A/N: If you enjoy my work, please pop into my Discord server at discord dot gg slash ABfg74C
It was brought to my attention (politely in some cases, less so in some others) that this story originally used the same title as another Gamer!Jaune story; I've changed this to avoid further confusion.
Oathsworn
This… was not going to go well. My only condition was to 'impress Indigo', and I had no idea what might do that, other than completing the bonus objective and forcing her to activate her Aura or Semblance. Encountering an enemy this far above you in power so early in a game usually meant a narratively-driven 'Supposed-To-Lose' fight, but given my Semblance had labeled this a 'duel', it suggested that there was a way I could win.
Unfortunately, Indigo wasn't inclined to give me time to think about it; as soon as the music only I could hear kicked off, she was charging. [Sword Mastery] gave me just enough time to firm my grip before she was on me — which meant she was obviously going somewhat easy on me. I couldn't see her level, meaning she was at least fifty levels above me. Probably more. That didn't stop her from hitting like a truck, though, as I caught her backfist on my shield and almost got knocked prone. And that was without Aura? Jeez, what the hell is her STR?
I felt the slight nerve-tingle indicating my Semblance had created an alert, but it had the courtesy not to pop up and block my field of view, so I ignored it. Bracing against the force still pressing on my shield, I just barely managed to hold. I attributed that entirely to the 20 STR I now had, but something told me now that Indigo had the measure of what I could resist, it was going to get even more difficult. Even if I didn't have amnesia (read: wasn't literally new here), Jaune was just as untrained as I was. There was no way I could win this fairly. But, then again…
If you ever find yourself in a fair fight, you are surely a poor tactician indeed. Advice I'd read… somewhere, that immediately took root in my brain. I needed to unbalance this fight in my favor, immediately, before Indigo could adjust and make it harder for me.
So instead of deflecting her fist to the side and swinging my sword, I brought my sword-hand behind the shield as well, and shoved with all the strength I could muster. It wasn't enough by itself, but as Indigo started to push off the shield to back away, I suddenly pulled back just as hard. As the counterforce under her hands disappeared, I twisted on the spot and kicked her in the knee.
Or tried to, anyway. Somehow, even while off-balance, Indigo lifted her leg and caught my foot on her shin. I was at a terrible angle to swing my sword, so instead I tried to jab her in the face with the fist wrapped around the hilt. She blocked that too by grabbing the 'blade' just above the hilt and turning her fall into a twist, wrenching the wooden weapon out of my grip. Rather than fight her over it, I let the sword go and made a grab for her right hip as she finally surrendered to gravity.
I jumped back as Indigo hit the ground and rolled away immediately, slapping the mat with one hand to propel herself back to her feet even as she flipped the wooden sword in midair to catch it by the handle.
And then she froze, because I was pointing her own gun at her.
"Maybe you can block or dodge this without your Aura or Semblance," I said softly, racking the slide in case it wasn't cocked. "But I'd rather not test it."
Indigo blinked at me. "You should have fired before I had time to react," she criticized, not dropping her ready stance.
"You're not a Grimm," I replied. "And you didn't know I had it."
Now she scowled. "You asked Olivia to buy you a gun if you make it into Beacon," she reminded me. "You think you won't have to shoot your classmates in training?"
"Are we going to be training with whatever you have loaded in this?" I retorted.
Indigo's hesitation was answer enough.
I shook my head. "I don't know exactly how Aura works, but I do remember how guns work. Maybe you can react fast enough to shield yourself from the sound of a shot going off four feet from you that you're not looking at or expecting, but I decided not to gamble on accidentally putting you in the hospital when I just got out of it."
The gun in my hand looked and felt like a Glock G21, meaning if munitions here operated anything like on Earth, that bullet was going to come out travelling at least 800 feet per second, and last time I checked, human reaction time was way slower than 1/200th of a second.
Indigo was still watching me, and didn't seem inclined to move while I was covering her with the gun, but the music hadn't stopped, so I presumed the duel was still going. Sighing, I asked, "You're going to make me do it anyway, aren't you?"
My sister folded her arms. "If you don't shoot, I haven't activated my Aura or Semblance, so I haven't forfeit. I was planning to beat you up and force you to prove you were actually determined to go to Beacon. Instead I learned you're willing to fight dirty, which I honestly didn't expect, so consider me surprised. But this fight isn't over when I'm surprised. Impress me."
"What, so I was just supposed to sit here and let you whale on me?" I demanded. "You're an active Huntress and a graduate of the school I'm too weak to even test into right now because I'm completely untrained! And you put me into a fight and just say 'impress me'? The hell am I supposed to do except stop fighting fair?"
Indigo didn't answer that; simply glared. "Pull the trigger, Jaune."
Listen up, listen up, there's a devil in the church
Got a bullet in the chamber and this is gonna hurt!
Grinding my teeth, I growled, "Fine, I'm firing!" Adjusting to aim at her abdomen instead of her heart, I squeezed the trigger twice, bracing for the recoil.
There was actually less kick than I expected, presumably because the propellant wasn't regular gunpowder, and both rounds impacted right over her solar plexus where I'd intended. 'Over', because they crumpled against her dark blue Aura, to my relief. My Semblance pulsed a pattern that I thought would have been a jingle if it was out loud, the music faded, and I immediately flipped the gun to point at the ceiling. "How do I safety this?"
"Just take your finger off the trigger," Indigo said, crouching to pick up the spent rounds. "It can't fire if you don't pull."
Exactly like a Glock, then. I had already pulled my finger out of the trigger guard entirely, but I nevertheless kept the barrel pointing upward until Indigo came over and tugged it out of my hand, slapping the wooden sword in its place. Scowling, I stomped over to hang it and the shield back on the wall.
"Oh, what are you so grumpy about?" Indigo asked lightly. "You won. Great success."
I whirled around. "You just demanded I shoot a member of my family. What the hell do you think I'm upset about?"
Indigo rolled her eyes. "I'm fine, stupid; I'm a trained Huntress, aren't I?"
"I said I was fine at dinner, and you got all pissed because you thought I shouldn't be exercising yet," I shot back. "But my discomfort at discharging a lethal weapon at someone I had no intention of killing, in a fight that I didn't even start and didn't really matter, is somehow invalid? Just because no harm was done? Fuck you, Indigo."
I was really fuming now. Gun safety was important , dammit!
"Jaune," Olivia broke in gently. "Even if you'd fired while her back was turned, Indigo's Semblance could have blocked it. Her shadow would have protected her even if she was asleep. And even if that wasn't true, if you'd fired immediately, I would have stopped it with my Semblance."
I threw my hands up in frustration. "Maybe you keep forgetting, ironic as that is, but I don't know your Semblances! " I was yelling by this point and forced myself to lower my voice, though I noticed that despite my definite anger I was still thinking clearly. "Do you think I'm yanking your chain with this amnesia thing? Because it's not a fucking joke! I! Don't! Know! You! "
Both of them looked stricken, but I was building up to a good rant now.
