Chapter 9: Necromancy and Other Past Times
Jaune didn't know what he had expected but he was sure if he didn't have inexhaustible stamina he would been feeling the hours he had just spent in the forge. Goldstone had run him ragged but as he stared at the gleaming pair of weapons in his hands he felt a certain since of pride. Goldstone had guided him but the actual process of forging the weapon but most of the process had been done by his hands.
The paired blades sat just right in his hands and with a flick of his wrists he attached them to each other face to face. In a shifting movements gears spun and the blades became a long rifle.
Holding it in this form felt rather clumsy but even to his untrained eyes he could tell the weapon was of an incredibly high quality. The personal touches of blue and gold accents over the weapon only served to drive home that he finally had his own weapon.
It was beautiful.
"It's still unfinished," Jaune looked up at Goldstone's voice, Goldstone was cleaning up part of the forge as other students were beginning to exit. The school day had come to an end.
"What do you mean?" Jaune asked.
Goldstone looked at Jaune seriously, "Every Huntsman's weapon has a name. I would give some good thought to what you're going to name your weapon."
Jaune nodded somewhat stunned as he realized he had already accomplished one of his goals here on Patch. Namely to acquire his own weapon.
Who knew that Signal had dedicated facilities to allow each student to produce their own?
Jaune shook off those thoughts focusing on the next steps he had to accomplish. That was determining how he got from an out of the way Island off the coast to Vale to somewhere where he could level up and also add more reincarnated Grimm to his arsenal.
Not to mention he didn't actually know how to really shoot this rifle. He didn't have a skill for that yet and he wanted to make sure it was grinded up before he left the island.
A somewhat guilty part of him remembered his talk with Ozpin. He had said that he would attend Signal. He had also agreed that contacting Weiss would be dangerous he noted in the back of his mind but that still hadn't stopped him.
When it came down to it Jaune understood Ozpin's points but at the same time Ozpin didn't know how much of a handicap actually going to school for him was. He had agreed to hide but from a certain perspective all that meant was that Jaune needed to not go back to Atlas. That didn't mean he had to stay on Patch.
Sure one could look at it as him running away for what was technically the third time but…
He wasn't sure what his point was.
Jaune was walking through the streets of Patch having packed up his school supplies and was headed in the general direction of the Xiao-Long home. He hadn't seen Yang since his fight with her and it seemed that Ruby had vanished as well during some point while forging his weapon.
This left him truly alone with his own thoughts which probably wasn't that great of an idea. With nothing to distract him he was left with his thought about Atlas.
Shaking his head he tried to think more productive thoughts. Namely how to improve himself. He needed to learn how to fire a gun but even if the teacher Goldstone had in mind turned out to be a dud he imagined that simply using the weapon would give him the appropriate skill. More importantly his fight with Yang was still running through his head. If he had used Crocea Mors he imagined that he likely might have been able to come out on top.
Yang was less agile than Weiss and he felt that he was doing well until the last moments where she had hit him far harder than he had thought she could. It didn't quite make sense which meant that until he saw something to the contrary he would label that absurdly powerful punch as s semblance related.
Still he didn't like that she had been able to hit him that hard. He needed more durability. He could add some points to his Health stat. Boosting his aura by ten points would make him have one hundred more HP and a thousand more AP.
He needed to be more durable. Before he could regret his decision he fiddled with his menus and with a strange tingle he felt his body shift as he added ten points.
The rest of his stats he would grind as hard as he could. At this point he could only hope that Sense would finally get decent stat gain if he actually fought Grimm.
He continued walking absentmindedly fiddling with his daggers that sat in a dual sheath where Crocea Mors typically sat though it was now in his inventory. Together they weighed a little less than sword and shield of Crocea Mors did so it didn't feel quite as unnatural as it might have.
An idea had occurred to him about the skill he had toyed with seemed to be perfect for his new weapons. Namely Aura Projection which had been subsumed by Aura Control. With it he could make up the small difference in length his daggers had from his sword. Something he was all too eager to try out… though not in the middle of the street.
Unconsciously he realized his feet had taken him well out of town and its relative safety and into the greenery of the trees that seemed ever present on Signal. He walked for some time trying to estimate how far he had walked and if it was enough distance to be safe.
Finally after some miles he concentrated allowing the cold blue magic to surround him and then seep outwards to form what at first glance seemed to be a Beowulf. Though the plate instead of being bone white was a deep gold and the formerly red eyes were a deep blue. He stared at the creature he had summoned taking note of the small dip in his mana reserves from the summoning.
The creature stared back at him as if awaiting his directions. He hadn't had any time to really experiment with this new ability so Jaune hesitantly decided on the first thing he would do.
"Go," he pointed off into the woods mentally commanding the Grimm to leave and return with a two pronged branch.
