Lox Of Sins – To each their own and thank you for the luck. I wish you the same in your own endeavors!
TheJester – Thank you! I do hope to expand more on both Ars and Marn as we go.
Guest(s) – I was unaware of rabbits being a bad food source, good to know and I did eventually say something about the pond water being dangerous. And thank you for telling me I use 'would' too much, I went back and read the previous chapters and see what you mean I didn't even realize I did so (I was even doing it here in the first draft), thanks to you both!
AN: Hey guys, ARandomBiologist here, just to say this is probably the last upload to this story for a week or so, I have work I need to do before I get out for the break for college so I can't work on the story for a few days as I want to spend time with friends and family during thanksgiving. Also, minor error in the last chapter I described Ars as 'he' when it should have been they or them.
Besides that, enjoy!
I do not own RWBY
-o-o-o-o-o-
Walking out of the airship I pass Jaune puking up his guts near the landing point. I feel bad for him, so I stop for a second. "You good?"
He spits up a bit more, and gives me a thumbs up over his shoulder, "Yep, all good here. Just my motion sickness." He says, turning his back from the can he was just hunched over.
I reached into my pack and passed him a rag to clean himself. "Ah, I see. Well good luck then." I nod to Jaune and begin to walk off.
"Hey, wait a second!" He yells running to catch up to me, "I didn't even get to thank you." He had tossed the rag into the bin, not that I blamed him I wouldn't want to carry it either. "So, thanks. Names Jaune Arc by the way." he says, holding out his hand.
"Ah, Marn. Marn Belmont." I grasped his hand, and we shook in greeting.
"Well pleasure to meet you." He pauses for a second and looks around. "But uh do you know where we are supposed to be going?"
I shrug, "I was just going to follow everyone else."
He looks a bit embarrassed, "Oh yeah that makes-" The rest of his sentence is cut off by an explosion ahead of us. So that must be Ruby. Immediately Jaune takes off towards the explosion.
Following him, I began to contemplate splitting off from him, did I want to meet Ruby this early on? Well, the main reason I avoided Yang was to not make a scene, just out of social awkwardness more than anything. But meeting Ruby this early means I can start making good on my desire to change things, I mean I already had with Jaune and Yang. So, no more being a coward then, I was here and going to make a difference.
Walking up with Jaune I could see both Weiss and Blake moving away from the scene in different directions, turning back Jaune was reaching his hand down to help the red colored girl up, "Hey, I'm Jaune. And that's Marn." He says pointing a thumb at me.
"Ruby." She says, taking his hand to help stand. "Aren't you the guy who threw up on the ship?"
-o-o-o-o-o-
"All I'm saying is motion sickness is a much more common problem then people let on, back me up here Marn." He looked over to me with a slightly pleading expression.
I raise a brow in thought, "I suppose it could be." Is all I say on the topic.
"Look, I'm sorry vomit boy was the first thing that came to mind." She did sound apologetic.
"Oh yeah? What if I called you crater face?" He replies smugly.
"Hey! That explosion was an accident." I slowly tune out their conversation but keep walking with them. So yes, I'm sticking with the two for now, wonder if they will realize they are going the wrong way any differently with me here, probably not.
"Marn?" I hear Jaune ask.
"Hm, sorry I was lost in thought." Just now realizing they stopped a few paces behind me, Cresent Rose fully extended.
"Oh, uh I asked what your weapon was." Ruby says. "I'm kinda a dork when it comes to them."
I nod in understanding and unsheathed both Silver Guardians. "These are my twin blades, the Silver Guardians." I flick their switches and shift both into their revolver state. "They both act as my close-range weapons and medium ranged dual revolvers." I switch them back and sheathe them. "I made them myself just a few months ago."
"Oh, I did too! Well not a few months ago, but I did build Crescent Rose." Ruby explains.
"Wait you guys made those?" Jaune asks surprised.
"Of course! All students at Signal forged their own weapons." She explains further.
"I made mine when I had the opportunity to." Briefly explaining my own situation.
"Didn't you make yours?" Ruby asks slightly confused.
"It's a hand me down, my great-great-grandfather used it to fight in the war." Jaune looking a bit down after saying so.
"Sounds more like a family heirloom to me. Well, I like it! Not many people have an appreciation for the classics these days." Ruby responds, clearly trying to cheer him up.
I also speak up, "It is still a fine work, you should feel honored to carry it." Even knowing his situation, I could still get Jaune wanting to be a hero, to save people as his family has always done.
"Uh yeah, the classics and honor." He didn't sound sure of himself but returned Crocea Mors to its scabbard.
Ruby continues their conversation, "So, why'd you help me out back there in the courtyard?"
