[Welcome to the Game]
Huh? What? When I woke up this morning, I expected to be staring at my ceiling and not a goddamn floating screen! Okay Jaune, calm down. I'm just still dreaming. Yeah, that's it. I'm gonna close my eyes and when I open them, I'm gonna wake up and everything is gonna be fine. Like now!
[welcome to the Game]
Nope, still there, still dreaming. Eh, may as well go along with it. My alarm clock will wake me up anyway.
...So do I just touch it? I brought my hand up in front of me and touched the floating screen, and just like that, it vanished.
Huh, that was anticlimactic. I thought my mind could make up something better than that.
[distribute your attributes points
STR:0
VIT:0
END:0
DEX:0
AGI:0
INT:0
WIL:0
LUK:0
AP remaining:70]
Ooh, this is interesting. An RPG, good job brain. Let's see, I wonder if I can pump them all into one attribute?
[cannot put any more points into that attribute]
Huh, so the maximum is 20. Though I don't know if I want 20 strength… Oh well, it's only a dream. Though, I'll probably have to have a dump stat or two.
[distribute your attributes points
STR:20
VIT:10
END:10
DEX:20
AGI:10
INT:5
WIL:5
LUK:0
AP remaining:0]
That's… not ideal but I guess it'll work. It's a dream so intelligence wouldn't really do anything and luck is a load of bull anyway. Now to accept and-
[each attribute must have a minimum of 1 point]
Damn, guess I'll take a point off a few other attributes.
[distribute your attributes points
STR:20
VIT:10
END:10
DEX:20
AGI:10
INT:4
WIL:5
LUK:1
AP remaining:0]
[attributes initialized. Say/think status in order to open the status screen]
Just how many layers are there to this dream? Well, I'm not gonna stop now.
"Status"
[Name: Jaune Arc
Title: none
Race: human
Level 1
HP:100/100
HPR:0.001/s
SP:100/100
SPR:0.01/s
MP:40/40
MPR:0.0005/s
Str:20
Vit:10
end:10
Dex:20
Agi:10
Int:4
Wil:5
Luk:1]
Cool, now what? I could get out of bed I guess. I wonder if there's any mobs for me to kill-!
*Thump*
Ow, falling out of bed isn't exactly the way I wanted to wake up but oh well. I am awake, right?
I looked around but I saw no weird floating screen in sight. That's a bit of a shame. I wanted to know where that dream was leading to.
Anyway, I better get some breakfast. Today's the day I go to Beacon after all. Oh, better turn my alarm clock off. Don't want that waking up the entire house while I'm in the bathroom or something.
I went into the kitchen, not bothering to change out of my pajamas. No one's awake yet so I'll have to make my own breakfast. Some toast will be nice.
Dammit, I burned my toast. Now I can't brag about being the only one that hasn't burnt toast before.
[you have learned the cooking skill]
Wait, what? I thought I woke up. Damn, I'm having one of those wake up from a dream into another dream kind of dream. Those are so disorienting.
At least I didn't 'wake up' in the middle of class completely naked this time. It took me an entire week to realise it was actually a dream.
[say/think skills to open the skills screen]
Well, I did want to know where this dream goes.
"Skills"
[skills
Cooking level 1]
That's it? That's somewhat disappointing. I was at least hoping for something cool like a flight skill or a shoot laser beam from my eyes skills. At least then I could pretend I'm X-Ray or something.
I don't think anything else is gonna happen if I just stand around here so I guess I'll follow my usual routine and see what else shows up.
…
Well, that was disappointing. The only thing worth mentioning was the cleaning skill I got from brushing my teeth. Now what? Maybe I could grab Crocea Mors and see if I can find some mobs to kill.
"Jaune Arc!" A shrill voice called out to me. I know that voice and I definitely know what that voice means. Oh god, I'm gonna get told off by my mom even in my dream.
"How many times have I told you not to leave dirty dishes on the the table"
Ya'know, this is a dream. I could easily walk away, shout back or do anything without having to worry about the aftermath. Oh, here comes the whole being dragged by the ear thing she does.
Honestly, I'm quite surprised how realistic this dream is. Everything seems real and nothing is out of place like other lucid dreams I've had. Of course, that is if you don't count the whole RPG thing.
Ow, it hurts, my ear hurts. I wish she didn't have to do the ear pulling thing.
Wait a minute, it hurts? It hurts! I'm not dreaming! But when did I wake up? And what about the weird RPG thing? Is it still there? Do I actually have a superpower? There's only one way to find out.
Status
[Name: Jaune Arc
Title: none
Race: human
Level 1
HP:100/100
HPR:0.001/s
SP:100/100
SPR:0.01/s
MP:40/40
MPR:0.0005/s
STR:20
VIT:10
END:10
DEX:20
AGI:10
INT:4
WIL:5
LUK:1]
Holy shit! It works! My life is a game now! Watch out Beacon, here comes Jaune Arc, the gamer.
"Jaune, are you listening to me?"
"Huh, what?" I was broke out of my revelation by an irate mother. Something no one wants to see.
"Wash. Dishes. Now!"
"Yes, Mom!"
