The Arcane Craftsman

by The White Wulf

The class system was rigid. Everyone has a role. A hero fights, a noble leads, and the laborers work. But there existed a class above all others. Since the dawn of history the prestige class was filled with heroes, warriors of unparalleled might and exceptional growth. Until a laborer got stuck in a dungeon. Behold the Arcane Craftsman, the first prestige labor class.

9. Chapter 9

Updated February 2021

Arcane Craftsman Chapter 9:

Jaune blinked his eyes as he got up from his bed. His back cracked as he grimaced, a present from sleeping in his newfound bed. Jaune grumbled as he rested his face into his hands. So many concerns and so little time.

"Last night was not fun" grumbled Jaune with a chuckle.

Indeed, it had not been. Sleeping in his bed was in fact the worst decision that Jaune had ever made in his life to date. It escaped him why he bothered to sleep in it and not the floor.

"Note to self" chuckled Jaune "don't sleep in a decades old bed".

Jaune blinked as he stood up and went to his window. When the sunlight hit him Jaune couldn't help but feel…incredible. It wasn't a surge of raw power but rather a surge of energy. The kind that coffee or a nice shower would give. Quickly Jaune lost his exhaustion and remembered what he learned the other day. He had been blessed by the sun and with that blessing came power and unseen benefits. It would appear being energetic during the day was one such benefit.

"…is it dawn out?" muttered Jaune.

It would seem that Jaune was more in tuned with the sun than he thought as he watched it slowly rise into the sky. But that was alright. He had a lot to do today. After all, he had six days now to prepare for the B rank weapon he was tasked to create. In the beginning Jaune was confident but yesterday, in light of his success, came with some unexpected problems.

There was of course the concern for materials. As far as Jaune could see anything B rank was either extremely rare or simply not in the market, period. Umbral stone was a good example of a B rank material that was available but rare.

"I could make a stone staff but…"

The Umbral stone, while B rank in quality, was not exactly something Jaune wanted to make into a weapon. While the mana within it was powerful it was still simply rock. Better to use metal for a blade, the edge would be sharper and easier to maintain. Jaune also contemplated a shield but decided against it. The one defensive enchantment he could do was not viable. The system pinged as Jaune looked over his enchantment. He knew instantly what he could accomplish with his current skill level, but it didn't hurt to have the system double check for him.

Enchantment: Damage Reduction!

Damage reduction is an A tier enchantment! The player is too weak to fully utilize this enchantment. Reduce the damage taken or given! This enchantment can filter the damage taken by the user, reducing the overall effectiveness of any attack physical or magical! Current effects: -0.0003% damage.

Jaune sighed as he shook his head. It made sense all things considered but it didn't change the fact that the number he was given was just ridiculous. Jaune knew that regents could, in theory, increase the effectiveness of any of the runes that Jaune employed how he'd go about that he didn't yet know. Ruby's scythe was an example of the regent method in a crude fashion, since her fire-based runes were enhanced by both the steel and the branch.

He knew he could feed runes directly with certain regents but again he didn't know how just yet. Jaune was confident he could find quite a few materials of sufficient rank just in the markets of Beacon. But time was the issue. Could he fine said materials within just six days? Not with the merchant guild screwing around unrestricted right now. He could try Vale but that too was unlikely. Aside from building materials who would carry B rank metal? Steel was made not naturally found in mines after all. It would be time consuming finding anything useful.

"I can't afford screw ups" muttered Jaune "….damnit it Blake was right. I should have left the crystals to be used for those nobles."

One might wonder why Jaune was so worried. In truth the nobility mattered little in the grand scheme of things. Jaune desired no connection with them and he it's not like he needed their buisness. Thanks to the dungeons Jaune was able to procure a living without resorting to manual labor or his class, as fun as it was for him. The issue was not long term but short term. The issue specifically was fame. Jaune needed to be well known if he wanted to go to Atlas anytime soon. Atlas was without question a kingdom centered on magic. If he could get his name far and wide as someone who could create B rank weapons without issue? Then Atlas would come calling…and he would be one step closer to his mother. Jaune knew that the second he tried to go to Atlas on his own that Uther would try something. His grandfather was just the type to orchestrate an accident of some kind. The gies the man was bound to prevented him from harming him but Jaune was sure his grandfather had other means. Screw ups could not be tolerated. Perhaps it was simply paranoia, his name was different after all and his class was not the same. But even so, no chances were taken in Jaune's considerations.

As such time was not a commodity that Jaune had a lot of. If he failed here it could be years or months when the opportunity would present itself again with either a free ride or him getting enough money to stay in Atlas for whatever time he needed.

With all this said and done Jaune needed to be prepared as soon as possible. So far, he had a plan but whether it was a good one or not was up for debate. Like any half decent plan, it would let him kill numerous birds with one stone in the shortest time frame possible. But like everything Jaune had encountered there were some roadblocks. Materials were one thing but there was more to it.

The second issue Jaune had was control. After giving Blake her now favorite daggers, Jaune had been requested to ignite all the debris that Yang and Pyrrha had collected at the front the other night. Simple enough…expect that he accidentally almost started a forest fire. He ignited the bonfire only for it to explode in a fiery tornado of destruction from the increase of Jaune's rank. It was completely unexpected. Jaune swallowed hard as he stared at his hands. When Jaune rose from E to C the jump in power was small with each rank. He barely felt it. Now it felt as if he was supercharged. Jaune was just a simple blacksmith with normal stats before but now Jaune was an Arcane Craftsman, his stats were far higher, and Jaune's passive evolved. As such the jump in power was far more drastic for him the average person.

"Is this what heroes have?" muttered Jaune "this kind of power?"

It was humbling, exhilarating, and worrying all at the same time. That his flames were so destructive was great, it made fighting easier, but the lack of control made it where it was a danger to allies now. Suffice to say what should have been a night of relaxation had turned into a stressful time for Weiss. Jaune felt guilty for making the poor girl wake up from her nap to clean up his mistake.

"I should probably make something for her…I never made a staff before" thought Jaune.

Jaune shrugged as he turned from the window and inspected his room. His room was gigantic, an easy 23 by 32-foot space. There used to be other beds in it but as they all noticed, they were garbage for the most part. Jaune made due with this old one but that was beside the point. It was weird being in such a large space with just a damn bed in one corner. In the upper floor alone, there were almost fifteen rooms like this across the expanse. A show of just how massive this building truly was…and how gaudy the people that once lived in it were. Jaune grunted as a ignite some fire in his right palm. He sighed in worry as he felt it try to escape his grasp violently. He crushed it but stared at his hands afterword's.

Ignoring the poor forge he utterly desecrated not days ago, Jaune's flames were not that powerful before now. He could ignite enemies of course, but if the creatures were strong enough, they could use their own mana, like Jaune does, to smother the flames out almost instantly. Monsters were annoyingly good at using their own mana in such a way. His C rank flames didn't even make his friends sweat, they mostly veered away on instinct than anything. However, now at B rank his flames were more violent and destructive than ever before. Jaune shuddered to think what might happen during the forging process. The materials would be fine, his passive regulated how much heat was imposed on whatever he was working with after all. But the surrounding area? Jaune already destroyed one forge at C rank. God knows how much damage he could do now. He would have to be careful from now on until he gained greater control.

