Hello people.
It has been what, 20 days? Something like that. Like I said in the previous chapter I still had an exam to finish before, but now I am officially free. Well mostly.
Due to my new found freedom, I will try to release at least one chapter per week for this story and for "For Myself". Sometimes I will probably post more than once, but it all depends if I am in the mood to write and if my beta has the time. I also released a rewrite of my first fanfiction. It is called "Forgotten" and is a crossover between HP/PJO where Harry is also a gamer but the system will be much different. I also some added plot to it all, but if you want to find out for your own, you only need to visit my profile.
I know that it is probably not the best idea to start another story, but it is something that I wanted to write for a long time. Plus it is a rewrite of my very first story so I already have most things ready. Don't worry people this new story won't take priority over this one or "For Myself". I will try to update everything as I go.
Apart from that, I would like to thank you all for all of the reviews and support. If I was to be honest, then I can tell you that I never expected this story to be received so well. Huh, even I get a good idea from time to time. And again big thanks to my beta, without who this story wouldn't be as good as it is.
I tried to answer most of your questions through PMs so I recommend checking them. If I didn't then well, ask them again and maybe this time I won't forget.
That should be all.
Enjoy the chapter.
Beta: Eleventh Crow
Chapter 5. Adapt and Survive
In the city of Vale, or more specifically on the hill where Beacon Academy lay, the current Headmaster was in deep thought as he sat in his office in the Beacon Tower. The tower, like the rest of the campus, was a sight to behold. It was the biggest building in Vale, and even from afar people could see a number of green spheres and lights that were surmounted onto the tower itself.
Professor Ozpin, the name of the current Headmaster, was a man in his mid thirties. Some would say that his tousled silver hair and style of dress made the man look older. No one would blame anybody for such an assumption, and Ozpin would probably find such an opinion amusing.
Unfortunately, now was not the time for such thoughts, as something much more pressing was on Ozpin's mind. Yesterday, during the normal school day, he felt something that shouldn't be possible in his current situation.
Magic...
Although he'd lost most of his ability to use it over his life, he could still sense it without much problem. Especially when the release of said magic was uncontrolled, as was often the case with beginners.
Ozpin knew that his senses weren't fooling him, but with the direction in where he felt the magic originate, he couldn't help but feel surprised and worried at the same time. He knew where the current Fall maiden was, not in the direction of the magic, so he ruled her out. Qrow and Raven were also out, as even though they possessed a bit of his magic that allowed them to change into birds, it was too weak in comparison to what Ozpin had felt.
With the exception of Salem, the four maidens, and Ozpin himself, no one else should have been capable of using magic. With that in mind, Ozpin could think of only two possible explanations. Either Salem had given to someone else a portion of her magic, which was highly unlikely, or Summer Rose had used her Silver eyes — which again, was unlikely.
He really should've contacted Summer already to check if she'd seen anything. This situation only continued to bother him, and it didn't help that he had a lot of other things on his plate.
Just when he went to make the call to finally calm his nerves, the doors of the elevator opened and out stepped his trusted assistant.
He smiled, "Glynda, not that it isn't nice to see you this early in the day, but I thought you had lessons currently."
Glynda Goodwitch, the Headmaster's assistant, combat professor, and headmistress at Beacon Academy, walked slowly towards Ozpin's desk, "Qrow called," she said calmly, but Ozpin could hear the slight amount of exasperation in her voice.
The headmaster hummed lightly, "If it was important enough that you felt the need to tell me immediately, then why didn't he call me?"
This time, his assistant didn't even try to hide her exasperation, "He did, you just didn't answer..."
Ozpin raised his eyebrows in surprise and checked his scroll. He found notifications of unanswered calls, and he chuckled slightly before turning back to Glynda, "That I didn't. You will have to forgive me for making you come here. I was too absorbed in my thoughts. Now, if you could tell me what Qrow reported."
Glynda sighed slightly, knowing that something was troubling her boss, "He informed me that he should be back within two days, and that you shouldn't worry unnecessarily Ozpin." She narrowed her eyes slightly, "Now, if only you could tell me what this is all about. Since yesterday, something has been troubling you, and it is taking too much of your focus if it is causing you to neglect your duties."
