Chapter 1: The first step


It had been 3 months since he had left home. 3 measly months, for all that it felt as if just as many years had passed since he had run away. 3 months, in which he had grown stronger than he could have imagined at a rate that put geniuses to shame. For all that it couldn't compare to his first night's progress in sheer explosiveness, he had still managed to shoot up 28 levels, all the way to level 48. Yet for all that progress and growth he couldn't change one unassailable fact.

It hurt.

Not his body, physical pain faded so easily for him now.

Not his mind, his semblance not permitting even the slightest of maladies to take hold in his psyche.

But in his heart, where pain beyond suffering and hurt beyond physical reigned supreme.

He was homesick. For all that that word seemed childish and unworthy of the pain and loss that racked him emotionally. He missed his sister's doting, for all that he would claim to any he despised it. He missed cooking dinner, for all that he had complained about the responsibility falling to him every night. He missed Sapphire or Amethyst approaching him with a sheepish expression to inform him that they had ruined yet another set of their combat outfits he would need to mend for them. He missed his twin sister (older by 3 minutes as she would always declare) and her tendency to treat him like he was made of glass, glaring at classmates and shooing away bugs from him even as he complained that he was fine and that he could take care of himself.

He missed all of it; All the stupid, tiring, pointless, embarrassing, annoying, wonderful antics that had filled his boring, eventless, irreplaceable day to day life.

Yes, he wished he could go back, wished he could return to those eventless days even at the cost of all the progress he had made, and as that wish grew stronger so did his determination. As his wish to go home burned brighter he pushed himself himself to hit just a little harder, to move just a smidgen faster, to make his swordsmanship just a hair sharper. He pushed through pain, defying death again and again so that one day, that simple, insignificant wish could come true.

It was almost funny, in a cruel way, that for all the stories he had heard as a child, about Heroes slaying dragons and rescuing princesses, receiving lavish rewards and everlasting glory, that he wasn't trying to attain anything from his quest; he was merely trying not to lose anything. For all he had once admired those who would give up anything of themselves to protect those they loved, he found, thrust into the same situation, that it wasn't impressive at all, for how could he not throw everything of himself into it? For the first time, he felt like he truly understood the root of a hero's will, of their cowardly courage. It wasn't that they didn't fear death, that they were certain of their victory, or even that pride held importance over even their very lives. The truth was that a hero was running in fear, away from an alternative so terrifying that risking life and limb was a forgone conclusion, if they could only escape from that terrifying possibility.

To lose the people he cared about, to never be allow to talk with them, to never again argue over stupid and pointless things or bicker childishly about things none of them really cared about was something Jaune knew he wouldn't be able to handle. If a measly three months was enough to cause this much agony in his heart, then what would a pain far worse than this feel like? A pain that wouldn't end until the day he died? With such a heart stopping alternative was it any wonder that even innumerable hordes of Grimm seemed so insignificant to him now? That fights with his life (and only his) on the line were nothing more than the ordinary? That the inferno in his soul raged almost nonstop, willing to burn itself out to stop that impermissible alternative?

These were the thoughts running through Jaune Arc's mind even as he flitted through the shadowed treetops, his movements impossibly silent even as he moved at speeds befitting of a huntsman in training 5 years his senior. If someone were to compare his movements now with what they were 3 months ago, just after he had killed his first Grimm, few people would so much as consider that it was the same person. Without a single wasted movement, slipping through the treetops as if they were no more obstructive that an open field, Jaune stalked his prey. Crocea Mors struck out once, twice, three times, before being returned to its sheathe, the whole process no louder than a soft footfall.


Due to eliminating multiple foes in quick succession without being detected, your skill in stealth has increased. Covert arts skill is now level 40.


Expert usage of multiple dimensions during combat has increased your ability to move swiftly and efficiently. Skill 3-dimensional combat has increased to level 41.


Congratulations, due to the fulfillment of certain parameters, the skill «Covert Arts» has met evolution conditions. Due to sufficient proficiency and tier of the skill «3-dimensional combat technique» fusion evolution conditions have been met. The advanced tier skills «Covert Arts» and«3-dimensional combat technique» have evolved into the expert tier skill «Subversive arts». Skill «Subversive arts» is now level 41.