I quickly rushed to the sink with my bread crumb covered plate and quickly washed it. Didn't get a level up in cleaning sadly. But no matter, I'll wash enough dishes that I'll become the master of cleaning!
Wait, I should be focusing on combat skills.
If I'm gonna be a hero then that means fighting a lot of grimm. I'm gonna need combat skills for that.
Now that I think about it, it's a good thing I sunk all those points into strength. Though, it might have been better to put points into agi than dex depending on what they do. If dex only helps me in ranged weapons then I'm kinda screwed with Crocea Mors being only a sword and a mecha-shifting shield.
It's too late to regret my choice now though. Beside, I need to get ready for Beacon.
…
A heartfelt goodbye and some motherly nagging later, I'm finally on my way to Beacon. But why? Why do we have to get there by airship? Oh god, my motion sickness. I think I'm gonna puke. I need a trash can. I need it now!
Nevermind, don't need that trash can anymore. There are many reasons why that could be. Reason number 1, my awesome game power gave me new skills. Reason number 2, I puked over the really hot blonde girl and her small friend. The answer? Both.
[You have learned the nausea resistance skill]
[You have learned the vomit shot skill]
"Ew ew ew ew"
"Get it off! Get it off!"
Damn, now I feel bad. All I can do is apologize as calmly and politely as possible.
"I'm sorry! I'm so so sorry! I didn't mean to, I mean, motion sickness and the airship. I tried to find a trash can but, it just happened. I'm sorry!"
Yep, as calmly and politely as possible. I definitely didn't panic while apologizing then run away, definitely not. Oh crap, my motion sickness is acting up again. Come on nausea resistance! Aren't you supposed to stop this? Damn my luck.
We're here! The airship has stopped! To the trash can!
Ah, that's better. I think it's safe to say that I no longer have any of that toast left in me, or reputation for that matter. Oh god, I'm gonna be known as that guy who vomited on two girls and ran away. My social life is over before it even began.
Well, better start my life as being the laughing stock at Beacon. No amount of weird game powers are gonna change that, that's for sure.
Hm? There's one of the girls I puked on. Why is she lying on the floor like that? She looks so… sad. I, I should leave. The last person she'll want to see is the guy that puked on her. But she's so… Damn my weak heart.
"Hey, need a hand?" I reached out in front of her as she slowly shifted her silver eyes towards me. There was a moment of recognition as her eyes widened.
"Vomit boy! Don't puke on me!" She waved her arms back and forth in an attempt to keep me away.
"I-I'm not gonna puke on you! It was an accident. The airship gave me motion sickness and, and, I tried to find a trash can but, wait, vomit boy?" Ah, she's stopped thrashing about now. That's good.
"So you're not gonna puke on me again?" She asked with her wet eyes looking up at me.
"No, I'm not gonna puke on you again. Sorry about that, by the way. Just thought you might want some help" I explained which hopefully will stop her from running away in fear of projectile vomit. Though I think I can actually do that now.
"Thank god, I don't want to be known as that girl that got puked on twice on the first day"
"Uh, yeah. Ah, I'm Jaune by the way" I introduced myself while holding my hand out for her.
"Oh, names, right. I'm Ruby" She clumsily introduced herself as she pulled herself up with my hand.
"Soo, vomit boy?" I asked, wondering when she had time to come up with the nickname. I just hoped that it hasn't already spread.
"Sorry, it was the first thing that came to mind" She meekly replied, avoiding my gaze. Of course it was.
"Oh yeah, What if I called you, uh, umm vomit girl?" It kinda works. She was covered in vomit after all, even if it's copying her.
"That's your fault and you know it!" She pouted at me. Damn, that kinda hurt. So, how do I reply to that? Apologise again? Yeah, that seems right. I should apologise for that. I open my mouth to speak but Ruby already beat me to it.
"Soo, I got this thing" She said as she pulled out a goddam scythe and impaled the ground, which is made out of concrete may I add.
"Woah, is that a scythe!?" I flinched back from ya know, a bloody scythe being pulled out from nowhere!
"It's also a customisable, high-impact sniper rifle" She gloated as it mecha-shifted.
"Ah wa?" I responded while slightly tilting my head to the side. There were way too many big words in a row there.
"It's also a gun"
"Oh, that's cool" A scythe and a gun? That's like, double the badassery.
"So, what have you got?" She asked sounding somewhat excitable.
"Oh, I got this sword" I replied as I unsheathed Crocea Mors from its sheath. She oohed at the sight of my sword. I don't know why though. It's not nearly as impressive as a scythe at can turn into a gun.
"I got a shield too" I said somewhat happily as someone who has such a cool weapon is interested in my sword.
"So, what else does it do?" She asked expectantly while eyeing my shield and reaching out for it.
"Well, my shield turns into a sheath so I, uh, can put it away when I'm tired?" I asked more than said. Honestly, I'm not to sure about everything that Crocea Mors does. Dad never said anything about it and I found out about the whole shield/sheath thing myself so maybe it does do something cool and I just haven't figured it out yet.
"But, wouldn't it weigh the same?" Huh, that's a good point.
