Project Remnant

by Aworldnotsosimple00

"The world of Remnant?" Jaune said holding the case in his hand. He looked up at Sun who grinned and gestured for him to keep reading. He rolled his eyes and looked back down at the case. "The world of Remnant is a sandbox-oriented massively multiplayer online role-playing game." He looked back at Sun. "Why do I get he feeling you want me to play this with you?"

6. Chapter 6

Project Remnant

~ 0 ~

I do not own RWBY

~ 0 ~

"Thoughts"

"Speech"

'words with implied meaning.'

Regular text

Menu info/ abilities, skills, combos

Enemy and ally info/ abilities, skills combos

"Disembodied voice/ Messages."

"Disembodied thoughts /Memories."

~ Ch 6 ~

~ Where do we stand? ~

Before Jaune left the Scarlets' shop, he had an inspired idea courtesy of the auction houses idea to make a paper trail. Just to cover his ass in case Scarlet tried anything funny. Not that he distrusted her, but he didn't trust her either. Jaune asked for the item back and took a screenshot of it in his inventory while exchanging a few messages with her detailing their deal. Once that was all said and done, he handed it back over to her, garnering a smile and a wave as he walked out of her shop, offering a friendly wave of his own.

After hitting the streets of Vale once more, he headed to the main entrance of Vale. The one Raven had guided him through where the huge fountain overlooked the town. He figured if he and Blake were going to meet up, it would be there. It seemed like the main entrance to the city after all. Upon arriving, he picked out a bench for himself and waited for a response from her. It looked like his errand, despite taking longer than he expected, still hadn't been long enough for Blake to get on.

Looking up at the sky, he took a breath and smiled. "Guess I could go through my stats and read up on everything I've gotten. If I got anything from the pendant leveling up, that is." It did kind of suck that he'd lost all of his old skills and abilities as well as the possibility to get more from the Ether once he equipped the pendant. Hopefully, he got good things from it every time it leveled. After all, everything he got depended on it now.
The strange part about that though, was how the abilities he'd gotten looked to be building off of his secondary class more so than his main. He wondered if it had to do with the traits he was leveling.

After looking at the newest addition to his arsenal, he took a look at the leveling guide. Character growth had changed from what little he remembered being in the beta, but now it worked the same way it had in a single-player game he had that was developed by the same company that developed this one.

Every level gave stat increases by a set amount per level based on the main class and half of that based on secondary class. Traits, on the other hand, only went up based on the secondary class. He vaguely remembered Ruby telling him to pick something that complimented his main class like a paladin for magic and defense. He remembered tossing her advice aside, telling her he had an idea he wanted to try. It was one he'd gotten from the single-player RPG he had. It was to mix knight and adept rouge.

The adept rouge was similar to the assassin and rogue classes in so much that it was a damage dealer with a focus on mobility, but it differed in the fact that it was a magic class that used melee weapons. The class's focus was on dealing critical magic damage consistently; however, it had to be close to do it. That was where the innate mobility of a rouge came in. It was powerful when played right or in a group and made an excellent stand-in for a black mage if built right, but it would take a while to pass the curve where it became viable due to being squishy, so not many people picked them.

Knights, on the other hand, were a hard tank class with high resilience and defense to take punishment as no other class could. They focused on being able to take damage and shake it off while having just enough attack to draw aggro to do their job.

"Wow, I can't believe I went through with it." He rubbed his chin while contemplating the information. Coupled with his experience in the other game and that the same company made, he must have decided to see how it would work out in an MMO. With Knight as his primary, his stats would increase mostly based on a tank. That, in turn, would give him lots of defense and moderate attack, thus granting him high survivability.

Now that being said, while only gaining half stats with his adept rouge class it's high attack boosts would outstrip the knights even at half stats. Not to mention it would give him max trait boosts for an adept rough, which had the advantage of focusing on mobility and magic/elemental attack.

So, in short, he was covering both classes weaknesses while defeating the purpose of using both for what they truly were. He wouldn't be able to use magic on its own, but he could do some serious damage with it so long as he had a magic weapon, some kind of spell to buff a weapon or something like his skill Eternal Refrain that dealt magic damage.

He would also be mobile enough to avoid most attacks and fast enough to make the added damage a serious problem for other people and NPCs. Though if he did get hit or happened to get stuck in an AOE, he could tank it. Not the most versatile but effective and suitable for soloing. A real hybrid class made from a whim to experiment.

"Wow." He sat up straight, smiling to himself. "I did pretty well actually, and the pendant compliments such a random class build to." He pulled up his equipment window to look at the pendant's info and the buffs he got. The one about regenerating his SP and such while solo seemed too much of a coincidence. "Maybe it does grow based on my traits and how my character grows."

He rubbed his chin while closing the window and pulling up his equipment tab, looking at his new gear while still pondering his idea on that. He'd decided on buying the blue sword with the elemental strike buffs on it for one reason, and it was related to a hunch he had, which he'd just confirmed. He didn't have much MP, and his intelligence was crap even for a pseudo magic user, but his magic attack and defense were pretty high. Even without the ability to use strong spells, the ability to take full advantage of a magic weapon that did good physical damage could be devastating in his hands.

He closed the equipment tab lowering his gaze to his left arm. He fixed his arm with a contemplative look lifting it to eye level. The sunlight glinted off of the small steel buckler that Scarlet had picked out for him. She'd told him it complimented and boosted the magic attack of his sword. After hearing that, he'd taken it without question. Granted, it wasn't like what he'd had before, but his shield skills were nonexistent. A larger shield would only hinder him with the abilities he had now.

He'd paid Scarlet a bit more than what she'd asked for them much to her seeming discomfort as she tried to wave him off. Granted, she'd tried taking his item earlier, but they had come to an agreement, and she was parting with an item she'd put so much work into in return. Her whole speech about helping new players had inspired him to help her out too. Even if it was just overpaying to help her guild with bills. She still refused, but after he asked her to replace the grip with several straps to fasten it to his arm and free up his hand, she'd relented and taken his money saying the sword would be done in a few hours at most.

All in all, he'd paid almost 150 million gold. The sword and shield alone had been almost 98 million, and the labor cost for the new sword was about 50 million. He was surprised it cost so much, but after Scarlet's explanation of how leveling up equipment worked and that the blue sword was in the two hundred level range along with how upgrading could go wrong if not done right with specific and expensive items he'd shrugged and handed over the money. He'd almost not bought the new sword thinking he wouldn't be able to equip it, but she'd explained to him that equipment with a max crystal level could be equipped by anyone regardless of level and class.

She'd mentioned something about some rouge merchant guild that had figured this out and made them just to sell to low-level people. Said people couldn't use them right and didn't notice till later because of being able to equip them anyway.

He frowned at the though while putting his arms behind him as he lounged on the bench with a sigh and looked out over the city. "I can see why Scarlet want's to help out new players. That's pretty rough. And with how much they cost." He winced thinking about some new player who started and saved up only to get swindled and stuck with a powerful yet ineffective weapon. "Her guild doesn't sound so bad. Maybe."

His thoughts were cut off when a gentle ringing sound played, a message popping up in his notifications. He hit the message tab, a smile spreading across his face as he read who It was from.

Sender: Blake
Subject: Meet up

"Hey, Jaune. Sorry for the wait. Had to freshen up first. It also just hit me, but you said you just started playing, so there's a good chance that we're not actually in the same city or country even. We might not be able to play together today after all. My bad. If we can't, I apologize.
Anyway, I'm in the fields outside of the city of Vale. Send me a message letting me know where you're at. I'll be waiting for a response."

Before he could close the message, another one from her popped up. This one was detailing some directions to where she was from Vale with an attached image. He tapped the image, and it downloaded to his images folder before opening up, showing him the view of a big hill with a large tree at the top.

The idea they weren't in the same city had just crossed his mind as well. He'd made the same mistake with Sun yesterday even though they hadn't been able to play anyway. After reading the message and the directions, he sighed in relief. It looked like they were in the same area of Vale. That was good. He grinned and typed a quick response telling her they were close and that he'd be there ASAP. He hopped to his feet stretching as he let out a groan and turned to leave the city when he got another message from Blake.

He tapped it and another image downloaded. It was a chibby cat girl with a whistle in her mouth holding a large STOP! Sign. Underneath the GIF was a small message.

Hey! Before you leave town, you better make sure to check in any loose items you have at an adventurer taskmaster. They're little stands built into the walls by the gates in cities. If you have a bank account set up already, store them there instead. Best to be safe, so nobody takes them just in case you get PKed while we're out.

He smiled at the message and looked over at a stall set into the stone wall with an NPC sitting inside. A sign that had a treasure chest hung above them. As he walked over to the stall, he shot Blake a message while smiling.

Thanks, Kitkat.

As he stepped in front of the NPC, he got another message, but this time it was a GIF of an anime girl holding a knife wearing a sickeningly sweet smile while playing with the knife.

Do. Not. Call. Me. That.

He chuckled nervously with a worried expression feeling a chill run down his spine as he closed the message.

~ 0 ~

About an hour later, Jaune found himself following a winding road out of the city. It rose and fell with the slope of the hills and wound around a couple of larger ones with steep inclines. Eventually, the road itself lead to a sharp incline leading to a plateau where the road split into several diverging paths with a signpost in the ground detailing where each branch led. He thought back on Blake's advice to drop his loose items with that NPC in town. He'd almost walked out into the field with all of his SDCs and his level potions.

The adventurer taskmaster was a cool feature he hadn't even know about. That he could store his items at the gate till he got back was a cool feature. It sucked that he only had an hour to pick them up after getting back, which, in all honesty, wasn't too bad considering you could make official bank accounts.

He smiled to himself while putting a hand on his hip, going over everything he'd done recently. He was learning a lot about the game pretty rapidly, and he hadn't even really gotten started yet. "Hmm. I need to ask Blake how and where to get a bank account in Vale." He folded his arms behind his head, taking a deep breath and looked over down a small path to his right. A few players were walking about what looked like a small village. A few of them were entering some of the houses that sat along the path. "Or maybe I should ask her how I'd get a player home," He said out loud to no one.

He took a deep breath and turned to face the signpost in the ground not to far in front of him. "Well, I have to get to Blake to ask anyway, so now the question is, which way to go?" He scratched his head and moved to pull up Blake's message with the directions.

Messages disabled in field

His hand dropped, and he frowned at the notification. "Fuck. That's right." He sighed as his shoulders fell, head hanging as he turned to look down the road he'd come seeing only one other person walking around the bend heading up the steep path behind him. From what he could see further back, they were the only two on the road at the moment.

"Damn. Either this road doesn't get much usage, or there's just nobody adventuring right now. It had taken him almost an hour to get this far, which meant he should be able to see more than just one other person. He turned forward and tried to select messages again, but it still said messaging disabled. "Damn it. I don't wanna walk back to town just to memorize some directions."

Just before he closed the messaging tab, he noticed that there was an image tab with a glowing 'NEW!' next to it. He tapped it, and the screenshot along with the GIFs Blake sent him popped up in a photo list. He blinked, and then his eyes widened. He could see through the images, and in the distance was a hill that lined up with the one in the screenshot.