Letting out a deep breath and looking at the dissolving corpses of 3 Beowolves (all firmly in the mid-thirties, level wise) Jaune nodded slightly "not strong enough" he complained, even as he looked at his new skill with a miniscule grin. Jaune wasn't referring to himself nor his new skill, but rather the strength of his would-be opponents. While they were all nearly 20 levels stronger than the Beowolf he had fought to the death against but 3 months prior, he intuitively knew that they would not be enough of a threat to him for it to count as combat for much longer. In fact, it was fully possible the only reason they did even now was because of the method of 'combat' Jaune had chosen.

It was no coincidence that he had killed them all silently in an instant, Jaune had been stalking the trio of Beowolves for almost an hour now, concealing himself and waiting for the perfect opening to kill all three simultaneously. His trait was rather flexible in regards to activation restrictions, rather than requiring open combat as it first appeared, it was more along the lines of requiring presence of danger. So, stalking the Beowolves (that would have attempted to maul him if they noticed him) met the requirements for his growth correction to activate. While it was somewhat unfortunate that his Covert arts skill fusion evolved into what was undoubtedly a combat skill, it was nothing he couldn't work around. Previously he would have been a bit nervous that either his combat ability or general stealth oriented skill would be effected by the evolution, but by this point he was certain skill evolution would never make his ability at something worse than it was prior to evolution.

The fusion evolution of his skills was the common answer regarding the previously unknown 3rd parameter required for the evolution of his 3-dimensional combat technique and his covet arts skill. It made sense, in a manner of speaking, seeing as the more multifaceted a skill was, the higher rank it tended to have, the sheer number of things his housework skill applied to a most apt example. It was like how a person could only go so far with a sword if they didn't have proper footwork, regardless of their swinging of the actual sword their positioning and movement had to be just as good for them to become a master swordsman.

While it was somewhat relieving that he had roughly understood the common evolution conditions for an expert tier skill, the revelation had come with as many issues as it had solved. Case in point, the expert tier fusion evolution for shield mastery and evasion had ended up fusing the two skills into a skill called defensive arts, which encompassed dodging, blocking, and everything in between. He had quickly concluded that this was one of the main things that caused higher level hunters to have such radically different styles. Someone who didn't use a shield would likely have learned some other defensive skills (something along the lines of feinting, counterattacking, or even a technique relating to their semblance) to combine with dodging. This of course meant that his initial plan of simply focusing on dodging, sword mastery and shield mastery combat skills for his elite tier skills was probably not going to work, especially considering that the tier up from expert to elite required the completion of 5 parameters and he wouldn't be surprised if that included a fusion evolution of some type.

Shaking himself out of his thoughts Jaune return is focus to the present as he started to plot out his next move, even as he easily scaled a tree and apparently disappeared into the treetops. Since he had run away he had remained close to Vale, barely a 5-hour trip by bullhead, in order reduce the risk of meeting an extremely powerful Grimm. After all, there was fighting something strong enough to be a threat and then there was fighting something strong enough to kill him instantly. The former would aid his growth whilst the latter wouldn't help anyone. That said, he felt it was time for him to go a bit further away from established humanity at this point, considering his opponents were starting to toe the line between dangerous and pests.

Seeing as he wasn't confident enough in regards to his stealth skills to evade hunters yet he had decided to focus on increasing both by stalking and eliminating stronger Grimm. Of course, this meant moving further away from the cities and villages, meaning food supplies and other amenities would not be as readily available to him in the near future. Jaune had decided to stock up on as much as he could before he traveled further away from Vale; something that was an easier task then what one might have expected.

As it turned out the combination of an unlimited inventory space, an observe skill, and countless miles of untapped natural resources came together into a bit of a cash cow. While actual edible plants could have sustained him well enough, it was the gathering of various medicinal and otherwise valuable plants that gave him a leg up. While most villages were a bit uncomfortable with the idea of buying and selling things from a ten year old with no apparent guardian, they had lived harsh enough lives that they typically decided not to look a gift horse in the face. Admittedly a fair part of that willingness to deal with him might have come from the fact that that gift horse had unlocked aura reserves and was capable of butchering a fully grown Ursa when push came to shove.

