Chapter 3: Cold as Weiss
Atlas was truly astonishing to Jaune. Besides the fact that the city itself was floating in the sky, it was advanced beyond anything Jaune had ever seen. Nowhere was that more apparent than at Atlas Academy, a glowing blue monolith that stretched even further into the sky.
He had been led by Ebi into the Academy, passing by various students dressed in white uniforms accented with pale grey. When the students had seen Ebi, Jaune couldn't help but note the admiration on their faces which Ebi responded to with an easy smile.
Ebi had brought him to an office where a worker had in short order provided him with a set of uniforms, some books, and a scroll before sending him on his way to his dorm room. As Ebi had departed once Jaune received his supplies, this left Jaune wandering Atlas Academy, continually referring to the map on his new scroll as he tried to locate his room.
The map was actually genuinely useful, and despite some wrong turns, Jaune eventually made it to his room.
His room was, in a word, spartan, Jaune thought as he looked about the small room that contained a bed, a desk, and a chair, with nothing else to liven up the atmosphere. Still, Jaune was grateful that he had at least a place to stay as he doubted the money he had would have paid for a room for too long.
Still, given that he didn't exactly want to unload his inventory, this left him with not much to do.
Checking his scroll, he saw that he saw that he had already been assigned a schedule detailing his school day with exacting detail. Atlas truly was as efficient as they appeared from the outside.
Still, that left him with the rest of the day to figure out what to do with himself. Though as he glanced out the window, he realized that the day in truth was already over.
Jaune checked over his course list and was surprised by some of the similarities to the regular school he had gone to. There was History and Math, but alongside that were courses such as Combat Training and Dust Studies.
Still, what he actually needed to deal with was the fact he likely not be returning home in the foreseeable future. His parents may have been relaxed enough to let him take care of himself for a couple of weeks, given that there were a number of family friends he could ask for help but being in Atlas was a whole other thing entirely.
If he told them where he was, he had no doubts he would be back home within a few days at most, and his chances of going to combat school would be effectively below zero. So how did he reassure his parents while at the same time be able to take advantage of this opportunity?
A pit formed in his gut as a horrible idea occurred to him.
His parents would be furious.
His sisters would likely kill him.
Still, he had come this far, even if by accident. Jaune Arc did not give up.
He began to type out a message on his scroll. It took him the better part of an hour before he was satisfied with it. With a couple of taps, he arranged for the message to be delivered to his family in a couple weeks' time when they would be arriving back. Then with a heavy heart, he blocked them from messaging him.
He really was incredibly selfish.
Jaune awoke early the next morning. He showered and dressed in his new uniform before referring to his schedule. He had math the first thing in the day, which was not exactly where he wanted to start with his Hunter training, but it couldn't be helped.
He filed through the halls with the other similarly dressed students blending into their midst just like he was one of them.
He followed a group of students into his first classroom and, after a moment of careful consideration, picked a seat at the front. If he was going to go to this school, he would do his best to make a good first impression.
The rest of the class filed in and noticed a couple of odd glances in his direction. He dismissed them as they were probably just confused about seeing a new student.
Reaching into his bag, he was about to pull out a notebook before a small cough stopped him.
Looking up, he saw possibly the most beautiful girl he had ever seen standing in front of him. She had long silver hair tied back in a ponytail and clear silvery blue eyes. Even though she wore the stander uniform of the Academy, he couldn't help but feel she wore it better than anyone else he had seen.
She was also staring at him as if she were looking at a particularly bad stain on a piece of clothing.
The next words she spoke sounded as if they came from the lips of an angel, "You're in my seat."
Jaune's mind took a moment to process her words; still stunned by her beauty, he finally managed a response after he realized that was what people generally did, "We have assigned seats?"
Despite being an honest question, judging by the reddening of anger on her cheeks, Jaune judged he had not said the right thing.
Hastily he got up from the seat haphazardly, gathering his supplies into his arms. Quickly he glanced around, looking for another place to sit and seeing that only about three-quarters of the seats were filled, notably all the seats next to the one he had been sitting in were empty. He moved his stuff two seats down for good measure and sat back down.
