You know, I never expected this story to gain any form of traction. I'm very surprised that it did though, so my apologizes for the people who have been waiting for another chapter. It's the reviews that made me want to write another chapter. I have seen plenty of suggestions of getting Jaune off of team JNPR and things like that. I'm just gonna say that you peops need to trust me on this one to make this something good. I had a plan from the start and I'm sticking to it. A lot of things in this story are meant for the long-con, not within the first 10 chapters. That being said, here is a new chapter!
Do you know that feeling? The feeling of being so tired even after sleeping that you want to stay in bed and stay unproductive for the rest of the day? Well… this is what Jaune Arc was feeling right now.
Though he knew better than anyone that he should stand up and go through his morning routine. He silently put on his training clothes and he made sure to take proper care of his personal hygiene before heading out.
Jaune started off doing some stretches in the garden of Beacon before going on his scheduled run. Though during his run, he couldn't help but think about what miss Goodwitch told him yesterday.
"I'm going to do you a favor here and be blunt about it. It isn't working for you. You are not Pyrrha Nikos. Miss Nikos has a fighting style of her own. Created and developed specifically to her own wishes and abilities. So, despite this part of the training not coming up yet, I want you to think about changing your battle style completely."
The young huntsman in training knew that she was right. Pyrrha and him were two completely different beings. She had years of training and her semblance that she used with her fighting style, while he had neither. Not to say that he doesn't know the basics by know, but he didn't have anything that he could call his own.
What would work for him?
This question was what bothered him the most. If he had to compare himself to the likes of his teammates and team RWBY, he wasn't as slender or athletic as some of them. He was sort of like an unrefined lump. He was pretty good at taking hits, that was for sure, but he couldn't move around like them.
Pyrrha's fighting involved a lot of movement and acrobatics to perform. Jaune knew that she used her semblance to enhance her fighting style and skills to make it even more potent. Furthermore, she seemed physically build for what she does during battle. Maybe that's why it wasn't working out for him?
He and Pyrrha were like day and night compared to each other. This much was visible to everyone. Not that he would ever hate her for it, she put in so much effort to get where she is now. Though thinking on this comparison, he started to understand what Goodwitch said. Her fighting style would never work for him, but he did learn from it.
This brought him back to his previous question. What would work for him?
Jaune knew he was pretty tanky compared to the rest of the student body. His aura reserves were much larger than the majority of the student body, and he wasn't terrible at utilizing it either. This was the only thing he had when it came to natural talent, but that was also literally it. During his sparring sessions with Cardin, he learned how to take a hit and block a hit.
Taking hits, the Jaune Arc specialty. Honestly, he was kinda glad that Crocea Mors came with a shield, since that thing has saved his life more times than he would like to admit.
Honestly, Jaune wishes to be like his shield someday. Being able to shield the weak from harm's way. To be a hero. This was always the plan for the young Arc, and he would do anything to make it happen.
"Honestly, I don't think that I appreciate my shield enough. It saved me a lot of times and gave my sword more opportunities to strike than I gave it myself. Honestly, utilizing a more defensive style worked always better for me." Jaune mutters to himself.
Before Jaune could think any more on the matter, he noticed that he was already done with his run. He quickly continued to the next few parts of his routine.
Breakfast with Oobleck was pleasant. The man and him could always have lovely conversations while making an A grade meal together. Jaune asked the man what aura training would include, but he only got a small bit of information.
"Well a good chunk of aura training will include meditating, though that is only one part. Meditating while focusing on your aura is a good way to improve your control over it." Is what the Dr. Oobleck said. He showed him a few example videos during breakfast.
Jaune watched the videos intently and made sure to save those videos on his scroll. They chatted some more before Jaune had to leave. He still wanted to be on time for class. Oobleck made sure to check if Jaune did his routine and was happy to see that he was still going strong. The boy had a lot of potential and the willpower to match it. If only every student had as much of both as the young Arc.
Bartholomew noticed during dinner that Jaune saved the videos that he showed and if his intuition was right, he was going to practice with those exercises on his own. Honestly, Bartholomew didn't know he should be proud or worried. He decided to wait it out and see what happens.
