The Games We Play

DISCLAIMER: This story is NOT MINE IN ANY WAY. That honor has gone to the beautiful bastard Ryugii. This has been pulled from his Spacebattle publishment. Anyway on with the show...errr read.

Grinding

"Your power is bullshit," Blake said as I finished my brief explanation. While we'd walked back into the woods, I'd told her about everything I thought would be important in the coming weeks—about my Inventory and how it could be used to transport things undetectably, about how Skills and leveling up worked, and about how I could see the titles and levels in signs above their heads. Things that we might need to plan around or which would come in handy, such as if Blake saw someone suspicious and needed to know if he was a Level 52 Destroyer of Fools or something.

"I know, right?" I agreed, nodding with a smile.

"It was bad enough when you could just devour books, but…" She shook her head. "Well…I suppose I shouldn't complain, since that's good for us."

She frowned in thought, the bow on her head twitching.

"But let's be careful about this. Because of your 'Inventory' you have what amounts to a pocket dimension that you can store and retrieve things from effortlessly. Did you test if the things you stored inside it could be detected by others?"

"Of course," I answered promptly. "I passed through metal detectors and it didn't react to my sword. When I stole stuff and left shops with them, there was no reaction then, either. I can't say its undetectable because there was only so much I could feasibly test and I'm sure there's some power or another that could detect it, but nothing I've tried has been able to do it. And before you ask, there doesn't seem to be a weight limit in terms of how much I can carry, though I've only been able to store things I could lift, with a few other restrictions. If getting inside without anyone knowing about our equipment is an issue, I can handle it. And, for what it's worth, the food I've stored inside it hasn't gone bad yet, though the watch I put inside to test the passage of time has functioned normally. And no, I have no idea how that works."

She'd opened her mouth to ask a question, but I'd apparently answered it so she closed it and nodded thoughtfully.

"What you can take with you on a mission like this is always an issue, as is getting past security," She stated. "We're generally forced to travel light by necessity, but if your…Inventory can really do what you say, we can go in with almost everything we could want. There may be some issues getting Adam through the front door, but he and I can manage. Once we're inside, you can identify everyone important by their…name tags, I suppose? What does mine say?"

"The Beauty, LV36, Blake Belladonna," I recited. "Last time I saw him, Adam's was The Beast, LV41, Adam Taurus."

Blake's lips twitched downwards in displeasure.

"And just to make sure, they said that before you knew who we were, correct?"

"Yeah," I nodded. "For people who are vastly more powerful than me, it doesn't give all that information, but even then I can usually tell something's up because I'm seeing question marks."

Blake muttered darkly under her breath before shaking her head again.

"And you?" She asked, elaborating as I tilted my head. "What level are you?"

"Ah…LV13, now, but I was LV2 about a week ago. That whole mess caused me to level up eleven times, but I haven't gone up again since. You went up two levels, though," I said.

"And your 'Stats'…when you level up and put points in the stat, it really makes you stronger? Faster?" She pressed.

"Yeah. So far, the only things I've given points to are Wisdom and Intelligence, but it seems to improve them," I answered, nodding again. "So does normal training, though. I managed to raise all of my physical stats to near thirty with about a week of effort. Ideally, I'd like to get them all to at least fifty by the time of the mission, but I don't know if that's possible through training alone; after they hit twenty, the rate of increase got slower and slower. Intelligence and Wisdom are my highest stats, currently."

"I struggle to see it," Blake said skeptically. "I can't say I've had much time to get to know you, but in that time you've done a fair amount of things which seemed enormously stupid. Agreeing to help me, for instance."

"I'm aware of the smart thing to do; that's not necessarily the same thing as doing it. Nor is 'wisdom' a synonym for 'heartless'," I shook my head before taking a deep breath. "Speaking of which, the answer is no."

"No?" She asked, furrowing her eyebrows. "To what question?"

""Am I doing this just to gain levels?'" I said. ""Was that the only reason I helped them out?' I'm not going to lie and say I don't appreciate those benefits, just as I'm not going to claim I don't appreciate the skills I gain from the books I devour. I'll even admit that I have wondered for a long time whether I was being selfish or heroic a week ago. But this time, I can say for sure that it's not the reason."

Blake looked at me, silent and expressionless, for a long moment before slowly exhaling through her nose and giving me a nod of concession.