"The only reason I even know we're related is that we look a bit alike, and because the last name on my ID matches yours. All I know is that you're both Huntresses and stronger than me, but I have no context for what in the hell that means. I know it means you have Aura but I don't have the first clue what that does or how it works or what it's capable of. I know Indigo is an umbrakinetic, but I have no idea what the applications of that might be, much less how it would protect her from small arms fire. Olivia, I don't know anything about your semblance at all. So I'll thank you to cut me some damn slack here!"
Turning and stalking out of the dojo, I went back into the gym and jumped on the treadmill, setting it for a fast jog. I felt my anger fading already. It was my own ignorance that annoyed me, far more than Jaune's sisters not realizing how far that ignorance stretched. After all, they didn't know that I wasn't really Jaune, and there was still no good way to bring that up. My Semblance had said it was trying to recover good sectors from Jaune's save file. Hopefully that would mean some background knowledge that I was currently missing, even if the file wasn't fully repaired. I wasn't sure if me living in Remnant was some kind of monkey's paw wish, but I was going to make the most of it.
If Jaune's save file was ever repaired… Well, I wasn't such a monster that I wouldn't give the kid his life back, but I would surely miss this opportunity to live in one of my favorite fictional worlds. Maybe I could convince the kid to find a way to stick my save file in a clone body. Or a robot body like Penny's. Mental note, see if I can recruit Penny. The true Best Girl must be protected.
Taking a deep breath, I started sorting through the many messages that had come in during my fight with Indigo.
[A skill has been created through a special action! Blocking an attack with a shield created the skill [Shield Mastery] to mitigate damage taken!]
[Shield Mastery (Passive) LV 1 EXP: 0.00%]
[A skill that allows the user to freely handle shields and bucklers to both defend and attack.]
[10% minimum damage reduction applied to attacks blocked with the shield.]
[5% chance to Stun an enemy when shield-bashing.]
[By pushing your body past its limits, you have increased your physical abilities! Your CON has increased by 1! Your STR has increased by 1!]
[Importing Outsider save data… Save data loaded successfully!]
[You have remembered the skill [Martial Arts]!]
[Martial Arts (Passive) LV5 EXP: 0.00%]
[A skill that allows the user to fight without external tools. Mortals, born from Dust, fought first with tooth and nail, before refinements to the movement developed into disparate arts.]
[10% increase in attack speed with martial arts.]
[5% increase in attack damage with martial arts.]
[5% increase to evasion.]
[Bonuses are halved if an unarmed attack is not part of a martial arts school practiced by the user.]
[Adding the skills [Shield Mastery] and [Martial Arts] to your repertoire has unlocked the skill [Melee Combat Mastery] to represent your practice of close combat in all its forms!]
[Melee Combat Mastery (Passive) LV1 EXP: 0.00%]
[A skill that represents the user's flexibility in close quarters combat, having begun to master at least three relevant offensive and two relevant defensive skills. You are now able to attack and defend efficiently at close range, in equal measure.]
[5% increase in physical attack damage.]
[5% decrease in damage taken from physical attacks.]
[Skillful action caused your DEX to increase by 1!]
[A skill has been created through a special action! Stealing an item off of someone's person without their notice has created the skill [Sleight Of Hand]!]
[Sleight Of Hand (Passive) LV1 EXP: 0.00%]
[A skill that represents your capacity for skillful hand movements designed to move or manipulate objects without being seen.]
[Passively increases DEX by 1%.]
[Increases chance of successful legerdemain by 50%.]
[Importing Outsider save data… Save data loaded successfully!]
[You have remembered the skill [Small Arms Mastery]!]
[Small Arms Mastery (Passive) LV 10 EXP: 0.00%]
[A skill that allows the user to freely handle handguns.]
[11% increase in shot accuracy with small arms.]
[11% increase in shot damage with small arms.]
[14% increase in reload speed with small arms.]
[Duel Alert!: Jaune Arc vs. Indigo Arc]
[Result: Victory!]
[You have gained 5,000 EXP and 10,000L!]
[Optional Objectives: Fulfilled.]
[Bonus: You have gained 2,500 EXP and 5,000L!]
[Level up! Your level has increased by 1! Your level has increased by 1! Your level has increased by 1!]
[Deception has increased by 1! Deception has increased by 1!]
And then, as I finished reading all of that, still jogging:
[Swift movement caused your DEX to increase by 1!]
Fuck me, but winning that spar did amazing things for me. And what did that take, a minute, tops? This is the difference between grinding skills without a target, huh? There's definitely a multiplier for EXP you gain in combat.
I was still pondering this when I noticed that there was music playing, even though I hadn't put my headphones back on.
I look inside myself and see my heart is black
I see my red door, I must have it painted black
Maybe then I'll fade away and not have to face the facts
It's not easy facin' up when your whole world is black
[BGM Unlocked! Image Song: Indigo Arc – "Paint It, Black" by The Rolling Stones]
Focusing on my passive [Detect Aura], I realized Indigo had walked in.
I hadn't registered her presence because she had been in my passive radius for the skill all along. Because she hadn't entered that radius, the feel of her Aura wasn't 'new', and I hadn't noticed her getting closer while I was distracted. Hitting the switch on the treadmill, I came to a stop.
"Hey," I said, without turning around.
"Hey yourself," Indigo replied softly. There was a pause, then she said, "I wasn't looking at it from your perspective. Your new perspective, I mean. Before your accident… yeah, you would have hunkered down behind your shield and barely fought back, even though you knew full-well that you couldn't hurt us if you tried. And we knew you wouldn't try; you were never the type to fight back, even when you were getting picked on at school."
I shrugged. "I can't remember any of that. You offered a challenge and I tackled it the only way I could see a chance of winning."
"You weren't supposed to win," Indigo murmured. "That was the point."
Now I turned around. My sister was sitting against the wall by the door with her legs folded. Her hair was damp, so I guessed she'd showered in order to cool down. Her shadow was on the wall behind her, with its arms wrapped around her shoulders like a hug.
"I don't believe in the no-win scenario," I told her flatly, leaning back against the front of the treadmill. "If life deals you a shitty hand, then you flip the table."
Indigo watched me from under her drooping eyelids for a moment, before she gave a lopsided grin. "I should have listened to you at the park this morning. I guess it didn't sink in until you started yelling, 'cause you've never yelled at us like that before, either. You really are like a new person, huh?"
"In fairness, I'm guessing Olivia didn't get it either," I sighed. "She was just humoring me more, so I didn't realize. I think there's parts of me that are still the Jaune you knew, even if I don't consciously remember them. I still want to be a Huntsman, for instance. But," I knocked my knuckles against my skull. "It's pretty much a blank slate up here right now. We don't actually have to do the cheesy 'new introduction' thing, but the Doc was right that you should treat me like someone newly-adopted." I waited for a beat, then added, as if it was a punchline, "From a parallel dimension where Grimm and Aura don't exist."
[Deception has increased by 1!]
Indigo's lips twitched, though she didn't laugh. "Fair enough. I'll train with you, if you want?"
"Hell yes," I replied immediately. "I've got something to tell you and Olivia tomorrow, once I figure out how to explain it. Then I'm all yours."