There was also the fact that Jaune just knew that his lack of control was going to bite him in the ass. Magic was more than just skills after all and if he wanted to craft better items than he needed to master magic and in controlling his mana. Magic was in fact his most troubling concern, specifically the magic of runes. Jaune traced the rune for fire into the air with his passive, lacking the ability to do so with just his mana. The rune puffed out more fire, but was quick to dissolve. Jaune growled in annoyance as the sparks from the rune ignited on his floor. A surge of his mana dampened the flames, albeit with more difficulty than he had the other day. Jaune drew a second rune the rune for return…and it simply exploded without a sound. Shattered into petal like pieces so small they couldn't ignite something if Jaune wanted them to. Jaune had noticed that the runes regarding fire were as easy as breathing. He instinctively understood the runes completely and without thought. When Scathach downloaded the entire runic language into his head Jaune had learned numerous runes that all found their power in fire.

The rune for fire and flames.

The rune for burning.

The rune for heat.

The rune for hell.

The rune for sun.

There was even a rune for blaze, gods know why.

Anything that centered around fire in anyway Jaune could grasp immediately and without issue. The other runes were harder to bring up and he didn't understand them as fluidly but Jaune thought that was normal considering how he learned them. It wasn't until yesterday, when he used different runes in crafting for the first time, that he noticed something off. Jaune drew the rune again, this time closing his eyes and focusing. He began to sweat as he slowly drew the rune, careful to not have one line out of place. As he finished the rune's power turned his flames white…than exploded without a sound. It lasted a few seconds longer this time but was still a failure.

"I knew it" grumbled Jaune as he watched the broken remains of the rune sputter out again.

The bonuses that Jaune had with his class seemed useless for the most part. Numbers and bonuses that in truth meant nothing to Jaune. After all they did nothing to boost his ability to actual build his weapons. It wasn't as if some autopilot took over and told him where to strike and shape the metal, when to cool it, and so on. However, when Jaune created Blake's weapons he had used materials and runes not native to his natural element, fire. The backlash was more violent but Jaune attributed that to a lack of spirits helping him. It wasn't until he finished the weapon and consolidated the mana that he saw it.

The runes he had engraved were not straight and true. They were unstable and were cracking as he made Blake's daggers. They were on the verge of breaking apart when Jaune finished up…that is until he felt a tug in his mana. Suddenly the runes righted themselves if a little crookedly. Jaune thought it was just the runes settling in…but he was just kidding himself.

It wasn't until Jaune had gone to sleep that he finally admitted to himself the truth. His class, the Arcane Craftsman, was using the bonuses and skill increases to fix his runic mistakes. He knew the rough shape of every single rune but he had not mastered them. He understood how to create the runes but he did not understand them individually. He understood how enchantments were supposed to look like and function but he did not understand how they were made.

It was without question…exhilarating.

Jaune let a wild grin spread on his face. Sure, his class fixed his mistakes for now but that meant that when he did it right that his class would bolster them beyond the norm. Jaune had figured he'd need practice with his runes beforehand, hence his original plan to simply forge items over and over with different runes to practice. He just never realized how bad it was until now. Even with his rudimentary knowledge Jaune knew that Blake's daggers could have handled strings of runes working together to strengthen a few effects. No B rank weapon could handle more than two or three different effects, the weapon would just shatter from being overloaded with power and too many concepts. But multiple runes enhancing and honing singular effects? That was another story. They would have remained B rank obviously but the runes they were imbued with would have been stronger and thus made her blades even more deadly.

"So much more to discover" smiled Jaune.

There was no question. There would come a day when Jaune would create masterpieces, true works of art and power. But that day was a long time ahead. If Jaune didn't die first. It was moments like this that made Jaune have a love hate relationship with one skill in particular. Rune Sight. Through the skill Jaune was able to learn any rune and enchantment so long as they were visible in some fashion. Jaune couldn't help but shake his head at how stupidly broken his rune sight truly was. It let him comprehend and understand runes in their entirety, including enchantments. Jaune scowled as he realized why Scathach probably didn't like the method she used to aid him. It wasn't that it would have killed him if he was too weak but rather that giving him the knowledge without experience irked her as a teacher. Well, Jaune would have to fix that. Which lead to Jaune's plans for the day.

Coco and the others were arriving today, but Jaune didn't have to be with his guild when they arrived. There was also the contact that Blake mentioned but again Jaune was not necessary as he planned to be back within a few hours anyways. Weiss so far had been amazing in steering the guild through the ravage seas that was Beacon's politics. So, in light of Weiss's competency Jaune decided today was the best day to do it. He had no idea what the next few days would bring so it was best to go now, when times were relaxed.

It was time to return to the punishment zone. The materials he needed was most likely there and the guild needed to save as much money as they could. There was no telling what rewards he would gain this time and honestly? He needed a place to be with himself for a while and meditate on his runes.

So, to avoid building said suspicion Jaune had written a note for his guild and placed it at the foot of his door in the hallway. Jaune took a breath as he reentered his room. He opened the daily training menu. The timer stated he had twenty minutes left before he went.

"Alright" said Jaune "I got time. Let's check this thing out, uh…System access store."

It was time to figure out what the actual fuck this thing considered a store. The system didn't notify Jaune about anything to his surprise. He honestly expected some kind of welcome message or something. Instead it simply brought up a blue screen with items and prices in gold. To Jaune's surprise he had over 3000 pieces of gold and a 1 ticket symbol beside it. It also had the amount of lien he had on hand. It was a pitiful number in his opinion.

"I really need to sell some weapons…and gold? Does this thing need actual gold?" asked Jaune.

The System does not take lien but rather a unique currency called "Gold". This has zero relation to the mineral of the same name. Gold is used to buy items from the store. Some items are auto generated and others are items sold by other players from across multiple multiverses.

"….I can trade with players?"

Jaune didn't know what a multiverse was but he figured it would just give him headaches.

Correct. The trade feature is unlocked when the player meets a friendly player or reaches level 78. For now the player lacks the funds for any item within the store. But the player has a store ticket that is usable for any item in the store.

Jaune swallowed. Considering that the system had never lied to him yet…it meant that there were players from all walks of life…perhaps even from other worlds like the gates that were connected to his system in some way. There was also the fact that the system implied that not all of them were friendly. But if they were from other worlds why not just say it? Whatever a multiverse was Jaune was sure it was just going to give him a headache.

"How can I get gold?" asked Jaune, keeping it simple.

Gold is acquired from completing system quests. As the player grows so too will their rewards from the "System".

"How often do other players use this?" asked Jaune.

Admittedly very little. The store is excellent for when the player is looking for specific items or effects. However, if the player does not require something urgently than the store is of little use. Most players use the store to free up space within their inventories and make gold. As of to date, the Player known as "Jaune/Artorias Pendragon" is the only player connected to Salem. As such their benefits include limitless inventory, much like the limitless expanse of the abyss.

