Chapter One Hundred and Six
"Ohhh!" Ruby grinned as we walked down towards the meeting hall, fists held tight to her chest in excitement. "This is so cool! It's like we're special!"
"We are special, you dolt," Weiss reminded her, though without heat. "Out of all of Beacon, we're one of eight teams that has been chosen for the Vytal Festival! Though I don't know why I wasn't contacted about this event sooner," she pouted.
"That's because the dance was for the lower-class- younger- Freshmen and Sophomores," I replied, trying to find the proper term, having mentioned this same thing to Oz, the ancient reincarnator having laughed at the idea, and explaining his methodology. "And while the other schools were invited, it wasn't an international event. This is."
And, with things going as bad as they were, the Wizard decided I needed to network, I added internally.
Geared up to make an impression, each of us was now wearing a Dust crystal, Military Grade, secured by the Heiress, somewhere on us. I'd insisted on repaying her for them, while she tried to eat the expense herself, arguing that, since I was the one that was pressing for us all to get them, it was only right that I pay for them. And, when she'd quoted me the price, while it'd seemed… excessive, checking my own account, I realized that was because my sense of money was Jaune's sense of money, scrounged up from odd jobs and saved up allowances, hidden from his family lest they 'borrow' it, but, now that I was dumping out a room full of Ice Dust every couple days, it barely made a dent.
I'd actually asked Oz if I was accidentally crashing the Ice Dust market, but, no, locally all Dust had been skyrocketing in price, likely due to Torchwick's shenanigans, and not only had I stabilized that part of the economy, the excess was being shipped out to Vacuo, who always had a need for the substance, living, as most of that country did, in the desert.
You'd think they'd gather more in the lusher northern section of the country, or the thin strip of verdancy to the west on the other side of a very dangerous mountain range, but those greener pastures were apparently lousy with Grimm, located as closely as the northern section was to 'The Grimm Continent'.
That wasn't its official name, of course, and each of the four nations had a different signifier for it, though none of them could agree on one enough to make a standardized signifier. Vale called it 'The Wastelands', Vacuo 'The Grimmlands', Mistral 'The Forgotten Realms', and Atlas, having mapped it out with ultra-high-altitude ships, referred to it simply as 'Draconis', which, given it was full of Grimm, I disagreed with on a deep and visceral level, even as I could understand why.
The 'tail' which pointed at Vale led to an area that was, according to the locals, generally regarded as cursed, as, while it was high in Dust, every settlement that tried to set up would suffer misfortune after misfortune, until it was destroyed by a Tide. Vacuo, meanwhile, right across from the 'Dragon's' either 'roost' or 'legs', depending on how you looked at it, was slammed with a great deal more incoming Grimm, which gave the desert a wide berth, the various creatures they'd used as a template thankfully following their copy-pasted instincts to keep to their general 'native' clime.
There were desert-native Grimm, but they were locally sourced, the southern and eastern mix of desert and tundra forming a natural border that kept them from continuing down and across into Vale, but that blockage meant they were concentrated, not just in the north, but, across the mountains, and down the far-western side of the country.
Thus the people of Vacuo lived in the vast desert that took up half of the country, and which was spotted so liberally with sheltering oasis, caves, tiny hidden valleys, and the like that they could do so, even if the resources in just one locale weren't enough to sustain most tribes. That, combined with the slow gathering of Grimm if one stayed in one place, worked to force most of the natives into nomadic lifestyles until very, very recently.
And desert travelers really appreciated having Ice on tap.
Thus, I was… comfortable, as I was a one Dragon Ice Dust Mine.
And, with Oz's contacts, he could drop that kind of ridiculousness into the global economy without getting the kind of skepticism, bullshit, and general attention that I would've if I'd tried to do the same thing.
But, dragging my thoughts to the present, we'd arrived at the meeting hall, where there was a large banner reading 'Welcome Contestants!'
"I would've said 'Champions Welcome'," Weiss sniffed, but the rest of us ignored her, as we headed inside, the place already half full, Huntsmen and Huntresses of all types standing about, and, as I looked around, not recognizing most of them, it really sank in just how many people were here.
