Chapter 3: Growth.

The first day of tests had been… mild, or at least milder than he expected. Miles wasn't particularly unfamiliar with these types of tests, at the start of the year for example, when he had first been admitted into Kasatsu Academy, an incident related to a certain student's Relic and the Artifact had led the wielder of Soulcalibur to be subjected to trials regarding the future safety of using the legendary object. This had been one of the many favours he had done for the institution's principal throughout the year.

Today's Aura tests in comparison were far simpler. For the first half of the examination he had been attached to what he thought was some sort of medical device used for reading the vitals of a subject, and told to perform basic exercises. They were likely trying to get a grasp on his physical abilities, so Miles decided to not hold back and gave his all on what they asked. After some time and a practical resistance test he passed with flying colours, they let him rest for a couple of minutes while asking him some questions.

The first one was simple, but slightly complicated at the same time. 'When did you awaken to your Aura?' Miles had read that it was common for individuals to help others awaken to their Aura, although the possibility of awakening through situations of great stress where the energy appeared to protect the user existed. The van Astrea decided to say that his had been awakened by a teacher in his now defunct fictional Academy.

He explained how due to the harshness of the environment, most children had their Aura awakened by age 12, where they began to be trained. He could somehow feel Ozpin and the other researcher, Oobleck if he wasn't mistaken, wince slightly when he told them that, but from their response he guessed they accepted his answer.

The next inquiries delved deeper into the training he had when he was younger. Miles explained how the logistics had been more focused around survival and combat than the Laws, History, and Sciences of the world. He expressed how he had done some research on his own these last days, though. The future Beacon student didn't want them to think he was one hundred percent clueless of how Remnant worked, even if that had been true a week or so ago.

Miles noticed how they only kept the questions strictly within the bounds of this particular research. The outsider could appreciate this greatly, as any more questions regarding his background would only lead further and further into a web of lies he'd rather avoid. When the questioning ended, the tests resumed, now to focus on his Aura.

They told him to 'Activate his Aura', so he subconsciously spiked his Anima levels, almost enough to activate the first phase of Awakening. He realized this had been a bad choice when he saw the alarms around the room almost start to flare, so he lowered them considerably. Miles almost smacked himself for being too careless. It wasn't like he wished to hide his Relic's capabilities, but raising more suspicion than he already had was likely worse, so he would commit to trying to appear "normal" for the time being.

After this he was told to focus on various mental images, make use of his Aura in bursts, coat himself using the mysterious energy and some other "basic" Aura uses. Miles, of course, did not have Aura, so the best he could do was improvise based on the extremely basic knowledge he had regarding the control of Anima.

His year as a Relic user bore fruit, though; he understood how to coat himself in an improvised protective barrier using Anima, many Hunters back in his world actually did this, although against the ferocious attack of a Shadow, it could only perhaps prevent a fatal injury. Armour served the purpose of protection after all and Defensive specialized Relics would be better in a scenario where stalling an opponent was necessary.

The examinations came to an end after he was instructed to do a 'demonstration of his Semblance', something that he was glad to say he was prepared for. If a Semblance was the materialization of one's soul into a unique ability, then by the same concept Miles knew he could pass his own 'unique ability' as a Semblance. However, he understood that Semblances, especially at his age, normally had a limit, they weren't all-powerful or had the versatility of something like magic afterall. In the end, he decided to establish arguably his most valuable ability as his Semblance: "Sword Creation" or more properly "Sword Duplication".

This skill was perhaps one of the most basic when it came to his Relic, Soulcalibur. In a nutshell, it allowed him to create and control less powerful copies of his sword in exchange for a specific amount on Anima. Such copies could be used in a great number of ways. He could materialize them in mid air and fire them into enemies for ranged combat, use them as shields to enhance his defences, cover up his blind spots and generally exert a great amount of pressure on his opponents.

