Chapter 1: What's a Grind?

The next week passed by in a blur to Jaune. He realized after the first night that he apparently no longer needed to sleep as despite the hours passing into the early morning he felt completely fine.

Of course, he had realized after that night that being a Huntsman wasn't just about strength. He needed to be fast to and it was with that in mind he went for a run as soon as he could get away with it the next morning. That had added a couple points to his Agility though he could already tell he was getting diminishing gains from his stat increases from this level of exercise.

It was taking longer to reach each next stat point which made him curse that he had already spent five points on his strength when he could have leveled it up through exercise first. Still there was no use fretting over something he couldn't change.

What he could change was that strange (Locked) by his AP whatever that was. When he had focused on the stat a box had popped up informing him,

A*** Points: The power of your ****. Currently locked.

This was why he found himself in the public library pouring over books on anything that started with an A. It was the best guess he had to identifying what exactly it was. Still with not much to go on he found himself at best idling away the afternoon as he walked back and forth across the library pulling books out and putting them back.

He was so bored that he eventually gave in and picked out a book on Huntsmen flipping through the pages idly before a diagram of a human body appeared with a red glow around it. Jaune frowned looking at the actual words on the page.

Aura is inherit in all living creatures and can loosely be defined as the pour of your soul and in the cause of human and faunas can be unlocked to grant them increased physical attributes, a protective shield around their body, and after enough experience a Semblance, that is a unique power unto them.

Jaune blinked before a bright grin appeared on his face. This had to be it! He quickly checked his stats page and his grin widened,

Aura Points: The power of your Soul. Currently locked.

His grin dimmed as his thoughts caught up with him. His was locked and as he read further into the book it seemed that the only way to unlock it was for someone else to do so.

But wait a minute, another thought occurred to Jaune. Aura couldn't just be able to be unlocked with the aid of another person otherwise how else would the first person unlock their aura. There had to be something more to it. He flipped through the rest of the book but found no mention of how to unlock one's aura by themselves.

He once again started his search through the library focusing on anything that used the word Aura which was actually a surprising number of books. The word Aura was usually used in reference to Hunters and Huntresses Jaune noted. It seemed to be something that empowered them and let them do the things they were able to do. Frequently it was mentioned in connection with something called a semblance which seemed to be a unique ability the individual had.

Jaune briefly considered if his semblance was in fact this gamer ability but semblance seemed to be powered by Aura and seeing as that he had none that didn't seem possible. Which left the sudden appearance of this power unexplained though the fact he had a mana stat bothered him. That stat was merely labeled with question marks so maybe it was the mana that powered his ability.

His research into mana led to a complete dead end though. There was no mention of mana or magic except in some tall fables like the maidens. The only conclusion that Jaune could come to was that whatever power he had was that it was not powered by aura. Whatever it was powered by he decided was irrelevant for now as he focused specifically on how to fix the fact he had no aura.

Aura from what he read could be awakened by another individual with some experience with aura manipulation but given his family that path was likely a dead end. Which left him with the other mention which he found in a tattered book hidden in a dark corner. The method described there seemed on the face of it extremely simple. In practice.

The book asked for the person to become truly aware of who they were in that moment.

Of course this led Jaune to next phase of his journey through a number of self help books and one particularly dense novel of philosophy which he eventually gave up twenty pages in.

He sat in a comfy library chair a book propped open on his lap detailing how to discover one's true self. It was a load of bunk as far as he was concerned but he thought it would have been weirder to sit without a book.

Who was he?

Pulling out a spare sheaf of paper he had stuffed into his inventory he began to make a list.

My name Is Jaune Arc. I am first son and eighth child of my parents Julius and Lavender Arc. I am in Middle School in a village near Vale.

He paused frowning at the paper.

I like Pumpkin Pete Cereal.

Jaune groaned and scratched out the last bit. Why would that matter? He frowned at the paper again.

I want to be a Hunter.

That felt right Jaune nodded to himself. Given that he wasn't shining with any light thought that wasn't enough.

Contemplatively he picked up another book and as he flipped it open he was greeted with a blue window.

Acquired a Skill Book

Aura and You: Coming to a Greater Understanding of Your Soul

Would you like to learn this book?

Yes/No

Jaune blinked, before a wide grin split his face. Hammering his finger forward he slammed the yes button.

The window disappeared before his head suddenly seemed to swim as he felt like something was quite literally being poured into his brain. The feeling only lasted a second before the world reasserted its stability and he once again found himself sitting in his chair.

