AN - I Do Not Own RWBY Or The Gamer
Ruby Rose: Life Is A Game
-Chapter 3 Start-
An accidental dungeon
"So we're now stuck in here until we kill all one hundred and fifty beowolves?" Qrow sighed as he looked at the girl, rubbing his eyes in resignation.
"Yeah." Ruby agreed, awkwardly tapping her fingers together. "Sorry." She apologised and awkwardly chuckled.
Pinching the bridge of his nose he sighed once more before pulling out his weapon. "It's okay, just learn to think these things through." He turned to her, before flicking his sword open and inserting some ammunition. "So what exactly can you do?"
"The Gamer power allows me to live life like a video game, I get quests and levels, stats and skills all like a normal RPG." She began, pulling up her status window. "I'm currently level seven and I have twenty stat points to spend."
"What combat skills do you have?" He asked, flicking his blade closed.
"None at the moment." She admitted. "I create them as I go and I haven't fought anything since I got the power." She thought for a moment before brightening up. "But one of my abilities gives me a 50% damage increase against the Grimm… but I get attacked by them twice as much as other people."
"What sort of ability causes that?" He asked, before moving to the door and glancing out. A howl sounded in the distance, being answered by several more.
"I don't actually know." Ruby admitted with a shrug. "The name is just question marks and parts of the description are missing, the only part I know for sure is that it has a picture of a silver eye." She admitted, missing how much Qrow tensed as she said that. "On the other hand it gave me a quest to find out more about it, but it also said I would die if I failed it."
Suddenly Qrow's hands lightly gripped each shoulder, turning her to face him. "What exactly did it say? Leave nothing out." His face was intense as he stared at her, the usual jovial nature hidden behind concern and fear.
[Need to show someone a quest, bring up the {Quest Book} screen to begin.]
"{Quest Book.}" Ruby intoned bringing up the quest screen and selecting the correct quest.
[To share the quest say {Share Quest with…} followed by the person's name.]
"That's simple enough." She muttered, nodding at the instructions. "{Share Quest with Qrow Branwen.}" Another window popped up in front of Qrow, the contents causing him to frown.
[Quest - The truth about oneself]
There is something you do not know about yourself, something important. Discover the truth about your family and your true heritage.
Rewards
Success - 100,000 EXP, 20,000 Lien, A new Skill
Failure - Death
"That's not a lot to go by." He admitted, clamming up slightly. "After we get out of here I'll look into it for you." He promised, before turning back to the door. "But first we need to deal with this, stay close to me, directly behind me if you can." He ordered getting his sword ready. "You said you had stat points to spend?"
"Yeah, twenty of them." Ruby agreed, bringing up the window. "I wanted your opinion on what to do with them." Turning to her stat window she glanced at it before trying something. "{Share Window with Qrow Branwen.}"
This time her status window appeared in front of Qrow allowing him to see it all. Pressing on each stat he was able to get a description of how they affected Ruby. "Boost your constitution to 10, that'll double your health. Then I want you to boost your intelligence to 10 as well, I'll unlock your aura just before we leave the room, i'm not taking any chances with this many grimm. That'll leave you with 9 points which we can assign later." He nodded at his own reasoning, wincing slightly as the howls sounded closer to them. "Now Ruby!" He barked.
"Okay." She nodded, before turning and altering the needed stats, it was strange, suddenly feeling smarter and healthier, with her wisdom she had noticed herself thinking clearer but that had been a bit here and a bit there, not all at once like this. "Done."
"Okay, then let's do this." Qrow nodded before kneeling down and placing his hands on Ruby's face, what happened next both shocked and awed her. It started like a warmth spreading through her head, it seeped in through every pore, moving towards her brain before twisting and causing a flood of energy to pour forth. It felt like her whole body was enveloped in energy, a constant tingling moving throughout her limbs. Then it spread out of her body, covering her skin and settling down.
[You have had your Aura unlocked.]
[You have unlocked the {Strong Aura} perk}
[You have unlocked the {Aura Shield} skill.]
[You have activated the {Lazy Method} debuff.]
"Okay, my aura is unlocked but I unlocked a perk, a skill and I activated a debuff." She spoke glancing at Qrow, before bringing up the skills. "{Strong Aura} triples my aura because I'm from two warrior families. {Aura Shield} Decreases the amount of damage I take by 20% but takes it out of my Aura, it looks like I can cause it to stop more damage by spending more Aura. Finally {Lazy Method} makes it so any aura techniques I use costs double the normal amount."
