Disclaimer: I do not own RWBY.

Screw it, I'm out

Adam

Okay, first discovery upon exiting the dungeon, it was still dark out. I was confused since I spent five to six hours in the dungeon the sun should be starting to rise by now. Secondly, I found that I was granted a few rewards upon clearing the dungeon.

The first reward wasn't that grand, five stat points. The second reward was a book. I got excited and took it out immediately. The book was black with purple marki8ngs that seemed to glow slightly in the dark.

Item: Book of runes (Basic)

My eyes widen. A book of runes? I smiled. Rune magic is somewhat interesting seeing that it was a type of magic that relied on carving runes to cast magic spells. Though magic wouldn't usually be what I would think could be something I would put under consideration runecraft might be an exception due to how it worked.

But before that I decided to sneak into my shack. Using my Hide skill, sneaking into a shack with all its occupants asleep was child's play. I went in and scoop some water from the trough I tried to pour the water into the inventory and it actually worked. Smiling, I continued this for a bit more before leaving.

Sneaking out, I looked for a secluded place to perform my experiment. Once I found the place, I open my inventory and poured the water out on the ground until it became a bit muddy. I scooped up the mud and tried to make a mud doll. I stopped and look at the monstrosity once it looked vaguely humanoid.

I then got a notification.

A new skill has been unlocked due to action performed by the player!

Skill: Construct unlock! The ability to construct objects out of materials that is in possession of player. The higher the level the more objects player can construct and the higher the quality of constructs able to make becomes.

I smirked and pick up my mud doll and used mana scan followed by deconstruct. I then use construct to make a better mud doll followed by mana scan and then deconstruct again. I continued doing this while holding the mud doll in my right hand while I took out the book I got and sat down to read.

While doing this I activated Bio-energy affinity to heat up my body slightly since it was cold and I couldn't stay warm through exercise. Another bad thing about not having Gamer's body, my body is affected by the surrounding temperature even if it is not too extreme.

A few hours later

As we were marched to the quarry, I looked at my skills that I leveled up and acquired.

Construction (level 10): The ability to construct objects using materials that are possessed by the player.

Deconstruct (level 13): The ability to use your mana to aim for structural weaknesses and exploit them to deconstruct a structure.

Mana scan (Level 15): The ability to use mana to determine an object's attribute.

I also learned a few basic runes and how to cast them last night.

Runecraft (Level 0): Required knowledge to cast met, now awaiting second requirement met

Now, I have to figure out this requirement thing. I figured that it was due to lack of dexterity but if so, then wouldn't there be a message that would have told me that? Whatever the case I will have to figure it out after I escape. Yes, I plan to escape now.

My reasoning is quite simple, my appearance. Remember how I leveled up a lot and my stats got raised? Yeah, apparently, I didn't need any of the physical stats to reach forty or above. Even at its current level I went from a lanky nine years old to what can be mistaken for a teenage athlete.

I grew from four feet and three inches into five feet and seven inches tall. My muscles were also showing and I could see what looked like the beginning of a six-packs. All this in less than a month… Yeah, pretty hard not to notice.

I activated my hide skill and avoided anyone that knew me personally. The hide skill would make people pay less attention to me but if someone like Greg, Dr Soleil or my personal overseer then that will be a completely different story, especially if they are actively looking for me. My only choice would be to escape at this point in order to avoid too much trouble.

I know that there should be a few healing runes in that book somewhere but I haven't gotten that far yet. Once I learn those, I can help heal Ana and her more serious injuries should have been taken care of by now anyway. Well, at least that is assuming I can figure out the other requirement that needs to be met and actually meet it.

I snap out of my musing when I noticed that we were almost there. I was about to make my move when I suddenly got an alert.

Bloodlust Detected!

My eyes widen and I quickly looked around but I couldn't see anything around us except snow and some trees. I studied the skies but saw no sign of hostile forces. Why had my Bloodlust detection skill alert me of bloodlust?

I focused on my skill. Hmm, it seems that the bloodlust is coming from… underneath? Wait, what? No sooner than I thought of the question the ground around us erupted. The miners panicked and ran in random directions while the overseers pulled out their respective weapons.

I stood there like an idiot. The creature that appeared was definitely a Grimm but I had never seen this kind before. It looked like a giant centipede. Looking at the name above its head I saw that it was classified as a Centinel.

