Fennec9 & merendinoemiliano : Thanks !
Alostdonkey : The rules I'm using are based off D&D 4E. Gaining two levels (14 to 16) gives in practice +1 to all dice rolls, and usually means they have more options or better skills. Only Neo sees the levels, that's part of her Gamer semblance. For more information, I'll tell you to re-read the 5-10 first chapters
I apologize if I updated a bit later than usual. I had a family reunion that lasted a bit longer than I expected x)
Roman groaned as he reviewed the map for the umpteenth time.
He couldn't believe he was actually commanding the equivalent of a small army, much less that it was to destroy some grimm.
A criminal leading terrorists to fight against the creatures that wanted to destroy humanity. Now that seemed like the redemption story of a villain in a bad novel. At least this was only temporary.
Commanding the White Fang in this particular case wasn't that hard. In fact, anyone could do it as long as they weren't a complete idiot. Grimm were mindless, so it wasn't like they had someone on the other side they needed to outsmart.
The plan was simple, slowly move forward while securing all spots where grimm might pour out from. The underground, being not only hidden but also the last stand of the population that once lived there, was brimming with grimm, for stronger and more numerous than the ones they met while in the outside world.
Reinforcements from the White Fang's main camp were slowly pouring in, allowing Roman to push further and further in. The White Fang's branch leader, Adam Taurus, didn't come, but Roman wasn't complaining. He was pretty sure that Adam's hate for humans and him more specifically was only topped by his own contempt for the faunus youngster.
That being said, his second in command did come. A middle-aged brawler with a chainsaw. Talk about impractical weapons. Sometimes Roman was wondering if the faunus was using it only to spite his opponents or if he truly was just that dumb.
Roman looked at the map once again. He was pretty sure he had enough troops to secure the railway by now. Well, the faunus were fighting in the streets, barricading and defending choke-points, while Neo had dragged Perry off to single-handedly clear the way to Vale.
This was the same reason why most Kingdoms only had Huntsmen and no army. There was no point in spending time and money to train hundreds of people to do the same job one elite individual could do. In fact, the only reason Atlas had an army in the first place was because no Huntsman worth his salt would want to stay on the inhospitable lands of Solitas. Well, there would always be some wanting to protect their homeland, however in time of peace those would be few and far in-between.
Although, saying the other Kingdoms lacked the ability to wage war would be a mistake. While they didn't have a standing army, Vale still had a law enabling the council to conscript its citizens at a moment's notice, and the Valean Police Officers could act as military officers.
It was a bit worrying that the ones incapable of stopping him were also those who would be in command in time of war, but then Roman guessed it was actually the best option.
Huntsmen, once they had their license, were actually free to act in any Kingdom, so long as they followed their regulations. They had no duty towards any land in particular, but rather towards humanity as a whole. The issue never came up, so nobody really knew what would Huntsmen do in case of war.
The other issue, was that Huntsmen were trained to fight grimm, not humans. Sure, they would fight against the occasional lawless aura-user, however the police force had a much better understanding of the human mind thanks to their experience, and were more used to large-scale interventions while Huntsmen focused on one-on-one fights.
So yes, all in all, the system wasn't great, but it would technically work. That being said, it's not like they were going to fight a proper war here.
No, Cinder's plan for them was to fill train cars with bombs, and lead the grimm toward the center of Vale. The date was set for when the Hunters-in-training would all be away on their respective missions, as most Huntsmen actually worked slightly away from the city, intercepting grimm before they could come even close to Vale. By picking this date, there would be little to no reserves to stop the grimm from tearing the city apart.
At least that was her explanation, but something felt fishy to Roman. Ironwood was there, near Vale, with his ships, ready to protect the city at a moment's notice. There was no way the grimm would be able to push very far. In fact, no matter how many grimm they managed to drag with them to the city, Roman doubted it would even be enough to force Ozpin in the field, much less seriously threaten Vale.
No, the goal must lie elsewhere.
But what was it ?
Cinder bowed in front of Salem. She had quickly came back to the castle to report on her activities, while there was still time to do so.
"That is a good plan you prepared for us Cinder." said the grimm queen, "If we can ensure Atlas' army stays in Vale, we could use it to create even more chaos when our grand plan finally comes to fruition."
"Are you sure Ma'am ?" asked Watts, sitting nearby, "If we use the program now, then we won't be able to use it against Atlas again in the future."
"I'm sure you will be able to remove their defenses again later." taunted Cinder, "Or are you saying you are not up to the task ?"
"It's not that simple." explained Watts, "The hack I have now uses a backdoor I left in there myself before leaving Atlas. If it's patched up, there would be no way in, at least without unfiltered access for around a decade."
"Worthless." scoffed Cinder, only to be interrupted by Salem.
"I cannot help but notice you specified Atlas." pointed out Salem, "Is there some other Kingdom we would be able to use it on ?"
"Not Kingdom, City." rectified Watts, "While Atlas will have the issue patched-up within a few months at best – for us – Mantle won't solve the issue until several years, maybe decades, later."
"Why ?" asked Salem, "Are they not both from the same Kingdom ?"