Jaune took out his arcane tools from his inventory, ignoring the edgy abyss line the system fed him. The chisel and hammer had hairline cracks running along their forms, the damage from working on items too powerful to withstand showing.

"System can you show me Arcane Craftsman tools?"

Inputting search request! Results found!

Sigurd's old tools (C+). Price: 4,912,891.

Slightly less shitty Arcane Craftsman tools (C+). Price: 1,143,217

Dummy magic tools for beginners! (C). Price: 828,321

Shitty Arcane Craftsman tools (C). ALREADY OWNED

"…Is this seriously it?" asked Jaune "and why is the first one so expensive!?"

Unfortunately, yes. While the system store is tailored to each specific player, the user is the first labor class. As such the store is limited in the quality and number of Arcane tools available in stock. Visiting other worlds and completing unique quests can expand the options available!

Jaune blinked as he began to realize how convenient and broken this damn thing was. Jaune almost couldn't decide. He could get a super rare material but that was…a waste in his opinion. He could get a good weapon, armor, maybe even some helpful items.

"Let's try this" muttered Jaune "System…is there something I should get?"

Jaune nearly jumped out from his skin as the system notified him immediately.

Limited/Zero Over Blacksmith armor. Price: 1,521,875,198

Jaune did near a spit take at the absurd price of this armor.

"What the hell is this!?" whispered Jaune.

Due to the player's passive "Stoke the forge" any material touched by their flames will reach forge temperatures. While this is great for creating items the player's own clothes are incinerated. Should the player be wearing armor it is possible for it to be stripped and destroyed by the player's own passive when in combat. While there are certainly armor sets capable of withstanding the player's passive for long periods of time, they too would eventually become brittle and weak due to the constant exposure and need constant maintenance. The Limited/Zero Over Blacksmith armor is an armor set that rejects the concept of fire and heat. Thus, it is impossible for The Player's passive to damage this set or be damaged by fire in turn. This would allow the player to retain their clothing and armor in both crafting. By obtaining this set the player will also gain access to the enchantments that make up such a phenomenon. Should the player replicate these effects they can transfer this power to any armor set they please. The player's weapons are protected by currently unknown means that originates from the player themselves. WARNING: While functional, this armor's effectiveness in battle is lower than others of a similar rank. It is inadvisable to use this set for combat when better alternatives are available.

"Did…did you just help me?" asked Jaune, surprised at the long list of information that the system gave him and yet another hint at some kind of odd power the system couldn't make sense of. Jaune honestly didn't expect the system to actually offer something. Yet, in this case the system had a point. Any material available in the store that was super rare and powerful was useless in Jaune's hands currently. Working with materials greater than him in strength was a death sentence anyways. Even if he did survive like he did the last two times the material would lose most of its power.

"Not exactly worth spending a ticket like this on something I might break" muttered Jaune.

He didn't have time to constantly take risks over and over. He had to carefully judge when it was time to act and the time to think it through. He already regretted making Blake's daggers so early. Now he was rushing. Weapons were a no go for him as well. Any B rank weapon he can just create at this point, albeit with some difficulty. A rank weapons were useless as it would probably kill him when he tried to use it. Jaune could also make armor, but if what the system was saying was true…than this would change everything.

"What's the item's rank?" asked Jaune.

This item's rank is B, obviously

"Ok don't need the sass" grumbled Jaune.

The Player should not ask redundant questions! The armor set boasts immunity to heat and boosts crafting abilities by 25% and Runes by 15%. This makes it ideal for the player's beginner rune crafting abilities. The extra boost will help fill in the player's inexperience.

"There are a lot of numbers involved with this" muttered Jaune "I know my bonuses are fixing my mistakes but do they even mean much?"

No, they're just there for show.

"Wait seriously?"

Incorrect. The player's crafting abilities are not measured numerically. The passives, bonuses, and skill boosts are all centered on increasing the items power, not increasing the player's literal ability to craft. Any structural mistakes are due to the player's own hands, rather than skills. The effects of runes, the durability of an item, and how much power an item can withstand are some of the specific points that your bonuses address. It is why the B rank items the player has crafted so far have no durability counter while the Gae bolg does. They either break or are in perfect condition. But even so the player has not yet reached the pinnacle of their skills. It is due to this that the player has lacked any failures. They are not making B rank weapons to their full potential.

"Pinnacle?"

The player has not yet fully mastered their skills. They have at most fused two or three skills in minute bursts that only lasted for short periods. It is technically possible to maintain constant use of their skills. While the drain on their mana is excessive, the amount of power that be brought forth can in theory increase the bonuses that can be attributed to the item being created. By fusing all their skills and maintaining focus to create runes at the same time this would allow the player to break through the standard rankings, in theory. The difficulty of this is immense however. Such a state is pure magic and the player's skills would be unable to function as intended, the player themselves will have to shoulder the full functionality of each skill in use rather than let the skill work for them. At the player's current level of power and the skills at their command it is possible to bend the rankings and achieve B+ weapons and armor. These items can withstand more runes than their standard brethren but are still too weak to attain A rank. This would allow the player to further diversify their weapons and armor. The question is…can you accomplish this feat?

"…I thought I got rid of the whole "pretend to be human" thing" said Jaune.

The system has reduced the frequency as the player requested. Buy the armor or don't but cover your bum for the love of Gods.

Jaune tried not to laugh but failed as he shook his head.

"Ah, I forget you could be funny."

The system is not an individual.

"Then stop acting like one!" laughed Jaune.

Fuck you.

Jaune felt tears form in his eyes as he tried not to chuckle. Jaune sighed as he shook his head and double checked his letter. He nodded in satisfaction. He took a breath and nodded.

"System…buy the armor."

Understood. Transferring armor set to inventory. Would the player like to equip the armor?

"Sure" said Jaune.

Equipping armor.

A light covered Jaune and he felt armor of suitable weight cover his body. His upper body was covered in a crimson kimono that showed his chest a bit. His lower body held some pants that were weighed and had armor sewed within it. Some additional plates of small armor covered his right thigh. He also had a pouch secured to his right though over said plates, a place that could store his hammer and chisel. Under his kimono Jaune noticed that both his arms were covered in a strange red cloth with black symbols on either arm. The cloth secured itself by tying around his ribs and back. Both arms were covered to his shoulder and were hidden by the white kimono.

Jaune blinked at how tight and fitted this armor was.

"This fits…perfectly" muttered Jaune "how? There's not a chance this suit was designed for me."

Magic.

"Oh…right" smiled Jaune "….I'm ready. System, is there a way to accelerate the punishment zone?"

Is the player sure?

"I'm sure. Send me in."

Understood. Forcibly accelerating timer…..6.5.4.

Jaune swallowed and rolled his shoulders. He wasn't use to wearing armor…but he would adjust. Once he was in the punishment zone, he could inspect it further but one thing was apparent. The runes that empowered this set were not visible. As such rune sight was useless.

"Just another challenge" grinned Jaune.

Welcome…to the punishment zone!