The name was red. The Centinels turned towards the panicking miners as they were drawn by their negativity. I snapped out of my daze and activated the reinforcement skill on the pickaxe. I charged towards the closest Centinel and drove the pickaxe into its unprotected underbelly.

The Grimm let out a cry of pain and turns in order to try and bite me. I jumped back just out of its range to avoid the attack before charging back in. With both hands on my pickaxe, I swung it upwards. The pickaxe manages to cut into its skin but nowhere near enough to prove fatal.

The grim swung its body and body slams me to the side, sending me flying a good distance. I turned my fall into a backflip and landed on me feet before stumbling a bit and falling on my rear. I winced, that hurt and ate a lot of my HP. I lost a fourth of my HP. Only four hits from this creature and I am dead. And that was a body slam. What about its bite or something else?

My attacks barely made any damage. Should I pull out my sword or knife? No, that will draw too much attention. Wait, my enemy is a Grimm and if my theory is correct. I dashed at the Centinel. The Grimm tries to hit me with the same attack but I bent my knees and leaned back mid charge, allowing me to slide underneath the attack and then I place my open palm on the Grimm.

I only held it for a few seconds and was forced to roll out of the way when the Grimm tried to crush me with its body weight. But already got what I wanted. The Grimm lifted itself back up. While it was open, I leapt onto its back. The Grimm tries to shake me off. I hugged its body with my legs before slamming my opened right palm on the Centinel's body. "Mana strike." I muttered.

I lifted my hand up and saw that the Grim was dissolving into black smoke from where I had been touching. The Grimm fell to the ground as it faded away. So, my theory was right. Grimms are basically magic golems so I used the same method I used to neutralized that priest's spell. I stood back up and looked around to see the overseers fighting of the other Centinels.

I got a bit of exp, even more than killing the onis and animals, but did not level up. I turned when I heard a cry of pain. Another Centinel had just strike another miner. The miner was a bit too far for me to get to in time without enhancing myself. So, I decided to reinforce my arms and throw my pickaxe at the Centinel as hard as I can.

The pickaxe hit the Centinel but did no visible damage but it did get its attention. The Centinel turned as I ran towards it. It charged at me but I managed to leap over it and tried to use mana scan on it once I landed on top of the Centinel.

What the heck? Why is it taking so long for me to find the heart on this one? The Centinel began thrashing around trying to get me to let go of it. I held on as if my life depended on it (and it actually did) after a few more seconds I finally found it.

I pulled my right arm back and punched the Centinel and followed up with a mana strike. The Centinel let out a pained shriek before falling to the ground dead. I actually leveled up on that one. Some of the overseers were still fighting and these Centinel's weren't too hard to kill for them but the numbers are what was making things difficult.

The overseers were armed with rifles for range and swords or batons for close combat. I looked around and decided to attack the next closest Centinel. This one was strange. I placed my hand on it and I was able to almost instantly identify where the heart was and before the Centinel even knew I was there I had already climbed onto its back and used mana strike at its head, killing the heart of the spell holding it together.

My eyebrows furrowed, why was it so easy for some and so hard for others? I shook my head and attempted to help but was interrupted by a loud roar. I looked up at the sound and saw what maybe the thing that would kill me.

The Grimm that landed was huge. It had the head and the body of a lion, the wings of an eagle and a scorpion tail and horns. It was also very large. I mean the thing was basically a flying mini bus but a bit bigger. How much RWBY was I missing!?

The Grimm locked its gaze on the closest target, an overseer who had been distracted by its sudden appearance was taken by surprise by one of the Centinels. He managed to kill it and his aura took most of the blow.

Now that I look at him, why was he just standing there? The Grimm got ready to pounce at him and I got a good look at its name.

Manticore

And it was in crimson red.

I feel like the mystery marks where the level should be was trying to give me a good idea on how tough it is. Regardless, I tensed my muscles and sprinted towards the manticore while pulling out my sword. I didn't care if people will get suspicious, I needed as much help as I can to beat this thing.

Once I closed the distance, I leaped up and tried to run through its eye with the sword. The damn thing only grazed off the eye! And to add insult to injury another message pop out.

Manticore did not feel any pain.

