Chapter Title: New Game
Chapter Length: 7, 130 words
First Published: 09 December 2016
Edited: 05 May 2018
Semblances were a unique attribute that only those with an unlocked aura could posses. These amazing, god-like powers were as varied and unique as the millions of people who had the potential to use them. Much time, money, and effort has been dedicated to the research on semblances and yet the people of Remnant still could not fully explain them.
Many theories had risen and have been disproved by the scientific community over the many years. There is, however, a widely accepted theory that has survived many criticisms against it. This theory postulated that semblances surfaced due to an intensely great trauma to the user's aura. Once the user is placed under a highly stressful situation to the point where their aura could no longer protect them, their aura would mutate and a semblance would manifest. There have been many documented cases of aura users unlocking their semblances due to intense emotional and/or mental distress that supported this theory. There have been many records of unethical experiments conducted prior to the Great War and the formation of the kingdoms that add evidence supporting this theory.
A well documented and common type of semblance involved enhancing the user's body beyond that of the usual aura enhancements. Some semblances granted greatly increased defense, speed or healing rate. The prevalence of this type of semblance could be attributed to the most common type of psychological distress that those with aura, which were generally Hunters, experienced-the fear of death in the midst of battle. This type of semblance surfaced to address the most immediate threat to the user's survival in the most straightforward way: physical enhancements.
However, there are still many mysteries that surround semblances. Some semblances seem to be passed down in certain families although no genetic component of the power has been discovered as of yet. There have also been theories on how personality and semblances could be related, something about the psyche of the person affecting how the semblance manifested itself. Semblances have always been hard to predict and understanding them is still far from people's reach.
Case in point, Jaune Arc's semblance absolutely did not make sense if you considered the world's widely accepted notions. His semblance broke more preconceptions about aura than Grimm broke people's bones in a month. It just did not make sense.
Jaune Arc truly regretted going into the forest that night. At age fifteen, the young man made many embarrassing and questionable decisions in his short life, as most teenagers had a habit of doing. He had made many choices that he regretted but this truly took the cake, maybe even the whole buffet table.
Young Jaune Arc, aspiring Hunter and scion to the Ancient and Noble House of Arc, was going to die because of his stupid male pride.
"I shouldn't have let Rouge goad me into leaving behind Crocea Mors! I am so-" his self-deprecating thought was cut off when a rabid Beowolf swiped at him with its massive claws.
"Damn it!" he squealed, barely dodging the swipe of certain death. A few strands of blond hair fell onto the forest floor. He was thankful that it was just a few measly strands and not his brain.
Surrounding the blond was an average sized pack of Beowolves numbering at roughly thirteen wolves strong. It was hard to get a clear estimate, however, while dodging for his life. It felt like he was fighting-no, getting mauled by-a pack of fifty. They just moved so damn fast and so frequently.
"Stupid bet! Stupid, stupid me for accepting that damn bet when I'm barely trained as it is!" he continued his inner rant even as he screamed and grunted while dodging. His lack of attention cost him when a rather large Beowolf successfully injured him with an overhead strike. He let out a choked scream, his left arm now uselessly hanging by his side.
The young man bit his lip as tears freely flowed down his face. He didn't even have his aura unlocked yet, his father always putting it off for other things and none of his sisters particularly wanted to help him on that front. Why the hell did he think he could handle this?
He whimpered as he dodged yet another attack from the bloodthirsty Grimm. The action jostled his broken arm and the pain made him flinch. That in turn made him trip as he tried to dodge another strike, his jeans ripping against the harsh forest soil. His skin felt raw as it scraped against bits of rock and loose earth, compounding onto the pain he felt.
It was supposed to be a simple bet albeit a stupid one in hindsight. He was to spend the night in the woods and get out safely by daybreak. If he survived, he would get unlimited access to his older sister Rouge's bank account and booze supply. His sister even let him use her professional Hunter's pack along with Crocea Mors that his dad had allowed him to use recently.
He was piss drunk and extremely out of it when he denied her offers, claiming to be skilled enough to survive the night with just the clothes on his back. Equally as drunk and not in the right state of mind, Rouge Arc happily sent her barely trained and unequipped sibling off to the forests surrounding Vale. In the dead of the night. When Grimm activity was at its highest.
