The Name of the Game Chapter 3: Grimm Tidings, a rwby fanfic

The Name of the Game

a RWBY/The Gamer crossover, SI.

Arc 1: New Game +

Chapter 3: Grimm Tidings (part I)

Leaving the house, I closed the door behind me and took off down the driveway at a run.

[Alert: A skill has been created through a special action! Running has created the skill Run!]

[Run: Level 1. Active. A skill for running away from, or towards, danger or more mundane objectives has been created—Run! Effect: increases your movement speed by ((STR+DEX)*5)% for a number of minutes equal to your VIT score. Resting restores your stamina. Leveling Run will allow you to run faster for longer periods of time before becoming exhausted.]

I pulled up my stats page while continuing my run. With a bit of effort and some help from my clock, I was able to judge my speed at about 25MPH. More mental math left me disgusted at my physical stats holding me back. Even with all my buffs, the fact that my base stats were low meant I wouldn't be outpacing cars without some serious improvements. The good news was though that I could maintain this pace for about twenty minutes before needing to stop to rest. I knew it wasn't good enough. Jun was faster, and Ruby Rose was faster still—seemingly impossibly so, given what I remembered. I would have to do some serious leveling or work on developing some passive skills if I wanted to come even remotely close. That, or use magic to even the playing field... Still, I was making well over a four-minute mile at this pace, so that was an improvement over what I could do back home. It's just… that was a speed well within human limits to achieve and I couldn't help feeling that, with my Semblance and magic, I should be capable of more. It was disappointing.

Nearing the road, I opened up my map and split my attention, before another skill alert popped up, letting me know I must have done something inadvertently. Reading over the description for Perception, I blinked. It read like some sort of catch-all skill for what sounded like a constant Spot check.

[Perception: Level 1. Passive. Perception, a skill to increase attention to detail, adjust to changes in terrain and environment, increase your overall attention to your surroundings, and detect hidden items, places, people, or enemies, was created while trying to navigate. Effect: increases stealth detection by 100%, increase hidden object detection by 100%, increases terrain navigation by 100%, increases combat awareness 100%, adds new points of interest to the map and minimap. Range: 100m.]

I dismissed the alert window and kept running. Vale is actually a pretty large city, one of the largest on Remnant if I remembered correctly. I debated getting on a bus but decided against it in favor of potentially earning skill points. As I ran, I noticed my map changing as details I hadn't known began filling out. While before, it had the full layout of the city and several points of interest, as I neared them other areas were marked on the map. Passing restaurants and convenience stores were marked with a food icon that looked suspiciously like a hamburger, a clothing store got marked down with a tee-shirt icon, a hardware store with a crossed hammer and screwdriver, and a store that sold Dust marked with what looked like a diamond superimposed on a snowflake. Everything within range with a purpose I might want to check out at a later date was added. Things ahead of me, within my field of vision, updated quicker and much further out than things to my sides—which appeared to stick to the 100m detection limit. It made sense, though, as I could actually see the things ahead of me. There wasn't much of note in the Residential District, but once I got into the Commercial District, it seemed like every other building was something potentially useful. Perception was turning out to be even more useful than I thought it had been.

By the time I found the Vale Central Library, my active skills had leveled and STR and VIT had gained a point, as had WIS, which I took to mean that running was the wiser course of action. I stopped my run, glancing at the clock—I had several hours to kill before I needed to be back and I'd even managed to make it before I hit my time limit for Run, if just barely. Leaving the rest of my skills up, I entered the library—though, I found trying to move at a normal pace with Haste active a bit of a challenge, and it required more of my attention than I would have liked to admit.

Walking inside, my map and minimap changed to display the library interior—a multi-story affair with a computer lab, records room, and more. Looking up, I spotted a few cameras and my maps helpfully updated to mark their positions and fields of view. In addition, there was a security guard standing by the door, along with two librarians patrolling the floor ostensibly to help patrons. Already, I could see where the holes were in their security. I suppressed a smirk and turned up the charm as I smiled and waved at the girl working the counter and earned a blush for my efforts, along with an increased point in CHA.

My map updated once more, helpfully telling me which sections were which. From left to right were fiction, which was divided between age categories, non-fiction, general reference, religion, and a section for Hunters further subdivided by subject. Throwing up Sneak, I watched the security guard turn his attention away from me towards someone more interesting as I moved into the Hunters' section. Quietly opening my inventory, I closed my map but left the minimap up—which still showed the cameras, their fields of view as they turned to sweep the aisle, the librarians on patrol along with the security guard, and their own fields of view. Moving through the section, I began spamming Observe and taking note of interesting titles. Many of the texts here were reference materials, things like grimm traits and behavioral patterns—lots of things that, while useful to know, wouldn't make skill books by themselves. As one of the cameras passed over me, I selected one of the books on grimm behavior and tucked it under my arm.

Eventually, I came across a text on grimm anatomy, which registered to Observe as a skill book. I waited until the camera shifted and I was out of its line of sight before reaching forward, grabbing the book, and shoving it into my inventory before the camera could pan back to my position. It helped that Haste and the rest of my buffs were still up, increasing my speed and DEX.

[You've obtained the skill book Beginner's Grimm Anatomy! Would you like to learn this skill?]

I dismissed the pop-up about the skill book while another series of boxes popped up. The first was a new skill creation window telling me I had created the skill Sleight of Hand. Reading the description, I found it was similar to Run, in that it combined two scores for a specific effect: in this case, CHA and DEX. Like Perception, Sleight of Hand appeared to be a catch-all skill encompassing several aspects of various sub-skills such as palming and hiding small objects, pickpocketing, shuffling, juggling, throwing and the like. Likewise, it had some synergy with Bluff and likely a few skills I didn't have if I was reading it correctly—meaning that I could combine my Bluff and Sleight of Hand, or other scores, to a greater total effect depending on the circumstances. The next thing to pop up was a quest alert.

[A quest has been created!]

[Path of the Rogue (part I)]

[By engaging in an act of petty larceny, you have taken your first step down the path to becoming a rogue and a thief! Prove you've got what it takes by stealing five or more books from the library without getting caught.]