He had received a fair bit of lien and had a decent stock of supplies inside his inventory, even if he had yet to find a suitable firearm for himself he was still pretty content in that regard, all things considered. That said he was considering leaving tonight, not wanting to take any risk of his family hearing rumors about a suspicious blonde boy running unaccompanied with a sword. Even if he was at least a week and a half away from Vale by foot (closer to a month for most civilians considering his method of travel was admittedly faster and more direct than most) he still wasn't willing to accept even the slightest unnecessary risk of getting taken back. Weighing his options, he once more examined his status, despite already knowing the contents.


Name: Jaune Arc

Age: 10 years

Aging rate: 74% standard human rate

Lv: 48

Health: 6780 [100%]

Health regen: 3.08% per minute (reduced by 90% during combat)

Aura: 13416 [100%]

Aura regen: 2.91% per minute (reduced by 90% during combat)

Vitality: 110 (198)

Endurance: 116 (209)

Strength: 115 (207)

Dexterity: 117 (211)

Intelligence: 106 (191)

Wisdom: 106 (191)

Stat points: 0

Luck: ?

Charisma: ?


So much progress, mere months after his first real battle and his stats were nearly 10-fold what they had been when he had first received that damned oracle. So much progress and yet, a Beowolf (not even an alpha, even if was probably close) posed a threat to him. A small meager threat yes, but a threat none the less. A Beowolf that even a hundred of wouldn't be enough to scratch his older sister Mordred. Any doubt that his eldest sister was anything below level 100 vanished, in fact he wouldn't have been surprised if she was over level 200 really, and she was still only a relatively inexperienced B-rank huntress, not even close to A-rank prowess yet.

While his sister Sapphire, a 3rd year a signal, was considered talented at only level 28 she was still 7 levels of Lily, the next oldest, who was a measly 2 levels above Amethyst the sister after her on the age bracket. Sapphire wasn't capable of putting even a scratch on Jane, who was only two years older than her, just like Jane couldn't even come close to touching Mordred in a spar. The trend indicated that the lower levels of hunter school were very slow in terms of growth, probably focusing on theoretical aspects, only to pick up exponentially in the later years as it shifted into more hands-on training. Meaning that even at level 48, a whole 20 levels higher than Sapphire he might very well still be weaker than Jane was, meaning he couldn't even count on himself being stronger than the average Beacon initiate. And considering Mordred's stories of how much of a difference even a single year made in regards to a beacon students combat strength, he would most likely be incapable of even escaping a student from the higher grades.

It was an imposing thought that the average beacon student was granted a C-rank combat rating after graduating, the only school on remnant that did so as a standard, rather than for exceptional students. There was a reason why it was considered the best of the best, as far as combat schools went. All things considered Jaune was, at level 48, probably high E-rank at best in regards to combat ability. It had taken a while for Jaune to realized why, despite his heroic lineage trait adding an extra 6 stat points each level, he was still so weak.

Time. The one thing he lacked. For while he and his skill masteries leveled up quickly status gained from training wasn't something his trait effected in the slightest. All hunters in training underwent extensive conditioning and exercise constantly, meaning that they had years' worth of stat gains from training that Jaune simply didn't have. While some would translate into level ups, considering most people didn't have a video game style growth system, Jaune wouldn't be surprised if the growth of his stats through physical training was considerably slower than most people, something mostly negated by his ability to directly level up. While years of training for most people would partially translate into a higher level much of it probably wouldn't, meaning most higher ranking hunter's attributes would be a fair bit higher than what would be expected from their level.

In all likelihood, Jaune would end up being slightly weak for his level, if and when he reached A-rank combat prowess, simply because he did not have time to make up for decades and decades of physical training. This of course meant that simply reaching a level close to his currently unknown opponents was no longer enough, to be safe, he had to be a higher level. While this could be partially negated by putting himself through hellish physical training, working to the point of exhaustion would mean working to the point where he could not hunt Grimm and level up, slowing down his progress more than it would benefit it.

Making a decision that wasn't really a choice, Jaune sighed. Looking in the direction of the village that he had used as a staging point for the last two weeks Jaune steeled himself before taking off the in the opposite direction, further still from the protection and relative safety of Vale.

In what was quickly become a trend for him, he didn't look back.


