Chapter 2: learning

Two weeks had gone by since Taylor had arrived. The first week went by uneventfully. As Salem had said, he spent most of his time studying. As she expected, he only had trouble with history and combat classes. Math and the other mundane courses were the same as back home. Language class was surprisingly the same. Either they spoke English same as him, or more likely the mysterious man had modified Taylor to speak whatever strange tongue was used in Remnant. Watts was taking care of his academic classes, and Taylor was finding himself liking Watts. He was a bit blunt in pointing out any mistakes Taylor made but being a teacher, this wasn't really something Taylor could complain about.

Combat classes were interesting. Tyrian was handling combat classes and he was quite formal and normal in his mannerisms. Much to Taylors relief. The first few classes were just conditioning and hand to hand combat training. Taylor had taken martial arts when he was younger but was out of practice. Tyrian seemed a little excited by this and made Taylor spend quite a bit of time going through what Taylor could remember of his old moves. It didn't exactly match with any style present in remnant, but Tyrian gave him a short list of martial arts that he should pursue once he got into Beacon.

After the first three or four classes however, Tyrian added weapons training to the routine. This is the part that confused Taylor. As Tyrian showed him through the armory Taylor saw advanced looking firearms. He swore some of them looked like laser and plasma weapons. They also passed advanced armor, some looked like sci-fi armor, some like medieval armor, and most looked in between. Tyrian guided Taylor toward the melee weapons. There were some sci-fi looking blades in the mix, but Tyrian insisted he choose from the more normal looking weapons.

Taylor was a bit of a nerd and knew some things about melee weapons, and so had trouble deciding on what he should use. He asked Tyrian if he only got to choose once. Tyrian explained that while most choose to stick with one weapon, there was no rule saying he could not have a few different weapons. In fact, he would be trained in a variety of weapons to make sure he could make do with whatever was at hand. But it was encouraged that Taylor choose one particular weapon to master fully. Taylor decided to go with a spiked ball mace and a heater shield. He knew the mace was one of the more practical weapons that was actually used in medieval times. The shield, well he was going to be fighting at a disadvantage due to his lack of experience and training, he figured he should invest in his defense. He also picked up a chest plate with some small pauldrons. Not much but it protected all the important bits.

Taylor had been training with dummies for the first week, the second week they started using training robots. The bots reminded Taylor of the Atlas knights just with a different aesthetic.

That popped a question into Taylor's head. "Mr. Callows, why are we training with humanoid robots? Wouldn't something shaped like a wrath creature be more appropriate?"

Tyrian approached while pulling something up on his scroll. "The creatures of wrath come in a wide variety of shapes and sizes." He showed Taylor a picture that showed presumably two creatures of wrath. One looked like an armored humanoid with a halberd, but with light popping out from where flesh would be on a normal person. The second one just seemed like a demon wolf but made of light.

Tyrian explained further, "These humanoid targets are not necessarily a bad prep for fighting wrath. However, the main reason is that I'm trying to focus on the basics before you leave for beacon."

Taylor nodded and hung his head. "Ya I'm kinda a trash fighter, aren't I?" Tyrian put his hand on Taylor's shoulder and tried to comfort him.

"Most people train for years to learn how to fight. Nobody expects you to catch up overnight. Besides you aren't obligated to become a full-time warrior, so don't be too disappointed that you're not a fighter quite yet." Taylor felt slightly better, but he had a question.

"How come you insisted I use basic weapons and none of the advanced stuff? Also, Salem said magic is a thing, how do I combat against that?" Tyrian waved him off.

"You need more training before handling the complex weapons, same with fighting against magic" Tyrian replied. Taylor nodded, feeling slightly depressed again. Tyrian added something as he started to walk away. "On the subject of magic, Watts should give you a quick rundown before you leave."