He scratched his head with a frown. "Well. I can't message her or check the directions, so it looks like I either have to go back to town and screenshot the directions or hope that's the hill." Looking over his shoulder, he eyed the long road back to town and sighed before turning to face the hill in the distance. "Well, lady luck, please smile on me."
Just as he took a step, the rapid crunch or gravel and dirt met his ears. He stopped and turned around. There was no one there. "What the?"

"Rah!"

Launch

Jaune's eyes widened, and he spun around just as a bladed gauntlet came flying at his face. He stumbled backward, lifting his arms in front of his face to protect himself as the attack connected. A pained grunt left him as the blow connected. Despite blocking the attack and having a sound footing, he felt his navel flip as he went flying backward and tumbled down the steep road. He clenched his teeth as he rolled and skipped along the dirt. Reaching out with his left hand, he scraped across the dirt managing to get his feet under him and sprang up, jumping high into the air as he pulled his sword out, falling back towards the flat road by the base of the steep hill.

Combat Jump

His eyes widened as his assailant rushed up to meet him, grinning from under her hood. "Too slow chump!" her fist was drawn back, ready to hit him just as he touched the ground.

"Damn it!" He dodged out of the way of the hit by spinning to the side, falling into a cartwheel.

Deft
Artful dodger

He completed the cartwheel and slid across the dirt, coming to a stop behind the girl, his blade swinging up across her back, making her grunt in pain while lashing out at him wildly.

Lens Flare
Deft

"You little shit!" The girl spun around and readied to hit him, but her eyes widened when she saw him fall back into a handstand and flip away as a holographic image of him in an ethereal violet color slashed at her. She cried out in shock as the blow hit her, and she gripped her chest with a wince. "Fuck. Was that magic damage?!" She felt a chill run through her as the ice broke off of her back and front before shattering and melting on the dirt road.

Jaune landed the flip gracefully and pulled his sword up, holding it at the ready, bubbles, and frost emanating from its edge as the girl growled at him. "Fuckin cheater!" She threw her arms to the side and roared as a green light flashed around her, red energy forming around her hands.

Will of the warrior
Combat boost

He grimaced, seeing the buffs activate and took up a stance while meeting her gaze. Their eyes met, and she gave him a cruel grin while licking her lips. He felt his stomach roll. "What the hell! Why are you attacking me?"

She took up a stance as well, her grin becoming smug while giving him a stupid look. "Aw, is the little boy scared? Does he not know he's playing a PVP game. Do you want your mommy?" She laughed and shot off like a bullet punching at his head.
His eyes widened, and he moved his sword to block her fist, but she grinned, shouting out a skill.

Lying tiger
"Feint!"

Jaune's eyes widened at the vicious look the girl gave him, and he coughed, doubling over, eyes bulging. All the oxygen in his lungs rushed out as her initial punch suddenly pulled back while her left fist buried itself in his gut, knocking him a good two inches off the ground. The blade didn't pierce, but he sure as hell felt it as he Staggered back, slashing aimlessly. The girl scoffed at him and took a step forward, batting the weak hit away while throwing a hard jab at his jaw, knocking him off balance.

Back Elbow
Spinning high kick

Jaune's attacker quickly slid up in front of him, getting inside his guard, pressing her back against his chest. He tried to punch her, but she lifted her left arm, blocking the ineffective strike with laughable ease as her opposite elbow shot at his face. A hot feeling erupted around his mouth, and he saw flecks of blood in the air as his head snapped back.

He brought his sword around to hit her, but the girl jumped into the air dodging it and spun so fast he could barely keep up. His eyes widened as a black leather boot lashed out like a whip towards his face snapping his head to the side. With his already precarious balance, he found himself spinning towards the ground as the game's narrator chimed out.

"Combo!"
Beat rush

The girl finished her spin and touched down a couple of meters in front of him, rushing right back in, her fists glowing red and gold as she drew back her arm for the start of the combo. He fell to one of his knees, stumbling back while raising his sword to block, but her attack broke through his guard, hitting him in the gut again, funny enough it brought him back to his feet, but he spit up a bit of blood feeling out of breath. He clenched his teeth and fell back a step dodging the second blow, but her follow up struck him in the cheek spinning him around just before he felt a foot plant itself on his back, sending him sprawling forward.

Artful Dodger

His left hand shot out, and he pushed himself to the side just as her attack landed. His eyes widened, and he yelped when he saw her fists crash into the road making a small crater.

"Get the hell away from me!" He yelled as he kicked the girl's elbow. The game was pretty realistic, but sadly her arm didn't break in the opposite direction. She did cry out while pulling her arm back. He took to opportunity and rolled away, trying to get his feet under him when his back hit the side of the hill next to them.

"Fucker!" The girl kicked at him, but he just managed to lift his sword, pushing the blade with his left hand for extra force deflecting her strike just enough to send her foot crashing into the stone above his right shoulder. The girl roared at him and pulled her foot back, but before she could follow up, he launched off of the side of the hill and slashed at the girl as he flew by.

Lens Flare

The girl tried to catch him mid-flight, but the after image slashed at her throwing her off. It didn't stop her, but it bought him just enough time to get up and steady himself before her onslaught continued. He shouted out a skill in a panic as she charged him.

Side Kick

The girl got even with him, her fist shooting out at his face but he jumped back just out of her striking distance as blue energy surrounded him and then jumped back in spinning gracefully to her left side and kicked her full in the face, his boot covered in a blue flame.
The game's narrator called out.

"Combo breaker!"

The girl yelled in annoyance as she grabbed her face, wincing in pain but held her arm out palm facing him while shouting an attack just before he shouted out his new combo.

Shotgun Blast

For the Damaged Coda: Link
Promise Reprisal

"Not happening, blonde!" The girl grinned as several bolts of light formed and shot at him. His eyes widened in panic as the magic attack came hurtling at him. He didn't know what it did and prayed it didn't cancel his combo, but if it was magic, he felt it wouldn't do to much damage considering his high magic defense and the fact she was a melee class.

He prayed this worked as the animation for his combo continued, and he pulled back his sword. A light gray barrier coated him just as her attack made contact striking him. He grunted as the magic bolts continued to pepper him, but his attack didn't stop.

"Rangeki!"
"Hyper Armor!"

"What!" The girl shouted, her eyes widening in shock. She saw the damage numbers pop up above his head, and they were nothing to sniff at even with her low magic power. He was 50 levels below her, but he still powered through it while negating her combo finisher. He was either cheating or had some serious gear. His sword flew past her outstretched hand and stabbed her gut hard, knocking the air out of her. She was so surprised she barely dodged the shoulder bash that followed it.

"Rah!" Jaune yelled, following her, dropping low to the ground as the conditions for the follow-up AOE were met. A deep blue glow enveloped his sword as it came swinging around to the girl. Her jaw dropped, and she scrambled out of his attack range just as he came around, but he slid up to meet her, his sword tracking her.

She gasped. "An undodgeable!" The blade of his sword hit her across the side of her torso just under her left arm. It barely hurt, and her HP didn't drop much, but it was fast. Too fast. She stepped back quickly, trying to get some distance between them, but he kept pace staying in attacking range much easier than her what with his weapon being a sword.

Promise Reprisal: Link
Canceled Reprieve

"Take this!" His spin continued into another one, this time longer with his blade arcing out in a broader strike as a red and gold glow enveloped it. She grinned and readied to counter his unblockable. She suddenly stopped her retreat and dug her boots into the ground bracing. She grinned and called out a skill.

Bullrush

Jaune grit his teeth. She was a higher level than him and knew how to fight in the game, way better than Cardin did. "She wouldn't do that unless it could counter my attack. Fuck!" He was mid animation and couldn't cancel to dodge. If she hit first, she would win, he was at critical health after her onslaught what with his double damage received and the heavy blows she'd already dished out. He only had one option. "I hope Adept and Faster Reflexes are enough to execute this."

"Feint!"

His spin stopped mid arc, but instead of stopping entirely and changing position, his sword angled down, slamming into the ground. It cut deep into the road as he took a quick stride towards her. His swing came up to meet her just as she pushed off the ground to rush him. His sword struck her chest faster than she could react. As his sword made contact, he jumped into the air, taking her with him. It was her turn to get knocked around. She gasped, and her eyes widened as she was lifted into the air, her move canceled before it could sufficiently initiate.

"Launch!"

Her move was officially canceled, and she scowled up at the blond guy as he rose even higher than her in the air raising his sword above his head, a purple glow emanating from the edge of it. She moved her bladed gauntlets to block the attack, and it worked, definitely mitigating damage, but then she heard something no one likes to hear.

"Armor Break!"

She crashed to the ground gasping at the impact as he landed in front of her. She winced, crawling back in fear, trying to get to her feet to use a combo breaker. She didn't know how but he was hitting her harder than a level 75 should. By a lot! He was hitting as hard as a level 160. She was already down to half health for crying out loud! "She said this would be an easy mark!"

Canceled Reprieve: Link
Coda

She held her hand out again, shouting.

Shotgun Blast

Just as the bolts of light formed, he grabbed her, and her body went stiff, the magic fading.

"Guard Break!"

Jaune moved in close to her, their noses touching as they looked deep into each other's eyes. The girl blinked at the guy in front of her. Their blue eyes, staring deep into each other. Her chest felt funny, and her heart skipped a beat as a warm sensation spread through her. She looked down and saw Jaune's sword piercing her chest right where her heart would be. He'd run her through down to the hilt, and she felt that oh so familiar invasive feeling of the game's pain counter letting her know she'd been stabbed. It was critical as well if the warm feeling was any indicator.

She looked up to the corner of her HUD and saw her HP at about 5% and coughed as he pushed her back while drawing his sword from her. She fell back to the ground blinking in disbelief. She couldn't believe it. How? How had a level 75 beaten a level 132 like her so quickly?

She felt the effects of the critical hit wear off, but a cold feeling was spreading from her chest now. She glanced down, seeing frost spreading from the place Jaune had struck. She felt her jaw chatter, her movements becoming sluggish and shaky. Her gaze drew up to the man she'd attacked as the surrounding area began to darken despite it being an open field in the morning. He was holding his blade above his head, and it was glowing as a pillar of light enveloped it, rising high into the sky. She whimpered.

Eternal Refrain

"Just. Give. Up!" Jaune shouted as his attack came down on her.

"Overkill!"
"EXP boost!"
"Title gained, Underdog!"

~ 0 ~

Jaune fell to his knees, propping himself up on his sword as he took in a big gulp of air. "Holy cow! What. The hell. Was that!" He said between breaths as he looked at the grayed out body of the girl who'd attacked him with a scowl. He stumbled over to her avatar, feeling out of breath after all that. He just didn't understand why she'd attacked him out of nowhere. Granted, Scarlet told him that people might come after him, but how did she find him? She had to have been following him for a while, considering they'd been the only two on the road. Was someone targeting him? He pushed the thoughts from his mind. He didn't want to think about what that meant right now.

Shaking his head, he brought up his inventory and pulled out an elixir. God, she'd hit him hard. He was at 12% health from just a few hits, and that was with his upgraded armor. He blanched thinking about how things could have gone it he hadn't read his new abilities earlier. He would have been paste with a couple of the other hits he dodged. He sighed in relief as he drank the elixir feeling his fatigue and pain fade away instantly. Throwing the bottle to the side, he targeted the girl.

