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.

Delivery

Of everyone involved, I think I weathered the crash the best. I slammed forward against my seatbelt, smashed my head hard against the wheel, and then got knocked back into my seat by the airbags. It hurt for a second and probably took a decent chunk of my HP, but it didn't kill me and I felt more or less fine a few seconds later.

Blake, in comparison, nearly went through the window. Would have, really, if my hold on her hadn't delayed things long enough for her to be hit by the airbags, too.

When the pain faded, I realized I was laughing madly. I didn't mean to, it's just…I was alive. I'd survived the crash and nothing was filling me with bullets just this second either. The airbags quickly began to deflate, but I had started trying to move the truck the moment I could and we were in motion a second or so after the crash. I felt bumps in the road that I assumed were the Spider Droids legs as I drove over and past it and a few seconds later I could see it in my mirrors, along with—

Shit.

"Adam, get back on board!" I shouted out the window at the Faunus who hadn't been inside and didn't have anything to hold onto. He must have gone flying when we crashed, but it said something about him that he immediately started getting up and brushing himself off, looking more annoyed than anything else as he placed a hand on his sword and took a ready stance. Or, well, I assumed he was annoyed. It was kind of hard to tell with most of his face covered by his mask. Behind him, the Spider Droid was beginning to recover, turning itself around on the ground with its splayed legs. As it sighted us, its four cannons seemed to merge and it wasn't hard to guess that something big was coming.

"Some warning would be appreciated, next time," Blake said flatly, yellow eyes boring into me. "Or, preferably, never do that again."

"Let's aim for the latter," I said. "Sorry, but I didn't want you to worry about what would have happened if it hadn't worked. Adam! Get on!"

"If it hadn't worked!?" Blake asked, her eyes actually widening incredulously. It was the largest display of emotion I'd seen from her yet. "What do you mean if it hadn't worked!?"

"It's called improvisation," I told her without even looking her way. I was more focused on what was going on behind me—particularly the glow that machine was starting to emit. "Dammit, Adam!"

Blake checked her own mirror and exhaled slowly.

"Keep going," She said. "He'll catch up when he's done."

"Are you seeing what I'm seeing, Blake? Because it looks like that thing has a beam cannon!"

"Just watch," She said.

Not having much choice, I did. The machine's glow brightened even as Adam maintained the stance he'd adopted and then there was a torrent of bright blue light that I was briefly certain would eclipse Adam entirely—but it didn't. Instead, he caught the laser beam on his sword, slammed his blade back into its sheath, and started to laugh. And glow, but really, the laugh was creepier. Had I sounded like that?

And then, it was over in a flash of light, the machine literally disappearing even as Adam began to stumble and fall.

Your level has increased by one! Your level has increased by one! Your level has increased by one! Your level has increased by one!

"Shit," I said, glancing at the map even as I stopped the truck, ignoring the notifications. The other two machines had instantly reacted to their fellow's destruction, but…

"I'll get him," Blake said, disappearing back out the window. Seconds ticked by almost painfully slowly even though I knew logically that Blake reached her partner's side with amazing swiftness. I heard the back of the truck open and then close and moments after, Blake was back in her seat beside me and I drove on.

I kept watching the map, waiting for something else to happen, but nothing did. We drove right past the border into the Agricultural District without even getting stopped by the police and I realized belatedly how little time had passed in all this chaos. From when I reached that ware house to right now…it hadn't even taken half a damn hour. I'd gone up seven levels in half an hour and it wasn't over yet. Speaking of which…

As I pulled up to the place marked on the dot and got out of the car, I reached into my Inventory to retrieve the package I'd originally agreed to deliver. When Blake and I went around to the back to get the wounded, I tossed it too her.

"Here," I said. "This was what Tukson wanted me to deliver to you before…everything."

Blake looked down at the messily wrapped package and cracked a smile.

"Neither rain nor sleet nor giant robots, huh?"

"When I take a job, I finish it," I said tiredly, reaching up to open up the back. The White Fang members looked a fair bit more banged up then they had before they'd gotten into a car with me, but they were alive and they were somewhere safe.

Quest 'White Fang's Need' complete!

Your level has increased by one!

Package Delivered! Return to Tukson to receive your reward!

"We'll need to dispose of the truck," Blake said, nodding towards it. "I have some red Dust—we'll take it somewhere away from here and burn it."

