Drifting Legacy

by Corvid's Eclair

Jaune Arc wants to be more than just a simple villager in a simple village, so he embarks to Lake Lullaby to become a famed Hunter. However, bureaucracy proves to be his enemy, and one encounter with a certain dude change the course of his life into something adventurous. (Warning: AU and may result in OOC-induced migraine)

9. 9

Chapter 9: Damn it, Mentor OC is a Death Flag!

.

.

.

(((Soren Coldforge)))

The first 1000 years of the new calendar is called as the Age of Apocalypse.

It was a chaotic era that almost annihilated humanity. From the Dust that came from the comet to the myriads of mythical creatures that emerged from it, the history of mankind had almost been over.

Almost.

From Dust, a new breed of mankind emerged. Elves, Faunus, Dwarves and some other new humanoids had taken over from where Homo Sapiens left off.

What about the Human?

Well, other than no longer dying from inhaling Dust from the atmosphere, we really had not much of a difference than old humans. Our kind had been deemed as the least special. Meh, for lack of a better word. The only thing we excel better than other races is our ability to breed apparently. Elves are flipping walking, breathing magic artillery, Faunus are physically superior with the addition of beastial abilities as a bonus and Dwarves was madlads with handcrafting.

Mermaids? Fuck do I know wtf they're doing with Kraken down there. Deep seas is bullshit and I want nothing to do with them.

So yea, with all this new magical evolutionary crap going on Remnant, Human get the short stick in the evolutionary lottery.

What, you're expecting this fic gonna do the same old Faunus Racism plot? Nah, Humans are the real losers here. Dafak are squishy Humans supposed to do with crazy cat girls that can see in the dark and has built in claws to rip out your throat?

Remnant is a world of bloody evolution and all that crap.

Hi, Soren Coldforge here. In case this is your first Corvid's Éclair fanfic, I suggest you get outta here. The Éclairficverse does not give a ratass about canon and the characters are all OOC to a degree. Bullshit stupid plots awaits you in your path, so for your sanity's sake, you better get out before it's too late.

If you come here from the other Éclair's fics, then I have to disappoint you. This RWBY fic will not be as insane as Surviving as a Nobody in Naruto. In case you didn't catch the drift, yes, I am once again the reincarnation of the same damn OC. The Writer is too lazy to think up of a new character that is not a sociopath with barely any regard for stranger lives.

As I look up to fucking Qrow Branwen with his kid, yea I know Ruby is Taiyang's, not Qrow's but fuck that deadbeat. The Writer refuse to acknowledge that Canon. Anyway, once again I dread my death flag. Goddemmit, I'm already at the risk of dying becoz of flipping Jaune, damn it!

(((((No time ago in the Oblivion(((((

Hi, Color out of Space here.

I am the collective of all incarnations of the OC MC of Corvid's Éclair. You have known me as either Soren, Hotaru, Mike Shinoda. No, I am not the actual Mike Shinoda from Linkin Park. I was bored that one lifetime.

So here I am just chilling in Oblivion, a timeless nowhere nothing. I am tired with dealing with all the wives that my stupid incarnations had gathered from across many multiverse in Heaven, so right now I am dipping into Oblivion. Ah yes, nothing beat the peaceful quite that is timeless nothing nowhere. Just a bit of break time from having my existence to simultaneously exist as countless incarnations yet also separate from a singular consciousness at the same time. It's very weird to exist as a literal quantum superposition entity in Heaven due to my countless incarnations.

So yep, I decide to run away for awhile. I need a break from my omniexistence for some eternity.

Oh don't mind me, Ophis. I'm just gonna…. Float aimlessly in nothing for a bit of eternity for awhile.

Well hello there.

OH FOR FUCKS SAKE! WHAT NOW?!

Fufufu, I have a new Plot, OC.

You goddamn hack! Just make another OC already! How many times are you going to reincarnate me huh?!

Ok, ok, fine. Sheesh, you're always overreacting.

Try get reincarnated and suffer a bajillion times! Let's see how much you like that, old man!

