If there was one thing Naruto was more experienced at than any other person on Remnant, it was having an intimate understanding of what it felt like to lose an arm.
He hadn't exactly been keeping count, but he knew it was at least twice. This might even be the third time, which did take him up to the level of unique, at least in the lost-limb department. He was now a statistical outlier, not that he wasn't already.
These were not the first thoughts that ran through Naruto's mind, nor the first actions he took.
Naruto had barely enough time to finish screaming in pain before he yanked himself backwards, a trail of red hot blood streaming from the ragged stump of his arm as he rolled to a half-standing position, watching in abject horror as the chest, coated in a sheen of his own blood, began to stand.
Two long, black limbs ending in sharp, white claws, a spindly torso of black flesh and white bone, and two even longer limbs, planted firmly on the ground.
It towered over the two of them, at least fifteen feet tall, a snarling head that was the blood-stained chest, sharpened teeth gleaming red along the edges.
Naruto barely had the time to grit his teeth and clutch at his slowly healing stump when the chest took a swing at him, sharpened claws gouging chunks of wood from the floor as it arced in his direction.
Blake opened fire, rounds pinging off the bone and burying into the flesh, and if it wasn't for that momentary distraction Naruto wouldn't have had the time to activate Phaseshift, the claws passing through him in a single moment before the pain of his arm became his most pressing concern.
Naruto Flash-Stepped backwards, already reaching into his inventory and withdrawing the only Erythraean Vial he had, decorking the vial and downing the red liquid in a single shot.
He felt a sharp burning pain well up from his stomach, pushing through his body and pulsing with an almost unnatural rhythm.
His arm's regeneration was sped up dramatically, bone, sinew and flesh pulsing out from the severed stump at an incredible rate, making him grit his teeth.
He wasn't out of combat, though, and the Grimm was focused on him with a disturbing intensity, completely ignoring Blake, even as Gambol Shroud sliced at blackened flesh.
So, even as the pain of his arm rapidly regrowing made his eyes water, Naruto leveled his one remaining palm at the approaching monster, and cast a Gravity Infused Mana Cannon.
It didn't hit centre-mass, his aim wasn't anywhere near as good as he needed it to be in his current situation, but it did what he needed it to do, hitting with a pulse of purple-black energy, sending the Grimm backwards, no longer tethered to the concept that was gravity, or at least for the moment.
It bought Naruto enough time to re-thread his arm back in his sleeve, the clothing thankfully undamaged, and enough time to snap Predator up in his other hand, firing two rounds into the creature before it landed once more, already moving back towards him.
Naruto had all of one moment to Observe the creature before he leapt backwards and upwards, feet finding placement firmly on the wall as he activated Surface Walk, getting him just out of reach of what now knew as a Mimic.
[Opal Mimic]
[Grimm, Rare, Level 65]
[HP: 24,599/48,750]
Gravity seemed to work a treat before, Naruto surmised, and he placed his hand against the wall, concentrating.
He'd never summoned an Elemental whilst standing horizontally on a wall before, but he was glad he decided to summon Gravitus, the Gravity Elemental appearing in a fluctuating burst of light, floating in the air, unconcerned about the fact that it was in the air.
It was time for Naruto's somewhat-tried but definitely-true strategy.
Naruto flung a Mana Tether out, the tendrils lancing out once the orb landed on the Opal Mimic, and, nearly without instruction, Gravitus reached both crystalline limbs out, an inky black void appearing on the ground beneath the still-swiping Mimic as it tried to reach Naruto, undeterred by anything else around it.
The Blackhole formed completely, and Naruto could see chunks of flesh and bone being stripped off the Grimm, as it slowly became smaller and smaller, more and more injured.
Once the Blackhole had worn off, Gravitus no longer glowing anywhere near as intensely, Naruto allowed himself to drop from the wall, staring in morbid fascination at the creature of darkness that had taken his arm as it writhed on the ground, spindly limbs devoid of nearly all muscle and flesh still twitching out in his direction. That single-minded focus to kill, and to kill him, in particular, was still present, even in its current state, missing both legs as it was.