According to Rukyu Rearu, the class Captain of 1-B, sparring against him was "a mental pain in the rear" and it was true, Miles could not understate just how versatile this skill was. For a long time, before he was taught proper swordsmanship, all of his combat strategies came to revolve around Sword Duplication. Looking back on it he understood it wasn't entirely smart to rely only on one aspect of his kit, but when it was that all-encompassing to his combat needs he couldn't exactly blame his past self.

This was the main reason why he decided to 'lock' himself into the skill for his immediate time in Beacon, although he wouldn't hesitate to tap into the other useful abilities his Relic granted him if a particularly complicated scenario reared its ugly head in his direction, there would be no more mistakes for him. No repeats of what happened in his old world.

By the end of the examination, Ozpin thanked him and gave him a date for their next tests, which was next Sunday, one week from now. The older Huntsman and Headmaster of Beacon also told him to prepare for tomorrow before promptly leaving the research facilities. The other scientist who Miles suspected had been giving a particularly inquisitive look behind his foggy glasses just nodded at him, said something about looking forward to the next session and decided to stay in the lab. Miles left shortly after, and with nothing better to do he decided to get familiar with Beacon by taking a stroll across the school grounds.

What he could not foresee was the school grounds of Beacon being at least twice as large as Kasatsu back in his world, and that place was already ridiculously big. The young man wondered how students would get to their classes in time, and also about the functionality behind so many facilities around the Academy.

Beacon had all manner of dormitories, workshops, laboratories, gymnasiums, gardens, plazas, ballrooms, comfort and study zones, small and large scale sparring grounds, the largest library in Vale, one of the four Cross Continental Transmit Towers, and even the famous Augmented Combat Reality Simulator System, or the ARCSys as people commonly referred to it.

The System was an Atlesian piece of technology designed to allow Huntsmen to test their combat and teamwork capabilities in a safe and controlled environment, although he remembered reading somewhere that when a Grimm in the simulation hit you, you did feel pain and your Aura could even 'break'. Something in his mind told him someone had shifted some of the words around to make the abbreviation sound cooler, but he digressed.

The sun was already starting to set when he decided to call it quits. According to the map of the area displayed on his scroll - yes, he had to use a map to navigate around due to how massive this place was - Miles had explored only about three quarters of the school grounds, and he had walked for hours.

The positive thing was that by this point of day the former Kasatsu student genuinely felt tired, something that he could only achieve by pouring down information down his brain for hours on end these past few days. Still, he found all the knowledge he had collected to be an absolute must to have. Afterall, what kind of incompetent dolt would live in a world as dangerous as Remnant without knowing the basics of the basics?

That aside, and with a slight amount of expectation of what would come tomorrow, Miles headed to the temporary room he had been assigned in the staff building and promptly went to sleep. There wasn't much to say about the room itself, but even he had to admit the bed felt particularly comfortable.

It seemed like he would sleep well tonight.

Giant aircrafts began to heavily dock on Beacon's heliport. The wielder of Soulcalibur saw how hundreds of people stepped down and walked to the entrance of the Academy. Today he was wearing his combat outfit, as he expected some sort of initiation to occur considering what Ozpin had told him yesterday. He found himself relaxing on a bench near Beacon's main plaza. The young man would be lying if he said he wasn't interested in how 'proper Huntsman students' looked in this world and well, he was… not entirely disappointed.

Miles could see the faces of the people walking by him, some looked to be inexperienced but full of expectation, while others - the older years, he assumed - strode with confidence in groups of four, having small talk and sharing what they looked forward to this year. He noticed the vast majority was not wearing the standard Beacon uniform, but rather their own customized outfits, and while he never considered himself to be knowledgeable in fashion, he could admit some of the outfits were really well made.

Seeing them all was wholesome in a way, it reminded him of his first day at Kasatsu, when he saw the seniors and their determined looks to become future paragons of peace. 'If only I could've had that look someday…' It was a dark thought, but one he wouldn't suppress. Miles had had plenty of days to think. Of the past, of his friends, his new mission, the future; there were many things that went through his mind every day and night, but he understood it was normal, he knew it would someday fade and he would gain the will to completely move on. This did not, however, make reality less gritty.

