Short chapter today people!

I have to head back to parent's house and pick some stuff up that I left there. So, I won't be making my usual 8K words chapter. Unfortunate, I know...

But, that makes the pace slow down a bit. Which is what I was looking to do for the next few chapters. A lot is going to happen after Jaune and his party return to Beacon.

That said, college is not as bad as it was last year. I've got microbiology and organic chem to run a train on me this time. I also have to take Drawing 1 because I need that one fine arts credit because we have to be cultured individuals who partake in the arts apparently.

Am I not a man of culture already?!

As for my plans with this Arc, Jaune is going to be put through some shit. Right now he is vulnerable emotionally, which makes it a prime time to take advantage of that. Even if it a minor wound on his emotional self, any more can and will lead to a change in his personality.

I'm not going to put him through the Subaru Experience for those of you who know what that means, but something similar. (Re:Zero. Go watch it. It's good for the heart and soul. So is Boku No Pico.) (Don't watch the latter of the two, I'm joking. I've never seen it, but I've heard it will scar you for life.)

Edit Note (2/6/20) Not much done to this chapter. I deleted a paragraph or two to remove unnecessary stuff, so you shouldn't miss anything.

Jaune awoke to the cacophony of boots clicking against a wooden floor. It was coming from the hallway outside of the room, and whoever was making it, idled right there. Their armour shook with every movement or jerk of their bodies, amplifying the sounds bleeding in from outside. Yet, none of the soldiers moved, choosing to have their conversation just outside the door.

Really... Why so early?!

It didn't help that Jaune was a light sleeper, so whatever little sounds or bumps in the night happened by, he would wake up promptly afterwards.

Regardless, Jaune could see that it was now dawn and, thusly, would not be able to go back to bed for another sweet-sweet five minutes of nirvana. Which he then realised that he was actually sleeping in the bed inside the room, he, Weiss, and Ruby shared. However, the series of events leading up to him, ending up sleeping in the bed was a mystery.

Typically, Jaune let the girls sleep in the bed. Mainly because he was not a dick and wouldn't force them to sleep on the ground. It would also be uncomfortable since he was not dating any of the girls he worked with.

But how did he get here?

Jaune sat up in the bed, inching himself closer to the edge, so his legs hung over the side. A deep yawn crept past his lips as he stretched his arms upwards. Soon after, a series of pops served as a reward for his troubles.

He reached to wipe the sleep out of his face with his right hand. As Jaune began moulding the soft tissue, he could feel his nerves and muscles scream at him to stop. This soreness was sudden yet only aggravated by physical contact to the point of burning pain.

What happened to my face?

Jaune couldn't remember much from last night. Something must have happened. However, seeing the condition of his face was the priority in this instance. If it interfered with his performance during the quest, then that was going to be a problem.

I need to find a mirror.

He looked around the room for one. Jaune hadn't spent much time here before he and his party left for the market, so he might have overlooked there being a mirror in here. Turning left, Jaune looked towards the front of the room, finding nothing except Ruby's bags.

The wall in front of him was devoid of any form of decoration, aside from the table carrying Weiss and Jaune's backs pressed against it. There wasn't anything on this side of the room, and Jaune wasn't going to rummage through anyone's bags to find a mirror. He was going to turn around to look behind him; however, he spotted something sitting next to the nightstand.

A foot away from the cupboards sat a small hand mirror one would have used for putting on make-up. Maybe it was Weiss'? The girl did wear some despite her seriously not needing to, Jaune had seen her applying a few dabs of colour during one of their recent quests. He doubted it was Ruby's either since she didn't seem to be interested in that sort of stuff. Not that she was immature or anything, Jaune surmised it to be a general lack of enthusiasm in the subject matter. Regardless, Jaune picked up the mirror and peered at himself through the looking glass.

'Ughh,' Jaune hissing inside his head, staring at his reflection.

His cheeks were rightly bruised from what looked to be several punches. Black and blue splotches puffed out from within the soft tissue. Several along the jawline with another high up on his left cheekbone. The one on his cheek still had the shape of the knuckles painted on the tissue. The others were just shapeless blobs.

However, they didn't seem too severe. Almost all of the bruises appeared to be healing already. That must have been due to Jaune's constitution. But where did these come from?

