Another day at work cooking burgers on his magical grill. It was a simple pleasure, but it made Jaune happy. It was proof he could do this. He wasn't just wandering around in the dark. He was making progress it was just going very, very slowly. The worst part was that it wasn't due to lack of knowledge or effort. Out of all things that could be holding him back it was his drawing skills.
He had gone over everything he could find about etches in the book, and he learned the basic workings, at least, he thought he did. He didn't have any way to test it at the moment because he literally couldn't draw them. He was practicing by drawing one from the book, but every time he screwed it up. His shaky hands just weren't capable of drawing good circles. It was infuriating. He must have tried drawing a basic etch at least a couple hundred times, but every time his lines would be too wobbly or too out of place for it to work. The only thing he could say was that he was getting better, and he better be since he'd gone through a frankly absurd amount of napkins between orders, which all now littered the floor.
He hoped Junior won't walk in and see them. He didn't know how he could explain that. Also, they were probably a fire hazard, he should clean them up…but after another few attempts. He pulled another napkin out and started marking it with his red pen. Napkins weren't the best to write on, but after doing it for this long Jaune had figured out how much pressure he could use. First was the outer and inner circle, they didn't have any purpose other than to defined the area of the etch. Jaune made them passable. Next, there were the spirals between the outer and inner circle. The direction the spirals pointed determine the direction of the spell. They each had to be facing the same way for a cardinal direction, all inward for the etch itself to be the target area, or all outwards to create a ring around the etch. They were actually the part Jaune had gotten the best at since they didn't have to be too terrible precise. Then there were the sub-circles/ovals that worked back into the outer circle which depending on their size and position determined how far left/right and up/down the spell would go. Jaune was using the etch as the target area so he didn't need those, saved some time while practicing.
The last, and by far most complex part were the inner markers. Basically, they were a bunch of dots, zigzags and curves that actually told the etch what to do. The color decided the element and the marks decided specific effects, but if even one of those stupid marks were wrong or a little off then the whole etch became nothing more than a pretty picture. Jaune still had no idea how the markings actually determined the effect, and the book was only of so much help. The best he could come up with is that they were something like an alphabet and what marks were used and how they were arranged altered the effect, but he didn't have a clue as to what each individual marking meant or why they had that power in the first place. Last time he checked, writing English words didn't cause elements to burst from the page.
Jaune knew he was going to have to memorize them all at some point if he ever wanted to create etches on the spot, but right now it was just baby steps.
Thinking about baby steps, Jaune was almost finished with his latest attempted, and he was feeling pretty good about it. No obvious wiggles or misplacements, just one more stroke and he'd be don—
"Fancy seeing you here, kid." Jaune's red pen tore through the napkin, ruining all his work, as he jumped back in shock.
"Roman what are you doing here!" Jaune said, trying to brush all the crumpled-up napkins out of sight with his foot. "Are you spying on me?"
"Nope, I'm here to talk business with a friend. I just happened to see you when I walked in. I thought you wanted to be a hero not some lowly thug."
"I'm not a criminal! All I do it cook," Jaune defended.
Roman ignored him looking at the torn napkin on the counter. "I see you practicing etches. I'm not a big fan of them myself but…" Roman picked up a napkin and then drew the same sketch Jaune had been working on in only a few seconds. It immediately erupted into flames which proved Roman had done it perfectly.
Jaune wanted to cry, or maybe go back to his apartment and drown himself in the tub. Why was everyone always so much better than him? "Are you just here to mock me?" Jaune said, sadly.
"Hey now, where's the boy who rushed into a fight he knew couldn't win just to try and save some girl. Something like this shouldn't make you all pouty. I've had years of experience while you've only had a week, of course I'm going to be better than you.
"And now you're trying to cheer me up," Jaune said wiping away his sully mood. "You better be careful Roman, I might start to believe you actually care about me."
Roman bent over and laughed. "Keep dreaming. You've still got a long way to go before I considered you a real caretaker. Even meeting you here was a complete accident. I never would have thought that the first thing you do after accepting my offer is run off and become a cook."
"Well, until I discover how to make food out of thin air, I still have to earn money like a good member of society, unlike some people."
"I'll ignore that little jab in favor of informing you that you don't exact work at the most legal establishment. Case in point, I'm here for a meeting with the owner. A meeting you've kept me from, I might add. I'll make sure to inform Junior of his very interruptive kitchen staff."
"You wouldn't dare!" Jaune yelled. The possibly of Junior cutting his pay or firing him because of this was honesty the most terrifying threat that Roman had ever made.