Jaune learned his lesson, alright. Never accept bets from Rouge, most especially when both of you had drunk enough to kill several cows. They really should have stopped after that tenth barrel.
The only hope he had of surviving this ordeal was if any of his more sensible family members noticed his absence and came looking for him. He initially tried calling for help, once the deadly situation finally sank in and sobered him up. Sadly, the Grimm were quick bastards and his Scroll was the first casualty that night. Now he just had to keep dodging and hope for the best.
He was totally screwed.
"AAAAAYYYIIIIIEEEE!" Jaune Arc screamed like a girl when he split painfully to avoid permanent damage upon his person. The offending Beowolf went soaring overhead, snarling as it missed its target. Drops of saliva rained down on the blond's head and almost blinded him. He whimpered yet again at his suffering.
He truly regretted many things that night. He regretted not taking training seriously. He regretted squandering all of his precious time for training on playing stupid video games. If he could survive tonight, he was totally getting rid of all of them. Even the limited edition Super Ninja Warrior 4: Maidens in Distress that he almost killed someone else for. He would happily burn War Against Mummies 2, though, no matter the situation. That tomb raiding game was totally not worth the money he spent on it.
If only his stats in his games would transfer over in real life, then he would totally be wiping the floor with these overgrown, bloodthirsty puppies.
"GAAH!"
A Beowolf struck his back and sent him flying through the trees in a poor parody of a spoiled child throwing their toy. He crashed painfully against the much stronger tree trunk and slid down the length of the tree once his momentum got killed. He truly despaired at that moment when he lost feeling in his legs. With how he hit the tree and most probably broke his spine somehow, he knew his time was up.
If only…
Jaune Arc, fifteen year old scion to the Ancient and Noble House of Arc, closed his eyes and waited for death.
Game Over
You have died. Do you want to...
Load from save file?
[Yes] [No]
Restart from beginning?
[Yes] [No]
These were the words that greeted Jaune when he opened his eyes again. He didn't know what to feel upon seeing the glowing screen in his face. He didn't know what to feel right now.
So he just blankly stared at the screens hoping they would go away and reality would reassert itself. When they didn't go away, he chose to ignore it in favor of seeing what exactly happened to him and where he was. He was pretty sure he was dead, floating words notwithstanding.
Looking down at himself, he winced at the gruesome sight. He didn't feel pain anymore-hell he didn't feel anything much, honestly-but his body looked like it should have hurt a whole lot. He was broken, injured, and bleeding in places he had never been before. He wanted to look away but he found it difficult to do so. He was morbidly fascinated at the dissonance between his fatal wounds and the numb feeling.
"Yep, I'm dead."
Once everything really sank in, he let out a hysterical laugh. Only a video game obsessed freak like him would view the afterlife in this manner. He was pretty sure the afterlife didn't look like a video game to everybody. Religion never really said anything about a video game-like afterlife. It was usually either brightly light and full of clouds and angels or dark and fiery and full of Grimm and other monsters. Some people have talked about seeing a glimpse of the afterlife when they were dying and they didn't describe it anything like a video game.
Well, he was really just assuming since he never died before.
With nothing else better to do, he tapped the load option for kicks. He was assuming that restarting would be reincarnation. What did loading mean?
Due to corrupted data, the male avatar is not available. Do you want to continue using the female avatar?
[Yes] [No]
He frowned. He was proud of his biological gender. As much as he loved his sisters and mother, he didn't want to join in the feminine bandwagon. He tapped [No] with more force than necessary and it did absolutely nothing. His frown deepened and he tried tapping it with even more force. He was sure that if he had a real, working body right now, it would have broken with the force he used. Sadly, his murderous attempts at pressing [No] yielded nothing but frustration on the blond's part.
He sighed, finally giving up and tapping the [Yes] option. Why give him the illusion of a choice when he had no choice to speak of whatsoever? God must really have it in for him.
Loading…
Loading…
The game continues. Please enjoy and do not forget to save the game.
Jaune woke up yet again feeling slightly sore but not in any pain that suggested he fought against a pack of Beowolves and got out on the losing end.
