Jaune POV

Panic gripped at me as I sprinted through the forest, desperately trying to reach the safety of my hometown. I knew it was a dumb idea but I just couldn't help myself. As a twelve year old kid if you had a chance to see an actual huntsman in action, you took it.

So when I heard a huntsman was going out to dispatch a group of Grimm that were coming a little too close to the wall-less town of Ansel than was comfortable, my legs started moving before my brain had a chance to catch up and reason with what I was about to do.

Not that it would've changed anything of course, I had always dreamed of becoming a hunter, not that my family was very happy about my aspirations, always encouraging me to try other things and find a different purpose in life, something I enjoyed.

But nothing ever had that same luster or draw. Nothing ever felt quite as righteous or important as being a huntsman, that and I'd always wanted to live up to my family lineage. The warriors of the Arc bloodline were ever present throughout the history of remnant never as a king or political figure. No, the Arc bloodline was known as knights' regal figures that stood against the never ending tide of Grimm, generals and warriors that stood above the rest, and I desperately wanted to live up to that.

Though much to my frustration, my father refused to train me, always saying he was too tired or I was too young, even saying something like the grass was too wet outside to train properly. Like come on! If you can't even train in wet grass how are you supposed to fight in the rain? But it's fine I just figured dad would give in eventually and train me. There was no way he would keep telling me no if I showed him this is what I really wanted.

It still didn't stop me from being frustrated, which had led to me doing my best to trail some huntsman in hopes of watching him fight and maybe learning a thing or two, just something I could copy and start using to practice on his own until my dad would train me.

Not that I could keep up with the man, it would be pretty pathetic if a twelve year old managed to keep pace with a veteran huntsman, luckily I didn't have to. I just headed in the same direction until I heard gunshots and followed them.

My efforts were rewarded as a human figure dashed about the trees viciously attacking every Grimm in reach with a savage looking handaxe in one hand and a massive revolver in the other.

The man cleaved through Grimm as though they were made of paper mache, every step he took was filled with confidence as he cut an imposing figure even amongst the Grimm, the man never wavered as he fought and I was lost in a trance as he watched him fight, only snapping out of it when the man kicked a smaller Beowulf away sending it flying towards my hiding spot.

My eyes widened in panic as I dove to the floor, barely avoiding the beast that sailed over my head slamming into a tree behind me.

It was then that a certain clarity came over me, I was so focused on the Huntsman it never even occurred to me just how close I was to the Grimm, a fact that seemed to dawn on me as I looked into the fiery red orbs of a Beowulf that just noticed my presence.

I prayed the beast wouldn't be able to stand again, that I could slowly walk away and sprint back into the forest to the safety of my small village. A snarl shattered that hope as the beast stirred, slowly making its way to its feet.

It felt like my blood froze in my veins, too scared to think and too shocked to move, I simply watched as the beast stood while staring me down, its glowing eyes daring me to try and run. It wasn't until it took its first staggered step towards me that a new wave of panic surged through me urging me to my feet and I took off into the forest as fast as my legs could carry me.

That was how I found myself desperately sprinting through the woods being chased down by a Beowulf, and despite the situation I was lucky. The Grimm had taken a pretty big blow from the hunter when he kicked the beast, no doubt breaking a few of its bones and hindering its ability to run, if it wasn't for that … the monster would have run me down by now.

However I quickly ran into a new problem, I was getting tired very quickly and there was no way I was going to run at full tilt all the way back to Ansel, and no matter what I did I couldn't shake the Beowulf that was following me, even with its injury it was able to navigate the woods without tripping and was fast enough to keep pace with me.

My stomach dropped to a new depth I didn't even think possible, I would have to fight it if I wanted to live.

I quickly shoved my hand into my pocket and retrieved the only thing of note I had on my person for something like this, my whittling knife.

One of my mother's attempts to get me to find something else I liked doing, she probably had a little hope I might enjoy it because it involved me holding a blade of some kind. She was wrong but she was trying.

The knife wasn't very big, maybe an inch or two bigger than my hand when I unfolded it and the blade was incredibly thin. The only thing the blade had going for it was its extremely sharp edge and I had made sure it was razor sharp. It took me two months to convince my father to teach me how to sharpen and care for a blade, it was something that was too close to something a huntsman would have to know but one look at me while I was trying to whittle with a dull blade and he caved.

If I was being honest the blade in my hand didn't bring me any comfort as I considered the beast behind me. Holding a blade so thin I was sure I could snap it with my thumb and if I could do that much damage to it, what could the Grimm behind me do to it? Would it even feel the blade if I somehow managed to stab it? Guess either way I was gonna find out.

Sending one last prayer to whatever deity above that was watching, pleading to let me walk away from this alive, I swallowed my fear and brought myself to a halt quickly spinning in place to face my foe.