"Anything?" A girl pleaded, desperation seeping into her voice as she did so, something that would have freaked out any of her peers had they born witness to it.

"Still nothing, it's been 3 months now and if he were in Vale we would have found him easily enough, but there is still no sign of him." A man replied, his normally jovial voice solemn "I'm sorry Mordred, the headmaster and the rest of teachers are still keeping an eye out but there's simply no sign of your brother. In all likelihood, Vale wasn't his destination, your brother is a smart boy, smart enough that he wouldn't have forgotten his families' ties in Vale."

The girl -Mordred- seemed to deflate for a moment "Damn it all!" she roared suddenly, swinging her arm at the wall as she did so, easily crushing the dust reinforced stone (built to withstand explosives and high caliber gunfire) like it was rotten wood. Her anger and grief surged for another moment before dying out abruptly as she let out a near lifeless sigh "…Thank you professor Port, sorry about the wall" she murmured tiredly.

"It's fine, anything for one of my former students, and I'm sure Glynda won't mind about the wall, considering your circumstances." Beacon's Grimm studies professor replied sadly "As I said, we're still keeping an eye out, if anything indicating your brother's location comes up we'll contact you or your parents immediately."

Mordred Arc simply nodded before she turned to leave, the normally brash and tomboyish huntress looking more like the living dead than the strongest huntress of her generation. Professor Port watched the receding figure of his former student grimly before pulling out his scroll tiredly, glancing at the ruined wall once before dialing one of his colleagues.

"Glynda?" Professor Port began "I- yes I informed her. The third hall down from the headmaster's office, how did you know? Ah I suppose that makes sense, you were one of her teachers as well, after all." Without another word Port heard Glynda hang up.

"….."

Port sighed "no matter the situation I can never seemed to get a word in edgewise" he grumbled lightly, before shaking himself and forcibly returning to his normal Jovial manner, as if nothing was wrong.

Who knows, maybe if he faked it long enough he'd start believing it himself. He wouldn't be the first hunter to try, nor would he be the last, inevitably.


If you were to ask anyone that knew her, almost all of them would describe Mordred Arc as something akin to a force of nature. While it was true that she couldn't yet face A-rank hunters with any real chance of winning, she still stood head and shoulders above her peers, in both combat ability and perseverance. As one of her classmates at Beacon once said "Most hunters can at least muster grim determination in the face of would-be certain death, but Mordred? Heh. She'll spit in death's face and call him a bitch before proceeding to completely wreck his shit." Seeing as this view of her was the norm rather than the exception, it would come as horrible shock to any of her former classmates if they saw her now; Speaking listlessly into her scroll, looking as if she was about to break down into tears.

"Still nothing, Professor Port said that Vale probably wasn't even Jaune's destination from the get-go" The eldest child of the Arc family reported tiredly "Looks like the Vale travel route we found on his scroll's search history was fake, like all the rest." She continued bitterness seeping into her tone "Which means he could be anywhere on the entire continent by now, if he's even still-" She choked on the words, tears threatening to spill from her eyes "even still…"

"Don't you dare finish that sentence young lady" A voice interjected, free of anger but bearing no less weight because of it "Your brother is still alive, no doubt about it." she declared, somehow managing to make a largely baseless declaration feel unquestionable "Jaune was apparently a lot stronger than he let on."

Mordred blinked "W-what do you mean mother? Did someone see him recently!?" she all but demanded.

On the other end of the line Lilith sighed slightly "In a manner of speaking yes, but it won't do us any good in regards to locating him." The Arc Matriarch replied, not commenting on her daughter's rather disrespectful tone considering the situation. "Your father and I found evidence of a few fights less than an hour's jog away from the house and I had one of my friends come and check it out." She continued "Her… semblance is a rather… peculiar form of memory based psychometry, something that allowed her to scrape together a rough explanation of what occurred from plants and animals in the surrounding area." The retired huntress sighed "suffice to say your brother proved fully capable of eliminating a couple dozen Grimm, including a Beowolf your sister Azure would've struggled against, without any apparent injury."

"What?" Mordred murmured "But Jaune couldn't- no that doesn't matter, can your friend use her semblance to track him?"