Jaune felt the familiar tug to his stomach as the world around him twisted in place and all Jaune saw was darkness. His note, situated below his door, stood innocently, saying that he was just in the city for the day and would return when he was done. Unbeknownst to Jaune…a certain mage was awake glaring at the ceiling, annoyed that their resident blacksmith was fooling around with magic so early in the morning.

Weiss blinked as she felt Jaune's raging mana just disappear without warning.

"Jaune?"

-Punishment zone 2, a few seconds later-

Jaune opened his eyes and expected almost anything. A raging monkey, a giant golem, maybe even a screeching penguin or something. Instead he was surrounded….by grass. A long ass meadow surrounded Jaune on all sides with grass as tall as his waist. Jaune twisted around to try and see anything but nothing came up. A few more seconds passed and Jaune blinked.

"So uhh…this is the punishment zone?"

Correct! Welcome to the punishment zone. Since you have cleared the first zone you have achieved some new benefits! The player is free to use mana recovery items but healing items are still nullified. The spellcaster's blessing has nullified the nullifying effect…not again.

"So same as last time" smiled Jaune, making his way through the grass and looking for landmarks.

Jaune jumped over eighteen feet as he tried to get elevation. He saw large swaths of forests and rock formations. However, far into the distance, was what looked like a building of some kind.

"So north I go" muttered Jaune as he landed.

The young man blinked as he heard a familiar ping.

There are new restrictions and benefits available to the player. The player can now use hearth stones to escape the punishment zone whenever they wish. These stones can be dropped by enemies or found. The player can also gain pass tickets to avoid coming to the punishment zone once per ticket. These are gained from daily training. Kill the boss to clear the punishment zone! Clear any hidden quests, if available, to increase reward chances and drops! Good luck! Current time for survival: 12 hours.

"Twelve hours!?" yelled Jaune.

Correct. The player currently has 12 hours to survive. Time dilation is currently in effect. While the player is trapped only three hours will pass in their original world. As the player progresses through the punishment zones the time dilation will increase further. Also, duck.

"WhA!"

Jaune felt something bite into his arm ferociously and tried to drag him down into the grass. Jaune's new armor gave some resistance but eventually was torn away from his left arm. Jaune yelled as he beast bit deeper, hitting his flesh.

"AHHH!"

Jaune looked down and noticed a red furred wolf with a metallic lower jaw glaring at him with crimson eyes within the grass. The demonic red eyes told Jaune that this was a monster rather than an animal.

Inspect!

Iron-Jaw Wolf (B)

A beast experimented on by an idiot alchemist. The man attempted to transform living organisms into metallic golems. Their ineptitude led to only the lower jaw transmuting. While weaker than their creator wanted these beasts are still to be reckoned with and hunt at their "creators" command. They excel at direct combat but lack the sense of smell they once had in the past, limiting their effectiveness as hunters.

Jaune scowled as he ignited his arm and let his fire loose right down the throat of the beast. Yet, to his surprise, the beast merely yowled in pain and kicked off him. The beast shook its head and disappeared under the grass. Jaune cradled his arm left arm, annoyed at the ruined cloth. Both the white kimono top and the red cloth beneath it were ruined. However, Jaune's arm was not punctured. The injury hurt and certainly felt as if his flesh had been pierced but the skin remained seamless.

The player has lost 500 aura. The player will not take damage until their aura is empty, a unique feature native to the world of remnant. Certain class skills use aura instead of MP. The player will still feel pain though.

"Now is not the time" grumbled Jaune.

Jaune clenched his fist and quickly made mental notes. The first was that his fire was not as effective as he hoped, damage increase be damned. Fire hurt them, no question, but the flames tore down the creature's throat without mercy and the wolf took it like a champ. So Jaune activated ignition burst and for the first time tried engraving his own flesh with a rune. He knew in theory that runes could empower the body as well as the weapon. He saw it on Scathach's armor so it wasn't that large a leap to put it directly on the body as some kind of buff.

Jaune grunted as he felt the rune of fire latch onto his skin and do…nothing. The rune puttered endlessly as it tried to compute with what Jaune wanted.

"Knew it wouldn't be that easy" grumbled Jaune.

Jaune scowled as he didn't care anymore. He would figure this out later. The iron jawed wolf jumped out of the waist-high grass along with two others, but Jaune was ready. He roared defiantly as he let his flames loose for the first time since his rank up. A pillar of unrelenting fire rose from Jaune's position, his flames devoured everything in sight and ignited the grass around him. A large portion of the meadow turned to ash but the flames didn't spread as far as Jaune expected it to. In the first punishment zone he had ignited an entire forest. Yet, here he could barely get a meadow to get on fire?

Weird as everything was Jaune took a breath happy for the respite.

GROWL.

Jaune opened his eyes and noticed that well over a dozen of those iron jawed wolves were rising from the ground, the flames still ongoing. Two of them stayed dead, but the rest were injured but alive. They growled at Jaune. One was limping but seemed ready to kill Jaune at a moment's notice regardless. The rest did not share this injury. This wasn't like the fight with the fire gorilla. This wasn't a one on one fight. If they could take a full blast from Jaune's fire and survive than he needed a plan.

He needed to run.

Jaune went and started booking it across the meadow. Jaune noticed that the grass steadily turned greener as he ran making him scowl in annoyance.

"Oh, sure I can burn down a forest without a problem but grass is an issue?"

Welcome to the punishment zone! Each zone is tailored to the player's strength when they first enter as to ensure the perfect difficulty each time. They are not ranked as the player assumes. Also, the player's passive can ignite any material, no question. How long they stay ignited or burn for that matter is another issue. The meadow of Arkan is well known for being seeped in water, making sustained fires difficult.

"You're not helping!" yelled Jaune.

You're welcome!

"Errors have been made" grumbled Jaune as he entered a forest.

He had let his guard down. He had assumed that the punishment zones were simply rank ups. There were five "Zones" that he had in that quest after all. It wasn't that large a leap of logic to assume it went from E to A. Jaune jumped over a fallen tree but yelped as one of the wolves nipped at his rear. It didn't catch his clothes or anything so he called that a win. Jaune vaulted over a thick branch and slid under a stone structure to his right.

"Please be short please be short" begged Jaune.

Thankfully his trip sliding under the small opening left by the rock formation was short. He found himself surrounded by fallen stones that lead to an opening a fair ways up. He had a good few feet of free space, enough to stand up again at least.

"Oh thank-"

"ARF!"

Jaune jumped from the opening as a pair of jaws tried to snap at his exposed ankle.

"Up I go than" muttered Jaune.

HE just hoped these wolves couldn't climb. Wolves didn't have opposable thumbs so climbing should be difficult for the species. But considering that wolves weren't supposed to have metallic lower jaws…best to be safe than sorry. Jaune gripped the stone and blinked.

"…..what the?" muttered Jaune.

Jaune exerted a bit of strength and was surprised to find his fingers digging into the weal stone. The rock was enough to hold his weight as he slowly climbed up, but his strength was great enough to splinter the rock and create his own footing.

"…..."