"Yeah, it does. I feel like I'm better off vomiting on the grimm" I admitted. I'm not even wrong on the vomit part. It's the only skill I got that sounds like an attack after all.
"Hehe, you can't be that bad. It'll be funny though. Never fear! For vomit boy is here to barf the grimm away!" She proclaimed as she made a superhero pose. It strangely worked well with that red cape of hers.
"Ha! And his sidekick vomit girl! Covered in so much vomit that even the grimm fear her!" I joined in and made a similar superhero pose.
We both broke down into laughter at our antics. Ruby was the first to break out of it as she realised something.
"Hey, where are we going?" She questioned me as she looked around.
"I dunno. I was following you" I replied, looking around. Yep, we may be lost.
…
Finally, we made it. We really should have known that we need to go to the place with the most amount of people. Oh well, you live, you learn.
"Hey, Ruby, over here!" A girl called out. Isn't that the other girl that I puked on? "I saved you a spot!"
"Oh, hey, I gotta go" I go to speak but she already ran off to her friend. "I'll see you after the ceremony"
"Damn it. Where should I go now?" I guess I could explore my game powers. I doubt anyone will be watching me anyway. Let's see here. No changes to stats other than the loss of hp from vomiting. Huh, my skills list has changed quite a bit.
[Skills
Combat skills
Vomit shot level 1
Life skills
Cleaning level 1
Cooking level 1
Resistance skills
Nausea resistance level 1]
My skills are sorted into categories now. It must be because I got more than 1 type of skill. I mean, cooking and cleaning are not the most unique skills in the world. It's kinda odd how vomit shot is a combat skill though. I'd like to know some more about what it actually does though. Maybe if I pressed it?
[Vomit shot level 1
You can shoot a ball vomit from your mouth
Increases range by 1%
Costs 10HP]
It worked! It's kinda shitty though. It even uses up my hp to use as well. I guess it makes sense as I did lose hp when I puked. Well, it's better than nothing, even if it only increases range by 1%. How much is that anyway? I can't imagine it will be a lot. I would like to test it out but not here. It would be a bad to throw up in the middle of the ceremony, even if it turns out to be a projectile of mass destruction. Actually, that'd be even worse. What about the other skills?
[Cleaning level 1
You can clean things
Increases cleaning efficiency by 1%]
[Cooking level 1
You can cook an edible meal
Increases cooking quality by 1%]
[Nausea resistance level 1
You can resist the effects of nausea
Decreases the effects of nausea by 1%]
They all increase or decrease something by 1%. Is that going to be a common thing? Do all skills only increase something by 1% at level 1? I'm just gonna assume that's the case for now.
"We can talk about cute boys like tall, blonde and scraggly over there" A high pitch voice brought me out of my thoughts.
Wait a minute. She just said tall, blonde and scraggly right? That's me, right? Tall? Check. Blonde? Check. Scraggly? Definitely check. Thumb pointing at me? Double check. She thinks I'm cute! Yes! Jaune 1, other guys 0.
Okay, play it cool Jaune. Dad always said that all a girl looks for is confidence so be confident and go over there-
"Ahem, I'll keep this brief" The headmaster spoke from the stage.
-right after the ceremony.
…
"I'm a natural blonde, ya'know" I said confidently, or at least I think I did.
The snow white haired girl face palmed and walked away from me. Did I do something wrong? Was I not confident enough?
Wait, I know this! This is when a girl is playing hard to get. It's just like dad told me. Ah dad, always full of useful advice when it comes to women. I wonder why my sister told me to stop listening to him?
"Hey! You!" I turned to the feminine voice that doesn't sound too happy, in fact, I would say it sounded angry. The moment I looked at her, I knew who she was. The long, curly blonde hair, the lilac coloured eyes, the busty chest. Even with the lack of vomit, I could tell that this is one of the girls that I threw up on. I already met Ruby so this must be the other one, Ruby's friend.
"I'm sorry for what happened on the airship. It was motion sickness and I couldn't make it in time. Can you please forgive me?" I somewhat pleaded. The need to plead was much higher than it was with Ruby. Probably due to the apparent anger rather than the slight fear Ruby had.
"You-"
"Wait!" Ruby yelled out as she clutched onto the girl's arm. "Yang, Jaune's my friend!"
The girl, now I know is named Yang, showed bewilderment in her eyes as she kept switching her gaze from me to Ruby and back to me.
"You made friends with vomit boy?" She asked Ruby in a somewhat bewildered yet sceptical voice. I audibly groaned when I got called vomit boy again.
"Kinda, yeah. He helped me after you ditched me" Ruby said, putting emphasis on the 'you'. Yang just shrugged and looked back at me but this time with a much less angry gaze.
"So, Jaune is it?" I nodded. "Do you vomit on every girl you meet or are we special?"
So, she's not angry? That's great! Ah, I need to respond. I think she's trying to make light of the situation so I'll respond in kind.
"I'll have you know, that's my best pickup line" I proclaimed with a confident smile on my face. Ruby chuckled to the side while Yang raised a grin. I know that grin. It's the same kind of grin my sister make when they plan to make some mischief.
