Journal Entry 152
Day 94 in Beacon, Vale, Remnant
Just finished working on the new 3D printer. The technology they have here is quite fascinating, but very focused in one aspect.
Their primary use of these is in manufacturing electronics. In a way they are like an advanced version of the factory droid back home. Super useful, but not a very efficient application with respect to the potential it has.
What I've managed to do is utilize the complex application of this technology in application cases such as rapid protyping, and simplify the design with the advantages of Dust.
Ah Dust. I can't stress the wonder it creates in my mind, even though I think I have written about it more than I should. But truly, this is something borderline magical. Any sufficiently advanced technology is indistinguishable from magic, and I think that is the case here too. I just have to figure out how 'aura' works, and I think that will unlock the secrets to these wonderful crystals.
I still remember the feeling that I got when I had my aura unlocked. Qrow had done the honors, but there was no ceremony or anything. I said a few words and then Qrow concentrated his own aura to unlock mine. Some sort of resonance at work here, which is a big clue this could be a physical process of some kind.
My aura has gotten stronger ever since it got unlocked, and today it reached the level that is average among students my age. Glynda said that my rate of aura growth was very exceptional, which really piqued my interest.
Now I wonder if my being here from another planet had anything to do with it. Maybe the stricter gravity, among other possibilities, could have made me different that the others?
These questions have been plaguing me from the very first day. I have talked to Ozpin about these topics, but his cryptic answers drive me up the wall. Glynda thankfully had some more solid answers. You could always count on Glynda to be there to help you. One of my favorite people already.
Anyways, what she said was that there hasn't been much research into this topic, what with fundamentalists lobbying to prevent funding from going to into it. There was a popular belief aura was a manifestation of one's soul and thus was sacred.
I think it's all bullshit but hey, I shouldn't judge.
I've experimented with it a lot, testing its abilities. Its ability to stop incoming projectiles was a very early discovery, but lately I have confirmed that it does not stop gasses or slow moving projectiles. Seems like it is meant to be a precaution against anything that could blindside you.
Aura is also used to activate Dust, something which slipped my mind today. Let's just say that a corner of the lab is no more. Anyways, I have to go do something else. Exciting stuff is on the horizon.
Jaune got up from his desk and stretched, working the stiffness from his limbs. Staying in a single position while soldering things to a motherboard all day was not good for the body. Thankfully, aura worked its magic and he was soon feeling quite normal.
He walked over to the water fountain and poured himself a glass. He took a sip and sighed in contentment as his gaze swept his lab, the corner a slight against the chaotic beauty of the lab.
He had managed to convince Ozpin to promote him up from just being an assistant in the weapons lab to having his own lab set off from the other labs. This one was next to Beacon's large warehouse where all sorts of materials and Dust were stored.
Jaune had quickly organized the place in a method of his choosing, which Glynda Goodwitch the Deputy Headmistress (much like his parents) called a 'mess'.
Jaune had managed to do such a thing by ascending quickly through the ranks of the engineers working for Beacon. His unique ideas and methodology had made him stand out from the others. He had absorbed the knowledge that humanity here had acquired about Dust and blended that with his scientific background.
The result had been extraordinary. Improved efficiency of electronic equipment using Shock Dust and the theories of electricity. Better outflow of heat from electronics, higher throughput of engines, just to name a few.
The resulting blueprints that Jaune had drafted had impressed Ozpin. Jaune attributed his non-traditional ideas to a lack of bias resulting from living out of the city for all his life.
Ozpin had bought it. And here Jaune was, his own lab to put his own ideas into practice.
The school year was almost over. Students his age would be starting school in 4 months, and Jaune was actually slightly dreading that. The other kids in school generally left him alone, but he wasn't so sure about the new students, especially at Jaune's newfound prominence in the Weapons and Engineering Department.
Though that was just a small blot against the great glow of satisfaction that he felt. His plan was progressing nicely, each step successful without much resistance. The latest piece had been a 3d printer to print both plastics and metals.
Dust was a huge marvel, and Jaune used it to his full advantage. What used to be considered incredibly difficult to do with traditional technology could be achieved with Dust. Wires and connections and all sorts of things that had to be used in devices on Earth could be removed, with Shock crystals being placed wherever electricity was needed.
Jaune finished his glass and set it down. He walked to the opposite corner of the lab where a small hole had been cut into the side of a set of drawers, invisible to anyone who wasn't actively looking for it.
Jaune reached in and heaved out a heavy metal capsule, using his aura to boost his strength. The steel and glass capsule slid out, warm pink light glowing from the inside. Jaune had constructed it on the down low, after reading about some of the experiments that had been carried out during the Color War years ago.
