Eclipse Chapter 2: II: Crimson Eyes, a rwby fanfic

II: Crimson Eyes

The air was still in the depths of the forest, as if nature itself was feeling tense. The tree leaves sat still, almost unnervingly so. They didn't even give the slightest twitch, as if horrified at the prospect of movement. The sun was covered by thick, gray storm clouds. At that moment, darkness reigned supreme over the forest, without a hint of doubt.

Throughout the forest, growls almost echoed, and blood red eyes could be peering through every bush, from every distance. Creatures that wanted nothing more than the destruction of humanity loomed, waiting for something. Nothing particular, just waiting for a human to wander into their midsts.

Jaune took deep breaths as he walked through the forest. He had yet to even walk very far into the forest, and yet he could already feel the danger in the air. He knew that wasn't a good sign, but he continued to press on, his eyes darting around and his ears staying open, trying to catch even a hint of movement.

And soon enough it appeared in the form of a a snarling Beowulf. It leapt out in front of him and skidded to a halt, letting out a low growl as it glared at him. It was rather small compared to other Beowulf, indicating it was still actually quite young, but it didn't lessen the hatred it felt towards Jaune, or reduce how sharp its claws and fangs were. It let out a low growl as its red eyes fixed on Jaune's form. Even if he did try to run, it would do its best to catch him.

Jaune took a breath and readied his sword, holding up his shield as he returned the Beowulf's glare with as much intensity as he could muster. "Observe," he whispered under his breath, hoping to get some information on what he was about to fight.

["Terror in the Night" Beowulf]

Race: Grimm
Level: 13
HP: 2500/2500
AP: 0/0

Information: A demonic beast known as a Grimm, specifically of the Beowulf species. It's best attribute is its speed.

At that moment, the blonde would freely admit he'd never been more grateful for the Observe skill than just then. Knowing that it was best at being fast really helped him plan out his strategy.

Holding his shield closer to his body, he observed the Beowulf carefully, trying to notice even the smallest twitch in its body. Of course, he wouldn't be able to do that just yet since he was inexperienced, but he hoped that his sight was good enough to the point he could at least get a good glimpse of its movements.

There was a tense silence in the air, before a roar ripped from the Beowulf's throat and it charged forwards towards Jaune. It was fast, no doubt about that, but Jaune knew he could react to it. He brought his shield up and blocked its claw, before he swung his sword towards the beast's head, hoping for an easy kill against it.

Sadly, it was not to be, as the Beowulf leapt back, dodging the slash, before it charged in again while Jaune was off balance from his swing, its mouth open wide and its other arm reared back for another swipe at him.

Jaune's eyes widened as he realised he wouldn't be able to dodge it. So he went for the next best thing, partially dodging it. He followed through with the momentum from his swing, letting himself roll out of the way, though he hissed in pain as one of the claws hit his leg, causing a gash to appear on it. And boy did it hurt.

HP -200

It seemed the game agreed with him. That one hit had robbed him of a fourth of his HP. That meant he could only take three more hits like that before he was dead. He'd have to hope his attacks did more damage to the Beowulf than the Beowulf did to him.

Getting up quickly and readying his shield, he barely had time to block the Beowulf's attack, but this time he wouldn't let the same thing repeat. Instead of going for a swing at its head, he tried to stab it in the stomach as fast as he could.

And he was rewarded with a howl of pain echoing in the forest from the Beowulf's lips as Crocea Mors buried itself into the beasts stomach. Jaune glanced at it, only to watch as its HP began to lower.

HP: 2400/2500

Jaune cursed as he pulled his sword back and pulled away from the Grimm. It seemed that it had a better defence than he was hoping for, despite his Strength sitting at over 14 with all his bonuses.

Thankfully, it seemed the Beowulf needed a moment to recover from the pain. Idly, Jaune wondered if this was the first time the Beowulf had felt pain, or been hurt. Shaking his head of those thoughts, he kept his eyes focused on it. He gripped his sword tightly, tensing his arm.

Snapping out of its stupor, the Beowulf just seemed more angry than before and leapt at Jaune, fully intending to rip Jaune to shreds.

He simply stood there, waiting…waiting…waiting…

As the Beowulf was within a few feed of him, Jaune moved into action. He thrust his shield forward, causing his arm to get rattled as he slammed his shield straight into the beast's face, causing it to roar in pain, and also temporarily stunning it as it lost another hundred HP. Using the opportunity, Jaune swung his sword at it with all his might.

