I am considering Ren's first name to be Ren and his last name to be Lie for the moment. I don't think it was properly clarified otherwise in Canon, but correct me if I'm wrong.


Chapter 4: Down the Rabbit Hole


The first thing Jaune became aware of as his consciousness returned slowly was the slight shaking of the comfortable surface beneath him and an oddly nostalgic sound that reminded him of one of the carts the farmers in his village used while making their way down the road. Dimly acknowledging the padded cloth beneath him and blankets covering him Jaune momentarily attempted to go back to sleep. He needed it after that fight…

Jaune froze momentarily before shooting up, taking in his surrounds in a panic as the haze lifted from his mind and the memories of before he lost consciousness returned with a start. He was in the back of a covered wagon, part of a caravan judging by the sound of other carts from outside. As he slipped out from under the blankets and moved to stand, a small gasp from behind him drew his attention. Blue eyes met Magenta as Jaune found himself locking eyes with the seated form of a familiar boy, Jaune's sudden movements having apparently awoken the other boy from where he was dozing. The boy was somewhat thin with black hair and a somewhat pale complexion. The other boy stared at Jaune in surprise mixed with a hint of awe before moving suddenly.

Stunned momentarily, Jaune found himself unable to react as the boy turned towards the front of the wagon, yelling loudly "Mom! Dad! Great Grandfather! He's awake!"

Jaune tensed, reaching for his weapon only to find Crocea Mors absent from his hip, dimly noting his torso was bare save for extensive bandages crisscrossing it and that someone must have changed his clothes while he was unconscious, before settling for fixing his posture to one that wouldn't inhibit his movement.

"I'll deal with it." a slightly gruff voice assured, clearly talking to someone else as sounds of movement resounded from the front of the cart. "Already?" the same voice queried in slight surprise even as a man slipped through the front flap of the wagon and into its interior, meeting Jaune's cautious gaze with a slightly raised eyebrow.

Recovering from his confusion somewhat, Jaune finally noticed the large aura signature nearby, even as he recognized the crippled hunter from the night before with a start. The man met his gaze evenly for a moment, before Jaune let out a slight sigh and dropped his guard, grimacing slightly at the spark of amusement he saw passing through the old hunter's eyes. While the cripple huntsman was only able to move at full speed for a few seconds, making him vulnerable to large numbers of foes, Jaune held no delusions that it would require more than 2 or 3 seconds (if that) for the hunter to completely trounce him, making any wariness largely pointless in this case.

A slight groan from nearby drew both Jaune and the crippled huntsman's gazes to an orange haired girl sleeping on the other boy's leg that Jaune had previous not noticed "what's going on Ren?" a slightly subdued voice mumbled weakly as the girl woke up in a haze, looking around drearily "why are you shouting?" she continued nervously, clinging to the.

"ah" The now identified Ren froze, momentarily taken aback, before replying apologetically "Sorry Nora, it's just he woke up" extenuating his statement by pointing towards Jaune with one hand.

The girl, Nora, followed Ren's hand, meeting Jaune's gaze as she sharply sat up, all signs of sleep vanishing from her expression as she stared at him with ill-concealed awe.

The old huntsman snorted "Ren, if you don't mind, why don't you and your little girlfriend head up front with your parents, there should be enough space up there with me back here. I need to check the boy's injuries and I doubt he wants you gawking him like he's some kind of rare artifact."

Nora panicked slightly at this "Were not together! I mean we're together but we're not together-together, not that Ren isn't handsome or anything because he is but…" the girl faltered her face glowing red as she looked down in embarrassment.

Placing a comforting hand on her shoulder and giving her a reassuring smile when she looked at him, the dark-haired boy looked back at the old huntsman "Of course Great Grandfather" the boy agreed "Nora and I don't mind at all" he continued, gently leading the still embarrassed girl towards the front of the wagon and out of sight. With the two of them gone, Jaune and the old huntsmen returned to their staring contest.

The old man snorted lightly after a moment "You've got eyes I'd call good if I saw them in any huntsman I've ever met, yet in a child can only bring myself to call a tragedy." The man murmured, an odd influx of emotions in his voice "here" he reached down, picking up something and tossing it at Jaune. Despite his momentary surprise, Jaune caught it with the greatest of ease, the sheathed form of Crocea Mors settling into his hands naturally and without conscious thought.

"So you are a member of that family after all." the man mused "What brings an Arc to the only continent that thinks the world would've been better off without them?"

Jaune's panic didn't surface on his face as he forced himself to mimic confusion "What are you talking about?" he murmured in what many would see as genuine confusion.

"Don't bother playing innocent, I'd recognize that sword in your hands half-dead and without both my eyes. Crocea Mors, the historic blade of Vale's most famous family, and the most infamous weapon in the world to most Mistralean's old enough to remember the day it and its last wielder tore through most of Mistral's hunter corps." The old man muttered softly, his tone almost wistful "and judging by the way it's sitting in your hands like the most balanced sword in the world rather than a piece of crap, you're definitely an Arc. You aren't my equal in swordsmanship by a longshot and that thing felt like a hunk of unprocessed iron in my hands."

Jaune's eyes flickered to the wagons flap momentarily before meeting the man's gaze once more, a question on his lips.

"No, I didn't and they don't" The old hunter cut him off "I didn't tell them who you are and no one in Kuroyuri other than me would recognize that blade on sight." Something about the man's tone put Jaune on guard "I only recognized that blade because of what it's done to me," the old hunter continued as an overwhelming pressure descended on Jaune, threatening to crush even gamer's mind as the huntsman approached "I only recognized that blade because it killed my friends, because it killed my very own brother, because it crippled me," Jaune found himself unable to move as the old huntsman approached, certain he was about to die when "and now it's made a liar and an oath breaker out of me in a single night." the man finished, the overwhelming pressure vanishing like it hadn't existed as the old hunter moved behind Jaune, shifting the bandages covering Jaune's torso aside gently and examining Jaune's now healed wounds.

"W-what." Jaune managed, still all but paralyzed.

The old hunter didn't answer for a moment as he continued removing the bandages, confirming Jaune's injuries had healed to the greatest extent they likely ever would, reduced from a nearly fatal wound to an extensive patch of scar tissue that stretched in a jagged line across the entirety of Jaune's back.

"Healed already," the man mumbled "barely 2 days and the scars already look months old, although this is probably as good as there going to get." He concluded, removing the rest of the now pointless bandages and stepping back as Jaune turned to face him, acknowledging the unasked question in the boy's eyes.

The man was silent for a moment, as if uncertain where to begin, before the words seemed to come to him and he began speaking "As you might have guessed I'm a lot older than I look -like most huntsman- old enough that I fought during the great war more than 70 years ago." The man wet his lips, his eyes already somewhere else "one of only 2 A-rank hunters specializing in medical techniques at the time, which is the only reason I survived when your ancestor slaughtered my entire unit, why I survived getting run through the heart by the same blade you currently wield. Yet even I couldn't heal all the damage, and I wound up a cripple who could only fight seriously for a handful of seconds before tiring." The man paused momentarily "I swore to myself that if I ever met another wielder of that cursed blade I would do anything I could to remove them from the face of Remnant" the pressure returned momentarily before fading "and yet for all that blade has taken from me…" the man trailed off, lost in his memories "for all it has taken from me…. It's saved what little I have left, and in doing so made me a liar."

"What do you mean… how did…?" Jaune mumbled, clearly confused.