Jaune turned and noticed the wolves growling angrily and climbing over each other to reach him. They acted like rabid animals, uncaring of what stood in their way. Their goal was to kill him. Plain and simple. He should have been scared…the old him would have been. But Jaune simply grinned as he let his flames loose from his body once more. Engulfing the entire cavern in flames. Jaune jumped, keeping his flames pouring out. He quickly found that jumping from footing to footing was the fastest way to climb, finding himself out of the cavern in quick time. Without pause Jaune leaned over the edge and poured his flames even more, applying the ignition burst boost for extra measure.

DING!

Jaune blinked as he let the flames die out. The wolves were dead, with one struggling to get up. Jaune picked up a rock and chucked it. He smiled as he wacked the remaining beast in the head. Whether it was dead or not didn't matter. It was out of commision and that was all that mattered to Jaune right now.

"Now what does the system want?" muttered Jaune.

The player acquired drops! Drops are items that can be generated from fallen foes. The drops are as follows:

Transmuted Fangs x 2

Dire Wolf Pelt x 1

Wolf Liver x 5

"….Why do I have wolf liver?" muttered Jaune.

Jaune knew what drops were, they were always weapons and armor never mat…..

"…..Ooooooh. Because I'm labor caste I have a wider drop pool?"

Correct. Due to the player's class the items that can be acquired from monsters as drops are expanded. "HERO" classes will obtain armor and weapons, but that can be rare considering which monster or individual they face. As a magic based crafter the player has access to a much larger selection of drops that are created upon a monsters death, along side the actual corpse the player can harvest manually. These drops are expanded to include materials for forging, crafting, or alchemic solutions. The System is here to support the player's growth! As such, due to the additional parameters of the system, the player also has access to "HERO" drop pools, allowing them access to weapon and armor drops, although on a more rare occurance.

"Neat" breathed Jaune.

Jaune found a rock to sit on and looked into the distance. The forest seemed to go on for miles but in the far distance was a tall structure, a building.

"….This….this is an actual world isn't it."

Correct. This is not a "training zone" created by the system.

"….I see" muttered Jaune.

This changed everything. The punishment zones were not just randomly generated worlds but existing realms. Jaune grimaced as he looked at the large swaths of ash and dead plants that he had left in his wake. He may not have destroyed the entire meadow but that didn't change that he had destroyed a large portion. Unseen by Jaune was a bubbling in his shadow as a single white circle appeared looking around. It quickly disappeared as Jaune stood up.

"Hidden quests can net me some rewards but that's…that's a little undependable. But that building…I wonder if I can find anything useful there?"

Jaune already had metallic fangs and a dire wolf pelt, whatever that was, as materials and it has been less than an hour since he'd been placed in this dimension.

"Place is a lot more dangerous than I gave it credit for" grumbled Jaune as he gripped his bare left arm "but even so I can't stop now. Staying here is just as dangerous as moving around. I can experiment later at the buidling."

Not necessarily true in all cases but in Jaune's experience staying in one place made it easy for enemies and monsters to ambush you. That…and well it was an excuse to explore. It was boring standing around in once place for 12 hours. He had plans to experiment with his runes while he was here, but considering it was now more dangerous than he anticipated, it was best to do so with appropriate cover. Jaune grinned as he rolled his shoulders.

"Alright" he said, clutching his hands into fists "let's see how far I can get."

Jaune took a few steps back and ran into a full sprint. As he neared the edge of his stone safe heaven he jumped. Much like the euphoria he felt when he arrived at Beacon for his first class, Jaune was now elated at his newfound strength. This wasn't just a stat increase but the inclusion of an entire new rank of power. Stats were graded by rankings as a way to give a general idea of how many stats you could gain per level. However, stats were weighed by the rank of the individual. A 100 in strength for a C rank was inferior to the 100 in strength of a B rank after all.

And it showed.

"WHOOOO!"
Jaune yelled and whooped as he sored through the sky with just the strength of his legs. His strenght was now potent enough for him to jump hundreds of meters at a time. As he landed with loud thump Jaune would jump again, well over the tree line and into the open sky. He felt….there was no describing the feeling. IT was if he belonged in the sky with the wind at his back!

"This!"

Jaune smiled, happy that he had barely made any progress to reach the building. Instead he noticed that there were more smaller buildings on the way. Most were crumbled heaps but one a fair distance away was still standing. Nature had overgrown the home a great deal but it was still standing whole. Who knows what was inside. It was still a fair distance however. Not that Jaune minded. Jaune landed and jumped once again, now twisting in the air and fooling around like a child.

"HAHAHAHAHA!"

Jaune closed his eyes and spread his arms, careening to the-

"CAW!"

"DOH!"

Jaune coughed as something gripped his spreaded arms. Jaune blinked as he looked up, noticing a completely metal bird glaring at him with golden eyes.

"…..Seriously?" asked Jaune.

"CAW!"

Inspect!

Stymphalian Bird -Fake- (Rank B)

A creature born from Alchemy in a sick attempt to ressurect a legendary species of yore. One of the few successes of the "idiot alchemist". This machine mimics the creature it was based on and attacks its prey with a sharpened beak and poisoned feathers. It would paralyze its prey before shredding it with its disposable and metallic wings…at least it would if it needed to feed in the first place. Due to its manmade design this creature is more an automaton than a living thing. As such it is simplistic in nature and cannot follow complicated instructions. While B rank in strength the creature is actually quite weak, borrowing its power from the fossils used in its creation rather than any power derived from itself. But do not mistake its simplicity and lack of individual power as symbols of weakness. While it cannot compare to the creature it embodies it is not a lone hunter. Unlike its predecessor this creature works well in large groups and can synchronize thought patterns. The more of them present in one place the smarter they become. They are made from Damascus Steel, a long lost metal.

The bird was happy. It had caught prey. Prey to return to "Master". Master was weak and needed prey. The bird was happy to serve master…why was prey smiling like predetor?

Jaune gave a dark chuckle as he stared at the bird. His body glowed orange as his passive activated. This bird wasn't a living thing but a machine. As such Jaune made one simple deduction. This thing was basically a moving weapon?

He could destroy weapons.

"Dismantle" grinned Jaune.

The bird stilled….than shattered into blue petals. Jaune closed his eyes, focusing his mana. He could feel roughly three other birds coming into his direction.

"Finally" grumbled Jaune "something I can fight!"

The wolves counted of course but he had spent the entirety of that particular fight running and keeping his distance. The wolves were resistant to his flames for the most part. However, the inclusions of the birds revealed one crucial fact. Someone was here…and they were hunting him.

"CAW!"

Jaune was slammed from the back unexpectedly, having thought the birds further away. He felt the bird's beak drill into his back, literally. The things beak was spinning in place like a drill, trying to tear through his spine.

"AHHHHHH!"

Jaune screamed as he tried to gain some bearing. His armor held for only a short time before the kimono top was torn to shreds, sucked into the drills spinning force. Now topless Jaune was rendered immobile at that moment, unable to move or grab onto anything to gain proper leverage. The beak hit his bare skin and held for several seconds before the momentum gave Jaune the opening he needed, tilted him to the left. Jaune fell backwards and wrapped his legs around the bird's neck as he fell. He patted behind him until he caught a hold of the metal birds wings, ignoring the bird trying to drill one of his legs. Without even hesitating Jaune dismantled the machine, letting him free fall.

