AN: Written entirely because every work of fiction needs a The Gamer crossover with the protagonist being The Gamer. And for no other reason. If you want a good one with Juane being The Gamer, go check out "The Games We Play". It's pretty awesome. Anyways, this was also written because inspiration dried up for my main fic, Beyond the Veil, and then I heard about Monty Oum, and how for a tribute, we should write something creative, so... uh... this happened. ^.^"

Warning: While this draws on elements from The Gamer, in order to more smoothly fit in the RWBY setting and an actual worked out mechanical system, a number of details have been changed. Second warning: We simply don't know much about RWBY Canon. So while I'm going to stick to canon in terms of what exists, by the time we get to Beacon, things are going to be rather different, and likely severely AU. Also, an annoying amount of OCs, but in my defense, we know nothing about Signal, and she did mention she had friends there. Ugh. OCs. Anyone have any suggestions, feel free to review with them, if only so I don't have to worry about annoying readers quite as much. Third warning: This is from Ruby's POV. She's childish, hyper, and has a rather eclectic vocabulary (Oobleck: I assure you, as a Huntsman, I have had my share of tussles. Ruby: Like the mushroom? Blake: Those are truffles. Ruby: Like the sprout? Yang: Those are brussels. That is, she knows that brussels are a sprout, but not that a tussle is a fight, which, being the battle-fanatic that she is, you'd think she would.) This will be rather evident in the writing style. Furthermore, Ruby isn't exactly the most responsible of people. While other people would be going "Oh, crap, what does this mean?" She's going, "Ooh! Shiny!" While she does recognize that optimization is important, and isn't going to distribute stat points out of boredom, I can't picture her sitting down and writing up a full graph of her expected growth, optimal build for max damage per second, etc. Also, she's not the most reliable of narrators either.

Disclaimed, btw. Which, I'd like to note, apparently isn't actually necessary? So I'm just gonna... not do that anymore. We all know this is disclaimed. Just... pretend I wrote it every chapter.

Summary: Ruby Rose was never going to be a normal kid. When she found out her Semblance was called "The Gamer" however, normality went straight out the window. Well, at least Signal Academy won't be boring with this to play with. And hey! If she's lucky, maybe she'll make it into Beacon in a few years!

Chapter 1

I rub my eyes as I see Yang get out of bed. When the words and bar floating above her head fail to go away, I rub them again. And then a third time, just to make sure.

Yang Xiao Long. Blood Knight. Level 5. Long red bar. Okay. I glance up at the small status window in the upper right hand corner of my vision. Ruby Rose. Level 1. Health: 44/44 written in white over a long red bar. Aura: N/A written in white over a long blue bar. Stamina: 48/48 in white over a green bar. Darn it! Why am I only level one? Is it because I haven't started training at Signal yet? That's so unfair!

Oh wait, this is new. A small blue box pops into existence in front of me.

Quest Created!

Attend your first day of classes at Signal!

Rewards: 100 XP, Tutorial Skills Granted

Failure Penalty: Decreased Closeness with teachers.

Duration: One School Day.

Accept?: Y/N

"So shall we get breakfast, sis?" Yang asks enthusiastically. I nod absently, concentrating on the box. It looks kind of like the status screens you see in video games. But that was rather silly in real life... unless it was my semblance. Semblances were weird like that. But this would be even weirder than you'd expect, and besides, I hadn't even unlocked my aura yet! People didn't usually get a Semblance until a year or so after unlocking their aura, after all. And besides, what kind of semblance is seeing a video game screen anyways? I am perfectly capable of telling how injured I am, thank you very much, semblance!

Oh, but there was a red bar under Yang's name! Maybe it lets me tell how injured my friends or the bad guys are? That might be useful when dealing with Grimms as a huntress (Which I'm totally going to be), since they don't ever really look injured. Hm. I wonder if it does anything else? Maybe I can open up a Status screen and oh, there it is!

Name: Ruby Rose

Semblance: The Gamer

Level: 1

Health: 44/44

Aura: N/A (Locked)

Stamina: 48/48

Str: 5

Agi: 7

Vit: 4

Int: 5

Wis: 2

Luk: 7

Points: 5

Money: 0 Lien

Ooh, I wonder what else there is? A quick runthrough of words later, I apparently have an Inventory (which is currently empty except for my awesome combat skirt, my blouse, and my badass cloak) and a skill section (Which has something called Gamers Body and Gamers Mind, but they're kinda weird, and seem to just say "you're a video game character" which I already knew, thanks).