Maybe the boy could surprise him even more?
After his breakfast with Oobleck, Jaune went back to his dorm to grab his stuff. To his surprise, he noticed that Pyrrha was still at the dorm. She was currently just checking her notes before class, something which Jaune could understand. Honestly, normally Jaune would try his hardest to strike up some form of conversation whenever he saw anyone of his team or team RWBY alone, but he just didn't feel like it today.
That doesn't mean he was going to be a jerk however. He gave her a casual "Good morning" and left it at that. He quickly grabbed his stuff and headed out. His first class was grimm studies and he wanted to be mentally prepared for that class.
Though unbeknownst to Jaune, Pyrrha was watching him rather intently during the process. For some reason, she couldn't help but think that something was up with him. He wasn't really behaving like how he usually would. Getting early to class? Disappearing in the morning before anyone woke up? Getting back late? Something was definitely going on with him.
She feared it was some similar situation as that with Cardin. Her teammates also seemed to have noticed Jaune's behavior. She wasn't sure if she should step in or not. The undefeated champion wanted to trust Jaune, but her mind seemed to flicker back to the time with Cardin. Maybe she could ask Melody for advice.
Jaune arrived earlier than he expected at class. In fact, he was the only one there and class wouldn't start within another twenty minutes. Hell, even professor Port was surprised to see him early.
"Ah, Mr. Arc! Good to see you! I've heard from Oobleck that you completed your training. Well done, my boy." Professor Port greeted the young Arc. Jaune could only smile sheepishly in return. "It's good to see you too sir." He said in a less boisterous tone as his teacher did.
Jaune was about to move to his seat, but professor Port stopped him before he could go there. "Say my boy, would you mind coming over here real quick?" The portly man asked. Jaune nodded and walked over to the old hunter. "I've got something for you that I'd think you'd appreciate." Professor Port said as he moved over to grab something from a shelf.
Jaune was as confused as curious, until Peter slammed five large books on the table.
"These, my boy." Peter starts while gesturing to the books. "Are some of the best books on survival, hunting and grimmology that I have. All written by me, of course!" He says in a prideful tone to the Arc.
Jaune just looked at these books with terror. If these books are written by him, he could only imagine how many stories would be in those books. Their size said more than enough. "Erm… thank you sir." Jaune said with an unsure voice.
The old hunter saw the boy doubt his books and he just put a hand on his shoulder and looked him in the eyes. "My boy, I do know that I tend to tell a lot of stories during my lessons, but trust me on this. I didn't write these books to stroke my own ego. In fact, given the notes from last time, you would know that these stories hold more information than most people initially think. These books as are maybe not as popular as some of the smaller and convenient books, but the content of these ones are unrivaled." The professor said in a serious tone. Jaune has never actually heard the old hunter this serous before, it was kind of unnerving.
Peter spread the five books out over the table. The first thing that Jaune noticed is that the covers all had darker shades of colors with gold colored engravings on them, as well as different images.
The first two books where green, with the second one having a darker shade of green than the first one. The first one of the two books had a golden tree on it and the other had a hammer and axe on it in an 'X' pattern. The third book was a dark red colored book with a golden knife on it. The fourth book had a dark blue cover with a golden engraving of Remnant on it and finally the fifth book which had a black cover with a golden paw with claws on it.
"These my boy are what I call the five theoretical senses of huntsman survivalism. These books are normally meant for people of high caliber, higher than what Beacon normally teaches to even the fourth year students." The old hunter starts.
"Now, you may ask why I'm giving you these. After all, this is going to be more intense stuff than what you'd normally get here at Beacon. Well my boy, I wrote these books for a reason. Inside these books are decennia worth of information regarding the previous mentioned topics. It's the information in these books that kept me alive for all those years in the fields. I wrote the information down with the intention of saving lives for those who aspire to be huntsman. Strength isn't the only thing that counts in this line of work. Take that as a word of a man who got old in a job where the people die young." The old hunter finishes.
Honestly, Jaune was completely speechless by what the professor had to tell him. The amount of seriousness, passion and experience that that this man held within him were truly shown with that speech. He took another look at the books, this time with more vigor.