"My brother and my parents are dead, my children as well. All I have left is my granddaughter, my grandson-in-law, and young Ren, my great-grandson." The hunter replied tiredly "Now someone wielding a blade I've sworn vengeance against has come along and saved all three in the same night. There is no wrong worth enough in revenge to match the magnitude of the debt of gratitude I owe you for saving them. So, my oath of vengeance must ring hollow and I'm bound by what's left of my honor to see my debt to you repaid."

Jaune's throat was dry, he knew he shouldn't mention it but "I nearly ran away… I nearly abandoned all of you to save myself…"

"I know" the old hunter replied "which only makes my debt all that much deeper."

Jaune blinked in confusion "I said I nearly abandoned you all and let them die because I was scared, because I was a coward! How is that…."

"If an S-rank hunter had happened by Kuroyuri during that attack and slaughtered all the Grimm, I would have thanked them, and perhaps humored a minor request, but not put myself under a debt of gratitude" the old hunter replied "because for that hunter, slaying those Grimm wouldn't have even required the least bit of effort or involved the slightest amount of risk. For you, terrified and facing an opponent you had no right to defeat, anything less than the annulment of my vendetta and a debt of gratitude would be an insult to my very principles." The hunter paused momentarily "A poor man donating half a Lien is backed by more meaning that a Schnee donating half a million Lien; compared to one with little still managing to give to others the gifts of those with far more than they need is of little worth."

"I still…" Jaune trailed off "I still almost ran away and left you all to die."

"Almost… but you didn't" the hunter refuted "terrified and unsure that you could even make a difference you came back and put your life on the line for a bunch of strangers." He old hunter declared firmly "that you had to face that fear only makes my debt greater."

The inside of the wagon grew quiet for a few moments.

Clearing his throat Jaune broke the silence after a moment "Where are we headed right now?"

"Mistral" the hunter replied shortly "Kuroyuri's finished, less than a fifth the populace survived the attack and they're far too terrified to even think of trying to rebuild. With the CCT connection in this area still shot to hell and no way to call for help now, those who managed to survive gathered what little they could and scattered to the winds."

"Why did you even try?" Jaune spoke suddenly, unable to stop himself "you at least should have known this outcome was inevitable, even without an attack like this, eventually…" he trailed off.

"Yeah, I did." The hunter replied "but we didn't have a choice" he continued sadly "I assume you've notice Ren has an unlocked aura pool?" he asked before continuing as Jaune nodded "We didn't want him to go through a hunter's life, but now it looks like there's no choice. He was quite sickly when he was younger, enough that we had to leave Mistral and unlock his aura just so he could survive. As I assume you know, people living in Mistral can only legally have unlocked aura if they are hunters or within the hunter training program at some level. Youngest age to start training is 10, he'd have died before he was 5 without aura. He's in much better health now, in fact, if anything it's his aura that's the problem, seeing as he's got no choice but to join the hunter program in Mistral now, with his parents not feeling safe remaining outside the cities' wall anymore, not that I blame them."

Jaune didn't know how to respond, simply staring at the old huntsman in shock.

The old huntsman sighed, turning around "Get some sleep, we'll talk more later, we're still far enough off from Mistral that you don't need worry about it quite yet." The hunter ordered lightly, leaving the interior of the wagon.

Jaune stared after the now absent hunter with a spark of guilt, recalling his initial opinion in regards to the people of Kuroyuri and finding himself wondering just how many of its residents hadn't had half the choice he'd assumed they had. Letting out a sigh Jaune returned to his make-shift sleeping spot, intent on following the huntsman's advice only to be set upon by a sudden bombardment of popups, one in particular catching Jaune's eye.


All notifications are by default concealed during cut scenes, this can be changed in the options tab.


Closing the first notification, Jaune idly wondered why this hadn't applied during his freak out just after his oracle, before concluding that excessive fear simply didn't count as a cut scene. At this thought, yet another popup appeared in front of the others, instantly drawing Jaune's gaze.


For realizing that panicking and crying like a little bitch does not constitute as a cut scene, you have gained 1 point of Intelligence!


"... ass" Jaune complained, twitching slightly before shaking himself and moving on, deciding to close the mish-mash of experience gain popups, aside from the Nuckelavee's, without reading them. With the rough equivalent of spam mail gone, Jaune returned his attention to more significant popups


Nuckelavee (level 153) has been slain, 500,000 Experience has been gained:

(20,000) base *5 (trait modifier) *10 (a dance at Death's Border) *.5 (assistance received) = 500,000)


Congratulations! You are now level 81! You have 95 attribute points to spend!


Title acquisition parameters met, Title «Underdog» has been acquired.


Congratulations! You have acquired your first title. Titles are a representation of an individual's achievements or abilities and provide unique effects varying from Title to title. While Titles initially must be equipped for this effect to apply, continued repetition of acquisition conditions will eventually allow a Title's effects to remain active even while the Title is not equipped. The gamer may currently equip up to a maximum of 1 title at any given time.


Skill «Aura mastery» is now level 23! Parameters for tier up passed, skill «Aura mastery» has ranked up into skill «Advanced Aura mastery»! «Advanced Aura mastery» now level 23!


Aura sub-skill, «Aura channeling» acquired! «Aura Channeling» is now level 13!


Aura sub-skill, «Aura shield» is now level 12!


Skill «Advanced bladed weapon mastery» is now level 39!


Skill «Defensive arts» is now level 40!


Skill «Subversive arts» is now level 50!


Skill «Superior eyesight» is now level 18!


For correctly reading the flow of present events and situations to predict future events, skill «Oracle» is now level 11!


For examining the formation and deployment of many enemies and understanding the tactical significance of certain patterns, skill «Tactics» has been acquired. Skill «Tactics» is now level 13!


Skill «Observe» is now level 37!


For riding an alpha Beowolf into the ground skill «Legendary Nevermore knight» is now level 48! You are now capable of proper landings while riding Beowolves!


For enduring high levels of physical damage with no health points remaining, passive skill «Physical Damage resistance» has been acquired. Skill «Physical damage resistance» is now level 7!


For recovering from severe injuries received while gamer's body was disabled, skill «Rapid recovery» has been acquired! Skill «Rapid recovery» is now level 8!


Based on certain behaviors and actions, a new trait has started to develop. Depending on the gamer's future actions in similar situations this trait will either fully manifest or fade.


Smirking slightly at the growth of his level and most of his skill masteries, Jaune attempted to ignore the unnecessary growth of a certain skill he would rather not existed (how the hell do even land a Beowolf in the first place, they don't fly!). While he was slightly interested in the fact that he was potentially developing a new trait, Jaune figured it wouldn't be manifesting fully anytime soon and put it out of his mind, focusing on attribute gains. Adding up the various individual gains, Jaune had gained a total of 13 points of vitality, 7 points of endurance, 4 points in strength, 3 points in dexterity, along with 3 and 2 points in intelligence and wisdom respectively. Despite the fact that his gains in Vitality and endurance were undoubtedly a result of getting smacked through a wall and then nearly getting mauled by the Nuckelavee, he was still quite happy about the considerable gains. Smirk still firmly on his face, Jaune quickly set about expending his free stat points, focusing heavily on his dexterity along with his vitality and strength to a lesser extent, only putting a few points into his remaining three attributes. Confirming his choices, Jaune examined his new stats, the effects of his now boosted aura modifier becoming extremely apparent.


Name: Jaune Arc

Title: Underdog

Age: 10 years

Aging rate: 65% standard human rate

Lv: 81

Health: 12512 [100%]

Health regen: 5.17% per minute (reduced by 90% during combat)

Aura: 24292.5 [100%]

Aura regen: 4.61% per minute (reduced by 90% during combat)

Vitality: 181 (441)

Endurance: 171 (417)

Strength: 187 (456)

Dexterity: 231 (563)

Intelligence: 166 (405)

Wisdom: 148 (361)

Stat points: 0

Luck: ?

