"So what do you think Professor Ozpin wants us for?" Pyrrha asked me as we rode up the slowest lift in Vale. I've been on a couple out in the actual city, and they were remarkably smooth and quick. Made me feel like he did it on purpose just to let anticipation get to whoever was coming to see him. Of course, it doesn't work so well as the elite mercenary company that was usually training around my meadhall, Jorrvaskr. Which also meant it didn't really work on me.
"I hope he found something to help Velvet. She seems to be recovering slowly, but I still need to find a healing skill. Or it could be that he's found out about our little training trip before we even got to tell him." I offered.
"He does seem to know everything." She admitted.
"Right?"
There was silence for a brief moment. I held up 3 fingers into the sky until Pyrrha gave me a look, then put them down. She raised an eyebrow and I just held a finger to my lips. With a ding, the lift shook to a halt and the doors slid open.
I strode out confidently while Pyrrha followed behind. We had clearly interrupted a conversation. In front of us was our film crew, remarkably. They had been suspiciously absent following the incident at the docks. To be fair, we had also been suspiciously absent but they should have known we'd come back to the school.
Ozpin sat behind his desk, as usual. Also present was a man I hadn't seen before, leaned over Ozpin's desk. He was dark of hair, pale of skin, and dressed in an odd white uniform. Then again, all of these clothes were still odd to me.
I became briefly aware of a tag scratching the back of my neck. I scratched the itch and coughed "Observe" into my raised arm.
James Ironwood
LVL ?
The Might of Atlas
"What was that?" Ozpin grinned at me.
"Nothing, Professor, just clearing my throat beforehand." I replied innocently.
The man in white, James, turned to me. "So, you're the one Oz was talking about. Pretty scrawny."
"I know, right? I hope you stick around to see me next week." I replied straightly. He didn't react to my words in the slightest, or if he did I couldn't spot it.
He turned back to Ozpin. "Boot the news, we've got important things to talk about."
"Actually, we need to get something out of the way first. Mr. Arc, what happened at the docks was not acceptable. I understand your current weapon has broken. Until I deem you ready, you're forbidden from carrying a weapon in the city."
"Professor, I'm going to tell you right now that isn't going to work." I said to an utterly silent room.
"And why is that?" James asked, looking slightly annoyed. I'm glad he asked, because I had been waiting for someone to.
I reached behind my back and pulled out Boar's Tooth. I threw it on the ground in front of them,where it clattered to a halt.
Pyrrha huffed and picked up the sword, placing it on Ozpin's desk with a slight amount of disgust. It was a savage looking weapon, to be fair. To the Headmasters credit, he didn't look at it.
Ironwood gave it a glance over. "So where exactly where you keeping that?"
I grinned slightly, this was sure to be fun. "Right here." I pulled another one out and tossed it on the floor. His eyes narrowed slightly. He took a step before I held a hand up. "I'll show you again, real slow." I opened up the inventory fully this time, off to my left. Reaching over with my right hand, I grabbed yet another sword from the stack. The number dropped down to 5.
This one I passed to him directly. He took the blade, running a gloved hand down the edge. "Well-made. You did these yourself?"
"Yes."
He made a humming sound then placed the sword he was holding next to the one on Ozpin's desk. "These are completely identical. Don't lie to me this time: did you make these yourself?"
"Yes, I did."
Ironwood glanced subtly at Ozpin, who nodded. "Impressive."
Ozpin cleared his throat. "The matter of your punishment is still up for debate, Mr. Arc, but it seems we'll need to re-evaluate. Regardless, you will have to discuss something with your producers for what to show the entirety of the city in the meantime."
I didn't look at them, not even a glance. "We can figure it out later."
"We really shou-" Diana cut in, but Ironwood was all over it.
"Later. Now is your time to leave."
The reporter inhaled but a hand on the shoulder from the cameraman stopped whatever she was going to say. The two shared a look then walked to the lift with much muttering between them. Soon, the doors slid shut behind them.
"Mr. Arc," Ozpin said heavily, making me look over to see him giving me a curious look. I got the odd feeling that he was shaking his head but he was clearly completely still. "Please collect your swords."
"Oh, am I allowed to keep them then?" I said sarcastically, gathering them up and depositing them into my inventory regardless.
He ignored my question. "This is General James Ironwood, the General-Headmaster of the combat school in Atlas."
I did nothing like bringing myself to attention, but gave him a quick "General-Headmaster." and a curt nod.
"My students would add a sir to that." He said with a questioning eyebrow.
"That's nice." I replied.
Pyrrha gasped and punched my shoulder. "Mind your manners! I'm sorry General-Headmaster sir, he's not a very bright one."
He tightened his jaw and didn't comment. "Ozpin tells me you're not quite what you seem."
I shrugged while briefly wondering how I was going to get back at Pyrrha for that one. "Who is around here?"
Ironwood let out a chuckle. "Good point. He told me you're interested in researching souls, to be more specific."