"Hm? Oh." He could feel his sharp expression softening slowly. There she was, the girl from the robbery, in all her red splendor. She had her weapon strapped to her back, and she walked alongside a taller and… yellow girl. The girl bore a very faint similarity to Ruby, so he assumed they were related, if maybe slightly. Miles stood up as he decided to go greet the girls, he could see the nervousness in the red girl's expression now that he was closer. When her round, silver eyes finally met his, a bright smile appeared on her face.

"Miles!" Ruby exclaimed happily. It had been almost a week and a half since she had seen him. She always wondered what was of him after the whole robbery ordeal. She had assumed Miles was some sort of Huntsman or student Huntsman, but from what she could see he was likely a first student as well. Hm, why hadn't he been on the ship though? Did he come on another ship or…

"Oh, who do we have here~" Ruby heard Yang say from behind as she stepped forward. "You know this guy, Rubes?" She was… intrigued. Looking him up and down. Ruby wanted to groan, but she decided to answer as he got closer.

"Yeah." She nodded. "Remember the robbery incident?" She said with a slight wry smile.

"Of course." Yang quickly answered. "Dad grounded you for like a week, but I can tell he was kinda proud deep down." The blonde shrugged. "What about- Oh! So he's the guy who helped you." Ruby had told her father and her how she had been in a slight pickle until someone came to help. The red girl said he was a sword wielder, but he couldn't see it anywhere on him.

"The guy who helped you, huh?" Miles finally got close to them. "I guess that's one way to put it. Good to see you again, Ruby." He offered a small but honest smile. "And…" Ruby could see his gaze on Yang, who had winked and stepped in towards him, looking up at his eyes almost like a predator stalking a fresh piece of meat.

"The name's Yang, hotstuff" She said with a particularly suave tone, but Ruby saw how Miles raised a brow for a second and replied.

"I'm Miles, nice to meet you." He seemed to be composed, even in the face of Yang. While all the guys in Signal Academy were more or less used to Yang and didn't get too flustered whenever she got close to them like that, whenever they met someone new and her sister did 'that', most guys would instantly get nervous or something similar. Miles' composure was a surprise.

"Huh…" Yang, of course, also noticed this. "Well, whatever." The blonde stepped back, her expression retaining her usual carefree smile but changing slightly to one that expressed a more serious part of herself. "In all seriousness, I wanna thank you for saving Rubes. She has this really bad habit of getting into trouble all the time, ain't that right lil' sis?" Yang elbowed Ruby in a really sisterly fashion, if only the blonde knew how much these 'sisterly elbows to the side' hurt.

"I wouldn't say I saved her, but you're welcome." Miles nodded his head. "Ruby is a pretty good fighter from what I saw, I just lent her a hand." Ruby felt proud at the compliment. She felt nice whenever her family praised her for her admittedly great talent in combat, but the red girl always felt like it came out a little forced when they did so. Miles was straightforward and honest, she appreciated that.

"Nah… It's nothing hehe…" She put a hand on the back of her head and tried to shake the pride off a little bit. Ruby could see Yang smile from the corner of her eyes.

"Well, Rubes. Looks like you got a friend now." The yellow girl's smile turned to a more devilish grin. "I'll leave you two to it, then. Bye!" Yang just walked to a group of people Ruby recognized as Signal graduates and left with them towards Beacon. For a moment the red girl felt betrayed and lonely, but this wasn't rare for Yang to do, hangin out with Ruby was probably too lame or-

"So." Said Miles, who was still standing there, looking at the blonde girl walking away with her friends. "Want me to show you around?" He smiled at her. Ruby blinked a couple of times and quickly smiled back.

"You already know this place?" She asked, with a slight amount of expectation in her voice.

