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"Yes, Mister Arc! Harder!" Professor Goodwitch commanded, making him focus even more strength into his next thrust.
With the crack of splitting air a condensed ball of auric energy slammed into a stationary target, nearly going through.
"Good. Again!" At the command of his newly appointed personal mentor he repeated the movement.
Bringing his hand near his side he focused and condensed energy into it, creating a small ball of barely stable Aura. When it was dense enough he thrusted his arm forward, simultaneously imagining it shooting away like a bullet.
With another crack of air the Aura bullet slammed a bit to the side of his earlier attempt, this time burrowing straight through and even scuffing the reinforced wall beyond.
"That's enough." Miss Goodwitch announced, walking a bit closer to examine the damage he caused.
Slumping slightly, Jaune let out a sigh. He didn't even remember when he felt so drained last time, his new mentor didn't fool around with the training after all.
Nearly a week after his strange outburst during the combat class, their combat instructor approached him during one of his meditation sessions.
He didn't know what to think at that moment, if he had to choose he would say that he was in trouble because of how injured his opponent was after the spar.
Turns out that the strongest Huntress in the kingdom saw potential in him, even offering her mentorship to his complete shock. What kind of idiot would he be to refuse the help of one of the best fighters in the world?
Panting slightly from exertion, he straightened himself back up from the hunched over position he rested in, just to remember why he was slightly hunching over to begin with.
A few meters in front of him was the woman of the hour, the huntress capable of defeating thousands of Grimm by herself, the combat instructor who was responsible for the next generations of hunters, the infamous disciplinarian of Beacon Academy who was so strict that even other teachers were afraid of her.
And she was parading around the training room in booty shorts and little more than a sports bra.
As a warm blooded male, Jaune could easily agree that Glynda Goodwitch was a real beauty. She had that disciplinarian / teacher / secretary look worked out to perfection.
The way she looked right now gave him such a large whiplash that he rounded back up to normal, just for her to bend over before him to examine the target closer.
Oh Gods… He really hoped that he wouldn't pop a stiffy in front of the teacher, being with her one on one.
"This seems good…" The still bending over woman murmured more to herself then to him, tracing the ragged hole in the target with one of her fingers.
Gods damn it…
"Your penetrating power is quite good, could be better though. We will focus on that and the rate of fire to begin with." Professor Goodwitch said, turning back to him.
"That's a good idea." Jaune agreed, mentally sweating bullets and trying to discern if his new mentor was doing all of this on purpose. "I accidentally invented this technique when I was trying to learn The Stream, I'm still trying to work it out."
"Ah, yes. I remember it from the initiation." Professor Goodwitch nodded in recognition, making certain parts of her body jiggle from the rather sharp motion. "I have to ask. Did you wait for a good opportunity or did it really take so long to prepare?"
"It takes time. I'm focusing a really big amount of Aura into a condensed sphere of energy and then allow it to go in only one direction. It's really basic but the real trick is in focusing the energy and releasing it in a steady and continuous way."
"Hmm… we will work on that on a later date. Let's focus back on the basics, then we'll expand." Professor Goodwitch mussed, crossing one of her hands under her bust while using the other to gesture.
Okay… Jaune was nearly certain that she was doing this on purpose. There's no way that she would so casually use a pose that would accentuate her boobs so much. He may have been a student at Beacon for barely a few weeks but he never saw her doing that.
"Also, there's the issue of your weapon. While it's more of a technicality and I'm sure that with enough practice you could utilize your Aura blade in a non-lethal capacity, it would be a good idea to also think about something that could double as a focus for your Aura techniques." His new mentor continued, not giving him any time to recover.
"I'll… I'll ask Ruby about it? She seems to have her weapons figured out. Maybe she'll be able to give me some advice." He reluctantly agreed.
"Good. Now, let us resume this training. Moving targets should suffice for now. Try to destroy as many as you can." For some reason, the small glint in the older woman's eyes caused him to shudder slightly.
His only warning was the sound of something cutting through air as a small clay disc impacted into the side of his torso, turning into dust as it crashed into his Aura with enough force to make him stumble.
"Situational awareness is important, Mister Arc. I'm aware that you don't have any previous combat training, but that only means that you have much more to learn compared to your peers." Glynda said, lazily flicking her weapon to send two more clay pigeons at him.
Barely dodging the first one, Jaune felt how the second one crashed into his shoulder blade with enough force to sting a little.