He frowned, he had hoped that would have unlocked his Aura. At the thought of Aura his brain supplied him with more information that he knew he had not known seconds before hand.

He reached inward in a way he was certain he had not known how to do before, and he felt suddenly far stronger than he had before. Cautiously he held up his hand looking at the shimmering golden yellow glow.

A window popped up in front of him,

Through an action you have unlocked your Aura.

AP is now unlocked.

Aura Control: Level 1

Aura Skills are now available.

Not quite believing it he pulled up his stat page.

Stats:

Name: Jaune Arc

Level: 1

HP: 60

AP: 600

Mana: ?

Strength: 13

Agility: 6

Vitality: 6

Sense: 3

Intelligence: 5

Luck: ?

Available Ability Points: 5

He was about to shout out in victory before he remembered that he was still in a library and would likely be asked to leave if he did so.

+1 Intelligence for Not Making a Fool out of Yourself and Irritating Everyone in the Library

Jaune frowned in frustration at the notification. He wasn't that bad was he?

Shaking off his bad mood he began to put his books away. Now that he had an aura all he needed to do was learn how to fight Grimm. The only question was how exactly he was going to do that. It's not like there was a skill book…

Jaune paused as he was putting the last book back before quickly walking down the aisle examining books till he found the section on Hunters again. He scanned through the books attempting to find anything on combat styles and he passed minutes doing so. He got to the end of aisle before he found anything. It was tucked in a corner and he wouldn't have spotted it except for the shimmer around it. A shimmer that was now familiar as he remembered that the Aura book had also had that shimmer something that he had discounted as a figment of his imagination when he had found it.

He pulled the book out and looked down at it.

Acquired a Skill Book

Combat and You: The basics to creating your very own Hunter Combat style

Would you like to learn this book?

Yes/No

Jaune frowned at the title sounding familiar to his previous skill book. Checking he found that the author of the book was someone called Peter Port who was apparently the previous book's author, whoever that was. Shrugging to himself he hit yes.

His brain then experienced the same strange sensation of something being poured into it.

You have Learned Beginner Hunter Combat.

Received skill Hunter Martial Arts

Skill has been set at level 5.

"Skills." He said softly into the air.

Skills:

Gamers Mind: Level Max

Dancing: Level 50

General Studies: Level 25

Hunter Martial Arts: Level 5

Aura Control: Level 1

Jaune's smile couldn't have been wider. He walked back to the bookshelf and slid the book back into its home. He strolled out of the library feeling fairly high on life. Only a week in to having this power and he was already headed in the right direction towards becoming a Hunter. As he walked he realized he felt far lighter than he had earlier in the day. Something which his new knowledge immediately informed his was because of his newly unlocked aura. Apparently besides providing a defense it also increased the strength and speed of someone. Something that would increase as he got better at his aura control.

The next question Jaune had was how exactly he was going to increase his Aura control. Probably just using it should be enough Jaune reasoned. That seemed to be how his stats worked and so it was possible skills worked the same way.

So how did he use it? His body responded almost automatically and he saw his skin shimmer with golden light. Having a grasp on the energy Jaune realized he didn't know what exactly to do with it.

Maybe he should see how it enhanced his abilities? Jaune broke into a light jog traversing the small town where he lived with the ease of a native. No matter how long he ran he didn't feel exhausted. He pushed it to a higher gear and soon was sprinting faster than he had ever been able to.

He was going so quickly he almost didn't see the next walk sign change to a red hand. He came to a stumbling halt almost crashing into the street and likely getting run over by the cars now speeding through the light.

As he waited by the light another thought occurred to him. His parents were not likely to be happy with him. Not in the least. Chances were they would figure out he had unlocked his aura which would only lead to questions he wasn't sure he could or should answer. Furthermore, he knew from the books he had gone through it wouldn't be enough to have an aura. He needed to be able to fight. Something which at this point he had only the vaguest notions of how to do thanks to the Martial Arts skill.

What he needed was to level up. The only way he could think of doing so was to fight Grimm. After all in most video games besides quests fighting monsters was the only way to level up. Despite everything he had done this past week his Level had not budged one bit. He didn't even have an experience bar.

This all had led him to one conclusion. He would need to encounter and fight a Grimm.

Naturally this came with more problems. Namely that he needed a weapon and he needed a way to get out of his town and the walls to fight a Grimm. The first step he already had an idea on how to accomplish. He could 'borrow' his great-great-grandfathers sword Crocea Mor which sat in the attic and would likely not even be missed.