Her mother sighed again "no, seeing as she'd mainly have to rely on the perception of plants to discern where he went, tracking Jaune with it isn't feasible. It's hard enough for her to work with plants in that regard as it is, seeing as they don't see, hear, or even technically remember anything. As a matter of fact, she can only do it with an at least somewhat significant event, like a fight. Trying to track Jaune with it would mean trying to shift through a record of every single animal that just so happened to have passed by in the last 3 months, and considering how many times she'd have to do it to properly track him we wouldn't have gone a mile by the time the year ends."

Mordred deflated "I wish he'd at least taken more than Crocea Mors with him. Did he even have any supplies with him when he left?"

"A small backpack's worth by the looks of it, but he might have stashed more somewhere in the woods, it's not like he could have hidden a stash in the house without someone finding it after all."

"True"

"So when will you be back home?" The Arc Matriarch asked, changing the topic.

Mordred paused "actually, I wasn't intending-" Mordred began before being cut off

"When will you be back home." her mother repeated firmly "You are in no condition to be running off on your own right now young lady, we will find your brother as soon as possible but you aren't going to be helping anyone by running off and getting yourself killed out of reckless stupidity"

"I'm fine Mother!" Mordred shot back.

"No you are not." Lilith declared, her voice carrying an immense weight behind it despite her even tone "I know for a fact that you haven't slept in damn near 2 weeks and the transmission from your scroll pegs your remaining aura reserves at barely above fifteen percent, forget about another B-rank hunter, most C-rank hunters could kick your ass with the shape you're in." Lilith paused momentarily "You are going to get on the next bullhead home or so help me I will personally come and drag you back." She demanded before suddenly deflating as she sighed "One of my children is missing and the rest are either inconsolable, blaming themselves in some manner, or simply pushing themselves far past the breaking point. Please Mordred. I know, this is a lot to ask. I know how close you are to Jaune but tearing yourself to pieces isn't going to fix anything. Come home. Get some sleep, god knows you need nearly a week of rest before your aura reserves are back in decent shape. We'll find Jaune, come hell or high water, but I won't allow the rest of my children to destroy themselves in the process."

"I… you're right" Mordred relented "next bullhead is in about an hour, see you soon, love you".

"you too sweetheart, bye for now" her mother replied before ending the call.

For a moment Mordred simply stood aimlessly staring at the sky "idiot" she whispered to someone she knew wasn't there "why the hell did you have to go and run away? No… that doesn't matter, whatever reason you have isn't good enough. So… so I'm going to find you and bring you back, even if I have to break your goddamn legs to stop you from running." Shaking herself back to reality Mordred began making her way towards the nearest pickup point before pausing and glancing back at the sky once more. "idiot…".


It had been about a month since Jaune had decided to move further away from the relative safety zone around Vale. He had run into surprisingly few Grimm in the last week, although that could be more due to the terrain he was crossing than anything else. Even hunters generally preferred to go around mountains rather than climb them after all. But he wasn't just a hunter. No sir, he was a gamer, and no self-respecting gamer was going to let a goddamn mountain tell them where to go! Even if it would be faster, less of a hassle, and just generally more efficient to go around he was going to climb that damn mountain!

The bullheaded stubbornness of an open-world genre loving gamer aside, Jaune had crossed an impressive distance in the last month, mostly because climbing the mountains in his way had somehow turned out to be faster than going around them, if only due to his Subversive arts skill. Jaune was a tad bit bitter that he had only gotten one additional level from his mountain climbing escapades but he chalked it up to it being part of a combat skill now. Regardless he had ended up shifting his current goal from simply further away from Vale to one of the coastal towns on the eastern edge of the continent and, from there, Mistral.

Of all 4 kingdoms Mistral was the only one where his family had little to no connections. Of course, considering his great grandfather was famous (or infamous depending on who you asked) for singlehandedly crippling Mistral's military (and economy for that matter) during the great War nearly 80 years ago, using the same sword and shield combo Jaune currently had strapped to his hip as it happens. Considering even the worst of hunters typically lived to be at least 120 years old (if they weren't killed before than) before dying of old age it probably couldn't be helped that they had a few issues with his family, although fortunately those issues had degraded from blood boiling hatred to mild distaste over the last 80 years. The fact that his Great grandfather had died of his injuries following the infamous battle helped sate those who would have otherwise held a long-lasting grudge.