[Rewards: 2000 EXP + 250 EXP per book over the minimum, skill books, quest continuation. Failure: loss of skill books, potentially be apprehended and go to jail.]

I nearly snorted. Five? I planned to take as many as I could get away with. Really, if they were going to give me experience per book, I'd take more just for the guaranteed experience. I hadn't yet mapped out my EXP progression by level, but if my mental math was right and my Semblance was using a sane experience progression model, then my required experience to next level—or TNL—should increase by 1000 each level. So, from level 1 to 2, I had needed to earn 1000 EXP. To get from 2 to 3, I'd needed to earn 2000. Now, from 3 to 4, I would need to earn 3000 and so forth. Four books was 1000 EXP. The math was pretty simple from there.

I spent the next several minutes perusing the shelves for things on my wish list before deciding I had enough out of the Hunters' section for the moment—I had met my minimum and then some. Deciding to wander, I turned left and walked a few shelves away with a couple of visible selections tucked under my arm. Turning into a random section, I looked around and hummed when I found myself in the 'Religion' section. Shrugging as I decided that it would be a good way to level Observe, I began perusing while experimenting with subvocalization. I couldn't just think the commands I wanted to use for the voice-activated stuff, unfortunately. Some skills, like Aura, could be activated by performing the action manually without vocalizing the technique, while others, like Listen, could be performed likewise for simple common sense reasons. Perception was my first always-on skill, meaning so long as I was conscious it appeared to be running by default—and while that's how passive skills behaved, Perception seemed to be in a class of its own compared to most passive skills. Most skills, like observe, required some minimum level of intent and volume for activation, however. Whispering worked, thinking failed. Just moving my mouth failed, but speaking below a whisper as a subvocal command seemed to work—I didn't even have to move my lips over much, it seemed.

As I moved through the religion section, I paused as I came across something out of place.

[The Spirits of Remnant: A tale of the first Hunter. When man first discovered Aura and Dust, he beseeched the spirits of the world to aid him in his quest to rid the world of grimm. The light of the soul of the world answered.]

'That's a skill book,' I hummed, looking it over. What was a skill book doing in the religion section? What, did it teach some form of prayer or holy smite ability? Well, considering grimm were likely highly vulnerable to holy damage, I decided it was worth my time to investigate. I swiped the book during a gap in camera coverage and kept walking. Turning into the next row, I found myself in the non-fiction section. Scanning the covers of several books and throwing out the occasional Observe, I found the place to be absolutely full of skill books. Not many of those appeared to be related to hunting down grimm, but they sounded useful nonetheless. For instance, 'Ropes and Knots' looked to be a book on using rope, making knots and so forth. Deciding I needed to prioritize to lower my chances of getting caught or being suspected of being the thief when they found things missing, I began ranking things on a scale of 1 to 5 for usefulness. Rope was damn useful, when you had a need for it, so into the inventory it went.

A book on wilderness survival was somewhat less useful, considering I was already experienced in exactly that—my money said that as soon as I tried it, I'd get some sort of import skill notification. A book on the basics of avionics, on the other hand, went straight into the inventory. A book on proper swim technique was passed over in favor of a book on making basic repairs to clothing, which was something I had never really done before. I swept my eyes over the physical activities section again and nearly continued on before something caught my eye. I had just skimmed over the title at first, seeing the word 'running' and passing it up, but a second look told me I might have just hit pay dirt. 'Running Free' got yanked off the shelf and tossed into inventory.

Moving along, I stopped by the history section and picked out a couple of books that looked interesting—namely, that filled in holes left by what I knew of the plot of RWBY—and moved on to the fiction section. A rare skill book in Historical Fiction stood out and my eyes went slightly wide in surprise when I interpreted what it probably was from the title: 'Morrigan's Folly: the Witch, the Raven, and the Dragon.' Snagging the book and dropping it into inventory, I found something that looked amusing out of the romance section to tease Joan with before deciding I'd had enough larceny for one evening. I made my way up to the front desk and smiled upon sighting the same girl I'd seen coming in. Her blush returned and I pretended I didn't notice as she cleared her throat and looked away momentarily while I put my selections on the counter.

"Uh, do you have your card?" she asked, and I hummed in thought.

That was a good question. I hadn't come across a wallet anywhere, however. "No… can you look my account up by name?" I asked, deciding it was worth a shot.

"Sure, what… um, what's your name?"

"Jaune Arc," I returned, before a thought occurred. So far, I'd only really found one way to grind my charisma score, and that was to interact with people. Flirting seemed to have better results than anything else, however, so… "What's your name?"

"Candice," the brunette in question murmured, doing her best to look like she was checking out books while I caught her stealing glances at me out of the corner of her eye.

"Any suggestions on good reading material?" I asked, figuring if she worked here, she probably had an interest in books.

The girl's demeanor changed, relaxing into something more confident as she began talking about a familiar, and it seemed much enjoyed, topic. "Well, the last decent book I read was one of the 'Ninjas of Love' series… oh! I see you already have one."

"Well, I tend to prefer…" I trailed off. I had read the description and the book sounded like a lengthy series of lemons stitched together by an overarching plot, at least according to Observe.

"Plot with your porn?" she finished, then suddenly seemed to realize what she'd said as her eyes went wide and her blush returned at a higher luminescence.

Laughing quietly, I looked around before leaning forward on the counter. "Just maybe. So… you enjoyed it, huh?"

"Maybe," she answered sheepishly, also looking around for listeners. Finding none, she finished scanning the last of my books into what passed as a computer on Remnant before hesitating. After a moment of indecision, she reached for a stack of sticky notes on her desk and quickly scrawled out something I couldn't read from my angle. Opening the black cover to the book in question, she stuck the little yellow square to the inside and looked up to meet my blue eyes with her own honey brown and smiled. "You're all done here. I hope you enjoy it."

Collecting my books, I wished her a good day and made for the exit. As soon as I crossed the threshold, a veritable deluge of notifications popped up.

[Quest Path of the Rogue (part I) completed! 15 additional books collected!]

[You gain 5750 EXP]

[Your level has increased by 1!]

[Your level has increased by 1!

[Sleight of Hand's level has increased by 1!]

[Alert: A skill has been created through a special action! Stealing valuable skill books has created the skill Steal!]