He miscalculated his swing, not taking the Grimm's head off, but instead he left a very nasty looking gash across its chest. To Jaune's surprise, the attack did 110 points of damage, rather than just a hundred. A new indicator that appeared in front of him revealed just why he did.

[You have gained the skill 'Power Strike' through a special act!]

A grin lit up on his face, one eye keeping on the Grimm in pain, and the other focusing on his HP and AP. He saw that he'd lost thirty of his AP, meaning that this new skill cost him that much. With twelve-hundred AP, he'd be able to do it plenty.

He refocused his gaze on the Grimm, that had now recovered, and gave it a grin as he reared his arm back, ready to swing again. He let out a yell as he charged towards it, and it did so in turn. "Power Strike!" he snapped, blocking its claw with his shield before Crocea Mors glowed a light golden color as he swung his sword, causing the Beowulf to get another nasty gash across its chest.

Critical hit! HP -260!

HP: 1930/2500

Jaune didn't question his luck in getting a critical hit like that, knowing he got lucky. He backed up, panting lightly, and his eyes widened as he realised what was going on. He was getting tired. He wasn't trained for fights like this, something he'd have to fix as soon as possible. He knew he'd have to do his best to finish this fight in just one shot, which meant he'd have to aim for the neck.

Standing tall and ready, he watched as the Beowulf charged towards him, the fury visible in its eyes. However this time it kept a close eye on his shield, as if preparing for the same tactic as before.

Taking a breath, Jaune waited for it to draw closer. Thirty feet…twenty feet…ten feet…five…NOW!

Jaune ducked down and snapped out, "Power Strike!" swinging his sword in deadly arc as the Beowulf flew over his body. There was a pained scream before the only sound Jaune could hear was the Beowulf's body rolling across the dirt, before skidding to a halt.

Death Blow! Instant Kill!

HP: 0/2500

[Power Strike's level has increased by 1!]

The notification that appeared in front of Jaune's eyes told him that his plan had worked. He took a shaky breath as he slowly stood up, slowly looking back, only to see the Beowulf's decapitated body and head starting to dissipate into the air, as if it had never existed at all.

You defeated 1x Beowulf!
You have gained 500 Exp! Exp has been doubled due to your main title!
You have gained 100 Lien!
You have gained "Beowulf's Claw" x3! Item has been transferred to inventory.
You have gained "Beowulf's Tooth" x2! Item has been transferred to inventory.
Your level has gone up by one!
Max HP +100
Max AP +50

The string of notifications made Jaune sigh in relief as he slowly took a seat, feeling very drained just from that one encounter. He knew he could have very easily died during that fight, so he was glad the Beowulf was young and didn't have very much intelligence.

[Quest Complete!]

You have gained 1000 Exp! Exp has been doubled due to your main title!

Secret Bonus!
Description: Kill the Grimm with a Death Blow!
You have gained 1000 Exp! Exp has been doubled due to your main title!
You have gained the Skill Book "Darkness Claw!"
Your 'Swordsmanship' Skill has gone up one level!
Your level has gone up by two!
Max HP +200
Max AP +100

Jaune blinked in surprise at the quest notification. So there were secret bonuses he could get in some quests? That was interesting, and he wasn't complaining either. Rather he was giddy, he'd ended up levelling three times just from that one fight and clearing the quest. He hastily opened his Status.

[Status]

Name: Jaune Arc
Main Title: The Gamer
Sub Title: Sun Child
Race: Human
Level: 11 (960/4000)
HP: 1125/1325
AP: 250/850
Strength: 11 + (45%)= 15.95
Dexterity: 8 + (30%)= 10.4
Vitality: 9 + (40%)= 13.6
Intelligence: 12
Wisdom: 10 (+15%)= 11.5
Charisma: 6 (+15%)= 6.9
Luck: 3
Stat Points: 11
Lien: 5

"Huh? Why do I have 11 stat points?" Jaune sounded confused. Based on what his level being 8 before and him having 24 stat points, he should have gotten 3 stat points per level. Yet he had 11, which meant at some point he'd gotten five stat points instead of 3. His question was answered by a notification appearing in front of him.