When everyone showed up, there would be a hundred and twenty-eight of us, split up into two tournaments, I knew that intellectually, but, especially given the focus on individuality that was part and parcel with Huntsman culture, that led to this place becoming a wildly clashing riot of colors, styles, and so on, though some teams did have motifs, like that one from Vacuo that was Cowboy (and Cowgirl) themed.
"Hello, Team Rowan, Team Aubergine," a tired looking woman greeted us, Oz having hired people to manage things, as using students, to quote him, was, 'Amusing, and good experience, but for the festival a certain degree of professionalism is required.'
Taking two stacks of cards from her lectern, the older woman handed them to Ruby and I, and, looking at them ourselves, they were nametags, with our names, teams, year, and nation listed, ours in gold while everyone else's were in silver, likely to indicate our statuses as Team Leader of our respective groups. "Once everyone will arrive, Headmaster Ozpin will come out to say a few words. In the meantime, please enjoy the non-alcoholic refreshments and get to know your fellow contestants!"
"Will do!" Ruby grinned, handing out her tags, as I did with mine, taking a single step forward, then freezing, because she clearly had no idea what she was doing. Looking over to me, she questioned, "Uh, Jaune?"
Rolling her eyes, Weiss walked forward, grabbed her partner by the hood, and started dragging her deeper in. "Let's go talk to some of the Atlas teams!"
"Waaah!" the smaller girl cried out, arms waving comically as she was carried off, until she realized she was a Huntress and used her Semblance, both Ruby and Weiss turning into crimson and white petals that reformed into both girls walking, though the Dustcaster's grip remained on her team lead's hood, the mini-reaper unable to break someone's hold, only reposition herself with her power.
"Yo, Coffee!" Yang waved, heading over to team CVFE, who were hanging out nearby, Blake, after a moment of hesitation, bow twitching, following the blonde.
"Oh, Rennie, they've got tiny sandwiches!" Nora gasped, taking off, her partner sending us an apologetic look before almost gliding after her, leaving my partner and I alone.
Looking to her, Pyrrha looked about, consideringly, so I proposed, "Divide and conquer?"
Hesitating, she nodded. "I, yes. Just… keep in mind, Jaune, that some of them may be offensive in their speech, but if you strike them, you will be seen as in the wrong."
I snorted, "Please, I'm well aware that the two of us could take out literally everyone here. If some monkey chatters at me, unable to handle their insecurity in the face of our greatness, that's their problem."
Blinking at that, my partner questioned, "Have you… been spending more time in your…" She made a subtly expansive hand gesture.
"Yes?" I asked in turn. "I was trying to see if it was easier to work with Hard Light Dust that way. And it was. I'm trying to work down to humanoid expressions. Why…" trailing off, I reviewed what I said, which, while correct, was… "Ah. Yes. I'll pull it in a bit. Thank you."
With an expression was a mix of a grimace and a wan smile, Pyrrha checked, "Are you certain that you want to do this separately?"
"No, I'm sure," I reassured her, pausing, and reconsidering. "Unless you'd rather I stayed with you? You do have more experience with these things than I do."
The gladiatrix didn't answer for a moment, before finally shaking her head. "I suppose this will be good practice, then. If they strike first, please do not do permanent harm."
"That was my plan," I agreed. "If they're that weak, better for our team to beat them down publicly, for maximum humiliation."
She smiled, "Exactly, Jaune! Though it is not done to say that aloud. Best of luck!"
"I'd say the same, but you don't need it," I grinned, nodding to her, and turning to stride further into the room. That said, looking around, I… wasn't sure where to start.
Grabbing a soda, Nora having just taken an entire tray of sandwiches for herself, that took up a minute, and then… fuck it.
Walking up to a random group of four, all of their gear showing white as a dominant color, indicating their Atlesian status, something confirmed by their nametags, I smiled. My teeth showed through the small hole in my mask, as I'd burned through close to a hundred of them before Weiss had suggested getting them made with an opening large enough to breathe through while still covering my scars. Holding out a hand, I greeted, "Hi, I'm Jaune, Jaune Arc, Freshman Huntsman, of team Aubergine. How're you guys liking it here? Not too hot, I suppose, though, with fall coming, it's getting comfortable once again."