I nodded before looking back into the truck. Adam, down. The three White Fang members I'd met inside the warehouse had collapsed, too. Right now, it was just Blake and I. But then…

"What about the wounded?" I asked. "I'm guessing we can't take them to the hospital, huh?"

"No," She said. "Even ignoring what we are, the hospitals are required to tell the police about wounds like these, and then…"

She shook her head.

"I know first aid. I'll do what I can," She said. What she didn't say, however, was that it wouldn't be enough. Not for most of them. There were too many bullet wounds, too many injured, too much—

Some of them would die in a few hours, even with the care the three guys in back had managed to give them. Maybe even most of them.

"Is there…" I hesitated before giving up and sighing. "Is there anything else I can do?"

"Not unless you know a way to heal the wounded," Blake said frankly, but not cruelly.

I looked down helplessly—and then glanced back up as a blue window appeared.

A quest has been created!

One after another…

But I guess I wouldn't complain. Just this once.

"Maybe," I said, eyes scrolling over the information as it appeared. "But we'll have to hurry."

XxXXxX

Once we'd burned the truck, Blake and I took the White Fang's boat across Wilhelm before rushing to the train and riding it up to the Commercial District. It might have been quicker to steal a car—and it was an emergency—but Blake and I agreed that we couldn't risk someone noticing, calling it in, and getting us wrapped up in another fiasco—especially when we didn't have time to spare. Depending on how long things took, we might just have to risk it, but I didn't want to chance that until after we got what we needed.

Even so, we were going to be hard-pressed to make it within the time-limit of 'White Fang's Hope,' the new quest I'd gotten. I was running the moment the doors opened and pushed myself as hard as I could to get to Tukson's Book Trade. Blake kept pace with me easily, eyes sharp and alert just in case someone had somehow connected us to the mess that was now preoccupying most of the city—but no one seemed to notice a young boy and girl running, either going about their normal lives or focusing their attention on holographic screens that couldn't seem to decide whether to blame the incident on the Schnee Dust Company or on the White Fang. That wasn't my concern, though, so I just pushed my body as hard as I could, following the route on my map and barreling through the door to Tukson's place.

Repeated struggles caused your VIT to increase by 1!

"Tukson!" I shouted even as I struggled to breath, Blake slipping in quietly after me and shutting the door behind us.

I heard a sudden rattling sound from the back room before Tukson swept up front, the light of the hologram shining briefly before the veil fell back into place.

"Boy?" Tukson asked, expression seemingly unable to settle on a particular emotion. I could guess why, given he probably didn't know what had happened—he'd been worrying about his friends, worrying about me, wondering if he'd gotten me killed, wondering if I'd been the cause of all this. When his eyes settled on Blake, however, he took a deep breath and his features settled. He paused for a moment, before apparently deciding on something and nodding to himself. "It's good to see you both made it out okay. The others?"

I guess it wasn't too hard to figure out that I knew what was going on when a powerful White Fang member was looming in my shadow and following my lead. I wasn't sure what that must have looked like to Tukson, but I was happy to exploit it now.

"Alive but most of them are hurt pretty bad," I said, looking left and right with a frown. "I'm gonna need everything you have on medicine and healing."

I paused for an instant and when no windows appeared before me I spoke again.

"I delivered your package, by the way, so I'm taking my book, too," I said.

Your level has increased by one! Your level has increased by one! Your level has increased by one!

The skill book 'Meditation: The Soul of the World' is now yours for the taking!

Brushing past them, I went to the shelf and grabbed the book I could blame at least part of this mess on and then crouched down to glance over the others. Out of the corner of my eye, I could see Blake moving quickly to one of the other shelves and gathering a few books herself.

"Hey, Tukson, is it possible to heal with Aura?" I asked, lifting my voice.

"It's possible, but it won't help you much," Tukson said. "There are a number of ways to do it, but they all take a lot of training. Up in Vacuo—where I'm from—there are a few monasteries and schools that train people to use their Aura to do stuff like that but it takes years to master it. It's a lot easier to heal yourself than others."

"I'm a fast learner," I said. "Do you have any books on it?"

Tukson opened his mouth again before closing it and shaking his head, apparently deciding against whatever he'd been about to say.

"Yeah," He said. "In the back, just let me get it."