I break off from my musings to grab a glass of milk and some cookies for breakfast. "So are you excited for your first day?" Yang asks, grinning at me as we find a seat. I put aside the status screen for now. I can figure things out later. Oh! Maybe I can ask her for help with it! Now to find a way to lead into it. Oh, but I should answer her question first.

I nod enthusiastically. "Uh huh! I heard we get to spend our whole first year trying to find a good weapon to use as our base! It sounds awesome!"

"It is." Yang agrees, "But don't get too excited, sis. You also have to do stuff like math and history class, as well as tactics, science, and other 'life skills'. Of course, the lessons on Dust usage, Aura manipulation, and fighting classes more than make up for that, and they're a lot longer."

"That's good!" I reply brightly. "Oh, hey, Yang. You're in your second year, right? With only a couple years to go before you graduate?"

"Uh huh." She nods, looking somewhat confused.

"So hey, do you know if someone can unlock a semblance before they unlock their Aura?" I ask cautiously.

"You unlocked your Semblance?" Yang gives me a wide eyed look. "That's awesome! What is it?"

"I didn't say that!" I protest.

"Then why were you asking?" Yang taunts me. I pout at her, but answer the question.

"Okay, I totally found my semblance. But it's silly."

"Huh? What do you mean by that?" Yang asks, her face becoming a bit concerned.

"Everything looks like a videogame!" I wave my hands in frustration. "I can see your name floating above your head, and then there's a level beneath it, and then a title, and then a health bar, and the same thing's going on for everyone! Like that guy!" I point at a random classmate-to-be. "Apparently his name is Karot Tarsik, and he's level 3. Since I'm level 1, and you're level 5, he's probably a second year this year. So it's awesome that I can see who I'm talking to, and don't have to actually talk to- oh, hey! What's Observe?"

A message pops up in front of me.

Through continuous observation, a skill to observe objects, situations, and persons was generated allowing the user to quickly gather information. The higher the skill, the greater the data obtained.

"...Wait, what?" Yang gives me a confused look. "What are you talking about, sis?"

"My semblance!" I whine at her lack of attention paying. "It just said that I got a new skill called Observe and ooh! Apparently the guy has 50 Health and 37 Aura."

"Ruby." Yang reaches out, patting me on the shoulder and calming me down. "Explain from the beginning, okay?"

"Right." I nod. "So I can see names and stuff over people's heads. You know, like in a game, when you run into another player. And apparently I can pull up a status screen to look at my own abilities and stuff. Like, right now, I just got a skill called Observe, which lets me look at people and learn a little bit about them."

"And it's accurate?" Yang confirms. I shrug at her.

"I don't know. We should find out! After class though, I just got a quest to go to classes. Which, I'll admit, is a pretty boring quest, but I get exp for it, so it's awesome."

She laughs at me, but after a moment she sends me off to class. The first class of the morning was a bit boring, just history stuff, so I spend the whole time using my shiny new Observe skill. Apparently the teachers are pretty strong! Our one's like, level 27, and she's got this awesome battleaxe that, according to my Observe skill uses the "Two Handed Axe" skill or the "Rifle" skill for ranged attacks. It didn't tell me much else until I managed to level it though, but now that it's level 3, it also tells me that the axe/rifle has a range of 1000 meters with its ranged attack, a reach of 2 meters with its melee attack. It could also shroud itself in an element by using some Dust.

The next class, math wasn't much better, except that I apparently earned a point of Int due to "Diligent studying." So that was kinda cool. Of course, that made me want to know what Int actually did, so I spent the rest of the class trying to figure that out.

Strength: Raw offensive Physical power. This affects melee damage and accuracy, as well as how much you can lift and carry. It has a lesser effect on your maximum HP. This also affects stamina.

Vitality: This is a measurement of your physical fitness. The greater this stat is, the higher your Health maximum. This also has an effect on your movement speed. This also affects Stamina, HP Regeneration, and Stamina Regeneration.

Agility: This is a measurement of your speed and agility. This affects your accuracy, speed, and dodging ability.

Intelligence: This measures your cognitive abilities. It affects a number of crafting and academic skills, as well as Dust and Aura usage. Higher levels increase your total amount of Auric energy. It

Wisdom: This stat determines how effective you are at making good decisions, and your awareness of your surroundings. This ability also affects your Aura regeneration rate and your Stamina regeneration rate.

Luck: How lucky you are.

So apparently I'm not that good at making good decisions, which is totally not true, but in case it is, I'll save my shiny 5 points until I've got Yang to help me pick. Or until I find out more. In the meantime though, is Auric Manipulation, where we unlock our Auras.