The four of them stared at me for a moment, so I just stood there, hand out, waiting, until they looked at the Faunus member of their team, a girl with feathered blue hair and twin pistols at her hips, who, after another moment, stepped forward and shook it. "It's not been too bad," she agreed, a little nervously for some reason. "Been getting better. And you?"
"And me what?" I replied, confused, this entire thing turning incredibly awkward, as the other three just stared at me, as if trying to telepathically tell me to fuck off, which… lol, no. "So, how are classes here, compared to others Atlas Academy?"
"Uh, good?" the woman, who, since she decided not to introduce herself, I read her tag as 'Tenne Lehman', of team APLE, a Senior. "A bit… looser than Atlas, but the course work is just as hard. Harder sometimes. I, do you have Professor Port?"
"Yeah, his stories are meandering on purpose," I revealed. "They're information gathering exercises."
Blinking owlishly, the girl's eyes widened as understanding dawned. "Ooooooh! That makes a lot more-"
"Is there something you want?" the team leader, one Brock Albright, demanded, annoyed.
Tenne cringed, and, from that, I read… a good bit. Turning to face the man, I lifted an eyebrow, and gestured to the rest of the party with my soda, replying, "This is a mixer. I'm mixing. Since we won't be fighting, there's no need for mind games, or wariness, or animosity in general."
"I have nothing to say to you, animal," the man stated, and the girl winced again.
I smiled, though there was no mirth in my expression this time, "Well, and I get why your underdeveloped simian brain could not understand something not being about you, but you see I wasn't talking to you, I was talking to your teammate." Turning away from him, I faced her. "Anyways, while I can't speak for all of Beacon's staff, I have a feeling that if what they're doing is-"
"What did you call me!?" the man demanded, taking a threatening step forward, as several people around us glanced our way, and, talking to Artorias and Otasa, Pyrrha sighed, facepalming.
Just as loudly, grinning, I glanced, unconcerned, his way as I replied, "Well, given you called me an animal when I was talking to your teammate, I have to assume that's just how Atlesians say hello. So, to meet you, culturally, I called you an ape. Why? Was that rude? Should I Take Offense?"
The man's hand drifted towards the sword he was wearing at his waist, and, I prepared to breathe Flame, before his teammate, one Ciane Petrov, put her hand on his shoulder, and, sending me a venomous look, declared, "He's baiting you, Brock. He's not worth it."
With a sneer, the man turned his back on me, and walked away, the other two Humans following him, the bird-girl quietly apologizing with a whispered, "Sorry!"
"It's fine,
" I murmured back commiserating, as, while it would be better not to deal with that sort of shit, from what I was gathering, Atlas Academy had a bad case of prevalent racism, possibly even Institutional Racism, and while I wouldn't've stood for it, I was a Dragon, and could thus tell the system to sit and spin without a care.
Sighing, taking a sip of my drink, I felt another team approach me from behind, though they did so with slow motions that didn't indicate an attack, and it was only for that reason that I didn't jump when a cultured voice right over my shoulder remarked, "Ugh, Atlesians. Good at business, but so rude."
Turning to face them, this group, all Human, were all wearing eastern style clothing, the material high quality, though there was a hint of something… else to them.
Addressing the leader, who wore a long jacket of deep blues and blacks, I argued, "It might be an Atlas Academy thing, as I'm friends with Weiss Schnee, and even if she was a bit wary of me at first, which, given the actions of the White Fang, I could hardly blame her for, she was a good deal more polite, and had far better self-control. But where are my manners," I smiled, introducing myself, and holding out a hand, which the man, introducing himself as 'Han, of Clan Qianhai', took without hesitation, and shook.
"Ah, and these lovely ladies are Ming of Clan Donglian," he stated, gesturing to a pale woman in whites and light blues, "Bei of Clan Qingcao," was a woman in greens, with similarly colored hair, "And Zhu of Clan Huoqiu," he finished, gesturing to a woman dressed in reds and yellows, with hair the same color as my partner's. "And as for Ms. Weiss of Clan Schnee, well, those of us who are of a… higher caliber of course are a step above the rabble."
