Hey guys, Striker777 here.
First off, Merry Christmas. Yes, it is December 25 by the time of this chapter's posting, yes I know it's probably only December 24 for most of you right now, but it's still my Christmas.
I'll get straight to the point. There have been some people who have wondered if Neo was counted during the poll last time, seeing as her total wasn't in chapter 14. That's a pure error on my part. A few of you have also been asking about the ninth member of the harem, and I'm gonna be completely honest with you.
It's getting really fucking annoying.
So, I have come up with a situation where everyone wins. For the next month, until midnight on January 25 AEST (Australian Eastern Standard Time), I'll let you, the reader, make a decision again.
Should there be a ninth harem member, and if so, who?
Neo is pretty popular lately, but she and Coco tied last time with 8 votes each, so the vote will be between them if the final agreement is to add another member.
THIS WILL BE THE LAST ONE! I DO NOT CARE IF YOUR OTP IS NOT CHOSEN OR IF YOU WANT ANOTHER GIRL! IT WILL NOT HAPPEN AGAIN! THIS IS YOUR LAST CHANCE!
Anyway, now with that out of the way, onto some review responses. Middernacht, there is no such thing as a magic bra, and there will be no 'Lucky Pervert' scenes in this book. You wanna make a spin off about something like that? Be my guest, hell, I'll beta read it for you! It's just not gonna happen in this story.
GunBlade2021, !Spoiler! Jaune is going to struggle. Morally speaking, he's grown up believing in monogamy, and has never once considered the possibility of a polyamerous relationship. He's had a hard time with girls in general growing up, so to suddenly be in multiple relationships at once is going to be daunting. There will be hardships and challenges, but that's for later down the line.
DopeFishProductions, Thanks for the feedback. I think this chapter is going to be showing a lot more viewpoints from other characters as opposed to solely Jaune. Also I know that relationships take time and constant effort (despite never having been in one myself #foreveralone), and I plan on having a gradual friendship and platonic relationship form before any type of romantic relationship. These things will develop over time.
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Beacon Academy had a lot of traditions since its founding. Some had stuck around, others had been lost to the times of old, and new ones had come to fruition over the years. However, all that lead to was the inevitable income of too much fucking paperwork for the staff of Beacon Academy to handle. It happened around 3 times a semester, this semester having the entrance ceremony, Valentine's Day, and finally the day that was happening in a week.
The Work Study Festival.
Why it was called a festival, Ozpin would never tell. It was a collection of stalls run by guilds of Beacon trying to grab the attention of the visiting heroes, Guilds or Parties, to try and take them on for raids in dungeons and train under them. Most students, a total of around 55%, would be unfortunately not selected by either a Guild nor a Party, and would work with the Hero Association, with some much less capable heroes, none below C Rank, but still not exactly the cream of the crop.
30% would be able to work with Parties, this made up most of the first year students who showed potential, as well as the older students with more experience and a good track record. They would go in groups of 3 or 4 per party, where they would take on low level dungeons, usually D or E ranked, gaining experience and a cut of the profits made, which was not given out to the students who were taken on by the Association.
Then there were the remaining 15% that got taken on by Guilds.
Guilds outside of Beacon were not very common. They had a hard competition against the higher ranked guilds. There were some guilds, but most only had around 15 members. A raiding party that was lucky to have an A Rank amongst them. They would be the best option for students, but some guilds simply didn't have the time nor resources to give towards training the next generation, and would only come to scout out the fourth year students.
But then there were the 5 major guilds that held a monopoly over the gilding world.
All 5 of them would be present. They took on most of the students in the larger guilds in Beacon, and there was a distinct order of expectation. Claw would take the Mercenary Guild, Soarers the Raider's Guild and Rangers the Merchants Guild. Sometimes the offers would switch around with Blade or Silent depending on the offer or the guildmaster's decision. But it was usually in that order.
The Festival was just a day for guilds and the students looking to be taken under the wings of a pro to show off a bit and score some brownie points. It was good overall for the future of the students.
