If we could sit down so I could meditate, I could heal us both a lot faster, but if we tried to sit still for fifteen minutes, we’d probably be dead in two. “I have a package for you, and I was about to deliver it when I heard a shot and a guy threatening you. I did what any decent person would have done!”

Blake glanced over her shoulder at that, her tired yellow eyes reflecting doubt. “Most people wouldn’t have bothered to come in,” she said.

“Then I’m not most people,” I said, straightening up as best I could and looking at her over my sunglasses, which had slipped down my nose. “I took an Oath to never suffer the wicked to harm the innocent, if I was in a position to stop it.”

Blake rolled her eyes, turning away to cross a wooden plank that led to the next rooftop. “You’re naïve,” she spat. “The real world — real people — don’t work that way.”

“‘Be the change you want to see in the world,’ then,” I quoted another of my Oath’s tenets. “That’s why you were a revolutionary, isn’t it?”

“And that just led to people getting killed,” Blake said bitterly, leading the way down a fire escape. “There’s nothing heroic about the way the White Fang are, anymore.”

“And how about Hunters?” I said, jumping down from the second floor and absorbing as much of the shock with my knees as I could to spare Jazz, who nevertheless groaned again.

“What about them?” Blake asked, dragging a piece of plywood aside to reveal a jagged hole that led down to either a subway or the sewers. Peeking down, I saw the tunnel was only about six feet high, so I suspected the latter. Gross.

Momentarily activating [Detect Aura], I felt the Aura signature that I recognized as Adam’s getting closer across the rooftops, so I wasted no time jumping down. “Hurry, he’s coming.”

Blake hopped in behind me, reaching up to drag the plywood back across the opening. “This way,” she brushed past me.

Reaching out with my free hand to find the wall, I pursued as fast as I dared. Fortunately the ground seemed mostly level and clear. I peeked over my sunglasses again, but it didn’t make any difference; it was too damn dark down here to see anything regardless.

“Hurry up!” Blake growled from somewhere ahead.

“We don’t all have darkvision,” I grumbled, shifting Jazz on my shoulder and almost stumbling as the wall I was following ran out. “Which way?”

“Straight,” came the reply from a bit ahead of me. I moved forward slowly, hand reaching for the tunnel wall again. Instead, Blake’s hand clamped around my wrist. “If you try to grope me in the dark, I’ll cut your hand off.”

“And then I’ll bleed out, and so will your friend,” I retorted. “I’m trying to find the damn wall, because I can’t see down here!”

Blake huffed, dragging my wrist to the side until it touched the wall before releasing me. “Just keep them to yourself,” she said, already getting further away.

“You jumped to that conclusion pretty fast,” I mumbled to myself as I followed, too quietly for her to hear, kvetching to keep myself from getting too tense. “I can think of way better places than this, for one thing. In the damn sewers after being shot and stabbed and carrying an injured person, not really my kink, I don’t care how much of a knockout you might grow up to be.”

Jazz, over my shoulder, let out a pained giggle.

“And of course you’re awake,” I sighed, shifting my grip on her a little even as I kept channelling [Lay On Hands].

“Not to sound like a five-year-old, but are we there yet?” I said irritably as Blake doubled back to find me again.

“Almost,” she said, sounding calmer now that we had most likely gotten away from Adam. I wasn’t counting him out yet, though, because I hadn’t gotten the quest completion. “We’re already downtown, now it’s just a matter of finding the right exit.”

“Why the hell are we going downtown?” I asked, glancing at my minimap for the first time in a while, since I’d been focused on not tripping in the dark while carrying an injured woman. “You got a safehouse above a store?”

Blake snorted. “I told you, I’m not taking you to my safehouse. I’m bringing us somewhere that we can lay low so I can see your so-called healing. If Jazz makes it, my contact can take care of us. If she dies…” she trailed off, leaving the threat implicit.

“And we find the right exit, how?”

“I’ve been this way before; I know where I’m going and I have it marked. It’s right here, but…” She sounded concerned. 

“What’s wrong?” 

“I can’t lift the manhole cover, it’s too heavy,” Blake explained. “If my contact is here, I could try to text him, but I left my Scroll when I left the Fang and I haven’t gotten a new one, and Jazz’s is back at the apartment. If he’s not here, we’ll have to find another exit.”

“What do those things weigh, like three hundred pounds?” I pondered. “I can lift that. Can you hold your friend?”

Blake took Jazz from me carefully, and I edged by her. “Where’s the ladder?”

“About two feet to your left,” Blake replied. “A little further… There,” she said as I finally grabbed the metal rung. She started murmuring to Jazz as I climbed carefully, reaching above me with each rung for the ceiling.

I’d estimate the ceiling was at least twice as high as it had been at the spot where we dropped in, so maybe we’d been sloping down slightly. Finally, I found it, and braced against the metal plate with my shoulders. Bringing my feet up another rung, I flexed my thighs and abdomen like I was doing squats at home, and a ray of light suddenly broke through the darkness.

“Gah,” I blinked rapidly, trying to clear the spots from my vision, but I kept pushing until I straightened up, and the manhole cover slid off my shoulders to the alley floor. Dropping back down, I lifted Jazz’s chin. She blinked at me, looking dizzy, but she was definitely awake. “I’m gonna need you to hang on to me so we can climb out of here, okay?” 

She nodded muzzily, so I turned around, and Blake helped Jazz into a piggyback position before darting up the ladder herself, presumably to find her contact.

Since Jazz was touching me again, I managed to trigger [Lay On Hands] again, and she leaned her forehead against my shoulder. “It hurts less when you’re carrying me,” she groaned softly.

“That’s my Semblance trying to heal you,” I explained, starting to climb steadily toward the circle of light twelve feet overhead. “Once we can sit down somewhere, I’ll be able to kick it into high gear.”

We’d been on the run for maybe fifteen minutes, but since we were splitting my regen I was still less than 20% HP and even lower on MP. I was tired and aching and couldn’t wait to get some meditation in.

As we reached the top, I felt a pair of hands lift Jazz off me, and I climbed up to find her being held by Tukson in a princess carry. He gave me a searching look, but then turned and moved hurriedly through a nearby door that faced onto the alley we were in.

Groaning, I hauled myself out of the hole, then dragged the manhole cover back over and let it fall back into place. Kicking leaves and trash back over it, so it didn’t look like it had been moved recently, I followed him.

The door shut behind me, and I glanced over my shoulder to find Blake there, still watching me warily.

“Kid, what the hell happened?” Tukson asked, bustling over with a first-aid kit, but looking lost about how to help Jazz.

Tugging the kit from his hand, I said, “Just bring me a rag and a bucket of water.”

Tukson hesitated, then nodded and headed for the bathroom. 

I turned to Jazz, who was laying on a towel on the bedspread. “We need to clean you up so I can finish healing you,” I told her. “You want me to just roll it up, or do you want the bloody shirt off completely?”

Behind me, I heard a click.

Jazz groaned, trying to sit up, but I held her down pretty easily. “Just answer.”

“Take it off,” she grunted. “It’s nasty, and any doctor would just cut it off.”

Sliding a hand under her shoulders, I lifted her into a sitting position. “I’m no doctor, but we can do that. Blake, do you mind? I don’t want her to tense her abdominal muscles until I can heal them.”

There was a pause, then Blake moved into view, setting her weapon (in gun form, confirming my suspicion about the click) out of my reach before starting to peel Jazz’s shirt off. I shifted my hands around to keep supporting the injured woman’s weight, until Blake got it off entirely, and I laid Jazz carefully back down.

Tukson returned with the washcloth and a bowl of water, but averted his eyes at the scene.

“Oh for crying out loud, she’s still wearing a bra!” I said, rolling my eyes and taking the bowl, setting it beside me. “Blake, I’m going to roll her on her side, keep her there.”

I used the washcloth to wipe as much blood away from the exit wound as I could. I was pretty sure it was already smaller than it had been, but it was definitely still leaking a little. Pressing a square of antiseptic-covered gauze to it, I waved Blake to let her back down. The front cleaned a little easier, or at least oozed less because of gravity. 

[Importing Outsider save data… Save data loaded successfully!]

[You have remembered the skill [First Aid]!]

[First Aid (Passive) LV 8 EXP: 25.64%]
[First aid is the first and immediate assistance given to any person suffering from either a minor or serious illness or injury, with care provided to preserve life, prevent the condition from worsening, or to promote recovery.]
[Improves diagnosis by 8%.]
[Reduces shock by 8%.]
[Improves wound cleaning by 26%.]

Only eight levels? I griped mentally. Come on, I’ve taught first aid classes, I should get more than that!

“Now then,” I said under my breath, stripping my gloves off and settling into a kneeling position beside the bed. “Let’s [Lay On Hands] properly this time.” I pressed one hand over the entry wound, the other sliding beneath her to cover the exit.

“This might take about half an hour,” I warned Blake and Tukson. “Jazz can talk, but I won’t be able to. Don’t touch me, and don’t let her move.”

Getting a nod from both of them, I closed my eyes. I took a deep breath, and tapped into [Gaia’s Pulse].

As always, the feeling of life teemed around me. I was vaguely aware of Blake explaining the situation to Tukson, of the man heading to the front of the shop for a moment before returning, of the smell of food as the two sat at a nearby table to watch me. Blake’s Aura was easily the biggest, being both released and trained. Tukson and Jazz were both civilians, their Aura still locked fully within, but their life and souls were still detectable. Tukson’s was noticeably stronger at first, but as the healing took effect, Jazz’s flickering soul rallied.

I’d been keeping her alive with half of my passive regen, but that equated to barely over 5 HP/sec, at least for me. I wasn’t sure exactly how that applied to people who weren’t The Gamer, but it would have taken nearly two hours to bring me back to full HP at that rate. While meditating though, my regen was over five times higher, so the 26-point-something HP/sec each of us were receiving now meant that I would be back to full in a little over twenty-four minutes.

It was easy to lose track of time while meditating, but I opened my eyes once my HP was filled and tilted my head, popping my neck. “Feeling better?” I asked Jazz, who had looked down when I moved.

“Yeah, tons,” she said, glancing at the small, puckered scar that was all that remained of the wound. “That’s amazing.”

Wringing out the washcloth, I wiped the little bit of blood off again. “Are you still having any pain? Try to roll onto your side.”

Jazz rolled away obediently, and I peeled the gauze off her back, scrubbing at the dried blood. “It doesn’t hurt anymore at all,” she said, wonderingly.

“I would still get looked over by a doctor you trust,” I advised, wiping off my own hands as I sat back, slowly stretching my numb legs out after kneeling on them for half an hour. “There’s a chance I may have missed something internal. I don’t think I did, but I’m definitely no expert.”

“How did you do that?” Blake asked, eyes narrowed as she looked at me wiping at the bloodstains on my jacket’s sleeve. “You took injuries directly, so you don’t have an Aura unlocked, which means you can’t have a Semblance.”

I didn’t bother meeting her eyes as I unstrapped my breastplate and pauldrons. “Well, I very obviously have a Semblance, so some part of your supposition is wrong,” I pointed out drily. “I was making myself stronger and faster for that fight instead of focusing on defenses that would have failed in one hit from that guy. That’s why we had to end it fast; I gave it literally everything I had. I also just saved your friend’s life, so I’m having a hard time seeing how I owe you any kind of explanation.”

Out of the corner of my eye, I saw Blake’s uncovered ears droop, and she looked at the floor. “You’re right, I apologize. Thank you for your help earlier, and especially for saving Jazz.”

I sighed, dropping the washcloth I’d just cleaned my face with and turning to face her. “I wasn’t fishing for thanks, I was just trying to point out that we haven’t exactly been introduced, and now that you don’t need me to keep her alive I’m at a bit of a disadvantage if you decided to turn on me.”

Blake looked up sharply. “I wouldn’t do that! I owe you twice now, for saving both of us.”

I waved that off, shifting to lean against the dresser without standing up. “I already told you, I just did what any decent person would have. I was there and able to help, so I did. Same thing with Jazz; I have a healing Semblance, so I used it. What kind of monster would I be if I hadn’t?”

“Most people wouldn’t,” Blake repeated herself from earlier.

“Most people haven’t taken an Oath,” I replied. I held up a hand before she could dismiss my words again. “I’m not talking about some childish promise. I have amnesia, so I had to make a decision, completely rationally, about what kind of man I wanted to be. I swore upon my mind, my body, my soul, and my life. This is an important part of who I am, since I don’t have much else, and I’d appreciate it if you’d refrain from disparaging it.”

I hadn’t raised my voice at all, but Blake bit her lip, glancing away. 

I sighed again. “Regardless,” I said loudly, drawing her attention back. “It’s nice to meet you, though I could wish it was under better circumstances. I’m Jaune.”

“Blake,” she replied, arching an eyebrow.

“I’m Jazz Minnewether,” the woman on the bed put in, sitting up now and patting me on the head where I was sitting on the floor. Rolling my eyes behind my sunglasses, I allowed it.

“May I ask what you were doing outside our apartment?” Blake asked, this time at least couching the interrogation in politeness.

“I believe I mentioned, I had a delivery for you,” I replied. I snagged a strap of my Handy Haversack and pulled it toward me. Retrieving Blake’s package from it, I held it up. “It’s from Tukson, so I’m assuming it’s books. Although, I expect he wouldn’t have paid me to deliver it to you if he’d known you were going to come by today and could have picked them up,” I joked feebly.

Jazz giggled, perhaps a little hysterically, but that was understandable considering how much adrenaline must be working its way out of her system now that she wasn’t dying. Tukson snorted, and even Blake rolled her eyes good-naturedly. She leaned over and took the box, dropping it on the table as my Semblance buzzed the silent ‘mission complete’ jingle.

[Quest Complete!]

[Special Delivery]

[You have gained 1,000 EXP!]

[Bonus: You have gained 10,000 EXP and 20,000L! Reputation feature unlocked! Increased closeness with Blake Belladonna. Adam Taurus is now your enemy. Greatly decreased reputation with White Fang.]

[Secret Objective complete: Jazz Minnewether lives!] 

[You have gained an extra 5,000 EXP and 10,000L! New Ally: Jazz Minnewether.]

[Level up! Your level has increased by 1! Your level has increased by 1! Your level has increased by 1!]

[By pushing your body past its limits, you have increased your physical abilities! Your STR has increased by 1! Your STR has increased by 1! Your CON has increased by 1! Your CON has increased by 1! Your CON has increased by 1!]

[Skill group unlocked! By withstanding pain, you have unlocked the skill tree [Endurance]!]

[Endurance (Passive) Rank: 1]
[A skill that makes the body's durability increase, reducing damage taken and allowing the user to endure pain. Endurance is obtained by enduring adversity, combat, and harsh climates.]
[Passively increases CON by 1%.]
[1% increase to HP]
[Currently unlocked: [Slashing Resistance]

     [Slashing Resistance (Passive) LV 1 EXP: 0.00%]
     [A skill that makes the body's durability increase, reducing damage taken from slashing and slicing attacks.]
     [1% decrease in damage taken from slashing attacks.]
     [Reduces bleeding by 1% when taking damage from any source.]

[By quickly coming up with a plan to defeat a superior opponent, you have increased your mental abilities! Your INT has increased by 1! Your INT has increased by 1! Your INT has increased by 1! Your WIS has increased by 1!]

[Detect Aura has increased by 1! Eavesdrop has increased by 1! Lay On Hands has increased by 1! Lay On Hands has increased by 1! Lay On Hands has increased by 1! Reinforcement has increased by 1! Reinforcement has increased by 1! Melee Combat Mastery has increased by 1! Sword Mastery has increased by 1! Shield Mastery has increased by 1! Shield Mastery has increased by 1!]

Hot damn, and that was for not even killing the guy.

[Your near-death experience has left you with a scar.]

…Of course it did.

My Scroll buzzed once, then several times again in succession. I pulled it out idly and found, not to much surprise, that I had a few new messages in my sisters’ group chat.

     Gengar -> ‘Seven Deadly Sisters’ | Friday, 20:03

     ‹Gengar› fuck via r u listening to 5-0 

     ‹Gardevoir› That’s out West in the Industrial District… 

     ‹Gardevoir› Jaune, the police band said there were shots fired near where you were supposed to be for one of your deliveries.

     ‹Gardevoir› @Aegislash are you there? Is anything wrong?

     ‹Gardevoir› @Aegislash, for the love of gods, answer me.

Man, it took this long for someone to report the shots? I wondered. At this point, why even bother? Whatever.

Well, I needed to reassure my sisters, but seeing as I was totally fine, I decided to be a little shit about it. I held up my Scroll and switched to the camera, making sure my expression was deadpan behind my shades even as I got both the old scars and the new bloodstained holes in my shirt in the frame. And a peace sign, since I was going full stereotype anyway.

     Aegislash sent a photo to the group!

     ‹Aegislash› I lived, bitch

Name: Jaune Arc
Level: 10 (Next: 51.74%)
Title: Initiate
Race: Human
Age: 17
Job: Courier (Temporary)
Class: Paladin
Semblance: The Gamer
Race: Human
HP: 810/810
MP: 725/725
STR: 35
CON: 25.3 (25)
DEX: 28.6 (27)
INT: 31
WIS: 43
CHA: 27.8 (23)
Points: 30
Money: 41015L
Status: Cursed – Yellow Death [Highest]

Chapter Text

“Did you… just take a selfie?” Blake asked, sounding incredulous.

“My sisters wanted to know that I’m okay,” I replied distractedly, still focused on my Scroll.

     Gengar -> ‘Seven Deadly Sisters’ | Friday, 20:04

     ‹Gengar› r u fuckin kidding me

     ‹Gardevoir› Jaune, what the hell happened?

     ‹Aegislash› my last delivery was in the hood, and my deliveree was in the middle of a situation 

     ‹Gengar› define situation

     ‹Aegislash› her asshole ex shot the friend she was staying with after she left him

     ‹Gardevoir› So you called the police, obviously.

     ‹Aegislash› uh… 

     ‹Gengar› via his shirts full of holes n blood, tf you mean did he call the cops

     ‹Gardevoir› I’m trying to live in denial, because I’d like to believe my baby brother is intelligent enough not to run into the middle of what sounds like a hostage situation.

     ‹Aegislash› there wasn’t time

     ‹Aegislash› the woman got shot as soon as I got there

     ‹Gardevoir› Jaune… 

     ‹Aegislash› you wouldn’t have run either, don’t be a hypocrite

     ‹Aegislash› I’m sorry I worried you, but I’m not sorry I did it

     ‹Moltres› Jeez you guys are popping off all of a sudden

     ‹Moltres› Hey whos the cutie in the pic they look pretty beat up

     ‹Moltres› Wait

     ‹Moltres› Jaune???

     ‹Aegislash› sup

     ‹Moltres› When the fuck did you get here

     ‹Moltres› And 

     ‹Moltres› Why are you covered in blood

     ‹Gardevoir› I added him earlier today, Shani. Read back from this afternoon.

     ‹Moltres› Ugh fine

     ‹Gardevoir› Jaune, where are you right now?

     ‹Aegislash› back at the bookshop tending to the wounded

     ‹Aegislash› once I’m sure she’s stable I’ll head your way to clean up; fuck taking the train home like this

     ‹Aegislash› …actually, your place has a guest room, right?

     ‹Gardevoir› Yes, why?

     ‹Aegislash› sec

I looked up. Blake was sorting through her box of books, Tukson was counting his day’s take, and Jazz was examining the scar on her abdomen.

“Do you actually have somewhere else to stay?” I asked both ladies, who looked up, one sharp, the other curious. “I’m not asking where,” I assured Blake. “I just want to know that you have someplace to sleep tonight. If you don’t, my sister has a spare bedroom a few blocks from here.”

Blake watched me with narrowed eyes, but Jazz answered. “I guess I’ll have to stay with my folks for a bit. They live outside the city though, and my Scroll is back at my apartment, so I’ll have to go tomorrow.”

“You can’t go back to your apartment,” I said immediately, causing Jazz to slump. “They’ll be watching it. At best, they’ll follow you, hoping you’ll lead them to Blake. At worst, they’ll kidnap you right then and there. Tonight you can definitely crash with us.”

[Rational deduction caused your INT to increase by 1!]

Realizing Jazz was still wearing just a bra, I dug in my Handy Haversack and withdrew Jaune’s old hoodie from my [Inventory]. “Here.”

She took it with a quick thanks, and pulled it on, tossing her short brown hair once it was over her head. “It’s a bit tight, but I appreciate the thought,” she said, glancing down at the rabbit mascot stretched across her bust. “Big Pumpkin Pete’s fan, are you?”

I shrugged. “I must have been. I haven’t tried it since I got out of the hospital, though.”

Jazz winced. “Right, you said you have amnesia. Sorry, I forgot.”

“There’s a lot of that going around,” I replied, making both Jazz and Blake snort a laugh. They also both immediately looked mortified, and I smirked. “Blake. You have someplace to crash or no?”

The cat faunus immediately became serious again, staring down at me from her place at the table, where I was sitting on the floor . I met her gaze evenly, though I doubted she could see past my sunglasses. “I don’t want to leave Jazz alone, so fine.”

     Aegislash -> ‘Seven Deadly Sisters’ | Friday, 20:09

     ‹Aegislash› prep your spare room for two guests, would you kindly?

     ‹Aegislash› and order some pizzas

“What do you like on pizza?” I asked, without looking up.

“Anything’s fine,” Jazz shrugged, at the same time Blake firmly said, “Anchovies.”

I took a moment to pull a face, but didn’t comment.

     ‹Aegislash› let’s get two large pies; first one, supreme with half anchovy; second one, half meat lover’s and half whatever you want

     ‹Aegislash› I’ll pay

     ‹Gardevoir› Shouldn’t the question of whether I have guests be up to me?

     ‹Aegislash› you gonna turn away two girls who just escaped a home invasion, one of whom got shot while the other helped save my life?

     ‹Aegislash› coz if so, that’s fine and I’ll get them a hotel, but let me assure you that my respect for you will fucking plummet

     ‹Gardevoir› No, it’s fine. I’m just stressed. You’ve barely been out of the hospital for two weeks and it looks like you got shot.

     ‹Aegislash› I’m fine, Olivia

     ‹Aegislash› feeling 100% right now

Hopefully Olivia would catch my meaning — that my HP was fully recovered — without me having to actually say it. I had no idea how good Cinder or anyone else on Salem’s squad was at ComInt (that is, computer intelligence, i.e. hacking) but it was best not to broadcast my Semblance over the internet if I was meant to be keeping it secret.

[Careful decision-making caused your WIS to increase by 1!]

“What did you tell your sister?” Blake asked, sounding like she was trying hard to maintain her calm.

“That your asshole ex broke into your friend’s apartment where you were staying, she got shot, and you saved my life,” I summarized. “There’ll be food there and hopefully Olivia can find something for you to change into.” I glanced at Jazz as she stood up, saw my hoodie went clear down to her thighs, and added, “Both of you.”

I got back to my feet, only wobbling a little. My HP and MP were both full, and my invisible Stamina must be also, but I was still tired. Cracking my neck, I did my usual pocket check, including the Family Sword at my hip which I was too paranoid to take off anytime soon, and then slung on my Handy Haversack.

“I appreciate the shelter, Tukson,” I told the big man, extending a hand, which he clasped firmly.

“No, thank you,” he said seriously. “That’s twice today you’ve helped out someone that I only wished I could. Take care of yourself, kid.”

As we filed out the back door, I glanced at the manhole covering the sewer we’d climbed out of. “You be safe too, Tukson. Call me if you ever need help with something.” I hesitated, since I’d only read about his conflict in his bio, but couldn’t resist adding, “You should probably consider leaving town. They know Blake is in this city; if you’ve had any contact with the White Fang in the past, they might guess she’d come to you for help.”

Tukson froze in the middle of closing the back door behind us, staring at me. I lowered my sunglasses and met his gaze directly, willing him to understand that I was serious. After a moment, he nodded jerkily and shut the door.

[Increased closeness with Tukson Mayes!]

I led the way out of the alley and up the road toward Olivia’s building, Jazz sticking close behind me, while Blake took the drag position to keep an eye out in all directions. I kept the pace easy for Jazz’s sake, and hooked my thumbs in my belt so that I wouldn’t be tempted to rest them on the Family Sword. Better to look casual.

I debated for a moment, then activated [Detect Aura] and [Eavesdrop]. The amount of sensory data I suddenly had to sort through was pretty overwhelming, but on the off chance someone found us, I wanted as much advance warning as possible.

The quest completion implied we’d gotten away, but I had no idea if that meant Adam couldn’t find us again. My Semblance let me interact with the world like a game, but that didn’t mean the whole world ran on game logic. The people in it were real people, not NPCs, and my encounter with Adam Taurus wasn’t some scripted cutscene. It was a real fight, where I could have really died.

Letting out a breath, I glanced over my shoulder and met Jazz’s eye. She smiled nervously, and I returned it before opening the door to the lobby for her. 

I could have really died, certainly, but instead I really saved someone’s life. Someone who very likely would have died without my intervention. I had to wonder, Does that mean Jazz died in the ‘canon’ timeline? If so, no wonder Blake was so slow to trust her teammates.

Taking the elevator this time, I hit the button for the Penthouse, and led the way to Olivia’s door. Swiping my Scroll, I pushed the door slightly open, and called out, “It’s me!” before opening it fully.

I didn’t even get a chance to take my shoes off before Olivia all but tackled me, prodding at my shoulder and stomach through the bullet holes in my overshirt and the slash in the side of my tee shirt.

“Relax, I told you I’m fine,” I said, grabbing my sister by the shoulders and forcing her attention back to my face. “You can look me over in a second, but right now what we all need is new clothes.”

Olivia straightened up, seeming to pull herself together, and turned to greet the other two. “Hello, I’m Olivia Arc.”

“Olivia, this is Jazz and Blake,” I introduced the ladies as I pulled my boots off the hard way at the door, since I couldn’t simply unequip them in front of witnesses. 

Olivia scrutinized Jazz wearing what was clearly my hoodie, as well as Blake’s visible weapon before lingering on her face. After a moment, though, she nodded and gave a welcoming smile. “Shoes off at the door, but please make yourselves at home. Let me show you where the shower is, and I’ll find you both something to wear.”

Blake murmured a thanks, while Jazz — who I realized wasn’t wearing shoes since she’d been shot in her own home and I’d carried her to Tukson’s — echoed the sentiment more brightly. 

Once Olivia had shuffled them off into the bathroom, I moved into the kitchen and quickly unequipped my weapons, armor, and shirts, leaving them in a pile so that Blake and Jazz wouldn’t question where they’d gone. Wetting a paper towel, I cleaned off the dried blood on my shoulder and side, which was way less than there should have been thanks to [Gamer’s Body] repairing my flesh so quickly. The new scar sat along my side, angling across my lower ribs, but fortunately it was also completely closed and looked a few days old.

Deciding that I could get away with pretending I’d had a change of clothes in my backpack, I equipped a new ‘Casual’ outfit, then went digging in the cabinets until I found a trash bag to stuff the worn clothes into. My first instinct was to throw them out, but there was a chance I could develop a skill to repair them, so instead I tossed the bag over beside the door. Then, realizing I was still wearing sunglasses, I took those off and dropped them into my [Inventory].

“Jaune, can you make up the spare room?” Olivia called, poking her head back out of the short hallway and directing me with her eyes toward the door on the other side of the living room.

Guessing that she was getting me out of the common area while the girls moved from the bathroom to her bedroom, I nodded. Padding over to the spare room, I half-closed the door behind me and started pulling back the tightly-made bed into something more usable. 

There was a knock at the front door, and I could sense that the others were all in Olivia’s room, so I went to answer it. I was pretty sure the White Fang would sooner kick it down than knock, and [Detect Aura] only revealed a single, untrained, locked Aura, so I felt reasonably confident it was the pizza. Still, I was feeling paranoid, so I withdrew the White Fang’s stolen pistol from my [Inventory], stood well away from the door, and opened it to the crack that the chain would allow. Then I took another step back before shuffling to the side to peer out the gap, keeping the gun out of sight.

Seeing only a nonplussed delivery boy, I grinned and stuck the gun down the back of my waistband, then opened the door properly. “How much?”

“Three hundred fifty,” he grunted, evidently choosing not to comment on my odd behavior.

I passed him six hundred Lien, grabbing the boxes with my other hand, and advised him to keep the change. He blinked, but nodded, obviously not looking a gift horse in the mouth.

Shutting the door with my heel, I turned around and found my sister and our guests all watching me. I raised an eyebrow. “Good thing I don’t get stage fright,” I said lightly, setting the food boxes on the coffee table and returning to the door to lock it securely. “I assume you’ve gotten to know each other a little better; I wish I could have done a better introduction but, you know.” I knocked on my own skull.

“It’s fine,” Olivia said, ushering the girls to the loveseat while she dragged a stool out from the kitchen and pushed me into it. “You, shirt off.”

I rolled my eyes. “I just got dressed,” I complained, even as I shrugged off my new overshirt and tugged the gold tee over my head, leaving me sitting there in my A-shirt as Olivia examined my perfectly-fine shoulder. “The shots went clean through, and there’s not even a scar left, see? Sorry about that,” I added to Jazz. “I’m better at healing myself than others.”

She blinked up at me. “I thought I was going to die ,” she said bluntly. “I’m not going to complain about a little scar that’s so easy to hide. I didn’t say it before, but thank you, so , so much.”

I opened my mouth to protest, yet again, that I just did what anyone would have done, before I caught Blake’s eye. With a mental sigh, I changed what I was going to say. “I was glad to help. It’s the best part of having a healing Semblance.” There, that should let Olivia in on the deception of my ‘public’ Semblance, if she hadn’t already figured it out.

“What about your side?” Blake said, obviously not willing to take my word for… anything, apparently. “I saw Adam cut you when you shoved him.”

“You’re just trying to get me naked,” I accused her playfully, and she blushed and broke eye contact.

Olivia was having none of it, however, and gave me the stink eye until I sighed and peeled off the undershirt as well, leaving my new scar visible.

My sister sucked in air through her teeth. “That looks almost as bad as the one on your face.” She traced her fingertips along it, making me squirm away. 

“Quit it, that tickles.” I told her, pretending not to notice the other two checking me out. Blake is at least being subtle about it. Jazz is not.

“Jaune, this looks like it should have cut out your lung!” Olivia growled.

I shrugged. “My ribs did their job and blocked it,” I replied, not mentioning that if [Reinforcement] ’s damage-amplifying effect had activated, the blow would have easily depleted my HP. “I’m fine , okay? You know how well my Semblance heals me up.”

At that moment, Olivia’s Scroll started pinging repeatedly, and she finally let me go so she could silence it. Since my Semblance was buzzing along with it, I guessed it was our group chat going wild. I took the opportunity to get dressed again before grabbing a slice of pizza and settling back onto the stool, leaving Olivia the easy chair.

     Articuno -> ‘Seven Deadly Sisters’ | Friday, 20:41

     ‹Articuno› what the hell. i leave this chat. for one. mission. now jaune`s here. with huge scars on his face. we`re all apparently cursed. to keep him from getting trained. he`s got his semblance somehow. he`s rescuing people instead of calling the cops. and getting shot doing it. he`s telling olivia off for not wanting to help people. what the actual hell did i miss.

     ‹Gengar› welcome 2 our world

     ‹Gardevoir› All, Jaune is here with me now. He brought the victims along with him. Indigo, I’m putting them up for the night. I can confirm that he appears uninjured apart from a new scar on his left side. And, yes to all of that, Sienna.

     ‹Aegislash› so little faith, jeez

     ‹Reuniclus› I CAN ONLY SPEAK FOR MYSELF BUT IM STILL ADJUSTING TO THINKING OF YOU AS ANYTHING OTHER THAN TOTALLY UNTRAINED .

     ‹Aegislash› understandable, have a nice day

“They’re a chatty bunch,” I commented to Olivia, slipping my Scroll back in my pocket.

“Just be glad both the twins weren’t both on at the same time, and Vi’s still out on assignment.” Olivia sounded exhausted just thinking about it.

‘Vi’ would be Violet, the second-oldest, which meant her chat handle was… “So, the three birds like to squawk?”

Olivia snorted. Catching Blake’s curious look, she explained, “I don’t know if Jaune has mentioned, but we have a few siblings all around the Kingdoms.”

Rolling my eyes at her understatement, I interrupted her, “Your chat is literally called ‘Seven Deadly Sisters’. There’s a lot more than ‘a few’ of us.”

“Wait,” said Blake, looking between us. “Like the Seven Sins of Vale?”

[Quest Alert!]

[The Seven Deadly Sisters]

[It has been implied that your siblings were once known as The Seven Sins of Vale. Find out why.]

[Reward: ???, new title, increased closeness with Bianca Arc, increased closeness with Violet Arc, increased closeness with Sienna Arc, increased closeness with Shani Arc, increased closeness with Azure Arc, increased closeness with Indigo Arc, increased closeness with Olivia Arc.]

[Accept/Decline]

I turned my whole body to face Olivia, mentally accepting the quest. “Something you want to share?”

Her head dropped. “Not particularly…” she mumbled.

“Okay,” I said immediately, making her head snap up. I ignored her and grabbed another slice of pizza. I would find out eventually.

After a long moment, Olivia shook her head. She looked back at Blake and Jazz. “Well, I’d like to know what happened tonight, and how. But my dear brother has rather set the bar on respecting boundaries, so I’ll just say, you’re both welcome to stay as long as you need to feel safe. I am a fully-qualified Huntress, and if I for some reason need to leave for a mission, Jaune can take you to our parents’ house to stay with our sister Indigo, who is also a Beacon graduate.” 

She got up and went into the kitchen, then came back with a bottle of liquor and four small glasses, just too large to be for shots. Pouring a bit for each of us, she settled back down.

“All that being said, however,” she refocused her attention on me. “ You do have to answer some of my questions. Debrief, Jaune.”

I picked up the glass of liquor, sniffed, and then sipped. It tasted like…rye, I thought? Not bad. Is the drinking age seventeen here? Or is this just to calm our nerves?  

Leaning my neck to the side until it popped, I replied, “There’s not much more than I already told you. I was running some errands for Tukson today. My last delivery was out toward the Industrial District. The door was ajar, and right when I was about to knock I heard a gunshot, so I kicked it open. The door hit a guy behind it, and there was another guy on the other side that I clobbered. Unfortunately there were two more, and one of them shot me. I managed to get him too, but the other one had a sword, and he was stronger than me, so with Blake’s help,” I raised the glass to her, “I shoved him out the sixth floor window. Then we picked up Jazz and hauled ass.”

Olivia raised an eyebrow, and clearly pretended not to notice the incredulous look Blake was giving me for playing down my injuries, and for not mentioning that the people we fought were White Fang. After waiting a moment, Olivia asked, “And that’s all you have to report?”

I shrugged. “I guess if you want to put out an APB, the dude had short red hair and his katana looked like Huntsman-quality. Red blade. I didn’t pay much attention to the others; they weren’t very strong.”

Blake seemed to be struggling with herself, before she added. “He’s a bull faunus, his horns blend into his hair, and…he usually wears a mask to hide a…scar on his face.”

“Not as cool-looking as this one, I bet,” I interjected, turning to the side so my own scar was visible. I gave an over-the-top wink to break the mood, making Jazz giggle. Olivia snorted again, and Blake shook her head, though her lips twitched.

“I’ll keep an eye out,” Olivia told Blake, before turning toward Jazz. “But whoever he is, he won’t get in here so easily. My…‘security system’ will prevent the door from opening and make the five feet in front of it completely unnavigable, so nobody is getting in before morning. On which note, I’m going to turn in. Ladies, you’re sleeping through there; it’s only a double, so I hope you like each other.”

Nodding, I stood up, leaving my drink only half-finished, and went to grab my Handy Haversack. “I’ll come back by tomorrow,” I said over my shoulder as I turned the doorknob, but my passive [Detect Aura] suddenly flared in the same way it had when Olivia was cutting my hair, and the door refused to open.

“And just where do you think you’re going?” my sister drawled. “You expect me to let you out of my sight when you almost died tonight?”

I turned around, frowning slightly. “I was planning to not force two women who’ve just been assaulted in their home, to try to rest with a man they barely know nearby.”

Jazz looked flabbergasted, and even Blake blinked in surprise. 

“You don’t have to leave because of me,” Jazz said, glancing at Olivia. “I mean, this is your sister’s place. We’re the guests. And you saved my life, I don’t know who I could feel more comfortable having around.”

“And you can speak for Blake’s comfort, too?” I prodded, raising an eyebrow.

Blake wouldn’t meet my eye, glancing away and biting her lip.

“Blake?” Jazz looked shocked.

Blake sighed. “It’s… fine. You shouldn’t have to leave just because of my paranoia.”

“Then it’s settled,” Olivia cut in before I could mount another argument. “Jaune, you’ve got the couch, you can borrow one of my pillows.”

Standing up, she left the bottle on the table while she dropped off her glass in the kitchen. Then she crossed the room and folded me into a hug that I was shocked didn’t grant me a [Bludgeoning Resistance] skill.

“Sit back down and relax,” Olivia said, and then headed to her bedroom with one last smile. A moment later, her door opened again, and a pillow flew out, apparently unsupported. I prepared to catch it, but the pillow swerved impossibly around my outstretched hand and walloped me in the face instead, drawing another giggle out of Jazz.

I pulled it away and grinned reluctantly. “Sleep well and wake, Olivia,” I called out, setting the pillow on the stool while I dropped into her easy chair and poured myself another drink.

We settled into a semi-comfortable silence for a while, before Blake, who hadn’t touched her drink, finally asked, “She showed that she can keep the door closed, but how is it ‘unnavigable’?”

“Something to do with her Semblance,” I shrugged, gesturing vaguely at the pillow. “However it works.”

“You don’t know?” Jazz asked curiously.

I shook my head. “She's telekinetic, or something like it, obviously. But I’m really not joking about the amnesia thing. I woke up in the hospital on 23rd July. That’s effectively the beginning of my memory. I know how to walk and talk, but my personal history is a big blank.” Seeing an uncomfortable look on Jazz’s face, I gave a shrug. “I don’t see the point in being all emo about it. I can’t miss what I don’t remember. Apparently two weeks ago I was a huge wuss who couldn’t stand up to school bullies, though, so it’s not like I’m eager to go back. I decided to just keep moving forward.”

“And made an oath,” Blake remembered.

I rubbed my neck, a little embarrassed — but only a little. “Yeah. Since my past was such a blur, I decided to outline what I wanted my future to contain. Holism, Goodness, Justice, Steadfastness, and Joy. Anything that could be considered a ‘moral’ choice, those are the criteria for my decision.” 

“And which of those points led to you jumping in tonight?”

My eyebrows rose. “All of them. I would have thought that was obvious.” 

Blake frowned, considering that. “I can see where jumping in could be considered just. And good, I suppose. Staying in the face of overwhelming odds was steadfast. But the other two?”

“Being able to keep you both alive, especially being able to heal Jazz, was joyous,” I pointed out. “And I learned more about myself and my capabilities, both leading up to the altercation and as a result of it, which was holistic.”

Blake sighed, eyeing her drink for another moment before finally picking it up, and sipping it. 

“I'm going to sleep. Good night, you two,” said Jazz, having already drained her glass. Circling the coffee table, she pecked me on the cheek and added, “Thank you again, for saving my life.” 

I bade her sleep well and wake, and she left me alone with Blake, who was staring at her empty glass.

I picked up the bottle. “Another?”

Blake lifted her golden gaze to me instead, and didn’t reply for a long moment. “No, thanks.”

Nodding, I simply topped my own glass off. We sat in silence for a while, Blake continuing to study me as I sipped. Finally, she said, “I don’t understand you.”

“In what sense?” I asked.

Blake’s hands, resting in her lap, suddenly clenched. “Humans– People don’t act like you do!” She said, not quite yelling. “You almost died today, and you’re just shrugging it off, despite that scar you’re likely to carry for the rest of your life. Do you have a death wish or something!?”

“Not at all.”

“And I’m trying to respect this oath of yours,” she went on, as if I hadn’t spoken. “Or at least understand it. But it just sounds…ridiculous! It sounds like you’re trying to be a fairytale knight, but there’s no such thing in the real world!” Blake took a deep breath, before going on more softly. “Everybody wants something. Everybody expects a reward for going out of their way. And you just keep piling our debt to you higher, feeding us and giving us a room. But you haven’t asked us for anything!”

She paused for breath, looking a little flushed, and I raised an eyebrow. “Would you feel better about it if I asked for a favor, then?”

“A favor?” Blake repeated, eyes narrowed once more. “What kind of…‘favor’?”

I smiled.

     DM: Nightshade -> Paladin | Monday 19:17

     ‹Nightshade› All right, I accept. I’ll meet you by the Emerald Gate tomorrow.

     ‹Paladin› I’ll have to ride the train into town, so I can meet you at like

     ‹Paladin› eightish?

     ‹Nightshade› Can we do it at 9?

     ‹Paladin› sure, I’ll see you then

Only took her three days to agree, I thought, slipping the Scroll away. Drawing my practice sword once more, I tried out a lunge.

Frowning, I glanced down, readjusted my feet and tried again. That felt better.

Jazz had demanded my Scroll number, to my surprise, since I figured she would have wanted to put the whole ordeal behind her. Blake had escorted her to her parents’ house after just one night at Olivia’s. I offered to accompany them, but Blake had declined immediately. 

Accepting that, I went home and redoubled my workout, trying to get my base stats up higher so my buffs would be more effective. Five points in STR, two in CON, four in DEX, plus getting a few more ranks in Sleight of Hand and Parkour.

I was still scrambling to figure out how to effectively raise INT and WIS, but I didn’t have much to go on, other than another point of INT when I finally got around to studying local and world history online for a few minutes while waiting for my mana to recharge.

Squaring off with the training dummy, I lunged once more, and the tip of the wooden sword smacked squarely into its chest.

[Sword Mastery has increased by 1!]

Perfect, that brings it to level ten, which gives me a boost to attack speed as well as damage.

Twirling the sword by rolling my wrist, I took a few more test swings in the air, noting that the sword really did seem a bit easier to handle. It was like it was more…at home in my hand, and closer to being an extension of my arm than a stick I happened to be holding.

“You really are getting better,” observed Indigo from behind me. She was leaning against the doorframe with her arms folded.

“Just hit a skill threshold,” I reported. “Check it out.”

Activating [Cat’s Grace] and [Bull’s Strength], I ran at my sister, equipping my training shield while in motion, and swung with no expectation of actually hitting her. 

Sure enough, she ducked under my swing easily, and slammed an open palm into my abdomen to knock me back. As I stumbled away, gasping, I raised my shield instinctively as This Is Gonna Hurt started blaring in my ears. Sure enough, she hammered the shield with a stab from a training sword she’d snatched from the wall. 

It was blatantly obvious that she was going easy on me, but her eyebrows still rose at my successful block. Not much of an opening, but I wasn’t likely to get a better one against an opponent whose level I still couldn’t see, so I just swung with as much speed and power as I could reasonably control.

She parried easily, and lectured, “Exhale completely before you get hit in the gut and you won’t get the breath knocked out of you.”

I nodded, committing that to memory and slipping into a comfortable sword pattern I’d learned, when the sudden absence of Indigo’s blade clacking against mine abruptly threw me off. Realizing my sister was done simply defending and ready to counterattack, I tried to huddle behind my shield again, but Indigo was having none of it. She delivered a toe-kick to the bottom of the shield with her steel-toed boot, and sent a thrust at my unprotected solar plexus. This time I managed to exhale. I curled up from the pain, but managed to stay upright, and immediately raised the sword I had refused to drop.

Indigo’s sword clattered against my hasty block, and the shield I’d instinctively yanked back down tried to block the knee she was simultaneously sending at my face. I even activated [Reinforcement], but unfortunately, Indigo was definitely still physically stronger than me, and the result of the attempted block was simply the back of my shield smashing my nose instead of her kneecap.

“Fuck!” I exclaimed, the pain of a broken nose blinding for an instant before [Gamer’s Body] immediately returned it to normal. Before I could so much as wipe my face, I had to jump back as Indigo lunged again. I managed to interpose my shield, to much better effect this time, and my return stab almost hit her leg before she twisted away. Glancing down, I saw her shadow unwrap its fingers from her ankle, and both of us took a moment to breathe.

“You’ve definitely crossed some kind of threshold,” Indigo said, tossing her bangs out of her eyes. “You get distracted too easily though.”

“Yeah, I get caught up in my own head.” I sighed. “Not to worry, you’re beating that habit out of me, fast.”

“That’s the idea.” Indigo smirked, resting the practice sword on her shoulder. I lowered my guard, cautious of a trick, but she didn’t strike. “What else is on the docket today?”

“Today, not much. Need to figure out a reasonable way to grind flat CON, since I don’t get much anymore from running myself to exhaustion.” 

Rather, I couldn’t reasonably run enough to exhaust myself from just that, anymore. Apparently 25 CON was the baseline for cross-country running. 

“Maybe running with weights on me?” I picked at my lip, thinking about how to manage that. “Tomorrow I’m going to go try to find some Grimm to kill. I still think there’s a decent chance they might drop loot.”

Indigo stiffened. “You’re going Hunting?” she asked.

“On the edge of the Emerald Forest,” I confirmed, then added, “With a partner.”

She instantly relaxed at hearing I wouldn’t be alone. “Someone I know?”

“No, though Olivia met her,” I replied. “That girl from the other night, Blake, is aiming for Beacon as well.” 

“So you’ll be two tyros heading out?” Indigo was frowning again.

“You’re not my mother,” I reminded her, a little sharply. “Besides, from what I saw, Blake is pretty good; she’s just a little bit below the weakest students I’ve seen in the city. I assume those must be the freshmen from last year.”

Indigo’s eyebrows knitted. “What do you mean?”

“I can see other people’s levels if they’re within a certain range of mine,” I reminded her. “You and Olivia are still a mystery, but Blake is only a dozen levels ahead of me. Of the people I’ve [Observed] in town, the lowest ones with the Job of ‘Beacon Student’ have levels in the mid-twenties, while the highest I’ve seen look a few years older and are still outside my range, meaning they’re over sixty.”

“Because you’re level ten,” she deduced. “And you said most civilians are single-digit, so you’re… probably reaching beginning-of-combat-school levels.” She sounded reluctant to admit that. Sighing, she continued, “I want to say you’re crazy for expecting to be ready for Beacon next year when you’re only at this level right now, but getting this far in just a couple weeks is already nuts.”

“It’ll still be tight,” I admitted. “I’d like to hit at least level twenty before school, but each successive level takes way more EXP. My Semblance doesn’t give me the numbers, but judging by the curve, it’s exponential. I’ll probably need like… four times as much total EXP as it took to get from one to ten.”

“You still got that in a couple weeks,” Indigo observed, lowering her head in thought so that her hair fell across her face.

I snorted. “A couple weeks in which I had legitimate fights with people way out of my weight class, that I only won through quick thinking and cunning,” I pointed out. “I don’t have any intention of repeating that pattern, it’s bad for my health.”

Indigo shook her head sadly. “Then you shouldn’t come at me willy-nilly.” Her hair parted, and the mocking smile on her lips betrayed her. 

Realizing what she was doing, I tried to jump away, but failed as shadowy hands suddenly grabbed my ankles. “Shit!” 

I caught her first stab on my shield, deflecting it to the outside. My footing wasn’t too bad, all things considered, but not being able to move my legs was going to make me lose in short order. I had no Dust on me, so there was no easy way to make enough light to disrupt Indigo’s control of my shadow, so I needed to take advantage of my sister being off-balance from my parry. My sword was too far and at the wrong angle for a good strike, and I couldn’t kick, which left… 

Crouching as best I could as Indigo unwillingly completed the motion of the lunge she had committed to, I leaned forward and straightened up explosively, driving my forehead into her nose. Her dark blue Aura flared, but not fast enough, and I heard the cartilage snap. Unfortunately, even that wasn’t enough to make her lose focus on her Semblance, and the blood that spurted from her nose got in my eyes almost immediately, leaving me not only immobile, but blind.

Sure enough, I sensed her start circling me with [Detect Aura] as I tried to clear my vision. I brought my shield up, but she just attacked my legs instead. Soon she was behind me, and the wooden sword was ‘stabbing’ me over and over. I was only blocking maybe one in every eight or nine shots, and my HP was dropping rapidly despite the nonlethal nature of her weapon as she jabbed at my liver, spine, and kidneys. 

“Uncle,” I grunted at about 10% HP. I dropped my sword and unequipped the shield, which blinked it to my back in time to block the next stab that was already coming. I finally wiped my eyes, and Indigo whacked me upside the head with her free hand as she strolled back in front of me. 

“You broke by dose you liddle shit,” she complained through gritted teeth, grabbing a towel and straightening it with another crunch. 

“Turnabout’s fair play,” I grunted, sitting down and deactivating my active animal buffs in favor of [Bear’s Endurance]. “Besides, I’d be pissing red from all the times you hit my kidneys if I wasn’t a healer.”

Indigo blew the blood out of her nostrils. “But you are a healer,” she reminded me, sounding normal again. “So what are you whining about?”

I squinted up at her, but she was wiping her face with the clean side of the towel. “It still hurts when you hit me.”

“So take that as incentive to not get hit,” Indigo was smirking again when she threw the towel away.

“Do you need healing?” I asked, but she shook her head.

“My Aura dealt with it. Good shot, by the way.”

“Only opening I could find,” I replied, shutting my eyes and preparing to meditate my HP and MP back. “You don’t make enough mistakes, or I’m not good enough to see most of them.” I paused, cracking one eye to look at my sister again. “You do lunge too often, though.”

“Hazards of using a stabbing weapon through Beacon,” she shrugged. “It’s my first instinct, even if these swords aren’t designed for it.”

I shrugged painfully, and Indigo moved to leave, hanging the sword up where she’d grabbed it. “I need a shower.”

She paused at the door and glanced over her shoulder. “Good job, Jaune.”

I grinned, but it dropped off my face as soon as she left, my missing HP feeling like an ache all over my back even with the regen from forty-something CON. Sighing, I triggered [Gaia’s Pulse], sinking into myself for the ten or so minutes it would take to get my HP back to full. Since I kept the buff going, my MP only ticked up very slowly in comparison, but it was above half so I wasn’t worried about it. 