[Steal: Level 1. Active. A skill to Steal things that don't belong to you was created. Effect: takes an item that doesn't belong to you from someone else and adds it to your inventory. Combines with Sleight of Hand where applicable.]

[Steal's level has increased by 1!]

[Due to repeated use of skills requiring dexterity, your DEX has gone up by 1!]

[A quest has been created!]

[Path of the Rogue (part II)]

[Now that you've proven your larceny skills, you should learn what to do with goods you're looking to sell. Make contact with the roguish community to advance the quest.]

[Rewards: 3000 EXP, contacts with the Underworld, unlocks Underworld trading, unlocks Underworld jobs.]

Moving to a nearby bench, I sat down and began reading and closing the multitude of messages. So, to tally all of that, I finished the quest, leveled up, gained Steal as a new skill, got three levels each in Steal and Sleight of Hand, gained a point of DEX for practicing those, unlocked a new quest, and potentially set myself up for some sort of villainous employment. Not bad for an afternoon's worth of work. However, my curiosity was eating away at me. Taking up 'Ninjas of Love' from its position sandwiched between two other books, I opened the front cover and read the sticky note.

Give me a call if you want to talk about the book… maybe over coffee?

—Candice

[A quest has been updated!]

[Romancing Remnant: The Sexy Librarian has been unlocked!]

[You've been propositioned by a sexy librarian to get together for a cup of coffee and a conversation about your shared interests—namely, erotic literature. Read 'Ninjas of Love: Volume I' and set up a date with Candice.]

[Rewards: 1000 EXP, skill(s), potential kinky sex, potential friend with benefits, unlocks special mode. Failure: no EXP, no skill(s), no kinky sex, no friend with benefits. Time limit: 3 days.]

Right. Okay. What kind of person did my Semblance think I was, anyway? I wasn't the kind of guy who went around looking for sex with random women or friends with benefits. And I didn't even like coffee! Sure, I mean, it had been over a year since the last time I'd gotten laid—hell, given the current memory-related circumstances, I couldn't even remember it all that well. Technically, Jaune was a virgin… 'Actually, you know what? Screw it. Let's give this a try. What I had been doing in my last life didn't seem to be working. I don't think I'll ever be someone who embraces the notion of 'casual sex,' that's an oxymoron… so I suppose I'll have to figure something out.'

Knowing better than to stick around the scene of a crime, let alone look over my ill-gotten goods at the scene of said crime, I stood and picked up my books before leaving the premises. As far as anyone in the library watching would know, I just took a seat to check out one of my books—hell, Candice had even given me the perfect alibi if I was ever asked, since I could answer with 100% truthfulness that I'd stopped to see what she'd written. That in mind, I left the note stuck to the inside of the book for now—it might come in handy later for more than dating.

Bringing up my map, I found a small park several blocks away along my path home and set a waypoint, then closed the map. A few minutes later, I walked into the park and looked around. Seeing that it was nothing more than a few trees and some grass, this particular park was practically deserted. Moving off the path, I sat in the shade of one of the trees, out of view of the road. Making sure I wasn't being watched, I stuffed my reading material into my inventory before looking over my new selections. Picking the first one, I pulled it out.

[You've obtained the skill book Beginner's Grimm Anatomy! Would you like to learn this skill?]

Obviously, yes. Tapping the button, the book dissolved into light particles—more like flakes, really—before being absorbed into my body.

[You have learned the skill Favored Enemy: Grimm.]

[Favored Enemy: Level 1. Passive. You've learned a skill to give you advantages over a specific type of enemy, Favored Enemy. Effect: grants a 20% bonus to attacks and defense against favored enemy. Improve Favored Enemy's level to add new favored enemies and increase its effects.]

Considering I hadn't encountered grimm yet, I'd say this was a boon for when I inevitably did. Increased damage was always good, but the skill didn't specify damage—only attacks. Would a debuff could as an attack? Everything I knew of other games said yes. Not that I had any debuffs yet—I'd need to work on that. Later, after I devour more books for power.

[You have obtained the skill book Dust and You: Dust for Beginner Hunters! Would you like to learn this skill?]

Why yes, yes I would please.

[Dust Manipulation: Level 1. Passive. It was the discovery of Dust that allowed man to finally push back the grimm and start reclaiming their lands. Dust—creation itself in crystallized form. Effect: allows the use of 0th through 2nd level Dust to enhance weapons, armor, ammunition, and mana-based attacks. Increases efficiency and effect of Dust and Dust rounds by 25%.]

Oh, yes—that would be useful. The world of RWBY was built around Dust and its usage—if something wasn't done using Aura, it was done using Dust, or by combining the two. About 75% of Weiss's combat style was 'spam Dust at it to find ways to stick the pointy end of my sword in it.' The implications in the description, though… Dust had levels? Thinking back, I realized I'd seen several forms of the stuff in canon—from powdered to different types of crystals. However, in addition to level, there were different colors of dust as well. Red, I knew, tended to deal fire damage. I'd have to do some research to figure out what was what. Supposedly there were four basic primary colors and a multitude of other combinations. I pulled out the next book.

[You've obtained the skill book Kung Pow: Firearms and Martial Arts Synergy! Would you like to learn this skill?]

The holy grail of RWBY, you say? You bet your glowy, blue interface I would.

[You cannot learn this skill! Required DEX: 20!]

'Well. That is some bullshit,' I groused, tossing the book back into inventory. It made sense, though. Every character to use that particular fighting style was very, very agile. Of course there would be a minimum requirement for being able to do it. On the bright side, I didn't even have a firearm or a set fighting style yet. Until I came up with either or both of those, it was a moot point. Still, good to have around—I'd need it sooner, rather than later. Accept it and move on.

[You have obtained the skill book Anything Goes!: Building The Combat Style To Suit Your Needs! Would you like to learn this skill?]

That sounded like exactly what I needed.

[You cannot learn this skill! Required STR: 15! Required DEX: 15!]

"Oh come on!" I growled, dismissing the message and tossing the book back into inventory. Again, those requirements sounded perfectly fair and reasonable… I just didn't meet them, by 4 points. Soon, though. 'If the damn books would give their requirements when I picked them up, at least then I wouldn't be disappointed. Fuck it. Next.'