If Naruto had been a weaker person than he was, mentally, he would've felt pity for it.
Instead, he buried the blade of Crocea Mors deep into its midsection, watching in grim satisfaction as it leaked what little black blood was left into the wood beneath it, pooling around the tip of his sword.
[Raid: Dustcairn Mine Cleared!]
[You've gained 7,098,420 XP and 8,580 Lien! You've acquired 1 Opal Key!]
[For killing an Opal Mimic, an unlocked Opal Chest has been dropped!]
[You have leveled up twice, to Level 66, and gained +10 Stat Points!]
[Hunter Bounty Complete!]
[Search and Destroy: Dustcairn Mine]
[Clear Dustcairn Mine of Grimm.]
[Reward: 'The Nature of Nature' Skill Book]
[For clearing Dustcairn Mine, a reward has been revealed!]
[Achievement Unlocked!]
[Raider: Clear a Raid.]
[Claim Reward!]
It was with the final notification that Naruto heard a noise, the sound of wood grinding against wood, and both he and Blake looked towards the far wall, watching in slight surprise as a section of it lowered.
Naruto took a tentative step towards it, wary of any more traps, Grimm or anything else Remnant wanted to throw at him today, but there was nothing.
His semblance had never lied to him before, and he had no reason to believe it would now, so he took another step, followed by another, until he was walking with only a slightly shaky pace.
It was a small room, more of a nook than anything else, devoid of any contents aside from a small pedestal, atop of which sat a black leather-bound book, highlights of red and white running down the spine.
Blake was close behind, her attention piqued, made doubly-so by the fact that the reward appeared to be some form of literature.
Naruto placed one hand against the cover, wary of whatever it was, but nothing leaped out and gnawed his arm off again, so he lifted the front of the book, peering at the ancient, yellowed first page.
He stared at it for a few seconds before he shrugged. "Well, I can't make anything out. It's just random scrawls. Make sense to you, Blake?"
Blake had been practically peering over his shoulder, but at his mention, sidled past, taking the book into her hands and looking more closely. "Not that I can tell. It looks less like scribbles and more like some kind of old language, though. The scrawls are too repetitive to be anything other than letters or phrases."
Naruto decided to Observe it whilst Blake flicked through, seeing if at any point the yellow paper had anything distinctively understandable in it.
[Grimmonomicon]
[An old, Grimmleather-bound book filled with ancient, yellowed paper, covered in unintelligible markings.]
Naruto read the name and description aloud, though it didn't spark any kind of understanding in either of them.
Blake handed it back to Naruto who, upon one final cursory inspection, stowed it in his inventory.
He backed out of the recently-hidden nook and stepped back towards the now-disintegrated remains of the Opal Mimic, drawing his sword and giving the now-Opal Chest a poke with the tip.
When it didn't move or react in any way, Naruto deemed it safe, opening it and tentatively reaching inside.
He really, really didn't want it to snap closed on him again, that hadn't been fun, and he was glad when it didn't, instead his hand reaching further in than he'd expected and withdrawing all the items inside.
[You've acquired 6 Uncut Amethyst, 3 Maple Saplings, 16 Adamantite Ore and 1 Orichalcite Ore.]
Well, far be it for Naruto to complain about free items. Well, quote-unquote free. He'd had to fight hard to get here, and harder still not to die, but he wasn't going to complain. Adamantite and Orichalcite Ores? He was more than happy to get items to experiment with, and show off. Ruby was going to go hyper when he met back up with her.
"C'mon, we've spent more than enough time in here. Let's get back out."
Blake couldn't agree more. The both of them smelled of sweat, dust and Grimmblood, and Naruto definitely smelled like actual blood. They needed baths, preferably long, warm ones.
She defied the typical cat stereotype in that regard, at least.
Evening sunlight barely filtered over the dunes, leaving the air as dusky as it could without actually being night, and Naruto had to admit, the desert, whilst dangerous, was definitely a pretty sight, the purples and oranges creating a beautiful image that he dedicated to his mind.
It was picturesque, and he didn't want to let this memory slip. His first time away from Vale proper, and this had to be the most memorable vista he'd seen so far.