Going off of the evidence before him, Jaune knew he had been in a fight. There was nothing else to suggest an alternative to that theory. It was probable but unlikely that he had done anything reckless to injure himself. However, why was his face the only part of him bruised up? So, Jaune was going with the former of the two ideas, yet he still needed to determine what transpired the night before.

Jaune took a deep breath in as he sifted through his memories. There were bits and pieces he could easily recall, such as him ordering drinks from the bar-maid. He specifically remembered she had a pretty smile and jovial attitude that night. After that, Jaune had tried to drink himself stupid to get everything he had seen yesterday out of his head. The rest, as Jaune focused, seemed to blur together. Except for a few other things.

'Well-well-well...'

Those words were most explicit in his recent memory. Jaune remembered how he felt after hearing them. Angry was the simplest of terms to describe it, and furious would have done said feeling more justice.

A face did appear in his memory alongside the line. Not the pretty Fox-Faunus who served him drinks yesterday, but a human male's. His features were similar to a pig's or a short-muzzled dog.

So, that's what happened...

Jaune remembered what he did to that man. It didn't take long, playing his memory back, to figure out that he stomped on his face for harassing the bar-maid. Then Jaune went after his friends when they joined in. Some of the details were fuzzy, but he knew the gist of it.

A part of him was afraid for when Weiss and Ruby woke up. Jaune didn't know how they would react or think about him after this. He only hoped that it didn't hurt their friendship in any way. The Paladin wasn't exactly himself yesterday, and he didn't want to lose them after working so hard to get this far.

Jaune shook his head. 'It's best not to think about it,' he said to himself. 'I'll cross that road when I get there...'

He moved to stand up so he could get his clothes on and wake his party. As he did so, Jaune heard a terse rustle come from behind him followed by a groan.

A quick glance behind him revealed who that other person had been. It wasn't Ruby, but Weiss.

His former crush was a foot or two away from where he had been sleeping. Weiss was now facing him, having just rolled over onto her right side. Her hair was splayed out, undone, and in a complete mess; strands of her platinum colour locks covering her face, eyes and even some in her mouth. Each of her limbs was stretched out in all manner of positions with one of her legs having fallen off the bed, the others were merely taking up whatever space they wished like a four-limbed starfish.

While Weiss was a stunningly beautiful young woman, how she slept did not illustrate such. His party member was not a pretty sleeper. It contradicted everything the Mage was.

Jaune stared at the girl who had shared the bed with him for several moments. There was no panic, no rush of hormones, and no rising heat filling his cheeks at seeing where his former crush had been sleeping. All he could feel was some manner of irritation at this.

It felt like the powers that be were teasing him. He was so close to what had been the girl of his dreams and yet so far away. It was some sort of cruel joke being played against him, and Jaune was merely on the receiving end of it. Like anytime he was screwed with by Cardin and any of his lackeys, or when people spoke about him behind his back as he passed through the halls of Beacon.

Yet it did not feel right for him to be angry at this. Ruby and Weiss had probably carried him back to the room and just dropped him there so he could recover for the night. Ruby herself was laying on her sleeping bag on the other side of the bed at the moment, concluding that she had let Weiss use the bed.

Said bedding was large enough for two people to share comfortably with some added space. Ruby and Weiss had always shared a bed, yet never 'slept' together. This was merely the same case for Jaune and Weiss due to the circumstances.

Weiss herself was using another blanket and looked like she had tried her best to create a barrier between herself and Jaune using pillows. She didn't want a repeat of what happened a few weeks ago. It would have been just as embarrassing for her as it would have for Jaune.

Logically, Jaune concluded these were the circumstances to this scenario, but the heart did not think in a rational manner. It thought with feelings and such that when Weiss had been sleeping next to him - it had taken that as something romantic. Jaune was stuck like this despite giving up on his feelings. It was merely his penance for letting it go this far, to begin with.

It wasn't like he had no feelings for the girl. Quite the opposite, in fact. Jaune didn't kid himself in that regard. He knew how he felt about Weiss, but tried to bury it and in doing that, move on from her.