Charisma: ?


Jaune allowed himself to be heartened by his progress momentarily before bringing himself back on track, bringing up detailed descriptions of his new skills and title.


Underdog: Granted for defeating an opponent you should have stood no chance at defeating. When fighting an opponent at least 30 levels above your own, all attributes increase by 10% of the difference between you and your opponent's attribute values for the duration of combat. If one of your attributes has a higher value than your opponent, no bonus is added. Title currently must be equipped for effects to apply.


Tactics lv 13: The ability to effectively command large numbers of combatants, this skill can also be used to interpret, predict, and counter the actions of others, even while fighting alone.


Physical damage resistance (passive) lv 7: Increases durability of physical body, reducing damage taken when Gamer's body is disabled. Does not affect damage to health points.


Rapid recovery lv 8 (passive) lv 8: Increases the rate at which the physical body heals from injuries taken when Gamer's body is disabled. Slightly decreases the degree of scarring from severe wounds. Does not affect restoration rate of health points.


Jaune's face grew slightly grim. While his new title and skills were quite useful in regards to survivability, reading the description of the tactics skill had reminded Jaune of his line of thought in regards to the attack on Kuroyuri. Lying down on his make-shift bed, Jaune began reanalyzing the entire situation in more detail. This time his thoughts were more focused and concise thanks both to his boosted intelligence and wisdom scores as well as the fact that he wasn't more preoccupied fighting creatures of darkness en masse. The appearance of the Nuckelavee only increase his suspicions in regards to the attack.

Judging by how the old hunter had managed to ruin its leg before being downed, even after having been severely exhausted from the long fight, Jaune was pretty sure he could have downed it in a second or two when he was fully rested, even with his heart condition. The fact that it had shown up at the very end of the battle when the old hunter was almost completely spent and had then proceeded to target Jaune specifically before anyone else, like it knew he was the next biggest threat (however minimal a threat he should have been) felt a bit too smart. In fact, now that Jaune looked back, the Grimm had started deliberately grouping in hordes with increasing regularity even as the number of Grimm dropped, almost like they were deliberately enticing the older huntsman in order to ensure his stamina was as depleted as possible. It was a string of unnatural coincidences certainly, but if there was someone pulling the strings behind the Grimm, someone in power should have noticed it and it would be public knowledge by now.

"or would it?" Jaune whispered to himself as he discarded his initial assumption.

If someone or something was in control of the Grimm, then that meant the Grimm were capable of organizing and functioning with all the cohesion of an army. Fighting back the Grimm was difficult, even with the fact that they typically acted wildly and without thought, and with a leader capable of controlling them they would become more dangerous to a degree of increasing magnitudes. On the other hand if the Grimm suddenly united, there was a large chance of humanity doing the same, roughly leveling the playing field with one key difference. The existence of something controlling the Grimm would be publicly revealed in short order and that existence would undoubtedly be fiercely targeted.

This line of thinking led to an impasse: Assuming certain individuals in power were aware of this manipulator, revealing it would cause panic and remove any reason for said manipulator to limit their manipulation of the Grimm to remain incognito, giving them free reign to start ravaging humanity, even if humanity would quickly unite and level the playing field. Conversely if the manipulator started freely organizing the Grimm and attacking then those aware of them would reveal its existence, leading to humanity uniting and targeting whatever was controlling the Grimm.

If either side made such a move, it would only end in destruction and a war where neither side was certain of the victor, which neither of the two prospective sides likely wanted. This left the best course of action available to either side in the form of highly covert shadow war, spanning the entirety of remnant with the vast majority of its participants completely unaware of it. As Jaune came to this chilling conclusion 2 popups appeared in front of him.


For piecing together information and recognizing the existence of the constant war that has been fought in the shadows of Remnant for hundreds of years, skill «tactics» has received an immense experience boost! Skill «tactics» is now level 31! Parameters cleared, Skill «tactics» has ranked up into skill «Military tactics»! «Military tactics» is now level 31!


Jaune barely finished reading the first popup before closing it a quickly, turning his gaze to the second one, a fierce expression of tension mixed with unwavering determination fixed upon his face.


Quest: Down the Rabbit hole

You have become aware that the war against the Grimm is far more complicated that it first appeared. Learn more about the battle raged for Remnant and how to end it for good.

Quest details:

With a series of coincidences too difficult to ignore together with the events of your oracle you have become aware of the forces manipulating the Grimm against humanity.

The old guard: There is no doubt that you are but the most recent of many to uncover the global shadow war spanning remnant, that means there are undoubtedly those who already move in opposition to the forces threatening humanity.

Stalemate: With both sides unwilling to make moves that have questionable outcomes, both sides will do not yet desire open war, desiring to deal a great enough blow to tip the scales prior to leaving the shadows.

Long stride, longer Journey: With what you have learned it has become apparent that the plot to destroy Vale is likely only one move, however significant, within a greater game.

Quest objective:

Learn more about both sides of the shadow war (incomplete)

Gain the trust of the group protecting humanity from the shadows (incomplete)

Join the game (incomplete)

Time remaining: until the destruction of humanity or humanities' enemy.

Quest success rewards: induction into ?, able to more successfully defend humanity from mass threats, ?, additional rewards depending on quest performance

Quest failure: War has reached a conclusion without your direct input, humanity is either extinct or it's adversary vanquished.


With a sigh Jaune closed the popup, pushing its contents out of his mind. Despite the enormity of what he'd pieced together, his current course of action changed little. Even if the destruction of Vale was only a single move amongst dozens it didn't change the fact that stopping that move was the only thing that currently mattered to Jaune. Perhaps later, years from now when he'd saved Vale from its current crisis, he'd end up officially joining humanity's corner in the war raging just out of sight, but for today it mattered little, save for affirming the caliber of the enemy Jaune was facing.

His enemy might have been revealed to be only one part of a much worse whole, but it was one part that had to be defeated by Jaune. While the outcome of the shadow war could apparently go either way, Vale was currently doomed to annihilation without Jaune's direct interference. He simply wasn't strong enough to be able to affect the greater whole yet, even stopping this one move was going to take everything he had. For now, he couldn't afford to do anything but trust in whoever was opposing the entity behind the Grimm. Letting himself be overwhelmed by what he'd uncovered would only lower his odds of success so Jaune concluded that, for now, nothing had changed, saving Vale was furthest ahead he would look, and whatever future existed beyond that distant tomorrow would be faced when the time came and no sooner.


For deciding that drugs are bad when offered red and blue pills by M*rpheus and arguing that, for the moment, there may indeed be a spoon, you have gained 3 points of Wisdom and Intelligence. Quest «Down the Rabbit hole» has been disabled until the completion of the «Kingdom in Peril» quest.


"Is that supposed to be a reference of some sort?" Jaune mumbled idly before dismissing the popup. Shaking himself out of his thoughts, Jaune settled down for some well-deserved rest, sleeping on his successes for the moment with the resolution to build on them upon waking.


The next couple of days went by quickly. Seeing as Mistral was already his goal, Jaune had opted to remain with the small caravan of roughly 3 dozen former residents of Kuroyuri until they had all but reached Mistral, at which point he'd be forced to depart and enter the city through a less than legal method. It was odd for Jaune, seeing the blatant relief that had appeared in the expressions of most of the people making up the ragged band of travelers when he had first expressed his intention to remain until just before they'd arrived at the city. For someone who had been considered a weakling for the vast majority of his life or otherwise hadn't previously stuck around long enough for people to get over their shock in regards to his actions, the attitude the former residents of Kuroyuri took up around him felt almost alien.