"Not really." I replied. "I know enough about souls as it is. I just need to know if you have a way to collect a soul, or return it. Is there anything you have that can… restore…" My eyes widened and I turned and ran from what was most likely the two most important people I'd met here so far, and Pyrrha. I hastily hit the elevator button over and over, willing the doors to just open.
"It's probably not even halfway down by now, what's got you in a rush?" Pyrrha had gotten back to me. I glanced around, fighting the urge to look behind me. I just knew I would see ridiculing glares.
"Velvet. I think I figured something out." Her eyes opened wide.
Eventually I spotted a window, thinking only once about the height before Sprinting at my full speed towards it.
"Sorry!" I yelled, as I made my biggest window escape yet, using both Power Strike and Double Strike in one punch that I had the full weight of my Aura behind.
Double Strike (LVL1) Cost:25 AP
Strike once with the power of two blows. Normal AP costs for skills used in this manner still apply.
Damage: Variable.
Power Strike (LVL48) Cost:1 AP
By focusing all of your strength into a single blow, you can strike with more power! The attack takes time to prepare so use it carefully!
Charge Time: 1.25 seconds
192% Increased Damage
8% decrease in attack speed.
I figured out a while ago that I could still move during the charge time for Power Strike, just not use the limb I wanted to use for anything other than the charge time. I could throw a combo, for instance, though the charge time is too long to be used with fists. I could parry with my right hand while I charged a Power Strike punch in my left, though. In this instance, however, I punched Ozpins window with 24 points of strength after Aura, nearly tripled by Power Strike, and then doubled again by Double Strike. The window shattered into a mist of glass shrapnel and I was briefly amazed before I found myself caught by the clutches of gravity.
I only made it about a body length from the window before something caught me and yanked me back inside. I fell to the floor and slid to the opposite wall, hitting it with a bump. My HP took a very minor hit, filling up again in just a moment. My AP was still nearly full and I knew that it would be in just a few moments. "What was that for?"
"For jumping out of the Headmaster's window! What possessed you to do that?"
I stood up and brushed myself off. "I'm going to go jump out of the window again. You aren't going to stop me." She opened her mouth to protest but I had been working on making this body at least act similar to my own.
It's actually one of the last things I had thought about when this had happened but when I had looked into a mirror and attempted to scowl, it had looked utterly ridiculous. I'd spent a little time making it look at least sort of correct, and I fixed Pyrrha with one of these glares I had so practiced.
She caught what she was going to say and clenched her jaw.
"Might I ask why you're so insistent on defenestrating yourself?" Ozpin asked as if nothing was out of the ordinary. Ironwood just had his head in his hands.
I took a deep breath and explained myself quickly. "I got a hold of a potion from where I'm from and there if we use special tools we can directly inject it into someone's body." Before they could react, I continued. "I'm gonna go find a healer with said tools, use said potion, and fix my tutor so I don't fail the coming midterms."
With that said, I made for the window, getting held once more. I grit my teeth, turning my head over my shoulder to see Pyrrha with her arm outstretched. She was holding back a grin.
"Woman, you had better let me go in the next three seconds or-"
The hold on me, or rather on my metal armor, broke. "Torga, we don't have to find a doctor."
"I wouldn't be so sure about that." Ironwood muttered just loud enough to hear.
Ozpin coughed. "We have state-of-the-art medical equipment here at Beacon. If you have the medicine that can cure your classmate, then I will be sure it gets to our medical staff and given to Velvet properly. How much did you say was used?"
I grimaced. "One time I got stabbed in the gut while changing into new armor. Luckily I was already near a temple and I could get help. Took me about 3 days to recover." I glanced over at the window. "I really am sorry about breaking your window. Maybe you should make them able to open in case someone cannot wait to leave."
"The potion?"
"Oh, right." I pulled out both the AP potion and the Potion of Well-Being. "The blue one is simply for restoring Aura. This one can restore your aura, heal minor wounds, and would cure minor ailments like a cough or something, I think. If you were to give either of these to Velvet I think it would work, but the problem is they're usually drank."
Ironwood grabbed the blue potion. "You say this can restore Aura?"
I tossed the other one to Pyrrha, who put it on Ozpin's desk. "Sure, not a problem. Want me to prove it?"
He tossed the AP potion back. "Only if you've got two. My scientists need to have a look at that. You could save hundreds… no millions of lives if we could make these."
My eyes widened. "Really? You guys never thought to just start throwing plants together, take a small dose of the result and see what happens?" I was met with blank looks. "Huh. Well, I got them from the Forever Fall Temple. We were going back soon so I'll bring you the next one, but it may take about an hour or two."
Now Ozpin's eyes narrowed. "This Aura-Restoring Potion that you got at Forever Fall Temple? Who made it?"
"My people." I replied instantly. "The design is as clear as day, the colour is spot on. Just give me a punch, General. I'll show you my Aura, you can see how low it is, I'll drink the potion, you can see it rise."