The portly man was smiling now, as he finally had the young Arc's full attention. "Well my boy, I want you to read these books during your training and preferably have them finished as soon as possible, with notes of course. Now, this may seem like a grand task, but it will be worth it. These books are far better than the dumbed down versions everyone else seems to buy whenever I show them these books."
Jaune looked the old man in his eyes. "Sir, I have a question. As much as I appreciate you giving me these books, why are you giving me these now? Aren't we still in the strength and endurance increasing part of the training?"
The old teacher chuckled. "Well, to be completely honest, I'm just a bit too eager to wait for the next part. This is the first time someone actually is completely willing to humble themselves to accept such a training and go through with it, even after hearing of the harsh road ahead. That level of determination…It's exactly that what these old bones need to feel their own sparks." This caused the boy to blink a few times, before chuckling with the old man.
"Thank you sir. Not only thank you for these books, but also helping me out with my training." The young Arc said with a smile. The old hunter beamed back at the student and pat his shoulder. "That won't do. No more of that 'sir' stuff outside of the lessons. In moments like these or in private you can just call me Peter. It makes me feel older than I already am, and these white hairs already remind me enough of my age, thank you very much." He said the last part with a boisterous laugh.
The young Arc couldn't help but laugh with the man. He never knew about this side of the professor. He always thought that Peter was a bore and a man that couldn't let go of the past, but this gave him another perspective on things.
"Well then Jaune, allow me to explain what these books individually are." Peter says as he brought Jaune back to the books. The old professor put his arm on the first book, the one with the golden tree on it.
"This book and the second book are books about survival. These two together cover almost everything there is to know about survival. They cover everything from surviving out alone till surviving with extremely large groups. These books will teach you about make shift tools, every single eatable plant and animal on remnant, that alongside with how to chop them up and turning it into a proper dish. It will teach you how to create small structures for shelter in any form of environment. When I say that these two cover almost everything there is to know, I mean it." The old hunter says seriously.
"How do I know? Well that's because the last part gets covered in the blue book." He says, shifting Jaune's attention to the fourth book. It seemed like quite a lot from what he had summed up already, but looking at the size of those two, there is probably more topics in there.
"However, before we discuss the blue book, we need to discuss the red one. This is the book of hunting. Everything you need to know in theory is written down in this book. Learning how to hunt is more than flashy moves. Tracking, creating traps, hunting, stalking prey, proper body movements, camouflage, it's all in there. A huntsman that can't hunt isn't a huntsman." Peter says, while holding up the red book.
On one hand, it made sense that a huntsman should learn all of that, but it also made him wonder about something. "Peter, if I may?" Jaune asks, getting the professor's attention. "It makes sense that huntsmen would get search and eliminate types of missions, but why camouflage? Aren't grimm able to sense people by their emotions."
The response from the jolly old man was a sad chuckle. "I see... Well, I suppose it's inevitable for people to stay unaware of the darker sides of a huntsman…" He spoke with soft tone.
"Jaune, listen up son. Huntsmen aren't just flashy warriors that fight the evil creatures of the night. Huntsmen are also glorified mercenaries. Mercenaries that kill, and that's not just grimm I'm talking about." He says, choosing to break the truth of the harsh existence of huntsman. The student turned wide-eyed.
To say that Jaune was completely off-guard, that would be a lie. He knew bits and pieces of the other spectrum, but what got him was the bluntness of it all. He knew that huntsmen had to deal with people, anyone could figure that out. Though, to be called a glorified merc… that was something else entirely.
"One day, Jaune, one day you will find yourself in a situation where you have to kill someone. Perhaps even multiple people. You will have to kill, to save another life. That day, you have a choice to make. Will you safe a life, while tainting yourself with the blood of another. Or will you remain pure, by doing nothing. That will be the day, that decides if you are cut out to be a huntsman or not. With the path you are taking right now, that day WILL come, so do prepare yourself for that choice."
Jaune was speechless. Was that weird? No. No, it was not. He just got told that he was either going to be a murderer, or he had to give up his dream. What would be an appropriate reaction at that point? Fear? Anger? Sadness? Resilience? Determination?
