For the next year, Clark continued to take on missions for Ozpin. Eventually, the headmaster trusted him with the full story. Clark learned about the Relics, their locations in the huntsman academies, and was entrusted with rushing over to defend them if they were in danger. He learned about the Maidens, the only ones who could open the vaults holding the Relics, and was tasked with checking in on them periodically.

It was actually when Clark was checking in on the Fall Maiden that an incident occurred. Watching from a distance of a few miles, he noticed that she was being trailed by a young man with gray hair, maybe a couple years older than him. The sound of his footsteps made it clear to Clark that his legs were prosthetic, although even someone standing right next to him probably wouldn't have been able to tell.

Clark flew over and landed right behind the man without a sound.

"Excuse me," Clark said.

"Whoa!" The young man whirled around and went into a fighting stance immediately. Based on the positions of his arms and legs and the Wind Dust cartridges in his leg, his fighting style was focused on kicks.

"I'm not here to fight," Clark said. "I'm Clark. Who are you and why are you following Amber?"

"What's it to you?"

"She and I are acquaintances and I'm not comfortable with a stranger stalking her. This is a pretty remote region, but there are still police not too far from here. If you don't explain yourself, maybe I'll get them involved."

The young man scowled and held his hands up. "Alright alright, there's no need for that. The name's Mercury Black."

"And why were you stalking Amber?"

"I-I wasn't . . . I'm not that sort of creep. I saw her in Pinecrest and wanted to talk to her, I don't want to hurt her or anything like that."

"Pinecrest is three miles from here. You've been following her for that long just to ask her out on a date?" Clark asked.

"I was trying to think of something to say. Come on man, you know it's not always easy talking to girls."

Either Mercury was sincere or he was very good at acting. Clark looked him over. "You're a huntsman-in-training?"

"Yeah, I guess you are too?"

"Yes." It was technically true, although Clark's status was unique. "Can I see your ID?"

Mercury handed his scroll over, and Clark scanned it with his own.

"A Haven student?" Clark asked, reading the ID. "You here for vacation?"

"A short one. Just visiting a friend," Mercury smiled at him. "Look, I'll leave Amber alone, alright? No need to call the police or anything."

"Fine."

Clark watched Mercury for a while longer as he messaged Ozpin about the student being on Amber's trail. Mercury went back to Pinecrest, he was quite skilled at stealth, and he constantly checked whether Clark was following him. Of course, he couldn't tell that Clark could see him just fine without moving an inch.

Ozpin sent him a message.

Mercury Black is confirmed to be a Haven student noted for his good behavior. I find it unlikely that he's an agent of Salem.

Clark shrugged. Maybe he had read too much into it. It's not like three miles was all that far for a huntsman-in-training. If he watched the Maidens for long enough, he'd probably see more incidents like this, they were young women after all.

Over the course of months, Clark did see a few other people trailing after the Maidens. Not infatuated young men, but sometimes older people or young children who wanted to thank a Maiden and offer her gifts for killing Grimm that had threatened their homes.

Not the Spring Maiden, though. She was a bandit in the Branwen tribe and didn't move to help strangers even once. Clark only did brief checks on her.

The final secret Ozpin revealed to Clark was Qrow's niece, Ruby Rose. She was a huntress-in-training who'd performed well enough at Signal to be accepted into Beacon two years early. Apparently, there was a magic to her silver eyes which made her very effective at killing Grimm, although she hadn't learned how to use them yet, and she was the key to defeating Salem once and for all.

She was also going to be participating in Beacon's Initiation ceremony, so Ozpin asked Clark to take on a position at the school in order to keep her safe.

"I get the feeling that if he could, Ozpin would assign me to be her bodyguard twenty-four-seven," Clark said to Qrow one night. "Actually, that might be what I end up doing, even if he calls it something else."

"How is Ozpin getting you a job at Beacon, anyway? You're the same age as a first-year."

"He's calling it a student-teacher position. I'm going to pretend to be in training to be a teacher at a huntsman academy."

"Why not just enroll as a student?"

"Because I'm already known in some huntsman circles as a prodigy. Plus, having an actual huntsman license as a teacher comes with freedoms that I wouldn't have as a student."

Qrow nodded. "Well, I really appreciate it, Clark. Whenever Ozpin mentions Ruby fighting Salem, I can't help but think about what happened to her mom."

Clark had heard the story, Ozpin had mentioned it to highlight the danger Ruby faced.

"Don't worry," Clark assured Qrow. "I'll keep her safe."

In a matter of days, Clark stood by the other teachers as Ozpin explained the initiation task for the incoming students. They'd be launched into the Emerald Forest and look for chess pieces, becoming partners with whoever they met first and forming a team of four with the pair that had a matching chess piece.