"Then how did it get here?" Ozpin asked.
"Most likely?" I said, thinking. "Same way I did. I mean, you are more than welcome to come with us to the temple. We actually were about to come ask for a chaperone."
"Irony at it's best. We were going to get you to take us there. Along with one more."
With a loud clank, a man in heavy armor came in through the window I had already broken. The armor was similar in appearance to Dwemer armor, though it was much larger than any man I had seen. It was as if a Centurion had mated with a woman and produced a child, but for the helmet. The helmet was a single horizontal slit. The most interesting thing was the fire it was shooting out its boots towards the ground. With a hiss, the fire cut off and the man in armor fell to the ground landing neatly. "Observe." I muttered.
Arthur Polendina
LVL?
The Machinist of Light
I just sighed this time. It was clear that Observe wouldn't do much against people that were stronger than me. At least by this much.
The man in the armor removed the helmet in a way I didn't quite catch. It appeared to slide down his back and disappear.
"It would seem that someone beat me to smashing this window."
I grinned. "That would be me. Nice armor, sir." I didn't say a word about the gigantic sword on his back. I simply flicked my eyes to it and gave the most minor of nods.
He grinned. "I like this man! Who invited him?"
Ironwood muttered something again, while Ozpin raised his hand. "Pleasure to see you again, Mr. Polendina."
"Aha! It's Doctor now, Professor. I've been up to some pretty cool stuff lately. James really knows how to get the good times rolling."
"How many times must I say, it's Gener-"
"Yea, yea." He waved it off but when I saw Ironwood grin I knew there was no love lost between the two. "Anyways, you're mini-Jak, eh? I can kind of see it. I hear we're going dungeon diving?"
"Dungeon Di- Nevermind. I get it now." I said. "Apparently we are. So what, you were another mentor?"
"Ha! The day the 'Dungeonmaster' admits to having someone teach him something he didn't already know is the day I go to Hell and fight whoever's down there that has my hat. Then I will eat it." I briefly wondered whether he was talking about his hat or his enemy before he continued. "Anyways, what are you waiting for? Let's go! I'm as ready as ever."
"We still have to get there. Speaking of which, where's my pilot?"
Ironwood stood. "I'm pilot."
Arthur also raised a hand. "Actually, I went to the Vale Airport and got every certification they could offer. I could pilot a Bullhead easy. Shouldn't have to though, Jak just throws his hand up and we're in dungeons just like that…."
"Every-" Ironwood started before cutting himself off and taking a deep breath. "I was going to save your pilot certificates for your next promotion. Delayed grati-"
I tuned him out as Arthur nudged me. I leaned over as he whispered in my ear while still pretending to pay attention to Ironwood. Pyrrha was looking crossly at me but I gave her a 'what can I do at this point?' look. I don't think she liked it.
"So," Arthur whispered. "Why were you leaving?"
"Give a potion to a friend. Aura issues." I replied, trying to keep it short.
"Cool. If I block magnet girl, how would you feel about going to the Bullhead right now and heading to the Temple?"
I nodded as Ironwood continued on about duty and discipline. I held up a hand as he took a breath.
"Bye."
Something covered my eyes, there was a loud bang, and then suddenly I was falling alongside Arthur Polendina and I let out a genuine laugh as deja vu struck.
REP with Ozpin +200!
REP with Pyrrha +100!
I wondered why Pyrrha could possibly have approved of that before deciding it didn't matter. I managed to activate Featherfall, but all that caused me to do was hit the ground and bounce back up again. I hit hard, very hard, draining about half my AP. I groaned as the skill deactivated, and I fell to the ground once more to Arthur's laughter.
"Oh drink a potion and get over it. How have you made it this far without being able to land?"
I picked myself up, not hurting anymore at all. My AP was very slowly regenerating. "I'll meditate on the Bullhead, it will be back in no time.
Meditation (LVL9) Cost: 0 AP
Remove yourself from the world around you and embrace nothingness.
+9 AP per second
If AP is full, +1HP per second
Meditation hadn't levelled up as much as my other skills had, though with Power Strike being so cheap I had plenty of opportunities to practice with it. I held out hope that the charge time would eventually drop enough to enhance every strike with it.
That was apparently that and we made our way through the school unaccosted.
"So what level are you anyways?" He asked.
""23" I replied curtly, and he stumbled briefly.
He muttered something to himself that I didn't hear, then somehow managed to snap his armored gauntlets. "You're running off of a different system, aren't you?"
"I am, something called a video game."
"The way you're speaking sounds like you don't even know of the glorious gaming kingdom." I glanced over to see him giving me a stern look. "Please tell me that this is not the case."
"What?"
He stopped and stared me right in the eye. I stopped as well, as he was huge and going to be a great partner against that Taijitu. "We're going to go clear this dungeon, then we're going to go take your half of the loot money and buy you the greatest gaming device ever devised. Then, we'll blow what's left on games. After all of that, I will hook it up, leave, and come back a month later to see how you do. How does that sound?"
