"So how can I help?" Jaune offered his services immediately upon meeting with Ruby in front of Beacon's forge at seven in the morning.
"We'll get to that, but first let me show you what I've accomplished so far. I'm very proud." The weapon maker entered the forge and used a key she had to open one of the many different rooms.
"You get your own room?" The leader inquired.
"Well, it costs money just like the materials, but when I told my uncle what I was planning, he footed the bill. He's the person who inspired my original weapon design, you know." As she spoke, Ruby opened up many different lockers and containers, spilling the contents onto the central table in the spacious room.
"You're close with your uncle?" Ruby shrugged.
"I guess so. We've always had our desire for making awesome weapons in common, but Yang's always been closest with him ever since-" The reaper cut herself off. She briefly looked to Jaune, but then turned away. "That… Isn't my story to tell. Nevermind." Before he could respond, the young huntress grabbed a handful of small metal hexagons and shoved them in his face. "Now look at this!" She excitedly shouted.
"What am I looking at exactly?" Jaune asked, confused by her metal shapes.
"This," She gestured to the shapes in her hand and a pile of wiring on the table. "Is my new weapon. Crescent Rose 5.0."
"Uhh…" He stared at the pieces that she pointed out, looking for any hint of a weapon, but found none. "How? When he asked for an explanation, she grinned.
"I've been working on this concept since my first year in combat school, but this last week I finally sat down and perfected it- well, not perfected, but good enough to be made into a weapon- But anyway. Let me show you how it works."
She dumped her handful back into the pile, and opened a separate container that held a couple hundred more of the hexes. They were only about the size of his thumb tip, he noticed. Laying the tech onto the table, she gingerly swiped her finger on one of them. It instantly started glowing red and the rest came on soon after, varying in time depending on proximity. When they were all glowing, she tapped the same hexagon again and the glowing stopped. Then, she pressed her thumb, pointer, and pinky on three separate hexes- then quickly stepped back to watch the magic happen.
Almost immediately, all the meta hexagons glowed in unison. Then they seemed to spring to life- in a very literal sense- with some popping up onto their side and rolling towards others, while the ones that continued to lay down magnetically drew closer to each other. In a flash, the tiny machines had assembled themselves into… the hilt of a sword. Ruby picked up the creation, examined it, and grinned.
"Pretty cool, huh?"
"Wh- What was that?!" Jaune demanded an explanation. He had seen actual magic, but this level of technology completely astounded him.
"I call them micromachines- because they're so small. They each individually function as machines, but can communicate with each other to create, well, whatever I program them to create. It was a pain in the ass to create the programming, and even more so to wire everyone together individually, but the product has been more than worth it."
"Ruby, that's amazing!" Jaune gushed, making the youngest hunter blush slightly. "I've never seen something so impressive before. And made in a week as well! Wow!"
+2 Bond with:
Ruby Rose
Bond LV: 16/200
[OK]
"Thank you, Jaune. But enough of that! We still have work to do, as you can see." Ruby used the loan sword hilt in her hand as evidence.
"Right." The leader of Team JWLR nodded. "What do I need to do?"
"I still have a lot more micromachines to wire up, but I haven't cut out every shell yet. That's what you'll be doing. The process is simple, and mostly automated, but it takes just under a minute to make only one." Ruby explained.
"How many more do you need?" Jaune hesitated when he asked this. Ruby looked over some blueprints that she'd pulled out of the drawers previously.
"Only… four hundred thirty six more to go." He gulped and she gave him a predatory smile. Ruby claimed she didn't blame him for her weapon breaking at the Breach, but times like this made him feel like she might be slightly upset at him anyway. "Better hop to it."
Ruby didn't lie when she said the process to make these tiny machine casings was simple. Beacon was a hightech school, with access to state-of-the-art equipment. First, a hexagon had to be cut from the high quality steel Ruby had bought, then the steel was brought to another machine to be hollowed out ever so slightly for the wiring, and finally, tiny notches and hooks were cut into every side of the hexagon by a laser to allow for connections between the other machines. Each task was performed by three separate machines, all already loaded with Ruby's program on exactly what to do. Really, there was no possible way for Jaune to mess this up, and each program ran quickly, as well. The real time sink came with the transfer.