We all three begin to walk again, "Eh why not, my mom always says, 'strangers are just friends you haven't met yet.'"
Ruby hums at that and speaks up, "Hey where are we going?"
"Oh, I don't know, I was following you." Jaune responds.
I snort, "We need to go to the auditorium. Its back that way." I point in the direction we came from.
Jaune's eyes widen, "Why didn't you tell us?!"
I shrug, "You two seemed to be having a good conversation. Now come on, I saw where everyone was going earlier." With them now following me I led us back to the main path.
-o-o-o-o-o-
We enter the crowded auditorium, several dozen people milling about or running around to find friends in the chaos.
"Hey Ruby, over here! I saved you a spot." We turn to find Yang a bit aways waving at her sister.
I waited a few seconds to see if she recognized me, and to my relief she didn't seem to. It may have been the distance, the few months between our fight, or the fact we only ever came face to face once, but it was a relief regardless. Even though I would like to fight her- I immediately shake off the thought, no I did not want to do that.
"Oh! Hey, I-I gotta go, I'll see you both after the ceremony!" Ruby says quickly and makes her leave.
"I will also take my leave; it had been good meeting you Jaune." I nod to him and make my way to the crowds.
He reached his hand out to Ruby and I, "Hey wait!" Seeing it not working he sighs and looks down, "Great, where am I supposed to find another nice quirky girl and mysterious guy to talk to."
I do overhear his self-deprecating talk and feel bad for him, but even if I wanted to change things I still wanted to keep teams RWBY and JNPR together as is, which means I would need to be on my own team. Looking at the fact I had no clue who else was in the first year besides those two teams and CRDL it was going to be interesting as to just who I met.
Focusing back to the present it was wired that I was here, close to so many hunters in training at once, it was a bit weird to have my enhanced senses with some many people around, in Vale proper something similar could happen to a lesser degree, but people with Aura gave off distinct and smells and sounds compared to normal people. It was indescribable compared to my last life as all sorts of stimuli mixed, not to mention my leveling and stats had made my senses even better.
But with the clearing of a throat the entire auditorium quiets down, and we all turn to regard Ozpin who was now on stage with Goodwitch beside him. "I'll... Keep this brief. You have traveled here today in search of knowledge, to hone your craft and acquire new skills." You had no idea Oz. "And when you have finished you plan to dedicate your life to the protection of the people, but I look amongst you and all I see is wasted energy in need of purpose, direction." It may have been my eyes playing tricks on me, but I swore he stopped on me while looking over the crowd. The silver eyes probably. "You assume knowledge will free you of this, but your time at this school will prove knowledge will only carry you so far. It is up to you to take the first step."
After his short speech Ozpin makes his way off the stage as Goodwitch takes the microphone, "You will gather in the ballroom tonight, tomorrow your initiation begins. Be ready, you are dismissed."
I take another look around the room and see Yang again, the urge to fight was also there, and concerning. "Any luck so far Ars?"
[Some, you were right by the way, the automated parts of the system are doing something to you and making you more aggressive than usual. But that's not the only thing, any time you receive any upgrade or power up the system seems to be making your brain release reward chemicals, which can't be normal. I'm looking into how to stop it, but this is like your growth, looking for a single cell in my entire self so it will take a while to find wherever these systems are located.]
"Good job Ars, sorry if I'm pushing you but if the system is trying to Pavlov me into being a junkie only seeking power that has me extremely worried." And as terrifying as that is, I can't just stop growing. However, I should be able to slow down my progress until Ars figures out what's going on with everything.
[It is fine Marn, just focus on yourself and your safety for the time being please. I can't fix anything if you die.]
"Will do." I turned back to the auditorium doors, now I had a few hours before nightfall, what to do?
-o-o-o-o-o-
I ended up just exploring the campus for a while, Beacon was a massive place and everywhere I went there was either a new building or park grounds as far as I could see, at least to the edge of the cliff faces. Of course, all the buildings were closed off right now for the new arrivals and based on the number of people that showed up and the number of pieces in a chess set plenty of us would end up going home.
I cut my exploration off once the sun began to set and went about finding my way back to the ballroom. The second I entered however I noticed a brightly dressed girl making her way to me, huh she looked a little mad. "You!"
"Ms. Xiao-Long if I recall correctly." I nod in her direction as a greeting. Yep, she was defiantly angry. "Did you need something?"
"Why are you here, I thought you were a thug! And what were you doing with my little sister!?" She was already drawing a crowd, exactly why I wished to avoid her.