"So you claim, but how do I know that?" She asked.

"Because I'm telling you about my power instead of lying about it or changing the details—and I think we both know that I could, easily, and no one but me would ever know," I told her. "That's how you know I'm telling the truth about this. And I know, because I had chances to back out and didn't take them. I told my dad about my power and talked to him before I called you. If all I wanted was experience points, I had a better option in him then you, because I can gain that experience just as easily by defeating Grimm and with him there, it'd be a lot less dangerous to me than this mission. I could have spent a few more weeks working on my stats, asked him to take me out past the limits when he came back, and fought Grimm knowing he was there if anything went awry. And in case you didn't see the pictures, my dad has killed every monster in the book. Literally, every monster in the book. You can go check."

I took her wince as an 'I'd seen it.'

"I could have refused, walked away, and asked him to help me train and gotten the same reward as this mission; more, in the long term. My dad is gone a lot, but I'm sure he could make arrangements. I already intended to ask him and Mom for training when I was ready, in fact. If anything, I think that would be the fastest way to level up, and the method with the least amount of moral quandaries: kill the monsters, save lives, get stronger. But here I am, because you were right. I want to help those people and I want to help you. So I'm going to trust you and tell you the truth and hope you trust me, too."

I saw Blake's eyes move over my face, her gaze intense enough I thought I could feel it—and then I saw her nod.

"Maybe I can see it…just a bit," She said, looking at me considering. "I trust you, Jaune."

I smiled at her.

"Out of curiosity, would it have made a difference if I was just a greedy bastard?" I wondered.

"What do you think?" She asked, raising a questioning brow.

I laughed.

"Nah, I already know the answer," I said. "It wouldn't matter to me, at least, if I was in your shoes. As long as you did what I needed and helped people in need, would it really matter why? Just wanted to see what you'd say."

Blake rolled her eyes but smiled.

"What is it you need?" She asked, expression becoming serious again in seconds. "You'll want to fight the Grimm to…level up, I assume, and you need someone to watch over you while you do. I take it this entire spiel about trust is to convince me to take that role in place of your father?"

"Among other things; I just think this will go more smoothly if we're all on the same page and not worried about one another. I'll need to grind some of my skills, too," I said. "Disguise, computers, my new fighting style, stealth, and anything else that might be useful. We'll need to work on our plan whenever possible, though I have a few ideas I'd like to put into action. The fact remains that there's a lot to do and not much time to do it—but thankfully, I don't need to sleep."

"I do," Blake said flatly. "I can go without it, but only for so long, especially if I'm pushing myself. If you need me for any of this, you might want to build your schedule around that."

"I know," I assured her. "Which brings us to a rather large issue. You're bringing Adam into this, right? Now that you have me on board? I suppose it's about time he and I talked again."

Blake's hidden ears twitched again but she nodded.

"It'll take a day or two to arrange everything on that front. It's not just Adam and now that we have your Inventory, we'll want to bring in more resources, if possible. The White Fang moves fast and Adam's been lingering nearby, I'm sure, but you'll be on your own for a while," She said. "What do you want me to tell him?"

"Didn't we go over this?" I wondered aloud, stretching as I rose. "Tell him what you want. I trust you, Blake. Just send him to me when he gets here so we can talk."

"And you?" She asked. "What will you be doing until then?"

"Can't you guess?" I asked, smirking. "Training, of course."

I drew one of the books Tukson had given me about Bai Hu's martial art from my Inventory, holding it aloft.

You obtained the skill book 'Jaws of the White Tiger.' Would you like to learn this skill?

Clicking yes, I paused for a moment, expression softening as I drew in the knowledge—and the power, for wasn't that what knowledge was in the end?

And then I slammed my left hand up to the second knuckle in the trunk of a nearby tree, fingers flexing within its wooden confines and sending cracks trough the bark before I ripped a chunk straight from the tree. These were the 'Jaws of the White Tiger'—it was an active technique like Power Strike but with three parts, consisting of the initial attack, a crushing attack to gain a grip, and then a ripping attack to finish. From what I had learned from the book, it was intended to be used on spines or throats. However, as a three part attack, the total MP cost was high, especially when enhanced by Power Strike, as I'd just done.

I did it again before speaking.