But gods be damned if the paperwork didn't drive the staff mad.
No one was safe. Ozpin had been getting his coffee from a barrel used primarily for ales, beers and wines, which in and of itself was not too unusual for the coffee addict, but more the fact he was having 5 barrels throughout 24 hours was a bit unnerving. Glynda had sent more than one student who inadvertently pissed her off flying out the window of her classroom (which was thankfully on the ground floor). Peter wasn't his usual energetic self, having been drowned in so much paperwork that he lost the will to regale his class with the stories of his youth. Oobleck had even slowed down in class to conserve energy for all the paperwork that he had to do.
And the first years learnt the hard way not to go anywhere near Student Central during these times, Jaune included.
Jaune had his fair share of paperwork to do, but since he didn't have an administrative position, it could be done in 2 days, much like Velvet and Prussian. They had a lot of work leading up during the last week before the Work Study due to last minute requests for weapons, accessories and armour. Velvet had spent most of the week working with Jaune on student's armour whilst he had worked on mainly D Rank and E Rank weapons for the students who needed them. That and last minute maintenance on their equipment.
Students were fucking ill-prepared for the Work Study.
Jaune had barely any time to work on anything other than last minute student orders, but his [Blacksmithing] skill hadn't increased at all, only going up by a single percent during the whole week.
Jaune suddenly had an epiphany.
He had used the [Skill Enhancers] so frequently that his skill in [Blacksmithing] surpassed the previous record. It was great that it happened.
But now he would have to spend years leveling up [Blacksmithing] by at least a single level, and that was as both an S Ranker and as the Beacon Blacksmith, that came with a heavy amount of duties and orders.
He should've saved his [Skill Enhancers] for when he'd levelled up his skills more. That way he'd skip the slower level ups and still do the fast ones. Now he skipped the fast level ups and had to do the slow ones or use more [Skill Enhancers].
Another thing for him to beat himself up about. Jaune found that he had a lot of those recently.
Coming to Beacon was not what he envisioned at all.
But he was here now, making a shit tonne of money and finally living out his dream of becoming a hero. Jaune still couldn't believe it despite all the months he had already worked. He felt like he was going to wake up from a dream.
Sometimes he wished he was dreaming, such as when he went to hand over his paperwork to Emilia. Poor woman looked like she'd been swamped in paperwork and hung out to dry. With heavy bags under her eyes and a tone of voice akin to a zombie monster, she had soldiered on well into the night to try and get the absolutely unacceptable amount of paperwork completed to an absolutely acceptable degree.
Jaune pitied her, and what her husband had to deal with every night when he got home. If she acted anything like she did at work at home, she'd be complaining non-stop to her husband. He imagined she'd put on a brave face for her kids, but it wasn't easy being the head of Student Central. He could only hope that when this festival came to an end, she could have a bit of a break.
Jaune let loose a sigh of relief as he finished the final weapon maintenance for a student, handing the weapon back to them as they paid him and left. Jaune placed the money inside a small box that he was given when he first started, sealing the money inside to be collected by Student Central tonight. He smiled as he laid his apron atop his work station and left.
It was time to go home.
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Ruby looked up from her homework as her guildmaster came home from work. Not having any to do himself (lucky bastard that he was), he sat down on the couch he made to relax. Ruby so wanted to join him on the couch, lounging around and doing nothing, but Weiss would surely be pissed with her, and it just wasn't worth it. She would quickly finish the last of her schoolwork and then go do nothing with Jaune.
Or raid the cookies Weiss though she hid from Ruby. Ruby couldn't be blamed if her favourite food just happened to fall out of the cupboard when she was going to get a drink of water, could she?
She would later find out the answer was yes. She very well could. Weiss could fit yelling at Ruby into her schedule at the drop of a hat.
