Chapter 8: A Huntsman's Weapon
Jaune's first impression of Signal was that at least in comparison to the combat school he had come from it was to a degree a little underwhelming.
Of course, he guessed comparing it to an academy that was on a floating city the sky was maybe a little bit unfair.
He had been lead to school by an excited Ruby and a cheerful Yang. Taiyang had already headed out to school before they had left and Qrow didn't seem to have stirred from his sleep. They walked the roads of Patch with Jaune trailing behind the two sisters as they made their journey to school.
The school was short and didn't spread out too much sitting at the edge of town with grounds that stretched from the back of the school showcasing another couple smaller buildings and if Jaune was guessing right a forge judging by the smokestack on the building.
Walking behind Ruby and Yang he saw the other students trickling in and for a moment was surprised by how few of them there were. That was of course before he realized the obvious that Patch was a small Island and the number of students who would be going to a Combat School on an Island this size were rather few.
As they walked into the school Yang turned to the both of them.
"Alright Ruby have a good day at school!" she gave a hug to her sibling who then vanished in a flurry of rose petals presumably shooting off to her class though Jaune was taken aback by her semblance for a moment feeling a muted pang at his own inability to discover his own semblance.
Yang turned to look at Jaune an easy-going smile on her face, "Dad said you were in my class so just follow me. He said he would do the paperwork to make sure you were enrolled earlier this morning."
Jaune nodded mutely pasting a weak smile on his face.
They continued down the hallway in silence till evidently Yang could not take it anymore, "So Jaune…" she began turning to face slightly towards him, "I feel like we should properly greet each other as my sister, and I were a little distracted by our Uncle yesterday. My name's Yang Xiaolong," she held out a hand.
Jaune took it shaking her firm grip, "I'm Jaune Arc, I really appreciate what your family is doing for me."
"No problem," Yang gave him a wide grin.
In a way he did. While he wished more than anything he was in Atlas right now he still appreciated Yang's family opening their home to him. They seemed to be good people.
Still as he walked with Yang to their classroom he felt his mind drifting again. It seemed longing didn't qualify longing as an emotion it should nullify.
Jaune and Yang walked into a classroom where Yang casually pointed to an adult woman with close cropped black hair and warm brown eyes who wore a black pantsuit who stood at the head of the classroom behind a table casually flipping through some sheets of paper.
"That's Professor Maple," Yang said gesturing at the woman, "Dad said you should talk to her."
"Right, Thanks Yang," Jaune said.
Yang gave him a full smile before heading off to the back corner of the room where a couple of students enthusiastically welcomed her arrival.
Jaune walked up to the teacher catching her attention from flipping through the pages.
"Uh Hello," Jaune began awkwardly, "I'm Jaune Arc, I don't know if you've received-"
"Your files?" the woman held up a couple papers smiling kindly, "I have them no need to worry. I see you had excellent grades at your previous combat school so I don't think you'll have to worry too much here at Signal. You can call me Professor Maple by the way."
"Um Right," Jaune nodded, "So what subject do you teach here?" he asked as he couldn't tell by the classroom what subject she covered.
Professor Maple gave a cheery smile, "Oh, I actually teach all the General Subjects for this current class of students, I suppose your previous Combat School in Atlas may have been different?"
Jaune hesitated minutely but quickly decided that if Ozpin had sent these records sent for him there probably wasn't anything incriminating, "Yeah it's definitely different here."
For one thing it wasn't hovering with the rest of the city in the sky, he dryly commented too internally.
"Well if you need anything you can just ask, you can pick any seat we don't have assigned seats" Professor Maple said before turning back to the papers in front of her.
Jaune turned and located an empty seat noticing distantly that it seemed almost like Yang was holding court in her section of the room judging by how many students were surrounding her.
He guessed she must be popular.