Hell did he know.
All he knew now, was the truth.
The truth of being a huntsman.
The old man sighed. He didn't like giving this speech. Nobody did. He had to though. If Jaune wanted to become a huntsman, then he should know what it means to be one. He gave the young man a minute to collect his composure again and to settle his thoughts before moving on.
"The trick of hunting and survival is all about being as efficient as possible. In both areas nothing can be wasted. There is just no room for it, unless your own death becomes part of your plan." He says, continuing his story. "It's also why I like your weapon so much. It fits the efficiency part to the T."
This caught the boy's attention. "Isn't my weapon just a simple sword and shield combo? Aren't the other weapons like Pyrrha's more efficient at killing grimm." 'and people' he thought grimly afterwards.
"Bah, the newer generation is all about how many flips they can perform while killing a grimm. Not only is it reflected in their outfits, but also their weapons. Those things are heavy and clunky to carry around. Not only that, but some don't even have the muscle mass to actually use those things properly." The old man ranted. It seemed like Jaune had uncovered something he wasn't ready for.
"Isn't your weapon a mecha-shift weapon?" Jaune asked, curious to see what the old man's response would be to that.
The old man looked up at his student, before his eyes shifted over to his own weapon. Blowhard might be a mecha-shift, but it was something else as well. "You are correct in your assessment, but that's not all there is to efficiency." He says, while picking up his most trustworthy ally.
Honestly, the title of mecha-shift was not really a fitting one for this weapon. It was more of a multitool, since it didn't really shift.
"Just because this weapon has some modern features, doesn't mean it's less efficient. No, efficiency comes from a different place. Weapons with a ranged option can be efficient. Weapons with little nifty tools can be efficient. However, the weapons that people want these days are less efficient and more flashy."
The man showcased a small practice swings with his weapons, before ending in a position where his gun was out in front. He then turns to Jaune, to explain what he tried to get across.
"My weapon can do many things. It can perfectly functions without bullets, but it can shoot if that is the better option. It doesn't need to shift, since it's always in gun mode. However, that's not all there is to my weapon. It's also an axe, meaning that I can use it to cut wood and other things. It's quite compact, but it can still deal a lot of damage. Not to say that big weapons are bad, of course. It all depends on what the weapon can do and how they do it. Every weapon is efficient in their own way, some just more than others." The man says, continuing his rant.
'Why is he telling me all of this? Weren't we talking about the books he was showcasing? Unless he is going somewhere with this. Class was going to start in five minutes! Not like people were going to arrive here until the bell rang, since not even Weiss liked being in this room for too long.
"I know that look on your face. You want to know the reason why I'm telling you all of this." He deadpans when he looked at Jaune's face. Seeing his reaction to his question, the old man sighed again and tried to shorten the story.
"I know what Glynda said about you changing your fighting style and it seemed like you took those words to hard. To add changes to your weapon isn't a weird thought to have when you think of changing up your battle-style. I'm not saying you shouldn't, but don't take the other weapons as an example. Their battle-style of cartwheeling around an opponent for twenty minutes is reflected in their weaponry. If you are going to change something, keep it close to what you know, but make sure the change makes the difference." The old man finishes. He then looks at the clock, still two more minutes to go until class started.
"Damn, guess I couldn't help but keep on rambling and derailing from the original conversation topic." He grumbles. The portly man brought Jaune's attention to the blue book. "The blue one is about the geological landscapes of Remnant and what the dangers and benefits of these landscapes are. You need to have knowledge of the terrain that you are in as a huntsman." Peter says, earning an understanding nod from Jaune.
"Finally-" The teacher says, putting the blue one down and picking up the black book. "The most detailed and complete grimmoire of Remnant. Before you ask, grimmoire is the official term of a bestiary on grimm."
Jaune looked back over the books. Honestly, it didn't even feel like twenty minutes has passed since he talked with the man. Not to mention these books. They seemed like the most impressive thing on Remnant at this point for the huntsman in training.
'To think that professor Port could make things so inspiring and interesting. It really seemed like his heart and soul was put inside of these books, alongside his knowledge. Kind of makes me wonder why he is so different when he actually teaches.' Jaune thought.