"Most of my skills are good even at their baseline, but the Active ones are too expensive to use consistently. A week ago, I tested myself to see how long I could last fighting at full power, using my Aura Channeling, Power Strikes, and everything. In total, if I enhanced every attack, I could only last a minute or two. But the MP costs go down as I level the skills up—and that's in addition to the power increasing. I retested mid-week and I lasted five times as long. I haven't gotten a chance to check again yet, but…"

I shook my head, tearing another handful of the tree away.

"But now I have more skills and they each start at level one," I said. "I'll need to level them up until I can at least fight effectively in combat; if I train them constantly for a day or two, getting them to twenty or twenty-five should be possible. There might be a limit to how far the MP cost can be reduced—my Aura skills stopped at five MP a minute—but that should let me use them for real in battle. I was aiming to get all my skills to fifty before, but…"

"Which ones are you going to train?" Blake asked.

"All the ones I can. The martial arts techniques, Summon Elemental, everything I can train on my own out here. I can only train skills by using them properly, though, so Stealth, Disguise, and Computer Mastery and such will have to wait for now."

"You think we'll run into trouble no matter what we do," Blake said, understanding.

I looked at her oddly.

"Don't you?"

She chuckled before disappearing—but for just a moment, her voice lingered.

"At the very least, you're thinking like one of us."

I snorted and attacked the poor tree again. I'd need to heal it soon, no doubt—

A skill has been created through a special action! A skill that uses excessive strength, 'Rip,' has been created!

A skill has been created through a special action! A skill that uses excessive strength, 'Crush,' has been created!

Huh…?

After a few minutes, the combined MP cost of all the skills I was trying to train took their toll and I was back to meditating to recover. Even as I felt the shifting tides of the Universe around me, though, I couldn't help but think of the three skills I had just gained.

I was well aware of how little I truly knew about how my power worked, but it seemed to feel the need to hammer it in whenever possible. I knew logically that I had been focusing on improving what I'd already had and developing my stats which didn't leave me many chances to successfully experiment, but…it was kind of depressing how easily I'd gained skills to assist my martial arts when all I had for swordsmanship were Aura Channeling and Power Strike—which could also enhance martial arts, so.

I'd known that actions could become skills, of course, and even that specific forms of attack could—Power Strike had proven that, for example, as had Aura Crash—but in my practice in the forest, I hadn't gotten any new sword attacks just by wailing on trees. Granted, my sword practice was fairly basic, consisting mostly of practicing Power Strikes while boosted by all my Passive or persistent skills and I had intended to see if I could make my own sword skills once I'd grinded my stats a bit more, but…I'd already gotten two 'martial arts' skills even without counting the ones I'd gotten from the skill books and I'd probably get more; Martial Arts or Fist Mastery, at that very least.

Thinking about it logically, maybe there was a certain sense to it; Bai Hu's martial art was created in a time when weapons and Dust couldn't be relied on against the Grimm. It was a method of manipulating Aura to enhance human capabilities in specific, useful ways, so it wasn't that odd that it would itself grant me useful skills. But when this was over, I was going to learn how to really use a sword. Not just hitting a tree really hard, but all the minutia that didn't fall under Sword Mastery or Power Strike—maybe get to work on trying to create my own style, like I'd planned. Even if I knew that my focus on improving what I'd already had and developing my stats which didn't leave me many chance, this was just irksome. There had to be a long-lost magical sword style somewhere. Hell, I should have asked Tukson about it, even if it would have been useless for this mission. I'd need to do that when this was over.

Opening my eyes as I finished meditating, I reactivated my various persistent powers and let them begin to drain my MP and gain experience. Once that was done, I reached into my Inventory to extract another book and got back to work. Stupid as it left me feeling, I wanted to test this out right now.

You've obtained the skill 'Claws of the White Tiger.'

Claws of the White Tiger (Active) LV1 EXP: 0.00% MP:10

The most basic technique of Bai Hu's ancient martial arts style. Through the gathering, hardening, and sharpening of Aura around the hands and feet, it becomes possible to inflict terrible wounds even with one's bare hands.

30% increase to martial arts attack damage.

Additional 20 MP used per minute.

I took a deep breath and focused my power around my hands and feet, changing the feel of both. Really, it was a lot like my Metal Aura, though focused on a particular part of my body—in fact, so far this entire style went very well with the enhancements I received from my Metal Affinity. Given some of the things I learned from the book, it made me wonder if Bai Hu had been…

I shook away the thoughts and concentrated, drawing the power together.