Jaune cringed as he felt his back burn against the cold wind, his skin now bloody and raw.

The player's aura has broken!

The player has lost 800 health!

The player has lost 800 health!

The player has lost 1500 health!

Jaune swallowed. It would seem that even though he could murder the birds with just a touch, they were not without problems. Jaune scowled as he righted himself in the air. He was so high up he could barely see the ground. He should have been shitting his pants and crying. That's what any reasonable person plummeting to their doom would have done. Jaune however smiled. He righted himself and placed his hands at his waist. He had dreamed of this since the day his semblance had evolved. It was time to fly! Jaune ignited his flames ready to propel himself forward!

…..for about two inches.

Jaune pursed his lips and stared into space as he realized that he was moving…. barely. His flames, while gigantic in amount, was barely propelling him. It lacked the force necessary to move him forward and since he was still free falling, to keep him afloat as well. Instead of an awe inspiring first flight Jaune's fire simply trailed behind him flaming upwards, gathered by the wind pushing against Jaune's face.

"…well crap" muttered Jaune.

"CAW!"

This time Jaune saw the bird coming and tilted his head to the right for a better look. The bird gave him a monotonous glare, lacking the drive and emotion the other two had. It would seem the loss of its two brothers had rendered the machine beast simple.

Jaune could work with that.

Jaune ended his semblance and let the beast come. Unlike the previous bird this one seemed to lack a drill beak. A good thing too, for it made this easier. Perhaps it was a different model? Jaune was knocked out of his idle thoughts as the bird tried to slam into him with its razor beak. Only to find itself in a midair strangle hold, or at least as much of one as Jaune could manage. Using his foot Jaune slowly managed to get on the bird's large back. It was a bit smaller than Jaune so his added weight was already starting to make them plummet. Jaune let go of the birds neck and with his strength grabbed onto the bird's wings and pulled back. He was sucked into the air but planted his feet on the bird's back, riding it through the wind. As they neared the ground Jaune held on for dear life as they dug a trench through the earth. Jaune felt his legs rattle painfully and fingers get scratched.

CRACK!

And a finger broken as well. As they slowed Jaune took his feet off the bird's back, leaving massive indents in the machine. Its wings were ripped from their socket and its head crushed from the impact. Jaune took a breath and looked around.

"….Huh….I made it. Guess Salem's luck wasn't all talk" he muttered.

Luck was bullshit, no question. Somehow, against all odds, Jaune had landed free falling right in front of his target landmark. One might ask how Jaune was able to see from so far away and how he knew that this building was the one in question. It was simple really. The building was weirdly shaped, like a bulging pipe. It was easily massive 50 feet in height but the odd design made Jaune almost cringe looking at it, thus the ideal landmark to use. Before Jaune could start moving the creature behind him began to disappear but as it disintegrated a lump of metal was left in its wake. The lump was the size of his head and was oddly shaped.

Inspect!

Damascus Steel (Rank B)

Steel in its ultimate incarnation. While not much stronger in its initial state than normal steel, Damascus steel has the ability to retain and handle magic like no other metal of its class. Much like other mystical metals like Mythril and Orichalcum, Damascus steel's rank can be altered depending on the skill of the craftsman. Be warned, while the design of this metal allows for adjustable ranks, the metal becomes more unstable as more magic is created, making this steel ideal for B rank but not the best choice for A rank.

"….Interesting" muttered Jaune.

At first Jaune just wanted to keep it. It was a B rank material after all and would have been forged into a fine blade…but a thought itched at Jaune. The system mentioned that Jaune had been using his skills in bursts, which was true. He could activate all his skills at once due to his ridiculous resistance stat but he had let his skills run their course, never bothering to attempt to prolong their use or actively use them as one cohesive unit. It was time to change that. Jaune closed his eyes and placed his hand on the Damascus steel. He activated the structural analysis skill but kept it going. He poured more and more of his mana into the skill, prolonging its use. He began to delve deeper and deeper into the metal, slowly gaining more and more knowledge than he would normally get. He began to see faults within the metal that the initial skill use didn't show, he saw where the metal was strongest and where it was weakest. With that knowledge Jaune could use only the best and most resilient parts of this clump of steel, rather than trying to forcibly merge differing qualities of steel, an issue he wasn't even aware was effecting his forging. But it wasn't enough. It was if the secrets of this steel was like a box, a box that was slammed shut and its lock was melted so no king would work. Slowly but surely Jaune could tell that the skill had sunken deep into the steel and had burrowed as far as it could. There had to be a way to go deeper!

"….what if?"

It was a random though Jaune had after he had compared the steel to a closed box. If the lock to a box was welded shut, how would you open it? The answer was surprisingly simple.

YOU BREAK IT.

Jaune followed his gut instinct and activated dismantle. But this time he kept structural analysis going at the same time as dismantle was functioning. Jaune could feel his concertation wavering as a flood of information was fed into his mind. He could see it as he destroyed the metal, the secrets within. It was formed several hundred years ago….carbon nanotubes….the use of wood and plants….special iron filled with various metals and elements…titanium, niobium, vanadium, zirconium. Jaune took a surprised deep breath as his brain searched through the remaining information that he had unexpectedly cracked open.

Congratulations! The player has earned the following recipes!

-Micro alloy Iron

- Woody Biomass

- Damascus Steel.

Jaune began to laugh as he placed his hand on his head. How simple he was.

"To think…to actually subject steel to something like alchemy!" laughed Jaune "to merge organic material with metal to achieve something even stronger…brilliant."

Jaune truly meant it to. It was probably due to the organic material and the carbon nanotubes that this brand of steel was capable of retaining such high amounts of magic in comparison to normal steel. However, once the metal was created it would adapt to the mana it was subjected to. This made it the ideal steel for Jaune as the metal would only be as strong as Jaune himself was. But more importantly Jaune felt his artist spirit come alive. What other creations could he make with a similar process? Could he make a form of Damascus steel suited to fire magic? Water? Wind? The possibilities were endless. All this from a metal that was simply B rank. Jaune looked around, smiling as he realized what the punishment zone truly was to him. A treasure trove of information and knowledge. Before he had analyzed the Damascus steel Jaune had no idea how to proceed with alchemy. He was planning to just ask Oobleck but now? He knew exactly how to proceed. He may have lost the metal he just obtained but through its sacrifice Jaune had improved yet again.

Jaune scowled as he felt the blood at his back leak down his leg.

"…how did I?"

It would seem that along with a reckless streak a mile wide Jaune had also gained a rather stupid level of pain tolerance. Well getting stabbed by a giant lance and pseudo dying would do that to a person. Jaune blinked as he noticed that his back didn't burn as much.

"What the?"

Jaune turned and saw that the skin repairing itself. It was very slow but there. It wasn't anything unusual for Jaune. He had always healed from small injuries pretty quickly. But anything like a broken bone or a speared chest tended to heal only slightly faster than the average person. Now that Jaune thought about it, it wasn't until Vale that he had healed like this…

"Maybe it's the air" muttered Jaune.