Surprisingly the beast didn't simply run me down, instead it came to a stop and stared at me, dark saliva dripping from its maw. I held the knife out in front of me and yelled at it hoping to try and scare it off.

The beast let out a few short huffs, almost like laughter. I wanted to be surprised, but its reaction was the least surprising thing. My weapon was laughable at best, and despite its small size, I couldn't hold it steady, my hands trembling uncontrollably. My legs felt like they could give out at any moment, and I probably looked like I could be knocked over by a light breeze. My voice was both hoarse and high-pitched, cracking horribly with every other word.

I might as well have been an infant in the eyes of this beast and it was enjoying itself as it watched me. Slowly the Grimm began to pace around me, never closing the small gap between us but forcing me to move with it so I didn't have my back to it.

'This is too much, there's no way I'm making it out of this.' Panic began to consume me as my confidence crumbled, being an Arc meant nothing without the strength or training to back the name.

My eyes started to well up as I fought to hold back my tears. That was when the beast lunged, I screamed and wildly lashed out with my knife as I desperately jumped backwards hitting nothing but air. It took a moment to register that the beast never made it to me.

It stood perfectly still, having stopped before closing half the distance between us. Its eyes focused solely on me. "Was it playing with me?" My breaths were ragged as I pawed at my eyes trying to wipe the tears away from my blurred vision. The Grimm was incredibly small, not much bigger than your average dog, but even with its small stature it's dark maw that somehow seemed to curl into a nasty smile on its dog like face made my blood run cold.

The was no more than a nuisance for any Huntsman and yet I found myself trembling, most Grimm towered over full grown men and those men wouldn't even bat an eye as they charged the beasts, yet here I was staring down at this Beowulf and I was ready to piss myself.

The thought infuriated me. What kind of a Huntsman acts like that? What kind of an Arc fears such a small Grimm? I braced myself doing my best to copy a pose I had seen the Huntsman take before everything went so wrong, and did my best to glare at the Beowulf before me.

But I wasn't an idiot, I knew when I was outmatched while the Grimm in front of me was definitely young I was younger by comparison. I wasn't strong, fast or trained, hell I didn't even have a proper weapon. So no amount of anger would be able to erase my fear or still my trembling hands but it allowed me to try and go down with some dignity one last attempt at replicating the thing I always wanted to be.

The Grimm did not like my resolve as it started to growl and once more closed the distance between us. Suddenly it lunged once more but yet again it was nothing more than a feint as its claws never came near me, and the only response I gave it was a small shuffle backwards to ensure some space between us.

The Beowulf huffed, obviously disappointed I would no longer give it the reactions it wanted, the beast went quiet as it lowered itself to the ground, its muscles flexing under its thick black skin like springs compressing and readying themselves to fly into action.

Even as I prepared myself and was waiting for the beast to lunge at me I could barely keep up with its movements. I ducked expecting a claw to lash out at me and try to tear out my throat, the claw never came. Instead the beast chose to bite me.

In a flash the Beowulf had its jaws around my left shoulder, I was still trying to process what was happening as pain bloomed to life in my shoulder as its teeth tore through my flesh.

I began to scream as I kicked and punched at the Grimm, my blows did nothing to the Beowulf, it felt as though I was beating a tree doing nothing more than disturbing the bark as I broke my hands upon it.

In my panic I took my knife and plunged it into the beast's neck earning nothing more than a growl from the creature I felt it try to lift me but the grimm was too small so it instead drug me to the floor.

I could do nothing as the Beowulf began to thrash me around like a dog with a chew toy, I could do nothing except watch and do my best to stifle my pained screams. I could feel the snap of muscles and the crunch of my bones as they gave way under the beast's jaws.

I was about to die.

Anger surged through me. Was this how I was going to uphold the arc name? Killed by an infant Beowulf on my own in this fucking forest?

The thought angered me. If I was going to go out then I would take this monstrosity with me. Maybe then I could face my forefathers in the afterlife.

With a burst of adrenaline I tore the small knife I had left in its neck free and plunged it into the beast's eye.

It began to howl in pain as the steel of the knife vanished, buried in its soft flesh up to the handle. The beast released me from its maw as it screeched in pain but I wouldn't let it get away.

Using everything I had, I wrapped my legs around the Grimm unwilling to let it get away from me. The beast tried to pry me off of it with its large claws, but it never got the chance.

Using all of the strength I had left, I lifted myself up and slammed my good hand down onto the knife as hard as I could. My palm met bloody fur as the knife fully vanished into the skull of the creature. I felt it shudder before its paws fell limp sliding off my stomach rather than shredding through it as the creature fell to the ground lifeless.