"True," I grinned. "So, how are you finding Beacon?"
"Refreshingly chaotic," the man mused. "And, while there is a certain… rudeness, I am most glad the tournament is being held here. It was held at Shade Academy, two years ago, and not only was the heat oppressive, but I ended up in five separate scuffles in as many days. Though, compared to some of my teammates," he smirked, looking over to Zhu, who blushed, embarrassed, and looked off to the side, "my time was downright peaceful."
Sending an inquisitive glance her way, the Huntress stated, not meeting my gaze, "Pushy."
I blinked. "Noted. So, Han, this is your second go-round on this? Any advice?"
"Prepare for a variety of combat environments," the Mistralian Junior noted. With a sweep of his hand, faint, wave-like designs glowed the dark blue of Water Dust, and droplets formed. "Many a combatant has moved forward, or been checked, by fighting in environs that they had not expected to ever encounter, once they graduated."
Popping my own wings for a moment, I noted, "Well, mine is the sky, so I think I'll be fine."
Chuckling, the Mistralian nodded. "Indeed. And, with the 'Invincible Girl' on your team, I can see why you have been entered into the Sophomore bracket, despite only being Freshman."
"Yeah, my partner's pretty great," I nodded in agreement. "Though I do wish they had an exhibition match at the end of both."
That surprised the man, who was smirking for some reason. "To see how she would handle the champion of the Senior division?"
"No, to see how I would," I grinned.
That provoked a disbelieving laugh from the man. "You believe yourself better than Ms. Pyrrha?"
Mrs. I mentally corrected, shrugging, "We're better in each of our specialties, and I'm sure she'd let me take the lead there. She is the more skilled duelist, but, in terms of raw power?" I shrugged. "Very few things match a Dragon."
The others chuckled, except for the one in white, Ming, who stared at me, asking, completely seriously, "You're a Dragon?"
Pulling my wings back out, along with my tail, I spat a bit of prismatic Flame into my free hand. "Of course I am. Or do you believe me to merely be a 'horned lizard'?" I questioned dryly, taking a sip of my drink, as the others abruptly stopped laughing. Retracting them, I set the Fire to winding between my fingers, I met her hard gaze, waiting for her to respond.
Han smiled, though this time, it was a little strained. "Word of warning, Jaune of Arc. In Vale, such a thing may be… amusing, but in Mistral, to declare yourself so? It is not done lightly."
"Fair enough," I agreed, as one without the ability to back it up, if Mistralians even had a hint of a true Dragon's capabilities, would be quite the claim. Also, apparently, Dragons were a cultural touchstone there that Pyrrha hadn't mentioned.
She… hadn't mentioned a lot, actually, I couldn't help but note, which… was not the best. My partner never lied to me, and I knew I could trust her, but she was actually quite reserved, in her own way, and the more time I spent on Remnant, the more I realized just how little the source material had explored, what little of it I'd seen, at least.
Perhaps the rest of the series got into it? I mused internally.
Apparently Ironwood was both Hero and Villain, according to the sourcebook for the RWBY TTRPG I'd found, but there was so much missing context to that, it wasn't worth considering until I'd met the man myself.
Han gave me a measuring look, as I stood, waiting, not… really sure where to take the conversation from here. Looking for a topic, as he apparently wasn't going to provide them, I inquired, "The designs in your jacket, is that Dust?"
"Ah, yes, it's Dustweave, done by my Clan's artisans," he replied, going along with the shift in conversation. "The technique is a closely held secret," the Mistralian noble bragged.
"But, don't you all have it?" I questioned in turn, as, while it was faint, I could feel its presence from them, now that I was only a few feet away. "Ice, Fire, and…" I paused, looking to Bei, who cocking her hips, stared at me challengingly right back. "Gravity?"
The green haired woman recoiled, surprised, asking, "How?"
I shrugged, still streaming my Flame between my fingers. "They've got a, well, taste, as it were. It's a bit distinctive."
"All of our Clans practice Dustweaving," Han explained. "Each element is unique, and difficult to work with in its own way."