Ozpin stood up slowly and turned towards the windows to look at the city of Vale, "As always Glynda, you are right." He paused, briefly considering his words, before continuing, "I felt a small amount of magic coming from the direction of Patch Island, and I'm not really sure what to expect. I requested for Qrow to check if I was wrong, and it was possibly coming from somewhere around Vale instead. I will also contact Summer to see if she and Taiyang know anything."
Glynda nodded and walked back to the lift's entrance, before pausing and turning her head around at the door, "It's good to see that you have everything under control. But next time, for the sake of sparing me the trip, please notify me if something like this happens. Now, I will be going back to my classes, have a good day headmaster."
"I will Glynda, and thank you," answered Ozpin.
After he heard the sound of the elevator going down, the headmaster sat down again, and pulled out his scroll to call his ex-student. A moment later, the face of Summer Rose appeared on the screen, "Good morning Summer, I hope I'm not intruding."
The redhead smiled warmly and waved him off, "Of course not professor. I was just preparing some food for Ruby and Yang, but they can wait a few minutes longer."
The headmaster smiled at the mention of the two kids, before he continued, "Unfortunately, this isn't a social call. I have a small bit of information for you and Taiyang, and I would also have to ask a small favor of you both."
Summer nodded slowly and her smile fell a bit, "As long as it doesn't take us away from the kids for too long, then we'll gladly help professor."
Ozpin shook his head, "No, nothing like that, I assure you. Yesterday, I sensed something that shouldn't be possible coming from the direction of Patch, and I would be grateful if you and Taiyang could see if something is amiss on the Island. I don't expect it to be anything dangerous, but I would rest a lot easier if I knew what it was."
"Professor, do you mean that you sensed.." she trailed off at the end, but seeing Ozpin nod, she continued, "Okay, I'll tell Tai, and we'll make a few rounds around the island. Sorry professor, but I really need to go back to the kids now, so I'll contact you if we find anything."
"Of course." Ozpin nodded, "Thank you Summer, and have a pleasant day," with that, the call ended, and Ozpin put the scroll down.
"It looks like I'll need to wait again..." the headmaster whispered to himself with a frown. There was nothing worse for the headmaster than telling other people to do his job. Unfortunately, he had his own duties to see to, and sometimes you just couldn't do everything by yourself.
He'd to learn that the hard way.
The next day, I once again woke up on the uncomfortable ground of the cave. I was starting to think that I'd never sleep in a bed again. Oh well, I could always find some abandoned village and try to find one there. I could then put it into my inventory and pull it out on some main road. Would be fun to see people's reaction to a Grimm sleeping on a bed.
Ignoring my strange thoughts, I checked the notifications I got after the evolution.
[Congratulations. You've entered the second stage of evolution. The evolution meter has been set to 0% and the evolution menu has been locked. Upon reaching 100% of your current stage's evolution meter, you will once again be able to enter it.
Due to your evolutions, a few of your skills have evolved.]
[Skill "Feather Spears" has evolved into skill "Spike Spears". The skill's progress has been reset.]
[Spike Spears (Active) lvl: 1 (0%)
Fire your spikes as projectiles at enemies. This ability evolved from [Feather Spears] and has become stronger as a result.
-Cost: 20 HP per projectile (5% chance to not consume HP)
-Damage based on STR x2
-Effect: 10% chance to inflict bleeding (20 DMG/sec for 5 seconds)
-Effect: 50% chance to penetrate weak armor]
Okay... That skill just got a lot more powerful, and that was only the skill at level one. Sure, it cost four times the previous amount of HP, but the old effects couldn't compare to the newer ones. I wonder how much stronger the skill was capable of becoming. I highly doubt that it would be super overpowered when maxed out, but it could still become a mainstay skill of mine, even later on. At least for dealing with weaker enemies.
Alright, what else did I get?
[Skill "Charge" has evolved into "Dragon Charge". The skill's progress has been reset.]
[Dragon Charge (Active) lvl: 1 (0%)
Charge at your enemy, bowling over them with all of your strength. The faster the speed of the impact, the higher the damage output. Leveling this skill lowers the amount of damage taken on your side. This ability evolved from [Charge] and has become stronger as a result.
-Cost: The amount of MP or HP used depends on the distance and enemy. Minimal cost: 20 MP/HP
-Damage can be increased with STR, VIT, DEX, max MP and aura level
-Effect: 5% chance to stun your enemy upon impact]
Oh yeah, I completely forgot about this skill... My bad?
