Jaune Arc, The (Non-Gamer)
Chapter 3 - Combat Classes
Today was a day like any other in Jaune Arc's school-life.
Which was to say, it was just another day of getting knocked around repeatedly by Cardin Winchester in combat class.
"Why...?" Cardin panted out, "Why won't you just freaking go down, you damn loser?!"
Honestly, Jaune didn't know why Cardin was panting so hard, either. It was taking Jaune pretty much all he had to defend against Cardin's ongoing assault, and he was pretty sure his aura was draining at a lot quicker of a rate than Cardin's was - but somehow, this time, Cardin was the one that seemed to be getting more exhausted more quickly than he was.
Whether it was luck or whatever didn't matter to Jaune - this might've been his chance to knock Cardin down a peg.
Or so Jaune thought, until he actually attempted it, and got side-swiped by Cardin in a blind spot, completely depleting the rest of his aura down to the danger zone.
Miss Goodwitch just sighed, and made a few markings on her paper report.
"Ha...!" Cardin wheezed out, "Ser-serves you right. loser...!" He panted, clearly out of breath, "That, that'll teach you to mess with the best."
"Mr. Winchester," Ms. Goodwitch commented, "Such taunts are clearly not suited for one so winded after such a simple and unsophisticated battle."
A few of the students in the background giggled. Cardin mumbled bitterly under his breath, "Says you, old hag..."
Ms. Goodwitch shot him a glare, which quickly shut him up, "What was that?"
"Nothing, nothing..." He mumbled.
"In any case," She continued, "You would do well, Mr. Winchester, to vary up your attack patterns and learn when to play it defensively as well."
"Not like I needed it, in this case!" Cardin objected.
"Granted," She replied, but not all your future foes will put up as poor of a defense as Mr. Arc did here today."
Cardin grumbled something under his breathe, but he couldn't exactly disagree with that.
"And Mr. Arc," She noted, "You still have a lot to work on. You've been improving steadily - especially on your defensive skills, which I commend you on." She said, "But you still have much to improve on in terms on capitalizing on your opponent's openings and your reaction speed. You can't just always on your armor and shield and aura reserves to defend you, especially against human opponents or particularly strong Grimm - you need to learn when and how to effectively turn the tide on the opponent as well."
"Noted..." Jaune grumbled, from his place on the ground. He was still aching a lit from Cardin's last strike, which hit like a ton of bricks. Thankfully, nothing seemed to be broken, but Cardin's hits, and especially his finishers, always packed quite a punch to them.
Luckily, his aura always to patch him up quickly enough. His first spar against Cardin had been especially from Cardin's end, but the small wounds and bruises healed surprisingly quickly - likely the difference between having aura and not having aura. Thankfully, his aura also seemed to getting quicker at healing, too, as he used it more and more. And strangely, it seemed to be feeling a bit thicker as well - not to too much of a noticeable degree, but enough for Jaune to notice a slight difference in its density compared to when he first unlocked.
Maybe that was why Cardin seemed to be having a bit more difficulty this time?
Still, Jaune wasn't sure if this aura thickening was a good sign or not, or if it might've been a sign of something going wrong - like aura swelling, or something like that. Well, he'd have to ask someone about - probably Pyrrha or Ms. Goodwitch.
Cardin stumbled back to his seat exhaustedly, while Jaune slightly limped back to his. Not his best showing, but not his worst showing since classes had begun, either.
Pyrrha was in awe.
Not in anything that Jaune had done or was doing.
But rather, in what Jaune was not doing, in a certain sense.
Jaune's aura was improving and growing a very incredible rate - at a rate of more than 10% in only a few days. Most huntsman have to train and work for a few years to getting to experience that kind of growth in their aura capacity, or to go through at least one or more years of intensive training to achieve that kind of aura growth.
Jaune was literally growing at dozens, maybe even hundreds, of times faster than most huntsman were capable of, even at their best, in the peak of their growing seasons.
Well, maybe in part it was because he didn't seem to have much proper training, beforehand. So at least part of his extremely accelerated growth might've been accounted for by that.
But even taking that into account, Jaune's growth rate was seriously pretty insane. Pyrrha had noticed it, and she was pretty sure that her teammates and Ms. Goodwitch had noticed it as well. What Ms. Goodwitch thought of it, she didn't know, but Ren seemed to think it was interesting, and a good sign of leadership, though Nora took as another sign that their leader was just awesome and would become a great knight and huntsman one day.
Jaune really did have some incredible levels of potential.
Ren had raised a valid concern about it, though - a realistic one, that if Jaune's growth continued keeping up at that rate, then might soon be outclassed or even burdens on Jaune someone day. And not even necessarily some day far away, but someday soon, within the next few years even. And Pyrrha couldn't dismiss that concern, though she wasn't quite as worried at the moment as Ren was.
More than anything at the moment, Pyrrha really just had to marvel at it - just how high, exactly, was Jaune's actual potential, at this rate - that he (or at least, his aura) could grow so fast, with only two weeks or so of training?
