Things were not going better.
When Jaune was trying to become a huntsman, he at least knew the steps to get there, but for this he had no clue, and it wasn't for lack of trying. He had spent the entire first day going over that book, trying to learn as much as he could. Sadly, that day had proven to be a waste of time. Roman wasn't joking when he said that book was a complete mess. Jaune wondered if it was even correct to call it a book at this point. What percentage of pages had to have fallen off the spine before it was just considered pages in a folder? If it was any less than 70, Jaune had a folder on his hands. That in itself wasn't a big issue, it was the fact that there wasn't a semblance of organization. The book must have passed through many hands before getting to him, and it wasn't like each new author picked up where the previous left off. One entry might be about how the geography of the land can have different effects while the very next entry could be about casting spells from the subconscious mind then forty pages later there'll be an entry on how to negate the effects of different landscapes. Basically, if you wanted to find anything, you had to scour the whole book and just hope it pops out. Because of that, there was no way to tell if the pages were even in the correct order. Normally it didn't matter, but if a single subject was spread over more than one page, there was a chance those pages could be on opposite sides of the book, and knowing his luck all the vital information would be on the page he didn't have.
The multitude of authors also created another problem. The writing style and quality varied drastically. Some parts were seemingly just the ramblings of a madman while other were so technical that Jaune would need a dictionary to deceiver it. Drawings also had the tendency to either be so realistic that it felt like the creatures might jump off the page, or so bad that they were barely better than stick figures. But, while irritating, none of those issues where catastrophic. Jaune could work through them with enough time.
The true problem, the one that stopped him from making any progress, was the content itself. Jaune just didn't understand it. Spells, monsters, soul splitting, world cracks, plane hopping, everything in the book was so outside his realm of knowledge he couldn't tell what concepts were for beginners or experts. It was like given a calculus book to a five-year old, sure there was the basics of adding and subtracting in there but that wouldn't mean much to them.
The unknown world didn't look like it worked on a linear progression system either. It was a web of branching and combining fields. Even if Jaune tried his hardest to grasp one of the concepts, there was no telling where he could go with it. It might put him on a path that was of no practical use, or it might place him too far where he misses an essential concept.
What he needed was a definite staring point. Something he could branch out from. The book, as it was, wouldn't be able to give him that, so the next day he came up with a new plan. Instead of using the book to work his way through the unknown world, he would use the unknown world to work his way through the book. If he could just discover a case about a strange event or item, he could us that as his reference and go from there.
He went to the Vale library because turns out that typing "mysteries in Vale" into his scroll didn't exactly yield reliable results. Call him skeptical, but he didn't think Slippery, the panty stealing sewer monster, was something worth investigating. The library's front desk worker was this old lady who was very nice and led him straight to the archive section. When Jaune explained that he was doing research for a school project, she seemed to get a little too excited and got him every Vale newspaper from the past year. Jaune thanked her and she told him that if he needed anything to just ask.
Once she left, Jaune admired the frightening large stack of paper in front of him. His brain protested at the thought of reading all that in the form of a killer headache, but he pushed through telling himself he only needed one lead.
Hours went by and Jaune didn't come any closer to finding his starting point. Don't get him wrong, the newspapers had covered mysteries aplenty, but they were either lacking any details, irrelevant now, or couldn't be confirm using the damn book. Seriously, there had been several that Jaune had a really good feeling about but matching them to anything in the book proved to be an incredible difficult task. Granted, he had gotten pretty tired and frustrated after the first few tries, so he hadn't been as meticulous as he probably should have been.
More hours lead to more false guesses and eventually Jaune called it quits. Second hand experiences on things that may or may not relate to the book wasn't going to cut it. He would need to find something himself.
Now, Jaune knew hunting magical occurrences without any information probably wasn't the best idea, but he wouldn't even be in Vale if wasn't willing to take risks, so way quit now?
On the third day, he went searching. Abandon buildings were a center piece for hauntings, and there just so happened to be a few next to Jaune's apartment, so he started there. The first one he looked at turned out not to be quite as abandon as he thought. Five or six homeless faunus were squatting there and they weren't very happy to see a human barge in.
Luckily, he was a fast runner.
The second building was a combination of used syringes and urine puddles, but no strange items or markers. The third and fourth were striped of everything of any value and their only occupations were the biggest spiders Jaune had ever seen. Upon that reveal, he decided not to investigate any farther. The fifth…well, Jaune didn't want to think about it. The acts those two people had been doing were two much for his young, innocent eyes.