Speaking of their surrogate vice guildmaster, she had just left to finish setting up their stall for tomorrow's festival. It wouldn't be much, seeing as they already knew who they were going with, but apparently it was tradition and a good way to secure a position with a guild again the following year. That and doing well at the guild taking them in this year. It was part of the reason that the three major guilds became as powerful as they did, continued selection from the major guilds as a result of excellent work during the work study.
Weiss was adamant on making sure their guild ran smoothly not only this year but in the following years as well. Weiss wanted Hunters to succeed. Jaune wanted them to succeed.
Ruby worried if he ever thought about him succeeding.
Jaune was by all definition a hero at this point. He had the skills (some of them, but certainly not all), he regularly worked on hero quests and dungeons, and he was a student at Beacon. For all intents and purposes, Jaune Arc was a hero. But his mentality kept himself locked firmly in as a NPC. At least in terms of his own thought process.
Jaune was a lot of things. Self-confident wasn't one of them. At least, not at being a hero. He was very sure of his talents in the forge, but the way he held his weapons was not the way a hero would, but the way some civilians took up arms against monsters when heroes couldn't get there in time. There was desperation, and a lack of control. He hid it well, potentially even from himself, but those thoughts were there. Ruby could see them, and if she could, she was sure the others could too.
He was kind to Ruby the first time they ever met, and even forged her new signature weapon for her. In a way, he was her first friend ever apart from Yang, and that gave him a special place in her heart. A platonic place, but a place nevertheless.
She wanted him to do well, wanted him to succeed. Apparently, she wanted it more than he did.
But even with that being said, Ruby wasn't an idiot. There were dangers with that kind of mentality, not only to Jaune, but also to the rest of the guild. If Jaune were to sacrifice himself (like he had done so previously in Salem's Dungeon, much to Ruby's ignorance), he would throw out party dynamics, set formations and combos where he played even the smallest of roles, and decrease morale by a substantial amount.
Jaune Arc may have thought of himself as less than them, but he was one of them.
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Weiss watched as Nora placed the final sign with their guild's insignia onto the table, allowing for their identification from the guilds coming to visit Beacon. With that, their stand was complete. Nothing special, like a lot of other guilds in Beacon, just a simple stand with their insignia, a few flyers with their past exploits, and so on.
"Do we really have to do this?" asked Nora, handing her, Ren and Yang flasks filled with water. "I mean, we already know what guild we're going with."
"It's tradition, Nora." reminded Ren, doing his own check of their little stand. "It'll be good for us to get used to this while we can. We'll have to do it another three times."
"Oh man, but that's so boring!" yelled Nora in agony. "Why can't we just smash things."
"Why don't you just smash Ren and be done with it?" asked Yang with a quip, earning herself an elbow to the ribs from the mage. Not that it did much, seeing as her strength stat was only 48 at level 39, but it did get the message across to knock it off.
People were watching them set up their stall, whilst simultaneously doing their own. Yang saw many eyes laid upon them, seeing as they were 4 first years that were A Rank, so they were bound to get a lot of attention at the Festival. Hopefully enough to solidify a place for them to go in the future, should the guild that was taking them this year only wanted it to be a one time thing.
Yang certainly had a few regrets. The party that she had been working with before Beacon had promised to take her on during the Work Study when she was working with them, but now she had the opportunity to work with one of the top 5 guilds. She was sure they'd understand, being able to work with one of the top 5 guilds was a once in a lifetime opportunity, and it was definitely going to be a worthwhile experience. To learn from the best and become better at her job.
Coming from a family with a single dad and a younger half-sister, Yang could only dream of the luxuries of being a Hero until she earnt them herself. Equipment, fame, fortune, it was all she dreamed of as a kid. Seeing her father struggle to make ends meet as a teacher whilst also looking after Yang and Ruby full-time lead to the young blonde's desire to help their father financially.
Yang took on the job of a part-time porter at the Hero Association, under a program to give her experience, help her get some additional qualifications that would look good on Beacon for major guilds, and earn a small amount of money as well. She didn't get much of a cut under the Association, being the money-grubbers they are, but she knew it was a wise idea to sacrifice a small amount of money now as opposed to more money later. The experiences and certifications that came with it were more than worth-it to help her blitz her way into Beacon.