I was trapped under the Grimm unable to pry myself out from under its lifeless corpse, but that was fine I guess it would eventually fade. My arm and shoulder screamed in agony as I laid there finally able to process the damage that had been done and the pain made my eyes well up with tears but I couldn't bring myself to care.

I had done it. With no training and nothing but a pitiful whittling knife I managed to kill a Grimm. I couldn't bring myself to care about anything else. Not the startling amount of blood that was seeping from my injuries, not the pain in my legs from running too hard or anything else, I had slain the beast.

*Ding*

The sound of a bell drew me from my thoughts as a blue screen appeared before my eyes.

Congratulations

Jaune arc

You have fulfilled the prerequisite and have been invited to join the game

Will you accept?

Yes no

I have to be going crazy, was this a hallucination before death? Or just my mind trying to distract itself as it slowly died.

I couldn't help but chuckle, Eh what's the harm? I always loved a good RPG anyways. With a shaky hand I reached up and hit Yes.

The blue screen flashed as my finger hit the button.

Congratulations

As a gift for entering the Game please select one Perk

Parkour - move more effectively over difficult terrain whilst maintaining speed.

Steel hide - The gamers skin becomes as tough as steel turning into a flexible suit of armor. (Cost: 10 mp per minute)

Critical eye - whilst in a fight the weak spots of the gamers enemies will begin to glow.

Gamer's body - After 6 hours of uninterrupted sleep The gamers body will return to its healthy state refilling both the Hp and Mp bars.

Return to a healthy state? I had briefly glanced over his other options but they felt pointless when compared to Gamer's body. Filled with hope he quickly tapped the Gamers body option before I passed out. The screen immediately changed after I made my choice.

You have been granted the perk - Gamer's body

Welcome to the game

The blue screen vanished as Jaune laid on the ground.

I waited for a moment expecting something to happen, but nothing did, the only change being the slowly fading Beowulf was getting lighter as it disappeared.

I did my best to relish in any sense of relief as my arm screamed out in agony, doing my best to ignore the warm sticky sensation that was slowly coating the rest of my arm and spreading onto my side.

Desperate to separate myself from the beast and remove the pressure from my chest I tried to lift it, only to immediately drop the moment I made to move my bad arm. Pain coursed through my shoulder like an electric shock, each attempt to lift or shift the arm sent waves of searing agony radiating from the wound, making my entire body tense and convulse.

The muscles around the torn flesh throbbed and burned, protesting with every slight motion, it felt as though hot knives were slicing through my shoulder, and the raw, exposed nerves screamed in torment. I gritted my teeth, unable to stifle a groan of sheer, unbearable pain.

I did my best to keep perfectly still as I laid on my back hoping the pain would lessen, it did but only slightly.

I gazed at the sky through the canopy of leaves above me. I was desperate for release, doing my best to just sleep as I became light headed, but the burning sensation that covered my arm was more than enough to keep me grounded in reality, but not enough to overwhelm me entirely and cause me to pass out. Between the constant inescapable pain and the weight that was pinning me to the floor my head began to hurt.

I could feel my heartbeat vibrate through my head like a drum as my vision began to blur. Eventually I succumbed to unconsciousness.

/-/

I startled awake on the forest floor, immediately running my hands over my body searching for an injury while I gasped for breath, eventually my mind caught up with me.

"Wait, I'm not dead?" The events of everything that had taken place flashed through my mind, quickly my attention was brought to my left shoulder. Before, I could barely stand the sight of it, the Beowulf had torn it to shreds, pulled the flesh away and exposed bone, it had been a gory horrific sight that I had desperately tried to not look at or remember.

But now it was like years of healing happened while I had been passed out, the only evidence left of the fight was the dried blood that clung to my skin and the new scars that decorated my shoulder where the teeth sank into my flesh and a jagged line where my flesh tore. The memory sent shivers down my spine but it was quickly forgotten as I realized exactly what this meant.

I wasn't hallucinating and the screen was real. I quickly found my way to my feet as I did my best to control my excitement. Is this my semblance? I overheard a couple of the retired huntsmen in the village talking about it while they thought I wasn't around and I guess this was mine.

"Umm, game?" I began speaking into the air in hopes of summoning the screen again and was disappointed when nothing happened.

"Okay, ummm help?" Again nothing appeared much to his frustration.

"Come on Jaune think, it said welcome to the game, if it's treating this like some sort of RPG then maybe…" I turned and spoke two words into the air.

"Status screen." A smile erupted from my face as another blue screen came to life in front of him.

-/-

Jaune arc

Lvl 2.

Title - N/A

Hp - 110

Mp - 50

Str - 5

Dex - 5

Con - 5
End - 5

Int - 5

Wis - 5

Cha - 5

(5 unassigned skill points)

Aura - Locked

Semblance - The game

-/-

Perks

Gamer's body - after 6 hours of uninterrupted sleep The gamers body will return to its healthy state refilling both the Hp and Mp bars.

