RWBY: The D'arc Game of Life

by ThePlayer1Company

Jaune Arc has lived a quite normal life, sans his parents splitting up when he was 10. Regardless, he wants to be a Huntsman, a hero like his father! One day, he messes up in the best way possible, and a tiny splinter grows into a grand adventure, in which the blonde must play a dark game of life. Only time will tell the truth. RWBY/Gamer crossover

14. Hazy Skylines, Glowing Horizons

10/2/2016: Had to take a bit of time off, but I'm back in the game and ready to rock and write! (sorry for my dorkiness, but hey, I'd like to think that's part of why you people love me so much, ^w^)

10/3/2016 at 9:53 PM: Well... it was gonna happen at some point in the nearly 2 years I've been driving... I was in a car wreck. No injuries, just a lot of money down the drain and a lot of nerves shaken up. My dad wasn't even all that mad at the crash, just concerned if my mom or I were okay and unhurt. I admire his pragmatism and devotion to his family. I hope I can grow into that strong of a man in the future.

10/6/2016 at 3:23 AM: I don't know what happened to this week but everything has slipped by. I've barely made progress. As I type this, wordcount is at 3.0k. I'll try to remedy this ASAP.

10/11/2016 at 8:10 PM: I'm trying my best but I just... I dunno, I guess I'm feeling the pressure to put stuff out, but I only have 5.7k words done and this would be an absolute disappointment of a chapter if it took nearly two weeks to make and all I had to show for it was 5.7k words. Also, some disheartening from various reviews that just... I know it's just hate, but it really stung. However, with the power of OPTIMISM! I'm gonna put my all into making stuff that defies what those haters say!

10/18/2016 at 3:40 AM: The power has gone out 3 times today for absolutely no reason. I've lost what I was typing twice now, as well as this message. Luckily I'd only lost about a couple hundred words, but it still angers and depresses me. I am smad. The power just came on a few minutes ago and I've been getting my comp on again. I find the lack of luck... disturbing.

10/18/2016 at 12:26 PM: WOW! That new World of Remnant, eh? It reminded me that after a while, I need to actually properly map out my version of Remnant at some point. I'll probably make a big AN about it, I guess.

10/23/2016 at 11:49 AM: well, today is kinda just... eh. I'll attempt to finish more of the chapter before tomorrow, maybe even be able to post it tomorrow if I'm lucky and can work on it enough, but right now I just kinda feel... eh. I'm hungry.

11/2/2016 at 1:30 AM: Where has the time gone? God... I feel like terrible for not typing like I should have, but right now my chest is heavy with sleepiness. I'll wake up and start typing fresh in the morning. I'm going to finish this probably on my birthday.

11/25/2016 at 5:51 AM: Been typing the part with Weiss' perspective, and I realize she might be a little OOC or the part might read weird. I haven't typed in 3 fucking weeks. I don't know why, it just... it just devolved into a habit of not typing. I'm sorry everyone, for such an astronomical delay, but I promise I'll get this thing done before it's been 2 full months (so on the 28th) and I'll get to work on the next chapter right away, rather than take a 4 day break. I'm slowly getting my groove back, and I went through and fixed some things. God but I'm tired though, I'm going to bed and then starting back up first thing in the morning, ASAHFP, As Soon As Humanly Fucking Possible. Word count at this moment: 19,380.

12/3/2016 at 3:07 PM: Holy shit, college has been busy. I've been trying my best, and I don't want a total repeat of chapter 8. It's already taken 2 months, I don't want it to take 3. I'm going to do my best to clear my schedule for today, then work on the chapter nonstop. I'm at 21,452 words right now, and hopefully I can get a lot more today.

12/7/2016 at 10:24 AM: FUCKING FUCK! I had at least like 500 or so words typed, and was really getting into my typing mood again, when the FUCKING POWER CUT OFF FOR NO GODDAMN REASON: Currently at only 100 more words than 4 days ago, pissed as hell, and have to go to class. I'll probably put a second thing for today later. IDFK right now... UPDATE AT 12:20 AM: FUCK, I nearly slept through my whole class. It was an important class! Well, there's always later tonight. I'll probably get some rest before then, hopefully. I really wish I could finish this shit ASAP. I know some of you readers are concerned, and I am too. I'll do my best, but I can't give an update with just an A/N without the chapter too. It goes against my principals, and it fucks up the order of the chapters too... UPDATE AT 4:44 PM: Here's my wish: Finish this chapter before Friday. If I can do that, I'll feel accomplished. My final exam in psych is tomorrow, though, so I'll be a bit struggling to do that. Damn, not the best, but I'll get it done ASAP!... UPDATE AT 11:27 PM: I am fully awake and will probably work until dawn to get more stuff written out. I severely hope so. Today has been a long one.

12/11/2016 at 3:33 PM: Well... I've not gotten more done, and it sure as hell wasn't done before Friday. I'm not letting this go on. I'm going to finish it either today or tomorrow!

12/21/2016 at 9:58 AM: Right... I'm going to just accept I'm a failure and try to get it out before christmas. I think I might cut the chapter short, to reduce the time needed to get it done, maybe end it when he gets the (at least I have) anticipated skill prestige... yeah~. Before the 28th. If I get it before the 28th then it will officially be better than the situation with chapter 8. Chapter 8 took almost precisely 3 months, this will be shorter than that, even if only by a week.

12/25/2016: Merry Christmas :)

12/28/2016: Well, it's officially past the Chate Threshold, in that it's taken over 3 months.

12/31/2016: I'll be honest, I haven't written a single word in over three fucking weeks.

1/1/2017: No surges of inspiration, fucking hell. Gonna do my best.

1/4/2017 at 5:34 AM: Well... I'll do my best to get it out by 1/7/17, because that's 17-17, and therefore a good marker, I guess... *sigh* I'm gonna try. I can do it. I can do it. I can do it.

1/6/2017 at 3:50 AM: Well... another day, another waste of time. I didn't get much done yet, but... at about 7 AM-ish time, around then, I'd done another 2000 words, despite my lack of freshness. I'll do my best when I wake up later.

1/7/2017 at 11:14 PM: Today has been... not good. The brother of a friend of mine might have TB, and aside from that I've been busy doing stuff all day too, so that's not really good at all. I went to a local Healthcare Express because my leg got worse because it's been leaking pus and stuff, and the skin has been coming off when it should have been healing, and just... it's not been a very fun day.

1/10/2017 at 4:42 AM: What happened to the time? The past few days have passed by so quickly, it's insane. I just hope I can finish this ASAP. Just plain ASAP. I'm working on it until I have to go to my college and sign up for some classes. Then I need to go to the Healthcare Express for a followup (the place charges 100 fucking dollars for a visit, plus more for anything done, but thank fucking god that the followup is free)

1/11/2017 at 5:14 AM: I've been slowly squeezing some grease into the very tight and squeaky gears that control the flow of my ability to write. Hopefully I can do a significant amount of stuff in the near future. Wordcount update: Nearly got a thousand words tonight, now at 29.2k... so in the past month and a half, I've written just under 10k words. That's pitiful for what I used to do.

1/24/2017 at 8:37 AM: Well, I started college last week, it's been going okay so far, but I'm not going to push my luck. I'm aiming for 'before February' now. To anyone reading this AN right now, please go back and familiarize yourself with the last few chapters before reading this one, in case you've forgotten where I left off last. I'm hoping that managing to get this chapter out will spark my engine again and reignite my creativity, get the ball rolling and what-not. Get over this massive block I've found myself bashing my head against. Other analogies meaning 'I've been in a stark lack of ideas'. At the very least, I have 31.4k words after writing a good chunk of more content yesterday. I'm getting back into it already, yay!

2/3/2017 at 7:45 PM: Okay... what I said last week was a load of horse shit. I know where I want to end, yeah, but I just... getting there, I'm so close. This omake will hopefully cheer me up when I eventually get to it, even if that will be short-lived because I just remembered, as I was typing this line, what it will contain. I'm just going to... to try. I'm just going to try. I won't give up. I can't ever give up, or I'll lose. This struggle with myself isn't something I want to lose, guys, it's just not.

2/5/2017 at 11:13 PM: Where did the last two days go? Oh yeah, they were bled into youtube videos and sleeping. I feel like my body is finally realizing I can't survive on 6 hours of sleep per night (though Jaune could easily do it, he's The Gamer, I'm just me. Also, Jaune does not need sleep to survive)

2/7/2017 at 7:46 AM: Finally finished the chapter. Fucking FINALLY! WOOT WOOT! Party time, and the party is full of READING~!... okay, pretty boring for a party, but hey! New chapter FINALLY! Final word count is ~40k words. It's just a lot easier to say that than the exact amount it is. We must have a warhammer, because we're at 40k! *insert poorly performed rimshot here for my terrible joke*

...

World-building bit: THIS IS NOW OFFICIALLY AN AU, AND THAT WAS INITIALLY BECAUSE I CAN'T USE THE MAP OF REMNANT IN CANON ANYMORE! NOW IT'S ALSO TO ACCOUNT FOR MANY OTHER THINGS TOO!

STRONG!JAUNE AU, STRONG!EVERYONE AU, SPIRITUAL PRESENCE AU, ALL KINDS OF AU THINGS THAT I WILL REVEAL AS THEY BECOME RELEVANT.

This world of mine is known as 'Ex Glacies', though it's not the exact world as I've made it, it's most of that world. I'll make a story with the exact world of it one day, but that day is not today, or tomorrow, or probably even this year possibly, IDK.

For right now, let's just attend to the maps. All you need to do for your mental image of Vale and Vacuo is take Vale and slide it to the other side of its end of the continent, so instead of being on the inner edge, it's on the outer edge. Same with Patch to account for the shift. The ocean still has Grimm, but they're pretty rare. Patch is to the east. The kingdom of Vale has ten cities it has managed to build, because they're all covered by a loose, but still viable mountain range. There are overground covered roads connecting the towns down to a certain point. Coldwater has tall walls to the sides of its main roads in and out of the city, but no roof on those walls, because of economy reasons.

Vacuo spreads along the coastal lines of the desert, stretching into some grasslands and even within viewing distance of a massive stretch of mountains to the far far west. The largest settlement in all of Vacuo is Mahlia, which is closest to Shade. Similarly sized settlements are around other locations, like Ra'Nuk, which is closest to the mountainous parts of the country. It's said that many temples lay among those mountains, and their existence is certainly confirmed, but what those temple-dwellers do is pretty much unknown. The general consensus is that they're modern monks, trying to unlock more secrets of Aura, though it's unknown if they're reputation has outlived their lifespans.

...

I'm also going to try to include the thing being small transitioned past in the small transitions, to help make the transitions a tad more obvious, as right now they seem to be a bit too subtle. This should, HOPEFULLY, make the story a tad easier to follow, maybe maybe just maybe. I'm also going to center them, so it's even easier to see.

... (moving past the announcements) ...

Review responses:

ArtanisRose: Thank you, sir. Even if I hardly remember what I said in my previous response, or what that response was to, TBCH. Actually, looking at it now, I can't even find your previous reviews at all.

commandosquirrel (and everyone who has said anything about continuing that Omake, making it into a side-story, or anything of the sort): I'll make an update on that Omake in the future. Not in this chapter's, though. This chapter's Omake is for an update on a different previous Omake, the one with Celestia.

Nexus Bladeguard: In my head, Ozpin's first name is David. Why? Because his VA also voiced Agent Washington, who's real name was David. That is literally the only reason for that.

Ander warrior: I'm confident I could make a harem work, but what I'm not entirely sure about is how everyone would react to it. I know a lot of people have voted for it, 49 so far as I write this. However, I also have to take into account that that is only 69 (XD lel) percent of the voters. I have to consider the other 31%, and the fact that a 69 isn't even a C-grade percentage. If it was closer to, say, 75% or something, then I'd be more confident in doing it.

doubledamn: Well he might get a quest on the true nature of Dust (which I had to think back on, then realize that I already have an explanation for it in this story's canon). No Dust elemental though. Dust is basically just crystals imbued with elemental power and possessing a charge of powerful potential energy. It's unknown to anyone (in-universe) how they were made, but I know, and one day Jaune will know too.

Drunkle Qrow: Yes, onto being a bodyguard. However, I'm going to have to ask you to stop annoying Jaune, or he'll telekinesis you a new asshole, XD (jk I just had to respond because of your perfect username)

-names: His blood dissipates just like all his flesh. He's never just, like, leaving dismembered body parts everywhere he gets harmed. They disappear into white mist, which while I don't recall if he has addressed it directly, it is eerily similar to how the Grimm dissipate into black smoke. Now then, your next noteworthy thing: Ruby doesn't "want" him. She finds reason to be attracted to him, even if she doesn't acknowledge it on-screen, or even consciously. She wants to prove that she's just as good as everyone else even though she's younger. Jaune is helping her out a lot with that. Continuing on from that, Ruby cannot see her status effects of Silver-eyed Warrior OR Darkened Warrior, or else she'd probably be freaking out wanting to fix it. Right now the 18% chance is x2. It has other effects but they have yet to be seen. Monty in this story's context acts as a deity that represents a beacon of hope, in that people find comfort in believing a higher power is watching over them and protecting them, helping them grow and stuff. It's all for hope, as hope is a powerful thing. Don't worry too much about Chibi Ruby, she'll follow you around like a lost puppy.

Lord Of Death and Destruction: Well, it's hard to explain, but I'll try. So, as you all may know, many gamer fics, from what I've seen, describe increasing WIS as "clearing your mind", and increasing INT as "sharpening your mind". Well, a sharp and powerful mind can resist temptation, and the Seven Deadly Sins of christian faith represent an assload of temptation for various things (sex, violence, stealing, laziness, etc.). When Jaune resists the siren calls, the temptations of these various sins, he is sharpening his mind to resist future temptations and become purer of mind and spirit.

grabblers: I'm glad you're willing to give harems a chance for me, that means a lot knowing I can change a person's mind like that. ^w^ Now of course I had planned for Skyler to accidentally call him 'master' in public, I saw the opportunity early on and I nurtured it. Yangst and Taiyangst are going to be kinda bad, but Jaune will find a way to make sure everyone ends up happy in the end. Glynda maybe, Blake more likely, Ruby and Weiss also more likely, Pyrrha also more likely, Neo probably not (also he doesn't stop at 6'7, hehehe), Malachite twins unlikely (the chances of getting either Glynda, Winter, or Neo are higher than the twins, mainly due to how I didn't even think about them before). And...

... sir, I had to read your review three times because my mind automatically shunted this information aside. Summer and Raven NTR? I'm sorry, but noooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo that's necrophilia and his girlfriend's mom, and that's before you factor in how wrong NTR is. Those of you who don't know what it is, please do not look it up. You, grabblers, have struck a nerve.

Dark Durian: He technically actually could have gotten his dad into the party before, but didn't, for raisins. It's not that he was unable to, it's that he didn't know that he was able to. Either way, I'm still far happier for your review than for grabblers, he/she struck a nerve as you can plainly read in the lines above.

hye1995: Um... XDDDDDDDDDD no. When Jaune says "a pen and paper game", he literally means a game just played with a pen and paper, like Tic Tac Toe, or hangman. The particular game they were playing was a silly little adventure into creativity called "Protect the bunny", where one player is attacking the bunny, and the other person has to defend it. You can draw whatever you want to attack or defend it, like a lightsaber, or an energy forcefield. Catch is, you can't use the same thing twice, no matter how long the game goes on for.

Ghostkiller1: Were they? I consistently have read half'n'half on them being second or third year. Well... regardless, my story my rules, so they're third-years now! Velvet is of course the lowest leveled person on her team, because she is a moeblob, and where the others are hardier and more proactively determined, her determination comes from a reaction of great amounts of badness (light shining brightest in the blackest nights) (right now I'm out of it because of the thing with the car crash, so forgive my loopiness)

Saint of vice koncor: Taiyang is not looking for love, but you bring up an interesting point. Sadly that's not going to be too super likely, given the things going on, but who knows? With how I write this story, it could possibly happen. You are reading too far into some of this. You are comparing what Ironwood does to what Raureif does. Ironwood is a general and involved in robotics and shit. Raureif is a businessman and involved in Dust. Sure they have deals and stuff, but it's not to a butt-buddies extent. I might have been laying it on a little thick, but Weiss' family will be involved in the future plot stuffs. Your allegations on the perception of death are technically correct, in some ways. The death of someone could mean them dying, or the death of their person. For example, if one of the penalties for failure is "Death of Robert Jenkins", that means that there was either a way for Jaune to fuck up so that Jenkins drops dead, or that he loses his mind and certain pieces of his personality, becoming like a whole new person. It's up to Jaune to try to figure out which one it means. Altering someone's soul can alter their identity, as we heard from Ozpin/Glynda/Drunkle/Robodick when Pyrrha was being exposited to. Your viewpoint on the possibilities with Tukson are a bit debunked due to the simple fact that Jaune is now Adam. I am interested in seeing where the story goes too. I know where it will end up, but where it goes is a mystery that I will figure out and then share with all of you, given that I write this shit as I go along.

Swarley Stinson: I already talked to you in private, mister, but I just want to point this out in case anyone else might get a laugh out of it. It's harEm, with an E, not harAm. Haram means the thing is prohibited by islamic law. Funny enough, harems are not haram.

Kingofclubs8129: To be honest, I randomly generated Ruby's birthday as November 11th, then I randomly generated Yang's birthday as December 10th, but realized it'd be kinda neat if their birthdays happened to be 11/11 and 12/12, so I changed it to that. Also, the contrast of Yang being the hothead she is, and being born in the middle of Winter, it seemed kinda funny to me, to be completely honest. So... that's my reasoning, it'd be neat and funny.

the renegade soldier: Sir, I like your enthusiasm, but I'm wondering where you got that Jaune had a laser cannon. He has Gaster Blaster, yes, so I assume you're referring to that? Also, Ruby didn't make the shotgun Tockasprath, she looted it from a massive frog Grimm known as a Mudbull.

T51b Moridin: You, sir/madam, are cool. You're good in my books, reviewing every chapter as you go along, not lacking faith that I'd respond even to old material, as well as new material too. I love reviews, and I love every single one I get (except for those random couple every now and then that are just people giving up because they don't like something that happened, or they just insult the story and leave in the first chapter. Oh well, sucks for them, they don't know what they're missing, *grin*)

bryerwilliams09: Hell yes I am. Good ol' Texas resident right here. Plus, Jaune and his dad were raised more in the south of Vale, which is the America of Remnant. Coldwater is equal to Texas, but compressed into a city of 25 square miles... no, it does not have nearly 27 million people, just a lot of good old-fashioned folks. Also, despite its name, it's not often all that cold. Its name is very literal, as there is a river and a lake nearby, and the river carries water from the mountain to the west, at the foot of which is Icebasin (keep in mind that this version of Remnant has Vale horizontally flipped, so while Beacon is still to the north, Mountain Glenn is to the southwest, rather than the southeast).

Never- enough7407: I usually just normally get all giddy to read reviews, but sometimes, it's not too often, but sometimes a review has an idea that I instantly think would be excellent to do. Your wish has come true, sir/madam, there will be a few POV shifts in this chapter.

Akuma-Heika: Damn you have a lot of questions, sir/madam. I will do my best to answer them all...

Ch2: Cat Magic, the most powerful of all magic, =PPPPP...

Ch3: He didn't have Crocea Mors in his room. He needs metal to summon a Metal Elemental, water to summon water, earth to summon earth, ETC, and he figured Crocea Mors would be the best thing to use... they didn't officially divorce, they just literally physically separated. John and Jaune are in Vale City, Juniper and all the daughters are in Coldwater... Kira is adopted... classes automatically are equipped when they're gained... I don't even remember that one, I think it was one of those a's with a little mark above it... Aura costs 1% of his maximum Aura every minute to keep active (and Aurora, as its prestige, costs 10% of his Max Aura per minute), Summon Elemental's cost is "a splinter of his soul" to make the elemental, and to use the Elemental, it costs a varying amount of Aura based on how much stuff he's doing with the elemental...

Ch4: 24 LUK + 77 Points = 101. There was a +3 for it being the first stat to be raised past 50, which you seemed to miss. That +3 and the +6 from it being the first stat to surpass 100 were both added after the point dump was confirmed, so 101 + 3 + 6 = 110... the Omake is a reference to GTA, where you get your cheats through your cellphone, and also I didn't think of any tolerance-to-stress factor while writing the Omake either... Metal Dust is a convenient and useful Dust. Using it usually makes it create a metal that is like a mix of traits between iron and aluminum, but most of its mass usually disintegrates after a good while... Ruby is Ruby, and adorable...

Ch5: Whitesteel is the metal that Jaune's armor plates are made of, and most of his shield too, it's incredibly strong, but only slightly heavier than steel... the stuff I borrowed from Ryuuji are being expressed in my own personally made ways... his sisters were kids and found being cared for by their big brother to be embarrassing. Goddamn, dude, when they were interacting, Jaune wasn't even 10, and all his sisters were younger than him by at least a year!... AR means Armor Rating... they're not meant to be interchanged, this is all being powered by his Aura Points, no Mana Points involved, but I guess there are a couple of times that slips through the cracks of my rather meager proofreading/editing phase... Xiburichu means "Western Sunrise", the western kingdom is Vacuo. The Xiao Long family is Vacuan in origin. Yang means Sun. The Elemental is named for his meeting Yang. "Sunrise from the West" You get it now, hopefully? (it's kinda hard to put into words)...

Ch6 (and I guess also 7? You need to number your questions better, dude): Kira is adopted... Maybe he'll turn into a Faunus, maybe not, it depends on what all happens with the style and his progression in it.

Ch8: Gamer's Sight translated Belladonna as "Deadly Nightshade". He wasn't even referring to the Black part, except for maybe the shadows associated with ninjas. It's a little bit confusing, I suppose, but it's easy to look past at least. A simple Google search could tell ya that the italian word for Black is "nero"

PURVEYOR26: Maybe, probably, it depends on what we see of them in the coming episodes.

Mithos Yggdrasil: They would be, if it weren't for the fact that there's a difference between what the Illuminati sees as a Wizard, and what the populace sees as a Wizard. To the populace, a Wizard is basically as close to the description of a wizard as you can get in the RWBY world. They are a person whose fighting style relies heavily on Aura usage and most-likely either a reliance on skills with Dust-based weaponry, or a semblance that can be used well in combat. Yang could be a Wizard if she trained her fire-based powers more. Weiss is practically a Wizard with her glyphs and her precise Dust-casting. It all boils down to "To the people in the story, a Wizard is (insert the previous description), not the legit Magic that we know the Wizard in the story to have been."