His skills still needed a lot of work, and they only seemed to be improving at a fairly normal (albeit slightly fast) rate, but Pyrrha was pretty confident she'd have Jaune up to speed and even somewhat more skilled than most huntsman would be, under her tutelage, by the time he graduated. But that, a very good and steady foundation and style, along with a truly monstrous amount of aura?
Jaune definitely had the potential to make a name for himself quickly once he graduated from Beacon Academy.
Honestly, at this rate, he could seriously even become some sort of legendary huntsman. One of the strongest of Vale, if not even the very strongest, by far, if he kept at it.
Even Jaune's physique seemed to improve really quickly, if their private sparring lessons where anything to go by. His muscles and physical strength seem to be growing by the day. No-not that she particular paid attention to Jaune's muscles or anything, ju-just as a...training observation.
But anyways, Pyrrha shook her head clear, if anything, the only parts he really needed work on (besides gaining more experience, especially in terms of learning when to attack and make use of openings and improving his reaction speed) was his posture, his footwork and his gripping skills.
And even the last two seemed to be improving steadily, as he learned from his spars with Cardin.
If anything, it was almost frightening, to some degree - how fast Jaune seemed to be adjusting, almost like he was learning it through instinct rather than reason, and applying it almost automatically to battle.
It seemed like it was taking Jaune a little bit longer to learn than the rest, but as soon as something seemed to click within him, or as if he had a sudden realization of how it worked, he was quick to adjust himself, adjusting his posturing and stances to more efficient positions, more force-dispersing positions.
If Cardin noticed how quickly Jaune was growing - which he almost certainly did, he certainly didn't comment on it. Probably not wanting to acknowledge it. But even he must've noticed by now.
Not only how Jaune's aura kept increasing in amount steadily by each successive match, but also just how much more effort he had to put into each hit to deplete Jaune's aura by the same amount.
In their first match, it was pretty easy, if a somewhat tedious and lengthy process, for Cardin to completely deplete Jaune's aura. Of course, Cardin could still do so, but now he was starting to sweat a lot more by the end of it, and his own aura was down 20% more than it had been in their first spar.
Honestly, in just a few short weeks time, that kind of change was an incredible difference.
Still, as Jaune's match finished up, Pyrrha mostly agreed with Ms. Goodwitch's advice. Impressive though Jaune's growth rate may be, what he really needed right now was both confidence and experience.
Both of which were best learned through real-life combat.
And Pyrrha would make sure Jaune got plenty of that.
('Not, not in any sort of weird way, though!' She noted, blushing a little bit at the sudden influx of slightly inappropriate thoughts.)
Naturally, Glynda Goodwitch had noticed the young boy's rapid growth as well.
She had though at first that perhaps his aura had simply been mis-measured, the first or second time around. Or perhaps that his semblance, if he had unlocked it, at any rate, was perhaps some sort of temporary aura inflation technique. As such, she hadn't really seen the need to report about it to the headmaster.
But as the third and fourth matches came about, as it became increasingly clear that the boy's aura increases weren't just temporary cases of aura inflation, and that he was a complete (though quickly improving) novice at all things huntsman related and aura-related (including semblances), it became increasingly clear that this boy might've been a special case - and a student with tremendous potential, if molded correctly.
She had waited until his fifth match to confirm her suspicions, but now had enough evidence documented that she could make a report of special interested to send to the headmaster.
At his desk, Ozpin seemed to be glancing (slightly glaring, even) down into his mug, and seemed to winch slightly, as he took a sip out of it.
Glynda, naturally, ignored his slightly melodramatic antics.
"Mr. Headmaster," She addressed, "This might be something you would want to look at." She noted, setting down a file of documents onto his desk.
Ozpin raised an eyebrow, "And this is in regards to...?"
"A certain student." She noted, "One who seems to be growing abnormally quickly."
That peaked his interest a little bit. A lot of students were quite talented - and they did have a few relative geniuses among the bunch almost every school year, but for Glynda to make note of it must've meant that this student was exceptional even among them - and one that had a lot of war potential.
Ozpin took a quick glance at the file. Unsurprisingly, it was about Jaune Arc.
What was surprising, however, was how quick it was! Ozpin nearly chocked on his coffee (much to Glynda's concern), when he looked over it.
'Over 10% in only two weeks? What exactly were those deities thinking?!'
At this rate, Jaune would end up powerful enough, even without any kind of infamous "cheat" skills that the heroes from Japan usually came from.
It's not that such growth was completely unheard of, but those cases were usually very rare one-time occurrences that happened under extreme circumstances and life-threatening scenarios, accompanied often by mutations or changes in their semblance. The large gains in aura of which quickly petered out over the course of a few days.
Jaune's semblance had not been discovered yet, and neither had he gone through such experiences - so from to have grown so much with only two weeks of casual training? Now that, that was unheard of.