Thoughts for another time. Jaune looked at the building, its obtuse shape still giving him a headache. The door was a large steel plate with a handle dead in the center. It was almost giving Jaune a headache looking at it. But what worried him was the weapons strewn about. The building was saturated in nature, with trees and shrubbery having over grown it a long time ago. Weapons covered in vines and moss littered the forest floor around Jaune. He looked up and noticed the hole he had made with the bird he rode in on.

"….."

Jaune bent down and picked up a sword. It was curved, like a saber. He closed his eyes and activated the duel skill use of structural analysis and dismantle. It took Jaune a few minutes but the sword gained circuit like patterns before dispersing into blue dust.

The player has learned the follow diagrams!

Urik Saber blueprint: Adept

"So that's what the system meant by being able to learn master level blueprints" said Jaune as he opened his eyes.

The information regarding the Urik Saber was now settled into his mind. There were some design flaws that were overlooked as Jaune saw, such as a lack of strength around the hilt. That was probably why the design level was low. But more importantly Jaune had learned something interesting about his skill. It would seem that he had learned the history of the blade and its use…and the fact that the warrior that used it fought in a battle to save their family.

The player has started the hidden quest:

"A survivor journey!"

Learn the secrets of this world through the eyes of one of its final survivors. Can you discover what happened to make a world such as this one?

Rewards:

?

Increase to clearing reward.

"…I know it's meant to be hidden but damn."

Jaune had no idea how the hell he was supposed to figure out such a quest existed in the first place but who cared. It was obvious that he wasn't going to find anything unless he kept moving. The other weapons were long desecrated by age, leaving only rusted bits. He needed the full shape of a weapon to properly learn it make after all.

"…Guess I'm going in" muttered Jaune.

Jaune took slow steps towards the large slab of metal. He had been ambushed twice after all, who's to say that there wouldn't be a third? Jaune smirked as the thought of more combat itched something within him. But as his hand closed around the knob in the center of the door Jaune stilled.

"…I really have changed, haven't I?"

Before all of this Jaune was a normal man with a normal job. He manned a smithy, took care of his father, hell he was even looking to get married with the right girl. The only odd thing about him was his track record as a porter. But after he was killed…that changed. He knew he should be more afraid of this place, of venturing through the unknown, and yet he was excited. He should be more apprehensive with people less prone to giving out personal information…yet he made seven new friends he felt closer to than almost anyone he knew.

"Perhaps I am weird" smiled Jaune.

Perhaps he was. He knew he was an oddity. Outside of crafting and combat Jaune remained what he considered his previous self. A calm and sometimes witty person. But during crafting he had always been a bit of an energetic nut…he just never realized he'd develop the same passion for fighting…no…it wasn't fighting.

"Strongest….i want to be the strongest!" smirked Jaune.

Ahhhh there it was. The reason Jaune was exhilarated with strong opponents. The desire to be the strongest wasn't simply to reach some arbitrary #1 position…it was to escape himself…how he used to be. Jaune opened the door and scowled as instead of opening like a normal door, the knob and metal slab simply ceased to exist and reappeared after he passed the threshold.

"It's giving me an actual headache!" growled Jaune.

It would take a minute for Jaune's eyes to get used to the dark room, so he stood in place looking at his open palms.

"I used to be weak" thought Jaune "…weak enough that I gave up. I gave up on mom…I gave up on dad…I even gave up on myself."

No wonder he was so willing to simply accept what happened to him. Oh, he fought valiantly. He refused to die whimpering in the dark after all. But still…he simply accepted it the moment it happened. Never again.

"I will not falter again" growled Jaune, his eyes simmering in crimson "I won't lose again!"

Dying in combat was the norm of his world. Dying at an enemy's hands in an honorable fight or within the dungeon was not the coward's way out but simply a possibility for the warriors of his time. No, it was how he lost himself that he hated…and that it took a dark goddess giving him a second chance to find his way again. Jaune let his mana simmer down, the crimson leaving his eyes. Now wasn't the time to get angry, not at something that had passed some time ago. Jaune looked around…the place was fortified and sealed…if monsters were here they would have attacked already…this place was it. Jaune stalked forward with purpose in each step. He noticed a staff leaning against the wall a few feet to his left by some stairs and went to reach for it but thought better of it. It was time to experiment with something.

"Alright" sighed Jaune as he sat down.

He took a breath and closed his eyes. Before the darkness his entire runic library unfolded. Each word that had been downloaded or naturally learned swam in a mess…but he knew all of them. A few of them shone brightly and were unmarred but a vast majority of the runes were blurry, with undefined edges, and only a general shape.

"No wonder my runes hadn't been at full power" thought Jaune.

It made a twisted sense in Jaune's opinion. Ruby's scythe and Blake's daggers…they were B rank to be sure but he always felt like they were lacking in some way. The differences in B rank were noticeable with some weapons carrying multiple weak effects or stronger singular effects. It would seem that by focusing on singular effects within his weapons Jaune was able to bring them to B rank. But if he had tried to create more exotic effects or maintain multiple different effects all at once…it was likely the weapon would have shattered. The runes were not perfect…but that could be fixed. Jaune wanted to try and replicate something. He had passives and skills that boosted the potency of his items and his class abilities. It was time to see if he could replicate them. Thanks to the power of the Arcane Craftsman Class Jaune instinctively knew how to bind weapons to a user…but was too green and was only able to bind them by general classes. Reaper and Assassin. What if he could use that to create a weapon that boosted certain classes?

Jaune was meditating to find the rune that would enable that effect and perfect his understanding. It was relatively easy to find said rune. After all he only had to think of the rune that embodied a certain class.

"Warrior" thought Jaune.

But that wasn't enough…it was fine for the warrior classes. After all warrior was a general term for the melee classes. As such the rune itself would empower any "Warrior" actions…no that was just Jaune's initial interpretations of this runes power. There was more to it, Jaune just knew it, but what he needed was more specific.

"Samurai" thought Jaune.

The rune appeared and Jaune smiled.

"Berserker. Mage. Champion!"

The first two runes appeared without a problem. But the rune for champion shone with power…more so than the others.

"Guess even runes can become prestige."

Runes were the embodiment of concepts. They drew power from the concepts they represented and as such they could vary in power. Much like the class system can vary in power so did the rune. The champion was too much for Jaune…or rather he didn't have the pieces to understand it fully. That could change. Jaune focused on warrior first, analyzing the rune for some time. He began to think on what it meant to be a warrior. After all, a warrior was not a soldier. A soldier fought for their country whereas a warrior fought for many different things. They could fight for country but they could also fight for family, for money, for a variety of different reasons. There was no singular answer as to what a warrior could be, only that at its base concept a warrior was an individual skilled in the art of combat.

To Jaune's eyes the rune glowed and become more focused. The runes lines straightened and became more cohesive. The rune was complete. Jaune knew there would be more to discover as time went on, but he knew how the rune was truly written now. Jaune grinned as he was starting to see how runes could be merged. It wasn't that Jaune didn't know how to write runes together…it was that he couldn't write the runes themselves properly.