Beacon was hightech, but not that hightech. Each machine performed its job admirably, but only its job. Jaune still had to move each micromachine casing to each machine every time. It was boring and annoying, but it was what Ruby needed help with, so he couldn't let her down.
Most likely due to her semblance, by the time Jaune finished cutting out all four hundred thirty six metal casings hours later, Ruby had finished wiring not only every casing from her original pile, but nearly every casing that he gave her too. In fact, the team leader needed to only wait two minutes after finishing before his teammate finished as well. Tedious work, but at least he gained a decent amount of Craftsmanship for it.
Craftsmanship LV: 5- Allows The Gamer to create and repair items.
At LV: 5- 1% chance to create an item of [ULTRA] quality. 5% chance to create an item of [GREAT] quality. 20% chance to create an item of [GOOD] quality. 25% chance to create an item of [AVERAGE] quality. 49% chance to create an item of [POOR] quality. Proficiency to repair items increased by +15%.
"Hey Jaune," Ruby caught his attention, only slightly less mentally drained than he was. "Watch this." She grabbed a few of the micromachines and let technology do the rest. From their resting position on the table, the machines sprung to life. They quickly flew over to Ruby's awaiting hand and formed a two handed sword in no time flat. The reaper tapped the machines slightly differently and they suddenly rearranged themselves into a scythe, and once more for two short swords. Finally, they arranged themselves around Ruby's waist, complimenting her new outfit as belt before deactivating. "I still have to paint them and figure out the gun function, but I think it will do for now."
"Pfft." Jaune snorted at the understatement. "I'll say. But… What about a blade?" This was a question that he had thought of while working on the casings for hours. Ruby was focused on wiring the whole time, so he couldn't ask then, but he asked now instead. "You turned them into a sword and scythe, but they didn't have sharp edges."
"No blades." Ruby agreed. "If I was able to make them even smaller, I might be able to work something out, but instead, I have each piece on the blade fully expose its edge. The tiny hooks that make up the connectors function as serrations to produce a similar effect. Though, if I were to guess, a little more messy."
"That makes sense. And actually, you just reminded me! I should make myself a ranged weapon in here instead of just buying one. Would that be cheaper?"
"Oh definitely. What would you want, though?" Ruby inquired, idly grabbing some of the extra steel.
"Something small, since it's not a part of my main weapon. So maybe a pistol of some kind." Jaune brainstormed.
"Well, you already have the 'classic' look going on with that sword and board combo of yours, how about an old style six shooter?" The reaper placed the steel into one of the machines and typed into the control panel.
"A 'six shooter?'" The hunter repeated, unfamiliar with the terminology.
"Yeah. I guess you'd know it better as a revolver. That's a classic right there, holding six shots in a rotating barrel. Would you want one of those?" She asked as the machine hummed to life once more, quickly turned the metal into a new form. Jaune considered the offer.
"Yeah. I think that would be for the best. Is it easy to make a revolver with this equipment?" He questioned, trying to plan out when he might be able to get this project started.
"Oh, super easy. That design is so iconic that machines like this can make them with the right materials in minutes."
"That sounds great! I would just have to buy the materials and then I'd be all set. I would still have to buy ammo though… That might cost me…" Jaune pondered.
"Or, you can take this one and save the money for only the ammo." Ruby broke him from his thoughts, tossing him a freshly made revolver from the machine like it was nothing.
"Wow. Thank you, Ruby." The weaponsmith shrugged.
"Barely an inconvenience, and besides, you earned it for helping me out all day." That all day part was no exageration either. It was already seven at night!
Quest Complete:
Reaching for the Stars
Objective One Completed: Acquire a Ranged Weapon of some kind for your permanent arsenal.
Reward: +2 Bond with Ruby Rose, +1 Bond with Weiss Schnee, +1 Bond with Pyrrha Nikos, +1 LV in Shooting Skill, +3 STR, +2 END
Failure Avoided: None
[OK]
Now Jaune has a ranged weapon. Took him long enough. This was more of a filler chapter than the others, but it was still an important step for Jaune.
Until next time,
-RMV