I did, however, get its attention. The problem was that getting its attention probably wasn't a good thing if my plan involved surviving. The manticore used its scorpion tail to whack me out of the air and causing me to crash into the ground.

A small crater formed and I took so much damage that my health had basically been cut in half, if not more. The manticore turned back to me and tries to sting me with its tail. I managed to get out of the way using every skill that will improve my speed but even then, it had been close.

The manticore turned and tries to sting me again but I managed to narrowly dodge that attack too. I can already tell that beating this Grimm is way above my current ability and my best bet would be to distract it.

I threw my sword back into the inventory while still running and ducked under a claw swipe. Honestly, this thing is smart. Wait, maybe if I can grab hold of it…

I sidestepped out of a strike from its scorpion tail and grabbed onto it. The Grimm pulled back its tail and began to shake it around in an attempt to get me off of it. I held firm and used mana scan.

A few seconds later I found a problem. I couldn't find its heart. It's as if the 'veins' of the magic is a forest and I am looking for a treasure with no map, compass or any form of instruction. Basically, impossible.

The Grimm eventually forced me off of its tail but I was able to turn my fall into a landing. I landed a few feet away from the Grimm. Okay so that plan failed. Now, what next? The Grimm open its mouth and I noticed that something was starting to glow in there.

Ah, you have got to be kidding me. The Grimm shot a fireball at me but I was able to roll out of the way. So Grimms can shoot fireballs now, okay then. In hindsight I should have seen this coming.

While I was still recovering from the roll, the Grimm lunges at me. Noticing this, I increased my leg strength with reinforcement and bio-electricity to jump over it. The Grimm landed below me and tried to put everything into my right arm and delivered a punch at the Grimm's back. If this things defense is too high for my sword to pierce than maybe blunt force will work.

The Grimm let out a small grunt but other than that there was no visible damage. I saw the Grimm's tail moving towards me. Damn it! I can't get out of the way in time! Feeling desperate, I channeled mana and bio-electricity into my free hand and focused it out of me.

What resulted was a stream of blue lightning blasting out and intercepting the tail. The two collided and caused a small explosion but the tail continued as if nothing happened. However, the tail hit nothing but air.

Due to the small explosion, I was pushed away. Landing on my feet, I decided to focus on keeping myself out of its sight. The Grimm tries to turn in order to face me but I had already ran to its other side.

I scowled as I ran around it in order to strike from its blind spot. I punched the Grimm and used mana strike, hopping this will cause it some damage. But my eyes widen as the mana I force into its body was quickly swept away by the mana flowing inside the Grimm.

The Grimm must have realized where I was because it buckled its front legs and kicked me with its hind legs. The blow sent me flying a few feet away and crashed into a bed of snow. I groaned and spit out blood from my mouth.

What was I thinking when I decided to fight this thing? The Grimm wasn't satisfied with me yet. As I got up, I saw that the Manticore was about to blast me with another fire ball. My eyes widen. Seeing as how it is either fight or die (I doubt I could outrun this thing once it starts to fly and blast me with fireballs from above) I decided to take another gamble.

I raised my right hand and tried to use that skill I had used earlier. When I saw a message pop out, I was honestly surprised by what I say but decided to keep my focus on my task. "Snipe." I muttered before the Blue lightning shot out.

The attack surprised the manticore and the lightning went into its mouth as it was about to release the fireball. The fireball exploded in its mouth and the Grimm began to growl as it reared its head back and shook it side to side.

I took the opportunity to pull out a bow and arrow, nocked the arrow I used construct to turn the arrows head to have a more drill like look to it and reinforce my arms, the bow and arrow. I even channeled my bio-electricity to the arrowhead.

I let the arrow fly. The arrow hit the Grimm but didn't cause as much damage as I had hopped. The arrow just cut a very shallow cut. I scowled but there wasn't much I can do. The manticore had recovered and spread its wings.

My eyes widen, if that thing got airborne then my options to damage it will decrease. I charged forward in an attempt to stop it but truthfully, I don't know what I was going to do to stop it. Whatever it was, it didn't matter as the Grimm swiftly turn, using one of its wings to hit my side once I got close enough.

Gasping in pain, I fell yet again to the ground. The Grimm raised its scorpion tail and strike me with it but I manage to roll out of the way. The Grimm continuously tries this, not giving me a chance to get up.

