He had just been scrolling through his phone, looking for a fanfic to read, but his mind was clouded. Recently he had seen an author return from an hiatus and while their stories hadn't been anything amazing, nothing top-tier but they were at least readable and seemed fun enough, regardless their stories weren't the issues.
Hiatus, taking a break and freezing stories, it was something every reader dreaded; the odds of an author returning have never been likely. It's always an out of the blue surprise. That author wasn't the first and they probably wouldn't be the last to come back, but they still actually began writing again.
And that was something they had over him as an author.
The subject of writing fanfic wasn't something he could talk about with his friends, and no matter how he searched he couldn't find a compatible group online to talk to. Even then he had still given writing a chance, his fanfics were received well enough at first but his own lack of talent and skill became apparent. He just couldn't do it, he could type out the words but he couldn't write a story.
His own hiatus wasn't something he could end by himself, despair had already settled into his soul. He would never write again.
After he sighed at his own thoughts, he heard the sound of a loud horn blare directly into his ears. His skeleton nearly jumped out of his skin in fright, but he never even got the chance to react as a few tons of steel smashed into his body.
And then everything went black. He had died, and he was floating in a endless void, this was his afterlife, and that could only mean-
And then the void melted away to reveal a busy diner. He was suddenly sitting in a booth, across from a man gobbling down a large burger.
"Oh! Sweet Ford F-150! That's a good burger." The man moaned with grease and sauce staining his face.
"What? What happened?" He asked as he looked around, wondering just how he got here. He might've fallen asleep and dreamt of his death, but he couldn't recall ever being to this diner.
A waitress came up to him as he was distracted. "Asa naw un odo?" She said in a language he didn't speak, and one he couldn't identify. Her face was beautiful but utterly unfamiliar, he couldn't pick out any traits that hinted at her ethnicity.
"Sorry, I don't understand." He responded to the waitress, he didn't know where he was and he couldn't understand the waitress.
"Na gai, po deti nakow." She smiled and walked away.
He began fearing the worst, that there was something wrong with his head. He couldn't remember where he was, he couldn't understand a waitress and he hadn't recognized what language she had been speaking in.
"Relax kid." The man said, having finished his burger and began wiping his face clean with a napkin. "I guess I should apologize for dragging you here, but like, c'mon cut me some slack! Who actually enjoys hanging around in a void all day? Not this guy! I'll make it up to you by buying you a burger."
"No, it's fine." He politely declined as a reflex to being offered food.
"Okay then, let's just get right on to business. I'm Rob and you have died, and normally I'm not one to do this kind of thing, but I'll reincarnate you and give you a special gift too."
"Really? Just like that? Is there a reason behind your actions?" In his entire life he had never once witnessed anything magical, so if this person was real and not a figment of his imagination as he lay dying on the side of the road, then he wanted to know more about him.
"Oh boy." Rob sighed and rubbed his face, then he groaned. "Fine, okay so funny story, but actually it was my daughter who ran you over. In her defense though, the road laws on your earth are different from where she was raised."
He blinked, he couldn't quite believe what he was being told, and more importantly it seemed that Rob didn't know he had been jaywalking with his attention on his phone. "Yeah, no, all is forgiven man." He quickly said, he wouldn't let his reincarnation be jeopardized just because he was partly responsible for his own death.
"That's great! It was really tearing her apart that her karma had taken a dip. Anyways, do you have a preference on where you want to be reincarnated?" Rob asked and then he began munching on a plate of fries that the waitress just dropped off.
That was hard for him to immediately answer, he had read many franchises and sure he had dreamed about what he could do in them, but this would be his life. It wasn't a story he was writing so the plot wouldn't necessarily bend to him, and if Fate and Destiny existed in a universe then they might screw him over if he got in the way.
And where did he truly want to go?