Realizing that dark and dingy places were home to the type of horrors Jaune wasn't looking for, he changed paths started hitting some museums. They were home to artifacts and legends of history. There had to be at least something that housed unnatural powers. The calm and bright atmosphere did wonders for his mood. Jaune was actually fonder of history than most, not just growing up on made-up story book heroes, but the real ones too.
Still, the heroes of old didn't offer any help, and the plaque descriptions weren't giving him what he needed.
Having suffered two busts, Jaune made one last trip to the Vale graveyard. Surly, something would be out there. You can't just put a bunch of dead people in the ground and expected for everything to be okay. There had to be something! Jaune even waited till midnight to improve his odds.
He wandered around the tombstones for about two hours before the groundskeeper kicked him out.
On the fourth day, he laid in bed feeling sorry for himself and wondering if he should shallow his pride and use his first call to Roman.
On the fifth day, he had an epiphany. Even if he did discover something and find his starting point, it wasn't like he would be getting paid for it. Forget surviving the unknown world, Jaune was barely surviving in this one. He needed money and to get that he needed a job.
Which lead him to where he was now, manning the back kitchen of a lively nightclub. It wasn't his first job choice, but Junior, his new boss, had been willing to hire him on the spot, no questions asked, when Jaune had produced a sample dish. He was by no means a master cook, but Junior had said he was more than good enough for this place. After all, most people came here just for the alcoholic drinks. As such the menu was pretty bare and Jaune wasn't expected to make anything more complicated than burgers and fries.
In all honesty, it was a pretty decent gig judging from his first couple hours of work. Apparently, there hadn't actually been a full-time cook before Jaune, the job having been outsourced to one of the other employees every night, so he had the whole kitchen to himself. If anyone asked, Jaune was definitely telling them he was the head chef at a popular nightclub.
It was a decent sized kitchen, too. It could have easily accommodated a full kitchen staff with a large grill, two fryers, plenty of shelve and prep space and a walk-in freezer. At first, it was a little overwhelming to realize how much he was responsible for, but it soon became apparent that he would be doing more waiting than cooking. He had been at it for a couple hours and only a handful of orders came in, all only requiring him to throw some meat on the grill and some potatoes in the fryer. It did seem a bit unnecessary to have such a large kitchen because of that, but what did Jaune know. The building could've just been built that way.
"Oh, mister cooook~" Jaune turned to see one of the twins walking into the kitchen. It took Jaune a second to remember which one was which, but it came to him quick enough.
"What can I do for you, Melanie," Jaune said making sure to give her his full attention.
"Wow, you remembered after only one meeting. I should switch dresses with Miltia sometime just to make sure you're paying attention."
"I would never mistake a beautiful girl like you for anyone else."
Melanie rolled her eyes. "I'd give it a three out of ten. I've heard worse, but it was still corny and you indirectly insulted my sister." Jaune deflated. "Aw, cheer up. A three's still much better than anything the muscleheads outside have tried."
"So, you're saying I have a chance?" Jaune beamed.
Melanie shook her head and chuckled into her hand. "Not with me you don't, but I'm sure there's some girl out there that will settle for average."
"I know I should be offended, but I'm just so happy you believe in me," Jaune said, wiping away some fake tears.
"You're an idiot. Now can you do your job and make me a salad. I didn't come in here to help you practice your pick-up lines. I'm surprised you even had the balls to try. You seem like the kind of person who would end up a strutting mess if a girl so much as looked at you."
"My dad says, all you need is confidence, and I take those words to heart." Melanie didn't look convinced. "Plus, I have seven sisters all with their own group of friends," Jaune added. "You can only deal with a bunch of girls trying their best to embarrass you for so long before you build up a tolerance."
"That explains it."
"Yeah, I'm sure you'd get along great if you ever meet any of them. Here's your salad."
"Thanks, Junior told me to give you this order, by the way."
"What! Shouldn't you have given this to me first. It could have been done by now," Jaune complained, quickly slapping some beef on the grill.
"But then my salad would have taken a little longer and a beautiful girl like me shouldn't have to wait."
"You might have had to wait an extra second. That customer is going to have to wait a lot longer because of you."
"Does it look like I care?"
"I know you don't, but I do. It's my first day if I get any complaints Junior might fire me."
"Relax, he might be a mob boss, but he's not so evil that he'll bust your ass over something like this."
Jaune's face lost all emotion as he stared at Melanie. "I feel like you weren't supposed to tell me that."
Now it was Melanie's turn to look shocked. "Wait, you didn't realize."