"Relax, kid. I would never let someone like you keep me from a meeting, but before I go I'll give you a freebie." Roman looked into Jaune's eyes with a just enough seriousness that Jaune knew it was important. "You not doing as bad as you think. I know it may seem slow, but trust me, once you move further into this world, you'll be wishing for days like these. Don't rush into things. Enjoy your honeymoon period for as long as you can. I wasn't lying about the third rule."
"I'll keep it in mind," Jaune replied watching Roman leave, having a feeling that this meeting wasn't as accidental as Roman wanted him to believe. Roman didn't seem like the type of guy who went anywhere without knowing what, or who, he was going to find. Still, it wasn't like there was anything Jaune could about it; besides, Roman keeping tabs on him wasn't necessarily a bad thing. Jaune could probably avoid a lot of trouble under Roman's watchful eye. From Roman's perspective Jaune was an investment and despite Roman's apathetic words, it wouldn't do to have an investment flop in the first week.
Jaune got back to work making burgers and practicing etches until he heard a loud crash from the main club area. Sounds like that weren't exactly rare in the club, so Jaune didn't pay it much mind, but then there was another thunderous noise that sounded like an explosion… and yeah that was definitely gunfire.
Jaune rushed out of the kitchen, in retrospect this had not been a good idea, to examine the situation. He was just in time to nearly get hit by a flying fellow employee. The club was a complete mess. Junior's men were laid out everywhere, Roman was strangely absent, and the twins were currently fighting some long blonde-haired girl. Jaune wondered if he should try and help, but then the blonde girl sent Miltia through a glass pillar in a move that definitely would have killed him.
Jaune had always thought of himself as the hero who would stand up to save the girl no matter the risks. He would bravely stand his ground and never give up…but this was a girl fight so he couldn't really pick a side. It would be best for them to settle this without him.
That was his story and he was sticking to it.
Jaune moved slowly back away to the kitchen, as if moving too fast would alert the blonde brawler to his presence, only to bump into Junior. "Hey Boss, how's it going?" Jaune said, taking notice of the rocket launcher Junior had over his shoulder.
"Just where do you think you're going?"
Jaune decided it would be best to throw away his pride. "You can't force me to go out there," Jaune pleaded. "I'll die and it's not like I can do anything to help."
Junior rolled his eyes. "Fine get going, but you're not getting paid for the day."
That almost convinced him to stay, almost.
Jaune ran out the back, book in hand, planning to go back to apartment and pretend that he wasn't a coward. Sadly, the universe had other plans and Jaune ran right into a short red-headed girl. They both tumbled to the ground.
"Ow," Jaune said trying to recover for his daze only to notice his hand grasping something soft and round. He gave the object a little squeeze and it made a strange yelping sound. Jaune looked to see what he was latched onto and saw the red-haired, and now red-faced, girl.
"What do you think you're doing," she screamed, kicking Jaune in the stomach.
For such a small girl, she packed one strong kick, and Jaune was sent rolling across the ground until he got back to his feet. "Hey! I'm the protagonist, so I get at least one pervert scene." Jaune looked down at his hand that just moments ago had been foundling that girl's breast. "I'm a little disappointed, though."
"You take that back!" She yelled holding her arms protectively over her chest. "I'm still growing and—but that's not the point! Do you even know how old I am?"
"Based on past experiences with short girls, twenty-one?"
"I'm fifteen!"
Jaune fell to his hands and knees looking like a man who had lost faith in the world. "No, this can't be happing. I can't go to jail for child molesting. What will my mom think? What will my sisters think!"
"I'm not a child!"
"But you said—"
"I'm not a child!"
"Okay," Jaune said holding his hands out in defeat. "Listen, I think we got off on the wrong foot can we just start over? My name's Jaune Arc."
"Ruby Rose." There was a very long awkward moment of silence. "So…what were you running from?"
"Just a problem at work nothing you should be worried."
"Oh, okay." Another awkward silence.
"Why are you out this late?" Jaune asked just to fill the space.
"I'm looking for my sister. She just up and left me. Can you believe her?" Ruby complain getting more animated as she went.
"What does she look like? Maybe I've seen her," Jaune offered.
"She's about your height with lilac eyes and really long golden hair. She's also a little overbearing and gets in a lot of trouble."
"Nope, haven't seen anyone like that," Jaune lied, "but when you find her do me a favor and don't tell her about me especially about that little accident we had. It's rude to gossip about such intimate moments, you know. "
"That's sounds like what a sexual predator would say to keep their victim quiet."