Indigo nodded. "All right then." She rose to her feet, her shadow seeming to lift her by the elbow before dropping back to the floor, all without ever becoming three-dimensional. She eyed me critically for another moment, then said, "You did impress me tonight, for the record. Olivia gave you a book to help you out earlier; I've got one for you, too. I'll leave it on your bed."
"Thanks," I said, figuring that would be the skill book I earned by forcing Indigo to use her Aura in our duel. I pushed off the treadmill, and we left the gym. "I'm sorry I blew up earlier, but–"
"It's fine," Indigo interrupted as we mounted the stairs, shaking her head. "From your perspective, based on the information you had, it's not like you were wrong. We should have realized that you didn't know our Semblances anymore, for one thing, and I shouldn't have treated you like nothing had changed. I'll talk to you in the morning."
"Sleep well and wake, Indigo," I gave my traditional goodnight as we passed her door, and she turned in.
"'Night, Jaune."
"Goodnight," came Olivia's voice from across the hall.
"'Night, 'Via," Indigo yawned, already closing her door as the shadows in her room seemed to deepen and writhe.
"So it's Via, not Liv?" I asked, remembering her reaction when I'd tried shortening her name earlier.
Olivia shrugged. "I prefer to go by 'Olivia'," she said. "But Indigo and I are only a year and a bit apart, and 'Via' was how she said my name when she was learning to talk, so she's never given it up."
"I see." I leaned against the wall. "So what's on your mind?"
Olivia was hugging herself. "We screwed up, huh? Treating you too much like we would have before."
I hummed. "That's not untrue, but it's also not exactly fair," I decided. "I just came home today with no memories and, from what I've gathered, a fairly different personality. I definitely can't blame you for wanting to act normal. If anything, I'm sorry I didn't know enough to play my part."
Olivia shook her head. "That's not fair to you , though. We should be accepting you as the person you are , not treating you like who you used to be."
"Let's make a fresh attempt tomorrow, then," I offered, extending my arms. "Awkward sibling hug?"
Snorting, Olivia moved forward and wrapped her arms around me.
"Pat, pat," I narrated, patting her on the back, and she hiccuped a laugh into my shoulder. Seeing she wasn't ready to let go, I closed my own arms and gave her an actual hug.
When she finally backed up, I gave her an understanding smile. "I'll tell you what I told Indigo — I think I still have some of your Jaune behind the scenes up here." I knocked on my head again. "But for the most part, it's probably best to try starting over."
Wiping her eyes, Olivia smiled and nodded. "Goodnight, Jaune."
"Sleep well and wake, Olivia."
Hearing her door close behind me, I headed to the bathroom for my third shower of the day to rinse the sweat off me again, dried off, and re-equipped my silk boxers. Entering my room, I found that Indigo had, indeed, delivered a book onto my bed.
[You have received the skill book [Huntsperson's Basics of Modelmaking and Drafting: Make Your Blueprint Comprehensible!]!]
[Would you like to learn the skill [Weapon Design]?]
[Y/N]
What an ungainly title. The writer in me was mildly appalled, but the Gamer was definitely pleased. This was exactly what I would need to design my alternate weapon once I won the bet and got into Beacon — I wasn't really uncertain anymore that I would manage it; my growth across one single day was preposterous, and while the growth to my base stats was obviously going to slow down, I was nevertheless going to be training at least part of the time with qualified Huntresses, meaning I was going to be riding the bus when it came to EXP gain during that time, while getting solo EXP the rest of the time.
I was extremely tempted to learn the skill immediately, but on second thought, I might need an example to demonstrate my Semblance to my sisters, and 'eating' a skill book made for a decent one. Setting it on my bedside table, I dropped onto the bed, rubbing my chin thoughtfully. With my direction in life for the next eight months settled, I just needed to decide once and for all how I was going to go about it.
I still think that I can't use INT as my main stat if I'm going to keep my Semblance under wraps, I mused. Especially given how much easier it is to raise physical stats, at least right now. Presumably I could raise INT in a similar manner by studying, but how does that work? I can't just stare at a book; presumably I have to actually learn something. Does it matter what? Would learning the history of this world give me INT? And even if I figure that out, how the hell would I raise WIS? I've only gotten WIS points from 'careful decision-making', and that's just so… abstract. I wouldn't know how to extrapolate that like I can my physical stats, and I besides, I want to be better at everything.
Besides, while I liked playing wizards fine, my real bread-and-butter was a paladin — a white knight; someone that people trusted like a rock in a storm. Someone who could live up to ideals of doing good, helping people, and fighting evil. Someone comfortable with all aspects of combat, but who was above all else, absolutely impossible to put down between his stats, skills, and buffs.
And frankly, I am in no hurry to die again. Heroic sacrifices can have their place, but unless I'm unquestionably saving the world by my death, I'd rather live, thanks.
[Quest Alert! A self-assigned Quest has been created!]
Wait, what? I can do that?
[En Taki'amin Kine]
[You have decided to become a paladin; to walk the path of a knight to preserve life. To accept this path, swear your oath upon your mind, body, and soul, and uphold it with your every breath.]
[Time limit: None. This quest cannot be abandoned once accepted.]
[Accept: 2,500 EXP, Paladin class, new title, Detect Grimm skill, Lay On Hands skill, Crusader's Smite skill, self-confidence, purpose in life]
[Decline: Uncertainty, self-doubt, lack of conviction]
Rolling my eyes at the failure penalty, I considered the quest carefully, since I wouldn't be able to back out if I accepted. In all honesty though, I couldn't see myself regretting it, especially if the Lay On Hands skill worked like it did in D&D — healing touch could probably be played off as Aura manipulation, and if it couldn't, I'd just have to use it subtly.
Hope those spells don't all scale off CHA; I've got no idea how to reliably scale that either, even if I've been getting bonus points in it by lying so much.
Speaking of which, Honesty was a tenet of a standard Paladin of Devotion, but while I liked to think of myself as an honest guy, it wasn't something that I considered of paramount importance. I didn't exactly enjoy lying, but there were truths that shouldn't be told, and I liked being Lawful Good, not Lawful Stupid. If I was going to create an oath for myself, it would be about the things that I valued.
Well, I had put 'Write up a paladin's oath' on my [To-Do List], mostly as a joke, but apparently I was being called on to put my money where my mouth was.
Shrugging, I withdrew my [Journal] from my Inventory and dug around in the mess of Jaune's drawer until I found a pen, then set to work scribbling. I wanted to be stronger in every aspect. I wanted to do good. I wanted to help people. Should be easy enough, right?
Some twenty minutes later, I'd outlined five guiding points, and some injunctions that went along with them. Reading over them once more, I decided they were good enough to swear by. As I recited each one, it appeared in a new box titled [Oath]:
[Holism]
Improve yourself relentlessly. A sound soul dwells within a sound mind and a sound body.
Preserve life and do not spend it without cause.
[Goodness]
Help people wherever you go. Right wrongs.
Take charge and set an example. Be the change you want to see in the world.
[Justice]
Do not suffer the wicked to harm the innocent.
Good is that which Evil fears, and Justice is when you make those fears a reality.
[Steadfastness]
Be Resolute.
When the whole world in its laziness and corruption tells you to move, plant yourself like a tree and say, ' No. You move. '
[Joy]
Revel in Life. Delight in song and laughter and beauty and love.