Miles shrugged. "A little bit, I came here yesterday and took some time to explore a bit. Let me tell you this place is unnecessarily big." He chuckled.

"I wanna see the weapon workshops, then!" Her eyes sparkled a bit. In all her stupor, Ruby wouldn't notice a certain heiress walking by them with a rather hefty amount of luggage, she was too distracted to notice she was on the way of- "Woah!" She felt a hand pull her by her cape and out of the way of the servant who carried said luggage.

"Try to be more careful, Ruby." The girl looked behind her and saw Miles with a hand on her red hood, he let it go and she stumbled forward a bit. "S-Sorry for that." She replied.

"Hmph, it would seem like someone actually has the slightest amount of decency here." It was another voice, one she didn't recognize but immediately made her feel the slightest bit irritated. "Let's go now, we don't have time to be standing around here with clumsy youngsters." That last word was definitely said with a tinge of disdain.

"Wh-Who does she think she is…?" Now that she got a closer look, Ruby could definitely see how the look matched the voice perfectly. The girl was pale and her whole demeanor screamed "rich", she was wearing what looked to be a white strapless dress that had a blue fade at the hem, she wore a pair of white boots and a white bolero which displayed a certain family crest in the back. It didn't take a genius to recognize that crest, even Ruby could admit to purchasing grade A dust ammo from them when she had some extra lien saved up.

"Hm, so that's how a Schnee looks like." Ruby once again looked up at Miles, why did she have to be so small, darn it. Silly thoughts aside, she could see how neutral his expression was, just as if he considered himself a simple observer. In a way it reminded Ruby of how her dad's gaze started to look these past years, it made her sad to think of that so she pushed those thoughts aside and opened her mouth to speak again, but before she could so the red girl heard a decently loud sigh behind them.

"They all look and act the same." Another girl, one sporting a beautiful mane of wavy black hair, a black vest and a cropped whiteshirt underneath it. She was also wearing black boots, white shorts and dark purple stockings, finally her most notable piece of clothing was the black ribbon on top of her head. She had amber eyes and a very sharp look on her face. The girl closed the book she held in her hands and only spared them a glance before also walking away.

"Aw, man… Is everyone this unfriendly here in Beacon…?" Ruby sighed.

Miles took a second to reply, his eyes lingered on the ribbon girl for a moment, but then he looked back at the one beside him. "There's a lot of people here, Ruby, I doubt everyone is like this." He tried to reassure her, she weakly smiled and nodded. "In any case, we should start walking soon, too. There is still some time before the opening ceremony, maybe we can check out the workshops if we hurry."

"Oh, true! Come on, let's go!" She quickly took the initiative and decided to lead the way, pretty much walking in a random direction.

"Uhh, Ruby? The workshops are in the opposite direction." Good thing Miles couldn't see the embarrassed blush that appeared on her face from where he was. 'Why are you like this, Ruby?!' Ah, what a great way to start school life.

The trip to the workshops was short-lived, but Miles and Ruby ended up talking a good bit. The young man now had a better grasp on Ruby's personality and aspirations. To start off, she was apparently a very gifted mechanic, specifically in the armamentistics field. From what she said, she had been the one responsible behind the scythe high caliber sniper rifle Frankenstein monster she calmly carried strapped on her back.

Ruby also was, like he suspected and for lack of a better word: a child. She was barely 15 years old, which almost made him wince slightly… if it wasn't for the fact that first year students in Kasatsu were barely one year older than her. The fact that literal teenagers were the only capable people of receiving a Relic by the Artifact was a fact he always questioned.

What made it worse was the relatively high mortality rate Kasatsu had. Shadows were extremely dangerous beings and attacks were often very unexpected, he had even heard of entire classes being wiped in the past. He only hoped the same wasn't true for Beacon and the other Huntsman Academies in this world, although seeing as this world's situation was worse than his, he deeply doubted it.