Target:
Vernal
Player LVL 132
HP -
TAB:
Inventory - NEW!
Equipment - NEW!

"Level 132!?" He looked down at her and scowled. "What the hell do you want from me? This is a low-level area. You can't tell me that you just happened to come across me!" He huffed and then dropped to one knee next to her. "I don't know if you can hear me when you're down like that, but I want you to stay the hell away from me." He looked at the target window by her and hit both tabs opening up her inventory and equipment menu. He frowned and looked down at her but then turned back to her inventory and hit take all. "It was only fair, right?" He could have sworn he saw her expression darken as he stood up and moved away while watching her.
Not ten seconds later, a few blue rings materialized around her, and she disappeared.

"And don't come back!" He shouted at no one. He took a deep breath while putting his sword away and looked around. Up at the top of the hill, a group of players had gathered to watch the fight. They'd all seen it and hadn't even tried to help him. He made a face and huffed as he made his way back up the steep road making his way to the hill in the distance. The day started so nice too, hard to believe something so small could bother him so much.

~ 0 ~

A little over an hour later, Jaune found himself climbing his way up the steep end of the hill, having not wanted to go through the forest and find the path. His hands finally gripped the edge of the small cliff, and he dragged himself up using a skill to flip over the edge gracefully before landing with a huff. Looking up at the crest of the hill, a large tree with lush green leaves waved gently In the wind.

It reminded him of the tree in Winnie the Pooh.

He smiled as he slowly made his way up to it and paused. Sitting on the lowest branch was a girl reading a book. She had dark raven hair and bright amber eyes that complimented her pale skin beautifully. While looking at her, he noticed a pair of dark purple, almost black cat ears poking out of her hair. He smiled to himself, thinking back to her purring last night and the nickname he'd called her. His gaze roved down her slender body taking in the dark brown leather and cotton she was wearing. It looked good on her, but it just didn't fit her color palate. His eyes eventually fell to her legs, and that's when he noticed it. There was a tail swinging below the branch she was sitting on.

He chuckled to himself and shook his head, making his way under the tree as quietly as possible. He could tell she was dead to the world and lost in her book when she didn't even flinch after he accidentally stepped on a dry branch snapping it. She just turned the page in her book. He smiled in amusement and shook his head in amusement as he leaned against the tree directly below her and slid down between the large roots.

Looking out over the hill, he could see Vale in the distance but not the field he'd walked through due to the other hills and the plateau between them. He breathed a sigh of relief relaxing as he stared out at the scenery, a happy smile on his face. "Well, At least I didn't run into any grimm from the event. I guess the trouble was worth it. There aren't many places like this anywhere nearby in the real world, anyway." He stretched and settled in against the tree, his eyelids drooping as he drifted off to the sound of the breeze rustling the leaves above while the sweet smell of grass filled his head. "Blake…picked a good…spot." He trailed off as his consciousness slipped away.

Unaware of how much time had passed, Jaune dozed there lazily until something warm and soft tickled his face. He smiled and let his head turn, feeling the warm softness brush against his cheek. It was nice. That is until it thumped his nose. He scrunched his face and blinked a couple of times while remaining motionless for the most part.

There in front of him, he saw a black cat tail. It gently swayed back and forth before moving in close to tickle his face again. He grinned and reached for it as it came at him. The furry limb slipped through his fingers, pulling up out of his reach as a light giggle filled the air.

Looking up, he saw Blake with her book in hand; only it was upside down, and she had a small smile on her lips. He rolled his eyes, wearing a grin as he stretched out, letting himself fall to his side to lie down on the soft, springy grass while looking up at her. "You enjoying your book up there?" He said through a yawn. "Must be quite a skill to read backward and upside-down."

She made a noncommittal noise while putting a bookmark in the book and closed it storing it in her inventory with a flush. She glanced down at Jaune and slid sideways off the branch, hanging on with her legs as she reached down and dropped into a graceful roll. She elegantly rolled next to him, sliding to a stop as she took a deep breath stretching out with a yawn. "Mm. I can see why you started to fall asleep. It's much comfier than up there."

He saw her tail flick, and her cat ears twitch the same way his mom's cat Mini did when she was feeling good. He closed his eyes and fought down the laugh that threatened to interrupt the peaceful moment. He took a deep breath and calmed down, pulling his arms behind his head. "Well, you could have let me sleep longer then, you know?"

He heard her get up and opened his eyes to see her standing over him with an amused expression. "Didn't you get enough sleep last night? Plus, I let you have a 30-minute nap just now. It's like 12:05."

He shrugged and looked up into her amber eyes. "Well, it was hard to sleep with you on my mind." He'd meant the purring she'd done last night. Despite being drunk, it had stuck with him, and he'd actually found it pretty funny. He'd spent half the night in a drunken euphoria thinking of stupid ways to tease her with it and had eventually come up with the nickname KitKat.

His eyes widened when he saw Blake look away with a darker flush standing up straight. Was she still embarrassed about it? Maybe he should let it go. She had asked him not to call her that, and she'd even sent him a message saying not to use it with a none too subtle threat as well. He was about to apologize when she kicked his foot. "Get up already. It's not good to lay around all day."

He winced at the kick and sat up, pulling his legs closer before giving her a sly look. "You know we're lying down right now, Blake. This is just a game." He saw her cheeks darken further as a small scowl flitted across her features, and she turned away from him, crossing her arms.

"Shut up, Jaune." She kicked him again for good measure.

He groaned and rolled over. "But Blake, the grounds so comfy." He said in a childish tone while hugging the ground.

She rolled her eyes, her blush dying as she gave him an unimpressed look. "Well, you're late. If you wanted to rest for a bit then you should have gotten here sooner. I did give you instructions with a shortcut."

He frowned and rolled back over, giving her a deadpan look. He didn't want to get into the whole pendant thing and have to explain how it pretty much screwed him when it came to interacting with others, so he fell back on the hiccup he'd had on getting here. "Tell that to the girl who tried to PK me on the way." He retorted as he stood up, dusting the grass off his clothes. He paused after not hearing any response from her for a few seconds and straightened up, turning to look at her. The frown on her face was telling, and it made him feel kind of awkward. "What?"

She held his gaze, making him feel like he was being examined. "What level are you?"

He blinked. "I'm level 75. Why?"

She gave him a confused look. "How is your level so high? I thought you said you just started."

He opened his mouth to respond but got quiet and then shrugged, seeing her fixate on him then glance above his right shoulder, most likely looking at his target info. Jaune really didn't wanna get into how he used to play with Ruby, and he didn't feel like telling every person he met that he was in the beta. Granted, Blake most likely wouldn't jump to conclusions like everyone else seemed to since she knew him but still. "Um, this girl helped me level really fast when I started."

He saw her posture shift, and she turned profile to him when he said that. He raised an eyebrow and then just shook the feeling off. She glanced at him with her arms folded and spoke softly. "All right then. How did you have trouble with a low-level person trying to PK you? This is a starter area, after all. Not many grimm either." She observed him carefully, waiting for a response.

He frowned at that. "Yeah, that's what everyone keeps telling me, but I have to say out of the five people I've met two were above level one hundred. The girl who attacked me was level 132."

"Bull shit," she snapped at him. He flinched, taking a step back at the look on her face and tone of voice. "There's no way you ran into a level 132 out here and beat them in a fight. Not at level 75. Especially if you just started playing."

He narrowed his eyes at her. "Well, it happened okay. Look. I even took her stuff after I killed her." He pulled up his inventory where Blake could see it and scrolled passed all the items he'd gotten from her to the bottom where the girl's gear was and showed her some of the stuff he took. "See. It's level 130 - 132 gear."

Blake's eyes widen at seeing the numbers. "But that can't be. You just. Nobody should." She grew quieter, muttering something about it being a higher level than hers and something that sounded like contract. She looked up, letting her hands drop to her sides, fixing him with a suspicious look. "How did you beat her?"

He blinked, confused. "How did I beat her?" Blake nodded. He thought about it for a second. If he was honest, it had to be the double damage he dealt along with that last hit from Coda for the most part. That attack was stupid strong though only in a one on one fight or one where the odds were in his favor. Without it, he'd probably be dead in the field right now. No way to contact Blake and unable to respawn or get up for six hours.

He frowned at the idea that he could have unintentionally stood up Blake if he'd lost that fight. He looked at her to see her waiting expectantly for his response. "I guess I lucked out with the attacks I chose? She was thrashing me at first, but I managed to counter her right at the end. It came real close." He scratched the back of his head, looking off into the distance. "She was pretty determined to kill me too. Followed me from town and rushed me when we were out in the field. I've never even seen her before. Maybe I was just better?"

She gave him an unimpressed look, and he smiled sheepishly. "Look, I really don't know Blake, she was a way higher level than me and almost killed me with her opening attack."

She took a slow deep breath while looking down with a hum. He was going to ask her what she was thinking about when she looked up at him. "Change of plans."

Jaune tilted his head and walked to get in front of her as she started walking off. "Hey, Blake. Blake. What do you mean by a change of plans?"

She just walked around him while holding her chin in a thinking pose, not really paying attention to him physically, but she did answer. "We were going to go adventuring and level you up a bit, but you're already level 75, so you're good for now. What's more important is that someone was hunting you and you don't know why. I know someone that might have some info on this, so we need to go there to ask her."

He watched her with a dumbfounded look as she headed off. "Wait. What?" He jogged to catch up, falling in step with her. "I- I don't get whats going on. Hunted? By whom? for what?" She didn't look at him but pulled up her messaging tab and shot off a message to someone. "Hey, Blake. What does 'being hunted' mean?"

She glanced at him out of the corner of her eye, giving him a 'really?' look to which he rolled his eyes. "Yes, Blake, I know what hunted means, I'm not stupid. I meant, what does it mean in the game?"

She came to a sudden stop, and he almost tripped trying to stay even with her as he turned to look at her. "What?"

She folded her arms and fixed him with a stern look. "It means that you pissed someone off or did something really bad that would get a guild mad at you enough to want to put a hit out on you."

He gulped, eyes going wide as he pointed to himself. "A hit. On me?" He stared off into nothing, memories of Holy telling him just what selling those SDCs could do and most likely had done flashed through his mind. He shook his head and looked back at Blake. "I didn't do anything. I just started playing."

She just narrowed her eyes slightly at him before she closed them and pinched the bridge of her nose, letting out a sigh. "I believe you, Jaune." She smiled at him comfortingly, offering him a shrug. "You aren't that kind of guy. That's why I'm worried about it."

He quirked a brow. "Worried about it? It's not that serious, is it? I mean, I'd just come back. Permadeath isn't a thing in the game." He grew quiet at the look on her face.

She shook her head and looked off towards Vale. "No, it isn't. That doesn't mean it'll end when you die though. People can keep the hit on you. It can get to the point of harassment and griefing. Whoever put a hit on you either want something from you or they want you to do something, or even to stop doing something in particular." She continued walking while looking over her shoulder at him. You obviously caught someone's eye. Why? I can't say. I do know how to find out though. They would have to know your name for starters. It would help if you had a list of people you knew or have met. It should be easy enough, and the list should be short if you started playing very recently."