Unlocking auras is pretty straight forwards. The teacher drags us up front, uses a small supply of Dust to provide enough power to unlock our Aura, then orders us to sit down. Well, there's also a lecture, but I wasn't really paying attention. But for everyone else, it probably just stops there. For me though? My Semblance starts acting up.

Your Aura has been unlocked! You can now activate Auric Abilities!

Your Aura Pool is now accessible! You have 60MP.

Your study of Aura has granted you the the Aura Shield ability!

Your study of Aura has granted you the the Strengthen ability!

Your study of Aura has granted you the the Speed Boost ability!

Your study of Aura has granted you the the Regenerate ability!

Your study of Aura has granted you the the Channel Aura ability!

A bit of poking around while the others were getting unlocked told me what they did. Aura Shield was the basic usage of Aura to protect myself. At the level one I had it at, it reduced wounds by 90%, but all blocked damage hit my Auric Pool instead of my HP. Higher levels would make less of the damage affect my auric pool... I think. It was written really weirdly. Strengthen and Speed boost increased my strength and speed by 10% just by having them, and let me spend 10 auric energy to increase it by another 10% for a minute. Regenerate automatically spent one auric energy to restore one health each minute. And the channel aura ability just let me channel my aura through items at normal efficiency.

Unfortunately, the class ends before we do anything else, so next is weapon-making. Which is awesome!

(I AM A LINE)

I got a couple new skills last class, mainly Weaponcrafting and Armorcrafting, but nothing else really important happened. So now I'm back in my dorm, talking with Yang again. "You should save your points until you figure out your combat style." She decides, "I mean, I stand up front and use Ember Cecelia in close range, so I'd probably have a lot of strength and vitality. If you're planning on running around and hitting things as you move past them like Uncle Qrow does, you'll probably want a lot of Agility and Intelligence. The agility lets you move quickly and dodge incoming attacks, while the intelligence will let you use your skills more often. Auric Energy's treated like mana in video games, right?"

I nod and she continues. "Then intelligence is probably one of the best for that style, especially since you can just use your aura to boost your strength and speed. Combine that with a high natural speed and you can just run up to them, hit them as hard as you can, then run away to get away from their own attacks. It'll also help you with your weapons ranged component. If agility affects your accuracy with ranged weapons, and their damage depends on the weapon itself, then having a high agility means that you'll be able to shoot things pretty well!" Her voice returns to it's normal cheerfulness as her speech ends, losing a lot of the weight that it had until now. "That being said, that's an awesome ability What do you think will happen when you level up? Do you think you'll get more stat points?"

"Oh! We should find out!" I say excitedly, "I heard there's a lot of beowulfs in Signal's forest."

"That's true. They're pretty weak, but that just means they're a good thing to practice on for newbies." Yang replies thoughtfully. "I'll ask the teachers. It should be fine though, especially since someone'll be there to keep you from getting yourself into trouble. In the meantime, you head to the armory and go pick out something to use."

"Awesome!" I leap forwards, grabbing her in a hug. "Thanks, sis!"

"Hey, what are sisters for?" She teases.

I make my way to the armoury, which, by the way, is awesome! There's a ton of weapons, all over the place! They're really simply ones, classics, really. Shortswords, longswords, a couple pistols, and, oh! Scythe! Sweet! I quickly grab it, swinging it around to try to get a feel for it. As I do, another message pops up.

Wielding a two handed axe has unlocked the Two Handed Axe Skill.

You have unlocked Axe Mastery skill.

... Apparently it counts as an axe. Which is, you know, kinda cool, but also not really what I expected. I decide to take a closer look at the two skills, you know, try to figure out what they do.

Two Handed Axe: Level 1. 0% XP.

Allows the User to Handle Axes.

This skill determines your hit rate with Two Handed Axes.

0% Base Crit Chance.

Axe Mastery: Level 1. 0% XP.

This skill makes the user more effective with axes. Axes are slow, but do significantly more damage than any other melee weapon type.

+10% Damage.

I give off a gleeful yelp, then quickly slap a hand over my mouth. Good, no one heard that. Now I need a gun! Ooh! Sniper Rifle! I want it! I grab one, then pout- I mean, frown menacingly as the weight unbalances me. Well that's no fun. I'll have to grab something smaller. Or... I could use the bipod! Oh, but then I'd have to lie down... hm... Oh, I bet I could attach it to my scythe! And I could have it fold out and stuff to switch between a higher rate of fire and accuracy! And I could use the scythe's blade as the bipod, and since it'd stick into the ground, I could even use it to absorb recoil! If I make it strong enough, I bet I could even kick up the recoil to let me fly around by riding it! Oh, hey, new skills.

