There was always at least one day out of the month that was absolutely unusual.
Today was one of those days. Professor Port was actually educating the class about grimm rather than going off tangent on his so called amazing accomplishments.
We expected half of the class to be filled with exaggerated stories from his earlier days as a young huntsman, but actually... No. He didn't stray from his teaching today. Everyone in class found it bizarre. Students shared the same confused look with one another before directing their attention back to the professor.
He was actually giving a satisfying lecture.
At first he talked about aura. Then it transitioned to semblances, but he only touched that topic briefly before he delved into core of his specialized field. Grimm. Out of all the classes I had with Professor Port, I had to say that today was the most... Intriguing. It raised questions that never crossed my mind, questions I wondered why I never thought about before.
"Professor?" I raised my hand. Now I had the entire class's attention because it was always Weiss who was asking the questions. I guess it was another bizarre thing to add to their list. "I'm not sure if I heard you correctly, but you said that the origins of Grimm are unknown right?"
"Why yes child! As most of humanity knows it, the origins of Grimm are unknown," he answered, confident as he broadened his chest.
I paused for a few seconds to meditate on that. I knew a handful of things about Grimm, not just how to engage them. That didn't mean I knew its history; it was still only the first semester of school. I was behind on Remnant's history still. That was a no brainer, but I still caught on pretty fast.
"If mankind have been fighting Grimm since the beginning, how come we never found the origin?"
Port paused on my question, and now the classroom was murmuring. I took his silence as an indication to continue.
"I figured that all these years, we should've been close to discovering something. But we're getting more questions than answers. Shouldn't we have uncover a few things by now?"
There was more silence coming from him.
"There's always an origin of where things come from," I explained, and the professor responded with a nod. He was silently stroking his gray mustache while I went on.
"Semblance is the tangible projection of aura."
Without aura, the probability of discovering your own semblance essentially came close to zero. It worked in similar aspects to magic, except semblance was only limited to one per person. No aura, no magic. No aura, most likely no semblance. Simple.
"The source of aura comes from a person's soul."
This was common knowledge. The fundamental laws of aura of my world and Remnant functions the same. Without a soul, there was no aura.
"A soul is born from life itself right when they come out of their mother's womb."
Penny was no exception. Even though she never came out of anything, Remnant somehow had technologies to shove a soul into an object. It wasn't magic, but the results were similar. How? That was something for me uncover later in the future, and I'm sure Dr. Polendina likes to keep his secrets. All that matters was that she had a soul, and that soul came from somewhere or someone.
"Humans and Faunus are the direct source of modernization, not to mention war also. So everything has an origin. But Grimm cannot breed. They don't have reproductive organs."
That earned a few low snickers from some of the immature students in the back of the classrooms.
"So that eliminates that possibility of procreation."
If that were the case, then death rates should have exceeded their birthrates. Their numbers should've been dwindling, but apparently, that wasn't the case. It was quite the opposite.
"Mankind have been fighting them since the beginning, but we're not even close to their eradication. If Grimm does not come from womb, they have to come from somewhere. So I guess I'm wondering why we haven't come close to finding this somewhere or even this something."
This was probably the most disturbing question that came across my mind. The classroom was feeling a little unsettled considering the murmurs were getting louder. My ears twitched as I picked up a few conversations that were exchanged, but that was the least of my concerns.
"Settle down everyone." Professor Port flagged the class. The murmurs weakened until the classroom was once again dead silent. "To this very day, huntsman and huntresses are doing their utmost best to find the origin as they travel all around the world. We are training students to decrease Grimm nest, but they are also trained to report unusual sightings. This might not be a satisfying answer to your question Miss Rose, but it takes time. It takes time to gather the information and to make casual links."
Professor Port was correct. I can attest that for myself.
But really?
For as long as humanity can recall walking the surface of Remnant, there was barely any progress. Considering the output of huntsman and huntresses the academy trains, you would expect the world would have some sort of factual backing on at least something.
"Thank you professor."
He was right, it was an unsatisfying answer.
Combat class was the last curriculum for today. Professor Goodwitch instructed all students to work with their partners, encouraging us to work on abilities or techniques we have yet to master. Weiss and I collectively agreed to practice hand-to-hand combat, mostly for her benefit.
The heiress had already thrown a few punches in, but they were easily parried. They were a bit sloppy and her attacked lacked — to put it in Yang terms — oomph. But to be fair, we only started to work on it the day before I left to Patch, and briefly came back to it a couple of days after I arrived. I don't expect Weiss to be immediately performing flashy attacks.