The Arcs were flat-out adored in Vale, on top of being favored by the government for the families' alarmingly consistent tendency to give rise to first class hunters and heroes. In Atlas, General Ironwood's well known and long-standing friendship with Jaune's father on top of the latter's role in preventing a hostile takeover of the country (the same event that eventually led to James Ironwood joining the military in the first place) caused most Atlesian's to view them in a positive light, despite being on opposing sides in the great war. As for Vacuo, who had fought alongside Vale during the great war, the Arcs apparently had a reputation of being first class wingmen, whatever that meant, something apparently brought about by his great grandfather's obsession with the dark arte (or so his mother had described it) of shipping, which apparently had nothing to do with actual boats, even if he wasn't too sure of the specifics.

Anyway, the point was that Jaune's family was basically universally liked everywhere but Mistral, which paradoxically meant it was probably the best place for Jaune to start gathering information or at least practice the related skills.

"Well, I always wanted to see all four kingdoms at some point, even if my parents said vacationing to any of them was a big no" Jaune mumbled "Mistral because it was too dangerous, Atlas because it's too cold, and Vacuo because I'm not 18." Jaune recalled his parent's explanations "Well, danger is a positive for me now, I should probably get a cold resistance skill before going to Atlas, and I have no idea why I have to be 18 to go to Vacuo, do they not have children there or something?" Jaune pondered obliviously before shrugging.

Checking his map on more time Jaune grinned "Only another day or two of travel time left until I reach the port. The boat ride straight across should only take a day at most, so it should be easy enough to stow away" Jaune murmured. "Then I just have to make my way to Mistral and start power leveling my subversive arts skill." Jaune paused "I should probably stop at a few villages along the way for a while though, help some people out with Grimm, level up, and maybe even make some Lien off it while I'm at it."

Jaune stopped moving momentarily focusing on the map in his hands as he plotted a course through several villages on the way to Mistral before pausing momentarily "this map is a bit old so it's no wonder it's not on here, but I think I remember hearing something about a pretty big settlement being made near Mistral." Jaune mumbled thoughtfully "now what was its name…"

Jaune wracked his brain for a few moments before his expression brightened. He remembered it now, its name was….

Kuroyuri


Chapter 1: The first step. End.

Quite a bit shorter than my first chapter, but that's simply because this is more of a transition chapter than anything else. The next chapter should be quite a bit longer. One of the reviews on the first chapter asked if other main characters would show up in this, as you might have guess by this chapter's ending the answer to that is a big yes. While I might end up fudging some timelines somewhat, most of the other Canon main characters will be going through roughly the same lives they lived in the Canon-verse until they meet Jaune, at which point I give no promises. While they may show up in various chapters and story arcs they won't end up joining up with Jaune for any extended amount of time.

Another person asked something regarding the heavily question marked trait and if he'd met someone who had significant romantic feelings for him (or something along those lines) and the answer to that is no. Traits are typically just a representation of someone's nature, just because a situation where they are shown hasn't come up doesn't mean they aren't present in a person. For those of you who don't want to spend your time decoding the trait, here it is, the question marks are mostly for Jaune's sake after all.

You Dense Motherfucker: She is clearly into you, why don't you notice it you dense idiot? +200% to relationship gains with Girls, -95% chance to notice that she has feelings for you. Charisma stat hidden from the gamer.

This is basically just for laughs and will probably have little to no actual relevance in the story. That said, it did give me an excuse to put Jaune's Charisma stat in plot limbo, in which it will remain for an undetermined amount of time.

Below is a sort of spoiler: Specifically, Mordred's character sheet. Please keep in mind that she is mostly average as far as B-rank hunters go, save for the fact that she is considerably younger than most other hunters of the same rank. I don't want to show an A-rank characters' stat sheet yet because that's still somewhat in plot limbo.

Sorta spoiler below

Kinda

A bit

Maybe

Though hath be warned!