Aura which, along with acting like a shield, also acts like a healing field. Jaune had cut himself many different ways of purpose to observe how his tissues regenerated. Aura apparently used the nutrients in his own body to regrow tissues at an accelerated rate.
The flesh that came back wasn't exactly the same as it had been before at first. Muscles seemed less full than before and tendons were weaker than they had been before. Jaune had to take in more nutrition that before in order to bring up the new tissues to their previous state.
Using this knowledge and the experimental data from the poorly covered-up Color War experiments to make a 'bio-capsule'. The metal and glass container contained what was essentially amniotic fluid: a soup of nutrients that would help the growth of any tissues inside.
He had taken his own genetic material and flesh, and suspended it in place. Several strategically placed Aura Crystals (empty Dust Crystals that could hold raw Aura) fueled the regeneration process.
Jaune had been observing its progress over a couple of weeks and had been more or less satisfied with it so far. The body had been growing well so far, most of the internal organs mostly formed. A steady supply of raw nutrients and Aura, some foreign materia to prevent allergic reactions, a warm environment and some other details ensured that the body was growing quite nicely.
Jaune closed his eyes and meditated to collect his thoughts and refocus himself. His initial goal with the body was to firstly, see if it was scientifically possible to grow a body from naught but Aura and flesh. That could come in handy if something were to go wrong in combat, which is a distinct possibility at Beacon.
His second, more altruistic goal, was to create a group of sentinels of sorts. Crime was rampant in Vale, which was to be expected of a city of its size. Dust robberies in broad daylight was just the tip of the iceberg.
There was also the problem of racism against Faunus: humans with animal-like traits. Or that was the consensus of one group of scientists. Another group concluded Faunuses were a different, parallel species that could interbreed with regular humans.
Whatever they were, tensions had been high between humans and Faunus for tens of generations. It had seemed to be getting better with new, progressive laws being put into effect to equalize Faunus and human rights.
That hadn't stopped the racism, which didn't surprise Jaune much, given the state of Earth's sociopolitical climate. There had been groups like the White Fang which had made the situation worse by their violent and criminal acts against human-owned businesses.
Something had to police this sort of behavior, something impartial and non-judgmental. Robotic sentinels were nice in concept and all, but not even Dust could easily fix the fundamental problems of balance and other basic necessities.
A more human touch was required, one that was impersonal and could easily be replicated in case operations went wrong. Hence the capsule and its contents.
Jaune had no expectations about what the final result would be, but he felt quite confident about it. He knew he could never reveal this to the world, but he felt quite proud of how right his theories were turning out to be. It was time to wait and see.
Journal Entry 241
Day 147 in Beacon, Vale, Remnant
Well, shit.
Turns out, there was a reason that the Color War experiments were hushed up far more than the 'crimes' implied. The body that was created was braindead, much like I had anticipated. Aura wasn't able to undo major brain damage in most cases and this was quite the extreme case.
The real problem was that the body was highly disfigured. The body had grown fine macroscopically, but the details were where the disfigurements started. The face was just a mess, with everything around the eyes all scarred and marked.
That was true with most of the body. The entire thing looked like the skin was put through a filter in Photoshop. The senses still worked thankfully, but the muscles were underdeveloped. I had left the body in the soup for a couple extra days but to no effect.
The muscles simply could not do anything more than support themselves. They wouldn't be able to lift stuff, wield tools, etc. Something would be required to move him around, especially with the chronic case of being brain-dead.
Next step: exoskeleton, I guess. The aura crystals peppered inside the body could be used to power the exoskeleton in a way. It's going to take a while and a lot of space to do this, but I think I can make do.
Journal Entry 297
Day 201 in Beacon, Vale, Remnant
Alright, that's good. The exoskeleton works decently well. I have installed computer chips in some of the joints to coordinate movement better.
I also scared myself half to death when the body spasmed slightly when I was working on my aural exercises. After calming down and examining the behavior, I determined that the cause of the spasm was the aura I was giving off.
Somehow my aura inside the crystals thinks the generated body is a clone of my actual body, which is quite interesting. As a result, when I flare my aura outwards, the aura in the crystals resonate, causing the body's muscles to jerk.
After careful experimentation, it seems like I can tune this to create a passable representation of a walking man. That fits perfectly into my plans for the fella, since the exoskeleton doesn't have to manually coded and wired; it can work off the aura impulses I send to it from my real body.
More experimentation is needed before I can put the body to work.
Jaune dropped the pen into the holder, closed his journal, and lay back on his bed with a sigh. Glynda had starting training him in combat ever since the extraordinary growth of his aura. Jaune had taken some self-defense classes back home, which helped his story about learning to defend himself outside of the kingdoms sound more true.