"Well, Junior did tell me that if anyone comes through the back, I'm supposed to keep doing my job and not ask questions, and the guys outside were wearing some pretty shady looking suits, and I did see you and your sister threaten some guy with some very sharp looking blades, but I like to give people the benefit of the doubt."
Melanie laughed, genuinely laughed. "You saw all that and you still asked for a job. How desperate are you?"
Jaune turned his head away from the laughing twin. "No comment."
"Alright, I'll let you off the hook tonight Mr. Mysterious, but don't think I'm done with you. All new employees have to go through my special vetting process."
"If I pass, will I get one of those suits? I feel out of place without it."
"We'll see," she said, sashaying out of the kitchen.
Jaune sighed and leaned on a counter. Why was he always the one to attracted the mischievous girls? Just once he wanted to find a girl that would blush and find his sweat talk romantic, and not make it their life goal to try and one-up him for it. Maybe it was a curse or some magical trait the Arc line possessed. Every detail mattered, apparently.
Suddenly Jaune smelled something burning…oh shit, the burger! Jaune rushed to the grill finding the meat too charred to save. He must have dozed off longer than he thought. "Is the order ready?" Junior yelled from the bar.
"Almost done," Jaune lied.
Laundromats were depressing places. Talking was apparently forbidden, so everyone just sat around listening to the hum of the washers. Sad to say, Jaune was one of those people.
The up side to working at a nightclub was he only had to work…well at night. The day was still his to do whatever he wanted. He just wished he had better things to do than wait here for two hours, but he didn't really have a choice. His clothes needed cleaned and unsurprisingly his apartment complex didn't provide that service. It wouldn't be so bad if it wasn't so awkward. The few times he'd been here he hadn't seen anyone, besides him, under the age of fifty. They all gave him pitying gazes when they saw him too. One lady even asked him if he needed some lien to help pay for his laundry. He might be broke, but he wasn't that broke.
That said, the beat-up jeans, Pumpkin Pete hoodie and messy blond hair probably didn't dispel the image that he was homeless.
There was a TV in the corner, no sound just captions, that was running a news story on the recent spree of dust robberies. They showed a mugshot of Roman Torchwick, the suspected perpetrator, and Jaune once again asked himself if he should give him a call. Every day of futile effort made it more tempting, but Jaune kept holding back. If he needed help to find the first step, how could he make it up the rest?
Banishing that thought from his mind, he pulled his scroll out of his pocket having downloaded a few free games to help past the time. Before he could get to that though, he saw he had another missed call from his mother. It must have been obvious to his family what he had done by now, but they still worried. He had gotten calls from everyone asking about where he was and how he was doing? Jaune never answered or called back too embarrassed to speak to them. The only thing he had done was send his mom a brief text assuring her that he was fine and still alive. It was selfish and cruel to avoid them, Jaune knew that. He just wasn't sure what might happen if he did talk to them. Things just weren't looking too good right now, and Jaune knew that if he talked with his family, it wouldn't take much to persuade him to come back home.
What could he even say in his defense? "Welp, I didn't make it into Beacon and I might be living in a disaster of an apartment and I'm quickly running out of money, but it's all okay because I met a guy named Roman Torchwick. What, the famous criminal? Yeah, that's the one. Anyways, he gave me a book that's going to help me learn magic. Also, I got a job running the kitchen of a club that's actually a front for the mafia. So, as you can see I'm doing great, love ya!"
Jaune was sure that wouldn't give his mom a heart attack at all.
The timer on his laundry went off, and everyone turned to give him a sharp look like it was his fault the washer had disturbed their nothingness. Still, all those wrinkly faces looking at him made him a little nervous, so he quickly got his clothes and ran out the door.
Bullied out of a laundromat, just another thing to add to Jaune's great accomplishments.
Jaune was taking inventory when Junior called out. "Jaune, large group. Ten burgers all medium-well."
"Got it," Jaune replied, scrapping the residue off the grill from all the other burgers he had cooked that night, and then putting two nice rows of five burgers on the grill and letting them cook. It might have only been his second night, but Jaune took pride in his work. As simple as the cooking was, he was good at it. He was thankful his mom and sisters had for forced him to learn. Jaune was even considering asking Junior if he could try to add more things to the menu, even the heavy drinkers might like something besides burgers.