[You have obtained the skill book Earth, Wind, Fire, Water, and More: Mastering the Elements! Would you like to learn this skill?]

You know damn well I would. Now, the question is, will you let me?

[You cannot learn this skill! Required INT: 15! Required WIS: 15!]

"Fuck. You. That's bullshit and you know it. My title should could towards base stats, not my modified stats," I argued, though I knew it would do no good. The five books I'd taken to meet the requirement done, I started trying others. The vast majority turned out to be a mixed bag of low but not quite there requirements, like 'Basic Firearms' which required 15 DEX and INT while a few others, like 'Spirits of Remnant' and 'Morrigan's Folly' turned out to have ridiculously high requirements. The firearms thing was especially annoying, because I knew how to use firearms, damnit. I had been training with them for years…

Well, at least the stuff I pulled out of the non-fiction section turned out to be usable—mostly. What I suspected was a book on parkour or freerunning had a DEX and STR requirement to match Anything Goes. Things got a little weird when I ate the avionics book, however—as a box popped up momentarily to tell me it was importing saved data. Instead of learning how to fly a plane specifically, it added the ability to fly aircraft to my Drive skill. In my last life, I'd had experience operating a fairly large variety of vehicles—cars, trucks, motorcycles, ATVs, watercraft, and even an expired CDL from having to qualify to drive larger vehicles. That experience showed in my skill level.

[Use Rope: Level MAX. Active. Secure cargo, prisoners, or tie knots that will impress the ladies in bed (assuming they're into that) with Use Rope! Effect: grants proficiency over the various uses of rope.]

[Drive: Level 30. Active. Drive allows the user to control motorized vehicles of all sorts—everything that has wheels and a few things that don't! Effect: grants the ability to control vehicles, increases proficiency with vehicles by 250%.]

[Crafting: Level 1. Active. Crafting allows the creation of anything the user desires, so long as he has the materials. Find plans to learn to craft new items. Effect: allows the user to craft or repair items, increases proficiency with crafting by 100%. Increase the level of Crafting to create masterwork or even legendary quality items!]

It seemed that, while not a bust, my library visit hadn't panned out quite how I had hoped. Oh, certainly, I had things to work towards now… but I wanted the skills now, damnit, not in however long it took to raise my points enough to qualify. Shaking my head in disgust, I stood and brushed the dirt and grass off my pants before checking my HUD's clock: 6:45PM. I guess I'd spent more time sitting here than I'd thought. Hell, my Aura, Haste, Reflex, and Reinforcement skills had all leveled at least twice that I was aware of since leaving home, I'd had them on so long.

Opening my map, I spent a moment looking over the local shops. I didn't really have money for anything nor any way to earn it yet and I didn't want to risk stealing things from places like stores without leveling up a bit first, due to the risk of increased security compared to the library. Setting a waypoint, I took off at a run. I could make it with time to spare. For the sake of filling out my map, I took a different route back through the Commercial District before heading for the bridge that would lead across the water. It took slightly longer, but I was still well within the time limit. Deciding to be nice, I pulled my scroll from my inventory and chuckled when it triggered a loading screen and a skill creation dialogue. Apparently, my skill with Use Computers was ridiculously high—level 65, reflecting my work in my previous life as a systems administrator. With my skill level, somehow I instinctively knew how to use Remnant's technology, despite never having seen it before—such is the power of skills, I suppose. What kind of systems administrator also has a CDL and experience in various other fields? One who spent the better part of a decade bouncing between jobs while studying his ass off to get that systems administrator job.

The line picked up after two rings. "Jaune?" Joan asked, confusion in her voice.

"So… I need you to come bail me out of jail," I joked.

The young woman on the other end snorted. "Liar. I hear traffic around you. Are you… running?"

"Yeah," I answered. "I'm about halfway back. Shouldn't take me more than ten minutes or so to get back to the house."

"Well, dinner isn't ready yet, so you can help your sister with the chores."

I laughed. "What's that, you say? Slow down and wait a while before coming back?"

I could hear the eye-roll as Joan laughed. "Ass. Get a move on, Jaune."

"Yeah, yeah, I'm coming. Be there in a few." Hanging up, I dropped the scroll back into inventory and focused on my run. It happened as I was dismissing an alert about Run leveling up, only a few minutes away from the Arc family home.

[The sun has set and you have been drawn into an Illusion Barrier, a bubble caught between the waking world and the spirit world. Restless spirits of those who died in the Great War are attempting to manifest in the real world as creatures of grimm! You will not be able to leave until you kill them and stop the incursion.]

The world around me seemed normal enough to my eyes, but I could feel an almost electric charge in the air—something I'd come to associate almost unconsciously with magic. Then, the smell hit me. Death, decay, rot. Looking around, I took in my surroundings. Currently, I was in the middle of the road, woods on either side, and I knew the house was just a quarter mile down the road at most. I was tempted to try for the house, but given what the alert said, I didn't think I'd make it. Well, I couldn't just stand here like an idiot. Looking around, I spotted what I was after and took off running. The largest tree near the road was a pine that had to be at least 150 feet tall. The lowest branches were a good twenty feet up, but I had to try. Standing around on the ground was a good way to get killed. Nearing the tree, I focused my aura and jumped.

[Alert: A skill has been created through a special action! Focusing your aura into jumping has created the skill Powered Leap!]

[Powered Leap: Level 1. Active. Through focusing your aura on the act of jumping, the skill Powered Leap was created. Effect: allows the user to use MP to increase their STR for higher and longer leaps. User can make a standing vertical leap of 10m or more if the user takes a running start—or a horizontal leap of 15m, or more if the user takes a running start. Using more mana for Powered Leap increases its range by 1m/3MP, up to a maximum charge of 5 seconds. Level powered leap to reduce its cost and increase its charge time to distance ratio. Cost: 3MP/meter. Charge time: 1 second/5 meters.]

I slammed chest-first into a limb 30 or so feet up, barely managing to catch myself before I fell back down. With a bit of effort and shifting around, I managed to pull myself up onto the limb and into a standing position. I was just in time, it seemed, as I heard a shuffling approaching my position from nearby. Activating Sneak, I waited.