It was the second to last day before he was shipped off. Taylor was extremely nervous. Tyrian had told him that he wanted to put him through a challenge before he left. Taylor couldn't really sleep well since Tyrian had said that. Given this was a world where monsters were real, he could only imagine what that challenge was. Luckily when he entered the training arena, he just saw Tyrian with another student. Upon approaching the two he noticed it was the same student that gave him the awkward wave when he first arrived.

Tyrian introduced the two, "Taylor this is Blair, he is part of your group going to Beacon and will be your sparring partner today."

Blair was roughly the same average size and build as Taylor, with him being a bit more muscular. He was a redhead, the only source of color aside from his clothing. He wore his armor over his regular clothes. His armor was sparse. Just pauldrons, vambraces with gloves, and leg armor including knee pads, greaves, and boots. His choice of weapons where a pair of twin axes, hanging from his hips.

He waved at Taylor, "Hey how ya doing?"

This drew Taylor back to Blair's face. It was then Taylor noticed a scar beneath his left eye. It was a single scar, making him wonder if it was from claws or a blade. Taylor realized he was gawking and replied.

"Doing well considering everything." Taylor turned toward Tyrian, and his expression seemed to tell Tyrian everything he needed to know.

"I know your still worried about your fighting skills, but you do need to know how to spare your fellow students. Both for defense against attackers and because sparing is quite commonplace."

Blair spoke up, "Don't worry, I'll go easy on you."

With that Tyrian left the arena to go to an observation booth. Blair gave Taylor a reassuring smile as he backed up to his starting position. Taylor was still nervous as he backed up to his starting position. Tyrion spoke through a speaker in the observation booth.

"Both of you spark up your auras for me. Make sure your all good before we start." Blair showed his aura, with a bright green shield forming around his person. Taylor was hesitant at first, but he showed his aura as well, a bright red shield glowing around him.

Tyrian then laid down the rules, "Fighting ends once your opponent's aura hits the red zone, pay attention to both your aura meters. Taylor try to do your best. Blair keep in mind the difference in experience. Now Blair are you ready?"

Blair nodded his head and entered a fighting stance and brandished his twin axes. Taylor got a better look at them. They were war axes, with a blade up front and a spike behind it. They looked like they had engravings on the blade, but Taylor was too far away to notice the finer details.

Taylor was pulled from his thoughts by Tyrian, asking if he was ready. He wasn't ready, not even close. But he knew he had to fight. His new kin had clearly stated that he would be expected to at least be capable of fighting. Plus, he figured he would need to learn to fight to survive here. Reluctantly he raised his shield and readied his mace. He then nodded towards Tyrian.

"Begin!" Tyrian shouted over the intercom.

Immediately Blair was on him, closing nearly the entire distance between them in a blink of an eye. Taylor tried to hide behind his shield rather than go on the offensive. Blair did a flying jump kick right into Taylor's shield. The force behind it sent Taylor onto the floor. Luckily Taylor had taken his combat training seriously and instead of just sprawling onto the ground, he rolled backwards and got back up on his feet. Unfortunately, Taylor went straight back to hiding behind his shield. Blair was moving too fast, and his strength out matched Taylors. The only reason Taylor was still in the fight was because his shield made is difficult for Blair to directly damage his aura. Blair's speed made it difficult to keep the shield between them, so Taylor decided to try and neutralize it.

Taylor waited for a moment between Blair's strikes. When the moment presented itself, he swung his mace towards Blair's legs. One good thing about cowering behind his shield the whole time was that Blair wasn't expecting the attack. Taylor much to his own surprise landed a hit on Blair's leg. Blair was stunned for a moment. Taylor figured Blair was more surprised than actually hurt. Nevertheless, Taylor took the opportunity to charge Blair, ramming into him with a shield bash. Blair stumbled back but remained standing. Taylor tried to capitalize on this and swung his mace down in an overhead arc, aiming for Blair's head or shoulder.