"Aura shield was a given, it's the most basic aura technique and it's always active. The strong aura thing is a nice bonus but the lazy method thing sounds like a pain in the ass." Qrow grimaced, glancing at the girl. "What I did is usually called the lazy method of unlocking aura because it skips months of effort when unlocking aura, but most people experience control issues when they use this method."
"Okay, anyway I now have 300 Ap which I regain at 4.5 points per minute and 120 Hp." She nodded, moving on. "And you have an unknown amount of Hp and Ap and a ridiculously high level when compared to the beowolves which should all be level 5."
Turning square to the door Qrow waited for Ruby to move he hand him before placing his hand on the door and getting ready to push it open. "Ready?" He asked, his hand beginning to turn the handle.
"Wait!" Ruby yelled, stopping Qrow and making him let go of the door handle and spin around. "I've got a new quest."
[Quest - Beowolf Minor Dungeon - Lvl 5]
You have entered a dungeon, kill all enemies to complete it.
Success - 300 EXP, 100 Lien, a key item (first time)
Failure - Death
Accept
Y/N
"What's a key item?" She asked her Uncle who had an annoyed look on his face from the interruption.
Letting out a loud, frustrated sigh he turned back to the door. "A key item is a term used for important items, usually they are critical to advancing a game's story or for taking down certain bosses." He explained, putting his hand on the door again.
"Okay." Ruby nodded accepting the quest. "I'm ready now."
"Finally." Qrow muttered, once more beginning to turn the handle. "One, two, three." On three he shoved the door, moving across the threshold, ready to destroy the forces of grimm.
-LINE-BREAK-
The first Beowolf came skidding around the corner, drawn to the sound of the door only to immediately fall as half its head was blown off by Qrow first attack. The next two didn't fare much better, falling in half as they charged, bifurcated in a single effortless swing.
The Beowolf Minor was a pathetic specimen when compared to other creatures of grimm, completely lacking any bone armour on their body they were the most juvenile and the second weakest Grimm species, only the Creep Minor preventing it from being the weakest. "{Observe}."
Beowolf Minor - Level 5
Hp - 10/10
"They only have ten health." Ruby blinked, watching as Qrow blitzed the next group to appear. The corpses all fading into black mist, leaving behind nothi…
"Are they dropping loot?" Qrow asked incredulously, as he finished off the group's final beowolf, staring at the pile of money and items that had accumulated on the ground. "Grimm are creatures of darkness that fade into nothingness, that is one of the indisputable laws of nature, are you saying that your power is enough to break the laws of nature."
"Well I did transport us to a side dimension full of grimm after absorbing a bookful of lost and ancient knowledge." Ruby shrugged, blinking when Qrow looked at her in surprise. "We did just double my intelligence and the book gave me enough knowledge to access another dimension. Give me some credit."
"Hey, give me a break, yesterday you thought that a tussle was a mushroom." Qrow shot back, getting a blush from the girl in return. "And the idea of you being able to access side dimensions wasn't new to me, i've met someone who could do it."
"And who was that then?" Ruby asked, still annoyed.
"That's not important right now." Qrow cut in before looking at the loot, money, three bottles of different coloured liquids, seven red fangs and a pistol with sixteen bullets sat in the pile. Kneeling down he picked up one of the fangs, examining it intently. "This is actually a beowolf fang… this shouldn't be possible." He rolled it around in his fingers before throwing it to Ruby. "You said that you can get information about things, tell me what it says."
"Um, {observe}." Ruby said looking at the fang.
[Your {Observe} skill has leveled up by 1.]
[Beowolf Minor Fang]
[Item Type - Crafting]
[Quality - Lesser]
[A fang from a Beowolf Minor, it is commonly used as a reagent in alchemy and rituals.]
Ruby dismissed the first popup before reading the second out to her uncle, weighing it up in her hand. "So what exactly are Beowolf Minors? I thought all grimm had bone masks." Ruby asked looking at the rest of the fangs.
"That is mostly true, from what little we've seen Grimm develop their bones less than ten seconds after they form." Qrow admitted, picking up the pistol and looking it over. "My guess is that your power is forcefully keeping them in this stage just to give you a sufficiently weak enemy to fight." Manoeuvring the pistol in his hands he flipped it open showing that it was a break-barrel gun. "This is a fairly low quality weapon, a model that was last mass-produced a hundred odd years ago." He said, flicking it closed. "It's not a bad weapon, just very weak and old. It's called a Shetland G70 break-barrel marksman pistol, a single shot weapon. Good against aura-less people but it couldn't pierce a Grimm's mask. It was mainly used during the times of public duelling, swanky joints would keep a pair behind the counter in case anyone declared a duel." He threw it to her causing her to fumble as she grabbed it out of the air. "It should be fine for now, these Grimm don't have masks so it should work."