He was impressed, that much was obvious. Despite the old man's derailing of the original topic, everything they talked about made sense to him in a way. Sure, getting told you were going to be murderer by your teacher wasn't the most pleasant experience, but perhaps the realism of it all is what spoke to him.
'Truly a man of experience' He thought in wonder.
Jaune grabbed his bag to put the massive books inside of them. One side of him had the motivation to study these books to bits, but the side was very much focused on the size of these things.
'That is definitely more than six hundred pages per book.' He thought to himself, still a bit intimidated by the size of them.
People were slowly dripping into the classroom as he tried to stuff the books in his bag. Not all could fit, so he decided to keep the grimmoire outside of the bag. He walked up to his usual seat in the class.
Most of his team and friends did sit close to him in class, and they would exchange greetings and all of that of course. They aren't terrible people that abused him. Hell, sometimes there was some small-talk between them and him. It's just that they were more likely to point their attention elsewhere.
Jaune shook his head. He should really stop thinking about that stuff. This book was more interesting as of now anyways.
He peered inside of the book, opening up the first few pages. The letters were quite… small.
'Of course.' He thought.
The good part was there were also pictures in the book. It made sense for there to be pictures. Images could display things better than just words can. The chapter was seemingly about the basis knowledge of grimm and how they operated. He only got about half a page in, until someone interrupted his reading.
"Hello again." He heard from a familiar voice. Pyrrha looked at him with that same smile she always gave him.
"Uh good morning Pyrrha." He says, slightly caught off-guard.
"You seem here quite early. Are you sleeping well, or is something else going on? You have been absent quite often in the mornings. Well, no. You have been quite absent in general. Is everything alright?" Pyrrha asked while pondering out loud. She was afraid of another situation like with team CRDL.
"No, just training. I promise." He says a bit awkwardly. Why was he being so awkward about it? It was literally just training.
Pyrrha looked at him, not fully convinced, but she decided to trust him and drop the topic. Her attention shifted over to the book on the table. To say it was a world of difference from what he usually read, that would be an understatement. The book looked enormous!
"Say, what's with the book? It seems to be a bit different from what you usually read." She said while grabbing her stuff. Class was about to start after all.
"Oh this-" Jaune responded, holding up the book. "It's a book that Pe-… professor Port gave me." He says in response. He almost called him Peter. He wasn't sure if that was completely appropriate here. "It's a grimmoire that could help me better my grades and knowledge on grimmology."
The four time champion tilted her head. The grimmoires she knew off were barely half of the size of that thing. If that book was anything like the professor's stories, then it might be harmful for the human psyche to read that.
"Well, I'm glad that you are taking your studies so seriously. I know that most huntsman orientated subjects aren't your greatest, so it's nice to see you are taking it seriously." She said with her ever kind and radiating smile.
It was nice to hear her say that, or so he thought. Pyrrha was a great partner, if not a little doting from time to time. Jaune wouldn't have asked for another, truly.
Maybe he could ask her- oh wait, no. She was busy this entire week, too busy to go training with him. Sigh, oh well. It just gave him an excuse to focus more on his own training, he supposed.
Class started and it was another boring lesson. Jaune was once again able to make more notes than he expected, but it made him wonder…
Where did that passion and wisdom go when he was telling him about his own books?
When he looked at the man who was telling his stories to an uninterested crowd and him compared to the man that was telling him about the books, it was like night and day. What happened? Perhaps he could ask the portly man about it sometime.
The rest of that day's classes went by in a flash. The lessons were pretty standard, nothing too big. It was almost time for summer break, after all. Watching movies and whatnot. While people were just enjoying the movies, Jaune couldn't help but be focused on something else.
What was he focusing on? Creating a different fighting style. It was still something that irked him quite a bit.
Like Peter said, thoughts of changing is weapon did come to mind. However, he was going to wait with that. He first wanted to develop a proper fighting style that fitted him and then add changes to what he thought was necessary.
As for a fighting style… the best he could come up with was a more defensive one. He did have the proper kit for it. High endurance, a pretty decent pain tolerance, high aura reserves and weaponry that reflected it.