Some of the students gave Clark curious looks, but none of them asked why he was standing with the teachers. Clark smiled back at them, and his eyes lingered on Blake Belladonna for a moment. She'd been staring at him, but when their eyes met she quickly looked away.

A former White Fang member. Ozpin was willing to give her a chance at Beacon. Clark didn't know her well enough to say whether that was a good decision or not, but he hoped that it would turn out well. Unfortunately, her time at Beacon would probably be difficult, Clark had heard one of the other students make a racist remark about her cat ears.

Initiation was a bumpy road for Ruby. She partnered with Weiss Schnee, which the latter wasn't very happy about. They also faced some of the most powerful Grimm in the Forest, such as a giant Nevermore and a Deathstalker. It was expected that they'd fight Grimm in the forest, but these were in a class of their own. Clark had been ready to intervene at a moment's notice, but fortunately, Ruby was able to beat the Grimm by working with several other students.

While most of Clark's attention had been on Ruby, he'd taken cursory looks at the other students. One of them in particular was worrying, and he brought his concerns to Ozpin and Ms. Goodwitch.

"I don't think Jaune Arc is ready for Beacon," Clark said. He'd returned to the school tower after the students had made their way safely out of the forest.

"Oh? Why is that?" Ozpin asked.

"He doesn't have experience with using a sword, he swings it around like it's a stick," Clark said. "And he didn't even manage to land in the forest on his own, he relied on another student to save him."

"I agree," Ms. Goodwitch said, she'd been able to see the students through cameras that had been planted in the forest. "His transcript is acceptable, but his performance so far has been lacking."

"Hmm," Ozpin sipped from his mug. "I can't argue against the fact that Mr. Arc doesn't seem very impressive at the moment, but I think he holds promise."

Clark gave him a skeptical look. "Enough promise to accept him into Beacon over other students who are currently more qualified?"

"Yes."

Ms. Goodwitch still didn't look too happy about it, but she didn't comment on Jaune any further. Clark didn't have as much trust in Ozpin as she and the others did, but he followed their lead.

After the task was completed, the students were guided an auditorium, and Ozpin announced the teams. Ruby was going to lead team RWBY, and her partner crossed her arms and glared at her leader. From what Clark had seen, Ruby could admittedly seem somewhat childish, but during the Initiation she'd performed just as well as the others.

Clark was actually surprised by Weiss' behavior. She could seem as well-behaved as her sister with the teachers, but she proved to have a pretty sharp tongue and antagonistic personality in front of her fellow students. At least she didn't seem to be racist, since she had a faunus on her team, although there was still a likelihood of tension there. The Schnee Dust Corporation had been the White Fang's number-one target, the terrorist group had hated them even more than the Atlesian military.

Other teams were announced. Jaune was made leader of team JNPR, and Clark wasn't the only one confused by that. Other students were puzzled, and even Jaune himself looked around nervously on stage. At the very least though, his team would probably be easier to manage than Ruby's. His partner Pyrrha seemed supportive, and Ren and Nora didn't appear to have complaints.

The next morning, there still seemed to be trouble within team RWBY. Clark stood next to Ms. Goodwitch and saw how Weiss snubbed her leader.

"Ugh," Yang, Ruby's sister and teammate, said. "Ruby, you're our leader. You can punish her, right?"

"Go right ahead," Weiss replied. "I'll accept any punishment our so-called leader metes out."

"Weiss, I'm not going to punish you," Ruby said. "Yang, Weiss is just upset because she doesn't know how good of a leader I'll be. It'll take time to show her."

"Hmph, not even punishing insubordination?" Weiss noted. "That's the sign of a weak leader, not a good one."

"Oh shut up," Yang said. "Even if you do manage to convince the teachers to make you leader, Blake and I are still going to treat Ruby like the leader. Right, Blake?"

"Certainly."

Weiss' face reddened and she was about to respond when Ms. Goodwitch called for the class to pay attention.

"Students," she said. "I am Ms. Goodwitch. I will be your primary combat instructor during your time at Beacon. By my side is my assistant."

She gestured to Clark, and he introduced himself. "Hello everyone. As you can see from my nametag, I'm a student-teacher. To follow convention, even if I'd prefer not to, I'm going to ask you to please call me Mr. Kent."

The student's whispers reached his ears easily.

"How old even is he? He looks the same age as us."

"He doesn't look that strong."

"Ohmigod, he's hot!"

"I wonder if he'll give private lessons?"

Clark was seventeen, the same age as them. It was going to be weird being a teacher, even a support teacher, for people the same age as him, but he'd have to get used to it.

Their comments weren't loud enough for Ms. Goodwitch to hear, but she seemed to get a sense of what they were saying anyway. She cleared her throat.

"Class, the duty of a huntsman is to fight Grimm, yes?"