-/-

I could practically jump for joy as he read over the screen, sure my stats were kinda shit but assuming I started with nothing at level one, a single level gave me enough points to outright double any one stat and it wouldn't be surprising if I could increase them on his own time. After all, if these stats represented me they should change if I were to gain muscle mass.

Now the question was, how to spend them? And should I spend them?

I figured I should have left it alone but I couldn't help myself and decided to spend a single point to see if it worked. I tapped on Con and assigned it a single point after clicking yes on a secondary confirm screen, I changed.

Nothing major happened or even anything that that someone else would've spotted but I felt like he was on a sugar high as I forced myself to take a deep breath as my body quickly adjusted itself and the feeling slowly faded.

It was like I was a battery that was full, and someone had overcharged me and rather than the extra electricity slowly bleeding away it was like my battery grew to accommodate the new charge, and it felt amazing. Quickly I pulled my stat page up once more.

-/-

Jaune arc

Lvl 2.

Title - N/A

Hp - 120

Mp - 50

Str - 5

Dex - 5

Con - 6
End - 5

Int - 5

Wis - 5

Cha - 5

(4 unassigned skill points)

Aura - Locked

Semblance - The game

-/-

Woah, ten Hp per point? If that's how much one point does for my health I wonder just how effective these points are for my other abilities.

What's the difference between Int and Wis anyway.

I'd have to think carefully about what he would do now after all there were too many instances of me investing all of my points onto a character then getting upset at the result causing me to start a new game, and I didn't think I'd get a reset this time around.

Then there's this perk system, as if being able to use stat points wasn't enough, For no reason I can recover from just about any injury, just by sleeping? It was amazing, and if the Perks were gonna be anything like how they tend to be in games they could make me unbelievably powerful.

The only thing on my screen that confused me was the term Aura. I'd never heard of it before yet it was listed as locked along with all of my stats. Whatever it was maybe it was linked to combat, with my family trying so hard to keep me away from anything hunter related if I ever found something I'd never even heard about, normally it was because my family went out of their way to remove knowledge of it and hide it as thoroughly as possible, and my dad asked all of the retired Huntsman in the village to not say anything.

That had also been a reason I couldn't find anyone to train me. My father said if anyone was going to train his boy then it would be him and he had a firm understanding with every other Hunter in Ansel that no one was to teach me anything combat related.

It was frustrating and I could tell some of the older men really did want to help me but didn't want to earn the ire of my father while doing so. Which I didn't blame them for I wouldn't cross my dad for some random little kid either, I just wished they wouldn't look at me like he was some puppy they just kicked.

The thought of it coaxed a sigh from my lips as I looked back up at the beautiful orange sky, pondering what my next steps should be.

Dread washed over me as I realized why exactly the sky was orange, the sun was setting and I had promised Mom I would be back by five. It was way past curfew and my mother would tan my hide for it.

Quickly scrambling, I snatched my knife off the floor as I took off for my hometown. Due to my bump in Con, I was able to keep a good pace for a decent amount of time as I cut through the forest making my way directly home.

I fell into a slow walk as my house came into view. "Mannn, this is gonna suck." I pressed down on my shoulder trying to massage the joint but when my hand pulled away it got caught on the torn edges of my shirt.

"Shit, mom's gonna freak if she's me like this." Quickly I darted around the back of the house to my outdoor stash. Mom would get pretty mad if anyone came home with messed up clothes so I'd taken to hiding an extra set or two outside that I could change into so I could sneak my other clothes into the laundry when no one was around.

Rounding a tree that marked my hiding spot and reaching beneath the roots that hid a small hollow space where the dirt had washed away, I pulled free a watertight camo traveling bag. One of the few things his grandfather had left me.

Quickly I changed my shirt and decided to hold onto the ruined one for now I wasn't too sure what I would use it for but I didn't see the harm in leaving it in the bag, after all the blood that soaked the shirt had dried, I could probably tear it up and use it as a fire starter kit.

Rounding back around to the front of the house I slowly approached the front door.

Man, I'm gonna have to hide the scar now, not that it should be too big of a problem, my T-shirt managed to cover it after all. But with all of my sisters it wasn't rare for one of them to catch him without a shirt on.

I sighed as I approached the front door, immediately after pulling it open I accepted my fate when I came face to face with a not so happy mother.

With a face of thunder she stared down at her only son. "Jaune Luna Arc, where have you been!? Do you have any idea how worried we were? And can you explain why old man Jenkins said he saw you taking off into the forest, poor Saffron has been out there looking for you all day!"

I wanted to pay attention to my mothers words and hopefully avoid her wrath, but I was entirely distracted by the words that floated over my mothers head.

