hi,i know it's been while now, I've been busy with life and was lazy, anyways, here a warning,this chapter is technically part 1 of an insanely long chapter that I decided to cut 2 chapters because reading 20 000 words chapter is hard for a lot of people, this chapter is around 10 000 words long so it's still really long, hope you like it and I'll let you enjoy your reading
also don't hesitate if you feel like it, to send a private message or review the story on how I could improve or even just point out some critical flaws here and there (I see it as the best way to improve my writing and thus the story)
Maos woke up from his bed, Coco had just burst into his room, at least that's what he thought at first, however, the presence of a chair next to his bed, Coco has been here for quite a while actually
he slowly gets out of bed, Coco looks at him, she seats on the chair
"Finally awake huh" said Coco as she take a sip of her mug of coffee, on the mug, the words "Beautiful and Badass" is written on it in red color,Maos hold his head bit
"what ?...I thought I was...in the main courtyard..." said Maos
" Someone had a long dream, believe me, you haven't moved from your bed at all since at least 9 in the morning, I don't know about before that, My team got worried and I decided to come here to check, been here since then,"said Coco, she suddenly gets up and touches his forehead with her bare, she was not wearing gloves she usually wears all day, Maos tried to back first, but he stops as he realizes what she is doing
"you been sweating like a dying man a minute ago and now, you're just fine...literally.." think Coco out loud, Coco back down and sit back on the chair as Maos get up from the bed, grabs the rings of clothes, and changes into his school outfit
"I had a fever ?" asks Maos as he gives look around his room, he noticed the cracks on his desk, it was indeed broken,was this whole morning a dream? No, it can't be...he would have been aware of it
"Velvet tried to convince me to call the infirmary, but I chose just to stay here,I already asked the teacher for permission...weirdly Miss Goodwtich actually agreed to it, she even proposes to give the homework today herself when she is done with her classes today"
Maos walk around the room, analyzing everything
Coco's eyes follow his movement In the room, he seems to be searching for something, looking under the bed and other stuff like his desk
"a problem? looking for a camera or something? I doubt headmaster Ozpin would go that far "said Coco
"he's not the one worrying me right now...also he has other means to see everywhere, other means that are more efficient than just a camera" explain Maos "and I'm not looking for a camera"
Maos suddenly stop his movement, smells something and he goes toward Coco, he gets closer and closer which actually makes her almost fall from the chair as she tries to back down by pushing on her feet to reverse the situation from Before
Maos's face stops in front of coco's face and he stares at Her, Coco adjusts her sunglasses "Something on my face ?", the eyes of the sorcerer analyze Coco from head to toe, and he smells something again "you changed your perfume ?"
"...yeah...like it? it's a new brand that appear in Vale recently" asks Coco a bit weirded out by Maos's behavior
"not really, I mean it does smell good like all of your perfume...I prefer your usual one"Maos back down and start making his bed "Sorry for acting weird, I have a lot to think about"Coco re-adjust her sunglass, she lower them down a bit, she want Maos to see her eyes"I don't mind your weird behavior as long that you explain the cause of it"said Coco
"..." Maos hesitate a bit as he stop his whole movement, then he turned to Coco, "I don't really wanna talk about it"
"and that's precisely why you NEED TO TALK ABOUT IT"respond Coco, "I heard you were mean to ruby last night,I wanna know why, being mean to people that are as innocent and cute as ruby is just not your thing"
"how do you know it's not my thing,"said Maos in a poor attempt of defending himself, Coco blink twice with that idiotic answer
"Velvet once burn one of your favorite books by accident during chemistry class, you were angry at her for like a week, however, you were never mean to her in any way, however Yang, ruby's big sister along with the rest of the team try to burst into the room, saying you reject Ruby when she asks for help last night"
"oh..." react Maos
"HOWEVER, ruby did explain that apparently, you went to her later during the night and apologize and talk to her when the rest of the team were sleeping, which is more in character, which is why the team rwby decide to leave,Yang mostly had barely heard ruby explanation about the situation, she went crazy and came here before ruby could fully explain herself and the part where you apologize"
Coco get up from the chair"anyway, just so you know, the situation was solved already,team rwby has no problem with you",Coco approached and crossed her arms in front of Maos"I look around the room and I found a staff similar to yours, it's broken, this kind of staff is only made by people like you, that's your word,s, not mine...are you perhaps just mad you failed to create a new staff ?"
[right! Amber's soul is completed, there's an actual chance to save her now !... but I need to check, maybe the gods lied, I can't trust them with anything]thought Maos as his eyes avoid Coco, and his eye widened, he grab Coco by the shoulder "I promise I will explain everything later, but I really need to go check on the owner of that Staff, it's really Important"
"heh? you mean the staff belongs to someone el-" reacts Coco, "yes, it belongs to a friend of mine and she got attacked by grim and she's heavily injured,I need to check on her", Maos leaves the room and walks pretty fast, he did turn around before leaving "I promise I will explain everything later"
it took several seconds for Coco to understand the situation
a friend of Maos got injured or is sick and he has to help or at least wants to be there, someone that has a similar staff to Maos, maybe even someone from his own family, she goes into the corridor and sees Maos leaving, she couldn't follow him, he seemed already gone, her eyes go down and look aimlessly at the floor as she thinks logically for a few second, despite feeling bad she felt like something is off, the memories of this morning suddenly had been blurry
she put a hand on her head as she has a sudden headache along with a few memories of the event of this morning something is not right"
10 minutes later, Maos is in the underground of Beacon academy checking on amber
he has identified her, her soul is complete, and there is a way to save her
"but why isn't she waking up?, I know she's hurt...but she should at least be awake..."