When the aches had faded and my HP was full, I tilted my neck to pop it, and the notifications suppressed by the fight began crowding my sight.

[Duel Alert!: Jaune Arc vs. Indigo Arc]

[Result: Defeat!]

[You have gained 2,000 EXP!]

[By Enduring a new damage type, you have unlocked the skill [Bludgeoning Resistance]!]

     [Bludgeoning Resistance (Passive) LV 1 EXP: 0.00% ]
     [A skill that makes the body's durability increase, reducing damage taken from bludgeoning and crushing attacks.]
     [1% decrease in damage taken from bludgeoning attacks.]
     [1% chance to maintain focus and not Flinch when taking damage from any source.]

[Endurance’s rank has increased by 1!]

[A skill has been created through a special action! Deflecting an incoming attack and immediately counterattacking has created the skill [Parry]!]

[Parry (Trigger) LV 1 EXP: 0.00% MP: 100]
[Often, a greater defense is possible than simply absorbing blows. This technique allows an incoming blow to be deflected instead, using the opponent’s momentum against them to avoid damage.]
[Allows for a counterattack following a successful parry.]

[Trigger skills are a type of active ability with an associated MP cost to activate, but unlike Active skills, can only be activated if specific circumstances are met. Each Trigger skill is unique in its prerequisites.]

[Reinforcement has increased by 1! Shield Mastery has increased by 1! Shield Mastery has increased by 1! Blunt Resistance has increased by 1! Shield Mastery has increased by 1! Martial Arts has increased by 1! Blunt Resistance has increased by 1! Blunt Resistance has increased by 1! Blunt Resistance has increased by 1! Blunt Resistance has increased by 1! Melee Combat Mastery has increased by 1!]

[By pushing your body past its limits, you have increased your physical abilities! Your CON has increased by 1! Your CON has increased by 1! Gaia’s Pulse has increased by 1! Bull’s Strength has increased by 1! Cat’s Grace has increased by 1! Bear’s Endurance has increased by 1!]

That much from a blatant loss in a straight fight, I marveled. Just how damn strong were my sisters, anyway? And I picked up a Blunt Resistance to go with the Slashing Resistance I got from Adam. Wonder how many damage types there are? Jeez, it’s already to level 6, so the resists are at 6% now too. Damn, I guess practice swords are only going to give me Blunt Resistance. I’ll have to practice with live weapons before Beacon if I want to get Slashing Resistance up.

I stretched where I sat, and idly shoved the practice sword back in my [Inventory] before getting up and heading for the weight room to lift some more.

I was cooking breakfast the next morning when Indigo staggered downstairs under her own power around half-past eight. She didn’t knock anything over, but her shadow still had to tug her chair under her as she sat down a little too far to the left, already reaching blindly for the coffee I poured as soon as I felt her on the stairs.

“Didn’t expect to see you before noon,” I commented as she set the mug down, now half-empty.

“Wanted to see you off,” she grunted, head drooping before she forced herself to sit up.

“Wanted some breakfast you didn’t have to make, more like,” I teased. “How many eggs and what style?”

“Four, over medium.” Indigo said, the last word being cut off by a yawn. “What time are you leaving?”

“We’re meeting by the Emerald Gate at nine; I’ll probably take off once I eat and get there a little early,” I replied, tilting the already-heated skillet to better coat it with the grease from the bacon I’d just finished frying.

“Didn’t expect you to start this late,” she observed belatedly, taking another sip of coffee. “You’ve been getting up at, what, six?”

“Thereabouts,” I agreed. I cracked four eggs into a bowl, then poured them into the pan all at once. “But this is when Blake wanted to meet. I offered eight, but I guess she wanted to sleep in.”

“She rescheduled on you?” Indigo asked, looking a bit more awake. 

“Yeah,” I said, unlocking my Scroll with my left hand and tossing it to her as I shook the skillet with my right to make sure the eggs didn’t stick.

There was a moment’s silence as Indigo scrolled back through my text history with Blake. “Suspicious little thing, isn’t she?”

“With those guys looking for her, can’t be too careful,” I shrugged, flipping the eggs carefully so the yolks wouldn’t break.

“Not what I meant, bro-bro,” Indigo smirked, borrowing Olivia’s nickname for me. “Look at all these little adjustments she makes to any plans you suggest. Look at how long she kept you on the hook for an answer on whether she’d come today at all. And even then, she still rescheduled on you?”

“What about it?” I asked, plating her food and setting it in front of her.

“You really think she’s got something better to do this morning?” Indigo asked rhetorically. “She’s testing you.”

I blinked, cracking three more eggs to cook over easy for myself. “About what?”

Indigo shrugged. “I’ve done th– seen this before, from girls with controlling exes.” She clearly changed what she was saying there, and I elected not to pry. “If a guy you’re talking to, especially if he’s a romantic prospect, has a habit of planning everything out, and telling you what to do instead of asking, you introduce a change to the plan to see how he reacts. Something harmless, like meeting an hour later, or at a different place.”

She waggled my scroll, and went on. “A good guy will accept it. A scumbag will refuse to change his plans and insist you go along with him. 

“What if he really can’t meet later because of another engagement?” I suggested, curious.

Indigo shook her head. “If he’s decent, he’ll explain that he has something else later and probably ask when a better time would be. A scumbag will demand to know why you want to change it. It’s just an easy rule of thumb to narrow down who not to meet, if you’re chatting digitally.”

She flicked her finger to scroll back to the most recent messages. “Good answer from you, Jaune-o.”

“Thanks,” I scoffed, “But I’m pretty sure she’s more the type to do that to anyone, and it doesn’t have anything to do with ‘romantic prospects’.”

Indigo rolled her eyes, which I ignored, eating my own breakfast quickly and equipping my Combat gear. I stood up, shrugging and stretching to get used to my range of motion with the breastplate on. “I should get some more armor pieces,” I mused, mostly to myself.

“Really?” Indigo raised an eyebrow. “Most Huntsmen prefer to dress light, you know.”

“I still don’t have Aura that protects me,” I reminded her. “But even if I did, armor is still armor after my Aura breaks. Plus, with my stats, I doubt I’ll notice the weight.”

She bit her lip. “Point.” 

I also went ahead and equipped the Family Sword with its shield-sheath — sheathld? shielth? — causing the bandolier to appear automatically to hang it beside my left hip. Using my Semblance’s interface to do the same to my stolen pistol gave it a holster on my right hip, shuffling the pouches I’d attached to my belt the previous day into better positions. Testing the draw and finding it both easy and natural, I sat back down on the edge of my chair and laid it in front of me.

It was fairly large, looking like a big brother to Indigo’s pistol, with a barrel nearly a full inch longer. The elongated slide meant both a longer sight radius and more weight toward the front to keep the barrel down when shooting, all of which combined to mean better overall accuracy, which made me think this was probably the Remnan equivalent of a G41, compared to Indigo’s G21.

Ejecting the magazine and racking the slide a few times to make sure the pipe was empty, I popped a bullet out of the mag and peered closely at it, noting as usual that it was a bit lighter than an equivalent Terran bullet, probably because Dust was such an energy-dense propellant. I hadn’t broken any of the bullets open yet, mostly because I lacked a proper workbench, and I only had the one clip that was already half-empty.

“Your gun is a forty-five, right?” I asked Indigo. “Can you spare a half-dozen rounds? Or will that conflict with the geas?”

She considered it for a moment, then got to her feet. “Who cares? The geas is stupid.” 

Crossing to the safe beside the door, Indigo scanned her thumb and pulled her gun out. She ejected her own magazine and slid six bullets out, watching carefully as I loaded my clip to a full thirteen round capacity. 

I quickly stripped the weapon, clearing the slide and inspecting the action. It didn’t look quite right compared to my memories from Earth, but I’d taken the time to examine and test the gun over the last few days and this seemed to be normal for a Dust-based firearm.

Checking the time, I reassembled the stolen gun, slapping the newly-full magazine in and slipped it back into the holster. Standing up once more, I pushed my Scroll into my [Inventory] and did a quick pocket check. Scroll, I’d just touched, sword, gun, armor, wallet, knives; I was good to go. 

Indigo, who had sat back down to eat more leisurely, followed me with her eyes as I headed for the door. I glanced back, even as I pulled out my sunglasses. 

“No more complaints?” I asked, to be sure.

Indigo shook her head. “I don’t have to like it, but after our spar last night I can admit you’ll probably be fine. As long as you’re smart and don’t bite off more than you can chew.”

I grinned. “I’ll see what I can do.”

“Good Hunting, Jaune.”

We didn’t live far from the Emerald Gate, so I was there after only a few stops, at maybe five minutes to nine. As I stepped off, I glanced around, but I didn’t see Blake anywhere.

That doesn’t mean she’s not here already, though, I mused. 

Taking a seat on a bench, I hummed along to the ambient background music of the Emerald Forest, just barely audible here on the edge of town, and focused on [Detect Aura] as I activated it.

The Emerald Gate wasn’t exactly a thoroughfare, since there wasn’t much reason for most civilians to go outside the walls of the Kingdom, but there were a few dozen people in the hundred-twenty meters I could currently sense. Four guarding the gate, a few outside it heading in, one outside heading away, and the majority off somewhere behind me, simply going about their day and only in my range coincidentally.

And one on the roof of the building across the street.

Flicking my eyes up without moving my head, I still had to peer closely to notice that one of the silhouettes against the sky wasn’t a chimney or a plumbing vent, but a head with a bow, angled toward me. 

Let’s see what [Observe] tells me.

[Name: Blake Belladonna]
[LV 23]
[Title: On Whom The Pale Moon Gleams]
[Race: Cat Faunus]
[Age: 17]
[Job: Amateur Huntress]
[Class: Rogue]
[Semblance: Shadow]
[Stats: 16 STR, 12 CON, 35 DEX, 17 INT, 13 WIS, 22 CHA]
[Background: Only child of Ghira Belladonna, Chieftain of Menagerie. Former White Fang operative, defected recently. Intending to test into Beacon Academy.]
[Emotions: Curious, nervous.]

The bow twitched slightly as I watched.

She didn’t have that the other night. I thought. Wonder if it’s new? Hard to believe that’s her entire disguise after Jazz got hurt. And if Jazz died in canon, it’s even more ridiculous that Blake wouldn’t go to greater lengths. Still, there’s nothing there I didn’t already know or couldn’t have guessed.

As I was pondering, Blake slipped away from the edge facing the train, and coincidentally me, moving out of sight. A moment later, she emerged from the alley beside the building, walking toward me purposefully. 

Standing up, I moved to meet her. “Hey, thanks for coming.”

“Not at all,” she said, looking me up and down. Not checking me out — at least not primarily, though her eyes did linger on my recently more-pronounced forearms, revealed by the cuffed-up arms of my overshirt.

Thank you, boosted STR and CON.

Rather, she was mostly examining my openly-worn weapons and armor, and the quality of my boots. “You might have wanted to wear something other than your regular outfit under that,” she remarked.

I shrugged. “As a Huntsman I’ll be expected to keep my clothes in good shape.”

That had been a lesson from my studies of history. The reason Hunters wore such distinctive and often-impractical outfits was much the same as with comic book superheroes: Aesthetics. Not just personal style, though that was certainly a valued factor on Remnant, but because it was important for Huntsmen and Huntresses to stand out in a crowd. Grimm, the manifestation of anonymity, all looked the same, and in the face of an oncoming horde, civilians needed to be able to spot a Hunter at a glance.

And it’s the All Might principle, I guess. Bright clothes say, ‘I am here. I will protect you. You have nothing to fear.’

[Clever intuition caused your INT to increase by 1!]

Blake nodded, and I stretched my neck to the side until it popped, before following her toward the Emerald Gate. The guards looked us over as we scanned our Scrolls to indicate we were leaving the city, but it was daylight, and we were wearing bright colors and openly carrying weapons. Most likely they took us for a pair of Beacon students, rather than hopefuls, but what mattered was they made no move to stop us.

Blake and I passed through the gate, strolling up the road at an unhurried pace until the road passed into the Emerald Forest itself, about half a mile away from the walls and the section of land the Guard kept clear-cut. At an unspoken agreement, we both stepped off the road and into the treeline. 

Blake seemed just as much at home in the woods as in the city — that is, mostly, but not quite, yet faking it as best she could. She still made a lot less noise than me, but once I started focusing on it I managed to just sound like someone twice my weight rather than a whole Boarbatusk crashing through the undergrowth.

[A skill has been created through a special action! Making an effort to reduce the sound of your passage has created the skill [Stealth]!]

[Stealth (Passive/Active) LV 1 EXP: 0.00%]
[The art of remaining unnoticed. Reduce noise from your movements and breathing, to sneak into a place or up on someone. Stay out of sight of guards, cameras, and alarms.]
[-25% movement noise.]
[ACTIVE: MP: 15/min]
[Highlights observed guard patrol routes and camera recording areas.]
[Increase noise reduction percentage by DEX while active.]
[25% chance to spot hidden cameras and traps.]

Hey, not bad. Activating the skill, I found the drain to be slightly higher than my regen, but as long as I wasn’t using any other skills it effectively only cost me about 1MP/min. That brought my noise down by about sixty percent. Still, I feel like I can do better. Do I remember how to do this…?

I looked down and started placing my steps more carefully, avoiding twigs and fallen leaves, stepping mostly where there were roots and rocks.

[Importing Outsider save data… Save data loaded successfully!]

[You have remembered the skill [Woodcraft]!]

[Woodcraft (Passive) LV 10 EXP: 0.00%]
[The skill and practice of maintaining oneself and making one's way in a variety of natural environments; encompassing knowledge and understanding of obtaining necessities such as foraging for food, sourcing safe water, shelter-building, firecraft, and navigation.]
[You always know the number of hours left before the next sunrise or sunset.]
[You know how to build a temporary shelter with the materials you have at hand.]
[You always know which way is north.]
[You can move 10% faster and smoother through natural environments.]
[Any trail you leave is 10% harder to identify, find, and follow, unless you decide otherwise.]
[You can find 10% more food and water when foraging.]
[You can build a fire 10% easier in any weather conditions.]

There we go. Actually, I was pretty sure I should be better at fire-making than that, but on the other hand, I don’t actually need a skill to start a fire. Physics, thankfully, was not fully bound by ‘game logic’.

I looked around, and had to do a double-take before I found Blake. Even with as much white as she wore, she was hard to pick out of the forest gloom. She arched an eyebrow, looking pleased with herself, but waved that I should go ahead, content to shadow me for the moment.

As soon as we started moving forward though, I lost her again.

[Detecting something trying to remain hidden… Success!]

Ah, there you are… I tried to keep her in my peripheral vision, and eventually gained a point in WIS for the trouble.

I didn’t break the silence until [Detect Grimm] went off. I’d been keeping it active for a minute at a time, then relying on my other senses for a few minutes before popping it again. We were about twenty minutes into the woods when I finally felt something enter my hundred-meter range.

[Detect Grimm has increased by 1! Detect Grimm has increased by 1!]

“We’re getting close to one,” I reported.

“I hear it,” Blake raised an eyebrow. “You shouldn’t be able to, though.”

She was right, it was just a dark spot on my ‘Grimm-dar’, obscuring the metaphorical light behind it by its presence, but I ignored her comment. “I’ll see if I can take it, it doesn’t seem that strong. Just hang back and make sure I don’t get snuck up on?”

“I’ll shout,” Blake agreed. “Are you sure you don’t want help, though? You said this was your first Hunt.”

I shook my head. “I need to get stronger very fast, that means fights are going to be a bit dangerous. And although this is my first Hunt, it’s better to see what I can handle now, while I have someone to keep me alive.”

We started off on an intercept course toward where the Grimm’s lazy pace was taking it, slowly from right to left across my senses. Blake kept drifting right, before correcting to match my course, but we gained on it pretty fast.

“Why the urgency in getting stronger?” Blake asked softly, as we closed in on the Grimm we’d sensed.

“I’m trying to get into Beacon next term,” I said. Blake’s back stiffened, but I kept going. “It’s the one thing my old self seemed to want that I agreed with. But he was in a public school, so he was pretty lazy and out of shape.”

Blake glanced skeptically at my recently-toned forearms. “When did you get out of the hospital?”

“23 July,” I sighed. “See what I mean? I’ve got eight months to get on a level with someone who’s been to Combat School. I’ve been working my ass off and I can tell it’s only going to get harder from here.”

“If you were that unprepared, why would you have been aspiring to Beacon?” Blake asked, after a moment.

“Not a godsforsaken clue,” I shrugged. “Maybe he was planning to cheat, like send in fake transcripts or something.”

“There’s no way Professor Ozpin wouldn’t spot fake transcripts,” Blake scoffed, which made me grin.

[Acting has increased by 1!]

Ugh, and there goes that good vibe.

“All right,” I murmured. Mostly to myself, though loud enough for Blake to hear. “Solo kill, let’s go.”

We fell silent again as we approached the Grimm, which was still alone. I let [Detect Grimm] fade, since even I could hear it now. I was down about 10% of my MP, and staying there as [Stealth] matched my natural regen. I could see the monster now, a good-size bear, so I had mana to spare, and something told me [Stealth] would end once I attacked, returning my regen to normal and leaving me open to use whatever skills or spells I might need.

[Observe] .

[Name: Ursa Minor]
[LV: 17]
[Title: I Don’t Speak Softly]
[Stats: 50 STR, 85 CON, 40 DEX, 15 INT, 8 WIS, 0 CHA]

Stats are higher than expected for its level, I mused, feeling my breath quicken as the bearlike creature got nearer. It wasn’t huge, only a Minor, but its physical stats were better than mine. Unsurprisingly, I was not stronger than a bear.

Shit, am I ready for this? I was starting to sweat.

Just as that thought crossed my mind, the Ursa’s head snapped around to face me, and it instantly began to charge, leaping from a slow amble to a dead run. It had also been eerily silent, apart from its footsteps, but now suddenly let out a muddy growl.

Fuck, that’s right, they can detect fear! I remembered a moment too late. Yanking the Family Sword clear of the sheath, I deployed it into a shield at the same time I flung myself sideways, rolling with my passive [Parkour] skill to come instantly back to my feet. There was nothing I could do about the fear and tension I was feeling, but at least it was starting to get washed away by adrenaline. 

The Ursa skidded past me, digging its claws into the loamy forest floor to stop faster than it could have otherwise, and reared up. I raised my shield, and just had time to activate [Reinforcement] and [Bull’s Strength] before it slammed down. 

Fortunately, the combination brought me to 55 STR, letting me hold back the Ursa’s flat 50 for a moment, before I flexed my legs and forced its paw back up. Suddenly off-balance, the Ursa roared again, in what seemed like frustration that I wasn’t already dead.

I dropped both buffs, so that they wouldn’t last past the current minute. I needed to preserve my MP, so I’d practice my animal buffs later. Instead, I was going to use this fight to focus on one of my most underleveled skills. Gritting my teeth, I brought the Family Sword around in a diagonal swipe, slashing at the upright bear from shoulder to hip.

[Crusader’s Smite] !

There was the slightest white glow around the Family Sword’s blade as it cut the Grimm’s black flesh, and its HP dropped by a respectable amount as the dark fur parted to reveal the monster’s odd red insides. No organs or even internal bone structure visible, just a flat red substance that barely ran.

‹I Don’t Speak Softly›
LV 17
Ursa Minor
HP: [----------82%------    ]

Hmm… That HP bar is new.

The Ursa let out a bellow of pain, and I was forced to jump back as it brought both paws down in a mighty slam.

Taking a page out of Indigo’s book, I lunged, stabbing it through one paw, but the other paw swung up faster than I expected and walloped me across the head.

Staggering, I managed to keep a hold of my sword and stay on my feet, but my eyes streamed from the pain before [Gamer’s Body] made it fade into a mere 15% of my HP being depleted.

“That HURT!” I growled, slashing at the Ursa and triggering [Crusader’s Smite] again. I laid open its shoulder, deep enough that I should have seen bone, but the Grimm barely seemed to notice, lunging forward with only a slight stumble and latching its jaws around my own shoulder before I could raise my shield again. “FUCK!”

I didn’t have the leverage to slash, so I just shoved the blade point-first into its neck, triggering [Crusader’s Smite] once more. That hit must have been critical, because the Grimm seemed stunned for a moment, and I was able to wrench my arm and blade free to jump away again.

Furious now, I was about to step forward again when the Ursa suddenly stiffened, and then collapsed on its face, HP suddenly dropping from the forty-ish percent I’d left it to zero. Blinking, it took me a moment in the dim light to notice the matte black kusarigama impaled through the back of the Ursa’s head, or the ribbon leading back to the edge of the clearing, where Blake had apparently scaled a tree to observe the fight.

She was watching me intently, almost looking through me, even as she yanked her weapon free by the ribbon and caught it as it came flying back. I looked down at the Grimm, already beginning to dissolve into nothing, then back at Blake.

“Thanks,” I said simply, sliding the Family Sword back into the top of the shield, but leaving it attached to my arm. With my hand now free, I rubbed where I’d been bitten. “Damn, that hurt.”

Blake visibly relaxed, dropping from the branch with barely a sound. She bit her lip, then asked, “Are you all right?”

I nodded, pulling the neck of my shirt away to show that my shoulder was unblemished. “Healed right up,” I assured her. “Guess I wasn’t quite as ready as I thought, though.”

“I think you could have finished it,” Blake offered, keeping her distance and leaning against the trunk. “You got some good hits in.”

“Took too many myself, though,” I said, scowling down at the holes in my shirt. “I was really hoping to deal with it myself.”

“I didn’t know you would recover that fast. It took you some time to heal Jazz,” Blake observed.

“I can heal myself about twice as fast as I can other people,” I said, which was true for the moment, although [Lay On Hands] seemed to advance in an interesting, staggered way, letting me give more than half of my regen to the target after level 1 but actually costing slightly less than half. “Fortunately, my skin knits almost immediately.” 

[Acting has increased by 1!]

Tch… Ignoring my sarcastic Semblance, I stretched my muscles and turned on the spot, feeling around with [Detect Grimm] to see if there were any more nearby as I checked the rest of the notifications that had been suppressed by being in combat.

[You have gained 200 EXP! You found 200L! You found a Grade I Shock Dust Crystal Shard! Shield Mastery has increased by 1! Crusader’s Smite has increased by 1! Crusader’s Smite has increased by 1!]

[By Enduring a new damage type, you have unlocked the skill [Piercing Resistance]!]

     [Piercing Resistance (Passive) LV 1 EXP: 0.00% ]
     [A skill that makes the body's durability increase, reducing damage taken from piercing and stabbing attacks.]
     [1% decrease in damage taken from piercing attacks.]
     [Reduces penetration of the body by all projectiles by 1%.]

[Endurance’s rank has increased by 1!]

Good, looks like Auto-Loot works, I thought with a sigh of relief that I wouldn’t have to explain cash and Dust appearing from dead Grimm. Although I kind of envy Han Jee-han for getting to start off fighting zombies instead of goddamn bears. And there’s my third physical resistance as well. Wonder how many resistances there are?

Not wanting to spend too much time staring into space, I started moving North again, and Blake followed. 

Name: Jaune Arc
Level: 10 (Next: 90.33%)
Title: Initiate
Race: Human
Age: 17
Job: None
Class: Paladin
Semblance: The Gamer
HP: 626/873
MP: 667/762
STR: 40
CON: 29.9 (29)
DEX: 35 (31)
INT: 33
WIS: 44
CHA: 28.3 (23)
Points: 30
Money: 40615L
Status: Cursed – Yellow Death [Highest]

Chapter Text

[Detect Grimm has increased by 1!]

“I can’t feel any Grimm close by,” I said after another ten minutes of picking our way through the woods. “Do you hear any more?”

“No,” Blake said eventually. “But I know a spot where there’s usually a bunch.”

“Lay on, MacDuff.”

Blake arched an eyebrow at my reference, but slipped into the lead, moving East. Heading for the spot she’d mentioned, the forest started thinning out, and we seemed to be angling toward the largest mountain outside of Vale — Jaune probably knew what the mountain was called, I reflected, but I didn’t.

I reactivated [Stealth] once my MP topped back off, and was focusing on minimizing my traversal noise again when I noticed Blake glancing back at me every minute or so. Hoping I wasn’t making her nervous, I slowed for a moment to give her some more space, but that didn’t seem to help.

It was another few minutes before she finally spoke up. “I thought you’d never Hunted a Grimm before.”

“I said that I wanted backup, not that I was completely helpless,” I corrected her. “I’ve been learning how to fight ever since I woke up, but I haven’t had to face off with a real monster before, which is why it went kind of poorly.” 

“Why, exactly?” Blake asked. It was hard to read her tone, but she had slowed down to watch me carefully.

“I got nervous,” I admitted easily. “It was a big freakin’ bear and all I have is a sword. I was fairly sure I could kill it, but I didn’t know how much it was going to hurt me back.” I rubbed my shoulder again.

“So you decided a month of sparring was enough to prepare you for a Hunt?” she pressed, evidently thinking over the few conversations we’d had.

“Mostly fitness work and drills, actually,” I corrected with a shrug. “But there were a couple spars mixed in. My sisters are professionals, remember? Just because they weren’t going all-out doesn’t mean they were going easy on me, and I pick things up pretty fast. Even though it’s only been a month, if this was a game, my swords skill would be like…” I glanced at my [Skills]. “Level ten? Pushing eleven.” 

Blake huffed a laugh through her nose at the analogy. 

[Acting has increased by 1!]

“I know you fought Adam and his men,” she said, “But still… actual combat isn’t the same as training.”

It was my turn to snort. “I appreciate the advice, but you’re not my mother.”

Blake’s back stiffened, and I sighed, actually pausing. “I’m sorry, that was unnecessarily rude. Would you prefer to spar to assess me for yourself?” I offered.

Blake came to a full stop, eyeing me carefully for a moment. “Sure.”

“Just keep in mind, you’re bound to be better than me until I have some more time to grind for EXP.” I winked, making the whole thing sound like a joke and trying to defuse the tension at the same time.

[Acting has increased by 1!]

Ignoring the twitch developing in the corner of my eye, I pressed on. “What are your terms?”

“Until half Aura?” Blake asked.

“That’s in the yellow, right?” I agreed. “Care to make a wager on the outcome?”

“A wager?” she replied slowly. “I don’t know…”

“Nothing major, it’s just for fun,” I assured her. When she continued to look hesitant, I added, “If I win, I want for us to go Hunting again, all right? Now, what do you want when you inevitably kick my ass? Cash? Dinner at my expense?”

Blake immediately opened her mouth, and I interrupted.

“ Not as a date, fuck’s sake.” When Blake continued to look skeptical, I rolled my eyes behind my sunglasses. “How about we call it a favor, then, if you win.”

[Duel Alert!]

[Combatants: Jaune Arc vs. Blake Belladonna]

[Victory Conditions: Reduce Blake Belladonna’s HP to 50%]

[Loss Conditions: Surrender, be reduced to 50% HP]

[Victory: 1000 EXP, 2000L, new Hunting trip, increased closeness with Blake Belladonna]

[Loss: 200 EXP, owe Blake Belladonna a favor]

“Are you sure you’re ready to spar?” Blake asked, glancing at the rips in the shoulder of my shirt.

I eyeballed my HP bar, finding it at maybe 85%. “Give me like, two minutes to meditate?” I asked. “That should let my Semblance fix everything up.”

Blake nodded acquiescence, and I took the opportunity to shrug off my backpack and sit down against a tree. I pulled a bottle of water from my Handy Haversack and offered it to Blake, who declined. Shrugging, I took a pull from the bottle before closing my eyes and triggering [Gaia’s Pulse].

The amount of life I could feel around me was almost overwhelming, and I decided that, since my MP wasn’t in terrible shape compared to my HP, I would leave [Detect Grimm] active while I meditated as well. My MP wouldn’t quite be full when my HP finished, but that was better than being ambushed by a Grimm if Blake missed its approach.

When I tried though, [Gaia’s Pulse] wouldn’t activate until I stopped using [Detect Grimm]. So those skills conflict? I guess because [Gaia’s Pulse] connects so readily to [Detect Aura], I can’t [Detect Grimm] in the negative space they make between Auras at the same time.

Fortunately, there weren’t any in range when I deactivated [Detect Grimm], and as [Gaia’s Pulse] took hold I found attention instead on the feel of Blake’s Aura as she took to the trees again. It felt… shadowy-purple, I thought, which didn’t really make sense, but then again, Aura sense wasn’t something that I had context for. Saying it ‘felt like a color’ was the only way I could interpret it, a bit like synaesthesia. In a sense, I supposed that imposing the impressions of colors was apropos for Remnant, where color was so large a part of culture.

Blake’s Aura was fairly strong — stronger than several of the first-year students I’d clocked in Vale — and she held it tightly around herself for the most part, but there were occasional… pulses, or perhaps spikes, that betrayed the nervous nature under her calm and skeptical demeanor. I probably wouldn’t have known how to interpret it without my old save file’s memories, but it was fairly obvious with the additional context.

Once my HP topped up, I leaned my neck to the side until the bones popped, then got up. I looked up to see if I could spot Blake, but even knowing roughly where her Aura was I couldn’t see her. Instead, I drew the Family Sword and deployed the shield, moving away from the tree I’d sat against and watching the foliage where she should be. 

“Ready,” I called.

There was no answer, but Blake’s Aura started moving around the edge of the clearing toward my left. I probably wouldn’t have noticed if I wasn’t already paying attention to her, since it just sounded like the branches swaying in the breeze. 

Rather than keep turning to face her, I just tracked her Aura signature until it was just past my left shoulder, at my eight o’clock, before it paused, then dropped to the ground. 

Fighting the urge to turn, I listened as hard as I could, and just barely caught the whistling of a blade through the air. Pivoting, I shoved out with my shield, smashing the bladed sheath of Gambol Shroud out of the way and bringing my sword around to [Parry], taking ruthless advantage of Blake’s broken guard. The slash that would have gutted her obviously skittered off her Aura, but it was a strong blow regardless.

I tried to follow up with a stab, but Blake twisted away successfully, leaving a shadow to take the hit with her Semblance. Gaining a few feet of distance, she pulled the katana from her weapon free of the cleaver-sheath so she could dual-wield as she preferred.

“You noticed me,” Blake observed, plainly trying to hide how heavy the blow she’d taken had been. Too bad I could see exactly how bad it was.

‹On Whom The Pale Moon Gleams›
LV 23
Blake Belladonna
HP: [----------86%-------   ]

I get it; HP for other people represents the Aura they use to protect themselves, I thought, even as I stepped forward to reengage.

“I was listening for you to draw,” I offered. “You caught me off-guard by using the cleaver.”

“That was intentional,” Blake agreed, continuing to back away, “But I didn’t expect you to notice at all. I’m sure you didn’t see me in the trees. How did you know where I was?”

“Your Aura is pretty distinct from the trees,” I pointed out, and used the moment when she blinked in surprise to lunge in for another swing.

She still managed to get her sword and sheath up in a crossed guard, catching my blade between them, but at the same time, she couldn’t back away easily since I was taller than her. Instead she had to try to hold my sword away with both arms.

Pressing against her guard, I grinned — it was a mistake on her part to let me turn this into a contest of strength. Then Blake’s gaze darted over my shoulder, and her eyes widened.

“Nice try,” I grunted, figuring she was trying to lure me in. I wasn’t falling for it; I hopped away instead, bringing my shield in front of me.

“No, wait–” Blake tried to say, before something slammed into my back, hard enough to give me whiplash as I shot past Blake and fell on my face. 

Several of my ribs snapped cleanly, and blood splattered the ground as I screamed. “ FUCK! ” 

Panicking, I forced myself to flip over even before my [Gamer’s Body] nullified the pain, and was immediately justified when I heard something stomp down where I’d just been.

I continued to roll frantically away until the ache stopped, then shoved myself upright as fast as I could, already bringing my shield up to ward off another hit that didn’t come. Instead, I found myself meeting glinting ruby eyes in a fiendish mask.

It was a species of Grimm I’d never seen before, meaning it hadn’t featured in the show at all. It was clearly modeled after a ram, judging by the massive horns that jutted from just behind the mask and curved back and then forward once more. Horns which in one strike had brought me to below half HP.

Weird, I didn’t know there were any Grimm shaped like prey animals, I thought, before the thing opened its mouth to growl at me, revealing clearly carnivorous fangs. Never mind, then.

“Oh, gods,” Blake whispered, unwittingly drawing the Grimm’s attention as she stood there, sword raised but wavering as she trembled. “That’s Krios.”

[A story event supersedes the duel!]

[Boss fight!]

[Victory: 50,000 EXP, 100,000L, ???, new quest thread, new title, greatly increased closeness with Blake Belladonna]

[Loss: Probable death, new quest thread if you survive; Blake Belladonna dies]

I stepped automatically in front of Blake, who seemed rooted to the spot, and the Grimm tossed its head, but didn’t advance. Instead it was watching us, and I could swear I saw amusement in its pitiless eyes.

‹Bringer Of Battle›
LV ???
Krios
HP: [----------100%----------]

Good news, I thought sarcastically, I can see its title. That means boss monsters work differently. I’m so glad I had the opportunity to learn this. Thanks, I hate it.

There was nothing to [Observe], but the Grimm just continued to watch us, so I took the time to look with just my eyes. It was taller at the shoulder than even the Ursa Minor I’d killed earlier, and the mask looked thicker and even more intricately-detailed. Also, nearly its entire body was white, with black only faintly peeking through from beneath… not unlike the wool of a ram, I supposed. 

I took a step to the side, then another, but although Krios tilted its head to watch me, it didn’t shift its facing, keeping most of its attention on Blake. Why was it so fixated on her?

“Bad, this is bad, this is so bad,” Blake was muttering.

Of course, because Grimm focus on negative emotions.

“Blake,” I hissed. “Blake! You need to get a hold of yourself!”

She looked at me, and her eyes were wide enough to show white all around her irides. “Krios is one of the oldest known Grimm on this half of Sanus.” Her voice was oddly dull. “It’s the largest known specimen of the Amalthean species, which tend to hunt in the mountains of Eastern Sanus.”

Shit, she’s going into shock.

“Krios is attested to be at least a hundred years old, possibly up to a hundred fifty, as remote mountain villages are unlikely to have survivors reach the Kingdom.”

“Blake!” I snapped. “You’re panicking just like it wants you to. Snap out of it!”

Krios let out a snort as soon as I spoke, and lowered its head.

“Blake, move! ”

I prepared to tackle her out of the way, hoping I could catch the charge on my shield this time and tank it better, when Blake finally got it together enough to leave a shadow behind with her Semblance and dive aside.

Krios slammed through the shadow without slowing, then dug in its front hooves to let its hindquarters swing around. It kicked off a tree, and was heading for Blake’s new position with almost no loss of momentum.

Jumping forward, I tried to cut at Krios’ back leg with a [Crusader’s Smite], but my sword scraped against the ‘wool’ with a sound like metal on stone, striking sparks and blunting the swing so much that I barely noticed the change in its HP even with the damage of the attack more than doubled.

The Grimm seemed to snort derisively. Knowing it had missed Blake again as she took to the branches and opened fire with her pistol, it instead planted its front hooves again and kicked out at me like a mule, which I barely avoided.

Between my swing and Blake’s bullets, we had dealt a wildly-optimistic 1% of its HP, which meant this was definitely going to be a long fight. Or a very short one, if we made any mistakes.

“At least it seems to be alone,” I grunted loud enough for Blake to hear. I activated [Reinforcement] as I tried a stab instead of a slash, which was only marginally more successful.

Krios snorted again, twisting to face me and backing away a few steps. When I didn’t pursue, it tilted its head back and let out an earsplitting bellow, that echoed off the trees and into the distance.

“The hell was that?” I asked, eyes narrowed as Krios simply continued to stand there. It still looked almost amused. 

“Is it… stalling?” Blake asked slowly.

“For what?” I glanced around, but didn’t see anything. Then, without thinking about it, I popped [Detect Grimm] again, the same way I’d been doing all day while Hunting. “Shit, there’s more Grimm closing in from two and nine o’clock.”

Krios just stood there watching me, and I could swear it was laughing at me.

“What do we do?” Blake asked tensely.

Gritting my teeth, I made a decision I knew I would probably regret. “Can you keep the other ones off me?”

“What?” she demanded.

“Kill the ones that are on their way,” I repeated. “There’s only two of us and we can’t run, so we have to fight. I’ll try to keep it busy, just deal with the reinforcements and then look for an opening on this one. And…”

I narrowed my eyes at the sheeplike Grimm.

“…Don’t announce when you’re on your way back,” I finished. “In fact, try not to talk if you can help it. I think this son of a bitch is listening to us.”

Krios immediately let out another snort, before lowering its head to charge at me again before Blake could protest. I took that as confirmation of my guess and dove out of harm’s way, but Krios was faster than I thought and its side still brushed against me.

“Go!” I shouted, and Blake must have listened, because she was gone when I rolled back to my feet. 

Only then did I notice the stinging and numbness in the arm that touched it. Chancing a glance, I saw the ‘wool’ strands sticking out of my shoulder and upper arm. Blood trickled freely from the base of each, which made me cautious enough to try plucking them out instead of brushing them away. They actually tore my skin worse coming out, and I had to grimace as even more of my HP ticked slowly down. What looked like wool was really miniscule threads of bone, barbed like tiny porcupine quills. 

Okay, mental note, do not touch or we’re looking at death of a thousand cuts, assuming I don’t just get stepped on.

Krios let out a weird chuffing noise.

And that damned thing is definitely laughing at me. Fuck this whole day.

“You think that’s funny?” I murmured, raising my sword and shield again. “How’s this for amusing: I’m going to take your mask home and mount it on my fucking wall.”

The chuffing stopped, and the ram-like Grimm fixed me with an unmistakably unimpressed look. 

Well, that confirms it, doesn’t it?

Rather than wait for the Grimm to charge again, since it was obviously intelligent and would probably change direction to catch me, I activated [Cat’s Grace] and lunged straight at it, pivoting my shoulders to hasten the stab in the same way Indigo always did against me. 

I knew Krios wouldn’t be able to dodge because of its size, but I must have caught it by surprise, because even though it tried to twist away and trap my sword with its horns, it didn’t manage it fast enough. Instead, the tip of my blade skipped off its masked cheek and then buried straight into its left eye, exactly as I’d planned. [Crusader’s Smite] triggered, and Krios let out a pained scream in stark contrast to its earlier bellow as its HP dropped sharply from the critical hit.

Unfortunately, that was where the good news ended. I didn’t have time to yank the Family Sword back before Krios jerked in agony, and the horn on that side of its head ripped the hilt from my grasp despite my activating [Bull’s Strength] to hold on. The blade flipped end over end before landing at the other end of the clearing, nearly behind Krios from where I was hastily backing away.

I started circling toward where the sword had fallen, but Krios backed up to stand nearly over the sword, and tossed its head violently whenever I got near, preventing me from recovering the weapon that had injured it.

Shit.

Not seeing a way to close the distance, I drew my pistol instead, but Krios just tilted its head away from me, shielding its good eye and presenting no good target. Gritting my teeth, I fired anyway, aiming for its shoulder. Again there was a crunching and scraping, and the bullet fell away before making it through the ‘wool’. It still did some damage, being a bigger caliber than Blake’s, and might have left a bruise if Grimm were capable of getting them, but was otherwise ineffective.

I grimaced. .45 rounds might have decent power against a humanoid target, but that ‘wool’ was damn effective armor. On top of which, given the way the ground shook when it took a step, I’d guess conservatively that Krios had to weigh half a ton, so odds were they wouldn’t provide anywhere near sufficient stopping power against a charge. Without a good target, I’d just be wasting ammo. 

I tried to strafe toward its blind side instead, hoping I could get behind it, but Krios rotated to keep its mask toward me without revealing its eye.

Shit, I thought again. I’m nervous enough that it can still sense me.

The sneaky approach wasn’t going to work; there was no way to make myself not-afraid of this thing. It was huge, terrifying, and very much capable of killing me in one hit if I made any more mistakes. No matter what I did, it was going to be aware of me. I wasn’t usually the type to talk smack in a fight, but… well, I didn’t see much of an alternative. 

Scowling, I banged loudly on my shield. “Maybe I won’t mount your mask on my wall after all,” I said loudly. “Maybe I’ll have it made into a helmet I can wear so every other Grimm I kill knows that you were my first kill.”

Krios didn’t fall for it — or at least, it didn’t move from its spot guarding my sword. Instead it snorted derisively, and opened its mouth to scream again. When it did, I collapsed my shield, pulled it off my arm to hold like a sword, and lunged to stab down its throat. It wasn’t sharp, but it was still a meter of hardened steel it instantly choked on.

Unfortunately, this still didn’t force Krios to move away from my sword. Instead it reared up on its hind legs, preparing to slam down on me, and I had to dive to the side before retrieving the sheath, and before I could hit the ‘expand’ button. Which was a shame, because I was pretty sure that would have ripped its jaw clean off.

This led to the next bit of bad news: I was now stripped of both my shield and sword, and I’d dived to my left, which meant that when I came back to my feet, I turned to find Krios’ good eye watching me. It spat my sheath out at its feet, then nudged it backward until it clanked against my sword, both nearly hidden from sight beneath Krios’ bulk. 

That remaining eye looked both furious and taunting, and I immediately tried to shoot it out again, but each shot I took skipped off its mask as I failed to hit the tiny target I was aiming for.

“You think you’re winning?” I growled, probably somewhat irrationally. “You’ve only managed to hit me once, when I wasn’t paying attention, and that was before I cut out your goddamn eye. Now you won’t even move to come get me.”

That remaining goddamn eye narrowed, and I forced a laugh.

“I’ve got you right where I want you,” I bluffed, even as I took a slow step away.

Krios bared its teeth at me, but it called my bluff by still refusing to be goaded into moving.

I hate it when the monsters are smart, I grumbled internally. Now would be a good time, Blake.

As we stood, it was basically a standoff. Krios’ injuries weren’t healing over like mine would, and its HP remained static. 

‹Bringer Of Battle›
LV ???
Krios
HP: [----------68%----      ]

Meanwhile, I was actually regenerating HP, but my MP was steadily draining. And even with the injuries I’d managed to inflict, it wasn’t like Grimm were capable of bleeding out. Blake and I would have to actually kill this monster, and soon, or we were screwed.

I took a chance and spent the MP to [Detect Grimm] again, sensing none in my range besides Krios. Fighting to keep the triumph off my face, I cut it off by switching to [Detect Aura], which let me track Blake coming back this way. 

I stayed focused on Krios the whole time, and the damn sheep seemed content to stand there and watch me, so I took the chance and opened my [Inventory] to pull out the Dust crystal shard I’d gotten from the last fight, tossing it to my left hand. It was yellow, nearly transparent, and about the length of my little finger, but my [Dust Mastery] skill assured me that Nature’s Wrath was indeed at my fingertips. This was the only crystal I had, though, so I’d have to make it count.

Hopefully with Blake’s intervention I’d be able to retrieve at least my sword, but even if I did, it would still be an uphill struggle. Even with my [Reinforcement] and [Bull’s Strength], I needed to be stronger to do any decent amount of damage.

[Detect Aura] told me that Blake was still about twenty meters away, and was moving slowly so as not to tip Krios off, so I decided to take a risk.

“[Stats],” I whispered, taking one eye off the Grimm in order to check how many free stat points I had available from leveling up: 30. With my hand still closed around the Dust crystal, I reached up and jabbed at the [+] beside my current STR score, dumping ten of my precious points to bring the base score up to an even 50, which in turn raised the buffed score up to 69.

Nice, I thought, as I accepted the expenditure and found myself facing another screen.

[By raising STR to 50, you can select a new skill!]

There wasn’t an ‘Are you sure?’ prompt, but I did have to tap twice to select [Powerful]. Hopefully I wouldn’t end up wishing I’d taken the other one, but a 10% damage bonus was something I needed right now. I wouldn’t be able to enjoy faster stamina recovery if Krios killed me today, after all.

I also didn’t get a popup confirming the skill, but I could feel the difference right away as my effective STR edged over the 70 mark.

I reached into my pocket and pulled out the balisong Olivia had given me, flicking it open ostentatiously with my enhanced DEX of 50, thanks to [Reinforcement] and [Cat’s Grace]. The Grimm’s eye followed me as I took a few steps to the side, still twirling the butterfly knife around my hand.

“Ready to end this?” I asked aloud, crouching down and glancing past my foe at my fallen sword and shield. Krios merely snorted, almost daring me to come closer. 

Doing so would be unbelievably stupid, of course. But I was going to be a Huntsman, damn it, and that meant standing my ground in the face of impossible odds. I was still nervous, but I felt a grim ( ha ) determination welling up inside me, as I decided that even if my luck ran out, I was taking this fucking overgrown sheep with me.

[BGM Unlocked! – “Die With Your Boots On” by Iron Maiden]

Yeah, that’s about right.

So I charged.

If you're gonna die, die with your boots on
If you're gonna try, well, stick around
Gonna cry, just move along
If you're gonna die, you're gonna die…

Judging by the blink it gave me, I don’t think Krios actually expected me to do it. I angled to my left, and it turned with me, lowering its head to gore me with its horn. With all the speed and grace my enhanced DEX gave me, I tossed the crystal up in the air, and caught the horn with my now-empty left hand. With my right, I caught the Dust shard between the opening arms of the butterfly knife, clamping them around it and activating the Dust, which caused the blade of the knife to spark and my hand around it to seize up immediately.

Krios tried to toss me away, but with my boosted strength, I was able to hold its head still and bury the knife in its remaining eye with one last [Crusader’s Smite].

This time, when it reared, I jumped with it, pushing off its horn and landing astride its neck. Ignoring the burning pain along my legs as the bone filaments easily pierced my jeans, I grabbed the other horn and yanked upward with both that and the knife I couldn’t let go of because of the electricity coursing through my hand.

As Krios’ head leaned involuntarily up, Blake suddenly reappeared, her katana angling for a stab directly into the Grimm’s throat as I shoved its head downward again.

Between the second critical hit to its other eye, the damage from the Shock Dust, and the mortal neck wound that probably would have impaled its brain if Grimm had internal organs, Krios fell heavily to its knees as its HP plummeted. Forced to abandon her entire weapon due to the ribbon linking the sword to the sheath, Blake instead darted forward and scooped up my sword, holding the much heavier blade in two hands.

Fortunately though, Krios wouldn’t be getting back up. 

‹Bringer Of Battle›
LV ???
Krios
HP: [-         2%          ]

It was wheezing, and weakly trying to throw me off, but it lacked both the energy and the leverage. The tiny Dust shard finally ran out of energy, and I forced my hand to release the knife so I could draw my gun. From where I sat on Krios’ back, it was simple to jam the barrel into the back of its head, just behind the mask, where the bone-wool wasn’t dense enough to stop the bullets cold.

“I’ll be taking that trophy now,” I whispered, pulling the trigger twice. 

Krios’ body tensed in a way that a human’s wouldn’t as its HP depleted entirely. I barely managed to toss myself to the side as it collapsed so its bulk wouldn’t fall on me. Even though it started dissolving immediately, I was pretty sure being crushed by it would finish me off. 

I tried to roll further, but my body wouldn’t obey, and I ended up just kind of flopping down beside the slain monster, one hand still closed around the curving horn. My sunglasses, which had somehow stayed on through the whole fight, slipped up over my forehead and onto the ground above my head when I hit the forest floor.

With the last bit of MP I had available, I popped [Detect Grimm] one last time, praying I wouldn’t feel any, because I didn’t have much more than 10% of my HP left. Thankfully, we were clear for the moment.

Rapid footsteps approached me from around Krios’ carcass, and Blake hurried over, still carrying the Family Sword. 

“Are you all right?” she asked frantically. “I got back as fast as I could.”

“Can’t complain, I’m still breathing,” I replied, making no effort to move. 

“That’s a pretty low bar,” she observed drily.

“I’ve had better days,” I admitted, wishing I could heal around the splinters in my legs instead of having to remove them. “Heh, and I was saying just last night that I wasn’t planning to fight anything that much stronger than me for a while. Guess I was tempting fate.”

“Is your Semblance going to be enough to heal you?” Blake inquired next, seeming to calm down at my irreverent tone. 

I shrugged from the ground. “Just need to get all these needles out, and I’ll be right as rain.”

“Needles…?” Blake asked, before realizing that my jeans were almost entirely stained with blood from the bone-wool impaling me. “Oh, gods.”

She swallowed, but set my sword down beside me and moved to examine them more closely.

“Do you want me to help?” she grasped the one nearest my right ankle without waiting for an answer, and gave a soft tug, but it didn’t come loose.

“Some of them are barbed, I think,” I said conversationally. “But the best you can do is pull them straight out.”

“That will cause more damage,” Blake argued immediately.

“Which I’ll heal. Just wait like, sixty seconds between each yank.” I waved a hand at my backpack. “There should be a spare pair of gloves in the side pocket, although they might not fit you perfectly. Just keep an ear out for any more Grimm.”

Blake obeyed reluctantly, yanking the bone splinters out of my legs one at a time, pausing between each to give me time to recover. Every thread that came out tended to do about 10 extra damage, but I was gaining 14 HP with every minute, so while she occasionally pulled one out too early, I was at least holding steady.

“You healed Jazz much faster than this,” Blake observed, nearly twenty minutes later as she started on my other leg.

“I can increase my healing factor pretty significantly by meditating and focusing solely on it,” I grunted, as she yanked another thread free. “But these are embedded, and I can’t focus through the pain. Maybe if I get better at it, someday, I’ll be able to.”

Blake was silent for another few minutes, before she mumbled, “This is all my fault.” 

“How do you figure that?” I asked curiously, lifting my head to look down at her.

She refused to meet my eyes. “I led us this way. You asked me to watch your back so you wouldn’t get hurt, but I left you behind.”

“I literally told you to,” I reminded her. “This bastard,” I yanked on its horn, and its much-lighter head scraped on the ground as it slid a little toward me. “Was messing with us the entire time. Spent most of its time taunting me and playing keep-away with my sword once I dropped it.”

“I still should have stayed here with you. I shouldn’t have left,” Blake insisted.