[Shetland G70]
[Item Type - Weapon]
[Quality - Lesser]
[2-4 damage per shot]
[12-13 damage per headshot]
[15/15 durability]
"You should only use it if you need to, as it stands we only have limited ammo for it but it should work fine for the moment." Qrow told her, glancing around. "Gather the rest of the stuff, we can look at it later. For now we have more beowolves closing in and i don't want to take too long being trapped here."
{137/150 Remaining}
-LINE-BREAK-
{119/150 Remaining}
[You have gained a level, you are now level 8.]
[You have 14 stat points to spend.]
"Hey, I levelled up again." Ruby said with a confused grin. "Why did I level up, I didn't do anything?" She frowned slightly at the thought before moving forward and collecting all the loot.
"In MMO games you usually share experience when grouped up with someone." Qrow casually mentioned, pulling out some more ammo for his sword. "You're probably piggybacking off of me, I get the kill while you get some of the experience."
"That's cool… I guess." Ruby shrugged, sounding unsure. "Um, could I kill a few Grimm? Please." She asked looking at the man with puppy dog eyes.
"Ruby, this is a life and death situation, not a game." He told the girl, staring straight into her eyes. "And no, I'm not changing my mind because your life is now a game."
"But Uncle Qrow, I'm a higher level than all of them." She whined, sitting down and pouting. "They're only level five, I'm level eight."
"Meanwhile they know how to fight and you don't." He cut her off moving forward. "Ruby, if you die, you die. No checkpoints, no respawns, you are dead. I'm not going to take the chance."
"What if I want to take the chance?" She shot back at him, turning away. "I want to be a huntress, I signed up knowing that I will probably die at some point. Dad basically beat the risks into mine and Yang's head when he was trying to convince us to go to a normal school." She sighed before gaining a resolute look on her face. "I won't allow you to stop me. I am going to fight." She nodded before pulling out the gun and checking that it was loaded.
"Ruby, I know…" Qrow began before he was interrupted.
"Nope. I'm fighting." She chirped, before standing up and beginning to walk onwards gun at the ready. "I'm going to kill some Grimm."
"Ruby." Qrow sighed as he watched her disappear around the corner. "She's as stubborn as you were Summer." A sad smile appeared on his face before he began to walk after her. "Let's see what you can do."
Ruby was stalking forward determinedly, moving towards the howls. "I can do this." She chanted to herself as she walked around another corner. Three beowolves stood at the end of the corridor, nearly twenty metres away. They were sniffing the area looking for something,or rather someone. "Just point, aim and pull the trigger." She breathed, closing one eye and focusing on the middle wolf.
The gunshot rang out, thundering into the grimm's shoulder, causing it to roar in rage as it's hp was cut by four. Quickly she flicked open the pistol, fumbling slightly as the three grimm began to charge her, before reloading the pistol and firing once more at the trio.
This time the bullet thundered into the head of the rightmost grimm, the head partially disintegrating as the bullet killed it. The thud of the corpse seemed to enrage the other grimm, causing them to run even faster.
She barely had time to reload a second time before they were upon her, their claws hitting thin air as she rolled backwards almost automatically. The pistol let out another crack, the second beowolf dropping as it's head took damage. The only one left was the first one that had been hurt, sitting on only six health.
This one didn't let her reload, swiping at her in a vicious flurry, five blows landing on her arms knocking her back.
Hp - 100/120
Ap - 290/300
With a yell she flipped the pistol, grabbing it by the barrel before pistol-whipping the beowolf in the face getting it to stumble. Gaining the momentum, she jumped forward smashing the grimm in the face several more times before it fell, groaning piteously as it died. "I did it, I killed three grimm." She breathed, a wide smile growing on her face. "Oh yeah!"
[You have created the skill {Basic Pistol Mastery}]
[You have created the skill {Dodge Roll}]
[You have created the skill {Pistol Whip}]
[Your {Basic Pistol Mastery} skill has leveled up by 1.]
[Your {Pistol Whip} skill has leveled up by 1.]