[Alert: A skill has been created through a special action! Sensing potential danger nearby has created the skill Sense Danger!]

[Sense Danger: Level 1. Passive. The ability to Sense Danger is a natural survival instinct even the lowliest of animals possesses. Effect: allows the user to sense when the potential for danger is high in any situation and determine where that danger is coming from if applicable.]

My new Sense Danger passive told me where the grimm was, even if I hadn't seen it enter the range of my minimap or heard it approaching. As it neared, I cast Observe.

[Beowolf, level 7]

[HP: 900/900 MP: 400/400]

[A restless spirit attempting to return to the land of the living. It knows only hate for the living and a hunger for flesh, especially that of humans.]

Okay, not so bad. Just one, so far. I knew beowolves tended to travel in packs, however, and that they were fast, agile, and strong. I did not want to engage in hand to hand combat with one without a weapon, especially one a level above me. Comparing my own, buffed HP to its I found mine was higher: 624 verses its 600. I guess titles and skills make up for a lot. 'Okay, what do I have going for me? Armor, skills, stats, and the ability to create new skills on the fly. Against me? No weapon, no idea of enemy numbers of composition, no way to leave without killing an unknown number of enemies, and an hour until I have to be home or fail the quest. Fuck it, let's do this thing. Start one problem at a time. I have no weapon. Okay, as I keep saying, I'm a caster at heart and I have Skill Creation. I want a ranged magical attack.'

Putting thought to deed, I summoned up mana and focused on creating a new skill.

[Alert: A skill has been created through a special action! A skill to attack directly using mana, Mana Bolt, was created!]

[Mana Bolt: Level 1. Active. Mana Bolt was created by channeling your aura to attack directly with magic. Effect: damages the target for 100% of your INT score and explodes on contact. Percentage chance to knock down and stun enemies based on the difference between your INT and their combined VIT and STR. Exceeding the opponent's opposed combined VIT and INT will always result in knock down and stun. Knocked down and stunned enemies are considered Helpless and are vulnerable to Coup de Grace. Level Mana Bolt to increase percentage of damage dealt and knock down chance. Cost: 15MP. Range: 10m. Speed: 10m/s.]

I took a moment to read the skill description and consider my options. I had Sneak up and running, I had the bonus from Favored Enemy… My mental math put the attack around 130 damage. However, there was a very good chance my INT was higher than a level 7 beowolf's combined STR and VIT. Given the wording and the pattern the system interface had followed so far, along with previous experience, Knock Down and Stun were likely status effects, as was Helpless. Coup de Grace was a finishing blow one usually got if their opponent couldn't do a damn thing to stop them because they were helpless…

Sighting down my arm between my thumb and index finger, I took aim at the grimm's head and subvocalized, "Mana Bolt." Considering the size, shape, color, and effect of the technique I was sorely tempted to pay it the Ranma ½ homage it deserved and rename it.

The bolt of brilliant blue light streaked away from my hand and slammed into the beowolf's back, telling me I needed to adjust my aim, before promptly exploding and throwing it to the ground. Immediately, several windows popped up at once as I watched its HP drop far more than I'd been expecting.

[Alert: A skill has been created through a special action! A skill to attack while concealed, Sneak Attack, was created!]

[Sneak Attack: Level 1. Active. Because you attacked an enemy while hidden with Sneak, the skill Sneak Attack was created. Effect: increases damage done to unaware enemies by 100%. Increase Sneak Attack's level to increase its damage.]

[Alert: A skill has been created through a special action! By rendering an opponent Helpless, you have unlocked the skill Coup de Grace!]

[Coup de Grace: Level MAX. Active. By rendering an enemy Helpless, you unlocked the a skill to deal the finishing blow of a mercy killing, Coup de Grace. Effect: all attacks against Helpless enemies are now considered a Critical Hit. If an enemy does not possess a discernible anatomy or is otherwise immune to crit, all attacks against it instead do double damage.]

[Your WIS has gone up by 1!]

'About a quarter of a grimm's HP in one shot, for 15MP and two skills unlocked for my trouble—not bad at all. Let's give Coup de Grace a try, shall we?' I hummed, charging up and firing another Mana Bolt. The beowolf below promptly exploded into a combination of smoke, bone fragments, and something that looked suspiciously like black blood. I dismissed the alert telling me I'd gained 250EXP. Squinting, I could make out something on the ground below. Tempted as I was to go down there and see what the grimm had dropped, common sense told me that would be a bad idea—that and Sense Danger and my minimap let me know more enemies were coming to investigate the two explosions. Making sure Sneak was active, I waited. Before long, a trio of beowolves were circling the tree, slowly looking around for the source of the noise. Casting Observe on them, I frowned as I noticed something off—namely, their MP had gone up by 30 points. If their stats were at all like mine, then something had changed their INT modifier.

Looking the trio of new enemies over from my hidden position, I began running through potential strategies. If I hit one with Mana Bolt, the other two would be on me shortly after I finished the first. After that, I would have to make distance and fight them off. However, with what I knew of the world of RWBY, beowolves were buddy aggro—meaning if there were more of them in the immediate vicinity, they would come to the aid of any one I attacked—and they could call for help. So assuming I killed one and engaged the other, the third would start calling for help. 'Fight smarter, not harder,' I reminded myself. 'I know how to deal with this.' Waiting until they stopped moving where the first beowolf had been felled, I help out my hand and concentrated. 'Go to sleep, go to sleep, all of you sleep damnit!'

[Alert: A skill has been created through a special action! A skill to cause enemies to fall asleep, Sleep, was created!]

[Sleep: Level 1. Active. Sleep was created in an effort to render your enemies unconscious. Effect: all enemies within a 3 meter radius must make a will save—their WIS modifier vs. your INT modifier—or they will fall asleep and be made Helpless for a duration of 5 minutes per level. Damaging, shaking, or jarring an enemy will wake it but normal noise will not. Leveling Sleep will increase its radius, range, and duration. Cost: 15MP/enemy. Range: 10m.]