The Beowulf turned walking into the forest leaving Jaune standing there waiting. This should serve as a good test of the independence of his summons or he guessed given the name of his skill; his shadows.
In short order the Beowulf returned with a two pronged branch in its jaws looking to have been ripped from a tree. That answered the question of his orders.
Which meant his next task should work.
"Go."
The Beowulf left and Jaune reached to his side grabbing his weapons twirling them into his grip. He didn't have any ammunition which was something he would have to fix but for now this should be enough.
Roars echoed from the forest and a minute later his Beowulf exited the tree line spinning around to growl as a pack of Beowulf's emerged from the trees.
Jaune did not wait for their approach. In an instant he launched himself at them slashing through the neck of one Beowulf while he ducked under a retaliatory bite. Another of the Grimm roared crouching to pounce on him only to be tackled by his own summon.
Jaune did not waste time watching them fight as he cut through another Beowulf.
The final Beowulf growled leaping at him. Jaune slipped around the Grimm slicing the Grimm down its side letting it collapse to the ground and began to fade. Jaune turned his attention to the final Grimm to find it was laying with its neck torn as his own Grimm sat pridefully on top of its defeated opponent.
Jaune looked at his opponents nodding to himself before he raised his hand, "Rise," he spoke softly.
Shadows Extraction has Leveled up by 2.
The Grimm faded their bones white armor turning golden and their eyes opening to show a shining cold blue.
Distantly Jaune noted the mana expenditure but put it to the side seeing as how with his current mana reserves that he would have to start expending quite a bit more mana to start really dipping into them.
Looking at his risen Grimm Jaune made a single command once again, "Go."
The Grimm launched themselves back into the underbrush but after a decent period of time they slowly began to creep back to him heads hung low like dogs that had disappointed their master. Jaune frowned. It seemed that locating Grimm would be somewhat troublesome which he supposed made sense as if there were large numbers of Grimm he supposed Patch would actually have solid defenses. Still it was a good start his intrinsic understanding of his shadows told him that he would need to face these shadows against the Grimm if he wanted them to grow stronger.
Which was important as because of their recent extraction they felt weaker than they had been when they had been mere Grimm.
Well if that was all the Grimm he could get for now he might as well practice what he could using his shadows as practice.
Concentrating he ran his aura through his body concentrating it on his daggers adding another foot of flowing golden aura.
He focused gazing at his shadows, "Come at me."
It was some hours later that Jaune wandered free of the forest. He couldn't help but feel slightly cheery from the two points he had gained in sense from fighting the multiple opponents at once. They didn't give experience like regular Grimm but it seemed they still were far more of a workout than practicing by himself.
Jaune took a moment to orient himself in the unfamiliar landscape before making his way to his current residence. He walked in to the sound of the residents voices which paused at his entrance.
"Jaune is that you?" Taiyang walked out of the kitchen his eyes firm as they landed on Jaune a flicker of what looked like relief passing over his face.
"Oh good," he said, "I was worried that you had gotten lost. Especially as it seems neither of my daughters took the time to make sure you got home."
Taiyang turned looking behind him at a repentant Ruby who looked a little distraught while Yang was looking to the side avoiding her Father's gaze.
"Oh he's fine dad, I fought him earlier and it seemed like he could take care of himself," Yang said waving her hands.
Jaune awkwardly scratched the back of his head, "It's really fine Mr.- I mean Taiyang, I took a sort of roundabout way back here. Just collecting my thoughts."
He didn't really want to see the girls get in trouble and it's not like he would have been easy to find given that he wandered into the forest. It was probably for the best that they had no idea about his adventure.
Taiyang's expression softened slightly as he looked at Jaune with something approaching concern, "Well that's fine. Dinner will be ready in a bit. Yang you're helping me."
He walked into the kitchen followed shortly by Yang leaving Ruby and Jaune looking at each other awkwardly.
Jaune didn't really know what to say so he said the first thing that came to his mind, "So you really like weapons huh?"
Ruby's eyes glimmered slightly as she slowly nodded, "Well yeah. I mean. Like I said earlier their like parts of ourselves you know."
"Right," Jaune nodded before because he had nothing else to say he gestured at the weapons hanging from his belt, "I suppose I can see what you mean. These feel… Well they feel right… Not that my old weapon felt bad," he hastily corrected, "Just well…"
"I know what you mean," Ruby said a solemn look in her eye, "You made those weapons. Goldstone helped but you made them. I'm guessing that you weren't the one who made your previous weapon?"
"No," Jaune shook his head, "It was a family heirloom."
"We're your parents Hunters?" Ruby innocently asked and Jaune had to suppress his flinch at that line of questioning.
"No they weren't, It was my Great Great Grandfathers who fought in the war," he said softly.
Ruby nodded thoughtfully, "Well from what I saw of it looked really well crafted. Not a lot of weapons can survive that long. It's a classic and not many people appreciate those."