[Every 10 levels, you will gain five stat points rather than three, as a gift for achieving a new milestone.]

Jaune nodded slowly. "I guess that makes sense…so I have 11 stat points to use, what should I put them into…" he mused aloud as he rubbed his chin. Should he put the stat points into his strength and dexterity to try and learn the Skill Book he'd taken?

No, strength and dexterity were things he felt he could work up quite easily through training. Thinking it over, Jaune made his choice. He put two points into his dexterity to balance it out with the rest of his stats, put three points into both Wisdom and Intelligence, and put the remaining three points into his Luck.

A shudder ran through his body as he felt the new stats taking effect, and he grinned, embracing just how it felt to use stat points. Keeping those thoughts in mind, Jaune opened up his inventory and took out his new Skill Book.

[Would you like to learn 'Darkness Claw?']
Yes/No?

Tapping yes, Jaune watched as the book burst into particles and surged into his body, feeling the knowledge of the move and how to perform it entering his mind.

[You have learned 'Darkness Claw']

He hurried and opened his Skill List to see just what this new skill was capable of, an eager grin on his lips as he did so, while also planning to check out Power Strike.

[Darkness Claw (Active) - Level 1 (00.00%)]

A devastating strike unleashed by utilizing the power of darkness. Ethereal claws appear over the users hands, which they then use to tear across the opponent's body, dealing Dark and Physical damage.
Applied to a physical attack, deals 120% damage. 10% chance to inflict the status effect 'Weaken' or 'Bleeding.'
Cost: 100 AP

[Power Strike (Active) - Level 2 (00.00%)]

A powerful strike unleashed through use of a weapon.
Applied to a physical attack, deals 133% damage.
Cost: 100 AP

Jaune let out a low whistle. Those were two very powerful skill, though confusion filled him at the sight of the status effects. Bleeding was self explanatory, but he was completely lost on just what the heck 'Weaken' was supposed to be. Curious, he tapped it, and a new text window opened up.

[Weaken]

Anyone afflicted by this status effect shall have their strength reduced by 10% and shall take 1.2x more damage.

The blonde let out a low whistle at that. Feeling he'd recovered enough, he stood up and looked around, before following the path he'd came out of the forest. He didn't want to hang around in case any more Grimm decided they wanted to avenge their fallen comrade.

~~Eclipse~~

As Jaune returned to the house, he had expected a lot of things. He'd expected a 'welcome home' from his mother. He'd expected his father to be working on one of his little pet projects, as the man had a hobby of making unusual machines. He'd even expected some of his sister's to be downstairs.

What Jaune hadn't expected was for the house to be completely empty. As he walked in, he didn't hear the cooking, though he saw the covered food on the table that was no doubt for him, along with a note. Walking over to it, he picked it up and began to read what his mother had written, since his father's handwriting wasn't nearly that good.

'Have to take the girls out shopping, please clean the kitchen while we're gone. Love, mom.'

[Quest: Kitchen Cleaning]

Your parents have gone out shopping with your sisters, and it is your job to clean up the kitchen since they left in a rush! Clean up the kitchen, and be sure it's spotless.

Reward: 500 Exp

Failure: 100 Exp

Time Limit: 3 hours

Accept? Yes/No

Jaune couldn't help but laugh lightly at the game creating a quest for something as simple as this, but he didn't complain. Instead he sat at the table and uncovered the sausages and mashed potato, smiling at the fact they were still rather hot. They must have only left a short awhile ago.

He pressed his hands together, offering a small prayer, before he began to eat his food. He took about 10 minutes to eat it. He might have taken longer, but he did want to be sure he finished the quest with a good amount of time to spare.

With his meal finished, he picked up his plate and cutlery and headed to the kitchen. He hummed softly as he began to wash the dishes with a small smile. He honestly didn't mind washing the dishes, it was somewhat therapeutic at times.

[Through a special act, you have gained the skill 'Dish Washing!']

An amused snort came from Jaune's lips, though he did look at it curiously. A skill like this was something he should have already had when the game started, like cooking. Why on Earth would he not have it right away?

And more importantly, how the heck was he supposed to determine how much stamina he had!? He needed to know just how long he could fight or work out, it would be very helpful! But the game didn't seem to give that, which was dreadfully inconvenient for-

[System Update!]