Three sleeping beowolves lay at my feet and I wondered what to do with them. I needed an attack that was quiet so as to keep from drawing in more grimm, but which would finish each off preferably in one shot—also, I really didn't want to climb down out of my tree. That ruled out using mana to create a dagger for throat slitting or a sword for stabbing, but I kept that idea in mind for later. 'Time to get creative,' I grinned, already pulling my mana up for the task. I started with a mana bolt, holding it in my hands for a moment as I examined it and thought it over. Finally, I had to stifle a laugh as I came to an obvious solution. 'It worked for Naruto. Let's put some spin on this thing and see what I get...'

[Alert: A skill has been created through a special action! A skill to damage enemies using a spinning ball of mana was created, Spinning Mana Bolt!]

[Spinning Mana Bolt: Level 1. Active. Spinning Mana Bolt was created by channeling your mana into a Mana Bolt and then directing the mana to rotate violently. Effect: 20% armor or defense penetration, deals 600% of your INT worth of damage, minimum 4 second spin time but spin time can be increased to 10 seconds for added damage. Cost: 60MP base, 15MP/sec after 4 seconds. Range: 10m.]

That… was not what I was looking for, but not entirely unexpected either. It would be getting renamed to 'Rasengan' later, for laughs. Deciding to give it another go, I tried again after allowing the first attempt to dissipate soundlessly, this time attempting to create something with more range and less of an explosive or knock down effect.

[Alert: A skill has been created through a special action! A skill to damage enemies at greater range using mana was created, Mana Arrow!]

[Mana Arrow: Level 1. Active. Mana Arrow was created to damage enemies at a greater range than Mana Bolt, by hardening mana into an elongated shape. Effect: damages the target for 100% of your INT modifier, piercing, 10x faster than Mana Bolt. Cost: 8MP. Range: 20M. Speed: 100m/s]

'Close, but not quite. But I already have the technique active, so let's try adding spin and see what happens...'

[Alert: A skill has been created through a special action! A skill to penetrate enemy defenses at range using mana was created, Spinning Mana Arrow!]

[Spinning Mana Arrow: Level 1. Active. Spinning Mana Arrow, a long distance attack skill with increased penetration power, was created by adding strong spin to a Mana Arrow. Effect: 20% armor penetration, deals 300% of your INT modifier in damage, 10x faster than Mana Bolt. Cost: 8MP. Range: 20M. Speed: 100m/s]

Looking over the technique, I hummed. This would work, but I felt like I could do better. 'Smaller, faster, more range…' With those thoughts in mind, I set about condensing the Spinning Mana Arrow.

[Alert: A skill has been created through a special action! A skill to penetrate enemy defenses at even extreme range using mana was created, Spinning Mana Bullet!]

[Spinning Mana Bullet: Level 1. Active. Spinning Mana Bullet, an extreme range attack skill with increased penetration power derived from its condensed exterior layer and increased velocity, was created from Spinning Mana Arrow! Effect: 50% armor penetration, deals 300% of your INT modifier in damage, 8x faster than Spinning Mana Arrow. Cost: 10MP. Range: 250M. Speed: 800m/s]

[Your INT has increased by 1!]

Sighting down on the grimm below me and adjusting my aim based on my results from Mana Bolt, I fired. The first beowolf's head exploded into smoke, bone fragments, and blood splatter followed a moment later by the rest of its body. Unfortunately, I hadn't considered just how loud what amounted to a magical .50 BMG round would be. The problem wasn't in the round firing, or hitting its target, it was in the fact that it broke the sound barrier in flight—just like a real rifle round. And just like a real shot from a rifle, it would have enemies bearing down on me momentarily. Quickly dispatching the two remaining beowolves and dismissing more EXP gain popups, I threw Sneak up again and waited. My Sense Danger skill went nuts a moment before I saw a red dot come into range on my minimap, followed by another, and another, and another… Ten in total. I knew the moment they spotted me, as one of them let off a howl the others quickly echoed and proceeded to leap at my face.

Spinning up my new favorite attack, I waited until it got nearly into melee range before loosing the attack into its face, and was rewarded by watching the beowolf's head evaporate in a crit. I knew that I hadn't done enough damage for that, so the crit modifier must change situationally somehow… A skill alert popped up and I ignored it in favor of kicking out of the tree with a powered leap, sighting down another target on the ground. This one ate a round to the shoulder and lost the arm, causing it to stumble momentarily, but it refused to fall. Touching down in a hard roll, I took off at a dead run for the road. "Come and get it!"

With my buffs active, my run speed was enough to gain ground on the beowolves, at least momentarily—I had no doubt they would eventually run me down if I didn't start doing something about them. In between dodging through trees, I quickly read over the skill I'd gotten. Aim appeared to be a rare common sense skill, one that you hardly ever see in an RPG style video game. It allowed me to actually aim at vital points for critical hits. In essence, it was similar to taking a called shot in D&D, but only on the surface. In practice, it was more like a guaranteed critical hit unless you screwed up or the enemy moved wrong—and there were ways to prevent things like that from happening. Despite the fact that my firearms proficiency was missing from my skill list, I still had years of training under my belt—in essence, at the moment, it was like a hidden skill: the ability is there, simply not displayed. At least, I hoped…

However, I knew that trying to aim for crits would wind up getting me killed as soon as the grimm swarmed me. Instead, I had a different plan entirely. Stumbling out of the tree line and onto the road, the first of the beowolves charged out right behind me. I needed to buy time before they got to me, so I began channeling mana as I ran. Counting off second in my head, I slid to a stop and turned to face them at 3 and jumped at 4, letting Powered Leap do its thing. Around sixty feet in the air, I looked down to where the grimm were gathering. As I fell, I took aim and dumped mana into my spell of choice. "Sleep!"

Four beowolves clustered together fell and my mana ticked down by 60. Sighting a group of two more, I had time to repeat the process before landing in a roll. With only four attackers to deal with, I made a short Powered Leap to gain distance and cast Sleep three more times, catching a pair of them together on the last cast.

[Sleep's level has increased by 1!]