There were nods and a few uncertain yes's in response to a question with such a seemingly obvious answer.

"If so, then why are students required to fight against each other during combat lessons?"

One student raised his hand. "Because we won't always have a Grimm handy to practice against?"

"That is true, but it's not the reason why. Anyone else?"

Blake offered an answer. "It's because some huntsmen, or other people with aura and Semblances, go rogue. We need to be able to fight them to protect people."

Ms. Goodwitch pointed her crop at Blake. "Exactly. A rogue huntsman is a far cry from a monster with the mind of a wild animal. A person trying to kill you can plan and strategize, they can deceive and fool, whereas a Grimm can only attack headfirst. Spars in this class will teach you this difference, and they will be far more severe than the spars you may have had at your previous academies."

The students who'd been grinning, staring at Clark, or otherwise treating this class lightheartedly turned grave. Killing Grimm was drilled into them since the first year of their primary academies, fighting and killing people was a different matter.

"Now, are there any students confident in their abilities?" Ms. Goodwitch asked.

A handful of students raised their hands. They weren't as self-assured as they might have been before Ms. Goodwitch's lesson, but they still had determined looks on their faces.

The teacher studied the students and made her choice. "Ms. Schnee, you will be facing Mr. Kent in the ring. Both of you will fight as if to kill and your goal is to last as long as you can. The spar will end either when your aura has been completely drained or I call for you to stop."

Weiss nodded. "Yes, Ms. Goodwitch."

Clark took his hammer and walked up the steps to the ring. Across from him, Weiss did the same with her rapier. Their scrolls transmitted their aura readings to the display above the ring. A mostly-transparent dome formed to stop any bullets or Dust attacks.

"Woohoo, go Weiss!" Ruby cheered. She turned to Blake and her sister. "Come on, you two! Give our teammate some support."

"Yeah, whooo . . ." Yang said half-heartedly.

Blake remained silent. Weiss didn't even spare her teammates a glance.

"Are you both ready?" Ms. Goodwitch asked.

"Yes," Clark replied.

"I am," Weiss said.

"Then begin."

Clark narrowed his eyes and dashed forward in a burst of speed. The point of this spar was to teach the students just how much more there was for them to learn and how lethal an enemy huntsman could be. In past years Ms. Goodwitch had been the one to enter the ring and instill that lesson, but Clark could use a level of power that went beyond hers.

Right now, Clark was speeding forward even faster than Ruby could, and she was already at a high level of speed for huntsmen. The only person he'd met who was faster than her had been Harriet, an elite huntress for the Atlesian military. By the time Ruby was her age, she might be even faster.

Clark's speed had caught Weiss off-guard. She'd probably expected that he relied more on physical strength and endurance rather than agility, and she rushed to place glyphs on the ground to slow him down. Force and time glyphs appeared in front of him.

Clark was familiar with the technique from his spars with Winter, and as expected Weiss was somewhat less capable than her sister. These glyphs formed slightly slower than Winter's, and Clark was able to sidestep them with ease and continue his approach.

She gave up on slowing him down. That left her with two options, either dodge or block. Clark was way too fast for her to have much of a chance of evading him, so Weiss formed a glyph in front of her to block him and another under her feet to hold her ground.

Clark struck at the barrier with his hammer. It was a light blow, far weaker than she'd expected and her eyes widened. She dispelled her barrier glyph and then thrust her rapier at him. It had Dust cartridges in a revolving chamber in the hilt, but she wasn't using any of them yet.

Focused on attack, Weiss also dispelled the glyph under her feet so she could move forward with more force and Clark made his move. He blasted her with a breath that sent her flying at the edge of the ring. The Wind Dust at his hip glowed slightly, although that was just to hide the fact that the attack had mostly used his own power.

Weiss flailed and tried to stabilize herself. She actually managed to place glyphs in mid-air to slow herself down, but she was still disoriented when Clark chased her and swung his hammer at her back.

"Gah!" Her aura protected her, but the blow had taken away almost forty percent of it. Weiss' aura bar on the display turned yellow.

Many of the students winced. Even Blake, probably the least sympathetic person in the room towards the Schnee heiress, made a face.

The hit had slammed Weiss into the ground, and Clark immediately capitalized on her unfortunate position to slam a foot down on her. He normally wouldn't have been so ruthless, but this was for her benefit.

In a desperate motion, Weiss formed glyphs under her to slide away and just barely avoid his attack. Clark's foot shattered the concrete floor of the ring. His hammer came down after her, and she raised her rapier and used the Fire Dust inside it to reinforce her attack. Their weapons met in an explosive burst of light, and while Weiss' attack had still been weaker than his, it had been enough for her to push his hammer to the side. Flames spread out from where their weapons had met and Clark ducked low to avoid the fire. Weiss took the opportunity to flee and create some space between them, going almost to the edge of the ring opposite him.