Had he mentioned how ninety-five percent of his job was just making burgers yet? Wasn't he supposed to be looking for magical events or something? Could it be a twist were the true magic was the delicious smell of cooking burgers all along? Surly, people would like to read the epic tale of Beyond the Burger. It was more original than a high school AU and would probably get more favorites too. Who needed epic action and tense drama when you could just keep talking about the complexities of burger cooking for chapters on end.
Jaune's head hit the counter with a sharp bang. He had gone insane. That was the only explanation. No normal person monologued about the possible success of a burger based story.
Getting himself back together Jaune got the shall-not-be-named-food-items off the grill and ready to serve. Just as he passed the last one out, a red dress wearing girl walked through the door. "You're not Melanie trying to trick me, are you?" Jaune asked, keeping a fair distance away from the girl.
"The day Melanie shares her white dress is the day grimm become domesticated pets," the girl, now assumed to be Miltia, replied tiredly. She slumped off to the side of the kitchen and practically collapsed on a stool.
"Rough night?" Jaune asked, returning to his normal posture.
"You could say that," Miltia yawned. "You might find this surprising but I'm not that big a fan of the drinking and partying, at least not to the extent it goes on here, that's more Melanie's thing. Figured I'd come back here to relax before I have to head back out."
"Why don't you work somewhere else?"
"Same reason as you. There's just not much out there for me."
"I'm sure you could have any life you wanted. Also, I don't like how your assuming that this is the best I'll ever be," he added defensively.
Militia rolled her eyes. "Whatever you say bigshot. There are other reasons I'm not leaving though. My sister and I own Junior a lot, so we can't just leave him. Plus, my sister likes this place, so I don't actually have a choice."
Jaune chucked. "Let me guess you're technically the older sibling."
"How'd you know?"
"I've got a few younger sisters myself. They can be quite demanding."
"You can say that again." The two of them shared a moment of understanding over the plight of being an older sibling until Junior yelled from the bar.
"Jaune!"
"Ooooh, someone's in trouble," Miltia giggled. "I'll let you two sort out your differences." Then, as if it was instant, Miltia was replaced by a very irritated Junior.
"Jaune, how were you supposed to cook that last order of burgers?"
"Um…medium-rare, sir."
"Good," Junior lingered, "so way were half of them well-done!"
"What?" That couldn't be right. Jaune had taken them off the grill at the same time, but Junior showed him, and sure enough, it was overcooked.
"Redo it," Junior huffed, throwing the food item into the garbage can as he walked away.
Jaune rubbed his forehead. He couldn't even make it two days without his boss yelling at him, so much for being good at this job.
He watched the five new patties closely this time making sure they cooked for the exact right amount of time, but when he pulled them off the two on the far right of grill were overcooked again.
What the hell was going on? He checked the grill for problems after firing up two more patties, on the left side, but as far as he could tell everything was working fine. Since he didn't have any other orders, Jaune decided to do some experimenting. Slapping some meat in the center of the grill proved that the right side was definitely hotter than the other.
It was strange what could be—Jaune's thoughts came to a halt. Could it be? Had he actually found it?
After his shift, he raced home and poured over the book picking out anything that mentioned the word fire, hot or heat. It was a long shot, but it was better than anything else he had come across. He spent the next few hours reading and rereading everything on the subject, and eventually he found something that might help.
The next night he came to club way earlier than he was supposed to. Not even Junior or the twins had arrived yet. That was good, Jaune wanted to be alone for this. He put the book on the bar counter and turned to the page he marked, reading it one more time.
Colors are NOT superfluous visual elements that humans use to make pretty pictures and brighten up their dull world. They have meaning! The light spectrum is not an accident it's a templet used as a shorthand by the universe to discern more complex physical patterns. How could we be so stupid? It's so obvious. What reason does dust have to take on a color representing their attribute? Why is fire dust always red and lighting dust always yellow? Because the color is a fundamental part of its structure. If that's the case then it should be possible to create elemental effects by only using colors.
Below that were several mixing tables and color wheels on how to create different color using both additive and subtractive color. Then there were some sloppily made designs that all formed a circular pattern.
It's rough, but I've done it. I've demonstrated the ability to produce elemental effects using nothing more than colors and designs based on the markings that vapors and wisps have marked into their bodies. Although it's only a fraction of dust's power, it's a great achievement that will unlock a new type of casting. I call my creations etches, and they will make me a legend. The waves of my research will have impacts that not even I can foresee and all those who mocked me will be cast into the Abyss. There is much more work to be done. I must continue perfecting my etches before someone else discovers the theory.