“If you’d stayed, the ones it called would have distracted us and given it an opening,” I pointed out. “Or vice versa. That thing broke like four of my ribs with its first charge. Neither of us could have fought it while trying to watch our back from the others. I’m definitely not going to blame a friend for doing exactly what was needed to keep us both alive, even if it was a long shot.”

Blake stopped and glared at me, looking like she was fighting back tears. “You don’t want me as a friend. What kind of friend leaves a tyro Huntsman to fight a Name-ranked Grimm alone?” she demanded.

“The kind that comes back to help finish it off?” I answered rhetorically. “Blake, even if we weren't already, anyone who risks their life to keep me from getting crushed or eviscerated, I'm honored to call a friend, full stop.”

Blake blinked, then looked away, returning to the task of de-thorning my legs in silence.

“You killed the reinforcements. I kept it distracted so you could get in a good hit. The two of us surprised and killed a Name-ranked Grimm.” I laid out all the ways the battle had gone right. “And now I get to mount this mask on my wall exactly like I threatened to do. Win-win.”

Blake snorted, and although it was a bit watery, she still managed a chuckle.

I let my head thump back to the forest floor, and sent out another ping of [Detect Grimm] to make sure we were still clear.

Not detecting any, and since Blake’s attention was mostly on my legs, I decided to skim through the many, many notifications that being in combat had suppressed.

[Story event Complete!]

[You have defeated the boss monster Krios!]

[You have gained 50,000 EXP and 100,000L! You obtained the Mask of Krios! You found a Grade V Burn Dust Crystal! You found a Grade V Freeze Dust Crystal! You found a Grade V Shock Dust Crystal! You found a Grade V Gale Dust Crystal! Blake Belladonna is now an Ally.]

[Level up! Your level has increased by 1! Your level has increased by 1! Your level has increased by 1! Your level has increased by 1! Your level has increased by 1! Your level has increased by 1! Your level has increased by 1!]

[By seeing through Blake’s ruse, your INT has increased by 1!]

[Acting has increased by 1! Shield Mastery has increased by 1! Parry has increased by 1!]

[By enduring massive trauma, your CON has increased by 1!]

[Bludgeoning Resistance has increased by 1! Bludgeoning Resistance has increased by 1! Bludgeoning Resistance has increased by 1! Bludgeoning Resistance has increased by 1! Endurance’s rank has increased by 1! First Aid has increased by 1! Parkour has increased by 1! Piercing Resistance has increased by 1! Cat’s Grace has increased by 1! Crusader’s Smite has increased by 1! Reinforcement has increased by 1! Bull’s Strength has increased by 1! Bull’s Strength has increased by 1! Small Arms Mastery has increased by 1! Detect Grimm has increased by 1! ]

[You selected the skill [Powerful]!]

[Powerful (Passive) LV 1 EXP: 0.00%]
[A skill that represents your ability to bring great force to bear.]
[Passively increases STR by 1%]
[10% increase to physical attacks]

[Sleight of Hand has increased by 1! Parkour has increased by 1! Powerful has increased by 1! Dust Mastery has increased by 1!]

[By Enduring a new damage type, you have unlocked the skill [Shock Resistance]!]

     [Shock Resistance (Passive) LV 1 EXP: 0.00%]
     A skill that enables the body to resist electron discharges, reducing damage taken from electrical effects.
     1% decrease in damage taken from electrical attacks.
     Shortens duration and severity of Stunned status effect by 1%.

[Endurance’s rank has increased by 1! Crusader’s Smite has increased by 1! Knife Mastery has increased by 1! Piercing Resistance has increased by 1! Piercing Resistance has increased by 1! Piercing Resistance has increased by 1! Small Arms Mastery has increased by 1!]

[By killing a powerful creature of Grimm, you have obtained the title of [Grimm Slayer]!]

[Grimm Slayer]
[Obtained by killing a mighty Grimm. You have taken another step on your chosen path, embarking on a quest to uncover the nature of a Name.]
[30% increase to base damage dealt to Grimm.]
[20% reduced damage taken from Grimm.]

[By holding true to your Paladin’s Oath, you have gained the skill [Elemental Weapon]!]

[By using [Elemental Weapon] without the skill, your mastery is increased!]

[Elemental Weapon (Active) LV 5 EXP: 0.00% MP: 100, Dust]
[Mortals who learned to wield the light found another tool at their disposal, as Nature’s Wrath could be harnessed directly by those with powerful souls, and the Darkness trembled before the might of their blades.]
[Increases weapon damage by 60%]
[Applies the effect of consumed Dust to a chosen weapon for a duration dependent on the Grade.]
[Known effects: Shock Dust – Stun.]

[New quest: Taking Names]

[You have learned that there are some Grimm so ancient and powerful, that they have individual names. Find and slay all the Name-ranked Grimm.]

[Time limit: Until Completed.]

[Reward: EXP, Lien, and items from each kill; glory and notoriety, new title.]

[Failure Penalty: Probable death; uncounted thousands die as Grimm continue to rampage unchecked.]

[Targets:]
[Krios the Amalthean]
[???]
[???]
[???]
[???]
[???]
[???]
[???]
[???]
[???]
[???]
[???]

[You have taken the first steps toward glory! Yellow Death’s status is now High.]

Holy fuck, I just gained seven entire levels. And, hang on, how exactly did I just reduce Yellow Death!?

I was pretty sure Blake was unconsciously speeding up since she was almost done with my legs, but the increases to my HP pool from all those levels added to my current HP as well, so I was hovering around 30% instead of under 10%.

“My sisters are going to kill me,” I sighed as yet another bone splinter came free leaving only a handful remaining.

“Why’s that?” Blake asked absently, twisting the next one and trying to ease it out.

“Well, I don’t know if I knew that Name-ranked Grimm were a thing before the amnesia, but I certainly hadn’t heard of them in the past few weeks,” I admitted. “From the way you talked about them, though, I’m gathering they’re kind of a big deal.”

“You could say that,” she replied. “They’re… infamous. Maybe not among civilians, but I’d bet most career Hunters can probably name them off.”

“Can you?” I asked, gritting my teeth as Blake pulled out yet another splinter. “If not, I can ask my sisters.”

Blake shook her head, but hastily added, “I remember some of them. Krios, the Amalthean, for one.”

“Krios was the weakest, wasn’t it?” I asked, though it was barely a question. “I can’t think of any other reason we managed to kill it.”

“It was definitely the youngest, so… probably?” Blake answered. “Monstra has been spoken of since before any of the modern Kingdoms were founded. There’s stories of Morvarc in Mantle that are known to predate when Atlas was raised, Mistral has legends going back nearly to its founding about Crom Cruach in the South of Anima, and Echidna was known to live on Menagerie long before the faunus were exiled there.”

I pondered that for a moment. “These Grimm are so infamous that they’ve been given actual names, and nobody’s killed them?” I asked, wincing for hopefully the last time as Blake pulled out the final needle, and letting my head drop back to the ground again, finally able to relax.

“Anyone who tried, died,” Blake explained. “Krios wasn’t super-well-known outside of Vale, but it was heard of. Enough that people counted it in the same group. But the rest? We’re talkin’ about monsters that’ve killed thousands, some of them hundreds of thousands. Maybe a team of veteran Hunters could take one of the younger ones down, but I bet a lot’ve ‘em don’ wanna risk their lives, or their teammates’ lives, tryin’ to fight a legend.” She sounded exhausted.

“Well, we just killed a goddamned legend, Blake.” I sat up at last, and with another yank on the horn, I pulled Krios’ mask over in front of me. “And while I might not be planning to boast in the streets, I’m definitely taking home a trophy.”

Blake rolled her eyes as she slumped back. “Men.”

I smirked over at her. “Well, as exciting as this has been, I think I’m ready to change my pants and head home. Maybe another time we can finish that little spar?” I rolled over and pushed myself to my feet, not trusting myself to kip up at the moment.

Blake paused, blinking up at me. “Sure,” she said finally.

“We’ve got a dojo at the house,” I offered, extending a hand to pull her up. “That way we won’t get interrupted, and one of my sisters can referee so you don’t kick my ass too badly.”

After another brief hesitation, she grabbed it. “We’ll figure somethin’ out.”

I helped Blake to her feet, then immediately had to catch her elbow as she nearly fell over again. 

“M’fine,” she mumbled, half-collapsing against me and reaching tiredly for where Gambol Shroud was now lying on the floor, no longer concealed now that Krios’ body had dissolved.

“Liar.” I eased her back to the ground, realizing suddenly that this was why her diction had slipped.

What the hell even happened? Her HP was low when she got back, but not this low… But a quick [Observe] revealed the status effect Bleeding. Even as I watched, her health was ticking slowly down. She also had a status effect my sisters had spoken about, but I’d never actually seen before.

[Aura Shock]
[Your Aura has been depleted due to shattering or overload, and will take some time to begin regenerating. This time is lengthened by how recently and how often Aura Shock has been inflicted, and reduced by a percentage equal to WIS.]
[Current duration: 4:18]

“Fuck, Blake, why didn’t you tell me you were injured? Why did you even jump back in against Krios with no Aura left?” 

I moved around behind her and found her whole back sticky with blood from several wounds I hadn’t noticed because she’d been in front of me. 

“Couldn’ leave you,” she argued distractedly, still reaching for her weapon. She was slurring a little more with every word, which was definitely a bad sign.

“Sit still, dammit,” I said, trying to make her lean forward so I could see the wounds properly. 

Blake ignored me and kept trying to grab the out-of-reach sword.

“Fine, fine, I’ll get your weapon, just stop moving,” I barked, retrieving it and the sheath to the Family Sword, which I clipped back to my belt. “I need to heal you before we can leave. I don’t want to be out here too long, though, so it’ll just be a patch job.”

The black corset she wore over her white cutoff shirt was shredded. The shirt and shorts were at least intact, although they were so stained I doubted she’d be wearing them ever again. Giving my butterfly knife an unconscious twirl, I sliced through the remainder of the corset and pressed my palms to her back over the claw-marks, triggering [Lay On Hands].

“The bad news is, I can’t [Detect Grimm] while meditating, and I don’t want to risk getting ambushed again, so we have to do this the slow way,” I admitted, not sure if she was even listening. “The good news, though, is that the patch job should be enough, because the way my Semblance heals also restores Aura. I should be able to jumpstart your Aura production again, which means you get to keep all your favorite organs.”

I hadn’t been sure she was still listening, or even still conscious, but the amused snort reassured me that Blake was still with me. Even as I pushed half my non-meditating regen into her, she was visibly breathing easier, her too-pale skin even regaining a bit of color before my eyes. Another [Observe] also showed me that the duration of [Aura Shock] was ticking down at least twice as fast per-second, so her Aura should begin returning on its own shortly too.

It definitely helped that my passive regen was about 50% higher than it had been an hour ago. Plus, I’d noticed [Lay On Hands] improved unevenly as it gained ranks, increasing how much of my regen I could share (slowly), while reducing how much I was giving up (even more slowly) — at rank 4, I was giving up 49% of my regen to share 52%. If the pattern continued, I would eventually be able to boost my target’s regen by 100% of my own, while only giving up 25%.

In the end, those two facts put together meant Blake was getting 10 HP and 8 MP per minute, while I was a few fractions below the whole number for both. My Semblance kept track of the fractions, but only gave the point back once they added up to a whole.

A bit over two minutes later, Blake’s skin seemed to spark under my fingers, and a purplish shimmer spread over her body. She took a deeper breath than she had since extracting the splinters from my legs, and seemed to actually relax. Tension drained out of her shoulders, and her usual grace was back in evidence as she sheathed her weapon and set it beside her.

Then, abruptly, she began to speak. “I used to be a member of the White Fang.”

She paused, half-glancing over her shoulder, but stopped before she could meet my eye.

“I gathered,” I replied, not pulling away. “From things both you and Adam said on Friday.”

Part of me wondered if she was opening up because we had just gone through a traumatic experience together — not to mention saved each other’s lives for at least the second time each — or if it was a symptom of the blood loss, before I decided that it didn’t matter.

Blake was very still for another moment. “I was a member for most of my life. You could say I was born to it.”

I stifled a snort at hearing a line straight from the show, but it still came out as a huff.

“What’s funny?” she demanded, though she still didn’t move.

“I could have guessed that from your surname,” I pointed out.

Now Blake did look back at me, her eyes narrowed. “I never gave you my last name.”

Fuck, she didn’t, did she? I considered telling her I’d gotten her name from Jazz or Tukson, but that wasn’t true and furthermore would be easy to disprove.

“Menagerie’s census records are still accessible in international databases,” I said instead. “At least the ones from Kuo Kuana. And my sister Violet is stationed in Mistral and is pretty high-ranking.”

All statements that were true, which when placed next to each other gave a completely false impression that I’d asked Violet to check up on Blake illegally after we’d met.

[Deception successful! Acting has increased by 1!]

I wonder why it specified that I used Deception that time? I pondered, before mentally shrugging. At least she bought it.

Blake scowled slightly, and faced forward again. “Well… After my father stepped down in favor of a younger leader, about five years ago, the highest-ranking Brothers and Sisters started advocating more radical… more violent tactics. They believed the old tactics of nonviolent protests and boycotts weren’t working fast enough, or weren’t working at all. Protesting just got people arrested, and businesses that discriminated against faunus didn’t change their policies. So instead, the White Fang turned from protests to riots, or from boycotts to vandalism. They even started planning out elaborate thefts and sabotage. And even through all that… I didn’t leave right away.”

She trailed off, so I spoke up. “I can see where they’re coming from, at least with what you’ve said so far.” Blake twisted again to look at me, and I had to lean forward slightly to keep my [Lay On Hands] in contact with her back. “Racism isn’t caused by a few bad apples. Not really. You might be able to change some people’s hearts and minds with peaceful protests… but it’s hard to logic someone out of a position they didn’t logic themselves into. And even if you can, it doesn’t fix the broken system.”

“Exactly,” Blake said softly, turning to face forward again. “And the worst part, maybe, was that it was working. We were getting equal treatment, but out of fear instead of respect.” She shook her head. “Because we, I, realized that we can’t make anyone respect us.”

“But you could make them fear you, and that might make things better for others?” I suggested, and Blake gave a short nod. When she didn’t start talking again, I sighed. “Was it your idea to start killing people?”

“No!” Blake tried to spin around again, and I let her go.

“I didn’t think so,” I said, and she paused. “I don’t know if I have any right to judge the White Fang at all,” I went on. “If it was things like aggressive protests, graffiti, even theft and vandalism…”

“Didn’t you take an oath of justice?” Blake pointed out.

“Justice,” I agreed. “Not ‘Law’. I’m not a cop and I don’t plan to be. Justice is about standing up when I see in justice, and not being complacent. When the laws of a Kingdom are unjust, blindly following them is equally unjust.”

Blake cocked her head, gaze considering. “So what would you do in our place?”

“As someone faced with bias?” I asked to be clear, and Blake nodded. “That’s a tough question, because it’s not a position I’ve ever found myself in. Nor will I, being human. Without being in the moment, I don’t know that I have an instinctive answer.” I scrubbed a hand through my hair. “But that’s a cop-out. Give me a scenario and I’ll try to give my reactions.”

“You’ve just seen another faunus thrown out of a Dust shop,” Blake suggested immediately, her eyes unfocused, plainly remembering something she’d actually witnessed. “Shoved out the door, so hard he trips. The owner spits on him. People in the street just walk around him, like he’s not even there.”

“Probably offer him a hand up,” I said. “But I wouldn’t be surprised if he refuses it. I wouldn’t patronize a shop that treated anyone like that. What’s my incentive to do more?”

“This is the only Dust shop in town,” she continued, watching me closely as she spun the tale. “Not Schnee-owned, but they’re obviously the largest supplier. You’re running low and your team badly needs the resupply, but the owner saw you helping the faunus up and he spits at you as well, calls you an ‘animal lover’ and then slams the door, making it clear you’re not welcome either.”

“Honestly… I think I’d still tell him to piss off.” I frowned. “It’s obviously a tricky situation for my team, though. Failing to resupply could mean running short in the field. If that happens, and we die because of it, there’s no one to hold the Grimm back.” I broke off, biting my lip and considering all the possible scenarios. “If there’s no way one of my teammates could make the purchase instead, then I’d probably rob the store for what we need and leave the money for it.” 

Blake raised a sardonic eyebrow. “ What money? You’re a faunus, nobody wants to hire you, or if they do it’s for a shit wage. Leaving money here means going without food or failing to make rent.”

“It sounds like I was going to do that anyway, if I was planning to buy the Dust in the first place,” I pointed out. “But given that situation, sure, I’d probably keep my money to keep myself and my team fed. The store and the Dust are probably insured. Hell, all this owner would have to do is make a bit more of a mess, or siphon off some extra Dust, and he could make a claim for even more than the damage I actually did to him. Once it all settles, he might very well pocket a profit.” I spread my hands. “It’s a crap situation, and I wouldn’t be happy with it at all, but that’s my answer.”

We're misguided?
Treated us like we're criminals and we should hide,
Born indicted–
Tired of being pushed around and we will fly!

[BGM Unlocked! Image Song: Blake Belladonna – “From Shadows” by Jeff Williams]

Blake seemed to be considering my response, so I circled a finger. “Turn around, let me see your back again.” She did so, and I nodded in satisfaction. The claw-marks there had scabbed over, and now looked several hours old instead of the thirty minutes they really were. 

“That should keep until we get back to Vale,” I said, rising and offering a hand to Blake once more. “Our house is only a few stops from the Emerald Gate, I can finish healing you there.” 

I assume she still won’t want to tell me where she’s staying, newly trusting or not.

Blake scrutinized me for a moment longer before she gave a sharp nod, taking my outstretched hand again. I pulled her upright, then bent back down to pick up my discarded sunglasses, slipping them back over my eyes. I retrieved my backpack, swept the discarded bone splinters inside, and then flipped Krios’ mask over my shoulder to rest on top of it. I could have stowed the mask in my [Inventory] too, but it was too big to slide into my Handy Haversack, so I’d have to do it directly. And despite Blake opening up to me, I wasn’t ready to reveal my Semblance.

The bonus objective for that The Shining Beacon quest was to get into school with my Semblance still a secret. Just that part was worth as much EXP as I’d just gotten from killing Krios, and failing that bonus objective had the consequence of unnamed ‘hostile forces’ possibly taking notice of me. Whether that meant Salem or anyone else, I didn’t want to risk it. While I trusted Blake, there was no chance of her letting it slip if she didn’t know in the first place.

“Hello, the house!” I gave my usual call as I stepped through the door twenty minutes later, leaning against the wall to tug my boots off. Blake followed my example and removed her shoes, waiting for me to shut the door.

“In here,” came Indigo’s voice from the kitchen. 

I headed that way, shrugging off my backpack as I went, and catching Krios’ mask by one horn before it hit the floor.

“I’m glad you’re home,” Indigo said, not turning from where she’d been staring into the fridge. “I didn’t feel like making dinner.”

“So you decided to make me do it?” I shot back, grinning. I really enjoyed the teasing interplay that I shared with Indigo, and I hoped I got along as well with all my older sisters. I dropped the mask on the table with a clatter, drawing my sister’s attention.

“Well, you’ve gotta earn your keep somehow–” Indigo trailed off, as she glanced over her shoulder at us.

“This is Blake, my Hunting partner for the day. Blake, this is my and Olivia’s older sister Indigo,” I introduced the two women.

“Nice to meet you,” Blake said politely.

“What the hell happened to you two? You’re covered in blood!” Indigo demanded, ignoring us both.

“‘It’s nice to meet you too, Blake, make yourself at home,’” I answered for my sister.

Indigo slapped the end of the table. “Don’t ignore me, dammit! And what is that thing?” She flapped a hand at Krios’ mask.

“Art project,” I deadpanned. “I think I’ll call it ‘Krios Was A Little Bitch’. I could even make a song out of it.” 

I hummed the tune to ‘Mary Had A Little Lamb’, and Indigo shut her eyes for a moment, breathing deep as though praying for patience.

Blake shifted awkwardly, and I sighed, giving up on keeping the atmosphere light.

“ ‘That ’ is what failed to kill me today,” I answered the question straight as I dropped into a chair. 

Indigo stared at me for a moment. “You call this changing your pattern of fighting things you shouldn’t?”

“I call this getting ambushed yet again, and not having a choice,” I shot back. “This bastard,” I dropped a fist on top of the mask. “Announced itself by ramming me in the back. Broke half a dozen ribs; if I didn’t heal internal stuff almost instantly we’d have been fucked right there. It called for reinforcements from more than a hundred meters away, which I didn’t even know was a thing. There was no chance to flee, it would have just run us down. Look, can we talk about this sometime that isn’t right now?”

“I am never letting you go Hunting without supervision again,” Indigo decided. I wasn’t entirely sure she was joking.

“I need a vacation,” I sighed. Movement in the corner of my eye reminded me suddenly that Blake was still here, standing awkwardly by the door. I stood up. “Blake, why don’t you take a shower? I’ll scare up some clothes and then cook us dinner.”

“I’ll order out.” Indigo interrupted my planning, her tone brooking no arguments. “You need a shower, too. Try Azure’s closet, she’s the shortest and prefers her clothes loose. Otherwise, Blake, you can use some of my stuff, although it might be a bit tight. I’m not as hip-y as you. Oh, and the twins’ shower should have faunus shampoo under the sink.”

Blake jerked, her hand flying to her hair only to find her bow firmly in place. Taking a breath, she said, “All right, thank you.”

After pausing at the linen closet to grab a couple of towels, I pointed Blake into the bathroom that Indigo used.

“I can leave the clothes on the sink or out here in the hall,” I offered.

Blake seemed to consider it, before she shrugged and took the towels I held out. “You can leave them on the sink.”

Nodding, I took a step back before turning away. 

And I now realize I only know which rooms are Olivia’s and Indigo’s. I looked at the even dozen doors leading off this hallway and sighed before opening the nearest one. 

Boy band posters plastered the walls, and an elaborate-looking hookah stood on a table near the desk. That’s gotta be Shani.

The room across the hall had shelves of collectibles, mostly still in display boxes, and binders full of some kind of trading card. And there’s Sienna.

My room was toward the end of the hall nearest the stairs, and I knew Olivia’s and Indigo’s were that way as well. Ignoring my bathroom, that left one unknown door in that direction. Actually, I’m pretty sure Olivia got my balisong from there.

The door wouldn’t open all the way, and as I shimmied inside I realized there was a massive bookcase behind it, so full of engineering, physics, and chemistry texts that its owner had started shoving books on top of the otherwise organized rows. Where the other rooms had desks, this one had a full workbench, with a pegboard full of tools half-covering the window. A pair of needlenose pliers and some wires were strewn across the work surface, with what looked like a half-disassembled rice cooker shoved off to one side. Bingo, found the tinker.

I poked around and eventually found a dresser shoved into the closet, presumably to make room for the bookshelves, and dug out a pair of shorts and a shirt. I added a pair of boyshorts, then upon reflection, included one of my tee-shirts and a pair of boxers out of my [Inventory]. Trying to figure out which bra Blake would prefer seemed like a logistical nightmare, so I shrugged and decided not to worry about it. If it became a problem, Indigo could figure it out.

Making my way back to the bathroom, I knocked loudly and waited for the call before dropping the clothes on the sink without lingering. I had my own shower waiting, and gratefully stripped out of the mudstained shirt and bloodstained jeans.

No saving that outfit, I reflected, stepping under the near-scalding spray and ignoring both the burn and the slight HP drain that came from it.

Name: Jaune Arc
Level: 17 (Next: 26.74%)
Title: Grimm Slayer
Race: Human
Age: 17
Job: Tyro Huntsman
Class: Paladin
Semblance: The Gamer
HP: 998/1275
MP: 761/982
STR: 51 (50)
CON: 31.5 (30)
DEX: 36 (31)
INT: 33
WIS: 44
CHA: 29.2 (23)
Points: 55
Money: 140415L
Status: Cursed – Yellow Death [High]

Chapter Text

I came back downstairs wearing my Workout outfit, minus the headphones, to find Indigo brushing Blake’s hair. The doorbell rang, and I plucked the hairbrush out of Indigo’s hands so she could get the food, humming slightly so Blake would know I was behind her. She didn’t flinch when I took over, which I took as a good sign.

“Do you braid it to sleep?” I asked as I finished up. “We’ve got six empty bedrooms upstairs, or a guest room down here; you’re welcome to stay.” 

Blake nodded, then hesitated. One of her uncovered ears flicked. “I wouldn’t want to impose.”

I shrugged, even though she couldn’t see me, as I wove her hair into a loose plait. “More of the house is empty than it isn’t, so it’s not much of a stretch for us. But it’s up to you. If you’d prefer, I can heal you after dinner and you can take off.”

“This late?” Indigo asked, returning with two bags of food. “It’s past full dark, the trains won’t be running until dawn.” 

She unpacked the bags, setting ‘Chinese’ takeout containers — still haven’t figured out what they’re actually called here — and fairly covering the table with different entrees and side dishes. I’d have considered it overkill if I hadn’t seen how much my sisters tended to eat, and how much I myself could put away without thinking about it. Hunters tended to have high caloric requirements, apparently. Guess it makes sense, I’m starving.

I set a couple of forks and serving spoons in the middle of the table, then grabbed three plates from the cupboard, handing one each to Indigo and Blake. The forks went ignored, however, as Blake and Indigo also favored chopsticks. To my amusement, Blake gravitated straight to the halibut in ginger-soy sauce and kung pao shrimp, although it wasn’t all she served herself.

We all ate in silence for a few moments, before Blake said softly. “I’ll accept your hospitality, then. Thank you.”

“You’re welcome,” I replied.

Dinner remained comfortably quiet after that. When we were done eating, Indigo volunteered to handle the leftovers, so I showed Blake to the sitting room off the foyer. The walls were lined with floor-to-ceiling bookshelves, making it as much a family library as a place to relax, though the large TV with seating for a dozen around it made sure it didn’t feel old-fashioned or stuffy.

“Remote’s on the table, or you can grab something to read; I’m going to need probably…” I hit her with [Observe].

[Name: Blake Belladonna]
[LV 23]
[Title: On Whom The Pale Moon Gleams]
[Race: Cat Faunus]
[Age: 17]
[Job: Amateur Huntress]
[Class: Rogue]
[Semblance: Shadow]
[HP: 332/1320]
[Stats: 16 STR, 12 CON, 35 DEX, 17 INT, 13 WIS, 22 CHA]
[Background: The only child of Ghira Belladonna, the former High Leader of the White Fang and current Chieftain of Menagerie. Blake is a former White Fang operative herself, but defected recently in the face of increasingly violent activity, she feels, is counter to the goals of equality. Too nervous to return home, she intends to test into Beacon Academy, and plans to do so with her faunus ears disguised so as to be judged for her character, not her species. She recently assisted The Gamer with the slaying of the Name-Ranked Grimm, Krios.]
[Emotions: Curious, wary, trusting.]
[Relationship: Ally.]

“…twenty, twenty-five minutes to get you healed up,” I finished, after doing some quick math. 

[Observe has increased by 1!]

I could activate my animal buffs to boost my effective HP regen, since my WIS was now high enough to keep one of them active permanently while meditating, but using more than one would mean draining my MP over time in exchange for saving only a few minutes of healing. However, I had an idea that might let me get away with using two, as long as one of them was [Owl’s Wisdom].

I excused myself to the bathroom while Blake picked out a book. I could sense Indigo upstairs in her room, unmoving, though her Aura seemed to be spreading around the room in odd patterns. Curiouser and curiouser.

Dismissing that, I called up my [Stats] screen. I had 55 points available after killing Krios; enough to raise two or even three of my scores to the 50 line and get more passive skills.

It probably isn’t worth raising CON or DEX with points, since I can still train physically for those points, I reasoned with myself. I wouldn’t have used points on STR either if it hadn’t been an emergency. I have to assume I can still gain INT by studying, and I still have a lot to learn about Remnant, so that’s not critical yet. And CHA isn’t that valuable to me, honestly, plus my score there is already pretty respectable just from how many ranks I have in [Acting]. WIS though… 

I still couldn’t come up with a reasonable way to ‘grind’ WIS. It also needed the fewest points to reach the threshold, so with only a little trepidation, I dropped in six more points.

[By raising WIS to 50, you can select a new skill!]

Innnteresting… That merited some consideration. MP cost reduction was nothing to scoff at, but the skills I’d already raised in rank frequently saw MP cost reductions as they got higher. They wouldn’t become free, at the rate the costs were going down compared to the rank ups, but as my MP pool expanded that didn’t matter much. [Clever] would be stronger right now, but if I got new spells with higher base costs, the flat minus-10 would mean a lot less than it did now. Going from 50 to 40 was a reduction of 20%; going from 500 to 490 was only 2%.

Overall, it looked like [Enlightened] would be the better choice in the long term. Hopefully it would apply to skill EXP as well as level EXP, but even just the latter would be useful, since I would gain free points faster. With a double-click, I selected it.

[You selected the skill [Enlightened]!]

[Enlightened (Passive) LV 1 EXP: 0.00%]
[A skill that represents your ability to discern patterns, and make good judgments and quick decisions.]
Passively increases WIS by 1%.]
[1% increase to experience gains for both levels and skills.]

Hell yes. Hell. Fucking. Yes.

Pretending to flush the toilet, I washed my hands and headed back to the sitting room. Blake had lain down on her stomach on the sofa, her borrowed tee-shirt hiked up to uncover her back while she read a book that was propped against the couch’s arm. Her feline ears twitched when I came back in, but she didn’t look around, and instead just yawned. I inspected the partly-healed cuts for a moment; they still looked fairly fresh, but more like they’d happened yesterday rather than in the last few hours thanks to her own Aura continuing the healing I had started.

Laying one hand flat against her back, I triggered [Bear’s Endurance] and [Owl’s Wisdom] as I sat down on the ottoman. Their combined MP cost of 91/min would be offset by my meditation-boosted regen of 81/min, leaving the effective cost at only 10/min; something I could maintain for more than an hour and a half. Much longer than it would take to heal Blake, which I estimated to be about eighteen minutes with my new WIS score.

[Lay On Hands] redirected my regen, and I shut my eyes to slip into [Gaia’s Pulse]. Bereft of my usual sensory inputs, I found myself pondering the changes to Blake’s Status since just this morning. The most obvious thing was, of course, that her Background was much more fleshed out, and written in complete sentences instead of fragments. It didn’t really give me any information I didn’t already know, but then, [Observe] still wasn’t that highly-ranked. Mental note, grind Observe more.

[Mental note added!]

The next obvious addition was the Relationship line. Didn’t I get a notification for that after killing Krios? 

Her Emotions were also different; she seemed to always be curious around me — I studiously avoided making a cat pun even in my own head — but her previous nervousness was only wariness now, not surprising considering her history. And then there was the last one, trusting. Guess Harry Potter was right, the best way to make friends is to fight a big monster together.  

Her level hadn’t gone up when Krios died, which seemed wrong even if it made a kind of sense. She wasn’t connected to the Gamer Semblance, after all; so just killing a monster didn’t dump EXP on her. Wouldn’t be surprised if she does gain another level or two shortly, though; she isn’t the type to rest on her laurels after that.

As my own passing curiosity, I also hadn’t determined what her Title was supposed to mean. Examining it with [Observe] didn’t reveal anything, so it wasn’t giving benefits like my Titles did, but [On Whom The Pale Moon Gleams] was poetic enough that it had to mean something. 

“That’s surprisingly relaxing,” Blake murmured, and I found I was able to open my eyes without breaking meditation. Maybe because [Gaia’s Pulse] hit rank 15?

Fortunately, she seemed to remember I couldn’t talk while meditating, because she looked over her shoulder at me and clarified, “The feeling of your Aura boosting mine. It’s… comforting.”

I blinked, since I couldn’t respond any other way, and Blake’s hooded eyes gave a slow blink back before she returned to her book.

It was another ten minutes before Blake’s HP topped up, and netted me another rank in both [Gaia’s Pulse] and [Observe], and a whopping four in [Lay On Hands], presumably because I was genuinely healing someone who was pretty severely injured. I must have been close to leveling it up earlier, too.

Dropping all my active skills, I lifted my palm and prodded at Blake’s back. She squirmed, apparently ticklish, but… “You’ll be pleased to learn there’s no scars.”

“Really?” Blake twisted around, with perhaps a little more flexibility than a human would have, and peered at her back. “That’s amazing. I’ve never heard of a Semblance that could heal this well.”

I shrugged. “It’s not like it’s perfect,” I pointed out, rubbing the scar that wrapped around my head. “But I’m glad it works as well as it does.” I tapped a finger against my lip. “I wonder if they’d pay me for healing at the hospital?”

Blake tugged the shirt hem down and flipped onto her back, closing the book she’d been reading with a finger to mark her place. “Maybe? It depends on the limits of your Semblance, I would think. What can it do besides heal cuts and holes?”

“Restores Aura and alleviates fatigue, from what I can tell,” I replied. “It doesn’t seem to have strict limits except that it can only heal so fast, and that’s based on me.” 

“It should get better with practice,” Blake observed. “Most Semblances do.”

“Definitely. It felt like I was healing you about twice as fast as I did Jazz,” I estimated. “Every time I use it to heal someone else, it gets easier, so I guess I’m in the right profession. Not that I relish finding out, but I’m wondering if I could regrow limbs with more practice?” Or maybe fix a damaged Aura? I added silently. 

I didn’t know when exactly the Fall Maiden got injured, but if I could come up with a reasonable explanation for finding out about her, maybe I could offer help without giving away my real Semblance. Jee-Han was right, Healers really are the best.

Shaking that off, I sat up straight and cracked my back. “I can show you to your room when you’re ready.”

“I might stay up a bit longer,” she replied. “I’m actually not very tired, suddenly.” She sat up, scooting toward one end of the couch and conspicuously leaving a space open where her legs had just been.

The hint was pretty obvious. I smiled, and got up to pluck an encyclopedia on the history of the Four Kingdoms from a nearby shelf, flipping it open to the bookmark I’d left in it. Not the most engaging textbook I’d ever read, but I’d always liked history despite it sometimes being dry. And this was, of course, the history of a completely different world that I had very little context for, so everything was new. Settling into the proffered space on the couch, I toed off my slippers and kicked my feet up on the ottoman instead. 

[By studying to gain new information, you have increased your knowledge base! Your INT has increased by 1!]

Well, and I had a slight ulterior motive.

There was no more conversation for a long while, as Blake and I read in comfortable silence. I managed to snag one more INT point around midnight in the middle of reading about the raising of the floating city of Atlas above the then-capital, Mantle; before Blake started yawning at about one. Detouring into the kitchen, I grabbed Krios’ mask by one curved horn so I wouldn’t forget it on the table for the night, before I pointed Blake into the guest room.

“Breakfast around eight,” I said as I started upstairs. “But I’ll put some aside if you want to sleep in. I usually do anyway in case Olivia comes home. Sleep well and wake, Blake.”

She didn’t reply verbally, but I caught another slow blink and a nod before she closed her door.

Stepping into my own room, I was unexpectedly met with a new prompt from my Semblance.

[You have obtained a trophy! Do you wish to mount it in your room?]

“Hell yes,” I said, out loud since I was alone. The mask vanished from my hand and appeared in a clear space between the window and one of Jaune’s old band posters that I hadn’t bothered to take down. 

[Mask of Krios — Rank: Mythic]
[A trophy held by the slayer of the Name-ranked Grimm, Krios, the Bringer of Battle.]
[Grants [Aspect of the Amalthean].]

[Do you wish to obtain this Aspect?]

I blinked. The hell does Aspect mean in this context? Also, this item is Mythic-ranked instead of Legendary like the Family Sword. Does that mean it’s rarer? And the Family Sword is debuffed; is it supposed to be Mythic?

I tried using [Observe], and tapping on the description, but unlike with Curse and Geas I didn’t get an explanation from the system. 

“Fuck it, what’s the worst that could happen? [Yes].”

There was a flash, and the mask’s eyeholes seemed to glow momentarily red before fading.

[You have subsumed an Aspect of a Name-ranked Grimm, and now bear its mark. Aspects grow more powerful as more are collected.]

Wait, what!?

[Aspect of the Amalthean (Passive) LV MAX]
     [10% increase to CON.]
     [Return 20% of damage taken to the attacker.]

Absorbing the aspect of a Grimm didn’t sound like a good thing, and I spent a good ten minutes frozen in place, meditating to ascertain if I could sense any changes in myself, but other than the CON boost I couldn’t find any. In the end, there was nothing to be gained from stressing over it. I unequipped my clothes and switched on a pair of silk boxers, dropped into bed, and confirmed that I wished to sleep.

I was up early the next morning as usual, since I only needed six hours of sleep to avoid any penalties for exhaustion if I spent half an hour meditating. I still didn’t feel any different as a result of the [Aspect of the Amalthean], so I shrugged and threw my Workout armor set on again to get breakfast started.

Taking stock of what we had, I started another protein-heavy breakfast. Bacon and sausage wouldn’t take too long, so I started off chopping onions so I’d have them for later. Blake padded in while I was digging around in the cupboards for cookware. My back was to her, and the old me probably wouldn’t have noticed her at all, but she stood out to my passive Aura sense, distinct in… color and texture from Indigo’s Aura, which was still upstairs.

“Breakfast won’t be for a little while still,” I said, finally laying hands on what I was looking for.

Blake’s Aura jumped as if startled, but her voice was steady when she replied, “I wasn’t expecting you up this early. You were hurt almost as badly as I was yesterday.”

I straightened up, twirling the heavy wok in my hands, and gave her a raised eyebrow. She was wearing the same clothes as last night. “You’re up this early, too,” I reminded her.

“Point,” she sighed. “Do you need any help?”

“Not really, but you could peel the ginger if you want,” I said, gesturing to the peeler. 

“Sure, but what’s it for?” Blake asked, 

“I thought I’d fry up last night’s leftover rice,” I answered, rummaging through the fridge for soy sauce and a bottle of something that smelled close to oyster sauce. I couldn’t find any mirin, but the pantry turned up a bottle of sherry when I went looking for sugar and coffee beans. “Do you drink coffee?”

“Sure,” Blake answered, tongue poking out as she carefully peeled the ginger root. I thought about telling her that it didn’t have to be perfect, since it was just going to get grated, but decided not to interrupt her. 

This morning’s silence was just as comfortable as last night’s, and I soon had eggs, bacon, sausage, and rice all frying. I put Blake in charge of grinding the beans for a pourover as I mixed the onion, garlic, and eggs that were already in the wok with the rice, making sure it didn’t burn, before adding scallions, the ginger, and the sauces. 

[Cooking has increased by 1!]

Transferring everything to the table took some doing, and I waved for Blake to serve herself while I went to wake Indigo.

She was actually in her bed this time instead of under it, for whatever reason, though her shadow was still wrapped around her and writhing more than the light from the hallway should allow. I reached for her shoulder, and her shadow twined around my wrist and held it still for a moment before letting me wake her.

“Coffee’s up,” I said when Indigo finally cracked an eye to scowl at the person who dared rouse her. “And we still have a guest in the house.”

“Ugh, fine,” Indigo grumbled, kicking back the covers and hiding a yawn behind her hand. I decided to have her coffee ready and headed back to the kitchen.

Indigo didn’t bother getting dressed, just dropped into the chair at the kitchen table in an oversized tee-shirt that came down to her thighs. Blake had already served herself but hadn’t started eating. Grabbing a mug and splashing in some cream, I topped it up with coffee and sat down at the remaining place. There wasn’t much conversation, since Blake was the reticent type and Indigo was still waking up.

After we’d eaten, Blake spoke up. “Thank you again for putting me up for the night. And for the clothes; I’ll return them when I get a chance.”

“No rush,” I said. “Not like Azure’s here.”

I walked her to the door, pausing as she put her shoes on and picked up her weapon.

“Thanks again for having my back, yesterday,” I said seriously, meeting Blake’s eyes. 

She glanced away, but then looked back. “I would say ‘anytime’, but…”

“But let’s not do that again, if we can help it?” I finished, and she nodded. “For the record, does that mean you’d rather not train with me in general?”

“That’s not what I meant,” Blake said immediately.

“I’d understand if that was the case, for the record,” I said, but she shook her head firmly. 

“No, I… That was another crazy situation.”

“I’m pretty sure I’m cursed,” I agreed.

“Interesting times, maybe,” she gave a tiny smirk, before finishing what she was saying before. “But you stood your ground where a lot of people would have run. I trust you. Take care of yourself, Jaune.”

“Long days and pleasant nights, Blake.” I replied.

Closing the door behind Blake, I returned to the kitchen and poured Indigo another cup of coffee before starting to clean up. 

“Via’s coming over,” Indigo said as I started to pack the leftovers to go in the fridge, so I slipped the still-hot food into my [Inventory] instead before starting on the dishes.

I was drying off the last few dishes when I heard a key scrape and the front door flung open.

“Indigo, did you hear? Someone’s claimed the bounty for Krios,” Olivia called out from the foyer.

“Is that so,” Indigo said. I could feel her eyes boring into the back of my head, but I manfully ignored it, putting another plate away.

“Yeah, it was verified but claimed anonymously so nobody knows who— Jaune when did you get a tattoo?” Olivia froze as she entered the kitchen.

I looked up, confused. “What, now?”

“You’ve got a tattoo on your shoulder,” she repeated, crossing the room and jabbing a spot above my shoulder blade, just to the right of my spine.

“News to me,” I said, trying to look at it myself as she pulled down the neck of my A-shirt to see it better. “What’s it look like?”

“An upside-down dick,” Indigo put in snidely.

“A bit like a number three on its side, but the middle extends past the curves,” Olivia tried, tracing a shape with her fingertip. Based on how her finger moved, it seemed to be about the size of my palm. “Or a letter V that curves at the top.”

“Weird. And I didn’t have it before?” Jaune didn’t have it before? was the question, though it didn’t seem like his style. 

“No way in hell we wouldn’t have noticed it,” Indigo said. “Tell me this is what you were actually doing with that girl yesterday.”

“Yes,” I replied, voice dripping with sarcasm. “I went and got an abstract tattoo and then Blake and I beat the shit out of each other, so badly I gained seven entire levels from it, and we came home covered in blood, just to fool you into believing I’m trying to become a Huntsman. Pranked.”

Indigo put down her coffee mug and pinched the bridge of her nose. “You never used to be this mouthy,” she complained. “You used to be so quiet and respectful.”

“You sure that wasn’t sheer dumbfounded terror?” I shot back. 

Indigo flinched, and Olivia’s gaze dropped to the floor. 

“Oookay, I don’t know what landmine I just stepped on, but I can tell I’m missing some context here,” I sighed. Putting away the last dish, I tossed the towel onto the counter and sat down across from Indigo at the table. “I’m not going to demand to be filled in, but please keep in mind that whatever it is, can’t hurt me because I don’t remember it. You’ve both been nothing but understanding when it comes to accepting the new me, so I’d say I more than owe you some understanding in return.”

Both of them were silent for a moment, so I unloaded the leftovers from breakfast out of my [Inventory], still as hot as when I’d stored them, and set them in front of Olivia, along with a knife and fork I’d been carrying around since the [Inventory] didn’t seem to have a carry limit.

This just seemed to depress them even more. Indigo put her head down, and her shadow reached up from the tabletop to card its fingers through her hair. Olivia now looked on the verge of tears, though her voice was still steady when she spoke up. “We weren’t exactly close with you, before. Either of us.”

I considered that. “I don’t mean to sound flippant, but… so?”

Olivia shook her head. “I can’t speak for Indigo, but I can admit to a little guilt over previously treating you like…”

“An annoying baby brother?” I offered. 

“Worse,” Olivia confessed. “We were the sixth and seventh daughters to go to Beacon. Our parents were happy for us, but it wasn’t special anymore. It was the same thing all of us did, from Bianca on down to Azure. It was expected. And then when you were born male…”

“I probably got all the attention,” I guessed. “And things like new clothes, since I couldn’t wear hand-me-downs the way you probably had to? Not to mention the three of us are relatively close enough in age that I can imagine the sibling rivalry being vicious.”

“But now it’s suddenly gone,” Indigo cut in, voice muffled since she didn’t raise her head. “When you could barely talk to me before! Couldn’t stay in the same room for longer than a mealtime, because I would scare you into leaving me alone so I could sleep! You probably hated me before, and I can’t help feeling horrible when we get along so easily now.”

I waited to see if she would continue, but with another sharp inhale, Indigo fell silent. Olivia didn’t speak either, her eyes still looking watery.

“If you’re waiting for a rebuke, it’s not coming,” I said after a long moment. “I don’t want to insult you both by dismissing what you’re saying, but like I said… it’s outside my experience. In the memories that I have, neither of you has treated me anything like that. I’m not about to hold a grudge for something that effectively did not happen to me. 

“Indigo, you were the first person I saw at the hospital. You were there, you brought my backpack in case I wanted it, and even when the memory problems were so obvious that I couldn’t hide them if I wanted to, you still got me out of there before cabin fever set in.” 

Indigo let out a shaky laugh. 

“Olivia,” I plowed on, “You stayed here instead of at your own place and made soup and stayed ready to look after us. Those were things you both did before I woke up with no memory; you did those things for the Jaune I used to be. And when I turned out not to be him, you both helped me get my feet under me. Indigo took me for food, Olivia helped clean up that awful haircut, and you both treated me like a recovering Huntsman instead of someone made of glass.”

Indigo lifted her head, and I looked between her and Olivia.

“Since the moment I woke up, I’ve never doubted either of you would be there for me,” I finished seriously. “I don’t believe for a moment that you were motivated by guilt to do everything you have, so as far as I’m concerned, you have nothing to apologize for.”

Both of them sniffed, and Indigo put her head back down, but Olivia managed a shaky smile. “I want to ask when you got so wise, but I guess I know, don’t I?”

I smirked and shot her a finger-gun. “Yep. Last night, when I pumped it to 50. Got a special WIS skill and everything.” 

Indigo snorted out a giggle that was halfway sob. Meeting Olivia’s eye, I jerked my head toward our sister, and she nodded. We circled the table and met in a group hug around Indigo, who stiffened but didn’t make any effort to pull away.

Olivia and I glanced at each other over her head. “Awkward sibling hug,” we chorused, both patting Indigo’s back. “Pat, pat.”

Olivia returned to her breakfast, while I poured Indigo and myself each another half-cup of coffee.

“Anyway, and not to blatantly change the subject, but I’m going to blatantly change the subject,” I warned, and they both laughed this time, sounding more natural. “What was Krios’ bounty, exactly? Because I didn’t report it, and Blake and I didn’t go anywhere except back here. I just got a hundred grand directly from my Semblance.”

“Excuse me, did you just say you killed Krios the Amalthean?” Olivia demanded. 

“It ambushed us,” I repeated my defense. “Running away wasn’t an option, so I kept it busy while Blake took out its reinforcements; I managed to gouge out both its eyes, then she stabbed it in the throat, and I capped it in the back of the head.”

“Hold on,” Indigo said, having drained her mug again. She set it down with a clunk and fixed me with a piercing gaze. “That mask you brought home yesterday.”

I shrugged. “I needed Krios’ attention away from Blake, so I told it I was going to mount its mask on my wall. It actually seemed to understand me, weirdly.”

Olivia smacked herself in the forehead. “Of course, that’s something you knew before, so we never thought to bring it up,” she realized. “Grimm can think, and understand speech, as soon as they’ve grown masks. The older they get, the less they react like animals, and the more they plan like sentients.”

“Oh,” I blinked. “Wait, if that’s true, then how are there any villages standing outside the walls? How did the walls even get built? If Grimm can plan, how have we not already lost?”

My sisters exchanged serious looks. “Most people, even most Hunters, don’t think to ask that question until well after graduation, Jaune,” Olivia said quietly. “The truth is… we don’t know. There’s never an entirely consistent pattern of behavior from the Grimm as a whole, either fully instinctual or totally rational. They seem to do both to varying degrees, and it’s never safe to assume one way or the other.”

“That’s… bizarre,” I decided. “If anything, that makes it seem like they’re being directed by a person who can make mistakes or can’t focus everywhere at once.”

“That theory has been floated before, but there’s no evidence to support it,” Olivia said, dropping into lecture mode as she raised a finger to gesture. “A guiding intelligence of that sort would most likely make more concerted efforts to completely wipe out the Kingdoms. There are enough Grimm out there, and few enough Hunters, that a fully-massed attack could definitely overwhelm one before the other three could react.”

So, the idea of someone like Salem pulling the strings isn’t popularly accepted. No surprise, Ozpin wouldn’t want something like that taking root in the public consciousness. But that means that nobody’s ready for something like a Fall to actually happen…  

“Speaking of the other three, they would know about what happened from the CCT, right? What happens if the Grimm do mass, and one of the towers gets destroyed?” I added, wanting to plant that idea as well. “If one went down, each Kingdom would be effectively isolated, and might not know what was happening in the others for weeks. Right?”

“It’s a known flaw,” Olivia agreed. “That’s why maintenances are planned so far in advance, and take place at such weird hours.”

“And their firewalls must be top-notch,” I said. “Although… this feels like a stupid question but I’ve heard of major sites failing to sanitize inputs and accidentally letting end users run code on the system. I’m sure someone has thought of this before, but you couldn’t like, break in and upload a worm or something, right?”

Indigo frowned. “You’re right, someone has to have thought of that, but I might run up to the school today and test it. It should be an easy check.”

“Go white hat. Anyway, going back to the point about Krios,” I said, not wanting to dwell on the CCT too long, “After we killed it, the mask stayed behind when the rest dissolved, so I decided to make good on my promise. Just by owning it I get a ten percent CON bonus, plus another effect, so that’s cool. Downside, I’m not trying to draw shitloads of attention to myself, so let’s please keep it quiet that I’m the one who killed it. Apparently my Semblance somehow claimed the bounty anonymously, though, so at least I still get the spending money!”

“Yeah, how the heck does that work?” Olivia scratched her head. 

“Haven’t a clue,” I shrugged. “Honestly, I’m kinda glad it comes from a legitimate source. I was wondering how the hell I was going to launder it.” I got to my feet once more, using my Semblance’s interface to equip my Casual outfit, smoothing out a wrinkle in the overshirt I was now wearing. “On the plus side, I can probably afford a bike now, so I might check out some today. I need a break before I try to Hunt anything again. Text me if you need anything.”