Blair recovered faster than Taylor expected. He dodged the blow and maneuvered himself behind Taylor. Taylor was too committed to his attack and was completely exposed to Blair, who brought both his axes down into Taylors back. Taylor dropped to one knee. It was a massive blow, and Taylor didn't need his scroll to know it had taken half or more of his aura.

Taylor raised his shield just in time to catch another swing of Blair's axes. Taylor tried to get back up, but Blair got to him first. Blair managed to get one of his axes past Taylor's shield and landed a blow right into his stomach just below his chest piece. While his aura protected him from any real damage, it still hurt. Taylor bent inward a little due to the blow, Blair took the opportunity to slam his axe into Taylors upper back sending him to the ground. The last of Taylors aura was spent protecting him from his sudden and violent embrace with the ground.

Tyrian sounded over the speaker, "that's the match, both fighters holster your weapons." Taylor heard the clanking of metal as Blair put away his axes. Taylor didn't move that much; he was still recovering from the pummeling he just received. He let go of his mace and slowly began to lift himself off the floor.

"Here let me give you a hand." Taylor looked up to see Blair offering to help him up, he accepted. Blair nearly lifted him off his feet.

Tyrian approached the pair and spoke. "Blair, I told you to go easy on him."

"You said go easy, you didn't say to coddle him.", was Blairs response.

Taylor tried to hide his annoyance with Blair, but a scowl still escaped him as he spoke. "You have a skewed definition of the word 'easy' "

Blair laughed as he patted Taylor on the shoulder. "Hey for what it's worth, you did a lot better than I thought you would. That hit on my leg, then that shield charge actually caught me off guard."

Tyrian bent down to pick up Taylor's mace and handed it back to him. "Yes that was an excellent move on your part. You do have a lot of ground to make up but considering everything you're doing well." Taylor wasn't sure he really believed that. Tyrian interrupted his thoughts. "Clean yourself up, take a break, then head to Watts for your final lesson."

Taylor was surprised by this. "Usually, we do one day has combat classes and one day has academics."

Blair spoke up as well. "Besides we've only just met, and you've kept away from the rest of us since he got here. Aren't we supposed to be learning how to make friends, integrate with society and all that?" Taylor was confused by that last part; he would ask Watts what that meant.

Tyrian held up his hands in a 'calm down motion', "there's not much left for academic studies, just a quick rundown of magic and what to expect when you arrive in beacon. We're finishing it all today so Taylor can take all of tomorrow to rest and mingle with everyone heading to Beacon." Seemed logical to Taylor. "Now if there's nothing else, Taylor, Watts is expecting you in an hour, take the time the rest and clean up."

Taylor nodded, "okay I'll go ahead and leave." Before he left, he turned toward Blair. "Uhm, bye, I guess. Hope to see you tomorrow."

Blair smiled, "Hope to meet you again too, and good spare today."

With that Blair extended his hand toward Taylor. Taylor hesitated for a moment but smiled and accepted the handshake. After that Blair and Tyrian headed out one set of doors, while Taylor went out another set of doors heading toward his dorm room and the classroom where Watts would be waiting.

The academic lesson was extremely short. Watts had given a very brief rundown of how magic worked, and it wasn't all that different from what Taylor had expected. It can give people magical abilities, either through augmentation or through magical spells. It could obviously be used to enchant or make magical objects. Most of the conversation revolved around why there was both advanced magic and advanced technology. Watts explained that not everyone was born with magic. And of those born with magic, not all were of the same caliber. Some were living artillery pieces. While others struggled to even light a candle. While it was possible to pass magic to those who weren't born with it, the process was difficult and those receiving it usually had trouble mastering their new powers. So, in most cases, it was apparently just easier to use technology. Although great care had been taken to make sure magic was still taught and advanced alongside tech.

Taylor had asked if aura and semblances were magic. Watts said they were a kind of magic. The process of introducing magic to a non-magical person relied on aura. But they were seen more as natural abilities as one could not teach their semblance to another person. At best one could replicate the effect of a semblance. Plus, in the presence of something that neutralized magic power, aura and semblances still worked. Taylor made a note that, could be useful in a fight.

