Neo woke up to a shout. Roman had just came back and was rushing to her worriedly. She opened her eyes and put her hand to her head, trying to sooth her headache. She realized there was a new popup.
[You are learning a new skill]
Ligtning Strike (20% learnt) [You send an arc of electricity towards your target. Intelligence against Fortitude. 1d6 plus Intelligence modifier damage. Missing may cause it to backfire if you lack protection]
[By surviving your failure, you have learnt not to be brash when testing your skills. You gain 1 Intelligence]
Neo's whole body still hurted from the electricity that had ran through her veins. Even if she was conscious, she still layed on the floor, unwilling to move her aching body.
" What happened Neo ? " asked Roman, a bit panicked.
Neo managed to lift her finger, pointed at the Dust vials scattered near the workshop.
" Damn. I shouldn't have let you convince me. I knew it was a bad idea." said Roman, " Still, you managed to activate it without Aura, you're a genius."
Neo blushed at the praise. Roman poked her with his foot and looked amused as she grunted from the pain.
" Well, I guess you've been punished enough as is. I'll still confiscate your Dust for a week at least." he decided.
Neo was in too much pain to even muster a pout, so she went back to sleep and Roman carefully carried her to bed.
Neo woke up when the sun was high in the sky. Most of the pain was gone but the headache remained.
She was bored. So very bored as Roman had taken the Dust vials with him. But she had learned that Dust was dangerous and she needed to find a way to manipulate it safely.
She remembered the fairy tales her parents used to read her, and the different usage of Dust within them. Legends told of women capable of using powers without Dust, but most wizards and witches in those tales tended to use Dust embeded in their clothing or weapons.
Neo didn't know how to knit, and much less how to lace clothes with Dust, however she could simply lay down the Dust on the table, and activate it from afar.
She decided that was what she wanted to do. So she layed enough paper to cover the whole table and started drawing. She didn't know how fast the Dust would burn or how powerful the final skill would be, so she decided to make the lines of her drawing as long as possible before it arrived in the center.
She spent the better part of the week on her drawing before finishing by cutting the paper where she had drawn the lines.
When she finally had her Dust back, Neo placed the sheets of paper on the table, bound them with scotch, took a vial of Ice Dust and splattered it all over the table. She placed a bac on one end of the table and slowly removed the paper so that any Dust that hadn't gone through the cuts would land in the bac.
Neo replaced the leftover Dust with the vial. The vial was now half empty. She then looked over the table.
The blue Dust was now weaved in a circling pattern slowly going towards the middle where a large circle full of Dust layed. She tried observing her craft.
Dust [AP 75/75] (Ice, Powdered) : Ice Dust is used to freeze its surroundings and incapacitate opponents.
It seems her ability hadn't registered the pattern. She shrugged it off and placed her hand next to the starting point she had made. She tried to remember how it felt when she ignited the Lightning Dust and concentrated on the feeling.
Neo felt the Ice Dust ignite, and she ran to the bedroom for cover. She could see a fine line of ice cover the table following the Dust as it ignited. Once the Dust in the middle of the table ignited, a large explosion covered the entire vicinity of the table in ice.
[You are learning two new skills]
Ice trap (5% learnt) [The use of large quantities of Ice Dust can cause explosions of ice that will cover an entire area in ice. By placing the Dust down before activating you have created a trap. Intelligence against Fortitude. 1d8 plus Intelligence modifier damage. Anyone hit are either slowed or stunned, depending on where they were from the center of the blast]
Dust weaving (0.5% learnt) [You have started to use patterns of Dust to control its activation. Dust weaving can do so much more]
Neo was excited. Sure, she had spent half of her available Ice Dust so she wouldn't be able to completly learn the skill, but it had worked. She was safe, the table a bit less so, and the result looked awesome.
She approached the ice and felt its chill. Vale was pretty hot this time of the year and the cold ice really cooled her down. Neo touched the ice, the cold creeping up her hands. The initial sensation was cool, until the frost caught up with her palms. She shivered and let go of the ice, rubbing her hands to heat them back up.
Neo couldn't help but watch the ice in wonder. While she had seen plenty of ice cubes before, Vale had a pretty hot climate and even in winter it would rarely get under 5 degrees Celsius. Snow and ice were both unknowns to most of Vale's children as they would need to go to Patch, at the nearest, before being able to find any.
Neo approached the ice again and stuck her tongue out. She wanted a taste so she licked the ice structure.
When Roman came home, he couldn't stop laughing at the sight of Neo being stuck to the ice. He had come home early that day so he managed to see it before the heat made the ice melt and liberated Neo.
Once she was able to get back her tongue, Neo was obviously unhappy that she was being made fun of, and that only doubled once Roman told her he was confiscating her Dust again.
When Neo showed Roman how she had drawn the Dust patterns, he was impressed. Weaving Dust was out of practice because it was extremely complicated to do properly, and while Neo's pattern wasn't complicated, the simple fact that a five year old could think of it was mind boggling.