Another fact that was also to note was that, while Ruby was an excellent fighter and a borderline genius engineer, she had a lot lacking in the social department. Beacon had a Public Relations class as part of its curriculum and Miles could only wish such a class, coupled with upcoming years of interaction with other people would alleviate the problem for the red girl. At least in his world "solo Hunters" more often than not had the most tragic ends.

The scythe wielder also asked Miles if he knew how the "team selection process" worked as they waited for the opening ceremony to commence. She said that her dad and uncle attended Beacon in the past, and that they had been put into the same team. 'That must be why the seniors and sophomores walked in groups of four." Yet another conclusion was made. The whole part about how the team selection process worked did make him slightly curious, but he would worry about it later.

From the corner of his eyes he saw Yang walking back to Ruby and asking her how her time here had been, Ruby sheepishly replied about how she had visited the weapon workshops and immediately hyped herself up about them. In the crowd he also spotted the Schnee and black ribbon girls, the latter often shooting mildly aggressive but extremely subtle glances at the albino's direction.

To his knowledge, every single person present here was a first-year student of Beacon, and it showed: there were no particularly large groups formed and everyone was mostly keeping to themselves. Miles saw the occasional pair or group of friends here and there, one that caught his attention was a pink wearing girl happily jumping around a mildly annoyed young man.

The wielder of Soulcalibur noticed how amongst the students there appeared to be some faunus. Mind you, they were the vast minority, but he could appreciate seeing the policy of equality be applied in Beacon. Even if some big fool was already starting to try and intimidate them. 'Pathetic…' He sighed. Miles would be lying if he said he didn't hate this type of person, it reminded him of someone he'd rather keep out of his mind forever.

There was also a specific girl that stood out to him. She was tall to start off, probably slightly taller than him, although she was wearing heels. The girl wore what looked like a greek-style combat outfit, it even had what seemed like bronze grieves around her legs, this made Miles wonder slightly about why she wore armour if Aura was readily available to anyone, it had been the first time he saw anyone wearing proper protection, and a part of him could admire that. He could also notice how her posture, while seeming relaxed, was honed in a manner where she could enter combat at the drop of a hat. It reminded him of the more experienced Hunters in his world, this girl likely was one heck of a fighter just by the way she carried herself.

The young lady also had blazing red hair and a pair of, dare he say it, striking emerald coloured eyes. From what he could see some students had gathered near the girl and were trying to engage in conversation with her. She politely spoke back to them every time, though Miles could spot slight bits of exasperation in her features whenever one of them got too close. He didn't know her, so he couldn't draw a conclusion, but considering everything maybe she was famous or particularly popular.

For a second their eyes met and the girl offered him a friendly smile, soon after this however, the doors behind the stage opened and two individuals walked out: Professor Glynda and Headmaster Ozpin. Both quickly took to the stage and Ozpin in particular approached the microphone. Everyone around him was still talking or whispering with each other. It was surprising to him how the students here behaved compared to Kasatsu, where everyone went dead quiet as soon as the principal entered the stage. In any case, Miles just looked at the man and paid attention.

"Ejem." It only took that to shut them all up. Dismissing the presence of someone like Ozpin was impossible, and everyone in this room understood that. "Originally, I planned on keeping this speech brief, however, I believe from what I am seeing that a simple declaration wouldn't be sufficient. Rather I wish to impose an inquiry, a question. Something you will all have to reflect on and seek an answer to throughout the years you will be part of this Academy."

The man paused to look around once more, once he felt all eyes on him, he continued. "Why have you all come here? To search for knowledge? Hone your craft and acquire new skills? Will you all dedicate yourselves to the protection of the people once your stay in this institution is over? I would like to believe most answered affirmatively, and it shows: you already took your first step towards your goal by being here in this room. But I will say, a mere step is not enough." Ozpin took the microphone from its stand and began to walk around the stage.