I sighed. "I don't need to play games right now, that would be a waste of my time. I can get stronger by killing Grimm. I get even stronger by killing even stronger Grimm. I should probably be out killing Grimm right now, not here." By here, I referred to the hangar bay, which was conspicuously empty save for Richard's Bullhead, and the man himself standing by the starboard door.
"We'll get to that. You do need to play games at least once though." He said, and yet again that was that.
"Ozpin said he would be here too. What's the deal, kid?" The pilot asked, coming forward from the vehicle to meet us.
The door burst open and Pyrrha strode through, though not without a pale sheen of sweat. I was thoroughly impressed, either she jumped herself or did something to Ozpin's elevator to make it faster because there was no way she should have made it on time. "Time to go." she said, not making eye contact and climbing into the Bullhead.
"What she said." I replied, climbing in myself.
As Richard Mavis shrugged and got into the Bullhead, Arthur Polendina spoke.
"I'm flying."
At that, Mavis barked a laugh and slid into the pilot's chair, firing up the engines. "Nobody touches my bird but me, old timer!"
The gigantic armored man waved us goodbye. "I'll follow you there!"
He did something and his armor started shooting fire again. He took off like a bullet and tore through the tiny gap in the slowly opening hangar doors.
Richard let out a chuckle and rose into the air. "Challenge accepted."
We hung in the air for a brief second before again, something happened and I was flung into the back of the cabin. The doors slid shut as the sound of rushing air grew louder, eventually cutting off and leaving us with only the whining of the engines. I got back to my feet and made for a chair. Pyrrha took the one opposite.
"So." I said, catching her eye. "You came."
She hesitated for the briefest of moments before nodding. "I did."
"May I ask why?"
"You should be asking yourself why I wouldn't. You're the team leader. We should have waited for the rest of our team but circumstances changed and here we are. If you're going to that place again, I won't let you do it without me at your back."
I opened my mouth to reply that I would have been fine, but that didn't seem like the right thing to say. "I appreciate the sentiment. In that case, thanks. Ozpin let you go?"
She coughed. "Something like that."
"But why?"
"Who knows? It's Ozpin."
For the third time, that was that.
We made good time to the temple. I meditated most of the way, though had to reactivate the skill once or twice as Richard pulled a maneuver. He was chasing after Polendina. Not quite close enough, as Arthur touched down before us.
As the plane lowered closer to the ground and Pyrrha and I jumped out, he rocked forward from the pole he was leaning on and strode over.
"Took you long enough. Traffic?" he joked.
"So what is our plan?" Pyrrha asked. She had a confident look on her face.
"Well first, before we go in…"
I brought up the Party Options menu, and proceed to add Pyrrha. Arthur flinched slightly when I said his name. "Fancy, I get to see it too." He proceeded to poke the yes button.
"So what, we share XP and loot?"
I shook my head. "Apparently I unlock party options once I clear the tutorial and pass the Midterms."
Arthur waved his hand. "I'll take care of your mid-terms. What else do you have to do?"
"Clear this Temple and… what was it… oh right, talk to the other gamer and decide on my class."
"And?"
"Well we're about to do the first and… I can be whatever I want, why limit myself to a class?"
"Then say 'I choose _ as my class." and add in a random name or something." He said as he activated his helmet. It slid over his head so fast I could barely see it. The voice that came out after was garbled and warped, but amplified. "Then we can get this party started."
I thought for only a second before following Arthur into the entrance, Pyrrha trailing close behind.
"I choose Dragonborn as my class."
Congratulations! You have unlocked your first class!
Classes are available once certain requirements have been met. This may involve killing a certain amount of enemies, befriending or becoming a person of influence, or simply stumbling upon a Title in everyday life. Titles can be evolved to Classes once they have been equipped for enough time.
Only 10 Classes may be equipped.
Graduate to 1st Class Dragonborn success!
Dragonborn (Class 1)
You are more than just a fledgling dragon-souled mortal. You have embraced the immortality and divine power of dragonhood, taking it into yourself to increase your potential.
HP +50 per level
HP Regen +0.1/second/level
AP +10 per level
All STATS +10%
Shouts +100 intensity
I felt a brief shudder as the feeling of chills down my back briefly made me spasm, then I was fine. My HP and AP took a major hit, bringing the red bar down to about a third. My AP went down to about three quarters then started slowly regenerating but my health regen suddenly spiked. It was charging more than twice as fast as it had been before!
I smiled as we walked through the door. Against skeletons, and mostly unarmed ones at that? I felt like nothing could even hurt me fast enough to be a problem. I held my hand out. "Wait."
"What is it?"
"Status" I replied, bringing up my page and making a predetermined choice on where to spend my points. When I had finished, I looked at my status page in contemplation.
"Placing points?"
I nodded. "Can you see the screen?"
He shook his head. "Nothing since the invite. What's your plan?"