[Your {Pistol Whip} skill has leveled up by 1.]
"Well what do you know, you did." Qrow spoke, looking at the piles of loot and the spent ammunition. "And you did it without any training, acting like someone who has had at least some." He turned to stare at her again. "I guess you have enough knowledge from the game to use the basics."
"I did unlock a skill based around mastering the pistol." Ruby shrugged. "And I already knew the basics, I was raised around weapons after all."
"So your semblance took your theoretical knowledge and turned it into practical skill." He slurred, glancing at the pistol. He gained a thoughtful look on his face, glancing skeptically at his own sword-scythe. "I wonder how quickly you'll learn it?" He murmured before shaking his head. "Gather up your loot, you have a skill book among them."
Running up to the loot she threw the lien, fangs and ammo into the inventory, stopping as she picked up a claw before stowing it to examine later. The book looked new, as opposed to the ancient appearance the old one had, this one looking like a grimm studies textbook focusing on beowolves.
[Skill Book: Basic Beowolf Knowledge]
Would you like to learn this skill?
Y/N
"Yes." Ruby nodded, the book exploding into gold and getting absorbed into her body.
{Basic Beowolf Slayer} (Passive) [Lvl 1 - 00.00 EXP]
Your knowledge of Beowolf anatomy grants you additional damage when facing it. 5% Extra damage to Beowolves.
"I cause more damage to beowolves now." She nodded happily standing up. She reloaded her pistol before facing her Uncle, looking like the cat that ate the canary. "Let's go kill more." She chirped, her tone sounding completely wrong for her words.
"I'll let you fight." Qrow conceded, walking forwards and pinning her with a look. "But, you are to stay back and fire your pistol while I draw their attention."
"You're much more serious than normal." Ruby noted, not wanting to argue this time.
"You've only ever seen me when I'm relaxing, I can't be the goofy Uncle when I'm too busy keeping you alive." He admitted before cutting her off again. "And don't even try to deny it, how much damage did that one beowolf do to you?"
"Twenty." She mumbled, glancing away from him.
"Yes, one beowolf took a sixth of your health away. That was one beowolf when we still have 116 left to fight." He said, his tone brooking no resistance. "Tomorrow I'll start training you fully, we'll get you to the point of being able to finish this on your own, but until then I need you to listen to what I say. Focus on hiding and getting the odd kill, you are not a front line fighter… not yet at the very least."
"Wait, you'll train me?" Ruby said, latching onto one part of what he said.
"Ruby, you've unlocked a power that can warp the most basic rules of nature. If you thought that I wasn't going to train you then you need to get your head checked." He snorted slightly derisively. "Now get ready, we're about to have company."
The howls sounded, getting dangerously close, causing Qrow to get in a ready position. The scrabbling of claws across tiles filled her ears before they were upon them.
{116/150 Remaining}
-LINE-BREAK-
{81/150 Remaining}
[Your {Basic Pistol Mastery} skill has leveled up by 7.]
[Your {Pistol Whip} skill has leveled up by 4.]
[Your {Dodge Roll} skill has leveled up by 4.]
[Your {Basic Beowolf Knowledge} skill has leveled up by 6.]
[You have gained a level, you are now level 9.]
[You have 19 stat points to spend.]
20/120 Hp
284/300 Ap
'I need health.' Ruby thought, her health dangerously low. "Hey Uncle Qrow, do you know anyway for me to regain health?"
"What?" Qrow asked glancing towards her as he destroyed yet another beowolf.
"Do you know how I can regain my Hp?" She asked, firing her pistol into the head of another one. She rolled backwards under a swipe before flipping her pistol and hitting the offender with the pistol.
"Your aura should be healing you by itself." Qrow stated, blurring and destroying five more beowolves. "Isn't it?"
"No it isn't." She shook her head. "There is nothing about gaining life in anything I've seen so far."
"Channel aura to any wounds, it's a method of speeding up healing." Qrow spoke slowly, firing his weapon into two more grimm.
"Okay." Ruby nodded before shooting the final wolf in the area.
[71/150 Beowolves Remaining]
"Let's give this a go." She nodded before closing her eyes as she tried to sense her aura, her senses straining as she tried to turn them inward. 'Okay, now, I don't have any specific injuries because of the game but I need to generally get health back so I should put my aura through my body…'
[You have created the {Aura Strengthening} skill.]