Tukson popped into to the back of the shop and just as quickly returned, carrying what looked more like a notebook then a book. I looked down at the cover as he held it out to me and could honestly say I didn't understand a word of it. Hell, I didn't even recognize what language it was on, and though the book itself only seemed a tad worn, the script seemed old, somehow.

"This is an old, old Vacuo manuscript—or, well, it's a transcription, at least. Back in the War, a few of the monasteries got raided and had their tablets and texts stolen. Afterwards, most of them got returned or put in museums, but a few ended up in some expensive collections. This is a transcription of one of the latter that my friend managed to get for me after the guy got raided himself."

As he spoke, he cast a sidelong glance at Blake before focusing back on me.

"I don't know how much help it'll be to you, though. The original tablet was something like three thousand years old and the monks kept the transcriptions under lock and key. It took me a month to hunt down enough books to even try translating it and it wasn't very helpful. It's the third tablet of a set of eight and it builds off principles in the first, so I couldn't make any sense of it. I don't even know if I translated the name right…"

I took the book.

You obtained the skill book 'The Forge of Souls Creates Life.' Would you like to learn this skill?

"Did you translate it as 'The Forge of Souls Creates Life'?" I asked. "Because that's what I'm getting."

I saw both Blake and Tukson turn and just…stare at me. I made a show of flipping through the book quickly and nodding to myself as if I could actually understand it.

"It's not a problem," I said. "Blake, let's go. Sorry Tukson, but I might not be able to return your books. Thanks for the help."

I put my new skill books under one arm and turned to go before pausing.

"Actually…you have a car, right?"

Blake was gripping the armrests to either side of her as I sped through the streets. I was careful not to break the law where anyone was watching, but the moment I was out of sight I was going as fast as I could. The ride back the Agricultural District should have taken an hour.

At this rate, I'd get us there in under half that.

"You must like books a lot," Blake said through slightly gritted teeth as I drifted around a corner in place of actually slowing down.

I glanced at her, raising an eyebrow.

"To go through all this trouble for one," She clarified. "You must like books a lot."

"I like learning things," I said, figuring she was trying to make conversation to distract herself. "I like knowing things. Books are good for that."

"You don't enjoy reading for its own sake?" She asked.

I mulled over that for a bit before answering.

"Enjoyment doesn't really factor into it. I spend most of my day studying to learn more and become smarter," I said, telling the truth. "It doesn't really matter if I enjoy it. And I've never enjoyed reading stories much, anyway."

She peered at me out of the corner of her eye, apparently forgetting about her aversion to my driving.

"Why?"

I considered remaining silent since it was something that actually mattered, if only to me—but then again, the White Fang had seen my face, as had Tukson, and I wasn't dumb enough to believe there weren't investigations and background checks in my future. If they didn't have a name and a profile to attach to my face by tomorrow, I'd be shocked. Most of my story would be in their hands before long and the rest…well, I couldn't see them guessing that stuff from anything but me flat-out telling them, though at this point I was probably going to have to let a few details slip loose.

The real question was what they could and would do with that information. Generally, the worst case scenario in a situation like this would be that they could try to threaten my family but, uh, even if they had reason to, I imagined they'd change their tunes when they saw my family. Instead, if they were trying to get to me, they'd probably try to blackmail me by threatening to tell my family what I'd done—but there were ways around that. If needed, I could just explain things to my mom, explain that I'd done it to try and save lives after getting wrapped up in a huge mess, and…well, honestly, that might not be so bad. Telling my mom, that is. A part of me had worried about it for a long time and I still did, kind of, because of the likely consequences of revealing everything I could do, but…a part of me wanted her and dad to know.

But the point was, even if they could threaten to tell my parents or the authorities—and even if they'd gotten pictures to prove it or something—I hadn't done anything that bad, not really. I mean, about a million traffic violations, but mainly in an emergency and in the defense of life. A pretty tiny amount of property damage, too, all things considered. The worst I could be accused of was aiding the White Fang, which, yeah, could be pretty bad, but was largely circumstantial—namely, I wasn't doing it for the White Fang, I was trying to save lives. And hell, I was a minor; I could manage. There were a few other things they could do, but I thought I could deal with it if they tried to get at me that way.

However…they didn't have much reason to want to do stuff like that, did they? Not yet, at least. I mean, hell, I'd sort of saved their skins. I couldn't say I really knew these people, much less trusted them, but Blake at least didn't seem like the type to ignore that. And by answering her question, I could create a rapport, become more of a person in her eyes, and maybe learn some things in return—and it might help gloss over what I was guessing would come up soon.