'I'd hope so, after that,' I groused. Charging up Spinning Mana Bullet, I began clearing them out. As the first disintegrated into leftovers, I finally had a chance to see what they'd left behind. A small stack of bills greeted me, along with a purple crystal. The cash turned out to be 50 Lien when I dropped it into inventory while the crystal was something called a Soul Gem. Deciding to figure that out later, I threw it into inventory and moved on to repeating the process with the rest and then backtracking to where I'd killed the first four. I whistled quietly as I took in my earnings: 676 Lien, six soul gems, eight vials of level 0 dust of varying colors, and three health potions. 'Not bad.'

Something impacted my back and I slammed face first into the tree before bouncing off, registering my MP drop by 486. Rolling away, I ignored a skill window telling me I'd gained Detect Bloodlust and frantically searched for what had hit me. Catching sight of it rushing back into the brush, I shouted, "Observe!" When nothing happened, I growled as I realized Observe had failed because I couldn't clearly see my target. "Okay, asshole, come get you some," I taunted, preparing to cast Sleep. Some combined synergy between Perception, Sense Danger, and Detect Bloodlust sent me diving to the side as a large paw swept through the space my head had occupied from my blind spot.

I had enough time to catch a glimpse of it before it disappeared into the underbrush again. It looked like an older, stronger, and meaner version of its smaller cousins. Judging by its damage, speed, and overall intelligence compared to the rest it had to be at least level 10. At that level, I couldn't be guaranteed a hit with Sleep—especially since I couldn't track its trajectory and had no idea what speed the spell moved at compared to others, so had no real way to lead my target, assuming I could get a clear view of it. Likewise, Spinning Mana Bullet was out for pretty much the same reason. There was no way I was going to hit this thing with it—it wouldn't let me see it long enough to hit it.

Watching my mana tick back up from where Aura had caused my MP to take the damage instead of my HP, I realized I didn't have any options. It was faster, stronger, and I couldn't kill it if I couldn't hit it. It was going to sit here and use hit and run tactics to wear me down with Sneak Attacks until I died. 'Well, fuck that.'

Looking around and spotting a break in the trees, I drew on my aura and took off at a run. The hidden enemy followed, crashing through the underbrush behind me. As my internal count hit five seconds, I jumped. 'Have to time this just right…' As I neared the road I began charging up for another jump and attempting to twist my body in mid-air to change my direction upon landing. As soon as my feet touched the ground and I bent to absorb the fall, I used Powered Leap again, sending me off in a different direction. Out of the corner of my eye, I caught sight of a mass of black highlighted by white bone armor, spikes, and the mask common to all grimm pouncing on the place where I would have been had I stayed there another second. My jump had given me a slow spin and I was finally able to tag it with Observe.

[What Prowled in the Dark]

[Beowolf Prowler, level 15]

[HP: 2260/2260 MP: 830/870]

[STR: 76, DEX: 76, VIT: 76, INT: 12, WIS: 10. Status: Enraged: (Damage x2, Speed x2)]

[A grimm formed from the spirits of its dead brethren, the Beowolf Prowler is a grudge spirit returned to seek vengeance on those who killed its fallen pack. Unlike younger beowolves, the Prowler has learned from their mistakes and will not simply rush blindly to the slaughter, instead it will seek to use every advantage at its disposal to kill its prey.]

Yeah, no. I'd be completely boned if I allowed this thing to close range again. Time for some dirty fighting. "Nap time, fugly. Sleep!"

[Sleep failed! Its Enraged status makes Beowolf Prowler immune to sleep effects!]

"Fuck!" I didn't need a calculator to know that this thing's combined STR and VIT would beat out my INT, so Mana Bolt would be useless in this instance. I needed something new, fast, before this 'grudge' tore my face off and wore it like a hat. And by now, I was touching down and forced to roll to bleed off the momentum and avoid damage. Another skill window popped up telling me I had gained the Tumble skill, which did exactly what I had been doing manually for the last several jumps—only it gained bonuses as it leveled and could be used for more than simply recovering from a fall, in addition to having some serious synergy with Recovery. It wouldn't help me kill the Prowler, however.

Now that both of us were out in the open on the road, the Prowler had switched tactics it seemed, as it began charging at my position. An idea quickly forming, I did likewise even as I charged up a Powered Leap. After three seconds, I used Leap, putting myself on what looked like a trajectory to pass over the Prowler's head as it ran beneath me. The Prowler had other ideas as it tracked me and made its own leap, clearly looking to meet me mid-leap and do some serious damage. What it failed to realize, however, was that in going airborne it had forfeited any chance of dodging and with it on a very predictable course set to meet me, I had no trouble whatsoever tracking it. It was a desperate gambit, but desperate times call for desperate measures.

Lining up my arm, I sighted the Prowler between my fingers and loosed a Spinning Mana Bullet. The projectile hit, but the Prowler didn't so much as flinch. I wasn't paying attention to that, however, as I was busy getting another two shots off and preparing for the next phase of my plan. As we neared to within a yard of each other, I went into a tumble, slipping under its two-handed swipe/grab attempt and falling past it. Unable to get off another shot while tumbling, I hit the ground and turned to regard the Prowler as it landed.

The grimm across from me was down to 1288 HP, but if anything instead of looking hurt it just looked even more pissed off. Considering Detect Bloodlust immediately went up another level, I'd have to say it was. That didn't matter, however—it was still in the open and well within my range. Sighting it again, I loosed another Spinning Mana Bullet. To my absolute surprise, it dodged—barely, as the round grazed its shoulder as it dropped down to charge. As it began to close distance again, I tried again—and this time, I figured out how it had pulled off that trick. The damn Prowler was smart enough to figure out that if it moved just before I finished speaking the attack, it would have a better chance of missing.

Unfortunately, it had fallen into the same trap I almost had—lack of information will get you killed. I got off one more shot before it hit the distance I had estimated would be my absolute safe minimum before having to jump again. This one hit home, and I got a level up notification—Spinning Mana Bullet had leveled once when I used it to Coup de Grace the other grimm and now was level 3. With the level notification came another notification that alerted me to the skill being upgraded—from one bullet per attack to two. I jumped to the side, already chanting another attack. Being this close, there was no dodging as both rounds struck it dead center of its chest.

With only around 300 HP left, it turned and lunged at me instead of fleeing. Both attacks hit at the same time, my rounds blowing two holes through the Prowler's chest, both sets of its claws raking my stomach for 437 damage and sending me crashing into another tree at the side of the road. As I rolled to my feet, several notifications popped up.