'Not what I wanted, what if I focus on a specific body part, would that work?' She thought before focusing her power into her hand. 'C'mon heal me.' She thought as the glow built up in her hand. Suddenly her newly found danger sense kicked in causing her to move her hand away from her face before a ball of blue aura roared out of her hand, slamming into a wall and blasting a hole into the maths classroom.
[You have created the {Aura Bolt} skill.]
"What the hell Ruby?" Qrow almost yelled as he spun around, staring at the hole in the wall.
"Um… oops." She panted, the attack had used half her aura for one bolt. "That wasn't a healing technique…"
"No shit." He almost growled as she rubbed the back of her neck in embarrassment. "It shouldn't be this hard to heal yourself."
"I have no idea what I'm doing." Ruby admitted, sighing as she looked at her hands. "I need {Help}." She said before almost leaping back as a screen appeared in front of her face.
{Help}
Tutorials
Stats
Health
Aura
Stamina
Reputation
EXP
Creating Skills
Using Skills
Quests
Parties
Guilds
"What is it?" Qrow asked as her eyes began focusing on the air in front of her.
"I think I've found the tutorial." She said, looking down the list. Reaching forward she pressed the health button getting a new screen to pop up.
Health
Health (Hp) is your total life remaining, it is determined by multiplying your Endurance (End) and Constitution (Con) together.
If your Hp hits 0 you will be knocked unconscious, if it hits -10 you will die.
As such health management is one of the most important aspects of your life, no pun intended.
There are several ways to regain health.
Sleep in a bed. You will gain health depending on how long you sleep for.
First Aid. You can regain health through first aid, this method requires physical materials like bandages
Aura Techniques. Certain aura techniques can induce healing and regeneration, the most basic of these is the {Basic Auric Healing}. This is deactivated by default because it is a constant technique, draining aura even when it isn't healing.
"{Basic Auric Healing: Activate}." Ruby intoned, feeling her aura begins to drain away as she began to feel healthier. "Okay, I'm getting 5 Hp per minute at the cost of 20 Ap per minute but it's actually 15.5 Ap after we include my aura regeneration." Ruby spoke, before glancing at her stat window.
"Ruby, what are you thinking?" Qrow asked, watching her stare intently at a spot in the air.
"Just this." Ruby said before reaching forward and bumping her wisdom upto 20. "There, now my wisdom is at 20 and it's only costing me 10 Ap per minute to heal."
"At least you didn't do anything stupid." Qrow sighed, his eyes flicking to the hole in the wall. "Well, anything stupider."
A howl sounded close to them, the scrabbling of claws across the linoleum floor echoing through the hall. "Go into the math room and wait for your health and aura to regenerate." Qrow ordered her, wrenching open the door.
"Okay." Ruby nodded, choosing not to argue this time. As she entered the room and closed the door she could hear Qrow moving towards the new enemies, bodies hitting the ground.
[You have gained a level, you are now level 10.]
-LINE-BREAK-
{23/150 remaining}
[The {Lazy Method Debuff} Has decreased by 1]
[Your {Basic Beowolf Knowledge} skill has leveled up by 4.]
[Your {Basic Auric Healing} has leveled up by 1]
It had taken half an hour for all her health and aura to regenerate to her Uncle's satisfaction, 16 minutes for her health to get back to full and 15 minutes to get back up to half aura.
The explosion from the aura bolt had apparently drawn most of the remaining beowolves attention, her Uncle killing nearly fifty while she waited, the loot being passed to her during the lulls in the fighting. She now had several hundred bullets spread across a dozen bullet types for different guns, forty one more fangs, four more claws, three more bottles and 23 lien.
"How long have we been in here?" Ruby asked, they had begun trying to hunt down the rest of the beowolves, the school seeming eerily quiet.
"About an hour, hour and a half at most." Qrow replied moving around the next corner, moving like he knew where the grimm were. "We still have half an hour before people will start looking for us."
"Ah, Yang's probably looking for us at the moment." Ruby remembered, blood draining from her face. "She's going to be annoyed."
"Don't worry about it, I'll bribe her." He reassured her, he was moving assuredly, travelling towards the…
"Are we going to the amphitheatre?" Ruby asked, recognising the hall.
"Yep, where else would we find a boss?" Qrow spoke, elaborating on his reasoning when he saw her confused face. "This is a dungeon, most dungeons in video games end in a boss or an event that takes the place of a boss. I'm betting that this is going to end in a boss and where else would we fight one but the amphitheatre."