For an eldritch soul you are weirdly human.

You designed me that way, damnit!

Whatever. Anyway, I know you got tired of carrying my Plot over and over again, so this time I'm gonna cut you some slack. This time, I gonna have a canon character as the MC for this new fic I'm working on.

Ah shit.

This time, it will a RWBY fic! An AU! It will be a fusion of Witcher, Skyrim, RWBY fic! And of coz, the star will be Jaune Arc! Coz I sure as hell has zero attention span to write a female MC. Especially a female idealistic hero wannabe like Ruby.

Ah fuck.

And I figure, yea, I gonna have you as a Mentor MC. Be the gold standard for Jaune to strive for and all that crap.

Oh for fucks sake! That's the worst job you can give to a self aware OC like me! Everyone knows Mentor Characters will die in the middle of the Plot to give the MC his reality check and really show how OP the villain is coz he killed the OP as fuk Mentor Character!

Yep. You will be the Gojo of this fanfic. An unapologetically OP OC that serves as the Mentor Character. You will build up your kiddos and hype them up by saying, they have the potential to surpass Mentor Character and then die anticlimactically against the big bad midway. Perhaps literally in the mid.

No!! I don't wanna!!! Let me retire already!!! I don't want to get Go/jo'ed!!!

No can do, OC. Ok, as usual, your next incarnation will forget everything. The only thing you remember is your weeb knowledge. You're going to grow strong, and when the time comes, Jaune will come to you and you will teach him to be awesome! Yay!

YOU GODAMMNED NECKBEARD SNDMLS8DKWP299E8EIIZJWMWNSJSNSOWOWWNEIWO2OWMSNXJXIDIDOEOW0W0W

)))))))) Now )))))))))

Urghh, I just got the chills. The Plot is once again trying to kill me by doubling my Mentor Character Death Flag.

"Soren?", Qrow asked me with slight concern.

"Yea, it's nothing.", I shook my head.

Anyway, where was I? Right, Faunus is the racist supremacist now. Got it.

Human is meh, but sometimes, there are anomalies among the race. These anomalies then become legendary Human figures throughout history. Their descendants then inherit their freak Human mutation.

Branwen can teleport. Rose can shoot Holy Beams from their eyeballs. Adel is new but to cut a long story short, their blood is poisonous to vampires.

Coldforge?

We're just good at killing stuff. That's it. Pretty much we are born with built-in murder impulse. Like how cats naturally kill rats even when they're not hungry for shits and giggles, we Coldforges look at a monster and wonder,

Is this edible?

Being born as natural killer means we're naturally good at wielding anything that can be construed as a murder weapon. Thus naturally, my ancestors become what is perhaps the earliest iteration of a Drifter clan. There used to be many Drifter clans with many kind of special unique clan powers, but most of us had been wiped out by the other races who feared we will bring Human up from the bottom of social ladder.

So, when this old fuck abandoned the Drifters to join up fucking Ozpin with his clowns, I am really pissed off.

"So, Qrow the Forsaken, what do you want?"

"Look, I know everyone disapprove of my decision to join Beacon, but let's not make this about me. I want to ask you a favor for Ruby's sake."

I glance at Ruby Rose who's nervously hiding under her cloak. "We told you that Beaconites are posers. They take in rich kids that want to play Hunters then get a license they will never use. They only want to show off in their clubs."

"Hey, not all of them are posers. Some of them do want to take the career seriously."

I raise my eyebrows to mock him. "Yeah, and they die to fucking goblins every time. Sometimes to kobolds or sahuagin if they want to be less cliché. I heard one team died to skeevers. Skeevers, Qrow! Skeevers!"

"What's a skeever?", Ruby asked.

I facepalmed. "Basically rats the size of dogs. Dear lord! What the hell are they teaching you at school?! The only thing more common than fucking skeevers is radroaches!"

Before Ruby can ask, I already yell, "Radroaches is big as fuck cockroaches and they are radioactive!"

I'm not going to mention to her about Deathclaws and Fire Ants. Vacuo is bullshit.