But this wasn't the time to be thinking. Jaune had to leave this miserable place and focus on what came next. Nothing else mattered.

He turned around and faced away from Weiss. Jaune was still wearing his clothes from yesterday. Neither of the girls deemed it necessary to strip him of the soiled articles, which Jaune expected. He hadn't exactly fallen through a frozen lake, and he didn't have any severe wounds that needed tending to.

Jaune's shirt and trousers were 'dirty.' Meaning that both were covered in blood, some of it not his, and sweat. The usual as a little bit of grime did not count as such.

He reached for the hem of his shirt when all of a sudden, he stopped. Why did he? It wasn't like he would not be getting filthy by the end of the day. He was going to be knee-deep in hemolymph after all. Why waste another good shirt when Jaune could use the one he was wearing? He wasn't trying to impress anybody.

His fingers let the cloth fall freely back to his waist. Jaune found his gear laying near the foot of his bed and quickly strapped it to himself. Double-checking and triple-checking his kit revealed no deformities. Everything was where it needed to be.

Now for the fun part.

"Weiss, Ruby," Jaune called out loudly.

It was almost six-thirty now, and everyone needed to wake up. They had a nearly ten-mile trek ahead of them today.

His speech was loud enough to stir both girls. Ruby rose from the floor like a corpse rising from within a coffin, sitting straight up. She had a tired look on her face, which was abnormal as she almost always woke up with a cheerful attitude. Weiss was a bit more graceful as she pushed herself up from the bed. The Mage rubbed her eyes, letting out a slight yawn as she did so.

"I'm never sleeping on the floor again," Ruby grumbled as she stood up, grabbing some clothes off the floor.

Jaune understood her pain. It was nice not being the one who had to take the floor this time. A welcome if, unexpected, change that would only last one day.

"You can blame Jaune for that, Ruby," Weiss replied to her friend. She then turned to Jaune and gave him a stern look. "Had he not played the knight in shining armour, you wouldn't have had this issue."

It sounded like Weiss wasn't pleased with what happened. Although it was hard to tell with her to begin with, so Jaune couldn't really know. However, Ruby just didn't seem to care.

"Is that a bad thing," Jaune said cautiously. He really hoped they weren't angry with him. He just lost control of his emotions.

"Nah," Ruby declared, shaking her head. "My Dad and Uncle used to beat guys like that up all the time, so I get it. I'm glad you helped her too, she was super nice!" She pulled up her trousers, strapping the belt to her waist. "I gotta be honest though, you were really scary walking over to them! Kind of like Yang when she gets angry..."

So that's what Yang feels like when she gets pissed...

Jaune hadn't really known until now, and yet he never wanted to feel like that again. How Yang was able to deal with losing control like that during her fights and at randoms times was amazing. Jaune couldn't imagine it.

"I agree," Weiss spoke up, having fully dressed with only her hair still being undone. "You startled both of us when you left the table. Even I didn't know what was happening until after you stomped on that vagabond's face. Yet I will admit that what you did was appropriate." Weiss' tone turned more neutral than it was previously, flashing Jaune a light smile.

He scared them, but it didn't seem like he lost any of their favours. Jaune was glad for that. Both girls agreeing with how he acted was the best part. Yet a piece of him felt as though he was still in the wrong here.

"Well," Jaune started, scratching the back of his head. "Sorry about scaring you guys... I'll try not to let it happen again."

Weiss stepped forward. Her attitude faltered to being slightly nervous this time. "No-no," she began, waving her hands in front of her. "We were not expecting you to apologise. It, 'surprised,' us when you left the table like you did. You are generally more passive than that."

"I see..."

So, I'm passive?

"Aside from that," Weiss continued without pause. "How are you feeling?"

He wasn't sure how to feel. After everything the last few weeks, Jaune's emotions were a mess. That was putting it lightly. Last night was only another branch that had been thrown into his machine. Yet Jaune wasn't going to push his luck and hand out a half-truth again. Weiss or Ruby might have seen through it this time if he tried to lie.

"Um... I don't really know," he answered honestly. "I was angry yesterday, but now that I've had some time to cool down, I'm okay I guess... My face still hurts, though." He let out a short chuckle at the last part. It came off as being more nervous than genuine as he had hoped.