A new bar known as the 'Stamina Bar' has been added! The Stamina bar determines how long you may do certain acts, by steadily draining depending on the activity. Stamina points will be referred to as 'SP.'

Jaune blinked as a new bar, this one orange, appeared underneath his AP bar in the small hud in the top left corner of his vision.

SP: 500/500

"Wow…you're just messing with me huh?" Jaune grumbled under his breath. The game didn't respond, which was confirmation as far as good as confirmation as far as he was concerned.

Sighing, Jaune simply decided it was best to push past and continue to clean the kitchen. And clean he did, finishing within a good half an hour, leaving the place spotless. It helped he'd gotten a new cleaning skill that levelled up about six times. He'd had to do a lot of cleaning.

[Quest Complete!]

You have gained 500 exp! Exp has been doubled due to main title!

Secret Bonus!
Description: Complete the cleaning in half an hour!
You have gained 500 Exp! Exp has been doubled due to main title!

Jaune grinned to himself, pleased. Doing the math quickly in his head instead of checking his status, that meant his current exp was at three-thousand-six-hundred. He just needed another four-hundred to reach level twelve.

"Well I have two and a half hours until they get home," Jaune said to himself. "So I guess…I'll work on getting my Dexterity up to par, and getting my strength to a better level too…"

But just how was he supposed to increase his dexterity was the question. Perhaps by doing laps at a moderate pace rather than the speed required for sprint? No, that wouldn't work. Dexterity was all about speed, which meant he needed to be faster. Was there a way he could turn off skills perhaps?

Almost as soon as the thought came to mind, a new screen appeared in front of him.

[System Update!]

You now have the ability to turn your passive skills on and off. You are unable to turn off Gamer's Mind and Gamer's Body.

"Well…that's convenient," he said to himself as he opened up his skill list and scrolled down to 'Sprint.' He hesitated for just a moment, before he turned it off. He then headed to his room and shed his armour, favouring his lighter clothing for what he was about to do.

Heading outside, he looked at the reasonably sized house and slowly crouched down. He'd run laps around the house until his Stamina hit zero. "One…two…three!" he began to run around the house as fast as he could, trying to push beyond his limits.

[You have discovered a new level of 'speed,' causing your dexterity to go up by 1!]

The notifications popped up what seemed to be ever 3 or so minutes, and he didn't let up for even a second. He wanted to get his dexterity as high as he could right now. Vitality, Charisma, and Luck were the only things he really seemed to need to increase with stats, so he'd be sure to increase all his other skills through grinding.

Finally, after half an hour of running, he came to a stop just as his stamina hit zero, panting heavily as he leaned against the house to try and catch his breath. His legs disagreed with this and he slid down to sit on the ground. "S-Status," he croaked out. He'd have to invest in a water bottle.

[Status]

Name: Jaune Arc
Main Title: The Gamer
Sub Title: Sun Child
Race: Human
Level: 11 (3600/4000)
HP: 900/1325
AP: 725/925
SP: 0/500
Strength: 11 + (45%)= 15.95
Dexterity: 20 + (35%)= 26
Vitality: 9 + (40%)= 13.6
Intelligence: 15
Wisdom: 13 (+15%)= 14.95
Charisma: 6 (+15%)= 6.6
Luck: 6
Stat Points: 0
Lien: 105

A grin made its way onto Jaune's face as he saw what his dexterity was sitting at now. While he had no doubt it was going to be a pain to increase from now on, he was glad he'd managed to work it to 20 somehow.

He shakily stood up and headed to the door, stumbling into the house and onto the sofa as he sighed with relief, propping his legs up on the arm of the couch as he rested his head on a pillow.

"Well, that's dexterity to a good level now," he mumbled to himself. He sometimes spoke his thoughts out loud while he was alone, it helped him keep concentrated. "Next I should focus on strength…maybe do the work out near the Library so I can head in soon after and get my Intelligence just a bit higher." It was a good plan, and his wisdom seemed to increase when-

[By coming up with a good plan for the future, your Wisdom has increased by 2!]