As he was settling into his seat his sense alerted him to the fact one of the students was glaring at him. He was a dark haired young man who had slim features that Jaune supposed a number of girls would find attractive. A couple of other male students were surrounding them and if Jaune was to judge they seemed to be on the periphery of Yang's group. Close enough to be a part of it yet still slightly separate as to hold their own conversation.
Jaune dismissed the glare to the back of his mind. Even a halfhearted glare from Weiss inspired more fear in him. Though that was because Weiss very much would take it out on him in combat class.
Jaune instead pretended to draw a notebook out of his bag which in reality was drawn from his inventory. Unexpected as it had been his sudden relocation to yet another place had convinced him that he needed to take better advantage of his inventory. Who knew when he would end up moving again with no notice?
That was why he had gone early that morning and used some of the stipend of lien he had saved to buy the necessities he had found himself without which unfortunately included clothes.
Professor Maple called the class to order and the day began. It was as she began to teach that Jaune found himself somewhat tuning out. It wasn't intentional but perhaps because his Intelligence was now massively boosted he found the class going painfully slow. Not to mention that the topic being discussed had heard discussed previously around a month ago.
Still to at least look like he was paying attention on his first day he took notes more for something to do than anything. After all it wasn't like he could take a nap for a multitude of reasons number one being that his physiology made sleep something that frequently ignored as he couldn't really feel drowsy or tired.
As he sat there he realized that without Weiss this type of schooling had lost worth to him. Why was he sitting in a classroom when instead he could be fighting, gaining levels and reincarnating Grimm? Especially when he knew that Combat Schools while typical weren't necessary in the slightest as each Academy held their own entrance exam which was the sole determinacy for admission.
His attendance at Combat School in Atlas had taught him a lot but on the same note he had become very aware just what the limitations Combat Schools had for the growth he needed. Fighting Grimm was by far the best way for him to get stronger. Even more so now because he needed to fight and defeat Grimm to revive them to take advantage of his class ability.
Was he just going to sit through Signal like this? Especially when he knew that someone named "Salem" who controlled the Grimm would hunt him down if she knew he existed. If there was someone powerful enough to control the Grimm taking his time as information was spoon fed to him at Signal was a terrible plan.
He was going to have to leave.
Still there was one thing he needed to do that would require a school. He had grown used to Crocea Mors but it was time to make the weapon truly his own instead of a family heirloom.
To the side of his notes he began to add ideas for what exactly he would do to the sword and shield. He would need to fill in for a lack of a better word what the weapon lacked. Quite simply he needed a ranged option. How to accomplish that he had no idea. He had a couple ideas when he was at Atlas but he hadn't had the resources to pour into modifying his weapon as that was not something the school did.
"Alright students we'll take a break for lunch and then we'll work our Combat Training. There will also be time to work with the Forge Master for those of you who wish to continue working on their weapons. We'll meet like usual out at the training grounds at the back of the school."
Jaune restrained his reaction at that last bit of information. At his previous Combat School that had certainly not been an option. You could order weapons for a price from the school which included the design and construction of the weapon. Given the means he had then he had put the idea to the side after he had developed his aura channeling technique but now… He had no idea that Signal actively gave time for their students to construct their own weapons.
Perhaps now he could turn Crocea Mors into a weapon truly suited for him.
Mind made up he packed up his stuff before filing out of the classroom with the rest of the students following them to a small cafeteria. Getting his food he sat down at a table in one of the corners eating his meal with clinical efficiency and at maximum pace before he rose to his feet some minutes later and quickly put away his tray.
He walked out of the cafeteria and paused for a moment trying to orient himself in the completely unfamiliar environment. Shrugging to himself he walked through the school checking windows and doors before he came to what looked like the back area of the building where he could a squat building with a cloud of smoke billowing from the chimney sitting to the side of a large field that had obviously been packed down by the tramp of many students.
That had to be it.
He exited the school crossing the field seeing that a couple of the students from his class seemed to be eating under the shade of the awning of the school building.
He crossed the field and arrived at the door to the squat building. He reached out a hand and grabbed the door handle pulling to be met with a blast of heat and the enraged roar of an adult man.