It is not enough to preserve life, it is even more important to enjoy it, so that you never lose sight of what you are fighting for.
Taking a deep breath, I straightened my back. "Upon my mind, my body, my soul, and my very life, I do so swear."
[Quest Alert!: En Taki'amin Kine Accepted!]
There was no flash of light or choir of angelic voices, just a simple prompt, but I could feel the oath itself, the tenets imprinting on me; my very soul making them more than just words. There would be no accidentally violating the spirit of the agreement I had just made with myself; it was as much a part of me now as the Aura I had yet to unlock.
I wondered for a moment why the notification read 'Accepted' rather than 'Completed', but the quest prompt had read like that too.
That quest title seems familiar, too, I thought, racking my brain to figure out where I knew it from. It wasn't any language I knew, but my brain was associating a meaning; something about 'the path of a Knight'. Maybe that's the answer to my question, then. I've only just taken the first step on this path by swearing an oath. Just because I can't go back on it doesn't mean I've finished.
[Reflecting and showing deeper understanding caused your WIS to increase by 1!]
Oh, bite me, I snarked back at the popup. So, what did I get for that?
[By swearing the Oath of a Paladin, you have gained the class [Paladin]!]
[By swearing the Oath of a Paladin, you have gained the skill [Detect Grimm]!]
[Detect Grimm (Passive/Active) LV 1 EXP: 0.00%]
[An ability to detect the manifestations of anonymity around the user, to be ever aware of the darkness that would snuff out the light you have sworn to protect. Soulless constructs of negative emotions occlude Aura, making them detectable by those few who learn to tune out the light of life to focus on the gaps between.]
[Range: 10 meters.]
[ACTIVE: MP: 25/min]
[Increases range by 10x.]
[Disables [Detect Aura] when active.]
[By swearing the Oath of a Paladin, you have gained the skill [Lay On Hands]!]
[Lay On Hands (Active) LV 1 EXP: 0.00%]
[It is the very nature of a paladin to, by the strength of your soul, share another's burdens. In so doing, you can soothe another's wounds, bolster their spirit, and succor their weariness.]
[Grant 50% of your HP regen, MP regen, and stamina regen, to a target you touch.]
[-50% personal HP regen, MP regen, and stamina regen, while active.]
[By swearing the Oath of a Paladin, you have gained the skill [Crusader's Smite]!]
[Crusader's Smite] (Active) LV 1 EXP: 0.00% MP: 50]
[Mortals, cowering from the darkness, sought shelter in the light of their souls. Soon, it was learned that the servants of darkness shrank from the light, even as they sought to extinguish it. By bearing the light of your soul outward through your weapon, you can strike a mighty blow against the darkness.]
[+100% bonus damage vs. Grimm.]
[By swearing the Oath of a Paladin, you have obtained the title [Initiate]!]
[Initiate (Paladin)]
[Obtained by taking an oath. You have committed to upholding an oath of your selection, now you reap the benefits and consequences of your convictions.]
[While title is active, beneficial status effects for you and your party last 10% longer, while maleficial effects are 10% shorter in duration.]
[Benefits increase based on your CHA.]
[You have gained 2500 EXP!]
[Level up! Your level has increased by 1!]
Gooooood, good, I hummed. There's no such thing as a binding oath that doesn't become a trap at some point, but I think I've set up one that won't be restrictive or no fun to obey.
Having no other titles with any benefits, I went ahead and equipped [Initiate]. That done, there was only one item left on my [To-Do List] ; namely, to see if I can create skills based on things like D&D spells. The very fact that I had a [Lay On Hands] ability suggested it was possible, so I closed my eyes and reached out to the energy I could feel inside me.
My MP, presumably my Aura, was like a shuttered lantern inside me. I couldn't unshade it, for whatever reason; but I could siphon out a little to use for my skills — as I'd done when practicing [Detect Aura] and [Eavesdrop] earlier. My current guess was that, since at this point Jaune's Aura was not unlocked, neither was mine. The way the web series had showed Aura glowing over or through the skin made me think that the 'shutter' I could sense was in fact the 'lock' hiding my soul inside, where it generally speaking belonged.
It was just that my Semblance, apparently, didn't require an active Aura to function, and was capable of drawing on MP regardless, presumably because it was still my soul, even if I didn't yet know how to impress it on the world in the way a Huntsman did.
That being the case, drew out a trickle of power — about as much as [Detect Aura] took — and distributed it throughout my body, diffusing it through my bones and muscles and focusing on it making me stronger.
[A skill has been created through a special action! Focusing your MP into reinforcing your body has created the skill [Reinforcement]!]
[Reinforcement (Active) LV 1 EXP 0.00% MP: 25/min]
[A primitive method of empowerment; before the secret to fully unlocking Aura was discovered, Mortals would strengthen their bodies with their conviction, resulting in greater strength, at the risk of greater injury if their focus was interrupted.]
[+10% increase to STR while active.]
[+10% increase to CON while active.]
[+10% increase to DEX while active.]
[50% chance to take additional 50% damage, ending the technique upon losing HP.]
Not quite what I was looking for, I thought. That's more of a Fate-style spell, especially with the bonus damage taken if concentration is broken. I'd have to block or dodge rather than tanking if I wanted to use it, or else avoid keeping it active when I'm defending. Still, I'll have to see how it improves with leveling. If I can mitigate the downside, it could turn out damn impressive.
Frowning, I focused again. This time I drew out less MP to start with, so that I would hopefully have more control over it, and tried to concentrate harder on a specific outcome. It was a lot like [Reinforcement], but I was letting my Aura flow wherever and however it wanted to achieve my goal. I wanted to be tougher, healthier, more durable, more difficult to injure; I wanted the buff to be fully under my control, dependent on me feeding it MP but not able to be disrupted. Once I was sure I had it, I started increasing the MP flow, keeping it all under control, until:
[A skill has been created through a special action! Focusing your MP into reinforcing your body has created the skill [Bear's Endurance]!]
[Bear's Endurance (Active) LV 1 EXP: 0.00% MP: 50/min]
[An invention by The Gamer, based on the much older [Reinforcement] technique. Using the desires of the caster as a guide, it is possible to focus Aura to boost one's capabilities in specific ways. While active, the user gains a fragment of the toughness of an Ursa.]
[20% increase to CON while active.]
Much better, I nodded approvingly. Definitely what I was aiming for; not so easily dispelled. Then I frowned slightly, considering the differences. Not nearly as efficient, either. Even though it's a higher buff to the single stat, the cost is also doubled. I pulled up my Status screen to check on my current stats and did some math using the calculator app on my Scroll. Bit over ten minutes if I kept it up constantly, and if the others are the same way, then including [Reinforcement] I'd only be at full power for two minutes before I'm out of MP.