Taylor asked a question before Watts got to the main topic of Beacon. "Blair said something that concerned me. How uhm, isolated are males from females during school?"

Watts seemed caught off guard by that, and a little embarrassed. "Well, it is a nuanced situation, but I'll summarize it as best I can. To avoid a brawl over the limited supplies of mates, most schools isolate their male students. This means confining them to school ground usually." This worried Taylor, which Watts noticed. "Now schools usually compensate with extensive recreational facilities. In addition, there are organized events when male students can interact with the girls on the outside."

Taylor shot off a question immediately. "Why does that need to be organized?"

Watts had to take a moment to construct his argument. "As I said there is heavy competition for a mate during these times. Often staff needs to be present to keep order. You recall your history lessons, right?"

Taylor nodded, "I remember reading how there was rampant kidnapping of men in some regions, along with a few pseudo-wars to capture men." Taylor shivered as he remembered a history textbook that included a picture of what looked like a slave market filled with men being sold.

"Are you okay Taylor?" Watts said with great concern.

Taylor decided to be honest with how he felt. He pulled out the book with the picture he was thinking of and showed it to Watts. "That's not around anymore, is it?"

Watts's eyebrows shot up in surprise. "NO! no it is not. The population problem is still around, obviously that's why you're here. But we have made progress. The markets have been illegal for hundreds of years. And our culture has shifted from forcing a man to take a wife, to convincing him to accept one. The reason for security is because women are aggressive in most things, not just pursuit of a mate. Fights are not uncommon, that's why there's a lot of security measures, and why sparring and dueling are so commonplace."

Taylor was still a little nervous. Watts kept talking, "in addition students are not kept at school at all times. The younger grades often send students home at the end of the day. When dorm life starts there are regular breaks to return to family. Many families have unique traditions, but most make sure their sons are prepared for the outside world." It was at this point Watts noticed Taylor's mood fail to improve. "But enough of that, let's go ahead and cover what to expect when you arrive in Beacon." Taylor perked up at this. Watts had an advanced smartboard type device behind him. He brought up a presentation explaining the events. "The first event is a simple welcoming ceremony, a short speech followed by some paperwork. After that they will show you to your room."

Taylor interrupted again, "Sorry I didn't think of this earlier, but how secret is my…kingdom of origin?"

Watts also realized they probably should have gone over this before. "It's not public knowledge. Aside from myself, Tyrian, and Salem, her husband Ozpin, the head of beacon has been informed. He will probably inform you which of his professors he has chosen to share that knowledge with. Now having said that, on a personnel level were going to trust your judgment."

Taylor was surprised by that. "What do you mean?"

Watts explained, "if you think you can trust an individual with your secret, you may tell them. We want you to find people you can trust." Taylor was still unsure he should trust anyone; he had been treated well but he couldn't shake that last shred of suspicion. Watts continued, "plus we don't plan on keeping it a secret forever, the governments have already agreed with the plan. We're just trying to figure out how to unveil it to the public."

Seemed logical to Taylor, but he was concerned of what would happen when the announcement was made.

Watts pulled him from his thoughts. "Now the second day will start with, well with the public meeting event we discussed earlier. To introduce you to the schools uncoupled population before the hunt."

Taylor near immediately shot up out of his chair. A star trek red alert was screaming through his mind, and he prepared to grill Watts over an open fire. Watts had obviously been expecting this as he immediately moved to calm Taylor down. He even switched the presentation to a screen that read [The Hunt: before you panic].

Taylor sat back down but addressed Watts in a threatening tone. "Choose you words very carefully."