I nodded, "Still impressive." A thought occurred, and, pulling up one greave a little, I revealed the bit of jewelry I'd started wearing, a watch, only instead of a clockface it held a military-grade Dust Crystal. "Do you know anyone that could do something similar with Hard-Light Dust? And who'd be willing to take commissions?"
The Ice Dust user smirked, "Well, there's-"
"No," Han interrupted, shooting a cross look her way. Turning back to me, he stated, with utmost seriousness, "No. There is not. And if someone says they know one who will, and will put you in contact with her, they are not a friend."
"Noted," I replied. "Thanks for the warning." After another awkward silence, I nodded to the Mistral Juniors, stating, "Well, it's been nice talking to you. Best of luck in the tournament."
"You as well," Han replied, and I walked past them, noting Zhu's gaze was fixed on my Flame, so, with a thought, I let it go, so as not to make things awkward, only for the woman to shudder oddly.
I'm… just gonna ignore that, I thought, moving on, when, "Hey! Arc!"
Looking over, I saw the leader of team DOGG, waving, and headed over to the Atlesian Wolf Faunus. "Sup, Derek, Bradley, Grizz, Geralt," I greeted them in turn, having gone over the Junior Teams with everyone, which helped me remember names.
"Sorry 'bout APLE," the Faunus offered. "They're pretty rotten."
"Nothing to do with you," I smiled, waving away the apology. "Can see why you guys like running a Faunus-only team, though, if they're the standard."
Grizz chuckled, "Nah, it's not that bad. They're advanced assholes, to make it to the Vytal Tournament. The real cream of the crap!"
The Lion Faunus beside him frowned. "But if they try shit, everyone looks the other way, while if we sneeze wrong…"
"Being a Huntsman means you're a free agent," I reminded them. "And Vale is, well, not great, but not too bad." Glancing in the direction of the partially wrecked city, I amended that to, "The smaller towns aren't too bad. Gabbro's nice-ish, and in need of more Huntsmen."
Grinning, Derek shook his head. "'Preciate it, Scales, but we ain't guard dogs. We prefer to hunt."
Taking another sip of my drink, I nodded. "Fair enough. Were you guys on one when everything went… fucky?"
"Oh yeah," the other Team Lead agreed. "You?"
"One-v-one'd a Triclops," I offered.
"Nice!" Bradley remarked. "We dealt with a couple Alphas ourselves!"
Lifting an eyebrow, most of the reports I'd heard from Port's class just being more Grimm than normal, I questioned, "Multiple Alphas?"
"Hell yeah!" Derek grinned, the expression all teeth. "We were comin' in to clear out some Grimm 'fore they hit a town, and, well, never let it be said that us DOGGs don't overdeliver. Then, get this," he said, gesturing expansively, and continued his tale, which if they weren't exaggerating, meant that they'd be quite the contenders in the Tournament.
Eh, I could still take 'em.
DR
Sooo, apparently going and talking to the Atlesian teams right off the bat was what they call in the biz an 'inelegant move', according to Pyrrha. When I pointed out that I was on good terms with DOGG, and decent terms with SSPM, she understood, and did admit that the way I handled it made them look bad instead of me, but reiterated that, as nice as Weiss was, Atlesians, in general, were still really racist, and, while I was not a Faunus, well, no one would believe that without seeing the truth for themselves.
As for the Mistralians, when prodded about it, she told me that a lot of the Clans claimed to be descended from Dragons, in order to explain their strength, so to state that I was one was apparently a flex of the highest order.
I mean, it was a flex that was accurate, but, again, one that people wouldn't believe without me going Full Dragon.
Helped explain her fainting, though, given that I'd essentially gone 'Yep, I'm a Demigod.' Which, since I'd never stop getting more powerful, given enough time, wasn't exactly inaccurate, but hadn't been my intention.
Regardless, chatting with DOGG, I'd met a few of the other teams, pausing as Oz had showed up, and, once more with a… royal presence, reminded everyone that while we may be from different schools, that being a Hutnsman, or a Huntress, was a global calling, and that, with current events, we should all come together, to defend the world, despite the fact that we'd all be beating the tar out of each other in a couple months on international television. As such, we were to get to know the men and women, Humans and Faunus, that we could very well be working together in the not-so-distant future.