Regardless, it was technically what I'd set out to accomplish, so with the estimate of 50 MP/min in mind, I started focusing on what I wanted out of each stat in turn. STR and DEX were relatively easy now that I had the knack for spreading MP through my body. The mental stats were harder, since I didn't want to accidentally cook my brain by just flooding it with Aura, but after a while I picked up the buff for INT. WIS was even more difficult, as expected, since wisdom wasn't just a function of being smart, it was soundness of action that came from experience as much as anything else, but I finally managed that one as well. CHA was… different; it wasn't so much about boosting anything about myself physically or mentally, so much as changing people's perception of me through my Aura. Once I realized that, everything seemed to click, and I could actually feel the difference as I looked in the mirror across the room, all but seeing an air around me that seemed almost magnetic.
[Bull's Strength (Active) LV 1 EXP: 0.00% MP: 50/min]
[An invention by The Gamer, based on the much older [Reinforcement] technique. Using the desires of the caster as a guide, it is possible to focus Aura to boost one's capabilities in specific ways. While active, the user gains a fragment of the power of a Cretan.]
[20% increase to STR while active.]
[Cat's Grace (Active) LV 1 EXP: 0.00% MP: 50/min]
[An invention by The Gamer, based on the much older [Reinforcement] technique. Using the desires of the caster as a guide, it is possible to focus Aura to boost one's capabilities in specific ways. While active, the user gains a fragment of the agility of a Maneki.]
[20% increase to DEX while active.]
[Fox's Cunning (Active) LV 1 EXP: 0.00% MP: 50/min]
[An invention by The Gamer, based on the much older [Reinforcement] technique. Using the desires of the caster as a guide, it is possible to focus Aura to boost one's capabilities in specific ways. While active, the user gains a fragment of the cleverness of an Inari.]
[20% increase to INT while active.]
[Owl's Wisdom (Active) LV 1 EXP: 0.00% MP: 50/min]
[An invention by The Gamer, based on the much older [Reinforcement] technique. Using the desires of the caster as a guide, it is possible to focus Aura to boost one's capabilities in specific ways. While active, the user gains a fragment of the shrewdness of an Ezel.]
[20% increase to WIS while active.]
[Eagle's Splendor (Active) LV 1 EXP: 0.00% MP: 50/min]
[An invention by The Gamer, based on the much older [Reinforcement] technique. Using the desires of the caster as a guide, it is possible to focus Aura to boost one's capabilities in specific ways. While active, the user gains a fragment of the majesty of a Gwaihir.]
[20% increase to CHA while active.]
Sheesh, those costs... No wonder Han Jee-Han went for a mage build. Just seeing what these buffs were capable of doing for me at only level one was almost enough to make me change my mind about focusing on mental stats, but with an effort I shook off the feeling. I had chosen my path and there wasn't a way off it; these were side benefits, not the main things I would be focusing on. Though, having said that, I was definitely going to make an effort to bring them up, both to increase the benefit and also hopefully reduce the cost.
My points from leveling up, I would hold on to for now, but I had a feeling they were going to find themselves in WIS eventually, simply because that was the hardest stat to raise organically, and also one of the most valuable given it increased my MP regen. Hopefully I could also pick up some skills to expand my mana pool, and/or boost my regen.
Glancing at the clock in the corner of my HUD, I wondered why I wasn't getting sleepy, as it was getting on toward midnight. I felt tired , physically, but I wasn't nodding off like I would have expected. Shrugging, I laid down on the pillow anyway and pulled up a thin blanket for the warm night.
[You are resting in a bed. How long would you like to sleep?]
"I have the best fucking Semblance in the world," I muttered, dragging the dial to 8 hours and hitting OK.
I was out like a light before my hand dropped to the bed.
Sure enough, my eyes popped open eight hours later on the dot.
[You have slept in a bed. Your HP and MP have been fully restored. All ailments have been cured.]
Getting up and stretching, I blinked at a new icon on my HUD, with a timer counting down 8 hours, 48 minutes. That's right, I turned on HUD indicators for [Active Buffs]. What's this one, then?
[Well-Rested]
[You have slept in your bed! You will gain 10% more experience for the same number of hours that you slept.]
Neat, that seemed to match the one from Skyrim, and was a pretty good reason to not skip sleeping entirely, even if I could still function okay when tired. Frowning at the timer, I glanced at the clock again, but it was exactly eight hours later than I'd gone to bed; just before 8 AM. Where's the extra 48 minutes coming from, then? I wondered, before I remembered my new title. This would obviously count as a beneficial status effect, so [Initiate] was boosting it.
Nodding as I solved that mystery, I applied some fresh deodorant, then opened my [Inventory] and equipped my Casual set, finding fresh pairs of boxers and jeans, a new undershirt, and a clean gold tee and white overshirt had all appeared on me in an instant. A glance in the mirror showed that it did nothing to untangle my hair, so I sat down and started working a comb through it. Fortunately, the new shampoo and conditioner were already doing their work, and in no time I had it teased straight. Raking my fringe casually back with my fingers a few times, I deemed it sufficient and nodded again.
[Excellent grooming caused your CHA to increase by 1!]
Cool.
Heading downstairs, I found I was the first one awake. I wasn't surprised that Indigo was still asleep, she had struck me as someone who woke up before noon only under extreme conditions; I had expected Olivia to be up, though.
I guess it's July; schools are on summer vacation probably. Maybe Hunting has a summer lull? Humans' moods tend to trend higher when daylight is longer, so it might make sense that Grimm activity would be lower. I should research that.
Shrugging, I headed into the kitchen and checked the fridge. Milk, eggs, bread, fresh…berries of some description. I mentally ticked off. Let's make French toast. Huh, wonder what it's called here.
Making a mental note to look that up as well, if my sisters couldn't tell me, I pulled out what was left of last night's bread, one of several cartons of eggs, a jug of milk, and a container of butter that was shaped like an earthenware crock but was made of some sort of hard plastic.
Slicing the slightly stale bread moderately thin, I piled the slices up on one end of the kitchen counter so I could set up an assembly line heading to the stove. Cracking several eggs into a bowl, I whisked them up with a dash of milk, then poured the mixture onto two plates. Dropping slices of bread into one, I went looking for a decent-size skillet and happily found a square one that would accommodate four slices of bread at once. Setting it over medium heat with a bit of butter to melt, I transferred the bread from one plate of egg-mixture to the other, flipping them to coat the other side, then filled up the first dish again.
Swirling the melted butter to coat the pan, I dropped the coated bread onto it and kept up the assembly-line motion of moving the bread from plate to plate. Soon enough, the whole loaf was French-toasted on three plates, topped with strawberries, blackberries, and… something else I didn't recognize. Figuring Huntresses would want some more protein, I used the same bowl to scramble three eggs at a time, adding those to the plates and poking around the fridge until I came up with sausages.
[Importing Outsider save data… Save data loaded successfully!]
[You have remembered the skill [Cooking]!]
[Cooking (Passive) LV 28 EXP: 14.79%]
[The art, practice, and skill of preparing food by combining, mixing, and heating ingredients.]
[Improves quality of cooked meals by 56%.]
[Improves chances of flawlessly making a meal according to a known recipe by 56%.]
[Improves chances of correctly making a meal according to a new recipe by 28%.]
Thank you, bachelor life. Now, what was missing? Ah, coffee! There was a percolator in one of the cupboards, next to some beans that were 'collected fresh from the jungles of Southern Anima' according to my Semblance. Not knowing where that was, I shrugged and ran some beans through the grinder. I set the percolator on the stove and fetched some mugs, then moved the plates to the table with silverware as I dug out the sugar.