Weiss nodded and let out a light hum. "At least you are feeling better," she said straightforwardly. "We did use some healing salve on your cheeks before they could become swollen. You may thank Ruby for that."

"Yeah," Ruby spoke up. "Your face was blowing up like this," she puffed air into her cheeks demonstrating what happened, sticking her tongue out as she did so," and we couldn't go on the quest if your face was like that! So Weiss rubbed a bunch of that stuff on your face!" She let out a nervous giggle. "I thought it was funny, but she didn't."

Weiss facepalmed and groaned loudly. "Ruby," she growled. "Why would I think any of that was 'funny?' It was a medical procedure!"

"Because it's happened like..." Ruby counted her fingers, muttering to herself, "four times so far!" She paused for a moment. "Plus you made a really weird face when you were-" Weiss slapped a hand over her mouth stopping Ruby from talking. Yet, she continued to mumble through her hand.

"It was probably funny, Weiss," Jaune sided with Ruby on this.

Having been injured enough times for foolish mistakes or taking risks, one of his team members would have made jokes about it eventually. Not in the moment, of course, but looking back on what happened. It would have made for a good laugh, especially if Yang was around.

Ruby pulled Weiss' hand away from her mouth. "Don't worry," she said to Weiss. "If Jaune keeps going after all of Remnant's meanies, then you won't have to keep patching him up! All three of us will be so good at fighting them, we won't let each other get hurt!"

Had someone not heard the last part of Ruby's statement, you could have interpreted it as being very dark. There was a risk with Jaune getting into random fights and punching above his weight like he was. Ruby might not have thought about in that. The girl seemed too innocent in that regard. But the logic was sound in hindsight.

"Fine, I guess you're both correct," Weiss sighed loudly, heading over to her bags.

"Then let's get a move on," Ruby loudly followed up. "Spiders await us!"

[Outside of Tavern]

Even with Ruby's insistence upon getting up and leaving town, she forgot something. Thusly, the third member of the trio had to run back inside to grab it. This left Weiss and Jaune to stand outside, waiting for the girl.

Silence hung in the air between the Mage and the Paladin for a few minutes as Ruby vanished inside. It wasn't unusual for this to happen. Even though they worked together on most days, small talk was not their forte. Which generally led to an uncomfortable stillness such as this.

Weiss, twidling her thumbs, looked over at Jaune. "Are you sure you're all right," she asked in more of a timid voice, breaking the silence.

Jaune had barely even registered the question as it came so abruptly. It wasn't like Weiss to really repeat herself. However, she may have been asking him again to be sure, they were working together after all. With Ruby being gone, it would have been more comfortable for the two of them to just talk.

"Uh yeah, I'm fine, really," Jaune answered briefly. "I just don't remember a lot from the fight yesterday, Weiss. It's pretty hazy."

He could see small clips of what happened, but most of it was just those blurred images. Jaune's brain just knew what went on through some means he couldn't understand, however. Most of his memory remained intact just before the first punch landed, albeit with the taint of an ale with high alcohol content.

"You did have a lot to drink yesterday," she mentioned in more of a playful tone. "I would be surprised if you remembered everything from yesterday. Especially, considering how many times you were hit in the face."

"Yeah, I guess you're correct," Jaune agreed, shrugging his shoulders. "You do know why I was drinking so much, right?"

Weiss nodded lightly in response.

"I was upset with everything I saw yesterday," he continued, plainly, after a moment. "I thought if I could get drunk enough to sleep through the night, I would just forget everything! I didn't want to feel like crap the whole night because of it. Then when I saw what they were doing to that girl, I-I just lost it!" His emotions rose at that moment, growing angry enough for it to be noticed. "You get it?!" Jaune ran a hand through his hair, sighing heavily before leaning against the front of the building.

"Yes, I do," Weiss replied. "And as I said before, your reaction was appropriate albeit more violent than I was expecting."

How Jaune reacted was a surprise to himself. He rarely went to those lengths even during matches in Professor Goodwitch's class. Only against monsters, which was close enough in this case.

Yet with how Weiss spoke during this conversation, it sounded as if she was letting him vent. Her tone indicated that much with how she sided with him. Using logic and pleasing words was working for her as well.