"Ms. Rose how many times have I told you to not use your Semblance in the forge!"
"Sorry!" a familiar voice responded and Jaune stepped into the forge to see dissipating rose petals scattered about the forge and a Ruby Rose smiling weakly at a man with a short grey beard with equally grey hair tied back in a ponytail.
The man's yellow hawk like eyes landed on him as he entered the forge, "And who might you be?" he asked.
"I'm Jaune Arc," Jaune replied glancing at Ruby whose face seemed closer to the shade of a cherry.
Despite that he continued, "I was wondering if I could get some help working on my weapon."
And by help he meant he would seriously be lost without it. His next option would be searching through the library to attempt to get a blacksmithing skill, if it was even obtainable from a book.
"I see," the man gave a warm grin, "Well my name is Lionel Goldstone, I'm the master blacksmith of this forge and it's my job to assist students with forging their weapon. What exactly are you looking to make? Something similar to your previous weapon?" He nodded at Crocea Mors on Jaune's waist.
Jaune attempted to return the man's smile as the man's words struck him. This entire time he had been thinking about how to modify Crocea Mors he had always thought he was in essence only going to be modifying the weapon slightly to fit him.
As he looked about the workshop and saw a vast number of weapons in varying states of being finished he realized that perhaps he had been thinking too narrowly. A Hunters weapon should match them which meant…
Jaune wasn't sure what that meant.
"Honestly I'm not sure Mr. Goldstone," Jaune said, "I've used Crocea Mors because my Geat-Grandfather fought in the war with it. I never gave much thought into what weapon would really match me.
Goldstone nodded solemnly stroking his grey beard, "Well the first and most important aspect to a Hunters Weapon is that it should be developed to how you want to fight. Though that isn't the only consideration for example Ms. Rose here is developing a weapon based on an aspect of her Uncle's weapon. The point is that the weapon should fundamentally mean something to you as almost any weapon can be effective in the hands of a well trained hunter.
Mean something to him…
"When you say it should mean something to you… What exactly do you mean by that?"
Before Goldstone could respond Ruby spoke up interjecting herself into the conversation with a surprisingly solemn tone.
"Our Aura's and Semblances are reflections of are soul that we use to fight that Grimm. Our weapons are an extension of that. What do you think of when you think of being a Hunter?"
Jaune looked at Ruby in surprise before his thoughts began to congeal. What did he think of?
The first thing that came to mind was Weiss. Her agile grace as she used her rapier to slice the Grimm. The next person that came to mind was Pyrrha and how she had fought solidly a wall that was unable to be moved by the fiercest tides. Both those methods had their appeals in their own right, and each was effective.
He couldn't focus on one or the other though. He had to be able to do both. More than that he had the ability to summon the Grimm he defeated how did that play into how he should fight?
"I know I need the ability to fight at range," Jaune said slowly, "But as often as not I've found myself fighting at close range. Despite that I don't really use my shield as often as I should, but I'm also used to using both arms independently.
Goldstone frowned thoughtfully, "Just a moment," he said. He walked to a wooden stand where a number of weapons were arrayed before he grasped two objects and returned. In his hands Jaune saw two hilts which were offered to him.
Jaune reached out with both his hands and pulled back revealing steel blades about half of the length of Crocea Mors.
Jaune backed away a little bit and swung the blades around. They felt light and moved easily in his hands. The blades moved so easily in his hands Jaune wondered if there was some sort of synergy between Hunter Sword Arts and Martial Arts as the weapons could be classified as short swords but the way in which he maneuvered them felt more elegant than how he fought with his current weapon.
"They- They actually feel quite nice," Jaune said slowly awed looking at Goldstone.
"Well then how about we try you out on those daggers for now," Goldstone said, "If you feel like they're matching you we can get to work on a real Hunter weapon for, perhaps with an added pistol or rifle functionality to give you that ranged option you mentioned."