Maos guess the problem, her soul is complete but not "fixed" and he found the solution...he need to use healing magic, however, no healing was strong enough, he needed either a powerful ritual or he needed to learn a very spell enough to fix the injuries on her soul.
he has no knowledge of such a spell, he looks in the books of magic, and he only found a ritual and the spell [greater Restauration], a 5th-level spell that he could learn however there is a problem, Maos can't even use the basic level 1 healing more than 3 to 4 times without passing out...using a 5th level would literally be suicide, he doesn't have the stamina.
Maos look at the sword of Osiris
"How could Osiris resurrect and healed people that easily ? there is obviously a trick to it!" Maos has already figured that out
there is something that he either doesn't have or that he doesn't understand when it comes to healing magic, healing is easy for Cleric and people who use to believe in the gods, but some regular magicians could still perform such spells, and even druids could use the energy of nature to heal. Maos can perform healing magic, but it does drain his own stamina and it's standard according to the book of magic.
what is the problem then ? why does he have so little stamina for healing magic? he can still use the energy of other people in certain circumstances, he checks that already; what is the trick?
suddenly his scroll rings, he looks at it, it's Ozpin, he answers the call
"what is it ?"
"My office now", Ozpin immediately end the call
Maos was actually surprised by this
[even when mad OZ doesn't do this kind of thing...something must be wrong...it is because of the gods ? it's highly probable]thought Maos as he head for the headmaster's office, he just give a few looks back at Amber as he leave the underground facility
A few minutes later, Maos entered Ozpin's office. The headmaster was alone, sitting at his desk. Before Maos could greet him, Ozpin asked, "Did you learn the modified memory spell?"
Maos immediately replied, "No, I did not," sensing Ozpin's hostility despite the old man not showing it physically.
Ozpin stood up and said, "Then why do I have two versions of this morning in my mind? I asked around, and everybody acts like they all woke up normally at 8 am, but I REMEMBER THE TRUTH TO BE DIFFERENT."
Maos took a step back and swallowed his saliva. "The gods appeared again," he said.
Ozpin froze for five seconds before asking, "They did? When, where, and why?"
"It was this morning, obviously. They appeared in the main courtyard of the school and then in some weird dark place, probably a place between realms. Anyways, they came to me because they want to make me go through trials that are probably impossible. If I somehow succeed, I get a reward for each trial. If I succeed in all trials..."
"Then what?" Ozpin's voice was never so serious, emitting a huge amount of energy, even accidentally emitting the energy of the cane.
It was the first time Maos saw Ozpin showing his emotions through magic without wanting to. Ozpin probably hoped the reward for the trials would be the end of his own suffering.
"If I succeed...I will not face divine punishment when the gods fully come back to Remnant" said Maos, Ozpin sigh heavily, he was disappointed but not surprised
"the gods were behind this morning's event? Do they change everyone's memory? I thought they didn't power here ?" asks Ozpin
Maos think a bit
"I thought too...while I think that the god of light has little to no power because of the relics, my guess is that the god of darkness still is at full power, he is just partly restricted because of Osiris's spell, that's only my theory...the problem is how could the god of darkness make use of his power"
Ozpin also had some though"However the gods' power is weak"
Maos raise an eyebrow,Ozpin walk from side to side of the room "if the god were at the power they would have changed everyone's memories"
"and they did," said Maos, he got interrupted by the headmaster"indeed, HOWEVER, I still managed to break the effect even without the cane, if the gods truly had their real power I definitely wouldn't have been able to remember the true event"
"maybe It was on purpose ?" theorize Maos but Ozpin corrected him again "I highly doubt it if they want me to remember why even bother to affect my memories ?"
"so...they can use their power at least a tiny bit...but they are weaker than 3rd level..." thought Maos out loud
"This doesn't matter, they still have knowledge and power we don't, it's gods we are talking about...any idea on what the first trial is ?" asks Ozpin
"second trials actually, I complete one already...during my last mission
"What was it ?" react the Headmaster
"the grim able of possession and more importantly I got the reward, which is the missing Amber's soul"
"What?" react Ozpin, his eyes have never been this wide before "amber's soul is complete ?"
"yeah!, now we can probably save her!" said Maos suddenly existed "we just need to manage to heal her soul...the problem is that we need a 5th level spell to do that, it's a healing spell, if I do it, I'll die...so maybe you can-"
Ozpin stops Maos immediately"I can't cast any healing spell due to my lack of enough mana chambers, I don't have even the magic required to even begin the casting of such a spell, I already explain it to you and I can't even use my cane for it because it only stores magical energy and not actual stamina and life energy"
"I know, but can't you help in teaching me that [greater restoration] spell ? or on how to avoid killing myself in the process, how the priests back in the day could fully regenerate someone's arm, or how Osiris could bring back people to life! I know you already explain to me that you don't know the trick behind it because Osiris was still immortal during your life as Ozma and thus he didn't need to care about life energy or stamina since you never learn to heal because the secret of healing was mostly kept secret by the cleric of the god of life you didn't know the trick"
Maos is getting a bit too ahead of himself
"but can't you I don't know..help me? with my own stamina, I can probably begin the casting and add you as a second caster to this, maybe we can-"
Maos is interrupted by Ozpin hitting his cane on the ground
[but we are not talking about healing an arm, but a soul]thought Ozpin, he wanted to save Amber if possible, however, even to him it was crazy
"I won't help you perform that spell,"said Ozpin
Maos look at Ozpin, he sees the sadness in his eyes "what ?"