Wielding a sniper rifle unlocked the Sniper Rifle Skill.

You have unlocked the Sniping Mastery skill.

OOH! That sounds awesome! A quick look-see shows that they act pretty much like the two axe skills I got a little bit ago. Sniper Rifle helps me hit, while Sniping Mastery gives me a 10% boost to damage. I bet if I level my weaponcrafting, I can make an awesome sniper-scythe! I'm going to call her Crescent Rose of Infernal Death! Wait, no, that's a mouthful. And the initials sound silly. CRID. It's a letter away from being crud, and Yang would never let me live that down. Hm. How about Crescent Death? Nah, that sounds all overdramatic. Eh, I'll pick a name when I actually make her.

In the meantime, I need to grab some ammo. Let's see... red dust! I like red. My cloak is red, it's an awesome color. It's also the standard for most bullets, so let's grab a couple- and new skill!

Your practice at handling dust has unlocked Dust Efficiency.

Wonder what that does?

Dust Efficiency. Level 1. 0% XP.

Your skill with the usage of dust makes you more efficient at using it, requiring less of it to catalyze your Aura abilities.

Dust Abilities require 100% of the normal amount of Dust.

Huh. I wonder what a Dust ability is? I'll ask Yang later. For now though, we're off to kill some beowulfs! I quickly make my way to the gate, to find Uncle Qrow already there, with his name, a Level ? and a full health bar. "Huh? Uncle Qrow? What are you doing here? And where's Yang?" I ask, peering up at him.

"Your sister told me about your semblance." He says calmly. "I decided it would be best for me to supervise instead. We don't want any unfortunate incidents happening if you get in over your head, do we?" I let out a nervous chuckle, shaking my head.

"No, that once was enough." I say sheepishly, then perk up, waving my scythe at him. "Look! I'm going to use a scythe like you do!"

"I can see that." He says, his voice a little bit cautious. "Have you already had a chance to practice with it?"

"Well... no." I admit sheepishly scuffing my boot against the rocks on the ground. "But in video games everyone can use weapons pretty well even if they've never used them before, so I bet it'll work like that!"

"Let's head to a practice arena and test that out first." He says dryly.

"Aw. Okay." I rest the scythe on my shoulder, then trot off to the arena with him. It's pretty nicely designed, with a lot of practice-bots that they send out for you to practice again, and some non-moving targets if you're a beginner. It's also really big, so you can do all sorts of awesome flips and jumps, and there's shields on the sides to stop any gunfire from hitting the crowds.

Uncle Qrow calls up a couple of the non-moving targets, then waves at them. "Let's have you start a couple swings against the static ones to begin with." He says.

"Static? Are they going to zap me if I mess up?" I ask, slightly worried.

"What? No. Static as in immobile." I stare at him, and he sighs. "They don't move."

"Oh! Gotcha." I chuckle, then ready the scythe. My first few swings are clumsy, missing entirely.

"No." He interrupts, stepping forwards to fix my stance. "Your balance is off, hold yourself like this, and this and-"

He's interrupted by the chimes of a message.

A skill teacher has helped you to increase your Two Handed Axe skill by 1.

A skill teacher has helped you to increase your Axe Mastery skill by 1.

The sudden rush of information into my brain is really weird. It's like there's a river, but it's carrying knowledge, so it's like a river of knowledge, you know? And suddenly I can feel some of the mistakes in my stance. I shake it off, paying attention to his corrections and working at it. A while later my skill level is 5, and I'm actually hitting a good amount of the time. At this point, he tells me, "From here, it's just repetition, practice, and judgement. Also, are you certain you don't want a lighter, less awkwardly sized weapon?"

"Yes!" I pout, "Why do you keep asking me that? You've asked like, 5 times already!"

"The size and weight are throwing you off." He grimaces. "If you were able to use your aura to increase your strength, this wouldn't be as much of a problem, but..."

"Oh!" I perk up. "I can do that! I got the skill during class!"

"What?" He looks confused. "You shouldn't have had time to do any more than unlock your aura, let alone learn how to strengthen yourself with it."

"Well, the teacher didn't teach us, I just unlocked it, and then I got the skill popup for it, and I was like, whoa this is awesome, but it uses like, 10 Auric Energy per 10% boost, and my strength is already only 5 so it's not really much, and I don't even have that much aura to begin with!"