The smell of coffee (or perhaps the sound of the grinder) turned out to be what drew Olivia downstairs, nudging a shambling Indigo in front of her. Olivia paused, taking in the meal set out, but Indigo pushed me out of the way and poured herself the first cup of coffee, dropping into a chair and sipping at it black. Her shadow waved at me and dragged Indigo's plate closer to her.
Grabbing a mug for myself and adding a dash of cream first, I poured the coffee over it and watched, amused, as Indigo downed half her mug and started eating.
"You made all this?" Olivia asked, uncertainly, examining her plate and presumably not finding anything that looked inedible. Indigo froze with her mouth full, then shrugged and kept eating.
"Again with the tone of surprise," I smirked. "How do you take your coffee?"
"Milk, two sugars," she answered automatically, then shook her head. "We're doing it again; relying on what we remember instead of what you're showing us. I guess there's no sense asking when you learned to cook."
"Not a clue," I agreed cheerfully. "Smells good, though."
[Deception has increased by 1!]
With a mental sigh, I brought up the skill's description, and renamed it [Acting], so that at least it didn't sound like my Semblance was constantly berating me for lying all the time when it was, unfortunately, necessary.
[For successfully rationalizing your motivations to yourself, Acting has increased by 1!]
Oh, fuck off. I would accept the drawback since my Semblance was otherwise incredible, but I bet other people's Semblances weren't fucking sarcastic at them.
"You said you had something to tell us?" Olivia reminded me, hesitantly taking a forkful of eggs.
Sighing, I lowered my coffee. "Yeah. There's no way to really ease into this, so I'll just go for it: When I woke up in the hospital, I didn't know who I was or where I was or how I'd got there, but I did know what my Semblance was."
Olivia blinked in shock, and Indigo's heavy eyelids shot fully open.
"You unsealed your Aura when you were attacked?" Indigo guessed. "But then why-?" She cut off, looking at the scars on my face.
"See, that's the thing," I said, shrugging. "My Aura still seems to be sealed."
"That's impossible, Jaune," said Olivia patiently. "Semblance is a personal expression of your soul, impressed onto reality. That can't happen if the soul's light is still entirely within the shroud of flesh."
"That's poetic," I mused. "It also fits with what I've observed. But nevertheless, while I can't bring up a forcefield, I can do this."
After taking one more sip of coffee, I deposited the half-full mug in my [Inventory].
Indigo blinked. "A spatial fold? You have a pocket dimension?"
"More or less," I agreed. "But that's only one facet of it. Refresh my nonexistent memory, are either of you big into games?"
Both my sisters shook their heads.
"Not really," said Indigo.
"The twins used to be, before school started taking up too much of their time," Olivia added. "But we've watched you play plenty. It was probably your biggest hobby, before your accident."
"Really? Maybe that's the reason, then…" I pondered. "Anyway, my Semblance is apparently called Gamer. It…makes my life behave like a game. What you just saw was my [Inventory]. I have Skills that represent things I can do, and Stats that seem to represent my attributes — I gained a bunch of STR from working out and I was able to lift noticeably more weight with each new point. I'm literally twice as strong now as I was when I woke up yesterday."
I pulled the coffee back out, then reached in and pulled out the books they'd given me yesterday.
"And these are both Skill Books, from what I can tell. Every time I pick them up, it asks if I want to learn the skills contained in them."
Olivia and Indigo both looked dumbstruck, so I tapped the cover of "Huntsperson's Basics of Modelmaking and Drafting: Make Your Blueprint Comprehensible!" and accepted the offer to learn [Weapon Design]. The book dissolved into motes of light, and my Semblance 'vibrated' the New Skill jingle.
[You learned the skill [Weapon Design]!]
Clearing my throat, I read the skill aloud to the table.
[Weapon Design (Passive) LV 1 EXP: 0.00%]
[If Aura is a Hunter's defense, then a weapon is the corresponding offense! Many Hunters combine melee weapons with firearms, customizing their preferred weapon to suit their individual style and aesthetic.]
[Improves drafting ability by 50%.]
[Can design Hunting weapons incorporating up to 2 simple weapons.]
"Hope that wasn't your only copy of that book," I added apologetically. "Apparently using a skill book consumes it. Oops."
Olivia blinked, looking from me to the book still on the table. "What skill is in the book I gave you?"
"It's called [Gaia's Pulse], apparently. I can't see the details of what it does until I learn it. What's the book about?"
"It's a treatise on Aura, and how all living things have it," Olivia lectured, sounding very much like the teacher she apparently aspired to be. "A lot of it is very poetic, talking about learning to tap into the life-force of Remnant itself through meditation. That's not really possible, as far as I know — although there are some monasteries in Mistral that profess similar teachings — but it's usually a big help for aspiring Hunters to get a feel for meditation and maybe learn to feel their Aura."
I rubbed my chin, thinking about that. "Given the skill's name, maybe I will be able to actually do what it describes?" I tapped the cover and accepted the offer to learn it. "Let's see– ah."
[You cannot learn this skill. Required: WIS 40]
"What's wrong?" Olivia asked, concerned.
"There's a prerequisite," I explained. "I have to have at least 40 points in WIS to learn it, and I'm only at 20."
"How do you gain points?" Indigo asked curiously.
"Exercising the attribute seems to do the trick," I said. "Lifting weights gave me mostly STR and a little CON since I was working out a lot without stopping. Running gave DEX and a bit of CON. I'm pretty sure I could gain INT by studying, but I don't know exactly how that would work yet. I've only gotten a couple of WIS points, for — and I quote — 'careful decision-making'." I spread my arms in a shrug. "I have no idea how to replicate the scenario like I can with STR, so I'm probably going to have to use the free points I get on level-up."
Calling up my [Stats] screen, and already wincing at spending nearly half of my available points even if I'd already decided that WIS was the best stat to spend them on outside of an emergency, I suddenly had a thought. What if I activated [Owl's Wisdom]? That would give my WIS a boost, and I wouldn't have to spend as many points, right? Or was the prerequisite for the base score only? That would make more sense, but may as well be scientific about it.
Popping the buff, I raised my base WIS to 34, which came out to 40.8 after the 20% bonus. I tried learning the skill again, but got the same answer. Nodding to myself, I brought WIS up to an even 40, deciding to leave [Owl's Wisdom] running to gain some EXP in it.
[You learned the skill [Gaia's Pulse]!]
[Gaia's Pulse (Active) LV 1 EXP: 0.00%]
[Long ago, Mortals learned to harvest Nature's bounty to sustain their bodies. All living things possess Aura, the light of the soul, and Nature's power runs through the World, sometimes crystalizing as Dust. When faced with extinction, Mortals learned to wield Nature's wrath to forge hope against the hostile darkness. This technique enables the user to directly touch and take in power from the World, drawing from it the strength to survive through the practice of meditation.]
[Increase HP recovery per minute by a WIS-based percentage of max HP while meditating.]
[Increase MP recovery per minute by a WIS-based percentage of max MP while meditating.]