"Yes Ma'am." agreed Watts, "However they are different entities. Everything in the Kingdom of Atlas costs money, and while Atlas proper will have the resources and will to pay for the update, Mantle will refuse to spend part of their relatively small budget to solve a minor issue that would only come up if someone actively wanted to harm the city's inner systems."
"Someone that no human believes exist." said Salem with a smile.
"Precisely." said Watts.
"Then we will be using your program to help reach our objective in Vale." ordered Salem, "Cinder, do not fail me here. Make it count."
After a while of trying in vain, Ruby finally managed to get her sister to talk to her in private. She knew Yang wouldn't take it well to be told not to fight, so she wanted to at least spare her feelings by not announcing it in front of their entire team.
"Yang. Can we talk about Neo ?" asked Ruby.
"Why do you want to talk about her ?" asked Yang, nervous, thinking Ruby had heard about what Neo used to be years before, "Did you hear something about her ?"
"Pyrrha told me about how strong she was." explained Ruby, causing Yang to relax, "I wanted to make sure we agreed on what to do against her."
"Don't worry !" said Yang, "I'll deal with her, no problem."
"Yang, no !" objected Ruby, "We need to fight her together ! You have to promise me we'll fight her as a team."
"You don't have to worry sis, I got this !" said Yang, "I know what I'm up against, and I've been training a lot. I won't lose."
"Yang, please !" said Ruby, "Think of it like when we have to fight uncle Qrow ! We need to be together to have a chance at this."
"You're all over-reacting." said Yang, "She a midget, and younger than me too. There's no way I'll lose."
"No !" shouted Ruby, "You have to promise ! If you see her, we have to fight her together !"
"Fine." shrugged Yang, "If we see her, we'll fight her together."
"Yang !" shouted Ruby as her sister turned around and left, "Wait !"
Yang didn't stop, and Ruby didn't try to chase. She knew the way Yang answered at the end meant she had no intention of holding her promise, and there was nothing she could do to change her mind when that happened.
She bit her lip. She wanted to protect Yang, but she didn't want to hurt her by pitting her entire team against her. That wasn't what a leader should do, much less a friend.
It was settled. If they found Neo, she would have to make sure Yang wasn't going to fight alone by herself.
Neo grinned as she watched over the White Fang repair the broken train, rails, and create the bombs.
Well, watched over wasn't really all that accurate. Constantly messing with Perry would be more in line with what she was actually doing. She loved putting him on his toes by randomly using electric Dust here and there.
Moreover, she quickly noticed Perry was kind of a chatterbox, and she often needed to remind him not to speak of her ability to use Dust to anyone, most often through the use of a surge of electricity. Seeing him muffle a scream and hide in a corner each time he was about to blurt out her abilities never got old, although she was starting to wonder why he kept doing it. Surely he must've figured out by now that the electric surges only came when he tried to talk about her Dust usage.
Still, him being such a blabbermouth was an issue. As fun as the situation was right now, Neo wasn't sure if she could allow him to keep on living after it. That would be a risk she wasn't willing to take.
That decision could wait though. They weren't getting out of this place for a while after all, and when they did they would be crashing a train head first in the middle of Vale.
Speaking of train, while Neo didn't know much about how trains worked, she did know quite a bit about bombs. Well, Glynda had taught her the basics as part of science class, and Rumpole had taught her how to disarm them, but that also meant she knew how to make them.
The bombs the White Fang were making were rudimentary at best. Only fire Dust, all of it. That was such a waste of space.
Dust was pure energy, and surprisingly energy took space. A crystal of Dust barely was more than a single gram, and it was a wonder why it fell as fast as it usually did. The theory right now was that the center of the planet had a lot of Gravity Dust that held everything together and attracted the other types of Dust, regardless of actual mass.
That did mean that the weight of the crystal was higher than what its mass would suggest, making most conspiracy theorists point out that, no, Dust didn't weigh under a gram because clearly the scale showed it weighed about a hundred. That just showed how ignorant people could be.
Anyway, while a hundred percent of the energy inside a Dust crystal could be used, it's size to energy ratio meant that if you wanted to pack a punch inside a small shape, it was better to use alternatives. That was why guns used gunpowder instead of fire Dust to shoot. Gunpowder held more power for the same amount of fire Dust powder.
And without even stopping at gunpowder, there was a lot more stuff that could be used to make a better explosion than packing a train car full of fire Dust.
Tsk, tsk, tsk. Complete amateurs.
Not that she was going to correct them.
Kind reminder that every time someone says weight is the same as mass, a science teacher rises from their grave to hunt the offending party.
To be continued on July 10th
Name : Neo Politan
Age : 16
Level : 16 (14%)
Class : Illusionist [You add both your Intelligence and Dexterity modifiers to your AC and to Dexterity or Intelligence based attacks as long as you can still cast illusions]
Path : Me, myself and I [You live for yourself first and foremost, no matter what pain you might cause others]
Title : The Gamer
HP : 10/10
AP : UNUSABLE
STR : 11
CON : 10
DEX : 18
INT : 21
WIS : 12
CHA : 16
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 transferred to your aura]
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 : 26(30)
For : 19
Ref : 25
Will : 23