"You know, I'm just going to leave. It was nice to meet you, but I think it would be best for my safety." A loud explosion came from the club and Jaune caught a glimpse of his boss flying out the window. Yep, it was time to go.
The club was under repair and would be closed until they were completed. Seeing that Jaune wouldn't be able to cook, and being one of the few staff member who could still move, Junior had given Jaune a new temporary job.
"Oh, Jauneee~" the singsong voice of Melanie called.
"Coming," Jaune responded. Along with the club Junior apparently owned the apartment building right next door where he, the twins, and some of the other employees lived. The rooms were much nicer than his which made him question why he hadn't be offered one.
Jaune enter the twins room where they were both laying in the same king-sized bed, in their pajamas, warped in a few bandages and sporting a few bruises. "What can I do for you," Jaune said giving the girls a polite smile.
"My legs hurt," Melanie whined. "Can you massage them."
It would seem that Jaune had adopted two extra sisters, and they weren't shying away from making their little bro into their person servant. Jaune couldn't really complain, though. It was either take care of them or be out of a job until the club reopened.
He massaged Melanie's legs to the best of his abilities which, judging from her reactions, hadn't been very satisfactory. It didn't deter Miltia from asking for a back massage, however, because why not. Once Jaune was done, they sent him away telling him that they'd call him when they wanted lunch.
Leaving the twins to do their own thing, Jaune walked over to the club where all the staff, who could still move, were working on rebuilding. Today there was only a skeleton crew of mostly people who been off that fateful night.
Junior was sitting on a chair by the bar overlooking the progress. Out of all the people to get hurt that night Junior had taken the biggest beating, yet he had still managed get out of bed and come here which made Jaune wonder just how much the twins were putting it on.
"There you are," Junior said once he saw Jaune. "How are the girls?"
"They're exhausting."
Junior snickered. "I bet. Those two aren't used to not getting what they want. There probably taking their frustration over their loss out on you."
"I'm going to assume you knew that would be the case and neglected to inform me."
"Don't go giving me that look. You're in the best shape out of all of us, you know since you ran away. That means you have to work extra hard to make up for the beating we took for you."
Jaune slumped. "I understand."
"Good. Now go help the others. It's mostly just clean up and removal today. Just look around for the heaviest broken thing you can find and get it out of here. Also, be careful we've already had someone almost die from a falling spotlight."
"Yes, sir." Jaune spent the next couple of hours removing broken chairs and sweeping up shattered glass. The dance floor was completely shot and would need a full replacement. The club was likely going to be out of business for at least a week, probably longer. Jaune never got the full story on why they had been attacked, only snippets for the other employees. Apparently, that girl had been looking for someone, and hadn't been very happy when Junior hadn't known. Jaune didn't think that entitled destroying the place, but Ruby did mention she got into a lot of trouble, so maybe that girl had just come here looking for a fight knowing she wouldn't be reported because of the club's dubious legal standing. With that kind of power and an active temper Jaune dreaded to think what it was like to live with her.
What if she beat Ruby!
It would make senses. It wasn't like she could go trash some place every time she got mad. She had to have some other means of relieving her anger. Ruby hadn't looked hurt when he bumped into her, but Jaune had heard that victims of abuse were good at acting like nothing was wrong. Ruby was so tiny and shy too. A prefect target for an abusive older sibling.
Oh, Oum! Had Jaune ignored a poor sweet girl and sent her back to a broken home with neglecting parents, probably with drug addictions, that didn't care if their older daughter beat the younger one. What if they were in on it? Was Ruby just the family punching bag? Jaune should have stayed with her. He should have taken her back to his place and protected her. It was so obvious that she was only hiding her pain. She must have been screaming for help on the inside.
Damn it! What was wrong with him?
Jaune was nearly hyperventilating as he took another barstool out to the dumpster, letting his imagination run wild with the thoughts of what horrid fate he might have left Ruby to.
Then he stepped on a nail.
The metal stabbed into the sole of his foot right through his shoe. He howled in pain, and brought his leg up, hopping on the other. Water welled in his eyes as his thoughts refocused to his own horrid fate. Forget about what's-her-face, Jaune had a nail in his foot!
He swore he could hear something laughing at him as he continued to hop around trying to find somewhere to sit. Eventually, he just sat on top of the dumpster to examine his foot. He couldn't see much since his shoe was in the way, being nailed to his foot, but it didn't seem like the nail had gone that deep. Steadying his breathing, Jaune grabbed the head of the nail and in one quick pull, tore it from his foot and shoe. That was a lot of pain and some tears, but that's all he going to say.