The girl simply harrumphed to herself and took Jaune's former seat before neatly arraying out her own supplies. She pointedly turned her face away from him, much to Jaune's disappointment, but he didn't have much time to contemplate this as a woman with brown hair and brown eyes walked into the room dressed in a well-fitting white suit.
With little preamble, she began the class. She was a good teacher Jaune noted in part because he received a level in General Studies by the end of the class. Still, he found himself taking glimpses of the girl as the class went on. She was truly stunning in a way that Jaune had never encountered before.
As the class came to an end and the students began gathering their supplies, Jaune frantically tried to think of something to say to the girl. Something preferably that would make her think he was cool.
Didn't his dad say that confidence was key?
Quickly making a half-baked plan, the words already on his lips, he turned his bag on his shoulder only to see that as efficiently as he had gathered his supplies, she was far more efficient and was already walking out the door.
Groaning to himself in disappointment, he followed the rest of the students out the door before pulling out his map to determine where his next class was.
The day progressed from there, with the 'normal' classes taking up the first part of the day. It was directly after a surprisingly high-quality lunch that Jaune found himself taking his first Hunter course.
It was combat training that sent equal parts thrills and terror through Jaune. He, in truth, had no idea he stacked up to the rest of the students. What if he was humiliated on his first day?
As he walked into the room, he saw that the other students were now carrying their weapons, something which he had thankfully had the foresight to grab from his inventory before he entered the class. He awkwardly chose a spot near the front of the students knowing that whatever the teacher was demonstrating, he would need the best view possible if he had any hope of keeping up with the rest of the students.
That was when he spotted the girl he had nicknamed 'Snow Angel' in his head standing off to the side of the class, similar to how he was. He was mentally debating on whether to try and approach her again when their teacher called the class to begin.
He was a thickly built man who easily hefted a large war hammer over his shoulder with seemingly no effort whatsoever.
"All right, we'll be doing sparring for the duration of this class. If you check your scroll, you'll see that I've already assigned partners. Meet with your partner and choose a section of the room to spar in.
Jaune did as the teacher said and opened his scroll to see that he was partnered with someone named Weiss Schnee. The name Schnee tickled something in the back of his brain, but he dismissed it as nothing. After all, why would he know the last name of a girl he had never met.
The students paired off quickly, leaving Jaune standing there awkwardly along with the beautiful girl who was still staring at her scroll.
She turned to the Professor, completely ignoring Jaune, "Professor Grau, I believe the network must be malfunctioning. I've been assigned a student who doesn't go to this class."
The Professor frowned and walked over to the girl who held up her scroll to him. He read it and then nodded, "Oh, that's right. He's our new student, Jaune Arc," before he pointed at Jaune.
The girl who Jaune surmised must be Weiss Schnee looked at him and her nose crinkled upward in a way Jaune would have found cute if it wasn't directed at him.
"Oh. I see. Thank you, Professor."
Weiss walked up to him, stopping a fair distance away.
"You're Jaune Arc?" she said in a tone that even as socially awkward as Jaune was, he could tell that she was hoping he would say it was all one big mistake.
He nodded, having to suppress a wince as her frown deepened.
"Well, let's get on with it then," she said, primly walking away to a clear section of the room.
Jaune followed after her across the room, feeling a bit like a misbehaved child as she marched toward the marked-off square before she turned to face him.
"Ready to begin?" she asked primly, eyes narrowed at him as if daring him to disagree.
Jaune briefly considered if it would be more dangerous to disagree or agree before he decided that it wasn't going to be pretty either way.
He nodded, "I'm Ready," he confidently lied.
In an instant, she drew her rapier, leaping across the space, aiming to pierce him through. Jaune leaped to the side, drawing his sword with a familiarity he was not yet accustomed to.
Weiss rebounded off a swirling white circle and launched toward him, easily bypassing Jaune's attempted deflection with his sword. The point slammed into his chest, and Jaune felt his reserves dip.
He retreated under the onslaught of lightning-quick slashes while he desperately tried to pull his sheath off his belt. He succeeded just in time to block her next hilt with the sheathe before he transformed it into a shield allowing him to set himself into a guard position for the first time in this fight.
He had figured he would be behind the other students, but he had hoped with the Gamer ability he would have been able to make enough distance to not be completely trounced. Apparently, he shouldn't have gotten his hopes up even that much.