It made him wonder. Why did Pyrrha try to teach her style, if they were fundamentally different. Though he should also blame himself, for not noticing the fundamental difference sooner.
Looking back on the training now, it kind of made him feel weird. He was still grateful for her every effort, no doubt about that. It's just that he wondered up till where the training was useful and up till where it wasn't.
'No need to think about that. What I should focus on, is making the defensive style work.' He thought to himself.
Huntsman were strong and nimble. Take Ruby for example. She darts around the battlefield like it's nothing, but also uses the momentum of her movement in her swings. Being a sitting duck at that point is pointless.
Though, it made him wonder. 'Just because my primary style would be defensive, that doesn't mean I have to be a sitting duck, no? I can also dodge moves. I can side-step, move around and go into the offense myself for a bit. Without pressing my advantage, any battle would end up in a loss.' He thought to himself.
Getting the opportunity to strike was another thing entirely.
An opening had to be made to do that. Either he could open up someone's guard by parrying them, hitting them when they least expect it or countering their initial move.
He had to balance his offense and defense. His main style could be more of a defensive one, but offense was important. Just like Crocea Mors was a sword and shield combo, he needed both sides of the spectrum. Maybe he could create an add-on later that would increase his offense, so that he could swap between the two better.
Despite wanting to work on that later, he had some training to get to first. The gyms were open and he had some training to get to. He needed to do some more bench presses, death lifts, cardio and more.
His schedule had kinda been reduced to that, hasn't it? Train, class, train, study, train, sleep, repeat. Well, it was working. He felt himself get stronger already.
Yet, he barely had begun walking. The end of his journey wasn't even remotely close. He didn't care about that. It was about reaching the end goal, not about how fast he could do it. He still had a lot to catch up on. He did make some progressions through the first year of Beacon, and he improved a lot, but there was still so much to learn.
While training, Jaune noticed something. There weren't as many people here as yesterday. Actually, the number of people inside the gym has been steady lowering each day he went there. He supposed that was logical. Summer vacation was almost there, after all.
It was quite nice. There was a lot less noise of other people loudly talking to each other. The machines were also many more times available. Waiting for someone to finally move off some training machinery without them actually using it is the worst.
His schedule told him to increase the training once again. The weights were getting heavier. The cardio was getting longer. All of that on a faster pace. With the way he was working out, Jaune almost thought it was legitimate torture.
Not that it was going to stop him.
Jaune was many things in his opinion. Not all good things, mind you, but he thought he was at least resilient. He was not the type to give up when the going gets tough. If he was that, he wouldn't have even made it to Beacon. He was going to see this through, that was his resolve.
He was sweating. Doing multiple series on the back-lift was always quite the exercise. He still had a lot more to go though. He was only about an hour in. That wasn't a whole lot in the grand scheme of things.
That only meant he had to go back to work again.
Studying. The act of learning something through literary means. The bane of all students. When Jaune seriously started to study the books of Port, he could see why people were turned away from this stuff.
How would he describe it? The books were giant knowledge bombs meant to overload and destroy the mind.
'Need…To…Keep…Going' The student thought. His brain was almost completely stuffed full. He genuinely thought that he couldn't keep going anymore. Luckily enough it was almost time to eat with Bartholomew.
The book that he was studying was the first book on survival. Despite the density of the material, the information itself was very helpful and interesting. When Peter said these things covered almost everything, he meant it.
Jaune made notes of everything that was written on the pages. Everything from quick scrabbles and small drawings to full on papers and diagrams to keep up with the stuff that was written down. Even if the first pages were just about the most 'basic' things of survival, according to the book, it was already more useful than any video or book he had seen on the subject. Details regarding every question a person could have on a simple matter was answered.
It was pretty great overall, just very taxing.
After his studying session, he went over to Bartholomew. They made dinner together and had a lovely conversation. The doctor explained what they were going to do for Aura training once the first week was over, since Jaune's schedule was already quite packed.
Barth explained that the aura training was mostly consisted of two things. Increasing one's control over aura and making someone's aura pool bigger. Jaune's aura pool was considered extremely large compared to the average human, but his pool was still very immature.