I looked over my points. My new Class seemed to be leaning in the same direction I was.
"I was thinking of bringing my Vitality up. I did that with Wisdom at the start…"
Arthur clapped me on the shoulder. "Do you mind a little shock?"
"What for?"
He grinned. "Jakkins thanked me. You will too." He stabbed a syringe in my arm, that brought my HP to the top instantly. I barely felt it.
I felt what he did next, though.
He gripped my unarmored lower forearm and released lightning into me. I blacked out nearly instantly.
I awoke to a slew of status messages.
Physical Endurance has levelled up! Physical Endurance has levelled up! Physical Endurance has levelled up! Physical Endurance has levelled up! Physical Endurance has levelled up! Physical Endurance has levelled up! Physical Endurance has levelled up! Physical Endurance has levelled up! Physical Endurance has levelled up! Physical Endurance has levelled up! Physical Endurance has levelled up! Physical Endurance has levelled up! Physical Endurance has levelled up! Physical Endurance has levelled up! Physical Endurance has levelled up! Physical Endurance has levelled up! Physical Endurance has levelled up! Physical Endurance has levelled up! Physical Endurance has levelled up! Physical Endurance has levelled up! Physical Endurance has levelled up! Physical Endurance has levelled up! Physical Endurance has levelled up!
Due to incredibly intensive physical regeneration training, you have gained +15 VIT!
Due to incredibly intensive physical regeneration training, you have lost -2 INT!
You have gained the skill Electricity Resistance!
I shook my head, quickly realizing I was on the ground. Off to my left, Pyrrha was attempting to stab the Oblivion out of Arthur while he kept pointing towards me and staying just out of her reach despite her use of her Semblance.
I let that continue as I adjusted my point spending to account for my newfound VIT.
Status
Name: Torga
Age: 17
Level: 23
Race: Human
Class: Dragonborn I
Title: Beacon Student (First Year)
Status: Healthy
XP: 61.5%
HP: 2740
AP: 862
STR: 25
VIT: 50
AGI: 14
INT: 25
WIS: 51
LUK: 10
SP:2
Due to raising your VIT to 50, you have gained the skill Healing Factor!
Due to raising your VIT to 50, you have gained the skill Conversion!
Healing Factor (Passive) LVL:1
You have been blessed with a body that shows a propensity towards life. HP is regenerated 25% faster in combat, and 100% faster outside of it.
Conversion (Active) LVL:1
You have learned how to better utilise your Aura to affect your body. Convert 10 AP into 5 HP every second.
I did some quick calculations in my head, which I could only do now courtesy of my INT, and made a startling realization. With these boosts, I could regenerate the entirety of my health, in combat, in around 15 minutes. As it was now, I was regenerating around 4 or 5 HP per second.
In essence, it was as if I was constantly having a Healing Hands spell cast on me… by myself, and with no concentration. I decided to save the Shout Points, as tempting as it was to spend them especially if all of my Shouts now had "+100% Intensity".
I flagged down my companions, mind on my power. Pyrrha saw me up and mobile again and ceased her assault, rushing over to me.
"Torga! Are you alright? This man did something to you and you collapsed, I thought…"
I held up a finger. "I'm fine. Fantastic, actually. I just got a lot more powerful, and I mean a lot. I can heal from near death in about 10 minutes."
Arthur finished sauntering his way over as if Pyrrha hadn't just assaulted him. "Impressive. Jakkins can die three times before he doesn't come back. That's per fight. Oh, and every time he comes back even faster and with more stupid spells. Get on our level."
I huffed, and we made our way into the dungeon. Our 'chaperone' didn't do much fighting, leaving the remarkably easy skeletons to us. I used my skills, but only to level them up, not because they were necessary. Even using my Shouts would be a waste of effort. Besides, Pyrrha and I were getting better at fighting as a pair.
As we were cutting through the skeletons on the sixth floor, I sighed mid-cut. "I'm barely getting any experience from this. It's barely worth using skills on these anymore."
"Show some humility." Pyrrha said, shooting another three to pieces. "Civilians wouldn't have such an easy time of this."
I laughed as we got into the next room and I destroyed the spawn-point with a Power Strike. "Really? I'd say about half or more of Skyrim could handle this if they had a partner."
Arthur walked through the hallway as the next set of stairs appeared in the corner. "Where's Skyrim?"
I glanced at Pyrrha. "It's my birthplace. Long way from here. Regardless, if you gave every civilian a gun then fighting the Grimm wouldn't even be an issue. Not to mention…"
"Not to mention what?" She asked.
"How did you unlock my Aura? Better yet, why aren't the Hunter's unlocking every Aura that they can to help fight the Grimm?"
Arthur slid his helmet back and took a seat on a solid light chair. "Asking the tough questions quick, kid. Should probably keep those to yourself for a bit, at least until you're tougher."
"I'll just have to ask the right people." I said flatly. "Aren't I doing that now?" I pointedly walked over and picked up Boar's Tooth.