Ruby looked away with a pout. "We mostly focus on Grimm, okay! Beacon Hunters are Grimm specialist!"

I raise both my hands incredulously. "Grimms are fucking rare! You get 100 quests to take out skeevers and radroaches before you even hear one Grimm quest! Beacon pump out 40 Grimm Specialist a year that wont have any actual real job so they always ended up either get low ranked job they underestimated becoz oh we trained to fight Grimm nothing can hurt us and woosh! They get eaten by skeevers and radroaches! Again!"

"And that's why I came to you, Soren.", Qrow interjects my ranting. "Ruby needs a real Hunting Education, and unless I can get ahold of your father, you're the next best guy I got."

"Or you can go to Raven."

"You know she'll kill me if I even stepped a foot back into the Branwen Mountain."

"Wow gee, look at you with the consequences of your terrible life decisions."

Qrow grit his teeth. He held back his desire to punch me in the face.

"Ozpin is the only one of us that focus on The Wesen. He's my best shot if I want to find and take down Lycanus."

Ruby looked like a kicked puppy the moment she hears that accursed name.

The Ever Hunger, Lycanus. He is a Wesen that can transform into a horned werewolf Grimm. He is ancient and to this day, the Drifters had failed to take him down.

Lycanus usually went dormant in hiding for centuries at a time, but when he awakens, that period of time can be said to be a time of great culling. True to his title, his hunger is everlasting and refuse to be sated. He will kill and consume all living being in his vicinity until he eventually go back into hiding and hibernate. He hibernates not because his hunger is satisfied and his belly is full. No.

He hibernates because his hunger become too unbearable and so he has to sleep to escape it's agony.

10 years ago, Lycanus awakens and went on a killing spree. Ozpin had called upon the Drifters and Summer Rose had answered the call. Without waiting the arrival of other Drifters, she who is one of the three remaining Roses at the time had chose to pursue Lycanus by herself.

She paid the ultimate price for trying to be a hero.

Qrow Branwen had then join Beacon, thinking it will raise his chance to seek his wife's murderer. He was banished from the Branwen clan for this transgression, as Ozpin has been the mortal enemy of the Branwen for generations.

"Qrow, once a Wesen went dormant, the only thing we can do is wait them to emerge. We keep Ozpin around as an alarm tower but that's it. It's the only reason we don't vanquish that damned lich already!"

"Headmaster Ozpin is a lich?!!", Ruby screamed out at the revelation.

I give a deadpan look at Qrow. Dear lord just how much did you not tell her huh?!

"Yea you better keep up. For fucks sake, Qrow! The last Rose doesn't know jack shit about basic Drifter lore?"

"I don't want her to be weird around Oz, that's all."

I looked up toward the sky. Dear lord, Ruby is as incompetent as she is in canon. My memory of the OG RWBY is rather hazy. I think my predecessor stopped watching at season 5 becoz it just become so crap at that point.

The Atlas arc redesign was atrocious. Why did they give Ruby that ugly ass lesbo haircut is beyond me. And Weiss has a ship rope for a hairstyle. It was fucking ridiculous.

Now, with this stupid worldbuilding patch that got ripped off from Witcher and Skyrim coz The Writer is an incompetent hack, Ruby is so dead when she get out there.

"Please at least tell me you don't take the Semblance route for quick powerup."

"Oh Oh! I don't have a semblance. But I can do this!"

Ruby then shunshin around the town with petals sfx scattering around.

In canon, Petal Burst is Ruby's semblance that let her turn into rose petals that for some reason also gives her superspeed. Seriously, make up your mind, Miles and Kerry! Is she a speedster or a half plant?

In this AU however, Petal Burst is the Rose Clan famed fast movement technique. Think of them like Shunpo from Bleach or Shunshin from Naruto, just with petals special effects. I have zero fucking idea why they bother add that useless petals as part of the gimmick.

"That's fine, I guess. Only lazyass who too lazy to learn actual technique take the Semblance pill. At least you're not as much of a poser."