He looked down, following her down the gentle slope of the hill to a road leading into the forest. He had a really bad feeling about this whole thing now. If it were something random where any jerk could pick his picture or name and pay to have him killed, that was strangely more appealing than it being any of the people he'd met. It sounded like coercion to him, and there were only a couple of people he could think of that he'd met who knew his name. He felt sick as two pairs of eyes flashed through his mind, one crimson the other gold. "Shit."

He sped up, getting even with Blake again as they entered the forest, the sun getting blocked out for the most part. "Well, if it's so serious, couldn't you just message your friend?"

Her shoulders dropped, and she nodded. "I could, and I did, but we need to go in person because the info we need can't be given freely. She does know we're coming through. So we'll be able to get what we're looking for a lot easier." She gave him a small warm smile accompanied by a playful look. "Besides, I wanna show you around."

He sweatdropped. "Didn't you say this was serious? I don't think mrfph…"

She cut him off by pressing her finger to his lips, giving him a katty grin. "Don't worry, Jaune. I'll protect you." She turned away from him, coughing into her hand. He could have sworn he heard something like 'noob.'

His shoulders dropped at her comment, but he let it go with a shrug, and they headed off once more.

~ 0 ~

Getting back to town was far quicker than the trip out, thanks to Blake's shortcut. They picked up their things from the Adventurer Task Master or ATM for short, as Blake had pointed out with a smirk. The acronym had gotten a laugh from him as the two headed off down the winding steps to the left of the large fountain to head further into the city.

While walking through the streets, Jaune found himself looking at the new buildings in awe. They were fancier and more decorative than the ones he'd seen so far, and it stunned him. "Hey Blake," He asked while slowing his pace to look at one building in particular.

It was a decent sized building that had a black roof with warm chocolate brown walls complemented by ebony accents and golden trim that had a fancy sign out front reading Boutique De Mode in looping golden font. The front of the store had mannequins with some fancy looking clothes similar in design to the blue Pendragon royal coat he'd gotten in Atlas during the beta.

Blake turned to see Jaune staring at the store with the odd glance at the surrounding stores. She put a hand on her hip. "What's up?"

He looked back at her and gestured to the surrounding shops. "Where are we? I've never been here, and these stores look different from anything else in town."

Blake folded her arms and turned to continue down the cobbled stone path. But she did answer him. "This is the business district where the player-run shops are located. The ones that aren't located in the holy palace anyways. Typically these stores are owned by people from other kingdoms because nobody wants a foreign kingdoms shop in the city's main guild location." She shrugged and sighed. "Politics."

Jaune frowned at that. He could understand that this was a PVP oriented game and that spying or espionage was a very real probability but seriously? Discrimination in a game based off of in-game nationality? He shook his head and sighed, looking back at the clothing store. "Man. Sounds rough."

Blake looked back at him sharing his frown. "Yeah, it is. I'm not actually from Vale either, so I can't even open a shop unless I start one in Vacuo and expand to here."

He blinked at her and smiled. "Hey, we both picked Vacuo as our country then. Cool."

She blinked back at him, head tilted. "Yeah… cool. Hey Jaune, when did you start playing this game?"

He paused. "Uh. Why?"

She fixed him with a stern look. "Because you're already level 75, which takes at least a week to get to if you grind non stop, and that's if you have access to increasingly higher level grim and quests which Vacuo doesn't have so it would have taken twice if not three times as long. On top of that, you can't leave for another kingdom until you reach level 50. Not to mention The trip from Vacuo to any country or town is a minimum of 4 IRL days, and you seem to have already been here for a day, at least, maybe more. When you said you started recently, did you lie to me?" She finished with a slightly hurt expression.

Jaune looked at her with a shocked expression. He knew Blake wasn't stupid in the least, maybe a bit reckless if the stories he'd heard about her at rallies were true but holy cow had she just put him on the spot. "I-I didn't lie. I did just start a couple of days ago." He got out quickly.

She eyed him warily with a sigh. "Then how are you such a high level, and how are you here? Are you a cheater?"

He grimaced his eyebrow twitching at the accusation. He was a serious gamer when it came to playing. Exploits sure. Short cuts hell yeah. But glitches and cheating? "No, I'm not a cheater. What's the point in a game if you use hacks or mods to get around things?"

She just continued to watch him waiting for an explanation to his level and why he was here. He sighed, dragging his hand down his face. "Alright. I was a beta tester, and I just started playing again. Happy!" He said more aggressively than he meant to.

Blake's cat ears flattened against her head at his response, and a scowl clouded her features. "Don't yell at me. You're the one who left out that bit of information when I asked who might wanna put a hit on you!" She said back at him with a raised voice feeling defensive after he raised his.

He folded his arms across his chest defensively and scowled back. "Hey, I haven't played since me and Ruby fought so sorry if I had other things on my mind and didn't think about if I'd pissed off someone I don't even know!" Jaune's eyes widened after his outburst, and he looked down at the road letting out a breath. "Sorry, forget it. I'll deal with this on my own. It's not your problem anyway."

Blake's expression fell, and she stepped closer, reaching out to him. "Jaune, wait, I."

He walked past her shaking his head. "It's whatever Blake, it's not your fault. Just let it go." He continued down the road more subdued than even after his run-in with that Vernal girl earlier.

Blake watched his back with a guilty frown as he headed off. She looked down, berating herself mentally. "Wow Blake, Some friend you are. He's just trying to enjoy himself, and here you are giving him the third degree and arguing with him about a non-issue. I'm such a bitch."

She took a deep breath and looked up, her eyes widening, seeing Jaune almost at the end of the road. She rushed down the pathway to catch up. She didn't want their day to end like that. He didn't deserve it. Not him. "Jaune Wait!"

He stopped at the end of the path and turned to face her with a blank expression she'd never seen him wear before. She came to a stop in front of him and opened her mouth, but her words got caught in her throat when she looked into his eyes, seeing the apathy behind them. "What's up, Blake?"

She lifted a hand halfway and stepped closer to him. "Jaune, I'm sorry."

He smiled at her, but it was hollow. "Don't worry about it. I already said it wasn't your fault. I should have told you instead of avoiding the topic, and this wouldn't have happened. We're fine. I'm just feeling burnt out right now."

Honestly, after his first day back in the game, he had to say he wasn't enjoying it as much as he thought he would. The combat was fun, and the scenery was beautiful, but the pain boosts from the pendant and that event he triggered he could have done without. He looked up at the sky and sighed as he put a hand on his hip. "Maybe I should just quit."

Blake's eyes widened. "What? No." She reached out, touching his bicep, drawing his gaze to hers. "Please don't."

He looked at her searching her features for something. The hurt expression she gave him made him feel like a jerk. She had offered to help him out in the game today. He also had to remember. She'd asked him to hang out with her. Not only had he been late and fallen asleep on her, but he'd also withheld information she'd asked about, and he even got mad at her.

He took a deep breath and nodded slowly as his expression softened. A genuine smile was breaking out across his features, making her relax. "Alright, Blake. I'll stay." He lifted his arm and squeezed her shoulder reassuringly. "Sorry for being a jack ass."

She smiled at the genuinely warm response he gave her. The two stood there just looking at each other for a bit. It was a funny moment that should have been awkward what with the little spat they just had, but for some reason, Blake couldn't help the playful grin that spread across her face. "Yeah, and I'm sorry for being a bitch."

The two looked into each other's eyes for a good ten seconds before the smallest of grins broke across their lips. Not a second later, they both doubled over laughing. A few of the surrounding players stopped to stare at them before rolling their eyes and moving on.

Blake covered her mouth, trying to calm down. It wasn't exactly funny, but she couldn't stop laughing, none the less. It was more so a laugh born of relief after their argument, and it helped her calm down. She was sure Jaune was the same. The whole situation was abnormal, and it just confused her, but if they could laugh together about what happened, they were still on good terms meaning Jaune's words from earlier hadn't been hollow.

The two calmed down, and Blake wiped a tear from her cheek, god this game was realistic. "Hey, Blake." She finished wiping her mirthful tears and looked up at him curiously. "What do you say we forget about the whole hit thing for now and just hang out in town?"

She blinked a few times, wondering where that came from. He'd seemed so worried about it before they argued, so it came as a surprise. "Why? I thought you were in a rush to get it taken care of?"

He looked away, laughing nervously while scratching his cheek before his eyes met hers again. "I invited you over last night, and you were great company, but here I am taking up your time after you asked me to hang out with you. I want you to enjoy today, and I'm sorry for such a lousy start."

She gave him a warm expression. This was just one more reason he was a great friend. Despite being as dense as lead, sometimes he was good at acknowledging his faults and making up for them.

It had also slipped her mind that he was here for her, but leave it to Jaune to be a good person and not push his problems or troubles off on others despite how he felt. She admired him for that. She sighed internally. It wasn't healthy to bottle everything up, though. She wanted to do something to help him relax. It was the reason she'd asked him to hang out with her in the first place.

One of the notifications she'd gotten while logging in had mentioned that at midnight a special event was going to start. PvP was going to be disabled, and the cities in the game were going to be transformed into a festival for the 2nd of October, international no violence day. There would be dancing and drinking happening in all the major cities, and no one had to worry about being attacked in the fields.

He was really similar to when they were kids as far as she could tell, and if she remembered right, he enjoyed dancing and listening to music. He was also a gentle person that didn't much like unnecessary confrontation. Her idea had been to hang out all day and help him level up then end their outing on a high note by hitting the event.

She looked up at Jaune and smirked good-naturedly. "Well, if you wanna make it up to me, then how about this. There's an event that starts at midnight, and it's only going to go on until 5 am." She stepped close to him, getting in his face giving him an intimidating look. "For now, we take care of your little problem to kill time until the event. Then you being the gentleman, you are will take me to said event."

Jaune blinked at her about to respond in the negative. He had classes tomorrow early in the morning after all. He couldn't just ditch to hang out with her. Could he? He did have a 4.0 GPA. Calling in for one class wouldn't hurt, would it? All it would take was a quick email to professor Port. Looking at Blake, he felt his heart ache, and his will crumbled at the hopeful expression she had. With a happy, defeated smile, he nodded. "Alright, Blake."

She beamed at him and then walked past him, gesturing for him to follow. "Come on. We're almost there. Oh, and one last thing." She turned to look at him with a happy smile. "How could I have had a bad start to my day? Breakfast was great."
He watched her turn back around, heading off with a spring in her step. He just shook his head, chuckling to himself as he followed after her.

~ 0 ~

Their end destination ended up being a rather large building tucked away at the end of a dead-end street near one of the walls of the city. It wasn't like any of the others he'd seen so far what with its mundane appearance. It stuck out like a sore thumb with all the other personalized shops around it. Looking up at the sign, Jaune saw what could only be described as a target or cross-hair. "Hey, Blake. What kind of place is this?"

Looking over her shoulder at him, she pulled her hood over her head and motioned for him to do the same. "It's a hunters guild. Don't confuse them with huntsman guilds. These places are…" She grew quiet and turned to face the door. "Not reputable. They aren't bad per se. Let's just say money is everything here."

They walked inside to see a few people milling about looking at a bunch of posts on a board near the left wall and a long counter with three people wearing aprons standing behind it — one guy two girls.