XerzoLotCN: Right. I'm... I'm going to try to break my self-imposed 'moral code' of sorts. I have a statement in there that says "Don't post an AN update without the chapter attached to it. Don't do it. It throws off the order of the chapters. And that irritates my OCD something fierce." I might post AN updates sometimes, I guess. I'll be sure to do my best to simply update that AN chapter with the actual chapter of story content, because like... yeah. I'm probably not making any sense. I've kinda been slowly losing my mind over the past three weeks, hehe. Hopefully it comes back as I type this stuffs. You didn't overstep anything, btw, I'm glad that people are concerned about me and not just punching a button and demanded more content.

duckhunt2048: don't you call me a chunt, my uncle is a chunt and I love him so I'd rather you not pretend like that's supposed to offend, dickwad... XDDDDDDDDDDDDDDD jkjk I just had to reply to your review because it made me laugh out loud IRL.

hersiver123: You're nice. I like you. *gives you a pint of a drink of your choice*

Geez, the list this time 'round is long as fuck. 'Tis the price paid for my dedication to you all.

I've noticed that I tend to answer the question, then ramble on about some matter that is somewhat linked to the answer or the question. I don't know if that's informative or if it just turns people off of reading the reviewer responses section, but I've just now fully realized it.

Also, did anyone see the Volume 4 Intro that was posted? Holy shit, Weiss and Blake. Also Yang has PTSD I think? Ruby is fuckin' cool. Nora put neon lights on Magnhild, Ren has grown his hair out even further, and YA BOY got some sick upgrades, looks a lot more mature and cool to me.

Update: well I guess the previous line is kinda outdated as fuck, but I'm keeping it for posterity, or something... IDFK

Update 2, 2/5/2017: Wow... I started typing this chapter before Volume 4 started...

Aaaaaaaaanyways... let's get onto the chapter now, shall we?

Story Arc 2: Playing Prometheus.

Chapter 14: Hazy Skylines, Glowing Horizons.

---

(Nearly an hour later, Jaune POV)

I opened my eyes to see a lithe hand reaching out towards my nose. Cyan met forest green and Marbel smirked, then booped my nose again, "Double boop."

I smirked, then rapidly poked her nose several times, "Boo-boo-boo-boo-boo-boo-boop!" I chuckled and smiled more relaxed and playfully, "So what brings you to my humble abode?"

"I want an elemental." she said bluntly, wasting no time getting to the point, "Can you help me get one pleeeeeeeeaaaaaaaaase~?" ah, THERE was the girlish charm she attempted to slather on afterwards, to sweeten the deal with her cuteness, tempting me to accept just to make her smile.

I hummed, then thought back to Qrow. He'd seemed fine, even happy that he had an elemental. I sighed softly, then looked at Marbel again, "Prove you really want it." I said with what I hoped was a flat look, staring into her eyes.

She blushed, oddly enough, and looked away, "Do you think I need more Aura?"

"More Aura couldn't hurt. Aura is extremely useful. Increase your INT until you have 15k." I instructed, watching as she opened her profile and began applying her points while I buffed her. I wasn't going to play around when it came to something like splintering my friends' souls. I wanted to make sure that it wouldn't end up being that a splinter was all they had.

Surprisingly quickly, her Max AP rose, and surprisingly few points had needed to go into her INT.

Marbel:

Max AP: 9900 - 15,060

INT: 60 - 76 (+25%) = 95

Stat Points: 70 - 54

With a smirk, she looked at me again, pointing at the number, "So, before my headache makes me scream, please help me summon an elemental." she requested, her teeth gritting as she rubbed her forehead.

I sighed, then nodded. With telekinesis, I shaped the ritual circle out of chalk, "Alright, there you go." I smiled, "Now then, I should make sure you have the elemental affinity to summon an elemental." I checked her soul with Gamer's Sight, or at least checked what I could about it.

Funny enough, her highest affinity (of which she had 3) was with the element Earth, "So if I summon it, it'll give me the skill and then I can make the circle on my own?"

"Yeah, should do. Funny enough, Marbel, your highest affinity is to Earth. Guess you really are a precious little stone." I ruffled her hair playfully, teasing chuckles slipping from my lips, "Anyways, here. This should cover the sacrifice." I handed her a few Earth Dust crystals, just to make sure that the sacrifice would be enough, as well as an amethyst for good luck. When it was set up and she arranged them to her liking, I began to instruct her on how to summon an elemental.

I blinked and watched her slip from her kneeling stance into a swift fall towards a faceplant. I caught her before she could hit the floor, seeing the ritual circle seem to magically combust, turning into an unrecognizable mess of Auric ash. I collected the ash with Dusting and stuffed it into my inventory for now, setting Marbel on my bed.

I heard Garnet meow, and looked over to see the tiny kitten wiggling on the floor, looking happy and carefree. With a tender smile, I reached over and picked her up, "Here's a quest for you, make sure Marbel doesn't wake up scared. I don't know what kind of bad stuff she might see in whatever visions she gets of Earth. It could be epic, it could be catastrophic. I'm going to make sure she comes to understand her power and its limits, okay?" I asked calmly and clearly, holding Garnet in front of my face.

The kitten looked at me, then she hugged my nose and let out an adorable little meow. I sighed softly and petted her, seeing a small Quest window pop up. I had her accept it, chuckling at the silly quest name 'Two Precious Stones: with EXTRA CUTENESS!' I smiled and set her on the bed where she could easily get to Marbel.

I sat back down, getting back into my meditation. I felt the entire world around me through my six elemental senses, and let the energy coalesce into me as I ran my skills at massively raised levels of power.

I'd get things settled one way or another.

---

(Four hours later, Jaune POV)

I heard Garnet meow excitedly as I felt Marbel stir the air around herself, her body twitching a bit and shifting positions. I arose with telekinesis, seeing my AP having just reached another 100 mark. Chump change compared to my previous maximum of 128k, but still a good little bit to add. Every bit counts, they say.

Marbel coughed as Garnet nuzzled her cheek, "That... whoa..." she clenched her hand tight and I saw her knuckles press against her skin... er, go white, as most people say.

Brushing off the odd internal correction, I smiled, "So, how'd it go?"

Marbel sniffled a bit, shaking her head to clear it, "Whoa... uh... what'd you say?"

I hit her with Soulforge to fix her disorientation, "How'd the summoning go?"

"Oh! It went... well, I think? I think my elemental is a guy." she closed her eyes in focus, moving her hands out as if trying to manifest her elemental directly.

I gently grabbed her hands and moved them down, "Hold on, don't summon him indoors, okay? Or at least not on the airship."

"Er, right, it would kinda weigh like a literal ton." she giggled a bit, blushing in embarrassment, "So... now what?"

I looked at her for status effects, and found one to worry about.

Status Effect: Soul Fray
Description: The wearing and tearing of a soul that occurs from using an Auric technique that alters one's Aura itself. During this time, many abilities will be nearly useless until your soul recovers. Meditation halves recovery time.

Effects: -90% effectiveness of all Aura techniques and abilities for 4 hours, -60% for another 4 hours afterwards. -75% effectiveness of Aura Channeling for 1 hour, -50% for another 2 hours afterwards, -25% for another 3 hours afterwards.

So, given what I'd just read, I figured that if Marbel meditated for... about the remainder of the trip, she'd be able to get rid of her reduction to Aura Channeling, and only have two hours of having her techniques (of which I think she only had her Semblance, and the spell Energy Bolt, since she'd wanted to learn it) reduced in effectiveness.

"Well, you'll be a bit hard-pressed to get too much use just yet, but if you meditate for another few hours, until the jet lands, then you'll be mostly fine afterwards." I showed her the window, "This is concerning, but it's not done anything to the integrity or composition of your soul, just implying that it's worn out and needs to recover. I didn't have that, luckily, since my soul is so weird, I guess." I shrugged, "Now then, you get to meditating on the Soul of the World, and I'm going to meet you all in Ra'Nuk. See ya later, off to go fight Grimm." I helped her to start meditating, then teleported out of the ship, trusting my dad to take care of anything that came up while I was gone.

Three hours, I had time.

---

(About ten minutes later, Jaune POV)

I struck down another large lizard-like Grimm, barely getting any EXP, but at least I got another fucking Sclatesh, AKA a curved shortsword made of the bones of these Lizalgrunts. It was good quality, but lacked in special traits other than a slight increase to the usage of Fire Magic.

Suddenly, stirring me from my musings, was a rumbling. I stayed calm and got up into the air with my AD Winged Flight, where I looked in all directions and saw a trail of wormsign heading towards me.

Wormsign: The visual bulging and breaking of the ground caused by a tunneling creature. The size of this particular trail indicates a creature at least 30 feet across.

The shifting sands made the trail only reach about a hundred feet before the intense winds swept it away. I rose into the air by about fifty feet, waiting for my foe.

It did not disappoint, as it reached the point where I had been. A spray of tons of sand, chitin, and muscle burst from the ground, right into the lightning-infused glare of my AD Scathing Eyes. It certainly didn't seem to expect that, and chittered loudly, its massive tail waving my way.

Elder Desert Deathstalker
Title: What crumbles All among the Sands
Level: 72

It wasn't as strong as a Forest Deathstalker... no literally, it had lower STR than one, due to its lower amount of food consumed. It weighed half as much as its greener cousin, but it had incredibly higher VIT and apparently didn't bleed like most Grimm did, rather its blood was sticky and jelly-like, refusing to pour from its wounds.

It also had a dangerous, Strength-reducing poison in its stinger, as opposed to the weak toxin used by its cousin. I dodged the stinger easily, and Vorpal Sword severed the pointed blade, more like a fat lance than the normal hook-y bulb shape. My Scathing Eyes didn't do as much as I liked, in fact it seemed like this thing was immune to neurological burnout, for... some reason. I didn't know how, but it did.

Still, I managed to scorch its armor and part of it glowed red with extreme heat. Juristimunja helped me widen my followup gaze, which nearly made the stinger burst from the extreme temperature. I actually melted one of its pincers, then decided to dive bomb it, using Shocking Steps to deliver a devastating axe kick and send its stinger through its own back, followed by a punch to one of its eyes, bursting the burning red, soulless orb. I looked at one of the others, and paused only briefly.

It looked back at me with some degree of intelligence, shaped into a more knowing hatred than normal. It wasn't just angry, it was angry AT ME. It wasn't mindless hatred of humanity, this thing either knew something about what it had seen, or was mistaking me for another blond-haired martial artist.

I drew Vorpal Sword again and swung, the blade cleaving through its bone plates more by brute force than actual cutting power, like a butter knife being used to cut hard cheese. I drew my arm back, Heavy Hauler running at ten times its normal power, and swung it down again and again.

After about four or strikes, I broke through the plate and cut deep into its flesh, scrambling its brains and vitals. True to Gamer's Sight's word, its thick, jelly-like blood stuck to Crocea Mors' blade before slipping off due to my elemental's control.

Your level increased by one!

You gained 310,000 Lien

You gained the item "Peincia"

You gained the item "Stalphlot"

I smirked, my arm flexing as I swung Crocea Mors out with a good ton of force, causing the thick fluid sticking to it to be thrown off, dotting the sand with clumps of moisture before the disgusting fluids disappeared into nothingness.

I checked the world map my semblance had provided me, atmospheric imaging devices having given the people of Remnant more accurate maps than ever before. The addition I gained from my semblance was the ability to locate myself wherever I went. If I formed Crocea Munja, then I'd also be able to tell directions like a compass, as well as have at least a vague sense of my altitude based on the gravity of the planet's core. With the magnetic skeleton-like creature directing me, I began making my way further west.

Humming lightly, I passed by distant villages while keeping the sand solid under my bare feet, not wishing to ruin my shoes. I broke sandstone, and sandstone sheared away sheets of skin off my feet before they instantly repaired themselves. While I moved, I briefly considered going back.

While I'd informed Yang, Ruby, Skyler, and Thomas that I'd be away doing business with Weiss' music tour. Sure, I had brought along my best friend, a girl who technically owed me far more than I'd normally be comfortable holding over someone's head, and my enthusiastic father with me, but...

At the same time, I'd left behind my girlfriend, my girlfriend's sister (Who I already felt was a sister to me. She'd accepted me easily and enjoyed my presence.), my 'project' of a friend, and my business associate. Sure I gave the appropriate hugs and kisses before leaving, but it still pained me a little.

I loved everyone on these two ships and back home, each in their own ways. My dad was my dad, no explanation needed. Blake was a good person who wished to fight for what's right, for the good things in life, without resorting to the terroristic means of the White Fang. Marbel was my first and, until recently, only friend in the city, we knew each other very, very well, to the point that some things just weren't worth stressing over, like when I'd accidentally shown her my junk. It was an accident, I didn't intend for it to happen, and that's all we needed to know for each other. I suppose her tomboyish nature made her a lot easier to deal with too.

Yang was my girlfriend, and had shown me a new way of living, and I'd done the same for her. She was like a second sun in my life, giving new light, color, and vigor into everything when she was around. Sure my life didn't depend on her, but a large amount of my happiness did.

Ruby was my girlfriend's sister, so it was good that we got along. I was patient, fair, and kind to her, as much as I could manage to be. She was a hurting soul, and as long as I could do anything at all to help relieve the pain, I'd help her.

Skyler was something special, and I don't mean that in the affectionate way. She was something to be kept secret for the time being, at least to most people. The fact of the matter is that I might not ever be able to reveal her backstory safely, and that was even assuming that what I did ended up turning her into a human by some means.

Thomas had begun to grow into a good friend to me. Sympathy only went so far, but where it trailed off, the man had certainly picked it back up and continued carrying it with a strong back. I could see him and myself managing to turn the Fang around, back to looking for the righteousness they once sought, rather than being fueled by anger and hate like they had been in the past years.

I pushed those thoughts aside as I pushed my fist through the faceplate of a King Taijutsu, not even bothering to read its stats as I tore its first head to pieces, gauging that at maximum speed, I'd reach the city in less than an hour.

I might even break the sound barrier if I put in all of my effort.

The second head received slightly more courtesy as I finished my train of thought.

King Taijutsu
Title: Ruled by Calm Hatred
Level: 64

What a philosophical title.

*BWUAAA*

Too bad philosophy can't defend against twenty Gaster Blasters to the face.

Air turned to plasma in their mouths as my left eye blazed with arcane rage, "Get dunked on." and all at once, they fired.

I smirked at the creature's neck, since it didn't have anything left of its head, and dropped to the ground to pick up the loot.

More lien, as expected, but the other items were more odd.

You got the armor "Rashcale"

You got the Grimm Mask "Empecoiler"

You got the weapon "Toachon"

You got the item "Skill Book: Shining Armor"

I learned the skill without giving too much thought to it, gaining it at level 13 with Intermediate Scholar absorbing more information. Reading the description and effects filled me with joy. It basically applied most of the personal defensive abilities of my Aura to my armor, as well as let my Aura repair my armor if it got damaged, similar to how Gamer's Body would repair any bodily harm. I'd replaced my clothes several times now, but luckily this would eliminate that need, as well as potentially eliminating the need to maintain my metal armor. It was especially useful with my whitesteel plates, which were currently gleaming in the sunlight and had taken on a cyan tinge from my Aura. Not needing to replace the rare material was an incredible boon.

The armor I'd received was a somewhat garish checker-pattern scalemail suit, providing significant defense against blades and even projectiles, but it was full-body. I was tempted to see what would happen if I cut off the legs of it, but decided against it. I'd find another one before potentially destroying the one I had.

Empecoiler was a snake-like mask, of course, but it also was split down the middle into two halves, one white black accents and crimson markings, and one black with white accents and burning red markings. Its effects were pretty hefty, and I contemplated letting Thomas use it. However, while its boosts were very useful, the drawbacks were pretty intense, and apparently with the effect 'Duality Crown', you HAD to pick between Chaos, which would double your effective STR, but halve your effective INT, and Peace, which did the vice versa.

Toachon was cool, though. It was a whip-sword, like the one from Soul Caliber. It was massive, the blade alone was forty-eight inches long and split into twenty-three sections each about two inches long, with the base being an inch and the tip being five inches. My immense STR let me wield it with one hand easily. Sheathing it on my back using a metal clasp I quickly made from some steel, I chuckled softly as the surprisingly cool desert wind blew against my face. I was currently fighting against timezones, as we were going to arrive in Ra'Nuk at roughly the 'same' time as we left from Vale City.

I could not fully push away the slurry of thoughts over the friends I'd left behind in Vale, so I decided to make a small minigame for myself.

Starting now, every battle I got into, I'd put a point into WIS to help my logical side keep up with my train of thought. If I could increase my understanding and mental clarity, it should help me stay focused on things and not get into internal spiels over hypothetical issues and other things that didn't matter.

Plus, it boosted my magic power, and my APR, and I could always use more of both. With a smirk, I reupped the skills that would boost my speed, and took off across the sands, solidifying the ground below me and giving myself a strong tailwind.

---

(About 45 minutes later, Jaune POV)

Owanshee
Title: Wizened by scribbled Dunes
Level: 65

You gained 220,000 Lien!

You gained the armor "Winlesune"

-/\-

Lizalgrunt (x20)
Title: Drawing the Front Line in the Sand
Level: 43-48

You gained 910,000 Lien!

You gained the weapon "Sclatesh"

You gained the item "Scurry Potion (x9)"

-/\-

Lizalwart
Title: Atop the masses in the Sand
Level: 62

You gained 410,000 Lien!

You gained the weapon "Gransclue"

You gained the armor "Sphinreber"

You gained the item "Lunge Potion (x2)"

You gained the title "Guardsman"

-/\-

Elder Deathstalker (x3)
Title: What crumbles All among the Sands
Level: 70, 71 and 72

You gained 930,000 Lien!

You gained the weapon "Sturkani"

-/\-

WIS: 130 - 138

Stat Points: 170 - 162

-/\-

Remembering everything with perfect clarity, I reviewed the knowledge I'd gathered.

Owanshees were, as I had seen, a massive owl-like Grimm with jarringly pure white faces compared to the surrounding feathers, which would have stood out against even the night sky. They hid inside sand dunes and came out to rain sand and death on their unsuspecting opponents. The 'armor' I'd gotten from it was a shield that was apparently made out of its wingbones and a slab of sandstone.

I recalled the range of levels I'd seen in the Lizalgrunts and I further understood the hierarchy of their advancement line after meeting the Lizalwart. They appeared to be warriors, almost like soldiers in an army, who could shape sandstone and bone into basic forms, and seemed to have a knack for stealing things from people, judging from the tattered clothes I had found on their bodies, as well as the worn-out pieces of armor and various weapons aside from their Sclateshes. The Lizalwart was taller and beefier than its lean and mean lessers, though it had only a slight decrease in relative agility and speed. Its most notable features were its larger capacity for creating sandstone from sand, the spines running down its head and back, its viscous spittle, and the metal equipment it had. Gransclue was made out of its hand, able to conjure small particles like sand, dirt, and dust. Sphinreber looked like almost like a mix between a spartan helm and a pharaoh headpiece, with a bony, fin-like spine replacing the fur-like plume of a Spartan helm. Both of them also seemed to reward a massive amount of Lien, almost as if they were magically paid for their power levels.

I'd also gained the title of "Guardsman" for defeating one of each of the four 'dark guardians' of the desert. It allowed me to mark a place or person, then granted me a boost to my five battling stats when defending that place or person.

The weapon I got from the Elder Deathstalker was basically its spear-like stinger turned into a long, stout, layered lance. It could poison people with a Strength-reducing toxin that lasted days, with some alteration based on your VIT.

Putting on the brakes, I stared at what I was seeing in the distance. A small ranch composed of a tiny barn, a house, and a pen, all built around an oasis, with grass and small trees growing barely a hand's width from the edge of the glittering pond. Several camels stood idle in the pen, and the house looked abandoned.

As I stared at it, I picked up details that just seemed... wrong. The barn was far too tiny to house a substantial amount of food, the camels didn't blink or move other than turning their heads occasionally, the trees and grass didn't sway in the wind, and the house looked ransacked...

The tingling of Sense Danger suddenly compelled me to pour Aurora into Magic Eyes, which produced an odd effect. The ranch shimmered and seemed to vibrate, shaking from side to side like ripples in water. Almost like a...

Magic Eyes has detected an illusion! The illusion you are seeing will appear quite distinct to the real things you are seeing.

Some sand shifted off to the side, and then a loud, grotesque squeal pierced the air.

Boarbatusk Raider
Title: Hungry Stomach and Gnashing Teeth
Level: 38

Crocea Mors scored a deep furrow through the beast's armor and flesh as it used the dune nearby as a ramp, rolling with great speed.. A burst of blood was knocked from the huge gash when it landed, and its eyes bore into me with greed, hatred, and intense hunger.

Its fur was far longer than a normal Boarbatusk's, trailing several inches from its skin as it billowed from the winds lifting it into the air. Its mask had cracks in it that seemed to be repaired with those same burning red markings, and its tusks had serrated back edges. Bits of sand and desert grass were stuck in its fur, and its stout, squat form was heavily muscled, to the point I'd be willing to say it could feed ten men and not be joking. Of course it would depend on what the men did for a living, their body size, their stomach size, and- FOCUS!

Gaster Blaster met the Boarbatusk's face and burned off a lot of its fur, the wind carrying the twice-over disgusting stench of burning hair away from me. Its HP had drained significantly, and I used Vorpal Sword to cleave through its neck. Its head made a bristling crunch as it fell into the coarse sand.

I picked up my loot as the ground desperately drank the smoking blood of the pig-like Grimm. First came a nice little chunk of Lien. Next came Ragrinsign, a pair of bracers that I might put on at some other point. Finally came Theroder, a rare item that looked like a simple ragged (yet functional) brown cloak that was held together by a rough rope looping around through the neck of the hood.

I put on the cloak with a smile, feeling the magical shadow cast by the hood now covering the upper half of my face. Oddly enough, the cloak also gave a +1 to all of my elemental affinities, for some reason. I guess it 'stole' them from... the world?

Ugh, even for someone with a supermind like mine, this shit was confusing sometimes.

Brown was a combination of all colors mixed together. Red and Green made brown, Blue and Orange made brown, and Purple and Yellow made brown. All of those colors were the same as those of the elements. It made sense in a vague way, one that required more than a couple of steps of logic to figure out.

Still, if I just put the hood down, then I didn't need to worry. Personally, I felt it made me look more badass. If I got another to test, and dyed it blue, then I might be able to make it match my style. It was pretty distinctive, though, so I'd only be able to wear it as myself, in case I ever set up multiple personas to work with, for whatever reason.

