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Chapter Nine: Reflection
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"That's a big Ursa!" - Speech
'I'm so tired.' - Thoughts
[Game Announcement]
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I don't own RWBY or The Gamer.
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Qrow, Oobleck, and Port leapt out of the shadows and into action. A few surprised White Fang guards were no match for three pro Huntsman. A nearby grunt saw this and sprinted to sound the alarm, but Qrow quickly spun out his scythe and knocked him out with a leg sweep.
"Help us!" a pilot begged as the other prisoners made noise.
"Huntsman! Over here!" another one called.
Oobleck ran over to free them as he whispered back. "Quiet! Do you want the whole camp to hear us?"
Slicing the locks open with a powerful hook attack, Qrow smiled as he ran his hands over thousands worth of stolen Atlas weaponry. "All right. Port, you know what to do."
The chubby man nodded, wheezing quietly as he ran, or rather, waddled quickly over to where the rest of the prisoners were being held. Qrow soon handed out rifles and ammunition and explained to the Atlesian crew as they thanked him.
"We owe you our lives!"
"Thank you Huntsman!"
"Show's not over." Qrow said in his scratchy voice. "We still got a camp full of hostiles and one of the world's most wanted criminals to arrest. Listen closely."
The group of twenty or so men paid close attention as Qrow explained the plan. "Set off a huge explosion in the center of the camp. Port here will help you set up the Dust charges." the man holding his blunderbuss nodded. "Oobleck will and five of you will cover the camp's exits and sabotage their bikes so they can't escape."
"What about Taurus? Won't he escape?"
"We already made sure of that. Now that we've infiltrated their camp, I've notified Ironwood. He's on his way with a detachment of the fleet." said Qrow.
A guard had woken up in the middle of the night and gasped in surprise. "Intruders!" he reached for his rifle and fired on the crew.
Qrow easily parried all the shots as the camp woke up. "Looks like we got there attention now! All of you subdue the camp! The rest of you come with me!"
The White Fang left their tents, exchanging Dust fire and swords with the freed prisoners. Port and Oobleck easily took down grunts, knocking them out cold as Qrow surrounded Adam's tent.
Adam and his guards left his tent, Adam holding his sword and sheath in one hand and the command tent flap up with his other. "What the- How'd you-"
Qrow raised his sword as the five Atlesian pilots next to him raised their rifles with a clack, trained on Adam and his men. "Adam Taurus, in the name of the Kingdoms and People of Remnant and Supreme General Ironwood of Atlas, you are under arrest."
"You picked the wrong night to do this human." Adam spat, drawing his sword.
"Come quietly. Your men are being rounded up as we speak." Qrow said motioning to the battle the White Fang was losing around the camp.
Adam noticed that the men next to Qrow hadn't fired yet. Adam's sheath exploded outward, Qrow dodging before blocking a quick set of slices from the red blade of Adam's sword.
Adam crossed swords loudly with Qrow, yelling orders to his men. "Everyone run! Let me deal with the Huntsmen."
Qrow and Adam exchanged blows as the battle raged around them, the White Fang failing utterly to slip away.
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Pixels shattered around Jaune as he swung Crocea Mors right through a Ghoul. The green undead monster shrieked in pain as Jaune dodged claw hacks from another.
It became like clockwork for Jaune, well accustomed to the telegraphed and predictable attacks of Abyss monsters.
[You have gained +150 EXP!]
[You have gained +1 STR from clearing this room!]
Jaune blocked the drooling jaws of the Ghoul with an uppercut from his shield, sending the mob flying with a quick [Aura Thrust]. In a white flash of light, the Ghoul hit the wall of the dungeon so hard it shattered into a colorful array of emerald pixels.
Sweating slightly, Jaune swung his sword about making it shine in the light of the dungeon before depositing it in the now sheath form of his shield. After weeks (or well days in Remnants time) of practice Jaune was well accustomed to the ever shifting rooms of randomly spawning dungeons in the Abyss that formed into an infinitely twisting tree branch.
From his [Home], Jaune found the Abyss was a maze, with rooms that always changed every time he dove into them. Bringing up his menu, Jaune checked his progress in this run.
[Attempt #12/ Room #7. Abandon? Y/N.]