This meant that his aura pool still had a lot of room to grow. Barth said that if they were to train hard enough, he could probably quadruple it. The issue with doing that however was the amount of effort it would take. It would require intense day to day training.
Since it was theoretically possible, Jaune was willing to shoot for it. He knew this was one of his biggest advantages in combat, so he was going to capitalize on it. Not only that, but aura is great for defenses. Those who are more familiar to aura can also use it offensively. Those with complete mastery can use both at the same time, having their guard up while boosting their offenses.
If his style was going to be a more defensive one, mastery of aura would be a must. It would give him the edge in outlasting opponents, while also being able to deal damage. It was perfect!
After dinner was over, Jaune and Oobleck did some more stuff for his studies. The rapid pace of the man with the worst tie in existence was pretty hard to follow. Jaune barely managed to keep up with the man as they went through the first parts of history. Jaune desperately kept on scribbling notes as Oobleck went over the first few chapters of history as they know it.
After their little session of studying, the two separated ways and Jaune went on to grab his stuff to work out. Again.
His schedule said to do some more cardio and weight lifting. It was not the most interesting or fun thing to do. Training never was. Any form of good training is not fun. It feels and it should feel like hell itself. After all, if you didn't work yourself to the bone, was it really training?
This is the view that Jaune acquired over his few days of training. He felt the results of his training pretty well, but it was taxing. Not to say that it was a bad thing, it was more of a general statement.
'To make ends meet. That's why I have to keep going.' He thought to himself as he kept on going. He was currently doing push-ups. His schedule said that he had to do 3 reps of 80 push-ups. His body was aching, but he kept on going. There were times that he thought he couldn't go on, but he always could. Perhaps it is true about what they say about your mind giving up faster than what you are actually capable of.
Regardless, he finished his push-ups, which was also the final thing on his schedule. He went to the changing rooms to take a quick shower and headed back to the dorm room.
Inside the dorm room, Jaune was sure to be quiet. It seemed like everyone was already asleep by the time he arrived, so he didn't want to wake them up. It was already around 23:30, so it wasn't weird that they were already asleep. He undressed himself and went to bed, again not bothering to put on his onesie.
Little did he know that someone was still awake. A certain spartan redhead was without a doubt worried about the blond knight. From what she could see when she sneakily watching him undress, which sounded way worse than what she was actually doing (not that she didn't enjoy the show), she could see how tired he looked. Pushing yourself too hard wasn't healthy.
She almost wanted to call out on Jaune, but by the time she wanted to try, little snoring sounds could already be heard from the boy in question. She sighed. Perhaps they could talk about it tomorrow or sometime soon.
So… yeah. I know, I know, it has been a while. I want to apologize for taking so long. My motivation for writing kind of dipped down low badly. Anxiety regarding reviews were also not helping. I got a message basically saying that I should either put this story on finished or give a new chapter. Well, here is my response. Once you start writing these stories, you truly start respecting the writers of bigger stories. With my half-assed English (since it's not my native language) and sub-par writing skills I try to make due. The story was always going to be a longer one, despite how hard it would be. Training shouldn't be short montages of people doing a few quick things and suddenly growing OP. That's more telling, rather than showing. This chapter did cut some of the training parts short, yes, but that was to make a bit more space for Peter. In every story I see him as the least flashed-out teacher and I wanted to give my own twist on him. I hope you all had a good time reading the chapter and if you didn't, then I would like to apologize and I hope the next thing you will do/read with give you a better time.
PS the first author's note at the start of the chapter is when I started writing this thing, which was a while ago mind you. This one is the one I wrote after writing the chapter.
~MT
New editor's note:
Hey all. You know how I said motivation dipped down and stuff, well that basically happened again. Though as some of you know, I was gonna release this chapter a while back, but the site didn't agree with this. So yeah. Here we are. I apologize once again for the people who have been waiting and thank you all so much for the support. The amount of anxiety I have with writing this stuff is insane. Honestly, I respect the hell out of any writer when it comes to this stuff. Thank you all so much and see you later!
~MT
P.S. (I know, kinda redundant by now) but if this thing becomes illegable again, I'm just gonna give up on this.