One of the girls looked up from what she was working on and stood up straight, beaming at Blake. She had dark brownish rust-colored hair and light gray eyes with tan skin. Her apron was green, and under it, she wore black tights and a black tank top. "Hey, you finally made it!" She rushed around the counter, skidding to a stop in front of Blake, rapid-firing questions at her while simultaneously drawing the attention of everyone else in the establishment.

"Shhhh! Liz, stop being so loud." Blake hissed out while fixing the other girl with a glare from under her hood, making her flush as she quieted down. Blake sighed in relief and walked over to the counter, her friend following before hopping over and turning to face them.

"Sorry, it's just I don't see you often anymore," Liz said bashfully while scratching her nose. "My bad." She looked up and scowled a bit. "I thought I told you to call me Ilia. I don't mind if you use my real name in-game. Besides, my avatar name sucks."

Blake shifted uncomfortably, but it was almost unnoticeable. "I-Ilia." The other girl beamed, and Blake let out a breath. "I." She gestured to Jaune. "We need information."

Ilia's expression became serious, and all of her earlier exuberance vanished in an instant. "What kind of information?" She asked slowly while shooting Jaune a look.

Blake leaned in closer to the other girl while glancing at someone who was watching them, her voice dropping to a whisper. "My friend was just attacked by a hitman. He hasn't been on for a long time, and he has no idea who could have put the hit on him or why.

Ilia looked back to Jaune and then to Blake. "Smart to tell him to put his hood down in here. Anyway, what's his name?"

"His name is Jaune." He looked towards the girl Ilia and nodded.

Ilia quirked a brow scratching her head. "Hmm. There aren't any hits on anyone who's name start with a J, at least not that I can recall.

Blake looks at Jaune, and her eyes widened, having just realized she used his real name instead of his avatar's name. Instead of asking him, she pulled up her messages from him and read the name of the sender. Her eyes widened, and she seemed stunned. Jaune and Ilia looked at her in confusion, both about to say something when she turned to Ilia. "Check for the name Crocea Mors."

Ilia's expression fell, and she looked down at the counter. Her reaction made Blake stiffen. Ilia rubbed her left arm and grimaced. "I… can't tell you the name of the contractor or the reasons. it's been listed as confidential, and we were paid double the fee not to tell anyone."

Blake slammed her hands down on the counter startling Ilia. "Is there any way we can get the info?"

Ilia took a deep breath. "You'd have to pay the bribe fee."

Blake was about to open her inventory when Ilia held out her hand. "Don't bother. The bribe fee for this one is in the tens of billions." Blake's jaw dropped, and she looked up at her friend in shock. The girl across from her frowned. "He pissed off some important people, Blake. Or he has something they want badly. Bad enough to pay for all the fees to keep themselves hidden and contract confidentiality."

Blake's shoulders dropped, and she looked over at Jaune. He looked pale. She turned back to Ilia. "Isn't there anything you can give us?"

Ilia just shook her head before she motioned for Blake to move in close. The two were nose to nose when Ilia finally spoke so softly even Blake could barely hear. "They have another hit out. Complete it, and you find out who it is."

If it were a hit for such a high paying client, then it wouldn't be easy. She glanced at Jaune out of the corner of her hood and saw him rubbing the bridge of his nose, looking stressed. They might not even be able to handle the mark to find out who was targeting him, but He would try his hardest to do the same for her, she was sure. It was just the kind of person he was. Blake fixed Ilia with a determined look. "We'll."

"Be going. Thanks, Ilia."

She was cut off and blinked, turning to look at Jaune. "What!" She said louder than she'd meant to, making him flinch at her loud tone.

Ilia looked between the two curiously as Jaune put a hand on Blake's shoulder, smiling at her reassuringly. "It's fine. Look, I can follow what you two were talking about. I have a 4.0 GPA, remember. I get that It's not something we would be able to handle." His grip tightened on her shoulder before he let his hand drop with a smile. "Thanks for caring though Blake, it means a lot to me. I'll figure out what to do some other time. Besides, it's not your problem; you don't have to worry about it.

Blake frowned at his words, feeling a little hurt that he didn't think they could handle this. Granted, it would be tough, but she was no noob, and he had taken out that level 130 somehow. They could do it.

She narrowed her eyes at him, and he saw her hood move meaning her cat ears had as well. He stepped back when she jabbed his chest plate. "Now you listen to me. This is a game, and someone is trying to ruin it for you. I'm your friend, and I want to help you enjoy it. If that means going on some crazy mission with little chance of success, then fuck it. Like you said, it's not like permadeath is a thing."

He blinked at her and tried to respond, but she fixed him with a glare. "We did not fight about this earlier just to have it end here for nothing. I'm not going to let some asshole ruin my day by messing with my friend. It's not right. Besides, didn't you say you were here to hang out with me today?" She stepped back from him, folding her arms. "Well, I wanna do this."

Jaune just gaped at her in disbelief. Oh, he knew how she was when it came to fairness in regards to anything. Especially after their conversations over the last few months. She was getting fired up about this. When she got going, it was near impossible to stop her.

Blake turned to a stunned Ilia, making her jump. "Give us the mark." Ilia nodded and scurried off while Blake stood there arms crossed frown clear to see despite her hood.
He could imagine the glare she must be wearing, enhanced by her bright amber eyes. He shivered at the mental image. Blake could be scary when she got going.

He just stood there stunned, a small smile creeping to his lips. A funny feeling was running through him. He couldn't accurately describe it, but he couldn't stop the smile on his face from growing. Not a moment later, Ilia came back with a scroll and handed it to Blake, who nodded and said her thanks before turning to leave walking right past him.

Looking over to Ilia, he offered an apologetic smile only to receive a sympathetic look in return. He quirked a brow only for Ilia to wave and smile. "Good luck."

Before he could ask what she was referring to, he choked as his collar pressed against his throat, and he was dragged backward. He stumbled, trying to keep his footing while Ilia just leaned over the counter, laughing.

~ 0 ~

Just outside of the hunters guild shop, Blake let go of Jaune's coat, and he almost tripped before he righted himself. "What was that for?" He said in a strained voice while rubbing his throat.

Blake looked at him and flushed. "Sorry. I'm just." She huffed and pouted as her gaze shifted to the ground. "It just pisses me off that somebody is targeting you like this. I know you aren't the kind person to start trouble, and I just." She let out a tired sigh and shook her head. "I don't know."

She paused when she felt a hand rest on her head, and she turned to look up at Jaune. He was smiling down at her chuckling softly. "What's so funny?" She asked in an accusing tone as she shot him a glare.

He just kept chuckling and shook his head as he made his way back down the path. "Honestly, I don't know. I just feel happy for some reason. I can't stop smiling. I kind of like it." He folded his hands behind his head and kept walking while humming the Mario theme.

Blake watched him with a content gaze as she followed after him at a more sedate pace. She hadn't seen him laugh or smile like that since they were kids. Granted, they hadn't been around each other for about ten years, but over the last three and a half, she hadn't seen him like this even once.
Something had definitely happened in those ten years that affected him.

She smiled warmly at his back, hoping he was on the mend from whatever had happened while they were apart. It sucked seeing such a good person like him down all the time. His current mood was a welcome change.

A memory of a seven-year-old Jaune wearing jean shorts, a red t-shirt, and black high top converse popped into her mind. He was holding a giant tuna in one hand, fishing rod in the other while laughing like an idiot with the biggest cheese-eating grin on his face. All the while, he was shouting about how he'd caught her favorite before the two of them begged her dad if they could eat it.

Her mother had been the one to clean and prep it in the end, and boy had it been good. She smiled fondly to herself. That had been a good day. "Blake?" She blinked and looked up, just now noticing that she'd gotten lost in thought for longer than she'd meant to. Jaune was more than a few shops away already. His expression was more relaxed, but the smile was still brighter than she'd seen in a long time. She met his gaze and grinned as she jogged to catch up to him.

~ 0 ~

A while later, Jaune and Blake were sitting by the fountain overlooking the city. They were sharing a bench while eating steamed pork buns from an NPC stall while going over the mark. Now eating in the game didn't do much other than help you feel like you ate, so you didn't get too hungry while playing, but it did positively affect characters. You got a small boost depending on what you ate, and Jaune himself got a notification saying his 24-hour eating timer reset again.

He closed the window while chewing before leaning back on the bench, relaxing as the breeze blew through his hair. A content sigh met his ears as he glanced at Blake to his left. She was looking out at the city happily, a small smile playing across her lips. He swallowed his food, the wrapper disappearing from his grip as he finished his bun. "So what are we supposed to be doing exactly? You know as far as the mark goes."

Blake finished her food as well and stretched her arms above her head before leaning forward, resting her elbows on her knees while propping her head up. "Apparently, there's a person killing people who take the road from Vale to the port town of Cliffside on the way to Patch. Her name is Guinevere. She's a Macabre dancer class who uses throwing knives, and she's level 167."

Jaune got quiet at that. Blake took a deep breath and looked over at him. "What?"

He just looked out over the town like she'd been doing and sighed. "What level are you?"

She frowned and forced a smile to her lips. "I'm level 143, and my equipment is under-leveled, by a lot. It's gear score 129. My highest level piece of equipment is level 140, and it's my weapons. Runner up is 128, and that's my breastplate."

She was seriously having doubts about whether or not they could do it, which was pretty sad considering her earlier bravado. She let out a weak breath about to tell Jaune maybe they really should just let it go for now when a firm hand rested on her shoulder, drawing her gaze to her companion. "Jaune?"

He was looking at her with a warm, supportive grin. "Well, then let's go bag this girl so we can get you some newer equipment."

His response made her wanna slap him. She was supposed to be the one supporting him right now. It made her feel funny that he was doing what she'd been trying to do for months without even trying. "Jaune. You're an idiot." She stood up and turned to face him, giving him an amused look. "What am I gonna do with you?"

He followed suit and stood up, his height forcing her to look up at him again as he smirked down at her offering a shrug. She rolled her eyes and let out a groan. "Well, let's go."

Just as she turned to head towards the ATM, she heard the ping of a message from Jaune, and she turned to face him. "What's up?"

He opened the message and read it real quick before looking around, spotting something over the rail further in town before he closed the message and grinned at her. "My weapons finished."

She tilted her head, giving him a confused look. "What?"

~ 0 ~

Blake was confused. Jaune had mentioned his weapon being finished, which stumped her. As far as she knew, Vale's only weapon shop was in the holy palace, and you had to go through some serious bs to get in even if you were a citizen. Like she'd said earlier, 'foreigners' were not welcome to set up shop there, so doing business there was even harder. Plus, Jaune was only level 75. What kind of equipment did he have made?

She looked around where they were at now, and it threw her off. They were on the opposite side of town from the holy palace, and he was looking around like he knew this place. "Hey, Jaune. Where are we going? I thought you said you had a weapon to pick up." She pointed through an ally between two houses with a fence blocking the drop at the end. The holly palace in the distance. "The holy palace is that way."

He looked at where she was pointing and then back at her while jabbing a thumb over his shoulder. "Who said anything about the holy palace? My weapons smith is right over there."

Blake Blinked at him and leaned to the side, looking past him at the shop behind him. She just now noticed that there were several sets of armor and weapons displayed in the window. Her eyes widened as she walked past him, pressing her hands and forehead against the glass. "No way."