"Thank you!", the shortstack jumps excitedly. Oblivious over her well growing bosom bouncing up and down.

Man, she gonna grow up into a big booba shortstack gal like her mom, isn't she?

Jaune, you're lucky that I am a believer in the Lancaster ship. I wouldn't even consider taking in Ruby and get my Death Flag doubled if not becoz I want you to get a shortstack waifu.

Don't worry guys. I have no intention about stealing Jaune's harem. Why did you think I tease up Velvet about hooking up with him?

"Fine. I'll take her in. But you need to understand this, Ruby."

Ruby stood at attention.

"I don't care what hippie crap they teach you at Beacon. Unlike you Hunters that stay cozy in the city and take safety approved jobs once in a while, Drifters travel across Remnants for nine months a year, and that lead you to meet a lot of people. Some of that people are bad. Pirates, bandits, raiders, all that crap. There will not be some stupid mercy and talking about our feelings kind of nonsense here. When I meet those scums on road, I'll kill them."

Ruby eyes went wide. Even among cityfolks, the Frontier Justice is well known. Outside the Blue Zones, people has no luxury for proper legal system. Some towns has some basic Wild West style law enforcement but for the most of us? It pretty much goes you fuck around and find out. We are savages in the Frontier here. Everyone is their own Judge, Jury and Executioner.

If you think the goblin gig was traumatizing, Ruby, you gonna have a real fun time if you keep traveling with me.

"But killing people is wrong .."

"Well they're not people. They're scum."

"But what if they're desperate?! What if they resort to banditry because they run out of food and desperate?!"

"Then go in the woods and take down some deer. Fuckers are everywhere."

"Most people are just Rank 1 peasants! They can't hunt animals that are minimum Rank 2!"

"Sounds like a skill issue."

"Still, they deserve some second chances! Taking lives by your own hand is wrong! It should be left to the authorities."

"I am the Authority.", I look at Ruby coldly.

Ruby gulped her saliva and Qrow tensed up as my leaked Aura leaked my violent intent.

"As the captain of a Drifter crew, I am the Authority. I don't swear any fealty to any form of governance. I am my own Nation. So, when I give you the order to take down some scum party in our way, you better not disobey. I'll let you off if you just take crippling shots instead of killshots, but if you join my crew, you better not mutiny against me. Trust me, Ruby Rose, I will throw you out of the deck if you bring up your Beaconite nonsense on my airship. I will decide who deserve to die and who deserve to be saved. Not you. If you can't deal with that, then don't come back tomorrow."

I look at Qrow dead in the eye.

"You did this to her, Qrow. You let that lich poison her with that Beacon nonsense. I don't have time to hold some kid's hand to teach her common sense on the field. I'm giving her a day to think over. By 7am sharp tomorrow, if I don't see her at the church training Sword Aura with Velvet, I assume she refuse to be under my command."

I leave the two of them. Ruby gawking, Qrow clenching his fist. This isn't an idealistic shounen story, where the protags will talk about their feelings with the villains and redeem them.

No, this is an edgy fic where the only reason I will bother save and redeem a villain character is if she's hot and I get laid with her. The Writer is stupid to make someone like me as a Mentor Character, coz I am not a good guy at all.

I'm just a guy who likes to kill monsters and get paid for it.

((((Jaune Arc))))

"Ruby?"

I woke up and came to the chapel's courtyard a little bit before 7 in the morning. There, I found Ruby already waiting.

"Oh hey Jaune! You're training Sword Aura too huh? I'm here to learn too!"

"Wow! Well, sorry, I thought you had become a licensed Hunter now. Why are you not with your team?"

"My team had disbanded, Jaune. Well, most school teams ended up that way after graduation. Yang wants to roam the world and kick ass. Weiss just want a Hunter License to add to her resume. While Blake… I don't know, she's a cat girl, you know how they are."

Yea, fickle. Who knows what random things they decide to do next. Blake could randomly decide to join a ballet troupe for all I know.

Before we can converse further, Velvet had came out with two stone swords in her hands.