And maybe, just maybe, I wanted to finally say it out loud.

"Because the only stories that ever got told in my house were ones I couldn't live up to," I said honestly. "At least, not for a long, long time. And you? You like stories, I guess?"

She was silent for a long minute, staring out the window before looking away. Nonetheless, she seemed to be getting used to my driving—or maybe I was just getting better at it. I'd probably level up the stat some more soon.

"I like stories," She said. "I just know the difference between them and real life."

I hummed, wondering how to answer that, and silence lingered until we finally reached our destination and got out of Tukson's truck. I put my two skill books under an arm while Blake carried hers close to her chest. Just as I was about to go it, she stopped me with a hand.

"Why won't you be able to return the book?" She questioned, glancing at the notebook having apparently deciding to finally ask. "Tukson didn't ask because of…everything, but why wouldn't you be able to give them back?"

A part of me had kind of hoped that she wouldn't notice—but I wasn't actually surprised that she did. I considered staying cryptically silent until she gave up, but I was going to have to use the skill books soon and it was gonna be hard to do that without her noticing, what with the light show and the vanishing books and the instant skill in stuff. I could try getting out of sight, but that might just make it even more suspicious when I came back plus talent and minus books. Given that, she might well make the connections all by herself.

So I told her the truth.

"I'm going to devour them for the knowledge they contain within," I admitted, smiling at the look she shot me. "Hey, you asked. You can see for yourself, if you want."

I held out a hand and she gave me one of the books she'd taken from Tukson's.

You obtained the skill book 'Practical Medicine.' Would you like to learn this skill?

I tapped the yes option with a knuckle and watched the book shatter into light and vanish, feeling the knowledge flow into me as it did so. I closed my eyes and inhaled deeply, before opening them once more.

You've obtained the skill 'Medicine.'

I looked at Blake, whose eyes had widened slightly as my power took effect.

"I told you I learned fast," I said.

"Is that…your Semblance?" She asked.

"Pretty much," I said, figuring it was probably even partially true. "It's kind of complicated, though, so give me a second?"

I knelt down, lifting my real prizes.

You obtained the skill book 'The Forge of Souls Creates Life.' Would you like to learn this skill?

This time I pressed 'Yes' and blinked when a window I'd never seen before appeared.

You cannot learn this skill. Required: INT 25.

So, some skills have prerequisites. That was…fairly unsurprising, honestly. There wasn't enough information to say if it was limited to just stats or if some skills required knowing others—but the latter seemed likely. This, thankfully, didn't seem to be one of them despite being the third in a set, and INT 25 wasn't an issue. I hadn't intended to put points into INT yet, but…actually, now might have been a good time for it. I had enough points to reach it and my chosen goal for Wisdom. But first, I should check the other book as well, to see if it had something similar.

You obtained the skill book 'Meditation: The Soul of the World.' Would you like to learn this skill?

'Yes.'

You cannot learn this skill. Required: WIS 55.

I hummed to myself.

"Something wrong?" Blake asked.

"Not…really? It's hard to explain. It's not an issue though; just my power being finicky." I answered distractedly before turning her way and holding up the book. "Actually, you know Tukson pretty well, right? Do you know anything about this book?"

Blake frowned at it for a moment, expression considering.

"It's old," She said. "I glanced through it once about seven years ago, when Tukson first got it, but neither of us could make sense of it. Tukson said he'd gotten it from a private library, but whoever wrote it translated it strangely. It's a crude direct translation rather than a transcription and since most of its written in parables and metaphors. There are a lot of what we think might have been poems or rhymes but they don't make a lot fo sense in another language. Tukson figured it might have made sense in the original language but…"

She shrugged.

"Tukson kept it in the back for a while, trying to figure it out, but put it up front after giving up and putting it on display. There are a few interesting things in there, like historical accounts that were used as references and even mentions of the original war with the Grimm, but its...hard to read. But I guess that's not an issue for you, is it?"

She stared at me with interest.

"You can understand it, right? There were mentions of how it supposedly worked, which kept Tukson interested for quite a while, but…does it…?"

"I'll tell you in a second." I said, frowning at the book thoughtfully.

It was a significantly higher prerequisite, which implied a more powerful technique—for some definition of power. I checked my Status Window to make sure and confirmed that I had forty points to spend, just enough to manage both. Did my bonuses from Aura count towards the requirement? I doubted it and it wouldn't matter one way or another but I should probably check.