A skill has been created through a special action! The skill to directly use aura, 'Energy Bolt,' has been created!

Energy Bolt (Active) LV1 EXP: 0.00% MP:5

A skill that attacks by emitting Aura.

Attack power increases with INT.

Range 10m.

I ignored the new pop up, despite how it made me twitch in irritation to learn I could have had a ranged attack a long time ago if I had just gathered Aura in my hands instead of my sword. In a moment, my gauntlets were glowing white with my Aura, part of which extended from my fingers like, well, claws before the glow faded. It was a persistent skill, meaning I should be able to improve it just by leaving it on, so…

"Energy Bolt," I said a little petulantly, holding my hand out at the tree I was thoroughly ruining. What looked like a sphere of white light shot out of the palm of my hand, flashing quickly across the distance to explode violently on impact.

I whistled softly as the smoke cleared, leaving behind a small crater in the tree's truck. Ten meters wasn't great, but it was a lot better than what I'd had. If I improved the skill, lowered the cost, and increased that range, it should be enough to at least let me close the distance. And perhaps…

I focused on my gauntlets, on the Metal Aura I had already surrounded myself with, and gathered my power again.

This time the Energy Bolt was a misty-grey in color and when it hit the tree it didn't explode—it crashed straight into the trunk like a cannonball, leaving a shattered imprint behind in the wood.

A skill has been created through a special action! The skill to directly use element-attuned aura, 'Elemental Bolt,' has been created!

I let out a surprised laugh before rushing over to the tree and using Soulforge Restoration to heal the damage I'd inflicted before it fell over. Backing up a few paces with a smile, I lifted my hand and closed it into a fist except from my index finger. Inhaling deeply, I frowned in concentration. The normal Energy Bolt exploded on impact while the Metal Elemental Bolt—I decided to call it Cannonball—turned my Aura into an almost solid projectile. But if I could focus all the energy I'd put into the Cannonball into a smaller area such as the tip of my finger…

I tried, focusing hard as I attempted to compress my aura into a smaller shape, turning it from a Cannonball into a bullet. But as I tried to force it to obey, it seemed to slip through my metaphorical fingers. I tried harder, attempting to crush it into the shape I desired, but—

"Damn it," I said after a minute of it constantly escaping my grasp. Try as I might, I couldn't compress it the way I wanted. I'd try again later, but every minute that passed was an enormous drain on my MP. For now…

I took out another of Bai Hu's books with a sigh.

You've obtained the skill 'White Tiger's Lunge.'

White Tiger's Lunge (Active) LV1 EXP: 0.00% MP:40

A technique central to Bai Hu's ancient martial arts style. A skill to move quickly between targets, striking them down.

100% increase to jumping distance.

50% increase to movement speed.

50% increase to attack damage.

As I felt the knowledge take hold, I frowned before my expression brightened in understanding as a picture in my head began to grow clearer. Or, rather, as I began putting the pieces of a puzzle together—and that's what Bai Hu's art was, a puzzle with many pieces to put together. The individual techniques could stand on their own, but…

I drew another book from my Inventory.

You've obtained the skill 'White Tiger's Hide.'

White Tiger's Hide (Active) LV1 EXP: 0.00% MP:30

The primary defensive technique of Bai Hu's ancient martial arts style. A skill to harden Aura into armor around oneself rather than use it as a passive defense.

Blocks up to a certain level of damage.

Armor's strength, density, and duration increase with level.

Armor's strength, density, and duration increase with INT.

Additional 50 MP used per minute with White Tiger's Hide is active.

As I thought. Then…

I drew out the remaining books I had on Bai Hu's art.

You obtained the skill book 'White Tiger's Roar.' Would you like to learn this skill?

You obtained the skill book 'White Tiger's Five Hundred Years.' Would you like to learn this skill?

You obtained the skill book 'White Tiger of the West.' Would you like to learn this skill?

You've obtained the skill 'White Tiger's Roar.'

You cannot learn this skill. Required: STR 50, VIT 50, DEX 50, INT 60, WIS 60.

You cannot learn this skill. Required: STR 70, VIT 70, DEX 70, INT 90, WIS 90.