When the third attack came he was already prepared for it, firing off a blast of auric energy to intercept it before the small clay disk reached him… Just for his attack to go wide and the small clay disk to smack him straight in his stomach.
This was going to be a long session.
XxX
Arthur Watts was a lot of things.
He was extremely intelligent, handsome beyond belief and the owner of the most glorious mustache the world of Remnant ever had the pleasure of witnessing.
Beyond that, he was a faithful subject of his Queen. It was only natural to bow your head before his betters, so he did bow only to her Majesty.
She did give him home when his own country wanted to execute him for petty and unimportant reasons like experimentation on humans and faunus or using government sanctioned funding to further his own robotics research.
She understood that progress needed sacrifices, even if they were unwilling.
He supported all her plans with all of his might and intellect, he was the most intelligent being on this rock flying through space after all.
It was the only reason why he was tolerating fools like Tyrian or Cinder. Hazel was okay. He knew his place and didn't make a fuss about anything. The big guy even allowed the good doctor to do a bit of research on him, that pain nullifying Semblance of his was quite something.
There was a bit of a problem though.
Lately, his Queen was making moves out of his predictions, like ordering him to establish an untraceable account for her own use and to coordinate with Cinder to purchase an unassuming apartment in the city of Vale.
She also ordered all of the operations in the vicinity of the kingdom to cease a few months ago, putting a few of his projects on pause.
Now she ordered him to procure magazines about fashion and style.
Maybe she was preparing Cinder for something? She did send the young girl into enemy territory after all.
Nonetheless, he wasn't going to question the most powerful being on the planet why she was doing something. He was intelligent enough to understand that it could be detrimental to his health after he brushed with death when he tried to enter her quarters to install her personal terminal. He ended up setting everything up on top of the ornate desks he was provided and then everything was carried away by one of the Grimm that resembled an ape.
A Beringel if he remembered correctly.
Entering the dining hall he spotted one of his co-workers, in the loosest meaning of that word, sitting in his chair with a slightly depressed face.
Now, it wasn't anything new, but for Tyrian to properly sit on the chair instead of perching on it, it had to be serious.
"Hello, Tyrian. Something on your mind?"
The scorpion faunus only let out a groan, slumping deeper into his chair.
"Our glorious Goddess doesn't want me any more…" He grumbled out, hiding his face in his palms. He even had black bags under his eyes, as if he wasn't able to sleep for a long time.
Letting out a sigh, he sat across the faunus, observing the unhinged man.
"Tyrian." Hearing his name the scorpion man shifted slightly as if to indicate that he was paying attention. "Don't you think that if our Queen wouldn't have any use of you any more then she would just dispose of you?" He asked bluntly.
"I did think that! I did! And I would happily tear out my own heart for my Goddess if she so desires!" Tyrian nearly shouted, straightening in his seat. "But our most benevolent goddess didn't give me that order… She hasn't given me any orders since I went to Haven… Do you think that she is displeased? Maybe I did something wrong?" Crumbling back on top of the table he started to wail, tears included.
"Tyrian, my good frr… My frie… Tyrian." Watts started, the word he planned to use not able to leave his mouth. "Even I with my vast intellect can't fathom what our Lady has planned."
"Truly?" The faunus across from him asked, suddenly full of hope.
"Yes. The only thing we can do is to follow her instructions and orders. For a long while I thought that our Lady just didn't plan anything grand but lately Lady Salem started to take action, like with sending you to conquer Mistral through the Haven academy or sending Cinder into her enemy's seat of power." He continued. "The only thing we can do is to wait until we are needed and to make sure that we are in the best possible shape to do whatever our Lady needs."
"Yes! YES! Now I see it! How could I have been so foolish? Of course!" Tyrian exclaimed, once more straightening himself.
Smiling, Watts patted himself figuratively on the back, once more succeeding with what he set himself on.
"Sasuga Salem-sama!" The deranged man shouted with glee in old Mistralian.
He might not be able to understand his Goddess's plans but he can keep her minions in order at least.
X
"What about a staff that changes into a cruise missile that is also a gun?" A small red blur of rose petals asked, moving across the room from place to place, rebounding multiple times from the walls and even the ceiling like a crack addled spider monkey thingy.
"Ruby…" A blonde boy tried to get its attention, not succeeding at all.
"There were those cool, electrically powered chainguns in the last issue of The Biggest Gun, we NEEEEED to incorporate that too."