"So direct. Normally, a guy would wait till at least the first date before they cover a girl in his fluids. Yet you did two at once, such a player" Her grin only got wider and wider as she talked.
Fluids? Dates? We're still talking about vomit here right? What other kind of fluids would a guy cover a girl in? Oh. Ohhhh, I get it. Fluids, right. I desperately tried to fight off the blush on my face but I could tell that I was failing by the look on Yang's face. At least I won't be alone in the blushing-
"Yang, Why would a guy puke on a girl on a first date?" A very innocent Ruby asked. She doesn't get it!? I mean, sure, I didn't get it at first but it didn't take me long.
"I'll tell you when you're older, Ruby" Yang said nonchalantly as if this is a common occurrence.
"No fair! You never tell me what you mean and everyone else avoids me when I ask" Ruby pouted. No, Ruby, there's a perfectly good reason for that. In fact, I'd be worried if they didn't try to avoid the question.
…
After I parted with Ruby and Yang, I found a secluded spot to try out some things. First, I want to see if I can make any other combat skills. Preferably, skills that don't include vomiting on my opponent. I took out my sword and started swinging it in any and every way I could think of.
After a few hours, I had to get out a flashlight. It turns out that not all the lights in Beacon are going to be kept on. Oh well, at least I can keep practicings.
After a few more hours and many breaks to recharge my stamina, I finally stopped and looked at my results.
[endurance has increased by 1]
[you have learned the sword mastery skill]
[sword mastery level 2
You can wield a sword and not hurt yourself
Increase damage when wielding a sword by 2%]
Neat, I got a skill to level 2. It's nice to say that my mastery with a sword is my best skill, even if it's only level 2. The percentage only went up by a single percent though. Does this mean that, assuming that 100 is the max level, that I can get a maximum of, uh, let me think. There are a 100 levels and a percent for each level so that would be... a 100% damage increase? I think that's right? Yeah, it must be right!
It's cool to be able to do double the damage than I should normally be able to do but something about it seems… lackluster. Like there should be something more for mastering a skill. I'll leave it for now, it's not like I'm gonna be mastering a skill anytime soon.
The big thing is the attribute increase. This means I can increase my attribute from not only leveling up like I thought but through training as well. So the question is, how broken is this? Will the same amount of effort always give the same result or will it get harder, the higher the attribute? Either way, I should hold off on spending any attribute points I get until I find out.
Now for the true reason why I made sure to come to a place with no one around, vomit shot. It's my only combat based skill other than sword mastery. But sword mastery is a passive, even my skills list updated to put them into different categories. Now I got the active combat skills and the passive combat skills categories.
Anyway, I need to see how this skill works. If I have to use it in the initiation tomorrow then I want to know exactly how it works. Well, here goes nothing. Vomit shot!
I could feel the bile rise up from my stomach, wanting to be let out. Not fighting the feeling at all, I open my mouth and a fist size blob of vomit came flying out, arched through air and out of my vision. Shit, I didn't think about it when I shot it but I shot it in the direction that my flashlight didn't light up. All I could hear from the result of my skill was a splat and a very feminine scream.
Crap, I think I might have hit someone. I grabbed the flashlight and rushed towards the scream, hoping whoever it is, is alright. I don't think I could live with myself if I seriously hurt someone just because I wanted to try out a skill.
When I got there, a dark haired girl with a bow on her head sat on the floor clutching a book in her arms as if her life depended on it. Oh yeah, she's also covered in vomit.
"Are you okay?" I called out to the girl who flinched at the sound of my voice as her bow madly twitched. How is she doing that? No, find out if she's okay first, ask questions later.
"Is this… vomit?" She wearily asked. I'm not sure whether she's asking me or herself but I answered it anyway.
"Umm, maybe?" I asked back.
I didn't really wanted to admit that she accidentally got hit by weaponised vomit for both reasons of not wanting to tell anyone that I somehow managed to weaponize vomit and the fact that I somehow manage to vomit on three different girls in the same day.
She looked at me and shielded her eyes. That made sense, I did shine the flashlight in her face after all. I quickly turned flashlight away from her and positioned it in a way so that it would let us see each other without blinding any of us. It actually took me a few attempts to get the flashlight in a good position. Who knew that pointing a flashlight was so hard?
"You are?" She asked, still weary of me. Not that I blame her. She did get hit by vomit and then get a light shone on her. She probably expected someone with a camera to pop out and yell 'You've been pranked' in her face.
"I'm Jaune, I was practicing over there when I heard a scream so I came to check it out. You alright?" I'm definitely not mentioning that I'm the one that hit her with the vomit. I've vomited on enough people today as it is.
"If you call being covered in vomit fine then yeah, peachy" She snarked. I can't blame her to be honest, being covered in vomit and all.
"Right… Need any help?" I asked while offering my hand. She hesitated slightly as if she was expecting me to have an ultory, ulterry, ulterior motive. That's the word.
Anyway, she's kinda right in a way. I'm helping her because I feel bad about covering her in vomit. But I do actually want to help her so I hope she can see that.