Grumbling about the strangely realistic dream, the blond sat up and wondered what he was doing in the forest. Was his bet with Rouge really a thing? Did he pass out here after getting into the forest and promptly had that weird dream about the afterlife? Or was that really a thing and he revived from where he died?
Before he could think of anything else, a pack of Beowolves appeared in the clearing he was in. They were a strangely very familiar pack of Beowolves. He felt like pissing himself. Maybe he did, even if he won't confess to that in court.
What really threw him for a loop, though, were the floating texts above each Grimm. He actually had to blink multiple times just to make sure he was seeing things right. They never left even when he was starting to feel dizzy with all the blinking.
Certain details were varied but the information generally remained the same. The floating text boxes contained the Grimm's class, name and level. There was even a green bar underneath that textual information. It looked like a generic RPG interface and he was freaking out.
A Beowolf suddenly separated from the pack and met Jaune head on. The young man was still boggled at what he saw and what was happening, and so couldn't move out of the way in time.
Beowolf
Bob
Lv. 5
1500/1500
Before he could even make sense of what was happening, Bob the Beowolf had swiped at him. Jaune felt his hoodie tear open when he frantically tried dodging the fatal strike in the last second. The blond pitifully scampered away from his assailant before something else distracted him.
Looking down, the young man saw mounds of flesh on his chest when he knew they shouldn't be there. His mind boggled at the painful jiggling they did while he dodged for his life. Sadly, he was so freaked out by his very real breasts that he didn't notice another Beowolf coming in for another attack.
He only felt pain for a moment before he slowly blacked out. Before completely leaving the conscious realm, he saw a few more of those floating texts.
Critical hit!
You are out of HP.
Game Over.
Jaune once again found himself in that strange plane of existence with the very same floating texts following his line of sight.
Game Over
You have died. Do you want to...
Load from save file?
[Yes] [No]
Restart from beginning?
[Yes] [No]
He didn't even care about that right now, however. He look down on himself and saw the same mass of flesh on his chest that he knew shouldn't be there. One didn't grow up with seven older sisters without being acquainted with breasts. No, what really freaked him out was what it was doing on him. His torn up hoodie and gory self didn't even register in his mind. He was solely focused on the anatomical anomaly on him.
He suddenly remembered picking the female avatar. Was this seriously a real thing? Did he really die, got reincarnated-or more accurately, revived-turned into a girl and died for the second time?
Just to be sure, the currently gender confused young man checked inside his pants.
…
Yep. He was truly a female now. One did not grow up with seven older sisters without knowing more about the female anatomy than most normal male teenagers of his age were comfortable with. Males his age only really cared about where they could put their junk in. He knew way more than he ever wanted to and had done quite a few runs to the stores to purchase tampons of all things.
He was so done. A pitiful half-sob escaped his lips. He couldn't even cry properly since was so confused. What was happening to him? Will he be forever a female? Did he really die twice? Did he really drink so much booze that his mind left him? He was pretty sure he didn't take in any drugs today. This wasn't some bad trip, was it? A bad trip was ten times better than this being reality.
He didn't know how long he just stood in that void in a catatonic shock. He wondered if this was the after life that sinful people experienced. Maybe religion got it wrong and hell was not about fire and Grimm but about being screwed around by Fate, God, or whoever ran this place. This was the true hell.
If he could relive his life, he would totally avoid underage drinking and illegal drug use from now on. He would totally avoid Junior's club from now on. He would stop listening to Rouge and would follow Viola's advice instead. The bespectacled second Arc daughter was more practical and sane compared to the messed up eldest.
As if reminding him of its existence, the glowing screens actually glowed even harsher and brighter, to the point of almost blinding the poor blonde. Jaune was totally willing to turn a new leaf and become a devout of whatever following this being who ran this place had if it allowed him to return to what was familiar and safe, to what was normal.
Restart from beginning?
[Yes] [No]
It was totally mocking him and his wishes. He was totally tempted to just tap it but he was wary. Would this God (or Goddess. He honestly didn't know. He wasn't religious at all.) really bring him back without any strings attached? If he could really restart from the beginning, maybe he could avoid this whole mess and get his old body back.