Jaune collapsed in his bed, later that night, foot bandaged and muscles sore from all the stuff he lifted and fulfilling the Malachits' whims, they had been unsympathetic to his plight. Today had been a disaster, not just because of his incident, but a number of other accidents that had occurred. Jaune just wanted to sleep and dream of a better tomorrow.
The next day started with Jaune and Junior running towards the twins' room as either Miltia's or Melanie's hysterical screams reverberated down the hallway. Junior looked ready to murder, and if his weapon hadn't been broken, he would have had it deployed.
Junior pushed open the door with so much force the wall rattled, but instead of finding the girls in any danger, they found Melanie fighting a different kind battle. "Would you idiots stop standing there and help me!" Water was spraying from the faucet of the bathtub soaking everything nearby. Jaune and Junior rushed to help Melanie seal the stream, but the water refused to be contained. Miltia was in the other room laughing at them and overall being of no help.
"How did this happen?" Junior asked, getting a mouthful of high pressure water in the process.
"I don't know," Melanie cried. "I just wanted to take a bath but when I started to run the water, the facet exploded."
"Exploded!" Jaune yelled.
"It's the truth!"
Junior growled in annoyance.
The problem was eventually given a temporary fix with Junior leaving to cut the water off leaving Jaune to watch Melanie cry into her sister's chest. For such a strong girl, she sure got emotional quickly. To be fair, Jaune couldn't blame her all that much. She was soaking wet from head to toe, the bathroom was a mess, their room was slightly flooded and, probably the most damaging, Melanie had suffered a second defeat. Her pride must have taken a heavy blow.
Jaune left them alone having learned from his sisters to never get involved in these sorts of things. He went back to club and continue working on the repairs. Sadly, any hopes of a better day were quickly squashed as accident after accident occurred. Progress had to be halted more than once to address entire missing toolsets, machinery breaking or things falling on people. The accidents finally hit a climax when a stack of plywood mysterious caught on fire. There was a mad scramble to get a fire extinguisher only to find it had been misplaced. It was eventually found under some bags of supplies, but by that time, it was too late to save the plywood.
It was at this point that the staff started to believe they were cursed. Junior tried to dismiss this nonsense, but even he couldn't deny all the strange incidents. It was then that Jaune realized that a curse, or some other type of magical power, wasn't out of the question. After all, hadn't Jaune already found one magical element to this club, how hard was it to believe that there may be another.
Jaune spent the rest of the day keening observing the work trying to see if there was any direct connection between any of the accidents, and there were plenty more to observers, but he never found anything concrete. A couple of times, he could have sworn he had seen some shadowy mass leaving the scene of the crime but that was it.
When Jaune got home that night, he contemplated on what to do. There was obvious something unnatural happing at the club, but Jaune didn't know how to handle it. The book wouldn't help since the only thing he knew was that something was causing unnatural accidents, but that trait encompassed pretty much everything in the book. He could just do nothing, but there was no telling how far these "accidents" would go. Someone might get seriously hurt or even killed.
Jaune cupped his head in his hands. Why did everything have to be so complicated? Huntsmen had it easy they just had to run up and kill the grimm. Jaune set his sights to Crocea Mors, which was laying on his dresser.
Actually, who said he couldn't just run up and kill it.
He picked up Crocea Mors and unsheathed it. It shined as bright as ever. He had planned to use this sword to become a hero, but he had hardly touch it, leaving it in his room to collect dust. It was sad. This sword had been passed down the Arc line to protect people not to sit neglected like some old relic. What had Jaune even taken it for if he wasn't going to use it?
That changed tonight.
Normally, at this time of night, the club would have been in full swing, but with the repairs having to happen during the day, the place was completely empty. Jaune could hear every breath he took as he walked around with his sword in one hand and his scroll, acting as a flashlight since he didn't know how to turn the club's lights on, in the other. He had thought about bringing the book as well, but Jaune didn't think he would be getting the time to read up on his opponent in the middle of a fight. He didn't even know if there was an opponent to be found. For all he knew, this really could be akin to a curse, and a sword wouldn't really do much to dispel it. If that was the case, he was going to have to call Roman, but until then, he was going with the perfectly sane option of trying it on his own. Surly nothing could go wrong. He was only dealing with something mysterious and unnatural with nothing to go on.