Ozpin analyzes Maos from head to toe, he then put rub his eyes with the finger of his free hand, the immortal takes a deep breath, Maos is not going to like that lesson"Maos...how many healing spells can you cast in a row without passing out ?"
"about 3.." said Maos
"at which level ?"
"Level 1.."
the headmaster re-adjust his whole position "...Maos...a few weeks ago I did tell you that, I didn't know why the cleric could heal so easily...it was a lie"Maos clench his teeth and fist hearing that, it even made Ozpin take a step back down,it has been a long time since Ozpin felt this kind of feeling from Maos, for a mere second, Maos genuinely felt a true desire to kill Ozpin, hopefully, this only happens for a single second as a reaction to bad news, Maos would never actually try to kill Ozpin unless the extraordinary circumstance.
[he lied to me about something as serious as a healing spell]thought Maos, his whole just stopped and fully focused on that
he look at nothing for a few second
"Maos" called Ozpin as the boy is brought back in his own mind
the sorcerer clench his teeth "you better explain all of it right now or I SWEAR I WILL BLOW UP THIS WHOLE TOWER"
Ozpin sigh as he knows Maos's anger is justified
"First, I choose to hide this information because I was worried it would drive you away from any type of radiant and holy magic"
"so you just expect to search with no end ?!" react Maos,the boy's eyes start glowing several colors in a row
"you would have figured it out by yourself eventually,"said Ozpin
",now a second thing, there is NO TRICK, you CAN'T avoid the consequence of your stamina is drained, and you can only control how much energy you spent, If you can cast ONLY 3 spells at LEVEL 1 and then you Pass out, Do you realize the true amount of energy a 5th level spell would require?do you think you and I would be enough? the answer is NO, we would to have people sacrifice their own life energy and I mean a lot, for a magician, sorcerer, Cleric even druid, people train for it, it wasn't a problem, a group of 20 to 30 people with good training and a lot of effort could resurrect someone using their own vitality using a 3rd level spell and it's only in the very rare case, do you understand? 20 trained people minimum for only 3rd level"
Maos's eyes express a sudden confusion like he couldn't understand why he didn't guess it before
"the act of reduction is a miracle in every way, Osiris was known for it because he had more control over his own magic than no one else had, he truly was a monster even among people who were supposedly at his level, adding that to the fact that he was the head of the religion about the god of light, he had plenty of clerics to assist him after he became mortal again, the reason why the book of magic doesn't tell the trick is that there is no such thing as a trick to it, sharing energy among several people is a basic thing that anyone can do, the reason why it keeps showing you the staff of Osiris when you asks is that the staff itself it uses as a small relay tower to rewind the energy to other people with a similar object like a religious insignia from the god of light, it how Osiris made it"
"but for us? an old wizard with barely a fifth of his powers and a young sorcerer who isn't able to fully control his own magic properly? and we are supposed to provide the energy for a 5th-level healing spell? only Salem could possibly do it, however because of her grim corruption she is unable of using proper healing magic"
Maos suddenly had a thought "but what if we trained people to do it? or make people cast the spell using a magical item at least? I know I could easily make 20 and more rings of healing..with enough time and effort, or I could create a system using magical objects to share the energy cost using the staff !"
"DON'T EVEN THINK ABOUT IT, I want you to erase that idea from your mind" said Ozpin, this time his voice almost resonate in the room, meaning a true order and not just a request
"why not? I know some people would agree!" said Maos, the headmaster clenching his cane "do you realize how less energy the people of this humanity have compared to us? it's not just magic, even our stamina is different casting a healing spell at level 1 would kill a regular someone, to cast a 5th level spell would require almost a hundred people, and those people who need to be trained huntsman with full stamina and good luck on finding that in such big number"
"maos suddenly intervene "It's not true, the other day, I manage to cast the healing [healing words] using a woman's stamina 3 times and she survive,it was one of the workers" said Maos
"you what ?"Ozpin is actually confused, but he regains a thoughtful look soon after
"and how is she now ?" Ozpin seems to actually be surprised,Maos think a bit and make a disappointed face"...she died during the grim attack" Maos
"how do you know she's fine after you drained her stamina? if she died before you could even truly witness the effect ?"
suddenly a call is heard in Ozpin's office, Oz goes to his office phone and answers, he did take a deep breath to regain his usual composure "I already said I won't be able to answer for the next 20 minutes"
the sorcerer was a bit surprised that Ozpin actually probably cancel a meeting just to talk to him
the lady on the call, which is a worker from the CTT directly affiliated with the headmaster of Beacon "Headmaster Ozpin, Jaquce Scheen is calling, I've tried to delay the call, but he highly insists"
Maos heard it too, Ozpin look at him"I forgot about that part...he is not happy the mine got destroyed...I'll handle it"
"don't worry, I'm leaving, I need to get my homework from Miss Goodwitch anyway"
Maos look at the headmaster answer the call, he starts leaving, and he pushes the button on the elevator[what do you mean people die after 1 cast...that worker pass out after 3 cast worth of energy, as I do...is there something different about me than other sorcerer or..]thought Maos
"Maos, we will talk about it again, don't do anything without any reasoning behind it" said Ozpin
"yeah sure" Maos enter the elevator door and leaves
a few seconds later, On the way for Maos to his dorm, he is walking in the main courtyard, he stops in front of the huntsman statue, and he suddenly realizes something
"wait, if Oz has tried to teach magic to people...and it failed in their death..."
[but the worker still withstands 3 casts without dying...and this is just stamina and aura, not magic...]