Despite what had happened to them, most of the caravan felt safe. Safe because of him, because he was present. Whenever he returned outside to the front of a covered wagon after sleeping to watch out for Grimm, he could visibly see the tension fade from people's bodies, like his mere presence made the woods safe and familiar rather than yet another hiding place for monsters. When he had asked them to not spread his description or identity (not that he'd shared it beyond his first name) once they arrived in Mistral they had agreed enthusiastically. At every meal and break he was quickly invited into the group and given the best of the food by unspoken unanimous agreement.

It had quickly grown uncomfortable for Jaune, both due to the knowledge that his parents or elder sister could have done the same, with far less casualties at that, and the fact that prior to his discussion with the old hunter (who had introduced himself as Kiero Lie the day after Jaune had awoken) he would have probably viewed them with an underlying 'you should have known' in regards to what had happened. Guilt both from his admittedly unfair judgements and simple inability to do better than he had beset him with increasing regularity. While he had no intention of abandoning the group before they reached Mistral, the old hunter still far from recovered enough to fight for more than a handful of seconds before collapsing, it still left Jaune wishing he could leave.

Fortunately, his salvation had arrived in a rather odd manner 3 days after he had first regained consciousness. When one of the members of the caravan, a woman in her mid-thirties, had offered to mend his ruined hoodie, to which Jaune had automatically replied that he could do it himself, if she wouldn't mind lending him a needle, along with a bit of cloth and thread. The woman had complied eventually, with a not so subtle undertone of an adult humoring a child, giving Jaune the requested items. Distracted by the odd sense of relief being treated like a normal child gave him, Jaune inadvertently went all out while repairing his hoodie. His pointlessly high sewing ability mixed with a hunter's superhuman mental processing and movement speed allowed him to repair the ruined article of clothing in barely 10 minutes. It was only afterwards, when Jaune was looking over his work in satisfaction that he noticed the entirety of the caravan staring at him like he'd grown a second head.

The revelation of his pointlessly high domestic prowess had quickly changed the atmosphere of the camp towards him during breaks. Seeing an opportunity by the slight shift in the way they looked at him after the sewing incident, Jaune had proceeded to embark on what could only be called a Crusade by an S-class househusband in the making. From taking over cooking during breaks to helping mend clothes to teaching more effective methods of cleaning clothes with minimal wear, Jaune had quickly succeeded in changing the groups attitude towards him to something he found more comfortable. While he was somewhat subconscious of the fact that his prowess as a homemaker was apparently so incompatible with the image of a hero that the former residents of Kuroyuri seemed incapable of completely consoling the two, he was largely glad they'd started to treat him more like a person and less like some sort of superior entity. While most of them still held some level of respect or minor reverence for him it wasn't nearly as bad as it had been.

Jaune pointedly ignored the fact that his little crusade has temporarily made almost all the women in the group lose all confidence in regards to their domestic capabilities. He also even more pointedly ignored that fact that after recovering from their depression, the female camp had grown almost pointlessly competitive. When said competitiveness had revealed a gradual improvement in the collective cooking ability of the female camp, Jaune had been surprised for a while before remembering yet again how unnaturally horrible everyone else in his family aside from his father was at cooking. Putting more effort into cooking something was supposed to make it tastier, not more toxic and the fact that he'd been expecting the latter from experience made Jaune want to cry.

Despite the surprisingly nostalgic and comforting feeling Jaune found in doing various domestic tasks for the first time since he'd left home (where they had been a constant) Jaune didn't neglect training in whatever manner he could during the trip, scarce encounters with Grimm on the road not nearly enough to count as satisfactory progress. With his only other option being to try and figure out what was up with Crocea Mors (which had reverted to an appearance like when he'd first gotten it, bereft of the splendor it had held the night before the attack on Kuroyuri) and he expected it was going to require a long time to infuse enough aura into it before he could start answering that question, training (even ineffectual training) was simply the best option he had at the moment.


Jaune hummed idly as he finished his workout for the evening, his body burning with a comfortable fatigue. While it might seem a bit reckless tiring himself out when he was the only dependable combatant within the group, they were only a few days from Mistral and his semblance's ability to null fatigue for health damage gave him a suitable safe margin regarding stamina, even if it wasn't as extensive as it appeared at first glance. A bit of testing in the form of extreme exercise a few days after he'd reawaken had revealed something previously unnoticed in Kuroyuri. While the initial health cost for mitigating excessive strain on his muscles was fairly low, it seemed to start to escalate fairly quickly if he relied on it too much without resting. Pushing himself to use his maximum speed and strength for long periods of time past where his endurance could take him quickly reached the point where it was draining close to 40 points of health a second.

While he wouldn't call it being lucky, the close quarters combat within Kuroyuri had actually been such that it wasn't as exhausting as it could have been, although not for reasons Jaune could be proud of. While he had indeed been going all out, the truth was that fighting at his best didn't mean he was using his max speed and strength all the time, in fact it was rare for him to find a chance to use his full speed. Since Jaune wasn't exactly running in a straight line during combat his highest attainable speed typically didn't prove useful in a fight. Constant changes in direction and elevation meant he could only use what speed he could gather in what often amounted to a split second of acceleration, rather than the second or two of continuous movement it would take to go as fast as he could. This meant that he hadn't been going as fast as he technically could because he wasn't capable of properly utilizing his speed.

Fortunately for him, the old huntsman had been willing to assist him in regards to this, just so long as Jaune in turn lent a hand with the huntsman's training of Ren and Nora. While Jaune knew training was an ineffective method for him in regards to solid progress, it was still possible to lay down a blueprint, so to speak, of techniques and methods he could work on properly once something was trying to kill him. While he was a bit iffy in regards to training around others his age, considering his previous experience with it, it ended up being rather nice and had inadvertently revealed the answer to a question that had been bugging Jaune for quite some time.


-earlier-

Collapsed on the ground and panting, a certain 10-year-old struggled to catch his breath "Why *pant* am I the only…. One…. struggling this much" Ren managed between his labored breathing as Nora hurried over to help him up.

«Ren Lie lv 2»

«Nora Valkyrie lv 7»

"Dunno" Jaune Arc replied, dashing from side to side over a 6 meter stretch repeatedly with a grimace on his face "you should be stronger, considering how long you've had your aura, but Nora just had hers unlocked and she's already got you completely overwhelmed on that front." He continued still trying, and unsurprisingly failing, to master (or at least get the level 1 skill for) a specific technique the old huntsman Kiero had explained to him.

"Other way around kid" said old huntsman refuted "it's no surprise the girl has got him completely beaten in physical strength." The huntsman paused momentarily "what is surprising on the other hand is how you haven't made the slightest bit of progress at learning the technique I'm wasting my time trying to teach you."

Jaune snorted, turning to look at the old huntsman for a moment.

«Kiero Lie lv?»

"It's plenty surprising that the girl's stronger than someone who has apparently had aura for years, and I told you this would happen the moment I agreed to train with you. I don't learn well outside of live combat, which is why it would be better if you just explain the technical aspects of how the hell you do this and leave me to do the rest on my own later" Jaune shot back "but since you don't believe me about the second thing, please explain how exactly the first makes any sense whatsoever."

"Yeah…" Ren began with a bit of relief, having been too nervous to broach the topic on his own "I thought I'd already gotten better from my sickness, so why am I so behind."