Nothing could go even more wrong right now, yeah? Unplanned sex change and the afterlife being messed up was totally the most messed up about this situation, yeah? Maybe if he chose this option, he could be reincarnated properly and he could stop making shitty mistakes.
Maybe the one who ran this place would give him mercy.
Gathering his courage, he tapped it. Nothing could be worse than what he had right now.
Error.
Due to corrupted data, this option is not available.
Jaune stared at the screen, highly unimpressed.
"Why give me this option in the first place, then?!"
He screamed to the blank heavens of this place. He purposely ignored how even more girly his voice sounded like. He was very sure the big boss of the afterlife was laughing at him right now.
With no other option available, he picked the same one he chose before. He was once again in the same clearing, miraculously healed from his fatal injuries, and his clothes resorted to how they were before.
He was still frustratingly female, however.
Before he could even make another step, the very same pack of Beowolves from before appeared again.
"Oh come on!" he whined at how shitty his circumstances have become.
This time, he decided to track the pack's movements more closely. Perhaps he could find an opening and make a run for it. He didn't want to keep experiencing his death by Beowolf over and over again.
They surrounded him but none of them pounced. Perhaps they could tell that he was more alert this time and were being cautious too. He honestly didn't know much about Grimm even if his father had been training him since he was a little kid. He was never really interested in training and reading books about Grimm even if he did think being a Hunter was cool.
He really wasted his resources by being a lazy bastard, huh?
He continued looking for a way to escape the pack of Beowolves. He saw that their levels ranged from 1 to 5, with Bob being the strongest. Was he the alpha of the pack?
The Grimm honestly had strangely underwhelming names like Jim, Henry, and Ashley. Shouldn't they have cool names like...Sauron or Kaguya or something?
He was brought out of his pointless stream of thought when a text box appeared in front of his face.
Due to completing a special action, a new skill has been created. You have obtained the skill Observe.
Jaune seriously didn't know what was going but he was winging it as he went along. He didn't even know if he was alive and his life had turned into a video game or if the afterlife was themed after a videogame. What he did know was that he didn't want to be mauled by Beowolves for a third time.
Deciding to follow his gut instinct, he winged it and used Observe. This was better than doing nothing when faced with another possible mauling. Since Bob was closest, the young man focused his attention on the larger Beowolf.
Beowolf
Bob
LV 5
HP 1500/1500
Bob the Beowolf may not have led his pack for long but he is smart and shrewd. A natural leader, he knows how to direct his pact for maximum effectivity.
The young, gender confused blonde gulped. Observe didn't give him much except that he was screwed. Hell, he didn't even know what his level was! How could he-
His brain farted. Why didn't he check his status the moment he had the chance? If everything had become video game-like, surely he had his own status screen too. He was so stupid!
Before he could even do anything about the situation, Bob let out a long series of barks that felt like a command to his troops. The Arc scion didn't last long. He was mauled by a group of Beowolves for the third time.
Jaune was seriously getting sick of feeling the pain of getting killed. He was also getting tired of feeling confused and out of his depth. He was also getting very, very tired of feeling the pain of his unsupported breasts jiggling every time he moved.
He may be a breast kind of guy but right now he wished he was more flat. He was currently a D cup by his estimates. Like seriously. What did he deserve to get this treatment?
Or more importantly, he wanted his old body back. He missed his nice, flat, male chest and male bits.
He sighed. The game over screen was still mocking him.
Remembering what led up to his third death, he tried summoning a status screen. All video games had a status screen for the player, right? Maybe then he could stop dying. When he couldn't see any convenient button to press to open his status screen, he decided that it might be voice activated instead and tried saying random names of status screens.
"Status! Um, Pause? Player Menu? User Interface?"
Calling out random names to what the status screen was normally called was not working. Jaune was seriously getting frustrated.
"What does a guy have to do to get some help around here?"
Due to corrupted data, the Help function is unavailable at this moment.
"Oh wow. Thanks so much," he grumbled sarcastically, crossing his arms over his chest. He immediately put his arms down when he felt the fleshy mounds. He seriously didn't like this at all and didn't want to be reminded of his new...blessings.
You are welcome. Would you like to continue the game?