The Grimm then growled in frustration and took to the skies before I could do anything. I gritted my teeth. The Grimm began bombarding me with fireballs. I think I am screwed. I looked at my health. Yeah, even when my passive skill Self-Preservation is activated it will only take two good hits to kill me.

I began dashing away while the Grimm shot fireballs at me. My plan was to make a run in the direction of the flying city. Hey, Atlas is known for its military power so I am sure they can spare some of it to help kill this Grimm.

I activated sprint and bio-electricity along with reinforcing them with mana. The result was me becoming so fast that if increasing my speed didn't also miraculously increase my reflex then I everything I ran past would be a blur.

Hmm, I feel like this could be used as an exploit…

As I ran, I heard the flapping wings of the Grimm. That thing was keeping up! Damn it! The Grimm began shooting fireballs at me. How did I know? One of them almost hit me but missed and blew up a bit to far ahead to my left.

I began running in a zig-zag in hope to confuse this Grimm. The Grimm just kept trying to shoot me. After what felt like hours of dodging and running, I saw something a head. It was still too far to make out the details but I think it was man made.

I couldn't make it as the Grimm finally shot a fireball that still missed, but it blew up right next to me, sending me falling onto my side. The Grimm flew ahead and landed right in front of me as I got up. The thing attacked me using its claws but I managed to dodge by jumping back.

Unfortunately, the Grimm was prepared for this and had already prepared another fireball at me before I even touched the ground. I raised my right hand and summoned a barrier made of mana. The fireball made contact with the mana wall and exploded, shattering the mana wall.

I took more damage and I went flying again. The Grimm was relentless. It lunges after me before I even comprehend that my feet left solid ground. The Grimm was either planning to pin me down with its entire body before finishing me off or it was going to just crush with its weight.

Regardless I quickly pulled out a bow with my left hand and drew two items from my inventory in my right. "Construct!" I nocked an arrow and focused mana into it before releasing. The arrow hit the Grimm right in the face.

While a normal arrow wouldn't have done anything, even with reinforcement, the arrow I shot had been modified with my Construct skill in order to incorporate another element to the arrowhead. I am so glad I took some of those dust.

The arrow exploded upon impact which surprised the Grimm and caused it to stamp onto the ground to stop it mid-lunge. I landed on my feet and pulled out an ice dust along with another arrow. Using construct, I then shot the Grimm with the dust at its face.

The arrow landed right between the eye, causing ice to form the top half of the face. The Grimm began trying to shake of the ice from its eyes while I used my electricity to heal myself. This thing is strong, fast and durable.

My only hope is to get help but can I make it to safety before this thing kills me? The answer? Probably not. The Grimm is able to fly faster than I could run and reinforcement won't help me for long seeing my mana is a tenth away from total depletion and my fatigue is at 30% so stamina is a go but it shows how powerful the Grimm is because my short scuffle with it forced me to push myself even more than the possessed priest.

I sigh. I need to at least make it lose its ability to fly. I pulled out my sword and channeled electricity through it. The sword let out sparks of yellow but that wasn't enough. I pushed it further. The sparks became brighter and more frequent.

I scowled. I need more. Pushing even more the yellow electricity no longer sparked but instead encased the sword in yellow with electricity flying everywhere. Compress. The electricity began to compress and the sword began to vibrate intensely.

I sigh and looked at my fatigue bar. Holy crap, that filled ten percent of the fatigue and it is increasing by one each minute it is maintained. I turned back to the Grimm who had just gotten the frost of with its claws.

I grit my teeth and focused reinforcement and bio-electricity into my arms and legs. That's it, if I fail then the Grimm will kill me. If I miss, I will no longer have mana and I might not get a chance like this again since I only had one ice dust.

I gripped the sword in both hands and it hurt. The electricity and the vibration were so intense that it was actually burning and peeling off my flesh. I charged forward with sprint as the Grimm turned towards me.

Seeing me running at it with a glowing sword probably set off alarms. As I got closer, Murphy's Law kicks in. I slipped on a puddle. The puddle was probably caused by the Grimm's fireball or my fire dust. I managed to regain footing but that momentary stumble bought the Grimm enough time to dodge to its left.