"You are." He didn't react.
"Well? Why can't civilians have Aura and protect themselves?"
"They can. When they unlock it, they usually go to a combat school straight away. Some Hunters are generational, like myself."
I put Boar's Tooth on the magnetic mount of my armor, then crossed my arms. "Why aren't there any adults in the combat schools then?"
Pyrrha cut in at this point. "Kids are much more likely to come across something they truly believe is a life or death situation."
"But you unlocked mine. Here I am, fighting and killing Grimm." I pointed out. "Sure it's a bit of a special case but it could be a lot more common if every Hunter unlocked just one person's Aura once a month or year or whatever."
Arthur snorted as he stood, the chair fading as he did so. "How long do you think it would take for a criminal to gain power over almost every civilian?"
"Then do it more often so everyone can be even." I replied. "You'd have more dangerous criminals, but you would also have an entire population able to stand up to them."
"You have fun with that." He said as he headed for the stairs. "Don't blame me when the fighting tears down the city."
We didn't talk much after that until the Respite.
We were sitting around the bonfire, with Arthur having just mentioned the oddity of the situation, when an idea struck me.
"We can't unlock all of the Aura's because the fighting would destroy the city?"
"You're still thinking about this, eh kid?" Arthur grunted around his fried chicken. I made a habit of keeping standard, homey food in my inventory, for breaks like these. He swallowed. "Look, it won't work. Not everyone is cut out to be a Huntsman."
"So who decides?" I asked in return. "Who decides who gets to have an Aura?"
"Ozpin." Arthur said immediately. "And Huntsmen. You can unlock any Aura you choose but remember, if you unlock it, by law you are responsible for the consequences of that person's Aura- fueled actions for a period of 2 years."
I glanced over at Pyrrha, who glanced away. "I see." The information began turning in my mind in an odd way. Bits and pieces flew together and equally quickly apart. Then, with no warning, my collection of random thoughts solidified into a plan.
An odd plan, one that would likely hurt some people, but it would help many more.
I sighed and got to my feet. "Time to go face the boss. Arthur if you need to prepare for a King Taijitu on steroids, now is the time."
He scoffed. "This dungeon isn't even close to my level, I'm bored enough to fight it with my bare hands."
"Right?" I agreed. "But this snake is something else."
I was wrong. The Taijitu died horribly in one punch from Arthur, that managed to burst both of its heads. He said he got bored of 'watching kids kick rocks'. I didn't even have time to attack it so he got all the XP as well.
I scooped up the loot, noting the same book and same potions had been dropped. Stoutly resolving to ensure that Arther saw none of the money for his crimes against my progress, I looked over the loot.
"Hey Torga?" Pyrrha spoke. For the first time in a while, actually.
"Yes?" I called from where I stood, flipping through Double Strike. The option didn't come up to learn the skill book, so I threw it into my inventory for later and walked over to join Pyrrha by the door. Arthur was snapping pictures of the murals on the pillars.
"Doesn't this door look… different?" I looked up at said door.
"Yea," I nodded, "there wasn't a door last time, just those stairs. What do you think?"
"Torga, I know that you're going through that door. You know I'm following you. As for what I think?" She paused. "I think that if there's something else to fight beyond the Taijitu, we should be careful."
"Hm." I knocked on the gold trimming. "I was more wondering if you could lift this door off the frame so we can take this gold. I could just burn it but I don't want to melt the metal."
She sighed as her hands gained their distorted aura. The door didn't budge.
"What, having trouble looting the door?" Arthur chuckled as he walked up to where we were. "Here, let me give you a hand." He walked up and placed a hand on one of the solid wood parts of the door, and the wood he touched slowly started to crumble away. Within half a minute, the wood was simply gone. "Programmable nano-bots." He said, bending to go through the hole in the door without opening it.
I tucked the gold into my inventory, breathing a sigh of relief when it disappeared without a trouble, and followed Arthur.
The second I stepped through the door, I was in an awfully bright and vibrant forest. Arthur was looking around shocked, and as Pyrrha materialized behind me, I swore I could feel her jaw drop. When I think about it, the Forever Fall is really the best example of a forest these guys have, save for the diseased woods outside the walls. This kind of reminded me of a glade or two I'd come across in my roaming, usually protected by a spriggan or three.
We were atop a small hill in a secluded forest. An arrow's shot would reach each of the four stone walls of the enclosure from where we stood. The trees were tall and healthy, vibrant greens clashing with hues of orange and yellow. Interspersed throughout the forest were odd white trees with only red leaves. Birds flitted through the branches and I could hear the chittering of squirrels as they lived their daily lives. Until I heard it again, I hadn't realised how offI'd felt since arriving here. The significant lack of wildlife makes me wonder how much it matters that the world is over-run by Grimm; Will they even be able to feed everyone if they expanded across the globe?
"Where are we?" Pyrrha asked. I left her unanswered as I continued to look around.