It wouldn't hurt to try to run multiple identities, but I'd need items, weapons, armor, and other such things all separate from others, including separate semblances. As myself, I already had shown control over space and the materials the world was made of, as well as the ability to learn information magically (though that was only to the headmasters), so I wouldn't be able to do that while in another persona unless it could be explained away as Dustcasting, or part of 'my' semblance. For example, telekinesis could explain a lot of things, and since I didn't have to worry about Mindflayers eating my precious psionic brain, I could do whatever I wanted without any fear, so long as it could be explained with telekinesis.

With a grin, I put another point into WIS as I came back to my senses. I heard a low rumbling and still felt the buzz of Sense Danger in my perceptions. I reached out with Roimonstral and sighed. More Grimm waiting for me in the sand.

I had spent maybe all of about four seconds contemplating everything, as well as doing the maths, and I was ready with Crocea Mors in hand.

What came at me was the stuff of nightmares.

Miraganger
Title: Hopeful Dreams under the Deadly Sun
Level: 72-84

There were sixteen-, no, only seven of them, nine were illusions. The levels of the real ones only ranged from 72 to 78, with one being the former, two being the latter, and the other four leaning heavily towards the upper end of that scale.

They were, indeed, the stuff of nightmares. Long, gaunt faces with disturbingly human-like skulls, except their jaws opened up a full foot and were held together by a few ebony webs of meat. They were clothed, actually properly clothed (if in the sense that a hobo was properly clothed) with weathered articles stolen from murdered humans. Some wielded rusted, worn, and battered weapons like old swords, staves, and clubs. Their physical stats were in the two hundreds, with DEX at around 260, and VIT around 270, where as STR ran around 210. Their INT scores were in the low-to-mid 20s, but their WIS scores averaged in the high 50s, meaning they could draw in a lot of worldly power.

And draw it in they did, as they all had the ability to conjure their namesake, mirages. I sighed and drew back, calling up my various buffs and Ki effects to boost my strength and speed to incredible levels to match up to their incredible durability.

I swung my sword at one of them, shattering its rusted, decrepit sword in their hands as another came up behind me, only for its club to break on my Radiant Mane. I chuckled and Gaster Blaster's bony face met its disturbingly human-looking skull-face, the uncanny valley being purged by cyan plasma.

I chuckled and began tearing at the others, however it wasn't until the last one that I was given reason to pause.

"You... you!" the Miraganger spoke, in perfect, unbroken English.

I paused, "Me. What about me? How do you talk man's words?"

"I learn, we all wait for blood, much time between, learn to read man-speak. Learn to speak man-speak. It help lure people. You, you dangerous. Light burn, ow, ow ow ow!" the vile beast shuffled back, trying to get away from my glowing sword, which was arcing with dozens of tiny bolts of electricity.

I ceased my conjuring for the time being and took in this one's appearance. It seemed to have ragged robes stuck together with dried bodily fluids as the 'glue' of the grotesque, mismatched clothing, "How you make these illusions?"

"We... do. We not know, we just make. We..." for a moment, I saw a spark of intelligence and wisdom in its eye as I influenced it to think of the complex matters it was involved with.

Sadly, it seemed my Luck had run out, as instead of having an existential crisis, it went into a rage and nearly caved my face in. My defensive buffs held strong, though, so I was able to counter attack by chopping its arm off and lunging back, getting a Gaster Blaster ready. Ten goat-like skulls hung in the air, mana gathering within their bony maws.

It stood up, reaching its arm out and, to my surprise, let out a battlecry as ichor-like fluids shot out of the wound and coalesced into a solid, fully functional limb. It flexed its fingers, then picked up a fallen sword and held it in both hands. My fine eye for detail picked out that while the arm had grown back, it had grown back a couple of inches shorter and a tiny bit thinner, so while these things could regenerate their body parts, it wasn't perfect by any means. It worked, but... it didn't really matter. It wouldn't survive long enough to potentially regrow that arm to its full size and strength.

*BWAAAOOO*

Ten Gaster Blasters opened their mouths, cyan lasers ripping the Miraganger apart. I grinned and watched as it fell to the ground, only a sliver of HP remaining. I raised Crocea Mors high into the air, the blade shining bright silver, and brought it down onto the beast's head, chopping off a huge chunk of it.

It went still... then suddenly jolted and started to scramble for my ankles, "Shit!" I quickly brought my blade down, again and again, shattering its skull into a hundred pieces.

It wasn't clean or efficient, but hey, it worked in the end. I can't believe I fell for a jumpscare like that, but I brushed it off and collected my loot.

Your level has increased by one!

You found 1,050,000 Lien!

You gained the armor "Headema"

You gained the weapon "Levagre 5"

You gained the weapon "Witsmes 35"

You gained the weapon "Avtaklo 30"

You gained the item "Skillbook: Illusion"

I raised an eyebrow, looking at the surprisingly fine weapons. Except for some minor abrasion damage, they were in excellent condition. That was confusing as, with the exception of the cloak from the Boarbatusk Raider, all the armor I'd found was only in okay-ish condition, and the weapons were pretty crap compared to my main stuff. What was more confusing than that, or the numbers in their names, was the fact that they were a dagger, a revolver, and an automatic assault rifle.

SYSTEM UPDATE: Combo Counter added

I consumed the knowledge of the skillbook, gaining it at level 15, while reading the details of the combo counter. Apparently it could affect some weapons and skills, and I had unlocked it because Avtaklo had a function where it gained +1% damage per number on the combo counter, so a 10 hit combo would deal 10% more damage, a 36 hit combo would deal 36% more damage, and so on. When it was equipped, however, my combo could be broken by a miss, hitting with another weapon, taking damage, or going more than 7.5 seconds without getting a hit off. Under normal conditions, the only limit for the combo was a 5 second timer.

I lowered the visuals on the combo until it was at a point where I could see it, but it wouldn't obscure anything. With that done, I hummed at the skill window for Illusion.

-/\-

Illusion (Active) Level: 15, Exp: 34.62%, Cost: Varies.
The ability to bend the shape of Light in order to create falsities. By grasping what is real, one can craft new imagery in order to create illusions, distorting the truth the naked eye sees.

Allows the user to create visual illusions.
Cost increases with the volume, width, span, breadth, depth, detail, and quality of illusions.

-/\-

It didn't give any hard measurements or limits, only things that would influence the cost of my illusions. I hummed in thought, then activated all of my Ki skills and Aurora, then cast an illusion around myself to appear normal. I didn't see any star-like corona or glowing hairs, so I grinned. Now at least I didn't have to worry about the visuals of my skills, if nothing else. I maintained the illusion, keeping the shining lights out of sight.

Applying another point of WIS for this battle, I took off, recasting my buffs again and pouring on the speed, ready to get to Ra'Nuk ASAP.

---

(At the airship docks of Ra'Nuk, Marbel's POV)

I groaned lightly, grasping my chest where I still felt the effects of Soul Fray. I don't know if Jaune did it a different way, or if it's just his power preventing him from having to deal with stuff like this, but he certainly didn't seem to have any problems with summoning HIS elementals.

Romargust, that was his name. I could see his 'title' too, almost like *I* was the one with Gamer's Sight, except it was pretty limited.

Romargust
Title: White Foundation.
Level: 1

Apparently it was referencing an ancient leader named Augustus, his kingdom, and the stone I was named after. I couldn't help but sigh. I don't know if sometimes Jaune's semblance is just goofing around or it has legitimate reasons for doing what it does. My semblance allowed me to do a charge move like a rook in chess, but I don't think a tower of a garrison or castle was worth naming a piece of my soul after an empire.

I guess I'd just do what I always did and trust Jaune (and by extension, his semblance). I mean, it'd be a bit cooler if I got to name my Elementals, but hey, Jaune didn't get to name his, and I don't get to name mine. They pick their own names, I guess because they have their own minds.

'So tiny, hard to grasp' I heard the decidedly male voice say, my head faintly aching because I could feel the entirety of the sand below the ship, including the sandstone. I could feel it and almost felt like I could grasp it, I could grasp it, but it would slip between my fingers. Huh... I guess that made sense, since it was sand I was dealing with. Jaune had a skill that let him combine his elementals and Earth + Air = Sand. If I wanted to control sand, I'd have to get an Air elemental and somehow make it and my Earth elemental mix together.

The problem was actually figuring that out. I could ask Jaune, but without understanding it myself, I don't think I could get it.

I sighed again, putting my hands into the pockets of my leather jacket. Jaune (somehow) made us each some clothing better suited for moving around in the desert, but Ra'Nuk was the westernmost city in the world, if you took Vale as the center like most maps did. We were actually in the Vacuan grasslands, nearly a savanna, so sand-travel wasn't a problem. However, the next city would be in the savanna, and then the next would be properly in the desert, and the nearest settlement to Shade Academy.

Blake had hogged the books all to herself, so I didn't really know what to expect here, but I decided to just roll with it. Yang and I shared an important trait, the ability to go with the flow.

The ship's doors opened and we exited out into the bright sunlight, my eyes briefly burning before adjusting to the light. It was hot, but it didn't hurt to be outside like I expected, and the air didn't taste like bitter dust that would make me want to throw up just to moisturize my mouth. Weiss' ship would be landing in a minute, but it was up to us to secure a perimeter, I think. Usually when defending a place, soldiers always say 'secure the perimeter'... or at least they do in movies.

I looked up and saw Jaune falling towards us slowly, obviously under the effects of Featherfall. Those buffs of his are insane, but damn are they useful. Once you get used to them, they're not bad at all, except Featherfall. I guess it was a case of opposites being incompatible, because I had an Earth-based semblance, I figured, and Featherfall kinda ruined the mega-powered charge attack I had by reducing my forward momentum and speed, since it basically made your body act like a feather being thrown through the air. It kinda sucked.

I pushed the thoughts out of my aching head, because while contemplating the actual effective value of being able to be thrown around and not take damage, versus it basically being a gigantic momentum dampener/makes you act like rubber, was deep and interesting, it wasn't my style. My style was getting into what I was assigned and doing it well.

Jaune turned towards the three of us, "Alright you three, we need to secure a perimeter so Weiss can get on the ground safely." he said with a friendly, but firm voice, "If she gets hurt, we could get jailtime for negligence, I think." I think not, but he was probably right. His INT was pretty fucking high, so I trusted he knew what he was doing.

Marbel C: Weiss, we're gonna secure a perimeter so you can get on the ground safely, kay? :C

Weiss C: Oh! Thanks. Hey, Ruby, Yang, do you hear that? We're landing. :C

Ruby C: Yay~! Send some pictures, okay? Today's been booooriiiiing~. :C

Yang C: Yeah. Also, don't even think about making any moves on my boyfriend, alright? He's MINE. :C

Weiss C: I wasn't planning on it, Yang. I have too much respect for Jaune to try to hit on him. :C

Skyler C: You hit him, then I hit you. I am sworn to serve and protect Master Jaune. :C

Weiss C: AH! You've been silent all day! :C

Skyler C: I was reading. Too busy to talk. :C

Weiss C: Er, right. I'm not going to 'hit' him, nor am I going to 'hit on' him. The two are different. :C

Blake C: You all are lucky he ignores this chat 24/7. He's summoned those weird skull things again and if he lost control of them because you're saying some shocking stuff, he'd probably end up murdering at least a hundred people. :C

Yang C: Murder BAD. :C

Ruby C: Murder VERY BAD :C

Skyler C: Your grammar is bad. I say this and I'm learning english from child books. :C

Yang C: PFFFFFFFT! Oh wow, Sky, god now I can't stop laughing! I didn't know you had jokes! :C

Skyler C: It was not a joke. :C

Weiss C: Remind us to teach you about humor. Jaune is probably only having you learn intellectual things. :C

Skyler C: Intelligence is intellect, I am raising my intellect. :C

Yang C: Okay, tomorrow, I'm gonna try to get you some experience with people things, not just lame book smarts. :C

Ruby C: Aren't you studying right now? :C

Yang C: I gotta pass my tests! :C

Weiss C: You two deal with your studies, I'll deal with my fans and whatever other complications may arise today. :C

Marbel C: I'm sure Jaune will fix whatever happens. :C

Blake C: Hopefully he'll fix whatever happens. :C

Marbel C: I have faith in him. :C

Yang C: I do too. You three are fiiiine~ :C

Blake C: Four. His father is also here. :C

Yang C: Then you'll be double fine, if Jaune takes after his dad, then they'll both keep you all safe and sound like you should be. :C

Ruby C: Yeah! Jauney's awesome! He and his dad'll take care of everything. :C

Blake C: If you say so. :C

I sighed, elbowing Blake in the ribs, "Trust me, Jaune's going to handle this fine. Look." I pointed out towards the docks, where... two, five, eight, eleven... twenty five groups of... ten... where two hundred and fifty floating Gaster Blaster skulls stared ominously at many citizens, making them all cower back. It wasn't the nicest way to keep them out of the way, but it worked pretty damn well.

Blake groaned next to me, and I looked at her, "Don't worry, okay?"

---

(Ten seconds ago, Blake's POV)

I watched as Jaune gathered together at least two hundred of his blaster skull things and challenged the raving fans into a massive staring contest. In my mind, I imagined lasers flying forth and vaporizing innocent people into ashes, a dangerous smirk on his face.

I groaned, the thought of Jaune turning into Adam more mentally than physically present in my mind. I pushed it away just in time to hear Marbel's words, "Don't worry, okay?" she looked confident that our blonde leader would keep control of the situation. I wasn't so sure, he was kind of impulsive sometimes.

That could be good, sometimes, like what I'd seen when he'd introduced me and Weiss.

... (Flashback~) ...

Weiss looked furious after learning of my previous affiliation with the White Fang. She began spouting offensive remarks and racial slurs, cursing the White Fang and calling them monsters.

I clenched my fists, but paused when Jaune stepped inbetween us and turned to face Weiss

"Now Weiss. I'm not mad, I'm just disappointed." ouch. I could feel the sting of his words even from 180 degrees away, "Now you see, you're kinda being a massive bitch. Blake isn't the White Fang, she doesn't deserve your anger and spite."

"She was still a part of them! How in the hell can you trust her so easily?" the heiress demanded.

Jaune took off the reading glasses he'd put on while going throughsome papers for Weiss' contracts. He folded the glasses up slowly, almost menacingly, "Now Weiss. I was raised with traditional, good-hearted values and I take neither pride, pleasure, or satisfaction in hitting a woman." I moved to the side to look at Weiss again, only to nearly get hit with Weiss' thrown body as Jaune backhanded her across the face so hard it made a resounding smacking sound, her body lifted a few inches off the ground and a few feet to the side, "But I DO believe in whipping some sense, decency, and discipline into a child, and you're acting like a child right now. Blake may have been a part of the White Fang, but she saw that their methods were wrong, that a violent and antagonistic path was wrong, and she left. They weren't being freedom fighters, they were being bullies and terrorists. Her wholehearted abandonment of that life, cutting cold turkey and quitting... it says that despite her previous involvement, she has some good morals and a sound mind. You'd do well to learn by her example and grow out of your previous fanatical ideals, growing up as a person by taking the moral high road and looking beyond the dirty past that a person has, and instead looking at WHO they ARE, rather than WHAT they WERE."

I couldn't help but smile at how honestly and fervently he defended me, and I found more than a little bit of satisfaction at seeing the sheer shocked look on Weiss' face as she stared at Jaune in shock and awe. She cradled her cheek and found herself speechless. When she finally spoke up, it was with a meek, submissive voice, "Y-you're right." then she looked at me with pleading eyes, "I'm sorry, Blake. I was raised better than to be so hasty in my judgement and be so rude with my words." she lifted herself to her feet, "I've done my family a disservice and a dishonor, and I humbly ask for your forgiveness." she even BOWED to me.

I was well and truly shocked. I hadn't expected her to take the hit so well, or the explanation so to-heart. I guess Jaune's CHA isn't all just in his face and alluring musculature, "You're forgiven, Weiss. We all say things we shouldn't, and if we were damned for our regrets starting tomorrow morning, we'd all be burning in hell before lunchtime." I said with a slight humorous tone towards the end, hoping to lighten things up. Damn Yang for her corrupting influence, now I was finding it harder to handle silences!

Weiss smiled at me, agreeing with a relieved tone. Suddenly, Jaune pulled us both in for a hug, congratulating us for getting along, since he liked to see all his friends getting along. It was actually pretty embarrassing, so I quickly began squirming to escape him, but his STR was just too high, and he held us close for FAR too long, and only slowly letting us go.

I definitely did NOT scamper away like a frightened kitten! I just backed away quickly so he couldn't smother me in his rock-hard muscles.

... (Present~) ...

Okay, I'd be lying if I said I didn't find Jaune attractive. Sure, he was impulsive, but he strove to do the right thing, for honor, justice, and righteousness. Attractive mentally, like a follower to a leader? Yes.

Attractive physically, like a boy to a girl? Yes to that too. I knew the boundaries, but that didn't prevent me from knowing or acknowledging that he was really damn handsome. I would like to have him, but he didn't want me, so I just put the feelings aside where they weren't to be acknowledged. I stood there in front of Weiss' docked ship, just a few feet from the base of the exit ramp, "Welcome to the ground." I greeted with a small smirk.

Weiss smirked back, "Glad to be back." she replied with a small laugh. I was glad Jaune had helped Weiss and I get over our initial differences, else we'd be walking on eggshells around each other... or worse, walking through minefields.

I sighed again, looking at Jaune, who began clearing a path with his blaster skull things, "Looks like it's time to go."

Marbel nodded, "Yep. Come on, Weiss."

John laughed a little and gestured with his beefy arm, "Come now, girls, this way. The hotel awaits!" he said cheerfully, and I found myself getting infected by that cheer.

I didn't let it show except for a slight smile, "Let's get going then." we set off down the path our 'dear leader' had cleared, still standing there with a playful smirk on his face, a large amount of the skulls disappearing, but there were still enough to make trying to get through the perimeter seem like a terrible idea.

Most of these people were just civilians, and honestly I thought about messaging the idiot to try to make the things look less creepy. It wasn't going to give a good image if we walked through the city flanked on all sides by a protective barrier of goat-dragon-thing skulls. Civilians tended to freak out at such scary things. Even a lowly Beowolf was enough to send normal people into a frightened panic.

Blake W: Jaune, try to make those things look less scary. You're frightening people. :W

Jaune W: I really hate to say it, but it's better they're frightened than confident that they could get away with something :W

Blake W: Oh... well, still, it gives a bad image :W

Jaune W: Oh fine. I picked up a skill that should help. :W I watched as the skulls each retreated from the edges of the crowd for a few moments, before suddenly, before my very eyes, additional bones appeared, followed by what could only be described as a sprouting of lean muscle and shiny scales all over their bodies, as if they were building themselves up magically. Through some means, probably his bond with Yang, Jaune was transforming his blaster skulls into dozens upon dozens of slender dragons of various colors.

"The dragons are protecting the white songbird. Please clear the way." he called out, but it seemed some people didn't want to comply, "You'll all be able to see her much easier when she's on stage tomorrow night. Please clear the way." that managed to clear the way, and it seemed the better nature of some people led them to try to get others to comply as well, the massive main street clearing as the 'dragons' adjusted to compensate.

I looked at Marbel, then at John, then at Weiss, the latter of whom was just exiting from her ship with a few bodyguards surrounding her. Tall, burly, gruff-looking men with weapons. Given her more personal status as the SDC heiress, it wasn't too far-fetched that she'd shell out some extra lien for stronger security. Then again, only 20% of efforts get 80% of the results, and given there were dozens of various little security details perched around, and only four of us, I'd say we fit that measurement quite well.

I looked at the guards, a small amount of Jaune's findings with his Gamer's Sight being available to me. These men averaged at around level 20, while Weiss herself, the lowest leveled among us, was at 35. It was almost sad, really, but the masses behind that wall of dragons were all less than level 10, which made it hard to imagine that they could do too much without some coordinated effort. As far as I knew, the presence of the White Fang in Vacuo was limited to just a couple handfuls of troops who were micromanaged by one of the generals. Jaune could confirm that quickly, since he now knew everything that had been written down. Sure, Adam preferred actions to words, but information was a weapon he also knew how to wield. No doubt Jaune knew how to assassinate those two generals and solve the problems they'd caused.

Then again, given his... nature, made especially clear at how he had one of his dragons lower their head to be petted by a curious, naively fearless young boy, I became very sure that he'd try to reform them first, killing only as a last resort. Sure, he had no qualms about killing, and my own qualms had become meek and quiet over the years, but his damned belief in second chances and new beginnings would lead to something bad happening. Why did such an incredible power like this Game, have to fall into the hands of someone who was so painfully idealistic?

'But it made him give YOU a chance, at least.' the treacherous part of my mind reminded me. Sometimes, when I was bored, I'd count my sighs. Sadly, I'd lost count at this point, as another sigh left my lips while we all began moving towards the convoy. I was surprised this many people had come here just to see Weiss arriving in the city, but then again, I wasn't very experienced with the popularity of fame and fortune, or even so much as being known among the civilians. I preferred to stick to the shadows, out of sight.

I didn't hate people, per se, though I didn't have too much endurance for conversation (even after all this 'training' Yang has put me through), I just didn't like the noise. Jaune had the patience to meditate for two whole weeks, only stopping to eat and drink. If he needed to be quiet, he could be quiet. If he needed to wait, he could wait a damn long time. He'd make a good stealth and espionage agent. Hell, he technically was making a good one now, since he was posing as Adam and playing the part of being in charge of the entirety of the White Fang.

We made our way to the cars, Marbel, John, and I getting into one armored car, and Weiss and Jaune getting into the other. It seemed excessive, but I guess Raureif Schnee wasn't one to skimp out on his heiress daughter's safety. It made sense, then, that he'd wanted to discourage her from taking the path of a Huntress, one known to have led to countless deaths throughout history.

The life of a singer was hundreds of miles from the threats of the Grimm. She'd never be awash in blood and ichor, rather she'd be awash in the blinding white of the spotlight, waiting either to retire in old age, or for some tragedy to befall her. It was a life of stagnation, and weakness.

I could see the fighting spark in Weiss' eyes after she'd promised not to be so harsh from now on, and to strive to improve herself. I couldn't help but smirk a little, amused at how the tables had turned, and a Schnee was awaiting the judgement of an untrusting faunus.

I sighed again, holding Jaune would soon take us out to kill Grimm. I could vent some frustration right about now.