The next step was a little bit more difficult. Getting out of the place he called home would be difficult. The wall was watched by Huntsman and Cameras. If he got caught while they probably wouldn't throw an eleven-year-old in jail he would be brought back to his parents and would be in very serious trouble.

No matter how Jaune viewed it this was going to be difficult. Still if he was going to succeed in his self-appointed quest, he knew it was absolutely mandatory that he kill a Grimm.

Which was why as he changed his course now headed for the wall that surrounded the settlement. He had to force himself not to start humming the Mission Difficult theme under his breath as he causally strolled by the wall along with the other citizens in the town. He continued pacing the wall trying to find a spot that a camera wasn't located or a guard didn't stand gazing out into the forest. Unfortunately there was a reason the settlement where he lived had not been overrun by Grimm. The wall was well patrolled and the guards were vigilant even checking back over the wall at points to make sure none of the citizens were doing anything untoward to their charge.

Jaune sighed looking at the wall. There was going to be no way he could get through without being noticed.

He stopped at one of the roads which led out of a large gate where a merchant was having a discussion with a guard. Behind the merchant sat a large vehicle likely filled with the goods he was pedaling.

The sight of it gave an inkling of an idea to Jaune. If he somehow hid in a merchant's vehicle he should be able to get out of the city. That would mean he would only have to figure out how to get back in and notably how to get into one of the merchants vehicles. Getting back in could be easy though he thought to himself. He would just have to slip into another merchant's caravan that is if the other attempt worked. Chances are they weren't going to be too uptight about their inspections. He knew that the City Guards were mostly concerned with making sure nothing illegal was smuggled in or any members of the White Fang who as far as Jaune knew from what little news he watched were apparently becoming violent.

Still it was the best idea he had so far. He backtracked through the city looking for a warehouse that the vehicles were exiting from and came to a district where he could see and slow ebb and flow of merchants exiting and entering with their goods from the warehouses.

Frowning in thought he selected one of the warehouses near the back as a possible target before slinking away. He knew he wasn't up to heading out quite yet. He would have to time it to when his parents were both gone and school wasn't in session. On the face of it a tall task except he knew that his parents would be visiting some family in Vale next month leaving him on his own at the house given that he had opted out of going when he was still mad at them for preventing him from attending Pharos Academy a combat school in Vale.

All his sisters would either be going or had already left to various parts of Remnant to live their own lives.

To make this work though he would need to train hard. Fighting Grimm would be the most dangerous thing he had ever done. He had to though if he was going to become a Huntsman.

The weeks passed by in an agonizingly slow manner. When he wasn't in school Jaune was working on his physical exercises as much as possible. He worked out so much he was sure that he would have collapsed if he had been doing these exercises before he got this Gamer ability.

His work paid off though.

Stats:

Name: Jaune Arc

Level: 1

HP: 100

AP: 1000

Mana: ?

Strength: 16

Agility: 10

Vitality: 10

Sense: 4

Intelligence: 8

Luck: ?

Available Ability Points: 5

He had determined that HP and AP were both correlated to his Vitality stat though why exactly his AP scaled so massively off his Vitality was mysterious to him.

The only thing he had trouble with was leveling his Sense and Intelligence. Just paying attention in class had helped his Intelligence and sneaking through his house to steal a late night snack had leveled his Sense presumably because he was paying attention to his surroundings.

Still his true gains hadn't been in his stats. He had spent an uncountable number of hours late at night in his room attempting to practice martial arts while channeling aura through his body

It had been awkward at first splitting his focus but it became easier as he practiced. With every level it seemed that more information flowed into his mind. Simple punches turned into combos. The massive drain he had from channeling his aura actively at first decreased with each level.

Skills:

Gamers Mind: Level Max

Dancing: Level 50

General Studies: Level 27

Hunter Martial Arts: Level 12

Aura Control: Level 6

Strangely enough he didn't just gain level in Hunter Martial Arts or Aura Control as it seemed going to school also helped increase his General Studies far more than he would expect with the amount of effort he put in. This led him to believe that he probably would be able to gain far more experience if he had an actual teacher.

That wasn't in the cards though so he had to satisfy himself with what he was able to do.

It was the night before his family left and while Jaune's irritation with them had faded he had kept his distance. He was worried that if he perked up too much he might be made to go on the vacation which would be disastrous to his plans or worse his parents might figure out just what he was doing which would be worse. He thus contented himself with a book on survival skills he had picked up from the library.