Maos being to enter a deep state of thinking, completely forging everything around him
Oz tried teaching people to cast healing spells before.. he tried to relay the stamina cost to others to cast such spells, if Oz tried to cast high-level healing before..it was surely when he was still at full power.
meaning it was a very long time, at least more than a thousand years, maybe 10 thousand years if not more, the fairy tale has been remembered because the maidens were always around and could tell it.
Maos suddenly remember this humanity is born through evolution, not the gods, it's a species that is not fixed, unlike him and Salem.
but something is to remember, Oz during his re-incarnation had children when Oz fully fuse with the body, its stamina changed and even its life span changed meaning the merge mostly takes time because it causes the biological change to the body, Oz already explain to Maos that his children couldn't perform magic however their semblance very power, meaning the biological change is not strong enough actually pass down the genes for magic, thankfully for Maos it's not a problem, a user magic is fully hereditary creating power magical lineage in the past, sorcerer are known for it because some skill seem to also be passed down for them,
like Salem's family which became royalty because of it, which is why Maos's children would probably have magic, and he is also from a powerful lineage as well a druidic lineage, both his mother and grandfather have reached the level of archdruid in less than a 100 years which is actually impressive, he doesn't know about his dad or family older than his grandfather.
How the hell can't Maos have better druidic power given his incredible lineage?
Maos is a certain rare type of sorcerer, a wild magic sorcerer, meaning his magic is especially chaotic
he got mad at it for a few second
"Did my dad ruin my whole lineage or something ?" said Maos out loud as he kept thinking in silence standing, in the main courtyard,
[i wonder what kind of sorcerer Salem is ?]
after wandering a bit much about the thought of his own family which to his own knowledge is only made of his mother, his grandfather, and his grandmother who died at his mother's birth, he got back to the important subject which is healing magic.
[if Oz has changed and altered unconsciously the evolution of humanity by having kids here and there bringing new biology to humanity...maybe humanity actually evolve to gain better stamina, however, Oz gave up on teaching magic to people he could test and kept the same result he got years ago]
"but what about the maidens? "
[did their power affect their biology so their children would have some special properties like boosted semblance? what about Salem can she still have children? I guess not if she's part grim...if she could have children her children would have magic because she has the body of someone from the first humanity]
he kept thinking, lost in thought, staring into the distance
"Maos"
he starts hearing a faint voice "heh ?"
"MAOS!"
he suddenly hears a scream in his right ear, he falls don't floor due to his surprise, he looks at who just screamed at him"hi, velvet"
"hi," said velvet, she seems a bit angry at him "I've been trying to make you react for 5 whole minutes !", the sorcerer get up and look around
"what hour is it ?"
"about 1 pm," said velvet as she cross in annoyance, Maos look at her with the most confused eyes" what? I've been like that for almost 2 hours ?"
"you've been like that for almost 2 hours ?" velvet looks up and down analyzing Maos "are you that sick ?, Coco said you were but I didn't expect you would just...stare in the distance..."
"I'm not sick, I'm okay, why are you not eating with everyone else ?" said Maos "because since I have history class with the first years, I finished class later than the rest of my team...", her rabbit seem to move due to her humor, moving down for disappointment
"And you told them not to wait for you, and they have finished eating...is that right ?"
"...yes..." said velvet, "but I can't go in the cafeteria with the first years, you mind coming with me? I heard you didn't eat either, according to Coco..and a couple of third years I've overheard mentioned you were weirdly standing in the main courtyard doing nothing"
"why not go in there the first year?" asks Maos,"do they bite or something ?"
velvet roll her eye"the problem is that I don't know any of these people yet ! and I don't want to eat alone...also there is a weird guy called Cardin...he seems to have a problem with Faunus and his team is blindly following him, I rather avoid him if I can"
Maos understood immediately "I understand, let's just eat go then"
as they both start walking "you know if that Cardin guy annoys you can just deal with it yourself, you're pretty strong or you can just call your team or me"explain Maos
Velelt eyes turn to maos immediately" you know it's not how I want to deal with that kind of people...I prefer to be bullied than them going bullied someone else who can't take it, we already talk about it remember ?"
Maos rolls his eyes"yep, I remember...and I still 100 % disagree, I still think a good chat could be useful to that kind of people..and yes if they don't listen violence may become necessary to teach proper manners"
"then I guess we agree to disagree," said Velvet
they both enter the cafeteria, they weren't that loud, Maos still kept on the same subject"I think it's weird for you to decide to bear the bullying for the sake of other people, sure they don't deserve to be bullied, but you don't deserve it either"
Maos and velvet start eating peacefully, some people were looking at them, but they didn't mind" also I know you don't like to violence in general to solve any kind of issues, but you know I can do that too, I can use words the correct way to explain a few things to someone, you know I mean it, if Cardin annoys you, I can have a talk with him and I mean a real talk, not like Coco's version of talking"
velvet finishes a glass of water"I guess...I guess I will think about it if I have a problem with him at some point, thanks for the proposition"
[sadly I don't expect her to call me for that anyways...]thought Maos
they eat for a while"by the way, what happen this morning ?" asks velvet
"huh? be more specific please"react Maos
"you know, you sweating, having trouble breathing, sleeping too late...you know being sick,"said velvet
"I wasn't-"start Maos, but he was interrupted"you're not fooling me, nor anyone in team CFVY by the way, especially not Fox, when he saw you he made a weird face for some reason, I've never seen so much confusion in him, there must be something weird with your aura, any clue on it ?"
"Is this an interrogation or something?" reacted Maos,he was annoyed by it
velvet's rabbit ear gut straight up again and she had a sorry tone "huh? no, of course not, sorry if it's how it sounds...we are just worried"
Maos's annoyed tone seem to have made her uneasy, he felt a pain in his heart "sorry...I don't mean to scare you or anything like that...it's..."