With a sigh the old man shifted his eyes to his great-grandson and replied "well you're so behind blondie here because he's a freak of nature that by all rights should not exist…" began dryly as Jaune huffed in exasperation "and you can't keep up with miss Valkyrie here because you had the misfortune of growing up with an unlocked aura"

"ha?" Jaune inquired dumbly "but aura doesn't hamper muscle growth, in fact, it accelerates it and slows down atrophy." Jaune argued.

"Oh sorry, I didn't realize you were the doctor here" the huntsman shot back before continuing his explanation unprompted "The body only builds muscle in response to continued use, with the lifestyle of a normal kid, having aura means the body doesn't develop as much muscle because it doesn't need it. No amount of aura mastery can fully compensate for physical fitness"

Ren frowned "But that doesn't make sense, no matter how much people work out and exercise, if they don't have aura they don't even come close to how fast people like you and Mr. Jaune can move." He state, eliciting a hesitant nod from Nora, as she helped him into a sitting position.

As the boy finished his question Jaune couldn't help but twitch slightly. It was weird having a kid the same age as him call him Mr. so respectfully. Jaune was about to ask Ren (again) to call him Jaune but the old huntsman started speaking first.

"True, but let me ask you this Ren: How much to you think aura multiplies a person's physical abilities?"

The boy blink in surprise before responding "a few dozen times over?"

"Nope" the huntsman shook his head "In my prime my aura increased my physical abilities about 5 or 6-fold. The very best of huntsmen can typically increase their physical strength about 10-fold or so. From what I can tell, blondie over can enhance himself to about 2 and a half times his normal strength." the hunter continued "and yet huntsman routinely move dozens of times faster than normal people, any idea why?"

"Aura lets muscles develop to be stronger and more efficient than normal?" Jaune offered uncertainty.

The old huntsman moved his hand in a wishy-washy manner "to some extent," he paused momentarily before, seeing they had no answer, answering the question for them "the main reason is that it lets people use strength they technically have without it but can't access. As you saw when I unlocked miss Valkyries' aura earlier, simply unlocking a person's aura seemingly enhances their strength to a level much greater than what they had without it, creating the illusion of aura boosting strength dozens of times over. The reality is that, with the support of aura, it is no longer necessary for the body to limit the output of a person's muscles to a level that won't tear them to shreds."

The old huntsman paused momentarily, taking a drink from a small flask and clearing his throat before continuing.

"While it isn't to the level of instantly doubling a person's strength when they initially unlock their aura, it is still a very significant boost. The longer a person trains and works with Aura after unlocking it the stronger a person's muscles become at the cost of becoming more and more reliant upon aura to function properly." The huntsman tapped his chest just over his heart "While the loss of aura flow near my heart technically drops its maximum functional output to about of sixth of what it was, the truth is it can barely function at an 80th of the level it could when I was in my prime without my heart literally tearing itself apart from the strain, after a few fleeting moments of operation."

Jaune nodded his head slightly in understanding "I see, so in Ren's case, his muscles have been operating under much less strain the Nora's, meaning the actual strength of Ren's muscles is much lower than It appears."

The huntsman nodded "take away his aura and Ren's about as strong as a 4-year-old physically." He continued as Ren slumped in slight dejection "but in this case that's actually sort of a good thing, all considered" he mumbled as Ren looked up in confusion.

"Let me guess, your families style requires a very specific body type and any significant muscular development would probably just make acquiring said body type more difficult" Jaune inquired.

"You can figure that out in an instant but you can't learn a single technique in two days" the old huntsman drawled, watching Jaune continue dashing from side to side "I told you, you need to use the aura to oppose your current momentum and use it to rebound yourself in another, it's not that difficult"

"and I told you, I'm not wired that way, if there's no actual threat, the best I can do is get the theoretical aspect down and maybe…" Jaune cut himself off abruptly as he realized with a start that he was about to die.

While most people would have locked up under such a realization Jaune Arc simply acted, instinctively knowing he couldn't conventionally change his current course fast enough to dodge whatever was trying to kill him and reacting accordingly. His foot hit the ground as he pushed back against his current momentum, typically trying to stop from near full speed would require several footfalls to decelerate without simply tumbling over, but he had no time for that. In the millisecond before his momentum would force him to tumble forward despite his planted foot, he expelled a pulse of aura out of his foot, the image of him bouncing off a firm elastic surface forming in his mind before, in defiance of inertia, he kicked off in the completely opposite direction of his initial motion only losing a small amount of speed despite the impossibly sharp change in direction.

His eyes focused on the blade that passed through the location his momentum should have left him through before he found himself freezing in surprise when he saw the blade. The sheathed blade that probably wouldn't have even done enough damage to drop his health.

"There's no way almost dying can…" the person holding the blade had been declaring before trailing off in surprise, seeming to realize he had not, in fact, hit Jaune firmly on the head. "…help you learn?" the old huntsman continued, all certainty draining out of tone "wait really?" he asked in disbelief, shaking his head.

"You just tried to kill me." Jaune shot out breathlessly.

The old hunter recovered after a moment and snorted "No, I just made you think I was trying to kill you. Put the right pressure in the right way and there's no way you can tell the difference." He paused "Even if you apparently really are hardwired in such a stupid manner, if you think it's dangerous, it might as well be. What? Do you think life's some kind of video game where it only applies in real situations?"

Ignoring how ironic the old huntsman's last question was, Jaune huffed and shot back "aren't you supposed to be unable to move quickly without half killing yourself?"

"If I use my aura to preemptively gather enough oxygen in my bloodstream for a bit, I can move for a half a second or so without issue. Why'd you think I was talking so much? Gave me an excuse to breathe in a lot of air. Not all of us are in love with the sound of our own voices blondie."

Jaune sighed "didn't you say you owed me a debt of gratitude? Cause last I checked gratitude does not include being an ass at every possible second?"

The old huntsman snorted. "If you want me to pay off the rest of my debt in that manner, then be my guest, cause between that and the technique you've finally learned it would leave us about even."

"Is it really that much of a thing for you to talk in a friendly manner? Or is your gratitude in a much sparser quantity then you initially hyped it up to be?" Jaune shot back dryly.

"Neither" The old huntsman replied with amusement "I just think me teaching some 'random' kid one of the Lie clan's secret techniques counts as a pretty significant chunk of that gratitude. Congratulations blondie, you are now the first user of the flash step outside of the Lie clan in just over 300 years, even if you suck at it right now." Turning away from Jaune, the old Lie addressed the clearing's other two occupants "Alright kiddos, that's enough for now, we'll be setting off again soon and I don't want you two pushing yourself all that hard just yet" he declared, directing both Ren and Nora out of the clearing.

"ha?" Jaune let out dumbly even as clearings occupants vanished before turning his attention to a new pair of popups in front of his face.


Unique tier skill «Flash step» has been acquired! Skill Flash step is now level 1!


Flash step lv 1 (Unique): A movement technique passed down through a family of Shinobi turned huntsmen. This skill uses a combination of body manipulation and aura expulsion to allow the user to negate the typical effects of inertia and accelerate at an extremely rapid pace at the cost of a certain amount of aura. At its current level it is only possible to roughly invert momentum, but higher levels allow for sharp turning without losing speed as the user apparently ignores inertia. While this skill does not actually allow the user to move any faster than their normal limit, it does facilitate combat at the user's full speed. This skill interacts uniquely with tier ranking, not gaining any bonus in effect from higher tiers and instead having its maximum level restricted by tier rank. At current tier, maximum mastery value is capped at level 90. Skill is very difficult to master and levels at a very slow pace.


"…." Jaune closed his menu after a moment "well shit." The boy mumbled to himself before moving to return to the Caravan.