"Remember your footwork," I advised, easily blocking another one of her jabs. "The most important thing to hand-to-hand combat is footwork. Balance and control. Learn how to move around in your stance."
She shifted her feet, pivoted, and threw another punch, only to be parried by my forearm. It was better, but it wasn't good enough.
"Don't just aim for my face, there are other body parts that can just be as effective."
Thump.
"Use your legs, don't just focus on your fist."
Thump.
"Quick and compact, you're too slow."
Thump.
"Again, watch your footwork."
Thump.
"Is this how you feel when I explicate our academic studies to you?" Weiss asked as swung a kick to my side. I caught it with ease and held her by her ankle. "Hey!" She unsteadily wobbled, trying to regain her stability.
"Nah, this is more fun than studying." I kindly released her leg to give back her sense of balance. "Negate my attacks." I raised my fist to shoulder level and tucked in my chin.
"Right head."
Thump.
She successfully blocked my attack.
"Left hip."
Thump.
"Great, now counter as you deem fit. I won't go that easy."
I swung a few jabs and slow-moving hooks. Despite how a few blows were predictable, they were appropriate for her current level. She could barely keep up with the parries and had hardly enough time to counter back.
Sparring with Jaune might be suitable for her considering he fell behind. I doubt he had enough experience with hand to hand combat.
But then again...
I threw another jab before I caught a glimpse of Jaune getting nailed in his face with the butt end of Pyrrha's javelin. He fumbled and staggered back, and the gladiator smiled apologetically.
Nope, maybe next time.
He still needed to improve on other things.
I continued to strike Weiss, and my thoughts casually fell back to Professor Port's class. A list of information was constructed and I tried to make sense about everything he had said earlier.
Huntresses and huntsman traveled around the world, but yet we still have uncovered nothing about Grimm. This means there are unexplored areas that we haven't been to. Which was valid considering how large Remnant probably was. But maybe these unexplored areas held answers that could explain the Grimm origins.
No, that wouldn't exactly make sense.
If they do have clues, that means these areas were spawning Grimm. Most of Vale have been already explored, minus a few infested regions that were regarded as extremely dangerous. Vale would probably be free of them by now if they were concentrated in one area elsewhere. However, we still retained the same levels of Grimm outside our borders.
So there has to be something else giving rise to Grimm.
According to their years of observation, they are drawn towards negative energy. Much of this fact proved to be true. But that doesn't necessarily mean they are created by it. If that were the case, Grimm should be spawning inside the cities. Despite the number of negative emotions emitted by inhabitants, there were never swarms of Grimm rampaging directly inside. So that means —
Thwack.
A sharp blow struck the side of my cheek and I stumbled down to the floor. My aura absorbed all of the pain, but it didn't stop me from landing on my tail.
I sat there, slowly blinking in realization. "Did you just...?" My brain failed to process everything. My thoughts had wandered too far to the point that I wasn't concentrating on our training.
"I hit you," Weiss breathed quietly in surprise. We shared aporetic glances and I could see a full blown victory smile forming on her face. "I landed a hit."
She actually landed a hit.
I can't believe she actually landed a hit...
I drew both legs, and kicked-up from supine position. I seized the opportunity and took her by surprise as I did a low spinning sweep. She yelped, her stance crumbled, when her feet were no longer secured to the ground. Before she plunged head first, I snatched her hand and she hung motionlessly, a few feet away from the floor.
"Very humble." Weiss rolled her eyes. There was still that underlying victory smile lingering — well, more of a smug face — despite my surprise, and most likely unfair attack.
"Rule number one, don't let your guard down even if your opponent got knocked to the floor," I prudently advised with a smile.
"I'm sure you're just peeved that I managed to land a hit on you." The muscles of her jaw twitched. She was trying really hard to fight off the smug smile revealing.
"Maybe." I shrugged a shoulder, still smiling. "But congratulations, Princess."
She was doing her best to land that hit. I could tell. Beads of sweat rolled down her brows, and her breaths were cut short because her lungs were starving for oxygen.
Weiss scowled at me when she heard her pet name again.
"Don't put your luck though," I chuckled.
She huffed, sending me a hardened glare, the same sharp look that a menacing beast would give. But through that appearance was a harmless animal in actuality. It was very Weiss-like.
"Now are you going to help me up, or let me dangle to my demise?"
I hummed for a split second, and a wicked grin rose. My hand purposefully slipped and she gave out a high-pitch scream, gravity jerking her entire weight down. But Weiss never did dropped completely, only a mere inch away from the floor as my hand securely held against hers.