"RWBY, the world of Remnant." He finally decided. That world held a special place in his heart, although his relationship with the show was shaky at best, he still loved the setting. Besides, he knew almost all of the lore for that world, the bigger a franchise was then the harder it was to keep track of everything.
"Oh, yeah, I guess I could do that. I had been talking about, like, nations and states or whatever, but it's not a problem to find a universe that directly lines up with a fictional show that doesn't have a real history." Rob grumbled and sulked.
"It doesn't have to line up, as long as enough key points match then it's fine." He said and hoped he hadn't wasted his chance.
"Great, okay so for your gift, let's see what you could have. Oh, whoa, kid, your karma is super low, there is not a lot we could do with this." Rob said as he closed his eyes and moved his hands through the air.
"I'm fine with just the basic gamer system." He said. He could make that work.
"Not gonna happen, even with a standard Quest system it'll have to be super restricted, any more and it'll burn through your soul."
"Oh."
"Hmm, wait what's this? Yes yes, this could work. Good news kid, you have just enough karma that if I slap a little RNG on you, it'll work out fine."
"Wait what?" He asked before he felt the void suddenly open up beneath, it swallowed him whole and then he started falling.
"I'll let the tutorial explain everything!" Rob's voice echoed after him.
He held back the urge to curse Rob and prayed that his luck would be better in his next life.
A boy was born sixteen years ago in Brickwork Village, a small settlement founded seven decades ago, only a few miles from Vale proper. He had never known his mother and he was raised by his father who would die eight years after he was born, leaving him an orphan.
He was then adopted by Slate Redbrick and his wife, Kaolin Redbrick, both of them were teachers at the preparatory combat academy, Anvil, and at his request they trained him before he could officially enroll.
At sixteen years old he graduated from Anvil with high marks, and then he passed the entrance exam for Beacon. After a farewell party thrown by his adoptive parents, he began his journey on foot to Vale and then a small Deathstalker stung him. Even though he quickly squashed the small dark creature, he still succumbed to its venom shortly afterwards.
As he lay dying deep in the woods, pain burning through his veins, he saw a bright white star shining in the bright blue sky. That star was special to him, when he was young he realized that one else could see it. It was his very own star. And as he took his final breaths, that star shot down from and smashed into his soul.
In a snap he felt his pain disappear and his mind expanded as his memories from a previous life unfolded in his brain. For a few seconds, Gray did nothing but stare up at the sky. Or at least that's what other people would see, but in front of his eyes he saw a white floating screen with a wall of text, that he was tempted to skip over but it might be important so he patiently read it.
Tutorial Message! Here's a basic run down for you.
[Name: Gray Warsmith] [Title: N/A]
[Race: Human] - [Rank: 1/10] - [Level: 10/10]
[Class: N/A] - [Level: 0/10] - [Job: N/A] - [Level: 0/10]
[HP: 100/100] - [AP: 100/100]
[STR: 10/10] - [END: 10/10] - [AGI: 10/10] - [CHA: 10/10]
[LP: 0]
Your Stats are capped by your Rank.
[Passive Weapon Proficiency (Level: 10)]
[Passive Combat Proficiency (Level: 10)]
[Passive Aura Proficiency (Level: 10)]
[Active Aura Shield (Level: 10)] - [Cost: 10AP] - [Block 100 Damage.]
[Active Aura Healing (Level: 10)] - [Cost: 10AP] - [Heal 100 Damage.]
[Active Aura Strength (Level: 10)] - [Cost: 10AP] - [Add 100 Damage.]
These are all your current Skills. You aren't a Gamer, you just have a System.
[Forge of War] - [Level: 1]
[Fuel: 5/5]
[Blueprint Catalog: 0/5] - [Material Storage: 0/5]
Oh no! You currently lack any blueprint! Oh wait! You could get one from the Gacha.
Ya'know? Gacha! Yeah, welcome to hell!