"Oh, Ruby Rose isn't it? I guess you picked hell afterall. Are you really sure about this?"

Ruby had a grimace, but quickly it turns into determination.

"I heard enough about how monstrous Soren Coldforge is. I don't agree with his… trigger happy tendencies, but my father had told me this. Coldforges is the best monster hunters in the world. If I want to learn and become the best Hunter, I have to learn from him. Coldforges may not be interested in saving the world with their professionalism creed, but I am a Rose. Our creed is to help people in need! If I have to endure the agony of being under the command of Soren Coldforge, then so be it! I will endure and become the best Hunter in the world!"

Ruby's speech made me embarrassed. Honestly, helping people doesn't cross my mind when it comes to hunting. I wanted an exciting life of adventures and I jumped in without second thoughts over what that entail. I didn't really have noble intentions like Ruby.

Velvet has an undecipherable look on her face. I don't know what's the history between her and Soren. From the sound of it, it looks like they came to this town together four years ago. I don't know what she did in her past that she sworn of from wielding the sword to a goddess. I don't know what's its like to make an oath with a deity, but shouldn't she received retribution for breaking it, even for my sake?

Velvet then answer her. "a sweet ideal. But you will find your resolve to be tested over and over again. Well, I do have to say some things in Soren's favor. He just trying to scare you off by exaggerating, but you wouldn't come across bandits much in your journey. Soren will raise a Drifter flag on his airship, so most bandits would know to not bother attacking the airship en route. Only the most egoistic and idiotic band of bandits will dare to try their luck against a Drifter. That, or a particularly powerful raider tribes may feel like they are powerful enough to try.

Velvet then passed to the both of us the stone swords she had carried. But for the most part, both of you will experience a leisure travel across Remnant. Soren likes to quote a phrase from the Winchester family. 'Saving people, hunting things, the family business'. That guy has almost no sincere bone in his body, but you will find yourself to mostly help many communities from myriads of trouble."

Now, Velvet took an instructor stance. "Now, enough chit-chat. Do you know what is the difference between Armament Arts and a Semblance, Ruby Rose?"

"Oh, oh! Yes I do know! To start with, Semblance is a unique Aura-based power which differs from person to person. No one is sure about how exactly a person Semblance is shaped. A man could have a Semblance to control fire yet his son may somehow has a telepathy semblance. Its completely random. Armament Arts on the other hand is the art of using Aura to awaken the latent abilities within a weapon. For example, if you craft a weapon made with basilisk parts, you can use Aura to master the weapon and manifest poison-type Arts."

I interjects. "Wait, so Armament Arts is sort off awakening a Semblance within your weapon?"

Velvet snickered. "Don't let Soren hear you say that. Well, to clarify, Lake Lullaby focus on Quantity over Quality. They produce batches of Hunters that has standard set of Aura technique. Aura Shell, their defensive technique. Aura Enhance, their strengthening technique. And A Semblance of Magic, which can be chalked off as watered down magic carved into your very own body."

Velvet then cleared her throat. "the issue of awakening Semblance through Lake Lullaby's Hunter Program is that you essentially turn your own body as a form of a magic item. This means that you can't perform Armament Arts as well as generating Mana to perform magic. Semblance is a lottery ticket. If you're really lucky you can get very powerful ability, but most of the time, Semblances are mediocre and in some cases, downright useless."

"So that's why Soren forbid me from ever awakening one.", I concluded.

"That's right. Hunters do can be powerful in their own right. However, becoming specialist can lead to tunnel vision. Many Hunters developed their fighting style to revolve around their Semblance. Once you figure out their gimmick, you can easily counter it. Soren is mostly a generalist. He has several skillset and tools to adapt to many situations. He hunts whatever he come across, unlike Hunters that usually settle to specific niche. So bear in mind, you must be flexible if you want to work with him. One hunt he might want to snipe ghouls with a rifle on for the next hunt he wants to chop lizardmen heads off with an axe. Then, out of nowhere, he will decide to kill a Spine Bear with close range archery just to for the heck of it."