The young Arc was seriously contemplating murder right now. Even if it was a God/Goddess. He was totally gonna do it if he could.
Having no other option, Jaune chose to continue. Before the the Beowolves would come to attack him, he immediately started out calling names for his status screen or main menu. He thought that perhaps he couldn't access the menus in the game over screen.
"Player status! Character! Main Menu! Damn it, please work!"
The young man who was physically a woman could already hear the Beowolves approaching. He whimpered.
"Pause! STATUS SCREEN! OPTIONS!"
He could see Bob bursting out of the bushes. He screamed.
"GAME MENU!"
Miraculously, the color of the world suddenly washed out, as if there was a grey filter over everything. Bob the Beowolf was suspended in the air mid-jump, just a second later and he would really have been mauled for a fourth time.
Jaune let out a hysterical laugh and fell onto his bum. He was relieved at the timeliness of things and could only thank the patron god/goddess of video games.
...he also noticed how much more filled up his bottom was. He honest to goodness had a full, round bum.
He cried inside.
Once he had gathered his wits, Jaune decided to pursue his Game Menu while ignoring the snarling Beowolves suspended mid-motion around him.
[Game Menu]
Profile
Skills
Items
Missions
Characters
The Game Menu looked like all the other text boxes he had encountered so far. The main box was a semi-translucent white and the text was a dark yellow, almost black really. He only now realized that there was a very familiar, pale yellow symbol on the lower right of each text box-it was his personal sigil of two yellow arcs. He approved of the simple theme even if he didn't approve of his circumstances.
He tapped Profile. He figured that this was about him and his status. He let out a sigh of relief when things went about as expected. Perhaps things were looking up? He could only hope.
[Profile]
Name: Jaune Arc
Race: Human
Title: Arc Scion
Level: 1
HP: 100/100
AP: 10,000/10,000
ATK: 5
DEF: 5
STR: 3
VIT: 3
INT: 1
WIS: 1
LUK: ?
Jaune Arc is the youngest and only male child of Enciel Arc, a well-known Hunter and Lord of the most Ancient and Noble House of Arc. As such, Jaune has been given the title of heir. However, his decision to change his gender brings his heir status in danger. Troubling times are coming to Jaune Arc, the now Huntress in training.
Jaune groaned. Not only were his stats and level seriously low, his bio only reminded him of the trouble he was going to face when he survived this ordeal. He didn't even choose to have a sex change!
He wasn't blind. He knew that he was the favorite kid of his father Enciel. Hell, having seven female kids and an only son did say something about his father. Enciel Arc was a loving man, although a very strict traditionalist. In his eyes, only a male would continue the Noble House of Arc. He loved every one of his seven daughters but his only son held a special place in his heart.
Jaune knew his father spoiled him and he always took shameless advantage of it. Perhaps that's why his older sisters disliked him on occasion? Was this Rouge's revenge against him? As the eldest, she would have been the heiress if their father wasn't adamant for a male heir. Hell, he was pretty sure that his mother Celeste was tired of having children after she had the twins Cannelle and Chocolat. Enciel was a very persuasive man, however, suave bastard that he was.
Looking over the Profile again, Jaune noticed that he had more AP than HP. Way more AP.
"What the hell is a level 1 character doing with ten thousand AP?! What the hell is this?!"
If AP was like MP in most games, was he leaning towards magic use? And what the hell was that luck stat? Was his luck so bad it didn't even register on the scale? Case in point, this situation.
Not understanding the strange values this game was giving him, he decided to put it off for now. His head was starting to hurt. He quickly moved onto the Skills submenu next, hoping for more useful information this time.
[Skills]
Combat Skills
Active Skills
Observe (Lv. 1)
Aura (Lv. 1)
Passive Skills
None
Support Skills
None
Life Skills
None
Crafting Skills
None
He knew he was only at level 1 and so he wasn't expecting much when he opened the submenu, but he still kind of hoped for something. It stung a bit to be so useless but he never really did train much even if he had his father's attention. The man loved him so much that he never really pushed him to try harder. Once he got out of this forest, he was totally gonna train his butt off. And he will get out of this forest no matter what Fate or whoever threw at him. He was determined!