"A visitor?" A soft, light voice emerged from the forest. Shortly after, as if melting out of a tree, a naked woman stood before us. She was short, with dirty brown hair tangled with twigs and leaves.
"Observe."
Spirit of the Grove
LVL 48
I found it odd that this thing was as strong as it was, but also that it was weaker than the Taijitu.
Pyrrha, getting over her initial shock, stammered through a blushing face. "H-Hello there little one. How long have you been here?"
The spirit moved lithely towards Pyrrha as if latching onto her attention. "Three thousand years I have tended to my domain. Is it not beautiful?"
"Most impressively so." Arthur agreed with enthusiasm, his helmet retracted. "In fact, were it not for your front walkway, I'd say most of the world would like to see this."
The spirit giggled in a way that set me slightly on edge. I mean, more so than the whole millenia old thing that my present company had seemed to have forgotten. "Silly man, my beautiful forest couldn't handle the whole world at once."
"I can't handle your whole forest at once, it's… beautiful." Pyrrha agreed.
I remained wary. "Wonderful." I flatly replied, without a trace of amusement. A forest is a forest and while it did look nice, so did Solsthiem. "Tell me, are there any ornate chests or powerful beasts in your Glade?"
The spirit whipped it's full attention over to me and her hair appeared to frizz up. "I knew it. You're just like the others." A wind began howling, tossing the boughs of healthy trees. She had to raise her voice to be heard. "You just want to take, never to give!"
"No!" Pyrrha protested, throwing her arm out. "We don't want to hurt you!"
"LIES!" The spirit shrieked as she floated backwards. I don't remember the point where she started levitating. "You think I'm a fool? Your corpses will feed my grove for years, especially yours."
She said that last part while staring at me. She was almost upon her forest and her eyes had changed from brown to a glowing red. I pulled a Boar's Tooth from my inventory and sighed. This would not be fun. I gave her one last warning. "Give up the Boss, or the chest, and we leave in peace. Fight, and be slain. Those are your options."
She screeched indiscernably and melded back into her tree. "Oh no, a foe whose mortal weakness is a axe and a bit of effort." I said sarcastically as I strolled over to the tree. "I guess a big sword and a decent amount of effort should do the trick, right?"
I kept walking, but when I didn't even hear Pyrrha giving me shit for going to kill what looked like a little girl I had to look back.
Pyrrha and Arthur were on the ground, fast asleep. I opened my mouth to call out to them and was thus completely blindsided when what felt like a boulder hit me at the speed of an arrow. Of course, after tumbling through the dirt until hitting a tree, I realized that I was instead facing off against a large bear. Boar's Tooth was laying off to the side, but I was hoping I wouldn't need it. After all, this was just a normal bear, not a Grimm.
I was left underwhelmed when I hit it with the same power I hit Ozpin's window with. It was a solid hook to the head, yes, but there's no reason I should have broken its neck with that. To be fair I should have checked its level first but it was going to die for attacking me regardless.
I grabbed Boar's Tooth and brought it over to the tree that the spirit had disappeared into.
That's when an unholy abomination of animals barreled through the forest, pushing aside bushes and thick trees alike. It was huge, easily three times my own height. It was built like a wolf and a dog had mated and it bore the scarred head to match. It had talons on its thinner front legs, and hooves on the rear. The head was adorned with wickedly sharp antlers that just completed the menacing look.
It was moving so fast that I barely had time to jump back into the clearing before it knocked down the spirit's tree. I had just a moment to grab my footing before it was on me again with a pounce and swing of its claw. I swung my sword to meet its attack and was shocked when my weapon was torn from my grip and sent spinning off into the forest. I brought my arms up to try and block but a sweep of the creatures head sent me flying into a nearby tree courtesy of its wicked antlers. This tree was apparently made of sturdy stuff because it held strong.
Then it kept holding on to me when I tried to move away. I struggled to free myself as vines entangled my arms and legs. The spirit's voice whispered in my ear. "Become a part of something greater."
As I struggled I saw the beast lining up to charge me. I groaned once. "I'm great enough, thanks."
The tree rattled and my bonds tightened. A tendril began creeping its way up to my mouth. "Wait! Just one more thing before I get gored, is that okay?"
The beast didn't charge, despite being perfectly capable of doing so, and the vines ceased their movement towards my mouth so I assumed she had granted my request. I aimed my head carefully, placed the back of my skull against the trunk of the tree, and shouted at the weird beast thing.
"FUS RO DAH!"
The forest splintered. Every tree in front of me for 10 metres was simply blown away. Trees beyond that were half toppled, half knocked over by other trees. The beast had been thrown back, apparently lighter than a Goliath (although I was apparently twice as strong as then) and been luckily impaled on of the shattered trunks that littered a once beautiful patch of forest. It let out a roar of pain that choked off into a whimper as it struggled weakly to pull itself off of the trunk of a tree.