"I was never a 'thug' or a criminal Ms. Xiao-Long, I believe I told you when we fought, I was simply paying back Junior. For a favor I owed him." I explain calmly, continuing, "As for your sister the only other girl I have interacted with would be Ms. Rose, and considering that, I do not believe I have done anything to her."
"And you just so happened to be at his club to pay him back, huh?" She continued to pry.
"Not exactly, I worked at Junior's, but not in any illegal way, I was a janitor."
She pauses for a second, most likely to think of a comeback, when she is pushed away by the aforementioned Ruby, "Stop, Yang you're making a scene!" She drags her sister back to their claimed beds. "I'm so sorry Marn!"
I gave her a nod and began to look for my own bed to claim, I ignored how some people's eyes kept looking at me, combinations of unease and scorn, perhaps a bit of jealousy too. For some reason. But most went back to their own business after a few moments. So, Ruby told her sister about me, not unexpected, but that may turn out to make the first few days at Beacon little bit more difficult for me.
Ignoring that for now I go about setting up my bed and looking over the room. Yang and Ruby were currently talking, with Yang sending me glares every few minutes, Blake was off in a corner reading, Weiss was trying her best to not look disgusted at the current sleeping situation, Jaune seemingly pondering to himself, Ren was attempting to wrangle in Nora before bed, and poor Pyrrha looked like she was trying to blend into the wall with the amount of people looking at her. So overall everything checks out.
Getting out my night clothes I go off to the bathroom to shower and get changed into my baggy sleep wear, afterwards lying down and just relaxing for once, my tail wrapping around my back to lay across my body.
So, I didn't want to mess with the current cannon teams, which should be fine considering there are more than just the three teams I know of entering the school this year. Besides that, was there anything I wished to change this early on? …Nothing was coming to mind as far as the first season of the show went, of course most of it was skipped over if the entire first semester here covered the first season, the majority of things that go wrong happen around the third part of the show, so I had about a year to prepare for Cinder, her and Salems forces, and the fall of Beacon.
Unless there was some way to prevent it? I doubt Ozpin would believe me if I told him about me being a recantation with future knowledge, or maybe he would? Considering my magic and his own situation as the wizard. But then again, the man was somewhat of a manipulative old man. I sigh and place both hands behind my head, I honestly didn't know what the best course of action would be and figuring it out sooner rather than later will be for the best.
I am broken from my musing as I detect someone coming closer to me, looking to my side I see a fair skinned boy with Japanese-like features, with black hair and eyes, "Excuse me, but is this cot taken?" He motions to the one to the left of me.
"Nope, make yourself comfortable." I reply simply going back to staring at the ceiling and spacing out to think. The boy doesn't try to make conversation, just going about his own business, which I can appreciate.
With night quickly approaching, I take the chance to look over to the commotion between the future team RWBY, going back to ignoring them I settle in for the night as sleep finds me quickly.
-o-o-o-o-o-
Passing Ren and Nora in the locker room I make my way to where I stored my weapons last night, locker six-hundred and thirty-two. Looking up I see the white-haired heiress and red-haired champion. Call it a hunch but I doubt this would go well.
"So Pyrrha have you given any thought on whose team you would like to be on?" I stood next to Weiss as I opened my locker ignoring them for now in. Checking over Silver Guardian, I shift them back and forth checking for full functionality, and it looks like they were good to go.
I felt another presence pass behind me and speak up, "You know what else is great? Me, Jaune Arc, nice to meet you." Jaune says, putting on what sounded like his best suave voice.
"You again?" Weiss replies clearly annoyed.
"Nice to meet you Jaune." Pyrrha tries to butt in only to be pushed to the side as Jaune continues with Weiss. I frow slightly at his action, it may have been funny in the show but now it was just rude.
"I couldn't help but overhear your fondness of me the other day." he says, flexing his arm.
"Oh, you've got to be kidding me." I tune out the conversation from there and go back to my maintenance checks on Silver Guardian, while I trusted them not to fail me after what Ars and I had discovered what the system had been doing I wanted to make sure.
Turning back, I see Jaune leaning in a bit too close to Weiss, knowing what about to happen I take a step to the side as he flies past me, Miló hooked onto his hoodie. I again felt bad for the guy, but he did need a wakeup call. And with my movement it was at that point the two girls noticed me.
"And what do you think you're doing?" Weiss snaps at me. Which was somewhat fair, to her it probably looked like I was just standing around for no reason.
"Maintenance checks on my weapons." I proceed to pull Silver Guardian from the locker and secure the dual sheathes to my waist as usual.
"Oh, my apologies." She at least has the decency to look embarrassed.