She watched him with caution and a hint of genuine fear in her eyes.

Clark rushed at her again. She formed another glyph to slow him down, but this time she kept it near her so she could move it under him as he approached. When he was about ten feet from her, Clark circled around the glyph on the ground and leapt into the air.

Weiss pointed her rapier and glyphs started to appear on either side of him. However, before they finished forming to hold him in place, Clark used his flight to drop down by Weiss' side and activated the tiniest amount of the Gravity Dust on his hip that he could. His descent was faster than what most huntsmen could achieve by using the recoil from their weapons.

She stopped forming the midair glyphs immediately and tried to form a barrier glyph between them, but Clark's hammer swung down too quickly for her to get the chance. She was able to block his hammer once, but a rapier wasn't very well-suited to blocking and he was using a level of strength much greater than hers. She almost lost her grip on her weapon as her arm was knocked aside and the head of the hammer crushed against the side of her torso.

Weiss screamed in pain and fell to her knees. Her aura was in the red now, but she wasn't willing to give up just yet. She held her side with one arm and swung desperately with her sword, sending an arc of fire at Clark.

He stepped aside and avoided it, then he tightened his hand into a fist which knocked Weiss flat on the ground. She lost all of her aura and the ring signaled the end of the match with a loud, digital tone.

The crowd of students sat in stunned silence. Previously, a few of them such as Cardin Winchester had been skeptical that a huntsman the same age as them was qualified to be their teacher, but now they had no complaints.

Clark had been trying for a fierce expression during their spar, but now he walked over to Weiss with a concerned tone. He offered a hand to help her up. "Are you alright?"

Weiss accepted his help and stood up. "I am, Mr. Kent," she said, trying to hide her dispirited tone. "Thank you for your instruction."

"You did well," he told her.

"It's kind of you to say so, but I can't help but disagree. I don't think I even lasted thirty seconds." Weiss stared up, her eyes locked onto his green aura bar which hadn't even dipped under one-hundred percent.

"You lasted twenty-three seconds against Mr. Kent," Ms. Goodwitch said. "I know it might not seem like it, but you truly did well."

"Your sister would be proud of you," Clark added.

Weiss turned back to him in surprise. "You know my sister?"

Clark nodded. "Winter helped train me, and I've sparred with her a number of times. Really, you shouldn't feel bad, I've knocked her aura down to zero in less than thirty seconds too."

That seemed to console Weiss, and she smiled back at him. "Well, I can't expect to do better than my sister just yet. Thank you, Mr. Kent." She returned to her seat with her team.

"It's okay Weiss," Ruby said. "I don't think I would have lasted that long against Mr. Kent either."

"I appreciate the sentiment," Weiss said in a dispassionate voice rather than ignoring her. When Ruby grinned, Weiss added, "Don't think that means I accept you as my leader."

For the rest of the class, Ms. Goodwitch reviewed the spar and asked the students about what Weiss could have done better or how they might approach a fight against Clark with their own unique sets of gear and Semblances. She also informed them that they would spar Clark regularly in addition to sparring each other, which none of them were looking forward to. While Weiss was below average in terms of physical strength and an ordinary aura capacity, she still had a powerful Semblance and was well-equipped with Dust. Very few of the students in her year would be able to perform better than she had.

"You will also be participating in group spars with your partners and teams," Ms. Goodwitch said. "So it is important that regardless of any issues you may have with your teammates, it will be crucial that you be able to fight as a team."

While that comment might have been seen as directed towards team RWBY, there were actually a few other teams with teamwork issues. Team JNPR, for example, while there wasn't any conflict between its members, its leader needed to be able to hold his own weight.

The students left the room and went to their next classes. Ms. Goodwitch had another class today, one for third-years, and Clark assisted in sparring against a full team of third-years. With the level of strength and speed he was using, Clark wasn't able to completely avoid losing some aura, but he still defeated them in the span of about two minutes.

At the end of the day, Clark asked the other teachers about the Weiss' dissatisfaction with her leader. Weiss had remained insistent that Ruby wasn't qualified while Ruby had remained amicable. Blake and Yang, however, had seemed to get more irritated by Weiss and while they'd remained respectful during class, Professor Oobleck had noted that there had been some heated words between them in the halls.

Clark asked Ms. Goodwitch about it. "Should one of us step in? Make it clear to Weiss that Beacon isn't going to change the team lineup, or explain the headmaster's reasoning?"

"If the issue persists for more than a few weeks, then a teacher will need to get involved," Ms. Goodwitch replied. "It will be better, however, if Ruby can convince Weiss on her own that she's a capable leader. A big part of our responsibilities here are to give the students the chance to solve their issues on their own."