[Tier-1 Gacha - B: 1%, C: 9%, D: 15%, E: 25%, F: 50% - 10LP per Roll]
[Tier-2 Gacha - S: 1%, A: 9%, B: 15%, C: 25%, D: 50% - 100LP per Roll]
[Tier-3 Gacha - EX: 0.1%, S: 4%, A: 20%, B: 25%, C: 50.9% - 1000LP per Roll]
Gain Lucky Points from Quest Rewards! Or buy them!
[Exchange Rate: 10,000 Lien for 1 Lucky Point]
"Oh fuck, it's actually Gacha. I guess even death won't let you escape." He, Gray Warsmith, grumbled under his breath. "Cheer up man, it's a pretty cool Semblance to have." He said to himself. The memory merge hadn't exactly been the smoothest, although he wanted to be reincarnated in Remnant that very reincarnation thought that Earth was a way better place to be. "Fine, whatever. At least my odds are pretty good."
That was definitely something he had in his favor, he had played too many games where the chance of getting something good was in the lowest of decimals possible.
First Roll? It's Free! One Blueprint and the necessary Materials to Forge it are guaranteed!
Select one of the following: 10 T-1 Roll, 5 T-2 Roll, or 2 T-3 Roll.
He selected the second tier because according to his bullshit calculator, the chance he got something categorized in A was forty-five percent. He prayed to the gods of RNG as he heard something like a slot machine spinning before a chime echoed, then he nervously peered at the results.
[Material (Rank: D): Stalhide] - [Tanned skin from an animal, and it had the toughness of steel.]
[Material (Rank: A): Core of a Dying Star] - [The eventual fate of all stars, this one condensed into roughly the size of a baseball. Although once released it would burn out in a few seconds, it's still very much capable of destruction.]
[Material (Rank: A): Large Uru Chunk] - [After Uru, a Dark Moon, was killed and its corpse was shattered, chunks of its unbelievably resilient metallic body were sent flying through space.]
[Material (Rank: A): Essence of a Storm Goddess] - [The Mother Goddess of Storm was one of the casualties during the Cosmic Formation and although she has long since died, her Divine Essence remains.]
[Blueprint (Rank: A): Mjolnir] - [A hammer originally made from the metal of a dead moon and forged in the heart of a dying star, it was created to be the prison of a Storm Goddess but then it served as her coffin.]
He certainly didn't expect that, but he wasn't going to complain. It's the weapon of a God of Thunder, with this he didn't even need anything else.
Congratulations on Rolling an Blueprint Ranked at A! Now let's get on to business.
[Forge of War] - [Level: 1]
[Fuel: 5/5]
[Blueprint Catalog: 1/5] - [Material Storage: 4/5]
Navigate to the Forge and open the Blueprint Catalog.
[Blueprint Catalog: 1/5]
[Blueprint (Rank: A): Mjolnir]
Select a Blueprint.
[Blueprint (Rank: A): Mjolnir]
[Required Materials]
[Stalhide x1] - [Core of a Dying Star x1] - [Large Uru Chunk x1] - [Essence of a Storm Goddess x1]
[Forge Available]
[Proceed?]
"Yes yes yes, let's hurry up already." Gray impatiently demanded, he didn't really like unnecessary tutorials. He heard a loud metallic thud and he felt his bones shake. If he wasn't currently resting on the ground then he might have fallen over. A second loud thud, but this one had sounded off from his surroundings.
He looked up as his bones calmed down, and he saw a majestic war hammer resting with its bulky head on the ground and its short handle aimed at the sky. He shuffled to his feet, his brain was currently too shocked to think, he walked forward towards the Norse God's weapon. Gray had never thought he would see it in all its glory, or feel it, a hesitant hand reached out.
The fear of everything having been a hyper-realistic dream so far surged up. Those types of dreams always tricked him and it wasn't until he woke up that he realized they had been nothing but a fleeting fantasy. His right hand gripped the small handle, and a surge of pure and raw power flooded through his body and mind, completely drowning his fear.