I swung my sword vertically but all I did was cut the Grimm's side. The cut was deep and half way along the length of the Grimm but it wasn't fatal. The Grimm used its wing to hit me and I fell a few feet away from it. The Grimm turns and prepares a fireball to finish me off.

I couldn't get up in time and the blow will kill me. In desperation I focused everything I had left into my right arm and threw the sword. The sword sailed quickly and buried itself between the right wing and the shoulder of the Grimm.

The Grimm roared and shot the fireball upwards. That's it! The Grimm shouldn't be able to fly now that it lost its right wing. I recalled my sword and true enough the wing fell limp on the Manticore's side.

I turned to run but the I screamed in pain before falling onto the snowy ground. Looking at my legs I saw that the Grimm was finally able to pierce one of my legs with its scorpion tail. The Grimm then began to charge another fireball.

I grit my teeth. So, is this how I die? This wasn't how I wanted to go out. Dying to a monster in the middle of a snowy area with my only company being the soul inside this body. Oh right, Adam is here. I looked at my health which was at ten.

… Good enough.

I looked at my still glowing sword and cut the scorpion tail with it. The Grimm roared again but to be honest, what was it expecting me to do? I tried pushing myself up but it looks like my Rehabilitation skill isn't instantaneous.

Stuck on the ground for now I took out more arrows from my inventory, five to be exact, and one more fire dust. Using construct, I created an arrow made out of metal and the dust became the arrowhead.

I shot the arrow and it hit at the exact spot the I hit the Grimm by throwing my sword, thus it dug right in there. It was quite easy with my snipe skill and the fact we weren't that far away and my dexterity being high.

The Grimm merely growled at this but before it can do anything, I focused my Bio-electricity into my finger and shot it at the shaft of the arrow. The electricity was conducted by the metal and into the dust.

If stable dust can be triggered by a sneeze then what about an unstable dust charged with electricity? The answer came in the form of an explosion. The Manticore actually stumbled to the left as its wing fell off.

I wasn't sure why but when I remembered Adam's presence, I actually felt his emotion. In it there was fear, anguish but among all of that there was determination and anger. Not at fate, not at the Grimm but at me. Angry that I would give up just like that.

The determination filled me with comfort and also cleared my thoughts a bit and that anger was telling me to do something instead of just waiting to die. No wait, the determination only helped me focus a bit more but it was Adam's presence that made me feel comfort. Because I knew that I wasn't alone and that is enough to comfort me this once.

I used the wooden sheath that I made from the shafts of the arrows to help me stand back up. Looks like Rehabilitation is done. My intention was to run but now? Adam was demanding blood and looking at the Manticore with no tail and with the lost of its right wing I felt like that it is possible.

Using my Bio-electricity I began to heal myself. The manticore finally recovers and looks at me but I had already began sprinting towards it. The Grimm tried to hit me with its front left claw once I got close but I stabbed my sword into the ground and pushed myself up so that the attack would hit the sword instead. The edge of it.

The Grimm roared as the sword dug into its wrist but I wasn't done. I replanted both feet to the ground and other side of the sword and held the hilt with both hands. Switching my Bio-electricity focus into strength, I pulled the sword out and cut it all the way through the wrist, severing the claw.

I then twisted my entire body and kicked the Grimm's face from its right. Under normal conditions the Grimm might have just shrug the blow off but with the lost of its right wing and left claw it couldn't maintain stability and so it actually fell onto its side.

Seizing the moment, I stabbed the sword into its exposed underbelly and drag the sword across its length of the body. The Grimm's body stilled for a moment before it began to fade. I grinned like and idiot before falling onto my knees.

I looked at my fatigue bar and what I saw shocked me. It was at 98%. What in the world!? Did maintaining the sword really took that much energy? Damn it! I turned towards the floating city and notice once again the thing in the distance. I sheathed the sword and put it away into my inventory. I sigh as I looked around to make sure no other Grimms were around. I then took something else out of my inventory.

It was the mud doll I made. I smiled and began using construct on it. I couldn't practice deconstruct due to the lack of mana right now but I can use it to change the dolls shape and form. While doing so I opened my skill list to look at my new skills.

Electric Vibration (level 2): By channeling and encasing your weapon with electricity you can now dramatically increase the damage and piercing power said weapon deals. However, casting and maintaining this skill requires a lot of stamina or mana depending on the nature of the electricity.