As if on cue they turned the final corner causing them to face the door to the room, ten beowolves standing guard outside. Not wasting a moment Ruby lifted her pistol and fired into the head of the closest beowolf, the remaining beowolves jerking in shock as one of their number collapsed missing his head. In the next moment Qrow's weapon followed suit, flicking down to reveal the shotguns barrels before blasting a second one's head off. A second blast echoed from Ruby's pistol as a third fell before Qrow burst forward his blade slicing through the remaining beowolves with an absolute ease.
[You have gained a level, you are now level 11.]
"I've levelled up eight times today." Ruby blinked in shock at the thought.
"Is that a lot?" Qrow asked. "I mean is this a 100 level system or what?" He asked, trying to get some information.
"I don't know, but Yang is only level 14." Ruby admitted, blinking at another thought. "But Yang has like triple the Hp, Ap and Sp that I have… and from what I've seen her stats are much higher than mine."
"I'll be honest, it's not that unbelievable. You don't learn much combat in the first two years, it's mainly studying and physical training." Qrow admitted, taking the opportunity to take a drink. "You've fought more in the last hour than most students will before fourth year. It's part of why i'm going to train you, you're going to outstrip a lot of people quickly, just like Sollise you'll need private instruction to get to your full potential." The last part was almost added as an afterthought, like it was just a piece of normal everyday information.
Turning back to the door he readied his weapon, obviously dismissing the conversation until a later date. "Let's finish this and get out of here."
With that he pushed the door open, revealing the room that Ruby had spent an hour in just a while room seemed empty at first before the doors slammed shut behind them, the room darkening as shadows seemed to pool on the ground in an inky sludge. The pools exploded as black paws wreathed with red burst forth, a smoke rising from their forms as the beowolves pulled themselves up.
There were eight of them, five standing as normal beowolf minors while the other three were hulking brutes. They were nearly double the size of a normal minor, their muscles defined even through the fur, they stood at nearly eight foot before they dropped to their paws but they were far bulkier, looking similar to how she would expect an alpha to look minus the bone plates.
Beowolf Minor Brute - Lvl 10
100/100 Hp
"Where's the other five?" Ruby asked, dropping a bullet into her pistol. She glanced at the fading pools, kind of freaked out at seeing the birth of a grimm.
"Up there." Qrow whispered, jerking his head towards the seating, five smaller beowolf minors stood there, they were thinner than a normal minor, their arms looking longer and more lanky.
Beowolf Minor Thrower - Lvl 7
8/8 Hp
"They're called Throwers, they only have eight health." Ruby whispered back. "The big ones are Brutes, they have a hundred health." She glanced at the Brutes that had spotted them both and were waiting for some reason, waiting when all the others had charged in. "Why are they waiting?"
"Because they're smarter than the others, they want to feel us out." Qrow responded before flicking down his sword and blasting the three brutes in quick succession, killing them all. "They're still not that strong though." Scowling at the three dissolving grimm Ruby raised her pistol firing it into a normal Minor's head before beginning to reload as fast as she could. "I'll go up and deal with the Throwers. I'm sure you can take the normal ones."
"Of course I can." She declared as he leapt up to the balcony, she shot a second one, reloading before rolling backwards and shooting a third. The other two beowolves had paused as the third fell, glancing at each other before beginning to circle her.
The moment she flipped open the pistol one of the wolves dived forwards, slashing towards her. She rolled underneath the attack but was immediately set upon by the other beowolf, a flurry landing and knocking her away, the pistol sliding across the room.
100/120 Hp
162/300 Ap
Standing up she glanced at the pistol but gulped as one of the beowolves jumped in between her and the gun. Glancing up at the balcony she could see her Uncle standing there, sword gripped tightly in his right hand but he wasn't moving. 'He's testing me.' She realised. 'He'll jump in if I need it but he wants to see what I do.'
'Okay, If I fight in a certain way it'll give me skills. Remember how Dad and Yang fight.' She thought before raising her arms into a basic boxers stance. "{Basic Aura Strengthening}." She whispered. Her body feeling stronger already. 'They seem ready for me to try to get the gun, so let's go the other way.' With that she turned on her heel springing at the other beowolf, it reared back in shock allowing her to land the first hit.
[You have created the {Basic Brawling} skill.]
'Perfect.' With that she threw another punch to the beowolf's face, before raising her right arm and blocking a strike.