Jaune just watched her as she moved over to the shop. "What?"

Blake turned to look at him and gaped. "Jaune. This is the only shop in Vale that sells equipment that isn't in the holy palace. Do you know how much people would pay to find out about this place?" He gave her a look of disbelief, and she groaned.

"Jaune, remember when I said my gear was under-leveled?" He nodded. "Well, there's a reason for that, and it's not because I'm lazy. Getting new gear in this game is hard, and typically extremely expensive. That's why upgrading what you have is so important." She folded her arms and gestured in the direction of the business district they'd come from. "Most players stick with stuff they find early on and just keep upgrading it and buy cosmetic pieces to wear over crappy looking gear. That's what that store you stopped in front of earlier was. A cosmetics shop."

Jaune nodded his head slowly while folding his arms. "Okay. But I thought Vale and Mistral offered gear as a faction reward every so often. It can't be that rare."

Blake folded her arms as well and sighed. "You'd think so, but the fact is that rare gear is only the third level of rarity and therefor low level making them not worth much, so people deconstruct them for materials."

She looked back at the shop. "The people who get gear sets from Vale every 10 levels have it much easier in the beginning, but after level 90 It takes to long to level, and any gear you upgrade to run dungeons would outstrip it so it's only viable every 20 or 30 levels so people scrap those as well or trade lower level players for rare items that they might have."

Jaune's expression lit up, and he nodded. "Oh, I get it. So that's why there's no crazy inflation. Free armor and items from rewards aren't leveled, so its near-worthless, which leads to them being scrapped instead of sold." She nodded. "He slapped his fist into his palm, getting a little excited. "So whenever people get Pk'ed instead of their killer selling their gear, they break it down to make themselves stronger therefor not flooding the market either." Blake's smile made him grin.

"Wow, Jaune, it looks like that brain of yours really did earn that 4.0 you have." She giggled at his weak scowl. "Anyway. As for why I don't have leveled gear is because I'm from Vacuo. I left at level 125 and haven't gone back since. Since." She trailed off, getting quiet. "I can't go back, so I've been having a hard time getting better gear."

Jaune gave her a worried look. "Blake?"

She shook her head and gave him her trademark smirk. "Don't worry about it. I just had a little trouble with my old guild. I renounced my citizenship to Vacuo and everything. I'm not welcome back there."

He frowned at that and tilted his head, giving a concerned look. "Blake, are you sure you're."

"I'm fine, okay!" She shouted, making him flinch back. She closed in on herself and let out a breath. "I'm glad I don't have anything to do with him anymore," She said as she turned away from Jaune.

"Him?" Jaune felt like there was a story there but decided that touching that subject was not something he wanted to do. He and Blake were friends, but they weren't close. Not to mention he'd blown up on her earlier. He didn't want to use up any goodwill he had left on something he had no business prying into. Instead, he put a hand on her shoulder. "Okay."
She relaxed under his hand and took a deep breath before looking up at him to see his usual good-natured smile. She couldn't stop the pull she felt dragging the corners of her mouth up.

"How about we fix your little gear problem then?" He moved his hand from her shoulder to the small of her back and started guiding her to the door of the shop. "Plus Scarlet is a really nice girl. I'm sure she'd be glad to help out a person in need."

"Scarlet?" Blake asked in a flat tone shooting him a sideways glance while shifting away from his hand. He didn't seem to notice and nodded as he pushed the door open with a grin.

~ 0 ~

Scarlet was sitting behind the counter of her shop, looking down at a black metal box with silver trim that held the sword she'd put so much work in to. Crocea Mors' sword. She glared at the box and then sighed as she fell over it, sniffling. "It's not fair. I finally finished you, and I have to give you away. Uwaaa. I wanna keep you."

She sniffed and rubbed her nose just as the bell above the door rang. She jumped up and nearly pushed the case off the counter, but she grabbed it and pulled it back over just in time to appear presentable for whoever walked in. "Hello! Welcome to Patchwork Heart. How can I help you?"

"Hey, Scarlet."

She opened her eyes and blinked a few times. That voice was familiar. Not a second later, the guy from earlier walked around the shelf blocking the view from the front door. She felt her stomach drop a little, and she let out a tired sigh but offered a smile all the same. "Oh. Hello. Crocea Mors." She nodded at him.

He winced and rubbed the back of his head, but to her surprise, another hand shot out and slapped his hand down. "Stop doing that, Jaune." Scarlet tilted her head, her nose making a cute wiggling motion as a woman dressed in dark brown leather and white cotton came around the corner while giving her companion a lazy glare.

Scarlet giggled at the two, drawing their attention. "Well, I didn't know you were bringing a friend Crocea."

"Just call me Jaune. Short, sweet, rolls off the tongue." He laughed nervously and winced. Scarlet glanced down and saw the girl's heel grinding into his boot. She suppressed her laugh and nodded.

The girl Jaune had brought folded her arms and nodded at her. "Belladonna. You can call me Bella if it's easier." Jaune looked at her and opened his mouth to say something, but Blake shot her left arm out, slapping him across the chest, making him shut his mouth.

Scarlet smiled at the two as Jaune rubbed his chest, giving his friend a look. She shook her head before bowing to the two in turn. "Bella, Jaune. What can I help you with? Or are you just here to pick up your sword?"

Jaune walked up to the counter and gestured for Blake to follow. "Well, I only need the sword." He slapped Blake on the back as she came up and almost knocked her into the counter, getting a glare from her to which he smirked. "My friend needs some new gear. She hasn't been able to get anything better for a while."

Scarlet looked at Blake, who huffed and looked away from Jaune while nodding. "It would be appreciated if you have anything for an assassin."

Scarlet smiled and gestured to the rest of the store. "Just down that way. I focus on weapons, so I don't know if I have anything higher than level 130 armor wise." Blake nodded and headed off to look for something she could use. After she left Scarlet, turned attention turned to Jaune. "And I guess you're here for this." She pulled the black case between them and undoing the clasps before opening it and turning it around so he could see the labors of her work.

~ 0 ~

Jaune looked down at the sword lying in the case with awe. It looked completely different than it had earlier. "Wha? Is that the same sword?"

Scarlet nodded with a grin spreading across her face. "Yup. I was just as surprised as you. I've upgraded so many weapons and pieces of armor I can't even remember, but I do know that none of them ever changed shape like this. Maybe a change in color, material, or texture but never a complete change in design."

Jaune reached down and ran his hands over the blade. The peen Block was twisted like a double helix and had two ends. The pommel was in the shape of an infinite triangle that led into a cone-shaped hilt that spiraled up to and split into the guard. The guard itself looked like wings, but they were stripped. Almost the way an artist would draw the bones before drawing the actual thing. The blade was made of two separate pieces that spiraled like the peen block but with sharp edges that connected about eight inches up into the actual blade where a fuller went another eight inches up the blade then stopped just before meeting the ridge leaving another eight inches that closed into a thin sharp point. The red tinge the sword had had before was a full-on crimson color now.

"Sword of Cassius."

Jaune looked up. "What?"

Scarlet repeated herself while looking down at the sword. "Sword of Cassius. That's it's name."

Jaune gave her a curious look. "Isn't that the guy who killed Jesus in the bible? They call his weapon the spear of Longinus."

She nodded and then looked up at him. "Yeah. That's right. Are you a history buff?" He shook his head in the negative, and she shrugged. "Well, anyway, I didn't name it. As far as its specs go, it's as follows. You can examine it yourself if you want." He nodded and targeted the sword before hitting the examine tab.

~ 0 ~

Item: Sword of Cassius
Item Type: Weapon
Rarity: Exclusive
Lvl: 300

Stats:
Durability: -0.1/-0.1
ATK: 0

Effects:
Unbreakable
+150% Physical ATK
+150 % Magical ATK
-70% SP usage
-70% AP usage
-70% MP usage
Life Drain (Lose 2% of HP per swing)
Soul Drain (Lose 2% of MP per swing)
Will Drain (Lose 2% of AP per swing)
Curse of the Damned (Cannot regenerate SP, MP, AP during combat)
Burden of the Mighty (Cannot be healed by spells during combat)

Abilities:
Piercing: Deal damage through armor
Drain: Life steal 10% of damage dealt on a critical hit
In my spirit lies my faith: Stronger than love and with me, it will be
(When solo debilitating effects do not affect wielder during combat)
(When in a party ATK is increased by 25% per party member, friendly fire active)

Special ability: Carnage (?)

Item description:

A fist of fury, a deadly weapon, a sword of havoc, raised up in anger, born to do battle, without compassion.

More than a soldier, more than a killer…

And in his trail is mayhem, destruction always followed, by stricken enemies of, The soldier of no sorrow, the band of menace beckons, in numbers his protection…

The leader of the raiders, the brothership forever…

He…is coming.

~ 0 ~

Jaune felt a shiver run down his spine at that. "Doesn't sound too friendly."

Scarlet nodded in agreement with a small frown. "I never thought my baby would turn into something so…angry. It just feels like there's something different about him. More than just the look or effects." She gestured for Jaune to take the sword from the case and pushed it to him. "I'm sad to see my baby go, but." She looked to the side. "But I don't think I'll miss him."

Jaune grabbed the handle of the blade, lifting it out of the case. It felt heavy but not in a bad way. The design didn't seem too practical, but it did have all those boosts. Granted, she was right about the negative effects, but damn. If he carried items with him, he could be a one-man army with the right armor. The word raid boss passed through his head.

There was a loud thunk that made Jaune and Scarlet jump. Blake had come back with a breastplate and two blades. One a short sword, the other a dagger. They were simple in design, but he could see the swirling surface on the metal and figured they were a high crystal level like Morsus Glacies, the ice sword he'd bought earlier. "Find anything else you could use, or was that it?" Jaune asked Blake.

Blake looked at Jaune and frowned. "If I found anything else I'd have brought it up here as well." He gave her a sheepish smile, and she sighed while turning to face Scarlet. "I'll take these."

Scarlet pulled down her goggles and opened her menu. She tapped a few things and then closed the menu while sliding her goggles up. "Alright. That'll be 235 million gold."

"What!" Blake and Jaune shouted at the same time, startling the bunny girl behind the counter. Blake slapped her hands down and leaned forward across the counter, her eyes wide. "Why is it so much I've seen gear at level 200 cost less."

Jaune put a hand on her shoulder and pulled her back with a wince. "Hey, Blake. I'm sure there's a reason it's so expensive." He looked at Scarlet, trying to help her, and she nodded furiously. Blake stepped back and took a deep breath while folding her arms. "Okay, Scarlet, go ahead. Why are they so expensive?"

Scarlet swallowed and reached for the breastplate. "Well, this isn't soo expensive, it's around 29 million. What's expensive are these." She lifted the short sword. "This is 114 million, and the dagger is 92 million."

Blake just continued to watch as if expecting more. Scarlet looked to Jaune, who shrugged. The bunny girl sighed and flipped them both into a reverse grip before stabbing them into the case, still on the counter. It started to crack, and dark smoke began to rise from it. Whatever they were doing made Blake's eyes widen, and her posture relaxed. Her full attention was on the daggers.