"…Awesome." He breathlessly exclaimed, not only was this actually reality but he was currently holding a mythical weapon in his right hand.
[Mjolnir]
[Rank: A] - [Level: 1/100]
[Durability: 500/500] - [Immutability: 500]
[Energy: 500/500] - [Damage: 50~500]
[Weapon Recall (Level: 1)] - [Call the weapon to a wielder's hand.] - [Cost: 10EP per foot.]
[Weapon Shift (Level: 1)] - [Shift the form of the weapon.] - [Cost: 100EP]
[Lightning Strike (Level: 1)] - [Imbue Lightning into a strike.] - [Cost: 100EP] - [CD: 10s]
[Thunder Clap (Level: 1)] - [Imbue Thunder into a strike.] - [Cost: 100EP] - [CD: 10s]
[Rainfall (Level: 1)] - [Summon rain clouds.] - [Cost: 100EP per cloud]
[Wielder Limit (Level: Max)] - [It can't be used by someone who isn't registered.]
[Registered Wielder: Gray Warsmith]
He did a few quick tosses and flips with Mjolnir, familiarizing himself with its balance, and then he flooded his muscles with Aura and diagonally slammed the hammer into a nearby tree as he activated two of its skills simultaneously. The instant the metal met wood, a deafening roar and a blinding flash went off right in front of his face. "…!" He didn't even hear his own shout.
Gray dropped the hammer as he stumbled back on weak legs and after just one step, his back collided with the ground. Pain unlike anything he ever experienced flooded his body, he couldn't even find words to describe even though he thought he could've been a writer one day.
He wriggled around on the ground and his hands were uselessly clutching at the sides of his head over his ears, he was trying and failing to block out the loud ringing that made him dizzy. He didn't know how long had passed, but eventually his vision came back in blurry spots and he couldn't faintly hear sobs, he had been crying.
At sixteen years old, he had been bawling like a baby.
No. No. No. He wasn't going to allow this. Not in a new world and with a new life, he wasn't going to be weak anymore. There was no one here to abuse and bully him anymore, he was free from them now, no one existed here that would force him down and wear away at his mind.
Gray Warsmith had trained longer than most teens his age, he was a competent fighter and an excellent student, he was strong, smart and exceptional. And he had a System now, he was the main character now.
As his brain calmed down, or at least focused away from the pain, he remembered he had an Aura Healing skill so he used it. And then a mad giggle built up in his throat when he saw that he had 10 HP remaining before it slowly went back up to full. His eyes wandered the other white screens that lingered around.
[A Tree has taken 170 Aura Enhanced Bludgeoning Damage, 25 Lightning Damage and 25 Thunder Damage!]
[A Tree has Died from Overkill! 0 EXP Rewarded!]
He looked over to the tree he had attacked, he could see that he had broken it in two and the trunk was charred black.
After Mjolnir is Forged, return to the Blueprint Catalog.
Then select the Blueprint for Mjolnir, there should now be the option to Recycle.
Recycling a Blueprint rewards you with 0~10LP.
You can no longer Forge the item without a Blueprint, so do so wisely.
Gray wiped his tears away and sniffled lightly as he continued on with finishing the Tutorial. He doubted he would manage to Roll Mjolnir's Mats again or find them just lying around, so he wasn't too bothered with Recycling the Blueprint. And luckily he had managed to get 10LP for it and since he already had an OP item, he didn't need to save up right now, so he spent it on the T-1 Gacha. He heard the same slot-like sound and a chime.
[Material (Rank: E): Apple] - [A fruit grown in an orchard.]
Gray stared blankly at the words in the white screen, he didn't quite know what to think. His System, which had been given with a weapon used by an actual god, had just given him a common farm grown fruit. "Can I eat it?" He asked. The flavor text of the Dying Star Core implied bad things that would happen if it was released, so it had to be possible for Mats to be taken out of the Storage.
Yes.