"Ruby Rose," she breathed out, uneasy from that short scare. "Do that one more time and I will strangle you in your sleep."
"Aww Weiss, I'm just playing! Besides, you wouldn't do that." I finally pulled her straight up and her brows quirked up. Her hand rested at the side of her hip, and she leaned against one leg, giving me that knowing look.
She probably would.
I raised my hands in acknowledgement, and she exhaled triumphantly through her nose. Class was still in session, so it would be best if we didn't — in Weiss's term — dawdle. I put a considerable distance between us before we resumed to our training.
"Let's see if you can land that hit again."
There was another habit that I grew fond of.
It was neither a good habit or a bad habit, depending on the person's perspective. I had done it back in the other world, and I probably would've done it here as a young kid in this world, but the opportunity never arise. It was a common practice for adventurers, or even hunters to carry out when they're alone. It keeps their hands busy while their mind wandered elsewhere. It was productive in some ways instead of blankly staring into open space.
I grasped a short, thick log, and sat up against a tree. I was outside of Beacon, off to the side of the courtyard. It wasn't even a minute before I took out Thorn from its hiding and pressed its keen-edged blade to strip chunks of the outer lumber. Pieces of timber slowly fell when my blade worked its way.
It was soothing to shuck wood while I was lost in thought, completely different than wandering in a middle of training. Just the way my blade cleanly sliced through the firm wood was calming and pleasurable. There was always that dry crackling noise, and that distinctive wood smell that came with it.
My wrist moved from muscle memories, and my blade carved the log while I resumed my thoughts from earlier.
Grimm didn't came from a place; they're not concentrated in particular regions. They're equally scattered around Remnant. Hot spots only arise when huntresses and huntsman fail to thin out their numbers, letting their pack accumulate over time.
They display animalistic behavior, and followed their natural instincts. Anything that had to do with humans or Faunus were killed on sight. So if humanity was the only target, then it's possible that Grimm were created as a necessary balance for Remnant. Like yin and yang.
The idea of Grimm resembling animals was pretty disconcerting. But according to previous lectures, Grimm being animals possessed by evil spirits was disproven due to new emergent of non-animalistic creatures. So evil spirits was off the list. Maybe some sort of mutation on animals?
No, that can't be true.
Household animals would be turning into Grimm by now. Faunus were the closest ones to these so called animals considering our physical characteristic. We would be experiencing mutations by now unless we have some kind of genetic resistance. Highly doubt it. Someone in this world would've fell by now if it was some sort of mutation.
Grimm were also not born from negative emotions.
So what else can give rise to Grimm?
They have to have an origin. The idea of them sprouting from thin air is ridiculously absurd. That defies the fundamental laws of the world.
However the more I think about it, I defied the laws of Remnant. I'm not supposed to be here, but yet here I am.
But then again, it was all due to magic.
And I'm positive that there's some sort of magic linked in this world. That mysterious girl at the night I came to Vale used magic. She freaken threw fireballs at us with her palms, and it was impossible to cast elements without a physical catalyst in this world. How did she do it? That mystery remains for another time.
Maybe Grimm came through magic, or even semblance.
Mostly anything can be possible through magic. To my understanding, there were only a few spells that did not exist. Semblance on the other hand was questionable. I had never seen anyone who was capable of summoning anything other than Winter. However, semblance was limitless. Anyone could be born with essentially anything. So summoning Grimm through semblance could be a possible factor.
But if that were to be true, then Grimm didn't come from somewhere or even something.
That means it came from someone.
There was always that one person in the world who wants total annihilation, or even domination. My world was filled with them, so I wouldn't be surprised if people on Remnant thought like that.
But a lot of this could be flawed considering Grimm have been around ever since mankind set foot on Remnant. No one could live for that long. Not even magic can prolong life.
Maybe magic to summon Grimm was passed down from generation to generation?
It was a possible factor. If Grimm were to rise through the usage of magic, then it was possible to pass it down to their disciples. How? Maybe through technology. I mean after all, Dr. Polendina was able to build some kind of machine to retain a soul and shove it into a man made robot.
So that leaves me with a few hypotheses: One, Grimm were an essential part of Remnant to create an equal balance. We are the yang, and they are our yin. This means that they will forever be born through darkness to maintain balance, making darkness as their origin. This suggest Grimm was impossible to eradicate which seems to be true so far since we're not making any progress. Eliminate one, and another appears somewhere else. Two, Grimm came from someone through the work of magic or semblance. And three, Grimm exceeded my expectations and they do not have an origin as they are born through thin air.