Name: Mordred Arc

Age: 24 years (19 physically)

Aging rate: 19% standard human rate

Lv: 243

Health: N/A [100%]

Health regen: N/A

Aura: 60357 [100%]

Aura regen: 11.5 points per minute (reduced by 90% during combat)

Vitality: 566 (2190)

Endurance: 659 (2550)

Strength: 657 (2543)

Dexterity: 553 (2140)

Intelligence: 323 (588)

Wisdom: 315 (573)

Stat points: N/A

Luck: 312

Charisma: 102 (502 during combat)


Traits

Grand Soul: You possess an exceptionally powerful soul, something that is reflected in your Aura reserves: Quadruples Aura gain per level and doubles Aura gain per point of INT. (200 Aura per level plus 20 additional Aura per point of INT.) Also, increases the ease and effects of Aura training.

Heroic lineage: Your family is extremely old and well respected, having produced nearly a dozen known heroes as well as numerous well known political and historical figures in preceding centuries. Your family line precedes recorded history and is generally believed by most historians to have originated from the high nobility of the ancient -now ruined- kingdom that once existed long before the founding of the 4 kingdoms, nearly a thousand years ago: +1 to all base stats per level, -10% rate of aging.

Spiritual imbalance: The presence of physical and mental energies in your soul is unbalanced and, thus, your Aura has been affected. Negates 60% of Aura bonus towards intelligence and Wisdom attributes. Increase Aura bonus towards Vitality, Strength, dexterity, and Endurance by 40%. Greatly increases growth rate of physical combat skills and of physical attributes. Greatly decreases growth rate of mental Combat skills and mental attributes. Aura heals injuries at a greatly accelerated rate. Aura shield is 50% less effective towards non-physical attacks. Reduces physical aging rate by 30%. considerably slows down growth of Aura mastery skill.

Battle-born: Your nature is heavily inclined towards combat related pursuits something that is evident in your attitude and personality, to the extent that you often come off as abrasive and rude outside of battle. Greatly increased growth rate of combat skills. Charisma decrease by 200 while outside of Combat. Charisma increased by 200 during combat. Greatly decreases growth rate of all noncombat skills. Decreases starting tier of non-combat skills by 1 rank.


As you can see, when I said I was majorly buffing the general power level of remnant I was not kidding in the slightest. In case you've forgotten Mordred's overall combat prowess is fairly average for a B-rank hunter. Yes. I said that correctly. Average. B-rank, not A-rank.

Of course, while her combat prowess might be average the reason she is that strong is a bit weird. Her spiritual imbalance trait basically makes her absolute shit at things like dust magic and complex aura techniques in exchange for making her an absolute monster in regards to physical combat. Yes, she is monstrously strong but she's also average. Confused yet? Would it make sense if I said that most B-rank hunters have at least a level 60 advanced rank aura mastery skill while Mordred only has a level 41 basic tier aura mastery skill?

If Mordred had the same level of aura mastery as the average B-rank she would already be breaching into A-rank territory. This is basically a general theme I'm going to have for many traits in the story, extreme bonuses in one area with equally extreme negatives in others. Mordred, while incredibly strong in physical combat is relatively weak against semblances with mental affects like illusions and whatnot.

While this isn't particularly important to the story I still want to make it evident that Jaune isn't the only freakish existence on remnant. For one, the Arc family is absolute bullshit with their heroic lineage trait. Without her families' weird biology Mordred would barely be half as strong as she is and other families and groups in remnant have similar weird quirks in their genetics stemming from brutally enforced natural selection ( Via Grimm) on a death world and god (or y'know the author) knows what else. This ranges from stat boosts to extreme talent in specific skills.

While Jaune's biological quirk manifests itself as a bonus upon level up because of his semblance for the rest of his family it is simply easier for them to get stronger, faster, and smarter than it is for other people. Of course, the Arc family biological quirk is quite a bit better than most others, seeing as it has literally no downsides and is active from birth.

Another thing to note is that while Mordred has the same Grand soul trait as Jaune does, she doesn't possess the Incandescent Soul trait, meaning her aura regeneration is a lot slower, slower as in it takes her nearly 4 entire days to go from empty back to 100%. In fact, point for point, Jaune regenerates aura more than 10 times faster than she does despite being barely a fifth of her level.

Regardless of her weaknesses Mordred is still considered the strongest huntress of her generation hands down, and yes, as you've probably guessed, Jaune will be fighting her at some point before this is all over. Not showing her combat skills yet because reasons but suffice to say her great sword mastery is bullshit.