"Are... you saying that your Semblance gave you the ability to use your aura immediately?" He finally asks. I nod.

"Uh huh! Here, watch!" I mentally flip the switch that activates the Strength Boost skill, taking a breath as my strength shoots up. 30 mana, and my breath is brought up by 1.5 for a minute, hovering at 7, enough to let me wield the scythe smoothly. I slam it down on the dummy, watching in surprise as it flows through the air much more smoothly, then crashes into the broken robot with a bit more force than last time. Not too much more, but still. It's actually kinda noticeable.

"That's... impressive, especially if you have that much fine control so quickly. Most don't bother learning how to use their aura for quick boosts, preferring to rely on the passive ones.." He says thoughtfully. "Hm... What else does your semblance let you do? And do you have any ideas what it might let you do later on?"

I quickly explain it to him, or as much of it as I've been able to figure out, which admittedly isn't too much, but still!

"So it lets you keep track of what condition you're in and how good you are at things." He summarizes. "It also lets you grow at abnormally high rates. However, the ability does not give you any unusual capabilities beyond that?"

"Well, it gave me a couple skills called Gamer's Body and Gamer's Mind, but their descriptions are just, 'Your body acts like you're playing a video game' and 'your mind acts as if you're playing a video game'" I say helpfully.

"That could just be taking into account the effects it has on your body and mind when you spend those stat points you mentioned." He muses. "Very well. Ruby, we will try something. Here." He pulls out a red dust crystal. "While the skill of direct auric elemental manipulation has fallen by the wayside due to the usage of Dust in our equipment, it still remains a viable method of combat, especially when enhanced by a Dust crystal."

"... Huh?" I blink at him in confusion, and he sighs.

"Okay, history lesson. Before man discovered Dust, we still fought the creatures of Grimm. There were two ways we did so, with martial arts, and with direct auric manipulation. Oftentimes, this became one and the same. Martial Arts techniques focused on increasing the strength of your blows to a level where they could even injure the creatures of Grimm. While this required an unlocked aura, it did not expend any auric energy, instead tiring you out on a more physical level. This probably would use your stamina bar. Direct auric manipulation, on the other hand, used the aura to fight our foes. Masters of it could conjure the elements, summon spirits, and... well, anything you can do with dust, you could do with just Aura. However, doing so was difficult, and people capable of doing so were rare. Aura was much more often used for what it is now, strengthening the body and healing it, while martial arts techniques were used on the offense, to fight and kill our foes. The discovery of Dust, however, changed things. Now Aura could be used offensively by the masses in the form of Dust bullets, modified semblances, and other such techniques."

"So..." I stare at him, waiting for him to get to the point.

"I want to see if you can shoot people without a gun." He finally sighs.

"How would that work?"

"You use your aura." He replies patiently. "Now take the crystal, and I'll try and walk you through it."

I take it gingerly.

"Good." He says, his voice dropping into a low, soothing baritone. "Now, first thing we need to do is teach you how to move your aura into the crystal. To be-"

"Done." I say immediately. It uses up an Auric Point, but I shove a little bit of my aura into the crystal.

"... I see. Now, concentrate on the feel of the crystal. It should burn with flame, destruction." He continues. "Gather that feeling. Shape your aura to match it."

I nod, obeying. The crystal begins to glow red, and I notice my Aura Pool begin to drain out.

"Now take the aura inside the crystal, and launch it out of the crystal. At the target." He adds quickly, pointing his own scythe at the practice dummy.

I nod again, shoving my aura out of the crystal in a bolt of flame.

Your experiments with Red Dust have unlocked the Flame Bolt skill!

Your experiments with offensive Aura manipulation have unlocked the Innate Attack skill!

You have gained experience at Channel Aura. You are at 12%

You have gained experience at Dust Efficiency! You are at 5%.

The fireball crashes into the dummy, draining away a full 25 mana as it does. The crystal shrinks a bit, and I let out a yelp. "Why'd the crystal shrink?" I ask, worried.

"Some of it was used to catalyze the fireball." Uncle Qrow explains. "It's the same thing that happens in a bullet, and it's why you have to replace the magazines. I'm actually rather impressed. Most people would require years of training just to use that. How much energy did that cost you?"

"Twenty five." I reply promptly.

"That's more than twice as reinforcing your strength or speed by 10% for a minute, correct?" He hums. I nod. "And you mentioned that Intelligence increases your Aura Pool and the power of your attacks. Does it increase the efficiency of the skill?"

"I don't know. Do you think it would?"