I paused by the door to reload my pistol, giving my sisters a chance to call me back, but they just wished me a good day.

     Zapdos -> ‘Seven Deadly Sisters (And One Baby Brother)’ | Wednesday, 08:58

     ‹Zapdos› so.

     ‹Zapdos› what’s the what?

     ‹Zapdos› jaune kill any grimm yet? unlock his aura? find a girlfriend? 👀

     ‹Aegislash› yes, no, no

     ‹Ampharos› I’ve been catching up on the last week now that I’m back in range of the CCT, and I’d definitely like to register some concerns. Can someone debrief me on Jaune’s exact status?

     ‹Gengar› wtf r u doing up its like ass oclock in the morning over there

     ‹Zapdos› indigo you always think it’s ass o’clock.

     ‹Zapdos› that said, bitch has a point, why the hell are you up? its not even 0600 there.

     ‹Ampharos› Reveille is in thirty.

     ‹Zapdos› which we know you’re excused from on account of your online status says you got back less than four hours ago.

     ‹Ampharos› I’m awake; I have to set an example.

     ‹Gengar› ffs b u gotta sleep sometime

     ‹Ampharos› You all know I’m perfectly fine.

     ‹Gardevoir› No matter how many times we have this conversation, you never seem to grasp that we will never not be concerned about you.

     ‹Ampharos› Don’t worry about me.

     ‹Aegislash› you should never give an order that can’t be obeyed

     ‹Ampharos› I’m still waiting for that debrief. Jaune, if you’re here, give it yourself.

     ‹Aegislash› debrief on what? I don’t know what you don’t know

     ‹Aegislash› apparently I tried to go hunting by myself on like 20 July

     ‹Aegislash› I say apparently because I don’t remember anything before waking up in the hospital on the 23rd

I started typing again, then paused.

     ‹Aegislash› …how secure is this app?

     ‹Reuniclus› 100% END-TO-END ENCRYPTED !

     ‹Aegislash› good enough

     ‹Aegislash› when I woke up I had no memories but I did have my Semblance

     ‹Aegislash› my Aura is still locked, however, which I’m told shouldn’t be possible

     ‹Reuniclus› EXCUSE ME WHAT ?

     ‹Aegislash› best answer I’ve got is, it’s exactly like the Grimm that sent me to the hospital in the first place

     ‹Zapdos› how’s that?

     ‹Aegislash› it beats the shit out of me

     ‹Gengar› j omg

     ‹Gardevoir› Indigo and I can confirm this… oddity. An attempt to unlock his Aura was… rebuffed.

     ‹Gengar› fuckin painful is what it was

     ‹Reuniclus› BECAUSE OF THE GEAS ?

     ‹Gardevoir› That seems most likely. 

     ‹Aegislash› keep it to yourselves, please

     ‹Aegislash› I’ve got a good shot at Beacon regardless, and I’d rather not wind up in a lab instead for being a freak

     ‹Aegislash› @Gardevoir @Gengar if the encryption here is that good, you can tell them about yesterday, just don’t go sharing it outside the family

     ‹Aegislash› train’s stopping, talk later

No wonder they didn’t fuss about me leaving the house, I thought as I tucked my Scroll away. I can’t really escape the conversation.

I had a destination in mind, a body shop and wrecking yard near the coast that advertised used vehicles. I’d passed and idly noted it the first time I came into the city; they’d had a few bikes on display, and I decided to peruse their selection before I started looking through classifieds. At the very least, it should let me get an idea of what bike designs looked like on Remnant, so I could refer to brands that actually existed.

I’d barely arrived when one of them caught my eye, though. Gleaming chrome with a cobalt finish on the tank, where the maker’s name was emblazoned: Victoria.

It’s brighter than I’d have liked on Earth, but that kinda makes it a nice fit for Jaune’s complexion and color scheme, I mused as I drew up and inspected it more closely. 

The straight lines and handlebars were somewhere between a racing bike and cruiser, and it looked surprisingly rugged. The seat was long enough for two, with passenger footrests and a grabrail in the back above a pair of decent-size saddlebags that matched the chocolate-brown leather. 

Why’s the throttle on the left, though?

“See something you like?” came a young woman’s voice from the direction of the shop.

“I think I’m in love,” I replied, swinging a leg over the bike to get a feel for its size. It wasn’t overly bulky, despite the fairly-large engine I could see slung underneath it.

“Heh, usually guys look at me before they say that,” she teased. I looked over my shoulder and paused as I took in a brown leather jacket, yellow tube top, abs I could grind cheese on, and a mass of golden-blonde hair. Fuck me, really? More main characters already?

‹Wanderer By Lone Sea-Breakers›
LV 26
Yang Xiao Long

“I can see why,” I shot back, “But I came here for a bike, so I hope you’re not offended. Or planning to buy this beauty out from under me.”

“Heh, I’ve got my own ride, Ladykiller, but I can get you the keys if you want to try that one out.” She swept her hair behind her with one arm, and I caught a tattoo winding all the way up her arm and just peeking out from under her collar. Huh, that wasn’t in the show.

“Hell yes,” I said. “And, ‘Ladykiller’?”

She shrugged. “You didn’t hesitate to flirt back; I like that kind of confidence in a man. I’m Yang.”

“Jaune; nice to meet you, although I don’t know if I’m quite your type,” I grinned.

She smirked back. “And you think you know my type?”

I gave her another look up and down. “I’m sure I don’t, but I know when I’m out of my league.” 

Yang chuckled. “Flatterer. Let me grab you the keys to that Sabkha.” She turned away, hips swaying a little, but instead of being titillating, it left me a bit confused.

It’s not really out of character as far as I know, although obviously I need to remember not to judge people by my memories of the show. Still, something seemed… off. Maybe it was that I could tell she wasn’t flirting seriously, even if I could appreciate the view. Fair enough. I wasn't serious about it either.

Before I could ponder further, Yang stepped back out of the garage, underhanding a key on a ring, which I caught. Turning back to the bike, I slotted it in and twisted, hearing and feeling the powerful engine thrum to life. I twisted the left-handed throttle slightly to hear it roar, noting that it wasn’t anywhere near as loud as I’d expected, but still rumbled satisfyingly. I’d driven a full-electric car on Earth and appreciated the quiet, but if a bike didn’t growl, what was the point?

“Well?” Yang asked, grinning with a fist on her hip. “What do you think?”

I cut the engine. “How much, and who do I talk to about getting some armor put on her?”

“Seventy-eight-nine as she stands,” Yang rattled off. “And what kind of armor?”

“Chain guard, sump plate, that kind of thing,” I waved a hand, since I was mostly just assuming there must be more available than that on Remnant, even if I didn’t know what it was called. “I’m starting at Beacon next year, and I’d like to not have to dig Grimm spines out of the engine if possible.”

“Hey, me too,” Yang said, before her brow furrowed a little. “I don’t think I’ve seen you around before. Do you go to school inland?”

“Nah, homeschooled,” I replied. I knelt down to examine the engine. “I could hear it’s a twin; how big is this?”

“Twelve hundred cee-cee,” Yang answered immediately. “Tops out around eighty horsepower.”

I raised my head so she could see me hitch an eyebrow, and she shrugged.

“I came by so often to get work done on my baby that Huffy decided to hire me on part-time. I’ve worked on most of these,” she indicated the row of motorcycles. 

“And ridden them, I bet,” I smirked.

“Gotta test ‘em out,” she agreed.

“So you can make the sale?” I asked.

Yang hesitated. “I know the prices, but you’d need Huffy to do the actual paperwork. I can get started on the armor, though.”

“How much and how long?” I asked.

Yang cast the bike a considering look. “We should have everything in the garage as long as you don’t mind chrome, so I could knock it out in a couple hours,” she decided, heading for the garage. “Bring her in and park her next to mine, it’s the yellow one.”

“I never would have guessed,” I snarked, climbing back onto the bike and rolling it backwards. The throttle was snappier than I expected, but the brakes were just as strong, so I easily pulled the Victoria in next to the bigger bike I knew was Bumblebee, kicking the stand down.

Yang was already rummaging through a box of parts in the corner, so I took the opportunity to look around. It didn’t look all that different from any other auto shop I’d ever been in, even down to the jack and most of the tools still being recognizably pneumatic. Guess that makes sense, not everything has to be Dust tech.

“I can probably finish up around lunchtime,” Yang offered, coming back with a silver engine guard that looked like it should fit.

“I don’t have anything else to do today,” I shrugged. “Got my ass kicked on a Hunt yesterday, so I’m taking a break. How much are these upgrades going to run me?”

“You’ll have to haggle with Huffy, but call it…” she glanced down at the guard in her hands, then considered the bike. “Eight, nine thousand in parts? Plus a few hours’ labor.” She winked. “My rate’s a bit less since I’m part-time, so you probably won’t lose your shirt. What were you Hunting?”

“Ursai in the Emerald Forest,” I answered, since that was what we had intended to find. “Bit off a little more than I could chew, but that’s why we don’t Hunt alone.”

“Learned that the hard way?” Yang joked, indicating the scars on the left side of my head.

“Yes,” I said flatly, raising my sunglasses so she could see how the claw-marks bisected my eyebrow and barely missed my eye. “Don’t Hunt alone with no Aura.”

She paused in the act of drawing on the engine guard with a grease pencil to show where she would have to weld it. “No Aura?” she repeated.

“Not unlocked yet,” I shrugged, leaving the shades on top of my head since I was out of the sun. “Family tradition.”

[Acting has increased by 1!]

Ah, come on, that was just understatement… 

Yang and I chatted while she worked, and ended up exchanging contact info. After an hour or so, the owner came out into the garage to work on a car, nodding to me after making sure I wasn’t harassing Yang. His name was Hephaestus, but she introduced him as Huffy. He was shorter than Blake, with an odd hunch in his shoulder and a prosthetic leg, but was even brawnier than Tukson. After some haggling and an estimate at how long Yang would be working, we settled the sale at a bit under 90,000 Lien, taking a major chunk out of my savings and giving me three more points in [Bargain].

It was a wrench, but on the other hand, since Olivia would be buying my weapon (I was pretty sure now that I would pass the entrance exam) this should be my last big expenditure for a while. Actually, I shouldn’t keep all of this; I didn’t kill Krios myself. While Yang was working, I moved 50,000 out of my [Wallet] and into my [Inventory]. I’ll have to meet up with Blake sometime. Maybe we can actually have a normal Hunt.

Regular Grimm dropped pocket change by comparison, but there were a lot of regular Grimm. And even without that, I still had the equivalent of about seventy USD, so it wasn’t like I couldn’t buy a meal if I wanted.

Way sooner than I expected, I was cruising home on my new bike. Not until I was halfway home did it occur to me that I had absolutely no idea if Jaune had a license, or if such a thing even existed on Remnant. I considered pulling over, but if I didn’t there wasn’t much I could do about it, so I just tried to keep under the speed limit and… I dunno, drive casual.

“Hello, the house!” I called as I opened the door. 

“Welcome home,” Olivia called back from the sitting room. “Found something?” she asked, eyeing my windswept hair. She sounded surprised.

“Yep; unfortunately it cost me about ninety grand,” I grimaced. “Important question, though: Am I, like, allowed to drive? Legally?”

“No,” she replied immediately.

“…Why didn’t you say anything this morning?” I asked, thankful I’d gotten home without incident.

“I assumed you were browsing today, not bringing one home. What dealer sold you a bike without checking for a license?”

“I found an auto shop that was selling used,” I explained. “It’s a Victoria Sabkha, pretty much exactly what I was picturing actually.”

“I didn’t hear the garage open?” Olivia half-asked.

“I actually have enough STR to pick the whole bike up, so I stuck it in my [Inventory]. I won’t be able to explain pulling it out in front of people, though, so hopefully Beacon has a place I could reasonably store it.”

“There’s a student garage,” Olivia assured me. “I’ll see about what you need to get licensed when I go back to my apartment tomorrow. What else are you planning today?”

“Didn’t have much else in mind. I thought it would take longer to find a bike I liked, so I’ll probably just stay in and work on grinding CON. I want to get my physical stats up to the 50 level manually if I can, grab the percentage boosting skills without spending points on them.”

Olivia waved me off, turning back to her book, so I left her to it. Changing into some swimming trunks I found in one of Jaune’s drawers, I spent the rest of the day swimming laps in the pool, figuring that would be best for my endurance, and was rewarded with a few points in CON by the time the moon came up. Wrapping a towel around myself so I wouldn’t drip on the floor, I hurried upstairs to take a shower. Unequipping all my wet clothes and storing them in my [Inventory] until I could toss them in the dryer, I remembered something we had talked about this morning.

I turned around, then twisted to look in the mirror over my own shoulder. There, stark against my pale skin, and man do I need to get more sun, were the bold tattooed curves my sisters had described.

♈︎

Name: Jaune Arc
Level: 17 (Next: 26.74%)
Title: Grimm Slayer
Race: Human
Age: 17
Job: Tyro Huntsman
Class: Paladin
Semblance: The Gamer
HP: 1341/1341
MP: 1056/1056
STR: 51 (50)
CON: 38 (33)
DEX: 36 (31)
INT: 34
WIS: 50.5 (50)
CHA: 30.1 (23)
Points: 49
Money: 698L
Status: Cursed – Yellow Death [High]

Chapter Text

Olivia was as good as her word, and had a driver’s license test scheduled for the weekend. She even tutored me on the road signs and laws, which were mostly similar enough to the ones I knew that I wasn’t surprised when I passed. I’d also spent the intervening time refamiliarizing myself with motorcycles in general.

I spent the next month and a half continuing to focus on my physical stats, but they were definitely becoming harder to get. Despite working out every day, I only got 1 more point in STR, 2 in CON, and 3 in DEX. I wasn’t sure if I’d tripped a flag by killing Krios or if there was some other trigger like having a stat reach 50, but I was definitely gaining stat points way more slowly. Which sucks. I'm still not ready to spend my points, but it's looking more like I might have to.

I had by now gotten a decent overview of the broad strokes of Remnant’s recorded history, so I started focusing on languages. Contrary to the American English nature of the show, the truth seemed a lot more… fantasy-inspired. That is, Common (meaning English) was intentionally constructed from an old lingua franca originally based on the root languages of Vytalian (which seemed to be Latin), Sanusian (a melange of Celtic languages), Mistrali (Greek), and Solitan (a sort of mashup of the various Scandinavian languages). There were also loanwords from at least half a dozen more tongues, which somehow combined into the utter mess I was more or less familiar with. Tracking down etymological roots did net me 3 total points in INT, so I considered it a worthy pursuit.

Then there were the 3 points in CHA I’d gotten, along with another three ranks in [Acting], during a conversation with my oldest sister.

DM: Lux Aeterna -> Paladin | Friday 15:21

     ‹Lux Aeterna› Hello, Jaune.

     ‹Paladin› yo

     ‹Paladin› Bianca, right? I think I’ve gotten everyone’s names down

     ‹Lux Aeterna› …I know you were diagnosed with amnesia, but it hurts more than I expected that you have to ask.

     ‹Paladin› sorry

     ‹Lux Aeterna› You don’t have to apologize. I’m just trying to adjust to what’s different.

     ‹Paladin› can’t help with that as much as I’d like to

     ‹Paladin› not much has really come back, so I don’t have the firmest grasp on the Jaune of yesteryear

In a manner of speaking. I know next to nothing about how he grew up, only what his personality was like at the start of the show. Still, nothing’s “come back”, so at least I’m not a liar.

     ‹Paladin› he had an admirable dream, though

     ‹Lux Aeterna› To be a Huntsman?

     ‹Paladin› to be a hero, I’d say

He didn’t really realize what that would entail, but… shit, neither did I until I had to put my sword where my oath was.

     ‹Lux Aeterna› I’m glad that much hasn’t changed, then. Indigo and Olivia related what they could of your clash with Krios. I’m proud of you for finding a way to get both yourself and your Hunting partner out of that Charlie Foxtrot alive

     ‹Paladin› cheers I’ll drink to that bro

     ‹Paladin› already did, in fact

     ‹Paladin› could have done with 100% less cracked ribs though

     ‹Paladin› overall I’d give my performance a six outta ten

     ‹Lux Aeterna› Jaune.

     ‹Paladin› no encore

     ‹Lux Aeterna› Jaune, you’re rambling to distract me from asking questions.

Yeesh… Cut me to the quick, why don’t you?

     ‹Paladin› is it working?

     ‹Lux Aeterna› No. What is the story with this ‘trophy’ Indigo mentioned?

     ‹Paladin› the damn goat’s mask looks like most of a skull

     ‹Paladin› I dunno what to tell you, it didn’t dissolve when the rest of the body did, so I took it home to mount on my wall

     ‹Lux Aeterna› Why did you claim the bounty anonymously? And come to think of it, how?

     ‹Paladin› I can’t possibly explain ‘how’ in any satisfactory manner

Not that I really even know how in the first place, other than ‘Semblance bullshit’…

     ‹Paladin› the why should be obvious

     ‹Paladin› amnesiac teen, never been to combat school, somehow kills a named grimm? with a locked aura? and backup from only one other tyro?

     ‹Paladin› I can tell my situation is bizarre; I don’t want to end up strapped to a table in a lab somewhere

     ‹Lux Aeterna› Stay away from Azure for a few months, then.

…I hope that’s a joke.

     ‹Paladin› can’t help but notice the absence of a "lol" or "psych"

     ‹Lux Aeterna› Imagine that.

     ‹Lux Aeterna› Your Hunting partner agreed to this? The anonymity?

     ‹Paladin› she’s ex-White Fang, she’s just as interested in keeping a low profile

From Adam and her parents. Not that I’m supposed to know the second part. Still can’t believe I slipped.

     ‹Paladin› come to think of it, I still need to deliver her half of the bounty

     ‹Paladin› shit, hope I didn’t spend more than half

     ‹Lux Aeterna› Why didn’t you give her half right away?

     ‹Paladin› couldn't have kept it quiet

     ‹Lux Aeterna› That’s the only reason?

     ‹Paladin› no, I also completely forgot

     ‹Paladin› because of stress, not the amnesia, although I might use that as the excuse

     ‹Paladin› what’re you up to, anyway? don’t you lead a squad or something?

     ‹Lux Aeterna› They’re in the mess; I’ve got another few minutes before I start running them into the ground again. This afternoon we will be covering offhand weapon practice.

Good, good, keep telling me about your job and stop asking me difficult questions…

I still wasn’t pumped that [Acting] was my highest skill, by quite a large margin. I didn’t like lying, despite finding it justified in all the situations that had led to it being so high.

On the other hand, I'm pretty glad these are the stats I have, rather than...I don't know, SPECIAL or FASERIP.

The latter split combat skills too much, while the former didn’t have the divide between INT and WIS that I found so helpful. SPECIAL also relied on Luck, which was fine in a game, but didn’t really make sense in terms of reality.

How would that even work? Would I get more loot drops? More critical hits? Encounter more Grimm, or less? I already apparently live in Interesting Times regardless.

My recent spars (once each with Indigo and Olivia, who used two dirks instead of a sword) had seen a marked improvement as well, although the experience gains from that were drying up, too. I’d also gone on a couple hunts, once I confirmed Blake was still okay with accompanying me.

DM: Paladin -> Nightshade | Sunday 07:05

     ‹Paladin› hey, I don’t know if you’re feeling up to it yet, but I was thinking of heading up to Forever Fall this afternoon

     ‹Paladin› probably pick up a tyro mission; I need some cash

     ‹Paladin› plus I need to give you something

     ‹Nightshade› That should be fine. Hopefully we don’t encounter anything close to the same level.

     ‹Paladin› knock on wood

     ‹Paladin› wanna grab lunch first?

     ‹Paladin› (still not a date)

     ‹Nightshade› Relax, I understand you’re not hitting on me. And sure, what did you have in mind?

     ‹Paladin› sushi

     ‹Paladin› haven’t had any since I lost my memory but I’m pretty sure I like it

     ‹Nightshade› Sounds great. I know a place; I’ll meet you there around noon?

     Nightshade sent a location!

     ‹Nightshade› We’ll have to walk or catch the train from there up to Forever Fall.

     ‹Paladin› no worries, I’ll drive

Blake hadn’t seemed thrilled that I’d meant ‘on a motorcycle’, but she still climbed on behind me with a minimum of grumbling, even after I mentioned I couldn’t afford helmets quite yet. I was glad she’d agreed to join me Hunting again, because I still needed EXP and I was seriously starting to run low on Lien (not counting Blake’s half of Krios’ bounty). I hadn’t received any new ‘missions’ from my Semblance lately, something else that made me wonder if I’d tripped a flag to make the Game stop taking it easy on me.

Being outside of town also let me give Blake her half of the bounty from Krios. She seemed shocked, but didn’t hesitate to take it.

Fortunately, the few Tyro Hunts we went on were fairly close to Vale, if still unsupervised, so we were able to complete and even go above our kill count fairly easily, simply taking a picture on our Scrolls of each Grimm as it dissolved.

Regular Grimm netted me 200ish EXP a pop, edging me up over the level threshold for 18 after a couple of weekends. Slow but steady. I could probably have gained more, but my sisters continued to insist that I come home at night, and only go out Hunting with at least a partner for backup. A shame, but I was still on track for Beacon so I let it go.

These handful of Hunts, and training with Blake and my sisters in between them, also netted me a few dozen levels across my various detection and combat skills. The biggest gains were both [Sword Mastery] and [Shield Mastery] cracking rank 30. Together those also boosted up [Melee Combat Mastery], which hit 20. [Crusader’s Smite] also reached 25 — bringing the bonus damage up to +150% — because I was activating it on basically every swing that hit a Grimm, since it meant killing most of the weaker ones in just a few strokes.

More importantly, though, my passive stat buffs like [Powerful] and [Parkour] were growing, too.

The mission fees, which Blake and I also split, didn’t amount to much, but I was still collecting lien (probably Bounty) from the Game on every Grimm I killed, so the next time I was in Vale, I picked up some new duds.

I bought a leather jacket for riding; that, plus a new pair of jeans with aramid fibers woven in, went over my usual gold tee to form a new Riding armor set. After some thought, I replaced my Combat jeans with the armored ones as well. I also picked up a pair of motorcycle helmets and a set of tools to keep in my [Inventory], the latter of which gave a relevant skill once I’d done some tinkering on the bike.

[You have remembered the skill [Mechanics]!]

Mechanics (Passive) LV 5 EXP: 0.00%
A talent with machines. Mortal society advanced their civilization further through industrialization. Grants an increased understanding of mechanical objects, and improves chance to successfully craft or repair mechanical items.
Able to repair mechanical items by up to 10%.
5% decrease in failure rate when crafting mechanical items.

I wasn’t sure what the failure rate line was about, since I didn’t actually have any sort of [Crafting] skill, though such a thing did exist in The Gamer comic. I hadn’t come across anything that looked like crafting mats, but perhaps it was a matter of time.

The easy days came to a swift end along with the month of September, when Azure apparently got some time off.

“Remember the moment you left me alone and broke every promise you ever made–” The Game interface gave me a small popup noting an incoming call from Azure Arc, and my ringtone cut off as I answered.

“Talk to me,” I puffed.

“Pffft, is that how you answer the phone?” I didn’t recognize the voice, obviously — an excited alto slightly higher than Olivia’s — but I had a pretty good grasp on the family dynamics by now.

“How else should I answer?” I replied, racking the bar I was squatting 300 kg with. “What’s up? You don’t usually call.”

“I got some vacation time!” Azure said, still almost-yelling. “Time to do whatever I want!”

“Congratulations,” I said, still confused. “Are you coming home?”

“Nope!” she shouted. I was getting the impression that it was just her natural volume. “You’re coming here!”

I blinked. “Come again?”

“I’ve got no assignments for work as of next week,” Azure repeated. “The first week of October is my personal project time. So you’re gonna fly up and I’m gonna try to figure out what’s going on with your Semblance!”

“You know, I’m pretty sure Bianca warned me about this,” I drawled. “I also distinctly remember saying I don’t want to wind up in a lab.”

“Too bad, I already booked your flight!” Azure giggled. “C’mon, it won’t be so bad; we need to catch up anyway!”

“This has to stay private, Azure,” I said firmly. “I won’t bend on that. My Semblance is my business.”

“Yeah, yeah,” Azure blew a raspberry through the phone. “It’ll all be anonymized, especially if I do manage to figure something out, but we’ve got the best equipment in the world for studying Aura, you know?”

“I’ll want that in writing,” I sighed. “When is the flight?”

“Tomorrow at nine!”

“Of course it is,” I grumbled, grabbing a towel to wipe the sweat from my face. Looked like my workout was over if I had an international flight in the morning. “Hell, do I even have a passport?” I wondered aloud.

“Yep!” Azure chirped. “We got them renewed two years ago when we went to visit Grandma after Indigo graduated!”

“Fine, fine,” I said, heading for the stairs. “But you get to tell these two that you’re kidnapping me.”

“Excuse me?” Olivia asked, leaning out of the kitchen as Azure ended the call.

I waved a hand dismissively as I climbed to my room. “Call Azure, apparently I need to pack.” 

Security at Vale Airport was… a bizarre experience, for someone who’d grown used to the TSA. My bags went through a scanner, and I passed through some kind of detector, more or less as expected, but everything was ridiculously streamlined. A few seconds between people, and a swipe of my Scroll was enough to clear me through even with the Family Sword in my luggage. I kept the pistol in my [Inventory], since it wasn’t in my name legally, but it was still weird to know I’d walked into an airport with a longsword and everyone took it in stride.

I could have stored everything in my [Inventory], but I decided not to tempt fate in case someone in Atlas wondered where I was getting clothes from.

The flight itself was nothing special. Quieter, maybe, and relatively quick, though admittedly it might not have been packed since it was Thursday morning. Before I knew it, I was stepping off the plane and into another Kingdom. The Atlas Airport was a bit more glass and chrome, and surprisingly warm given the latitude and altitude of the city.

When looking for natural defenses against Grimm, ‘floating island’ wouldn’t have been the first thing to jump to mind, I thought. Although maybe ‘natural’ isn’t the right word either.

Not for the first time, I was kind of wishing I hadn’t given up watching RWBY when the narrative lost me after Volume 5.

Glancing around to get my bearings, my attention was caught by a knockout redhead. She was about my height, which was notable since Jaune was a good few inches taller than I had been on Earth. Her hair was a dark red shading to auburn, with a casual sort of Jane Shepard cut, and she looked like she worked out daily. Combined with some kind of blocky weapon attached to her back, I clocked her as a Huntress immediately. I couldn’t identify the weapon in its collapsed form, but I was getting a feel for how mechshift weapons were generally designed after absorbing the “Huntsperson's Basics of Modelmaking and Drafting”.

It was only after a moment that I noticed the thin blonde with blue bangs beside her, despite her bouncing on her heels and waving at me.

“Jaune! Over here!”

‹???›
LV ???
Azure Arc

Azure, the shortest of my sisters according to the pictures I’d seen, still stood a respectable 5’8”, with bright blue eyes and her hair pulled into a messy bun. She wore a white lab coat over a pale orange blouse, which nearly concealed the shoulder harness that was carrying at least six small pistols.

“Hello, Azure,” I greeted her calmly, then staggered a little as she yanked me into a hug and dragged me down to her level. I patted her on the back gamely. “Who’s your friend?”

“Oh, Sienna couldn’t make it, so she sent her partner!” Azure chirped, not actually answering the question. “Cozy up, ‘cause you’ll be staying with her.”

“Excuse me?” I said, shrugging her off and raising an eyebrow.

“Well, there’s no room for you in my studio, and Sienna would have made you stay with her anyway,” Azure shrugged. “Since she’s on a mission you won’t even have to sleep on their couch.”

“Bia,” the redhead supplied since Azure evidently wasn’t going to, extending her hand to shake. “Sienna and I are usually partners in the field, but I’m on leave at the moment.”

‹???›
LV ???
Bia Álikos

“Jaune Arc,” I replied, clasping it briefly. I considered kissing her knuckles, but I didn’t think my CHA was actually high enough to pull that off. “Are you from Mistral?”

“I am,” Bia smiled. “You might have heard of my cousin, Pyrrha?”

“Hard not to,” I said, leading the way to the baggage belt. “I hope you’re actually okay with having me and didn’t get bulldozed into the decision. Apparently my sisters are very used to getting their way.” I sent Azure a glare, which she didn't even have the decency to acknowledge.

“Not at all,” Bia demurred as I plucked my bag off the belt. “As Azure said, Sienna insisted on giving you a bed even though she couldn’t meet you.”

“I appreciate it, as my wallet’s a bit light at the moment for a hotel.”

“As if,” Azure scoffed. “Earn your keep with hair brushing, baby bro.”

Rolling my eyes, I excused myself to the bathroom, retrieved the Family Sword from my luggage, and equipped it so the bandolier would appear over my usual outfit. I also threw my riding jacket on because it seemed to be windy. Finally, I slid my sunglasses back into place, since from what I could spot out the window, the rest of the city was as much chrome and glass as the airport.

I’d crossed three time zones, so it was getting on toward 1600 local, and the sun was already getting lower in the sky as autumn drew near. “Dinner?” I suggested, rejoining the others.

Azure bounced toward the door. “Do you want something quick, or do you wanna sit down somewhere?”

I shrugged. “I’ve got a few thousand Lien, just let me know if you pick something I’ll have to dress up for.”

“Nah, I know a casual place that does great Vacuan food,” Indigo promised, coming to a halt beside the passenger door of a light utility vehicle that looked somewhere between a Jeep and a Hummer, painted matte white. “You’ll love it!”

“Will I?” I asked, sensing the mischief in her tone. I tossed my bag into the back seat and strapped in as Bia started the engine. She gave me a sympathetic look in the rearview as Azure giggled.

“Welllll~ it’s possible you’re still a wimp about spice, but maybe your tastes have changed!”

“Why not,” I sighed. “Let’s go.”

By the time our food arrived, I couldn’t help lifting an eyebrow in Azure’s direction. “You call this ‘spicy’? You even went to the trouble of ordering for me to play your prank, and this is the best you've got? The spiciest things in this dish are garlic and black pepper, dude.”

Kafta-style lamb over vermicelli rice, while involving a lot of spices, didn’t even contain capsaicin. Delicious, though.

“I mean, I can’t fault your order, I just can’t believe you think this is spicy,” I continued, smirking internally at the surprise on Azure’s face. Apparently Jaune really was a wuss for spice.

Bia, smiling, offered her plate of kabsa toward me. Obliging her, I took a bite, and then gestured at it emphatically.

“There, see? That at least has some chilies in it.”

Azure shook her head, going back to her majadra. “You’re probably sick of everyone who knows you being surprised all the time, huh?” she asked rhetorically

“I don’t really blame anybody,” I demurred. “You knew the old me for seventeen years. If anything, I’m sorry to be at the center of what’s obviously difficult for you to take in.”

Azure scooped up another forkful of rice and lentils, chewing and swallowing pensively. “That’s not fair to you, though,” she said, her voice much softer than she’d used so far

“Then we’ll have to figure out a new dynamic,” I said. Bia looked a little uncomfortable, so I changed the subject. “What’s on the agenda tomorrow?”

Azure perked up at the thought of Science™, and said eagerly, “Tomorrow I just want to figure out a baseline for you. We can do that anywhere. On Monday I’m borrowing one of the private labs with no surveillance, and we’ll do Science to you!”

I could practically hear the capital letter.

“No one’s going to question you coming to work on your vacation?”

Azure blew a raspberry right there at the table. “Like I’m the only one. My boss comes in to work every single day of the week. Almost everyone at CLEO is like that.”

“CLEO?” I asked.

“Center for Logistics, Engineering, and Ordnance. We’re R&D for the Atlas military, basically.”

Like DARPA, I thought. “Am I even allowed on site, then?”

Azure waved my concern off. “You’ll just have to fill out some paperwork for an Unclassified Meeting tomorrow and I’ll sign off on a Visitor’s badge next week. It’s not that big a deal since you won’t be accessing any Compartmented Information.”

“Should I leave my weapons?” I guessed. Probably just dump the Family Sword into my [Inventory]. Fuck being unarmed.

“As a Visitor, yes. And you’ll have to power off your Scroll once we leave the ground floor, if you don’t leave that at home too. That’s why I have to carry a twenty-year-old pager.”

The conversation drifted for a bit, and I decided to try to include Bia. “So you mentioned you’re on leave. It’s not for an injury, is it? I don’t know if Azure mentioned it, but I’m a healer.”

Bia glanced up from her dessert. “Oh, no, nothing like that. I just had to have some of my clearances renewed, and it was strongly hinted that I’d been taking a few too many missions, lately.”

“Her girlfriend insisted she take a week off, because she was running herself into the ground even more than Sienna,” Azure translated, smirking over her own enormous banana split.

“And where’s she?” I asked. “Is anyone forcing her to take a break?”

“She’s running a few errands in Mantle,” Azure revealed. “At least, she went to Mantle first. Since she’s not allowed in the field without her partner, she probably hasn’t wandered too far.”

“Ahem,” Bia said loudly. “Specialists’ missions are classified,” she reminded Azure, before turning to me. “I’m sorry, but that’s already as much as we can say.”

Azure rolled her eyes, but didn’t disagree. I smiled disarmingly. “I understand. Should we get going, then?”

“Yeah, drop me off and I’ll see you in the morning,” Azure ordered Bia and me respectively, swiping her Scroll over the tablet on the table before either of us could even see the bill. “You snooze, you lose, slowpokes. Home now, Jeeves!”

I snorted, and Bia gave a tolerant chuckle.

Azure had a loft apartment somewhat close to the airport, while Bia and Sienna shared a two-bedroom condo near Atlas Academy. It was constructed like a barracks, if roomier, but was furnished much more comfortably than expected. The glass-fronted shelves full of knickknacks recalled Sienna’s room back home, while the stack of novels and photos showing an equestrian with distinctive red hair hinted at Bia’s influence. All in all, it felt surprisingly homey for military housing.

There were even more collectibles in Sienna’s room, when I was directed there, and I bid Bia good night before burrowing under the covers and setting my Semblance to wake me in six hours.

Upon waking, I sat up to meditate, stretching to wake myself up and shake off the chills. The apartment was downright freezing overnight — a poke through my Semblance’s interface showed a temperature of 13C — and I’d only gotten comfortable after pulling an extra reddish-brown blanket out of Sienna’s closet.

It was shy of 0600 locally, meaning not even 0300 back in Vale, so I didn’t bother texting anyone. Instead, I found myself pondering the utterly minimal stat gains I’d received from working out the past few weeks. It was enough to make me question my decision to hold off on distributing my ‘free’ points.

On the one hand, I am still gaining points slowly, but on the other… if I bump my physical stats up with points, I’ll get to choose the 50-point skills and start grinding those now. And considering how I keep falling into horrifying fights, it might be safer if I have all my options…

I got up, deciding to ponder the decision while showering, and ended up holding off. Azure wanted a baseline, and raising stats is easy to quantify. I guess I can afford to hold off for a couple days, I thought, toweling my hair dry in front of the mirror.

Glancing at the clock, it was 0545, so I decided to switch on my Workout armor set and go fix some breakfast.

Eggs and milk were in the fridge, but there was only a heel of bread left, scuppering my plans for not-French toast. I also couldn’t find any flour as I scoured the cupboards, but I did come up with a jar of protein powder, which would work as a substitute as long as I cut in some oats and applesauce. Fortunately there was a canister of baking powder that I sprinkled in to make sure they would rise slightly, and I set about mixing a batch that was a little bigger than I’d have made for me and Indigo at home since Bia was herself a bit bigger than my sister.

Actually, she’s bigger than any of my sisters that I’ve met. Going by the family portraits, Bianca and Olivia are the biggest, and neither of them is as built as Bia

The portrait of Jacques, meanwhile, gave me some hope for my own future physique. Jaune always seemed skinny, if tall, in the show, but the animation was obviously stylized and he’d started out as a bit of a nerd. Jack Arc, meanwhile, was a mountain of a man, and since crossing 50 STR I was moving that way myself. Thankfully Gamer’s Body makes the changes gradual. And thank fuck I don’t have to worry about my clothes not fitting.

I was lining up the first tall stack of pancakes when Bia’s door opened and she poked her head out, her hair in disarray. We looked at each other for a moment, and she didn’t seem fully awake, so I asked, “Do you drink coffee? And how do you take your eggs?”

She blinked, and shook her head, clearly trying to wake up. “Over medium. And no, but there’s some in the cupboard if you want.”

“Be up in five,” I promised, flipping the most recent pancake and grabbing a second skillet for the eggs.

Bia vanished, and reappeared as I set down the first pancakes on the table with half a dozen eggs. There was no syrup, but I laid out peanut butter and some regular butter and fruit preserves from the fridge. Mental note, stick some syrup in my Inventory.

[Mental note added!]

Bia sat down, with her hair still messy but pulled back into a short ponytail, wearing a cyan sports bra and compression capris, dropping a set of sweatbands on the table. She watched me wrap up an equally-tall stack of pancakes and my own set of eggs — over easy — chewing thoughtfully before greeting me when I took a seat.

“Hello again,” she said, and I smiled in return. “Would you care to join me for my workout?”

“I’d be delighted,” I replied. “I was wondering how I was going to keep up my routine here.”

She nodded, going back to her meal.

Clearly not a morning person, I thought, but I appreciate the effort.

We finished eating in comfortable silence, and she pulled the sweatbands around her wrists and forehead while I went to retrieve my shoes from by the door.

“Have you guys been here a while?” I asked, pulling my boots on.

Bia locked the door behind us and pocketed her Scroll before answering, “A few years. It’s standard for Specialists to room with or near their partners, and as my girlfriend has other responsibilities, we elected to keep it this way.”

“Not dating Sienna, then?” I asked to be sure.

Bia smiled. “No. Here we are.”

We’d climbed down about six flights of stairs, which made for a decent warmup, and entered a basement set up with at least thrice as much weightlifting equipment as we had in the Arc house.

“Excellent,” I rubbed my hands together, moving over to one of the power racks as my Workout playlist started automatically. I turned the volume down with the interface and added, “I presume I won’t be able to spot you, but let me know if I can help.”

To my surprise, Bia took the next rack, also setting it up for squats. We both started preparing, stretching out and checking form with the empty bar before loading progressively more weights. With a passive 57 STR, my working weight was currently 310 kg. More than halfway to the unassisted world record back on Earth, and I was confident that even here on Remnant I would be near the top of my age group without an active Aura. And yet…

I had to force myself not to stare as Bia loaded up quite a bit more, and proceeded to easily squat half a tonne . Her movement on the descent was unhurried, but rather than standing in a smooth motion, she paused for a full second at the bottom. She didn’t seem to strain at all, and her form remained perfect through the whole set.

I feel like I should be making a joke about her ‘perfect form’ but holy shit, I’m too impressed. I don’t know if I could lift that even with all my actives going.

Blinking, I refocused and pushed through my own set. Bia watched me critically, nodding when I re-racked the bar.

“Good job, you kept your back straight,” she complimented. “How long have you been powerlifting?”

“Just a few months,” I admitted. “I’m aiming for Beacon, so I’ve been focused on strength this Summer. I’m pushing the weight higher every week. How long did it take you to get up to this level?”

“Two years or so, but this is one of my light days,” Bia said, and I suppressed a wheeze at the casual admittance that she wasn’t trying very hard. “It’s nice to have some company while lifting. Most Hunters don’t put as much focus on it.”

I had to agree. “Bia, I think this is the start of a beautiful friendship.”

Name: Jaune Arc
Level: 18 (Next: 73.77%)
Title: Grimm Slayer
Race: Human
Age: 17
Job: Tyro Huntsman
Class: Paladin
Semblance: The Gamer
HP: 1417/1417
MP: 1197/1197
STR: 57.1 (51)
CON: 40.3 (35)
DEX: 45.6 (34)
INT: 38
WIS: 52.5 (50)
CHA: 35.6 (26)
Points: 54
Money: 3698L
Status: Cursed – Yellow Death [High]

Chapter Text

Things quickly settled into a routine over the weekend. I would wake up early and start making breakfast, Bia would wander out bleary-eyed and barely dressed before remembering that I wasn't Sienna, and I would do my best not to ogle her until she woke up fully. Then we’d eat and go work out. The rest of the time, we spent getting to know each other because Azure completely ghosted us both for three days.

“So what brought you to Atlas?” I asked her over dinner on Sunday. I had gone shopping and pulled out the stops for the meal as a thank-you for the hospitality. …And yeah, I can admit to myself that I’m trying to impress her — sue me, even if it can’t go anywhere, Bia ticks all my boxes. Going by this standard, canon Jaune is nuts for not being enchanted by her cousin on sight.

She swallowed her bite of pastitsio, clearly enjoying the lasagna-like dish a lot, and took a sip of wine before she answered. “Well, Mistral doesn’t have anything quite like the Specialists. While I always wanted to be a Huntress, the truth is I function better with a bit more structure and discipline than is usual for independents.”

I hummed. “I get it. Personally, I wouldn’t mind being in charge, but you can’t get to the top of the heap without starting at the bottom, and I hate being told what to do,” I joked.

Bia chuckled. “Anyway, one of my uncles had a contact here in Atlas, and he helped arrange my education at Atlas Academy, and I qualified for the Specialist program at the end of my first year. That was when I partnered with Sienna as my mentor, and I haven’t had any cause to regret my decision.”

“Mentor?” 

“Specialist partnerships aren’t formed within the same cohort,” Bia explained. “Rather, there’s always a senior and a junior partner. Sienna is six years older than me, you know. She trained a few of us at the Academy, but our career trajectories were different — Viola went into operations and Winter joined the officer track. I was the only one staying in field ops, and we made a good enough team that I ended up becoming her permanent partner.”

“And where does Azure figure into it?” I asked.

Bia shrugged. “She moved up here to go into research and development after graduating; from what she’s mentioned, she was never that interested in fieldwork compared to engineering. We met because I was working with Sienna, naturally, and she decided to treat me as a little sister. Even though I’m taller than both of them,” she added, covering her mouth as a giggle emerged.

“You’re taller than most of my family, though not by much,” I said. “Out of heels, anyway.” Bia seemed to be the same height as Indigo, who stood even with me in her boots or an inch shorter out of them. “If anything, you fit in with us, we’re all above-average.”

“You should have heard Winter complain when we started going out,” Bia laughed. “She’s of a height with Azure, so she needs six-inch heels to look me in the eye. Good for a date, not so much in combat.”

“Have you been seeing each other long?” I asked, curious.

She shook her head. “Just the last couple of years, since we don’t work directly together anymore,” she clarified, “We got close in the Program, but the fraternization policy meant we couldn’t date while we were both under Sienna. Fortunately we’re in different chains of command now, so there isn’t a conflict of interest. Not that it stops her from pulling rank to tell me to take a vacation,” she grumbled good-naturedly.

“Well, I hope I’ve been enjoyable company and helped you relax,” I grinned, then got to my feet as a timer went off. “And I hope you’re ready for dessert, because I worked hard on the pastry for the galactaboreko.”

“Galaktoboureko,” Bia corrected gently.

“Ga-lak-to-bou-re-ko,” I repeated, focusing on the pronunciation.

[You have remembered the skill [Linguist]!]

[Linguist (Passive) LV 5 EXP: 0.00%]
[A skill that represents your ability to learn and communicate in spoken or written languages. As this skill increases, you will find it easier to code-switch, and to identify loanwords and language patterns.]
[Passively increases INT by 5%.]
[5% easier time learning new languages.]

[Eagerness to learn caused your INT to increase by 1!]

Huh, been over a month since I gained or remembered a skill, I thought, dismissing the box. I’ve been so focused on stats; I need to remember to grind more.

“Much better,” Bia praised me as I left to get the dessert. I quickly retrieved the pastry from the oven and the syrup from the fridge, ladling the latter over the dessert and bringing it to the table on an oven mitt. “That smells amazing,” she added. “I haven’t had galaktoboureko since I moved to Atlas.”

“Hopefully it’s up to standard,” I teased, carving out a slice and passing it to her, along with a dessert fork.

She took a bite, and her eyes fluttered. “Mmm~”

I dropped my eyes to my own plate, cutting a piece for myself. Glad I was already sitting down before she made that noise.

The dessert was good, though; the cold, sweet syrup contrasted the warm, flaky pastry nicely, soaking through without getting soggy. I nodded in satisfaction, and Bia looked at me seriously, her plate already empty. “If you keep cooking like that, I’m going to marry you,” she told me seriously.

I laughed, reaching to cut her another piece. “Don’t threaten me with a good time.”

On Monday, after our workout, Azure was waiting on the couch when we got back to the apartment. I grabbed a shower, tossed my weapons and Scroll into my [Inventory], and followed her down to the street where she hailed a cab and chattered all the way to our destination about what I could expect and what I wasn’t allowed to ask about.

She rushed us past the desk, deposited her gun harness and Scroll in a locker, waved merrily to coworkers who looked entirely unsurprised to see her on her week off, and finally pushed me into a windowless lab on the second floor. Azure locked the door, and started typing into a keypad in the corner. The camera above her retracted into the ceiling, and a vibrating hum filled the background. 

“There, we’re all secured, so let’s see it!” Azure bounced over to me, picking up a tablet and some kind of scanning device that I mentally labeled a tricorder.

“See what?” I asked patiently. “My Semblance covers a lot of powers. [Inventory], [Stats], [Equipment], [Skills]…”

“Character sheet,” she decided.

I rattled off my current level, title, job, class, and stats, then had to explain what each one did and how the secondary stats were calculated. HP and MP were based off my level and my CON and INT respectively, and the latter was also boosted by [Gaia’s Pulse]. HP Regen increased by STR, and MP Regen by WIS. The various boosts from my skills required a spreadsheet to keep track of, which Azure was more than happy to create.

“Now, what’s this about a curse?” Azure added, when we’d finished listing all fifty-odd skills I’d acquired so far.

I shrugged. “Not sure. I’ve had it since I woke up.” I tapped the status to pull up the description of curses again.

[Yellow Death]
[Debuff - Curse]
[Experience is the teacher of all things. One must find the path, or make it.]
[Current level: High]

…That’s longer than it used to be, isn’t it? I know it dropped from Highest to High when I killed Krios. Is it tied to the Taking Names quest, somehow? Or just a function of leveling up? Or is there some other interaction I'm not aware of that reduces the strength of a curse…?

“Anyway, it seems to prevent my Aura from being unlocked,” I finished. “When Indigo tried, it hurt her. The status effect read Geas Conflict.”

Azure seized my hand, pointing the tricorder at herself and recited the same chant that Indigo had. I thought I felt a flicker this time, but once more I got the popup.

[[Yellow Death] prevents this action!]

“You’re right, that does hurt,” Azure complained, shaking her hand out as if electrocuted, and poring over the device’s readout. “Well that was a bust. It’s acting like you’re a rock or something; reads like I tried to force Aura into something that’s not alive. Which doesn’t make sense, because I got an Aura reading from you.”

“Animals have Aura, right?” I asked, and she nodded absently. “Can you awaken it?”

“Sure, it tends to lead to longer lives and higher intelligence. Dogs are the most common recipients, ever since they were domesticated, but a few people have Hunting snakes or pigs or whatever. And there was that one lunatic cult who awakened every animal in a zoo over in Vacuo; they’re still trying to clean up angry tortoises that are immune to bullets out there.”

“What about plants?”

Azure frowned. “I suppose you could, though I’m not sure why you’d bother. It doesn’t make them move or anything, and I don’t think they’d ever gain enough power or experience to demonstrate something like a Semblance.” She shrugged. “I can look into the records though; I bet someone here has worked on that. Anyway! You have some free points, right?”

“Sure, fiftysomething,” I nodded.

“And you said you get a skill for raising a stat over fifty. You’ve got enough points to do that with two different stats right now. I want to see if I can detect a difference.”

I folded my arms, considering it. “I was planning to grind my physical stats that high on their own, but I’ve stopped getting points in a reasonable span of time,” I admitted. “Yeah, all right, I can boost CON and DEX. Do you need a baseline for my speed?”

Azure indicated a treadmill in the corner. “Just run it up to however fast you can maintain a sprint.” She recorded the number, and then gestured grandly, bouncing on her heels again. “Go on then, let’s see it!”

I snorted. “There’s nothing to see.” I pulled up my [Stats] page and deliberated for another moment, then dropped fifteen points into CON.

[By raising CON to 50, you can select a new skill!]

Let’s see… Technically it’s better to not take damage, than to take it and need to heal. But it looks like the damage reduction is a flat number rather than a percentage. That could still be worth it if the reduction increases as the skill levels up, but I don’t get a hint about how it will level. Shit, I wonder if I screwed myself by not taking [Clever]. If it does scale, I could have been casting spells for free.

Grimacing, I dismissed the previous decision. I’d already taken [Enlightened], after all, and I couldn’t say I was unhappy with the bonus EXP gain. In the end, I made my decision based on the fact that having my regen be higher meant more healing I could share.

[You selected the skill [Robust]!]

[Robust (Passive) LV 1 EXP: 0.00%]|
[A skill that represents your body’s ability to heal from damage, recovering from stress and injury more quickly.]
[Passively increases CON by 1%]
[10% increase to HP Regeneration.]

“Your available Aura just shot up,” Azure commented, eyes on the tricorder. “Was that CON first?”

I nodded, then put another sixteen points into DEX.

[By raising DEX to 50, you can select a new skill!]

Damn, another good tradeoff. But since DEX gives me some movement speed either way, I think I’d generally rather avoid damage than run faster in a straight line… 

[You selected the skill [Nimble]!]

[Nimble (Passive) LV 1 EXP: 0.00%]
[A skill that represents your improved reflexes, meaning you are better at avoiding hits.]
[Passively increases DEX by 1%.]
[10% increase to evasion.]

Still don’t have enough points to boost up both INT and CHA. I can’t even get CHA to 50 with all the points I have left. Is that important? I’ve got a relatively strong bonus to it with my buffs active, and I’m already a bit more of a generalist than I expected. INT is still gaining naturally as I learn languages, and I am still planning to go to school, so most likely I can just study that one up, still. Since I got the EXP boost from WIS, I can’t imagine the INT skill being something critical that I need to start grinding immediately to stay alive in the same way as the physical stats. This is going to have to be the last bump DEX is going to see though, at least for a while. I’ve been splitting my stats too much; I need to focus mostly on STR and CON from now on. 