Wisdom first. Partially because I really wanted the Skill Book I'd gone through all this trouble to get, especially now that I knew it was apparently something amazing, and partially because I'd originally planned to increase Wisdom to fifty, but mainly because, well, it was Wisdom and it had served me fairly well so far, in terms of staying alive. I'd go to fifty-five and then decide if it was worth investing in any more or if I should switch my focus elsewhere. If I considered ten to be average and thirty to be exceptional, then a fifty-five in Wisdom—or a seventy-one point five if, as I suspected, the bonuses didn't count—should serve me well for a long time. Once I was at that point, I could probably rely on the decisions I made in terms of my other abilities.

Nodding decisively, I raised my base Wisdom to forty-three and pressed 'Yes' again.

You cannot learn this skill. Required: WIS 55.

As expected but good to confirm. I added another twelve points to my Wisdom, taking the base score to fifty-five and giving me seventy-two after Aura's passive buff. The moment I finished, a new window appeared before my eyes.

The skill 'Nature Affinity' has been created through WIS rising above 50.

Nature Affinity (Passive) LV1 EXP: 0.00%

Long ago, Man, who was born from dust, realized the power of nature and the light that shines within all life and turned its wrath against the soulless Grimm, burning away the darkness. This skill increases the users sensitivity and control over those forces, improving their affinity with the elements.

25% Increase in Mana Recovery Rate.

10% Increase to Elemental Attack.

10% Increase to Elemental Defense.

50% Increase to Element related skill effects and Dust use.

I stared. I did that a lot with my power, but…but…

…Wow. That was…impressive. Not only the skill itself, but the implication contained within it—that there were similar benefits for raising other abilities above fifty. And was it just fifty? Would something similar happen if it was raised above another number, such as a hundred? Then…what skills would manifest where?

A part of me was eager to find out—but I stayed calm. I'd intended to raise my stats from the beginning by training my body hard, but I had to be careful about it. I needed to raise my INT to twenty-five now out of necessity, but I could improve my other stats relatively cheaply through normal means, which was more effective. Raising a stat became more difficult as the level increased—I could safely assume that simply from what I'd seen with Vitality and how Strength and Intelligence hadn't improved a second time yet. The cost for raising a skill the mundane way became greater and greater over time.

The value of my points, however, was different. One point would increase the stat by one, no matter what its value, with no additional effort beyond what was needed to level up in the first place, though that itself increased over time. That is, raising my strength from ten to eleven via training required relatively little effort, but trying to raise it from fifty to fifty-one would likely be very difficult—and even more so to raise it above, say, a hundred. But the same point I could use to circumvent that small amount of effort could also be used to circumvent that massive effort. Baring special circumstances like this one—or stats like Wisdom that I didn't know how to improve easily—I should train my abilities the mundane way while they were low and gather points to raise them further once they were higher.

I nodded to myself, I drew up my Status Screen again and spent all but one of my points on INT, raising it to twenty-five before pressing the 'Yes' buttons again, this time watching as the books dissolved.

You've obtained the skill 'Soul of the World.'

Soul of the World (Active) LV1 EXP: 0.00%

Since long ago, Man learned to harvest Nature's bounty and wrath alike, using it to forge hope and life from the hostile darkness. All living things possess Aura, the light of the soul, and Nature's power runs through the World, sometimes crystalizing as Dust. This technique enables the user to directly touch and take in power from the World, drawing strength from the world to survive within it using meditation.

Increase HP recovery per minute by WIS while meditating.

Increase MP recovery per minute by WIS while meditating.

Increase Stamina recovery per minute by WIS while meditating.

Aura (MP) can be improved through meditation.

You've obtained the skill 'Soulforge Restoration.'

Soulforge Restoration (Active) LV1 EXP: 0.00% MP:50

Within the darkness, Man learned the truth—that the soul is something infinite in distance and unbound by death. By releasing it, they found immortality even in death.

Without Dust, 50 HP restored, low-ranking Illnesses removed.

With Dust, 50 HP restored, 50 MP restored, low-ranking Illnesses removed, low-ranking Status Effects removed.

God my ability is cheap.

Taking a deep breath as the knowledge filled me, I stood and faced Blake again.

"Let's finish this before it gets any later," I said, stretching.