[I may as well say the truth] thought Maos
"it's that I have a friend who got badly injured, like really bad...Ozpin didn't want me to find out and I learn about it by other means, I've been on edge since, it's very recent, last night recent actually"explain Maos
velvet has the most worried face he had ever seen "and...she is...how is she ? and how are you ?"
"for me...i'm fine..as much as I could be at the moment, She is not dead and her life is not at risk anymore,so I guess I'm relieved..but she can't recover by herself she's still in coma and won't wake up...and more importantly, I may have a way to help her recovers...however it's still uncharted territory for my semblance...but I have a feeling I can do something, despite what Ozpin says, I can save her and I will"Maos looks at his hand and create a small ball of golden light above it, his eye glowing a bright yellow, he then closes his hands and the ball of energy, his eye stop glowing and go back to their silver color
he looks and sees Velet smiling at him and raises an eyebrow" what ?"
"Nothing...I'm just happy you told me.,there seem to be hope for her and with you, as support, I have no doubt she will be fine..what kind of person is your friend?...you never mention her before" asks Velvelt
"Her name is Amber, she use to be a beacon before us, Ozpin called her to help me control my powers after Ozpin couldn't...t you know... fight me to almost death every night, it was his second option, well mostly...she was kinda like a teacher for me"
"I see..." react Velvelt," you must care about her a lot then,I see why you have trouble with your semblance knowing how you react when one of us gets hurt...why did you never mention her before..", the rabbit Faunus now understands the situation but is still curious
"I tried to ask her to be a professional huntress during a mission, I wanted everyone to meet, but Ozpin forbid it"
"oh" react Vevelt "why ?"
Maos "because Amber is someone important...she has a lot of people tracking her, she can't just go on a mission like that"
they both were done eating so they start getting up and leaving taking their empty plate with them
"was she hurt by people hunting her ?" asks velvet
she suddenly felt a cold down her spine as Maos clench his teeth "yes...I don't know who...but when I find them..."
he stop, his eyes widened noticing Velvet's unease "sorry...I didn't want to scare you"
"It's okay...I know it's not directed at me, you would never hurt your friends", they both let go of their plates and fully left the cafeteria
they are just at the entrance, they both stand not saying much, Maos decide to start
"Thanks by the way..." said maos
"for ?" the rabbit Faunus seem confused, Maos didn't hesitate to respond" simply the meal, having a small break feel good, today had a bad start and I have a lot to do..so thanks for listening to me"
he looks at velvet, and she smiles " thank you for opening up to me, you don't need to thank me for that, that's just what friends do, you can always talk to me and my team when you're feeling down, we all have those time where life goes crazy, having a friend getting hurt is a normal thing to be upset about"
he smiles at her "thanks, I'll remember it" he then remembers something he turns to velvet again "you think Coco will be mad at me...I kinda left her hanging this morning"
the sorcerer put both his hand on his face in shame "I'm in trouble aren't I..."
velvet raises an eyebrow and then thinks a bit"you don't need to be worried about that, once you explain everything to her she will understand...but...if you want...Maybe, you should try doing something with her...I heard she has been trying to design a new outfit for you for while...maybe you should know...looking into that, your combat outfit got destroyed with your last mission anyway"
"your right, I will talk to her about it," said Maos
3 hours later,Maos has come back to his room, he had received the homework from Goodwitch, she just passes by and gave him the classes, she seem to have wanted to talk with him a bit, but she was interrupted by Ozpin calling her, it intends to talk to Coco first, but professor Goodwitch was faster
he is currently working on his homework for the day since he didn't attend any class, the afternoon included, sorting everything out, which means using magic to learn to read fast and practice a few things
"Okay...that's done" he stretched a bit as he let go of a pen after he finish doing a schematic of a dust formula"homework and catching up on classes is done !"he then goes to grab a gold bar, he had it thanks to the mine
"ok...let's make a level 1 spell storing ring...then give it to ruby with the [speed reading]spell in it...she could cast it on a book...then she would have basic knowledge of the book,she would need to practice the concept a bit herself,but it would save her a lot of time
he then start making a ring made of gold, using his wild magic to shape it, after a whole hour, he finally shapes it perfectly, this time he want to make no mistake, he wanted it to be pure gold and it took a lot of time for him to get rid of any impurities.
"Okay, now it's done... I'll do the carving on another day", he doesn't want to fail so he will take the time he needs to fully think of the runes he will use,at least the material won't be a problem this time
he gets up "time to train the dimension door spell"
he trains for an hour
[dimension door]
he finally manage to open a door
an oval made of pure energy appeared in front of him, he couldn't see what is on the other side, then a second gate opened in the position he chose, which next to his bed., he examines it
"yes... I made a door!"His hand goes toward the door, he suddenly pulls back
[I manage to open a door in less than a day, it's never that easy...I bet something is wrong]
he grabs a random pen from his desk and throws it at the gate, the pen enters the gate and disappeared, he waited a couple second...but the pen doesn't come out of the second gate
"Where did the pen go ?"