I give Weiss a nod and close the locker. "No need to apologize Ms. Schnee, I can understand your current short temper." I take a glance at the now dizzy Jaune. Turning my attention back to the pair I continue, "I wish luck to the both of you, but I doubt either of you will require it."
Weiss looks smug at that and Pyrrha a bit dejected, as Pyrrha begins to walk off Weiss stops and looks back at me now noticing the tail behind me, "You're a faunus?" She more so says rather than asks with a look of skepticism on her face.
I know her concerns, while I may not have experienced the Schnee mines or faunus racism of Remnant before I still knew of both their existence and violations of basic rights, but I still wanted to comfort the girl. "If you are worried that you have my hate for your name then you have no need to worry Ms. Schnee, your fathers' policies are not your own." I leave her with that and walk to the exit of the locker room, the last thing I see on her face is a look of mild surprise.
-o-o-o-o-o-
"For years you have trained to become warriors, today your abilities will be evaluated in the Emerald Forest." Ozpin states with his usual calm demeanor. As he does so I look over the lined-up students, there were supposed to be several different test groups apparently with only a few being sent into the forest each time. I was currently on the far side of the launch pads, directly opposite of Jaune at the very end of the line, so I will be launching first. Great.
"Now, I'm sure many of you have heard rumors about the assignment of teams. Well, allow us to put an end to your confusion. Each of you will be given teammates, today." I could hear Ruby's small whine from all the way down here.
Ozpin picks up from Goodwitch, "These teammates will be with you for the rest of your time here at beacon, so it is in your best interest to be paired with someone with whom you can work well. That being said, the first person you make eye-contact with after landing will be your partner for the next four years." I could hear Ruby's heart shatter. "After you've partnered up make your way to the northern end of the forest, you will meet opposition along the way do not hesitate to destroy everything in your path or you will die. You will be monitored and graded during the duration of your initiation, but our instructors will not intervene. You will find an abandoned temple at the end of the path containing several relics, each pair must choose one and return to the top of the cliff. You will guard that item as well as you're standing and be graded appropriately. Are there any questions?"
With that I could hear Jaune begin to speak up, but I never go the chance to hear him. It had just occurred to me that I had never come up with a landing strategy, well time to improvise. I heard the clicks from the metal platform under me, and I was off.
[Quest Obtained! Beacon Initation.]
[You have been given the chance to prove yourself and the skills you have grown, don't disappoint.]
[On Success: 500 EXP, Teammates]
[On Failure: Death]
"Ars, I thought you were supposed to make the quests?" I think to my partner while angling myself to best keep my speed and travel as far as possible. I was supposed to be keeping my growth slow.
[I am! But I didn't make this one! The system did!]
Ars sounded genuinely terrified, which was a first. It made sense though, the thing that was supposed to be them was acting against their wishes. "Its fine Ars, just keep working on getting to the bottom of whatever is happening, I trust you." It takes a moment for Ars to reply.
[Thank you Marn, I promise to not let you down.]
I give the equivalent of a mental nod and focus back on my landing, the tree line rapidly approaching as I shift midair to put my feet first, with a thought my Mask forms around my face as I crash through the first few branches, my Aura absorbing the damage as I flash out with one Silver Guardian, its blade catching a tree and allowing me to corkscrew my way down it, after a certain amount of speed was bled off I dislodge my blade and use my acrobatic skill to hop between the branches of nearby trees, before finally rolling to a stop on the forest floor.
Looking at my status I was only down Aura mostly due to his mask usage, its boot to my endurance made most of the branch impacts moot. Looking up I see a marker already provided by Ars on the horizon, moving at top speed I weave through trees much like I had when I first arrived on Remnant, ignoring the Grimm was easy enough to do just run past them I didn't need to fight them after all, only get to the relics and find another partner, with being first Ars of course.
Speaking of which, it takes less than five minutes for me to hear nearby battle, angling myself to the noise I break through the tree line to find a dark-skinned girl wielding what looked to be some sort of katana like weapon facing off against a few Grimm, 2 Ursas and their alpha. Both Silver Guardians dance forward as I slam into the back of the alpha my blades landing with me with the force of a small meteor.
[CRITICAL HIT!]
[Alpha Ursa]
[HP: 148/400]
Under the weight and speed of me crashing into it, the Alpha slides forward as I leap off its back, landing next to the girl. "Sorry for the intrusion, I heard the commotion and came to see what was up."
She looks at me with a bit of suspicious before shaking her head, "No problem." She says in a chipper voice, "Guess were partners now though, but introductions can wait." She says as she turns her attention back to the other two Ursa, us now standing back-to-back.
"You got those two while I finish the big guy?" I ask.