---

(a couple seconds later, John's POV)

I sighed, looking out the window. Why'd I have to get stuck in the car with the little rock and the emo kitten? None of my jokes would work here. I wanted to be switched, but rules were rules, I guess. I wasn't always keen on following ALL the rules.

Sure I worked with the police a lot, to the point where they probably knew me and my son just as much as those on the Most Wanted list, but as a Hunter I had a lot of leeway, all the way up to the old Double-0 classic privilege: license to kill.

Now of course I didn't find joy in killing my fellow human beings, nor did I find satisfaction, pleasure, or pride. Killing someone was always saved for later, when things broke down and the situation couldn't be resolved peacefully. I always worked towards peace, but I was more than prepared for war.

Enchaine Valeur
Description: A set of heavily compressed bracers, anklets, and a necklace worn by John Arc. When used with the Arc Family Gift, they can unfold into a suit of fully articulated full-plate armor. The best way to protect yourself is to work towards peace, and prepare for war.

Effects: 1000 Armor, no change to mobility.

I'd honed the armor with over a decade of work, making it not only fully mobile, but distributed the weight evenly enough that it didn't feel like weigh enough to slow me down at all, or at least by any significant amount of time. Sure I might get a slightly slower speed on, say, a marathon, but I'd be good to go for a long, long period of time.

Say, if I was chasing someone, and we were running for about... 6 hours, I might end up a quarter-mile behind them, but that's assuming the chase even lasted for that long. When I chase someone down, they usually end up getting taken down pretty quick.

Sighing, I settled slightly deeper into my seat. At least these fancy cars were comfortable, if nothing else. The bulky armor they had was practically a waste. Bullets could be aimed, but not exactly directed, the foot-thick armor plating would stop it, but would it stop an Ursa's claws? More importantly, what about the weak points, the door's hinges? The door could be ripped out easier than it could be penetrated. While even lighter armor could deflect the thick, more cleaver-like than blade-like claws that Beowolves and Ursae had, the creatures of the desert didn't care much.

The disturbingly humanoid Lizalgrunts and Lizalwarts, the accursed Deathstalkers, the annoying Boarbatusks, the sneaky Taijutsus, and a few more. Many people thought the desert to be a desolate wasteland of sand and heat, but there was a lot of life in the desert, it was just relatively sparse. Yes you could look in some directions and just see miles of desolate sands, but it wasn't just a lifeless ocean of the stuff.

I rested one elbow on the edge of the window, laying my cheek in my palm as I looked over my profile.

-/\-

Name: Johnathan Arc
Title: The Ninth Moon to Illuminate the Night
Level: 109
Class: Cleric v4
Nickname: MeDICKal ASSistant

Hit Points: 157,000/157,000
Aura Points: 205,000/205,000
Stamina Points: 263,000/263,000

Strength: 180 (+360%) = 828
Dexterity: 140 (+235%) = 469
Vitality: 224 (+360%) = 1030.4
Intelligence: 132 (+235%) = 442.2
Wisdom: 110 (+360%) = 506
Luck: 80
Charisma: 93

Age: 45
Birthday: February 26th
Height: 6'6
Weight: 300
Build: Heavy Extreme Muscular
Hair/Eyes/Skin: Golden Blonde / Royal Blue / Veteran's Tan

-/\-

I chuckled briefly at my listed nickname, the last nickname given to me by my friends at Beacon. My semblance was the rare healing type. With endless practice, I could mend wounds almost instantly. I don't know what it would do to Jaune, who healing from physical damage instantly and seemed to only take damage to his HP, which was mediocre compared to my own. Then again, he had 80 VIT and I had 224.

Jaune... I was proud of him, I truly was. I might have been disappointed at his lack of progress before, but I never once wasn't proud of his dedication and determination. Something was going to break through eventually, either his Aura would burst forth from his soul to protect him in a time of mortal danger, or I'd have to unlock it before he went to Beacon. He'd be weaker than most everyone there, but he'd build up quickly, his large soul bolstering his strength, speed, and endurance.

Still, as his father, though I was brimming with pride that he'd grown so much this past month or so thanks to his Game power, I was still worried. His base INT, the thing that would boost his maximum Aura, was about... 65% higher than his VIT, the thing that altered his max Health. However, despite this, his max Aura was nearly four times larger than his max Health. I don't know what exactly to make of that, but it's clear that something about his soul was inhibiting his physical growth.

I sighed. He was tough, that much was sure, and he had a lot of skills, he'd shown me plenty of them, but I couldn't help but worry.

Is this what Juniper felt like? Worried that our son might grow strong, but faint of body and easily killed? Years of training and effort dumped down the drain by a lucky Grimm, not to mention even more years of caring for and raising a child. I sighed again, closing my profile and contemplating what I'd do next. When you were a Hunter, and you no longer had ties or anything (you would be willing) to do, boredom set in quick. I'd contemplated what I'd do next for hours on end before, finally settling on going and finding something to do besides just sit and think.

Too much to drink can make you unfit to go and drive, too much to think can make you unfit for normal life.

"H-hey, John." the little rock said, and I looked at her in acknowledgement, "Why do you have that nickname?"

"Heh, THAT is quite a story, Marbel." I ruffled her hair a bit, smirking, "When I went to Beacon, I made some friends, and I had a semblance for healing people. Hunters get hurt all the time and usually make a full recovery in a matter of days, VIT-based recovery be damned. I joked around with my friends and we poked fun at one another, but I always healed their injuries. One of them once got a bite taken out of his ass, which I healed, and another got a bruise on his junk, which I also healed. That was at the same time, and the third friend said that I must be a MeDICKal ASSistant." I couldn't help but chuckle at the memories. Taiyang was pretty funny sometimes, and Qrow and Ironwood should have been watching their backs and fronts respectively. Luckily a good group always has a healer in it.

I laid back in my seat, trying to relax a bit more. I was worried, to say the least. These children were under my protection, and compared to myself they were indeed children, and given the number of people and the power of the Grimm should one appear, I didn't know if I could protect them myself.

Heh, that was a question every Arc fretted over, 'Can I protect the people I'm supposed to?'

The answer was always more cruel and morbid than we'd ever be comfortable with.

'Not everyone, not always.'

It was so simple, but so impossible to swallow.

'No, I can't have missed anyone.'

'Too bad, there wasn't anything left to be noticed.'

Ugh... thinking on it hurt my head. Like I said, it was impossible to swallow.

But sometimes you just had to, in order to stay sane, you had to accept that there was nothing you could do. Some people were completely gone by the time you arrived, and an idealistic Hunter quickly had to adjust to the fact that when all was said and done, some homes would be empty.

A vast majority of Hunters, so vast that the only reason why it wasn't every single one, was the fact that the alternative group even exists, a majority of Hunters have what I'd call 'HALP Syndrome'. Hope Abandoned, Lowered Power.

If I had to hanker a guess, I'd say I was that rare one among all of my friends from Beacon, me and maybe Summer too, if I was lucky. We were of a rare few who could always perform at peak capacity because our mental drive and motivation to succeed never wavered no matter how much we failed.

Even when saving people, a lot of Hunters never performed at peak capacity, just due to the lack of hope.

Tragic, really.

This ride is going too slowly for my tastes, plus the time it takes to open the door will impede my ability to protect. Those who didn't understand a threat were almost always ill-prepared for it.

"I'm going to go the rest of the way on foot, okay? Relay that to the other cars." I said to both my fellow passengers and the driver, then I opened the door and dived out, sending a small solid burst of Aura at the door to close it behind myself while I rolled to my feet and began running, easily keeping up with the relatively slow pace of the automobiles.

Casually jogging ahead, I chuckled and grinned widely, waving at Jaune and Weiss inside of her car. Getting a smirk and a wave back from my son, I took off ahead, activating my Aura, which caused my body to cast off a blue glow.

I was a good strategist, definitely. I had a fast mind for it, and an even faster hand. I made my way towards the hotel, keeping a lookout for anyone who might have been threatening our precious cargo. No alleyway chargers, no snipers, none of that stuff. I trusted Jaune to have more than enough power to keep Weiss from being harmed by whoever would want to attack her.

I kept moving forward.

---

(A few minutes later, Jaune's POV)

I received a message, which was a bit of a surprise. What was more surprising was that it was on Adam's scroll.

The Troop: Hey boss! I got a notification that you're in town. Following that Schnee girl? We should totally attack her convoy!

Adam: No. They have Hunters protecting her now. From what I can see, the cost of killing her now would be at least 1.5 casualties on our side for every 1 person we kill on theirs. Keep low and simply observe their movements. They have 5 people, 6 including the value of her normal guards, versus our (what I remember) 12 that includes me and you.

Adam: We stick to the shadows and wait to strike. Go home.

The Troop: Alright boss, you're the boss after all! Wanna come by for a meeting? I have some fresh watermelon waiting.

Adam: I'll consider it. The journey was... a hungry one. I'll rest for now.

Hungry for knowledge, more like. I kept Illusion over my scroll to hide what I was typing, sending a quick message to Weiss, Jaune W: We're being watched by the Vacuan White Fang. A group of about 11 elite faunus soldiers. I could easily kill them all, but I don't want to right now. As far as my information goes, the White Fang is important for the dark side's plans. :W

Weiss W: The dark side... the one being led by Cinder Fall? :W

Jaune W: The very same. Keep calm, I'm going to teleport. :W

I felt the power cover my body as I gathered the energy together, then I disappeared in a flash of light.

The world warped and went dark for an instant before my eyes adjusted to the new image before me, Gamer's Mind and some actual experience preventing me from being disoriented by the sudden shift in location.

I appeared on a rooftop next to the convoy's path. I hummed, looking around. To support what my physical eyes saw, I gathered some focus to look through the eyes of the element. I felt rapid footsteps footsteps and a disturbance in the air that both weren't placed somewhere they should be. I focused on them and found the disturbance to be a person wearing tactical gear.

Lima Temvun
Title: Toxic Sounds sicken the Mind
Level: 69

She was moving inside a currently unoccupied building, ready to disappear from sight should she be spotted, all thanks to the illusion semblance of her friend not too far away.

Lucen Mirros
Title: There are worlds up above, there are worlds inside
Level: 86

I wasn't surprised, to be honest. He had a higher level due to his ability to cast illusions of incredible detail. I had no doubt that if I killed him, he'd drop a token made from his semblance that I could absorb and boost my level in my own version of the skill.

At least, it would be easy to kill them both if it weren't for their third friend keeping watch on the inside of the building, if where I assumed her face's shape was pointed at was correct.

Greyna Vakanz
Title: From Nowhere comes the Storm
Level: 75

Simply put, she had the ability to teleport. It also worked on Dust and could activate it at her will. Naranja might have been listed as obfuscating incompetence, but he had certainly proved his worth with how well he picked his troops.

I watched them under a cloak of invisibility, idly noticing a new level in Stealth and a bonus of reducing the traceability of my fingerprints and footsteps. I didn't really care about that much anymore, mostly because of how everything has changed.

Simply put, I'm a wizard and a knight. A wizard knight if I might say so, and I will say so.

I'm not a master thief, nor an invisible spy. I'm also not a politician, nor a king or a lawyer or even just a fucking bookkeeper. I'm a warrior. I fight the bad guys and save the day, and the rest of the world recovers in the wake of my saving touch.

I'll build homes, I'll cure diseases, I'll dispense justice, but I'll be damned if I'm going to be sucked into the world of laws, rules, and regulations.

Yes, there are laws, and rules, and regulations, and I'll respect them, even enforce them, but I'm not going to waste my time sitting down and writing this shit when I could be going out and building houses, or providing some magical medical care, something else important like that. It just didn't appeal to me. It wasn't who I was.

My intelligence would go towards learning about the world and learning about magic. My wisdom would go towards understanding the world and what makes it function, working with the elements.

I was going to do my own thing, AKA work with magic and kill Grimm. I didn't care about that boring councilman shit.

Kindness for the innocent, wrath for the wicked. That was what I wanted.

Sighing, I dropped off the rooftop with Featherfall on, drifting slowly towards the ground while willing the wind to blow me along the path of the car, following in the air with a watchful eye. I saw my dad running along the road in the distance, and smiled.

Leave the lookout to the Arcs, folks. We'll keep everyone safe here.

... (After going to the hotel) ...

I walked through the doors of the empress suite, a small smile on my face. The three agents had left without any trouble after merely only observing the heavily guarded convoy for a while and, presumably, leaving because their mission was only reconnaissance, not assassination. Weiss was safe for today, though I didn't know how long that safety would last, but I'd prepare for when shit hit the fan. Part of that preparation began now.

Elemental Summoning Circle: A ritualistic circle created in far gone ancient times to transfer a sacrifice of magic to the spirits of nature. Usage of special meditative states, sacrifices, and this ritual circle had allowed people to open their souls and color their light with the elements of nature, creating an Elemental from the soul within.

Maybe it was just psychological barriers that had made me so hesitant to try this with the others. I wasn't sure exactly, but after seeing that Marbel had only received a status effect for her troubles in summoning an Elemental, and not a very intense one at that, and Qrow having had survived his own elemental summoning and further development without any problems he'd cared to divulge, it was clear that this whole Elemental Summoning wasn't too dangerous to do. If all evidence was truthfully pointing where I thought it was, then the negative effects of the summoning would only be minor, temporary inconveniences, which were far outweighed by the powers that were granted.

I looked around and once again noted that the living room of the penthouse suite was massive. There had been guards dotted around, but I'd ordered them to leave us alone for a while. I didn't want anyone who wasn't part of my group to learn about this technique. It wasn't exactly something that just anyone could be allowed to learn. The world would be a lot less safe if these secrets got out.

Sure, I adamantly didn't concern myself with the details of politics, but that didn't mean I didn't know the risks of this type of information getting out. This was the kind of shit that started underground 'freedom fighter' groups, or gave shadowy organizations a distinct and dangerous edge, or worse, founded fucking cults. This simply was NOT information to be messed with, which is why I was relieved that there were no cameras in the room. Merely casting illusions to conceal the circle from all views but mine and Weiss' worked nicely for a cover-up, "Alright, Weiss, I want you to take these water dust crystals for the sacrifice, and just to be safe, also use this additional gallon of cold water to make sure the sacrifice is enough. I don't know if my soul's strength or just my semblance allows me to summon an elemental without too much sacrifice, but I don't want to know what happens if it fails. Too much supplies is better than not enough, I always say."

Weiss nodded, following the instructions I gave to her as she knelt on the circle, focusing her aura together and channeling it into the runes. I watched them start to glow a soft blue, recalling the solid orange that had emanated from Marbel's circle and humming softly as I thought. Just as with Marbel, Weiss' small frame slipped from kneeling to nearly faceplanting, and it was only by my intervention that her pretty face didn't have a sudden meeting with the hard floor.

I set her down gently on the couch, then began to meditate while continuing to suppress my Aura, my focus dancing around atop various trains of thought as I contemplated my next moves.

I hadn't seen the advanced forms of Mirangangers yet, but knowing the basic ones could draw in power to create actual illusions, if only ones you'd have to be unobservant to fall for. As the stories of mirages went, most people who saw them were blinded by the desert heat and sun, which were too distracting for them to notice the details that would let them know that the mirages were indeed mirages. Given the danger they posed to people, and the bullshit they seemed to be made of, I had made sure to gather whatever loot they could offer. Given how my power seemed okay with granting me the bullshit stuff that enemies had (and my characters in games would normally be unable to gain for whatever reason), evidenced by the Illusion skill book, as well as several examples of things like that before, I could fairly assume it was safe to say that I could gain whatever power their advanced forms had through another skill book, assuming it wasn't just a prestige of Illusion.

Jumping to another, similar topic, Summon Elemental was pretty close to prestiging. I don't know what new skill would be or what it would do. It should make a logical leap, like Sprint did with Run, or the flirtation and romancing skills did with their predecessors, or most notably what Aurora did with Aura. Hopefully it would enhance my existing elementals, or at least give me more charges to apply to them. Unlocking new elements, now that I thought about it more properly, probably wasn't going to happen like I would want. I might get lucky and get a Wood, or straight up Nature elemental that could control plants. I could possibly gain the ability to get a direct Aura elemental, or even a Mana or Ki elemental. THAT would be... pretty broken, actually, and while the game was generous, it still kept things relatively fair. All my skills were things that were possible by means of either one's aura and/or semblance, intense study and shaping of the soul, or whatever magical essence allowed the Grimm to draw power from the world. I could only assume the essence the Grimm had was the same that allowed me to recover my aura so quickly, if what Skyler had said was true. It also probably helped me not have to worry about auric exhaustion. I had noticed that while the others may have raised their WIS, they sometimes did not recover Aura at the rate they should have at some particular given times, most notably right after intense training. The inward flow was reduced from what it should have been, at least when it was made clear they were taking longer than 16-25 minutes (depending on the multiple of 10 their WIS was on, higher meaning shorter recovery time) to fill back up on AP.

With a soft sigh, my thoughts then turned to the others, primarily the girl of my dreams. I would work out something to help Yang keep herself safe. Maybe an upgrade for Ember Celica to give her a shield. She also liked Iron Man, so maybe I could make her some sort of powered armor too? That'd be really cool, and I was 99% sure it would make her happy. Hell, even without the possibility of powered armor, just some plain, well-made armor would warm her heart because it would show how much I care about her safety. Plus, it would just be good for her to have, even if...

... shit, her semblance! It pained me to see that her semblance was based around her feeling and receiving pain, but I guess that's just the low luck of her life having taken effect before I showed up. In a way the power could be conceived as noble, if you altered the way you looked at it to something not so direct. Her semblance was to take the pain of damage and add it to her strength. If you gave a peripheral view on that perspective, you might conclude that her semblance would drive her to get onto the front line of the fight and take the hits for her allies, sustaining the damage herself so they didn't have to. She wasn't a tank per se, but she was the toughest of the entire group besides my dad, Thomas, and of course myself. Granted we were all big strong guys who were buff and built to tank things, and she was only a very solidly built woman who seemed to draw equal parts of being a natural beauty and a star athlete.

She would never be the toughest, and she was never intended to be, it seemed. If she was meant to be among the physically toughest people, through ANY means, then her soul's elemental affinities would have formed with her points gathered more towards Metal, Earth, or even Water, rather than primarily Fire. With Metal she would be able to endure, with Earth she would be... well my own evidence suggests otherwise but come on, it's EARTH, it's bound to increase health points or something. With Water, she could heal herself much faster than other people.

However, she did not. What she had was a whopping 50 Fire Affinity, followed by her second highest number being 10 Air Affinity, then surprisingly 5 to Water, and 2 for the other three elements. That must have been a product of my balancing her soul out with the six elemental buffs. It was reassuring, at least, that I was helping her become stronger not just through levels, but in matters of her actual soul.

I hummed softly, thinking on what I'd seen of Marbel's soul. She only had three elemental affinities, a 30 in Earth, now 40, a 15 in Lightning, and a 5 in Air. Was it a sign of a weak soul, that she had only three affinities and a total of 60 points? No, she had a bit more Aura than Yang, despite being eight levels lower, but that was more from her higher INT. Yang had a total of 71 affinity points across all six elements, but over two-thirds of those points were in only one element.

But what exactly was all this speculation even FOR? For Marbel's sake, is what it was for. If my life was a game and there was already a story written out of it, or at least a direction my personal plot line would be going in, then it stood to reason that those around me would be tightly tied to me and my growing power, right?

The speculation I had was about the fact that Marbel seemed to just... lack. She had very good stats now, able to trounce star athletes to what I could only assume was easily an olympian level, it still stood that she had a relatively weak Aura. The starting level of a completely balanced soul would, assuming I was the prime example, grant a total 150% boost to the first five stats. However, Marbel only had a total 100%, and... actually, at a total 430% increase, she was ahead on passive boosts.

I don't know what it is, then... something about her just didn't seem very... right. It was like...

Like she was intended to be an unimportant NPC who would pop up only occasionally, possibly play damsel in distress, and maybe even help me out here and there. She was meant to be important in my 'early game', but come late game I'd probably never hear from her at all. I guess I broke that mold, then. I set her apart, and even though I'd done my best thus far, her skill levels were paltry compared to the others. Granted some of my own skill levels were paltry, but I had training with plenty of spells.

Goddammit... just... something about Marbel didn't add up. It was like something was out of place with her. I don't know what exactly, but I know it's bugging me. She was my friend, however, and no matter how much my nerves complained, I wouldn't let go of our friendship.

I sighed again, and moved my mind to a different topic. Stone Skin and Metal Skin were getting closer to prestiging as well, which was kinda exciting. I could only wonder what they'd turn into. Would they grow deeper than just my skin? Would my muscles become made of stone and metal as well? The first examples that jumped to my mind were becoming almost golem-like, and becoming like the terminator. That reminded me that I'd have to find books on things like industrial machinery. While doing everything manually was just fine, being able to synergize my abilities was invaluable. Just being able to mix two elements together to directly control more complex forms of matter rather than having to indirectly manipulate them was a massive boon. I hummed softly as I thought about what just a few changes could do for my spells.

I was vaguely aware of pneumatics power, but didn't have a very good idea on how it worked. I'd found that I'd been able to 'Read' some normal books if they contained knowledge that the game deemed useful. I was pretty sure that some of that shit was useful. Being able to cast Mana Rope and being able to cast Wrecking Ball were both individually useful, but the idea just popped into my head to use them simultaneously like a giant bastardized flail and produce far more damage than the base Wrecking Ball spell would imply.

I smiled. More damage was always great, especially when it was done through clever means. Hell, using magnetism with Crocea Munja, I could probably start emulating the theoretical technology in Mass Effect if I tried hard enough.

I hummed and clamped down on my thoughts, deciding to only focus on spell combinations rather than let my focus wander and possibly break my meditation. With Ki Breathing going, and my elementals reaching out and playing with nearby forms of their power, I let everything else fade away for the time being.

And I waited.

---

(Four Hours Later, Subterranean Suite, Weiss POV)

I watched as Jaune summoned a pile of rock from an Earth Dust crystal, gesturing to Marbel to summon her elemental with it.

I looked at the iron tub of water in front of me, having been instructed to do the same.

I focused hard, trying to communicate with and summon forth my elemental, Eismeer.

Eismeer
Title: Chilling Waters
Level: 1

His title wasn't impressive, especially given that his name mean 'Ice Sea' in my family's native tongue. Still, I was able to see his 'stats' with an odd sort of... 'accuracy'. In fact, I'd almost say it was like being able to use Jaune's ability of Gamer's Sight, if only a small amount of it. He didn't have particularly impressive stats compared to those he was around, but the spread was... odd, to say the least.