"Growth is what has made us what we are." He continued. "Growth allowed us to become survivors in a world where the odds were stacked against us. And the moment we cease to grow, the moment we stale and are unable to move on into the future… Is the moment we cease to live. You all are here because you are considered to be capable of bearing the world on your shoulders, capable of accepting the sacrifice that is following such a path, like is the one of the Huntsman, in life. We will not seek to force your growth, but to guide you through it."

Ozpin went back to the stand and slid the microphone back in. "Knowledge is important, but it is a single part of growth. And as you are now, substantial growth seems like a difficult goal to achieve. So I ask again, why are you here? How will you grow? And what will it take for you to become a better version of yourselves? That is all." The man began to walk to the exit of the auditorium and promptly left the building.

The response was silence, and Miles could not entirely blame everyone. The words that Ozpin said were true, and he had lived through them himself. By becoming stronger as a hunter, becoming better as a person. But the realization also came with a question. 'Did I… stop growing at some point?' He couldn't entirely come up with an answer, but something was certain. If he wished to become a Hero in Remnant, if he wished to plant the seeds to destroy the dark which delved in the heart of the world or even bear the weight of being the ultimate sacrifice to destroy it himself, he would have to continue to grow.

Everyone's thoughts were interrupted when Glynda Goodwitch took to the stage. "For tonight, you will all gather at the main ballroom. Be sure to rest well, as your initiation begins tomorrow at first hour in the morning. Remember to secure your weapons and equipment in the lockers provided to you, and remember that no misconduct will be tolerated. You are dismissed." With those words, she left behind Ozpin.

Most of the students around him began to exit the auditorium too, but some stayed behind. Perhaps they still contemplated the words spoken by the Headmaster, or maybe they really didn't have anywhere to go. It was about time for the sun to start setting, too. Miles had to admit he would miss the bed of the room from yesterday, but so long as he had a roof above him he wouldn't complain.

Saying the mood had lightened after the speech was an understatement. Once everyone left their equipment on the assigned lockers, they had been taken to a cafeteria to have some dinner, everyone was slowly starting to socialize with each other, speaking of various topics and expectations. Ruby insisted he sat down with her, so he had obliged.

The Red girl held something akin to a soft spot for him. She reminded him of some of his friends from the past and she seemed like someone who, with enough preparation, would accomplish many things in the future. He could appreciate her optimism, and while most of the time she seemed like a completely normal, cheerful girl, Miles could notice how she would very rarely space out for a second while casting her gaze downwards. She had a sad look in those moments, one he thought a girl her age should not wear.

Eventually time for dinner passed. It had been adequate in Miles' opinion, though slightly less enticing as yesterday's. Miles and everyone finally headed back to the place they would be sleeping in for the night. It was a pretty spacious ballroom, one that likely held important events regularly. Today though, it wasn't more than a glorified sleeping camp.

At the current moment, Miles was laying on the sleeping bag he was given. He had changed out of his combat outfit and into a more comfortable set of pajamas, although he chose to not be as revealing as some of the people around him. It had gotten pretty late and many people were already falling asleep, though a few groups of night owls remained.

Miles perked up when he heard the sound of two people approaching him. He sat up and turned to see Ruby walking along with Yang, both wearing their pajamas. "Sup, hotstuff? Can't sleep either?" Yang said as she sat next to him, closer than anyone would feel comfortable with. Ruby heaved a slightly exasperated sigh and also took a seat near his bedroll.

"S-Sorry, but we actually couldn't get a blink of sleep and Yang insisted we came here to hang out with you." Ruby said, with slight dejection in her voice. It seemed to him that the little sister didn't have a weight of influence over the older one. That reminded him of… No, he shouldn't think back on that. Miles took a second to look around them and finally answered.

"It's fine. I'm honestly not tired at all, so I guess we are in a similar situation." He offered the truth. In the past his life had been so hectic that without a day of proper activity, he wouldn't feel tired by the time he had to sleep. Some could say his body simply stored an impressive amount of energy that needed to be burnt throughout the day.