"Sounds good to me!" She rockets forward at a speed I honestly didn't expect, her blade shifting into a spear.
Taking my attention off her I focused back on the alpha who was just now getting up. Taking the chance, I fired off a few shots into the Ursa as I moved forward, ducking under a swipe I made several more cuts across the beast's chest. Noticing my swords don't cut into the hide as much as I expected, I take a second to move back and sheath one Silver Guardian, taking a moment to pool Aura into my palm I then flash-step above the Ursa and launch a Bala into its head blasting it off and taking the bear-like Grimm down.
[Alpha Ursa Defeated!]
[450 EXP Gained]
[97 EXP to next Level]
Looking back, I see the girl drop one of the Ursa, the other already injured. I charge another Bala and fire it off making a decent sized crater in the Ursa's chest.
[Ursa Defeated!]
[Lesser experience given due to aid.]
[113 EXP Gained]
[Level Up! (10 to 11)]
[3 Stat Points, 5 System Points]
[684 EXP to Next Level]
I look over to the girl, when she sees the other Ursa die, she shifts her spear back to its katana-like blade form and puts it into her sheath at her waist. I take a moment to regard her, she is shorter than me sitting at about 5'6 I estimate, with a darker skin tone and brown hair with off-pink eyes, her huntress garb consisted of a multicolored blazer in shades of reddish-brown, under it was a simple white shirt and darker shaded jeans with an odd-looking pair of metallic boots. Across her back was, strangely enough, a strung bow and quiver.
As I look over her, she does the same for me, seemingly unnerved by my mask, after a moment she coughs into her fist, "Uh, sorry." She says sheepishly. "My names Lilith Shade, nice to meet you…?"
I stop focusing on my Grimmafication and disperse my mask into silver particles, hold out my hand. "Marn Belmont, a pleasure to meet you Ms. Shade." She takes my hand and shakes it.
After stepping back she scratches her cheek, "Uh, do you happen to know which direction the temple is? I'm not great with directions."
I angle my head in the direction of the marker, "That way, shall we get going?" I ask as my Mask rematerializes.
She nods her head as we both begin to speed off, while I noticed earlier, she was able to keep up with me even while I was boosted with my Mask, either I was underestimating the imitation students, or it was her semblance. And her boots were..glowing? Yep, definitely glowing a faint purple color, weird.
Not even a few seconds later she speaks up, "Uhm, what's with the mask?"
"It's a manifestation of my Semblance." I explain simply.
"Oh, uh what's it do?"
"It's pretty simple, essentially when I have this on." Tapping the mask with one of my Silver Guardians, "I get a boost to all my physical abilities and a boost to my Aura control." I clarify. "It's also how I shot of that red bullet you saw earlier." I explained away the Balas use. "What about your Semblance? I ask her while looking back, trusting my Enhanced Senses to guide me without hitting a tree.
Her eyes widened slightly, was she surprised I asked? "Oh, it allows me to remove the forces that drag and gravity have one me and things I'm touching…I uh, I can't control it too well so I need these boots, they are powered by gravity dust to help me move while under its effects, makes me very fast though."
I nod my head and continue, "Interesting, does that mean you could fly?"
"Sort of." She responds, expanding quickly on what she meant, "I could power up the boots to send me up to create a sort of a pseudo flight but it's more like gliding."
I nod, "Useful nonetheless." I look up back to the marker. "Were making good time, we may just end up being the first ones there." Helped that Ars' marks were essentially a Semblance all by themselves.
"Oh, that'll be…good?" She says unassured. "How do you think the rest of our team will be decided?"
I shrug, feigning ignorance, "If I was to guess probably the relics themselves, if we as partners only have to bring back one then it would make sense to be matched to another group who brings back another."
She nods, "That would make sense."
Not even a few minutes later we break into a clearing, the large and decayed stone structure of the temple visible. Looking down I could see the dais' with all the chess pieces remaining, turns out we did get here first. Hopping down with Lilith following me I look over the pieces, now if I remembered correctly RWBY were the white knight pieces and JNPR was the white rooks, didn't remember CRDL though…eh, I move over and grab one of the black rooks.
"You think these are it?" Lilith asks.
I shrug and look back at her, pocketing the rook. "Well, I doubt that this isn't the forest temple, and Professor Ozpin wouldn't surprise me if he said he was the type to enjoy chess."
She giggles slightly at that, "I suppose so."
Now the real question, did I want to try and make the two of us stick around for another duo to show up or head back to the cliffs? I already decided to not interfere with the events of teams RWBY and JNPR and the Nevermore and Deathstalker. Well, I could ask Lilith, right yeah going to have to get used to the whole partner thing.