If I was remembering correctly, then apart from the higher cost, the only thing that changed was the additional effect. The ability to stun an enemy would be really useful in the future, but a five percent chance was not a lot. Hopefully, I could raise it to forty or fifty percent — at the very least — before the skill would be maxed out.
Now that I think about it, how many levels do each of my skills even have? Game?
[I was beginning to wonder when you'd ask about this. To answer your question, every skill has its own max level. Nearly every skill is maxed out at level 10, 25, 50 or 100. There are exceptions to this rule, but they're rare. There's also another mechanic for maxed out skills, but you'll have to figure that out on your own.]
Okay, so that answered some of my questions. That new system for maxed-out skills interested me a bit, but I could wait. It wasn't like the information was important right now. Still, there was one thing that I would like to know.
Game, could you show me the max levels of my current skills?
[No. I've helped you enough. Figure the rest out on your own.]
Geez, I was only asking...
Again, it wasn't something that I needed to know. In the long run though, it would be nice to know how many levels I needed to max-out my skills. Still, I gained another piece of information so I wasn't complaining. I just needed to experiment a bit with my skills and hopefully I'd find out on my own.
Oh well, it was time for me to break in the new body again. Yesterday I was really tired, even with Gamer's mind and body, so I'd really only paid attention to my new appearance, but apart from that, I was pretty much on auto-pilot.
I flew down to the shore so I could inspect myself again. I still looked exactly the same as I did yesterday, but being fully rested meant I could pay a bit more attention to my whole body. Now that I had more normal legs, it was a lot easier to move, even if I still lacked front limbs. A problem that would hopefully be dealt with in the next evolution.
I also noticed one thing that I completely missed yesterday. While nearly my entire body was black, there were places — especially my spikes — that were a very dark violet color. It was no surprise that I missed them earlier, the color almost blended perfectly with the black. I was more surprised the violet was even there.
When I imagined my form, I made it completely black. So the addition had to have been made either by the Game, or some other factor that I was not aware of. Well, it was not like I cared that much. The color did look pretty nice on me, but it would be nice to know where it came from.
The mysteries just keep piling up…
Meh, you couldn't have everything.
With the inspection of my new body complete, I now needed to test just how much harder aerial maneuvering had become. I already knew that I could fly decently well, but I wasn't sure I could still perform some of the harder maneuvers. Besides that, the change may have affected my speed and agility, so that was another thing I needed to test.
Without wasting any more time, I flew just above the top of the trees, and activated my negativity sensing. I didn't want any human to see me. When I was a small Nevermore, I might've been able to pass for a raven, but now? Yeah, I could already imagine people's surprise when they witnessed a small dragon flying overhead. Civilians would probably run away, but huntsman? They would kill me faster than I could blink.
So yeah, I wasn't gonna try my luck. Better to be safe by using the skills I've been given.
Thankfully, I couldn't sense any negativity coming from humans, so I flew a little higher and tried to use my new eyes to scout the terrain around me. The change was instantly noticeable, as I never before saw things so clearly. I might not have the Hawk's eyes yet, but it was close enough for me.
During my observation, I only spotted a few lone Grimm roaming around. With the confirmation that no one was observing me, I began testing out my new body in the sky.
I quickly picked up on the fact that my new wings and body were a lot more powerful than previously. I could fly a bit faster, but the change to a bigger body obviously led to the loss of some agility — an expected outcome. I knew that I'd need to get a few more points into dexterity before I'd be as comfortable as I used to be.
The last thing I needed to do was a battle test. I wanted to see how my new body and its abilities held up in a fight. Maybe I could try and exterminate the fifty Grimm required for the territory...
[New Quest Obtained]
Exterminate 50 Grimm to pass the first requirement for obtaining the territory of Patch. Time limit: 5 hours
Rewards: 1 EP, Random Item, 1000 Lien, 2000 EXP,?,?
Penalty: The required amount of Grimm to exterminate will be doubled, Patch territory becomes hostile for one week
YES/NO
Huh, interesting quest. From what I remembered of the show, Patch was only infested by the weakest of Grimm, so maybe I could complete the quest. Five hours wasn't too much time for a level six Grimm, but I could fly and I had decent long-range abilities. Now the question was, could I use the new 'Spike Spears' as well as the previous version? My aim wasn't the best, but I was slowly improving. But if my accuracy was dependent on the skill level, then it might be a problem.