"What were you expecting," he asked curiously, trying to jump to another subject. It was an honest question, not something out of spite or anger.

"For you to stand up to them," Weiss explained, gesturing with her right hand. "Using simple diplomacy or embarrassing them by calling it out, of course. Except I forgot that Vale and Atlas are very different places. In Atlas, one's honour and name would be ruined by such disgusting acts, where they would be stripped of their names and thrown into the wilds. However, Vale is not as formal in their punishments."

Jaune snorted, "Yeah, what happened yesterday was pretty much justice in Vale," he continued her thought. "Places like Westburg will just put you in the pillory for a few days, but nothing too extreme unless it's like murder or rape."

There were a few people back in Bar who were beheaded for something like that. The Count just dragged the guilty out to the main square and killed them with a sword. No show to put on, or making an example out of them. He just left their corpse for the crows.

"Looking back on it, I-"

"H-Hello," a voice exclaimed.

Both Weiss and Jaune turned towards the origin of said voice. Standing on the street, a few feet away, was the bar-maid from the tavern.

The girl stared at the partners with a nervous expression. She would not meet their gaze, glancing down to the floor as Jaune turned to face her. Two lengths of hair resting on her shoulders whipped about with the quick motion of her head. The slight downturn of her face revealed a neat bun on the back of her head held together by a pin. As she stood there, both of her hands came up to her chest, cupping each other in an anxious gesture.

"Are you... are you Jaune Arc," she asked in a tense voice. The girl finally looked up at him with a deep blush on her cheeks.

How does she know me? Jaune's expression turned to one of confusion. I know I didn't tell her my name. Someone else had to have said it to her...

"Yeah," he replied neutrally. "You were that girl from the tavern yesterday... Are you all right?"

One of her sleeves fell down halfway on her arm. While revealing her freckled dotted cream coloured skin. It also showed off the bruises that wrapped around her upper arm. Each was shaped like a finger with four in total.

She nodded fervently, bouncing her hair up and down. "I-I wanted to thank you for what you did," she explained, taking a step forward onto the sidewalk. "Nobody else has done something like that for me..." Both of her hands fell down to her waist, showing something in her hand. "So, I wanted to give you this. It's not much, but I don't really have anything valuable for a reward." She held out her hand, exposing the bauble contained within.

It was a rather large gemstone, looking to have been pulled out of the ground and handed off to a merchant or found on the streets. It was beautiful in the most simple description. A bright yellow lime-sized hunk of crystal that while uncut and unpolished, still refracted a majority of the light through its lattice.

Even though Jaune was not an expert in jewellery or gems at all. He knew this was a yellow sapphire. A rather expensive one at that if he judged the colour and size correctly. He didn't have much of an idea for a price, yet she probably didn't even know what it was either. Most would have thought it was some pretty rock not worth much to them.

"You're welcome," Jaune said, closing the distance between the two. "But I can't accept this." He cupped her hand in his, closing them around the gem. "I didn't help you for a reward. But you should hide this somewhere, it's valuable. Don't carry it on you either."

It wasn't right to take this gem when Jaune attacked those guys for nothing more than losing his temper. Especially if it was worth enough to buy a small house with and furnish said home. He would be taking advantage of the girl if he had.

The girl had a stunned expression on her face as Jaune let go of her hands. She pulled them back to her waist, gripping the dress she was wearing. "Thank you," she repeated herself, looking Jaune dead in the eyes. "Are you staying in Whiteshale for long?"

"No, sorry," Jaune answered nervously, rubbing the back of his head. "We're leaving tonight after we finish our quest, so I won't be staying here."

"Oh, okay," she said, not losing her gaze, smiling at him. "But if you ever come back to Whiteshale, look for me at the tavern. Just ask for Lara, and I'll try to make-it-up to you..." She reached forward, wrapping her arms around his torso in a firm hug.

Jaune froze at Lara's touch. He stood there like an idiot for a moment before one of his hands came around her back. Her grip tightened momentarily at the palm resting on her shoulder, pressing her chest against his.

Too close!

Lara backed out a second later, blushing intensely. She waved once, turning around and heading back into the crowd. There was a minor pep in her step as she scurried off.