Taiyang Xiao-Long is a B Rank hero working for the Association. He goes on the occasional raid into C Rank Dungeons, getting enough money for a week or 2 from an average dungeon in terms of monster drops and minerals. He sometimes also doubles as a member of the mining or collection teams to earn a little bit of extra coin. His record had the Xiao-Long/Rose family home stocked up for a whole month and change. He was able to buy Yang her gauntlets with the money from that trip, and Ruby her scythe.
It was nice of him, but Yang couldn't think of the last time her father ever had something for himself, like a new set of gauntlets, or clothes when his weren't falling apart. He had suffered through so much to make sure his two daughters had the best lives they could possibly ask for.
Now, it was Yang's turn to help her father out.
And the first step was making a splash during the Work Study and making a name for herself. She was going to get hired by one of the top guilds straight out the gate, even if she had to break all the bones in her body during this Work Study.
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Beacon was brimming with activity as the Work Festival was in full swing. Heroes from guilds and parties came around, scouting out any hidden gems they could, especially amongst the fourth year students expected to graduate at then enter the workforce of heroes.
However, there were those who swept around in the other areas for the third, second and first years. They looked on at the newer blood, with a decreasing total as the areas got lower, seeing as they were lower levelled or had less experience to their name, let alone skills or spells.
Jaune and Pyrrha were utilising their bracelets once more in order to hide their true level and rank from the crowd, Jaune being a B Rank level 35 Warrior and Pyrrha being an A Rank level 37 Warrior. Nothing as special as being an S Rank, but they certainly did draw a bit of attention. Their guild, a small start-up with 6 A Rankers and 2 B Rankers, one of which being a hidden class, certainly gained a fair bit of flair, and they had received a few offers to join up with parties, but they had declined.
There was no better offer than joining one of the top 5 guilds in all of Vale.
"Yang! Jaune!" called out a voice amidst the crowd, causing the two blondes of the Hunter's Guild turned their attention over to a pair of heroes they were both familiar with.
"Edward! Charlotte!" called out Yang, running off and hugging the two. "It's been too long! How have you been?"
"Well enough, that's for sure." Edward smiled at her. "It's good to be alive, that's all I'm saying."
"Thank you again, Jaune." said Charlotte, bowing her head down to the boy. "It's because of you I got to survive. I-I'm working hard with my training again! I'm gonna be a better member of the party and a better cleric!" she yelled with determination.
"So, you two are in the same guild. That's pretty nice." said the warrior. "Listen, how would you guys like to join us for the Work Study? It'd be a shame to have you hauled up in a classroom all day learning theory and shit from the Association. They do good work, but there's nothing like really getting out there and experiencing life to really get you prepared for hero life."
"Edward, you know I'd love to, but we're actually already scouted…" said Yang. "The stand is just a formality for Beacon."
"Damn, who got to you first, huh?" asked Charlotte. Yang smirked as she whispered into her ear, causing the colour to drain from her face. "N-No way… really?"
"Really." replied Yang with a cheeky smile. "Sorry, but we can't pass this up."
"I'd call you crazy if you did." responded the cleric. "Oh well, but when I see you guys next time, I'll be a lot stronger!" yelled Charlotte, turning away and walking as she searched for another student to take on. Edward followed closely behind, wishing them both luck with their Work Study.
It was going well enough. There were a lot of people trying to scout them into their parties or guilds, given how most of them were A Ranks and had a decent chance of being very powerful in the future. They tried every trick they could to get them to come to their guilds or parties for the work studies. The Hunters didn't budge.
But then…
"Oh my, what do we have here?"
The voice was in a normal, questioning tone, but it held an air of commandment amongst the people, who began to back away. Replacing the voice was footsteps of a man walking, that somehow struck like thunder every time they made contact with the ground, whilst also being as quiet as a regular NPC walking.