Part of me wondered if I should even have spent the points for DEX, but it was too late now to regret it. 

“Well!?” Azure prompted.

I recited the skills I’d chosen, then climbed back on the treadmill. I was definitely able to sprint faster than before, and it felt like I could maintain it for much longer.

Azure hummed. “Looks like you’re about 48% faster, which lines up with your new passive score,” she said. “You’re way faster than I was as a freshman, I’ll tell you that.”

“DEX is my highest score right now,” I admitted. “Since I’m up to three different passives buffing it. It won’t stay ahead, but I think this is a respectable amount of DEX.” I was never going to be the fastest in my class, anyway. “What are you reading for the CON change?”

“Also a fortyish percent boost. It definitely reads you having more Aura than before…” She trailed off, frowning slightly.

“My MP hasn’t changed since last night,” I disagreed. Then something occurred to me. “Actually, without Aura, most Hunters aren’t noticeably more resilient than civilians, right? Like, if you went into Aura Shock, a bullet would shut you right down, but it would only hurt me for a few seconds. Maybe what I’m reading as HP is more like the Aura set aside for protection, versus what you spend on Semblance?”

“Maybe! We should test that,” Azure perked up. “What’s my HP?”

[Observe]  

[Name: Azure Arc]
[LV ???]
[Title: ???]
[Race: Human]
[Age: 25]
[Job: Researcher]
[Class: Artificer]
[Semblance: ???]
[Background: Fifth daughter of the Arc family of Vale. Researcher and engineer; moved to Atlas to work for the Center for Logistics, Engineering, and Ordnance (CLEO). Has an irrepressible sweet tooth.]
[Status: Geas Conflict – The Emperor Moth]

“I can’t see your stats, you’re too high level.”

“Awww…” Azure pouted, before she straightened up. “Well, next let’s–”

She was cut off as a beep sounded from the door, followed by the lock disengaging. I frowned, vaulting the table we’d been working at to land next to Azure. As the door swung open, I had to force myself to keep my hands in sight as a vaguely unsettling melody started up, and someone I hadn't expected stepped in.

[BGM Unlocked! Image Song: Arthur Watts – “Finale Toccata” by Michiru Yamane]

He was a thin middle-aged man with olive skin, of a height with me, wearing a buttoned labcoat over a yellow sweater. He also wore four rings, one on each of the first two fingers of each hand, which glinted in the fluorescent lights. His salt-and-pepper hair was thinning on top, but made up for by an impressive walrus moustache. 

‹???›
LV ???
Arthur Watts

Watts pulled up short as he spotted us. “Ah, please forgive my intrusion, Miss Arc. I hadn’t expected to see you this week,” he said smoothly, sharp green eyes flicking from Azure to the workstation in the corner before settling on me. “And this is?”

“Hey Doc,” Azure chirped, missing or ignoring the slight tightening of his eyes at her casual response. “This is my brother Jaune.” She slung an arm around my shoulders, forcing me once again to lean down six inches because she was still stronger than me. “Jaune, this is Doctor Arthur Watts! He works in the next lab over. Whatcha need over here, Doc?”

“Ah, classified, I’m afraid,” Watts replied, moving into the room and letting the door swing shut behind him, ratcheting up my tension. “A pleasure, Mister Arc. Are you intending to join us here at CLEO once you graduate?”

He won’t try anything, right? He’s stronger than me, but so is Azure. Is he stronger than her?

“I hadn’t considered it,” I said honestly. “I think I’m more of a frontline guy, but Azure wanted me to see how the other half lives, as it were.”

Watts’ eyes narrowed, but he smiled. “Well, we can always use more people focusing on the sciences, even if the muscleheads get all the attention,” he drawled. “We have not met, by chance?”

“I don’t think so,” I shook my head, extending a hand to shake. 

He took it, though his attitude said he didn’t believe me. “Perhaps in passing, or a picture.”

“Must have been,” I agreed. “Can I ask about your area of specialization?”

“Robotics. At the moment.”

“Yeah, Doc’s on the Paladin project right now–” Azure cut in, before Watts raised an eyebrow at her. “Buuuut you’re not allowed to know what that is, yet. It should be announced pretty soon, though!”

“True enough,” Watts allowed. “I suppose there’s no harm in saying that much. I was moved back to CLEO from FIGARO last year…” Anger flickered across his face. “So I thought I’d take the time to check on my old work on Project CRITIAS.”

“Is that old work also classified?” I asked, taking mental note of the names that were probably acronyms.

Watts hummed, apparently judging my actual interest. “In the interest of spurring you toward the more cerebral pursuits, I suppose it’s safe enough to tell you that it involved computer security.”

“Atlas’ firewalls are legendary,” I offered, seeing a chance to stroke his ego. “That’s your doing?”

“Indeed.” He sounded pleased. “Well, it was a pleasure meeting you, Mister Arc. Miss Arc, I do hope you’ll take some time to enjoy your vacation.”

“Seeya, Doc!” Once again, Azure seemed to miss Watt’s irritation as the man inclined his head and left. “Ready to get back to it?”

I let out a deep breath, thankful to [Gamer’s Mind] for keeping my hands from shaking. “Sure.”

“Sweet! I need you to burn all your MP; I’m gonna try again to unlock your Aura while you’re empty. Then, whether it works or not, I’m gonna monitor your restoration rate while you meditate.”

“Yeah, okay, that makes sense. If I trigger all my buffs it should drain me in about… four minutes?” My mental math was rough, but my Semblance gave me enough of a feel for the numbers that I usually knew how long I could keep things going.

“Whoa, I felt that!” Azure said, scribbling frantically in her notebook.

“Really?”

“Yeah, it’s–” she paused to record something from the tricorder, then resumed. “Your Aura reserves dropped by about a quarter, but you feel stronger. Not really in a way this thing can measure, I can just sense it. You’re not draining now, though, you’re holding steady.”

“My buffs are like a toggle,” I explained, having tested this thoroughly myself. “I pay the MP cost to turn them on, and they’re good for one minute. Once sixty seconds is up, they either renew or expire.”

The buffs ticked over, and I kept them active, draining another big chunk of my MP.

Azure glanced from the tricorder to her wristwatch. “Okay, got it. Is it any strain to maintain them otherwise?”

“[Reinforcement] can break if I take damage, but other than that, no. They’re strong, but expensive. Usually I’ll keep one active while meditating; it extends my recovery time, but lets me make the buffs stronger in a safe environment.”

“So you’re practicing almost all the time?” Azure asked.

“Unless I’m asleep, I’m always grinding something ,” I admitted. “I’ve gotta catch up to kids who went through Combat School.”

“You feel stronger than a lot of Atlas Academy freshmen,” Azure said bluntly. “In terms of raw power, anyway. Maybe you’d lose on endurance or technique, and you’ll get weird looks for taking hits that make you bleed instead of using Aura to deflect them, but that wouldn’t stop you from keeping up. You’ve come a long way in a short time, Jaune.”

“…Thanks, Azure.”

I had resolved myself to be on guard when outside our lab, but I didn’t expect to actually see Watts again. Then, on Wednesday, Azure got paged to check on something she grumbled about having signed off on the previous week. Rather than leave me unattended in the lab she’d reserved, she barged into the room next door, interrupting Watts exactly as he’d done to us on Monday, bulldozing his arguments, ignoring his much-less-hidden irritation, and chirping that she’d be right back, this would just take a second, thanks a lot Doc, I’ll owe you one!  

She shoved a chair under me, knocking my legs out and forcing me to drop into it, wheeled me up to a desk across from the workstation Watts was seated at, and vanished out the door before either of us could complain.

Watts’ green eyes moved from the door to me, and I could only facepalm. “The whole family, Doctor. They’re all like this. No brakes.”

Though he still looked annoyed, his moustache twitched in amusement. “My sympathies. I understand there is another Miss Arc here in Atlas?”

Well, if he wants to make small talk, maybe I can get some information about that other quest.  

“Sienna is a Specialist, yes. She’s the third-oldest, followed by her twin. Azure is fifth.” He raised an eyebrow, and I added, “I’m the eighth child.”

“I see…” he drawled. “I had certainly heard of the Arc family, but–”

“There’s a ridiculous number of us, yes,” I nodded. “Now imagine growing up as the only baby brother of the Seven Sins of Vale.” I didn’t like giving him info that was bound to make its way to Salem, but on the other hand, this would hopefully make it clear how many people would be out for blood if I disappeared. 

“Oho,” he said, leaning forward a little, his eyebrows rising. “Now that’s a name I haven’t heard since the Beaufort Tragedy. Come to think of it, that is around when Miss Arc came to work here.”

I shrugged performatively. “Not something they’ve ever talked about, as far as I remember,” I said, which was perfectly true. None of my sisters had mentioned it in the last ten weeks.

Watts hummed, still looking intrigued. “Still, I would never have suspected. I shall have to keep a closer eye on Miss Arc in the future. And yourself, as well.”

Fuck.

“I’ll do my best not to disappoint.” I forced a smile, and cast around for something else to talk about. My eyes alighted on the Scroll he’d connected to his workstation. He obviously had the screen transparency disabled — personally, I couldn’t imagine ever wanting to allow people to see what was on my Scroll through the back of the screen — so all that was visible was an ornate golden W. “I know better than to ask what you’re working on, but can you tell me more about your old Project? What did you call it, CRITIAS? It sounded brilliant.”

The flattery was transparent, but Watts still looked pleased. “Well, staying away from specifics… the Caucus for Research Into Technological Interception and Security was a project I spearheaded to bring Atlesian ComInt to the superior position it occupies to this day. A standardization of firewalls and some other tools for technological security to ensure the military need never worry about malicious hacking attempts on either sensitive data or the Atlesian Knights. My work was even implemented into the Cross Continental Transit system,” he boasted.

My eyes widened before I could stop myself from reacting. I hoped he would take it for being impressed, but in reality I was trying not to panic. Son of a– He must have written the worm Cinder used to bring the CCT down! Does it exist already? Even if it doesn’t, if he wrote the whole security system, he’s bound to have a backdoor…

[Quest Alert!]

[En Passant]

[Arthur Watts, a lieutenant of Salem, is responsible for Atlas’ state of the art computer security via Project CRITIAS. He is also responsible for creating Pawn, a worm designed to exploit backdoors intentionally left in CRITIAS’ defenses. Make sure Pawn cannot be used against Atlas and the world.]

[Bonus Objective: Obtain a copy of Pawn for your own use.]

[Time limit: Before you leave Atlas.]

[Reward: 20,000 EXP, 40,000L, increased closeness with Sienna Arc, increased closeness with Azure Arc, increased closeness with ???.]

[Bonus Reward: Access to Pawn, potential access to Atlesian military intelligence, skill book “???”.]

[Failure Penalty: Exposure, possible arrest, possible death.]

[Accept/Decline]

Oh, sure, I finally get a little bit of information to go on for one quest and out pops another, I kvetched, mentally accepting it. Answers the question of whether it already exists, I guess. And I’m only here for the week, so no fuckin’ pressure.

Aloud, I said, “That’s really incredible, Doctor. It’s obvious why they keep you around.”

Watts nodded, not bothering to be humble. “Quite.”

“Do you know what my sister’s actual current project is? She hasn’t mentioned.”

“You can just ask me, silly,” said Azure’s voice from behind me. I jumped, not having registered her getting nearer since she never passed out of the passive range of [Detect Aura].

Watts smirked at my reaction. “Best to keep your attention on your surroundings,” he drawled. “It will be very important if you do decide to pursue a field job.”

I nodded, following Indigo back to our lab. Watts had gone back to his work, dismissing me the moment I stood up. Well, it’s best he doesn’t think much of me, I decided. Even if he is a jackass.

“I can’t help but feel like I should recognize his name,” I commented idly to Azure as she directed me for another test of my Semblance, this time to see if she could detect any difference between my Handy Haversack and using my [Inventory] directly. “Does he have an online handle or something?”

“He’s not really the type,” Azure mused, fiddling with the tricorder once more. “I mean, he uses proper capitals and grammar and punctuation in his text messages. And always signs his name at the bottom. He’s more likely to just stamp or encode his emblem; it’s like a fancy cursive W.”

The one I saw on the back of his Scroll, no doubt. I mindlessly followed Azure’s instructions as I thought about what felt wrong about that thought. …Azure. Azure has to carry a pager. She had to leave her Scroll in a locker, and told me not to bring mine at all. Watts shouldn’t have what’s obviously a personal device in here, connected to the system. Was he stealing data right in front of me? Holy shit, the audacity of this bitch.

And now for this quest, I would have to — probably by Friday — somehow figure out what he’s done, report him to someone who would actually believe me and could make an accusation stick, and ideally steal his Scroll or get a copy of Pawn for myself, all without him realizing it was me. Better yet, without realizing I was involved at all, so he wouldn’t just add me to his revenge list alongside Polendina and Ironwood, or worse, bring up my name to Salem for any reason…

Taking a deep breath, I forced myself to relax. There were no cameras in this lab, and even if he was stealing confidential Atlesian data right now , it wouldn’t involve anything about me. Azure had taken my privacy request seriously and was recording her observations in a notebook that didn’t have my name anywhere in it, which she gave to me to store in my [Inventory] every time we left for the night.

Every quest is doable, right? Otherwise, why bother telling me to do it? The reward for this is good, but not amazing; it’s got to be easier than I’m realizing right now. I just need to think this through. 

I can do this.

Name: Jaune Arc
Level: 18 (Next: 73.77%)
Title: Initiate
Race: Human
Age: 17
Job: Tyro Huntsman
Class: Paladin
Semblance: The Gamer
HP: 1602/1602
MP: 1230/1230
STR: 57.1 (51)
CON: 58 (50)
DEX: 67.5 (50)
INT: 41.0 (39)
WIS: 52.5 (50)
CHA: 35.6 (26)
Points: 23
Money: 3698L
Status: Cursed – Yellow Death [High]

Chapter Text

I spent all of Thursday fretting, trying to figure out how I was going to tackle the problem. Matching wits with Watts was a challenge, not just because I knew he was a genius, but because I didn't know how strong he was in a fight. I couldn't stop myself considering what would happen if everything went wrong; in the worst case, I'd have to try to bring him down and avoid killing him, because without him somehow confessing I wasn't sure even Azure would be able to keep me out of jail.

I did manage to decide a few things, though. If I was angling for the bonus objective — which I was, because obviously — then I wouldn't be able to simply run to an authority figure. I was going to have to steal Watts' Scroll, and find some way into it. Not easy, since he wasn't the type I could easily social-engineer a PIN out of, and I wasn't any kind of hacking genius.

And while I certainly wasn't above asking for help, Azure's specialty was in applied chemistry and engineering, not programming. Atlas' expert on that subject was, naturally, Watts himself. Meaning I was going to have to get into it some other way.

After another restless night's sleep, I was ready to put a cunning plan into action Friday morning.

Unfortunately, I still hadn't come up with one, and my flight out was tomorrow, so I had just today to complete the assigned quest.

Glancing at my [Inventory], I considered the empty Scroll, of a different model than my own. I had bought it last night, hoping to make it a decoy so Watts wouldn't notice that I'd stolen his real one, but come the morning I was less confident in that plan. The model was correct, but Watts might have customized his Scroll in subtler ways than just the monogram, in which case the switcheroo gambit was always doomed.

Azure was busy reviewing what we'd tested yesterday, which had been the most in-depth yet despite my distraction, involving the ways different types and grades of Dust interacted with [Elemental Weapon]. Some of the effects were obvious: I already knew that Shock Dust had a chance to stun my targets. Yesterday we had confirmed that Burn Dust set my weapon alight, Freeze coated my target in rime, and Gale added extra knockback. Higher-grade Dust resulted in a better effect, hotter flames, thicker ice, etc., but also made the 'enchantment' last longer. Understanding the skill better, I was definitely going to need to stock up on more Dust.

Given that every time I [Observe]d Azure, she had the Geas Conflict status effect active, I was guessing that all her testing ideas were really her best effort at training me. She never showed any discomfort, however, so hopefully her self-justification was helping blunt the effects.

While she was distracted, I took a moment to activate [Detect Aura]. Now level 25, I could readily sense and distinguish every soul within 300 meters — almost 1000 feet — revealing there were only four other people on our current floor: Azure, Watts, and two others that were nearly overlapping each other.

Frowning, I opened the door and looked in their direction, spotting… a closet. Ah. Well, they're busy, at least.

"Something wrong, Jaune?" Azure asked, glancing up from her workstation.

I grimaced, shutting the door again. "Yes, but I don't have any proof."

"Proof of what?"

Part of me hesitated, but she knew almost all of my Semblance's quirks by now. "I got a quest yesterday. It says Watts is writing a computer worm that can take control of his own security system from anywhere, and I need to steal it so he can't use it."

Azure paused, thinking that through, before she pushed to her feet. "What do you need?"

"Huh?" I don't want to look a gift horse in the mouth, but really? She doesn't ask for any proof?

She seemed to read the disbelief on my face. "Jaune, CLEO takes data security seriously. And to be honest, I've never liked Watts. He thinks he's subtle, but his disdain for everyone around him is incredibly obvious. The threat he could pose is both credible and overwhelming: CRITIAS was built into the architecture of the CCT and the Round Table OS that runs the Atlesian Knights." She pulled a bottle of water off her belt, juggling it impatiently. "Now come on, baby brother, show me the tactical mind that killed Krios the Amalthean. What's the plan?"

Rubbing my eyes, I dropped into a chair and decided to roll with it. "Well, since you brought up Krios, you'll be glad to hear this plan is only almost as threadbare and terrible as that one," I said. "The actual mission objective is just to make sure he can't use the worm. I don't think it's in the system yet, and I don't have time to plan an elaborate heist that will leave him none the wiser, so we're going to have to do this quick and dirty."

"Meaning he's going to know something's up, and he's probably going to suspect us," Azure supplied. "But he'll be arrested, so it doesn't matter."

"Planning for the worst case scenario where he gets away," I muttered. "But yeah. So as long as he doesn't kill us on the spot… Do you have the authority to actually arrest him?"

Azure shook her head, and I bit my lip.

"That could be an issue, then," I sighed. "I can't see his level, so I don't know how strong he is. And without somebody to break into his Scroll, we won't have any proof."

"Dr P can handle any computer," Azure waved that point off. "As for arresting him… Gee, if only we knew a Specialist or two."

"That just brings us back to the lack of proof," I pointed out. "Sienna still isn't due back until tomorrow night, and my Semblance has to stay a secret."

"Jaune…" Azure's tone was almost pitying. "Do you really think Specialists wait for proof in the face of a threat to national security? When delays could lead to Grimm battering down the walls?"

"Aren't we on a floating island?"

She ignored my interjection. "'Innocent until proven guilty' only applies in civilian courts. We're all under the aegis of the military here in Atlas, which means being at minimum detained until proven innocent in the eyes of the court-martial. And if that worm really exists, there is no innocent explanation for it."

I took a minute to consider the flagrant dismissal of due process, before reluctantly deciding that my moral standards from Earth couldn't really apply to a world like Remnant that was constantly under siege from monsters of darkness. "Then we just need to distract him long enough to swipe his Scroll, so he can't delete the evidence," I said, jerking my head toward the wall separating us from Watts.

"His Scroll?" Azure repeated. "Wait, he's working on it here? He brought his personal Scroll in? How did–?" She answered her own question before I could reply. "–Of course he could bring his Scroll in past the detectors, they run on CRITIAS too. Gods, fixing this is going to be a nightmare." She heaved a sigh, then smiled brightly. "Good thing that's not my department! Now, you have your Scroll in your Inventory, right?"

"Yeah," I nodded, pulling it out. "Should I call Bia? What do we do if Watts sees them come in? He's got to be wired into the security system."

"Hmm… Specialists have an override, but he might still get an alert if he's watching for it. We'll have to keep his attention on us instead… Tell Bia to bring backup for a Trousdale-Wise and page me when she arrives," Azure instructed. "Then here's what we'll do…"

Just like yesterday, Azure shouldered her way into Watts' reserved lab, dragging me by the shoulder and already ranting before he could even look up. "One more page on my week off and I'm going to lose it! I swear, Doc, you're the only other competent person around here."

Watts' expression went from annoyed, to resigned, to flattered, to amused as Azure manhandled me into the same seat opposite him. I'd triggered [Cat's Grace] and [Reinforcement] as we came in; cracking 100 effective DEX made it trivial to keep my balance and also make it look like I was stumbling around. I didn't even have to fake the annoyance on my face that a woman almost half a foot shorter than me could yank me around like this while I was buffed. I'm way stronger than a civilian, she should at least look like she's trying. At least Watts doesn't look suspicious. I guess we passed our deception check.

"I mean seriously, why would you even come to me with this?" Azure went on, pulling a canteen from her belt and gesturing with it. "Espionage isn't my freaking job!"

Watts' brow creased as she rambled, and when she paused to drink he opened his mouth to complain.

Whatever he was going to say, he never had a chance, as Azure spit her mouthful of water in his face, before dumping the rest of the canteen's contents into her hand. Rather than splatter and drip, the spat water shimmered and coalesced into a small, bulbous, humanoid figure clinging to Watts' nose.

Watts threw himself backward, knocking over his chair with a crash, and I took the initiative to snatch his Scroll off the table and shove it into my [Inventory] as I vaulted the desk. Pulling out a training sword, I swung it at his head with all my passive strength, only for it to crack ominously as it collided with a hexagonal hard-light shield that sprang up between us. Where the fuck did he get Dust to do that? Or is that his Semblance?

Azure threw more of her water-minions at Watts, but he managed to claw the first one off his face and hissed, "How dare you!"

I didn't dignify him with a reply, swinging again to keep his shield busy as the minions piled onto his legs, weighing him down.

He kicked them off, and with a wave of his left hand, he blew the tiny things into the ceiling, where they splattered. They immediately began flowing back together, but another wave from Watts and the water froze into ice and stopped moving. He blocked my swing yet again, then spun the shield at me edge-on.

I tried to [Parry], but the hard-light sliced through the wood of my practice sword like it wasn't even there, and continued on its path toward my neck. I barely had time to register what was happening, and I knew I would never get out of the way in time, but the expected pain never came.

Instead, a snowflake bloomed into existence in midair, right in front of my throat, stopping the hard-light shield cold. I was already jumping backward, dropping the now-useless stick and reaching for something to use as a new improvised weapon, when an icy voice cracked across the room like a whip.

"Stand down, Arthur Watts, you are under arrest!"

‹???›
LV ???
Winter Schnee

Clad in a white jacket and blue waistcoat, her icy eyes met Watts' challenging glare with one of her own. Four more glyphs sprang into being over her shoulders, rotating menacingly, and unlike the rest of us, she had an actual weapon in her hands. The dueling saber was pointed straight at Watts' heart from across the room, a distance that a trained Huntress could cross in less than a second.

His eyes flicked to the door, but Bia was blocking it, a shotgun with a huge bore also covering him; and then toward the sink in the far wall, where Azure stood, smirking, with her hand under the running faucet. A steady stream of watery minions was clambering up onto the counter and lining up in case he kept resisting. Finally, he looked back at his desk, noticed his scroll was missing, and glared at me with mounting fury. I had to restrain the urge to smirk. Best to keep your attention on your surroundings, eh?

"On what charges?" Watts demanded through gritted teeth.

Winter didn't reply, instead simply showing her Specialist authorization with her left hand. "Specialist Álikos, cuff him."

Since all the attention was on Watts, I flicked my gaze to the popup I'd received upon stealing his Scroll.

[Obtained Watts' Scroll (Unlocked)!] Blank Scroll detected in Inventory. Would you like to synchronize the Owned Scroll with the blank one?]

Why yes, yes I would.

[Scroll Backup function initiated. Copying data files from Watts' Scroll to Blank Scroll… {Ongoing in background}]

Watts was grinding his teeth as Bia wrenched his arms behind his back, still trying to kill me with his gaze. I guessed he knew how screwed he was, because he didn't bother arguing with either of the Specialists.

"Remain here," Winter instructed Azure and me. "I will return for your statements once the prisoner is secured." With an imperious look, she left to escort Bia downstairs. I watched her leave unselfconsciously. Shame her jacket is so long.

"Did you get it?" Azure asked, waving a hand and commanding her minions to jump back into the sink.

"Yeah." I caught one of the minions out of the air. It deformed but stayed in one piece, despite its watery appearance, even when I gave it an experimental squeeze. Curious, I [Observe]d it.

[Name: T̷̶̶͍͓͍͊͑̌e̸̶̸͔͎̹̜͆̃ͅk̵̶̸̘̣̄͛̊͜k̸̶̷̻͎͎̜̑̃̽͜e̸̶̸̲̬͓͈̓̓̈̈͝l̷̶̵͈̳̹͂̈́̈̆̏i̵̶̸̢̹͖͕͂̓ͅl̶̶̸̪̦̥͖̅͑͑͂i̴̶̸̡̬͊̔̓͝ͅ]
[LV 5]
[Title: Madness' Mouth]
[Class: Servitor]
[HP: 400/400]
[Stats: 10 STR, 10 CON, 50 DEX, 0 INT, 0 WIS, 0 CHA]
[Description: A watery construct of protoplasm animated by Azure Arc's Semblance, it is far more dexterous than it appears. Having no solid form, it is able to deform and reintegrate when attacked. It can follow simple tasks without oversight or be directed mentally in concert with fellows, making effective amphibious builders or shock troops.]
[Emotions: None.]
[Relationship: Ally.]

The fuck? Is its name… corrupted? I squinted, but that did nothing to clear it up. Since we were alone at the moment, I even reached out and tapped the screen, which also failed to give any further result. What the shit does that mean? Is that a function of whatever this Servitor thing is, or is this because of me?

"Hmm, that's right, you haven't seen my little buddies since you lost your memories," Azure said. She was making a valiant effort to sound detached, but like Indigo and Olivia, I could tell my lack of recognition was bothering her.

Like a good brother, I changed the subject. "So is Schnee always that intense?" I jabbed a thumb at the door.

"Pretty much." Azure directed the last few minions down the drain before hopping up onto the counter, kicking her legs idly as we waited for the Specialist to return. "I mean, you've spent the week with Bia. Their whole department is always professional, kinda to a fault. But Schnee is a hardass for sure."

"Ah, come on, she's not so bad," said a new voice. Standing framed in the doorway was a tall woman with familiar features. She was an inch or two shorter than me, maybe just shy of six foot.

‹???›
LV ???
Sienna Arc

"Hey Sie," Azure chirped. She pronounced it see-uh. "Weren't you due back tomorrow?"

"Didn't want to miss seeing baby brother," Sienna drawled.

She was wearing a reddish-brown tunic, cinched at the waist by a belt holding two large pouches, over thick white tights, with boots of two different heights — the right came just past her ankle, while the other came almost to her knee. On her hands were similarly-asymmetrical gloves; the left being a fingerless glovelet while the right reached her elbow. Sienna was built like Indigo and Azure, lean and whipcord-thin. Her medium-blonde hair was in a short, messy bob with strawberry highlights, and her icy-blue eyes were crinkled with amusement. Splashed across her chest was an ice-blue triangle, possibly a snowy mountain or iceberg.

I spread my arms and made jazz hands. "Ta-da," I deadpanned.

Sienna smirked. "Well, you've certainly gotten sassier." She shifted her gaze to Azure. "Want to tell me why we just arrested the best computer scientist in the Kingdom?"

"Treason," Azure said simply, already immersed in her tablet again.

Obviously unsatisfied with the one-word answer, our older sister raised an imperious eyebrow at me.

Getting the notification that the copying was done, I pulled Watts' Scroll back out of my [Inventory] and handed it over to her. "I presume you'll need someone to verify it, but he was coding a worm that would give him direct control over every system running his CRITIAS thing."

Sienna whistled. "That'd do it." She fiddled with the Scroll for a moment, then tucked it into one of her belt pouches. "Well, play stupid games, win stupid prizes. I'll get this under the eyes of someone who can make heads or tails of it so they can start overhauling infosec."

"Just keep my name out of it." I ignored my Semblance buzzing at me for the moment. "Is Bia going to be okay bringing him in?" I asked, vaguely worried about her. "Apparently Watts is a tricky bastard."

Sienna's eyebrow rose a little higher, and her lips twitched, but her answer was as cool as before. "Please. If the two of them can't handle one scientist, I'll have to retrain them."

I didn't exactly have the context for that, since everybody involved was so high-level I couldn't see them, but I supposed Schnee had already handed Watts his ass once.

"Relax," Sienna insisted. "I'm fucking good at my job, okay? My cadets are badasses."

The cursing threw me for a second, although I guess it shouldn't have, seeing as she was in the military. Taking a breath, I decided to see what popups I had been ignoring.

[Quest Complete!]

[En Passant]

[You have gained 21,000 EXP and 40,000L! increased closeness with Sienna Arc, increased closeness with Azure Arc, increased closeness with Bia Álikos, increased closeness with Winter Schnee. Increased reputation with Atlesian Specialists. Increased reputation with Atlas.]

[Bonus: You have gained access to Pawn, potential access to Atlesian military intelligence, skill book "Introduction to Computing Fundamentals".]

[Level up! Your level has increased by 1! Your level has increased by 1!]

[By recognizing when to ask for help, your WIS has increased by 1!]

[Enlightened has increased by 1!]

And yet again, my Semblance finds a way to insult me with a simple popup. This thing is the definition of backhanded. At least the EXP bonus from [Enlightened] is working.

Still, the access to military intelligence could also be useful, depending on what Atlas actually knew…

Wait, that potential access is going to start closing as soon as they launch their investigation, because I gave them the original, I realized belatedly. Two-thirds of that bonus reward is worthless! Maybe I could use it to get hold of Penny, but I have no idea how to use Pawn in the first place, or how to cover my tracks, because it would be obvious it was me. Plus, stealing her would make an enemy of her father, and Atlas in the process.

My very soul twinged, and I winced as I realized that going that route was impossible anyway. It would violate my oath.

I heaved a sigh. I couldn't bring myself to regret the oath, but it sure put a dent in my pragmatism. But then, that was the point. To be better.

Maybe with the new skill I can at least make heads or tails of the worm, I thought, withdrawing the book from my [Inventory] with a thought.

"Whatcha got there?" Azure asked, glancing up. She was used to me pulling things out of nowhere, having tested my personal pocket-space thoroughly on Tuesday.

"Skill book," I replied. "Got it from the quest. This is a real book, right?"

She snatched it from my hand and marched out of the room, back to the lab she and I had been using. Sienna huffed a laugh and followed.

By the time I closed the door behind me, Azure had pulled up a digital copy of the book and was comparing the two. "Looks the same. You said this is a skill book? As in you'll learn to code in… what language is this?" She flipped to the index. "Apparently there's basics from five different types of programming languages, actually."

"It'll probably be broader than that, based on my other INT-related skills," I guessed, though I was distracted by something else I spotted. Since Azure was sitting down, it put her head lower than normal, so the name over her head — which I'd mostly tuned out since it was blank — was directly in my field of view.

‹The Devouring Sea›
LV 69
Azure Arc

"I can see your information now," I blurted out, surprised.

"Huh?" She looked at me, then tried to follow my eye-line to the empty space over her head. "Oh, really? What's it say?"

I recited her title, then added, "Apparently you're level sixty-nine?"

"Ha, nice," Sienna deadpanned, and both my eyebrows shot up. She scoffed at my reaction. "Please, I dealt with Shani more than anyone."

Having already hurt Azure's feelings with my ignorance today, I decided to avoid pointing out that I had no idea how Shani behaved. Apparently she makes sex jokes, though. Something tells me I'll have to brace for teasing.

"So you're at least level nineteen. Did you level up from the quest?" Azure guessed correctly.

I nodded. "Twice, actually. I'm level twenty; about halfway to twenty-one."

"And you said the low twenties are average for Academy freshmen," Azure was nose-down in her tablet again. "Not counting how you can increase your stats. But what do the levels mean for other people…?"

"I've been taking it as an estimate of raw combat ability," I shrugged. "I'm shooting in the dark here, but based on your Semblance I'm guessing you're more of a minion-master than a direct fighter." A quick [Observe] showed me her stats were now visible. "Yeah, your INT is like double your other stats. You're definitely in the right line of work."

Azure laughed. "Thanks for the reassurance."

Leaning forward, I laid a hand on the book, giving Azure a second to grab her tricorder.

[Would you like to learn the skill [Computers]?]

[Y/N]

Reading the prompt aloud and getting a nod from my sister, I accepted.

[You learned the skill [Computers]! Importing Outsider save data… Save data loaded successfully!]

[Computers (Passive) LV 5 EXP: 0.00%]
[A talent with electronics. Mortal society advanced their civilization still further through computerization. Grants an increased understanding of electronic systems, and improves chances to successfully program or hack computers.]
[Improves learning rate for programming languages by 10%.]
[5% decrease in failure rate when attempting to bypass electronic locks.]
[Increases typing speed by 60%.]

I read this out too, skipping the bit about my save data. That was something I wasn't planning to bring up to anybody on Remnant.

"Dammit, we didn't measure your typing speed before," Azure complained.

"We've got plenty of data points," I reassured her. "Even you have to be convinced the numbers are accurate by now."

"All right, enough of the nerd shit," Sienna cut in. "It's Friday night; let's grab the girls and hit the town."

'The girls' turned out to be Bia and Winter, who smiled and scowled respectively at Sienna's announcement that I would be joining them for the evening.

"Put on something nice," Sienna insisted.

I raised an eyebrow. "I came here to do research," I pointed out. "I didn't bring anything nicer than this." I gestured at my default outfit.

She clicked her tongue. "You can't go clubbing in that, you'll look like a square."

"We could not go clubbing," I suggested, already knowing I would be ignored. All of my sisters seemed to have the same force of personality as… well, me. They decided on something and went for it, and minor complaints weren't enough to dissuade them.

Sure enough, I was herded into a monorail and out again at an upscale clothing store, and told to pick something off the rack. Sienna planted herself by the door with her arms folded, making it clear I wasn't getting out of here without a new outfit. Seeing as my Semblance would resize it, I focused on style. Black slacks and low, square-toed leather shoes were the easy part; sighing, I started rifling through the shirts until I found something that somewhat matched my current color choices. A thin white button-down with filigree that, based on the price, might well be literal gold. I grimaced at the total, and stared Sienna down until she rolled her eyes and paid for it.

"Cheapskate," she teased good-naturedly as we headed back to her place.

"I'm seventeen and unemployed," I shot back, assigning the outfit to a new armor set I named Nice. "Thirty-five hundred for an outfit I'm gonna wear one night? If you think tagging Creeps and Beowolves pays that much, you've been out of the field too long."

Sienna snorted. "I'm a Specialist, not a desk jockey. I guarantee the whole family Hunts more than you, except maybe Azure." She hooked an arm around my shoulder and drilled her knuckles into my skull. "It's good that you're not helpless, but don't go thinking you're hot shit just because you killed one big Grimm."

I shoved her off, and she let me go, smirking. "So I gotta do it again to get any respect?" I joked.

Sienna laughed as we entered her apartment. "Sure, you kill another Named Grimm and I'll even apologize."

Azure managed to make herself scarce when it was time to set out, but since I was staying with both Sienna and Bia, I wasn't so lucky.

Then again, seeing Bia in a backless club dress… Dem shoulders. Maybe my luck isn't so bad. It was a deep red halter-neck with scooped sides that showed hints of her abs, and I had to concentrate all my DEX on not tripping. Winter's dress was a bit more conservative, but no less fetching. A light periwinkle sheath that came to her knees, with a high slit to allow free movement; I suspected it had probably been purchased with cocktail parties in mind. At least my new Nice armor set was fitted as well as if it were freshly tailored, or I had a feeling Winter's mild distaste would have turned even icier.

I did my best to make small talk, which Bia answered easily and Winter coolly, until Sienna emerged wearing what could only be described as a Little Black Dress and began chivvying us out the door.

We stopped to eat — I would've called it Italian, but I still hadn't figured out what Remnant calls various cuisines — and I scrupulously avoided red sauces, not wanting to tempt fate with a white shirt. The food was okay, but…

"I could've made this better," I said under my breath, but between Bia's polite chuckle, Sienna's disbelieving snort, and Winter's raised eyebrow, it looked like everyone heard me.

"I'll believe it when I see it, baby brother," Sienna smirked.

Bia stuck up for me. "Jaune's been cooking every day since he's been staying with me, he's very good."

I preened, and Sienna just shook her head. "Whatever you say. Come on, let's get some dancing in before it gets too late."

Despite my fears, the club wasn't some dim, dingy, packed room with too-loud music. It was a fairly well-lit, clean, packed room with too-loud music, but I'd take the wins where they came.

I didn't recognize a single song in the first hour we were there, despite my Semblance dutifully identifying them, but then, I was never one to frequent nightclubs on Earth either. Frankly, I wished I'd stayed at home to look over the data I'd ripped from Watts' scroll. Still, the night wasn't a total loss.

[Importing Outsider save data… Save data loaded successfully!]

[You have remembered the skill [Dancing]!]

[Dancing (Passive) LV5 EXP: 0.00%]
[A skill that represents your ability to move your body with rhythm. Music recommended, but not required.]
[Passively increases DEX by 5%.]
[Reduces chance of losing your balance by 5%]

Does that imply that if I prestige this skill I literally can't slip? Does that include slipping on ice? Does it protect me from vertigo?

Shaking off that train of thought, and promising myself to go over the cloned Scroll on my flight tomorrow, I tried to have some fun. Even if Sienna won't get me a drink. Fuck me, being a teenager again is annoying.

Winter and Bia danced together most of the night, taking turns boxing out men who tried to approach them, and Sienna had ditched us fairly early in favor of working her way through as many men as were willing to approach her. Huh, should I expect to sleep on the couch tonight?

For myself, while I stuck somewhat nearby, I let the beat carry me and danced with a few pretty girls that looked at least a little older than me, meaning they were somewhat closer to my mental age, even if that felt lower than it once had.

For me, the peak of the night came when Winter retired to a table, and Bia pulled me away from my latest partner. Not that I needed much convincing; she wasn't very coordinated, had stepped on my toes twice, and… it was Bia.

I did attempt to keep it respectful, but considering the first thing she did was pull my hand around her waist and back her hips into mine, I decided to go with the flow. Winter might kill me — I could feel her frosty glare on the back of my head, enough that I was surprised I didn't get a danger sensing skill out of it — but what the hell, I was leaving town tomorrow and could afford to indulge this crush a little.

My shirt was so thin I could feel the warmth of her bare back, and she kept her fingers laced through mine against her stomach for the duration of a song, before turning around as a slower one started, and pressing her forehead against mine. As we were the same height, it wasn't a strain on either of our necks, but I was pretty sure I was blushing. Sienna's smirk over the head of her current partner, which I spotted out of the corner of my eye, made me wonder if maybe I wasn't as subtle about my crush as I thought, but she'd have found something to tease me over regardless, so I put it out of my mind and gazed back into Bia's emerald eyes.

That only lasted until the end of the song before Winter returned and cut in, pulling Bia away by the hand. I squeezed Bia's hand as I stepped away, and she squeezed back before letting go.

I… need a drink after that.

Heading over to the bar, I flagged the bartender down and slapped a 100 Lien card on the counter. "Whiskey sour, keep the change," I ordered, before remembering I was seventeen.

The card vanished and was replaced with a glass almost before I could blink, and I decided not to question my fortune. I reached for it, but someone snatched it up. I turned a glare on the culprit, and found Sienna wagging a finger at me.

Rolling my eyes, I stalked back to our table. She joined me a moment later, passing me a glass of cola that was definitely virgin.

"Pretty sure you're still seventeen, last I checked," she smirked.

"Eat me," I shot back with a glare. "I'm old enough to kill Grimm and I can't even have a drink on vacation?"

"That's the law, kiddo."

"You're not my fucking mother, woman." Rather than continue to sulk, I drained my cola and headed back to the dance floor.

I still hadn't forgiven Sienna come morning — not least because she kept drinking and I'd had to carry her home on the train — but I still gave her a hug before boarding the plane.

I woke up without too much trouble thanks to my Semblance. Ten minutes of meditation and a cup of coffee got me going, in time for Azure to announce that my flight was in fact going to Mistral rather than Vale, so I could visit our grandmother and Violet.

"And you were planning to mention this, when?" I asked waspishly.

Azure blinked at me innocently. "I mentioned it just now, silly!"

"Is this my fault for not booking it myself?" I had to wonder, hugging Azure in turn and resisting the urge to smack her. Not that I'd be likely to get away with it; even if I could see her level now, she was still almost fifty higher than me.

Finally it was Bia's turn, and she surprised me by ignoring my attempted handshake and pulling me into a hug as well. I returned it, trying not to seem too eager.

"Keep in touch, Jaune; I want to know how your lifting goes," she said with her usual smile.

"Definitely; I'll be working hard to catch up to you." I grinned at Bia, ignoring Sienna and Azure exchanging smirks. "Long days and pleasant nights, you guys," I said, to include them all.

"Good hunting," they replied, as I headed for the boarding gates.

A glance back showed Sienna had thrown an arm over Bia's shoulders, yanking her close. Azure had also turned to face the Specialists, gesticulating energetically. Bia was shaking her head and waving her hands, her face a little red. Going by what I've learned of their personalities, I'm not sure how she survived training with Sienna. She seems far too reserved to be at peace with how pushy our whole family is.

Mistral was about as far from Atlas as Vale, the three cities forming a more or less equilateral triangle. Crossing another three time zones put me at six hours behind Vale time now, and just like the flight to Atlas meant a morning flight was going to be landing in late afternoon. I spent the time, as I'd decided the previous night, looking through some of the data ripped from Watts' Scroll. Say what you want about the design aesthetic, the memory capacity of these things blows cell phones out of the water. There was the expected data about Pawn, but also some coded communications between codenames that had to refer to Salem's group. Not to mention a Dr Merlot, who was performing 'mutagenic' experiments on Grimm.

There was also plenty of classified Atlesian military data, which would probably get me shot if anyone knew I had it, and which I would definitely require way more time to dig through. Need to look back through this and see if anything about Penny is on here. With the [Computers] skill and the source code available, I should be able to inoculate her against Pawn.

The flight seemed much the same as the previous one, if a little more crowded since it was Friday. And why are the days of the week the same as Earth? I thought, pausing in my perusal of the cloned Scroll. They're mostly named for Norse gods. Did that faith exist on Remnant? Is this really a post-post-apocalyptic Earth? But then how did that survive and so many other things didn't?

Shaking that off, I glanced out the window and spotted what a quick check of the map told me was the Animan continent's massive lake; the so-called Sea of Monsters. I should look up what kinds of Grimm there are to Hunt around here, especially if I'm going to be stuck in Mistral for a while.

A quick vibration from my Semblance indicated my Scroll had just reconnected to the CCT network, so we must have been getting close to the Greek/Japanese city-state. I put the cloned Scroll away and prodded at the display built into my seat, trying to pull up the time remaining in the flight, but the screen flickered and fuzzed out. I tapped it, but nothing happened.

Hearing complaints start to filter through my headphones, I slid them off and around my neck. Looking around, it appeared it wasn't only my seat's screen that crashed, but all of them.

The flight attendants, looking harried, were trying to calm down the angry passengers. Don't envy them. Say what you will about Hunting, at least I don't have to deal with customers as much, I thought. Honestly, people make such a big deal out of a minor technical issue.

Sure enough, the screens flickered again, then again, before coming back to life all at once; all of them displayed a large, ornate, cursive W.

And then the engines died.

Name: Jaune Arc
Level: 20 (Next: 61.07%)
Title: Initiate
Race: Human
Age: 17
Job: Tyro Huntsman
Class: Paladin
Semblance: The Gamer
HP: 1707/1707
MP: 1300/1300
STR: 57.1 (51)
CON: 58 (50)
DEX: 70 (50)
INT: 41.0 (39)
WIS: 54.1 (51)
CHA: 35.6 (26)
Points: 33
Money: 43698L
Status: Cursed – Yellow Death [High]

Chapter Text

Is this my fault? I wondered incongruously as the airship plummeted. Should I have put my foot down about flying to Mistral instead of home? I had gone along with it because I wanted to see more of Remnant and my family here; the same reason I went along with flying to Atlas with only a day's notice. My sisters' pushiness sometimes rubbed me the wrong way, but I swallowed it for the sake of diplomacy.

Screams rang out, and I gripped the arms of my seat, bracing as best I could. I guess this would have happened on any flight I took, I reflected. It happened when we reached CCT range. And in fact, we would still have been over the ocean when we came into range of Vale's Tower flying from Atlas, so this is probably the best case scenario.

The crash knocked out about two-thirds of my HP. And this, ladies and gents, is why you wear your fucking seatbelt, I thought, shaking my head to clear it. The cries and sobs around me made it clear that there were plenty more survivors, so rather than continue to sit there, I took a deep breath and hit the release, forcing myself upright. Wish I had potions in this game.

Looking around, I grimaced. Not everyone was moving. The flight attendants, who had been standing up, were in the worst shape: a couple of them were clearly dead, but [Observe] showed I might be able to heal some of them. Hello again, [Gamer's Mind]. I did not miss relying on you.

Since nobody was paying attention, I equipped my Combat armor set, popped [Eagle's Splendor] for a single minute, and shouted at the top of my lungs, "STAY CALM, I'M A HUNTSMAN!"

[Deception successful! Acting has increased by 1! Acting has increased by 1! Acting has increased by 1! Acting has increased by 1!]

[By careful poise and word choice, you have convinced someone to go along with your idea! Your CHA has increased by 1! Your CHA has increased by 1!]

Silence fell surprisingly fast, screams fading into whimpers as people instinctively listened to the voice of authority. Wow, all right, that went better than expected. Now they're all watching me, so let's try not to fuck it up.

"Please stay in your seats if possible!" I called out, stepping into the aisle and moving over to the nearest flight attendant that was still breathing. "I have a healing Semblance, and we are in range of the Mistral CCT! Help is already on the way!"

At least I fuckin' hope it is. Doing a quick scan of the people I could see, and finding nobody more injured, I triggered [Lay On Hands] and kept an eye on the stewardess' status to see when she was stabilized and I could move on. Unfortunately, my projected confidence is only gonna go so far; I'll have to triage and prioritize killing any approaching Grimm. In the meantime…

With the hand I wasn't using to heal, I prompted the interface to send a text to the sister I knew was closest, subvocalizing as much information as I could quickly.

DM: Paladin -> Thunderstruck | Saturday 15:43

     ‹Paladin› mayday plane down sabotage cct north edge send help north sea mons

     ‹Thunderstruck› fuck. this better not be a joke.

Do I sound like I'm fucking joking!?

     ‹Paladin› mayday mayday mayday flight 1387 down i'm healing injured crew passengers scared send help asap

     ‹Thunderstruck› okay, fuck, i hope you have time to read this. you're still in training but odds are you're the only huntsman on the flight so you need to step up and keep people from panicking. have everyone stay in one place so you can look after them. if any grimm show up, cut them down and make it look easy. keep your game face on no matter what.

Tell me something I don't know, I bitched internally, leaving the unconscious flight attendant and moving over to a middle-aged man with a head injury.

[Lay On Hands has increased by 1!]

"Hey, come on, can't you heal me first?"

Taking a deep breath, I kept my face blank as I looked up at the speaker; a slightly younger man with an Atlas accent whose expensive clothes were being steadily ruined by the blood from his split lip and busted nose.

"You're conscious, he's not," I said curtly. "Given time, I can heal everyone, but I do have to prioritize worse injuries. Please be patient."

"But you're prioritizing an animal when–"

That was as far as he got before quailing under my glare. "You're well enough to whine, so I'll get to you when people aren't about to die," I hissed. "Sit down and stop wasting my time."

[Intimidation successful! CHA has increased by 1!]

DM: Thunderstruck -> Paladin | Saturday 15:46

     ‹Thunderstruck› okay, rescue teams are scrambled. eta 15 minutes.

Finally some good fucking news, I thought. My Semblance very helpfully put a fifteen minute timer in the corner of my vision. Neat.

     ‹Thunderstruck› i'm going ahead of them.

     ‹Thunderstruck› you'd fucking better stay alive.

Not bothering with a reply, I closed the interface and moved onto the next person [Observe] told me was savable.

[Lay On Hands has increased by 1!]

The passengers, who had quieted down when I tore into the Atlesian bigot, began to murmur again. My mana was nearing full, so I burned another minute of [Eagle's Splendor] andspoke up. "Does anybody on board have Hunter training?"

[Eagle's Splendor has increased by 1! ]

There were a few murmurs in the negative.

"Former military?" I tried. "Reserves?"

No response.

"Village sheriff?"

Silence.

"Anybody shot a pistol before?"

"I attend a shooting club." It was the woman seated next to the faunus man I'd healed. She looked about fifty, but her hand was steady when she raised it to indicate herself.

Keeping my left hand on the six-year-old I was currently healing, I unclipped my pistol and held it out, butt-first. "Thirteen in the clip. Pipe's empty, safety's on."

"It's a bit bigger than I'm used to," she murmured, checking it carefully and keeping the barrel pointed at the floor.

"Not the first time I've heard that," I quipped. "I'm sure you can handle it."

Nervous giggles filled the cabin, and some of the tension in the plane drained away.

[By reducing the negative emotions of your surroundings with your words, CHA has increased by 1!]

Cool, so all I needed to start the stats flowing was another crisis situation. Goody.

"Not the first time I've heard that," the woman echoed. "Russet, come with me and help keep a lookout," she told the teenager beside her.

"But dad is–"

"As well as he can be right now," his mother spoke over him calmly. "We need to make sure he and everyone else stays that way. Come on, now."

"I assume I don't need to ask about a sword?" I asked the rest of the passengers, getting general dissent once more. "Okay, that's fine. Show of hands, who's well enough to help stand watch?" I was honestly expecting no response again, but I actually did get some volunteers this time. "Awesome; all you have to do is keep your eyes peeled. Buddy up, nobody goes off alone. If you spot Grimm, stay calm and come let me know."

There were a few nods, and those volunteers nervously made their way out of the plane. Probably wouldn't have volunteered if the old lady hadn't gone out first.

Wiping my hands on my jeans as I wrapped up the current healing job, I called out next, "Somebody up front, are the pilots alive?"