It wasn't his typical fair he admitted to himself. He was much more a fan of X-Ray and Vav but this was surprisingly interesting.

So interesting that it was only when he was only when a knock on his door sounded and his mother's voice gently reminded him it was bed time that he realized that it had gotten late.

Not really thinking he voiced an affirmation before he froze cursing himself worried that even that would tip off his mother.

He sat that way for a long couple of seconds before his mother replied, "I know that you're mad about your Father and I's decision about Primary Hunter School but I hope you'll understand at some point that we're only doing this to protect you."

Jaune frowned ready to let spill the words he had said so often in this argument before he hesitated. He still loved his parents. Despite not supporting his dream they had always taken care of him, raised him, he loved them in spite of their opposing desires.

"I love you Mom, tell Dad I love him too."

Jaune wanted to say more. To tell them what he was about to do in case the worst happened. It was in the back of his mind even now. The only reason he was doing this was because he knew he would never be complete if he didn't at least try and achieve his dream.

"I love you too sweetie," his Mom replied and then he heard the sounds of her footsteps walking away.

Refocusing his attention he saw that a screen had popped up in front of him.

From Intensive Studying you have gained a new skill.

Received skill Survival

Skill has been set at level 3.

Jaune blinked as felt the information resolving itself in his brain. Apparently drinking from still water was dangerous unless it was filtered. Who knew?

Jaune went to bed that night his mind spinning but as it had been since he received his new ability he was asleep the instant his head hit the pillow.

Jaune woke to an empty house the next morning. Besides the Lien that had been left on the table for him he had been left to fend for himself. Something which he had done before when his parents had traveled when he was in school. This time though there was no school and the activities he would be doing were going to be far more dangerous.

There was no time to waste.

Jaune tossed the lien into his inventory and quickly raided the pantry and the fridge tossing food in as he went. He had already loaded up on camping equipment from the attic along with grabbing Crocea Mors. He looked around the house for a moment.

That was it.

He walked to the door and walked out of his home locking the door behind him.

Jaune would not be back for many years.

Jaune continued his path through his town feeling oddly nostalgic as he made his way to the warehouse he had marked as his target. It was strange Jaune nodded as he walked through the streets. Possibly because of his age it seemed adults had a habit of overlooking him possibly assuming his parents were only a little bit behind him.

He slipped into one of the warehouses now trying to keep out of sight of the adults. From what he had observed the crates that were destined to leave the city were located near the back. He arrived at a crate and took a peek inside the metal container seeing stacks of boxes in neat rows.

Shrugging to himself he slipped into the back of the container positioning himself crouched in an empty spot he shifted some of the boxes out of.

He sat there waiting for an unknowable amount of time unable to kick the feeling of boredom. From what he had observed about this warehouse in a previous couple of forays containers back in this spot were usually loaded first so he shouldn't have to wait-

The metal containers slid was slammed shut leaving Jaune in darkness. The container was lifted upwards and set down other containers were stacked observable from the heavy metallic sounds around him. Eventually the rest of the containers must have been loaded as Jaune felt a rumble and a jerk as the vehicle they were on must have shifted into motion.

Jaune sat there for some time as the vehicle trundled on.

The first indication that his plan may have experienced a problem was that the vehicle came to a stop all too soon. From Jaune's estimation they shouldn't even be at the wall checkpoint which led him to wonder where they were.

The next indication that something had went wrong was when he felt his crate lifted and set down. Jaune burrowed further back in the crate worried that his attempt had already been caught onto but thankfully the crate door remained closed.

There was no more movement but Jaune could hear other crates being shifted about by him so he remained hidden. Eventually that shifting eventually stopped and Jaune was left in silence as even in the muffled voices of the workers were gone. Eventually tired of sitting there Jaune cautiously made his way to the front of the container pressing his ear to the closed opening. He could hear nothing accept the faint creak and groan of metal.

Internally Jaune debated with himself. What should he do?

His musings were interrupted as a notification popped up in front of his eyes.

Gamers Mind has negated airsickness

Jaune blinked.

Then blinked again.

"Well shit."

Authors Note:

It seems that Jaune may have made a small miscalculation. To be fair most of the trade to his Village is by road. Most.

What will happen next to our intrepid Gamer? Where is he headed? Will he finally kill a Grimm and gain that sweet XP?

Find out next time in Chapter 2: Grimm Airlines