"Hey, do you think we should stay here for a bit to see if other groups show up or should we head back to the cliffs?"
Lilith turns back to me after she finished looking over the architecture of the temple, "Well, we might as well head back to the cliffs, right? I mean we got here fast and have no idea how long anyone else will take."
I nod, agreeing with her statement, "Sounds good, cliffs are back that way." I nodded my head in the direction Ars' marker had moved to. "Let's get going then."
It takes us a few minutes to cover the entirety of the forest, during the time we both get to talking. Turns out she is from Vacuo, the city proper, her family wanted the best for her and her huntress training, so they got her sent up to Vale to attend Beacon, which apparently was a huge deal because her family wasn't the best off monetarily. Also, she was a faunus, a snake to be specific, with actual venomous fangs. I did nerd out a bit about that due to my medical experience in my last life, while I could easily explain away tails as extensions of the spine and ears as just secondary appendages, but fangs with actual venom sacs was just fascinating to me.
She did seem bit of both confused and embarrassed, the first coming from my lack of fear and the second from how interested I seemed in them.
She then asked me about my own background, to which I gave her the story that Ars gave me, the whole from an orphanage in an outskirt's village of Vale. She was apologetic about bringing up my lack of family, but I waved away her concerns, I never knew them even after all.
But our conversation lulls to an end as we make it to the bottom of the cliff face, looking up I ask her, "So how do you suppose we get up?"
"Uh, well I can just use my Semblance and boots, but I wouldn't be able to carry you up because it doesn't affect other people, sorry…" She says apologetically.
I wave of her apology, "Nah, its fine. You head on up Ill catch up." I assure her.
She gives me a nod and begins to ascend the cliff face at a rapid pace, looking down at my hands I channel Aura shaping into sets of glowing red claws on each of my fingers and thumbs, I stop focusing on my mask as I can't keep both up at the same time. Doing some experimental testing with the aura claws they sink nicely into the rock and don't slip or cut further than I wish them to. Wonderful. I then begin my own climb up the cliff face, it takes me a few minutes to make it up just due to the sheer high of the cliff, but I do make it up.
[Rank Up! Aura Shaping: (3 to 4)]
[You can shape your aura into constructs fine, these can exist beyond your own grip, but only so many at a time. (Costs 2 AP per Minute)]
My eyes widened at the implications of the upgrade, I now had an extremely cheap and reliable way to have ranged attacks. Silver Guardian would do more damage in their revolver forms, but if I ever didn't have access to them, I now could throw daggers or just sharpened Aura needles instead of going overkill with a Cero or Bala. I dismiss the update for now and make my way over to where Lilith was waiting for me, "Sorry for the wait."
She waves me off, "Not an issue, but I do think we are the first to actually get back here." She rubs the back of her head as we walk in the direction of presumably where Ozpin was.
"Worried?" I ask her bluntly.
"Kind of, I just feel weird being here first you know? If you didn't run into me who knows how long this could have taken, I am terrible at directions." She explains.
I nod, understanding her worries, "Understandable, but it does no good to think on what could have been, just look forward."
She gives me an odd look but doesn't say anything more. We breach the tree line around where we first launched and see both Ozpin and Goodwitch looking at there scrolls near the cliff, after a moment both turn to regard us after hearing our footfalls.
"Ah, Mr. Belmont and Ms. Shade, welcome back. I take it you have obtained your relic?" Ozpin asks.
I pull the black rook from my pocket and hand it over to the silver-haired man. "Wonderful, you made excellent time, may I ask how you came upon the temple so quickly?" Ozpin continues.
I take the lead, shrugging. "Luck I guess, you said it was north, and we traveled north sir."
Ozpin hums, "I see." He nods and takes a long look at me, specifically my eyes. "Well then feel free to wait here as the rest of the passing applicants show up."
He then returns to his coffee and scroll as Goodwitch gives us a nod of approval. "Not our fastest recorded time, but close to it, congratulations." I give her a respectful nod and Lilith looks a bit bashful about the praise but thanks Goodwitch regardless.
Afterwards, for the next half hour or so, we wait on the cliffs as several more student duos to show up and turn in their own relics, with Ruby, Yang, Blake, Weiss, Jaune, Pyrrha, Ren, and Nora showing up near the middle of the wait. I was able to talk to both Jaune and Ruby for a bit, introducing Lilith as they introduced their own partners and the others that helped the against the two giant Grimm. Lilith seemed enthralled by the story as I just nodded along with it.