Wanting to see more information, he tapped the skill he had recently unlocked. He thanked his luck stars that the menus seemed straightforward enough.
Observe (Lv. 1)
Use your powers of perception to gather information from the world around you! The higher the level of this skill, the more information you can get from your target. Higher levels of this skill also raise INT. Exp: 2.18%
It didn't sound like much at first but it was a very promising skill. The INT bonus was interesting too. Now even more curious, he turned to the only other skill he had.
Aura (Lv. 1)
This skill is obtained when you have unlocked your sealed aura. Activating one's aura reduces damage taken by 75%. It also passively increases HP regeneration by 50%. It uses up 100 AP per second active. Increasing this skill's level reduces the AP cost, the amount of damage tanked and the amount of HP regenerated. Higher levels of this skill also raise WIS. Exp: 0%
It took a while for Jaune to understand that he had unlocked his aura somehow. Perhaps when he died the first time? He knew that Hunters abused the hell out of aura and just reading this simple description made him understand that even better. If he leveled up this skill, he could take damage that would normally kill a civilian.
That thought made his brain stop for a moment.
...if he knew that he had unlocked his aura earlier, he could have used it to avoid the other deaths he had experienced.
He wanted to hurt something. Preferably the one who put him in this situation in the first place.
Reigning in his bitter feelings and anger with a lot of willpower that he never knew he had, the young blonde decided to compute how long he could keep his aura active with the amount of AP he currently had. Ten thousand AP was a lot so surely he could keep his aura active for a really long time, right?
If his calculations were corrected...he could keep it up for a measly 100 seconds? A minute and forty seconds?
He wanted to double check if it really was 100 AP per second. It was.
How was he going to survive that pack of Beowolves when he could only keep himself protected for only a few seconds? He didn't even have any offensive skills. Well, he could always run away, but could he outrun them in 100 seconds? Not likely.
Perhaps he could activate Aura in bursts only when he needed to block hits and the like? He did have Observe and that should help him out with predicting the Beowolves movements, right? Maybe there was a better skill for that, since Observe never really said anything about opponents movements. Then again, it was listed under Active Combat Skills and that meant it had an active use in combat.
He was startled out of his planning when a small chiming sound erupted from somewhere and another text box appeared to cover what he was already looking at.
Due to clever planning and taking advantage of your limited options, your WIS increased by 1!
Jaune just sighed as yet another thing just piled onto his plate. Yeah, he was grateful for the stat increase but really, what was he gonna do with that extra wisdom right now? That stat generally leaned to the magic side of a game and he didn't have a spell or something to use it with. Well, there was aura but then it was a defensive thing. But hmm, some games did assign magical defense to the wisdom stat and the Aura skill did increase WIS. Would a higher WIS help him use aura better? Could he pull it off?
Due to clever planning and taking advantage of your opportunities given to you, your WIS increased by 1!
Was this the game's way of saying that he was correct?
Due to understanding a concept a little bit better, your INT increased by 1!
The game was being strangely nice with all these stat increases. Nothing good comes for free and the young blonde was dreading what was coming in the near future. It was practically a flag for a bad event.
Due to understanding a concept a little bit better, your INT increased by 1!
Damn it. Will he even survive this night? Looking down at his very full chest, he doubted things would go his way when he would exit this menu and faced the Beowolves. Nothing went his way in the past few hours and a trend of picking on Jaune Arc was happening. How was he even going to dodge for his life when he had new...equipment to get used to?
He sighed for the upteenth time that night and closed the multiple alert windows that had opened in the last few minutes. He was once again starting at his Game Menu. It was best to gather as much information as he could before facing the deadly, overgrown puppies.
He opened his inventory and was greeted with a very proportionate, miniature version of himself on the left side of the screen that was very obviously female. He whimpered. He looked totally cute like all of his older sisters. He was never before this sad that the Arcs were blessed with good genes. He looked like a girl he would totally hit on. He wanted to cry. He might have already been crying.