[You have defeated Beowolf Prowler!]

[You gain 7000 EXP!]

[Your level has increased by 1!]

[You have defeated a powerful Grudge, but it will return stronger…]

[You have cleared the Illusion Barrier! You gain 5000 EXP! You may now leave at any time, but the Illusion Barrier will collapse in 5 minutes. Anything left inside at that time will be lost forever!]

Dismissing those, I found more. Firstly were three telling me my VIT, INT, and WIS had gone up by 1, followed by notifications for my buffs and Physical Endurance leveling. After going over everything, I decided to see what the Prowler had dropped. Walking up to where it had dissolved, I found a stack of hundred Lien notes, two books, several Dust crystals, and two potions—one the red of a typical health potion, the other a blue I recognized as a mana potion. Opening up my inventory, I dropped in the cash first and the system added it to the rest, leaving me with 10676L—though, seeing as I had no idea what things cost here, I didn't know what that meant. It could be equivalent to a hundred dollars, a thousand, or exactly the value it was listed as—hell, it could be anything else entirely. If a bottle of water would cost be $1 back home and cost 100L here, then I was essentially counting pennies.

Dismissing my worries over money, I dropped in the potions and dust crystals (4th level dust crystals, I discovered), then picked up the first book.

[You have obtained the skill book Create Illusion Barrier! Would you like to learn it?]

'Here we go again,' I thought, clicking Yes.

[Create ID: Level 1. Active. You have learned a skill to create instant dungeons out of bubbles of space between the real world and the spirit world. Effect: create an Instant Dungeon that will attract restless spirits, which will coalesce in the form of grimm or other creatures. Leveling the skill will allow different types of enemies and environments with different properties to be created. Cost: 50MP.]

"Haa… wow. Okay. So I can make these things intentionally now? Yeeeeah… I'm going to abuse the shit out of this. Let's see what else you dropped."

[You have obtained the skill book Destroy Illusion Barrier! Would you like to learn it?]

I had to wonder why it even asked at this point, as I hit the big Yes button.

[Escape ID: Level 1. Active. You have learned a skill to escape or destroy Illusion Barriers. Effect: destroy or escape an Illusion Barrier. Some Illusion Barriers can neither be destroyed nor escapes from if the being or effect that created them is strong enough and must be resolved by destroying or disabling whatever is creating the barrier. Cost: 50MP.]

In other words, unless I leveled up Escape ID, I could be trapped inside an Illusion Barrier until I dealt with whatever was causing it—and even if I did level the skill, it appeared that it wouldn't always work. That was worrying, to say the least. Well, best to start leveling it now, then. Holding up my hand, I willed the Illusion Barrier around me to collapse. "Escape ID."

The world shattered, glass-like panes of reality falling around my head and dissolving as though they'd never existed in the first place. Looking around at the sight of the battle, I found none of the damage we had done present. I started walking towards the Arc family home, only to stumble a moment as I realized what that meant and began connecting the dots. Checking my inventory, I found the money and items I'd won to be safe and sound, not having also ceased to exist with the Illusion Barrier. That could mean a couple of things. Grimm could be carrying large sums of money on them that they had gotten from anyone they had killed… or, more likely, my Semblance could be circumventing the laws of physics somehow to create something from nothing. But creating real money? I could understand the Dust, potions, even the skill books. Cash, on the other hand… It hurt my head a little to think about.

Still, there was an important bit there I'd need to test as soon as possible. I needed to learn the rules of Illusion Barriers, or clarify them. The way I understood it now was firstly, nothing that happens in an Illusion Barrier changes the real world. Secondly, things inside Illusion Barriers were real, as real as their real-world counterparts, at least until the barrier fell. Instinctively, I understood that thirdly: if you die in an Illusion Barrier, you die for real—death is death, regardless of where it takes place. And fourthly, anything left in an Illusion Barrier when it collapsed was either destroyed or 'lost.' What I needed clarified was pretty simple: if I create an Illusion Barrier, take something from inside it, and then destroy the barrier then is the original item still where it was when the barrier was created and is a duplicate item created? Or, put another way, is item duping possible? If so, I was not above exploiting it for fun and profit.

The house came in sight and I entered through the front door.

[You have entered a Safe Zone! Now that you are aware of Illusion Barriers, you can detect places where grimm fear to tread and Illusion Barriers cannot occur naturally using Perception. Decades of being inhabited by humans with strong auras has left the Arc family home Sanctified and safe from both grimm and Illusion Barriers.]

That… that was useful information to know. It also told me that sleeping in the wilderness was taking my chances with having an Illusion Barrier form around me or grimm attacking me in my sleep. Checking the time, I found it to be 7:30—I'd made it back with time to spare. Walking into the kitchen, I found Joan working on dinner and Jun sitting at the kitchen table, reading a book. "Looks like I made it back on time," I said by way of greeting.

[Quest Trust Issues: Joan's Request completed!]

[You gain 1000 EXP!]

"Welcome ba—" Joan turned around as she spoke, freezing mid-word. After a full minute's pause, she slowly asked, "Jaune, why do you look like you got into a fight with a grimm?"

I recognized that tone. She was worried and angry—not specifically at me, but I was there, and until she knew better I had done something stupid again. Jaune had, rather. Looking down and taking stock of my clothes, I found what she was talking about—my hoodie and tee-shirt were ripped in several places, especially where the Prowler had managed to tag me with its last hit. There would likely be a matching torn section on the back where it got me the first time.

Still, as much as I liked her, I wasn't going to be bullied by someone the better part of a decade younger than me. Finally, I shot her a grin. "Well, that would be because I did get into a fight with a grim. Fourteen beowolves and some advanced model called a Beowolf Prowler. And no, before you ask, I did not go looking for trouble—trouble found me. I'm not hurt, my clothes are just a little dinged up. And since I picked up a skill for it, got a needle and thread somewhere I can use to fix them?"

"Jaune," Joan began, before sighing quietly. "Fine. Okay. I see you're okay, but I won't stop worrying about you. Not until I know you can take care of yourself, at least."

I smirked, then. "Well, I may have a few ideas about that…"