Jaune shut the book. The passage had certainty been eccentric, but at least the author had given some detail about his discovery. It was only because of his drawings that Jaune would have come to the conclusion that he did. Looking up above the dance floor, there was an array of bright lights. They were off now, but when the club opened they would be bursting red, and it just so happened that those red lights formed a circular design above the dance floor. It was surly only a coincidence, but if the unknown world was as wide as Roman implied, then how often did these coincidences occur with no one being the wiser.
Jaune still didn't know the intricacies of how etches worked, so why this one effected the kitchen and not the dancefloor was a mystery for now, but Jaune remembered seeing etches mentioned a few times throughout the book. The discover had been right when he predicted their impact. Apparently quite a few caretakers utilized and expanded upon them, and since their findings were recorded, Jaune could learn about them, and if he could learn about them then he had found what he was looking for.
Jaune couldn't be happier. He had finally found his starting place. He walked into the kitchen, turned on the grill, and threw two burgers on the grill, one on each side.
As he expected they both cooked at the same time, but when the club got into full swing he did the same thing and this time the burger on the right cooked a little faster. He hadn't really noticed before but that general area always felt a little hotter than the rest of the room. Deciding to capitalize on this new-found knowledge, Jaune pushed the grill to the right until the whole thing was engulfed by the etch's effect.
It was a simple and clumsy setup, but Jaune was now officially using magic. He could now grill burgers faster than normal using no additional energy or effort. Junior should give him a raise for his impossible efficiently.
Sadly, instead of being impressed by Jaune's slightly faster cooking speed, no one seemed to notice.
Excerpt from the book
I have come to a realization that is perhaps of no practical use, but I believe to be of valuable theoretical inquiry. Looking through my predecessors' findings it appears they all divided the world into two distinctive categories, the natural world and the unnatural world. I believe this either-or system to be limiting and not reflective of the true state of things. Instead it would be more beneficial to have three groups: the natural, the unnatural, and the supernatural. I insist on creating this third group because what is unnatural is not always supernatural. For example, human and faunus structures, such as buildings and automobiles, are clearly not produced in the natural world but they aren't thought of as supernatural. Thinking of it this way creates a much more flexible border between the groups opposed to the solid wall imagined before. There is an allowance for intermingling between the groups with the best example of this being the grimm. Grimm share a lot of the characteristics of the entities we interact with, yet they are considered separate from our realm of expertise. As far as I can tell, there is no reason for this besides they're a known quantity to the world at large. The creatures of grimm are certainly supernatural, but because of this prevalence in the eyes of the public they are consider natural. Dust as well breaks through all filters. Just as water can exist in three forms so can dust. The crystallized variant is thought of as the pure, thus the natural, version despite there being no consensus on how dust crystals manifest in nature. The powdered variant is manufactured by humans so it should be considered the unnatural version, though most would probably think of it as natural in the same way they think of their homes as natural. It is the third variant, the type that can be thought of as a gas without mass or form, which I would like to focus on. It is by far the most common and is used to help facilitate and power the use of our spells, but due to its inability to be detected by scientific methods, and thus unknown to the general public, it would be labeled as supernatural despite the fact that is highly likely to be the base from which dust crystals somehow form. In this sense, the only thing dividing the categories is perception. A conclusion that would not sit well with the caretakers who believe there to be some defined lines between the two worlds. I will, however, concede that there is a problem with my theses. The allusive substance known as aura does not agree to being defined by such categories. It's a puzzle that has been recognized long before me. Aura by all definitions is a natural part of all humans and faunus, but in practice, is clearly evident to possess unnatural properties that shouldn't exist in nature as demonstrated by the requirement of aura having to be unlocked by another individual with aura (it is unclear how aura was first unlocked). Aura also gives a user access to a supernatural ability in the form of a semblance. Despite this, aura appears to have to no connection to any part of the supernatural world and displays no special characteristics, outside of its normal effects, when interacting with supernatural forces. Although there are some techniques that can make use of aura, they are very limited and only use aura as a supplementary quality instead of a necessary part. All I can say at this point, is that aura is an abnormally that exist mostly independent from the rest of the world.
An: A minuscule amount of progress has been made, but Jaune has to start somewhere. It wouldn't do if the unknown world was easy to find with massive world-ending demons roaming around. It would raise the question on how the hell people haven't notice it before. That's not to say there wouldn't be some very sufficient happenings later on, but Jaune has to get introduced to this world first.
I've also decided to add an excertp from Jaune's book at the end of the chapter. Let me know what you think about it, and I might continue to add them. I think it adds interesting world building and gives a little extra information to people who want it without having to halt the story.