His racing thoughts stilled not of their own accord, and Jaune knew instinctively that Gamers Mind had kicked in once again.
Taking a deep breath, he loosened his sword hand by twirling his blade dexterously.
One step at a time. He was willing to risk everything to be a Hunter. He could deal with a little humiliation if he got better at fighting.
Weiss had retreated once his shield had been drawn, and it seemed almost as if she expected something more to happen when the shield expanded.
"That's it?" she asked after a moment, "It just turns into a shield?"
Jaune frowned. Even if he thought she was the most beautiful person he had ever seen, this weapon had belonged to his Great-Great-Grandfather. Still, he couldn't deny it as he saw the weapons of the other students go off behind her in blazes of the elements and bullets that comparably his weapon was a little underwhelming.
"It's an heirloom," he mumbled under his breath.
Weiss once again launched herself at him, and they engaged in a fast-paced dance as Jaune quickly determined even with his weapon deployed, he was still her inferior. Still, he noticed that the times where she did have to deflect his strikes when she didn't just use a glyph to rebound away from them, she had trouble turning them away.
Still, these opportunities became fewer and farther in between as Weiss continually upped the pace against Jaune. It was completely different from fighting the nevermores Jaune realized. There had been massive quantities of them, but they had been easy to cut down as they had aimed mostly at the gunners.
It was nothing compared to the huntress in training he was facing right now.
They once again clashed, and Jaune was left the worse for it. A quick check of the interface showed she had knocked him close to 50% of his aura.
Still, Jaune Arc did not give up.
He diverted her stabbing blade to the side with his shield and as she continued flying past him due to what he could only assume was pure luck, he managed to score hit on her side, her aura flaring a clear light blue.
She spun as she came to a stop, her icy eyes glaring at him.
Tension thickened the air between them as they gazed at each other. Her sword held as if she was preparing to fence his held perpendicular to his body, his shield placed in front of his chest.
In an instant, they launched themselves at each other, Weiss having launched herself from a glyph; was moving much faster, but still, Jaune charged and then braced himself, aiming to deflect her rapier with his shield.
In an awe-inspiring display of dexterity, a glyph formed at her feet, launching her sideways just as she reached him, allowing her to dexterously spin around him and strike him again.
A loud beep emanated from both their scrolls, and Jaune pulled it out to see that his Aura had dipped into the red.
Weiss had stopped, looking at him with her usual expression of irritation, "Has your Aura gone into the red?"
Jaune nodded, scratching the back of his head her scrutiny, "Yeah, I'm out."
She nodded fiercely, "That concludes our match then."
With that, she walked back to the teacher and engaged him in a discussion. The rest of the students Jaune noted were still fighting. It could have just been his perception, but it seemed that Weiss had easily moved faster than any of them.
His notifications which had been minimized, reappeared before his face.
Hunter Sword Arts has Leveled Up by 2.
Hunter Shield Arts has Leveled Up by 1.
Aura Control has Leveled up by 2.
Jaune felt the odd yet familiar sensation of information flowing to his head, and he realized he could now critique some of the moves he had made in his fight with Weiss.
Another strange thing had occurred on his level-ups. He now knew somehow how to enhance his body in a more efficient and effective manner. He knew that if he now used his aura to block a blow that he would lose considerably less aura as he would not over expend it as he had been doing.
In his short fight, he had already improved at least in his perception an exceptional amount. The trick would be to continue building off that growth.
He would need to continue to train and work out if he hoped to prove he had a place here. Furthermore, Weiss words stuck with him as he looked at his blade. It was an heirloom and meant quite a deal to his family. Still, as he looked around the other students, he knew that by itself, the sword and shield would not be enough.
He needed to create a weapon like Weiss's, like the other students he could see, a weapon that fit him like an extension of his body.
It was with that in mind when the class came to an end that day, he found his way to the library with the aid of the trusty map he had been given. There he was struck by the wealth of information on Hunting that abounded, but with a bit of a struggle, he maintained his focus and found his way to the section on weapons.
There he spent his afternoon that fell into the evening searching through book after book, attempting to find a weapon that would fit him.