The two Crimson Chests and the equal amount of Citrine Chests that sat just next to the mine's office was nearly as nice a sight, he had to admit.
He knew these ones weren't Mimics, thankfully, having already given them tentative kicks, which had only served to make him stub his toe, but he hadn't lost a leg, so he'd rather that over the pain of being somewhat-temporarily limbless.
Rapid, random amputation was definitely not one of his hobbies.
Blake stood watch, carefully scanning the horizon as Naruto knelt down and used the keys he had in his inventory to open all the chests, quickly emptying them into his inventory, not even looking at the notifications until they had all combined into the one, for ease of reading.
He thanked anything and everything his semblance did that. Going through a massive list would've been more of a pain than he thought he could be bothered with.
[You have acquired 10 Copper Ore, 35 Coal, 1 Hearthstone, 27 Iron Ore, 5 Mithril Ore, 1 Viridis Vial, 1 Uncut Emerald, 22 Sand, 3 Caeruleum Vials, 8 Grade III Space Dust Crystals and 76,633 Lien!]
It was a veritable hoard of goodies, Naruto realised, and a profitable one at that, not even including the Lien that he'd acquired. The Dust most importantly, not only worth quite a bit, but it was a kind he'd never acquired before, though he had heard of it before.
More importantly, he'd heard of its reality-bending properties before. It practically powered almost all forms of mecha-shift weaponry. He knew Ruby had spent a small fortune on it for Crescent Rose.
He dismissed the notifications, standing and stretching his arms wide in that way that shouldn't have been as satisfying as it was. "Let's get out of here. It's late, and for a change we both need to get all this Grimm muck off of us."
Blake looked down at herself and winced. "Right. I'd almost forgotten."
Shirdal appeared in front of both of them, and Naruto ruffled the feathers behind his mask as he climbed up, Blake joining him up there, and the two quickly found themselves in the air once more, headed for Kuo Kuana once more.
It wasn't a strictly short flight, but it felt like it. Naruto barely paid attention to what was going on around him, instead turning his mind inwards, and towards his inventory.
There was a lot of stuff in there from his days delving deep into dungeons, mostly crafting materials he was yet to use. Bits and pieces he was planning on supplementing, when he got back to Kuo Kuana, but it wasn't the Copper or even the Iron that really stood out to him. The most notable of the list of crafting materials had to be the three new kinds of ore. Mithril, Adamantite and Orichalcite. Three ores he'd only ever heard of in fiction. Magical metals, or so the books, movies and games said.
He knew his semblance was affecting the world, but the idea that it could create entirely new materials that had never existed before was a new surprise. Well, not strictly speaking new, seeing as he'd gotten Mithril back in the Hallowed Bay, but the point remained the same.
Exactly what effects was his semblance having on the world that he didn't know about? Hell, was his semblance creating these dungeons? Was it his fault that those miners had died, or was he just another casualty in a long line of unfortunate wielders?
Questions without answers. Or, at least, questions that were refused answers. Maybe if the past wielders he'd spoken to would be a little more helpful, he'd have some kind of answer, but as it was, he was a little stumped.
Well, more than a little. Being a little confused was practically his default range of emotion.
He didn't keep his focus on the moral implications of his semblance for long. He couldn't exactly do anything about it, regardless. He was just going to have to use it to the best of his ability to help as many people as he could, if only to offset the damage it might cause.
Instead, he started considering exactly what he'd need to do to use the new metals he'd discovered. And by considering, he really meant tapping on one of the ores, if only to bring up a description of it.
[Orichalcite Ore]
[A chunk of deep green ore used in the creation of Orichalcum. Requires Crafting Level 55 to process.]
Oh. Well, that put that idea a ways back in his to-do list. With a current Crafting Level of only 15, Naruto wasn't going to be making anything from Orichalcum anytime soon.
Or maybe he would, depending on the amount of XP he'd get from the mass of materials he was planning on purchasing.
Naruto moved his attention away from his inventory and over to his admittedly near-empty achievements tab, under his player menu. A place he'd rarely touched, much to his disappointment.