Oh well, if I failed then I'd just need to get the hell away from Patch for a week. The rewards were just too enticing for me to dismiss the quest, so 'YES' it was.
The quest window disappeared, and in the corner of my vision a time limit appeared with an indicator telling me how many Grimm I'd already killed. Okay, no time to waste.
I quickly flew to the nearest Grimm I'd spotted previously, and used 'observe' on it once I was close enough.
Young Boarbatusk lvl: 7
HP: 900
Additional Info: Weak armor, stupid
Alright, the additional info was nice. I knew what weak armor meant, but the 'stupid' part was odd. Yes, I knew that Grimm were pretty stupid overall, only relying on instinct. Over time they'd become smarter, and develop something akin to sentience. Still, was there really a need to specify that a level seven Grimm was stupid? It seemed pretty obvious.
Meh, it didn't really matter anyway.
From what I could see — not much because of all the trees — the Grimm was alone. Taking aim, I sent a volley of six spikes from my tail towards the Grimm, and waited for the outcome.
Thankfully my ability to properly aim didn't go away and all of the projectiles hit their mark, with two missing, and four penetrating the Boarbatusks armor. The boar squealed in pain, and quickly turned its eyes in my direction.
The attack only took about 60 HP from the Boarbatusk, but it was a start. And even though my health was regenerating quite quickly, I couldn't just spam the skill like an idiot. It seemed like this quest was going to be a lot harder than I initially thought. I never expected a Grimm like this to have so much HP. Why did it have so much HP when it was only level seven…?
Alright, let's see how much damage a charge will do.
Going in line with my thoughts, I activated my aura and charged the Grimm. I was left a bit surprised after I hit the boar, it was knocked a few feet away, a bit of its bone armor having cracked.
I really should've used this skill sooner...
I promptly took to the skies, and fired another volley of spikes towards the boar's damaged armor. All of them went through, and I heard the sound of notifications coming from the back of my head. Surprised, I looked at my health and aura bar, and then to the Grimm once more.
I felt my jaw drop a bit. I was not sure what was more surprising, the fact that it took half my aura to use, or the fact that the — now bleeding out — grimm only had 200 HP left. I finished it with another five spikes, and watched as the body slowly vanished.
I gained another few notifications, and I quickly came to the conclusion that I needed some sort of log option if I wanted to keep track of what was happening with the system.
[Log option activated]
New logs:
-EXP gained: 150
-[Spike Spears] gained 2 levels
-[Dragon Charge] gained a level
-Lien gained: 50
-Items gained: 1x Tusk
Well that's convenient. Thank you to whoever created this option.
The exp wasn't too bad, and the rest was mostly expected. But why did I gain a tusk?
I opened my inventory midair, and used 'observe' at the new item inside one of the slots.
[Tusk (Common)
A tusk that was left by Boarbatusk. Pretty useless if you ask me.]
See, even the Game thinks it's useless! And even if crafting is a thing, I doubt I'd get much use out of such a low leveled item...
Alright, no reason to get mad. This was just the standard loot that I should've expected with the gamer system to begin with. Besides, I might be able to use it someday, or sell it when I gain a human form.
I was broken out of my contemplation by a very interesting event going on underneath me. On the ground, another two Boarbatusks arrived, and much like the previous one, they were glaring directly at me. A quick 'observe' told me that they were slightly weaker than the last one. I prepared to send another volley of spikes, but then the boars began to move.
Curious, I stopped to see what would happen.
I didn't need to wait long, as the two boars began to spin at the same moment and rushed each other. My curiosity rising, I watched as the two Grimm smashed into one another. But even then, I wasn't prepared for the outcome of such an event.
Upon impact, one of the boars was sent flying into the air in my direction. Well, not exactly in my direction, but close enough. I watched with wide eyes as the boar flew under me, crashing into a tree.
"...What the actual fuck just happened?" I couldn't help but blurt out.
Never in my life had I seen something as ridiculous as what the two boars just tried to pull off. I just couldn't think of any way that would work. On the off chance they somehow managed to aim perfectly towards me, I wouldn't have any problems to dodge. I guess I now knew what the 'stupid' meant in their info. Still, if there was one thing I could applaud them for, it was their cooperation. I didn't know that such young Grimm could think up any form of strategy.
Maybe it was their instinct? Who knew.