"You killed him!" The tree shrieked in my ear as the vines renewed their attempts to envelope me with terrifying haste.. "You killed my pet and destroyed my grove!
"He started it. If you don't stop it, I'll be lighting this whole forest on fire with my mind and pissing on the ashes on my way out." Had I actually been able to move at that point I would have shook my head as my HP finished regenerating back to full.
The vines immediately dropped from my limbs and I peeled myself off the tree with a grunt. I turned back to see a face looking expectantly at me. "Get your companions and leave."
I shook my head. "Sorry, can't do that. You tried to kill me."
"I knew I couldn't trust a human!" She said as she faded back into the tree. I rolled my eyes, then lit up a cone of the forest with Yol.
I was almost unprepared for the power that erupted. Just this one word Shout gave me a greater effect than when I used my full Fire Breath, with the power of the Dragon's Aspect. The trees closest to me immediately flash-burned to ash, and the flames carried on so much so that I only needed to shout once to eradicate an area the size of Riverwood.
I never saw the Spirit again, but at some point after that I got two huge bursts of experience that caused me to gain two levels. It happened during my systematic destruction of the forest, which allowed the bursts to be accounted for by the beasts final death and what I assumed was the spirit, unless she had another monster hiding that just died. Soon enough my party awoke, though they were initially going to stop me from destroying the whole place, once I reminded them we literally had to fight through Grimm to get here we agreed it was likely a bad idea to open up. Besides, who knew if anyone else even could come here?
Their brief idea to open up the grove as a park went down in flames, and Pyrrha sat on a rock nearby the golden door that had reappeared. Arthur spewed flames from his arms somehow in an effort to aid me but I pushed him back as I cast Yol. He shook his head after that and flew off, presumably to explore. I kept working for a while.
"We fell asleep."
"Yes ma'am." I replied, lining up another blast of fire.
"You didn't wake us?"
"No time."
"I meant after you won."
"You seem sure it devolved into violence." I stated. She waved at the burning forest around us. I shrugged.
"I said I would have your back." She persisted. "I'm doing a pretty bad job of it, aren't I?"
"You're not the type to need encouragement, Pyrrha. You're an amazing warrior, but you're still a kid. Don't be so hard on yourself, you've got your whole life for that." I was met with silence, which suited me because I had maybe two or three bursts left to go and I was feeling tired. Not to the point of being hampered but I felt an odd ache in the center of my chest.
Eventually, Pyrrha spoke.
"Why can't we have good things?" She pondered to herself.
"Good times create weakness." I replied as I walked over to join her, finally done. "Weakness makes soft men, and soft men cannot prevent war. War makes hard men, who defeat their enemies and fight so that we can have good times. It's an endless cycle from what I've heard."
"From what you've heard? That sounded pretty wise up until that." She said, still sounding slightly morose.
"Fight me." I shot back sarcastically. "I meant that Skyrim never really had good times so we were all a bunch of hard men and women. Anyone soft didn't make it." I thought for a moment. "Correction: Anyone soft didn't make it with the exception of nobility. They just stayed behind the walls and got drunk off of tax money for the most part."
"Sounds like you needed Huntsman."
"Hah!" I belched out. "Huntsman didn't stop that store from being robbed, remember? We did. We aren't Huntsmen, not yet, but because we did what was right, the greater evil was prevented. To me, it sounds like you either need to make everyone a huntsman, or nobody. At least get rid of the walls so your civilians can get in a fight or two and have some balls."
She shook her head. "We can't have nice things unless we fight for them, then?"
I opened my mouth to continue, but she had pretty much summed up what I was going to say.
"Damn right we can't."
Good evening ladies and gentlemen, and welcome to the author excuses show.
"But HHR, we don't want useless author exposition we want your story!"
Silly audience, I know that you don't know what you want. Quite frankly, neither did I. Which is why I had to scrap my storyboard and start fresh. Halfway through this chapter I hit a point where I didn't know where Torga was going next. Who he was going to talk to next, who he was going to fight next, what stupid side-quests he'll discover and never do.
So I scrapped it and started the new one, one with a definite end in sight but not anywhere closeby. This story wasn't going to work. I have a couple ideas to tie up loose ends but I would like a bit of brainstorming help. I was originally going to have some White Fang stuff going on but with the amount of reveals and mystery behind Season 4 and with Season 5 coming up, I don't want to dig myself into a canonical hole. Adam will be sidelined for now. I have three ideas and no idea how to set up a poll.
-Create conflict between Torga and Faction:Hunters
-Create conflict between Torga and Faction:TeamRWBY or Faction:TeamJNPR
-Remove Torga from Location:NPCHubVale
Oh and just so everyone knows, I spend at least twice as much time trying to balance all of the game aspects without just throwing status screens at you all day. Nobody wants that. So I do all the gritty organization on my end so you guys don't have to deal with it. I have been thinking about adding a status sheet to the end of each chapter but then I would have to deal with redundancy. Again, let me know what you think.
Thanks for waiting,
~HHR44