"Probably not." He decides. "Hm. This would be easier if we could tell how much your intelligence affects the fireballs, versus how much strength affects a blow. But unfortunately, we can only check your strength for now."

"Huh? How?"

"Attack, then reinforce and attack again. Use your observe skill to check damage dealt each time. The difference in how much damage is dealt to the object will give you a good idea of how much effect each point has. Try it again with a fireball and a slash with your strength at the same level, and we can tell how much impact the stats have on the attacks. We won't be able to tell how much each point of intelligence affects something though." He explains.

After a few moments of thinking that through, I finally speak. "Well, I've got 5 skill points." I offer. "I could spend one on Intelligence?"

"Yes, that wouldn't hurt even if Strength turns out to have a greater effect than I anticipate." He muses. "Very well, let's begin testing."

A few minutes of testing and observing later, we manage to figure out that the melee skill does a lot more than the fireball... until my fireball skill goes up a couple levels and I put a point in Int. At that point, the fireball starts catching up a bit. It's still really behind though, only doing like, 11 damage or so compared to the scythe's 25ish. And of course, at that point, I unlock the Power Attack skill, which lets me almost triple my scythe damage for one attack by spending a few Stamina Points. I also level up the Strength Boost skill a couple times, so that's pretty awesome, because the permanent "passive" boost goes up to 12%, and each AP spent also gives 12%. Which isn't much, but Uncle Qrow got all excited and stuff because that means that it'll end up costing me less aura to get the same amount of boost.

"Very well. Here's my suggestion." Uncle Qrow finally says. "Don't put any points into Strength or Agility. You can use your Aura to compensate for those. Instead, increase your Intelligence and Wisdom. Intelligence will give you more auric energy that you can use to power your aura when it boosts your strength, while wisdom will let your recover that energy more quickly. After that put points into Vitality. It'll keep you alive, and apparently affects your stamina that you use for your Power Attack skill. My suggestion is 2 into Intelligence and Wisdom, and 1 into Vitality or luck each level."

"Wait, Luck?" I blink at him.

"Luck is good." He tells me seriously. "Luck can and often is the difference between life and death. The fact that you can tell exactly how much luck you have is rather amazing." He then mutters something, but shakes his head when I ask him to repeat it.

I nod, then distribute the points how he explained, then pull up my stat sheet to look at the changes.

Name: Ruby Rose

Semblance: The Gamer

Level: 1

Health: 52/52

Aura: 80/80

Stamina: 53/53

Str: 5 (5.6)

Agi: 7 (7.7)

Vit: 5

Int: 8

Wis: 4

Luk: 7

Points: 0

Money: 0 Lien

"My HP's up to 52, my Aura's at 80, and my Stamina's at 53." I say cheerfully.

He frowns. "Your Vitality and Strength are the same, right? I thought your description implied that vitality affects health more than it affects stamina?"

"Well, my Strength has a boost from unlocking my aura." I point out reasonably. "Maybe that's why? Because it's got 5.6 in parentheses."

"So the secondary stats are derived from the adjusted stats, not the base ones?" He muses. "Or is it just that they're both being added to a different base number? Hm. I suppose we can figure out some other time. In the mean time, head back to your room. We'll meet up here again tomorrow to work on your Semblance some more."

"Okay." I say cheerfully, then pause. "But wait, isn't that favoritism or something?"

He shakes his head. "No, when a student unlocks a semblance, it's standard procedure to have a teacher work with them individually until they master it, if only due to the amount of chaos that can be caused by some semblances."

"Oh, that's good." I say, sighing a bit in relief. I have enough trouble meeting people and talking to them without having to deal with a bad rep like being singled out for whatever.

"Now one more thing. You mentioned you got the fireball skill? Do you mind pulling up it's description? I need to cross-check it against the description given in the book."

I nod, quickly pulling up the screen.

Flame Bolt. Level 1. 4%. Active Skill. Dust Ability. 100 Aura.

Creates and launches a small bolt of flame. Using 1 milligram of [Red Dust] reduces cost by 75%. The amount of dust required is modified by your Dust Efficiency. Damage depends on Intelligence.

Oh, so that's what a Dust ability was.

"Hm. That seems to be an explanation highly specialized towards your usage." He admits. "Although that does seem to imply that with sufficient amounts of mana, you can use it without having to catalyze the effect with Dust, which may be a useful thing to learn."

"What does that book say, anyways?" I ask curiously, staring at it. As I do, I notice that there seems to be a strange golden glow around it as I get closer. "Huh? Why's it glowing?"