Jaune had eventually learned that the flash step technique was not something people would typically be capable of learning in a few days of practice. As a matter of fact, most people couldn't even manage a singular success with it until they'd had months of training, let alone one in what they believe to be a live combat situation. Despite practicing it almost nonstop since he'd learned it the skill was still at level one, and while it would level faster during combat, it was obviously going to take a while to get to a decent level of proficiency with it.

In regards to how most hunters dealt with the issue of inertia, Jaune had been given a rather unexpected answer of "they either don't or they do so stupidly" by the old huntsman before the old man had descended into mumbles that Jaune only heard the tail end of "…by gun's the recoil my ass". In truth, the technique Jaune had been taught was one even most A-rank hunters would covet. The old huntsman had expected Jaune to fail at learning it and give up quickly, intending to give him some other technique rather that what was an extremely valuable family secret.

Upon learning this, Jaune had promptly sworn upon his family name (outside the presence of all save the old hunter) not to spread it in the future. The rest of the week passed by in a blur, as Jaune found himself liking the experience of teaching, seeing as he, for obvious reasons, ended up taking the primary role in regards to hands on teaching with Ren and Nora. After they got over their initial bit of hero worship regarding him, Jaune ended up finding great solace in interacting with those his age normally, after they had finished training for the day, and had quickly come to consider the two friends.

Unfortunately, Jaune knew it couldn't last for much longer, as they neared Mistral and the amount of time before he'd have to return to being alone grew more and more sparse.


"That's enough" Jaune called, promptly causing Ren and Nora to collapse simultaneously onto the ground, panting "you've made a lot of progress over the last week and a half" Jaune said with a slight smile.

Nora smiled at that, seeming to recover a bit of her energy "Thanks Jaune! It's difficult but I can literally feel myself getting stronger every day" she chirped, her voice displaying the cheerful attitude that had been ever so slowly superseding her once slightly timid tone. After a few more moments the girl managed to gather enough energy to stand, stretching as she did so.

"Yeah" Ren managed unsteadily, still panting "if you've been training like this for 5 years, it's no wonder you're so crazy strong already" he managed.

Jaune smiled in response, having deliberately glossed over the fact that the vast majority of his progress had actually occurred over barely 6 months of time, deciding that telling a little white lie would be better than demoralizing his short-term students. "You're going to have it rough for a while Ren, it's probably going to take you at least a year to completely catch up to where you should be for your age and that's assuming you work your ass off." Jaune reminded him.

The boy let out a heavy sigh "I know, a year of this is going to be rough."

"A year?" Jaune asked, raising his eyebrow "try a lifetime, or at least a few decades."

Ren looked horrified momentarily "I thought you just said I'd be able to catch up in a year?"

"Catch up to average level, which is nowhere near enough of an achievement to rest on your laurels." Jaune deadpanned "for hunters, above average Life expectancy and living quality is basically directly tied to being above average in combat. B and A rank huntsman get loads more freedom in regards to how they live, mostly because the kingdoms know trying to strong arm powerful hunters into things they don't want to do will only cause trouble later. An A-rank hunter can basically retire at any time, so long as they agree to go back on duty during any major crisis, while a D-rank would probably need to spend decades hunting to get the same agreement. That's ignoring how less likely an A-rank is to die than a D-rank."

Ren let out a groan "Oh midday naps, I'm sorry I ever took you for granted"

Jaune and Nora simply exchanged slightly amused looks, before the latter move to help the still prone boy to his feet. As Jaune's temporary students began talking with each other, a slightly sad expression overtook Jaune's face. They were barely 3 hours of travel away from Mistral's gates and this was the last time the small caravan would be camping out before they reached the city. The number of Grimm had fell to a level where Jaune's presence was no longer necessary for the caravan and Jaune could freely take off on his own without having to worry about them. Having resigned himself to depart from the group before they drew any closer to the city, this had been his last short stretch of time with the only friends he'd had since he'd left home (although even there he hadn't had many).

"Is something the matter oh fearless teacher?" Nora asked, drawing Jaune's attention to her and Ren, both of whom were looking at him in slight concern.

Jaune sighed, he'd never directly brought up the fact that he'd be leaving before they'd reached Mistrals gates to them, and from how they were acting he realized both Ren and Nora might not be aware of the fact. Seeing no reason to hide this, Jaune started to explain "we're nearing Mistral at this point…" he paused "…so it's about time for me to take my leave."

Ren and Nora both froze stock still, staring at him in uncomprehending disbelief.

"Why?" Nora blurted in horrified disbelief "Even if you're an orphan can't Ren and his family just take care of you too?" she babbled.

"I'm not an orphan" Jaune replied quietly "I haven't told anyone my last name for certain reasons, but my direct family is still alive." He admitted, feeling a bit guilty at the image him concealing his last name seemed to have painted.

Ren, seemingly recovering from his shock, frowned before asking "They why are you here by yourself? No matter how strong you are, you've said it yourself, you're 10, just like us." he paused for a moment "Why aren't your parents here with you? Did you run away after being abused or something?" he asked in genuine concern.

Jaune sighed heavily before letting out a short bitter laughed "Yes I ran away, but not because I wasn't being treated well." Jaune wet his lips "It's like this, you have something you love, something you'd do anything to protect and take care of, even if that anything meant doing something that hurt you. Even if that anything meant leaving that thing you love so much behind and possibly never seeing it again." Jaune let out another bitter snort "I didn't become strong just because I could, I became strong because if I didn't I would lose everything, and I keep at it because if I don't grow even stronger I will still lose everything."

"Jaune…" Nora mumbled, as both her and Ren looked at him in shock.

"You two called me a hero once… but right now… the only thing heroic about me is the challenge in front of me." Jaune admittedly tiredly "I'm sorry, I'd like to stay with you all longer, but I've indulged myself enough as it is." Ren and Nora spent a moment trying to find something to say before Jaune continued again "So get stronger, you two, get stronger and then maybe we can meet again one day. So, that maybe, we can be friends for a period of time longer than a few weeks before parting." Jaune sighed.

"You shouldn't have to do this…" Ren murmured "you're still a child, just like we are."

"A child?" Jaune asked, a sad expression on his face even as he turned to leave "I've scarcely felt like one, recently. In fact, in a lot of way, I feel like I haven't been a child since I was 9 years old." Jaune sighed again before managing a smile as he looked back at Ren and Nora "Thank you, you two, the time I've spent with you two has been some of the best since I left home, and it really means a lot to me being able to have friends like you, even if only for a short time…" He paused, the last words he wanted to say sticking in his throat for a moment "…goodbye." He managed, turning back and making to leave the clearing.

"…No"

Jaune paused, looking back at Nora who stood with her head down, her hair concealing her expression from him.

Jaune sighed "I know it sucks, this is hard for me too but-"

"Not goodbye." Nora declared firmly before looking up at him fiercely "See you later" she corrected Jaune, as he blinked in surprise. "It's not a final goodbye, we will meet again." She paused "and next time, we'll be strong enough so that you won't have to fight on your own. We'll be strong enough that you won't need to leave us behind when something dangerous is happening." She smiled fearlessly, shooting a glance at Ren, smiling right alongside her, before finishing "and we'll be strong enough to break your legs if you try and leave us behind again, Jauney."

Jaune found himself completely speechless, something stinging in the corner of his eyes as the burden he'd been carrying since the day he'd received his oracle grew lighter, and all his worries and insecurities faded for a few short seconds. Unwilling to clamp down on his emotions with gamer's mind, Jaune struggled not to cry as a smile, as sad as it was happy, grew on his face. "Beacon." He managed "If everything goes well and I succeed, I'm going to try and attend Beacon academy with the rest of our age group." Still pushing back his tears Jaune continued "I'll see you then… and Ren?" the other boy titled his head in response "When the time comes, remind me to never let Nora and my eldest sister meet, lest I really do wind up with broken legs" Jaune laughed, genuinely this time.