Juniper Arc

Lvl ?

The mother who reigns

"Well? Anything to say?" I could feel the danger as my mother bent down to get face to face with me.

"Sorry, I didn't go far, I climbed up a nearby tree to whittle in peace, and fell asleep." Realizing my silence was thinning her patience, the words poured from my mouth as I kept my eyes glued to the floor unwilling to meet my mothers gaze.

I could only hope she would buy it, if she thought I was lying she'd ground me and it would suck to be stuck in the house right after I entered The Game or whatever it was.

Besides technically I wasn't lying, I didn't really want to fall asleep and it may not have been wood I cut with my knife but I sure as shit cut something.

I could feel my mothers gaze harden as she tried to stare a hole through my head. "Fine." She finally spoke. "You came back before dark so I won't ground you, but if I hear something about you running off into the forest again you'll have more to worry about than the Grimm. Understand?"

"Yes ma'am." The words practically tumbled from my mouth as I was silently celebrating a grounding successfully dodged.

My mothers voice turned soft back to her usual happy self. "Now go get cleaned up, dinner is almost done and I'm not gonna believe for a second that you're clean."

Wordlessly I followed her request as I made my way to the bathroom, a few floating words caught my attention.

Amber Arc

Lvl 3

Ebullient

Seriously? My youngest sister was sat upside down on the couch as she waved her feet through the air. How is she a higher level than I am? She's like eight!

Quickly I slipped into the hallway before Amber caught my gaze. I knew that position, she was bored and if Amber was bored and you caught her interest you weren't getting away until she was thoroughly entertained.

"Oh, hey Jaune." My second oldest sister Lavender stepped out into the hallway. "You didn't get into trouble did you?" She gave me a quick look over as I shook my head. "Hey why are you wearing a different shirt? That's not the one you left wearing."

Why does she have to be so perceptive at the weirdest of times? "I might have gotten my other one a tad dirty."

She chuckled. "Don't worry I won't say anything, but be careful Saffron wasn't too happy being forced to go looking for you." She walked past me moving into the living room, my eyes lingered on the words above her head.

Lavender Arc

Lvl 4

The weight that withers

Her title worried me a bit but it wasn't surprising, Lavender had a really weak immune system. She couldn't ever keep up physically and got sick easily though I'd be lying if I said that title didn't worry me.

After washing my hands I went through the rest of the day on autopilot just trying to get to a point where I could be alone. I was itching to check through any other screens The Game might offer but I didn't want to look like a crazy person if no one else could see it, or worse I didn't want my family to know I had access to something like this. With it being something that can definitely help me become a hunter they would most certainly do their best to keep me from it.

Though I did get to see everyone else's titles at dinner even if Saffron shot me a glare when I glanced over at her.

Saffron Arc

Lvl 8

Solace of the earth

Blanc Arc

Lvl 5

The winds of folly

Coral arc

Lvl 4

Ink-bound dreamer

Violet Arc

Lvl 3

Sweet risks

Rouge Arc

Lvl 3

Sewn dreams

Man I knew before that I never really wanted to make Saffron mad, but level 8? She was a force to be reckoned with.

Dinner was a quick affair as everyone seemed they had something else to get back to, meaning I had no other questions thrown my way. Quickly washing the dishes and doing a few extra chores to help appease mom after my last disappearance, I headed to my room.

On the way the front door opened as my father walked in, he was home earlier than expected meaning his mission had gone well.

"Hey dad." He looked down at me and smiled before ruffling my hair.

Nicholas Arc

Lvl ?

The solitary sentinel: carrying the weight of existence

"Hey kiddo, any idea where your mother is?" I shrugged my shoulders. "I think she went to lie down for a bit." He smiled down at me as he patted my shoulder. "Thanks."

I watched as he walked away, my eyes glued to the words above his head. That's the second time I couldn't see someone's level, maybe it has something to do with my stats? That and what's with that title? It's easily the longest one I've seen, but it's so morbid.

I thought about what it was that my dad could be hiding from us to earn a title like that as I laid down on my bed finally able to get a bit of privacy. I quickly shook those thoughts away as I turned my attention to the blue screens.

I figured out I didn't actually have to say status I could just think it and not only that but it only popped up if I wanted it to. Which was nice, I had been a little worried about screens randomly popping up while I was talking to someone and being stuck with those blue screens in my face till I could find a moment alone to get rid of them just so I didn't look like an insane person.

Okay let's try Spells? Unfortunately nothing popped up. It would have been cool to throw around lightning bolts or something but can't win them all I guess.

How about 'Skills' I let out a small triumphant laugh as a window flickered to life in front of me.

Jaune Arc

Skills

N/A

Even if with the screen empty, devoid of anything helpful it made me excited. If there was a screen it meant more improvements and to top it off it was something entirely separate from Perks.