[Increase Stamina recovery per minute by a WIS-based percentage of max Stamina while meditating.]
[Aura (MP) can be improved through meditation.]
[Stillness must be maintained to achieve meditation. ]
"Hmmm…" I said aloud, before closing my eyes and activating the skill. Immediately, I felt my senses open up, making me aware not just of the aura of my siblings at the table — although I could 'see' them as clearly as I had with my eyes — nor the birds in the trees outside, but the life absolutely teeming in the planet itself, from the insects to the plants. True to the skill's name, it was like putting on a stethoscope and suddenly hearing a heartbeat, but this was the heartbeat of Remnant itself, rejuvenating me as a part of itself, just as it sustained all the living things on it.
"Holy shit ," I said aloud. Even that slight movement broke the trance, though I noticed that [Owl's Wisdom] had remained active throughout, which with my new WIS score meant that I'd been regenerating just a hair over 49 MP/min while spending 50/min. If I had the time to meditate, I could keep one of my buffs up almost constantly.
"What's wrong?" Olivia asked urgently.
I shook my head. "Nothing. I had thirty points to spend, and that cost half of them. I'm glad they went into WIS, since I don't know how else to reasonably raise it, but spending so many at once was still a wrench. This skill though… This is completely worth the points."
Noticing both my sisters staring, I tried to explain what I'd felt, even knowing I wasn't doing it justice. They both continued to look confused, so I gave up and explained the skill's benefits. Doing some quick math in my head, I ended with, "Basically, my rest breaks just got shortened from an hour to a bit over fifteen minutes, because it gives me a percentage return on top of the flat one. If I'm meditating, it would take just over… seventeen minutes to completely refill my HP and MP from zero."
"Wait," Indigo said. "You're saying you can recover from complete Aura Exhaustion in fifteen minutes? Jaune, that's insane."
"Assuming there isn't some debuff that happens when your Aura gets fully depleted," I temporized. "I've hit zero MP from working my active skills, but obviously that's the only way I can spend MP right now. What happens if your Aura breaks in a fight?"
"When Aura is shattered, it takes some time to start recovering," Olivia confirmed.
"Well, I don't have a way to test that until my Aura gets unlocked." I shrugged. "How does that work, anyway? I can tell mine's still locked; if nothing else because I don't have a way to use it as a shield."
"The three generally-accepted methods are learning to draw out your soul's light through rigorous training and meditation, having someone else draw it out for you, or doing it spontaneously when your life is in danger." Olivia paused, glancing at my scars. "It…would have made sense for your accident to result in an unlock, I would have thought."
"But instead I got the Semblance by itself, despite that not making any sense," I mused. "Bizarre. Why didn't I have it done, though? It sounds like I definitely let people know I wanted to be a Huntsman."
Both Indigo and Olivia looked extremely uncomfortable. "Unlocking someone's Aura is an extremely intimate act," Olivia said eventually, with clear reluctance. "You're literally touching their soul with your own. It also takes a lot of power and no small amount of precise control to do correctly, so it's not something that you can just have done on a whim. And… you're the only son. Mom and Dad already didn't want any of us to follow in their footsteps, and one by one all of us did it anyway. They wouldn't unlock any of our Aura for us, so Bianca trained her butt off until she managed it on her own. She coached Violet, and they both helped the twins, and so on. Ideally we would all have helped you, but…
"Like I said. You were the precious son after seven daughters, and with the birth rates for boys being so low, Mom and Dad laid down the law: None of us were allowed to unlock your Aura, or train you, or even really give you more than the bare minimum of help. They wanted us to discourage you from it, if anything. I remember Bianca asked once if they would allow you to train if you unlocked it on your own, the way she did, and Dad just said that you'd have proved you didn't need the help."
I frowned, deciding not to address Jaune's parents apparently making that decision for him, and instead nitpicked, "What do you mean about low birth rates? There's eight of us; are you saying that's below average?"
Indigo shook her head. "No, Mom and Dad have more kids by themselves than most polygroups. The issue isn't birthrate, it's male birthrate."
When I continued to look confused, Olivia elaborated. "The ratio among us is about average for the world — ever since the Great War, women have outnumbered men by something like five or six to one. No one knows why."
I frowned. That's… the web series never mentioned anything like that. Did they? I guess I never watched the side series…
"So wait, when you say 'polygroups'…" I asked aloud.
"Our parents are weird for being monogamous," Indigo said bluntly.
"Wait, really?"
Olivia spread her arms in a shrug. "It's not discriminated against or anything, just… statistically unusual. At least, here in Vale. It's pretty much expected for a man to have multiple wives in Vacuo, and Menagerie from what I've heard. Mistral isn't too different, except that you're only allowed to 'marry' your first spouse, so any other women involved are considered 'mistresses', even if they still have similar rights and everyone treats it the same. Atlas is gross and conservative about it, but it happens there too. I mean, being a woman, unless you're a lesbian, your pickings are going to be slim if you're not willing to share. Everyone makes their own rules, but…"
"But polycules have become the expected form that a family takes," I finished. "So like… on a scale of one to ten, how weird is our family?"
"Maybe a seven overall?" Indigo shrugged. "Eight if you take into account the sheer number of kids, especially given we all went into the Hunting business, but like I said, the weirdest thing about it is that we all have the same parents."
That… sheds a new light on the half-sister dynamic Yang and Ruby had in the show, I thought suddenly. Does that mean that rather than getting together with Summer after Raven left him, he actually just married them both?
Not something I could answer now, but something to remember to look into, if only for my own curiosity. If I was right… well, no wonder that family had such a rough time of it, if the man's wives left him and died after being married to him together.
"So I guess you can't unlock my Aura?" I asked, bluntly circling back to the original topic. Olivia looked extremely conflicted, but Indigo reached across the table and took my hand.
"For it is in victory that we attain glory; through this, we become a symbol of triumph to resonate throughout the ages, unforgotten even in death," she intoned. "I release your soul, and by my hand, uplift thee."
Her hand glowed with dark blue Aura, but after a moment it faded, and a new message appeared before me.
[Yellow Death] prevents this action!]
Well, that explains why I don't feel any different. I shook my head, taking my hand back and picking up my fork to finish eating. "Thanks for trying, but apparently I've got a curse that's stopping it."
"A… curse?" repeated Indigo, who had been staring at her hand as though it betrayed her.
"Yeah, I noticed it on my [Status] page. And before you ask, no, it doesn't explain where it came from, or how to get rid of it. I only know it's stopping you from unlocking my Aura because I got a message specifically telling me. Don't worry about it. Are you okay?"
Indigo was still flexing her hand, and I suddenly noticed she was wincing.
"It…hurts," she said uncertainly. "And I have this nagging feeling that it's because I went against our instructions to not do that. I feel… more guilty than I should, seeing as I never agreed with the decision."
"[Observe]," I said, sharply.
[Name: Indigo Arc]
[LV ?]
[Title: ?]
[Race: Human]
[Age: 23]
[Job: Huntress]
[Class: ?]
[Semblance: Umbrakinesis?]
[Background: Sixth of the eight scions of the Arc family of Vale. Graduated Beacon Academy. Though an active Huntress, she lives at home because her team disbanded after the death of her partner.]