"If I feel like it," Ren replied with a sad smile "and you don't deserve it at the time." he joked

Jaune laughed again, nodding "Fair enough." He straightened up, looking at his two friends "Then let me do this correctly this time. See you later Nora. See you later Ren. Until we meet again."

"Later Jauney" Nora replied, tears pooling in the corner of her eyes.

"See you at Beacon, Jaune" Ren answered, the corner of his eyes visibly red as he wrapped Nora in a one-armed hug as they watched him go.

As Jaune left, waving goodbye to his friends and the other members of the caravan, his heart felt just a little lighter, genuinely so, not a false ease caused by distraction or forced manipulation of his own emotions. Looking at the task that stood before him, impending and overwhelming as it was, the future still felt just a little bit brighter than it had mere moments ago. Determination, for once not tainted by helpless desperation, filled Jaune, even as he set off towards Mistral, preparing himself to submerge himself in the underbelly of society, to scour through humanities darkness so that he may find a way towards a brighter future.

Slipping through the trees, alone once more, Jaune found himself smiling slightly "I'll see you later… my friends."


Chapter 4: Down the Rabbit Hole: End


I kept my Author's note much shorter than usual that last time so people would actually read it (lol) so now I'm going to make up for it because I have an obsession with overexplaining things.

Flash step: This is a technique Jaune is going to struggle to master for a long ass time, but it will be well worth it when he does get it up to a useable level. Currently it's nothing more than the equivalent of a rough aura springboard switching his direction, but at higher levels he'd literally be able to run through a full-sized Maze at full speed without ever slowing down in the slightest, regardless of however many sharp turns he'd have to take. This type of skill is invaluable to Jaune seeing as it is incredibly potent in one vs many combat situations, and when you're an army of one… you tend to be outnumbered more often than not.

Regarding the title system: I said Jaune's semblance can't do things unless they are technically possible for other people, and I meant that. While the nature of the title system might seem to contradict this, seeing as you would think being referred to by a certain title wouldn't increase other people's abilities, but that's just the thing: it does. While Jaune's semblance lets him cheat a little bit by making it easier to acquire titles, other people are fully capable of receiving the effects of a title. In my version of Remnant, titles for most people act in a manner ranging from a strong self-suggestion to something like a self-imposed Geas.

The former of the two is even present on earth and is proven to have actual effects on people's performances and behaviors, like how wearing red typically makes people more confident and aggressive. Throw aura into the mix and it becomes possible for people to genuinely become stronger or better at something based on their mental state. Basically, mind/soul-magic bullshit over matter.

The latter of the two, Geas (basically a restriction or vow based on certain conditions often used in relation to a spell of some sort) functions on remnant because it is a world with both aura based soul-magic and, in extremely rare cases, actual non-aura related magic. Functionally, it's setting a restriction on an ability making it unusable until certain conditions are met in exchange for increasing the potency of said ability when it does activate. This type of title is typically formed inadvertently little by little over the course continuous exposure to a certain challenge or type of opponent. Someone with a title that, for example, made them stronger when fighting Goliaths would have, over the course of dozens of fights, inadvertently cultivated a Geas that grants them more strength when the condition -that they are fighting Goliaths- is met, regardless of their mental state at the time.

Titles can be both positive and negative in nature, or even a mixture of the two. For example, someone with a title relating to them being a failure or simply incompetent would receive growth maluses from the title, and someone with a title like berserker would suffer debuffs towards mental attributes in exchange for boosted physical prowess. Titles can roughly (very roughly) be considered an inversion of traits: While traits are a person's innate nature, titles are a result of a person's experiences.

Switching topics, people have noted how Jaune's thinking is often uselessly introspective and sometimes incorrect, this is true but it is also mostly done deliberately. For all that Jaune's Intelligence and Wisdom attributes are on par with most aura users nearing or into their 20's he is also still a 10-year-old that has gone from having slightly above average intelligence for his age to being an affront to bell curves everywhere in 6 months. He just doesn't have the experience that typically comes with growing up into adulthood and is, at the moment, rather unbalanced because of it. Simply put, it doesn't matter how high the memory and processing power of a computer is if you only have 2-bit games installed on it. Jaune will jump to some conclusions, some of which end up being correct and others which are flat-out wrong. Basically, Jaune is an unreliable narrator and considering even in third person my writing is often merely telling you Jaune's opinion or view on something there are going to be times when a description of something seems narrow minded or biased, because it will be. While Jaune is a fundamentally good kid, bias can just as easily be rooted in genuine ignorance as it can be in hatred.

As for my tendency to make things overly dramatic and showy at points? Well, I typically listen to music as I write and at the moment that means I put on a random 2 hour YouTube playlist with variations on the title '2 hours of epic music' while writing. With a uselessly epic background for my writing I realize that I get a bit hammy at points, something that I may eventually go back and fix but for now am just going to accept as a necessary evil of my writing process (unless it bothers people that much) and focus on getting chapters out at reasonable paces.

Speaking of reasonable paces, those of you who have read my other stories might be wondering why I've gotten more than 40k worth of writing out in around a month for this story, even though it took me nearly a year to do the same for my other stories. In all honesty, I suck at consistency in regards to writing. Depending on my mood I can write out 5k or more words in a single day or stare at a word document for 2 hours and barely manage 5 sentences. This is also the reason why I have decided not to give concrete promises for when another chapter in a story will come out, it is simply not something I trust myself to be able to keep; my attempts to so and failure to deliver on some of my earlier stories when I first started being something I still feel somewhat guilty about.

There is also the fact that I haven't settled into any specific style as a writer in a lot of ways. I range from writing more in the line with translated Japanese light novels to more western style writing to mixtures of the two with other elements thrown in. This might just be me being pessimistic in some sense, but I was -and still am- surprised at how popular my stories are despite how amateurish my writing often feels to me. I have several stories that are on the first page for favorites in their sections but when I look at and read the stories just a few spaces up from mine I often end up wondering how exactly my stories are considered to be at a relatively similar level. I personally feel I still have a lot to work on as a writer and while I rarely respond to comments directly, I do read them all and attempt to use them (even those with less than friendly undertones) to better myself as a writer.

Getting back on topic, I'm just going to preemptively say that Jaune realizing the existence of Ozpin and Salem's little 'game' was only possible because of a combination of him noticing something off in Kuroyuri, his oracle, and his high mental attributes combined with a child's inherently greater willingness to accept things adults would usually discard as delusions or impossibilities. While it won't really change his current course of action, it does represent the beginning of Jaune's steady transition from 'piece' to 'player' in regards to how both Ozpin and Salem view him, although both are either unware of his existence (Salem) or only view him as the runaway child of an ally (Ozpin) at this point in time.

In regards to Ren and Nora, their personalities differed from Canon for multiple reasons, although they will be much closer to their Canon personalities by the time they enter beacon. Nora's energetic and bubbly personality isn't present because I don't think that would be how she acted directly after the events of Kuroyuri (even my modified version) and is instead something that steadily came out after meeting Ren. While it is her 'true' personality, her time as an orphan and the tragedy of Kuroyuri's fate prevented it from surfacing for a large amount of time. Even with Jaune's interference Kuroyuri's destruction was still a very tragic and traumatizing event and thus I see the current Nora as being rather nervous and uncertain in regards to her relationships with others, instead of the confident happy go lucky attitude she gains by the Canon Era.