Roman now really wished he could afford to buy Neo some books on the subject, but with the gang war going on he was forced to practice his craft during the day, which was less than ideal.
All in all, he was barely scraping by now that he had to care for Neo on top of it all.
As he was racking his brain, Neo looked at him curiously. She had seen that same look on her parents faces before, mostly whenever a new player came on their territory and they had to decide if it was worth dealing with or not.
She tugged on his sleeve and gave him a questionning look, wondering what he was so worried about.
" Did I worry you kiddo ? It'll be fine, I'm just a bit low on lien right now." said Roman while ruffling her hair.
Neo pouted, both for the ruffling and the lack of a real answer to her silent question.
Roman went out again after lunch. Neo had lost custody of her Dust once again, and she had only been able to use it for half a day. She had no idea on what she could do to pass the time.
Neo knew she was to stay home. If she was seen by former lieutenants of her parents she could be in real trouble. However, she really wanted to do something, and Roman seemed to have money issues so maybe she could help ?
So, against any sensible thought, Neo left the flat to go outside.
Neo was wandering aimlessly, thinking about what she should do first. She was eventually drawn to a particular shop : Tukson's book trade.
Leaving her former home had caused her to leave behind all of her belongings, safe for what she was wearing at the time. This meant she had left all of her books, an impressive collection of fairy tales that she was reading almost constantly back then.
She opened the door, a bell rang to signal her entry. A voice came from behind the counter.
" Welcome to Tukson's book trade, home to every book under the sun."
The one that had just talked was a large man that had his back turned away from her. When he finally turned around and saw her, he was a bit surprised.
" Can I help you little one ? " he asked.
Neo ignored him and started browsing. The store had comics, books on history, romance novels, sci-fi novels and so much more. High up on the shelves, far outside her reach, she could faintly read the cover of one of the books, Ninjas of love.
Neo wandered through the store, taking in the sights as she passed through multitudes of books. She even saw books on Dust usage, including how to weave Dust.
Finally, she found what she was looking for, books on myths and legends. She loved those books. Not just because of the stories inside them, but also because many professionals had left notes to help understand the intricacies of the tale.
Whether it was historians, theologians or English teachers, the notes developped on the tale and Neo found them to make it all the more enjoyable.
Like for the tale of the maidens. The notes explained how much each maiden represented their respective season.
The winter maiden was calm, serene, and made the wizard rest. Just like the winter season, where nature would stop and wait until spring.
The spring maiden was kind and bubbly. She worked on breathing life in the wizard's garden, just like the spring season would breath life on the world at large.
The summer maiden had a warm smile, convinced the wizard to go out of his home and made him appreciate the outside world, just like the summer season would have days so bright no one could possibly stay at home and unhappy, and people would all be outside to finish the work started in spring.
The fall maiden was wise and cared. She only gave her name before asking the wizard for his story. She did nothing for herself, knowing that talking was what the wizard needed. Just like the fall season would see to the death of every tree, to let them grow back stronger and better in the following spring, the selflessness of the season bringing its beauty.
It was these notes that Neo loved to read, as she could learn of the beauty underneath every tale.
Neo stopped her browsing. She had found the tale she was looking for. Her favorite book that she had only let go of because of her parents' death. A tale that her recent plight had only made her appreciate more. The tale of the Silver eyed warriors.
She had liked the action, the legends of silver eyed warriors taking on the mightiest of grimm. But most of all, she had liked their mentality.
For the silver eyed warriors in the book would never kill another human. They would stop criminals, sure, and other humans bent on hurting their peers, but the silver eyed warriors would never go so far as to kill them. They would always try everything to repent the humans that had lost their way, always try to convince them that they shouldn't hurt their peers.
And that's what Neo loved about them. She might not care about others, she might have enjoyed killing the one that had done her parents in, but that only made her respect even more warriors that could watch the world burn and still forgive the one that had set it ablaze.
If it had been her. If she had been the one to have her world burn down, then she certainly wouldn't be able to stop herself from killing the one responsible.
Time passed and Neo finished reading her fairy tales. She looked at the time, and saw she still had a few hours before Roman would get back home, so she decided to read the books on weaving Dust.
When she grabbed the first one, she had a strange feeling compeling her to observe it, and so she did.
Skillbook : Dust weaving [This book contains knowledge on weaving Dust. Reading it will allow you to increase your learning on the Dust weaving skill]
Neo's eyes widened a bit, and she eagerly opened the book to read it.
Strangely, she was able to read it smoothly, even though the book contained many words and concepts she was unfamiliar with. It was like her semblance allowed her to understand everything she read immediatly.
Once she finished, she looked at her Dust weaving skill.
Dust weaving (46.7% learnt)
She was beaming. Soon, she'll be able to weave Dust and use its capabilities. She reached for another book on weaving Dust before she saw it was getting late. Neo knew she had to be home by the time Roman came back otherwise he might worry, and would definitly be very angry at her.