Scarlet just smiled and pulled them off of the case. "They have the ability to corrode the durability of equipment and deal piercing damage. It works as a debuff to wear down your opponents and break their equipment. If they don't do regular maintenance, they're screwed. It also makes armor fragile, which makes it possible for regular attacks to do piercing damage." She put them down, and Blake picked them up. "they're level 232 and 214, respectively."

Blake narrowed her eyes at Scarlet, who looked confused. "You tried to sell me things I can't use?" Jaune elbowed Blake, making her glare at him. "What?"

"Do you know what a crystal weapon is?"

Blake blinked at him. "A what?"

Jaune just sighed and smiled apologetically to Scarlet, making Blake scowl at the back of his head. "I'll explain it to her later. We'll take them." Scarlet smiled, appreciatively at him, and nodded. He turned to Blake and smiled at her too, but he stepped back, seeing the annoyed half-lidded glare she was giving him. "What?"

She set the weapons down on the counter and sighed. "I only have enough for the breastplate."

Jaune and Scarlet looked at each other. He was almost broke after upgrading his armor and buying the sword and shield earlier. He was resting around 50 million right now. He opened his mouth and laughed nervously, turning to Scarlet. "Wanna trade?"

Scarlet gave him a deadpan look and then grabbed her stuff, pulling it to her side of the counter. "I need to pay bills, love."

Blake looked crestfallen. Her cat ears fell on her head as she let out a sigh. "Come on, Jaune, let's go." She stopped when Jaune grabbed her hand and pulled her back. "Jaune, let go. We need to leave. We don't have enough money." She trailed off. Her eyes were wide as she looked at what Jaune was holding.

"I-I-I-is th-that a." Scarlet stuttered.

Blake blinked to try and see if it would disappear, but it didn't. She whispered her next few words. "A Solid Dust Crystal."

Jaune moved his hand around a bit, watching Scarlet's eyes follow it. He knew exactly how this was going to go now. Call him stupid, and irresponsible, but today he was here for Blake. She wanted to help him with his problem, and he didn't know why but he appreciated it, really he did. It's just that it seemed like they were going to have problems doing it with their current loadout. At least Blake would.

She'd been mopey since they got those steam buns, and he knew it had to be something to do with the mark and his situation. If he could get her some better equipment so they could pull this off and let her keep it as a gift, he was sure it would make her day. She played this game a lot, and he was sure a full set of crystal gear would be a boon.

He sighed internally. "The things we do for our friends. Boy oh boy. Eh, fuck the guilds. Blake hasn't associated anyway."

Scarlet reached out for the crystal with a wide-eyed expression, saliva dripping from the corner of her mouth. "Gimme."

Jaune snapped his fingers, getting the attention of the two girls. "So, Scarlet, wanna trade?" The girl looked at him, stunned, and nodded.

~ 0 ~

"Oh boy." Jaune exhaled as he sat up from his bed, pulling the AVRH off his head. He placed the device down next to his pillow and took a deep breath feeling his stomach growl. He winced at the tight feeling in his gut and got up, walking out into the living room.

He stretched while looking around and let out a yawn. It was already dark outside, and the apartment was pretty cold. That was strange. He couldn't hear anything and called out. "Penny? Penny, you there?"

There was no response. "Huh? Where is she? She was gone most of yesterday too." He walked to the front door and looked to see her Travel boots were gone. "Hey Ceres, where's Penny at?"

"Ms. Penny was here throughout the day and rewashed the grease you left on the dishes you used earlier. Then she vacuumed the carpet. While doing so, she noticed that you or your friend spilled a few drops of wine that stained the carpet and left to get some stain remover."

Jaune looked over the carpet and noticed a couple of wet spots by the edge of the couch. "Oooh. Sorry, Penny." He apologized, mentally.

"Upon completing her self appointed task, she received a call from Joan Arc asking her to come by and pick up something for you. She conversed with your mother, and they concluded that with you spending time with your friends and that it is the weekend, she would stay with your mother and be back to cook lunch for your afternoon classes tomorrow."

"Huh. That's… strange." His stomach growled again, and he rubbed his belly. "Well, I was just going to get something to eat real quick, but I don't feel like cooking, so I'ma pick some stuff up and be back later."

"I will keep the apartment at 72 degrees and set the air scrubber to filter the air before you arrive home, Mr. Arc."

He stretched his arms above his head and yawned again. "Thanks, Ceres. I'll be back in a couple of hours." He put on his low top converse all-stars and opened the door to his hall closet. He debated between the Pumpkin Pete hoody and his solid long-sleeve one. "Hey Ceres, what's the temperature outside?"

"58 degrees Fahrenheit, 14.5 degrees Celsius."

"Alright, thanks. I'll be back." He grabbed the solid black long sleeve and pulled it on while grabbing a thin scarf before slipping out the door while patting his pockets to make sure he had his wallet and his phone.

~ 0 ~

Jaune made his way down the road right hand in his pocket while his left pulled at his scarf, adjusting it while he looked at the displays in the windows of the stores he passed. He passed an antique shop with vases and knifes displayed upfront. It made him think back to just before he logged out. He'd ended up selling that girl Vernal's weapons and her breastplate to Scarlet for a good amount of gold before he'd come to an agreement on their trade.

Blake had wanted to keep the rest of Vernal's gear, saying it fitted her more. He was sure she just liked the black and white color scheme, but regardless. The rest of the gear, as well as the new breastplate and weapons Blake, had picked out, had been handed over along with an equal amount of SDCs and one extra. The deal. One SDC for the breastplate the weapons and upgrading them all.

Blake and Scarlet had been speechless at the sight of the seven SDCs side by side. Scarlet had grabbed everything and shouted that she'd be done in about 2 to 4 hours, so come back then.

He'd been pretty happy about everything, but that had stopped when he looked at Blake. She had this weird look on her face that didn't look happy at all. Not to say she was upset or angry, just not what he'd expected. He'd tried to talk to her, but She'd just said she was going to log out to get something to eat and be back later. Then she disappeared.

He came back to reality when a breeze blew by, making him shiver. "Man It's colder than usual for this time of year." He fixed his scarf and returned his hand to his pocket while smiling at a storefront with an elaborate holographic Halloween display. He scratched his head and chuckled. "Wow, is it October already? Man time flies." He stood there, admiring the display, wondering how the holiday snuck up on him.

He let out a tired sigh and looked up at the dark sky. It wasn't even 8:00 pm yet, and it was almost pitch black outside. Was it this late in the year? Was it already almost the end of the term? If it was October, then the year really had flown by. His finals were in a couple of months. After that, he'd be off to god knows where.

He started walking down the sidewalk again and frowned as his thoughts shifted. Everyone had gotten a lot busier over the last few months. Sun was, believe it or not, taking classes seriously and trying to get a job with Weiss' company. He still played way too many games and partied hard, but he said it was practice for the drinking parties he'd have to attend once he got the job. And the games. Practice for all-nighters. Jaune laughed to himself. "Don't ever change, buddy."

Neptune was, as he'd said back in high school, an intellectual. He didn't have a future he wanted per se, and that was fine because it looked like he was going to be staying in college for a while. Something about getting a Masters or a Doctorates. Jaune was sure it was so that he could stay on campus and party with the girls who came and went. The fucking horn dog.

Now Scarlet Er hmm, David, hadn't been too much of a shocker when he came out of the closet, senior year in high school. He'd been pretty buddy buddy with Coco, what with both of them working together on making some kind of clothing line. Now that he thought about it, the two of them had been really busy too; and they'd been asking for bigger and bigger loans over the last year. Sun had mentioned something about them putting it to good use, in any case. "Hmm. I wonder if they're almost done with their project?"

Now Sage. He was going into weight lifting with Yatsu, or at least that's what Fox and David had said. They were using each other as measuring sticks to get ready for the world's strongest man competition. Not only that, but they were both planing on opening up dojos after graduating. It made sense that those two were busy. After all, the saying went two days of rest is two months of work lost. Or something like that.

That made him think of Pyrrha, who was also training for her sports career. She was going into gymnastics, and Tennis, as well as training for the 400m sprint in the Olympics coming up in a little over a year. He couldn't help but feel proud that his friend was going to be representing them in the world event.

Now Ren was a lot like him. The difference was that he had the curriculum hammered into his head a while back, so college was more so a refresher and legal test. His quiet friend hadn't been as fortunate, unfortunate? And so he was studying almost non stop to get perfect scores to take over his family's company without a fight from the board. All so his parents could retire when he took over. He was a pretty cool guy like that. Now that he thought about it, he'd actually met them now, and he could see why Ren wanted to take over for them. It would give them some time to focus on themselves in the real world and not just on the game.

Nora, the endless ball of energy she was, had taken to studying just as hard as Ren, so as to in her words, "Be the best Secretary Ren could ever have. Then he'd have to make her pancakes every day for the rest of her life." She'd even tied a red string from his wrist to hers and said he had to pull it when she got distracted from studying, which the two used quite a lot and funny enough worked to tame Nora.

He smiled to himself remembering that day in the dinner on campus where he'd told her that Ren, what with his culture being Chinese and his family being traditional to an extent, pointed out the significance to the red string thing she was doing. Ren had smiled and shaken his head while Nora blushed and punched him so hard the entire booth seat he was in had shifted. It had left a bruise for a week, but he'd gotten a pretty good laugh in at the blush on her face.

Weiss was a different story. She, like him, had perfect grades, but instead of messing around like him, she'd taken to spending a lot of time in her suite doing god knows what or attending functions on behalf of her parents and sister. She did come around often enough to keep the biweekly lunch everyone had. Now that he thought about it, that was today. He pulled out his phone, but he didn't see any messages from anyone. "Guess I'm not the only one who missed it."

A billboard nearby started playing some commercial for an energy drink. He looked up at it and laughed. The can was black and white with a pair of amber eyes designed on it. He couldn't help but think about Blake.

Now, Blake, he wasn't too sure about. He said they were friends, but he didn't know too much about her personal life, just some things she liked and disliked. She took night classes instead of day classes like the rest of them as well as worked at the Pizzeria. Lately, she had been cutting back on the rallies and protests she'd attended. Last night he found out she played The world of Remnant a lot too so maybe she was winding down. She was probably going to go into some typical 9 - 5 job and play games in her free time. It seemed like the thing she'd do unless she ended up going off the deep end and doing something crazy.
He chuckles nervously. "I hope she doesn't."

The commercial on the billboard ended with a sponsor from a gaming company, and his thoughts shifted to Ruby. He stopped walking. "Well, she's still doing her thing. I heard her gaming channel picked up a lot, and she signed with Altimate. "She's actually making a business out of her skills. I'm glad."

While he looked up at a billboard, the images changed from the energy drink to an advertisement for a boxing match coming up in a couple of weeks. It was for the semi-finals. He smiled when he saw a familiar pair of lilac eyes and blond hair. "Yang really is aiming for that belt, huh?" He rubbed his jaw and worked it while letting out a chuckle. "Well, she always could throw a mean left hook.

He shook his head and shivered as another breeze blew past him. "Damn, I should have put on a coat instead of my hoody." He took a quick breath and walked into the closest store to him. He sighed in relief at the warm air and pulled his scarf away as he inhaled, taking in the delicious smell of coffee. Looking around, he noticed that he'd walked into some kind of book store with a coffee shop or restaurant upfront. He sighed in relief and made his way to the counter.