suddenly an explosion sound was heard from the second gate and dust was ejected out of it, Maos look at it
[mending]: level 3, Maos did that to make sure, the dust changed and assemble to eventually turn in the pen
"yeah...I still need a few more tries...at least it went through..." he then dispels the gates
[okay...time for the second try]
[dimension do-],he stop himself, hearing his scroll notification sound
he received a message from Coco, it is a selfie of her and her team in front of the entrance of the cafeteria for dinner, with a message next to it
/wanna eat something?/
Maos look at the time
"this soon? it's not even 7 pm...nah, I'll guess it's fine, I'll train later, I could use a break anyway"
and so he went to eat with team CFVY, he explains everything, velvet backing him up, he told them about Amber and her teacher statue to him and why he never told them about her
and mostly, he asks Coco if she could him with his combat, to which she reacts most extravagantly, by almost screaming in the cafeteria
"Finally! I've never thought you would ask! I'll show you the design tomorrow during lunch break"
"I'm really curious about what you got in store for me"reacts Maos as the rest of the team is a bit scared but not surprised by Coco, she suddenly
goes across the table and sits next to maos, up her arm around the neck almost grabbing him like she was cheering for him, she then extends her free hand as if to show something imaginary in front of her, in the far distance
"oooh, I've got everything! don't you worry, from classy businessman to the wanderer in the desert, from paperboy to explorer of ancient ruin!"
Maos turn his head to Velvelt,Fox, and Yatsu, they all smile at him, smile telling him "we won't help you go through that, we've already been there"
the next day,Maos fully rested got up, when to class, he was finally back at his precious routine, sleeping, class, eating, class, eating, learning spell
he even had time to meet team rwby again and correct the situation yesterday, ruby's memories were altered like everybody else, Maos coming to her room was put during the night in her mind, and her teammate had scolded for letting a boy in the room while everyone was sleeping, but everything was in order
during lunch,Maos went along with Coco, she show him every design she had in her room
"my favorite is this one" she shows him the drawing
a long black coat with gold lines from the shoulder to the sleeves, and gold from the neck to the bottom of the coat, the line seems to follow and make the shape of leaves in their descent, a black undershirt, dark blue pants, knee-high boots, an elaborate leather belt with pouches,
Maos noticed a strange emblem on the drawing, a leaf in a circle with golden flame all around it
"what's that ?"
"well, I noticed you don't have any emblem your self"
"huh ?"Maos raise an eyebrow
Coco show her belt and shows her emblem in the shape of a shooting target "Everybody has one, ruby has a rose for example, mine is a target, Yatsu is a square with a rectangle shape in it,Fox has an eye in a circle and velvet is a heart with scars around it"
"why is that her emblem sounds darks" react Maos,Coco responds quickly "i already ask her, she just thought it was cool when she design it...probably during her edgy phase"
"velvet had an edgy phase ?"ask Maos
"I don't know...probably ?" said Coco
the sorcerer looks at the drawing
"so...what do you think about it ?, I did the leaf because you grew up in a forest and the golden flame for your sword"
Maos look at it intensely
"is an emblem you choose for yourself ?" asks maos
"depend sometimes it's a family emblem, like the schnee, but most of the time it's a style thing, like your own signature"
"oh...I see"
"so ?"
coco seems interested in knowing his thoughts,Maos seem to look with a bit of nostalgia
"I Like it, I like it a lot"
he then gets up and looks in the one mirror in the room,[deguise]a level 1 spell that allows temporary change in appearance, body, and clothes included,a wave of energy goes along Maos current clothes and it turns into the clothes in the drawing, he looks at himself[it remind me of my grandfather]
"Where do you get the idea for this design?" asks Maos
"oh, I read of the book you have in your room, the book series, you know, the heroes of the Past by Ozidas, I saw you trying to get every book of that series"
"you read those ?" react Maos
"I read a bit...I kinda stop at the description of the character...I'm not a novel reader, I'm more of a comic book reader, anyways I saw the description of the main character, Aquila, he kinda reminds me of you..at least at the beginning of the I took a bit of his physical description, mostly his clothes of course, and use the description as a basis for the design"
"I see...this explains a lot," said Maos, he hesitate for a moment at a memory of an Old Aquila trying to teach him how to turn into a bird
"does it ?" react Coco
"I...I really like it...however we start making it as soon as we can ?"
"Don't worry, I have everything ready!" said Coco as she grab a big wallet from under her bed "The rest is something that is bought easily in Vale"
Maos doesn't respond and stay silent, lost in thought
"Maos ?" called Coco, he was looking at himself in the mirror, thinking[a regular fabric won't do...]
"Coco can keep a secret ?" asks Maos as he looks with the help of the mirror, "of course I can tell me anything and it will never come out of my mouth"
Maos turn around "I'm serious", they look at each other for a second without saying anything"and I am serious too,you can trust me" said Coco as she lower her glass, showing her eyes
"ok...so you remember the special fabric of my clothes ?"
"yeah ?,it was amazing...wait..are you goi-"her eye suddenly widened
"I'm going to teach how to make it" said Maos"but we need to find a long period of free when we have the time to go in the wild and come without being spotted"
"Why ?"coco arms crossed in confusion "Does it require a special ingrediant"
"that's the secret part Because we are going to kill grims, then skin them and take their bones and skins, especially bones actually"
"but that's impossible !"Coco felt lost, he just said something that according to all her knowledge of the grim...she knew for a fact grim disappear after they die
"It's very possible, with the use of alchemy"explain Maos
Coco"but-but...that's...how ?!..Alchemy ?"
[I won't tell her everything...but explaining the basis of alchemy to her to make clothes won't hurt...I hope]
the next day, Maos had a full day of class,but he still took time after class to work on the magical Item, he actually completed the ring for ruby,it took him 3 hours to carve a level 1 rune
"yeah!, level 1 magic Item!"
he gets up in excitement, look at the ring and has fun throwing in the air and juggling with it
"ok now..putting the spell inside it..."