"What?" He gives me a confused look. "It's not glowing." I'm about to argue before I remember, wait, video game! Important things glow. I wonder why the book's important though? Observe time!

Fireball Skill Book.

An old red, hardcover book. Teaches the skill Fireball. 250 Lien.

So it basically just indicates that the book can teach me a skill? Well I guess that'll save me the trouble of going through and actually reading each book.

"You figured something else." He comments. I nod.

"The glow means that it's a skill book." I explain, "Specifically one that teaches Fireball."

"Interesting." He muses. "I wonder..." He reaches into his backpack and pulls out another book, this one with a yellow cover. "Try to identify this one."

"Earthen Grasp." I reply after a quick Observe. "Why do you have these with you, anyway? I thought you said no one used them?"

"I didn't say that." He corrects me, "There's a couple hunters who actually prefer dust-laced clothing and these skills to mundane weapons.

"Oh." I nod agreeably and he chuckles. "Well either way, take this." He hands the book to me, and I grab it. As I do, a new menu appears.

Skill Book Found: Earthen Grasp

Learn Skill?

Y/N

"Oh! It says I found a skill book, and I can learn the skill by hitting Y. Should I?" He nods at me, and I hit the button. And the book explodes. Not the fun kind, with fire, but it explodes really weirdly, turning into a giant pile of golden dust which whirls around then slams into me, and it's really pretty, but really weird because the second it does, I immediately know exactly how to shape my aura to create a giant hand out of the earth and try to grab people with it, you know? And then there's another menu.

Your study of Aura has unlocked the Earthen Grasp skill.

"Well. That was interesting." Uncle Qrow says. "What's the details on the new skill?"

I poke the menu a couple times to bring it up.

Earthen Grasp. Level 1. 0%. Active skill. Dust Ability. 80 aura.

Grabs your target with a hand made out of earth. Using 1 milligram of [Brown Dust] reduces the cost by 75%. The amount of dust required is modified by your Dust Efficiency. Grabbing strength depends on Intelligence.

I read it off for him, and he nods. "Interesting. I don't have any more books that seem like they'd teach skills with me at the moment, so that's it for now. Remember, we meet again tomorrow."

We leave the area, and I split off to return to my dorm.

"Hey sis! Sorry I wasn't able to come, Uncle Qrow sent me back. Did you guys learn anything?" Yang says, glancing up from her book as I enter the room. Her... glowing book. Huh. I wonder why a book on Grimm would count as a skill book? Observe!

Grimm Anatomy Skill Book.

A black textbook, containing pictures of many Grimm. Teaches the Grimm Anatomy skill. 125 Lien.

Continual use of Observation has increased your skill level! You are now level 4 in observation! Additional information may be found!

Oh! I wonder what happens if I use it again? I rescan the book.

Grimm Anatomy Skill Book.

A black textbook, containing pictures of many Grimm. Teaches the Grimm Anatomy skill, which allows you to score critical hits more easily on Grimm. 125 Lien.

Oh! It tells me what the skill does now! That's pretty awesome! Oh wait, Yang's staring at me. Why's she staring at me? Oh, right! Question! I should answer it.

"Oh, right! Um, we found out that I can make books explode and eat their knowledge, and that I can learn skill really really fast." I say cheerfully.

"So would that make you a bookworm?" Yang asks, smirking. "Becuase, you know, bookworms eat books."

"Yang, that was even worse than your usual ones!" I whine back. She shrugs.

"Eh, they can't all be winners." She comments.

"None of them are winners!" I complain.

"My lack of punning today aside," She says loudly, "What did Uncle Qrow teach you?"

"Oh! He taught me a couple Dust abilities, like throwing a fireball and grabbing someone with a hand made out of dirt. Oh, and he taught me a bit about how to use a scythe!"

"So he really gave you a hand with your learning then?" She says, perking up.

"Uh huh!" I agree cheerfully. She stares at me expectantly for a moment, then gives a put-out sigh.

"Oh, whatever." She grumbles, ignoring my questioning look. "So are you planning on picking up any more dust abilities?"

I nod. "They're fun!" My voice comes out a bit more happy than I expected, but I keep talking. "I had no idea that using my aura like that was so... awesome! It's like, it's like a river of power, and you're just swept away in it, and then everything's just you you know?"

"Yeah, that's kinda how I feel when I'm fighting." She says, grinning at me. "So are you going to stick with dust-imbued clothes, or that polearm you're always talking about making?"

"It's a scythe, thank you very much!" I say with as much dignity as I can muster, "And yes I'm going to use it. I'll might drop the whole sniper idea-"

"What sniper idea?" She tries to interrupt, but I talk over her.