He looked up at the menu and hummed. "What to get. Definitely a large. I haven't eaten since early this morning. I need the caffeine." He rubbed his hands together and walked up to the counter. "I think I'll get a large coffee in a glass mug, black, no sugar, two shots of dark chocolate, and 2 shots of espresso." He let his hands drop and looked over to the book store again. Something in his mind clicked, and he remembered the paper for Ports he had yet to do that was due tomorrow morning. "Well, I guess I am calling in to spend time with."

"Hey, lady killer."

Jaune flinched. He didn't quite catch the voice, but the words registered in his head. Only two people called him that and one wasn't talking to him at the moment. Which either meant something happened or it was the other person. He braced himself and looked down to see Coco Adel standing behind the counter, looking at him with a happy grin. He smiled sheepishly, feeling relieved it wasn't Yang but strangely disappointed. He waved. "Hey, Coco."

She folded her arms, swaying her hip out, taking a relaxed pose while watching him. "Hey. How's it going?"

He shrugged and offered a small smile. "Same old same old."

She gave him a raised eyebrow. "Are Yang and Ruby are still avoiding you?"

He chuckled. "Like the plague."

He kept chuckling until he saw the unimpressed look she was giving him. He took a deep breath looking directly at her. "Sorry."

She rolled her eyes. "Look, Jaune, You really should try figuring out why. I mean, I know everyone is busy with studies and stuff, but you already apologized, and things are still going nowhere." He shrugged, and she shook her head. "Jaune somethings up, and it's bugging everyone. We understand what happened, and honestly, regardless of social ineptitude, you were a bit of a dick, but you've apologized, and things are well…" She made a face and gave a so so gesture. "You guys used to be the best of friends and now."

"I know. I just don't wanna bother them with finals coming up."

She sighed. "Yeah, and when finals are over, it's going to be graduation then moving, and then what? They'll be gone and so will you."

Jaune looked away while rubbing the back of his head, laughing nervously. "It's not gonna come to that I just…" He looks out the window front. "I don't know."

Coco smiled weakly at him feeling her heart drop at the look on his face. She leaned over the counter, and halfheartedly punched his left arm while speaking in a soft voice. "Come on, Jaune, chin up." She turned around and called out the order for the coffee he'd wanted without him telling her. To top it off, she added a personal pepperoni pizza and a coco swirl bun. He looked at her, and she winked back at him.

"How did you know what I wanted? I've never come here before."

She put her hands on her waist and swayed her hips to the other side while tilting her head, giving him her unique Coco smirk. "I pay attention to detail. Especially when something catches my eye, it's why I'm so good with clothes."

Just as she finished her sentence, her eyes widened, and she clapped her hands together. "Oh, Jaune! I finished working on my latest project. I want you to swing by my place later this week and check it out. It'll be fun. I want to show you what I've been putting those loans towards. You won't be disappointed, I promise."

He just stood there and blinked a couple of times, trying to process everything she just said, but he was tired and hungry, so he just nodded. "Um. Alright."

She grinned. "Okay great, come by Wednesday afternoon because neither of us has a class that day." Before he could ask her anything, she handed him a receipt. "Alright, lady killer. Go sit down, and I'll bring out your order when it's done."

He blinked and reached for his wallet, but Coco grabbed his shoulders and pushed him away. He walked a couple of steps away and looked back to see her waving him off. "I've got it, go sit down." He was always lending her money for her projects, so in her mind, it was the least she could do. Before he turned away, he smiled warmly at her saying thanks before heading off. She stood there, stunned. She hadn't seen that smile since their senior year in high school.

~ 0 ~

After walking away from the counter, he looked around for a table, and his eyes lit up when he saw someone else he recognized. He changed directions and moved over to them, sliding into their booth. "Hey, Ren."

The young man across from Jaune looked up from his textbooks and saw Jaune. He pulled off his reading glasses and smiled at him, offering a lazily wave as he tried to stifle a yawn. "Oahhha. Hey Jaune." He manages to get out past the yawn.

Jaune held in a laugh and then yawned himself. "Oahhha. Damn it, Ren." He said while wiping a tear away. "Look what you did."

Ren chuckled and shook his head before lifting his mug and taking a sip of his coffee. "You're welcome."

Jaune shot him a mock glare. "Go fuck yourself."

Ren shook his head. "Na, I'm good." The two fell into quiet laughter before relaxing back into their seats.

"So Ren, how's the studying going? It's been a while since we've talked."

Ren frowned slightly and made a so so gesture. "Some days are easier than others. It's funny, but it's getting harder to focus no matter what I do. This month has been pretty hectic too."

Jaune nodded while looking out the window to the street outside. "Yeah. Can't say why. It's just been…Tiring. You know?" Ren nodded in understanding. The two went back and forth with simple questions about the month that just went by since they hadn't been hanging out as much.

They eventually fell into a comfortable silence, and Ren went back to reading from his textbook when Jaune spoke up. "Hey, Ren." The dark-haired boy looked up with a bit of concern at Jaune's tone. "Are we…still friends?"

Ren's jaw slackened a bit, looking gobsmacked. He closed his textbook gently while giving Jaune a worried look. "Yeah. Why?"

Jaune put his hands in his pockets and slouched on his side of the booth. "I'm just wondering what happened to the good old days. When we all used to hang out all the time."

Ren nodded his head in understanding while sipping from his cup. He put it down and let out a long tired sigh while looking out the window next to them. He looked years older than he was at that moment. "Jaune, we are all friends. It's just that." Ren took a deep breath and propped his elbow on the table, resting his cheek against his hand. "We're all just kinda spread out right now."

"Most of us have different majors. And we all have different interests more than less. We got all of the easy classes out of the way early, so we had a lot of free time. Life was simpler three years ago. Now…I guess life is getting in the way of having fun."

Jaune nodded. "Yeah. I guess it's not reasonable to ask for us all to be party animals that picked easy majors so we could slide through college and have fun."

Ren smirked. "Says the guy who doesn't even like parties."

Jaune held his hands up in surrender and laughed weakly. "Guilty as charged." His laugh trailed off, and his hands dropped to the table. "I'm sorry."

Ren gave him a confused look. "For what?"

Jaune looked down at the table and let out a short breath. "For making things awkward between everyone."

Ren shook his head and kicked Jaune good-naturedly under the table. "Hey. Stop that. You didn't do anything. If anyone should apologize, it's all of us."

Now it was Jaune's turn to look up at Ren with a confused look. "Huh?"

Ren sat up and looked Jaune in the eyes, magenta clashing against cobalt. "Look, we're friends, and none of us have been too friendly over the last few months. Granted, we haven't been mean, but we definitely didn't go out of our way to make sure you were doing all right. We all just got caught up in the course work, and we didn't want to get in the middle of an emotional fight between friends. Nobody needs that right now."

Jaune looked down at the table. "Yeah, that's why I'm saying sorry."

Ren frowned while Jaune wasn't looking at him and decided to change the subject. He chuckled, which grabbed Jaune's attention and smiled. "You know Nora talks about you every day. She really does worry about you, but something always comes up, and we get sidetracked. Same for Pyrrha. Her trainers have been running her ragged. Especially with her going to the Olympics. It's almost like she's on parole. Last time I talked with her." Ren rubbed his eyes and forced a smile to his face. "I think it was almost two months ago now. Man, we really are drifting pretty far, huh?"

Jaune smiled halfheartedly and nodded. "Yeah. That's why I'm worried. I feel like things are getting too far along, and soon we won't talk at all. I mean, we just happened to run into each other right now."

Ren looked down at his textbook with a frown and then closed his eyes. He slid it off the table into his bag and then looked at Jaune, offering a small smile. "You know, you're right. We should try and set up a date and get everyone together."

Jaune nodded and smiled back halfheartedly. "Well, today was supposed to be our biweekly lunch with everyone."

Ren's smile fell, and he let out a small breath looking down at the table. "What? Did we really miss it?"

Jaune nodded, and Ren folded his arms while closing his eyes. "Damn it. Hey Jaune."

The blonde looked up at his friend. "Regardless of everything If you haven't talked to me for a while, I'm sure you haven't talked to Ruby or Yang. You need to talk to them to figure out what's going on. I mean. I can understand why Ruby freaked out. I mean that money was for her mom, and she lost, and you just."

"What?" Jaune cut him off.

Ren looked up at him, confused. "What what?"

Jaune leaned forward, putting his hands on the table. What was that about Ruby's mom and money?"

Ren closed his mouth and then looked to the side humming. "Well, right after the whole thing with you and Ruby, she and Yang told everyone the whole story. It was the same as yours, for the most part, you weren't lying about anything either." He paused and looked back at Jaune. "You really don't know, do you?"

Jaune shook his head, and Ren nodded, a look of understanding on his face. "Well, I don't remember the exact details." He slid out of the booth and stood next to Jaune, looking down at him. "You'll need to ask Ruby about it." Ren smiled down at him and patted his shoulder.

Jaune smiled weakly back up at him. "Guess we should set up a party or something, huh?"

Ren nodded and then pulled out his scroll and wiggled it. Call me some time. I know Nora would love to hang out like we used to. Maybe try and get Pyrrha to come to help us set it up?"

Jaune chuckled and nodded. "Alright."

Ren nodded and turned to leave as a waitress walked by him. Just as he was exiting the door, Jaune called out to him. "Tell your parents I said awesome job!"

Ren's eyes widened, and he spun around looking back inside the shop through the front door and saw Jaune talking to the waitresses who'd walked by him with a warm smile on his face that Ren hadn't seen for almost four years. He took a deep breath and smiled while pulling his coat's collar around his neck before heading off. "Good luck Jaune."

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Authors notes.

My apologies for the time between posts. A lot of personal stuff came up, which is ironic considering a theme in the story. Well, a lot is in this chapter as an apology, so you guys could have a lot to read. Ch 7 is in the works, but I'm going to update my other stories before I update this one again.

Let me know what you guys think of the chapter. I hope you enjoyed it.

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Character name: Crocea Morse

Level: 75

EXP: 34,175,920

Next level: 33,585

Weapons:
12000/12000
Weapon set effects: -
Equip weapon set

Right hand: Sword of Cassius
Durability: -0.1/-0.1
ATK: 0

Effects:
Unbreakable
+150% Physical ATK
+150 % Magical ATK
-70% SP usage
-70% AP usage
-70% MP usage
Life Drain (Lose 2% of HP per swing)
Soul Drain (Lose 2% of MP per swing)
Will Drain (Lose 2% of AP per swing)
Curse of the Damned (Cannot regenerate SP, MP, AP during combat)
Burden of the Mighty (Cannot be healed by spells during combat)

Abilities:
Piercing: Deal damage through armor
Drain: Life steal 10% of damage dealt on a critical hit
In my spirit lies my faith: Stronger than love and with me, it will be
(When solo debilitating effects do not affect wielder during combat)
(When in a party ATK is increased by 25% per party member, friendly fire active)

Special ability: Carnage (?)

Left hand: Pluto Militibus
12000/12000
ATK: 862
Effects:
Phys DEF +15%
DEX + 2%
Elemental damage +5%
Abilities:
Rapost chance.
(5% chance to land a guaranteed hit on target after successful parry)

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