"Hey, guys," Ruby shouted busting out the front door of the inn. "I found what I was looking for!" She stopped, staring at Jaune's back for a moment. "Did something happen?"

"No," Jaune snapped out of the trance he had been put into. "Nothing at all." He turned to face Ruby and Weiss.

Ruby had a generally confused look on her face for a few seconds as she stood there. Weiss had looked somewhat peeved about something, which Jaune hadn't noticed at first glance. Both girls simply stood there without saying a word.

"As I was saying," Weiss returned to their conversation. "We shouldn't come back to this city for quite some time. We never learned about what happened to those bandits, and there is a chance they could come looking for revenge after what you did to them."

"Yeah, that would be bad," Ruby agreed, cupping her chin. "We should hurry up before Jaune can find more of them..."

It made sense. Jaune didn't want to risk those guys coming after him or one of his friends. Especially if they managed to corner Weiss and Ruby without their weapons. Neither could handle themselves in a fistfight.

[Valish Forest]

It had been a few hours since the trio left Whiteshale. All that surrounded them was a field of large oak trees and every animal in the underbrush. A nice change from the big city. It was a lot quieter out here.

The group engaged in some light conversation here and there. As there was not much else to keep their minds occupied. The forests surrounding massive fortresses were often deserted of any occupants aside from the occasional group of bandits. Even then, none were to be found.

"So what do you guys want to do when we get back to Beacon," Ruby asked, turning around to face her party as she took point.

The question skittered off Jaune's brain enough to where he barely heard it. He had been distracted at times during their trek. Mainly due to what had happened outside the tavern earlier today.

Lara preoccupied his head more often than not even before they left for the spider nest. While she was a beautiful woman, and Jaune could never doubt that. Her being a faunus, having those fox ears made Lara cuter. The aesthetic qualities of the girl, however, were not at the forefront of his mind right now.

Being a hero was often a thankless job. From what Jaune had seen and heard, many students at the academy were treated no better than common mercenaries. It was true in some cases, but that was beside the point.

When Lara sought him out, she was trying to repay him for coming to her rescue. It felt good to finally be shown some genuine gratitude for going the extra distance on a quest. Even though Jaune denied the gemstone she had tried to give him, the hug was more than enough.

The feeling of her arms wrapped around his back, or as much as she could manage, left a tingling sensation in its wake. That sort of warm fuzzy feeling you would get when you did something right. Or whenever you get butterflies in your stomach seeing a girl you like.

It really did help that she was a pretty girl. This was the kind of thing Jaune came to the academy for. Saving fair maidens and such. Other than being a knight, of course. Alas, those plans were dashed when Jaune found out what he really was.

Now he just had to pull his head out his ass and move on from Weiss.

"I think we should go practice in the Emerald Forest," Ruby suggested. "Pyrrha said there were some cool monsters out there!"

I heard about something like that too...

The rumours were not something to rely on, of course, but the thought of fighting some higher level monsters did sound nice. Jaune still had those occasional cravings for Exp too. Satisfying that and bumping his level up to nineteen or twenty would get him another ability, hopefully.

"I hope you mean tomorrow after class," Weiss corrected her despite not needing to. "I would like to rest and take a bath." She pulled at her sleeve in disgust.

"Yeah," Ruby agreed. "But if we find a river, you can jump in and get cleaned off. I don't think there are any bathhouses out here..." She looked around comically, shielding her eyes with a hand.

"N-NO," Weiss stuttered in a panic. "I will not! Do you realise how disgusting some of the rivers here are?!" A mean blush took over the girl's cheeks. One bad enough Jaune could see it from behind her.

I think there is something else she's worried about...

Being the only guy in this party, Weiss might have been worried about being seen naked by Jaune. It was reasonable to expect that.

"If you really need to, Weiss," Jaune spoke up. "I can go stand behind a tree while you get cleaned up. I'm not going to look."

Weiss whipped around, giving him a look. It wasn't some glare to fix his attitude. It was a genuine 'death stare' if there was ever one. Like a, 'Go jump in a lake, Arc,' look.

"Okay-Okay," Jaune backed off, holding his hands up in surrender. "I was just letting you know. We're going to be hunting spiders anyway, so you can go clean up after."