I closed the screen as I attempted my last Idea, 'Settings'. My thought line was if this thing treats life as a game, well what kind of game would it be if there wasn't a setting to adjust your experience.

Thankfully my game wasn't a shitty one. A screen popped into view with a list of options from Display and Audio to Language, I immediately began to dig through the display options. It offered a lot of things from toning down the glare of the sun and letting me mess with brightness to activating subtitles which sent me into a small laughing fit after I discovered it. The only thing I found that I thought was better was the BGM screen. Currently it was empty so there had to be a way to add music to it, maybe through listening to music or simply reading the lyrics and memorizing the tune each instrument played? I'd figure it out with some time.

While it was all useful what really caught my attention was the HUD settings, after fiddling with it for a few minutes I now had two bars displayed in the bottom left of my vision at all times a red one for my Hp and a blue one for my Mp along with a small mostly translucent bar at the bottom of my vision that represented my progress towards my next level up, sadly the bar was mostly empty.

Language was something I swore to myself that I would never touch again, the option had pulled up a rather long list of languages with no explanation, and me being the button pusher I am, just had to click something. That sent me into a small panic attack as I tried to navigate a bunch of menus that were in Chinese. It was only for a minute or two at most three but it had scared me to death.

You get a hold of some cool power that'll help you grow without your father and the first thing you do is render it obsolete by forcing it to speak in a language you don't know? Nice job Arc.

I was getting ahead of myself and I knew it. I'm too excited and I'm making a lot of changes on a whim. I forced myself to close the window before I did anything else I might regret.

Let's just go to sleep and tomorrow I can head to the library and try to get some answers. I laid down and attempted to get some rest in spite of my excitement, that and the sudden words that would appear while my eyes were closed, turns out subtitles will literally write out things like *footsteps* and *cough* even when I could barely hear it myself. Yet again I opened the window to quickly turn the feature back off, maybe I shouldn't mess with settings at all.

/-/

I was dressed and up early feeling far more refreshed after a night's sleep than I'd ever been. Maybe it was a side effect of Gamer's body? It would also explain why no matter how hard I tried I couldn't go back to sleep either, too awake to even try. Which was amazing if every morning was gonna be like this, but on the flip side I loved his lazy mornings where I didn't have to get out of bed and it sucked to say good bye to that.

My sisters of course couldn't help but poke fun as I walked into the room, shouts of "He's alive." and "Who are you and what have you done with my brother?" I just rolled my eyes at them as I walked by, I couldn't really be upset with them, I could get really lazy during summer break. It was a rare moment to see me out of my bed before eleven if no one forced me to get up.

Quickly I wolfed down breakfast and was out the door before any of my siblings could rope me into anything and cause me to lose the whole day. "Bye I'll be back before dark I promise." I called out as I was halfway out the door so no one could stop me.

It only took me half an hour to make it to the public library, Ansel wasn't a very big place it only took three hours to walk across town. Ansel was small and mainly focused towards agriculture, however a majority of the population was older people settling down, finding a comfortable house in the country to live out the rest of their days.

It helped that a majority of the people were ex-military or retired huntsmen because of it the town never needed a wall, just a few turret emplacements and a good early warning system. But it was because of this that the town was built like an old age home. Neighborhoods planned to make any weekly shopping trip as short and convenient as possible, it also resulted in absolutely nothing interesting in town unless you went crazy for bingo.

Most days were spent hanging out watching the clouds slowly roll across the sky, simply because there was nothing else to do. Luckily though, old people love books and according to Coral. "The nearby library was amazing and had a wonderful selection."

When I saw the outside of the building I believed it. The building itself was made to resemble older architecture to reflect the place where most of the books came from when the building was first put up.

A large set of stairs ascended to three archways that covered the doors that led in. The entire structure was made of stone from the walls to the banister rails that ran across the top of the entry archways that also doubled as an outdoor reading area. The building exuded an aura of professionalism and a general sense of too much money went into this to not have what you're looking for.

The musty scent of old pages and ink instantly washed over me as I opened the door. I was taken aback for a moment as I looked over the interior of the building, it was no wonder this was Coral's favorite place to be, this might as well be Monte-land to her.

Rows of bookshelves towered over me and every shelf was packed to the brim and to top it all off I could see more bookshelves on the second floor. While helpful I didn't exactly rejoice at the thought of digging through a book, school had me do that plenty and all of it was either dull, useless information or both. But even if I wasn't excited, I was certainly impressed by the library itself.

So I got to searching and searched and searched aimlessly scanning the shelves taking odd guesses as to what category Aura might be in, and I was searching for hours. It wasn't until a librarian took pity on me and offered to help.

