A/N: If you're enjoying this story, feel free to check out my discord server at discord dot gg slash RD3Y5pM7u2
To support me, check out my Tumblr at backslashecho dot tumblr dot com
Form and Force
I waited for Blake to rejoin us, offering her a fistbump for how easily she'd handled Cardin. "I see Indigo's tips are coming in handy already, partner."
"I'll say, you really beat him Blake and blue," Yang added from the seat beside Ruby, causing Pyrrha to stifle a laugh.
"Boo~!" Nora jeered from where she was hanging off Ren's back.
Smiling faintly, Ren poked her in the side, causing her to shriek a giggle and let go. He led the way to the changing room, and I stepped around the corner to open the locker I never used. After pausing for a few moments, I switched to my Combat armor set. Over the usual a-shirt, gold tee, and white overshirt were my old breastplate, pauldrons, rerebraces and gloves, which were joined by the new vambraces I'd bought from Wayland. Below that, the aramid-shot jeans were covered from the knee down by my new poleyns and greaves.
After a moment's consideration, I forewent the new helmet, slipping it back into my [Inventory]. I did need to get used to wearing it, but I had a different idea in mind for my match with Ren.
When I heard his locker close, I ambled back out and we made our way to the arena. Goodwitch glanced at her scroll, tapping the timer, and nodded slightly before looking up. "Places, gentlemen."
"Do you mind if we spar hand to hand, Ma'am?" I asked politely. "I could use the practice."
Goodwitch considered me. "If Mister Lie has no objections."
"Not at all," Ren said agreeably, slipping his StormFlower back up his sleeves and dropping into what I thought I recognized as a kung fu stance. His left foot was underneath him and bearing most of his weight, knee slightly bent to lower his center of gravity, while his right was placed lightly on the ground in front of him. He raised one hand in front of him, palm-out, the other held close to his waist, and seemed to settle onto his back leg.
My own stance was a bit higher, just setting my left foot forward and raising my hands, palms free but angled inward. My [Martial Arts] skill was sitting around level 24, but because I didn't practice any particular style all the bonuses I got from it were halved, so I was barely benefiting. It was something I'd always intended to fix, but all of my combat focus had been on sword and board, tanking, and healing. Even as a Gamer, I only had so many hours in the day. Still, there was no reason not to take the opportunity in front of me.
Speaking of the Gamer, though… I nodded absently to Glynda's inquiry about my readiness, and aimed an [Observe] at Ren.
[Name: Ren Lie]
[LV 25]
[Title: A Little Apart]
[Race: Human]
[Age: 18]
[Job: Beacon Student]
[Class: Monk]
[Semblance: Tranquility]
[Stats: 17 STR, 11 CON, 38 DEX, 19 INT, 24 WIS, 20 CHA]
[Background: A native of the village of Kuroyuri in Mistral, which was slaughtered by Crom Cruach. He and Nora Valkyrie, the only survivors, escaped due to his Semblance, which soothes and conceals emotions, rendering the subject invisible and undetectable to Grimm.]
[Emotions: ?]
[Relationship: Friendly.]
All right, nothing I didn't already know, so let's focus on skill growth. Maybe I can pick up or develop an actual martial art style.
[Duel Alert!]
[Combatants: Jaune Arc vs. Ren Lie]
[Victory Conditions: Reduce Ren Lie's HP to 25%, obtain a surrender, teacher decision.]
[Loss Conditions: Surrender, be reduced to 25% HP or MP, teacher decision]
[Victory: 5000 EXP, increased closeness with Ren Lie]
[Loss: 5000 EXP, increased closeness with Ren Lie]
[Bonus Objective: Gain the skill for Ren Lie's martial art.]
Same thing either way, hmm? Well, I won't say no to EXP or friendship. And as usual it seems like this thing is listening to me; I was just thinking about finding a style.
"Begin."
Neither Ren nor I moved at first, both watching the other. After a moment, a smile twitched Ren's lips, and I inclined my head. "First point to you."
I stepped forward after that, keeping my guard up, until I was close enough to strike. My probing left jab was effortlessly batted aside, and Ren's other palm rocketed toward my face. I leaned back and tried to kick him in the knee, but he grabbed my wrist and threw a spearhand strike at my throat that I had to block with my forearm. It hurt like hell, but I took the opportunity to close my fingers around his wrist in turn.
We paused there, and I had to ask, "Are you sure you thought this through?"
"I expected you to dodge, or failing that, to at least react to the blow," Ren admitted.