That'd helped break the ice, and people had been more willing to talk, as I'd mingled with the crowd, and had gotten a general vibe off the various groups, though there were absolutely national differences. Valians were a mixed bag, most all treating me with a bit more caution than I'd expected, but, given my status as The Headmaster's unofficial apprentice, that made sense.
Mistralians were odd, but each team had a bit of thematic flair to them, from AONS gladiatorial shtick, to TSCN's not-power-rangers motif, to HMBH's Cultivator-ness, to SSSN's 'totally not a boy band' vibe, and they all seemed to be working off rulesets that I… didn't really get, but which Pyrrha promised to explain before we went to Mistral itself.
I'd also seen CMNE, or, at least, Cinder and her two followers, not talking to her, just smiling confidently and giving her a single, smirking, nod, just as Sticky Fingers directed, not engaging, which she'd… liked?
I really did not get that girl.
Atlas teams were either up their own militaristic asses or almost aggressively individualistic, and while I wasn't entirely sure, I think one of them propositioned me, but I didn't speak 'Raver-Girl' so Neon Katt's offer to 'Check my Rizz', just had me giving her an awkward, "Uh, I'm good," while her partner, Flynt Coal, tried, and failed, to hold back his laughter.
The Vacuo teams, meanwhile, all had individual themes, but also all possessed an… edge to them I wasn't a fan of, though that might've been the fact that they'd lost two teams during the mass attack, DMSK from the Junior division, and another from the Senior. Damask's replacement, IDJM, or 'Windjammer', were on their way, but wouldn't show up until right before the tournament proper.
All in all, it'd been a decent experience, and, while not friends with any of them, at least I'd met a good portion of the over hundred people there. Penny, bless her robotic heart, was a ray of artificial sunlight in the entire thing, and I'd pointed her Ruby's way, remembering the two of them getting along great, though my memories of the show were, increasingly, getting fainter and fainter as time wore on, and real experiences replaced them.
Classes had continued, though, to Weiss' ire, we were no longer following the Syllabi for any of our classes, leading the girl to go on a rant, only for Ruby to, holding up a hand like she was in class, ask, "What's a Syllabi? Is that like an Alibi?"
That'd sent the white-haired girl into another rant, detailing the differences, until she'd frozen, turned, and demanded, "Wait, your father is a teacher! How do you not know what a Syllabus is!?"
Grinning the gun-goblin had merely announced, "I did, it was just funny to pretend I didn't."
Before the Atlesian could explode in frustrated academic fury, I'd cleared my throat and pointed out, "Um, there might be some people here that didn't know."
"But I do now!" Nora grinned, giving her teammate a thumbs up.
Reminded that her team was over fifty-percent runaway orphans by volume took the wind out of Weiss' sails, the girl grumbling that, with no plan for what we were going to cover next, she couldn't pre-study, and that all the work she'd done previously was now going to be useless.
Pyrrha had noted that, while it wouldn't be immediately academically useful, the research she'd done could still be helpful later, and, with her extra time, Weiss could spend it instead working to improve the other aspects of being a Huntress she'd been falling behind on, offering some personal sparring sessions, which had further mollified the heiress.
The rest of us, meanwhile, didn't stop training, and, if anything, redoubled our efforts, running obstacle courses with Blake, then repurposing them for stealth training with Ren. Training the gun part of our weapons with Ruby, the melee configurations with Pyrrha, hand to hand with Yang, and having some very fun fights using everything but our weapons to go at it with Nora overseeing us, cackling like a madwoman, or, you know, just herself.
And with Weiss we did a fuckton of Dust training.
More importantly, I realized what my problem with Hard-Light Dust was.
The problem was obvious on the surface, I'd just been overcomplicating it, as what was Hard-Light Dust at the end of the day?
It was Dust that had been stripped of its Element.
Any kind of Dust could be turned into Hard-Light Dust, except for Gravity Dust for some reason, but that stripping meant something.