Female Jaune Arc was very attractive. Her short hair framed her face beautifully and emphasized the cute, heart shaped face she had. Her bright, blue eyes were slightly larger than male Jaune Arc's. It gave her an innocent image that clashed with her porn star quality body. Even male Jaune's baggy clothing looked hot on her. Female Jaune's face-body dissonance had actually added to her appeal instead. He figured that this was the gap moe factor that some of his more enthusiastic gamer friends talked about.
It was hard to tell her height with the miniature model but Jaune guessed his female form had the same height. He didn't really have any changes in perspective. He figured he would be tripping around lot more if he was suddenly shorter. The added weight in his chest area was troublesome enough. He was willing to acknowledge small blessings when they were given to him. He didn't know what he'd do if he suddenly found himself a whole foot shorter like that one genderbend manga that his sister recommended to him. He still couldn't understand how quickly that Ranma character could get used to not only having breasts but also a height change. Then again, it was only fiction.
Surrounding the miniature model of his current physical state were a bunch of boxes connecting to where his equipment would go with respect to his body. Certain slots were already filled by his clothes but the empty weapon slots really mocked him. He really should have brought Crocea Mors at the very least.
Most of the menu on the right side of the model, however, was occupied by many empty inventory boxes. Wanting to test something out, he bent down and took a rock from the ground next to his feet and pushed it into one of the empty slots. It worked as expected and he now had a small rock in his inventory.
Small Rock
A totally normal, small rock. It deals a small amount of damage to an enemy when thrown.
A thought suddenly occurred to Jaune. If he could still move around while the world around him (including those godawful Grimm) were still paused, then maybe he could run away. He could run away, far away, to a place without Grimm and unpause the game! That way, he wouldn't have to deal with the Beowolves anymore and that he didn't need to die for a fifth time!
Suddenly very hopeful, Jaune turned away from Bob's ugly face and took a step forward. He promptly collided with an invisible wall and fell on his shapely, female ass. His hope died an awful, gory death when he realized he couldn't move past a few inches away from where he opened the Game Menu. He wanted to cry but he already ran out of tears to cry.
He was so done with life.
With the last two submenus Mission and Characters being empty, Jaune was left with nothing to do but to face reality. In this case, Bob and his gang of bloodthirsty demons.
"Now, how can I use this stupid game to my advantage?" the young blonde mumbled to himself.
He knew that with how weak and weaponless he was at the moment, he had no hope of facing the Beowolves head on. He knew all that he could do was to try and dodge and eventually run away. Sadly, he also knew that he was never gonna outrun them.
If his life had suddenly turned into a video game, then wouldn't that mean he could level up and earn new skills? Become stronger than he currently was? He already created one skill. Who was to say that he couldn't create more?
What he needed was a skill to help him run away. He obviously couldn't fight thirteen Beowolves in one go. Hell, he bet he couldn't even fight one of them right now. No, the best bet he had was to run away. How was he supposed to make a skill, anyway? Complete a special action? What counted as a special action?
Jaune tried pacing in the small amount of space that the pause menu had given him. If someone could see him now, it actually looked rather silly like he was spinning in place. He eventually got dizzy and plopped down on the hard floor, making his bum hurt a whole lot.
Due to completing a special action, a new skill has been created. You have obtained the skill Endurance.
Taking a moment to ease the pain in his abused bottom, he winced. A rock actually pierced through his pants and stabbed him, taking a small chunk of HP along with it. He took the offending rock and threw it in a fit of childish frustration. Sadly, there was that invisible barrier keeping him in place. The small rock bounced off the barrier and smacked him right in the face.
Critical hit! Endurance's level has increased by 1!
Due to completing a special action, a new skill has been created. You have obtained the skill Throwing.
He sobbed and curled in a fetal position. His face hurt. His bum hurt. He was bleeding and sore. He was now a female. He was so done with everything.
The young Arc stayed in that position for a while, willing his aura to come to the surface and heal his pain. It had HP regen, right? It took him a while to get it right but he eventually felt a strange, warm sensation starting from the pit of his gut. It spread throughout his body and slowly numbed the pain. He sighed in relief and just flopped on the forest floor. There was barely enough space for him to spread his limbs but he didn't care. Aura was nice. Aura was heavenly. Aura was amazing.