In his mind, an image began to form as he read the books. He would have the same sword and shield as he did now. He couldn't leave them behind now after so much, and despite their simplicity, they were durable to the extreme, with even the blade still being sharp.
It was the shield that needed modification. As it was, it was just a shield, but after seeing all the other weapons, he couldn't help but think about what if it was more. If he added dust to it, he could create a variety of explosions that could repel and damage.
With this hard light dust he was reading about, he could even see himself gliding on it if he ever fell from a great distance. Something which had been all too possible when he was fighting on the airship.
For his sword, an idea directly from his fight with Weiss had come to him. If he could channel dust through his sword with the aid of his aura, he could send slashes of elemental energy at his opponents.
Caught up in his imagination, he swung his pencil through the air like a sword channeling his aura through it.
He didn't expect anything to happen, which was why he was so surprised, and line of golden energy raced outwards to dissipate some feet away from him.
Hastily he checked around himself worried that he had gotten himself into serious trouble only to see that there was no one else around him in the library. As he caught sight of the clock, he realized that was likely because of how late it was.
Refocusing on what he had done, he saw that he had gained a notification.
Skill Aura Projection has been Created.
Skill Aura Projection has been subsumed by Aura Control.
Aura Control has leveled up by 1.
Despite the long day he had, Jaune couldn't have wiped the grin off his face if he tried.
Until he got his weapon upgraded, he could work with this. Getting up, he began to put all the books he had pulled out away. His thoughts were racing with his new ideas and plans that it was only as he was putting his last book away, he saw the pale figure sat at a table in the back studiously taking notes with a book open in front of her.
Jaune frowned to himself. While he had surpassed the need for sleep with his Gamer ability, as far as he was aware, everyone else still needed their sleep.
Even as he watched, he could see Weiss's head slowly drooping until her head eventually fell into the book in front of her.
For a moment, he debated with himself what to do. Earlier she couldn't have made it clearer what she thought of his presence. On the other hand, it wasn't in him to leave someone passed out in the library.
Already bracing himself for the scolding he was going to get, he walked through the library to her, stopping at her side. He took a moment to be impressed by how detailed her notes were. Even with his rising General Studies skill, he didn't think he would be able to match the sheer amount of detail she went into.
He hesitantly raised his hand, going to shake her shoulder before he thought better of it, even with Aura, who knew if he would get his hand back.
He instead opted for a relatively safer option, "Weiss," he said softly.
The pale girl did not stir, and Jaune mentally kicked himself fort trying to wake someone up with a whisper.
"Weiss," he repeated louder.
Still, the girl did not stir completely dead to the world and its occurrences.
"Weiss!" the girl startled awake at his loud voice nearly toppling out of her chair as she reflexively tried to find the source of the disturbance.
She eventually regained her balance, and her eyes landed on him, still looking rather sleepy.
"What?" she groaned, seemingly not even recognizing him.
"You fell asleep in the library," Jaune said by way of explanation, looking on somewhat amused at her still sleepy befuddled expression as she looked about her.
Her eyes widened after a couple moments as she seemed to realize where exactly she was, "My Father's going to kill me," she groaned as she hastily began to pile her things into her bag, showing none of the care that she had in class previously.
In her haste, she seemed to be causing more of a mess than actually helping, so Jaune carefully grabbed the library books from the table and took them away, putting them on a cart to be returned home to their proper places.
He came back to see that Weiss seemed to have managed to more or less shove everything into her bag, looking around wildly before her eyes locked onto Jaune.
"What do you want?" she asked sharply.
Jaune winced at her ice-cold tone but soldiered on, "Well, I was just wondering if you needed any help."
He had been in her situation before. Admittedly his parents would have been overjoyed if it was because he was studying and not just caught up in an arcade, but the point still stood.
"No, I don't," she said coolly, "I'll thank you for keeping what you just saw to yourself, but I don't need anything from you."
At this jab, Jaune couldn't contain himself, his temper flaring despite Gamers Mind, "Hey, I was just trying to help. What the heck is your problem?"
"My problem?!" Weiss's cheeks flushed red, "My problem is that no matter how much I train! I study! I fight! That no one ever sees me as more than just Weiss Schnee!"
Jaune couldn't help but feel like he was missing something.