Jaune's eyes went wide as he took a look at who was approaching. White button up shirt and red tie over a black vest, with a decorative leather trench coat reaching down to the knees of his black pants, and leather dress shoes. Glasses over his piercing red eyes, short and spiky red hair covering the top of his tanned head.
"Such a commotion over here. I was sure that there was something extraordinary going on." commented the man, walking closer to their stall. Jaune steeled his nerves and pushed all urges to fanboy down as far as they could possibly go. "Seems as though this year is quite different from the others." said the man, looking down at the 8 of them. "6 A Ranks and 2 B Ranks, or is it an S Rank, 5 A Ranks and 2 B Ranks?" he asked, staring directly at Pyrrha. She, despite all her training, flinched under the man. He smiled, yet despite it's warm exterior, Jaune could tell there was something else there.
He instilled Jaune with fear, contempt, courage and loyalty, all at the same time.
But that was to be expected, given who the man was.
[Vermillion Ifrit (S Rank)]
[Level 99 - Pyromancer]
The number one Hero in Vale, Ranked 5th overall across the world. A man who shot through levels as he cleared dungeon after dungeon non-stop for years. At age 33, he had the best record of dungeon clearances in Vale, and was one level away from joining the 5 S Rank Heroes that broke through level 100. His guild, Soarers, had been the number one Guild in Vale for almost 10 years now, and since he was able to recruit another S Rank two years ago directly out of Beacon, his guild had only managed to create even more distance between themselves and the other guilds.
"Such a pleasure to meet you all." he said, nodding his head to each one of them as everyone else in the crowd stood as still as statues. "I must say, the 8 of you forming a guild together instead of seeking to join one of the big three is a risky move. The big three have stability, influence and resources, whilst start-up guilds are always fighting for the chance to survive. It's really quite commendable that you were able to work your way through such gruelling trials."
"So commendable, in fact, that I would like to offer you all a place at the Work Study."
Jaws dropped. Soarer's guildmaster, the number 1 Hero in Vale, had offered a group of 8 first year students the opportunity to study at his guild. This wasn't an opportunity anyone other than the Raider's Guild had ever been given before.
"I… I-" began Jaune, looking at the smiling man. "I'm sorry… it's not possible."
The man was shocked, before looking over the teen and smiling. "I see… you were scouted ahead of time, weren't you? Loyalty to a promise is a trait that I admire." he said with a warm smile, before walking off. "Perhaps next year then. I do look forward to seeing how you fare in a dungeon."
Jaune sighed, thanking his lucky stars that he was able to not piss off the most powerful man in the country.
"Looks like you got quite the visitor." said a voice, making Jaune turn to a more familiar face. "Hope he didn't give you too much trouble. You guys ready to head out?"
"We are." said Weiss, stepping up and bowing. "Thank you for taking us on, Mr Elmen."
"Alizarin is fine." laughed the man, patting the girl on the shoulder a little too hard. "Well, let us be off! Blade awaits!" yelled the man, walking the kids down to the gates of Beacon.
They didn't even realise that Vermillion was still watching them, looking on as Alizarin dragged the kids away. But what he found most interesting is that he didn't seem too preoccupied with Pyrrha Nikos, the Champion of Mistral, an S Rank, but by the B Rank Knight. Something was up with that.
"Interesting…"
And Vermillion Ifrit liked to be informed.
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Yeah, this update has been in the making for a while now. Life got hard again. I won't make excuses, but things are starting to look better now. I'm hoping that opens up more time for me to write. I want to thank each and every one of you for your continued support. It means a lot.
Next Arc is the First Year Work Study under the Blade Guild. They meet their 'A' team, go over a bit of theory, and start training to kick some serious ass. The Work Study is going to be around 7-10 chapters, going over some training, dungeon crawling and some lore and worldbuilding, look forward to it.
Anyway, for now, this is Striker777, over and out.