His arm flexed, pulling against my grip, and I held him still. Then he smiled, and instead rotated his arm to the left, 'waxing off' and dragging both my arms with him as he threw a straight punch at my stomach. His Aura flexed, and pain rippled through my abdomen.
I took another swing, but Ren leapt backward. "Time out!"
I paused obligingly, rubbing my stomach. "What's wrong?"
"You didn't block my strike with your Aura. Are you all right?"
I shrugged. "I've had worse."
Ren tilted his head. "You should be more careful," he chided. "That blow can be lethal to unprotected targets as they suffer internal damage from the injection of foreign Aura."
"While Grimm explode, I presume?" I 'guessed', recalling what he'd done to the Taijitu during Initiation in the webshow.
"Mister Arc, Aura depletion is how matches are called," Goodwitch reminded me. "Not to mention the danger involved. Please explain your thought process."
I considered that for a moment, looking from her to Ren. "I have quite a lot of Aura, and I thought increasing my physical capabilities by too much would defeat the purpose of this exercise," I said honestly. There were some murmurs from the class above that I picked up with [Eavesdrop]'s passive, but I ignored them.
By activating [Aura] as a shield, I would also get the additional bonuses to STR, CON, and DEX, which would account for something like a forty to fifty percent improvement to those stats. Well, and to CHA, but that didn't matter right now. Not to mention, it took a blow depleting 30% of my MP to crack the shield now, and I had about two-thirds as much MP as Amber, who was an actual magical girl.
I was momentarily sidetracked by the mental image of Amber in a seifuku, before shaking it off.
"Handicapping yourself to such an extent is potentially dangerous to you and is condescending to your opponent, Mister Arc," said Glynda, which brought me up short. The class was now dead silent.
Looking back to Ren, I grimaced and bowed my head. "That wasn't my intention and I apologize." I activated [Aura], letting the gold light show around me visibly before settling.
Nodding sharply, Glynda barked, "Resume."
Ren took the initiative this time, darting forward with his body low to the ground, and I decided to let him come, setting my stance and raising my guard once more. Twisting away from his first palm strike, I caught the second on my forearm and threw one of my own at his chin, which he leaned away from, then threw himself forward and struck yet again. His palm thudded against my chest, and his pink Aura was visible as it clashed against my gold, trying to break through.
Unfortunately, with [Aura] up, [Steadfast] was negating half my CON in flat damage, which meant the threshold to actually break through my Aura was over 1400 'points' of damage. Even after nine months, I didn't have a great feel for how much damage things did, since the game mechanics were so abstract in that regard, but however much damage Ren's attack dealt, it wasn't enough, and my Aura held strong.
His eyes widened, but this time he didn't have time to back away before my palm slammed into his shoulder, and his own Aura shuddered, barely holding. He started backpedaling, but I followed steadily, not having any trouble keeping up with my buffed stats.
We were trading blows now, me mostly blocking and him deflecting, but as I got more used to his rhythm I started trying to mimic his deflections. I wasn't nearly as successful as he was, but [Steadfast] continued to make up the difference as his oblique strikes failed to actually lower my Aura. Rather than backing away directly, Ren was alternating diagonals with each step, preventing me from ever getting a good line of attack.
Finally though, I managed a picture-perfect deflection and my returned palm strike nailed his chin. I felt a buzz from my Semblance that I practicedly brushed off.
Ren staggered back, and I tried to jump in to finish him off, but it turned out to be bait as he suddenly dropped low, spinning on his heel and bringing both hands around in a double-palm strike that looked like he should be unleashing a kamehameha.
The spike of his Aura was much brighter this time, and to my surprise I felt my Aura shatter under the blow as he connected with my stomach again.
I'll be damned, I thought, rubbing the struck area once more. I didn't think he could actually break through with his stats, but I guess skill counts for a lot even without my Semblance's bullshit. The [Aura Shock] timer appeared in the corner of my vision, counting down from 70 seconds, but Ren had already stepped back, straightened up, and bowed.
"That will do," Glynda said crisply. "As Mister Arc's Aura has broken, I am calling this match in favor of Mister Lie. Well done." She looked up at the rest of the class in the stands above us. "Official tournament matches are not called for a broken Aura, and after this week the same will be true in this class. It is critical to remain cognizant of your current Aura level — refer to your Scroll if you aren't used to feeling it — because while a tournament match will end when your Aura is low… you will not be able to call for a 'time out' in the event of Aura Shock while combating Grimm."
Don't I know it?