His stunned expression was apparently not the right one as Weiss continued, "And you! You and everyone else in this Academy refuse to fight me fairly because of it."
Her outburst ended; she proceeded to pant into the air, seemingly out of breath from her anger.
Jaune didn't really know what to say, but she was obviously upset, and he didn't feel right leaving her as she was.
"I really did do my best in our fight," he had to resist the urge to awkwardly scratch the back of his head, "I just haven't fought a lot of Hunter trainees before." Or fought much, period, but she didn't need to know that.
She was looking at him as he spoke, her eyes piercing through him as if trying to unearth everything about him. Still, he forged forth.
"I'm not really sure what you mean about seeing you as more than just Weiss Schnee. I was just trying to be friendly."
Because honestly, he could really use a friend right now. Yes, he thought she was beautiful, but that could be put to the side right now. In a strange place, he had never been without his family, Jaune could feel the weight of isolation more keenly than he ever had.
Weiss's gaze was inscrutable before she spoke again; this time, her tone was actually at a normal conversational volume, "Do you not know who I am?"
Jaune chuckled awkwardly and shook his head, "Uh, not really. Sorry." He hastily tacked on.
Weiss gazed at him for a very long time, her eyes searching through him.
She finally gave a strange half chuckle, "I can't believe this. I think you're telling the truth."
"I am," Jaune said earnestly, "I thought maybe I'd heard Schnee somewhere before, but I can't remember where for the life of me."
Weiss sighed and reached into her bag and pulled out a white snowflake symbol that she showed to Jaune.
"Schnee. As in the Schnee Dust Company," she said, and it finally clicked to Jaune.
"Oh. Right," Jaune nodded his head for lack of something better to do. The Schnee Dust Company. Pretty much the largest company in Remnant located in Atlas and heavily involved with technology as well as dust.
"Uh, sorry for not recognizing you," Jaune tried.
Weiss simply shook her head, her face twisted in a strange expression, "No, it's okay. I shouldn't have assumed your intentions."
Jaune nodded, and they were left staring at each other awkwardly.
"So, do you need any help?" Jaune asked.
Weiss shook her head the same expression on her face, "No, I don't," after a moment, she continued, "Thank you for waking me up."
Jaune nodded his head for lack of something better to do with his body, "No problem. I was studying late too."
"Were you?" Weiss asked, and Jaune couldn't help but feel that she genuinely meant the question.
"Yeah, I was studying weapon designs, seeing what I could improve about my own weapon," Jaune replied, finding conversation with her rather pleasant when she wasn't irate.
Weiss's cheeks faintly colored though that could have been his imagination; she cleared her throat before she replied, "Well, if you would like any help, I know a small bit about weapon design. I was the one who originally designed my rapier."
At the offer of help, Jaune felt warmth seep into his stomach, "Thanks, I really appreciate it."
"You're welcome," Weiss said primly, "Now I should be going. I'm late as it is."
"Right, well, good night," Jaune said, stepping to the side to let her walk past.
With perfect grace and poise, she replied, "Good night to you as well," then proceeded to walk out of the library, her book bag over her shoulder.
Jaune looked about the library empty now except for him. He guessed he should go work out in his room now. No need to get in trouble if there was actually a curfew here.
It was as Jaune alternated between his physical exercises and reading a book that a somewhat pleasant thought occurred to him.
He may have just made his first friend here.
Authors Note:
I have cobbled together a path more or less that Jaune will be taking. I hope you all enjoyed it, as this ride has just gotten started.
I want to also thank everyone for their reviews; I really appreciate the feedback.
I will see you all in the next episode.
Stats:
Name: Jaune Arc
Level: 4
HP: 100
AP: 1000
Mana: ?
Strength: 16
Agility: 10
Vitality: 10
Sense: 4
Intelligence: 10
Luck: ?
Available Ability Points: 20
Skills:
Gamers Mind: Level Max
Dancing: Level 50
General Studies: Level 29
Hunter Martial Arts: Level 12
Hunter Sword Arts: Level 12
Hunter Shield Arts: Level 10
Aura Control: Level 10
Survival: Level 3
Stealth: Level 2
Inventory:
Crocea Mors
Assorted Food Supplies
Camping Equipment