Yep, there it was. Though having it increase by two just showed what a good idea he'd had. He grinned, pleased with himself, before he refocused on the issue of his stats. "Charisma and Luck seem to be the only things I'll have to invest points in, and both are pretty crucial things to increase, monster drops and being a convincing talker are useful after all…

"Next is the issue of skills…" Jaune grunted to himself as he opened his skill list. "The only skills I have that are at a…somewhat decent level are cooking, reading, and cleaning. While kinda useful, I need my more combat oriented skills to be a bit higher. Power swing will help with swordsmanship, and Darkness Claw will help with my unarmed combat skill. But I need more skills for both…"

Running a hand through his hair, he frowned. "Which means for unarmed combat I need to get my dexterity to thirty and my strength to twenty as quick as I can, so I can learn that scroll…no, best not focus on that. Observe also needs to be levelled, so I'll have to start using it a lot more. Not just on people or enemies, but on everything. I'll also have to start making weekly trips into the forest to kill Grimm and grind my level up a bit more. Eleven is nice, but Alice is still six levels higher than me…god, the others must be leaps and bounds higher than me…"

His eyes flicked over to his SP bar. It was sitting at 20 now, showing that he seemed to have been rambling on for awhile. Humming in thought, he knew he had roughly two hours until the family got home. What better way to recover his stamina than to lay back and watch cartoons, with nobody to berate him about it?

He couldn't think of one.

~~Eclipse~~

It took an hour and twenty minutes, but Jaune's SP finally returned to full strength. He grinned lightly as he stood up, turning off the TV and stretching. All the aches and pains he'd felt were long gone, thanks to Gamer's Body no doubt. Though it had taken awhile to kick in, why was that? He shouldn't been been in such pain for long without some sort of status condition, right?

Shaking his head of those thoughts, he stood up and hummed. "Well…my initial plan was to work out near the Library than read, but that doesn't sound like the best idea ever…instead I think I'll head towards the gym first, and work out until I'm at about 20 stamina, then head to the library! I'm sure I'm more likely to get more dexterity and strength that way rather than if I were to work out by myself."

A frown made its way onto his face as he rubbed his chin. "How do I best raise my Vitality…maybe I could ask someone at the Gym to do a few spars with me? It seems taking blows is what helps push my Vitality higher without using stat points…Charisma and Luck…those two will have to go neglected, working on my physical body in preparation for Beacon comes first…obviously treadmill to help with Dexterity, and stuff like weights for Strength…"

Nodding to himself, pleased, Jaune waited for the new wisdom notification to pop up, but it never did. He was actually somewhat relieved at that, whenever it gave him a point in that situation, he just felt as if the game was patronising him. And he did not appreciate it.

"Now my HP and AP…" Jaune frowned. "What I really need for those are something like regeneration skills. But how could I go about that..."

As if to help him, a new quest appeared before his eyes.

[Quest: Healing At Its Finest!]

Description: You've got HP and MP, but they don't recover! Find out how you can get the skills to heal on their own!

Reward: 500 Exp. 9 Levels to HP Regen. 9 Levels to MP Regen.

Failure: 100 Exp, you are unable to attempt this quest again.

Accept? Yes/No

Jaune's eyes shot wide open. That…was certainly a nice deal, but the fact that if he failed he wouldn't be able to do the quest again really sucked. But then again, it didn't seem like he was able to fail this quest. Maybe it was kind of like a story quest, he had no choice but to eventually complete it.

With that in mind, he accepted the quest and looked over his clothes. They wouldn't do since they were drenched with sweat. He headed to his room and changed into a pair of loose shorts and a tank top, before he sprayed antiperspirant over his body to help stop too much sweat. He grabbed a bag and filled it with a towel and a few bottles of water too, along with a fresh change of clothes. He began smiling as he was ready to head out.

He walked to the door to open it, only to blink as his sister Olivia opened the door. "We're ho-" she began to say, only to stop as she saw Jaune. More specifically, his bag and how he was dressed. "Jaune? Where are you going? And more importantly, why the heck are you even dressed like that?"

Jaune frowned at his sister, mumbling a quiet, "Observe," under his breath as he focused on his sister.

["The Rebellion" Olivia Arc]
Level: ?
HP: ?
AP: ?
Information: ?

[Observe's level has gone up by 1!]

A groan nearly escaped his lips. Of course his older sister would be a higher level than he was, especially when Alice was level seventeen. He was really going to have to head back to the forest at some point and kill some more Grimm in order to get his level to something more reasonable for his age. At least above Alice's.