Jaune walked around stacks of supplies and boxes looking for anything off about the club. He didn't like how quiet it was, it reminded him of a horror movie right before the monster jumped out. The echo of his footstep, the way his scroll's light played with the shadows and the general air of uneasiness all contributed.
Jaune observed every corner of the place, but he couldn't find a thing. It wasn't until he passed another stack of boxes that something happened. Without warning, the stack suddenly toppled onto him. He managed to avoid them, swinging his scroll widely trying to find the cause, but nothing revealed itself although he definitely heard something skitter away.
At least, he knew that whatever it was had a physical form.
Jaune roamed the club again, but this thing was much better at hide-and-seek than him. It was like it had just vanished, which it very well might have. There was no telling what this thing was capable of.
The night moved slowly as Jaune continued his search. There were no other attacks after the initial incident, and that made him worry. Jaune walked into the back kitchen where, despite the blinking red eyes of the equipment, he felt more at home. He knew every inch of this place having had lots of time to screw around between orders. He trended less cautiously around his domain. He gave the place a once over, admiring how well he kept it. Everything had its place and he made sure to put it back in that place, so that's why he immediately noticed the knife missing from the rack even if he barley used them. Worrying, it was the long sharp one used for boning.
Not even a second after having that thought, Jaune felt a sharp pain cut across the back of his thigh. He nearly dropped to his knees but managed to push through it and twist his body to deliver a downward thrust with his sword. He didn't hit anything, but he caught a glimpse of the kitchen door swinging shut. Running as fast as his injured leg would allow him, he busted out of the kitchen only to step on another nail.
This time he did drop to his knees, hitting the club floor as an inch of metal slid into his foot. It hurt worse than the first time, but his adrenaline was doing a little to numb the pain. Without hesitation, Jaune pulled the nail out, uttering a curse as pain shot through his foot. He could hear the same laughter that had mocked him the first time. It wasn't enough to pinpoint his assailant's location, however.
Having just experienced the consequences of rushing in without thinking, Jaune hobbled over to the bar and got the first aid kit Junior always had under it. He kept an eye out as he patched himself up, holding in tears as he did, but the creature didn't make any moves. Jaune had thought that being a caretaker was going to be something like being a more specialized huntsman.
That had been wrong.
From what little huntsman training and wisdom, he had picked up from his dad, he knew that huntsman and huntress were expected to have power and endurance to fight against the never-ending hordes of grimm. Grimm were mindless, so there wasn't a real requirement for huntsmen to be overly technical or cunning, although some certainly were. Plans and strategies just weren't as important when your foe couldn't come up with their own. As long as you could kill lots of grimm quickly and consistently that's all you really needed.
But, this was different. Jaune wasn't facing a mindless grimm who would charge him at first sight. His foe was much smarter than that, and he had paid for it. Wandering around aimless, hoping to stumble upon his target wasn't going to cut it.
Jaune had to think, really think about this. He took a deep breath, feeling the pain in his leg subside slightly. First, what did he know or could assume about his opponent? It didn't seem confident enough to face him head-on, judging from its hit-and-run tactics, so it probably wasn't that physical strong. It also seemed more interested in causing distress and pain than outright killing since if it was good enough to sabotage the Malachite's bath without being notice, it definitely could have killed them. It was fast, good at hiding and patient enough to wait him out. It was like a naughty kid taking its pranks too far.
Somehow Jaune needed to lure it out into the open. He looked around the club for any ideas when his eyes landed on the stack of boxes that had toppled over him.
That might work.
Jaune walked over to the overturn boxes, making sure to drawn attention to his limp, and started stacking them back up. Junior wouldn't be happy if he came back in the morning and saw all his stuff littering the floor. It would be best to put them back where they were.
Once he placed the last box, he took a step back to admire his work, and just as he expected, it started to tip. Looks like his foe just couldn't resist. Instead of moving away from the toppling tower, Jaune leapt into it, preemptively swinging his sword, and came out the other side.
For the first time, Jaune got to see the monster he was fighting. It was smaller than him by a significant amount and it entire body was a uniform grey, but the strangest part was how it was shaped. No natural creature could have evolved with that type of body. It was shaped like a toy top without the handle. It wobbled on it axis like it never quite had the right balance. The most shocking feature was its four arms, almost as long as it was tall, protruding for each side with ten finger on each, one of which was holding the knife it had stolen from the kitchen.
It didn't seem to have any facial features, so it was hard to tell what it was thinking, but from the way its wobble became much more unsteady, Jaune would say he surprised. It quickly brought the knife up to catch Jaune's sword, but Jaune was able to push it down with relative ease.