The bell rang signaling the end of Lunch period and Ruby's eyes widened, "Oh no I forgot to eat!"
Goldstone sighed in exasperation, reaching into a nearby bag and pulling out half of a sandwich.
"You need to learn to prioritize better," he said to Ruby handing the grateful girl the food, "Next time I'm not parting with part of my lunch."
"You say that every time Mr. Goldstone," Ruby said through a mouthful of sandwich.
Goldstone looked at Jaune, "Well you can head on to your combat class. See what you make of those daggers."
Jaune nodded and left the blacksmith forge noticing immediately when he had returned to cooler air. He could see people he recognized from his class gathering by a particularly flattened dirt area so he headed in that direction superstitiously giving a look around before he stored Crocea Mors when he saw and sensed that no one was looking at him.
That left him with the daggers which despite the fact that they obviously weren't Hunter Grade weapons were definitely crafted exceedingly well. Goldstone must know his stuff which gave Jaune hope that when he crafted his new weapon it would truly be something that would be an "extension" of him as Ruby said.
He joined the group of students and found himself standing to the side from the group awkwardly fiddling with his new daggers.
Professor Maple arrived and class quieted down as she stood in front of them.
"Everyone will be expected to spar at least once today before they can work on their weapon. I'll form you into groups now."
And so, she did and Jaune found himself partnered with the dark-haired kid who had been glaring at him in class. Apparently, his name was Roman and as their names were called together Jaune swore the kid's eyes looked victorious.
Once every student was assigned a partner they spread out on the grass and Jaune followed Roman as he silently led them to a spot a fair distance spread out from the other pair.
Roman turned to him eyeing him with what seemed as much disdain as a thirteen-year-old could muster.
Reaching behind himself Roman drew a short pole which with a flick of his wrist spiraled out into a spear.
Somewhat hesitantly Jaune reached into his new dagger sheaths and grabbed their hilts rolling the daggers into his hands. Vaguely he hoped that possible synergy he had theorized earlier existed or else this wasn't going to go well judging by the look in Roman's eyes.
Roman launched himself forward and instinctively Jaune went to block with a shield that wasn't there. Realizing his mistake, he transitioned to a parry with his dagger blade knocking the spear to the side.
He closed the distance nailing the blade of his dagger into Roman's stomach launching him into the air from the force he had delivered in the strike.
Roman spun in the air with his spear recovering before landing on his feet with a slight stumble.
Roman's gaze was furious as he launched a series of slashes with his spear trying to use the advantage of the length of his weapon to keep Jaune at a distance while he whittled down Jaune's aura.
This strategy might have worked against another student but through a combination of Jaune's Agility, Sense, and a small bit of his Intelligence Jaune found himself predicting the stabbing motion of each strike and shifting around them before slipping around the strike one last time and using his strength batted the shaft of the spear hard imbedding the tip into ground.
Jaune took advantage of the opening sprinting up to Roman slashing freely with his daggers rapidly laying strikes into Roman's defenseless body.
Roman attempted to retreat pulling his weapon free from the ground but at the range Jaune was at it did him no good. A shimmer of green erupting after particularly vicious slash from Jaune alerted him that he had done enough and that Roman's aura was low.
He retreated a couple of steps looking at the other boy in concern, "I think your aura's low. We should probably call it there."
Roman glanced at his scroll and grimaced before looking back at Jaune, before snorting, "Whatever dude. Have fun playing with your knives."
Roman walked away to join some other students who were standing in various states of exhaustion to the side.
Jaune looked around and saw that the other students were in various states of combat except for Yang who just launched her opponent skyward with a particularly vicious punch from her gauntlets.
The student peaked a couple meters off the ground before they came crashing down and Jaune couldn't help being impressed by the level of strength that Yang had just demonstrated. It wasn't exactly like her weapon could provide her any leverage.
Professor Maple called out, "Yang! Jaune! How about you two fight!" before she turned and directed another pair of students who had just won their matches to face each other.
Jaune walked up to Yang eyeing her gauntlets warily.