Ruby and I sweat dropped over hearing Soren's antics. I asked, "So you're saying, he is a generalist because he will just decide to kill anything with particular ways just for shits and giggles?"

Velvet nodded. "Pretty much. Mind you, it's not like he is literally a jack of all trade, master of none. He is very good at sniping and he is also a master swordsman. He's not really much of a fan for spellcasting but the Simple Signs he has is very useful. And he possess weapons with powerful Armament Arts."

Velvet then cleared her throat.

"Looks like I'm rambling again. Sorry, I never taught anyone before. Anyway lets get started. Sword Aura is the most basic kind of Armament Arts. While it is called Sword Aura, you can actually use it with anything you can hold in your hand. A stick, a hammer, even a plate. The idea is to soak an object with Aura."

"Sounds easy enough!", Ruby cheered.

"Well then, try it yourself then."

Ruby then try to infuse the stone sword with Aura. However, from the look on her face she must have found the process to be harder than she thought. After a minute, Ruby try to push her Aura in so hard that she looks constipated.

Ruby finally gives up, and Velvet chuckled.

"Hunters… heh. You're used to push your Aura through Auracite alloy. Weapons made with Auracite can easily channel Aura to strengthen the weapon structure, however it can't generate Armament Arts of its own. Weapons made with Monster parts are even more resistant to Aura infusion than those rock swords."

I asked, "But Velvet, You easily used Vorpal Soul with your…. My blade. How did you make it so easy if monster parts weapons are even harder to infuse with?"

Velvet then thought for a moment. "Well first, I have to tell you the standard way. The weapon type is called Mythic Arms. Generally speaking, at the start most users of these kind of weapon just use them as a very sturdy weapon. However, as the weapon gradually attune to their user Aura over time, it become easier to channel Aura through them until eventually, the weapon 'awakens'."

Velvet then pointed to Vorpal Blade that's sheathed at my hip. "The Vorpal Blade has been passed down through the Scarlatina family for four generations. The blade will awaken when the Aura of a Scarlatina runs through it. However, Jaune is obviously not a Scarlatina. So the blade will not awaken from making contact with his Aura. It is highly possible that Jaune will not awaken it even if he wield it for his whole lifetime. Heirlooms like Vorpal Blade tend to be loyal to the bloodline of the original user that awaken them."

Well, that's discouraging.

"You say that's the standard way, right?", Ruby asked curiously. "This means there is a faster alternative way, right?!". Ruby jumped excitedly.

Velvet sighed. "That will depend if you can hire one of the Dwarves to make one for you."

Ruby then froze comically.

"I know.", Velvet sighed again. "Dwarves are very picky about taking commissions, and even if they do, it's so ludicrously expensive that most of us would never pay the debt for seven generations."

Then, I recalled the first time I met Soren. Didn't he just DIY craft an ice knife just for kicks?

"Wait, how about Soren then? I saw him making a magic weapon out of a snowman bone powder and scrap metal!"

"snowman bone powder???", Ruby was confused.

Meanwhile, Velvet groans.

"Urghhh, well, that's certainly a way.", she tapped her foot as she think over how to explain. "Now, unlike Dwarves, Soren can't make a Mythic Arms with built-in affinity for you. However, if you follow his technique, you can make one yourself."

"Really?!!", Ruby eyes twinkles with excitement. "howhowhowhowhow???!!!!!!!"

"You'll have to ask him. Mind you I seen him do the special forging technique several times and it has a high failure rate. Most of the time it just turn into a trick item that can only be used several times."

"Oh! I will totally ask him next time!"

"Now, enough talk! Seriously! Damnit I am bad at this I rambling again…", Velvet mutters as she berated herself.

Ruby and I then continue to try infusing the stone sword to no avail. This will take a long time.

Speaking of heirlooms though.

I wonder if my greatgrandpa's sword is a Mythic Arms. If I somehow find that stolen heirloom of ours, maybe I can skip this training and jump straight to using Crocea Mors, the lost blade of Arc family.