"Funny" thought Jaune "to think I was using the runes so haphazardly. To be honest I shudder to think of what these runes could do at full power."

And his class was supposed to boost them beyond the norm? Jaune was starting to see why his class was prestige. Jaune focused on Samurai next and quickly found that the rune was already partly decoded shall we say. The rune was shining brightly and some of the lines were not blurred in his mindscape. A samurai was a warrior…but one bound in honor as far as Jaune could tell. There way of fighting and living was under a strict code of ethics and rules of combat. They were warriors bound to honor so as to live on the "correct" path of being a warrior. No, even that was too rudimentary. It wasn't that they were bound to honor…but rather that Samurai were a caste of warriors that held themselves to principles that honored themselves…and also their enemies…they honored death. The rune for Samurai glowed even brighter and was now complete. Jaune was beginning to see that his understanding didn't need to be complete to master a rune. For that was only the beginning. The better Jaune knew a rune and its concept the more runes he could write it with. A warrior was fluid and bendable which made it the ideal class rune to merge with others. But as far as Jaune could see the Samurai rune was rigid and strong. It was limited in what could be written with it but in turn the singular rune was more powerful. They were like puzzles…overly magical puzzles.

Jaune rolled his neck as he decided to take a break.

"How many hours left" sighed Jaune.

The player has 5 hours remaining.

"WHAT!?" roared Jaune.

It probably took an hour for Jaune to make it to the building in the first place. It meant that Jaune had somehow spent 6 hours meditating on two runes.

"….time flies when you're learning runes" muttered Jaune.

It was utterly insane to Jaune but at the same time runes were magical by nature. He had to admit it may have been a tad over reaching on his part to believe he could master a rune in several minutes.

"I could have been attacked" muttered Jaune "I have to be more careful. Meditate when I get home. Meditating in the punishment zone what was I thinking?"

Jaune knew what he was thinking. He thought the place would be easy. Torch everything to the ground and meditate on the ashes. Simple. Than the system revealed that the entire punishment zone was in fact a separate existing world and that it was suited to his strengths and weaknesses.

Bullshit but fine.

Either way he had to survive. At least he only had five hours now rather than eleven.

"Maybe I should hunt more of those birds" muttered Jaune "get some more Damascus steel…nah better make my own."

Jaune made his way to the staff and picked it up. It was black in color and spiraled near the top, a mage's staff. He once again activated the duel skills to analyze, deconstruct, and copy the staff. Jaune felt the history of the weapon again, stronger and more vivid.

A man leading two children to the building, his eyes filled with worry. His ears were oddly pointed and he looked more like a beast than a human. A man beast of some kind.

They opened the door and sighed in relief, holding their children close to their body. Their staff lied on the floor as they simply sat there.

The man muttered platitudes to his children. Thanking them for listening. That they were going to be ok. The door they shut had an opening this time. It was wood, not steel. He could see…a red gate spiraling open and monsters pouring out…red wolves and odd birds…suddenly the room was filling with gas. A person lifted the staff and placed it against the wall.

Jaune staggered back as the staff was dismantled.

"The gate…they failed to close a gate" muttered Jaune.

"That would be correct" muttered a gravelly voice.

Jaune turned around, flames ignited, and felt something slam into his face and he knew no more.

-Weiss and Pyrrha in the guild house, 10 AM-

"So he just left?" asked Weiss.

Pyrrha nodded, holding Jaune's note.

"It seems he left at dawn."

"….why would he? Doesn't matter" muttered Weiss "what he does is his business. I just hope he comes back before dark. How are Coco and the others settling in."

Pyrrha gave a shaky smile as she gestured to her right. Weiss and Pyrrha were in the grand hall as they were calling the front foyer. At the entrance of the east wing was Coco smiling and giving orders, her eyes glowing silver.

"Come Yatsuhashi I said two inches to the left not three! We got to have this perfect!"

"…I see they settled in quite nicely" smiled Weiss.

"Coco said once they settle in they want to meet the rest of the guild."

Weiss nodded and rubbed her eyes. She got some sleep the other night but it didn't change the fact that she was still exhausted on the paper work.

"I swear if the Merchant guild sends another missive I will freeze their guild house" muttered Weiss.

"They're that bad?"

"Worse" sighed Weiss "I have never been subjected to such passive aggressiveness in my life. The mages of Atlas were petty but this is something else entirely. They keep alluding that we'll regret taking a resource from them."

Pyrrha looked shocked.

"They would call him that?"

Weiss sighed as she looked away.

"You'd be quite surprised how the hero and noble classes think of the laborer's. I know a few mages who have called on ironwood to allow…experimentation."

Key one being her father. Pyrrha looked sick.

"…..I knew that I would be discovering new things outside of Mistral but to think…"

"I know" muttered Weiss "it's why I had to leave. It's why I refuse to let them anywhere near Jaune or the others. At the moment all we can do is hold them off until Ozpin gets a hold of them. They forgot where they are and the limitations of it. This will all come to pass but we have to stay vigilant. Thanks for accompanying me today Pyrrha, I'd rather not meet Blake's contact alone."

Pyrrha beamed.

"No problem Weiss. Yang and Ruby are at the communal baths right now and I don't mind helping. I think Ren and Nora went with them but I'm not sure."

"Blake's bringing her contact here now so we'll have to do for now."

BANG BANG BANG.

"There you go Yatsuhashi! Perfect!"

Weiss looked at Coco's back and sighed.

"I think it's best we take this outside."

Pyrrha smiled.

"Might be for the best."

As the two made their way out the front opening they noticed Blake making her way up the path with two people in tow. One was an odd girl with pink and brown hair. An illusionist named Neo. She wore Victorian style clothes with a jacket, parcel, and high heel boots. Pyrrha could tell this girl was strong both in mana and in the way she carried herself. The other one was noticeably weaker but carried a smug charisma. He had a bowler hat and a white jacket with a cane in his right hand. He was smoking a cigar that disappeared into his inventory. The man smiled as he neared them. Blake stood at Weiss's side as the man smiled and bowed.

"The name is Roman Torchwick…and I believe we can help each other?" he smiled.

The class thief hung high above his head in pride. Weiss was quick to ask her questions but Pyrrha couldn't help but think.

"I wonder how Jaune's doing?"

-Unknown location-

Jaune opened his eyes without any trouble and only had one thing to say.

"I feel defeated…and oddly rejuvenated" he muttered.

The player was knocked out! As they were unconscious the "Spellcaster's Blessing" took effect.

"Well that's convenient"

Something scuffled out of the darkness. Jaune felt himself bound and suspended from the ceiling of wherever he was. He struggled for a minute but slowed as the shuffling got louder and something came closer. Everything was dark when suddenly the lights turned on. He saw desks, designs, and alchemy circles all across the room. It was like an underground bunker for a mad scientist. Jaune saw a hunched over robed figure making their way over to him. Their hood and robe obscured their body. As they neared him Jaune saw it in all its bony glory, a human skull staring blankly at him.

"Hello…test subject."

"….ah crap" muttered Jaune.

END.

Next Update: The Ultimate Weapon!

Till next time guys!