All of the other types of Dust, they had an innate aspect to them, be it Burn, Freeze, Blow, or Pull. It was that innate, almost Conceptual aspect to them that you channeled when you Dustcast, which gave the Dustcasting purpose. You could make a solid structure with Ice or Stone, Freeze-ing or Crash-ing the area, but trying to do the same with Fire Dust, while doable, was very difficult, requiring constant concentration, and it was impossible to do with Wind Dust, but Wind, in turn, could be shaped on the fly, while Ice and Stone Dust creations were a single static shape until you worked on them again, but that was a separate Cast, or at least an additional step in a larger working.
But Hard-Light Dust was devoid of any such guiding principle, only, ever-so faintly, carrying the essence of BE.
I'd needed to go Full Dragon, raiding my Domain's thankfully self-replicating stores for a lot of Hard-Light Dust crystals before I'd finally, finally gotten to work.
And destroyed everything around me for about a quarter of a mile.
Turns out that 'ripple', when you scale it way up?
It still looked pretty weak, but holy shit was it not.
That said, for the Aura cost it'd taken to manifest, I was still better off just using Wind Dust-infused Flame to achieve the same goal for a fraction of the resources spent, but this was merely a proof of concept, and why one did not experiment on the battlefield unless someone absolutely had to.
Because, even scaled down, if I'd gotten this to work accidentally on a larger scale than a couple feet, I could've seriously injured everyone in the same room as me, which made me approach this very carefully.
Thing was, even knowing the underlying nature of Hard-Light Dust, that only helped a little. While the others were a strident statement, a Shout imposed upon the world, in Skyrim terms, Hard-Light Dust was a quiet whisper, but one that did not play well with the world, almost dissonant to the nature of the world, yet, at the same time, one that resonated with my own Flame in… odd ways.
It wasn't its antithesis, wasn't dissonant, like the Grimm were, but, while the standard types of Dust were harmonies to the world, Hard-Light Dust was… the original Melody of my Flame, yet in entirely different key.
I… really didn't know enough about music to explain this properly.
Regardless, my point was that it was the essence of Dust, but stripped down, which made everything… slidey, no real points or Concepts to hold onto, needing an iron will to manage, which, again, made the fact that Weiss managed to do anything with it raw god-damned impressive, and also a little hot.
That was also likely why it worked so well with Semblances, as it didn't conflict with whatever it was that let Semblances do their thing. It was also why it worked so well with tech, because, stripping out the… metaphysical aspects likely made it flow a lot more regularly without spillover in ways that didn't make a ton of sense, like how trying to power a device with Water Dust would corrode the wires and cause pressure damage like someone dropped it into a hundred-foot-deep pool.
Using it in specially crafted devices, it was fine, but there were effects depending on what type you used that needed to be accounted for… unless you used Hard-Light Dust.
Which the automatons that Atlas had replaced a good portion of its military with all worked off of.
And I had no idea if that was a good thing or not.
But, more importantly, getting that 'ripple' to work on command had taken a bit at Full Dragon, then longer at Half Dragon, and at Humanoid Dragon I could get it to work about one time in three.
Which, as it'd previously been kicking it off one time in fifty, and at a fifth of the size, was an absolute ton of progress, and something that, when I showed it off, got Weiss' eye twitching, until she finally demanded, "How!?"
"I'm a Dragon," I'd shrugged, and, winking at her, had added, "Plus, I have a great teacher."
Which was true, because my Soul Talent was letting me cheat like an absolute motherfucker, but, well, Weiss was fun to tease.
The white-haired girl stared at me, before turning bright red, turning away from me, and announcing, "Well at least you recognize my talents!"
Continuing to work with the others, as the Dustcaster made heavy use of her Semblance to create targets, model uses, and so on, I felt something… Click.
It was an odd feeling, faint, a sort of Understanding that I only now had achieved, but, for the life of me, I couldn't say what it was.
However, noting the others were all focused on their own tasks, I took a deep breath, reached out, and pulled upon that… Understanding.
And I only had one thought, as a shape unfolded before me, hanging in the air, glowing faintly, but unmistakable.
"… Well, that changes things."
AN: Thanks to Plasma Regulators for the work making the Glyph! Any bets on how Weiss reacts?