Watts nodded and began, pulling up an image of what looked like a gladiatorial match on the smartboard. "The hunt is really a left-over tradition born of the early days. It was an effort to end the kidnapping and wars. It was essentially ritual combat. If a woman wanted to mate with a man, she had to be strong enough to best him in combat. Likewise, if a man wishes to refuse a mate, he must be strong enough to defeat her."

Taylor fears were not laid to rest. "I can see the logic, but how does it work in today's world?" Watts pulled up another image on the smartboard.

It was a picture of a duel happening, one man fighting one woman, with several women spectating from the sideline. They were set in a forest, something about it seemed familiar. It was the same forest from initiation in RWBY. Taylor wondered why that was. Then it hit Taylor, this was what initiation was in this universe.

Watts's explanation confirmed this. "The hunt is more so an initiation and introduction ceremony. It's really just playful sparing, so you and your prospective partners can get to know one another."

Taylor finally had to ask. "If I wanted to get to know another person, I wouldn't challenge them to a clash of steel. Why is there such an emphasis on combat around here?" Watts pondered a moment before responding.

"Our people, who are now your people, have a natural aggression. As a result, warrior traditions are very strong in society. This has only been reinforced by the arrival of the creatures of wrath."

"Does that mean people are going to be mean?" Taylor asked.

Watts shook his head, "No, it just means they will be more straight forward." Watts thought for a second. "Girls might be more 'forceful' when pursuing relationships, but they won't intentionally be cruel to you."

"And the practice of friendly dueling?" Taylor asked with a raised eyebrow.

"It's how they will get to know you, it's also how many settle their disputes." Watts said.

Taylor was worried that this was going to cause problems later. "Does this mean that there's going to be regular 'hunts?"

Watts shook his head and pulled up another slide labeled [After the Hunt]. "No, it's only during initiation. After that girls usually simply ask to join your harem, maybe after an initial duel depending on the individual. But that is essentially the extent of what the initial events and ceremonies. Do you have any other questions?"

Taylor thought a moment to choose his questions carefully. "What will school life look like after the Hunt? Will I still see my fellow male students? How will classes work? All that nitty gritty kind of stuff."

Watts walked over to the desk in the room. He hardly used it, preferring to present with the smartboard and little else. He came back with a small pamphlet that read 'academy life'. It seemed to be an introductory guide. "That goes into detail with diagrams, but here's the basics. There's no rule separating you from your fellow males, it may be hard to find time to get together but there's nothing separating the five of you. As for classes, you'll be grouped with your harem as much as possible, however the larger your harem grows the more that may not be possible due to various factors. Actual classes will be no different, the part where things may get complicated are missions."

Taylor perked up at this. "Not pressuring you to become a warrior huh?"

Watts gave him a look that said, 'seriously this again?' "We're not but you need to be able to fight if the situation demands. Also, unless you chose to become a full-time warrior most of these missions will be mostly survival training."

Taylor didn't actually see harm in that last part. "Okay that part I can actually get behind", Taylor said. Then another thing occurred to him. "Would it be possible for me to get more gear?" Watts raised an eyebrow. Taylor explained himself guessing what Watts was thinking. "I'm not asking for the fancy stuff; I know I need to work my way up to that. It's just with me going on a 'mission' I realize I could use some more additions to my kit."

Watts still seemed a bit unconvinced. "What exactly did you have in mind?", he asked.

Taylor said, "nothing much just a helmet and a backup weapon if I lose me mace. Maybe a sword or a dagger."

Watts thought about it a moment, then replied. "A sensible request, Tyrian probably should have seen this coming. We'll see what we can do for you, but with it being this close to departure you may have to wait until you get to beacon." Taylor nodded in understanding, he wished he had made that request earlier, but he had been focused on his studies.

Watts asked, "anymore questions?" Taylor shook his head. "Alright then, go ahead and take the rest of the day to relax. Tomorrow you'll spend the day with your fellow students before you head off to beacon."

With he left the room, and he headed back to his dorm, where instead of sleeping he would again stay up all night worrying about the following day.