Glynda continued to lecture about the importance of sensing your own Aura, but I was both already good at that and had a bar on my HUD confirming it, so I took a moment to review what my Semblance tried to tell me during the fight.
[Duel Alert!: Jaune Arc vs. Ren Lie]
[Result: Defeat. Bonus objective completed.]
[You have gained 6850 EXP! Increased closeness with Ren Lie.]
[You have performed [Pàoquán] without the skill. Successfully imitating a skilled teacher has created the skill [Xíngquán]!]
[Bonus: [Pàoquán] has increased by 5!]
[Xíngquán (Passive) Rank: 1]
[An internal martial art focusing on deceptively linear movements and explosive power, alleged to have been inspired by spearfighting techniques. With the appropriate Form, practitioners can fight bare-handed or armed using identical body mechanics.]
[All Xíngquán Forms can be used passively with no MP cost. All Xíngquán Forms can be boosted with MP expenditure, but careless or uncontrolled use may result in backlash.]
[2% increase in learning speed for Xíngquán techniques.]
[Passively increases STR, DEX, and WIS by 1%.]
[Pàoquán (Passive/Active) LV 5 EXP 0.00%]
[A Form that starts with a parry, grasping an opponent so they cannot pull away, guarding at the same time, before stepping diagonally while the other hand explodes outward like a cannonball.]
[ACTIVE – MP: Varies.]
[Aura Mastery has increased by 2! Steadfast, Bludgeoning Resistance, and Martial Arts have increased by 1!]
"You are dismissed," Glynda's voice brought my attention back to the present, and I nodded politely.
After a quick shower and changing back into my School armor set, I found Ren waiting for me, leaning against the lockers. "You didn't have to wait, but cheers," I said, offering a fistbump. "Good match."
"Likewise," Ren replied in his usual quiet tone. "But I also wanted to make sure you were all right."
I tilted my head. "Yeah? I'm fine, why wouldn't I be?"
He raised an eyebrow. "I hit your solar plexus hard enough to break concrete," he reminded me. "It shattered your Aura, meaning some amount of the blow got through. Is your abdomen feeling okay?"
"Oh." It took me way too long to realize what he was worried about. I think [Gamer's Body] might be making me jaded. "Yes, I'm all right. It's sore, but my Semblance doesn't really allow me to get internal injuries."
It was a true if misleading statement, and Ren nodded in understanding. I braced for my Semblance to level up [Acting], but it looked like deceiving Ren didn't give enough EXP for it to ding now that it was so high.
"My Aura is already back above half," I reassured him. Cleaning up had only taken us about five minutes, but that was enough to restore about 700 HP and a bit under 500 MP, because my regen rates as the Gamer were absolutely cracked. Seeing his skeptical look, I pulled out my Scroll to show him.
His eyebrows shot up as my Aura bar refilled visibly, one pixel after another, even as he watched. "Remarkable." He looked back at me. "Would you be interested in practicing hand to hand more often?"
"Definitely," I agreed, making my way back toward the stairs leading up to the stands. "You don't mind me learning your style, do you? If it's a family thing I can practice something else."
"Not at all. Actually, teaching a novice is an excellent way to refine my own skills and understanding."
"Then I would be honored. Actually, on a semi-related note, do you want to hit the town sometime? I was thinking of inviting Leo for a bit of a guys' night."
Ren hummed. "That sounds fun. Sure."
[Increased closeness with Ren Lie.]
Heh, friendship level up.
Name: Jaune Arc
Level: 58 (Next: 24.56%)
Title: Academy Student
Race: Human
Age: 18
Job: Beacon Student
Class: Paladin
Semblance: The Gamer
HP: 5224/7545
MP: 2540/4177
STR: 213 (100)
CON: 261 (101)
DEX: 150 (53)
INT: 128 (50)
WIS: 106 (52)
CHA: 143 (52)
Points: 97
Money: 947,938L
Status: Cursed – Yellow Death [High]
A/N: Xíngquán (形拳) is approximately 'form-fist', based off the Terran Xíngyìquán (形意拳, 'form-intention-fist') style of kung fu — with apologies to actual Xíngyìquán practitioners for the likely inaccuracies of my descriptions. Call it differences in the Remnan version due to the existence of Aura, or just chalk it up to artistic license.
Ren's 'finishing blow' isn't based on Terran Xíngyìquán, at least as far as I know, I just really wanted him to end with that double-palm and gave it a big Aura spike. (Don't expect beam clashes, lol.)
Also noticed some inaccuracies I'd overlooked in previous statblocks (again) so if they don't match between sites, it's because I've given up editing FFN.