That is the skill I used just now to turn the tables on the manticore. So, it did use a lot of stamina but seeing how effective it was I wasn't really surprised. What I was really interested in was the two other skills I unlocked.

Electric Release (level 1): The ability to mold your chakra into the form of electricity and releasing it.

Chakra manipulation (level 1): The ability to generate and manipulate chakra by combining physical energy collected from every single one of the cells in the body (stamina) and mental energy collected from the mind's consciousness (mana).

It also seems that I unlocked an affinity for electricity…

Well, I guess I better keep going. I closed the screen and began to walk in the direction I had been heading in. I'll have to check on those skills later but for now I getting to Atlas is my main priority.

Antony's perspective

It has been an hour since the attack. Due to the Grimms ten miners had died, several injured. On the other hand, three overseers died and ten injured. Due to this event we decided to call for assistance and report the incident.

We were advised to hold back any mining activity for today until the military can get here and scout the surrounding area before continuing. I was honestly surprised that they had men to spare but was grateful nonetheless.

While waiting I heard that that Adam was missing after the event. Poor kid, probably died when the Grimms attacked. I frowned a bit at that. Despite my job, I really feel for the kid working his ass off to provide and take care of his sister.

And yes, I mean his sister, not himself, since when I looked through his records, I found that many, and I stress MANY, times he had been admitted to the medical shack due to various reasons. Some were scuffles when some overseer or miner tried to pick on his sister, others is due to malnutrition because he gave his food to his sister or overwork and there were times, he was punished due to mess ups which was a bit hard to believe he caused it if one thought it through. For example, how did he mess up the delivery of a cart of dust when it was his sister that had been tasked to make sure it got there while Adam had been literally thirty feet away from the cart?

I sigh, I wonder how Dr. Soleil is taking it? I knew Adam had also been helping her around the shack and I was honestly surprised the kid could and would help the other miners when you consider the rumors spreading about him. From what I understand, Dr. Soleil was also starting to like the kid.

Oh well, I suppose I had better get ready for some new orders.

Dr. Soleil's perspective

I wanted to cry. I wanted to scream. But I couldn't because I had patients to attend to. I rushed back and forth between patients in order to see to their needs. I had made a request for more help since tending to all these seriously wounded people all alone was too much, especially with Adam gone…

I took a deep breath and sigh. I need to forget about him for now. No, distractions. Just focus on what is important. I can grieve later.

After a few hours, I heard an airship land somewhere. I decided to head towards the direction of the sound. I reached for the doorknob but before I could pull it open someone else pushed it. Luckily, I was out of the door's range.

When the door opened, I saw a woman. The woman had a fair complexion and wore a black high neck blouse with studded wristbands on the arms, a black and white over bust corset, a skirt with white tulle underneath, gray leggings, and knee-high boots. She also wore a white hooded cloak and had black hair which gradually turned red. What stood out the most, however, were her silver eyes.

"Hello." The mystery woman greeted. She gave me a somewhat nervous smile, "Umm, I am here to meet someone. I heard that he is usually here when not in the mines."

I blinked. There was only one person that did that. My eyes narrowed, "Who are and what do you want with Adam?"

The woman's eyes widen, "Ah, his here then!" She then coughed into her fist and cleared her throat, "My name is Summer Rose!" The woman then offered her hand for me to shake, "And I am both Ana and Adam's new legal guardian! Well, at least for now anyway."

Okay done. Sorry I was late. Its just that I've been really busy lately and I also had a discussion with two of my friends (Who also write fanfics) and decided to make a few tweaks to my idea. Originally this arc was supposed to be finished in the next chapter but it will probably end up becoming longer so yeah.

Also, no respond to the reviews this time since I am writing this Author's note late at night and I just want to release a new chapter so I will answer reviews in the next chapter sorry. Also, for those wondering, yes, the MC fought an alpha. I thought of making it a pack of manticores instead but then remembered that an Alpha Ursa was once wondering around by itself so I thought, "Hey, this means Alpha's don't always have a pack and a pack of manticores lead by an Alpha might be a bit too much."

Also Summer Rose becoming their legal guardian is temporary due to reasons revealed int the next chapter.