Though he'd technically doubled his achievement total, which was cool. The Raider Achievement was pulsating a lovely green, and Naruto tapped it, claiming the reward for achieving the, uh, achievement.
[Reward Claimed!]
[Hunter Bounty Boards are now accessible to you!]
[A Hunter Bounty Board will provide you with various Hunter Bounties to be completed, awarding you with various rewards such as Lien, resources, and reputation!]
Well, that was appreciated. More work wasn't necessarily a 'good' thing, by moral standards, but it was technically his job, so he appreciated it all the same. Getting rewards from it, though, well, he could definitely get behind that.
Speaking of rewards, he had the reward from his first Hunter Bounty to claim. He quickly navigated to his Quest log, opening the second tab to get access to the Bounty log, and claimed the reward for the bounty.
A skill book, by the name of The Nature of Nature. It had a certain ring to it, at least. No boring essay-like encyclopedia of unspaced blocks of text for him. Not that he'd have to read it anyway, considering that, regardless of how entertaining it may or may not be, the book was blank.
Naruto shrugged, allowing it to glow blue as he absorbed the information, the book glowing blue before it disintegrated between his fingers. They'd started doing that, he didn't know why.
[Skill Learned!]
[Gathering (Active): Thanks to the System, you are now skilled in the searching, hunting and gathering of natural resources from areas in the world such as mining, log-cutting and fishing. Level 1; XP 0/12.]
Well, it wasn't a combat skill, but Naruto hadn't been expecting it to be. Another over-arching skill like Crafting, he supposed, with the skill covering a number of things. Mining was of particular interest to him, but fishing was also something he'd have to try, if only to satiate Blake. It'd at least get him some brownie points, and maybe help convince her to come with him down into the Hallowed Bay.
Maybe she'd acquiesce to a long swim if there was the promise of freshly caught fish at the end.
That was, of course, if he could actually catch any fish. It might make him able to use a fishing rod, but there was a wealth of difference between understanding and execution.
As with most things, he supposed. Like his own semblance.
Again, his mind wandered back to the place it seemed to always be stuck up on. At some point he'd have to give in and admit that there was just no way to have all the answers.
That wasn't this moment, though, as Blake gave his shoulder a shake. "We're being followed."
Naruto turned his head around, peering over Blake's shoulder. They were, in fact, being followed.
"Nevermore? Really? No rest for the wicked, I guess."
"Or us," Blake replied. "Do you want me to fire, or do you have something that wouldn't cost so much Lien?"
Naruto didn't answer verbally, but his outstretched arm fired a Mana Flak out into the small cluster of Nevermore, watching in satisfaction as it detonated within their grouping, shredding black feathers and flesh alike.
"That'll do it. The Grimm have been getting more and more aggressive lately, huh."
He didn't get a reply as a weird feeling flooded his body and mind. "What the-"
[A new entry in the Grimmonomicon has been uncovered!]
Why couldn't it just say so!? Why did it have to make him shudder uncontrollably?
"Naruto, are you alright?" Blake asked, a level of concern entering her voice that wasn't normally there, for good reason.
Naruto nodded, running one hand down what little of Shirdal's flank he could reach, reassuring his mount that he was indeed fine. "Yeah, yeah. That book has some kick to it."
"The book you just read?" Blake asked, quirking an eyebrow.
Oh. Right.
"The Grimmonomicon. Apparently I just uncovered a new entry in it."
"Which means?"
Blake's question was a good one. One he really didn't have an answer to. "Something good, I hope. If it's bad, well, let's just hope it's good. I've had enough of bad stuff happening for one day."
His periphery saw Blake turn to look at the sky. "It's a new day. We've got plenty of time for unfortunate incidents."
Naruto nodded sagely. "Ah, my mistake. Probably bad, then."
It could wait until he at least landed, though. Actually, scratch that. He was going to leave it until he woke up.
Morning had broken hours earlier, and it was nearly noon when Naruto clambered out of bed, still drowsy. Splashing cold water in his face helped alleviate some of the sleepiness, but it didn't nullify the feeling completely.