"Ruby, wait…"
"What about a chainsword-javelin-chakram combination that is also a gun?" Ruby continued, a small pile of supplies needed to design and produce a weapon slowly gathering on one of the tables while the red cloud of rose petals continued to zip from place to place.
"Chainsword?"
"Wait!" The girl suddenly stopped, her silver eyes catching the overhead lights in an angle that caused them to nearly glow. "What about a scythe-great sword-Atlesian coilgun? Would you like one of thoseeee?" In a flash the small girl was dangling from the collar of his shirt, nearly making him stumble, while staring so deep into his eyes that he started to feel tingly all over.
That could be because she was accidentally choking him, too.
"...Grhghfff…" He eloquently replied, which for some reason caused the smol red reaper to squeal in happiness as she once again dematerialized and returned to her previous work.
"Yeshhhh!" Did she just bite her tongue? "... Awie…" Yes. Yes, she did.
"Ruby… I'm sorry but all I need is…"
"An idea! Double bladed great combat scythe with TWO high caliber Atlesian coilguns that can transform into a greatsword with hard light enhanced cutting edge! That's genius, Jaune!" The small girl excitedly exclaimed, one of her hands becoming a blur on the sheet of design paper. He could admit that it was a bit impressive how fast the first sketch was forming just before his eyes.
"Ruby!" Raising his voice, he winced slightly when his small friend jumped in surprise, drawing a long and thick black line across her 'design'.
"Y-yeh?" And again with biting her tongue…
"I really appreciate what you are doing here, and the fact that you agreed to help me with this when I don't even know what's happening but… I don't need a ballistic missile toothbrush combo." From the way she blushed deep red he could see the realization of what she did setting in.
"O-oh… I'm sorry…" Pulling her hood over her head, Ruby quietly apologized while kicking the ground with the tip of her combat boot. "It's just so rare for anyone to want my help, especially with something I love so much…" She mumbled, visibly embarrassed.
"It's okay. I understand." He truly didn't. "Let's start with something simple and then we try to think of expanding, okay?"
"Yeah, that sounds good." Despite the reddened face and the blush the young girl smiled back at him, now a bit more focused and down to earth.
"Okay… Professor Glynda recommended that I should use my weapon as a focus for my Aura. I also can already tell that I was rather comfortable with a one and a half handed sword so we have our basic form." Jaune started, smiling slightly at the gleam of happiness in Ruby's eyes. She really did like weapons.
"Hmm… Aura conductivity in weapons isn't that hard to achieve… we have a couple of options there." She mused, bribing out a fresh sheet of design paper and scribbling something on the side. "What else?" She asked, turning her sight back to him.
"I don't really know at the moment… Maybe if I could use my flashsword to create a cutting edge then the core sword itself could be blunt to have more non-lethal options?" He proposed. "We could also experiment with using it as a way for me to properly aim my Aura bullets. I can use them barehanded at a short distance but honestly I'm just eyeballing it all the time. Maybe something that would allow me to achieve mid or even long range accuracy would be nice?"
"That's a good idea… maybe something like a rail more than a barrel, it would be able to accept a variable size instead of forcing you to create something identical every time…" Ruby mumbled to herself more than to him.
It honestly made him smile when the younger girl once more started to passionately focus on the project. It made him feel a bit bad with how much she was doing for him… Yang commented at some point that her sister was a bit of a cookie monster… Maybe he should bake her something? That felt like a good idea.
Feeling that his scroll buzzed with a new message he absentmindedly took it out and glanced at the screen. It took him a few seconds to understand what he was reading but when he did a single surprised huff of laughter left his mouth.
"Cinder's trying to get a hold of you again?" Ruby asked with a Yang patented smirk.
Sighing, Jaune couldn't help but smile at the girl. It was a fact that for some reason his team leader was not so subtly trying to get more of his attention than it's strictly normal, even getting a bit touchy when they were stretching after a particularly brutal training. It didn't help that his own partner was more than pleased that she could spend a lot more time with Ren when Cinder started to hang around with him.
"Nah. Just some good news from a friend." He waved her off, returning to their conversation.
Once more starting to discuss his new weapon with Ruby he couldn't help but smile and feel giddy. Not because of the new, potential weapon though.
"QueenSally: Hey! I'll be heading to Vale for some work related things in the next week. Would you like to meet up?"
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