Jaune was getting a little hungry. And in Remnant's time if he remembered correctly, he had told JNPR he was going to the bathroom to freshen up before lunch. He had to admit, it was getting tougher and tougher to hide his leaps in improvement and strength from his friends.
Jaune would spend hours in the Abyss grinding in combat against monsters, training in his home, and being very active. It had already begun to show in simple jogs around the frozen campground RWBY and JNPR were spending their winter break at that Jaune was much more in shape.
Curious to see how far he had come from gaining the Gamer power at level 5, Jaune opened up his [Status Menu.]
Name: Jaune Arc
Class: The Gamer
Level: 17 (Next Level: 32.15%)
Title: Student/Huntsman in Training
Age: 17
HP: 1103/1100
AP: 653/1000
SP: 947/1050
STR: 32
STA: 25
DEX: 44 (+2,+5)
INT: 26
WIS: 13 (+2)
LUK: 12
Status: N/A
Perks: -Large Aura Pool (+50 AP and increased possible expansion of Aura)
-Sharp (+5 to DEX)
-Quick (+2 to WIS and DEX)
Flaws: None
Skill Points: 0
Jaune blinked slowly, chuckling a little at his stats. It was a miracle his friends hadn't found out yet that he had a strange ability from a different dimension. Still, he had come a long way since his first time gaining the Gamer. He had gone from level 5 to being a few levels under Cardin's range. His friends were in their early thirties to late twenties range of levels, and Jaune was not far behind at the rate he was improving.
To help put into perspective for himself how quickly Jaune had improved, in the course of a single semester, he had nearly achieved the basics of fighting and gained twelve levels, not having a single bit of Huntsmen training. Whereas someone like Yang or Blake who excelled in combat and been fighting and training their entire lives gained only a measly two or three.
He shook his head. He still had a long way to go.
Before he moved on, Jaune pulled out his guidebook. He flipped through Han Jihan's book and reached a page he had bookmarked.
The Speed Demon Perk.
After you pass DEX of 60, your attacks and movements will be alarmingly fast. At full power with nothing held back, you should be able to outrun some cars and all enemies. Only high end bosses and very strong enemies should have a speed this high, at least for the early part of your journey with the Gamer for sure.
With the Speed Demon perk, you gain +10 to DEX while in combat and +30% SPD and DMG to all attacks. However, the drawback to being so fast here is that you consume mana, or whatever variation of it exists in your world, like a race car burns out tires and gas. So invest plenty into STA.
Jaune nodded, clapping the book shut and tucking it into his [Inventory Menu.] This was a really strong perk, and he could counter any downsides with his already large aura pool that grew ever larger with his levels. The Gamer really was an ability that benefitted itself.
Jaune fixed his white Samurai armor he was wearing and headed into the next Dungeon room.
The flaming Minotaur gripped his axe, swinging it around and roaring.
Jaune looked at the buff mini boss' tag hovering over its head.
[Minotaur - LV 20]
Jaune drew his sword, ready to take on the mini boss with everything he had.
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It's alive! I'm alive! No, I have not forgotten about this story. How many people want this back? Let me know, because as RWBY returns and I have enjoyed Code Geass (and the SAO story garnered one notable review), I will be writing two stories! This gamer one for RWBY and one for Code Geass. Both should have full chapters posted by Friday and Saturday.
I am praying Jaune lives this volume and all the ones that come next, but knowing Rooster Teeth this is up in the air. They have killed more neutral characters for less. So this is back, and there should be a full chapter detailing the beginning of Volume 2 canonically, and the conclusion of Qrow's mini arc with Adam which will be important later.
If anyone is interested I have made a playlist public on Youtube titled this story's "OST" there are some great tracks there including Demon Slayer's season 1 opening by the way (love that anime.) Just type in "MiyazakiFan 18" into the Youtube search bar and my playlist is the first thing that pops up. And yes, the space is important. There are just some great songs there plus some that fit in to the fanfic. To be honest I think OST for fanfics are bad ideas since you have to constantly switch back and forth between tabs to play songs which ruin the flow, so this playlist is just a list of music I listen to when writing to help me get into the world of RWBY as well as Arc of Legend second version.
Thanks for reading everyone! Before I go, I am calling everyone, newcomers and oldcomers! Let me know if you want this back folks! Because it's coming back for sure now! Thank you thank you all so much!