[speed reading]
Maos see the rune glowing as the spell become part of it, he then analyses it
[identify]
a ring of speed reading
This spell allows you to read written material in a quarter of the time it would normally take to read it. meaning reading a 500-page book in less than 3 hours
"yes! It worked!"
[let's just hope..ruby can actually use it...I mean coco can use the level 0 ring easily...yeah, I will be careful and make sure Ruby doesn't pass out...]
Maos suddenly remember something
[I'm surprised Ozpin still hasn't tried to talk to me again about the healing spell...did he just give up on it? no...he is probably searching and trying to understand it his own way...]
he suddenly hears in his scroll ringing, he look at it,he receives a delivery notification from the staff of Beacon
/we have received the animals, we put them where we usually put them/
"Oh, finally, I've been waiting for ages for a new test subject"
[I can finally train the dimension door on a living being]
later,he is underground, under a beacon, Ozpin accept to give Maos an area where he can train and test his place, a giant green and dark room, full of animal cages and another chemistry tool
Maos is looking at the piles of cages, mostly mice, but he had a few birds and even a few bunnies
"don't worry, if once I finish learning the spell, you will be free...if you survive at least..."
he starts grinning at the spell dimension door, making portals here and there, he first starts with objects, of course, pen, rocks, regular things really
after an hour, he stops experimenting, he turns to the animals in the cages, he then looks around and sees the bag of food for them, there's not enough food for more than a day
"...I'll go to Vale and buy a few bags later..."
a bit of time later, during a break, Maos is looking for ruby, wanting to give her the rings and actually test it,he went around the school searching for her,at some point he ended up on Weiss, he met her right around a corner
"hi" said Maos
"oh.." said Weiss it took her a second to realize who is in front of her "Oh, HI !", he see she has a book in hand
"do you happen to know where your team leader Is ?" asks Maos
"tea-, ruby you mean, if she did listen to me, she's now at the library, I'm heading over there to help with a few homework"
"you mind if I tag along? I need to have a chat with her"
"of course, it would be my pleasure!"said Weiss, she finally see an opportunity to correct their previous interaction
and so they naturally walked together toward the library,Weiss is weirdly composed
"so..about last day...the whole me being to ruby.." start Maos before he himself get uncomfortable
"oh...it's all sorted out...we had a hard time calming Yang...but..we figure it out...I heard you accept to help Ruby with her lack of knowledge"
Maos sigh in relief,he actually hadn't talked to anyone of team rwby since the last accident and couldn't really find them with all he has been doing
"just at that specific moment, I was under a bit of a problem, which lead to losing my nerve a bit...I'm happy it went well in the end, and Yes,of course, I will help, it's my job as a student representative and second, I mean I would have her anyways even if it wasn't my job, but you know what I mean"
Weiss stay hesitant for a few seconds "So...you have many people trying to get your teachings ?", a bit embarrassed
"not really, it's only 2 days since...so I think I will get more people as time goes on" responded Maos," I don't really complain, I have more free time for my own training that way"
"you train often ?" asks Weiss, she suddenly slaps herself mentally [he's the strongest student of the school,of course, he trained often , idiot!]
"My swordsmanship could use more refining I'll admit, but I'm focused on my semblance for now," said Maos, "but I'm getting better and better, what about your training ?"
"...you mean...what my training is currently focusing on ?" asks Weiss, she starts thinking a bit, but she actually stops walking
"yes...last time I talk about your speed, you could be faster"Maos felt a bit uneasy
"..." Weiss's eyes widened
she has been so focused on studying that she barely trained, and the little she trained, she train only her semblance
"my...speed..." said Weiss a bit embarrassed
[is my question weird? should I have used better words ?]thought Maos
"I...I totally forgot to train my speed...sorry"
Maos stop and look at Weiss and raise an eyebrow "Why apologize? there's nothing wrong if you just didn't have the time to train"
Weiss hesitate for a second "But last...you told me my speed could be better...And I totally forgot to train it...regardless of the fact that you advised me to"
"the keyword is advised...and Also, I did not exactly say that I just explain why sometimes it is better to have more speed than resistance and yes I did say that you could be faster"Explain Maos "What did you train instead ?"
"My semblance..." respond weiss
"any significant progress ?" asks Maos, actually curious
"not really..." admit Weiss in defeat, she facepalms in shame," I barely train and I have not even a single ounce of progress on the one thing I did train!"
"huh...too bad, guess, it will take a bit more time then, don't worry, you will make it eventually," said Maos with the most simple face in the world
"..."Weiss completely froze,Maos doesn't seem to realize it and kept talking"I mean, training takes time, you don't see progress in a day, semblances are especially hard to train, everyone in Beacon is on a high level on whatever they specialize in, so it makes sense the progress is harder and harder to really notice, maybe you did progress, you just didn't realize it, or if you truly believe you're not making any progress, than maybe changing the way you train can help"
he then Saw Weiss's eyes
"what ?did I say something weird ?" asks Maos
"no..of course not !..it's just...it's the first time someone explain it like that to me so nicely,"said Weiss
Weiss is a bit too used to Winter's harsh comment on her comment and was expecting a similar reaction for Maos, since he react that way during combat class
"Really?"
[that's kinda sad]thought Maos, he start walking again and Weiss kept on following him, mostly because they are going to the same place
there were a few seconds of silence between them
"so...I heard you were on a mission...a few days ago...I saw the airship landing...it was a-"start weiss
"it was an Atlesian airship with a big Schnee logo on it, your father is the one behind the mission,"said Maos," you don't need to worry about it, you're not involved,at least I have no reason to think it...am I wrong ?"