I outright goggled at the prereqs on those skills. I mean…damn. No, more than that, if the skills existed then that meant that…

Wow. Bai Hu must have been hardcore. And there had been three—maybe four—guys as strong as him? That was…wow.

Should I make those my new goals? I mean, there was no chance of me getting up to the minimums of White Tiger of the West anytime soon and I had no idea if I'd be able to use these in public after this was over, but…well, I suppose they made as good a goal as any. It's not like I intended to stop training any time soon and logic dictated that I'd reach those prereqs eventually, even if it took years, at which point there was no reason not to take advantage of them, for the sake of completion, if nothing else.

But…even without ultimate and penultimate techniques…I could still see how this art was meant to be used. It wasn't complicated—okay, that was a lie; I mean, for anyone who couldn't just absorb the knowledge like I could, it was probably a bitch to learn. But the way it was designed to be used…I could see it now that I had all the basic pieces. No, more than that, the knowledge had been hidden in the text and now that I had the parts I could put it into action.

I crouched slightly, drawing a careful breath as I readied myself. White Tiger's Roar wouldn't work without a living target, but I activated White Tiger's Hide. I already had the Claws and Tread active, along with my Aura and Metal Aura. I had materialized Crocea, too, and channeled my Aura through him. Altogether, it cost me almost two hundred MP a minute even if I did nothing else. And that wasn't what I was going to do.

I used the White Tiger's Lunge to reach the nearest tree and sank my hands deep into it with the trunk, assisting the initial attack of Jaws with Power Strike and then following it up with Crush and Rip to enhance the next two phases. In that same moment, my feet touched the bark of the tree and I was Lunging away, leaping towards a second tree to do the same. I dragged away a broken chunk, touched the ground, and then was flying towards a third tree. As I savagely tore into a third tree, a window appeared before my eyes.

A skill has been created through a special action! Through repeated leaps and bounds the skill, 'Jump,' has been created!

I ignored the screen, already rushing at a fourth tree, moving upward in a straight line that took me further from the earth—and further still as I did the same to go even higher towards the fifth tree, and then the sixth, before falling like a meteor at the ground of the clearing, plowing a crater in the soft earth even as I prepared for an eighth jump—

And stumbled.

I was out of MP, I realized as the effect didn't take hold, my other powers unravelling and fading away even as I thought about it. Breathing hard, I looked around and saw gaping chunks torn out of the trees all around me, as if a massive beast had actually sank their teeth into them and torn pieces away. I tried to turn around and stumbled again, this time falling flat on my ass as I struggled to catch my breath and then falling onto my back, closing my eyes as I tried to recover.

It was amazing. The amount of damage I'd inflicted, the sheer, terrifying power and speed I'd been able to put behind each blow as I'd moved faster and hit harder than ever before. I'd been so fast, so strong, amazing—

For the three seconds it had lasted. Nearly twelve hundred MP gone in seconds—I'd burnt a lot already, in fairness, simply to activate and maintain my persistent powers, but…even if I'd been at full power, I doubted I'd have managed to attack more than ten times. I couldn't even fight at full power for five seconds.

But I'd keep training, keep trying, keep struggling until I could, until I could fight like that normally. I'd known, of course, that I wasn't strong—that I was weak compared to any Huntsman or Huntress or even the students training to become like them—but this…it had been a taste of strength. For a moment I'd reached higher then I'd ever come close to before and now I wanted to keep climbing, to feel that way more.

I thought about Bai Hu, the Tiger of the West—of how powerful he must have been at his height if he could use the whole style consistently, and of the fact that he had possessed equals. I thought of my parents and of the Hunters I knew were above even them and I wanted to join those ranks. I always had, really, but in an abstract sense. This…this was different. This was…

I opened my eyes and held my hand up towards the sky, looking at it Crocea Mors metal gauntlet, of the legend who'd once raised him high as a sword and carved out history.

"I want to be strong," I told him though his summon had faded, even as a new pair of windows appeared before me. "I…"

A skill has been created through a special action! A skill to utilize the power of your body, 'Martial Arts Mastery,' has been created!

A skill has been created through a special action! A skill to draw upon an ancient martial art, 'Bai Hu's White Tiger Technique,' has been created!

I stared at them both for a moment and then shut my eyes again, falling into a meditative state before I fainted. There was still work to me done.