Glynda was…a hard teacher, but by no means unfair. She would correct his mistakes in techniques, always pushing him to get better. Jaune learned to use a sword and shield, the starter weapons most kids of his build start off with.
Along with the sword and shield, he honed his aural abilities to be used both offensively, defensively, as well as for movement. He tackled obstacle courses that pushed him to jump higher and longer, and push his stamina to the limits.
Thankfully, Glynda always scheduled these practices after his daily lab work when the practice fields were empty. Jaune knew that some of the students wandering the grounds recognized him based on their glares, but he ignored them.
Every night he went to bed utterly exhausted and went out like a light when his head touched the pillow. Every morning he would wake up refreshed and ready to tackle the day's challenges. It was a good life.
…
It wasn't a good life. Everything hurt. All over.
Jaune groaned in pain as he rolled around on the ground, his back feeling as if it was truly on fire.
"Get up Jaune, you're fine. If you can't stand then just hold still and let your aura heal you."
Jaune grit his teeth and waited for the itching that accompanied aural healing. Glynda was right, as usual, but it was hard to stay still when your back was ripping itself apart, for the love of…
"Jaune. Get up now or we do that again."
Jaune scrambled to his feet, the thought of jumping again abhorrent to him. According to Goodwitch, the jump he had just made, off the top of Beacon Dorms, was something that the students did for fun sometimes.
A fifty-meter jump for fun? Friggin' mental, that's what these guys are.
Jaune groaned and stretched his back to bring it back to a feeling of normalcy. He had tried to do a roll upon landing but had ended up almost fracturing his back. It was some of the most agonizing pain he had ever experienced but aura came through just in time.
Glynda smiled slightly, but there was no goodwill in it. "Nothing seems to have broken, and your aura levels are in the green."
No. Please no.
"Let's do it again shall we?"
…
Journal Entry 335
Day 227 in Beacon, Vale, Remnant
Finally, after weeks of work, the body is ready for proper use. I have implemented basic movement systems into the exoskeleton, with the majority of fine movements being controlled by me consciously.
I have a suite of weapons that I have designed and prototyped with me that I shall use to ascertain the capabilities of the suit. So here goes nothing.
Journal Entry 336
Day 227 in Beacon, Vale, Remnant
Alright, so that was a much better test than I could have hoped for. Thankfully I still haven't fixed the ruined corner of the lab, as I would have had to fix it again after the trigger finger froze as I was firing explosive Dust rounds at a target.
The body is mostly functional and after an hour of messing around I have started to gain finer motor control. It comes naturally, which I don't know is a result of the aura 'seeping' into the body or just practice being very effective.
I'll have to make another body to test this train of thought out. Here goes nothing.
The pen dropped out of scarred hands and hit the ground. The body shambled away to the pod with hesitant steps and climbed in.
Jaune opened his eyes and stared at the ceiling, barely aware of the rest of the world. He felt calm and serene, truly at peace with himself. There was a part of his brain that was popping champagne, but that was ignored.
He had done it. The impossible. He had accomplished in months. What Remnant's scientists had started years ago had been finished by him. A knocking at the lab door brought him back to the real world.
"Jaune? Did you fall asleep in there? Are you coming today or not?"
Oh shieee…. Jaune scrambled over to the pod and hurriedly put it back into its hiding spot. Glynda was at the door, and his watch told him that he was very very late for combat practice.
"No! I mean, yes! I mean, no I'm not asleep and yes, I'm coming. Just got caught up in um, tweaking this ammunition." That wasn't really a lie, he indeed had been trying to make a more compact, stable mixture of explosive Dust.
"Good. I hope you had your fun in there because you won't be having any at practice."
Jaune gulped.
Journal Entry 376
Day 258 in Beacon, Vale, Remnant
Did you know there was a cave system under Beacon? I didn't! As I was finally getting around to properly fixing what I had dubbed the 'Destruction Corner', I decided to run some scans of the area around it to see if I could expand to hide the three bodies that I had created.
The closet was overflowing and all it would take for this to come to light was an overenthusiastic janitor who hated reading signs. There were a couple like that around Beacon, which had led to some close calls with volatile Dust before Glynda assigned them far away from the R&D Department.
Anyways, so what I found was surprising: the rock underneath actually got less dense relative to distance! I decided to probe a little deeper (only a few dozen meters) before I found a large cave.
A few sounding probes later, I was now aware of a large cave, possibly a system of caves, underneath the R&D Department. It should be a relatively easy task to drill a meter-radius hole down into the ground to hide the bodies. And I just realized how bad that sounds.
Anyways, an empty cave system would be an amazing resource for obvious reasons. The hard part would be hiding the drill and sounds of the drill from the rest of the school. It'll be hard, but the power of Dust compels me!