Beowolf Minor - Lvl 5
2/10 Hp
'One more hit.' She thought before a prickling feeling appeared at the back of her neck. Swinging round her arm connected with the rapidly descending strike of the unharmed beowolf as it attempted to ambush her, it was in close, too close for her own comfort. Acting on instinct she threw her head forward, her forehead colliding with its snout, the beowolf backing off in what seemed like shock. 'Finish the other one so I only have to worry about the one.' With that she sprung back around and ducked under the swipe the injured grimm had thrown at her head before throwing a devastating uppercut at the grimm's head, a crack sounding as it fell down dead.
The angry roar of the final beowolf caused her to swing around, the beowolf's paw slamming into her chest sending her spiralling back. "This is the last one." She reassured herself, recovering her footing and looking directly at the enemy.
Dashing forwards she rolled underneath the next wild swing bringing her behind the creature, her foot next lashing out and striking the beast's knee to send it off balance. Her fist next struck the back of the beowolf's neck, right where the spine met the skull before she finally ended it by giving dropping her elbow into the beowolf's face, it's forehead caving under her enhanced strength.
{0/150 Remaining}
They were done.
[BOSS INCOMING]
"Wait what?" Ruby almost screamed, her eyes immediately turning to her Uncle. It was at that moment that a translucent barrier appeared, covering a 10m radius around her. A pool of the sludge appearing in the centre of the room, gradually spreading across the floor. "Gotta get my gun, gotta get my gun." She frantically chanted, sprinting over to the fallen gun, scooping it up and fumbling to get ammo into its chamber. She retreated to the very edge of the barrier, pointing her pistol at the sludge.
In a burst a giant hulking form burst forth; it was much larger than even a Brute, it's body was massive, much larger than its short, stumpy legs, it towered above her at 7ft, even when on all fours.
Ursa Minor - Lvl 15
500/500 Hp
"F-five hundred?" She gulped, glancing back at her Uncle. "Help!"
The man was glowing a ridiculous amount, his aura spread across his entire body as he channeled it all into a single blow. "Here I go." He yelled to Ruby, his sword shifting into a scythe, the Ursa putting all his attention on Qrow.
With a grunt of effort he swung the glowing scythe blade, impacting with the forcefield, the light turning blinding. With a monumental crash the field rippled, withstanding the attack and sending the force outwards and to the side. The metal covering the walls and floor buckled and split as the energy rebounded, several more impacts sounding as the strike continued through the wall. "Damn it." He cursed, scowling as the Ursa let out a low series of huffs that sounded like chuckling. "Ruby, I can't get through. You'll have to kill it on your own."
Ruby gulped, turning to the grimm as it prepared to charge her. "Go for its legs, you'll slow it down and it won't be able to hit as hard. Use your speed against it." He instructed her, before a pop up distracted her.
Weaknesses
Weaknesses are specific points on an enemy that you can exploit, whether it is a weakness in their body or a temporary weakness in their form you can exploit it for extra effects.
The effects of weaknesses vary depending on the type and area of weakness, from increased damage, to guard breaks and even debuffs. Weaknesses are a must when faced with a powerful opponent.
Weaknesses must first be identified before they can be exploited.
She rolled to the side with a yelp as the Ursa tried to cave her head in with an overhead strike, the paw getting a small zap as it impacted with the forcefield. "Don't get distracted Ruby. Go for the joints, the knees will be the easiest to damage."
As he spoke four white bands appeared around the Ursa's knees, obviously denoting the weak points. They each had small health bars, each labeled 50/50, just one of the joints was stronger than ten beowolves, she gulped at that thought before lifting and firing her pistol directly at its front left knee.
The bullet thundered into grimm causing six damage to the knee before she had to dive backwards as it tried to charge her. "Nine bullets per leg." She whispered to herself before reloading and firing again, getting it straight on in the knee again.
Ursa Minor has received the {Minor crippling} debuff on its left forward leg.
-10% movement speed, -10% attack power on left leg, +20% damage on left leg.
'That's helpful.' She nodded, backing up while reloading.
Ursa Minor Left Forward Leg
37/50 Hp
'I'll finish taking out this leg before moving onto the second one.' She thought letting out her third shot, even as the grimm gingerly stepped on the injured leg, testing it. It's roar of pain echoed through the chamber before it charged towards Ruby, faster than before.
Ursa Minor has activated the {Berserk} status
+20% Movement speed, +20% Attack power, 10 seconds remaining.
'Oh crud.' She thought as it released a flurry of blows, she was able to sidestep and duck under the first three strikes before the fourth slammed into her side, it was swiftly followed by a fifth that sent her skidding across the arena floor.