"I was not aware of it...how..how was it If I may ask.." said Weiss
she did feel the sudden change in his eye, and he suddenly seem less patient" Is the student asking or the heiress of the Schnee dust company ?"
"I am both" respond Weiss immediately with confidence
"hmm..."Moas analyze Weiss from head to toe, toe to head
[she views her family name as something very important, she became confident after mentioning it...]thought Maops
"anyways, the mission, it was hell, your father sent me on a dangerous mission and his goal was money, on the brand so far," said Maos with a much colder tone than before
Weiss took a very formal tone, she seem to have done this kind of thing before"I'm sorry for -"
Maos turn around immediately and cut her off"You have nothing to apologize for, it was just a mission and I'm the one who accepts it and regrets it, I won't work for your father ever again..I learn my lesson, end of the story, it was just one of that missions"
Weiss Schnee looks at Maos with wide eyes
"my father will probably try to win you over again, trying to call on more missions for him," said Weiss as she regain a regular composure
they both finally arrive at the library, at the main door which is closed, "I know he probably will...come on...let's just go in the library, none of us seems to have a good time talking about him," said Maos as he opens the door and they both enter the library
"I mean-" starts Weiss
"Weiss!" called Ruby from the inside of the library, she was sitting near Yang and Blake, luckily by was not scolded by anyone due to her raising her voice, they are the only ones in the library right now
Maos and Weiss join the rest of the team rwby
"hi," said Maos"Hi!/hey," said Ruby and Yang, Blake was a bit late, she was reading a book and it took a second to realize Maos and Weiss were here," oh, hi.."
Maos suddenly felt anger from Yang directed at him, Ruby suddenly stand in front Yang immediately avoid any confrontation,Ruby actually facing toward Yang
"he already apologize, we talked about this, "said ruby
"I didn't hear it!" said Yang
Maos look at Weiss, ruby barely turns her head to look at him
[I thought it was settled...]thought Maos, he sighs
Yang moves to the side and avoids Ruby "I know you apologize to her, but I don't buy it!"
Maos didn't really know how to react to Yang, it actually quite intimidating because she looks like his mom
he blinks several times and slaps himself mentally [come one Maos, focus]
"and what do you want me to do about it?I failed to understand the problem here" asks Maos
Ruby and Weiss look at each other in worry as Yang and Maos face off
"apologize properly," said Yang
"but I already did! Do you want me to apologize for a second time about the same thing to the same person?I understand you want to protect your sister, but that's just stupid, apologizing a second time would be the same as looking down on her" react Maos with an annoyed tone
even Blake stops reading her book and looks at the conversation
Ruby is trying to talk, "Come on, Yang there is no reason to argue about th-", Weiss also tried to stop Yang "He actually came to the library to help ru-"
"It's not the point !" said Yang "I'm doing this as prevention!"
for the first time in his life, Maos never thought of someone like this
[is she fucking stupid ?! Does she wants to fight or something ? as prevention? prevention for what ?! You're scared I'm going to bully Ruby because of my high status as a second year ?...my older age...my position as Beacon's strongest...okay I see where she is coming from, since a problem happened once she thinks it may happen again...but still!]thought Maos
Yang clenches her fist
"he's actually right"
yang and everyone else looks at Blake who just raise her voice
"huh ?"Yang turns to Blake
"Maos is from Mistral," said Blake"In their custom apologizing twice is seen as an insult, it's the same as saying someone is too stupid to be able to even understand the apologies so you insist"
since Blake doesn't speak much, when she does she tend to attract more attention than she should from her team and people who know her, especially Yang who has been trying to make Blake open up a bit more to the other people in Beacon and the rest of the Team
"wait...really ?"Yang and Ruby turn to Weiss
"I heard about it before.." lied Weiss
[damn, that's a nice timed lie, thanks Blake Belladonna daughter of the previous white fang leader, and Weiss Schnee the daughter of Jacuque Schnee]thought Maos
yang's eyes turn back to Maos "You understand now ?" asks Maos, he noticed that Yang calm down a bit since Blake's sudden intervention stopped her momentum
"...I guess...I guess I can let go of that for once" said Yang," but don't try out your luck!"
"I have no reason to be mean again nor be a bully to Ruby, I'm smarter than That, Headmaster Ozpin actually asks me to pay close attention to her because she may have difficulty integrating with Beacon, what do you think Professor Goodwitch made me a student representative and said to ruby to go to me for help with homework and class ?" explain Maos
"you mean Ruby is a privileged student?" asks Weiss
Ruby made herself very tiny and sit next to Blake, the faunus already went closer to ruby as if to cheer her up
"she's 2 years behind in every subject except combat, I don't call that privileged, and as a student representative, it's my job to help first-year students in difficulty, and it's also the reason why I am here"explain Maos
Yang stare at Maos in silence, her eye slowly going from anger to embarrassment "Fine!", the blond girl goes to the table and sit, crossing her arm, hiding her pouting to hide her own embarrassment
[it's over finally]thought everyone but Yang
"so... anyways...why am here again ?...right! ruby I've come up with a solution to help you, you mind coming with me? It's just a test, it takes like 5 minutes literally"
"right now ?" react Yang, but she stops herself, it makes sense it's why he is here
"heh ?"Ruby gets up full of excitement "Sure! Lead the way!", she goes next to maos as Yang looks at them with suspicious eyes, the sorcerer and Ruby start walking away backward before turning to leave"Don't worry we'll be back soon"
"Later!" said Ruby as she raises wave her hand a bit
"that was fast"said Weiss,"maybe it's better that way"said Blake,they both look at Yang who seem almost upset
and that's it for this chapter,see you in the next one