[Status: Geas Conflict – The Emperor Moth]
"You've got a status effect," I informed her, already tapping it to seek more information. I didn't find what I was looking for, though I wasn't sure if that was due to Observe only being level 5. Similar to when I'd examined [Yellow Death] and only learned about curses in general, I did receive information on what a geas was.
[A geas is a type of debuff similar to a curse. A geas is an idiosyncratic taboo, whether of obligation or prohibition, which forces or prevents certain actions from being taken. There are broadly two types of geasa: those which punish, and those which bind. The former is a geas that is imposed by another, and punishes the bearer when the terms of the geas is violated; while the latter must be voluntarily undertaken, and is literally impossible to violate.]
What's the bet my paladin oaths are the latter type? I mused. Oh well, no regrets.
"Looks like you're under a geas," I reported. "It's called 'The Emperor Moth'. Which, if I remember that story correctly, is a parable about how you'll only be strong enough to survive if you achieve your goal without help despite struggle. So I'm guessing you're literally not allowed to train me. I wonder if that was placed intentionally…" I trailed off, glancing pondering at Olivia. "Why were you able to give me that book, then? It ended up being extremely useful. I'm guessing that didn't hurt you or anything?"
"No, but then, I had no idea you'd be able to use it like that." Olivia scowled. "What we were always told was, we weren't supposed to offer you any training, and we weren't allowed to unlock your Aura for you. Giving you books to read was as close as we could get to the spirit of the rules, especially since that Unity book was all abstract."
"How about the knives?" I pressed.
"I was actually really conflicted about giving you those, I could barely focus while you were out of the house," Olivia confessed. "But I rationalized it since they weren't really Hunter's weapons, just a bit of practicality since the last time you went out alone, you got hurt." She swallowed. "It's why I discouraged you from taking Crocea Mors, though."
Mental note: Don't wait for permission, just steal the Family Sword as soon as both siblings are out of the house, I decided, slotting that onto my [To-Do List].
"I felt a little guilty after giving you the book on weapon design," Indigo offered. "Not for any reason I could trace, just… vaguely uneasy about it. I guess because it had more immediate practical value for a Huntress."
"And our duel last night?" I asked Indigo, more curious than upset. "You were able to spar with me just fine."
"You weren't supposed to win that," Indigo reminded me. "It wasn't supposed to be a lesson, it was supposed to be a beatdown.
"I still leveled up three times just from that," I informed her. "So I bet if I were to 'attack' you for a spar, you could 'defend' yourself as long as you didn't actively try to teach me anything."
Olivia frowned. "Maybe, but that's no way to learn. You won't have anyone to point out your bad habits, or teach you better ones."
"Well, I could say that I'd quickly learn all the ways that don't work, since I'd be fighting someone way above my weight class, but…" I grinned. "I also have a [Sword Mastery] skill, which is passive and gains experience as long as I'm hitting something. If I understand how it works correctly, I'll literally be getting better at sword fighting as it levels up, regardless of any actual lessons taught."
Indigo started to grin. "I think that's a loophole that would work. After all, if my runty little brother came at me swinging a sword, I'd be well within my rights as an older sibling to smack him around a bit."
"Riiight…" I drawled. "Well, I've got just eight months to train myself up, so if you'll excuse me, I think I'm going to head into the gym and figure out a new routine now that I have this meditation skill. Cutting my MP recovery down by eighty percent means way less sitting around doing nothing."
"We'll give you whatever help we can," Olivia promised, glaring at the portrait of our parents just visible through the door to the foyer.
"If you doubled your strength since yesterday, how far do you think you can go by Beacon?" Indigo asked rhetorically.
I grinned cockily. "I can't wait to find out."
My schedule didn't vary appreciably through the end of July; I would get up and make breakfast, then start training like crazy. Between weightlifting, running sprints, swinging my practice sword or throwing punches and kicks at the training dummies I found in a closet off the dojo, and flipping around the balisong whenever I had a moment free in between all that, I added a total of 12 points in STR, 7 in CON, and 8 in DEX. The other three stats each gained a modest 1 point, since I was focusing so heavily on my physicals at the moment.
I also gained ranks in most of my active and passive skills; 3 ranks in [Sleight of Hand] and to my chagrin, 2 more in [Acting]. I even got a new CHA passive when I went shopping again and wound up haggling over the price of some blackberries.
[Bargain (Passive) LV 2 EXP: 12.89%]
[A skill that represents your salesmanship, making purchasers offer you better prices for your goods. Haggling when purchasing is a near-lost art in the cities, but barter trades are not uncommon outside the Kingdom proper.]
[Passively increases CHA by 2%]
[2% better prices when selling items.]
[Improves haggling ability by 25%.]
Being able to maintain any one of my animal buffs full-time while meditating meant that any time I needed to take a break from working out, I was still grinding two or more skills.
I even found I only needed to sleep every other night or so; if I spent the time instead meditating with [Gaia's Pulse] active, I still had plenty of energy the following day, although my unseen Stamina meter seemed to deplete faster. It wasn't until the second time I'd tried it that I realized I was passing up on [Well-Rested] by not sleeping. While my gains to [Gaia's Pulse] were higher by sheer time spent, I was missing out on the EXP boost to all my other skills, so I went back to sleeping normally on the fourth night. Working that out actually got me a bonus point of WIS for being efficient, so I called it a win even with the 'lost' time. [Gaia's Pulse] leveled extremely slowly, and didn't seem to improve level-by-level the way most skills did, although I was definitely slowly expanding my MP pool the more I meditated.
I was still having trouble finding a good way to train my Paladin skills, unfortunately. [Crusader's Smite] could be activated while I swung against a tree, but it didn't deal any bonus damage, and the EXP gain was negligible, even compared to much slower-leveling skills like [Gaia's Pulse]. And I couldn't seem to activate [Lay On Hands] on myself, so I was a bit stymied in how to gain respectable EXP in those without actually fighting Grimm or having someone to heal.
Overall, I'd grown a good deal in power, so I felt justified in taking a lighter day on 1st August. It was a Friday, after all, so I decided to take the train into the Vale and familiarize myself with the city — no sense in leaving it until I was already a student. Also, I was vaguely hoping there would be somewhere I could pick up an easy freelance Hunting assignment. For all my skill training, I hadn't been in a position to spar with my sisters, so I hadn't gained any actual EXP since the duel with Indigo, but I didn't think anything would catch me too off-guard on a simple weekend trip.
I really should have known better.
Name: Jaune Arc
Level: 7 (Next: 11.51%)
Title: Initiate
Race: Human
Age: 17
Class: Paladin
Job: None
Semblance: The Gamer
HP: 620/620
MP: 595/595
STR: 33
CON: 22
DEX: 28.1 (27)
INT: 28
WIS: 41
CHA: 27.6 (23)
Points: 15
Money: 275L
Status: Cursed – Yellow Death [Highest]
A/N: Well, that puts us well on the sunny side of 30,000 words to get through breakfast on morning 2. We might need to pick up the pace a bit…
The stats page at the end includes the passives, but does not include active buffs since he can't keep them up all the time.