"Sup?" Yang greeted him cheerily clanging her gauntlets together, "Let's stop Yanging around and get to it huh?"
Jaune blinked once, "I'm sorry was that a pun?"
"Yup!" Yang said popping the p, "I find them quite Punny."
"I… see." Jaune had no response to that. Honestly those puns were so forced he almost thought they should be disqualified from the category together.
"Let's start then?" Jaune said hoping to pass the buck on this particular conversation.
Yang's grin turned feral, "Let's."
She launched herself at him crossing the gap between them in a single leap aided by the eruption of her gauntlets as she blasted forward into swinging her fist at Jaune's head.
Jaune let himself fall purposely dipping underneath her swing before throwing his right leg out into a savage kick which connected hard into Yang's gut launching her into the air.
Internally Jaune frowned. That kick shouldn't have connected. It was almost as if Yang had purposely taken the hit.
He had no more time to think as Yang came at him again just as hard. He had to consciously avoid trying to block but it became easier as he fought focusing on agilely slipping through the storm of fists Yang was sending his way. It was distinctly different then how he had fought previously tanking hits with his shield but as he danced around Yang scoring two cuts with his daggers, he found that for some reason this felt more natural.
It wasn't because of his skills he knew that. He didn't even have a skill directly for dagger fighting yet but perhaps it was because that synergy of his current skills along with something else but he felt strangely like he was fighting how he wanted to fight rather than how his sword and shield demanded he fight.
The only thing that would have made this better is if Weiss could see him right now.
That moment of distraction cost him as Yang's fist made hard contact with his face right before he felt himself driven into the ground by the force of it.
His mind was already in recovery mode as he rolled across the ground gaining distance from Yang's fist that blew a chunk out of his head had formerly been.
He sprung to his feat to facing his opponent who was drawing her fist from the ground.
The fight paused for a moment and Jaune could have sworn he saw Yang's eyes flicker red briefly before they returned to their lilac color.
Once again, she charged him and once again Jaune found himself ducking and weaving between her blows. In the back of his head, he noted that if he had been attempting to tank the blows with his shield, he would have already gotten launched.
Still this ad-hoc fighting style still had kinks. It wasn't quite a skill.
Which was why he wasn't surprised when with a shotgun aided punch Yang disarmed him of his knives which embedded into the ground a short distance away. Now suddenly with one knife he was pushed back on the defensive as he slipped around what blows he could while dealing with each punishing punch that landed.
He landed another slash and he saw Yang's eyes flare bright red.
He felt more than he saw what happened next as he felt his body launched away flying over the grass before he rolled another couple of meters.
"Ow," he muttered under his breath though even discounting how Gamer's Mind dealt with pain his aura was still up if rather low.
As Yang began to advance, he raised his hand, "I'm pretty low, I give."
Yang looked at him her eyes still red for a moment before she blinked and the lilac returned, "That was a pretty good fight Jaune. Got to say I'm impressed. Not many people can go toe to toe with me."
She made a flexing motion with her arm as she gave a wide grin at Jaune.
Jaune nodded giving a small awkward grin in return. It was hard not smile back. Yang had a good-natured presence about her.
When she wasn't in a fight that was.
Yang walked up to him and offered a hand which he took rising to his feet to stand in front of her.
She gave him a hearty clap on the back and walked off to the sidelines headed toward a couple of the students he had seen talking with her earlier.
The notifications from his fight popped up in front of his eyes.
Due to Existing levels in Hunter Martials Arts and Sword Arts, Hunter Dagger Arts has received a skill bonus.
Skill has been set at Level 22.
A cool sensation slipped through his body and flowed through his mind. He looked at the Daggers in his hands before he twirled them dexterously before sliding them into their sheathes.
It wasn't at the level of Sword Skill but for some reason using the daggers felt far more natural. Possibly because he wasn't having to deal with the shield he used to hold. He felt more agile not having to hold the somewhat bulky form of Crocea Mors.