He wasn't normally a fan of tea, but maybe that would help. Or coffee, but he disliked that even more. What could he say, he was a juice kinda guy. Most days.
There were days where he needed something stronger, like today, but he didn't really think they had Saph's secret concoction on hand.
Man, that had nearly gotten all of them in serious trouble with their father before. A close call if ever there was one.
He'd had a point at some… point. Man his internal monologue needed to read a thesaurus.
Oh, right. He was tired, and the kitchen sounded like a great place to stop before he reached into his inventory and possibly pulled out a book that could end the world.
Or maybe it was just a book. He didn't really know, but something called the Grimmonomicon, bound in Grimmleather and impossibly ancient, well, it wasn't exactly a recipe for a book containing children's stories.
Or a recipe for a recipe book, though, now that he thought about it, maybe that wouldn't be such a bad thing to get a hold of. Maybe some instruction manuals while he was at it.
What was he doing again? Oh yeah, breakfast. He wandered into the kitchen, said a bleary-eyed good morning to Ghira, who looked surprised to see him, and set about making himself some tea and toast.
"Late night?" Ghira asked, once Naruto had taken a seat at the bench, blinking away the majority of the blurriness.
Naruto 'mmhmm-ed' in response, practically downing half his tea in a single gulp before he felt good enough to speak. "Cleared Dustcairn Mine of Grimm yesterday. Productive day, but a long one."
Ghira somehow managed to look even more surprised. "Some of my best wrote that off as unrecoverable."
If somewhat-sleep-deprived Naruto was anything, he wasn't one to play coy. "I'm not surprised. The Grimm in there were dangerous. I lost an arm to one of them."
Ghira stared at him.
"I got better."
"I could've sworn you've made that joke before," Blake muttered, in lieu of a greeting, rubbing her eyes.
Naruto shrugged. "Probably. It's been a while, I can't remember."
Ghira's gaze left Naruto and went to his daughter. "You didn't think to tell me you were headed there?"
Blake stalled for a moment, deciding to instead finish making her tea, quite obviously contemplating her answer.
"I didn't think to, no. I'll make sure I do so in the future."
It was diplomatic, and professional, and definitely not what Ghira had expected, though Naruto could understand why. It wasn't his business, of course, so he'd stay out of it.
If there was one thing he knew, involving himself in family issues like this would only serve to alienate everyone.
There was a difference between this and Weiss's situation, of course, but he'd burn that bridge when he got to it.
Naruto decided to leave the two to what was apparently going to be a longer discussion, from the looks they were both wearing, instead stepping outside, the almost-midday sunlight streaming in with a warm, coastal northerly wind sweeping past, blowing his hair from the back of his head to the front.
He spluttered a little in surprise, slicking it back as best he could. It was getting long, now, and most definitely untamed. He wondered if there was a barber in town that wouldn't mind cutting the hair of a human.
It wasn't important, nor anywhere near the top of his quote-unquote to-do list.
He took a seat in one of the chairs, placing his half-drunk mug of tea on the coaster on the short table next to it, and reached into his inventory, the warm sea breeze doing its best to lull him back to sleep, to no avail.
Instead, he withdrew the Grimmonomicon, gently prying open the Grimmleather-bound covers and browsing through the old, yellowed pages of undecipherable, runic text.
At least, until he reached a certain point, and then suddenly, it was in a language he could understand, with words, letters and symbols he recognized.
Well, in a sense. It was still the prior illegible runes, but his semblance was projecting a little window just above it, easily translated for his viewing pleasure.
[Nevermore Entry]
[A large avian Grimm with many, many feathers, the Nevermore is capable of flinging these deadly feathers like projectiles at their opponents, with lethal accuracy. Surprisingly maneuverable for their size, they can prove to be dangerous foes.]
[Kill Tracker: 7]
[Reward at: 100]
"So that's what it does," Naruto said to himself, reading through. "Huh. Rewards are always nice, at least."
He put the book back in his inventory, quickly finishing his tea before he stood up, stretching with a final yawn.
He had a destination in mind, a goal to achieve, a bounty to fully complete, and a lot of supplies to purchase.
It was time to go spend a lot of Lien.