He sat there for a while, lost in the bliss of having Aura heal his injuries. Sadly, all good things come to an end and his AP ran out, also cutting off the flow of the very delicious aura running throughout his body.
He sighed. He may be healed now but he felt extremely tired. Was this how it felt his AP ran out completely? It felt like the kind of tiredness one would experience after staying up for a few days. It was a bone deep kind of exhaustion that really brought his spirits down.
"This is insane. I feel like I got a taste of the best drug in the world and suddenly the worst crash in existence happens."
Jaune continued to stay in his fetal position and sobbed in frustration. He may have run out of tears ages ago but that didn't mean he couldn't whine like the little shit that he was. He again lost track of time, still curled up in woe at his misfortune. After an unspecified amount of time, the bone deep exhaustion was slowly leaving him and he gingerly sat up from his highly undignified position.
Looking at his still opened Game Menu showed that his AP was slowly, oh so slowly regenerating. At the rate it was going, it would take three days for him to fully refill all 10,000 points. Was there a way for him to speed up the process? He was pretty sure there would be a skill like that.
Then his brain helpfully reminded him that he had unlocked new skills. With nothing else better to do while he was still sore and lacking in AP, he decided to open his Skills submenu.
Endurance (Lv. 2)
A skill that reduces physical damage taken by 10% and increases in level every time you get hit. Higher levels in this skill also grant an increase in DEF. Exp. 10%
This skill wasn't so bad. If he could take a little more damage, then he might actually survive this encounter after all! But then at Lv. 1, it didn't really protect him from damage much. He needed to grind the skill for it to be more effective. How the hell was he going to grind that skill when he could barely move from this spot?
Better yet, how could he create a running away skill while stuck in such a small space?
Sighing, he decided to read up on the other skill in the list.
Throwing (Lv. 1)
Your ability to throw things around. Higher levels in this skill raise damage dealt when throwing items. Depending on the item thrown, different effects can be achieved. Higher levels in this skill also raise STR. Exp. 2%
This was a strange skill. It was useful, he supposed, but he didn't really see how it was a Support skill. It felt more like a Combat skill with the description, but then again, this whole game was making no sense to him.
He sighed for the upteenth time that night. He closed the Skills submenu and kept the main Game Menu opened lest the suspended Bob would crash into him and kill him for the...fifth time that night.
Jaune lied down, the menu helpfully and following his field of vision. Through the translucent screen, he could see Bob's jaws wide open, full of sharp and bloody teeth. A sliver of saliva was dropping down from its canines and the young man could just imagine the slimy feeling of its jaws sinking into his skin.
He was tired and he had no idea what to do about the situation he was in. Every breath he took reminded him of the extra weight of his new gender. Every time he opened his eyes, he saw the strangely glowing screens reminding him that he had died and things were no longer normal. Hell, nothing about suspended Beowolves was normal at all.
How was he going to survive this night? How was he going to escape this situation? He was totally lost and he had no idea what he was going to do.
He wanted his mother's hugs. He wanted his father's reassuring laugh as he patted his shoulder. He wanted Viola's cold but caring logic to tell him what to do. Hell, even Menthe's bad jokes would be appreciated right now.
Jaune Arc was so done.
AN:
And that's a wrap! I know that there's a whole ton of The Gamer stories but I really wanted to try my hand at it. As the title suggests, this game has quite a few errors in its system, so numbers and classifications may not make sense. This is purely intentional, of course, and totally not because I don't want to bother thinking about keeping number-consistency.
This is mainly a stress-relieving writing exercise for me, so updates may be rather sporadic. I didn't have a plan then but I have a vague idea now. Maybe. Also, I learned my lesson and I can't consistently write as long as this introductory chapter. I'll do my best, but I think I'll cap out at around 5K words per chapter after this.
Will there be ships in this fic? Perhaps not. I know how intense RWBY shipping can get, but I think this fic won't really have romance. Jaune is currently physically female even if he identifies as a straight man, so it might be difficult for him to have a romance. There might be crack shipping in the future, maybe, I dunno. I've been entertaining the thought of a JaunexRenxNora threesome but I don't really know. What are you thoughts?
I think this is it for now? Leave a comment if you found this interesting enough. I try my best to reply to all the reviews when I can.