[Lay On Hands has increased by 1!]

"I, um, I don't think so." I couldn't see the speaker, even when I stood up to get the lady halfway up the with a neck injury and the nerve-wracking status effect Paralyzed. "The door's a little open and there's… there's a lot of blood…"

"I'll check on them in a minute," I promised. Fortunately, I wasn't lying — civilians only tended to have, at most, 150 or so HP, so I could reliably heal ten percent of their maximum or more with just one minute of [Lay On Hands]. I wasn't bringing any of them to full, but everyone who survived the crash should make it to evac." Next question, anybody else with first-aid training?"

"I'm a registered nurse." It was actually the lady I was healing who spoke.

I glanced at her Status, but she was still Paralyzed. "Let me check on the pilots, and I'll come back and finish healing you," I promised. "You'll be in charge of first aid."

She tried to nod, but flinched, and whispered, "Okay."

[Lay On Hands has increased by 1!]

I stood up. "If you're injured but can walk, make your way over here and get some first aid instructions," I ordered, once more leaning on [Eagle's Splendor] since I wasn't otherwise spending mana. "You, you, and you," I pointed out three people who weren't injured at all. "You're on minion duty for her. Do what she says and ask for help if you don't understand."

Not waiting to be questioned, I went to check on the pilots, taking a few moments to store the dead flight attendants' bodies in my [Inventory], offering no explanation to the people who questioned me except to approach me when we got back to safety and I would return them to their families.

The cockpit door was partly jammed, and wouldn't open properly. After a moment's struggle, I managed to peer inside, but the pilots were both very dead. It looked like they actually survived the initial crash, but the plane slid forward after hitting the ground, smashing into some of the sparse trees on the open plain, and the shattering windshield did them in. Damn. I stored their bodies in my [Inventory] as well, before stepping back out of the cockpit and kicking the door closed with a screech. I did a quick scan of the remaining passengers with [Observe], but I'd stabilized everyone who was dying, so frankly, everything else could be handled with first aid.

Heading back to my deputized nurse, I pinged [Detect Grimm], finding none within 200 meters, with a few circling outside of that. So far, they weren't coming closer, but I'd need to continue keeping people calm or we'd find ourselves overwhelmed in a hurry.

Pausing beside her, I squared my shoulders with one more pop of [Eagle's Splendor]. "Everyone, we're doing very well," I announced seriously. "You all survived the crash, and as long as I'm here nothing bad is going to happen. All we need to do is remain calm. As I said, the rescue flight is already en route. My sister is also a Huntress and is on her way ahead of it. We are going to make it!"

Scattered cheers broke out, and the resulting conversation seemed… calmer.

[Eagle's Splendor has increased by 1! ]

No pressure on anyone but me. Whatever, it's for the best.

[By giving an inspiring speech, your CHA has increased by 1!]

Yeah, I'm never discounting CHA again.

"Time to get you back up and running," I told the nurse, carefully placing my hands on either side of her neck. Triggering [Lay On Hands] again, I reached out to the world and also tapped into [Gaia's Pulse]. The huge inrush of meditation-augmented regeneration jumped what I was channeling into her from about 15/sec to about 69/sec.

Nice.

Touching on the souls of everyone present with [Detect Aura] at the same time, I confirmed no one else seemed to be bleeding out or panicking. There was definitely some worry and sorrow, but I'd grabbed everyone's attention firmly enough that they were all taking their cues from me.

[Lay On Hands has increased by 1! Lay On Hands has increased by 1! Gaia's Pulse has increased by 1!]

I [Observe]d the nurse again. "Congratulations, you're now in perfect health."

[Observe has increased by 1!]

She stretched her neck carefully, then raised her hand and stared at her fingers. "I can't believe it…"

Giving her a moment to take it in, I pinged [Detect Grimm] again, and… Oh, that's not good.

Clapping her shoulder more forcefully, I brought her attention back to the present. "You're in charge of first aid," I reiterated. "Everyone, listen to her, and stay inside the plane." I moved unhurriedly, keeping my voice steady as I walked toward the door.

Stepping out and blinking in the sun, I signaled all the volunteers to head back inside as well.

"Everything all right?" asked the older woman who had my gun.

"Everyone's healed up who needed it," I replied. "I've got someone in charge of first aid; you're my other deputy, why don't you go help her keep order. I'll keep watch for our rescue party, so go ahead and close the door behind you."

She gave me a sharp look, then glanced around before heading inside with her son.

Yeah, don't think I fooled her for a second, but to hell with it. Striding out from the tail of the plane, I pulled the Family Sword free from the sheath and deployed the shield. Stopping about a hundred meters away, I swung lightly to loosen my shoulder. Not being able to flare my Aura like a normal Huntsman, I instead tapped [Gaia's Pulse] again, fairly certain that was what had drawn in the monster I was sensing with [Detect Grimm].

Sure enough, its motion shifted from heading for the plane to heading straight for me as it seemed to accept my challenge. The way dust rose on the open, grassy plain before it even came clearly into view, and how I could feel the tremor of its steps as it came my way… Yeah, I'm getting bad, bad vibes.

[Enlightened has increased by 1!]

Goody.

A moment later, the hulking shape of a quadrupedal Grimm stomped out of the dust cloud, and I squinted to take in as much information as I could through the heat haze. The good news was, it didn't seem to be armored as thickly as Krios. I could see tarlike flesh almost everywhere on its body except for the mask itself. The bad news was that there was a lot of that flesh on display, because this thing was much bigger than my last boss fight.

Krios had been able to look me in the eye; this thing stood almost ten feet tall at the shoulder, and was easily twice as long as the goat had been. Judging by the way I could feel each step it took rattle my teeth, I had to guess it weighed four or five times as much. Sweeping out from the mask were two massive horns, less curled than Krios', instead gently curving forward into two deadly points a few feet on either side of its head, ready to impale anyone who baited this bull. And just like its cousin, its red eyes glared with a mixture of fury and amusement as they fixed on me.

Me; the only thing standing between it and the civilians on the plane.

‹Wrath of the Scorned›
LV ???
Samiri
HP: [----------100%----------]

I swallowed through a dry throat and once more gave thanks for [Gamer's Mind] as my Semblance recognized the threat of the situation and the background music kicked into high gear.

I am now, an instrument of violence
I am a vessel of invincibility.
I cannot leave this undecided
Stepping down to battle another day.
Remember me for all time, this
Determination is a vital part of me;
Surrender now or be counted
With the endless masses that I will defeat!

[BGM Unlocked! – "Warrior" by Disturbed]

Meeting Samiri's gaze, I drew the tip of the Family Sword through the dirt in front of me, then pointed it straight at the boss for a moment before retaking a fighting stance. With the intelligence the last boss Grimm had shown, I figured this bull couldn't fail to take my meaning, and the way it snorted and pawed the ground bore that out.

My gauntlet thrown, I took the time to send one last text.

Aegislash -> 'Seven Deadly Sisters (And One Baby Brother)' | Saturday, 15:55

     ‹Aegislash› @everyone guess whose plane crashed right next to another named grimm

Several people are typing...

     ‹Aegislash› can't talk

     ‹Aegislash› @Zapdos hurry

The fight began fast and brutal, almost as soon as I turned my attention back to Samiri. As should be expected of a bull, it lowered its head and charged straight at me. Unlike the fight with Krios, I wasn't starting this one already exhausted and at 50% HP, so I crouched and used my new passive STR of 62 and DEX of 75 to leap straight over its charge, slamming my sword into its flank with everything I had in me.

Combined with [Crusader's Smite], I managed to knock off a whole percentage point of its HP before having to skip away from its rear legs as it tried to kick me.

I made some distance as it turned around, glancing at the timer to see how long I would have to hold out before Violet and rescue arrived. Ten more minutes. Cowabunga it is.

Fortunately, I'd gotten pretty good at doing math in my head to determine how long I could keep my buffs going. At 1357 max MP I could use all my buffs for about five minutes, but with ten minutes left on my timer to rescue, that was no good. The mental stats weren't that helpful in a fight, though, so sticking to buffing just my STR, CON, and DEX cost me a total of 130 for each minute, if I included [Reinforcement]. Those four buffs should last me for just longer than the countdown, assuming I didn't use any mana for anything else.

Which wouldn't be the case, because I was going to be casting [Crusader's Smite] every chance I got, but that was a problem for the Jaune of ten minutes from now. Casting my buffs, I switched my Title from [Initiate] to [Grimm Slayer] so I would deal more damage and take less. Then, rather than wait for Samiri to come at me again, I ran forward.

The bull snorted, tossing its head to try to impale me on its horns, and clearly expecting me to jump again. Its head was low so it could quickly jab upward and catch me in midair. Instead, I dropped into a slide and tried to stab it in the throat, the same way we'd killed Krios. My leverage wasn't perfect, though, and the Family Sword's point actually skidded off Samiri's tight, quivering muscles. Its throat was slit, but since Grimm didn't bleed, that wasn't actually a big deal.

It let out an unsurprisingly-wheezy bellow, and reared up to try to stomp on me, but my buffed DEX was well over 100 now, and I kipped up with seconds to spare, hammering its legs again.

‹Wrath of the Scorned›
LV ???
Samiri
HP: [----------95%--------- ]

"All that, complete with a 30% damage bonus from the title and 150% from the [Smites], and it still only knocked off five percent?" I growled. "Damn, this guy is a fuckin' unit."

Samiri, naturally, did not reply. Instead it pawed the ground, looking a little more wary.

Happy to stall for time, I smirked and started talking shit. "What's wrong, not as fun when someone puts up a real fight? You gonna just stand there until I find a red cape to wave?"

Its eyes narrowed, and steam blew from its nostrils, but it continued to just watch me.

"Your mask is going to look great mounted in my room, right next to Krios'," I boasted. "After I steal your aspect just like his. I wonder what bonus I'll get from yours?"

Tiring of the standoff, Samiri came at me again, though only at a canter this time. Which was still faster than I could sprint, so when I mistimed my dodge, I had to raise my shield to avoid being impaled. There was an echoing CLANG! and I was sent flying by even that reduced motion. I couldn't see its stats, of course, but its STR had to be insane. The shield held up, but I could feel a small dent pressing against my arm, and I had a feeling I wouldn't be able to collapse it back into a sheath until it got repaired.

My DEX and [Parkour] once again let me tumble back to my feet before Samiri could turn and reach me, and I slashed at its back leg again for another 2% of its HP. Slow and steady, we've got this.

The music shifted as the initial song ended, but I honestly couldn't spare the attention to figure out what song from my Boss Fight playlist came up next, because Samiri was on me again, this time jerking its head back and forth rapidly, forcing me to block its horns one after another. It wasn't running quickly anymore, but I had to keep backpedaling or be knocked off my feet again.

I was tempted to stab it in the eye as I had Krios, but I'd learned my lesson from that occasion, that I would end up losing my sword for it, and probably wouldn't get it back. Seeing as I didn't have Blake around to back me up this time, I couldn't afford to be disarmed, so instead I feinted for the mask and then slashed at its forelegs again. If I can cripple it, this is all over.

It wasn't that easy, however. While I was definitely faster than Samiri, it wasn't exactly slow itself, and unlike a video game boss, it didn't have attack patterns that I could learn and predict. Instead, it was learning just as much as me, and it was getting better at quick-stepping away from my attacks. While that took some of the pressure off me, it also meant dealing less damage to the Grimm. Its HP wasn't recovering, but I still hadn't gotten it below 90%.

"Just had to be a boss fight," I grumbled, trying a new feint toward its opposite leg. "Why not a nice relaxing dungeon crawl? Lots of popcorn Grimm to cut down for free money? Noooo, I have to fight a second Grimm so infamous it has a godsdamn Name. Fuck my life."

For all my bitching, however, this was… honestly not that bad. I was hesitant to even allow the thought to form, because I could easily see Murphy taking the opportunity to kick my teeth in, but it was true — Samiri wasn't really hurting me, and while my damage to it wasn't huge, I was slowly dropping its HP. Its attention was fully on me, and the crash survivors were safely inside the plane.

As we separated yet again, I glanced at my [Stats] page, but after Azure's experiments, there weren't any I could raise for a mid-fight boost like I had against Krios. I technically had the points to boost either INT or CHA over 50, but neither seemed likely to help in a primarily physical fight.

Okay, let's try something else, then. Reaching into my [Inventory], I pulled out one of the Dust crystals I'd received for killing Krios. I glanced at it to make sure it was the right one.

[Gale Dust Crystal – Grade V]

Skipping away from Samiri for a moment, I pressed the crystal to the blade of the Family Sword, and triggered a skill I hadn't been able to practice very much: [Elemental Weapon].

The crystal fragmented, and the blade of the Family Sword began to shimmer a faint green. It also appeared to waver, but that was due to the small tornado that now surrounded it, like a weaker version of Saber's Invisible Air. This wasn't strong enough to hide the sword — at least not while the skill was this low-leveled — but it was still a further 66% damage boost, plus the added effect of Gale dust: knockback.

Samiri wasted no time butting at me again with its mask, but this time I parried rather than block with my shield, and the force of the Gale jerked its head to the side. I shifted its other horn up over my head, and stabbed for its already-damaged neck. The massive Grimm actually staggered back a few steps as the whirling winds tore the pitch-colored muscle apart. Between [Grimm Slayer], [Elemental Weapon], [Crusader's Smite], and the passive [Powerful], I was dealing nearly 300% bonus damage even before the critical hit.

Samiri's HP dropped sharply for the first time, hovering around 65% as it backed off faster than it had moved yet. [Elemental Weapon] took that moment to wear off, so I let it go and seized the opportunity to glance at the timer. Five minutes to go.

The monstrous bull didn't spend long recovering. It huffed and wheezed, trying to bellow, but when that failed it simply stomped the ground hard enough to almost unbalance me before starting forward once more. Thank you yet again, boosted DEX.

I'd misjudged, however. Samiri lunged further than I was expecting, ramming my hastily-interposed shield with its skull rather than the horns, and once again sending me flying.

"No!" came a faint cry, followed by the familiar crack of a pistol. The bullet impacted Samiri's bulk, doing less than a percent damage, but pulling its attention away from me. In the space of a bare second, as I arced through the air, I took in the situation and realized what happened.

Over the course of the fight, we'd gotten turned around, so Samiri was now between me and the plane. This was fine when it was completely focused on me, but now the woman I'd lent my gun to was running out toward us. Skidding to a stop, she brought the .45 up in a solid triangular stance and started firing at the enormous Grimm.

What the fuck are you doing out here!? I rolled upright as fast as I could, but Samiri had already turned away from me, lowered its head, and charged directly at the woman. I sprinted after the bull, but it was too fast. I hadn't managed to damage its legs enough to cripple it, and despite my higher DEX, I couldn't catch up with Samiri once it got its bulk in motion.

To her credit, such as it was, the woman didn't panic or freeze up. She emptied the clip as the monster came at her, then tried to dive out of the way.

…'Tried' being the operative word.

The long horn of bone caught her mid-jump, and having no Aura to protect herself it went straight through her abdomen. I heard ribs shatter even from as far away as I was, and my gun crunched as Samiri's hoof planted down on it.

Idly shaking its head to toss the woman's body away, the bull turned enough to eye me and huffed through its ruined throat, its amusement plain. I gritted my teeth. If she wasn't dead, I could heal her… if I didn't also have to deal with this fucking monster. Even as I watched, her HP plummeted to zero, and the name over her head — a name I hadn't even properly registered since my attention was on healing earlier — vanished.

[Gamer's Mind] kept my thoughts clear, but my failure to protect the woman — my failure to perfectly uphold my oath — drove a cold rage through me. Fuck holding out, I'm going to kill this son of a bitch.

I attacked, no less cautiously but a lot more aggressively than before. Samiri still shrugged off most of my blows, but they were beginning to add up as its HP trickled down. But then, so was my MP; the number of times I was triggering [Crusader's Smite] was, as predicted, starting to bring my mana low enough that I wouldn't be able to stay buffed.

Gritting my teeth, I dropped [Bear's Endurance] to ration my remaining MP a little better, relying on my buffed DEX and the passive [Nimble] to stay ahead of attacks I couldn't catch with my shield. Instead, I spent that mana on another cast of [Elemental Weapon], this time grabbing the Burn crystal and causing the blade of the Family Sword to burst into flame.

I wanted this to hurt.

For the next few blows, I didn't bother aiming properly, just slamming the edge of the Family Sword into Samiri's masked face with all the power I could muster. Then, as I'd hoped, it opened its mouth to roar defiantly. Not only did that result in only another wheeze coming out of its ruined throat, but I pivoted the sword into a sideways stroke, severing laterally through its cheek muscles and leaving the lower jaw to dangle.

Samiri took an instinctive step back, and I was about to follow when the sky suddenly grew dark, and the background music abruptly shifted. Not the end of a song fading into another, but a hard switch mid-beat, going from the fullness of Nightwish to something a lot faster and more intense.

Into the fires of forever, we will fly through the heavens,
With the power of the universe we stand strong together~!

I know this song… That must mean…

"Time's up." A nasty smile stole across my face, and I think my shifting emotions were what caused Samiri to shift away from me again. We'd shuffled around again, my back to the plane once more, and with nearly half its HP gone I could see the bull debating retreat.

Not that it would have the chance, because with a blinding flash and a deafening KRACKA-BOOM! there was suddenly a third person present, standing on a slightly-smoking patch of dirt, the grass all burned away.

‹???›
LV ???
Violet Arc

With the sudden cloud cover, it would have been too dark to see much, if it weren't for the weapon in her hand that was glowing like the dawn. The head of the morningstar gleamed with Dust ranging from red to yellow to cyan, and a complex mechanism near her hand showed it could mech-shift, like most modern weapons.

"Took you long enough," I said, stepping up beside her, idly twirling the flaming Family Sword and keeping my eyes fixed on the now-hesitant Grimm.

"Stand back, Jaune," Violet ordered. "I'll finish this."

"Like hell," I spat. "I watched this monster murder someone for trying to help me. The killing blow is mine."

Electric-blue eyes flicked my way, and a smile twitched her lips, but was soon replaced with a fierce scowl. "Fair enough. Don't get in my way," she warned, before she tightened her grip on her weapon's haft.

Seeming to recognize it was now outgunned, as well as outnumbered, Samiri tried to turn away, but Violet and I both lunged at the same time, our respective weapons hammering into its hind legs. The Family Sword sheared and burned through the right hind leg just above the knee joint, while Violet's morningstar smashed through the left with a simple backhanded swing.

Samiri let out another pathetic whistle, still trying to drag itself away, but unable to do more than slide a few inches. Taking my time, I unstrapped the dented and busted shield from my arm, storing it in my [Inventory], and then chose not to renew [Cat's Grace] so I could keep [Reinforcement] and [Bull's Strength] going for another minute. The latter seemed apopos, since I would be using the STR boost to finish off this giant bull.

Samiri spotted me approaching with one wild eye, and tried to smack me with the back of its horn, but I avoided it easily.

‹Wrath of the Scorned›
LV ???
Samiri
HP: [--        8%          ]

Knowing it could understand me, I didn't hold back the satisfaction in my voice as I growled, "Two down, ten to go."

Gripping the Family Sword with both hands, I put everything I had into a mighty downward stroke. Its neck was too large for me to cleanly decapitate with an arming sword, but I got most of the job done, and that final [Crusader's Smite] wiped out both the last of my MP and Samiri's HP.

Like Krios, it made no sound as it died, just stiffened unnaturally and began to vanish. I hopped back as it collapsed, stabbing the Family Sword into the ground as the flames around it winked out, and crouched down to lay a hand on the nearest horn. With a tug and a thought, the Mask separated from the dissolving Grimm, and I stowed it in my [Inventory] before looking at the blood on my gloved hand.

Blood that wasn't mine, but was unmistakably on my hands. Fuck.

I didn't weep. I didn't scream. I didn't solemnly vow to do better, because I'd already made that vow. I just… needed to acknowledge that I'd fucked up.

I hadn't violated my oath, really — there wasn't any negative feedback from the geas, because I'd tried to help and protect the passengers — but it still ate at me that a woman I'd tried to keep safe was dead because of me. If I'd taken the gun back when I sent her inside, would she have still come back out?

"You did your best." Blinking, I looked over at Violet, able to see her a little better now that the storm clouds overhead were clearing.

"Not gonna tell me it's not my fault?"

"Would you listen to that?" she asked rhetorically. "Look, could you have done better? Yeah, probably. But you just held off and helped kill a Named Grimm, saving a hundred people's lives. Not to mention whoever you healed before that. An accredited professional would be hard-pressed to do better than that, and you're not even trained. We aren't gods, Jaune; we just do the best we can."

I sighed. "Yeah." There wasn't anything else to say on that subject, so I let it drop. "Medevac almost here?" The timer was flashing 0:00 in the corner of my eye until I dismissed it, but I couldn't hear another engine over the lingering thunder.

"Should be just a couple minutes," Violet agreed, swinging her weapon up to rest on her shoulder. "They would have been along about now, if I hadn't been ahead of them." She jerked her head upwards.

Welcoming the distraction, I glanced up as well, seeing nothing but… "The clouds?"

"Yeah, that was me rushing to get here. But thunderheads are dangerous to fly through, so they're probably a few klicks back."

Finally getting enough MP back, I activated [Detect Grimm], but just like with Krios, killing the boss seemed to spook all the normal Grimm into backing off, and I couldn't sense any within 200 meters, and told Violet as much.

She just nodded. "Best to keep your guard up anyway," she advised, turning and heading toward the plane. "Come on, let's make sure everyone knows they're in the clear."

I picked up the Family Sword and followed her, detouring to pick up the body of the woman who'd tried to help, storing it in my [Inventory] with the others. I'll see what her family wants to do, like the rest.

We came to a stop outside the downed plane's emergency door, and Violet turned to look me over critically. "I haven't totally kept up on what your Semblance does, but can you clean yourself up at all?" she asked. "It's fine if you can't, but the more unruffled you look, the better."

I looked down. Aside from the blood on my gloves, my clothes were covered in dirt and grass stains from when I got flung around. Shrugging, I equipped a new set of Casual clothes, stowing my armor and conjuring up clean versions of my usual jeans, gold tee, and white shirt.

"Weird," was my sister's only comment, hanging her weapon on her belt. Lacking a sheath at the moment, I went ahead and dropped mine in my [Inventory], taking the time to look Violet over myself.

She looked almost completely unruffled, naturally. She was tall, like most of our family, standing even with me, although I suspected her boots added an inch. Her build was lean, closer to Sienna and Indigo than me or Olivia. Her Hunting outfit showed a clear punk influence, with a cropped and sleeveless shirt showing off both her biceps and abs, as well as a bunch of tattoos; a studded denim vest with her emblem — a purple thunderbolt — on the back, and wide-legged trousers belted at the waist, knee, calf, and ankle, both preventing the hanging cloth from interfering with her movements and providing plenty of straps where she had attached spare ammo, grenades, and other pouches of supplies.

Her hair, naturally a light blonde, looked fairly long but was pulled into a tight braid. One section of that braid was dyed purple, as was one of the two locks left free to frame her face. She also wore small gauges in her ears and a spiked choker that, upon closer inspection, I realized was studded with Dust crystals.

Violet was only 'almost completely' unruffled, though, because her left arm kind of… didn't exist, at the moment. Rather, it seemed to be made of tightly-compressed sparks in the approximate shape of an arm, emerging from the shoulder of her vest and continuing all the way down to vague fingers that seemed too long and spindly to function like a human hand.

Catching where I was looking, she glanced down herself and shrugged. "It's fine. This actually isn't the worst I've had for a trip of this length."

Taking her word for it, I nodded, and opened the door. The two minutes we'd spent walking and chatting gave me enough MP to recast [Eagle's Splendor], and I did so to give the greatest emphasis to my triumphant return.

"Righto~!" I called. "My sister's here, there's no Grimm around, and I can hear our ride, so grab your carry-ons and let's step outside in an orderly fashion, everybody. Don't worry about your luggage, we'll recover everything we can before we take off for Mistral."

Once again, there were scattered cheers, though I noticed some people seemed more subdued, and one who was outright glaring at me. After a moment, I placed him: He'd been sitting with the woman who died, and had been dragged outside to help her keep watch briefly. Her husband, the faunus man I'd healed earlier, was awake now and looking around with an expression somewhere between distraught and resigned. They remained seated as everyone else filed out following Violet, the man heaving himself upright and shuffling forward with his son's help.

"Young man, my wife…" he asked, sounding like he already suspected the answer.

I bowed my head. "She came back out to try to help, and I couldn't reach her in time," I replied softly. "What she did was incredibly brave, and–"

"Why didn't you heal her?" the son demanded.

"Russet," his father laid a hand on his shoulder, but Russet shook it off.

"You healed dad. You healed all those people, even that racist Atlesian asshole; why didn't you heal my mom when she got hurt because of you!?"

"Because the Grimm was still alive," I said, keeping my voice even. "My healing isn't that fast. By the time I finished the fight and got over to her, it was too late."

"It's your fault!" Russet swung a fist with no wind-up. I could have dodged it, but I didn't, simply tanking the 10 HP hit, his civilian strength barely causing me to rock back.

"Russet!" His father barked, but the teen shouldered past me without another word and went outside. "I'm sorry for him," the man said. "My Ginger was…"

"Incredibly brave," I repeated. "Your son isn't wrong. I was the one to hand Ginger a weapon and deputize her. Some of the blame does lie with me." I hesitated, but extended a hand. "It was an honor to know her, even briefly."

"Ginger was always one to volunteer," he said, voice surprisingly steady considering the tears streaming down his face. He shook my hand without hesitation. "Is… is her body…?"

"I collected her," I assured him. "Once we return to the Kingdom, you'll be able to retrieve her for… however she preferred to be laid to rest."

He thanked me, voice thick, and made his careful way outside to find his son. I slumped against the wall of the empty fuselage for a moment, and Violet thankfully wasn't around to try to reassure me a second time. Once a minute had ticked over, I mentally boxed up all my sorrow and regret to deal with later, squared my shoulders, and made my way to the cargo compartment, where I systematically stowed every piece of luggage in my [Inventory] no matter how damaged they appeared. We'll sort this out back in town.

Getting everyone onto the medivac was only a hassle in terms of time. The return to Mistral was longer than they'd taken to arrive, since the new plane was much more weighed-down, but [Lay On Hands] saved a bunch of supplies, and I mostly just went to whoever the medics told me to heal.

Unpacking the bodies into bags for the coroner, healing anyone who was still injured, answering questions and putting on a grin and a bit of a show for the younger ones… I basically tuned out, mentally, and just went through the motions. A few of the older passengers seemed to recognize it, as did the medics and Violet herself, but nobody called me out.

Finally, we landed at a hospital, and a few inquiries found somewhere I could drop off everyone's bags. The nurse who'd shown me there stared with wide eyes. "I thought you were a healer; how did you store all that?"

Exhausted by this point, I just said, "Ask me no questions and I'll tell you no lies," before turning and leaving. Probably not my best impression, but to hell with it; it's not like I live here.

Violet steered me into a cab outside the hospital. Seeming to grasp that I didn't want to talk, she left me to my own devices, and I started slowly going through the alerts my Semblance had generated, which I'd ignored thanks to the emergency situation. A few skill- and stat-ups had come through, at least before combat started, but there were larger windows I hadn't bothered to look at even before Samiri's appearance.

[Quest Alert!]

[Sabotage!]

[Your plane ride to Mistral was sabotaged by Arthur Watts, in retaliation for getting him arrested and fired. His vengeance was both swift and cunning, setting a delayed shutdown for your flight to activate as soon as it reached Mistral's CCT. Try to keep everyone safe and calm, to prevent more Grimm from being attracted to the crash.]

[Bonus Objective: Make sure everyone who survived the crash continues to survive until rescue arrives.]

[Time limit: Until rescue parties arrive.]

[Reward: 10,000 EXP, increased reputation with Flight 1387 Survivors, greatly decreased reputation with Arthur Watts, decreased reputation with Salem's Inner Circle.]

And then:

[Story Event!]

[Boss Fight: Samiri the Marathonian]

[Victory: 100,000 EXP, 100,000L, new Dust crystal types, [Taking Names] quest continuation and reward, greatly increased reputation with surviving Flight 1387 passengers, increased reputation with Mistral, increased reputation with Atlas.]

[Loss: Probable death, deaths of all Flight 1387 passengers.]

Yeah, yeah…

[Story Event Complete!]

[You have defeated the boss monster Samiri!]

[You have gained 115,000 EXP and 100,000L! You obtained the Mask of Samiri! You found a Grade V Hydro Dust Crystal! You found a Grade V Geo Dust Crystal! You found a Grade V Geo Dust Crystal! You found a Grade V Gravity Dust Crystal! Increased closeness with Violet Arc. Greatly increased reputation with Flight 1387 survivors. Increased reputation with Mistral. Increased reputation with Atlas.]

[Level up! Your level has increased by 1! Your level has increased by 1! Your level has increased by 1! Your level has increased by 1! Your level has increased by 1!]

[By pushing your body past its limits, you have increased your physical abilities! Your DEX has increased by 1! Your DEX has increased by 1! Your DEX has increased by 1! Your STR has increased by 1!]

[By calculating the best plan, and executing it despite adversity, you have increased your mental abilities. Your INT has increased by 1! Your WIS has increased by 1! Your CHA has increased by 1! Your INT has increased by 1! Your CHA has increased by 1!]

[Crusader's Smite has increased by 1! Bull's Strength has increased by 1! Bear's Endurance has increased by 1! Cat's Grace has increased by 1! Reinforcement has increased by 1! Sword Mastery has increased by 1! Shield Mastery has increased by 1! Shield Mastery has increased by 1! Bull's Strength has increased by 1! Bear's Endurance has increased by 1! Cat's Grace has increased by 1! Reinforcement has increased by 1! Elemental Weapon has increased by 1! Sword Mastery has increased by 1! Crusader's Smite has increased by 1! Shield Mastery has increased by 1! Elemental Weapon has increased by 1! Dust Mastery has increased by 1! Crusader's Smite has increased by 1! Sword Mastery has increased by 1! Bull's Strength has increased by 1! Cat's Grace has increased by 1! Reinforcement has increased by 1! Sword Mastery has increased by 1! Crusader's Smite has increased by 1!]

Yep, boss fights still do fucking work for my skills. Hell, I'm level 29 already. Nearly Sophomore territory. Woo.

Hopefully I'd feel more excited about it after I finally got some sleep.

[BGM Unlocked! Fight Song: Violet Arc – "Fury of the Storm" by Dragonforce]

Oh, yeah, that too. I momentarily wondered how many songs — especially ones I really liked — were just missing from my playlists. I hadn't noticed most of the absences, but then, I had a lot less time to pay attention to music on Remnant than I'd had on Earth.

[Quest Updated!]

[Taking Names]

[You have learned that there are some Grimm so ancient and powerful, that they have individual names. Find and slay all the Name-ranked Grimm.]

[Time limit: Until Completed.]

[Reward: EXP, Lien, and items from each kill; glory and notoriety, new title reward from Rewards Table with each kill.]

[Failure Penalty: Probable death; uncounted thousands die as Grimm continue to rampage unchecked.]

[Targets:]
[Krios the Amalthean]
[Samiri the Marathonian]
[???]
[???]
[???]
[???]
[???]
[???]
[???]
[???]
[???]
[???]

[Rewards Table:]
[Yellow Death curse status reduction, [Grimm Slayer] title]
[Aura skill unlocked]
[???]
[???]
[???]
[???]
[???]
[???]
[???]
[???]
[???]
[???]

[You have taken your second step on the path toward glory! You have unlocked the skill [Aura]!]

[Aura (Passive/Active) LV 1 EXP: 0.00%]
[The Manifestation of one's soul, bearing one's burdens and shielding one's heart. Long ago, Mortals, who were born from dust, learned to wield the Light of their being against the soulless Grimm. It is this power which allowed Mortals to reach past their limits and drive back the darkness, for a time.]
[Passively increases STR by 10%.]
[Passively increases DEX by 10%.]
[Passively increases CON by 10%.]
[Passively increases INT by 10%.]
[Passively increases WIS by 10%.]
[Passively increases CHA by 10%.]
[ACTIVE: Allows use of MP as a shield, losing MP in place of HP when taking damage. Taking more than 1% MP in a single hit will shatter the Aura shield. If shattered, cannot be reactivated for 100 seconds.]
[Increases HP regeneration by current MP regeneration when active. Disables MP regeneration while active.]
[Doubles bonus to STR, CON, DEX, and CHA.]

So I can spike my own HP regen this way, but MP won't come back at all… I wonder how that figures into Lay On Hands? I guess I'd heal physical issues better, but not restore Aura? That's fine for civilians; probably make healing them a lot faster, actually.

Anyway, it's about fucking time. Now I could finally stop feeling like a fake, even if I was stronger and more skilled than I'd ever been on Earth. Aura was kind of a big part of being a Huntsman, even if I could fight on their level; more importantly, it would stop people asking awkward questions about my Semblance. Honestly wondered if I was going to have to wait even longer than canon for this.

After a moment's thought, something else occurred to me: …How the fuck do I level this up? It doesn't have an active mana cost. Do I only gain EXP for blocking damage with it? That's… actually going to be kind of hard, especially with the cooldown. One percent of my MP was a bit over 150 damage, and even Creeps and Beowolves regularly dealt more than that in a single blow. I'm gonna have to grind this until school starts. Maybe more than anything else. Hopefully that shatter percentage is one of the things that increases with level. If it doesn't, I may not be able to rely on the MP shield at all, because I can't really switch to an INT build at this point.

Shaking off the analysis paralysis, I moved on to the next set of alerts.

[Quest Complete!]

[Sabotage!]

[You have gained 11,500 EXP. Increased closeness with Flight 1387 passengers.

[Bonus Objective: Failed. Ginger Nash deceased.]

[Bonus Failure Penalty: Greatly decreased closeness with Russet Nash. Russet Nash is now an Enemy.]

[Secret Objective complete: Heal and recruit Heather Calluna.]

[You have gained an extra 5750 EXP. Heather Calluna is now an Ally. Nursing Assistant Job unlocked.]

[Level up! Your level has increased by 1!]

[Your persuasive speech caused your CHA to increase by 1!]

[Eagle's Splendor has increased by 1! Lay On Hands has increased by 1!]

Nash… So that was their name. Her name. I closed my eyes once more and engraved her face on my memory. Ginger Nash. I think you would have approved of my oath. However briefly, it was an honor to know you.

I won't forget you.

Name: Jaune Arc
Level: 29 (Next: 26.96%)
Title: Grimm Slayer
Race: Human
Age: 17
Job: Tyro Huntsman
Class: Paladin
Semblance: The Gamer
HP: 2230/2230
MP: 1708/1708
STR: 63.4 (52)
CON: 63.0 (50)
DEX: 79.5 (53)
INT: 47.2 (41)
WIS: 60.8 (52)
CHA: 49.8 (33)
Points: 78
Money: 143698L
Status: Cursed – Yellow Death [High]

Chapter Text

Zapdos -> ‘Seven Deadly Sisters (And One Baby Brother)’ | Saturday, 16:36

     ‹Zapdos› situation’s handled. jaune is a bit out of it but he did a good job.

     ‹Gardevoir› Thank you for the update, Violet. Please ask Jaune to check in when he’s feeling better.

     ‹Moltres› Was he hurt

     ‹Zapdos› no, he was holding his own against samiri. dunno if he could’ve won alone but he was doing good.

     ‹Zapdos› and as far as I can tell there was only one casualty after the crash. kept calm, took charge, did the healing, prevented a mood spiral. he did a really impressive job for a rookie.

     ‹Zapdos› hell, he did an impressive job for a professional.

     ‹Ampharos› Bravo Zulu, Jaune.

     ‹Gardevoir› Does it seem as though he’ll be ready to test into Beacon in the Spring, then?

     ‹Zapdos› ready, shit, he could probably test in right now. or they might give him a pass since he, you know, killed two named grimm in the past three months.

     ‹Gengar› hope ur redy 2 buy him tht wpn via

I sighed, but gamely pulled my snarky attitude back into place.

     ‹Aegislash› 2 down, 10 to go

     ‹Aegislash› and yeah, I’m working on a design

     ‹Zapdos› you said that earlier. that had better not mean you’re intending on going after the other named grimm by yourself.

     ‹Aegislash› by myself? prolly not, they won’t all have obvious weaknesses like that one

     ‹Aegislash› hell, I’m still not actually sure what all of them are

     ‹Aegislash› but going after them? fuck yes, I’m going after them

Several people are typing…

     ‹Moltres› Dont get cocky

     ‹Aegislash› not right this second, I’m still going to Beacon

     ‹Aegislash› but frankly, they’ve been running around too long

     ‹Aegislash› someone needs to kill them; it might as well be me

     ‹Moltres› Gonna give me a heart attack

     ‹Gengar› …call me when u go after maahes

     ‹Aegislash› noted

     ‹Zapdos› get off your scroll and shower, jaune; grandma wants to see you

I was actually texting from the shower, but I didn’t bother correcting Violet; just closed the chat window and started rinsing the shampoo out of my hair. Fortunately, I’d just packed my preferred hair products in my [Inventory] before flying out of Vale, so I didn’t have to borrow anybody else’s.

Violet had brought me back to what she called ‘Grandma’s house’, which I thought failed to do justice to the three-story mansion set two-thirds of the way up (and halfway into) the mountain on which the city of Mistral was built, a fairly short walk from where Haven lay at the peak. The front of the mansion faced West, as did the windows in the guest room I was brought to, so the setting sun poked me in the eyes when I stepped back out of the bathroom, dried off and with a towel around my waist.

“Get dressed in the best clothes you have,” Violet ordered without looking up from her Scroll. “And hurry up, I don’t wanna see you naked.”

“Then get the fuck out of my room, Vi,” I shot back, rolling my eyes. Equipping my Nice outfit was trivial, leaving me holding the damp towel and finger-combing my hair back. “There, I’ve got this outfit I forced Sienna to buy me. Best I can do.”

Violet glanced me over. “That’s fine.” She straightened up, and I saw she was also wearing different clothes — or at least, a different jacket; one that covered her tattoos and closed over her torso — and her arm seemed to be back to normal. “Let’s not keep Grandma waiting.”

Sighing, I tossed the towel to hang over the top of the bathroom door and followed Violet as she tucked her Scroll away. “So does Grandma have a name that I get to know ahead of time?” I asked, not being delicate in reminding her that I had ‘amnesia’.

Violet seemed briefly taken aback as she looked at me, but nodded shortly. “Her name’s Jeanne, but she always told us to call her Grandma. We’re not actually dressing up for her sake, she gives no fucks, but since you’re being introduced to the Familias, it’s best to make a good impression.”

“Sorry, what Familias?”

“I thought Olivia said you were reading up on history?” Violet complained, heading down the main staircase.

“I am,” I replied, annoyed. “I’m up to about the Faunus Rights Revolution in a Valic encyclopedia. Funnily enough, the author didn’t think to include a primer on the politics of a different Kingdom twenty years in the future.”

Violet sighed, leading me to what looked like a ballroom, where I could hear the murmur of voices. “Mistral is controlled by the four richest families in the city,” she summarized. “It’s Grandma’s turn to host dinner, so get ready to memorize some important names.”

Without another word, she gave a soft tap on the door, and it was opened by a man dressed like a waiter. Recognizing her, he nodded, and announced grandly, “Lady Roma’s grandchildren, the slayers of Samiri, have arrived!”

Guess we’re not keeping this one quiet, I sighed, before hitching a confident smile onto my face and popping [Eagle’s Splendor] as the herald swung the door wide. With all the buffs and gains after Samiri, my buffed CHA was around 69 — Nice. — which was way higher than before, and turned my casual walk into not quite a swagger.

There was some scattered applause and interested murmurs as we stepped forward, but fortunately there weren’t as many people present as I had expected. Nearest to us was a pair of empty seats on either side of a small, grey-haired woman who stood to greet us. She was a little stooped, but aside from that and some crow’s feet she barely showed her age, and could have easily passed for her late 40s if I hadn’t known that my oldest sister, Bianca, was 32.

‹???›
LV ???
Jeanne Roma

“There you two are,” she said, glancing at my sister before looking me up and down more carefully. “Come and sit, Jaune, Violet.” She indicated the place to her right when she said my name. “It’s not much of a celebration when we were already meeting, but I had the help start on a few sweets for after dinner. Let me introduce you.”

Starting from her left, she went around the table introducing first her fellow oligarchs, and then their guests; I smiled and inclined my head politely to each, double-checking their names and — for those I could see — their titles. “This is Harbard Argos, the old voyeur, and his son Phol, set to inherit the Kingdom’s largest fisheries.”

‹The Watcher On the Walls›
LV 21
Harbard Argos

‹Tears For the Fallen›
LV 19
Phol Argos

“Ah, must you speak so harshly, Jeanne?” Harbard stroked his grey beard as he fixed me with the eye not covered by a patch. “Good to meet you, lad; had you come by sea, you’d have arrived through my family’s port in Argus.”

“But then he wouldn’t have been there to kill Samiri,” Phol added. He looked about twenty-five, his round face showing surprising eagerness as he leaned forward. “It’s really amazing! Anyway, please call me Shadow.”

Welp, I’ve got a fanboy. That’s… uncomfortable. Regardless, I kept a friendly smile on. No need to be rude. Although I don’t know if I can bring myself to call him ‘Shadow’.

Jeanne next inclined her head to the man sitting opposite her. “Ogodei Khagan; if your mother still cooks Mistrali food, his family probably sold her the spices.”

‹Contraction of the Road›
LV 17
Ogodei Khagan

“A pleasure.” Ogodei’s dark, slanted eyes glittered as he spoke, his voice low and oily. He was alone, though there was an empty chair beside him.

“Likewise,” I replied. “I enjoy cooking myself; maybe we can swap recipes.”

“And finally, Anicetus Alexandria, the Commander of the Home Guard,” Jeanne continued.

‹???›
LV ???
Anicetus Alexandria

Anicetus was a giant of a man; taller than me standing even while sitting, and more than twice as broad in the shoulder as I was. He was also the only one visibly armed, with a pair of knuckledusters attached to his belt. Lifting his proportionally-enormous mug, he toasted me before taking a long draft.

“Well met!” the man all but bellowed. His fellows’ twitching smiles suggested this was his usual volume.

“Charmed,” I responded. “Jaune Arc of Vale.”

“Aye, your grandmother and I go way back. I’ve been hearing about you since you were born,” Anicetus grunted, setting his mug to the side so a servant could refill it. “Heard all about it when you got yourself hurt. Nearly shit when I heard you did in Krios a few months back.”

My own eye twitched when he said that, not least because Phol's gaze grew even more worshipful. So much for keeping it secret!

Anicetus didn’t seem to notice as he took over introducing his own companions. “My niece Thetis, and my goddaughter, Pyrrha.” Sure enough, seated on either side of Anicetus was a pretty teen my age, and a gorgeous woman who had to be her mother.

‹The Terror of the Sea of Monsters›
LV 71
Thetis Nikos

‹Afar With The Dawning›
LV 31
Pyrrha Nikos

“Well met,” Thetis echoed her uncle from his far side. She was a bit shorter than her daughter, with bobbed hair and thick-framed spectacles, but the evening dress she wore revealed a spectacular figure, even if it was rather conservative. She wasn’t quite as cut as Bia, but if I wanted to be crude, she was definitely a MILF. “You should be about the same age as my daughter?” She smiled, indicating the girl beside me.

“I’m sure you’ve heard of the Invincible Girl!” piped up ‘Shadow’ from across the table. He didn’t seem to notice Pyrrha’s expression become rather wooden.

“Yes, it’s a pleasure to make your acquaintance,” Pyrrha said, offering a hand from the seat next to me.

I took it, and rather than shake, brought her knuckles to my lips. She erupted in a blush. “The pleasure’s mine. I actually just met your cousin in Atlas.”

I wonder why ‘Invincible Girl’ isn’t her actual title, when it’s something people literally call her. Or is it not that because she hates it? And damn, she’s already as strong as a sophomore, too?

“And how is dear Bia?” Thetis asked, lips twitching at the frozen expression on her daughter’s face.

“Doing well, I think. She’s partnered with my sister Sienna, so I crashed at their place while visiting. She’s squatting over eight hundred kilo as of last week, even if she still freezes at the bottom of each rep.”

“That’s because of her Semblance,” Pyrrha muttered, obviously trying to reenter the conversation.

“Oh? She didn’t mention that,” I hummed, facing forward as Grandma clapped and a plate was placed in front of me.

…Interesting. Mistral in the show had seemed like an odd blend of Greek and Japanese influences, and the meal in front of me reflected that: skewers of grilled chicken with a savory sauce laid over a sort of pilaf, served with flatbread and a yogurt sauce, fingerling potatoes that seemed to have been battered before frying and drizzled in a lemon sauce, and grape leaves that smelled like they were stuffed with pork, scallions, and mushrooms. My continued raising of [Cooking] gave me an idea what I was seeing, at least in relation to the cuisine I was more familiar with from Earth. Souvlaki with a yakitori glaze. Rice as the main carb despite still having pita and tzatziki. Tempura potatoes. Dolmades with shumai filling. Weird, but it all kinda works.

It was all excellent, and I made note of how certain flavor combinations stood out, especially on the chicken; this must have been what Jeanne meant about the spices in Mistrali food. It wasn’t solely about capsaicin, there were lots of savory and subtle interactions, and as odd as it was to taste oregano and shiso in the same dish, it came together surprisingly well.

I was about to turn back to Pyrrha when the door opened again, and a man bustled in. “Terribly sorry I’m late, Lady Roma, the issue with Spider just keeps getting worse.” He looked middle-aged — so was probably quite a bit older — with a mane of brown hair and a thick beard that were both beginning to grey. He had a tanned complexion, and worried brown eyes that swept over the table before alighting on me. “Ah, and this must be our guest of honor.”

“Yes, indeed,” Grandma replied. “Jaune, meet the headmaster of Haven Academy.”

‹???›
LV ???
Leonardo Lionheart

“Jaune Arc,” I stood and extended a hand, which he shook with both of his own.

“You’ve done Mistral, and Remnant, a great service, young man,” he said earnestly. His voice was deep, grave, and carried considerable charisma. Out of curiosity, I tried to [Observe] him, but as I’d half-expected, nothing was visible.

No freebies, huh? I guess just because he’s a coward doesn’t mean he’s weak or incautious. Aloud, I said, “I just did what I thought was right. My best wasn’t good enough, but that’s just something to work on going forward.”

“Well said.” He released my hand and made his way over to the open seat beside Ogodei. “Please, don’t hold up your meals on my account.”

I should figure out a way to warn Ozpin about the traitor, I thought, trying to keep the worry off my face. But… do I even know if he’s turned, yet? Even if he is, I don’t have any proof. Damn it, I don’t even know what made him give up hope and start sending Hunters to their deaths. I’ll have to look into those recent losses and see if there’s an angle…

Perhaps unsurprisingly, spending the whole of dinner stressing about Lionheart’s potential betrayal, and how I could possibly offset some of Salem’s momentum, didn’t lead to the most relaxing evening, but I did my best to keep it off my face, popping [Eagle’s Splendor] whenever someone besides Pyrrha addressed me directly. I expected to be cornered by Grandma after dessert, but she just shooed me off to bed.

I didn’t worry about dreaming — hadn’t since arriving on Remnant, what with my Semblance just asking how long I wanted to sleep — so I decided to give myself nine hours instead of my usual six. No one came to wake me up, so I considered it earned.

One I awoke, I went looking for the kitchen to make breakfast, and found myself politely but firmly escorted out of the kitchen and over to a smaller dining room where Vi was nursing a cup of coffee and back in a sleeveless crop-top.

“Were you trying to cook?” she asked incredulously.

“I have forty-five points in [Cooking],” I grumbled, after checking with [Detect Aura] that nobody was close enough to hear. “Indigo and Olivia don’t complain when I cook breakfast. Fucking noble house bullshit, ‘oh no, young master, we couldn’t possibly~’. I’m not some helpless bougie fuckin’ rich kid. Ugh.” With a final noise of disgust, I dropped into a seat.

“Coffee?” Violet was plainly trying not to laugh at me.

“Cream, then coffee, no sugar,” I requested, rubbing my eyes. “What’s the plan today?”

Violet shrugged. “Go sightseeing? What were you planning to do here?”

“I didn’t even know I was coming here until Azure told me literally minutes before getting on the plane that Grandma wanted to meet me,” I complained, then paused. “I guess she must have booked it earlier, though, or there’s no way Watts could have known where I was going when I didn’t.”

“Who?”

“Arthur Watts. The guy we arrested who sabotaged the plane.”

Violet set her coffee down, staring at me. “Your text yesterday said sabotage, but I thought you were guessing.”

“Hardly,” I scoffed. “I got a quest at the beginning of the week to stop this researcher from using a computer worm he’d written against the Atlas military. Azure and I called in backup from Sienna’s partner and her girlfriend — also a Specialist — to arrest him. But his emblem appeared on the plane’s screens right before it crashed. Which was immediately after reentering CCT range.”

Violet frowned. “I guess he must have escaped custody, somehow. I’d have thought someone would tell you, but then, this is Atlas we’re talking about. They’re never honest about anything that doesn’t make them look good. Did you ask Sienna?”

“Not yet,” I shook my head. “Shit, I should’ve said something yesterday, he could’ve set something up for them, too.” Shooting a text to the group only took a second, but it didn’t look like anybody else was up yet — everyone else was three, six, or nine hours behind us in Atlas, Vale, and Vacuo respectively. “I hope it’s not too late for the warning.”

“I’m sure Azure and Sienna can handle themselves,” Violet replied. “But if this guy keeps causing trouble, maybe I’ll take some vacation time and go deal with him.” Her free hand tightened, causing her knuckles to pop as sparks crackled over her skin. “No one fucks with family.”

“Oh, speaking of family,” I mused aloud, remembering a lingering quest. “That Watts guy mentioned something I tried to look up, but couldn’t find anything on. The Beaufort Tragedy?” I had searched the internet that night, but aside from a few scattered mentions in forums and the like, there was no explanation of what it actually was.

Violet’s hands clenched, and the coffee cup shattered. “You don’t need to know anything about that,” she hissed.