Thoroughly amused, I decided to deal with the two boars. I mixed my two skills, along with melee attacks with my claws to defeat them faster than the previous one. They managed to land a hit on me when I tried to get too many hits in with my claws, but I recovered quickly enough.
After this successful fight, I began my search for other Grimm, thankfully finding a small pack of Beowolves. Normally I would avoid packs, but when I saw their levels, I couldn't help but grin. I bet it must've looked weird on my dragon body.
All of the Beowolves were level one or two, and had less HP than the Boarbatusks. Using all of my MP, and more than half of HP, I managed to kill the seven Grimm in about twenty minutes. It wasn't as easy as I thought it would be, as the Grimm tried to jump on me whenever I got too close, so I had to stay high in the air. After the encounter, I leveled up and gained a few additional stats from the fight.
The Beowolves didn't leave any loot, but I was just glad to have progressed the quest.
[Grimm killed: 10/50]
I still had a bit more than four hours, and with the newly leveled up skills, the fights should go a lot faster. I thought of putting some points into STR to boost the damage of 'Spike Spears' but decided against it. Maybe if I struggled later on I would use them.
After that, I mostly flew around Patch, avoiding any humans while killing almost every Grimm I met. Yes almost, when I spotted an Ursa with nearly five thousand HP, I concluded that it would take me too much time to kill it. If I could even manage it in the first place.
During this time I also discovered a very important fact. Critical strikes existed. There wasn't a percentage chance for them, but if I could find a Grimm's weak point then, hitting it would result in a critical strike. I stumbled across this when I managed to hit a Boarbatusk on its underside. Useful knowledge for me in future battles.
I still had six more Grimm to kill with only one hour left, so I flew to the small mountains on the northern side of Patch. I wasn't sure if any Grimm lived here, but I knew that there was practically zero chance of any humans seeing me in the area. Pretty much all of them lived on the southern part of the island.
I probably should've stayed where I was, and killed the rest of the Grimm, as I now had three very angry Nevermores pursuing me. I flew a bit too close to their resting place, and they apparently decided that this was a good enough reason to kill me.
Thankfully, they were all only level four and didn't even possess weak armor.
Still, three on one is a bit unfair.
I used my higher speed to put some distance between us, and then I tried to hit them with spikes from my tail. They dodged most of them and countered with their own projectiles in the form of feather spears.
Curious, I deactivated my aura and let a few of the spears hit me in the side. I was pleasantly surprised when only one out of the five spears managed to get through my scales. It stung a bit, but overall it only took a few points of my HP away.
Nodding to myself, I activated my aura once again, thus forcefully pushing the spear out of my body, and charged at the nearest nevermore.
The Grimm clearly didn't expect me to turn around on him, and failed to dodge, instead taking my charge head-on. The impact made the Nevermore lose control of its flight, and it began to plummet towards the ground. I took the chance to fire a few spikes at the form of the falling bird.
I didn't have the time to find where it fell, as I was forced to dodge another few volleys of feathers courtesy of the remaining grimm. My gaze flickered towards my kill count for a second, and I noticed—
—I Only need to kill five more grimm to complete the quest.
Satisfied, I attempted to replicate my previous plan, but this time the Nevermore dodged my charge. I switched to firing my spikes, but I was forced to stop when my HP dropped below 20%.
The Grimm took my pause as an invitation to try and attack me with its talons. I used my tail to swipe it away, and followed up with an aura powered charge to finish the bird off. I really expected them to maintain some distance between us after how I grounded the first one, but it looked like they were too young to understand that much.
With only one Nevermore left, I used my claws and tail to deal with it as it couldn't avoid me any longer. I really didn't want to waste any more HP or MP.
With the last Grimm dead, I searched for the shortest way back to the shore, and began to fly in that direction. On my way there I killed the last three Grimm needed for the quest, thus completing it.
I waited to check the notification until I landed near the water. After landing, I meditated for a few minutes to recover, before finally moving on.
[Quest Completed]
Exterminate 50 Grimm to pass the first requirement for the territory of Patch Time limit: 5 hours
Time used: 4 hours 39 minutes
Rewards: 1 EP, Small stat Crystal, 1000 Lien, 2000 EXP, Title: Young Grimm, Opportunity to fight for control of the territory
[You gained a level]
Finally, it wasn't easy, but I did it. The random item was a stat crystal. It wasn't bad, just okay. I'd need to see what exactly it did later on. A title, nice. Hopefully, it granted some boosts. Some EXP gain increase would be nice. And the final reward, 'Opportunity to fight for control of the territory'.