I wasn't the most well-versed on 'stat builds' and things like that, but I could guess at what worked based on what was needed for a person of a class' description. Eismeer's main stats seemed to be DEX, VIT, and WIS, like some kind of... ironclad rogue. It was hard to tell, until Jaune had given me some crucial insight.

Not only did mankind level and have stats different from the builds of the Grimm, but Elementals seemed to be drawn up based on an entirely different system. As such, and just running my mental train of thought through the possibilities, I came to the conclusion that Eismeer's stat build was focused, to my bemusement, on a quite literal 'Water Elemental class'. That is, he was fast, healed quickly, and was deeper of mind than, say, an Earth Elemental.

Speaking of, I heard the pile of rocks rumbling as it seemed to raise itself up, and I focused more intensely on summoning Eismeer, not wanting to fail where Marbel succeeded. Suddenly, a howl broke out throughout the massive suite, usually reserved for people with important business but were more concerned with their safety than their comfort, like I'd been with choosing the Empress Suite.

Eismeer reared up briefly, and I blinked in surprise at his appearance. White-water formed a layer of sleek fur, an abyss-like black formed two eyes, from which shined two rings of the same shade of blue as my Aura, forming startlingly odd eyes just like a mammal's. I couldn't tell, however, if it was meant to be a fox or a wolf, his features seeming to be a mix of the two, leaning more towards wolf with his cute little head, but more towards fox with his adorable fluffy tail that waggled around like a flowing river, elegant and graceful, like myself. His eyes adjusted, blinked, and the blue lights expanded adorably, making him look so innocent and so CUUUUUUUTE~!

Oh my god I need to hug him! I rushed forward and wrapped my arms around him, feeling the soft, cool, moist 'fur' he had, and nuzzling him, "You're so cuuuute~." I made a sound that was definitely NOT a squeal of joy! I mean... he's just a cute doggy, and I am a Schnee, we are strong, firm of mind, and we do not squeal. Technically Eismeer was a Schnee too, given that he was birthed from my soul, so he should be the same.

Marbel looked at me, as did the pink pinpoints of light coming from the rough, faceted eyes of her 'elemental', which appeared to be a thick, nondescript man-shaped thing made of shafts of stone that were absolutely massive, probably a foot thick at the narrowest. What I could only assume was a unicorn horn jutted out of his forehead, looking strangely... image-completing? Looking at it on him, I felt that he wouldn't quite look right without it. It seemed Marbel and Jaune agreed.

Wait, why is Jaune grinning at me? Does he like Eismeer too? "Staring is rude." I reminded him, hoping to deter him from looking at me with that stupid grin.

"Holy crap, there's actually a real, feeling girl under all that ice." WHAT? Marbel... how DARE you?!

"What did you just say? You little... GRRRRR." I resisted the urge to lunge forward and snatch her face up in a death-grip, instead only gesturing like I was doing so, then getting the (admittedly very petty) idea of making Eismeer go over and shake some water onto her, "I'll have you know that despite my status, I am a perfectly mentally functioning young woman. Sure, I might not be the best at making friends, but I am not an unfeeling zombie going through the motions. I joined this group on the willing invitation of its leader and I have my own goals which you'll find are similar to his. Therefore, disrespecting me is also disrespecting the reasoning and judgement of your leader, as well as the virtue of his goals." I stated matter-of-factly, because those were all simple facts. Despite her supposed INT, Marbel didn't know enough to make a proper judgement.

"Jeez, Dust almighty, Weiss, it was just a joke." she tried to backtrack, holding her hands up in surrender, but I was having none of it. I was about to give her another verbal lashing, when she continued, "I know you're an important part of this group, for reasons Jaune understands and has... briefly explained. I was just poking fun at'cha. Yeah, you've made a lot of progress and effort into getting along with all of us, especially with Blake, but you're still pretty cold sometimes. I was just exaggerating for a joke. It was supposed to be funny."

"I laughed a little." Jaune admitted, and I glared daggers at him. Traitor!

"Well... I suppose I can forgive that. Humor is commonplace, after all, and it helps some people deal with things. Next time, though, please don't go making fun of my... lack of experience dealing with people I could stand to be friends with." I sighed, nearly wilting at the realization of my own statement. God I sounded like a loser, didn't I? Just another thing to add to the list of things I was jealous of Jaune for, his ability to make friends.

Another thing was his level of power. Even if he'd only been training for what amounted to- if I wasn't mistaken -a month and a half now, it still counted far more than what it seemed like, given its worth. He'd made the most out of this month and a half, already approaching the level of his father, who has been a full Huntsman for over two decades. His Gamer semblance had been an incredible means to train and better himself, providing everything in numbers and concepts, boosting him and providing, even at base, priceless and invaluable abilities as those of his Gamer's Mind, Gamer's Body, and Gamer's Sight.

He was a warrior, through and through. He was strong and kind of heart, but didn't take anyone's bullshit, not even mine. My cheek still stung from that hit. It damaged my pride more than my face, meant to inflict pain more than it meant to actually injure me. Despite the emotional stress he put me through, I had not shed a single tear in the moment. I'm still a Schnee, after all, we don't cry.

"Don't worry, Weiss, poking fun and making jabs is part of any healthy friendship." I flinched as Marbel put her arms around me, pulling me into a hug. I didn't do hugs, she knew that, but... actually, she might have been doing it to annoy me.

"Well, I hope you don't mind pranks, then." I smiled, now feeling a little more relaxed, to even my own surprise. Mischief leaked into my smile, "I've been told I'm the queen of pranks."

"Hehe, well better than being the queen of ice." Marbel released me and stepped back, looking at her elemental. I took the opportunity to look at my own.

Eismeer walked over and gave my leg a nuzzle, 'Soooo... cuuuuute~' meanwhile, Marbel's ugly behemoth of a creature just watched its hands flexing and relaxing like an idiot.

"I'm not an ice queen, and I very much don't appreciate how you all call me that. I can be friendly too." I was NOT pouting, not at all! Schnees don't pout! "In fact, I swear I'll make you all feel that we're such good friends that you won't even be able to live without me!" hahahaha!

MWAHAHAHHAHAHAHAHHAAA~!

---

(Jaune's POV)

'Frickin' Undyne logic. Hehe, still funny to look at, though.'

I smiled, watching Weiss make an almost cartoonishly villainous conniving face as she twiddled her hands and seemed to plot how she'd make the others into 'desperately close friends'. I hummed a little, focusing on cooking dinner with the ingredients I had. God was my Inventory OP in and of itself. I might have had amazing combat skills and spells, but the base abilities of The Gamer easily gave me massive advantages against my peers. Granted, I wouldn't be able to use some of them in public or anywhere where I had the chance of being recorded, but I'd accepted that long ago. With Crocea Mors and Xiburichu working on dinner under my instruction, and Marbel and Weiss interacting their elementals and leveling up their Summon Elemental skills, I left them to work it out themselves, trusting their intelligence and wisdom to help them not fuck things up. They already knew not to show anyone they had control over the elements, or at least not any more control than could be explained away as comprehensive dust casting abilities.

With that out of the way, I focused briefly and Teleported myself onto a nearby rooftop, ready to go scope out some Grimm towards the west, where the hot, humid grassy plains gave way to mountains whose humidity was thick and temperatures were oppressive. I began running, making a leap across a gap, when suddenly...

Yang's image appeared before me, showing her beautiful grinning face and perfectly falling hair. I hummed softly, smiling and broadcasting to only her, "Hey babe, what's up?"

"Heeeeey byabe." she replied with a slight slur to her speech. I rolled my eyes with a fond smile, leave it to Sunny to get drunk on the weekend, "Just having a bit of girl time, y'know~!" she reached over to someone off the screen and pulled Ruby and Skyler into the shot, "Sky here said you were teaching her about stuff and things about being a human and since she's gonna be a girl, I figured me and Rubes could teach her a thing or two about being a girl." she gave me a big, goofy, cheesy grin, and hiccuped adorably, "Just wanted to say heeey~!" she waved her hand rapidly at me, clearly not in complete mental control of her actions.

Ruby sighed softly, "I taught her how to wear a scarf. Yang wanted to teach her how to binge drink. I guess I'll have to drive us home..."

I shook my head, smiling at her, "No need. Actually, I think that depending on what kind of night it is back there, it'd be for the best if Skyler flew you both back to Patch. I'm sure your dad will freak out if you two don't come home tonight. Just make sure, Skyler, if you're going to fly them home, don't be afraid to take the scenic route to avoid detection, if you know what I mean."

"I DO know what you mean, actually! Yang has taught me a lot of phrases, m-" she let out a sound of surprise as Yang accidentally slapped her in the center of her chest with the back of her hand in the process of giving me a thumbs up.

"She's gooootttt thiiiiis~." my girlfriend said in a dismissive tone, still grinning like a fool, "Anyways~, see ya when you get back~! I expect a hug. If you don't give me a hug, I'll hurt you." she shook her fist at me, glaring with one eye and giving half a pout.

"Heh, the only way you could really hurt me is by being sad, sweetheart." I smiled affectionately at her, puckering my lips slightly.

"Well I meant that! I'll be really sad if my boyfriend doesn't give me a hug after he gets back from being gone for so long." she puckered her lips too.

We both leaned in and, though it was ultimately just a bit of pretending through the screen, shared a kiss. I smiled and waved goodbye to the other two, "See you all later, girls. I won't forget that hug, love." I threw a bit of London into my words at the end, flashing her a grin and a wink.

Yang grinned back and winked too, "Good, don't. See ya later." the other two said their farewells and the screen disappeared. I closed my broadcast as well, turning my full focus back onto traveling the rooftops, keeping an illusion around me that masked my physical appearance as, at most, a blur of colors, and at least as a distortion of air.

I hummed, then decided that I'd done well enough with my recent endeavors to deserve a bit of a treat. Thinking of the only thing I could, I opened my profile and tapped a couple of points out.

WIS: 138 - 140 (+5) (+235%) = 485.75

Stat Points: 162 - 160

Feeling the new surge of power flow into me, I quickly ran the mental math and found that I was now recovering more than my Max AP every minute with Wizard v3 in use. It came out to about 107.8% to be exact. Around 146.6k AP per minute to work with.

So I worked with it.

Focusing on Aurora, I continued my usual flow of channeling all my Ki Skills simultaneously at ten times their power, and thus ten times their cost. Even then, that only cost me about 60.4k, leaving me with well over half my AP still flooding in. I took care of a bit of that by running Stone Skin and Metal Skin simultaneously at 200x power, costing 17.2k.

With still another 69k left to work with. That much power gave me room to boost my various senses, Elemental Aura, Magic Eyes, the Azure Dragon techniques, my buffs, and Summon Elemental all to massive power levels, though I still left enough to keep the skill Aurora itself running actively, and a small reserve of power for dishing out attacks. With my massive INT enhancing my mind, and Gamer's Mind keeping me calm and logical (most of the time), it was relatively easy to figure out, ending up being no more difficult than an economist arranging a budget on a chart.

With Mana Barrage, I could go from a normal warrior, to a pair of rapid-fire magical cannons, blasting enemies to pieces with various spells. Anything that survived long enough to get to me was probably something I shouldn't be fighting.

I let out a low breath as I Power Jumped into the sky, flapping my draconic wings and flying away from the city. I focused my telescopic vision on the ground, listening to the the buzzing of my lightning wings, and the whistling of the artificial wind I was creating to make myself go faster, which stacked nicely with Feather Fall's effect.

Ki Breathing filled my lungs with additional power, just to supplement my already overly substantial gains. It nearly boosted my minutely APR to a solid 147k, only a few points shy of it. I had a couple of ideas on how it would prestige, now that its level was in the 70s. It may just boost its power to give a higher amount of APR boost, plus another one or two more abilities, given its placement in the Aura folder, under the subsection Ki, as opposed to subsection Aura for the actual skill Aura. Having prestiged Aura, I had the insight to hanker a few guesses as to how Ki Breathing would prestige.

There were what the numbers said, which was the increased boost to my stats, but also the physical functions. Whereas Aura was a soft, but vivid glow around me, like a corona of a candle's flame, Aurora was a wild and powerful bonfire, shining outwards like the corona of a human-sized star, flaring and whipping outwards and looking pretty cool, but intimidating. By that scale, I could also assume that Aurora's prestige would be scaled up accordingly, probably growing to the relative might of a forest fire. It was an almost scary thought.

Ki Breathing currently drew air into my lungs, and by using a small amount of startup AP, it allowed my breaths to draw in spiritual energy as well as normal air to feed not only my body, but my soul as well. Perhaps Ki Breathing 2.0 would draw the power into more internal organs? I had a feeling about it... and Magic Eyes' recent level 35 bonus gave me vague projections on the improvement patterns a lot of my skills would have, which filled in a lot of information that had been outlined by a previous bonus that tracked the original numbers my skills had, such as Ki Breathing now providing 370 AP/min, but originally only giving 10. Very useful, and some skills only had perhaps one or two numbers to track. With my intelligence bolstering its effectiveness, it was easy for these 'vague projections' to give me highly accurate information that could be judged easily.

Sure, it wasn't much, but it was more than nothing. Information was a powerful weapon, but so were weapons themselves. Sure, I could do things more efficiently with a bit more effort, but I knew that hitting things a lot made them eventually die. My skills leveled up to make that simpleton's strategy more efficient on its own, even without anything resembling intellectual refinement, like being tactical and/or completely accurate with my bombardment. If I ever bothered to refine my process, I'd probably get a volcano-sized upwards surge in combat effectiveness.

It just... wasn't needed at the moment.

When the time came, I'd do what I had to do to win, no matter what. When this all started, I was joyed to find out that it was right up my alley: An adventure RPG. As more of the game revealed itself to me, I only found my excitement and joy growing stronger. I had a chance to do great goods for the world! Any normal Grimm was little threat now, as I'd raised my level of power far beyond them. Any enemy that I faced now would need to have some serious powers, like these apparent 'magical Grimm', and probably would need some hardcore healing factors too. I already had enough power to stand among full Hunters, and had saved some lives already. The Game, for the crap I gave it, DID allow me to do so, SO much more. I'd grown stronger. I'd come to understand a lot more about how the world worked. I'd saved lives already. I'd fallen in love...

Speaking of love, and saving lives, one thing that it did was help me form the compromise between my desires and reality. If I had my way, then the girls wouldn't be pursuing these Huntress careers. The fact of the matter was for all my power, I couldn't stop the girls from wanting to become Huntresses, or pursuing that goal. Honestly, they'd probably hate me for trying. The other thing was, while they didn't have nearly my level of effective power, they weren't helpless. Still, despite their skills, they were vulnerable. Marbel, Weiss, Blake, my sisters, my girlfriend, my girlfriend's sister, even my parents and my girlfriend's father and uncle, they were all far more vulnerable than I was. Loss of blood, of limb, of life, it was a much more real risk to them than it was to me. I didn't know what would happen to me when my HP hit 0, but usually the main character dying meant a Game Over in a lot of games that had you collect a party. Meanwhile, party members could be revived with some items or spells. It was shown to happen in real life, with 'dead' people being resuscitated and brought back to life, some Hunters have even survived their hearts ceasing to beat for a short time, just due to the resilience of their souls.

Thing was, I didn't care to test that theory. In battle, with my allies by my side, my shield and sword would always be at the forefront to tank as many of the hits as possible. I'd protect and tank damage for my allies just so they wouldn't have to get hurt in my stead, because I'm a knight, goddammit! I'd do my goddamned best to protect people.

If I couldn't protect them, though, then that compromise I'd realized would come in handy; I'd help them gain power so they could defend themselves if I wasn't able to, for whatever reason. The world was too dangerous, the threat of the Grimm too ubiquitous, to hope that leaving them locked away in some metaphorical or even literal fortress would work. A Giant Nevermore could land on that fortress and crush them, then what? I'd have doomed them because they thought they were safe and the world proved them wrong in a fatal way. In a way, I'd have been the one to kill them, not just the Nevermore. The thought put a bitter taste in my mouth, and that wasn't just the scent of rotting wood and growing flora in the air, as my lightning wings carried me over the forest.

I sighed, I didn't even know where I was going exactly, just exploring and filling out areas on my map. I could already sense things around me with my Elementals, why was I bothering with this?

Kitsuninja Jounin
Title: Shadowclad Master of the Arts
Level: 82

The beast crashed into my face fist-first, seeming to appear out of thin air. The hit sent me into a controlled crash down to the forest floor below, my body shocked from the impact. I landed on my hands and knees, gasping for air.

Ki Breathing broken! You have gained the status effect "Aura Confusion"!

I focused hard, looking at the ten-foot-tall beast in front of me, pieces of bark clinging to its fur in places that slightly resembled armor, rune-like symbols roughly scratched into the wood. It glowed with a powerful dark presence. I tried to breath, but the air turned to plasma in my mouth as a restarted Ki Breathing was suddenly flooded with lightning. My hand raised and a Fireball formed, before exploding forwards as my Aura seemed to shake and tremble like a lake upset by an earthquake, unable to form or shape itself properly, which was making techniques bleed into others as it couldn't seem to set itself straight.

I cast my buffs on myself, only to turn my leg to stone and my arm to iron as Stone Skin and Metal Skin no longer got their power flow, the sudden cut leaving me immobilized.

Wow, Luck, way to jump back into shitting on me. I could still somehow see, and I felt my arm get torn away by a jab to the elbow before my Aurora exploded around me, stone falling away as cyan light covered my body. With quick and careful motions, I drew Crocea Mors in a Quickdraw Strike, focusing as hard as I could to use Power Strike, enhanced by Aurora. I sliced through the Kitsuninja's arm, severing it at the elbow even as it tore a chunk of my face off. All of my Ki Skills surged in like a flood of lava, except instead of molten stone, my body was filled with molted agony as it surged with far too much energy, briefly stripping me of skin as my blood nearly boiled with the heat. My AP was down to only about 40k, my health and stamina both dropping quickly. To make matters worse, I could see black fluid surge into the empty space left behind by the Kitsuninja Jounin's severed arm, forming into a thin and bony, but clearly functional hand.

Funny how things went wrong so quickly.

"NO!" a voice shouted, shortly followed by a sound of splashing liquid. The Kitsuninja's back burst into flames and it fell towards me, still conscious enough to swing its claws at me.

I swung my 'claws' right back, the Azure Dragon's Three Claws and Shocking Steps slicing its arms to ribbons and tearing its chest open with an X-shaped double clawing motion, then grabbing Crocea Mors out of the air where it floated thanks to Crocea's influence, and a swift, powerful strike severed its head. Dropping to my knees, I exhaled sand as I forced my Aura to at least stay still.

Your level increased by one!

Okay... one thing was duly noted, some status effects scaled to my increased power level. Even ripping my own heart out wasn't as painful as coughing up sand, blowing my hand off with a fireball, and my skin bursting off my muscles like a popped balloon. Shit like that made me thankful Gamer's Body still worked despite my Aura Confusion, and Gamer's Mind would help me get over it. Nightmarish stuff.

"Azure Dragon Trainee, are you alright?" the voice said again, and I looked up at my savior. God did I feel like shit now. And I was just saying how it would take a very powerful Grimm to take me down. I guess that's why Ki Breathing's description said it was used during lulls in battle, when your Aura was confused, shit could happen that would probably kill you.

Moyoshimono Hoshi
Title: The Will to feed the Flames of Ascension
Level: 91

Cinnabar Star, his name meant. A disciple of the Vermilion Bird. He looked far older than his supposed 36 years implied, but the answer laid within one of the skills he knew. I couldn't see all of the details of the Vermilion Bird style, but one ability he possessed allowed him to burn up his Ki to permanently increase his power level. From the looks of it, he'd only used it a few times in his life. Scary to think what a skill like THAT would prestige into, assuming it even did, "I'm alright enough. I could use a little help, though."

He nodded, looking at me while shouldering his massive katana and helping me stand with a single hand. I took in his appearance as the level of light my eyes received slowly raised with Magic Eyes coming back online. He wore a long red jacket with two brown belts holding it together, black pants with a light gray stripe running down them, black leather boots with steel plates attached, a leather gauntlet on his right arm, black glasses over his eyes, and single leather shoulderguard with a gold pattern sewn onto it. He didn't much look like a monk, but then again the first mental image I had of one was a bald man in a brown robe who knelt before altars of candles, praying to either wooden totems or stone statues of gods. Still, they were technically religious, and the general consensus was that whatever gods there were, they want us to be kind to one another, and be uplifted by camaraderie. With that in mind, it wasn't too much of a surprise that one would help what looked like a weary traveler in need.

I followed him, slowly but surely regaining control over my Aura as our path sloped upwards, eventually passing over the tops of the trees below as the forest slowly thinned out while we climbed the mountain. He led me slowly but surely, a flame in his hand. The other, which looked like it was held in a sling, slipped out of his coat and offered the heavy jug at his side to me, "Drink, it feeds the body and soul."

I took a sniff of it, Gamer's Sight identifying it as "Samurai River" Sake, a powerful alcoholic drink that had been infused with Aura to enhance its effects. It would help recover my HP and AP, though I'd take a hit to my SP. I scanned it closely as I took a deep swig, the smooth, slightly sweet flavor sliding down my throat easily, before filling my belly with warmth. I could see why it reduced one's SP, this stuff was relaxing to drink, yet also energizing, like your energy was burning away, but it felt too pleasant to make you care. My SP restored itself anyways, but at this point I'd already painted the picture of a person needing help, and accepted Moyoshi's offer. I took slow swigs, enjoying the smooth flavor as the alcohol helped me relax. My mind slowed slightly in my relaxation, and I found that I'd already hit Tipsy on my Drunkenness scale.

I bit back a chuckle at that. It was hard to believe I still had the ability to get drunk. Not even Captain Atlas could do that, or at least the comics claimed. I hummed a bit as my mind wandered to various pieces of entertainment media. I knew I had better focus in battle, able to target my opponent and aim everything I had at them, I wouldn't fool myself into thinking I'd be as distracted in the heat of battle as I was in calm times. I sighed softly, the path steepening to the point that the rough stones paving it had become solid stairs. I hummed, my nightvision allowing me to see the temple in all its subtle beauty.

It looked like a mixture of the sort of 'carving into a mountain' temple, with a surface appearance of a wide-bodied pagoda, the ratio of floor area to roof area made a bit more reasonable. The night was just starting, after all, though to Yang and Ruby, now that I thought about it, it was probably too close to 8 AM to get proper sleep... shit, I almost didn't account for time zones.