Jaune found his lips turning up at those words.
"Anyways Goldstone told me before I left that as punishment for making him give up part of his lunch that I had to train you how to fire your weapon," Ruby said twiddling her thumbs before her eyes widened, "Not that helping you learn to use your weapon is like horrible or anything," she trailed off mumbling to herself and despite himself Jaune found himself smiling.
So that's what Goldstone had meant about getting him a teacher. It was somewhat endearing to see Ruby muttering to herself but he should probably intercede.
"Uh," his own awkwardness rose up as he scratched the back of his head, "Its fine Ruby. I know what you meant. Thanks I really appreciate the help."
Ruby sighed in relief a weak smile on her face, "So anyways…" she trailed off seemingly searching for a topic, "What's your new weapon like."
Jaune reached to his sides and pulled free his daggers flipping them around so Ruby could grasp the hilt for inspection.
Ruby hummed to herself before she united the hilts and the long rifle flipped open. She sighted down the barrel at a wall very carefully not placing her finger on the trigger. She triggered the mechashift function again the daggers were once again separate in her hands with gold and azure finish.
"Goldstone really outdid himself this time," Ruby said looking at Jaune cheerfully, "This is a really good weapon, what's its name?"
Jaune shrugged awkwardly, "I haven't really been able to come up with one to be honest. It's not something I have a lot of experience with. My previous weapon's name is Crocea Mors which from what I was told was part of an old language from back where my family originated."
Ruby gave him a warm smile, "It'll come to you Jaune. I'm sure of it. I wasn't sure what to name my weapon but eventually I realized Crescent Rose was the perfect name for it."
Jaune couldn't help but smile in return. There was a certain presence about Ruby when she said that. Something different from the excited child he had met in the workshop and the day previously.
"Well, I got to go do homework," Ruby said awkwardly twiddling her fingers, "Else Dad is going to get mad at me."
Despite himself Jaune found himself replying, "Would you like some help?" Quickly he followed up as he realized that could sound somewhat awkward, "I mean since you're helping me with learning how to use my weapon."
Ruby paused putting a finger to her chin in thought, before something seemed to occur to her and she nodded smiling cheerfully at Jaune, "Actually yeah!"
Which was how Jaune found himself teaching the General Studies portion of curriculum to Ruby as she scribbled on her paper.
They had taken refugee in a room that Jaune could only presume was shared with Yang judging by the second bed with yellow pillows as opposed to what he presumed Ruby's bed was with the red pillows.
With all the information that Jaune had learned in Atlas and given how skills seemed to function he wouldn't say he was really reinforcing the skill in his head but talking with another human felt nice.
He felt something of kinship to how awkward Ruby was but more so than that he got the impression that Ruby wanted to be a Hunter just as much as he did. Perhaps even more.
They worked together for awhile steadily shoveling through the work until eventually Ruby had written the last words of her final essay.
"Ahh," Ruby leaned back in her chair stretching out, "Finally done."
Jaune looked up from a textbook he had been looking at while he was waiting for her to finish.
"Want me to take a look?" he asked her. Ruby shrugged and gave him her scroll which she had typed the essay on.
Jaune scanned through it making a couple quick grammatical edits when he saw mistakes. Nodding he handed the scroll back.
"Good job!" he smiled at her.
"Thanks," Ruby smiled cheerfully at him before her eyes lit up, "So want to learn how to fire your weapon?"
Jaune shrugged, "I mean that would be great, but I haven't got any ammunition for it yet.
"That won't be a problem," Ruby grinned reaching into her backpack set by the desk, "Mr, Goldstone gave me a couple packs of bullets that are the appropriate caliber. You probably already know this but the school provides a set amount of ammunition per student."
Jaune did not know that but it had worked that way in Atlas for other students he had known. Apparently, Weiss's Father had made a deal with the school to provide it which wasn't really a surprise given who he was. He just hadn't needed to take advantage of it given that he had only owned Crocea Mors.
"Ruby! Jaune! Dinner!" Taiyang's voice called out from below.
"Coming!" Ruby turned to Jaune, "Well let's go!"
Jaune followed her out of the room and down the stairs following her into the kitchen where the table was set and ladened with food. Jaune sat down at the same spot he had sat last night noticing that Qrow had not reappeared. He must have left and vaguely Jaune wondered if Ozpin had directed him to go somewhere else.
Dinner was a quieter affair than the previous night likely because Qrow wasn't there but in a way it felt distinctly less awkward to Jaune. He found himself listening to Ruby's explanation about what dust ratios had the maximum efficiency for bullets a little bit lost as the topic became more esoteric but still appreciating the sheer warmth of her personality.
Yang and Taiyang were locked in their own discussion where Yang was challenging her Father to a fight though on closer examination the fight actually seemed to be in the context of a scroll game. Taiyang had accepted and even trash talked back.