The creature only made the barest of attempts to push back before it dropped the knife and started spinning away. "No, you don't," Jaune said running after the overgrown children's toy.
It was fast, but not fast enough to leave Jaune's sight. The creature seemed to realize that it wouldn't be able to escape on speed alone, so with all four of its hands it started throwing nails, laughing as it did. Where the creature had kept them, or how he produced that taunting sound without a mouth, was a mystery to Jaune, but he was able to deploy his shield and avoid any more metal logging itself into his body.
The creature stopped laughing at that point probably realizing it was in some actual trouble. Its movement become increasing unstable slowing it down enough to were Jaune was gaining ground. Noticing this, the top only grew more unstable in way that Jaune might have call panic. Jaune closed the distance and swung his sword overhead. The creature brought up its elongated arms to try and catch it, but Jaune's sword sliced right through them reaching the main body and splitting the top in two.
Jaune had to lean on his sword to catch his breath as he looked at his first successful kill. It hadn't made a sound when it had died and for that Jaune was grateful. He didn't' know how he would feel if his first kill had shown too much emotion. As it was, it felt like he killed something close to a robot. He was proud of himself. It might have been more like playing a deadly game of tag than an actual fight, but he had done it. He had vanquished the monster and saved the club!
The twins should give their knight a reward kiss.
Those thoughts occupied his mind as he walked home. When he got there, he opened the book and started searching for the creature he had just fought. It was much easier now that he had seen it, and he quickly found an entry next to a picture that resembled it.
Misfits are pesky little buggers. Similar to grimm they are associated with negative emotions, practically intense but brief periods of violence. Unlike grimm, however, they spawn directly on the source of the event and don't exist outside of these instances making them impossible to contain or track. The best way to deal with them is to kill them immediately when they appear and are still confused about their surroundings. If a misfit survives its initial creation then it becomes a hassle. They have an uncanny ability to stay out of human sight and are intelligent enough to use their environment to their advance. As their name implies they mostly only deal in pranks and mischief, the severity of these action depending on the severity of the inciting indecent. However, even the most dangerous misfits, ones that are willing to kill, don't pose a very large threat. While they are intelligent to some degree, they appear to lack common scenes and frequently fall apart if there's even a slight problem with their initial plan. The easiest way to deal with misfits is to set traps of your own, and more often than not, misfits will walk into them either from curiosity or boredom. While technically classified as a minor demon, it's hard to really consider them as one since they are so much weaker and underdeveloped than their closest cousins. They are so pathetic, in fact, that It is not at all uncommon for a hunting dog to sniff them out and kill them without their owner ever noticing.
Jaune didn't feel so proud anymore. Misfits were apparently the trash mob of the unknown world, and yet Jaune had taken a pretty decent amount of damage fighting one, and to think, he had originally planned on fighting grimm. He would have been killed on the first encounter.
Jaune collapsed in his bed which was, worryingly, becoming a normal occurrence. If he wanted to continue this career path, he was going to need some serious help.
Excerpt from the book
The Tactillan symbols could be likened to an alien language (and has been mistaken as ancient script by some archeologist), but in their known affliction it's would be nigh impossible to argue for them being anything of the sorts. For one, the Tactillan symbols have no verbal pronunciation (besides those of which us humans have given them for distinguishing purposes). They act more as a signal receiver than anything else. What is transmitting the signal is up to numerous theories. It could be an archangel/archdemon, or an entity existing beyond the confines of Remnant, some even say the symbols are built into the universe itself and are as natural as photosynthesis. The discovery of these symbols come from many different sources of creatures (primarily divine class) and some of the more intelligent creatures have demonstrated the ability to use these symbols just as humans do.
They're 13 known symbols, each with one or more alternate forms similar to how the English alphabet has upper and lower case letters. These variants only slightly alter the message they receive, but oddly enough some of these variants, and one symbol in its entirety, causes no effects which begs the question on why they exist at all. There is a theory that these symbols produce effects outside our plane of existence but this has yet to be confirmed.
An: Jaune has gone toe-to-toe with the unknown world and it went as about as well as can be expected. This is what I consider to be the end of the introduction arc, so let me know what you think so far. I read every review and take them all into consideration.
Next chapter will hopefully start the arc that will be a better example of how I plan to write this story with more long-term issues that Jaune has to investigate and figure out before he reaches the solution or conflict.
That being said, it might get a little tiring if most of the story is Jaune's inner thought process. Maybe next chapter Jaune will find an emerald to help him out.