The older woman pulled out her scroll and a few taps later was leading him to a particular section.

Man I really need to get a scroll at some point, scrolls were great but they were expensive especially because you had to buy a service to be able to use them effectively and that tied you down to yet another monthly payment. It was also the reason why I didn't have a scroll yet, payment plans for a family of ten didn't look pretty.

"Ah, here we are." The older lady came to a stop pulling a book free and handing it to him. "Here you are, this one covers Aura and is rated quite highly amongst teachers and huntsmen, please do not leave the premises with the book. If you'd like to read it at home, come find me up front and I'll have a library card made for you." A nod and a quick thank you and the older lady promptly returned to her position at the front of the library behind her desk.

Quickly finding a nearby table I sat down, intently looking over the book. "The Light Of The Soul. By Peter Port." I cracked the book open and began intently reading the pages. The information within shocked me, Aura was a core part of being a huntsman, it was the manifestation of your soul projected outwards.

It took blows for you, reinforced muscles increasing power and quickness and could heal wounds, And after a lot of training and time it had the capability to manifest into a semblance. The emotions that roiled through me were varied and extreme.

On one note I was excited and happy, I had found something I could accomplish without my father to reach my dream. On the other hand why had no one told me? It wasn't like I had kept it a secret, hell I practically shouted it at the top of my lungs. There wasn't a person that lived in Ansel that didn't know about the boy who wanted to be a huntsman.

Yet no one had told me about Aura something that was apparently so vital another huntsman would unlock it for children who were just beginning their training to become a huntsman so they could master it as soon as possible, and that was common place around the age of nine, that meant I was already three years behind.

I felt betrayed and wondered just how many people in my whole family knew about this and worse I knew for a fact that both of my parents did and had elected to say nothing from the very beginning.

The thought put a sour taste in my mouth as I arrived at one final thought. "They never intended to let me be a huntsman." That truth stung no matter how quiet I whispered those words to myself, it was a pain that hurt bad enough to cause tears well up at the corners of my vision, but I bit them back.

With determination or maybe just spite I threw myself headfirst into the book. If my parents wouldn't help me, I'd just do it without them.

The book covered many theories on the soul of a person and the way it channeled itself through one's body. It went into especially great detail when it came to unlocking Aura on your own as well as controlling it.

Each diagram was committed to memory and every exercise memorized, even going as far as to borrow a piece of paper from the librarian to make my own notes.

*Ding*

A blue screen flared to life in front of me.

Through extensive study you have gained 1 intelligence

A smile broke from my face as he read the words over, I felt proud of my accomplishment, that his defiance had already made progress. With a renewed vigor I resumed my reading.

Hours passed as I read over every detail the book contained again and again until I was sure I understood the contents, before depositing the book back into its place on the shelf and headed back home.

Once I made it back home I went straight to my room, unsure if I would be able to face my parents any time soon.

Pushing those thoughts aside I sat in the middle of my room mimicking the pose in the book using my notes, and did my best to clear my mind. Slowly I directed his attention inward as I let all sensations fall away, bit by bit I shut out the feeling of air gently flowing around my skin, forgot about the softness of the carpet I sat on and closed my eyes rejecting the light that poured in from the room around me and did my best to force myself into a state of unawareness where the only thing I could feel was myself.

Once I achieved that state I directed every one of my unused senses inward in an attempt to reach out. It was a strange thing like digging through your backpack looking for something you didn't leave in there.

You weren't looking for something strange or out of place, Aura was a part of you, it was something that belonged and had always been there, just dormant. Even when locked it still permeated your entire being it just had no effect like a skill that had been turned off. But if you reached out you could find the channels that your Aura flowed through to cover your body and use those to find the core, The place where your soul gathered within your body.

It wasn't as simple as someone telling me where to focus because everyone had different channels that ran through them in different ways most even had different thicknesses, some people described them like rivers through their arms, but if I was feeling the right thing mine were more like a fishing line that had been strung throughout my muscles.

*Ding*

A noise startled me from my concentration, shattering my meditative state. I opened my eyes to find another blue screen.

Through extensive observation of one's self and inner working you have gained

1 wisdom

It pleased me seeing two different stat point gains completely by accident and it made me want to keep going, just being able to actively see my improvements was way better than any pep talk anyone could've given me. On the other hand I really wished The game had waited a bit before notifying me rather than interrupting my trance.

Checking the clock by my bedside revealed that I had been meditating for a couple of hours now, instead of returning to my trance I decided to hang out around the house just so my family would see me around.

It wasn't strange for me to lock myself in my room all day but whenever I did so my sisters would eventually band together to drag me out to do something, but if they saw me they would eventually leave me alone.

/-/

I spent the next few days in a similar cycle of waking up early, making sure my family saw me so they felt like they could keep tabs on me, and then sneaking off somewhere private so I could meditate.