With a resigned look, she placed the book back on the shelves and left for home.
The following day, Neo went back to the bookshop to read what she hadn't been able to the day before. When she opened the door, the clerk gave her a short hello before ignoring her.
By the time she had went back home for lunch, she had learnt the Dust weaving skill and she now instinctivly knew how to weave Dust inside any object.
She secretly stole a bit of Roman's lien before he headed out that afternoon, as she had an idea to build something.
Her parents had always taught her of the importance of knowledge and how it could be the most valuable thing on Remnant, so she decided she was going to gather as much knowledge as she could and sell it to someone who valued it.
Neo found a clothing store and a Dust shop. She bought a dozen buttons at the clothing store and she bought wind Dust at the Dust shop.
Now was the time of truth. Neo weaved the wind Dust inside of each button, and activated a small amount to link them to an item she would hold to her ear.
That item was a book. Neo had managed to get enough money to buy herself her favorite fairy tale book again, to the pleasure of the clerk at the store. She weaved just a little bit of Dust on the cover that would serve as a link with the wind Dust on the buttons.
Neo didn't know much about the city of Vale, but she knew well the one place she used to live in, and it just so happened that it was the same place where most of Vale's elite lived.
So Neo knew where the wealthiest of Vale would gather to talk business, economics or politics. Neo sneaked herself inside the building to a lounge. Once there, a guard was blocking her entry, but she didn't have to enter the lounge. She showed the guard her buttons, the wind Dust weaved in beautiful patterns, and pointed to the people inside.
The guard was about to show her off when someone inside saw her little creations and was interested. He let her in and gave her some lien for one of the buttons. Neo couldn't believe she was going to be paid by the people she was going to spy on.
The man who had let her in was likely an important character, for once he bought one of her buttons the others in the room grew intrigued and bought the remaining of her stock.
Neo was quite happy. The man had given her a dozen lien for a single button, and everyone that followed did the same. Before even starting her plan she had won thrice the money she had taken from Roman.
Neo skipped outside happily once her last button was gone, and laid down on a bench, resting her head - and her ear - on her book's cover.
Neo could feel the Dust she had embeded in her book, and willed it to slowly activate. Then, she could feel every single one of the buttons she had given the people inside the lounge earlier, and activated one of them. A popup suddenly appeared.
[Congratulations, you have created a new skill]
Words in the wind [You use the wind to carry the sounds of someplace nearby to you. The farther you are, the more Dust AP you will consume]
[By creating a new Dust based skill, you have gained 1 Intelligence and 1 Wisdom]
With the popup came a flood of new information. She now knew exactly how much time each button would be able to record for, and could feel the path the wind took to carry the sounds in the lounge to her ear.
Neo looked happy as she rested, but she was in fact listening quite intently to the conversations going on inside the lounge. By fiddling with her new abilities, Neo had found a system that would allow her to make mental note for her to read later, and she was using it to record everything that could be interesting.
She didn't quite know what would be interesting to her buyer, so at that point she recorded almost anything that wasn't small talk.
Neo's buttons only had enough Dust to record for about five minutes, so she was careful to only use one at a time, so she could listen for as long as possible. However, about after thirty minutes, she was interrupted.
" I didn't think someone so young could be so crafty." she heard a voice nearby say.
Neo bolted up, her face flushing red at having been caught, and looked at the man who had just talked.
It was the one that had initialy let her in and bought her first button. She eyed him warily as she saw he was blocking her escape.
" Let me introduce myself. My name is Ozpin, and I must say that I'm quite impressed by your little contraption." he said.
Neo grew curious, and decided to observe him.
Name : Ozpin
Level : 30
Title : The white king.
As you can probably tell, I've decided not to show the information that would normally have a ? to avoid artificially inflating the chapter.
Name : Neo Politan
Age : 5
Level : 0 (-%)
Class : N/A
Title : The Gamer
HP : 2/2
AP : UNUSABLE
STR : 2
CON : 2
DEX : 2
INT : 4
WIS : 4
CHA : 2
Semblance : The Gamer
Status effects :
Gamer's body [Your body follows game-like mechanics. You can restore 1/4th of your total HP (rounded down) by resting 15 minutes. You can only die if your HP reach 0 and you fail your last breath]
Child of Remnant [You are from Remnant and follow different rules than other worlds. Your HP is always equal to your constitution and any bonuses that would normally improve it are transfered to your aura]
Classless [You do not have a Class. You cannot gain levels or experience until you chose/gain one]
Fighting for your life [Your aura behaved in the only way that would let you survive, and will continue to do so until you overcome your trauma. You cannot use aura, but you can will any item you wield for it to reflect 100% of any attack that hits it]
Words that shouldn't be said [Your last words almost caused you to lose your life. You cannot talk until you overcome your trauma]
Defenses :
AC : 7
For : 7
Ref : 8
Will : 8