Back to here and now! The walls were a light, creamy brown, the wooden structure was stained a dark brown that I could see was a mixture of normal stain and Earth Dust, not only making the structure far more solid, but giving it incredible fire resistance too. I hummed a little, sensing more people up there. I wasn't able to tell who, just able to sense their Auras and the disturbances they made in the air, but it was two people.

Moyoshi sighed, seeing a light on in one of the windows, "Come on now, weary traveler, you're probably hungry." he reached back and gently grabbed my wrist, leading me in a slightly straighter gait as we ascended to the temple. The underground sections I was able to sense with Roimontagne, but sadly Xiburichu and Crocea Mors were still in summoned form back at the hotel. They had dinner done by now, evident by the thanks the girls were giving me. Jaune C: It's no problem at all. You two needed food, and Weiss needs to check that the preparations at the concert hall are being made properly. It's nearly too late to do that. :C

Weiss C: Shit! I need to get to that now! Can you give me a speed buff? :C

Jaune C: No, but you should be able to get there if you leave soon. Make sure to chew your food. :C

Weiss C: I know how to eat properly, I am a lady who was raised with manners after all. :C

Jaune C: Pretty bad ones as far as I've seen. Work on that, hehe. :C I opened my broadcast to her and gave her a joking smirk.

Weiss opened her broadcast to me and pouted angrily, Weiss C: I will hurt you :C

Jaune C: Heh, I'll just get my defensive skills leveled up then. :C

Weiss visibly let out a very un-ladylike growling sound at me, then shut off her camera. I did the same seconds later, a small chuckle escaping my lips, "Heh, thank you sir."

"It is no problem. Someone so young having mastered the Claws, the Steps, and the Wings, it's remarkable." he said in a pleasantly surprised voice, smiling at me, "You must have an excellent sensei."

"I'm self-taught, so I guess with my sensei being myself, I did pretty well." I chuckled and grinned at him, "My semblance helps me learn."

"I can see that. To find the texts, read them, and understand the knowledge enough to develop the techniques properly... astonishing." he opened the door and led me inside the well-lit building, the comfortably soft lights giving the area a relaxing feel.

He led me over to a low table and we sat down. I noticed three plates set at the table, the space directly in front of me empty, "Two others, I assume?"

"Ah, yes, they've boarding with me for years now. Sad sight those kids, but they are happy and have access to modern amenities and such, enough that they won't be stunted in their growth and can live in society healthily." he cleared his throat, turning his head towards another area of the above-ground temple, "Ren! Come set another place at the table. We have a guest!" he called out in a firm, but gentle voice.

He gestured to me, pointing at his sword slung he still held over his shoulder, before sliding it into a reverse grip and setting it on the floor. I nodded, unclipping Crocea Mors and Candidus Murus from the left side of my belt, then doing the same for Murasama and Sandrust on the right side. I patted my armor, it disappearing from my chest as I sighed lowly, "You wouldn't happen to have mithril, would you? Or know of any locations of dragons?"

Moyoshi hummed, and I glanced to the side as another figure appeared in my vision, a boy my age with long black hair tied into a ponytail, a lock of pink-dyed hair to the side.

Lie Ren
Title: A Blossom of the Wind
Level: 35

He was slender, and looked kinda effeminate, if it wasn't for the fact I could see that he was male on his profile, I might have mistaken him for a girl at first, "Well howdy." I greeted with a grin.

He shook a tiny bit, then sighed, pointing to a banner posted on one of the four pillars in the corners of the square carved into the center circle of the floor, the shallow steps putting it about six inches below the rest of the floor. My eyes scanned the words quickly, "Oh." I looked at the other three banners as well.

In night, we shine dimly, quiet in words and slow in motion, it is a time for rest.

In dawn, we shine with growing, once again fueling the fires in our bodies, it is a time for renewal.

In day, we shine brightly, body and spirit pumping through all that we do, it is a time for action.

In dusk, we shine brightest, doing all we can before the light fades, it is a time of closure and settling.

Huh. Well, it was nighttime, so it was time to be quiet. I settled down and watched as Ren laid a small set of dishes and utensils in front of me. I smiled at him, speaking much more quietly, "Thank you."

He had only a slight smile on his stoic face as he replied, "It's no problem. You're our guest." he stood up, bowed to Moyoshi, then returned to what I assumed was the kitchen. I couldn't sense the utensils at the moment, or any flames, since Crocea Mors and Xiburichu, with their small and simple minds, didn't have too much capacity for thought. Still, the sheer distance they were able to be from me and still be summoned was amazing. I made a mental note of that, it could be useful in the future. Still, I needed them back with me. I instructed Marbel to put the barrel of steel into the inventory, then looked as the other person joined us.

Nora Valkyrie
Title: A Warrior of the Hammer
Level: 37

I smiled at her, "Well howdy." I greeted in a slightly hushed voice, giving a wave.

She gasped loudly, "NEW PERSON!" and shouted, surprising me. I quickly read over her profile in the second or two it took her to speed over to me and shake my hand rapidly, "Hi how are you what's your name you don't look Vacuan I don't think I've ever met someone with yellow hair before it looks nice you're pretty tan too but your face doesn't look Vacuan where are you from what's your name wait did I already ask that sorry I kinda repeat myself sometimes when I'm so excited to meet a new person hiiiii~!" I forced her arms to stop shaking mine, though it was a bit of a tough fight, "Wow you're really strong."

I nodded, having been able to follow everything she said, and smiled as I replied, "To answer you in order. I'm good, my name is Jaune, Jaune Arc, I'm from Vale, it's called 'blonde' and the hair color isn't too too common actually, I work in the sun a lot and my semblance helps me heal so I got a tan easily, I'm still from Vale, that hasn't changed in the past five seconds, my name is also still Jaune Arc, that hasn't changed in the past eight seconds, repeating yourself is fine, but try to speak clearer when you do, I'm excited to meet you too, you seem pretty fun, and I work out a lot."

"Wow! Well Jaune-Jaune, my name is Nora Valkyrie, nice to meet you, you seem pretty fun too." she grinned brightly, her volume thankfully ahving dropped enough that either it was at an acceptable level, or Moyoshi just gave up trying to burn holes in the back of her head with his eyes and accept that this was as close to 'quiet' as the orange-haired girl would get.

"Nora, no yelling." Ren said as he returned to the room, holding a large pan of some spicy-smelling food, setting it down at the center of the table. My Sight told me it was rice with vegetables and chicken, with some goat's milk mixed in to make it a little creamier. He dished it out to the four of us, the servings large enough to fill a grown man, but there was still some left in the pot. I looked at Moyoshi and nodded as Ren poured us all drinks, a hot cup of tea.

I sniffed it. It smelled good, but had no sugar. Thankfully, a spoonful of sugar covered the lack of sweetness, as Ren seemed to pick up on my qualm, and another was given to Nora... followed by another, but Ren's firm stare dissolved Nora's displeased pout as she didn't receive how many ever sugars she desired to get. A bit of flavor text on the tiny dish told me they chose sugar as Nora could not cook and the amount of things you didn't have to cook to eat, AND could eat with pure sugar on it, were severely limited. Honey was sticky and 'never again', which had me suppressing a chuckle.

Pluviteus and Mystral's combined power made my Icy Breath form a light frost on the teacup as I blew on it, cooling the drink to an acceptable temperature, which was icy cold. The only way to drink tea. I took a sip, swishing it around in my mouth slightly to get the taste of the much sweeter and stickier sake out, then swallowed, taking a few more sips to properly clean my mouth out, then lowered it and smiled "The tea is excellent."

Ren and Nora gave me wide-eyed looks, which made me pause and read all three of their backstories a little more thoroughly.

Moyoshi saved me the trouble of scanning through the many paragraphs, "Children, it's fine, he does not know our ways. Jaune, in this temple, I as the sensei take the first bite or sip to start the meal. It is a lesson of discipline."

"Oh, I'm sorry." I apologized, setting the cup down back on the small dish, "I didn't mean to offend." damn, where did my manners go? Oh right, they're from Vale. I didn't know all the customs here, so it wasn't something they'd probably hold against me. Plus I'd only be staying for a little while, so it wasn't like it'd be too important anyways.

Moyoshi shook his head, waving the notion away with his hand, "You are forgiven. It was a simple mistake anyone could make, it does not make you any lesser. Let us eat." he took a sip of his tea and we all began our meals.

...(A few minutes later, after the meal)...

I left a few pieces of rice stuck to the inside of the bowl, which was a good move, as Ren's look told me. Of course, Nora probably left one single grain in her hunger. The tradition was to not completely finish your food, instead leaving some bits and pieces that were meant to be an offering of thanks to the gods, whoever they were, for letting them have the fortune of enjoying this meal. Fairly objective beliefs when it came to spirit, as opposed to the beliefs of subjective spirituality found in showing kindness and good will unto others most people around the world believed in. Then again, Vacuo had a more spiritual culture to begin with, in fact they were said to have been like that since their inception.

Ren took the dishes and the now mostly empty pans to the kitchen, while Nora stood up and grabbed my hand, "I'll show you around, Jaune! Now that you've eaten and drank, you should be plenty strong to see the place!" she grinned brightly at me, reminding me of Juicia when she ate too much sugar, and I couldn't help but smile and laugh.

"I wasn't too weak to begin with, your master basically forced me to accept his hospitality." I clarified as I followed her, easily keeping up with her energetic pace.

She showed me outside to the greenhouse, which surprised me. There were many fruits and vegetables growing in there, the scent of dirt and salad filling the room. They were well cared for, which is what Gamer's Sight told me. I considered unlocking the Auras of them all, but withheld the urge. This was not my place to act freely, and so I would do the right thing and not act freely.

Next on the random path Nora decided to take me on was the well, followed by the front room again, then the 'zoo'.

The 'zoo' was simply a room with many animals held in pens and spacious cages. I noticed a few wolves, some big cats, snakes, birds, goats, and other sorts of stuff. Then, I noticed something and my heart nearly stopped.

Garnet, she was here! I must have forgotten she had been napping in my hoodie! Shit shit shit! And she was stuck halfway through wiggling herself through the thick wire fence and into the pen containing a few wolves.

Suddenly, I heard a loud shout in the other room, then felt two spiritual presences slam into me. Crocea Mors and Xiburichu, they had finally gotten back to me. With Crocea's influence, I moved the wires aside and grabbed Garnet away and slammed my hand down between the kitten and the approaching wolf's head, throwing the predator away with a powerful, concentrated burst of wind. I glared at it with danger in my eyes and growled loudly, making it cower away, "Dammit. Garnet, why did you wander off?" I softened my expression and voice as I lifted the tiny kitten and gave her a look as if expecting an answer.

"Mew~." she meowed sweetly at me, nuzzling my warm thumb as I held her in one hand. I sighed, deadpanning at her and hitting her with Gamer's Sight.

-/\/\/\-

Name: Garnet Arc
Title: Swaddled in Hope and Fate - Blanketed with Good Will and Fortune
Level: 1 - 35
Class: Kitten
Nickname: Lil Furball.

Hit Points: 20/20 - 350/350
Aura Points: 50/50 - 400/400
Stamina Points: 10/10 - 600/600

Strength: 1
Dexterity: 2
Vitality: 2
Intelligence: 1
Wisdom: 1
Luck: 25
Charisma: 30

Stat Points: 0 - 170

-/\/\/\-

I hummed, then sighed softly. She was only a few months old, but still probably now had enough durability to match a grown cat, or even a dog. Actually, the wolf I'd intimidated only had 100 HP. I suppose Grimm were stronger, then. Sighing, I poked her forehead gently, "Don't run off."

Nora looked like a balloon that was about to burst the moment my eyes saw her. It seemed I'd caught a crucial moment, because a second later she let out a high-pitched squeal and nearly ripped Garnet from my grip, "D'oooooohhhhhhh she's so CUUUUUUUTE~!" she grinned brightly and spun around with Garnet in her hands.

I used my Telekinesis to get Garnet back into my much more careful hands, "Don't do that, you'll scare her." I gently pet the now distressed kitten, her little legs wiggling around as she tried to right herself. Teeny tiny claws scratched against my skin, but did nothing to harm me. I sighed softly, holding the kitten closely and comforting her, "She's only a couple of months old. I'd forgotten she was sleeping in my hoodie pocket. How she was unhurt I don't know." I hadn't fallen on my stomach, thank god, in fact I'd say my Luck saved Garnet's life, as no hits had been aimed at wherever she had been on my person.

Sense Danger informed me of Nora's intention and I rapidly slapped her hands away, preventing her from snatching Garnet away, "Stop. Listen, I'm normally very responsible with her, you can trust me on that. This was just a mistake. I'll be returning her to my group when I return to the city. For now, I'm going to keep her on my person so she doesn't wander around and get herself hurt." I reached behind my head, past my shaggy hair, and placed her into my hood. I smiled as I felt her wiggle around a little, getting comfortable, "Don't try to take her from me. Just don't." I let my eyes glow briefly to show the anger she'd excite from the act, "Now come on, what's next?" I let my anger fade away, giving her an easygoing smile.

Nora easily brushed away her slightly hurt look and smiled upon realizing that I'd let the subject drop and not stay angry. I hadn't quite read through all of her background information, but I could guess she had some kind of problem with grudges or needless anger. I didn't blame her. Anger wasn't really something you should throw around willy-nilly. It's a dangerous thing when left unchecked, "Right, let's go!" she grinned once more, clearing the air as she grabbed my hand and bounded towards some other part of the temple.

I saw the prayer room, Moyoshi's room, the armory and the attached smithery where their weapons had been crafted, and the ritual room.

I hummed, recognizing the symbols for fire and air traced into the patterns of the ritual circle. It was carved into the stone floor, made permanent by that regard. I hummed and took a step back, looking at the symbol as a whole.

Ritual Circle (Vermilion Bird of the South): A ritual circle used by Master Miyoshimono, disciple of the Vermilion Bird of the South, to meditate on the energies of the world and understand the knowledge of his style. The symbology matches the elements Fire and Air, and the rest seem to channel energy from the planet itself. Meditating inside this circle will provide special effects related to the Vermilion Bird of the South.

I hummed, reading over the extra bits of info outside of the main window, then mentally copied the entire circle into my memory, ready to put it down somewhere else. I could use more skills, but I should work on the ones I already have first.

Truthfully, it came down to my ease of casting above all else, that determined how well I could operate my skills. While I had more than enough mental power to cobble together the auric formulas into more powerful forms, layering them over themselves hundreds, thousands of times, my aura required more than that to actually do it.

With my high level in Aura Channeling, as well as the boost from Battlemage and Ki Body (though the latter only affected spells cast on my body), I had a total of 2000% ease of casting. I could, therefore, push myself to a bit over 5000x power with my skills if it were possible.

The unfortunate reality of it was that I just... couldn't. It wasn't for lack of trying, it was because the skills literally could not be pushed that far. They were too clunky to be pushed that far, too thick to be layered that many times, too structurally weak to squeeze together into something that strong. I did what I could, but there was only so much I even COULD do. 200x power with Stone and Metal Skin was the limit, it felt. I could force some more layers onto there, probably push them both up to 300 if I really tried, but it just wasn't really worth it for the effort. If I wasn't surprised like earlier, and let my Ki Breathing fail like I did, then I'd be fine. It wasn't really some sort of cheap cop-out, it was just an unfortunate circumstance, which happened to remind me that I was still vulnerable if I wasn't careful. I couldn't let my guard down.

I had to remain vigilant.

With a single, slow breath, I turned from the potential source of new power, and followed Nora back up to the main building of the temple.

...(after a few minutes)...

I smiled and waved back at the three as I departed from the temple, watching Nora cling tightly to the object I'd given her. As it turned out, she was a fan of the White Songbird, but never got to go to any of her shows. I knew Ren would be pulled along for the ride, and bid him good luck.

I turned away from them finally, smiling and feeling a warmth in my chest. I walked down the path until I found a nice boulder to mark my takeoff, then summoned my draconic wings and jumped into the sky, a shining point of light as I began flapping my wings rapidly, accelerating to nearly the speed of sound as I overcharged them.

---

(The next morning, Jaune's POV)

I hummed as I ate breakfast with the others, Garnet drinking some formula I'd bought back in Vale. The girls adored the way the fuzzy jellybean seemed to hug the bottle as it drank, not letting go until it had drained it entirely. I smiled and levitated the bottle away with my Telekinesis, chuckling as Marbel cooed at the sweet meow Garnet let out immediately after, "You know I wonder if Blake would give the same reaction if we gave her a bottle." I chuckled, my tone implying nothing more than poking a little fun at her.

She deadpanned back, but the look in her eyes told me she caught that I was just joking, "I'm not a baby, Jaune. If I was, though, I might react in a similar way." she blushed, probably remembering some embarrassing moment from her past.

I smiled and pulled out a random dust crystal, "Well luckily I happen to have synthesized this De-aging Dust crystal. Let's see how effective it is." the others shared a few laughs at that.

Blake raised an eyebrow, "Oh really? The words above it say it's Ice dust." I heard Marbel nearly snort at the witty response.

I shrugged, "Well I think if we froze you in time and thawed you out in say, 20 years, then you'll definitely be younger than us." I smirked at her, earning some more laughter from the peanut gallery as they found the ridiculousness of the idea quite humorous. I put the dust away and sighed softly, smiling at everyone, "Well, enough chit-chat let's make a plan for today, then. We have until five o'clock to train, because that's when Weiss' performance starts. We should finish at about 4:30, which should give her time to get there, get prettied up, and get on stage on time." I smiled, "Well, at least a couple of us." I poked my eggs lightly as I smiled. The picture in front of me was worth far more than a thousand words.

Weiss was smiling, as was Blake, both happy to have friends, even if the only three present were a girl two years their junior, a boy who had done his damnedest to improve their lives for no reason other than hating to see their wasted potential, and said boy's dad, who was a Huntsman and seemed aloof, but doting and caring at least. Distance was not an issue, as Ruby, Yang, Skyler, and Thomas could simply turn on their cameras and say hello, or use the telepathic voice chat, or use the text chat. Sure, the Game gave us all a way to increase our power massively, but a more easily enjoyed benefit was its ability to let everyone be connected and grow close.

My dad was chugging from a glass of what Gamer's Sight told me was Hanate, a Vacuan alcohol that was generally considered okay to drink at breakfast, but only if you're a parent. The drink was made with citrus fruits, made similar to a sweet Sake. It was smooth and usually had a sweet and sour taste, with only a slight bit of alcohol, so as to barely give you a bit of a buzz. It was consumed to give your spirit extra fuel to deal with the increased burden of being a parent, as well as supposedly promoting your health. My high-ish level of Gamer's Sight told me that long-term benefits did include increasing your Max SP.

I hummed a quiet tune, the EXP for , drinking my herbal tea and seeing the three girls talk about life, though I did feel bad that I'd tuned them out to look through my skills and make a mental list of what I would train today. The levels of all the spells in my Bolts folder averaged to about sixty-seven. Shots averaged level twenty-three exactly, but half of the skills were at twenty. Blasts averaged at a paltry six, pitiful compared to the others. I decided to train those, as well as continue training Summon Elemental to eventually prestige it. Thing was, that 'eventually' was now 'soon'. Thousands of steps had been taken, and the journey was now almost complete.

I smiled, then my dad spoke up, "That sounds like a plan. Any thoughts, girls?"

Blake shrugged, "Well, I think Jaune should remember that we're supposed to be her personal security entourage, meaning we should all be there. It should have been easy to recall, what with his ridiculous INT and WIS." she admonished, giving me a pointed look.

"Right, right, there would be trouble if that happened. Well, thank you for being on top of remembering that. I guess I was too focused on what training I'd get done today. Anyways, let's get started ASAP, then." I stood up, leading our ensemble outside the room, looking at the two guards, "Miss Schnee wishes to go see the sights of the city. We'll be accompanying her, don't worry." I informed them, giving a charming grin as I led us all to the elevator, down to the lobby.

I had cast an illusion over us the second the elevator opened, all of us weaving our way out past a single person trying to get in. After that, it was smooth sailing, timing our movements just right so that we'd be able to get outside without detection, then we entered the nearest alleyway, floating up on solidified platforms of air as Mystral formed the 'invisible jet', scaled up to fit the group.

I briefly pondered the thought that the process of switching charges from a complete balance between all of my elementals, to pouring the power into a single elemental, even to the point of draining the others to their minimum, was now so smooth and easy that it was more effort to think about how easy it was than it was to actually focus on doing it. More than likely it was my Ease of Casting at work, but regardless of reason, it worked.

I notified the others to start putting on some sunscreen, because going out into the desert wasn't going to be easy, especially with how pale Weiss and Blake were.

...(A few minutes of traveling and sunscreen application later)...

My willpower forced the solidified wind to push us out towards the desert, my hopes rising as I sensed several Grimm as we flew further from civilization. I waited a little while longer, getting just enough EXP for Summon Elemental to get to the next percent towards the next level, then looked at the others, "I'm going to dismiss this platform in a few seconds. You all have landing strategies, right?" I asked with a smirk.

Marbel opened her mouth to speak, but all that came from her lips was a shrill scream as we all began falling from the sky. To her credit, she fought off the panic and I saw her rapidly open her profile and pound a few extra points into her INT to help her think. My descent was slowed by Featherfall, and I watched as her Aura flared up, a flash of light erupting from her as she aimed her fall. I'd dropped us over a small group of what looked like a random gathering of some various Grimm, and she slammed right onto a poor, unsuspecting Lizalgrunt knife-first. It was clever, using her semblance to suddenly charge towards it, then get a burst of 'retreating momentum' just a bit weaker than her 'assaulting momentum', which gave her a far better position as she flipped in the air and landed on her feet, scraping her stance together quickly.

Blake's own aura glowed very subtly, and I saw that she also had the ability to reduce its visual effects. She leaped upwards as her clone dissipated, the copy crashing against another Lizalgrunt, which looked confused. She landed elegantly on her feet and immediately charged at it, slicing into its unprepared form and breaking through its moderate, but highly insufficient defenses with somewhat considerable effort.

My father simply tanked the fall, landing and sending sand spraying everywhere from the fall. Immediately Mystral swept up Roimontagne's body in her winds and the resulting sandstone dragon blocked the flying particles from raining down on the rest of the party, myself included, with a mere flexing of willpower. I saw him practically tear his dark blue sword from its sheathe and bring his shield to bear by immediately bashing the face of one of the Grimm inwards.