I think she did as she does take my hand, with her vomit covered hand. Surprisingly, I don't find it to be as gross as I should. Probably because it's my own vomit.
I pulled her up which was surprisingly easy. I didn't really think about it with Ruby but I've really gotten stronger haven't I? I'm pretty sure it would take me more effort to pull up a girl with my scrawny arms.
"Blake, by the way" She stated. I nodded and grabbed the flashlight.
"I'll light the way. I'm guessing we're heading for the showers?" I asked as I shone the flashlight in front of us. There was no response from Blake. Did I do something wrong? I looked over to Blake but couldn't see her in the dark.
"Yeah, the quicker we get to the showers, the better" She eventually said. What took her so long to answer? It didn't sound like something she would have to think about. Ya'know, I'm just gonna drop it.
The walk to the showers was a quiet one. I tried to start some small talk but it didn't really go anywhere. I got a feeling that Blake is one of those people that doesn't talk much. I did find a few things out though. Apparently, my vomit shot is powerful enough to knock someone over but not strong enough to actually damage them. That was both a relief and a shame. A shame that I wouldn't be able to kill grimm with projectile vomit and a relief that I didn't hurt Blake.
When we got to the showers, there was already someone walking out. That's good. I doubt Blake would want to wait outside, while covered in vomit, till someone finished their shower. Wait a minute, is that Yang?
"I see your pickup line is working there, vomit boy" Yang said with a smirk as she noticed us. The area around the showers were lit so I could see Blake raise an eyebrow at this. It didn't stop Yang though. "To think you used the same line on three different girls on the same day. It must be one sick pickup line"
...A sick pickup line… Was that a pun? If it was then it was a really bad one. Before I could even respond, Yang was already speaking.
"I'm heading back now, I'll Yang with you later" With that very obvious and very bad pun, she was gone. Blake turned to me with a curious look that could only mean one thing, questions.
"So, vomit boy?" She asked while raising one eyebrow.
"Yeah, I kinda puked on her and her sister while I was on the airship, maybe" I shamefully admitted.
"Right… so this vomit is…" She trailed off while expecting an answer from me.
"Yeah" I sighed as my shoulders dropped in shame.
…
The next morning, I stretched my arms and legs and stared at the ceiling. That's not my bedroom's ceiling. Oh yeah, that's right. I'm in Beacon now. But if I'm in Beacon then that means… Status.
[Name: Jaune Arc
Title: none
Race: human
Level 1
HP:110/110
HPR:0.001/s
SP:110/110
SPR:0.01/s
MP:40/40
MPR:0.0005/s
STR:20
VIT:10
END:11
DEX:20
AGI:10
INT:4
WIL:5
LUK:1]
Holy shit, it's real. But that means… I actually did puke on three girls. God, kill me now.
After moping at my tremendous bad luck, I changed out of my bunny onesie and went to breakfast. Breakfast that was provided so no grinding my cooking skill for me.
On another note, they have Pumpkin Pete's Marshmallow Flakes! Mom stopped me from eating them after I bought a hundred boxes just so I could win a prize… I didn't win. But I did get a cool hoodie. In fact I'm wearing it right now.
After breakfast, we had to get our equipment from our lockers. Here's the thing, due to something I discovered last night, I can't exactly just get my equipment from a locker.
I found to a secluded spot of the locker room, which wasn't that hard with how big the locker room is, and chanted the key word in my mind.
Inventory.
With that, a screen opened up with a few icons on it. One of those icons included a small picture of Crocea Mors. With a single motion, said weapon appeared in my hand. I do want to do more tests on the inventory but for now, I have an initiation to pass.
…
At the cliffside, we all stood on a metal plate while the headmaster gave his speech on what we need to do. It turns out we need to find a relic out in the forest and the first person we see will be our partner.
Ruby wasn't happy about that last part from the sound of her outburst. Personally, I'm kinda worried. I might have these awesome game powers but I'm still level 1 and I'm not entirely sure that being able to cover the grimm in vomit will be enough.
"Are there any question?" The headmaster asked. Great, there's one thing that's been really bugging me.
"Yeah. Umm, sir-"
"Good. Now, take your positions." He interrupted. Well, that's not filling me with confidence.
"Uh, sir? I got, um, a question. This uh, landing strategy thing. What is it? Are you dropping us off or something?"
"No, you will be falling" He stated matter of factly. Yeah, I'm not feeling any better about this.
"I see, so, did you hand out parachutes for us?"
"No, you will be using your own landing strategy" He replied, taking a sip from his mug. Yeah, this is exactly what I was worried about.
"So, what exactly is a landing strategy-!"
Suddenly, I was in the air, soaring towards the sky like a majestic bird where no height was the limit. That is, if majestic means flailing around for your life. The next, I was falling hard. I screamed and cried as the ground got closer and closer, nothing stopping me from my impending death.
Then, my vision shifted to the side. What the hell? Everything suddenly stopped moving and I just hung there, in the air.
I-I think I'm alive. I'm alive! Yeah! Now where am I?
*rip*
What was that? It sounded like something tearing, maybe some sort of cloth. There it is again-!