Ren, without the trauma of losing his whole family or the (self-imposed) responsibility of looking after Nora by himself, is a bit more energetic. While he is still a calm person by nature, him still having his family makes him more prone to display and act upon emotional impulses. While the events of Kuroyuri will still weigh on his mind somewhat, it isn't to the extent of being a long lasting severe trauma. If this story makes it far enough to reach Canon Era, Ren will still be largely similar to his Canon self, personality wise, if a bit more prone to showing emotion and occasionally displaying slightly irresponsible actions inherent to being a teenager. Regarding his apparent bad health as a young child, this is something I added in thinking of his health oriented mindset (present in canon and occasionally overkilled in fanon) and how it might have come about. His currently lower than average physical ability means he'll need to train more than Nora, something that will eventually lead to his love of naps and sleep in general.

As to their attitude towards Jaune: Remember that to them he is a kid around the same age as them that was moving around mowing down creatures of darkness at speeds they couldn't follow, who apparently shrugged off a blow that punted him through a building before coming back and one-shoting a Grimm that looked like an honest to god horseman of the apocalypse with an incredibly flashy technique that would look nothing less than a hero's special move to any 10-year-old. While in reality that blow nearly killed him, the Grimm had been immobilized by Ren's great grandfather, and Jaune isn't even close to being able to use that attack consistently or on demand most of this wasn't evident.

For all that Jaune was incredibly fortunate and won more by sheer coincidence than anything else, it still looked (and, to an extent, genuinely was) fucking epic to the untrained observer (as in, to everyone present save Ren's then barely conscious great-grandfather). Add the fact that Jaune's actual combat prowess is flat-out monstrous for his age and the only reason they don't end up treating him with something at the level of flat-out hero worship is because for all his mental and physical prowess Jaune still acts mostly like a normal 10-year-old (when he's not being world's youngest single househusband), at least around others his age. Even with the fact that Ren's great grandfather is much faster when he does move, it's not like they can tell the difference considering they can't follow either of the two's movements.

As for the events of Kuroyuri causing a stir, that is true, to an extent. The vast majority of the settlement's residents did die in the attack, and those that survived have scattered. With the CCT reception down, no one being dumb enough to start recording a video in the middle of a massive Grimm attack, the fact that Ren's parents quickly took the then unconscious Jaune under their care, and that everyone was basically in a rush to pack up and leave what had essentially become a massive graveyard rather than a settlement; Jaune's exact description remained largely unclear to most after the attack. While a rumor would certainly spread, it -like all rumors- would quickly grow distorted with only a sparse few similarities to the true story. Who knows? As Jaune's description grows steadily further from reality (who would believe a child pulled off what he did after all) the description of the one who saved Kuroyuri's remaining residents might end up matching that of another mysterious hero… like say, a certain unnamed Legendary Knight-sama who saved a boat from an immense horde of flying Grimm not too long ago, if you know what I'm saying? *wink wink* *nudge nudge*

Poor Jaune… I know I'm the one doing this to him, but really… Cursed with Chuuni indeed.

Someone asked how the Nuckelavee was only a C-rank Grimm when I said Ancient Nevermores were high C-rank approaching low B-rank earlier, and while this might seem like a bit of an oversight on my part, it was done deliberately. In my opinion, Grimm in Canon usually didn't scale very well in strength, meaning that they went from nothing a veteran huntsman couldn't kill to 'Rawr! I'm a motherfucking dragon, ima step on an entire goddamn kingdom' a bit too fast, even if said dragon did get wrecked by the derpiest eye bullshit since the Sharingan directly after it appeared (XD).

In my rendition of Remnant, Grimm don't really have a growth limit, even if some species grow a lot slower with continuously diminishing returns as they grow more powerful. For example, a 20,000-year-old Beowolf (typically an E-rank Grimm) would be fully capable of matching an S-rank huntsman in combat, despite being part of a species falling under the umbrella of low-class Grimm. This means that it is necessary for more specific descriptors for the age of a Grimm rather than in Canon, where it (unless I'm mistaken) simply goes from baby to normal to ancient with no steps in between. Nevermores specifically go from fledgling (low E-rank) to standard (mid to high E-rank) to seasoned (low to high D-rank) to Elder (low to mid C-rank) to Ancient (high C to low B-rank). While Nevermores who grow strong enough to exceed low B-rank are still classified as Ancient, they are extremely uncommon leading to most considering low B-rank as the strongest a Nevermore will be. Team Rwby may have fought an Ancient Nevermore in Canon but here they (presuming the events play out roughly the same) will fight a somewhat weak Elder Nevermore.

Also, I now want to face Jaune off against a level 999 Beowolf for the sheer degree of lolwtf it would cause. Maybe as a post main questline hidden boss? Lol, maybe have him be primarily bipedal and call him Beowulf the Beowolf?... now for some reason I'm imaging it having gained the ability to speak human language at some point and learned how to wield a sword while talking like a (poorly impersonated) samurai for some reason (degozaru). I really do question my own sanity at points like these lol.

Anyway, seeing as I am indeed changing things up, I was considering sometimes including a bestiary of sorts at the end of some of my chapters, detailing the traits and classifications of various species of Grimm as a sort of reader optional world building/ poorly disguised info dump for those who are interested. I decided to go ahead and include a sample of what it would typically look like below. It's fairly easy to put together so it shouldn't slow down new chapters, but depending on the feedback I get it'll either become a fairly common thing or something that appears only sparsely. Here's the entry for everyone's favorite cannon fodder: Beowolves


Professor Peter Port's Peerless Pamphlet Pertaining to the Proper Pursuit and Persecution of Prey.

Section 1: Low-class Grimm

Entry # 001: The Beowolf

Author's note: As the weakest species of Grimm common across all inhabited areas, many new hunters-in-training make the mistake of disregarding the humble Beowolf as no threat. I myself, back in my younger days of youthful ignorance, made the same mistake: deciding it was unnecessary to bring along my weapon during a walk in the woods after hearing that only a sparse few Beowolves populated it. This, of course, led to a fierce life or death battle as I valiantly fought back an entire pack of Beowolves unarmed, risking life and limb before, at the tender age of 11, I succeeded in fending off the entire pack alone by virtue of my strength, skill, and indominable spirit! Ha! Ha! Of course, that, is a story for another time.

Description: Ranging from the size of a child just entering their teens upwards to slightly larger than a fully-grown man, the Beowolf holds many similarities with the common wolf. While all Beowolves possess sharp claws and a vicious bite without exception, older members of the species often develop vicious bone spike around their back, joints, and neck. While primarily a quadrupedal species of Grimm, most are capable of fighting to some extent in a bipedal posture, some even adopting this as their primary method of movement even outside of combat. With strong hearing and eyesight, backed by an equally formidable sense of smell, most hunters don't become capable of concealing themselves from Beowolves before they are already strong enough to slaughter them by the dozens, rendering stealth largely unnecessary.

Combat Strength: Beowolves largely fall under E-rank category in terms of singular combat ability, with Alpha Beowolves pushing into realms of D-rank combat prowess. While, like all Grimm, they do not technically have a strength limit, a Beowolf exceeding D-rank combat prowess is a sparse exception to the norm. While the individual strength of Beowolves is quite low, their true danger lies in the fact that they are one of the few species of Grimm that work in some form of organized manner more often than not, stemming from their pack instincts. While it isn't uncommon to find a lone Beowolf, the vast majority of them form packs aligned beneath an alpha Beowolf, or otherwise simply the strongest standard Beowolf in the nearby area. If you go out to hunt a lone Beowolf, you best be prepared to face at least a dozen, lest the hunter quickly become the hunted.