Weiss seemed to be the only one who was unprepared to fall from a great height. I chat-whispered to her with a shout to use her glyphs as platforms, or something. Sadly, it was a testament to her inexperience that while she cobbled an effort together, her hastily made glyph broke from her momentum crashing into and then through it. I sighed and Roimontagne crumbled away from Mystral, crashing down and cobbling himself back together quite rapidly. Weiss' screams were not mitigated even as the wind around her twisted and blasted upwards in deliberate and purposeful resistance to her fall. Her descent slowed to a crawl as I cast Featherfall on her, and she landed safely on her feet, though her legs nearly gave out before she could catch herself. She calmed down as I saw Blake and my dad cleave through most of the remaining Grimm, "Calm down!" I shouted to her, drawing both Vorpal Sword and Crocea Mors.

The heiress opened her eyes as her scream cut short, then she blinked and quickly readied a stance, "I'm... safe?" she asked as she looked around, seeing the remains of the Grimm dissolving into smoke around her.

I sighed, running a hand through my hair, "I wasn't going to let any of you actually fall, except my dad since he actually wanted to. I'm not cruel, I'm just teaching you with great amounts of encouragement. Now then, get ready, a Deathstalker is approaching."

The others got into position as I hummed softly in concentration while Roimystral stood over me with his large sandstone form. I could feel, in my soul-enhanced perception, the sand shifting as the massive scorpion grimm effortlessly dug its way through the land. However, far sooner than I imagined it planned on surfacing, I focused all of the available charges I had into lifting and throwing the beast from the ground and into the air. With it flying through the air, the fact that it was level 70 was lost as several hundred Energy Arrows were launched towards it, most of them simply pinging off of its tough bony armor, but a few dozen made small cracks where they struck more truly than the others, marking out a rough pattern of slightly weakened points, which I used Illusion to mark on its back, signaling the others as to what the new marks meant.

My father practically swooped in to block its pincers and tail, leaving the others free to attack it as they wished while I lifted myself into the air with telekinesis, gathering energy into my hands to unleash two of my blasts. When they were charged up, I flung a Tornado across the ground and set it alight with Fire Blast, creating a flaming whirlwind that slammed into the massive side of the Grimm, not really an achievement as it was probably only slightly less easy to hit than the broad side of a barn, but it still worked, scorching the armor on its sides and creating stress cracks in the bony material.

Another pair of blasts came into being, and I warned Marbel to remove herself from stabbing the thing's eyes out. She jumped in time to avoid the stinger stabbing at her, as well as Wrecking Ball smashing down on top of the top of the thing's head and sending out several thick cracks through its armor, though that was mostly due to my using Aurora to increase the effects drastically. Before the ball dissipated into silver and purple energy, I sent Lightning Bolt at it, sending surges of debilitating electricity through its body, though it seemed to have a bit of resistance to the effects due to some odd Grimm trait that involved its acclimation to a desert environment.

That didn't matter as a massive wave of water rushed over it, hiding jagged stone spikes that stabbed into its underbelly. It was too massive and heavy to be thrown away, so the spikes punched through its chitinous exoskeleton and trapped it.

It let out a hiss that was loud enough to make my ears ring briefly before Gamer's Body mitigated the problem. I forced what air I could with Mystral to contain the sound before it affected the others too badly. Weiss and Marbel recovered seconds later, but I noticed Blake was stunned, her cat ears drooping. I frowned and rushed to her side, letting the other three handle the Deathstalker while I gave a supercharged Soulforge to Blake, noting a bit of moisture on her head. A touch revealed the fluid to be red, blood from her feline ear drums getting damaged. She'd have some ringing for a while, but it wouldn't be permanent by any means.

I heard a rustle and a loud *CRASH* and looked to see that Weiss had trapped the beast's tail to the ground within a massive boulder, while Marbel had stabbed out its other eyes and my father had cut off one its of pincers. Thick, gooey ichor poured from the wounds, a darker yellow than the fluids in Grimm from the forest, since they had less water in their bodies.

Seeking revenge for Blake, the Vorpal Sword and Tenshi Katana formed in my hands as I lunged towards the beast, delivering an axe kick empowered by Shocking Steps onto one of the weakened points of its back, followed by supercharging Blade Mode and severing the beast's tail into several segments. I followed up by smashing a pre-formed Dawn Breaker into its back several times, at the same time throwing down several Wrecking Balls to further damage its armor where the hammer and my own Strength did not reach. I twisted my body easily with my DEX and boosted flexibility, spinning and using the power of physics to convert torque into striking power. I felt my nerves shriek with energy as massive forces were thrown around with ease, sending more cracks through its armor.

My fist struck the heavily damaged plates and Mystral worked together with the combined Xibuviteus forced steam to flood into the cracks and boil the carapace underneath. With natural compounds dissolving away, they easily blasted nearly all of the huge chunks of bloodied bone plates off of the beast's back, stripping it clean of its armor. I called the others to come in for one final strike to finish it off.

With great accuracy, credit to Blake for aiming correctly despite the lingering damage to her balance, we all carved out a vicious pattern across its back as it gave its last, heavily muffled by Mystral, death cry. We lowered to the ground as its body dissolved into smoke underneath us, and I let out a heavy breath, "Nobody hurts my friends like that." I said with finality, spitting on its corpse before jumping off.

Weiss' complaints about getting dirty were cut short as she saw the sticky fluids disintegrate out of her clothes in seconds. She sighed and looked at me, "What was all that about?" her eyes were set on me with a piercing gaze.

I hummed, noting that the girls' levels had all increased, if by varying amounts. I let Pluvistral cool the air around us as I answered, "One of its hisses made Blake's ears bleed." I pointed to the lightly twitching appendages as I spoke, "I healed her, and got revenge." my words held no less conviction than they would have before our victory.

Blake's response was a slight blush and a smile, "I'm fine, Jaune." she assured me, but even if I could see the status effect of her minor hearing damage, I could hear in her words that she was not fine.

After all, she had spoken with nearly twice the volume she needed to, just to hear herself speak, "No, you're not." I said, my voice lowered to half its usual volume. I saw Blake narrow her eyes a bit, trying to read my lips, and I sighed and walked over to her, "Dad, keep an eye out, we're stopping for a second, getting a bit more mentally prepared, and Blake is getting healed." I could see a protest forming on the ravenette's lips, and I struck it down with a soft rub to her cat ear, healing the furry appendage directly, "Marbel, check our water supplies. Weiss, psyche yourself up and steel your resolve. Blake, stop squirming!" I said the last part a bit louder to get the message through to her, pushing my healing spell into her.

Now that I thought about it, I realized that I only really had one actual spell that properly healed someone. Sure I had Rejuvenating Breath, but that was more of a quick recovery spell rather than one that actually healed. I had Regeneration too, but it was more of a crutch, something to keep you from falling as fast while it was active. I needed to fix this current dilemma, figure out new healing spells that could do more than just bolster their aura and rapidly regenerate cells.

That unfortunately had to wait for a bit, as I wasn't going to test this stuff out in the field when we had a mission and a time limit. I'd run through some stuff in my head, sure, but I had to stay focused on our training.

I patted Blake's head softly when I got the pop-up that the status effect was healed, "There you go, all healed up." I smiled and turned to the others, "Alright team, let's get going. I'll do my best to keep us cool out here, but trekking through the desert isn't something to take lightly. We'll need to stop in about two hours to reapply sunscreen, and I'll be sure that the two of us with water elementals will keep us hydrated throughout our journey." I instructed, pointing a deliberate and expectant look at Weiss.

She nodded back, and I could see her already starting to think about how to best figure out the best way to tackle that problem. It would catch up with us eventually, though I had a strict policy I'd keep myself to. I'd make the situation require them to grow and adapt, but I wouldn't push them to the point that they'd hurt themselves. I was hard, but fair, and protective. They needed to grow stronger, that much was certain, and already progress was being made. They'd all leveled up from killing that Deathstalker, Blake once, Marbel twice, and Weiss three times. We'd need to seek out and slaughter a couple hundred more if we were to train solely on them to level up, but I had other plans.

We wouldn't be able to push ourselves to such a level today, or even tomorrow for that matter. We had places to be and things to do, and sadly our training was not the focus of this trip. Didn't stop us from doing a lot of it, but it would certainly cut us short for a good little while. At least until the summer. When summer hit, we'd all surge into the tier of legends, or die trying, and I wasn't planning on letting anyone die on my watch.

Of course, to be honest, I knew that even with months of practice, our personal levels wouldn't go so far. We still had things to do besides train, even with all the free extra time we'd get. It was... not the easiest truth to swallow, but it was one I had to accept nonetheless. Floating above the ground, I led the group as I thought over what to do.

Not only did we still have human needs, but the others were vulnerable, and the power we'd be throwing around would, without a doubt, grow to be too great to handle when it was fresh out of the oven. We had two different types of training to do: Training to increase our power, and training to increase our control over our power. It was simply how things had to be. You take someone who's weak, and suddenly make them able to throw three tons of weight around like it's nothing, and even if you gave them instructions, they still wouldn't understand their newfound strength. They'll need to learn to control that strength, and we'd do that with the simplest solutions I could think of.

Exercise and sparring. Finding their new limits through measured exercise, and exploring the possibilities they've unlocked with those new limits. Sadly, we weren't quite at the stage where we could just do that, but we could work our way around it. I could repair the land as we destroyed it, even heal the trees and grass, but it would take time. Hours between matches, even.

Though, technically, I suppose, the time added would be a negative asymptote. There was only so much ground that could be ravaged and destroyed until ALL of it was. With Earth Dust crystals and time, I could perhaps repair the ground throughout the night while the others slept, giving a lot of time to grow and develop my elementals. The problem was that such a thing would have to be done outside of the Eagle Mountain forest, because I had plans for it, and destroying the forest would kind of ruin those plans.

We fought against several more little groups of Grimm, EXP trickling in as the creatures of darkness were vanquished by blades, bullets, and the elements. With each victory, I increased my WIS by one point, as a way to drive myself to do more.

Nearly an hour of traveling, with several more battles with Grimm along the way, had led us to something... odd.

We were moving far faster than anyone should through the shifting sands of the Vacuan desert. Key word being should, the rules were bent because of a few things. We all had high DEX scores and were moving on foot, rather than a vehicle that would be bogged down into the sand. We were traveling light, transporting only ourselves and our weapons. My elementals... I realize that my wording for it wasn't exactly correct now. I wasn't solidifying the sand, it was already solid. I was more holding it in place so that it acted as one solid piece, rather than millions of tiny pieces. The same went for air when I created the 'solid' wind platforms and the 'invisible jet'. I also managed to force the sand to accelerate our pace by moving along our path, like a conveyor belt.

A small number of other factors added to our speed as we passed over dunes and near the occasional wide, canopy-like trees that were sparsely dotted around the golden expanses, but when I found that we'd already made it nearly one hundred miles out of town, I was a bit surprised. Of course, that didn't make THIS make any more sense.

A tiny village of sandstone huts, probably only big enough for fifty people, with patches of black sand dotted around. It almost looked like a small outlying village for the citizens of Vacuo, except for one crucial detail.

Kitsuninjas were the 'citizens'.

We all watched with an increasing level of creeped-out-ness as the tall, bipedal fox creatures walked the sandstone 'streets' like people would. My telescoped vision came in handy as I saw some... disturbingly human-like acts being performed. One kitsuninja pulled a bucket of somewhat dirty water from the well, setting it down and walking away, like it had been instructed to do that, but didn't understand what needed to happen next. A small orange light of earth-element magic caught my eye, and I saw one of them patting sand onto a house, almost like it was mimicking a carpenter hammering nails into a wooden frame, but instead it simply slapped sand onto the sandstone wall and the grains melded onto the structure. A look by one of the other huts showed that few even had small stalls, where small and large trinkets of made out of glass, metal, or cloth, were being traded for either one, or two chunks of sandstone, in some sort of oversimplified form of an economy.

I glanced at the others and saw that only my father didn't look like he was in the middle of a disturbing nightmare, "What is it?" I asked him for the others, keeping my voice low.

I ignored a few louder sounds from the town, once I saw that they weren't coming our way, and my father stroked his bearded chin, "It's a village, obviously." he said with a small smirk, then grew serious, "It's far more complex than the few Shadowtowns I've seen and heard reports of. If you're wondering, then hold your horses because I'm getting to that. Shadowtowns are.. an anomaly.

As you know, larger and more powerful Grimm sometimes come to 'command' the smaller ones. It's said that out there, there might be some sort of very intelligent Grimm that understands people. Shadowtowns are the only real evidence we have of this, however. For unknown reasons, an older and more powerful Grimm that has observed a town or village in operation will attempt to grow stronger by making its own little town with some of its lesser fellows. At most, what has been seen is Grimm walking along the streets, some of them occasionally carrying things, and a few even do tasks that mimic a trade, such as holding scavenged weapons atop a flat rock and bashing them with their fists in similar motions to a blacksmith, or mashing wood, mud, or other materials against the houses in similar motions to builders.

At night, they go into their 'houses' and waiting for daytime. Wait, not sleep, I found that out the hard way when a group I was with tried to destroy a shadowtown a few years back. The Beowolves were instantly ready to fight. If no travelers or Hunters come around, however, then the larger Grimm goes around and growls some orders to those inside. It's been seen with, as I mentioned, Beowolves, and it's been seen with Ursas, it's even been with Cavalisceras, and as you all can see here, it happens with Kitsuninjas too. Not sure how many types of Grimm are even able to do it, but any record of their existence is classified Hunter intel. You're not allowed to breath a word of this to any civilians, or even your fellow classmates at Beacon, understood?" he used his 'dad voice' near the end, fixing us all with a firm gaze.

We all nodded, and I began gathering massive amounts of Aura together with Aurora, and gave him another glance, "And the black sand?"

He sighed, "Said to be the site of a tragedy that the Grimm performed. It's unknown what exactly causes it, but 'special' Grimm like a Kitsuninja are said to be able to cause it to happen. They break people's souls as they escape the corpse, and the negativity 'bleeds out' and stains the earth permanently with dark energies, like a curse. It is, therefore, called 'Cursed Earth' most of the time. This much cursed earth, though... the Grimm that set all of this up probably killed all of the original inhabitants of this village and bled all of their souls out.

You have detected a highly dangerous Grimm presence 150m away!

I turned to look, "I just detected something, hold on a second..." I stared hard at the village, but saw nothing, "It's... it's there, but it's hidden in one of the houses. The popup said it's a highly dangerous Grimm."

The others went on high alert, and I focused as hard as I could, switching to Thermal Vision, but all I saw was red. It had a massive amount of empty space in the middle, sadly, only showing what was very hot or very cold. It didn't matter to me, I had my spell charged to the point where I could barely hold onto it.

Jumping out from behind the dune, I threw the charged orb into the ground.

In an instant, Stalagmite Strike began rushing towards the town, fanning out from the point of origin and breaking the huts into pieces. Sadly, only a few of the nearly forty kitsuninjas were struck by the stone spikes, one getting a broken leg and two others getting jabbed in the chests. The others rushed out and charged as I evaluated the situation from much closer up.

Kitsuninja Chuunin (x38)
Title: Dark Dojo Destroyer / Atop its own Roof / An unknown Thief / Tainter of the Oasis
Level: lowest 62, average 64, highest 71

Already, energy had been gathered together for a Power Strike against the single Tainter of the Oasis, the one that gathered the buckets of water. I had chosen it simply because it had the highest level. I read through its abilities as I charged towards it, realizing after a second or two of observation that it had seemed to have grown to understand how water was important. Was that why these villages were created? To teach the younger Grimm and expand their minds? I saw the ones marked as An unknown Thief all focus on my dad, apparently knowing that a larger amount of things needed to be applied in order to take a larger sized thing. It wasn't perfect logic, as a very large man wasn't guaranteed to be the most powerful of a group, but it happened to work in this instance. Aside from myself, my dad was by far the most powerful among us.

I had already renewed everyone's buffs before I revealed myself, just to be sure they'd be safer in the fight. Focusing on my enemy in front of me, I saw blue magic lash towards me, a whip of water stinging at my arms as Crocea Mors lashed out with a Quickdraw Strike. The kitsusninja's head rolled off its shoulders as it fell. My eyes widened in shock as its headless body lashed out in my general direction, before it fully fell, slumped in the sand and disappearing in smoke. Even if it could use healing magic, it still couldn't survive without a head.

I fired a trio of Lightning Bolts at several charging kitsus that were headed towards the girls, slowing them down and burning away some of their HP. I assessed the four 'merchants' attacking my father and figured he'd be fine. I spun and lunged towards another Kitsuninja, this one at full health, that was coming down towards Marbel.

*BWEEOOM*

I heard the magical sound, followed by a ghostly gasp-like sound that rang through the air. In an instant, I saw the ruined remains of the village around me become empty; there weren't any kitsuninjas or allies in sight. I was alone. It was just me, the ruins, and the suddenly dark, ominous, orange and red colored sky, like the sun had bled all over its path to the horizon. The light in the sky was dying, but everything around me was completely illuminated. I sensed the highly dangerous Grimm presence again, and turned in the direction it was coming from.

Stalking out of a ruined hut, standing upright at nearly fourteen feet tall, was a massive humanoid with a long, white bone-plate face.

Miraganger Star
Title: The Dancing Ruler of the Acacia Valley
Level: 95

Its pitch black maw opened to an almost disturbing width, and a shriek tore through the air. It reached under its cloak, drawing a massive, curved sword from the darkened confines. As its cloak opened up, I could see that its figure was slightly feminine.

I sighed, ignoring the sudden... whatever this was. I guess it was like a boss room, or a special dungeon arena, or something of that sort, "So... you're a dancer, eh?" I crossed my arms and began floating with my telekinesis, ten Gaster Blasters materializing around me.

The Miraganger let out another shriek that, thanks to Mystral's influence, bent around my body, missing me completely.

I smirked, unafraid even as flames roared to life along the sword it held, "Well then, let's dance!"

She shrieked one last time before charging at me, and I pushed the button one more time, a grin plastered across my face.

By raising WIS above 150, you have achieved new heights!

---

Well... there's the end!

Minor cliffhanger, ending before a more intense battle. I'm tired and I'm going to get some sleep before I attempt to even START writing this battle. I'm going to make my best effort to make it lengthier than others, which IIRC the average length of a battle I write is about... 2-4 paragraphs of actual content. *sigh* Whatever the number is, I'm going to try my best to dedicate a whole segment to it.

Onto... stuff... I guess... I hardly remember what I used to do. I need to get back into this stuff better.

So... Marbel and Weiss both got an Elemental. Jaune has staved off the White Fang for now, but he has to maintain that, and keep up his appearances as both Jaune Arc and Adam Taurus.

Did I make a stupid excuse for him to put his points into WIS? Probably. What I also probably did is make a decent excuse for him to put points into it, since he's extremely stingy with his points despite the fact that he has so many of them (about 150), so he made an excuse to use them. Of course, that excuse is that he wants to get to 151 so he can get the new skills and also increase his APR, since that allows him to do a lot more cool shit with his spells, which is useful since he's going to be cultivating the image of a Dust Caster, and a bit of a Wizard too.

To remind everyone, yes there is the story of the Wizard and the four Maidens, but in the modern interpretation and connotation of the word, a 'Wizard' is someone who fights mostly with their Aura and Semblance. Weiss could easily be a Wizard-type Huntress, so could Ren with his excellent control over Aura and ability to project it. A Wizard does not necessarily need to be a squishy, hat-robe-and-staff equipped fighter. Yang has been developing her control over the fire of her semblance, SHE could be a wizard too!

So... yeah... wizards~. Woo~

Now then, uh... right. Ren and Nora. They have a home, yes, shoot me. I stated in the beginning AN that this is now fully AU. Vacuo (not Mistral) represents Asia. Mistral represents Europe. Atlas represents... Germany, Canada, and Las Vegas all at once (slums, corruption, and tons of lights). Vale is, of course, the best country on Earth, AMERICA~! (yes I am an American, yes I am proud to be one, no I do not hate other countries, I just don't feel like living in them).

So... anyways... Moyoshimono. He looks pretty much exactly like Auron from FFX. He is, as you read, a disciple of the Vermilion Bird of the South. Yes, other martial arts in the same vein as the Azure Dragon exist, specifically the other three directions for the Four Symbols in Chinese mythology. In case you don't know them, they are Azure Dragon of the East, Vermilion Bird of the South, White Tiger of the West, and Black Turtle of the North. Jaune is, of course, focusing on Azure Dragon of the East.

We saw some more perspectives. I hope you guys liked those, I did my best with them. Weiss is a bit intoxicated by Jaune's Charisma, and also realized that what she'd said was wrong. Did it warrant a slap to the face? Probably not, but she knows she'd probably slap someone if they said similar things about her, after a significant verbal lashing of course.

So... yeah. I hope it was worth the wait. I'm going to get the next chapter out before the end of the month, and if I'm lucky then it'll be before this time next week. I'll do my best, guys. I'm getting back into the flow of writing, so yaaay~.

Now then, the omake that I've been looking forward to all this time.

---

Omake: A New Prologue

---

(years into the future)

Celestia Arc was having a fun day. It was chilly out, so she got to wear her new favorite hoodie, the one her daddy made for her for her birthday. It was a bit big, but her daddy told her she'd grow into it, that way she'd be able to wear it for a really long time. She loved that about Jaune, er... daddy. She still found that a bit weird.

Jaune Arc
Title: ?
Level: ?

Yang Xiao Arc
Title: ?
Level: ?

Since when did they have names like her friends? She thought they were mommy and daddy! It was confusing, but she understood it after a lot of thinking.

They were HER mommy and daddy, but they had their own names, and not just the little ones they called each other like 'honey', or 'sweetheart', or her silly daddy calling mommy 'baby girl'.

Mommy wasn't a baby, she was! It made her question how smart her daddy really was, but he HAD to be smart, in order to make such awesome numbers thingies on her hoodie! It made her stat thingies really high, just like those achievements!

Cloudy Dawn Horizon Hoodie
Description: A yellow, orange, and red hoodie designed by Jaune Arc and made specifically for you. It is infused with powerful, highly advanced elemental power. It is infused with Lightning, Earth, and Fire magic. It resonates with your soul, granting only you a special extra power.

Effects: +400% Effective STR, +400% Effective DEX, +400% Attack Damage. (Only for Celestia Arc) +50% Ease of Casting, Doubles APR.

-/\-

ACHIEVEMENTS UNLOCKED!