It took another two days to earn one point in wisdom through the observation of one's self. Which just proved to me that the more points I earned the harder it would be to earn another, meaning the points I could freely assign were far more powerful than I first thought, especially if I gained five every time I leveled up.

As the days went by I began spending longer periods of time in meditation as I learned to interact with the web that seemed to spread throughout my body. Every shift, twitch of my muscles every time I drew breath it caused a change. After a long period of experimentation I slowly figured out what did what until I was able to crudely manipulate my state of meditation. For as simple as it sounds the process took two weeks to get down.

Gently I pulled and shifted my inner self trying to find the core of my soul. The channels or at least what I thought were the channels my Aura would run through, were incredibly small and thus hard to grasp or directly shift, they felt like muscles or organs but they had no substance to them, more like an image projected overtop my own musculature.

It took a week for me to properly grasp it and it wasn't till one afternoon as I meditated quietly in my room that I got my first reaction. It was just a gentle tug but I could feel something in my whole body shift with it.

The sudden change was startling and caused me to gasp, but I refused to lose the sensation and be forced to start back at square one. I screwed my eyes shut as I focused on the shift of the web of nerves that spread through my body as I traced it back to its source.

Lightly plucking at the line to elicit small ripples to help guide me, slowly my attention shifted towards my heart and what felt like a ball wrapped in fishing line that then dispersed through my whole body.

I gave the sphere a light tap, immediately a warm sensation rippled through my chest but just as fast as it came it was gone.

Was that my aura? My curiosity peaked and I tapped again but harder, I could feel the shell crack.

At once I was suffused with a warm feeling as I could feel the lines throughout my body flood with warmth before going cold again. But now that warm sensation didn't leave my chest seeping out of the crack I had left in the shell.

Maybe they were literal when they talked of unlocking one's Aura. It felt like there was a shell around my soul and maybe the act of breaking that shell would free my Aura and allow it to flood outwards.

I took a deep breath as I focused in on the shell and hit it rather than trying to deliver a light tap. Aura rushed through my body once again as cracks began to stretch out across the shell like a spider web, but rather than wait for the rush to fade I delivered another strike immediately and at once the shell around my soul crumbled.

The warm light suffused through me as my aura flooded my body, it tried to fill the small lines that ran under my skin, but it was too much. The light itself was comforting, like the pleasant heat of being under a blanket in your bed, but for a few moments a burning pain burst throughout my body. It felt as though my skin was too tight and my body was growing, forcibly stretching it out.

I realized the pain was my Aura flowing through the channels. The amount I possessed must've been too much to handle and my Aura was forcibly expanding the line's throughout my body to help accommodate for itself.

Before it felt as though fishing line was ran throughout my body resting just atop everything but now my Aura had forcibly stretched those channels out causing them to resemble drinking straws as they seemed to properly connect to my body allowing my Aura to spread across my muscles and seep through my very being.

In a moment everything around me seemed to shift, the air around me felt cleaner, my breaths deeper as though I had never properly taken a breath before. Everything felt the same but with a new depth to it like I had never stopped to properly take in everything I was sensing. The subtle shift in the air, the slow rise and fall of my chest as I took in a breath, even the soft feeling of cotton against my chest as my shirt laid against my skin. All of it felt familiar yet entirely new.

*Ding*

I opened my eyes to find several things, for one I was glowing as my skin seemed to be emitting a white light that was slowly beginning to die down. I inspected my arms before turning to the blue window that I had expected to appear once I managed to unlock my aura.

Congratulations

Through the extensive observation and manipulation of one's self you have managed to unlock your Aura

Aura - The embodiment of one's soul, Any damage taken will first subtract from your aura pool, Aura points may also be spent to reinforce one's body allowing you to achieve greater feats of strength.

Wisdom effects overall size of your Aura pool

Intelligence will affect the rate at which your Aura pool refills

Adjusting your stat page accordingly

With a single thought the notification window was replaced with my stat window.

-/-

Jaune arc

Lvl 2.

Title - N/A

Aura - 180

Hp - 120

Mp - 60

Str - 5

Dex - 5

Con - 6
End - 5

Int - 6

Wis - 9

Cha - 5

(4 unassigned skill points)

Semblance - The game

-/-

"What the - !?" A startled cry shook me from my thoughts. I quickly closed the window to reveal Coral as she sat with a book in hand gaping at me as the white glow from my skin subsided.

Crud.

AN - Hey guys its been a while since I posted anything I've been struggling to write out the next chapter if intrigue and had a few ideas for my own Gamer Jaune fic so I decided to give it a try. Let me know what you think. Thanks for reading and hope to see you next time :)
P.S. I'm almost ready to release the next chapter of Intrigue