I frowned. “Okaaay, getting that this is a sensitive subject, but you do remember I have amnesia, right? Can’t you give me an outline?”

“Not just no, but fuck no.” She brought her empty hand down on the table, and it shuddered like it too was near breaking. “Don’t fucking talk about that. Am I fucking clear, Runt?”

Now I was getting angry, too, though with [Gamer’s Mind] I managed to stay articulate. “And here I thought yesterday proved I don’t need to be babied. But sure, go right back to sheltering widdle baby Jaune, his delicate sensibilities obviously can’t handle a bad ending.”

“You don’t know what you’re talking about,” Violet snapped.

“I know!” I snapped right back. “That’s why I fucking asked!”

“That’s quite enough sibling rivalry,” Grandma announced as she swept into the room. “Violet, go and oversee the retrieval of the crashed plane; the rest of the council wants to see the black box to verify Jaune’s claim of sabotage.”

I didn’t say that with her around. Did she hear that from my text yesterday or is this room bugged?

“Jaune, I’ve arranged a show-match with young Pyrrha for you this afternoon,” she went on.

“Thanks for asking,” I replied, making no effort to hide the sarcasm as Vi stalked out. I’ve definitely been too easy-going for too long if people are just making plans without even fucking telling me.

Jeanne’s eyes narrowed, but she continued smoothly, “You should use this morning to prepare yourself.”

With a swipe of my hand, I retrieved my shield from my [Inventory], letting it clatter on the table. It was still open, and still severely dented from Samiri’s horns. “I’ll need this repaired.”

“Easily done,” Grandma said, picking it up and looking it over. “There shouldn’t be any difficulty, though it’s unlikely to be ready today. You’ll have to fight without it.”

“Fine.” I drained my coffee and pushed myself back from the table. “I’ll get breakfast in town. Text me where to go for the fight.”

A few hours of walking around playing tourist found me calmer, if still exasperated. Obviously I’m going to have to look into this Beaufort bullshit myself. Hopefully I can find someone who’s heard of it who can just answer some fucking questions. Just wish that name meant anything to me other than the names of a few cities on Earth.

I was heading for the arena that Grandma had booked for my duel with Pyrrha — I presumed it was going to be a Duel, since I didn’t have a quest at the moment — and was in the right area, but having trouble finding the exact building. I was looking up and around when someone brushed past me, murmuring an apology.

“No, it’s my fault,” I said, turning toward the tanned, green-haired girl I’d bumped into. “Sorry, but do you know where to find this place?” I held up my Scroll.

She hesitated, obviously in a hurry, but glanced at it anyway. “Oh, yeah, it’s right up there. Take the next left and you can’t miss it.”

“Thanks,” I said, glancing the way she’d pointed. “By the way, I was only carrying five hundred, and you’re welcome to take it and get yourself a good meal, but could I please have my wallet back?”

‹The Thief›
LV 49
Emerald Sustrai

Her eyes widened, and she bolted without another word, dodging around people and ducking down an alley without glancing back. If she had, she would have noticed I wasn’t chasing her.

“Guess not,” I sighed. Oh well, I wasn’t that attached to it. ID in Remnant was all digital, so the wallet wasn’t much more than a billfold. I’ll buy a new one after the fight, I guess. Turning to follow the directions she’d given, I dismissed the notification that had tipped me off.

[Your wallet has been stolen. Lost 500L.]

Her [Sleight of Hand] must be way higher than mine, I mused, turning the corner and spotting the correct building. Righto, let’s get this over with.

Checking in was easy enough, and I soon found myself ushered into a locker room. Shrugging and equipping my Combat set, I found the Family Sword directly in my hand since I didn’t have a sheath at the moment. I decided to hold it by the ricasso in my left hand, blade down, so I didn’t come out looking incredibly aggro. Since changing only took that long, I continued across the locker room without breaking stride and exited through the opposite door, into the arena proper.

There were about half a dozen rows of seats, and they were all packed. The sounds of the crowd echoed around the room, but wasn’t quite as cacophonous as I would have expected. Remnant once again proves to have good soundproofing.

The noise redoubled when I walked out, and I waved idly. I met Pyrrha’s eye, as she was already present, dressed in her Volume 1 outfit with her weapons on her back. “Yo.”

“Hello again,” she gave a tight smile.

“Good day?” I asked. “Sorry about this, by the way,” I waved my sword’s hilt. “Samiri damaged my shield, and it won’t fold back into a sheath until I can get it repaired.”

“Oh, that’s fine; I’ll just use my weapon as well,” she said immediately. “I hope we have a good match.”

The announcer started hyping the crowd up even more, talking about the plane crash and my killing Samiri yesterday, to my annoyance. Then he switched to talking about Pyrrha’s tournament record, causing her eye to twitch.

“Hey,” I said. “Let’s just focus on the fight and try to have some fun. Okay?”

She drew a breath and nodded, her smile becoming a little less fake.

The announcer was still wittering on, so I took the moment to [Observe] my opponent properly.

[Name: Pyrrha Nikos]
[LV 31]
[Title: Afar With The Dawning]
[Race: Human]
[Age: 17]
[Job: Tournament Champion]
[Class: Gladiator]
[Semblance: Polarity]
[Stats: 41 STR, 26 CON, 39 DEX, 14 INT, 11 WIS, 24 CHA]
[Background: Born and raised in the town of Argus, Mistral, despite being descended from the Alexandria Familia. She recently graduated Sanctum Academy as Valedictorian. Three-time winner of the Mistral Regional Tournament, in which she is undefeated, and favored for a record-breaking fourth win.]
[Emotions: Excited, frustrated, lonely.]

I could more or less guess what her emotions were about, and her background didn’t tell me anything I didn’t already know, but what took me aback were her stats. She’s… not stronger than me? That doesn’t seem right…

[Duel Alert!]

[Combatants: Jaune Arc vs Pyrrha Nikos]

[Victory Conditions: Reduce Pyrrha Nikos’ HP to 25% or force a surrender]

[Loss Conditions: Surrender, be reduced to 25% MP]

[Victory: 10,000 EXP, increased closeness with Pyrrha Nikos, decreased reputation with Mistral]

[Loss: 5000 EXP, increased closeness with Pyrrha Nikos, ???]

Oh, is it finally starting? I mentally hit accept. Increased closeness with Pyrrha either way, huh? Is that because my Semblance assumes I’ll give her a good fight, or be a good sport, or whatever it is she’ll like?

“May the best fighter win,” Pyrrha said, dropping into a two-handed stance with her weapon extended into a spear.

I snorted, shifting the Family Sword to my right hand. “Don’t worry, you will. But I promise to make you work for it.”

She frowned at my apparent pessimism, but right at that moment the announcer called, “Begin!”, and I popped [Cat’s Grace], [Bull’s Strength], and [Reinforcement], and lunged forward to seize the initiative with an overhead slash. My STR was near 100, and my DEX exceeded it, so I definitely caught her by surprise.

Pyrrha’s spear came up smoothly to block regardless, but her eyes widened when I pulled the blow at the last minute and planted a thrust kick in her stomach instead for first ‘blood’. Her Aura held, and she only took a single step back as a result, but by then I was already attacking again. This time she slid away from me, matching my momentum, and returned a thrust, twisting her torso to extend the blow with one arm.

Used to sparring with Indigo, I triggered [Parry] and slapped her spear aside with the back of my offhand, just as I would have with my shield. Since I didn’t have the shield, though, for the first time I activated [Aura].

A white-gold glow shimmered around me at the point of contact, and my MP dropped slightly, and stopped refilling. Some quick mental math said these four buffs would hold out for about fifteen minutes with my MP not regenerating thanks to [Aura]’s active effect, though that would go down if I used MP for anything else… such as [Parry]. Fourteen minutes, then.

Pyrrha stumbled slightly, and I brought a knee up into her gut, which she again shielded perfectly with her Aura. I started to swing at her flank, but her own free hand reached for the Family Sword, and I decided to pull the attack, spinning away.

That slight break in my momentum was enough for Pyrrha to catch her breath, and she struck again, using shorter thrusts of the spear and keeping both hands on it so I couldn’t rob her of balance so easily. Keeping choked up on the weapon, she started making slashing movements with the end of her spear to meet my swings of the sword, and started nicking my arms and hands about as often as I caught hers, both our Auras flickering often.

‹Afar With The Dawning›
LV 31
Pyrrha Nikos
HP: [----------86%--------  ]

Whether the crowd had fallen silent or I just wasn’t paying attention, I wasn’t sure at the moment, but my focus was all on my opponent, whose look of concentration was slowly morphing into a fierce grin as we went through a few more exchanges over the next minute. She wasn’t as fast or as strong as me, but she made up the difference in skill.

Both times I’d solidly hit her were from feinting and taking advantage of my better stats. Frankly, those hits were mostly attributable to my familiarity with sparring against a thrusting weapon, and the fact that Pyrrha wasn’t as good with one as Indigo. Not to mention I had to keep pulling back to make sure she didn’t touch my sword or breastplate and tag them with her Semblance.

At least none of her attacks have connected solidly enough to deal more than 1% of my MP. Not only is my HP still topped up, but I think she might notice if she started drawing blood.

Apparently deciding it was time for a change, Pyrrha stepped back from our most recent clash and triggered the shift on her weapon, turning the spear into a sword. The xiphos was maybe half a foot shorter than my knightly arming sword, but the shorter length compared to the spear meant her maneuverability improved sharply. She continued guiding the slashes with her free hand, occasionally causing me to jerk back from a certain hit so she wouldn’t brush my blade with her fingers.

After about a minute of back-and-forth, wherein I took probably twice as many glancing hits as she did, Pyrrha forced me back with a swipe at my knee and stepped back herself.

“You figured out my Semblance,” she sounded torn between impressed and accusatory.

“Was I not supposed to?” I was panting slightly. Keeping [Aura] active seemed to drain my unseen Stamina bar, and did so faster when I was actively blocking damage with it.

“No one has yet, as far as I know,” she replied. “Did someone tell you?”

“No, but there wasn’t another reason for you to keep trying to touch my sword.” I gave the Family Sword a twirl, but at that moment my buffs renewed, draining my MP again, and I decided not to waste any more time. Especially since I forgot to reequip my Initiate title. Damn! Grimm Slayer doesn’t get me anything in this fight; I could be extending my buffs right now!

Correcting that oversight with a moment’s concentration, I went on the attack once more, trying to focus on how Pyrrha held and moved her sword and apply what I’d learned from sparring with my sisters, but I wasn’t gaining any ground. I did manage to spot some openings, usually when Pyrrha went for a flashy maneuver — she did a lot of jumping, both around and over me, and tended to flourish her weapon before striking — but she was so smooth about it that she slipped away from most of my counterattacks.

I finally caught her during yet another leap, sliding the Family Sword past her swipe and catching her leg solidly enough that she tumbled and had to roll away. I dashed forward before she could kip up, but stopped short at the loud, shrill sound of a blown whistle. Blinking, I looked around, paying attention to the screaming crowd and the fight announcer once more.

She’s only at half HP though…

“And that’s match!” the latter was saying. “After a hard-fought bout, the winner is our hometown’s Pyrrha Nikos!”

What the fuck? Looking up, I spotted our respective Aura bars on the jumbotron, hers half-depleted and showing in yellow, while mine was three-quarters empty and red. I double-checked my HUD. My HP is fucking full, why the hell did I lose?

[Duel Alert!: Jaune Arc vs. Pyrrha Nikos]

[Result: Defeat by MP depletion]

[You have gained 5750 EXP! Increased closeness with Pyrrha Nikos.]

[Level up! Your level has increased by 1!]

[Reinforcement has increased by 1! Bull’s Strength has increased by 1! Cat’s Grace has increased by 1! Aura has increased by 1! Aura has increased by 1! Aura has increased by 1! Parry has increased by 1! Sword Mastery has increased by 1! Aura has increased by 1! Nimble has increased by 1! Nimble has increased by 1! Melee Combat Mastery has increased by 1! Aura has increased by 1! Enlightened has increased by 1!]

MP depletion? I looked back at the original Duel Alert, and spotted what I’d overlooked. They’re measuring my MP as Aura, when the Aura used for self-defense is HP for everyone else. Since I spent all my MP on buffs, they just detected my Aura going down and assumed I was in danger of getting actually hurt. I fucking drained myself to a loss with my HP still full.

“You’re easily the fastest opponent my age I’ve ever fought,” Pyrrha commented, extending a hand for me to shake. “But your Aura seems to drain pretty quickly. Maybe we can do this again?” She sounded hopeful.

“Sure, I’d be willing,” I agreed, shaking off my frustration. “I guess I’ll have to use less Aura buffing myself.”

The announcer was still going on, but most of the crowd was dispersing, so Pyrrha and I moved to lean against the wall. “Buffing yourself?” she echoed, sounding confused.

“I was burning my Aura to increase my physical abilities,” I explained. “More than it does already, I mean.”

“By how much?”

I glanced at my skill page to confirm the numbers. “Fiftyish percent, I guess?” At least, just from [Reinforcement] and the animal buffs.

“Oh, is that your Semblance?” she wondered. “I’ve heard of Personal Enhancement like that before.”

…I guess fair’s fair, since I figured out hers. “No, my Semblance is healing,” I told my usual misdirection.

[Acting has increased by 1!]

Even though a quest demanded to keep it a secret. Fuck off. “This is just something I learned how to do. I didn’t even think about the fact that I’d get retired for using up my Aura; this is my first tournament-style match.”

Pyrrha looked intrigued at my Skills, but didn’t pry. “You don’t monitor your Aura when training?”

“Most of my training is either Hunting, where I usually don’t use the buffs, or sparring with my sisters, who don’t care if my Aura breaks and will keep thrashing me until I cry uncle,” I shrugged.

“What about when you fought– Never mind.” I guessed she remembered how annoyed I looked when people brought up the Named Grimm I’d killed.

“I did use them against Krios and Samiri,” I said. “But like I said, I haven’t done a tournament-style bout before. It’s a different set of constraints that I need to be aware of.” I squinted at the hesitant expression on her face. “I’m not upset you brought it up.”

“I-” she stammered. “I know it can be… awkward, when it feels like you’re being placed on a pedestal.”

“Speaking from experience?” I knew she was, from the show, but I was curious how she would react to being called on it.

Pyrrha flushed, and she refused to meet my eye, but she did answer in a mutter, “Just a bit…”

Shifting the Family Sword back to my left hand, I held out a fist. “We’ll have to keep each other’s egos in check then, hm?”

She blinked, but figured out what I wanted and completed the fistbump, a smile spreading over her face. “I’ll do my best to keep you grounded.”

[Increased closeness with Pyrrha Nikos! Increased reputation with Mistral for being a good sport!]

Two days of intermittently wandering the city and sparring with Violet — also known as getting my ass kicked — later, Grandma returned my shield fully repaired and even freshly painted. I asked about the price, but she just scoffed and changed the subject, so I shrugged and put it out of my mind.

At that point, there really wasn’t much reason to stay in Mistral, and once I mentioned I was planning to attend Beacon rather than Haven, Grandma recommended I return to Vale the following morning on her way out the door.

“Why, exactly? That eager to get rid of me?”

“It’s been nice to see you and I hope you visit again,” Violet spoke up, returning her mace, Eos, to her hip. “But hanging around this Kingdom isn’t the best idea. It’s… rough here for outsiders.”

“I can take care of myself, you know,” I frowned. “You said yourself I’m physically stronger than most students, and my skills are catching up to where I should be.”

“Yes, but even the Roma Familia name can’t protect you from the Mob, Jaune. If Lil’ Miss Malachite decides she wants a piece of the Kingdom’s new hero…”

Malachite? Like those twins in Vale who work for Junior? I hadn’t gone near his club, but I was pretty sure the timeframe for the Yellow Trailer was coming up soon.

I raised an eyebrow. “Setting aside that you just know who the local mob boss is, am I supposed to believe you wouldn’t raise hell getting me back?”

Violet scoffed. “Of course I would. But that’s still borrowing trouble. If you don’t plan to live here, you really should head back.”

Actually, isn’t Cinder in Mistral right now? I already ran into Emerald, and rumors about me killing Samiri have thoroughly spread by now. Getting out of the city before Salem tells her to investigate me miiight be the right call.

“All right, you don’t have to try this hard to kick me out, Vi.”

“Are you sure? I can help you grind that electricity resistance some more,” Violet ‘offered’, lightning crackling around her fingers.

“Later, children,” Grandma spoke up, returning from wherever she’d stepped out to. “Jaune, if you’re certain you’re ready to enter an Academy, then I will help you to confirm it.”

I glanced over, and found she’d removed her jacket and retrieved a halberd as tall as I was. Seeing as Jeanne herself was around 5’4”, it might have looked comical, but the ease with which she handled it, and the fact that I still only saw question marks over her head, hinted that this wasn’t going to be fun. The haste with which Violet backed off only added to the ominous feeling.

“I may be able to whittle down a Grimm, but I’m nowhere near taking you,” I admitted freely. “I don’t know what my Semblance would consider your level to be, because it’s so high I can’t see it.”

“It matters little,” Grandma replied, strolling into the center of the training ground with her weapon set casually over her shoulder. “I do not expect you to win; I expect you to show me that your feats against the so-called Named Grimm were no flukes. Violet has spoken of your strength, but I am aware that your mother and her husband did not have you trained, so I will determine where your skills need work.”

“I can check my [Skills] screen to see what needs to be raised–” I tried to deflect, but Jeanne twirled her weapon as if it weighed nothing, and settled it in an aggressive stance, point low.

“Defend yourself,” she warned, before rocketing at me, forcing me to equip my Combat armor set with a thought and deploy the Family Sword and newly-repaired shield.

[BGM Unlocked! Roma Familia Training theme – “Eye Of The Tiger” by Survivor]

Dammit.

Name: Jaune Arc
Level: 30 (Next: 6.43%)
Title: Initiate
Race: Human
Age: 17
Job: Tyro Huntsman
Class: Paladin
Semblance: The Gamer
HP: 2345/2345
MP: 1795/1795
STR: 69.9 (52)
CON: 69.3 (50)
DEX: 87.2 (53)
INT: 52.3 (41)
WIS: 67.3 (52)
CHA: 54.3 (33)
Points: 78
Money: 143198L
Status: Cursed – Yellow Death [High]

Chapter Text

Needless to say, Grandma very obviously went easy on me, and very obviously kicked my ass regardless. While I was grateful for the spike in skill experience, if my [Gamer's Body] didn't heal absurdly fast, I would have been in traction the next morning instead of on a plane back to Vale. I'd booked it myself this time, and since I was flush with cash at the moment, I sprang for first-class. Between the adjustable seat, extra elbow room, and better snacks, I resolved to always book my own flights from now on.

It only occurred to me that I hadn't told anyone in Vale that I was coming home today when my flight landed and there was nobody to pick me up. Undeterred, I waited until nobody was looking, threw my luggage into my [Inventory], and then pulled out my bike. It actually felt a good deal lighter than the last time I'd picked it up, what with the twentyish points I'd gained in STR in the meantime.

[Importing Outsider save data… Save data loaded successfully!]

[You have remembered the skill [Driving]!]

[Driving (Passive) LV 21 EXP 13.86%]
[This skill governs your ability to handle and pilot wheeled vehicles.]
[Improves control of driven vehicles by 52%.]
[Tightens turn radius of driven vehicles by 21%.]

…I didn't have that already? What the fuck? Shaking that thought off, I belatedly remembered to switch to my Riding outfit to equip a helmet, and made my way back out of Vale toward the Arc home.

Arriving, I stored the bike away again and swapped my helmet for sunglasses before strolling up to the door. Curiously, the passive range of [Detect Aura] revealed four souls inside rather than just two. Shrugging, I turned the key, opened the door, and called out, "Hello, the house!"

"Jaune!?"

There was a stampede of feet, and from the living room charged not just Olivia and Indigo, but also Blake and her friend Jazz. It was the latter who reached me first, checking me for injuries. "Are you all right!?"

I blinked. "…Yyyes? Why wouldn't I be?"

Indigo, leaning against the doorframe of the room they'd emerged from, folded her arms. "He says, as if he didn't get in a fight with another Named Grimm," she drawled sardonically.

"That was last week," I shrugged, playing it cool. Honestly, it's not like I forgot, but… my attention really hasn't been on the fight so much as the plane crash and Ginger's death. Plus everything in Mistral distracted me. "Not my first rodeo, y'know?"

"Two is still a very small number of rodeos," Blake observed, hovering a few steps away. Nevertheless, she looked reassured by my attitude.

"Honestly, compared to Krios, Samiri was a cakewalk," I said. "Motherfucker barely hit me. But– and not that it isn't great to see you, but what are you two doing here?"

"In light of your recent battle hitting the news, I reached out to your friends to let them know you were okay. I told them they didn't have to wait for you to invite them over, and since we knew your flight was today — even though you didn't say when — I figured they could come with us to pick you up when you landed and called." said Olivia. "I didn't expect you to take the train."

"I rode my bike home, actually." I explained. "Didn't occur to me to call for a ride since I didn't have to worry about luggage."

"Well, regardless, you guys can hang here," said Indigo. "You need to do more than just eat and train, after all."

"I don't just–" I started to argue.

"Yeah, you do," Indigo interrupted. "When was the last time you did anything for fun, that didn't involve Hunting or training or studying for Beacon?"

That honestly took me aback, and from their faces I thought my sisters could tell. Olivia appeared Concerned™, while Indigo rolled her eyes very pointedly. I guess… I really don't have any friends on Remnant, do I? It just… didn't really click that the only people I interact with are my sisters and occasionally Blake.

"You act like I've been crying myself to sleep over being lonely," I folded my arms, unwilling to concede the point without an argument. "I've been busy!"

"You've been been tunnel-visioned," she corrected.

"Because I started out so far behind!"

"And now that you've killed two of the fucking Named before attending a single class, I think you can say you're caught up," Indigo pointed out flatly. "Quit arguing with me and talk to your friends."

On reflection… it'll be nice to hang out with no goals or expectations for once.

"Are you sure you're okay?" Blake asked, eyes boring into mine. "We can go if you'd prefer to rest; it was obviously a stressful situation, being faced with one of the Named again."

"No, it's fine," I denied, not wanting to kick them out. "Like I said, the fight was much easier. I was more stressed about keeping everyone else alive."

"That's a good attitude for a Huntsman," Olivia allowed, nudging Jazz aside to look me over herself.

I allowed it, slightly petulantly. "Honestly, I got a bigger thrashing from Vi and Grandma than from that stupid bull."

"You fought Grandma?" Indigo asked incredulously.

"…'Fight' is a strong word," I admitted. "What I learned from her and Pyrrha Nikos is I definitely need a better approach for fighting polearms. Or, things with a bigger reach in general. Hint hint," I added to Olivia, who cuffed my shoulder in amusement.

"Have you even considered how your hands are already going to be full with a sword and shield? How exactly are you planning to wield another weapon?"

"Shoulder-mounted cluster missile launcher," I deadpanned immediately, to snorts from the three Huntresses. Jazz simply looked relieved that they were treating it as a joke.

"What was that about Pyrrha Nikos?" the raccoon-tailed woman asked.

"Grandma set up an exhibition match. Without asking," I felt the need to add. "I assume she felt justified in making sure my skill level is where I said it is before I go apply to Beacon, but between that, and Azure changing my flight last-minute, I'm getting real sick of people assuming they know what's best for me."

Olivia and Indigo exchanged a look that I couldn't interpret, while Blake hummed in understanding. Olivia took a breath, then changed the subject. "We weren't expecting you back this early, so why don't a few of us run out and pick up some food. Blake, Jazz?"

"Sushi?" I suggested.

"Sure," Blake agreed immediately, causing Olivia and Jazz to both roll their eyes.

"You're enabling her fish addiction," Jazz accused me. Blake let out an offended gasp.

"You need money?" I asked. "With five of us it's gonna be a big order."

"I've got it," Olivia waved me off. "Or rather, mom and dad are paying."

"Say no more; double my order." I might be a teensy bit bitter about being cursed.

Since my luggage was in my [Inventory] and could be unpacked later, I followed Indigo back into the living room when she jerked her head. The other three clattered their way out the front door as Indigo promptly sprawled out across one of the sofas. She didn't turn on the TV, so I reached for the next history book I needed to finish.

"Jaune…" Indigo began before I could select it. Her tone was cautious, but when I looked at her I couldn't read much from her face. "I have a… very strong suggestion for you."

"Why is it I'm hearing 'mandatory'?" I growled.

"Before everything you went through on this trip, I would've made it an order," she admitted. "Part of me still wants to. Jaune, you need to talk to someone about what happened."

"I don't follow."

She sighed, but sat up and leaned forward, urging me to take her seriously. "You didn't just get ambushed by a Grimm this time. You survived a plane crash. I don't know what the injuries you healed looked like, but they can't have been pleasant. You saw civilians dead after the crash and I'm guessing you had to heal some people in pretty bad shape, while showing nothing but confidence. You watched someone die. You can't just brush that off; nobody can."

"Pretty sure my skill actually–"

"Jaune." Indigo didn't raise her voice in the slightest. "You need to talk to a therapist."

I opened my mouth to argue — plenty of counterarguments sprang to mind, not the least of which being [Gamer's Mind] — but the look in Indigo's eye held me back. It wasn't pity. It wasn't even sympathy, although there was a hint of that. Her eyes were directed at me, but her gaze was unfocused, and I guessed she was remembering something entirely different.

"…Did it help you?" I asked finally.

Indigo didn't betray a bit of surprise. "Eventually. It never goes away, but… It kept me functioning, instead of just faking. Downtime is just as important as training. You have to take care of all of yourself."

"Because a sound soul dwells within a sound mind and a sound body," I murmured the Soul Eater catchphrase. Given Aura is literally the soul, I wonder if the forcefield is weaker when your mind is in tumult. It probably wouldn't be for me, since my Semblance de-abstracted a lot of things to quantify them, but that didn't mean therapy couldn't be useful to me. I sighed. "Well, I did decide I wanted to start volunteering at a hospital, so I guess I'd be around there regardless."

Taking that for the assent it was, Indigo gave a nod before laying back down. "Thanks for not making that a fight," she groaned as she stretched out. "Especially right after you said how sick you are of people making decisions for you."

"Yeah, well," I flopped down in an armchair with the history book I'd selected. "I'm probably going to be taking orders from my team captain and teachers for years to come, so I guess I shouldn't get too rebellious."

Dinner was a cheerful affair once the others got back. Indigo kept to herself, but Blake prodded Olivia for what she knew about the Beacon entrance exam. Blake was nodding thoughtfully when she finished. "So, there's only likely to be a few of us?"

"Correct," Olivia nodded, cradling her elbow while gesturing with her other index finger in a classic 'lecture' pose. "The entrance exam is only taken by students who aren't transferring from a combat school, so a Signal student wouldn't have to take it even if he skipped a grade to enter Beacon."

Seeing Blake was content, she turned to me. "There isn't usually a combat portion. That's taken care of by Initiation, so think more along the lines of a set of written and verbal tests. Not all fact-regurgitation, either; some of it is going to be the teacher presenting you with a scenario, and you explaining how you would go about solving it. There isn't necessarily a right and a wrong answer with those. It's about how you lead and act under pressure."

"Makes sense," I mused. "I assume captaincy isn't settled until the teams are selected, but it gives them a heads-up if any of the incoming students have a particular talent for it."

"They'll also ask you to explain your overall fighting style, so you can be coached into improving it, or corrected if it's not up to scratch."

"Because regardless of moving in squads, every Huntress is expected to stand out on her own as a symbol," said Blake, her hand reflexively moving to her shoulder to touch her weapon's hilt.

"Precisely. On which note," Olivia fixed me with a gimlet eye. "Send me the weapon schematics you said you're working on. I know you have them ready; we'll see if any of them are worth a damn."

"You're just going to steal my best ideas," I joked, and Olivia rolled her eyes as the conversation turned to how Blake designed her own weapon.

"Gambol Shroud is a Variant Ballistic Chain Scythe with pistol, chokuto, and kusarigama modes," she summarized, indicating the different parts and demonstrating the mechshift function. "The sheath can also deploy a cleaver blade; I use it in my offhand."

There's also some serrations on the back of the blade that are definitely sharpened, I observed. If she's precise enough, she could use the reverse for blunt or piercing attacks, and considering how complicated the damn thing is, she's definitely capable of being precise enough.

"I don't have anything this intricate," I told Olivia.

Blake flushed a little. "It started out one-handed, just the pistol and sword, but my… last partner used his sheath in conjunction with a sword, and I ended up redesigning so I could dual-wield. Then he found a material that wouldn't tear, and I thought that if I attached it to the hilt, it wouldn't be that different from using it like a grappling hook." She rubbed the ribbon wrapped around her forearm. "It's easy to attach, but hard to remove, so I can't be disarmed easily. The next version had a mechshift trigger to lay the blade flat, and I started practicing spinning the sickle blade around by the cord. I can even pull the trigger at a distance, if I set it up properly in advance, at least until the clip is empty."

"It built up bit by bit, is what you're saying," Olivia nodded. "That's probably a lesson to take, Jaune. Don't overdesign your first prototype."

"I'm keeping it straightforward," I agreed. "Anything involving reforging the Family Sword is going to be a pain in the ass, because the blade is a single piece, so I want to be completely sure of whatever setup I go with."

"There's a reason none of us tried to use that thing," Indigo snarked, glancing over from her discussion of soap operas with Jazz. "Even Dad prefers his hammer."

"That's because you're all cowards who can't see the merit in a blade that never needs maintenance," I jabbed back, and she snorted. "Anyway, I'm not messing with the sword or the shield with my initial design. And despite what you're probably fearing, Olivia, I don't think it should be that expensive. I just need some kind of answer if a Nevermore is flying around out of reach."

"There go my hopes for having someone do my laundry," Olivia sighed. "At least until I move."

"Oh, did you get the job you were talking about?"

"Didn't I tell you?" Olivia wondered. "Yeah, I did; I'll be teaching at Sanctum starting next term. In a few years, if there's an opening, I'll apply to take on a junior professorship at one of the Academies."

"As if it was really a question," Indigo snorted. "The moment you mentioned Mistral it was a sure thing."

"It wasn't!" Olivia argued. "I didn't rely on Grandma for this; I didn't even ask her."

Indigo made a skeptical noise, and as the two bickered, Blake leaned closer to ask quietly, "Who exactly is your grandmother? You keep mentioning her like she's important."

Jazz had sidled over as my sisters got more heated, and I shifted to include her in the conversation. "Her name's Jeanne Roma. I get the impression she's… kind of a big deal."

Both girls' eyes widened. "The Wolf of the West?" Blake hissed, her ribbon bunching up as her ears laid flat. "You're–?" She took a deep breath, and glanced at the family portrait. "I should have realized. Your mother uses a Mistrali sword."

Sure enough, everyone in the picture except me was carrying their weapons: Olivia's dirks were holstered at her sides, Indigo's iklwa spear sat low across her back, Azure's derringers were peeking out from under her coat, Shani's bow hung from a complicated harness, Sienna was wearing her boot and gauntlet, Violet had her morningstar held over one shoulder, the hilt of a greatsword peeked out from behind Bianca's back, Isabella's katana was on her hip, and Jacques' warhammer was on the ground with one of his boots resting on the head as his arms wrapped around his wife and son. I withheld a grimace at the… honestly kind of dopey look on past!Jaune's face.

"We'll have to take a new picture," I murmured. "Yeah, Isabella is from Mistral. Apparently it was a minor scandal that everyone got over after Jacques challenged Anicetus Alexandria to a fight over some snide remark. Having seen Anicetus… I guess I should wait until I meet Jacques, but I'm still impressed."

"You can call them 'Mom' and 'Dad', even if you're pissed at them," Indigo cut in, her needling of Olivia dropping off as she turned back toward me.

"I'll decide that when I've met them," I shrugged. "Right now they're strangers whose names I happen to know. I can't say I feel anything particularly strongly toward them."

Now everyone was looking at me with extremely conflicted expressions.

"What?" I asked. "Put yourself in my shoes, if you woke up one day in an unfamiliar place and some people you'd never met insisted they were your parents, would you be all on board? Or would you want to get to know them better first?"

Nobody seemed to know how to respond to that, only exchanging some awkward glances, so I rolled my eyes and got to my feet. "I'm gonna go to bed. Sleep well and wake, everyone."

After settling Jazz and Blake in the guest bedroom, which they decided to share despite the number of empty rooms in the house, I went up to my own room, dropped my suitcase on the floor, unequipped my clothes, and finally it was time.

[You have obtained a new trophy! Do you wish to mount it in your room?]

Yes.

Like Krios' before it, Samiri's mask appeared on my wall, this time directly over the door, where its wide horns just barely managed to not scrape the walls on either side.

[Mask of Samiri — Rank: Mythic]
[A trophy held by the slayer of the Name-ranked Grimm, Samiri, the Wrath of the Scorned.]
[Grants [Aspect of the Marathonian].]

[Do you wish to obtain this Aspect?]

Affirmative.

Once more, the mask's eyes glowed briefly.

[You have subsumed an Aspect of a Name-ranked Grimm, and now bear its mark. Aspects collected: 2.]

[Aspect of the Marathonian (Passive) LV MAX]
     [20% increase to base HP.]
     [Increases Stamina Regen by 20%.]

A boost to Stamina Regen, huh? Still can't view my Stamina bar directly, which feels weird when my Semblance is so happy to enumerate everything else… Hm, and the HP boost is 20% instead of the 10% boost to my CON from Krios, does this mean each one is stronger than the last? Wait, no…

With a thought, I pulled up Krios' Aspect.

[Aspect of the Amalthean (Passive) LV MAX]
     [20% increase to CON.]
     [Return 20% of damage taken to the attacker.]

The CON boost was definitely only 10% before. So the main boost from each aspect gets stronger the more aspects I collect? Heh, as if I needed another excuse to kill them. Not that I would be turning the aspects down, of course. More passive buffs forever, please and thank you.

Dropping into bed, I set my Semblance to wake me in six hours and let sleep take me.

As per usual, I was the first one awake, even after half an hour's meditation, so I went for a light workout before getting breakfast ready, just a few dozen laps in the pool with no buffs active. Well, no relevant buffs; I was actually alternating [Fox's Cunning] and [Eagle's Splendor] every other minute, trying to catch them up to [Owl's Wisdom] in level. The CHA buff needed 3 ranks, while the INT one was down by 7. I also needed to bring [Bull's Strength] up by 3 and [Bear's Endurance] up by 4 to be equal with [Cat's Grace], which was my only animal buff that was even with WIS.

[Reinforcement] was ahead of all of them, at least in terms of level, since it was a more all-purpose buff, and because raising its ranks lowered the chance to take extra damage when it breaks. I also needed to figure out a way to grind [Aura] up to a reasonable level before classes began. Sparring with Pyrrha brought it up to level 6, meaning I could now absorb up to 6% of my MP in a single hit before it shattered, but I hadn't been able to raise it otherwise, because Vi and Grandma both hit way too hard for it to gain any EXP.

Other than those, my hand-to-hand skill needed some work, and all the practice with training weapons meant my [Bludgeoning Resistance] was way ahead of [Slashing Resistance] and [Piercing Resistance] — which was a problem, because Grimm were far more likely to do one or both of the latter. At least I don't have to worry about [Shock Resistance] for a while. Fuckin' Vi… Two days of spars with that sadist brought me to thirty-two ranks in that damn skill.

Overall, I decided, my level was finally at a point where I could feel comfortable with my raw power. I would still take a few Hunts, especially if Blake was on board, but I was in a good place as far as money and raw EXP, so I decided to spend the rest of the next five months mainly honing my Skills.

After breakfast, Jazz and Blake left, and Indigo insisted on driving me to the hospital.

"I said I would go, you don't have to baby me," I griped as she manhandled me into the passenger seat.

"And risk you putting it off? I don't think so," she shook her head, slamming the door on me before getting in the car and starting it. She stared straight ahead for a moment. "…I didn't mean that as harsh as it came out. But I'm still setting up the first appointment for you. If the headshrinker says you need more, I'll trust you to keep them, but I know I would've — and did — procrastinate setting up the first one until Via made me. I called it bracing myself, she called it avoidance; we never ended up agreeing."

Sighing, I let it go. "Can I ask you about something else?"

"Mm," my sister made an assenting noise.

"Although, Violet got seriously pissed when I brought it up."

"When doesn't she?" Indigo rolled her eyes. "What was it?"

"The Beaufort Tragedy–shit!" I grabbed the car handle and flared my [Aura] instinctively as Indigo's suddenly white-knuckled grip on the steering wheel made the car jerk.

"Sorry. That's just… not exactly the subject-change you think it is," Indigo said, voice brittle.

The fuck does that mean? Wait, is this event the thing Indigo had to get therapy for? I assumed it was because her Hunting partner died. Or is it both? That's not something I want to ask though…

"Never mind, then," I said, repressing a sigh. I'll just ask a teacher at Beacon or something.

Indigo didn't say anything for the rest of the drive, until finally, with the hospital in sight, she whispered. "It was the last time everyone was at home together, you know?"

I didn't know, but I also didn't interrupt.

"It's been a few years now; I don't think you were more than fourteen. Bianca had already shipped out to Vacuo and Sienna was in Atlas, but everyone else still lived here, and they both came home for the New Year. After… that event… everyone scattered. Vi moved in with Grandma. Azure took that research job. Shani bugged out all the way to Menagerie. Olivia started looking into teaching somewhere else, even before she actually graduated. Even Mom and Dad started taking missions again in the aftermath."

"I thought Shani was in Vacuo?" I asked. "I think you told me that when I got out of the hospital."

"She must've been on leave visiting Bee," Indigo shook her head. "That firebug loves the tropics; she took an indefinite posting in Kuo Kuana back then."

We were parked by this point, Indigo taking the time to back the car in like I always used to. Her hands were steady even though her voice was flat. I hadn't really learned anything new, but…

"If you're making an appointment for me, I'm making a fresh one for you," I said. Indigo opened her mouth, probably to complain, but I clapped her on the shoulder. "Deal with it. Like I am." Not giving her time to protest, I got out of the car, stretched, and made my way into the hospital's reception area.

The word 'hospital' was slightly misleading, although that was certainly what the building called itself. Here in Vale, with a population of maybe 100,000 in the city proper, the hospital was more of a compound that housed the majority of medical employees in the Kingdom. General practitioners and psychiatrists took their appointments here, as well as emergency care and even cosmetic surgeries. It was one of the taller buildings in Vale, near the middle of the city, and right on the river, allowing for access by ground, air, or water, from every direction. While there were certainly doctors in the Kingdoms' outlying villages, major issues always tended to be handled in the capitals.

Indigo wasn't far behind me, and overtook me as she power-walked to the reception desk. "My brother needs an appointment with a therapist," she said, after returning the man's polite greeting. "Give him your Scroll," she told me.

"Give him yours," I shot back, even as I handed it over. "Kindly make an appointment for my sister as well. Separate ones, to be clear."

"I will need your scroll as well, Miss," the man said, and Indigo reluctantly set hers on the desk.

"I'd also like to speak with someone about volunteering here," I told the receptionist as he returned our Scrolls. "I have a healing Semblance, so I'm hoping to help people more directly when I'm not fighting Grimm."

"Oh!" the man perked up. "That's wonderful, sir. Let me call someone up here, while I make your appointments."

Soon enough, the appointments were set, for just a couple weeks out, and after a few minutes more we were joined by a stressed-looking doctor in a dress shirt and slacks with the stereotypical white coat.

‹Life Is Short, The Art Long›
LV 11
Harris Amaranth

"Jaune Arc?" he asked, reading off his Scroll, and I rose, wishing I'd thought to buy a suit. Belatedly, I added it to [My Shopping List].

"Good morning, Doctor." He offered a hand, and I shook it.

"What brings you to volunteer at our hospital?" His tone was curt; not rude, but he clearly had a lot on his mind, as he barely glanced at me before returning to the tablet in his hands.

"My Semblance heals wounds and rejuvenates energy," I summarized. "It can also restore Aura if the subject has it unlocked. I've also closed cuts and stab wounds, healed broken bones, severed nerves, and concussions, and reduced the duration of Aura Shock by at least half."

The doctor lowered his Scroll, now staring at me intently. The receptionist, for his part, wasn't even pretending not to eavesdrop; his mouth was hanging open. The doctor glanced at him, then at Indigo, before tilting his head for me to follow and striding away.

"And the limitations?" he asked as we drew near a door marked Private.

"It works by sharing my restoration with a subject I'm touching," I explained. "I give up some of my own regeneration to do it, but the patient gains more than I'm giving up."

"How much more?"

That was a trickier question for anyone who didn't have the numbers in front of them like I did. "It depends on several factors; I get a better feel for it once it's happening," I prevaricated. "If I use it casually, while doing something else, I can usually expect to restore a civilian to full health in maybe five minutes. I can still use my Aura as a shield during this time. Even in combat as long as I can maintain contact. If I focus solely on using all my Aura for healing, to the exclusion of everything else, I could reduce that time to under a minute, but I'd be helpless during that time."

He pushed his way through the Private door, and took the second left into an office labeled Harris Amaranth.

"There's rarely any danger in a hospital, but I understand that's something you feel you have to specify as a Huntsman," he muttered, dropping into the chair behind his desk. "You noted these times are for civilians. Is it different for Hunters?"

"The same amount of time to fully heal a civilian would probably only stabilize a Hunter," I nodded. "At least for the moment. I get better whenever I use it."

"How long have you had it?"

I thought back. When did I get [Lay On Hands]? "Beginning of August."

That made him look up at me again, frowning slightly. "How old are you?"

"Seventeen. Does that matter?"

He scanned me up and down, taking in my Casual outfit and the Family Sword at my hip, which everyone in the hospital had ignored until now. "Are you enrolled at Beacon?"

"I will be for the coming term. Until then, I have a lot of availability. Once classes start, I may only be able to come by on weekends."

The doctor let out a tiny sigh. "I don't suppose I could convince you to join us full time?" he asked, obviously not expecting an answer.

I shook my head anyway. "I think I have more utility out in the field, keeping Hunters alive even when I'm not killing Grimm myself."

He sighed again, but nodded grudgingly. "There's something to that. Hunters are rarely patients here; they tend to either come back whole or not at all."

Before he could ask another question, there was a rap on his doorframe, and a nurse stuck her head in.

"Doctor Amaranth, do have a– It's you!" She grabbed my shoulder and pulled me around, then threw her arms around me in a hug. "I didn't get a chance to thank you before you went out to fight that monster. You saved me; you saved us all!"

"Heather?" the doctor asked, puzzled.

"Doctor, this is the Huntsman who healed me when my plane crashed," she explained, straightening up so I could see her properly.

Oh, it's the lady with the broken neck from the plane.

‹Cure Sometimes, Comfort Always›
LV 7
Heather Calluna

"Good to see you. Have you had any pain or stiffness?" I asked. I didn't expect there would be, since my [Observe] had deemed her fully healed, but it seemed like the thing to say.

"No; I even had an x-ray done earlier and there's barely any sign of the damage!" she brandished a manila folder.

"May I?" Amaranth asked, and stuck them on the illuminator on his wall when she passed them over. "I can see where the damage was, but this restoration is certainly unusual for a patient with no Aura." He nodded slowly, looking from the x-ray scans to me. "We'll have to do some further testing to see if you can affect sickness as well as injury, and you'll accompany Heather or another nurse whenever you're on premises, but I can think of no reason we shouldn't welcome you, Jaune."

"You won't regret this, Doctor."

Time started passing in a blur after that, as I split my time between training my skills, volunteering at the hospital, and sparring with my sisters whenever they could spare the time. Every so often I would join Blake on a basic Tyro-level Hunt, just to keep my eye in, but most of my focus remained on skills. The gains I made were too many to list, especially with [Enlightened] increasing them further. Easily my biggest gain was to [Aura], which I had power-leveled during those handful of Hunts — because wow was it busted when combined with all my other passives — until it was boosting all my stats by more than 50% before activating. At which point, I gained the only fully new skill I would get before Beacon: [Aura Mastery]. I even gained a couple more actual levels, despite my attention being elsewhere.

Before I knew it, five months had passed, and I was meeting with Blake to take a bullhead to Beacon for the Entrance Exam. The city spread out below us, but both our attentions were drawn to the school overlooking the valley, which we could finally see clearly. The white marble and green shingles made it look like a fantasy castle. …Monty probably based it at least obliquely on the Emerald City of Oz, but I wonder where that design comes from on Remnant itself?

Blake shivered a little, rubbing her arm idly even as she buried her nose in a book.

"Relax, you've got this," I told her soothingly. "You're more than strong enough to be here."

‹On Whom The Pale Moon Gleams›
LV 24
Blake Belladonna

"Easy for you to say," she snorted. "I haven't been able to beat you in a spar in months. If anyone's a shoo-in, it's you."

"Why not both?" I shrugged. "Olivia said you were ready before she moved, and that was a month ago. You'll be fine."

Seeing her raise the book again to hide her face, I let the subject drop and looked around the bullhead. There were only three other people on board, and to my surprise, I recognized two of them. The orange-haired girl in a white top and pink skirt, bouncing on her heels next to a black-haired boy with a green coat were unmistakably Nora and Ren, two of Jaune's canon teammates.

‹Ceaseless And Sorrowless›
LV 23
Nora Valkyrie

‹A Little Apart›
LV 24
Ren Lie

I didn't recognize the third; a boy with a feline nose complete with whiskers, who was wearing a muddy-colored muscle shirt.

‹The Peasant›
LV 21
Leopold Tenné

I wonder if he failed the exam in canon?

Unlike in canon, there was no news feed playing, and soon enough the airship was settling on a pad at the edge of the cliff. The door opened, and we were greeted by a statuesque blonde woman, with curly hair and green eyes behind cat's eye spectacles. She wore a white blouse with a keyhole cutout, a tattered purple cape, black pencil skirt, stockings, and knee-high boots with what I estimated to be four-inch heels. Wearing them, she was taller than me, which I hadn't seen from anyone on Remnant outside my family.

I, personally, was additionally greeted by a frantic drum solo via my Semblance, that I had to struggle not to react to.

[BGM Unlocked! "Hot For Teacher" by Van Halen]

"Greetings, candidates. Welcome to Beacon Academy." Her eyes swept across us, and I thought she lingered on me for a moment before turning on her heel. "Come with me, and we will begin the Entrance Exam shortly."

‹Do Good Though, Will You?›
LV 81
Glynda Goodwitch

Hold up, I thought Glynda was a major badass. Why can I see her level? Just the feats of telekinesis we see in the show should be way beyond this, right?

I hit her with an [Observe] as we followed her inside, but it looked like even 30 ranks wasn't enough to get a clear understanding of her, even when I could see her level.

[Name: Glynda Goodwitch]
[LV 81]
[Title: Do Good Though, Will You?]
[Race: Human]
[Age: ???]
[Job: Deputy Headmistress]
[Class: Mage]
[Semblance: Telekinesis]
[Background: Professor of Combat class at Beacon Academy. Ozpin's right hand. Veteran Huntress.]

Thankfully, the BGM faded back to my idle playlist once the previous song faded out, and by the time we took our seats in the desks Professor Goodwitch indicated, it was quiet enough for me to focus on her words.

"This Entrance Exam is designed as an assessment for prospective students who have not, for whatever reason, attended an accredited combat school. The Exam will consist of four parts; the first written portion will take twenty minutes, the second ten. These will be overseen by Beacon professors. Afterward, there will be a brief recess; I encourage you all to stretch your legs, but do not wander off. I will be interviewing each of you after that, and you do not want to make me come find you." She punctuated the unstated threat by pushing her glasses up. "Finally, Professor Ozpin will be joining us for a final, brief interview. We will then reconvene here before you are dismissed. Are there any questions?"

Everyone seemed to get it, which led Goodwitch to give a single, sharp nod of approval.

"I will go and fetch your professor for the first–"

She was interrupted by the door opening, and a green blur sped toward her. "Terriblysorry!" The blur came to a halt, revealing a skinny, green-haired man even taller than Glynda, wearing round glasses and a disheveled dress shirt, half-untucked from his slacks. He took a deep breath, and seemed to make an effort to speak more slowly. "Ah, it appears I am not actually late. Splendid! Are we ready to begin?"

‹No Shortcuts In Life›
LV 56
Bartholomew Oobleck

Once again, that level seems way too low. He's young, but he's got a full doctorate; he shouldn't be weaker than Azure. Am I missing something?

Goodwitch let out a tiny sigh, but inclined her head. "Whenever you're ready, Doctor Oobleck."

"Excellent!" There was another blur, and worksheets and pens were placed in front of each of us. "This is a brief quiz on the history of Remnan society and culture since the Great War. I do not expect fully comprehensive responses, so try not to spend too long on any one question. You have twenty minutes. Begin!"

There were four questions:

1. What was the initial skirmish which started the Great War? In what order did the Kingdoms get involved, and on which side(s)?
2. What was one primary reason for the failure of the Mountain Glenn colony? How could it have been avoided?
3. What were the provisions of the treaty that ended the Faunus Rights Revolution (AKA the Faunus War)? Do you feel these provisions have been upheld?
4. What are some fundamental societal issues suggested by the White Fang's current existence? What are some potential solutions?

Blake's gonna love those last two, I thought, starting to scratch out the broad strokes of what I knew about the Great War. Fortunately they were all subjects I'd covered since getting isekai'd, so I wasn't very worried about my results.

Once twenty minutes had passed, Oobleck's Scroll beeped, and in another blur he collected the sheets before vanishing out the door without a word. Nora, who had still been in the middle of writing, stared after him, pen now pressed to the desk's surface. A moment later, he was replaced by a corpulent, elderly man in a double-breasted burgundy suit.

‹Are You Sitting Comfortably?›
LV 54
Peter Port

"Doctor Oobleck just scooted by, so I presume you all are ready for me," he puffed. "I am Professor Port, and this test should be a little more straightforward for you." He passed out new worksheets. "Try not to linger too long. Brevity is, after all, the soul of wit!"

I wonder if he'd have the nerve to say that to anyone who's sat through his class? And what the fuck is his level doing? Is my Semblance on the fritz?

As promised, the second test was indeed shorter. In fact, there was only a single prompt: Name three species of Grimm, their weak points, and the ideal way to kill each.