"Well ain't that great?" Yang said with a smile. "I guess it's a good time as ever to get closer to Ruby's new friend." Yang relaxed and moved slightly away from him. "Though you know? I think Rubes should try to socialize with someone else apart from only one person… I mean, dad said teams in Remnant come in groups of 4. What if she gets paired with total strangers?" Those words made Ruby sink in her seat and sigh worriedly.

"I mean… We don't really know how the team selection works, m-maybe we get to choose? It would be great to be in the same team as you guys!" The red girl said with a hopeful expression. In all honesty, Miles hoped he ended up on the same team as Ruby. He liked her, she was someone who would do great in the future with the right guidance, and although he wasn't as experienced as others, the wielder of Soulcalibur thought he could teach a thing or two to the scythe-wielder.

Yang, on the other hand, didn't seem so sure. She awkwardly chuckled and ruffled Ruby's hair. "We'll see about that, lil' sis. But I do think you should go and try to at least meet someone new. This guy and I will help!" Whilst he didn't exactly appreciate being called "this guy", he could agree to help Ruby.

"Sure." Miles nodded. Then he proceeded to scan his surroundings. He could see the Schnee girl sleeping soundly nearby with a white sleep mask on her face, she was out of the question. His eyes landed on the figure of the tall redhead, who also seemed to be sleeping soundly, though he noticed she had her red spear by her side, she was also a no-go.

"How about her, Rubes?" Yang pointed at the black ribbon girl, who was quietly reading a book with a small lamp she had turned on. "I mean, you aren't much of a reader, but you gotta remember all the stories dad and Su-" Yang's eyes widened and she stopped herself. Ruby's gaze immediately turned downcast. "Sorry, Rubes…" The blonde seemed to curse at herself for speaking too much. Miles noticed the shift in behaviour from both sisters, but he decided to stay quiet about it.

"A-Anyways!" Yang wrapped a hand around Ruby's neck and pushed out a cheerful yet slightly forced smile. "What I said is still true, you could talk to her about the things you know." Yang stood up alongside Ruby. The red girl had recovered some of the light on her eyes, but whatever emotions Yang's comment had brought were definitely still there. Miles also stood up from his bedroll and started to walk with the two sisters. Soon enough, the three of them stood in front of the ribbon girl. She looked up for a brief second, but quickly went back to her book.

"What is it?" Was everything she said, quite coldly too. She didn't seem too interested in talking, Miles for a second even thought Ruby would just turn around and go back to her bedroll, but to his and frankly Yang's surprise as well, it was the red girl who spoke first.

"W-What's the book you're reading about…?" Admittedly, she sounded quite nervous, but the fact she took the initiative spoke about Ruby's hidden courage. Miles respected that greatly, afterall, not many were willing to look at their worse problems and actually attempt to face them. Even he hadn't in the past. He, like many others, simply evaded said problems until they were far too big to ignore. But Ruby? Ruby was willing to take the first step to growth.

This seemed to catch the attention of the ribbon girl, as she stopped reading to look up at Ruby once more. She considered what to say for a second and finally answered. "It's an epic. An ancient tale of a man who had two souls. He fought bravely against the threat of Grimm in a time where Dust hadn't even been discovered by mankind. His peers, admirers, friends, and even enemies came to know him, although not by his name, which was lost to time, but rather by his title." The girl paused for a second, a small smile appearing in her face. "He was known as the Soul Knight of Remnant."

One could say that Ruby's eyes immediately became miniature suns after the ribbon girl was finished with her brief synopsis. The red girl excitedly asked the ribbon girl if she could sit next to her to read together. For a moment the ribbon girl seemed hesitant, but seeing the pure emotion in Ruby's eyes must've awakened some sort of instinct in her that made her agree. "My name is Ruby, by the way!" The small scythe-wielder said, a bright smile adorning her face.

The ribbon girl chuckled lightly at Ruby's attitude and responded. "I'm Blake. Just so you know, I like to read quietly, so try to lower your fumes a little." Ruby happily nodded and the both of them began to read together. Miles looked at Yang, she was blinking in awe.