Such drastic growth was usually accompanied by severe health problems, too - as the body often tried and sometimes failed to adjust to such a sudden expansion of aura over a short period of time. Luckily, it seemed that Glynda's stack of papers had already taken note of such as well. Glynda was as continuous as ever, he noted. But the boy's health also seemed to be doing just, with no obvious signs of distress of unfitness showing in his physical records or measured physical activities. If anything, he seemed to be doing somewhat better with each physical test, better than ever.
Not quite up to the level of a standard Beacon student yet, but quickly improving his times and scores at record-breaking speeds in his attempts at catching up.
"Hmmm..." Ozpin pondered, 'This certainly is concerning. Who knows just what exactly those other world-overseers are planning? Are they planting as an early agent to take over this world? He could be a useful piece against, but if I'm not careful, he might just end up being used as a piece against me by other-worldly forces, as well...'
"Well," Ozpin decided, "For now, just keep on an eye on the boy. At this rate, he could be our trump card against The Queen."
Glynda nodded, compliantly.
Yes. If he continued at this rate, he might just be another excellent trump card, along with the silver-eyed Ruby Rose, to keep in his fold. He might even be one of the decisive factors in his war against Salem. But even so, it would be risky to use him.
It might be better move to take him out early, maybe even very soon. Still, Ozpin was not so cold-hearted as to snuff out one of his a student's potential just for the sake of a mere possibility.
But only time would tell, whether his judgement would prove to be a mistake or not.
Jaune sighed.
While fiddling with the things privately when his teammates were all asleep (so that he didn't look like a madman), Jaune was very bitterly disappointed to find that there were no online classes, no videos or anything of the sort popping up, even after repeated clicking and fiddling with the "Knight" and "Classes" button.
In fact, to say that he was only bitterly disappointed was an understatement.
"Oh, come on...!"
When the possibility of it had appeared before him, Jaune Arc was nothing, if not giddy with elation and excitement. Now, he was filled with only bitter disappointment and very frustrated annoyance to soothe his wounded and damaged expectations.
These holograms and this whole holographic system was seriously only growing was growing more and more disappointing and annoying by the hour.
Jaune sighed again, heavy with the weight of unmet expectations. So much for his dreams of wooing Weiss over, now.
...Strangely enough, though, it did indicate that his "LVL" had gone up to 2 in "Knight", and Jaune was assuming "LVL" meant "Level", as in proficiency?
He had no way of knowing or confirming if that was actually the case or not, but it seemed to fit with the context and circumstances, so that was all Jaune could assume for now.
But Jaune didn't think he had really done much to improve in terms of his knightliness or chivalry per say. Not in any sense, really.
Maybe it was just going up because he had actually gotten into Beacon Academy and started slaying a few Grimm? Something he had never done before? Or maybe it was because he was getting closer to his dream of becoming an awesome knight that slayed Grimm wherever he went?
Well, the only two times it actually gone up, though, was during his sparring matches with Cardin, when he was mostly defending and getting beaten up with his shield, but that was probably just a coincidence.
After all, there was no way he was becoming more knightly just by defending from attacks, right? There had also been some notifications that he had apparently gained a few "skills" along the way, too, but Jaune didn't really think he had, to be honest.
Cardin was still depleting his aura pretty easily and mocking him after the matches about it, though he seemed to gradually be doing that less now, mysteriously.
Still, Jaune didn't feel like he had improved much. Cardin was still beating on him and knocking him out easily and without much effort, so where exactly where these skills that were being mentioned?
Jaune sighed, bitterly.
Why exactly was thing so annoying and so hard to use?
He really could've settled for something a lot more useful than what pretty much amounted to nothing more than a holographic Facetome machine.
"At least give me something useful, that doesn't make me feel like a stalker!"
And as if responding to his wishes, another, different, notification suddenly appeared.
Semblance Now Unlocked.
"Wha...?"
End of Chapter
Jaune's Stats VS Pyrrha's Stats
(Final Fantasy II Usage Improvement System)
STRG: 29 (+5) VS 207
AGLI: 27 (+2) VS 121
CHRS: 28 (+4) VS 151
INTL: 40 (+1) VS 77
WIS: 19 (+3) VS 56 (+1)
Aura: (4000/4000) VS (2200/2200)
Skills:
Steady Grip (LVL 1.) to Steady Grip (LVL. 4)
Proper Footwork (LVL. 1) to Proper Footwork (LVL. 3)
Passive Healing (LVL. 1) to Passive Healing (LVL. 2)
Affinity:
(Jaune) With Pyrrha - Very Friendly
(Pyrrha) With Jaune - Very Friendly, Very Interested (Curiosity Peaked)
Compatibility:
(Jaune) Compatibility with Pyrrha - High
(Pyrrha) Compatibility With Jaune - Extremely High
Affinity:
(Jaune) With Pyrrha - Very Friendly
(Pyrrha) With Jaune - Very Friendly, Very Interested (Curiosity Peaked)