Weiss took in a deep breath, calming herself. "It's fine," she said in a calmer tone. "Thank you for being courteous; however, I prefer to use an actual bath. I don't expect to be covered in pieces of spider during this quest."

"Because that's my job," Jaune finished her sentence.

"Of course," Weiss agreed, sarcastically. "Who else but our brave Paladin? He who does battle with all manner of foe in the most reckless way possible, giving little thought as to his injuries."

Now she's making fun of me... But it's true. That's what makes it even worse.

Ruby let out a light laugh. "So, do you guys have any ideas for the spiders," she asked, still walking backwards. "I have some..."

"I do as well," Weiss said, getting back to business. "But we should discuss them once we see the nest."

"Good idea..."

I can tell this is going to be a fun day already...

Like I said, short chapter. I couldn't do anymore of this because I got shit to do and won't be able to write anymore today and tomorrow.

Class: Paladin

"Gather 'round, Paladins!"

"There is a difference between the other classes and us! When those Knights and Chevaliers fled at first sight of monsters! You were the ones to take their place! You walked right up to those monsters and wrapped your hands around those fucker's necks! And you did not stop there! Killing everything in your way until there was nothing left!"

"That is the difference between them and us. Those bastards who were too busy keeping themselves in food and wool can keep all the glory and fame for themselves! Boasting about their deeds as if they sacrificed something!"

"We fight to keep the people safe! To keep the Drowners out of the latrines and Goblins from ploughing our milkmaids! Knowing that no other class has our virtue! Our dedication to our craft!"

Level Nineteen

Strength 36 (+2)

Agility 19 (+1)

Defence 25 (+1)

Perception 29 (+1)

Constitution 35 (+1)

Intelligence 43 (+1)

Charisma 23 (+1)

Willpower 16 (+1)

...

Abilities

Arclight

A high-intensity explosion of light, equivalent to that of the sun. Burns the flesh of undead and magical entities. Momentarily blinds living and non-magical entities. Sudden magical intensity can cause affected to flee regardless of status.

Active Debuff:

Turn and Face The Sun!

Longinuslanze Testament

A most unholy weapon. Forged by our lord to answer to only one master. He who has the will to dominate such a blade.

It shall sunder any armour. It shall never miss its mark. It shall grow with your own strength. Its holy light searing all who stand to oppose it.

In turn, you shall become vulnerable to attacks whilst wielding this unholy relic. It shall challenge your mastery by forcing you to fight at your full strength.

Active Debuff:

Turn and Face The Sun!

...

Passive: Magister's Lament

Your Passive is a double-edged sword. While you may proficiently cast magic beyond the limits of your Willpower. It is limited in other instances. Not being able to cast harmful offensive magic or any magic on yourself.

...

Miscellaneous Knowledge/Buffs/etc.

Monster Slayer

Spent years studying the various monsters of Remnant. Knows the different species and taxonomy of each known creature. Understands the weaknesses of most known monsters.

Armour and Weapons Smith

Worked a forge for his entire life. Jaune is able to judge the composition of metals, and know the condition of his weapons and armour.

...

Gear:

Jaune's Breastplate

Level Seventeen

Materials: 2% Silicon, 0.60% Carbon, Remainder is Steel and Leather

Minimum Stat Requirements:

Strength: 32

Agility: 16

Defence: 22

Constitution: 30

Eagle's Armour

Level Twenty Eight

Materials: Unknown Alloy Ratio of Enchanted Steel and Corundom, Carbon Steel, and Leather

Minimum Stat Requirements:

Strength: 57

Agility: 25

Defence: 30

Constitution: 39

Buffs:

This specific alloy of steel and corundom is less dense than normal steel while just as hard. It has a strength to weight ratio similar to menachanite allowing the user to build a thicker armour without sacrificing for weight.

This armour was also specially built for you. The measurements fit your body exactly, allowing it to be worn as a second skin granting a tremendous degree of flexibility.

Crocea Mors

Level Seventeen

Materials: 0.50% Carbon, 0.60% Manganese, The Remainder of the Materials are Steel, and Leather

Strength: 34

Agility: 15

Perception: 26