*Thump*
Ow, that hurt. I looked up and saw a spear, or is it a javelin? Pinning some black cloth into the tree… wait a minute, That's my hoodie! My poor hoodie, ruined! I liked that hoodie as well.
After a moment to calm down, I realised that the loss of my hoodie is much better than the loss of my life. Speaking of life, I got 97HP right now. That's something I should keep a track of.
Now what should I do? Should I wait for whoever threw that javelin at me or should I go off on my own?
If I wait here then I'll end up partnering with the javelin thrower and I don't know how I feel about partnering with someone who'll readily throw a javelin at someone, even if it did save my life.
On the other hand, I could go by myself and possibly get a much saner partner but with the risk of running into a grimm.
*Growl*
I turned to the sound of the growl, unsheathed Crocea Mors and deployed the shield.
It's a grimm. I could tell by the white bony mask that they all have. This one was very wolf-like in appearance. The only exception was its size and its ability to walk on two legs. That was all I could tell before the thing lunged at me.
Holding up my shield, I blocked it from tearing at my throat, if only barely. Turns out, even 20 strength isn't much when it comes to grimm. I swung the sword from behind my shield.
*Clang*
Crap, I hit the bones coming out of its arms. Before I could go for another swing, it managed to get a grip on my shield and tried to tear the shield out of my grip, and succeeding. This thing definitely surpasses my 20 strength so I should use it against it.
Instead of playing tug of war with this thing, I followed the direction of the shield and pushed off the ground to add more force to it. With a nice clang, the shield impacted the grimm's bony skull cause the clawed hand to let go of my shield.
Turns out, grimm are not that smart. It leapt at me once again and tried to get into a tug of war with my shield. I shield bashed it and it leaped at me, repeating the cycle all over again.
Eventually the grimm got injured enough that each movement was slow, every action had less force in it. It was weakening. With a final shield bash, the grimm got sent hurtling to the ground. Before it managed to get up, I lifted my sword and brought it down, piercing the grimm's chest.
Black blood shout out as my blade entered its chest. Its arms and legs sluggishly flailed around a it desperately hung on for life. Sometimes the arms would hit my legs, almost causing me to lose balance but I kept strong and pushed down on my blade even harder.
At last, the grimm's limbs went limp and the grimm started to fade away into wisps of darkness.
I collapsed on my behind, taking deep laboured breaths. Damn, my stamina is almost empty. One more round of tug of war and I would have been done for.
[strength has increased by 2]
[vitality has increased by 1]
[endurance has increased by 3]
[you have learned the shield mastery skill]
[you have learned the shield bash skill]
[shield mastery level 3
You can wield a shield to block attacks
Increases defence when wielding a shield by 3%]
[Shield bash level 3
You can bash foes with your shield
Increases damage by 3%
Costs 5SP]
The rewards are nice but damn, was that hard. I never knew the grimm were so strong. I mean, I knew they were strong but not that strong. Damn, I'm out of breath. I should wait for my stamina to regenerate before I fight anymore. At least it'll give me some time to think whether staying here for the javelin thrower is a god thing or not.
How long have I got anyway? Let's see, my max stamina is 140 and I want to regenerate 132 or at least most of that. My regen is 0.011 so that means it'll take uh, um, okay. So... A hundred would regenerate 1.1, I think? But I can knock the .1 off as it isn't much. So that means about 1SP per hundred seconds so and hundred hundred seconds should be… C'mon brain, you can do this. So let's see…
I can't do it. I can't do the math! Why can't I do simple math!? Is it my intelligence? Is it because my intelligence is so low?
Damn, low intelligence biting me in the ass. I definitely need to bring that up. What kind of gamer am I if I can't even understand my stats?
"Nope" Huh? What? I looked around and managed to catch the faint swaying of snow white hair as it disappeared into the distance. Wait, white hair? That's the girl that called me cute!
Should I follow her? Let's see here, pro number 1, the high chance be partnered with a girl that find me cute. Pro number 2, someone else would be around if any more grimm pop up. Pro number 3, I'll be nowhere near the javelin thrower.
Now for the cons. Con number 1, uh, er, umm, I can't think of a con. Well, I guess that answers that.
"Hey, wait up!" I shouted as I stumbled to my feet and chased after the white hair in the difference-!
*thump*
Shit, I tripped. Out of all the times to trip, I trip now. I picked up my head and swiveled it back and forth in search for the white head of hair but found nothing but green. Damn, I lost her.
What now? Wait here, by the javelin? It might be a good idea just so I can get some stamina back. Yeah, that sounds like a good idea. I'll try and do some math while I wait and figure out how long I actually need to wait.
…
Fun fact, I can't do math. 2+2? Easy, it's 4. 27+32? Takes a while but I'll eventually get the answer. Maybe not the right answer but it's an answer. Multiplying and dividing? Yeah, that's way out of my league. Even when my intelligence increases by 3, I found multiplying and dividing difficult. Possible, but difficult. I did manage to get answer to my stamina though. Turns out, it'll take me over 3 hours to go from empty to full. It took me 2 of those 3 hours to figure that out. Yeah, I suck.