"But dust bullets are probably still a lot easier than fireballs, and they probably won't cost me any energy, so I'll just use both and then level my skills to the point where I don't need any dust to use them, so there!"

"You can do that?" She asks, sitting up.

I nod proudly. "Uh huh! It just, you know, takes a LOT of aura. Using Dust kicks it down by like, 75%, and even then, it's a lot, but I bet if I practice enough, I can make it cost less!"

"Oh, how much?" Her voice is full out curious now, and I deflate.

"Uh, 100 for the fire one, and 80 for the earth one." I admit, "So I can't actually use any of them yet. But I will be able to soon! Oh, wait, no, I lied! I can use the earthen grasp one, it'll just completely use up all of my aura."

"So it's not actually that useful, is it?" Yang points out. "I mean, you might be able to... give a friend a hand with something," I groan at the terrible pun, because seriously, that one wasn't even trying. She ignores me and continues. "But if your aura runs out, you'll be almost defenseless won't you?"

"I can still use a weapon!" I protest.

She nods. "Right, but your aura shield will be down." She explains, "So you won't be able to take blows that you otherwise could. Most weaker blows can be practically ignored once you're skilled at using your aura, because the damage just gets absorbed by it. But once the aura's down, you're a lot easier to hurt."

"Oh, that's right." I nod, "But it says that's because 90% of the damage goes to the Aura Pool instead of my Hit Points. And as I get better, less of that 90% actually hits my Aura Pool."

"That sounds about right." She agrees with a smile and a nod. "I know that when I was first fighting, my aura'd go down really quickly, but later on, the same attacks took less and less out of my aura pool, despite hurting the same amount."

"Oh!" I grin at her. "Do you think if I get it to a high enough level, I'll be able to completely ignore attacks?"

She shakes her head. "Nah, I doubt it. I mean, no game designer would ever allow something like that."

"But it's not actually a game, is it? It's real life." I point out.

"Yeah, that makes it even less likely though. I mean, real life's kinda unfair in the enemy's favor, not in ours." She points out in return. I begin to frown at the reminder, and she quickly continues. "But, hey! That's why we're here. To swing things back in our favor." She gives me a sunny smile.

"Right." I agree firmly.

(I AM A LINE)

AN:

Well. This is a thing that happened.

Stats and how they work (Ruby doesn't necessarily know this): Note that the abilities also affect the effectiveness of skills. Also note that these aren't the equations in the manga. I have no idea what those equations are.

Strength (STR): Increases lifting strength and damage with melee weapons.

Vitality (VIT): Increases Health and stamina. Also affects movement speed.

Agility (DEX): Increases speed, accuracy with ranged weapons, and dodge ability.

Intelligence (INT): Increases MP total and increases power of Aura abilities.

Wisdom (WIS): Aura Regeneration increases by 1% every 10 WIS points.

Luck (LUK): Increases your chance of getting item drops.

Secondary Abilities (Not increased directly): Note that temporary boosts from abilities do not increase these scores, while permanent, passive boosts do.

Health: (STR+VIT*3)*2.5

Aura: INT * 10

Stamina: (STR+VIT)*5

Ruby has an impressively large list of skills at level one already, so I'm not going to bother listing them. I'll... try to find a way to keep track of what she has and at what level though. In other news! I have constructed a character sheet and the mechanics system for this. It is undoubtedly broken and unbalanced. That's okay, it's not being sold or anything. I'm debating between making a copy of the sheet and putting a link on my profile to a folder filled with a different sheet for each chapter, or just updating the same one when I need to. Or making a second story doc that just contains mechanics info, character sheets, etc. But I'm pretty sure that last one would be breaking the rules, so I'd have to check.

Also, I'm pretty sure I know where I'm going with this. I'm pretty sure I know what the plot is. I'm pretty sure that I know how I'm getting there. I'm also willing to drop those ideas the second something shiner happens. Feel free to review about what direction you think this should go, what stats and skills Ruby should focus on, etc. I might not take your advice, but I promise I'll consider it. You can also suggest skills, but if you do, I expect you to give me a general idea of the math behind it, because I will be throwing these skills into an excel sheet.

Next: There's going to be some similarities to the Gamer. There's going to therefore be some similarities to other fanfics based on The Gamer. This is unavoidable. Hopefully, this fic will properly differentiate itself.

Finally: I feel like the characters are really OOC. . It annoys me. I have trouble writing Yang, and of course I pick a character who pretty much only interacts with her. .