However, there's another Tutorial for an aspect of your System that it could be used for.
"What is it?" He asked.
[Enhancement]
[Charges: 3/3]
If you haven't noticed yet, you have a limited amount of Forge Fuel and Enhancement Charges.
These are capped by their respective Levels and are replenished after an hour.
It's recommended to spend as soon as possible since every use rewards EXP, it may be a small amount but it can build up over time.
"Sure, I'm used to those types of things anyway." He said. His routine had been opening apps and collecting the built up rewards then assigning his units to missions that took hours to finish, rinse and repeat throughout the day.
To use Enhancement, you need at least 2 Materials in the Material Storage.
[Quest: (Tree Overkiller) Complete] - [Material Reward: (Rank: F) Apple]
They don't need to be the same, this is just a demonstration.
[Enhance (Material (Rank: E): Apple) with (Material (Rank: F) Apple)?]
After accepting, he heard a whirring sound like a bladeless blender, for about a second or two, followed by a light ding.
[Material (Rank: D): Golden Apple] - [A special golden colored fruit grown by the Arc Family, it recovers 10AP when eaten.]
Gray stared blankly at the words in the white screen, he didn't quite know what to think. His System had given him the weapon of a Norse God that didn't exist in Remnant, or at least not said to exist, but Nora Valkyrie was clearly an allusion to Thor. Whether that was just for the audience though he didn't know, Pyrrha had died in a way that was clearly inspired by her allusion.
If he had to wager a guess he would say that, if we ignore the writers, Destiny had played a hand in her death, but that didn't answer his question.
Honestly he didn't care whether Mjolnir had been a weapon from here or another universe, what he did care for was knowing where this apple had come from.
Now, this might seem odd to anyone, it was just a slightly special apple, but to Gray it was a lot significant. Obviously the Arc family in Canon didn't have an apple farm, and he couldn't remember ever reading about it in any other fic, there was one fanfic that he knew claimed the Arc Family had an apple orchard.
Jaune Arc, Grimm Gamer. That fic had been trash that lumbered forth on broken legs for seven short chapters before it collapsed and died. The story couldn't deliver on the premises the summary presented, and the author dragged out the introduction to the System over an uninteresting and unnecessary exploration of their OCs for the Arc Sisters.
More importantly, he had been the one to write that garbage.
So, no, he couldn't care less about where a mythological hammer came from, what he needed to know was whether this apple had been brought in from his own fanfic, or if he had been brought into that fanfic.
That might not seem too bad, maybe even pleasant to some, but to him that would be worse than hell.
And not just because confronting his own failed story sucked, but because he didn't finish that story and he had a lot of notes for Jaune's Gamer journey. He had written up an extensive list of plot points and potential threats for Jaune.
Let's rephrase this, he had developed an outline that would provide Jaune, an OP Gamer, constant challenges that scaled with his growth.
Additionally, he had previously attempted a gamer story before that one which was way worse, and he learned something from that attempt that he wanted to explore further. He learned that Wish Fulfillment and Power Fantasies were boring, so he planned from the start to fill Jaune's OP journey with despair and at the end when he tried to inspire hope, he would fail.
But he never made it that far in his writing, so he had no knowledge of the future aside from knowing that the entirety of the universe ends after being swallowed by a darkness that transcends Gods. It didn't matter, not the character conflicts and not the hidden war between Ozma and Salem, nothing mattered because everything would end within the next few years.
Gray Warsmith started at the floating screen in front of him, he needed power. He needed absolute power to survive. It didn't matter what it would take, he wasn't going to die again.
All this because of a single apple.
AN: Hey, what's up? Don't mind me, I'm just trying to get back into the habit of writing. I'll respond to every review in the next chapter so give me your thoughts. I'm tired of not being able to write a good story, so if you notice where I'm failing I hope you'll tell me.
There's going to be a relatively small Harem, but I will try to develop it in an interesting way that explores the relationships.