"Hello" A voice called out. I leaped up from my sitting position, drew Crocea Mors and faced the source of the voice. I soon relaxed when I saw the face. It wasn't a grimm, which should have been obvious, so there's no need to point a weapon at her.
The red headed amazoness, that's the only way I could describe her appearance, waved her hand and the javelin pierced into the tree shot out and straight towards her. I tried to move in to save her but my response was too slow.
The javelin reached right in front of her chest and will pierce through any moment now. Or it could be plucked out of the air by the said girl that was about to be pierced.
My body sagged with the relief of not having someone being killed in front of me. The girl walked towards me, gave a short wave and greeted me again.
"Hello again"
"Um, hi?" I gave a short wave back. Well, I guess she's my partner now so... Wait a minute, I know who she is!
"Y-y-you" I stuttered while pointing a finger at her. She took a step with a thrown of disappointment on her face and looked down at the floor but I was too caught up in my revelation to pay any attention to that. "You're the javelin thrower!"
"Eh?" Her gaze shot up and her eyes widened at my revelation. She must have thought that I would never figure that out but I did.
"Yeah, you threw a javelin at me!" I shouted at her. It might have saved me but there's no way she could have meant for that to happen. I mean, no one is that good. "I could have died!"
"I'm sorry!" She exclaimed and deeply bowed. Um, Is she going to come back up or is she gonna stay like that?
...Yep, she is. What should I do now? Technically, she is my partner now so I'm kinda stuck with her, even if she is a javelin thrower.
"Uh, yeah, I guess you're forgiven?" I asked more than said. To be honest, I just want this awkward situation to be over with. "But I'm watching you"
She shot up from her bowing position and gave a quick nod with a smile on her face. This girl… was she even sorry in the first place?.
"Right, I'm Jaune" I introduced myself. "You are?"
Her eyes widened and her smile grew then shrunk into a thrown for some reason. Is she both-polar? I think that's the word, when easily switches from one emotion to the other.
"Ah, I'm.." She mumbled into her hand, not letting me catch her name.
"Uh, can you repeat that?" I asked but she did the whole mumble thing again. I once more asked again but this time scooted myself closer to her and leaned in to her.
"Pyrrha" She mumbled in a barely audible voice.
Finally! Pyrrha huh, but why would she be so shy about saying her name? Could it be that she's embarrassed by it?
Hmm, I can kinda see it. She does have pee in her name so maybe others called her pee girl. Or maybe people say her name as 'pee, ha!' and make fun of her that way.
"Well, Pyrrha, is that how you say it?" She nodded, and by the smile on her face, I would say that I got it spot on. "We should go and get the relic before the grimm finds us"
She quickly agreed and we set off north, or what Pyrrha said was north. I have no idea how she knew that without a compass but I'm gonna treat this as a test. If she leads me the wrong way then she can't be trusted.
Pyrrha kept asking me questions about me such as my home life, what my hobbies are, etc. Her reaction to her finding out I got seven sisters was funny, then again, it's always funny when someone finds out that little tidbit. But whenever I asked her questions, she kept dodging the question or giving answers that didn't really give any answers.
I don't know about other people but that seems quite suspicious to me. She's definitely hiding something.
First, she almost killed me with a javelin and now she's hiding her past. There's no way I can truly trust her with that track record. If she was just hiding her past then it wouldn't be that bad. Even I have my secrets with the whole 'faking my way into Beacon' thing but the attempted murder via javelin really put me on edge.
Maybe she's actually an assassin and I'm somehow preventing her from getting her target so she wants to take care of me first? Or maybe she has a personal vendetta against my family and plans to kill me to get revenge? Or maybe- is that a cave?
"Pyrrha, I think I know where the relic is"
…
"Jaune, I don't think this is a good idea" Pyrrha said in an attempt to get us to leave the cave.
"Pyrrha, the relic is in some ancient ruins, right?" Pyrrha agreed. "And everyone knows that the entrance to ancient ruins are found in dark spooky caves" I lectured as I shone the flashlight down the cave.
It was a bit awkward to get it out of my inventory without Pyrrha knowing but it turns out that she's pretty gullible. Seriously, who would believe that there's a celebrity in the middle of a forest.
"Well, if you say so" She reluctantly admitted.
She really doesn't want us to be in this cave which only ensures me that the relic is in here.
Think about it. She just so happened to throw a javelin at me then somehow knew the way to the relic. She wants to stop me from passing initiation! But no siree, I'm too smart for that, regardless what my intelligence attribute says.
If she doesn't want me to go somewhere then it's obviously the right way-!
*Thump, splash*
D-did she just trip me? She tripped me, didn't she!? Wait, why is it so dark? The flashlight! I padded around for the flashlight while paying extra attention to any sudden movements such as a javelin to the back.
Yes, I got it! Now to turn it back on and- Huh? I-it doesn't work. The water from the puddle broke it. Crap, what am I gonna do now?
"Jaune, maybe we should go back. With no light, it might be better to look somewhere else" Pyrrha suggested. So that's her plan. Trip me, ruin my flashlight then convince me to leave. Too bad for you, I am Jaune Arc. I won't get fooled by such a plan.