Smirking, I decided to make sure my list included Amaltheans and Marathonians, before adding Taijitu as one of the larger threats on the continent of Sanus, where Vale and Vacuo both sat.

When he collected the tests, mine ended up on top, and Professor Port's bushy eyebrows rose when he glanced over it. His perennial squint widened as he took me in, and his walrus moustache twitched. "Well, I hope I will be seeing you all in my class soon. You have a few minutes before the next section, so please, talk amongst yourselves."

He strolled out, leaving the five of us alone for the moment.

"Huh," said Nora after a few beats of silence. "I kinda expected we'd have a chaperone the whole time."

"I suppose we're expected to be able to pass time unsupervised," Ren guessed.

"Do you think that's part of the test?" the leopard-nosed boy wondered. "To see if we cause trouble or wander off?"

"Could be," I mused. "Professor Goodwitch seems like that type. You heard her, right? If she has to come find us, we'll regret it."

Blake nodded idly, nose already buried in her book again.

Smirking, I stood up, stretched, and then leaned against my desk. "Anyway, I'm Jaune. Good to meet y'all." The other three introduced themselves as well. After a beat, I rolled my eyes and added, "And that's Blake; we've gone on a few tyro Hunts together."

Blake's eyes scanned the group over her book, and she nodded again with without speaking.

Nora, meanwhile, got up from her seat and bounced over to me. "You're really tall!"

"I thought so, too, until I saw Doctor Oobleck," I replied.

"Ooo, yeah, you're right, he was reeeally tall. Do you think I'll get that tall, Ren?"

"I doubt it," Ren answered, not getting up from his seat.

Nora slumped.

"You're not short, you're fun-sized," said Leopold.

"Aww, thanks Leo!" she perked right back up.

"Leo…?" the faunus boy wondered, since he hadn't offered that as a nickname.

Nora ignored his confusion. "Hey, do you think they'll feed us?"

"You just ate three stacks of pancakes before we came here," Ren reminded her. "And then stole one of mine 'for dessert'."

"You can never have enough pancakes, Ren."

"I don't think we're going to be here long enough to miss lunch," I offered. "We're already halfway done, it's just the interviews left."

"Indeed, Mister Arc," said Goodwitch, heels clicking as she strode back into the room. "You may retake your seats, children," she added, though it clearly wasn't a request. "As you have no doubt noted, there is another door just here." She indicated the wall opposite the exit. "Professor Ozpin is inside. You will join me individually when you are called. Mister Arc, we'll begin with you."

"Heh, no pressure," I joked, following her into a smaller room where, indeed, Ozpin was waiting for us. He sat beside an empty chair, ubiquitous coffee mug in hand, and watched me take the seat opposite him with lively, curious eyes over his tiny round sunglasses.

Unable to quash my own curiosity, I let my eyes flick up over his head as I sat down.

‹?̷̢̨̼̪̯̬͈̫̭̱̦̃ͅ?̶̢̛̹͙͓̠͕̣̩̯͉̦͎̭̼̰́͗͂̌̒͋̒?̴̰͛̍̾̈́̏›
LV ?̴̡͍̦͙̈́̅̍͝?̶̘̯͚̾?̴͔̞̞́
"Ơ̴̝z̶̼͝p̶̥͝i̶̘̅n̴͔̂"

My head twinged, and I blinked involuntarily. When I forced them open again, the corruption or whatever it was had vanished.

‹???›
LV ???
Ozpin

What the fuuuck is going on today? I've been relying on my Semblance for more than half a year; don't crap out on me now!

Goodwitch closed the door with a snap and sat down, leaning forward. "This portion of the exam is intended to assess how you deal with pressure, in a simulated Hunting scenario, Mister Arc." She laid her tablet on the table between us, tapping a few times to bring up a map. "In this scenario, we will presume that you are the leader of your team. You are first-year students, midway through term, and this is your first mission without supervision. You have been deployed to reconnoiter the village of Hammerhead Point." She indicated a small promontory on the ocean far to the South, near the swamp that formed the border between the kingdoms. "The bullhead dropped you off two days ago, and is not due back for another twelve hours. You circled back to the village, having killed any Grimm you encountered along the way, only to spot smoke on the horizon. Rushing back, you found the gate to the village in ruins. Screams echo from inside as your team approaches. What do you do?"

"Move forward as a unit, leave two of my teammates to secure the gate, barricading it if possible," I answered immediately, not even needing to consult my Oath by this point. "Advance with my partner to Hunt whatever's gotten inside. I'll try to sense any Grimm to orient us toward the strongest one present."

Both professors raised an eyebrow at that statement, but Goodwitch gamely narrated, "There is a single strong Grimm present toward the center of town."

"As we move toward it, I instead try to detect any survivors by their souls," I went on. "If there are any, I shout for them to fall back to the gates."

Goodwitch considered my chosen course. "Very well. You feel a few people begin to follow your instructions. When you reach the town square, you find a full-grown Beringel."

I had to think for a second to remember what that was — gorilla, it's the giant gorilla; full-grown means it'll have bone armor down its back and sides like an external spine and rib cage, with additional plates on its arms and shoulders. Like a great ape it walks on all fours; only balances on its hind legs when not moving. No projectiles unless it throws debris; primary attacks are punches and one-hand grapples — before Glynda continued.

"Seeing the devastation, your partner urges you to fall back while it's distracted. How do you proceed?"

"What are my assets?" I asked instead. It's obviously a trap question. It's phrased to encourage hotheaded candidates to charge, where they'll probably get killed, and we're probably expected to spot that. For most first years the correct answer is to keep it contained and call for backup… but that's neither just nor steadfast.

Glynda's brow creased, but Ozpin looked mildly interested.

"You have your personal weapon at your disposal, as well as anything you would normally carry in your pockets, having dropped your pack when you entered the gate," Glynda allowed. "Your partner, likewise, has a weapon with basic melee and ranged capabilities. They are talented, but not beyond your level of schooling."

"Can we say Blake?" I suggested, jerking my head toward the door we came in.

"I'll allow it," Ozpin said before Glynda could reply.

I nodded. "How is the terrain in the square?"

"Mostly clear, but damp, as the Beringel has destroyed a stone fountain in the middle, leaving water to spill out and rubble around its feet," Glynda was obviously describing a scenario someone had actually encountered, or else was meticulously crafted. She would make a good Dungeon Master. "There is some debris from benches and stalls in the square that it has destroyed, and a few bodies are visible, the water around them swirling red."

Yikes, not pulling any punches, are we? "Are any of them alive?"

"A few, though they are fading fast; let us say four."

"I instruct Blake to keep the Beringel busy for five minutes, and start healing them, beginning from the most injured — I presume my file discusses my Semblance?" I added. I was sure it did; Ozpin was very much a 'gather all the information' type of leader.

"Indeed, Mister Arc," Ozpin nodded. "But are you so confident in Miss Belladonna's skills, to distract such a dangerous creature?"

"Long enough for me to join her, easily," I said confidently. "We've Hunted together before; her Semblance and skills lend themselves to hitting-and-running."

"And what if it were someone else?" Ozpin pressed. "Mister Lie, for instance?"

"I don't know his capabilities," — officially — "So I would instead point out which of the civilians were alive, tell him to get them out of the way, and distract the Beringel myself, aiming to kill it as quickly as possible and get back in time to heal them. Once the survivors are clear, he can look for a target of opportunity." His Semblance makes him a good rogue too, so the strategy doesn't need to be that different from what Blake and I used against Krios.

Glynda's gaze dropped to the sword at my hip. "How do you intend to combat a Beringel with a knightly sword and kite shield?"

"Carefully," I deadpanned. Seeing her unimpressed glare, I elaborated. "I imagine it will be stronger than me, so blocking it directly with my shield is out. But I'm strong enough that I should be able to deflect, which will leave it open. Beringels have gaps between their armor plates I can target easily. You said the target is full-grown, so it should stand tall enough that I can tumble between its legs if necessary. The knees and calves are obvious targets and will slow it down; if I can cripple one of its legs, it'll have to balance on one hand and only attack with the other hand thereafter. Injure the arm it's bracing with and it's effectively immobilized. If Mister Lie doesn't land a killing blow when he returns, it'll still be distracted and I can go for the neck."

"A great deal of your plan relies on the assumption everything goes perfectly," she pointed out. "Entering melee combat with a creature so much larger and stronger than yourself is not what many would call a wise decision."

I shrugged. "A Huntsman must Hunt. It's also not as reckless as it appears," I argued. "I have backup available, and the other half of my party at the gates should have already called for help, if they're at all competent, so evac is inbound either way. Even if I can't kill it, I can certainly slow it down and play for time until someone shows up who can kill it. Either way, the Grimm dies."

The Professors exchanged a long look, probably having an entire conversation I couldn't follow.

"Afterward, heal the rest of the survivors, put out any fires, re-secure the gate and perimeter, stay on guard for a surge until we're relieved," I tacked on.

Glynda folded her arms, finally giving an approving look. "While your approach appears careless, it seems you are thinking things through," she allowed.

"The final interview comes from me, Mister Arc," Ozpin leaned forward, peering at me over his tiny glasses and cup of coffee. "Why do you wish to come to my school?"

He's looking for more than 'because I have to' or some kind of empty flattery. I could go to Haven instead without skipping a beat and we both know it.

Ozpin seemed happy to let me consider my response, so I took a moment to decide how to explain. "Are you aware of how I got these?" I asked, brushing a finger along the scars on my face. Glynda shook her head briefly, but Ozpin didn't respond at all, and I suspected the answer was yes. "I don't remember anything before July of last year, but I woke up in the hospital with an adult mindset. Once I refamiliarized myself with the world, how could I want to do anything else? I couldn't — still can't — remember who I was before, so I made myself a promise about who I wanted to be going forward."

"And?" Ozpin prompted, still inscrutable.

"I decided to improve myself and the world," I summarized. "I haven't had cause to regret it. I want to come to Beacon because I want to be a better Huntsman, because that's the best way to lead by example. Save people, kill monsters, make a difference." I debated ending it there, but I felt like I'd earned the right to a bit of pride. "Currently, my goal is to rid the world of the Named Grimm; I believe I'm a hair over sixteen percent of the way there," I added with a confident grin. Probably riding the edge of 'cocky'.

"A bit overconfident, considering some of those creatures are older than the Kingdoms themselves, Mister Arc," Goodwitch tutted.

"Maybe," I allowed, "but isn't an ambition supposed to be something you have to reach for?"

Ozpin seemed to agree. "Well said. I'm satisfied with your answer; you may return to the waiting area."

Blake was called in right after me, followed by Ren, Leo, and Nora. None of them took as long as me, tending to return in about five minutes.

"Wait here while we discuss your interviews," Glynda instructed us. "We will not be long."

Everyone else sat stiffly in their seats, but I stretched out and slouched as soon as she was gone. Seeing that, Nora dragged her chair and Ren's over to me, heedless that her friend hadn't stood, simply gripping the seat so she wouldn't dump him out of it by accident.

"So what took you so long in there?" She asked without preamble, slinging a leg over the chair to sit down, heedless of the fact she was wearing a skirt. Fortunately, they seemed to be constructed like a tennis skirt. Or is this what a 'combat skirt' is?

"I don't know?" I shrugged. "I don't think anything special happened; Goodwitch presented a scenario about an incursion in a distant village and then Ozpin asked why I wanted to come here."

Blake, who had slipped up without me noticing, agreed. "Sounds the same. You did take almost fifteen minutes, though."

I tapped my chin. "I had to go over a few different ways of killing the Beringel before she believed me, that probably took the longest."

Everyone stared at me, including Leo, though after a moment Blake rubbed her face.

"Of course you would say that. Why am I surprised?"

"I dunno," I smirked. "I thought you knew me better than that."

"So you didn't think you should call for backup?" Ren asked curiously.

"I expected my team to do that, and protect the survivors. But the scenario said there's a Grimm in town. Someone has to kill it."

"That's what I said!" Nora cheered. "Although, I brought my whole team with me, and had Ren hide us with his Semblance so we could get the drop on it."

Ren sighed. "I said much the same, since Nora is bound to be on my team."

I glanced at Blake. "I… extracted my team, along with anyone who'd made it to the gates," she admitted. "I didn't want to lose anybody else."

"I, uh," Leo, the last to speak up, was hanging his head. "I barricaded the gate to keep the Grimm in until our backup could arrive."

I frowned, but after a moment I gave a nod. It wouldn't fly with my Oath, but in a ruthless sort of way, I can see where he's coming from. If he assumed the town was already lost, keeping them contained for a full purge is pretty clever.

"There was no wrong answer, children," said Goodwitch's voice, and the others jerked to attention. She had emerged from the interview room again with Ozpin, and after exchanging a glance with him, she added. "As Hunters, every choice you make has consequences, both the obvious and the unforeseen. Very rarely is there a singular 'perfect' solution. Now, Professor Ozpin has something to say, so I will await you outside. You are free to go once you're dismissed, although I will be offering a tour of the campus if anyone is interested."

Her heels clicked across the floor, and she shut the door behind her, leaving all our attention to fall on the tall man still nursing a mug of coffee. "My interview question is always the same," he revealed to the five of us. "But rarely do I hear such interesting and varied responses. Normally you would be left awaiting a letter of acceptance or rejection, but I am delighted to announce that I believe all of you to be Beacon material."

"Yes!" Nora cheered, raising Ren's hand in celebration. Ozpin looked to be hiding a smile behind his mug as she spun the taller boy around and then dragged him out the door.

There was a buzz as my Semblance immediately minimized the completion announcement of my The Shining Beacon quest.

I nudged Blake's shoulder, and she looked away, but I spotted the smile on her lips before her book covered them. Looking forward again, I was surprised to see Leo extending a hand.

"I wanted to thank you," he said, in his soft voice.

"For what?" I shook it gamely.

"You don't remember?" he smiled ruefully. "You bought me lunch a few months ago, when I was busking downtown. I had almost convinced myself I wouldn't be good enough for Beacon…" he trailed off, rubbing his hair. "Maybe to you it was just a small act of kindness, but it's why I showed up today. So thanks."

The faunus kid from the day I met Tukson. I knew those whiskers looked familiar! Actually, that was also…

"I do remember now," I told him. "You won't believe it, but I actually got shot interrupting a home invasion a few hours after that." Blake stiffened. "It was a really busy day."

Leo blinked. "I… don't know what to say to that. I just wanted to make sure I thanked you. I guess I'll see you at Beacon?"

I shook his hand again. "Long days and pleasant nights, Leo."

I thought I saw Ozpin shift out of the corner of my eye as Leo also left, but when I turned back he was simply taking a sip from his ever-present mug, watching me. "Did you need something, sir?"

"Yes, actually," he hummed. "Come with me, please."

I exchanged a glance with Blake. "I'll meet you later?" I offered.

"I'll wait," she promised, wiggling her book and settling back in her seat.

Ozpin made his way back to the interview room. "This isn't part of the exam," he promised, retaking his earlier seat and gesturing for me to do the same. "Rather, I had something different I wished to ask you."

"Sir?" I sat back down gamely.

"Tell me, Mister Arc… What is your favorite fairy tale?"

Name: Jaune Arc
Level: 32 (Next: 0.72%)
Title: Initiate
Race: Human
Age: 17
Job: Nursing Assistant
Class: Paladin
Semblance: The Gamer
HP: 3563/3563
MP: 2291/2291
STR: 99.6 (52)
CON: 111.8 (50)
DEX: 124.8 (53)
INT: 77.6 (43)
WIS: 98.5 (52)
CHA: 72.8 (33)
Points: 88
Money: 137811L
Status: Cursed – Yellow Death [High]

Chapter Text

My mind raced in response to Ozpin’s question. Why the hell is he asking that? Is he going to tell me about the maidens? Now? Is Autumn already injured? I guess there’s no reason the timing couldn’t work…

Aloud, I asked, “I beg your pardon?”

“Your favorite fairy tale, Mister Arc,” Ozpin repeated, resting his elbows on the table and lacing his fingers to stare at me like a genial, silver-haired Ikari Gendou. “‘The Infinite Man’, ‘The Warrior in the Woods’, ‘The Grimm Child’… Or, have you not refamiliarized yourself with such things, after your injury last summer?”

Try as I might, I couldn’t come up with a way this could be a trap. It has to be about healing her, right? I suppose he could know my public Semblance from the hospital, assuming he didn’t know it already after the Flight 1387 debacle. It’s the only thing that makes sense.

Whether I would try to heal her wasn’t in question — my oath would permit nothing else, not to mention I wasn’t such an asshole that I would refuse to try even without that — the real question was… Is my [Lay On Hands] even strong enough to heal whatever soul damage Autumn had taken?

I didn’t know. I did, however, have an answer for him.

“Actually, I did read through a book of fairy tales I'd found in the family library. I was quite fond of ‘The Girl In The Tower’.”

Ozpin's face twitched for an instant before he pulled on his impassive mask again. “Yes… I was too, once upon a time.”

Oh? Do thinly-veiled allegories about your ex-wife bother you? Come on, drop me some hints! “Why the past tense, sir?”

He stared me down for a full minute before replying. “It occurred to me, after many years, that the princess may not have been entirely honest. The king’s side of the story was never told, after all.”

I tilted my head, considering that. “From a literary perspective, that’s probably an important thing to keep in mind, because if we take the story as written, it’s essentially propaganda,” I allowed. “But on the other hand, is there such a thing as a good reason to keep your child magically imprisoned?”

“Ah,” he said, lowering his hands to the desk. “Have you heard from your parents, recently?”

Did he fucking know about [Yellow Death]? Because otherwise that’s a non-sequitur. “I haven’t, no. I met my grandmother a few months ago, and I’ve been reintroduced to most of my sisters. Were you going somewhere with this question, sir?”

“Bear with me a moment, Mister Arc. Jaune. I assure you, I am going somewhere with this. You told me that you made yourself a promise about who you want to be, going forward. I would like you to elaborate on that.”

Why–? Ah, fuck it, I’m not going to out-think the immortal chessmaster. Might as well just be honest and see where this goes. “Holism, to improve myself, mind, body and soul,” I summarized. “Goodness, to help people. Justice, to protect the innocent. Steadfastness, to stand by my principles. Joy, to remember what I’m fighting for. An oath sworn on my mind, body, soul, and life; to walk the path of a knight.”

Ozpin’s expression didn’t change, but his eyes were a million miles away. “That is a heavy charge,” he said finally.

“Is it really any different than what a Hunter is supposed to be?” I asked rhetorically. “It was probably implicit, but even without my nepotistic connections in Mistral, I am going to be a Huntsman. The Grimm have to be stopped.”

That seemed to bring his attention back onto me, though his gaze was heavier now. “There will be no victory in strength against our foe,” he said softly. “Even the most brilliant lights eventually cease to burn, and when they have gone, the darkness will always return.”

Kingdom Hearts speeches, don’t fail me now! “Only if those brilliant lights fail to ignite others to take their place,” I argued. “A single wall can’t hold up a building, and a single hero can’t hold up a society, but they can inspire change. Everything starts somewhere. Look at my Semblance: without my accident, without my oath, it might have been entirely different, and I wouldn’t have been able to heal the Flight 1387 passengers. Or I might have unlocked it later, and never been on the plane in the first place. If it still crashed, everyone on it would have died. Instead, almost all of them went home to their families. One of them works with me now at the hospital, and she tells that story to every one of her patients and mine. No matter how embarrassing it is, it always raises spirits.”

Ozpin said nothing.

“Or, look at your own students,” I pointed at the door we’d come through. “Leo was a homeless kid I bought lunch one time, and now he’s an accepted trainee. Sometimes a tiny light is all that’s needed to inspire someone.”

“And his look, or a word he hath spoken, wrought flame in another man’s heart…” Ozpin murmured, apparently to himself. He pushed himself to his feet, one hand snaking out to grab his cane despite not putting any weight on it. “Come,” he instructed, heading for a door on the opposite side of the room.

I rose, but hesitated. “Should I send Blake home?”

“We will return here shortly, Mister Arc,” he assured me, and I strode after him. He wasn’t running, but he was almost as tall as Doctor Oobleck, meaning that I did have to power walk to keep up.

He led me down a somewhat narrow hallway, emerging into a much broader corridor through a door with a security lock, and conducted me into an elevator, which started dropping sharply. Holy shit, he really is taking me to Autumn. He didn’t explain about her, though…

“May I ask about why fairy tales came up, sir?”

Ozpin hummed, staring at the door. He might have looked casual, but the way his fingers were alternating between clenching and relaxing on the grip of his cane suggested he wasn’t quite sanguine about bringing me here. “I find it is a good icebreaker,” he said finally. “For many, they are formative stories. Even for someone like yourself, who does not remember your childhood, it was still… enlightening.” He shot me a sidelong glance. “If only from hearing you defend your selection.”

…Ah. You know, in hindsight, maybe saying I was interested in Salem’s story and sympathetic to her plight might make the man who’s sworn to kill her a bit wary of me. Oops. I hope he’s not bringing me down to the vault to kill me.

“Fables are an interesting study, because more often than not, they reflect truths about the world, as seen through the lens of the storyteller,” he went on. “Sometimes that truth can be as simple as explaining the climate… And sometimes even that truth can obfuscate something else.”

The door opened, and Ozpin stopped talking, simply striding down the vast, empty room and clearly expecting me to follow.

Well, that tells me jack shit, and if I didn’t already know what you were hinting at, I would be real fuckin’ confused right now, I kvetched internally.

“Is ‘The Story of the Seasons’ your favorite, then?” I asked.

I wondered if he’d miss a step, but I suppose I was underestimating him. Rather than answer directly, he asked, “Suppose that story was true, Mister Arc. That four young women in the world did, in fact, have the ability to wield true magic. What if, one day, one of those young women was attacked, and rather than being killed, a piece of her soul was stolen away.” He came to a stop, and I could see the shape of an odd machine behind him, though Autumn’s body was concealed behind his frame as he turned around, resting both hands on his cane as he planted it between his feet. “What would you say to that?”

“I’d say, ‘get out of the way and let me try to heal her’,” I replied. “…Sir,” I added belatedly.

Ozpin looked me in the eye for another long moment before stepping aside.

Inside the pod, which was tilted at a forty-five degree angle, lay an unconscious woman with shoulder-length brown hair. Her skin was a warm olive tone — except for the darkened scar across the left side of her face, which didn’t detract from her obvious beauty — although she seemed a bit pale. She wore a simple white tube-top and skirt to protect her modesty, but from up close her cheeks looked a bit hollow, and the shapes of her ribs were starting to be visible. Beneath that, she appeared fit, but not especially muscular; no stranger to combat with Grimm, but not a frontliner like me. Which makes sense for a magic-wielder. Her eyes were closed, but looked like they would be wide and expressive if she were conscious.

I stepped forward, and looked closer. [Observe].

[Name: Ambeř̷̢̫̰͙̻͗͆̽̾͊ ̷̣̱̖̤̝̟̩͈̬̩͇̓ͅ�̷̝̱̮̗̪͎̳̹͖͂́͒̿̎́̎͑̽̾̍̾̕̕͝͝�̴̸̷̡̡̨̧̛̗͇͇̤̺͍̲̞̜͔̘͕̱̦̭̤̲̯̗̫̰͇͉̰̀̿́́̀̓͆̈́͊́͛̒͂̇̓́̑͒̎̒́̓̈́̑̌̇̚̕̕͠ͅͅ�̴̫̥̜͖̪̲̀͛́̚]
[LV ???]
[Title: ???]
[Race: Human]
[Age: 22]
[Job: Maiden of Autumn]
[Class: True Mage]
[Semblance: ???]
[HP: 57/625]
[MP: 0/6187 (12375)]
[Stats: 67 STR, 34 CON, 72 DEX, 124 INT, 32 WIS, 54 CHA]
[Background: The current Fall Maiden, one of only a few true magic users left on Remnant. She inherited the mantle less than a year ago. She was recently attacked, and half the mantle was stolen by dark sorcery. Although the Soul Drain was interrupted, she has yet to reawaken.]
[Emotions: None (unconscious).]
[Relationship: Stranger.]
[Status: Comatose]
[          : Aura Shock [Highest]]
[          : Soul Reft [Moderate]]

The duration on her Aura Shock was very high, and moreover, it wasn’t going down. Probably because of the other effect:

[Soul Reft]
[Debuff]
[Far beyond any physical wound, a piece of your very soul has been torn away. Causes and symptoms can vary wildly. Recovery is challenging, and often hampered by comorbid conditions, for true injuries to the soul are rare and dangerous.]
[Current level: Moderate]

Well that was a load of nothing; thanks for that. I heaved a sigh and tapped sharply on the glass. “I need this open if I’m going to [Lay On Hands].”

Ozpin moved over to a console, but I kept my focus on Amber, preparing [Bull’s Strength], [Bear’s Endurance], [Fox’s Cunning], [Owl’s Wisdom], [Reinforcement], and activating my [Aura] as the lid swung upward with a hiss of released air. Wasting no time, I pressed my palms to Amber’s forehead and heart, activated [Lay On Hands] even as the pod’s bed raised to a sixty-degree angle, and closed my eyes to pull on [Gaia’s Pulse].

The CON boosts gave me a larger pool of HP, which meant larger passive HP Regen. STR also contributed to HP Regen more directly, if at a different rate. INT and WIS did the same for my MP and MP Regen, before the active component of [Aura] converted all my MP Regen into HP Regen. And thus, at the low, low cost of 170ish MP/min, my total HP Regen jumps all the way up over 1100/min. [Lay On Hands] shares a bit under two-thirds of that, meaning we can expect Amber’s HP bar to be full in less than sixty seconds.

…Why is her total HP so low? Her CON isn’t great but even Blake had more HP than this– Wait, no, other Hunters’ HP is still Aura. Considering she has 0 MP and can’t regenerate her Aura right now, this amount of raw HP is actually kind of impressive.

I opened my eyes to make sure her HP bar was actually filling back up, but fortunately it was. She looked a little less pale, and the scar on her stomach, which I hadn’t noticed on first inspection, was thinning and lightening. The ones on her face, however, were not.

Movement on her other side drew my attention, but it was just Ozpin attaching a clip to her finger. A pulse oximeter, I could almost hear Heather’s lecture. Records pulse rate and strength, and measures oxygen saturation in red blood cells.

“Her heart rate is both stronger and steadier,” the headmaster reported, obvious relief coloring his tone.

Her HP was full, so I deactivated my [Aura], letting the glow dim away until only my hands shone, before that also faded. With her HP full, I could cut all the physical buffs, leaving only [Fox’s Cunning] and [Owl’s Wisdom], along with the passive boost from [Aura]. Regen 400ish MP/min while meditating with buffs, sharing 66% at the cost of 42% means I can dump 250ish MP/min into her and still keep it up indefinitely.

My gaze flicked back to her Status, but her current MP kept flickering from 0 to 1 and back, so fast it looked more like Φ. [Soul Reft] wasn’t moving, but [Aura Shock]’s timer was; only one tick every five or so seconds, but moving.

“She should be in better physical health,” I reported without looking up. “I’m pouring as much Aura into her as she can take, and I think it’s helping, but she’s not retaining any of it yet.”

Ozpin hummed, but didn’t reply.

“Do I get to ask what happened to her?” I asked. “Evidently whatever magic she has didn’t save her from it.”

“Even the greatest magic-user can be caught by surprise, or defeated by numbers,” Ozpin replied eventually. “And the nature of her magic is that she was not born with it. Rather, she inherited it only a short time ago.”

“Inexperienced with it, then?” I wondered.

“Quite. Magic, like all skills, must be practiced and mastered,” he mused. “And I’m afraid Amber was quite independent, preferring to spend her time traveling the Kingdom’s outlying villages, completing Hunts and protecting trade wagons rather than training.”

“Places she had to keep it to herself,” I guessed.

“That would be everywhere,” Ozpin said drily. “I must say, you seem relatively willing to accept the premise of magic, Mister Arc.”

“Eight months of memories,” I reminded him. “Lacking context, magic seems no more unusual than Aura, Semblance, and Dust. It’s a power some people control and don’t know everything about; you could have called it ‘ontokinesis’ for all it matters. Hell, put electricity in that list and you’re still in the ballpark. I’m not in much of a position to call anything impossible.”

“Some might call it impossible that you find yourself prepared to attend a prestigious academy a mere eight months after being hospitalized for full retrograde amnesia,” he observed.

“Was there a question in there, sir?”

“‘Be direct’, then, is it?” Ozpin hummed approvingly. “Very well: How did you go about making yourself strong enough to join my school so quickly?”

“Push-ups, sit-ups, and plenty of juice,” I deadpanned. “Also, having properly-trained sparring partners makes a big difference. Other than that, it was pretty sink-or-swim.” Now I glanced up. “I presume it’s an open secret at this point that I killed Krios a few months before Samiri?”

Ozpin’s face was, as expected, inscrutable. “I was aware.”

“Well, I don’t recommend it generally, but struggling and surviving against nigh-impossible odds is good for the soul’s growth, it turns out,” I said, only half joking. “Can I ask a question?”

Now I thought he smiled slightly. “Of course. I am, above all else, a teacher.”

“Why did you bring me down here? What made you think I could help? Or would?”

Ozpin had an approving look in his eyes as he responded, “I was, as you guessed, aware of your triumphs, and of your Semblance thanks to your work at the hospital. Our own school physician works there over the breaks, if you were wondering.”

“Ah,” I said.

“Having heard of what you can do, and being impressed by your answers during the exam, I decided to take a risk. That being said, knowledge of the truth of magic, of the Maidens, and most especially, of Amber’s presence here, must remain secret,” he intoned, and I sighed.

“Sure, what’s one more geas?” I muttered.

“How do you know what–?” Ozpin cut himself off. “No, rather, how are you already under a geas? Stacking them is dangerous.”

“I’m aware. Are you familiar with the term ‘paladin’? My oath isn’t something I can violate lightly. If I did, I’d probably be looking at a reft soul myself.”

He was silent for a full minute, obviously considering that. “Tell me of your oath.”

It wasn’t a question, but I decided to let that go, and filled him in on both the tenets and explanations.

“That is… rather interestingly worded,” he said finally.

I shrugged, not moving my hands off Amber. “A stricter oath could easily be twisted to choke me, or distract me at a critical moment, or become a blanket justification for doing ‘lesser evils’ in service of some nebulous ‘greater good’. This way, I can focus on the big picture without losing sight of the good that can be achieved at the local level.”

Ozpin took another moment, apparently to ponder my response. “Then you wouldn’t mention such things lightly, would you?”

“Not unless doing so was good or just,” I replied solemnly.

He nodded slowly. “I think… I will accept your word on that, Mister Arc. Do you know how much longer you might need?”

I let my eyes drift over the [Aura Shock] screen as I looked back ‘at’ Amber. The status had finally dropped to [High], and I thought the remaining duration might be ticking faster than it had been. “A while. Her Aura isn’t regenerating on its own, it’s like Aura Shock she’s not recovering from.” Exactly like it, as it were. “I’m hopeful that if I can use my Semblance to bypass the Aura Shock, I can jumpstart her own production. Eventually.”

“You truly believe she can recover?” His tone was an odd mix of hope and disbelief.

“Her body — or soul — is accepting my Aura, so I’m achieving something. I was planning to continue until her Aura starts coming back on its own, or until mine runs out,” I replied, neglecting to mention that the latter couldn’t happen at my current rate of expenditure, even with both [Fox’s Cunning] and [Owl’s Wisdom] still active. “Whether she’ll be the same if she wakes up… I’m not a doctor, but I can’t imagine injuries to the soul wouldn’t leave some trauma.”

Besides, I’m not gonna give up when this is free EXP.

[Lay On Hands has increased by 1!]

Yeahhh, that’s the stuff, whole ‘nother percentage point of regen to share.

“I should probably tell Blake something came up though,” I added.

“Your Scroll will not connect from down here,” he declared, straightening up. I was pretty sure that wasn’t actually true, because my Semblance was bullshit, but I didn’t contradict him. “I shall inform her that there was a complication in your paperwork, and it may be several hours to correct.”

“Tell her she can keep waiting if she wants,” I suggested. “Maybe show her the library, she’ll love it. Oh, and if you want her to believe you, tell her I said Sierra Charlie Viridian.”

Ozpin’s eyebrows flew up. “A duress code? No… I suppose this would be the opposite. Very well, Mister Arc. I will return shortly.” He strode back toward the elevator.

Not even gonna call Goodwitch back down here to make sure I don’t do anything untoward? Did I actually earn some trust? I wasn’t planning to do anything, obviously. Nor could I, without violating my oath. I guess he probably knows better than most what a geas means.

Shrugging, I kept pouring MP into Amber and turned my attention to the notification I had minimized earlier.

[Quest Phase Complete!]

[The Shining Beacon, Part 1]

[You have gained 135,000 EXP and 1,000,000L. You have obtained the title [Academy Student].]

[Bonus: You have gained 67,500 EXP, skill book "On The Nature of Aura".]

[Secret Objective complete: Be the highest level student accepted.]

[You have obtained the skill [Prodigy].]

[This questline will continue.]

[Level up! Your level has increased by 1! Your level has increased by 1! Your level has increased by 1! Your level has increased by 1! Your level has increased by 1! Your level has increased by 1! Your level has increased by 1! Your level has increased by 1! Your level has increased by 1!]

Nine levels, holy shit. I was expecting 150k but [Enlightened] kicked it up over 200k. Best passive skill, godsdamn. …Wait, didn’t this quest also promise my weapon if I passed– I thought, before my Scroll buzzed with a text from Olivia.

DM: Akasha → Paladin | Friday 11:49

     ‹Akasha› I know you’ll have passed; I wanted to have your weapon ready today, but it looks like they need another week. Expect it for your birthday.

Ha, knew I could get a connection. Suck it, laws of physics!

     ‹Paladin› I did, in fact, pass

     ‹Akasha› Congratulations, Jaune. I’m proud of you.

     ‹Paladin› cheers

     ‹Paladin› Blake got in too, I’m thinking dinner out to celebrate

     ‹Akasha› I’ll make reservations at your favorite sushi restaurant. Indigo passes on her congratulations as well.

Fuck yeah. Now, what else did we get?

[Academy Student (Beacon)]
[Obtained by enrolling successfully at a Hunter Academy. You have proved that your mind is as sharp as your blade, and that you are as willing to hone the one by studying as you are the other by training.]
[While title is active, all non-combat skill experience is increased by 10%.]

[Prodigy (Passive) LV MAX]
[Obtained by enrolling in a Hunter Academy with significantly more power than the average freshman. You are a once-in-a-lifetime student, and your growth reflects it.]
[All combat skill experience is increased by 10%.]

Shame they’re both static, but at least I can use them both at once, and they’ll still stack with [Enlightened]. No more bonuses to level EXP, but I feel like my skills are falling behind again. And right after I just spent five months grinding them up to be on par with my level. Without further ado, I equipped the new title.

Next I examined the skill book without taking it out of my inventory, since my hands were busy.

[You have received the skill book [On The Nature of Aura]!]

[Would you like to learn the skill [Awaken Aura]?]

[Y/N]

Sure, why not?

[You learned the skill [Awaken Aura]!]

[Awaken Aura (Active) LV 1 EXP: 0.00% MP: 2000]
[A skill to draw out the potential of others, enflaming one soul with another. Through the granting of great power, sweep away the lies that hide the light within, releasing a soul kept bound by mortal flesh.]
[Awakens the Aura of another living being.]

Damn, that’s expensive. I guess I can afford it, though. All right, quest continues. What’s next?

[Quest Alert!]

[The Shining Beacon, Part 2]

[Ozpin has revealed a part of the truth to you. Amber, the Autumn Maiden, was attacked, and a piece of her soul stolen. It is your duty as a paladin to preserve life; do what you can to bring her out of her coma.]

[Reward: 50,000 EXP, 100,000L, quest continuation.]

[Time Limit: Vytal Festival, 12th October.]

[Bonus objective: Heal Amber before classes start.]

[Bonus Objective Reward: +10 ranks to Lay On Hands, new Paladin title.]

Neat. Now, how are we doing on that Aura Shock? Ideally each time the severity lowers it should continue ticking down faster–

The woman under my hands suddenly gasped a breath that made me jump, her brown eyes flying open and looking around wildly. She began to struggle, and I had to put some real effort into keeping her in place.

“Who are you? Where am I!?”

“Easy!” I said soothingly. “You’re safe. You’re in Vale, my name’s Jaune; I just healed you from a coma.” She stopped trying to force her way up, staring at me, so I let her go and took a big step back, holding my hands up to show I meant no harm.

“How did I get to Vale?” she demanded, still breathing too fast, gaze darting around the massive, empty room.

“I imagine Qrow Branwen brought you here after chasing off the people who attacked you,” I answered. “You need to calm down or you’re going to pass out again.”

She took a moment to gulp some deep breaths. When she looked slightly calmer, I asked, “Can you tell me what you remember?”

“I…” she clenched her teeth, wincing. “I remember… a country road? A… little girl, crying. But then she vanished and… I was attacked. They ganged up on me, knocked me down when I tried to–” She cut herself off, glancing at me nervously.

I gave a reassuring smile, triggering [Eagle’s Splendor] with a thought, hoping to set her at ease. “When you tried to use your magic, I assume? I’m not fully read-in to Ozpin’s business, but he mentioned a little when he brought me to heal you. And I know a bit outside of what he’s told me, but I’m keeping that a secret.”

“Really?”

I grinned, holding up an empty hand. “Nothing up my sleeve…” Accessing my [Inventory], I withdrew a canteen with a straw from ‘thin air’ and offered it to her.

“That was magic!” she exclaimed. “But, you can’t be a Maiden.”

“Definitely not,” I agreed. “As for it being magic… let’s go with ‘yes, but no’. Like I said, I’m keeping some things secret.” I tipped her a wink, then held the canteen out again. “You must be thirsty.”

Her eyes were still wide, but she took it hesitantly and sipped, sighing at the cool sensation in her dry mouth. “Thank you. You said your name was… Jaune?”

“Jaune Arc.” I offered a hand, and she shook it. Her grip was firm, despite having just awakened from a however-long coma. “Nice to meet you.”

“It’s nice to meet you too, Jaune. My name is Amber– Agh!” She dropped the canteen, clutching her head. “I can’t remember? I can’t remember my last name!” Tears were starting to form in her eyes, and I wasn’t sure if they were from the pain or the trauma.

Unwillingly, my eyes flicked up to the words above her head.

‹The Beautiful Changes In Such Kind Ways›
LV 91
Amber

Like Ozpin, it doesn’t even try to display her last name. Is… that part of what was stolen from her? Is that how souls work?

“If it makes you feel any better, I woke up in the hospital eight months ago with no personal memories at all,” I offered.

Amber glared. “Are you making fun of me?”

I held out a tissue. “Not at all. That’s when these came from.” I tapped the scars on the side of my face. “I learned my name because my sister was there when I woke up, and I only know we’re related because of the family portrait. I still got accepted to Beacon today regardless, and it sounds like you’ve retained more than I did, so don’t sweat the small stuff.”

She drew another shaky breath, but nodded. “I guess you’re right. I’ve got my health, at least. Thanks to you.”

“Happy to help.” I was going to ask further about what she remembered, when the elevator dinged again, opening to reveal both Ozpin and Goodwitch.

I had enough time to blink before Ozpin’s form blurred and he was suddenly standing beside us, cane held loosely at his side as he gazed down at the now-conscious Maiden. “Amber, you’re awake!”

“I noticed.” Her reply was waspish, and I felt my eyebrows shoot up. I guess there was a reason she spent her time outside the city. Betting there’s a story there.

Ozpin looked briefly pained before his face cleared. “Yes, I… know we’ve never quite seen eye-to-eye, my dear, but I am delighted to see you up and about. I truly had not dared to hope…”

“Is that why this machine has a second pod?” I asked. I probably could have kept quiet, not rocked the boat, but Amber deserved some honesty.

Goodwitch gave me a stern look, but Ozpin sighed and seemed to deflate. “Yes. It is both a medical stasis chamber, and an experimental Aura-transference device. I didn’t expect you to ever wake up after the damage your soul suffered by the partial theft of your magic, and I decided we couldn’t risk the remainder seeking out its missing half in the event you died.”

Amber looked furious, but I was a bit surprised by the extent of his honesty. “I can see the logic, but that’s kind of a harsh thing to say to someone who’s just woken up, sir.”

He nodded tiredly. “I am aware. Yet, is it not better to be up-front, rather than try to conceal such a thing?” He glanced my way. “I would have expected you to approve.”

“I do,” I agreed. “But if you were so certain, I’m wondering why you decided to even have me try.”

Ozpin sighed, leaning on his staff. “As I said, I was impressed by your answers during your exam. You showed a drive I have seen in few, and convictions that I think may exceed even my own, at least at my age. While I suspected the attempt would be in vain, I decided there was no harm in trying. Needless to say, this is… beyond my expectations.”

“I want to leave,” Amber interrupted. She started to pull herself out of the pod. Ozpin and I both stepped forward, but she jerked away from him immediately, and he didn’t try again.

“A bit harsh on your end, too,” I whispered, since she accepted my hand.

“Get me out of here and I’ll apologize,” she hissed back. Then, aloud, she added. “Can I get some clothes?”

Ozpin hesitated, exchanging looks with his deputy, who sighed and headed for the elevator. “Of course, but Amber, the person who attacked you wasn’t caught. It is very likely she will continue to try to steal the remainder of your magic.”

“I don’t care,” she said stubbornly. Standing, she was about as tall as Azure, making her a full ten inches shorter than Ozpin. “I wouldn’t let you keep me in a cage before, and I won’t now.” Her strong words were undercut slightly by the fact she hadn’t let go of my hand, and was leaning on my shoulder to stay upright.

“Regardless, you need time to recuperate,” Ozpin insisted. “I won’t demand you remain down here, but even you must admit you need proper rest and recovery time.”

“I may have a solution,” I put in, drawing both their attention. “My sister, Olivia, was renting an apartment in the city. When she moved to Mistral last week, I took over the lease, but since I’ll be living at Beacon most of the year, the space will be available.” I glanced down at Amber, whose grip on my hand was just short of painful. “That way you can recover your strength, and I can be on hand if you need more healing.”

There was a few minutes’ silence as they both considered the offer, during which Goodwitch returned with a long skirt and a blouse that looked like they would fit Amber, as well as a pair of sandals and a long staff with a Dust crystal embedded in either end.

“Summer’s End!” Amber exclaimed, grabbing her weapon even before the clothes and hugging it to her chest. “I… Thank you, Glynda.”

Goodwitch’s typically stern expression creased in fondness. “Let’s get you dressed,” she said.

Taking the hint, I made sure Amber could support herself by leaning on the pod, then took a few steps away, facing the wall with the elevator. There was a soft tapping noise, and Ozpin came to stand beside me. “I won’t ask if you’re certain about your offer, Mr Arc. I know your family, and you seem to have inherited their iron will, even if you happen to not remember it.

“I don’t,” I agreed. “But I’ve met five of my sisters now, not to mention my grandmother, and I’m certainly capable of spotting a pattern.”

Ozpin hummed. “All the same, I urge you to be cautious. Whoever attacked Amber somehow stole part of her magic. You lack the context to understand just how impossible that should be.”

Not gonna even drop a hint about Salem? I guess that’s good OpSec, since as far as he knows I’m just a normal, if talented, incumbent student. “As much as a machine that transfers Aura?” I suggested, keeping my tone bland.

“A prototype, which has never been tested, and could quite possibly not work as intended,” Ozpin sighed. “Had you not been able to heal her, it may very well have turned out to be a particularly horrific execution chamber.”

At least he sounds remorseful. Probably a cold comfort to Amber, if she can hear us, but better than the alternative for sure. “Whoever attacked her obviously knew about her magic, if they knew enough to steal it,” I reasoned. “They also know she was rescued, so they’ll probably be expecting her to be hidden away. Like, say, to pick an entirely random example, in a secret vault under the school.”

“What a curiously specific, yet wildly unlikely hiding place,” Ozpin deadpanned.

“But they won’t expect her to be relaxing in a penthouse apartment a few blocks from the river in a nice part of town,” I finished. “Besides, it sounds like there’s no precedent for recovery from this sort of… ailment. So I’d prefer to be nearby in case she needs more healing.”

He didn’t answer right away, and seemed to be pondering the scenario. Eventually, he nodded. “Very well, I can see the logic. And… Mr Arc, whatever else may come, you have my sincere thanks for your help today, and for your discretion. While Amber has never been fond of me, I assure you the feeling is not mutual. While they are all independent — of the Kingdoms and of me — I consider myself something of a guardian of the Maidens. At the very least, to offer help when it is needed.”

“That falls in line with my oath of Goodness,” I mused. “If I happen to encounter the others, I’ll be happy to offer what help I can.”

“Jaune,” Amber called, and I turned back. She was dressed enough to not raise eyebrows in public, and seemed much steadier on her feet. She was still carrying her weapon, and her other hand was clutched around a Scroll that had come from somewhere. “I’m ready to go.”

“Sure,” I said, nodding to Ozpin and Goodwitch, but continuing to speak to Amber. “We’ll pick up my friend Blake from the library, and you can get dinner with us. My treat.”

She smiled. “Let’s rock.”

The elevator ride back up was a little awkward, considering Goodwitch’s silent disapproval and Ozpin’s obvious resignation, but neither made any attempt to persuade Amber to stay.

[Quest Phase Complete!]

[The Shining Beacon, Part 2]

[You have gained 67,500 EXP and 100,000L.]

[Bonus: [Lay On Hands] has increased by 10! You have obtained the title [Chevalier].]

[This questline will continue.]

[Level up! Your level has increased by 1! Your level has increased by 1! Your level has increased by 1!]

Godsdamn do mainline quests bring in the EXP. And the cash. Now what’s this title?

[Chevalier (Paladin)]
[Obtained by living up to an oath. You have proven your commitment to upholding your selected oath. You are beginning to serve as an inspiration to others.]
[While title is active, you and your nearby allies are resistant to emotional upheavals and negative morale changes during combat.]

Oooh, that’s interesting. I was kind of hoping the paladin-type lowercase-A auras would be skills that I could upgrade, or just start out at MAX so I could stack them, but this isn’t too bad. If I’m Hunting alone, [Grimm Slayer] is much better, but considering I’ll be working with a team for the next few years, and especially in light of some of the shit that might go down in the coming year… Still, as long as I was studying or training, [Academy Student] was the obvious choice.

The elevator door opened at the ground floor, and Amber and I stepped out. Keeping a hand in the frame so the doors wouldn’t close, I raised an eyebrow at her.

She flushed, but turned back to the teachers. “I’m sorry for my attitude. I’ve made no secret I don’t like closed spaces or being kept in one place, but… thank you for saving my life.”

Ozpin inclined his head gravely. “Qrow deserves the credit for bringing you here, and young Jaune for reviving you, but I’ll pass your words on.” His gaze shifted to me. “I leave her in your care, Mr Arc, for as long as your paths align. If you find yourself in need, please reach out to one of us.”

I nodded back, offering him my hand, and he shook it solemnly.

“Please take care, Amber,” Goodwitch said, a bit of a maternal tone detectable in her no-nonsense voice.

“Now then… where’s the library?” I asked once we were alone.

“Huh? Don’t you go here?”

“I passed the admittance exam about an hour before I healed you,” I shrugged. “Term doesn’t start for a couple weeks; I don’t know where anything is yet. Hang on.”

Closing my eyes for a second, I activated [Detect Aura]. There weren’t too many people on campus, and I was able to narrow down which one was Blake fairly quickly, which gave me a heading. However, I also noticed…

[Observe] …Damn it.

“Amber, how are you feeling?”

“Uh, fine, I guess? Still a bit weak, but that should change once I get some food in me!”

I nodded, but my nervousness remained. I had topped Amber up to her full capacity of 6187 MP before she woke up. But now, barely half an hour later and without really exerting herself, she was missing a little bit. Some quick and dirty mental math, assuming the rate was steady, told me that her Aura would empty out in about 12 days… but only if she didn’t use it for anything else. So is Soul Reft just nerfing her Aura regen, or is it flat out not working? Either way, I’d better keep an eye on it, and her, to make sure she doesn’t collapse again.

[Quest Alert!]

[The Shining Beacon, Part 3]

[Amber, the rightful Autumn Maiden, is awake and alive thanks to you. However, her soul has still been damaged, and her Aura cannot regenerate properly. Keep her alive.]

[Reward: 50,000 EXP, 500,000L, quest continuation.]

[Time Limit: Vytal Festival Tournament Finals, 23rd October.]

[Bonus objective: Help restore Amber’s soul to its rightful condition.]

[Bonus Objective Reward: +150,000 EXP, new Paladin Title.]

Well… there you have it.

Swinging by the Beacon library to pick up Blake, she accepted my assurance that Amber was a friend who would be crashing in Olivia's guest room — mine, now — without too much suspicion. Or, well, I knew her well enough to recognize she was totally suspicious, but she trusted me enough by this point to not press. Amber seemed to have recognized the book Blake was reading when we arrived, and they soon struck up a conversation about a popular series that I wasn't familiar with.

Hearing them both espouse its quality, I agreed to give it a try when I had some time. I wasn't exactly planning to slack off, but now that I had secured my place in Beacon, I thought I had earned few weeks' vacation. And that was before I gained twelve levels today.

Still, I hadn't allowed myself much opportunity to read for pleasure since I'd woken up in Remnant, so I would be lying if I pretended not to be looking forward to indulging in my one of my last life's favorite hobbies.

As we settled into seats on the bullhead for the short flight back down into the city, I pulled my Scroll out.

DM: Paladin → Akasha | Friday 13:23

     ‹Paladin› hey, so

     ‹Paladin› make that one more for dinner

Name: Jaune Arc
Level: 44 (Next: 14.21%)
Title: Academy Student
Race: Human
Age: 17
Job: Beacon Student
Class: Paladin
Semblance: The Gamer
HP: 4385/4385
MP: 2756/2756
STR: 99.6 (52)
CON: 111.8 (50)
DEX: 124.8 (53)
INT: 77.6 (43)
WIS: 98.5 (52)
CHA: 72.8 (33)
Points: 148
Money: 1,237,811L
Status: Cursed – Yellow Death [High]