While listening to the retelling of the story by Ruby I noticed both Blake and Weiss giving me odd looks, Weiss I guessed because of what I said earlier and Blake most likely because she thought I would know who she was, or simply because I was a faunus, it was hard to get a read on her. Nora was currently trying to break free of Rens grip to pet my 'very fluffy' tail and Ren was explain to her why that was rude.
Eventually though the last of the relics are retrieved and the students who didn't make the cut were sent back to Beacons docks to be sent home. I felt bad for them, but I needed the spot at Beacon more than whoever had it in the original timeline.
-o-o-o-o-o-
"Marn Belmont, Aero Bei, Iris Hearth, Lilith Shade. The four of you retrieved the black rook pieces, from this day forward you will work together as team Blair. Led by, Marn Belmont." A polite applause fills the theater at the declaration. To be honest I wasn't terribly surprised at my leadership status, Ozpin clearly showed some favoritism to my Silver Eyes as well as Ruby's, to an extent.
[Quest Complete! Beacon Initiation]
[500 EXP Rewarded]
Walking off stage and entering the crowds of Beacons auditorium I give a polite nod to my other two teammates. "Even though it was just said, Marn Belmont, a pleasure." I hold out my hand for the two to shake, which they do.
"Aero Bei." The same boy who asked to sleep next to me last night it seems, now in his huntsman garb I could get a feel for his skillset, he was wearing a camo green colored attire, a form fit shirt and pants with a partial Ghillie suit built into it. He had what looked to be a monstrously sized rifle over his shoulder on a strap. "We'll be in your care captain."
I raise an eyebrow at the title but ignore it for now.
"Iris Hearth." The girl greets, she had auburn hair and blue eyes, about the same height as me and wearing what could be only described as extremely light, a sleeveless tabard over soft pants and boots, no obvious weapons on her so I simply assumed she had them stored away in a mechashift form. "I hope to get along." She bows slightly.
Lilith then introduces herself as we sat through the rest of Ozpins team announcements. Cardinal eventually came and went, Juniper lead by Jaune, the crowd laughing as Pyrrha accidentally knocks him over, and finally team Ruby.
"Looks like things are shaping up to be an…interesting year." Ozpin says out to the crowd scanning over us, his eyes stopping on my team for a moment before moving on. We are allowed to leave afterwards, and our scrolls are given directions to our dorm rooms.
-o-o-o-o-o-
Unpacking my bag, singular, of all my possessions I look around our shared dorm room, like the series it held barely anything, just the four beds and some beginning furniture. I then looked over my teammates, while no one had as little as I brought, none of them seemed to have too much to unpack or decorate or to even have personally.
Taking my thoughts off my new team for the moment, I look out the window as the shattered moon of Remnant begins to rise and I steel myself. I was finally here; and it was time to prepare. I just had to make sure not to lose myself in the process.
-o-o-o-o-o-
Name: Marn Belmont
Race: Faunus (Fox Tail)
Level: 11 (184 EXP to Next Level)
Title: None
Age: 17
HP: (250/250) (100, 5 per END 1-10, 10 per END 11-20) (Regen END/4 per minute (5))
SP: (305/305) (100, 5 per STR & DEX 1-20, 10 per STR & DEX 21-40) (Regen (STR & DEX)/2 per minute (19))
AP: (400/400) (150, 5 per WIS 1-10, 10 per WIS 11-20, 20 per WIS 21-30) (Regen WIS/2 per minute (12))
MP: (275/275) (175, 5 per INT 1-10, 10 per INT 11-20) (Regen INT/2 per minute (7))
Strength: 14
Dexterity: 25 (30) 5 From Equipment
Endurance: 20
Intelligence: 15
Wisdom: 25
Unspent Stat Points: 9
Unspent System Points: 20
Semblance: Grimmafication
Perks: Belmont Bloodline, Aura Prodigy, Silver-Eyed Warrior, Blood of the Fox Demon
Fusion Perks: Bane of Darkness, Forbidden Hybrid
Talents:
Night Vision (Unique): You can see in low light conditions.
Enhanced Senses (Unique): You have better hearing and sight
Enhanced Balance (Unique): You can never lose your balance unless on purpose and are harder to knock over.
Beginner Weapon Proficiency (Common) (4/10): Knowledge of how to wield a wide variety of weapons. All weapon damage increased by 20%.
Beginner Martial Arts (Common) (3/10): Knowledge of basic hand-to-hand combat. All unarmed damage increased by 15%.
Beginner Acrobat (Common) (3/10): Knowledge of basic acrobatics and parkour. (You are 30% better at acrobatics)
Darkness Resistance (Rare) (1/5): 10% Resistance to Dark Damage.
Curse Resistance (Rare) (1/5): 15% greater chance to resist Curses.