It seemed so far the impression Jaune had of this family was holding true and he found a part of him wishing that Weiss could experience this with her own family.
Shaking himself internally he cleared his thoughts of Weiss and helped the family clean up the table and the dishes. After which Ruby dragged him to the backyard where a couple of marksmanship targets were already set up that it looked like Ruby used for her own target practice.
"Alright," Ruby said cheerfully hands on her hips, "Show me your form."
Jaune nodded drawing his daggers and uniting them. Gears spun as the weapon shifted into its rifle form and Jaune found himself somewhat awkwardly holding his rifle. It was no fault of the weapon itself, but he found himself unsure of what exactly to do with the rifle.
"Well, I would start off by shifting your stance," Ruby said eyeing his form critically, the young girl moved about him shifting his arms, his hands, his feet, and even his hips.
She stepped back eyeing her work before she nodded to herself as Jaune did his best to maintain the position she had set him into.
"Point down the range and test pull the trigger," Ruby said, "Get a feel for how much effort it will be to draw back the trigger."
Jaune did so pulling back the trigger slowly a couple of times.
"That'll do for now," Ruby said before she reached into her bag that she had brought out with her pulling out a clip and handing it to Jaune, "Now I'm going to show you how to load."
She did so pointing out when the bullets was chambered guiding Jaune's hands through the process but not performing any of the actions for him.
With a loaded rifle Jaune found himself looking at the targets across the field.
"Now aim down the rifle, predict where the bullet will go," Ruby said, "Don't flinch expecting the bullet just keep calm."
Jaune pointed his weapon at the target aiming for the center before with a deep breath he pulled the trigger.
The weapon jerked slightly in his hands but he kept a firm grip and with satisfaction he saw the bullet impact the target. Not in the center more up and to the left but he had hit the target.
You have gained a new Skill from an action.
Received skill Hunter Gun Arts.
Skill has been set at Level 1.
Jaune found himself smiling slightly checking his skill list to verify the skill was indeed there glancing over another skill that he knew he had put off checking out.
"Good job," Ruby called out happily, "Not try again and this time-"
Hunter Gun Arts has Leveled Up by 2.
It was well into evening before they stopped practicing the results were worth it. They had gone through more than a couple clips but Jaune was satisfied with his progress.
He had told Ruby to go on ahead of him inside which she had done so somewhat reluctantly. He had told her he just wanted to collect himself for a little bit and it seemed that she had understood.
It was the truth though only a partial truth. He stood in the clearing which was rapidly darkening as the night approached and with a thought activated his stealth skill.
He felt the mana drain engage and took a look at his hands surprised to see that they had faded into what looked like thin air. Doing a check of his body he saw that the rest of him had mirrored that action.
Slowly he approached the back porch of the cabin noticing that as he stepped into the light that it seemed to go right through him.
He could feel the drain on his mana from the skill and considered holding it for awhile longer to see if he could grind it before he realized that he would probably need someone actually searching for him to grind the skill.
He dismissed it and reappeared. He walked through the door of the cabin casually seeing that Ruby had joined Yang at the television where they were playing some sort of fighting game. Jaune began to make his way behind them headed for his own bedroom.
"Hey Jaune," Ruby called out turning from the game to look at him, "Come play with us. This game supports up to four-person co-op."
Jaune hesitated for a moment wanting to make an excuse not to join them. It wasn't that he didn't like spending time with Ruby and Yang was pretty alright from what little they had interacted, but he was hoping to get skills grinded.
Looking at Ruby's cheerful smile and Yang's quirked eyebrow he couldn't find it in himself to say no. It wasn't like he had to sleep so he could grind his skills later and more to the point he was feeling a little bit lonely. He missed Weiss and a part of him wondered if he missed her right now what was she feeling?
She was strong but as her butler Klein had told him so long ago she wasn't good at making friends. He hoped she was doing okay. More importantly he resolved to himself that when he saw her at Beacon he would make it up to her.
Authors Note:
Bit of a slower chapter this time. We're probably looking at a bit of time skip for the next chapter but after that we'll probably be headed onto the next section of the story. As always I've appreciated the reviews from everyone. I'm going to try and get better at responding to them but I've been a little bit busy lately between work and other stuff.
Stats:
Name: Jaune Arc
Class: Necromancer
Level: 10
HP: 400
AP: 4000
Mana: 5000
Strength: 36
Agility: 30
Health: 40
Sense: 22
Intelligence: 50
Luck: ?
Available Ability Points: 50
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
Hunter Gun Arts: Level 3
Dust Channeling: Level 3
Survival: Level 3
Shadow Extraction: Level 3
Stealth: Level 2
Inventory:
Crocea Mors
Hunters Daggers
Clothing
Assorted Food Supplies
Camping Equipment