"It can't be that bad, it'll just take a bit for our eyes to adjust to the light- Look! There's the relic!" In the distance, a golden glow illuminated the area. I rushed towards it before Pyrrha could somehow sabotage me.
I grabbed the relic but it was stuck in place. I tugged and pulled but even my 22 strength wasn't enough to displace the relic. Then something I never expected to happen, happened. The relic pulled back.
Oh great, another tug of war. But there was a difference this time. I didn't just lose but I lost badly. Losing my perch on the ground, I went head first over the relic and landed on whatever was pulling on the relic.
Ya'know, I think that would have went much worse if I let go of the relic. Huh? Why can I feel the wind?
*Boom*
"What the hell is going on!?" I screamed as light and dust flooded my eyes. Spitting out some of the dust and rock that somehow got into my mouth, I surveyed the situation and found out a few things about the situation.
1, I'm outside. 2, I'm lying on something long, black and connected to a goddamn scorpion grimm!
Pyrrha must've planned this! She must have reverse-psychiced me into thinking the grimm was the relic, the clever girl.
I quickly positioned myself so I'm now mounting the tail of the scorpion grimm. I then checked my health and noticed that I'm now down to 72hp.
Damn, my health regen is much worse than my stamina regen so it's definitely gonna take much longer to get it back.
By the way, where am I going? The grimm is… chasing Pyrrha? She must be leading it to a trap so she can finally get rid of me. That or she's messed up and the grimm is trying to kill her as well.
Let's see what you have in store you devious, conniving woman- Woah! Almost got hit by a tree branch-!
*thwap*
Correction, I did get hit by a tree branch. Ergh, my motion sickness is acting up. Figures that I would get motion sickness from riding a god damn grimm!
[nausea resistance has leveled up]
Not helping game! Okay, maybe you are helping but I still feel like I'm gonna puke out an ocean.
Huh? Is that Yang and Blake? Why is Yang holding Ruby in her arms? Questions later, solve problems now.
"Hey guys! A little help here!" I called out to them.
Great! With so many people here, there's no way Pyrrha's dastardly plans can work. Urgh, that was close, almost puked everywhere.
"Did she just run all the way here on a deathstalker on her tail while Jaune rode said deathstalker?" Blake commented.
I would correct her and say that Pyrrha led the scorpion grimm, apparently called a deathstalker, here in an attempt to either kill me or stop me from passing initiation but I think it'll be best to not let the evil woman know that I'm onto her little scheme.
That's it! She's taking advantage of my motion sickness so I'll be too weak to finish the initiation.
"I can't take it anymore!" Yang exploded, dropping Ruby to the floor. "Could everyone just chill out for 2 seconds before something crazy happens again!?"
"Bluuurgh"
"Did Jaune just throw up on a death stalker?" Yes, yes I did Blake. Good job pointing out the god damn obvious!
"Guys, can you me down from here before I-! Bluurgh" Oh god, it's everywhere. On the bright side, I think I blinded the bloody thing.
"Nope, not fighting that! I still got stains on my last outfit" Well, geez, thanks Yang.
Wait, why is everyone looking up? It's the white haired girl! Crap, crap, she's falling to her death. Okay, think Jaune, think. Damn, the only utility I got is vomit shot… Well, it's worth a shot.
Taking a breath of air, I reciting the keywords in my mind.
Vomit shot!
Vomit once more made its way up my throat, burning my insides, and shot out of my mouth with a satisfying arc.
Yes, right on target! The girl went from falling straight down to falling at an angle. An angle that sent her right into the cushioning leaves and branches of a tree. Huh, it worked.
[vomit shot has leveled up]
"Dang, vomit boy! Talk about a sick shot!" Of course, that came from Yang. It was quickly followed with a groan by courtesy of Ruby.
"Um, guys, Can you, ya'know, help me!" I yelled, desperately trying to keep any vomit that's left inside from being outside me.
"Don't worry, Jaune, I'm coming!" Ruby shouted as she charged forward with her oversized scythe in her hands but ineffectively bounced off the grimm's pincer.
"Ruby!" I called out. Damn, I gotta do something. With one hand still holding onto the tail, I unsheathed my sword and brought it down on the area between the tail and the golden stinger.
The deathstalker screeched out in pain as its stinger flopped down in front of its face and splashed in the puddles of vomit. That gave Ruby enough time to get up off the ground and get away but the damn bird decided to interfere.
"Oh no you don't!" I shot another vomit shot at the feather threatening to impale Ruby then sent another to the bird grimm itself.
Yes! They both hit target. Sadly, it didn't affect the giant bird. At least Ruby is safe though. Now, how to deal with the big scorpion over here? I've cut off its stinger but that's not enough to take it down.
"Jaune!" People shouted at me. I looked at everyone's faces to find out what the problem was. They were filled with both worry and shock. Shit something bad is about to happen.
"Above you!" One of them shouted, I think it was Ruby. Following the advice, I was met with a beak of the grimm I just spewed over.
"Oh shi-"
[you have gained the vomit boy title]
[you have leveled up X5]
[You have died]