Or something like that anyways.
Journal Entry 400
Day 290 in Beacon, Vale, Remnant
400 entries in the journal! Whoo.
Two hundred and ninety days in this world.
Almost 80% of a year in and I doubt anyone could do all I have done so far in 10 times that. Countless inventions and new ideas, innovations and iterations to existing technology, doing stuff only dreamed about!
I have created clones that can be controlled by aura and technology in perfect harmony. I have made weapons for them, from swords to pistols to rifles to javelins. So far I have ten bodies at my disposal, with more developing in my Lab 2.0 as I call the large cave under Beacon.
The rest of the system remains a mystery and while I would like to explore it, it will have to wait. I have created rudimentary AI for everything from monitoring the lab to scouring the CCT for news.
Computer chips were easy to create with the 3D printer technology I modeled after existing Remnant technology. Thanks to this invention in Remnant, scrolls were ubiquitous in Vale, and innovations could move past the stage where 'make the bloody think smaller' was a valid innovation.
All this and more I have done, yet I have never actually set foot outside the Beacon grounds before. Seriously, with the amount of crime that is reported on the hour, part of me doesn't even want to go in case I get caught up in an attempted robbery.
But I knew I had to, to get at least some basic knowledge about how crime was being conducted at this frequency around the city. There had to be a larger group that conducted the smaller gangs.
Until I knew what I was looking for, just going to the city and trying to find crime would be a dumb idea. I had to find the group responsible as discreetly as possible without alerting them to outside interference.
There is no real reason for me to do this; I didn't even belong here! But I can't just let crime consume this city while I trained to get into Beacon proper. I couldn't willingly take the oath to protect humanity while humans fought and killed each other right next door.
Batman may or may not have influenced me here, but I don't think anyone here is going to accuse me of being cliché.
I have been receiving intense training from Glynda for the duration of my stay at Beacon. This training is far more than the average student gets in the first 8 years of their education. My large aura reserves, my willingness to learn, and Glynda's sadistic training regime made me into a competent fighter with all sorts of weapons.
I had managed to catch up to the level of the average student my age about 2 weeks ago. I had hated Glynda's training but after I passed the tests she had given me that day; the elation had been worth it. It was one of the best feelings to finally finish the obstacle course and defeat the sparring robots without feeling like death.
Glynda had been pleased to pop that bubble by informing me that the regime that I could barely keep pace with day after day was the same regime that first year students were expected to be used to.
'The average student does not go to Beacon, Jaune.' She had said. 'If you wish to get in, you will have to prove yourself to your classmates. That is, if you wish to get in.'
The next two weeks had somehow gotten even harder, but it never felt unfair. That was the only thing that stopped me from quitting, knowing that this was for my own benefit.
So I knew that I could hold my own against any gang of thugs on the street, even if some of them were trained in aura usage. The real problem lay with Hunter-trained individuals. Thankfully, 99% of Hunter-trained individuals stayed on the straight and narrow, with the odd rogue exception.
So that was the question of personal safety almost dealt with. There was still the question of personal armor. Most Hunters wore armor in line with their fighting style. Some preferred heavy, full body armor to help them tank heavy blows.
Others wore minimal armor to maximize mobility. I have decided on a compromise of the two, a set that would keep me nimble but still protect me from large blows. A large chestplate with Aura and Dust Crystals embedded within went over the chest of the clone, followed by shoulder pads and some leg guards.
A simple sword, Dust crystal studded of course, and a shield. Guess what was in the shield? I had darkened the color of the metal to help blend into the dark alleys and shadows better. No point in standing out like a Christmas tree, was there?
A helmet slotted over the head lastly, with a basic Heads-Up Display on the visor. It would display the amount of aura that was left in the Aura crystals in the clone's chest as well as a basic motion tracker.
It was a basic prototype of something greater, but it would have to do for now.
Now that's all the problems I've managed to fix. The biggest puzzle piece I'm missing is the identity or whereabouts of anyone who controls the gangs of this city. A chap called Roman Torchwick has been popping up on the news a lot lately for thefts from Dust shops across the city.
According to most reports, he is a proficient Hunter level fighter who has, so far, never been caught. He has hit a dozen of stores over the last 6 months, which is a little ridiculous.
There is a club in Downtown Vale, around ten miles away from Beacon Cliff that I can hit up for information. According to the general consensus, the club is owned by a man, Junior Xiong, whose men have been arrested many times in many different cases. It is an upscale club with a seedy background.
Seems like a perfect place to hit up for my first excursion.
Obligatory AN: What'd you think of the chapter? Anything I can fix? Anything you especially liked? Please review and PM me with this stuff, I love to get them and it helps me write better. Thanks for reading!