[Stats]
[Jaune Arc (S Rank)]
[Level 35 - Arcane Craftsman]
[EXP - 10340/12250]
[HP - 14350/14350]
[MP - 5200/5200]
[Strength - 84 (A)]
[Intelligence - 75 (A)]
[Agility - 63 (B)]
[Vitality - 66 (B]
[Speed - 54 (C)]
[Charisma - 67 (B)]
[Resilience - 87 (A)]
[Equipment]
[Crocea Mors - Rank C]
[This sword is the family heirloom of the Arc Clan, wielded by an Arc who was a knight in the war. Reforged by Jaune Arc into a higher rank weapon.]
[Durability - 3000/3000]
[Attack - 275/275]
[Arc - Rank C]
[This dagger was forged by Jaune Arc, and it was reforged into a higher rank weapon.]
[Durability - 2250/2250]
[Attack - 200/200]
[Iron Chestplate - D Rank]
[This chestplate was forged by Jaune Arc.]
[Durability - 2500/2500]
[Defense - 130/130]
[Iron Gauntlets - D Rank]
[These gauntlets were forged by Jaune Arc.]
[Durability - 1800/1800]
[Defense - 80/80]
[Leather Boots - E Rank]
[These boots were tailored by Jaune Arc]
[Durability - 800/800]
[Defense - 30/30]
[Dark Dagger - C Rank]
[This dagger was used by a legendary bandit before it was cast aside for a better sword.]
[Durability - 2000/2000]
[Attack - 215/215]
[Special Effect - Armour Pierce (Pierces medium and heavy armour to decrease defense by 30%)]
[Skills]
[Blacksmithing (0MP) - Level 49 (70%) - Ability to produce C Rank weapons and metal armour with a 49% efficiency bonus]
[Sharpen (20 MP) - Level 2 (39%) - Sharpen a bladed weapon to repair it's attack power (+75 attack repair)]
[Repair (20 MP) - Level 2 (14%) - Repairs a weapon or armour to restore durability (+750 durability)]
[Inventory (0MP) - Level 5 (2%) - Store things in a dimensional space completely sealed off, only being opened by the person who has the skill (10 spaces)]
[Rune Smithing - Level 1 (13%) - Craft runes into items for added effects.
{Known runes: Teleportation (Teleport the wielder to the rune - 150MP), Storage (Able to store 1 item in this rune - 50MP), Summoning (Summon a creature up to E Rank using the DNA of monster materials used in weapons - 500MP)}]
[Tailoring (0MP) - Level 12 (0%) - Ability to tailor E Rank clothes and light armour with a 11% efficiency bonus]
[Stitch (20MP) - Level 2 (14%) - Stitch together two pieces of clothes automatically (basic quality)]
[Curse Mark (500MP) - Level 1 (9%) - The mark of Salem that allows the user to access power to help them at the cost of 100 HP per second.
{Underdog - Level 1 (9%) - Increases speed, strength and agility by twice the difference between the levels of the user and the opponent.}
{?}]
[Mana Threads (100MP/Thread) - Level 1 (0%) - Create threads from the tips of the caster's fingers, which can be used in a variety of ways.]
[Hand Smelting (50MP) - Level 1 (73%) - Heat your hand in order to extract the metal within an ore.]
[Mend (20MP) - Level 1 (32%) - Use new materials to increase the durability of fabric-based armour and accessories.]
[Carpentry (0MP) - Level 31 (2%) - Ability to work with timber to form it with a 31% efficiency bonus]
[Reshape (30MP) - Level 1 (86%) - Reshape timber in a limited sense (100mm)]
[Stone Masonry - Level 27 (3%) - Ability to work with stone with a 27% efficiency bonus]
[Stone Polish (25MP) - Level 1 (67%) - Polish stone to remove 5% of imperfections]
[Stealth (100MP/Min) - Level 3 (96%) - Remove all traces of yourself from sight, smell, hearing and magic]
[Passive]
[Scholar - Any skill from any skill stone can be learnt]
[? - Reach level 60 to unlock]