Shaking his head free of his thoughts he went to get a drink of water. Other students were also taking a break from fighting probably to let their auras recharge. He definitely needed to let his own Aura recharge.
Yang was a ferocious fighter and from what he had seen of the other fights she was probably one of the better fighters in the class if not the best fighter. What the red eye thing had been he didn't know but hesitantly he chalked it up to something Semblance related.
He got a drink from one of the coolers that had been brought outside sipping the cool water enjoying the sensation of the water even if he didn't have the actual feeling of thirst that a normal person would have had after exercise.
Jaune made his way back to the forge mind made up. He walked into the door to see a couple of his other classmates already moving about working presumably on their own weapons. He located Goldstone and walked over to him stopping behind him as he waited for Goldstone to pull something out of a forge and quench it
Goldstone turned to look at him, "Ah your back? How did the daggers work for you?"
"Really well actually," Jaune said, "Would you be able to help me make a weapon like them?"
Goldstone smiled, "Of course it is my job. I'll need your input on your designs but I don't imagine it will be overly complicated unlike some other students weapons."
The distant pained look in Goldstone's eyes told Jaune not to ask so he studiously ignored it in favor of his next question, "Would it be possible to add a ranged component to the weapon?"
"Sure thing but I would need an idea of what you're looking for, it couldn't be too large as it would need to fit into the daggers." Goldstone replied.
This was a question Jaune had an answer to, he had seen a lot of weapons by this point. All different in their own ways and each complimenting how that person fought. He fought at close range which left him strapped if he couldn't close the distance to his opponent. He needed something with stopping power and the closest thing he had seen to that was Pyrrha's rifle. The dust rounds from that rifle had dealt significant damage to the Grimm at range and helped hold them back though the bulk of the work had been done by the turrets.
"Would it be possible for the daggers to form a rifle?" Jaune asked.
Goldstone's brow creased as he stroked his chin in thought, "Yes it's definitely feasible. Though I'd wager you don't exactly have any firearm training?" he raised an eyebrow at Jaune to which Jaune shook his head.
It was definitely a gap he was aware of but there was nothing he could have really done until now.
"Well we can fix that," Goldstone said, "In fact I think I have just the teacher in mind for you."
Jaune chose to ignore the evil chuckle that followed after that statement along with the words, "Steal my lunch will you…"
"Thanks, I really appreciate this," Jaune said and Goldstone once again turned back to him.
"You should be thanking yourself," Goldstone said with a grin, "I assist in the forging of weapons but all the grunt work… That's your job!" There was definitely an evil light in Goldstone's eyes at those words but Jaune was already resigned to his fate.
Whatever the personal cost at the end of this he would have a weapon.
Authors Note:
Did the same basic formula for determining the skill bonus to Dagger Arts that I originally did for Sword Arts. I know that how weapons are used can vary widely but given that Rwby combat involves strange weapons I feel that there must be general 'skill level' that can be applied between weapons especially à la video game logic.
Also to be clear these 'Daggers' are really more akin to short swords my split the difference between who Jaune Arc is as a character (Sword and Shield) and Sung Jinwoo (Daggers).
Next time: Chapter 9 Necromancy and Other Past Times
Stats:
Name: Jaune Arc
Class: Necromancer
Level: 10
HP: 300
AP: 3000
Mana: 5000
Strength: 36
Agility: 30
Vitality: 30
Sense: 20
Intelligence: 50
Luck: ?
Available Ability Points: 60
Skills:
Gamers Mind: Level Max
Dancing: Level 50
General Studies: Level 35
Hunter Martial Arts: Level 15
Hunter Dagger Arts: Level 22
Hunter Sword Arts: Level 31
Hunter Shield Arts: Level 25
Aura Control: Level 27
Dust Channeling: Level 3
Survival: Level 3
Stealth: Level 2
Shadow Extraction: Level 1
Inventory:
Crocea Mors
Clothing
Assorted Food Supplies
Camping Equipment