Miss Knowitall: Decline the Tutorial 10 times. (Bonus: +10 INT)

Big Heart in a Small Package: Let love reinforce your internal light, even from a young age. (Bonus: +25% stat training speed)

-/\-

Name: Celestia Arc
Title: The Gamer
Level: 3
Class: Beginner
Nickname: Little Sunshine

HP: 150/150
AP: 0/0
SP: 200/200

Strength: 9 (+400%) = 45
Dexterity: 12 (+400%) = 60
Vitality: 6
Intelligence: 20
Wisdom: 5
Luck: 21
Charisma: 15 - 20

Stat Points: 0 - 10 - 5

Age: 4
Birthday: September 9th
Race: Human
Height: 3'0"
Weight: 40
Build: Preschool Girl
Hair/Eyes/Skin: Golden Blond / Deep Indigo / Pale Youthful Pink

-/\-

She felt awesome! She got a couple of Vitality points from running around and playing with her Aunt Ruby, and those achievements gave her boosts too, and she even made her Charisma higher so she could be pretty like mommy! Now, with all those stats, Celestia felt like she was as tough as a superhero, and could beat up ALL the bad guys! Sadly, she couldn't beat them up in the house, mommy got REALLY mad when she tore that magnet guy to shreds.

It wasn't HER fault that he was made of paper and floating on the wall!

... (The next morning) ...

Her birthday had only been a month ago, and already her special power gift had grown to be super duper AWESOME! Speaking of Aunt Ruby...

Zwei
Title: Ruff and Tuff
Level: 30

"Puppy~." she greeted cheerfully to the small dog, hugging it and happily accepting the licks to her face.

Ruby smiled and softly patted the little girl's head, "Hey there Celly. Sorry, but you're gonna have to spend today with me, having loads of fun and maybe eating ice cream and cookies, sorry about that." she giggled as the young, so-far unrevealed Gamer girl's excitement practically lit up like a firework.

"I accept the apology!" Celestia grinned brightly, "Can we go to the park and maybe feed the duckies too? They're probably really hungry." she felt bad for the ducks. They had to live on bread crumbs that old ladies gave them.

Bread crumbs are tiny! How did they even live like that? She'd fix it! Just as soon as Aunt Ruby stopped laughing at her...

...

Celestia threw out another little chunk of bread to the ducks, watching them waddle over to it before gobbling it up, "Teeheeheehee, gobble gobble gobble." she smiled, imitating the ducks to the best of her ability.

Aunt Ruby smiled, "Kyeeheehee, yeah, they're sooo hungry. Good thing we came along and fed them." she smiled and rubbed Celestia's head softly, "That's what a good Huntress does. You're going to be a good huntress, aren't you, Celly?"

Celestia smiled brightly, "Yeah! I'm gonna be the bestest Huntress since my mommy was! I'm gonna be big and strong and pretty just like her, and I'll beat up ALL the bad guys and save the day~!" she flexed her little arms, a grin plastered across her face.

Ruby covered her mouth, but it did nothing to negate the snorting laugh that escaped. She pulled Celestia into a hug, smiling, "You're gonna go far, Celly. You've got such a big heart I'm surprised it can fit in your chest."

Celestia smiled, "Daddy says that my heart doesn't need to be super big to be super strong. He says I got a heart like him, and his heart is so strong it sounds like thunder, but it isn't scary at all!... er, not that thunder is scary! I'm not scared of thunder!" she couldn't be a superhero and be afraid of storms, that wasn't allowed! She had to be brave and stuffs!

Ruby smirked, then set Celestia down, "Oh? So then you don't mind me doing... THIS?" she stood up, turned around, and zoomed off, and less than fifty feet away, a thunderclap sounded out as she broke the sound barrier, quickly making her way around the lake.

Celestia's ears ached from the sound, her body hurt, her HP had dropped down a hundred points, but she got another point of VIT out of it. Still, it didn't stop the tears that were prickling at the corners of her eyes.

Ruby slowed to a safe stop, only to immediately be stabbed through the heart with regret when she saw Celestia about to cry. She bit her lip, hoping she could fix this and leave no trace, or else Yang wouldn't trust her with Celestia for months! She walked over and gently picked the young girl up, rocking her in her arms, "Ssshhhh~, it's okay, Celly. It's gonna be okay~."

Celestia could hardly see through the tears as a sob wracked her body. Her mind kept telling her that the pain was gone, and her body agreed, but she wasn't really listening. Her words came out in a garbled mess, but she eventually managed to make something coherent, "A-a-aunt, R-r-r-ruby~, y-y-you're s-s-s-so m-m-m-meeeeaaan~."

Ruby pouted, then hugged Celestia close, "No, no~, nuuuuu~." she wiped Celestia's tears away, "I'm sorry, Celly. I didn't mean to hurt you, I was just being a big ol' dummy. I'm sorry~." she continued to hold the crying girl, rubbing her back to sooth her.

After hearing the apology, Celestia found herself calming down incredibly quickly, her sniffles dying down and her tears nearly stopping completely, "I want another ice cream." she said with a tiny pout, nuzzling her head into the crook of Ruby's neck.

Ruby nodded, "Of course, sweetie. What kind do you want?" she stood up and began walking back towards the cart of the ice cream salesman they'd bought from earlier.

Celestia hummed, wiping her tears on her sleeve and sniffling back the bit of snot that escaped her nose, "Chocolate orange swirl."

The older woman giggled upon hearing the request. Truly, she was Jaune and Yang's daughter. She paid for the new ice cream, adding a bit extra to convince the man to just mix the two flavors together since he didn't have any swirl like her niece wanted, but it wasn't any trouble for her or her wallet. She relocated to a nearby bench and helped Celestia get a taste of the new ice cream, "Here you go, sweetie."

Celestia smiled upon seeing the ice cream cone. She didn't just like it because it tasted really good, it had other benefits too.

Chocolate Orange Swirl Ice Cream
Description: A cold, creamy treat consisting of chocolate ice cream and orange ice cream mixed together near-evenly, creating a combined flavor that's rich, tangy, and delicious.

Effects: Restores 50 HP. (Based on Stats) 1% chance to increase VIT by 1 point.

If she ate enough of them, or just got lucky, she'd get a free VIT point and be an even tougher superhero! Already her mood was brightening up immensely. She hadn't gotten permanently hurt by the thunder, and now that she thought about it, it wasn't really too scary either, just really loud and hurting.

By facing and overcoming your fears, your mind has been sharpened and your INT has increased by 3!

She already felt a bit smarter, like she might even be able to count to four hundred, which was a lot higher than her record of sixty.

"So, Celly, what are you going to be for Halloween?" Ruby asked, walking while holding the little girl's hand.

Celestia's fears instantly returned, "I-i-i'm going to be in my room playing video games. Halloween is scary~." she shook with fright. Those pumpkins with faces with very frightening! Not to mention the ugly green ladies or the ghosts!

The huntress rolled her eyes, "Of COURSE your alternative is playing video games. You must have gotten it from your father." she giggled.

Celestia raised an eyebrow, "Daddy taught me about the PC master race."

Ruby rolled her eyes again, "Consoles are better." she let out a little giggle

Celestia pouted, giving Ruby a little bonk on the leg, "No they're not, PC is a master race, and master means the best! And the best means nothing is better than it." she was proud of herself for knowing how all those words worked.

Her aunt just giggled more, "You are SO much like your father."

The little girl, being a young child with nothing but the best of opinions of her parents, didn't comprehend the slight snark in Ruby's voice, "Yaaay~! I'm smarticles like daddy~!" she hopped up and down, but stopped when she saw her ice cream about to fall out of its cone. She quickly licked up the melted parts, looking at the big weird wall in the middle of nowhere. She let out a little hum of curiosity, her tiny tongue still outside of her mouth, "Why is dere a wall in da middle of the park, Aunt Ruby? Is there a door? Is it a building?"

Ruby looked up, only to gasp slightly, then settle into a bittersweet type of reminiscence as she listened to her niece attempt to read the words at the top of the monument, "Thoh-guh, theer, lights have been ex...tin...goo...ish-ed... may theer-"

"Though their lights have been extinguished, may their honor never fade. To honor those who fell in the Attack on Beacon." she remembered it like it was yesterday, much to her chagrin. The smell of smoke and blood in the air. If it wasn't for being level 126 and having the skills she did, she'd probably have frozen up instead of taking action. Though she had been incredibly fast, she hadn't been fast enough to save everyone.

"They fell? Why do they get a honor if they fell? I fell last week, do I get a honor Aunt Ruby?" innocent indigo eyes looked up at her, and she cringed internally.

She couldn't just let this go, mostly because Celestia would pester her about it like the curious child she was, "It doesn't mean they fell down, Celly." she knelt down to be eye-level with her niece, "They way they fell, they couldn't get back up... ever."

Celestia tilted her head, "So they're stuck on the ground?"

Ruby shook her head, "No, sweetie, they're... buried. They... they died."

Celestia pouted, "Like the flower I gave mommy last week?"

Ruby sighed heavily, happy that she didn't have to explain all of this, "Yes, sweetie. They aren't alive anymore, and it's very sad. You see, when flowers die, their seeds just grow new ones, but when people die, then they aren't alive to be with their families and be happy, and everyone gets really sad, and it's the most un-fun time for everyone they loved."

The little girl frowned, saddened by her new knowledge about death, but... she pushed forward, "That's really sad, Aunt Ruby."

"I know it is, sweetie. Aunt Ruby has lost some people, they died. I was really sad."

Driven by the desire to help, Celestia held up her nearly forgotten ice cream cone, "Ice cream always helps me feel better. Have some ice cream Aunt Ruby." she lifted it close to Ruby's face.

Ruby smiled, feeling the reopening pit in her stomach close up immediately, and she took a bite of the ice cream, "Thank you, sweetie. I feel better already." her smile grew stronger as she wiped away the couple of tears that slipped past her defenses.

Celestia smiled brightly, "Ice cream saves the day~!" she cheered, hugging her Aunt Ruby and licking the ice cream more, "The day is all saved thanks to Captain Celestia and Ice Cream~!" she cheered joyously, holding up her ice cream cone happily.

Ruby smiled too, continuing their walk towards the rest of their day together.

Little did Celestia know, that her choices would soon come back to haunt her, and no amount of ice cream could prevent what was to come.

... (late that night) ...

Celestia hummed and bobbed her head to the music of her current game. After dinner with Aunt Ruby before the surprisingly lazy Huntress went to sleep, she'd stayed true to her words and stayed inside playing video games, mostly on her Ninvendo DS.

She heard the door downstairs open up, and got up to go see who it was. Walking down the stairs quietly like she'd been taught to, she saw her daddy carrying her mommy over his shoulder. They said they'd be gone all night, but Celestia didn't particularly care about the details, "DADDY~!" she cheered and ran over, hugging her father's leg.

Jaune smiled and looked down at his adorable daughter, "Hey sweetie. Your mommy got sick at the party, so daddy brought her home so she can get some medicine and be alright. Don't worry, daddy's got it all taken care of." he smiled at her and took her mommy upstairs. Celestia made to follow, but before she could even get up the first step, her daddy was already heading back down, "So, were you a good girl for Aunt Ruby today?" he asked with a smile, picking her up into a warm, fatherly hug and carrying her over to the couch, sitting her on his knee.

Celestia giggled, always having enjoyed sitting on her daddy's knee, "Yes daddy. We had ice cream and fed the ducks and played frisbee and tag and hide & seek and it was super duper fun and I loved it!" she hugged him as best she could, but her little arms could hardly reach halfway around his muscular stomach.

Jaune smiled, hugging his daughter back, "Hehe, sounds like it was a blast, sweetie."

Celestia grinned, "She even showed me Crescent Rose! It was super cool, and made a tree blow up!"

Her daddy raised an eyebrow, "Oh really?" he chuckled, then slid her off his knee, "Just a second sweetie." he went over to the fireplace, to the sword hung above the mantle. He took it down and pulled it out of the sheathe, showing her the silver and golden blade, "This is Crocea Mors. It was my weapon for a long time." he sighed, remembering the day he retired the weapon. In the end, though it was amazing, it couldn't match up to his great magical power, especially when he had the third tier prestige of Vorpal Sword at his disposal, "It helped me kill the giant evil Grimm Queen. It's a lot more awesome that a scythe that can shoot bullets."

Celestia marveled at the blade, touching the cold metal with her tiny hand, "It's soooo coooooool~." she practically cooed, starry-eyed at such an amazing weapon. Yeah, Aunt Ruby's sniper scythe thingy could blow up a big tree, but her daddy's sword had killed a GIANT Grimm Queen thingy. She paused, then looked up into her father's brilliant cyan eyes, "Daddy, isn't killing wrong?"

Jaune shook his head, "It is, but if you're killing someone really bad, especially to protect people, then you should kill, it's the right thing to do, to stop those evil people from hurting anyone who doesn't deserve it. Or if it's a Grimm. Only in those two cases, sweetie, but you shouldn't worry about killing, okay? You're my little sunshine, and I love you." he kissed her forehead, smiling and giving her a hug, "Now then, I'm going to go make sure your mother is alright. You should get to bed soon, sweetie, you have school tomorrow." he stood up, setting Celestia on the couch, and walked up the stairs.

Celestia waited until her daddy's footsteps faded away upstairs, and her parents' bedroom door closed. She knew that once her daddy fell asleep, there was no waking him up until he woke himself up. When the coast was clear, she grabbed the sword Crocea Mors, slipping it into her Inventory. If she was going to be a superhero Huntress, then she needed a weapon to help out with that. She was able to somewhat read the description of it, but it was super weird and full of question marks. She decided to ignore it, walking over and turning off the lightswitch by the stairs, walking up to her room.

... (an hour or so later) ...

Celestia was awake, surprising herself. She usually went to bed at her normal time, but had been caught up playing a Mario game. She let out a small yawn, but then jiggled, feeling the familiar sensation in her lower stomach.

After relieving herself in the bathroom, she walked out and went towards, still wearing most of her clothes from earlier. Just as she reached for the door, she heard a sound like glass breaking downstairs. Curious, she silently walked down the hall and down the stairs, not making so much as a creak with her light steps. She saw flashlights dancing around the living room, which made her curious. She was about to speak up, when a gruff voice whispered something she could make out with surprising clarity with her recently acquired 'Listening' skill.

"Alright, where's the goods, man?" the first voice said.

"Should be a room somewhere. Don't these rich fucks usually have something behind the fireplace?" the second voice said.

"If we can't find it, then we can just point the gun at them and take it by force. They're some rich fucks, they'll buy their way outta dying." the third voice said.

"Hell, why don't we just shoot them for hoarding all the money we workin' folk need to survive? A couple of dead bigwigs never hurt anybody but their fucking stockholders." the first voice spoke again.

Celestia froze. Dead? Dead... these people were going to steal from the house and kill her parents! Death was... it was super bad. These people, they were obviously bad, and her parents couldn't defend themselves. Daddy wouldn't wake up until he made himself wake up, and mommy was sick and so she couldn't fight. Aunt Ruby was asleep too, she wouldn't be any help.

A window popped up.

Welcome to your horrible beginning! In the middle of the night, thieves broke in and killed your parents in their sleep, leaving you an orphan. Sorry, but that's just how life works sometimes.

She read the words, and realized that a hooray beginning was a terrible mistake. She had to fix this. She was an Arc! She NEEDED to fix this!

She... she had to kill these people before they killed her parents and Aunt Ruby!

She breathed hard, her respiration accelerating nearly to the point of hyperventilation, but she calmed herself. These people were evil, her father told her that it was the right thing to do, to kill evil people, especially to protect people! She didn't want to be really sad because her parents were dead, that... that was the worst thing possible!

She pulled out Crocea Mors, holding the heavy blade in both hands, only for it to fall and the tip to hit the floor. A window popped up, Requirements for 2-handed Wielding: 50 effective Strength, 75 effective Dexterity.

She put the points where her maths told her they needed to go, plus she put the spare into DEX, because she needed to act fast. The sword grew lighter in her grip as she her increased STR let her hold it easier, her DEX giving her the speed she needed.

The flashlights had begun moving more quickly around the room, "What was that noise?" the second voice asked in shock.

Suddenly, all three flashlights were on her, threatening to blind her as she breathed hard and fast, holding her father's blade in both hands, and steeling her nerves.

Overcoming your fears has sharpened your mind and increased your INT by 2!

Your sharpened mind-

She didn't so much as perceive the window as she flicked the light switch on. A millisecond later, a scream tore from her throat, her body surging forward and swinging the sword like the hero did, cutting at the gun-wielding man's legs, then his torso.

-and empowered soul-

The burglars were too shocked by the sudden turn of events to act at first, and watched as their friend's stomach got sliced open, blood spurting from the wound as this demonic child swung a sword larger than her body around like it was a toy. She cut the man's neck open, backing away from him falling onto her, and turned towards the other two thieves, killers, EVIL SCUM!

-have grown stronger than the binds on your internal light-

The first man dove past the girl, scrambling for the gun as Celestia blocked the second man's fish by slicing through skin, muscle, and cartilage, blood spraying on her face as she stabbed him several times. Was she screaming? Was her mother screaming? Her aunt? A fourth, female thief? She wasn't sure, she could hardly think, only act, "YOU WON'T HURT MY FAMILY!" she shrieked as the second man fell after receiving nearly a dozen wounds, only able to get one glancing blow off on her.

-and have allowed it to break free and shine through the darkness!

You have unlocked the skill "Aura"!

Your Max AP increased by 500!

The last remaining burglar grabbed the gun and fired a shot right as Celestia turned took her first step towards him. The bullet pierced her chest, went through her right lung, and came out the other side, clattering onto the floor several feet behind her. She fell to one knee, coughing up a bit of blood and dropping Crocea Mors, but she suddenly felt a soothing warmth as the pain faded in seconds.

The man began to stand, feeling only slightly sorry for killing a kid. Most of his sympathy had died with his friends and gone deaf with her scream.

Right as he steadied himself, he saw the little girl glow a brilliant indigo and stand up, letting out another scream, "DIE YOU EVIL THIEF KILLER!" she charged at him, and before he could pop off another shot, she slammed into him like an indigo missile, sending him slamming onto his back.

Celestia swung Crocea Mors several times at the man's chest, neck, and face, "DIE! DIE! DIE! DIE! YOU! WON'T! HURT! MY! FAMILY! DIE! DIE! DIE!" she was shaking as her body glowed, the soothing warmth becoming hot and uncomfortable as her body continued to act.

The pulsation of power that rang throughout the house had awoken the three adults, including the recovered-from-drunkenness Yang. Jaune and his wife were the first ones down the stairs, responding to their daughter's distressed screaming. When the reached the living room, however, and saw the scene before them, they went pale.

Ruby, surprisingly slow, pushed her way into the living room, catching the scent of blood, but she froze in her tracks at the sight.

They saw Celestia standing atop a darkly dressed man's chest, not so much slashing anymore as simply hammering the blade of Crocea Mors into his skull, sending spurts of blood out with every strike. She was screaming incoherently, but it was occasionally pierced by the word 'Die!' or the words 'You! Won't! Hurt! My! Family!', with every word punctuated by another swing of the sword.

Jaune, with Gamer's Mind, was the first to recover. He walked over and, between one swing and the next, grabbed Crocea Mors and pulled it out of his daughter's hands, using his vastly superior Strength to remove it, despite the end he grabbed being covered with slick blood.

Yang reacted next, rushing over and grabbing her daughter as she broke down crying. Jaune joined her, holding onto the tiny blonde like his life depended on it.

Celestia couldn't stop shaking. These men... they were dead. She killed them. She felt horrible, but she'd protected her family and that was what mattered. She would always protect her family, no matter what. She would fight, and kill, to keep the ones she loved safe. She didn't even consciously understand these feelings, but in her subconscious, she knew they were as true as can be.

Still, the way their blood stained her little hands, the hands that had grabbed a sword made for killing Grimm Queens, and turned it on some random thieves. She didn't understand most of what she was feeling, that hot feeling still surrounded her. With a sob, she melted into her parent's embrace, crying her eyes out and holding onto them as tightly as possible, as though trying to prove that this was not a dream and she didn't just sleep through her parents being killed in cold blood, just for having money.

She heard her father saying something, but couldn't understand what it was. Her mother responded, and her Aunt Ruby said something too. Soon, the hot feeling all over her body calmed down as she felt a hand caress the back of her neck, and she found the world fading away and her senses all blending together into a soft, but uneasy warmth.

Her tears slowly died down as sleep overtook her.

... (meanwhile, inches from Celestia's body) ...

Jaune sighed softly, "Honey, sis, girls... there's... something that needs to be addressed." he looked down at his daughter, and for the first time in four and a half weeks, the text above her head cleared of its eyesore glitched text.

Yang and Ruby saw, with great shock, what that 'something' was. What had driven Celestia to be able to do all of this, what had allowed her to be physically capable of performing this act.

Celestia Arc
Title: The Second Gamer, Daughter of Liberty.
Level: 3

What was more shocking, however, was the indigo window they all clearly saw appear in front of Celestia's head.

You have gambled with and won against Fate itself! By denying the terrors of a "Horrible" beginning to your heroic story, and thus changing your destiny, you have gained +30 LUK!

By raising LUK above 50, you have earned the skill "Star Child"!

They all stared for several minutes, but it was Yang that finally broke the silence.

"Well... this is a thing."

---

BAM! Probably my longest Omake so far. Dunno, the one in the previous chapter might be a rival for length. Dunno.

Hope you all liked it, or even loved it, and hope you all loved the chapter too.

Please leave a review, I'd love to hear from you wonderful readers about what you liked about the chapter, and what you disliked about it too. I might be able to improve, or I might just come back through and edit some things. I don't recall exactly how much information came out, but I'm sure you all will tell me if something is wrong. Hopefully you'll care enough to.

Anyways, let's get the stat dump done, then sign this chapter off.

-/\/\/\/\-

Jaune Arc
Title: Wizard of the Elements
Level: 70
Class: Wizard v3
Nickname: Mr. Player Man

HP: 35,000/35,000
AP: 140,000/140,000
SP: 50,000/50,000

Strength: 70 (+265%) (+105%) = 329
Dexterity: 65 (+265%) (+105%) = 305.5
Vitality: 80 (+265%) (+105%) = 376
Intelligence: 132 (+5) (+265%) = 500.05
Wisdom: 151 (+5) (+265%) = 529.25
Luck: 111
Charisma: 80

Stat Points: 149

Age: 17
Birthday: November 20th
Race: Human
Height: 6'1
Weight: 215
Build: Med-Heavy Athletic
Hair/Eyes/Skin: Golden Blonde / Brilliant Azure / Medium Tan

-/\/\/\/\-

Alright, that's everything I can even think of done with now.

I love you all, hopefully I'll get the next chapter done within a couple of weeks. Who knows? College is kicking my ass, so... yeah.

This is Player1 signing off. Peace out, guys. ^w^

See ya next time~