...Wait, what!?
It was at that moment, that I heard the loud sound of water bubbling in the distance. Quickly taking to the skies, I watched as two heads broke through the water directly below me. The clean water allowed me to see their bodies in its entirety, and I was not happy with what I saw.
The two water Grimm had very long serpentine like bodies, forty feet or longer. Their bodies were slim and muscular, with four caudal fins, and two pectoral fins each. They had a few more fins on their bodies, but I was never a specialist on sea creatures, so I couldn't really tell you much more than that.
The top of their heads featured a horn — one that looked tailor made for ramming into and skewering things — , large mouths featuring a sharp row of teeth, each about the size and sharpness of a human crafted blade, and four moving claws, two on each side of its mouth. Two pairs of glowing red eyes glared at me menacingly, making their intentions clear. Their bodies were mostly black, with black plate bone armor covering certain parts of their bodies.
All in all, they did the stories of fearsome sea monsters proud. And even though I instinctively knew just how outclassed I was, I just couldn't help but observe one of them.
Adult Reaper lvl:?
HP:?
Additional Info: weak and reinforced armor,?,?
Well, shit.
A few hours earlier
In the Xiao Long-Rose family house, Summer Rose was just finishing up another batch of cookies for her kids. She'd probably made them too often for it to be healthy, but the young woman couldn't help but spoil the two lovely children. Ever since her own family had died, Summer wanted to have people in her life that she could love, and who would love her in return.
Now she had exactly that, and even though Yang wasn't her biological child, Summer still treated her like her own. Raven might have been her best friend, but she was a fool to have left behind such a beautiful child and a loving husband.
Too lost in her thoughts, Summer noticed the small hand trying to grab onto one of the cookies, only after it was in the thief's mouth.
"Yang, what did I tell you about eating cookies that are still too hot?" Summer scolded in an exasperated tone.
"To not eat them?" mumbled the small blonde girl.
Summer shook her head, but a fond smile bloomed on her face, "Exactly Yang, now please go and get Ruby. You wouldn't eat all of the cookies without sharing with your sister would you?"
Yang's eyes frantically shot wide and she shouted immediately, "Never! Ruby, I'm coming!"
And with that, the blond ran out of the kitchen like it was on fire. Summer giggled lightly at her children's antics before turning back to the cookies. She gathered them all on a plate and went to the living room, sitting down and allowing her thoughts to drift again.
Her earlier conversation with Ozpin left her a bit worried, but the headmaster assured that whatever he felt shouldn't be dangerous. She hoped he was right, as Summer didn't want anything that could harm her daughters anywhere near Patch. The island was supposed to be one of the safest places in the Kingdom of Vale.
Her thoughts were again broken when a tall blond man entered through the front doors.
"Find anything Tai?" Summer asked.
Taiyang Xiao Long, veteran huntsman, and Summer's current partner shook his head, "Nothing... I don't know Sum, but I think Ozpin was probably wrong. He told you that he felt the energy coming from the direction of Patch, not in Patch."
"That's good, I really hope that you're right." Summer hesitated, "Still, just in case I think I'll go and make a few more rounds after the girls come down. Just remember to get them to bed on time Tai, I don't want a repeat of last week," Summer said, punctuating her statement with a stern glare at the end.
"Of course dear," he squeaked, making Summer turn away from him, lest he catch her amusement.
A minute later, both Yang and Ruby came barreling downstairs to eat their share of cookies. Summer told her children that she needed to go for a few hours, and Ruby simply pouted at her cutely, while Yang definitely wasn't happy. Even still, Summer gathered her weapon and gear and made her way out of the house.
At first, Summer made a few rounds closer to her home and killed what few Grimm there were with her bow-spear mech shift weapon. Some would say that it was a weird combination of weapons, but for Summer it worked perfectly. She had the long-range of the bow, with which she could use normal or dust arrows, and she had a melee weapon in the form of a spear.
It was a hard weapon to make, as no one had ever made the combination before, but in the end she managed to work out the mecha shift. Its base form was a three feet staff, capable of extending two more feet at the end and releasing a foot long blade at its tip, forming her lovely spear. Unfortunately, to transform into its compound bow form the weapon needed to go back to its base form first. A slight inconvenience, but Summer was still incredibly proud of her silver-red weapon nonetheless.