Ursa Minor's {Berserk} status has faded.
Ruby Rose - Lvl 11
68/120 Hp
145/300 Ap
"That hit hard." She panted. "I won't be able to take many of those." Fortunately her pistol was still in her hand allowing her to reload before firing once more. The bullet whizzed past the Ursa, pinging off the floor and impacting on the forcefield.
"Calm down Ruby, aim carefully, you can't afford to waste the bullets." Qrow barked. "Keep trying to cripple its legs, get those down and you'll be able to kill it easily."
"Okay. Ruby replied, reloading as the Ursa began running towards her. This time she fired just as the Ursa stepped on its crippled leg, the bullet impacting with the knee causing an almighty cracking sound before the Ursa tripped, falling onto it's side.
Ursa Minor has gained the {Severe Crippling} debuff on its left forward leg.
-40% Movement speed, -50% attack power on left leg, +50% damage on left forward leg.
'Perfect.' She thought before reloading as fast as she could before firing into the leg again. '9 damage per shot, two more.'
The Ursa was still struggling up as another bullet thundered into the leg, sending it back down. The final bullet thundered into the leg, causing an explosion of smoke as the limb detached itself and dissolved.
Ursa Minor's Left Forward Leg was destroyed. 200 Hp removed.
-75% Movement speed, loss of attacking limb.
"It's down to less than half health." She crowed in joy. "This is easy." She backed up, reloading and taking aim at the other leg. "Let's finish this up." She said before aiming and firing the gun in a slow and well aimed rhythm.
"Thank God for weak limbs." Qrow muttered, finally pulling his flask back out of his jacket. He watched as the Ursa kept trying to push itself up in a truly pitiful display before it met its final death keel as its other leg exploded into nothingness. The shield finally faded at the wail.
"I did it." Ruby cheered, doing a little dance as Qrow walked up.
"You did." He nodded before pulling her hood up and over her head. "Never do something this stupid again."
"No promises." She said warding his hand away and pulling her hood off.
[Quest - Beowolf Minor Dungeon - Lvl 5 Complete]
Reward - 300 EXP, 100 Lien, Shop Scroll
"I have a scroll." Ruby cheered, pulling it out of the key items section of her inventory before frowning at it. "I only have the option to buy and sell."
"Let me have a look while you collect the loot." Qrow said, grabbing the scroll and leaving the girl to it.
The boss' loot was fairly boring; the 30 Lien was nice but the claw and sub machine gun ammo were fairly boring. It didn't even give a skill book. Checking her inventory she was quite happy with the 207 Lien she had earned, more Lien than she had ever had before.
"Alright, this thing is a shop and nothing else." Qrow said looking through the scroll. "You can buy potions, ammo, weapons, armour and skill books. Quite a range of them as well, but it isn't cheap, the cheapest skill book costs a thousand Lien." He said before snapping the scroll closed and throwing it to Ruby. "Now c'mon we have to get back before anyone notices we're missing, I don't want to answer any awkward questions."
"Okay, okay. {Instant Dungeon: Close}." And, as the air around her hand splintered, their world shifted once more.
-LINE-BREAK-
"So Ruby, did you have a good first day?" Taiyang asked as he got into the car, Ruby and Yang already in the back. Qrow had joined them this time, sitting in the front next to Taiyang.
"Yeah, it was good." She nodded, trying not to react to the warning look Qrow sent at her. "The combat class was cool."
"She did better than I expected, she guessed who was going to lose and the correct reasons." Qrow added, nodding as he spoke. "I'm going to give her the same training Sollise was given, see how she handles it."
"Qrow." Taiyang almost growled, glaring at him and gaining a hard look on his face.
"Taiyang, I'm doing it, we'll talk about it later." Qrow shot back. He looked into the rear view mirror, directly at Ruby. "You'll have to be ready Ruby, I'll be waking you up at five."
"What?" Ruby asked in an almost whine.
"If you want to be a decent huntress you'll need to put in the hours." He smirked.
"... This is payback for earlier isn't it?" Ruby sighed, looking Qrow dead in the eyes.
"Just a little bit, as I said I'm putting you on the advanced training course." He grunted. "Prepare for hell."
"Oh... crapbaskets."
-Chapter 3 End-
AN - Happy New Year.
Not much to say this time, if you read my story Hidden Behind A Vale you'll know that I'm looking for a Beta, other than that I just ask for constructive criticism.
See you next time.