"Well, that went way better than I thought." She said, her awe slowly shifting to happiness. "I think it's about time I let Rubes open her wings and fly… Hehehe, I feel kinda proud." And her expression reflected that. Too bad a pair of light blue, annoyed eyes quickly shot a glare at their direction.

"Could you PLEASE be quiet? Some of us are trying to catch some sleep here. Sheesh. Had I known Valeans were so loud I would've stayed back home. And could you turn that light off? It's bothering people. Ugh, how inconsiderate." The girl with snow hair loudly walked back to her bedroll and went to sleep. In a way Miles couldn't disagree with her, Ruby was enthusiastic and well, loud. Plus, it was also true some people may be bothered by Blake's light.

"Hm." Speaking of which, Blade's expression soured. She sighed whatever emotions she had inside her and looked at Ruby with a neutral, albeit slightly disappointed expression. "Looks like we'll have to postpone our reading. Have a pleasant night." The girl then stood up, and without waiting much of a response, she turned off the lamp.

After this Miles, Ruby, and Yang went their separate ways. Miles returned to his bedroll, but he quickly realized sleeping wouldn't be easy.

As much as he was trying to ignore it and think the contents of the book were a mere coincidence, the similarities between this "man with two souls" and himself were borderline uncanny, at least from the brief explanation the ribbon girl had given Ruby. The library he had visited these previous days had had no works of fiction, only scientific and enciclopedic content. It was strange to even consider, but if he wanted to dig deeper into this book he would have to either approach this Blake girl or seek out a proper bookshop.

After some time. his eyes finally became heavy and he slowly felt his body losing consciousness. One thought remained in the end for him, though. If Remnant had legends, heroes of the past… just how different were them from the ones of his world? What other similarities to his Earth Remnant had? And how would he even uncover these mysteries? For the time being, Miles felt like he didn't have the slightest idea. 'Just another thing to worry about…'

Hi, everyone!

I want to start off by saying sorry for taking a whole month to uptade this story. Life was particularly rough these past few weeks, with college taking most of my time. Evaluations, projects, and tests nagging at my morale and my computer breaking down this past week, it was close to impossible to properly work on this chapter. But finally, here it is.

I wanna thank everyone who took a part of their time to read Soul Knight, and I also wanna thank everyone who has reviewed, favorited, and followed this story. I wanted to keep this A/N brief, but just like Ozpin, I'll have to extend myself a little xD

I know this chapter likely feels slower-paced than the last two, but I wanted to take some time to establish the bases for certain character dynamics, character developments, and overall worldbuilding for Beacon. As well as to give some info on how Miles' abilities work when compared to everyone else's.

I also want to use this A/N to answer some of the questions some reviewers left, so here I go.

To the Anonymous reviewer who asked if I knew Microscope: well, nope. I had never heard of it, but I'll definitely look into it, sounds pretty cool.

To Raika: it makes me pretty happy to hear you want to read Kasatsu! You'll definitely discover more about Miles' world as the story progresses. Yeah, I more or less share the feeling of rwby slowly losing its edge as seasons go on, but I guess as the masochistic fan that I am, I'll stick to the show until it's over and at least try to appreciate the little good it still has left. Also, these first chapters will more or less stick close to the original show, but after Emerald Forest things will start to deviate a little, eventually I want the butterfly effect of Miles being in Remnant to affect the story greatly, but for now I'll follow the show's narrative line.

With that said I want to thank everyone again! Remember that I'm not a pro writer or anything like that, so any constructive criticism is greatly appreciated (spelling or grammar erros included pls). I'll try to upload chapter four within the next two weeks, I got more free time, so I should be able to progress quite a bit more. Welp, that should about it, hope ya'll have a great day and I hope to see you on the next chapter!

One last thing, tho... Who do you guys think Miles will end up partnering with? Hehehe.