Grimm Lore (Rare) (1/5): You have encyclopedic knowledge on Grimm and their types.
Aura Shaping (Rare) (4/5): You can shape your aura into fine constructs, these can exist beyond your own grip, but only so many at a time. (Costs 2 AP per Minute)
Aura Enhancement (Rare) (2/5): Channel your aura into a physical stat and increase it by 2. (Cost 4 AP per Minute)
Grimmafication (Unique): Your semblance. Increase all physical stats by 5/10/20 per form. (Cost 50 AP on Activation and form switching, 10/20/30 AP per Minute based on form)
Cero (Legendary) (1/3): An extension of your semblances power, condenses aura into a destructive beam for massive damage. Boosted while under a Grimmafication form. (Damage = (WIS x 10)) (Cost 50 AP)
Flash-Step (Legendary) (1/3): A short-range high speed movement ability due to your Grimm nature. Boosted while under a Grimmafication form. (Move = DEX in Feet) (Cost 10 AP)
The Silver Eyes (Unique): When you feel a strong desire to protect life you will emit a large radius of silver light or a condensed beam, every Grimm in the area going from closest to farthest will have their HP put up to your (HP x 5), if it is lower, they turn to stone. That amount of HP will be taken off the effective use of The Silver Eyes and move on to the next Grimm. (Cost N/A)
Light Magic (Legendary) (2/3): Allows for the manipulation of light, can be fired off in blasts, infused into your weapons for a short time, or make solid objects made of light. (Damage = (INT Cost (10))
Perfect Hybrid Grimm (Unique): When in any Grimm form double your stat bonus and weaknesses to Light damage negated.
Basic Construction (Common) (2/10): Basic knowledge on how to build things. The quality of your constructions is raised by 10%
Swift Strike (Rare) (3/5): A single fast paced strike that can catch an opponent off guard. (Damage = Dex x 1.4) (Cost 10 SP)
Aura Infusion (Rare) (2/5): A crude but effective use of one's Aura, focusing it into a weapon to increase striking force. (Damage = WIS x 1.5) (Cost 9 AP)
Dodge (Rare) (2/5): A chance to automatically dodge a seen attack. (% = DEX/3)
Tracking (Common) (2/10): You know how to follow tracks. (20% more success to Tracking)
Cooking (Common) (3/10): You know the basics of preparing a meal. (Your cooking is 30% better)
Dagger Proficiency (Common) (1/10): Base damage with Daggers raised by 10%.
Shortsword Proficiency (Common) (3/10): Base damage with Shortswords raised by 30%.
Handgun Proficiency (Common) (2/10): Base damage with Handguns raised by 20%.
Slashing Resistance (Common) (2/10): You and your Aura are 20% more resistant to slashing damage.
Piercing Resistance (Common) (1/10): You and your Aura are 10% more resistant to piercing damage.
Block (Rare) (2/5): Block an attack to reduce damage, Damage reduced by END x 1.5. (Cost 10 SP)
Blade Dance (Rare) (1/5): A rhythmic and dance-like style of combat can only be used by dual daggers or shortswords. Base damage with daggers and shortswords increased by 5 (Cost 20 SP per minute.)
Bala (Legendary) (1/3): A variant of the Cero, trading power for speed boosted while under the effects of Grimmafication. Damage = Wis x 1.5 (Costs 20 AP)
Foxfire (Unique): The ability to generate different amounts of a soul burning fire. When used, damage dealt by Foxfire ignores all resistances and bypasses Aura. (Damage = INT x (MP Used/4))
Illusion Magic (Legendary) (1/3): The magic art of confusion and insanity. There are no real limits to the illusions you can make expert for size, however currently you can only make either a sound or image at once. Not both. (Costs 10 MP)
Curse Magic (Legendary) (1/3): The magic art of debuffs and downfalls. Curses come in many forms, such as blindness or deafness, sickness or sleep and many more. The chance of a curse working depends on your target's HP in comparison to your INT. (Costs 20 MP)
Misc Bonuses:
[25% Bonus EXP when defeating Evil aligned Creatures]
[25% Bonus Growth in Combat Skills]
[50% Bonus Growth to Aura Skills]
[25% Bonus Growth in Light Magic]
[25% Damage to Grimm when dealing Light Damage]
[50% Growth to Illusion and Curse Magic Skills]
[INT increased by (Age/10)]
Equipment:
Silver Guardians (Legendary)
A set of dual blades and revolvers, the first creation of Marn Belmont. Made to honor those he left behind and the future he wishes to change.
Base Damage = DEX x 2
Increases users DEX by 5 when both are wielded.
Soul Bound: This item will grow as the user does.