After finding nothing in the area around her house, Summer decided to head in the direction of the mountains. At first, she didn't find anything major apart from a few small packs of Beowolves, but before she called the expedition off, something very interesting managed to catch her eye.
Quite the distance away in the sky, she saw three Nevermores flying after a completely unrecognizable type of Grimm. It looked draconic in nature, but the fact that it didn't possess front limbs made it look more like a wyvern than an actual dragon.
Summer went to take out her bow and put the Grimm down, but then she saw them begin to fight each other. It wasn't the first time she'd seen Grimm fight amongst their own — territorial disputes were the first things that came to mind — but Summer was interested in seeing what this new dragon Grimm could do. Besides, she was too far away to get off a clean shot anyway, even with her archery prowess.
In the end, although the dragon was small — no bigger than a dog — it still managed to kill its opponents without too many problems. In the meantime, Summer took the opportunity to get a few pictures of the new Grimm, all the while repositioning herself to better deal with the victor. Unfortunately, the strange dragon Grimm quickly departed, and in lieu of chasing it, Summer decided to call it a day. Maybe she'd try to hunt it down tomorrow if it was still on Patch.
She doubted that the Grimm was in any way related to what Ozpin had told her, but a new type of Grimm was still something important. Who knew how strong it could grow if given time?
Sighing deeply, Summer pocketed her scroll and began to run in the direction of her home. Her kids were waiting for her, and if she hurried she might just be able to arrive before they went to sleep.
Omake: A new pet
Taiyang Xiao Long could understand a lot of things. He understood, and was aware of the existence of the four Maidens, magic, and the immortal Salem. He understood how Ozpin had given his two teammates the gift to shift into animals, and he understood just how powerful Summer's eyes could be. But when that very same wife came back home with a very peculiar guest, the blond man was beginning to think that maybe his understanding had finally reached its limits.
After all, how was he supposed to understand his wife coming back home with a completely black, dog-sized wyvern. A wyvern that was most definitely a Grimm. And a wyvern that was currently wearing a collar on its neck with a chain connected to it. A chain that was currently being held by his lovely, beautiful wife.
"Summer, do you mind telling me what in the gods' name that is..." Taiyang said, dragging a hand down his face.
Summer put on the most innocent smile, and replied, "Tai, I want you to meet our newest pet, Mr. Grumpy! Say hi Mr. Grumpy!"
As if to prove the accuracy of his wife's terrible naming convention, the wyvern released something akin to a tired groan. Taiyang, seeing that he wouldn't get any explanation, and that there was no sense in questioning his wife's madness, decided instead to call it a day and go to sleep.
Just when Tai arrived near the stairs, his daughters decided now was a perfect time to come and greet their mother. Knowing that if he stayed there any longer, he would be driven insane, Taiyang made a mad dash up the stairs, completely ignoring and bypassing his two very confused daughters.
Summer sweatdropped at her husband's reaction, but smiled widely when she spotted Yang and Ruby come down in his place, "Ruby! Yang! Look what your mommy got for you!"
Ruby was the first one to react, rushing at the newest pet while screaming, "Ha! See Yang, I told you that mommy would get me a dragon!"
Meanwhile, said dragon could only put his head on the floor and cry silently, and pitifully.
WHY ME!
That's it for this chapter.
Also, this is my first ever omake so I don't really know if it is good. I just wanted to try my hand at it and here you go. Let me know what you think and if you want more.
I really hope that I can post the new one earlier, but we will see.
Here is the updated status screen. It got everything that happened in this chapter. Also, tell me if you want me to put skills that leveled up at the end of the chapter so you could see what changed in them. Don't worry I will still show the most important changes.
Name: Umbra
Race: Soul Grimm
Title: Young Grimm (Effect: You will find out in the next chapter)
Level: 8 (1590/2200)
Evolution Stage: Draconic 2 (36%)
HP: 770
MP: 701
STR: 12 + (25%) = 15
VIT: 16 + (25%) = 20
DEX: 17 + (25%) = 21.25
INT: 14 + (44%) = 20.16
WIS: 16 + (44%) = 23.04
LUC: 5
Elemental Affinity:
SP: 55 | EP: 2
Lien: 3200