That last hypothesis shouldn't even be on that list considering it was highly unlikely. But it was best to keep an opened mind. There are a lot of things I still don't know about Remnant, but I'm becoming more curious to find out.
My ears twitched and my hands paused from its work.
"You know," I spoke loud so the person could hear me. "Being sneaky doesn't really fit you, especially when you're trying to sneak up on a Faunus. I can hear you, and I can smell you."
"And I thought the purpose of showering was to erase that repulsive sweat smell," the person snorted. Her heels crunched softly against the grass as she made her way towards me.
"If it makes you feel better, you smell nice."
"Good because that was cordon bleu shampoo I used, imported from the finest shop in Atlas." She sat beside me, her legs rested against its side.
"In other words, expensive," I paraphrased, shooting her a smart-ass smile.
Weiss rolled her eyes at me, gently exhaling through her nose. "What are you doing?"
I held up the wood for her to see. Much of the design was sloppy, mostly because I was really rusty. It was suppose to be a behemoth, a regal beast that shook the land in my world. It was just as ferocious as any other dragons. But I suppose my craftsmanship didn't do the beast justice. It has been at least 15 years since I saw a behemoth and 15 years since I carved wood.
"Wood shucking," I answered.
A distant memory arise, a memory that I thought I had long forgotten.
"Hey Captain, what are you even doing?" The woman stood before me with overwhelming curiosity. She leaned forward, hands innocently clasped behind her back, and looked down at my artwork.
"Wood shucking," I answered. "It's a behemoth. See?" I showed it to her and she scrunched her face.
"It looks like a puma..."
"Way to hurt my pride..."
I inwardly sighed and pinched the bridge of my nose. I stroke it, kneading my skin to erase my thoughts.
Push it down.
Push it down towards the dark depths where it could no longer come back.
"Is something wrong Ruby?" The heiress asked, a look of concern gracing her.
"Yeah, I just remembered something." I tossed the wooden figurine in her hand to change the subject. "Never thought I can do something like this did you?"
"What is this...?" She rotated the artwork in her hand, turning it to eye the small details. Her brows furrowed together to mentally analyze what she was looking at.
"It's a... Puma?"
"A puma?" She deadpanned, dropping her arms back to her lap, and gave me a skeptical look. "Puma do not have horns growing out of their heads, or let alone fins or whatever these triangles on its back."
"Creative art?"
"You sound very confident."
"It's hard when you're judging my artwork," I huffed. I took back my wooden figurine and worked my blade against it again. I was almost done. It wasn't the best, but it was pretty impressive considering it was a quick work. "You want to give it a try? It's tougher than it looks."
"What am I suppose to do?" She asked, her curious blue eyes watching my blade flayed through the wood easily.
"Get a thick wood and I'll show you," I chuckled. She did manage to find a piece of wood after awhile. When she sat down, I handed her my blade. "Take Thorn. Careful, it's sharp."
"Leave it you to name your weapons," Weiss softly chuckled, shaking her head.
"Hey, I like to take care of my weapons. They're like... An extension of me. It makes me who I am."
It was true. My weapons were an extension of me, quite literally.
"Sounds very you. So, what do I do now?"
"Shuck," I simply answered. She gave me a dead stare and I huffed. "Okay fine. Imagine a picture." She paused then nodded for me to continue. "Now take a thin layer of the timber, and work your way with it. Remember, thin layer." The sharp edge of Thorn dug into the wood and her hand turned white from the amount of pressure she was applying.
"I think it's stuck..." She frowned. She tried tugging it out now but it wouldn't budge.
"You just dug way too much into the wood," I said, matching the same frown as her. "Here, hand it to me for a second. The last thing I want is you with a missing finger." I took back the lumber, and tried to pull out my dagger. I attempted many times, but it was somehow fastened it there.
"Yep... It's stuck."
Recall that the Sword Angel's guild specialized in finding information, or at least processing it. So she's using past experience to analyze the information to make hypothetical deductions. I'm sticking with the idea that Grimm cannot breed. If they do, I'm sure someone would be bound to see an appendage hanging down by now.
There are many reasons why a person likes someone. There is the superficial like which is based on appearances. There is one based on a person's personality, and many more. Way back in the chapters, Ruby says she doesn't know why she likes Weiss. There's more to it than just her pretty face. Well, now we're slowly going to know why.
To help with imagination, the behemoth I'm thinking of is from Final Fantasy, creator of Square Enix.