"I'm going to the gym," Jaune eventually told his sister. "I realised I've been slacking off too much, and it's time I got my ass in gear and began training. I have two years until Beacon, which means two years until I have to do my best to pass the entrance exam. And you know it isn't easy, mom and dad told us so."

Olivia blinked in surprise before scoffing and scowling at him. "Oh please. You'll go one day and come running home after an hour to your precious video games."

Jaune growled under his breath and shoved past her. "Don't talk like you know me, Olivia," he snarled at her as he marched out the house, ignoring the calls of his family as he headed towards the gym.

He didn't know what his older sister's issue was with him, and quite frankly he stopped caring awhile ago. Ever since he was seven, Olivia had acted like such a jerk to him for no reason. He hadn't even done anything wrong that he could think of. And if he had, so what! He was seven! Like he'd meant any harm if he had done something back then!

Quickly shaking his head of those thoughts, Jaune continued to press on towards the gym, a determined look in his eyes. He'd show Olivia just how serious he was about being a huntsman! He'd show her just how far he was willing to go to achieve his dream!

Arriving at the gym, he wasn't too surprised to find out he had to sign up for a membership. He was glad the deal was good too, twenty lien for half a year, though it was free if you were a student at Signal or Beacon. Jaune had clicked his tongue hearing that, wishing he'd been able to sign up for Signal. But alas, he'd missed his chance and would instead have to wait two more years, for when he could attend Beacon Academy.

He headed to the locker room and pushed his stuff into a locker, pulling out two bottles of water, before he headed into the gym area, ready to train his hardest.

As he walked into the area, he was only mildly surprised by the amount of people there. It was packed full of people training, though there was still plenty of room for him thankfully. He did his best not to look at the girls, his mother always told him to be respectful and not stare at girls, no matter how attractive they might be.

Heading over to a treadmill, he slipped his water bottles into place and turned it on. He closed his eyes in thought about how fast he wanted to go. Deciding to start off small and go up as he went, he set it to slowly increase from one mph to fifteen mph. He then hit go, and began a slow walk as the treadmill started up.

He was vaguely aware of the eyes that glanced at him as his slow walk turned into a jog, which turned into a run, which soon became a full sprint. And as the number of miles per hour went up, he kept running faster so he could match it.

[You have discovered a new level of 'speed,' causing your dexterity to go up by one!]

By the time he'd hit thirteen miles per hour, his dexterity had already jumped up by three. Even he was surprised with how fast he was without his Sprint skill active. Though he knew that he was still lagging behind, a grown male could run at twenty seven miles an hour, so he still had a long way to go before he reached that level of speed.

Glancing up in the corner, he saw his stamina was sitting at around three-hundred, so he had the machine slow down steadily and come to a stop. He still wanted to increase his strength after all.

Opening one of his water bottles, he took a long drink, before he coughed a few times, surprise coming over his face at the sight of a new notification in front of him.

You have drunk some water! +10 recovered SP!

Water can recover my SP? Then why the hell can't food restore my health or something-

[System Update!]

Food and water will now recover HP, MP, and SP!

Jaune's eye twitched violently as he swiped the screen out of the way, before freezing, glancing around. Nobody seemed to have noticed what he'd done, despite them looking at him. That was weird. Did people outside the game not notice when he did something related to it? If so, that was going to make using the game much easier from now on.

With that in mind, he headed over to the now empty bench, checking the weights. They were sitting at around 95 pounds, which he guessed was a good way to start off his strength training. He lay back on the bench and was about to begin, before a voice stopped him.

"Hey, you need a spotter?" glancing up, his jaw very nearly dropped as he saw a gorgeous woman standing above him. She had long, wavy golden hair, lilac eyes, and a grin on her lips. She was dressed in an orange tank top that stopped half way down her stomach, and a pair of black shorts with orange lining.

"That would be appreciated," he said, quickly regaining his bearings. He wouldn't stare, it was very rude of him to do so. And with that in mind, he began to bench press, the girl staying in his sight with a grin on her lips, almost teasing in a way. He whispered under his breath as he mentally counted the reps, "Observe."

["Dragon on the Sun's Surface" Yang Xiao Long]
Level: 31
HP: 3700/3700
AP: 2500/2500
SP: 1450/2800
Information: The daughter of Raven Branwen and Taiyang Xiao Long, as well as the older half-sister of Ruby Rose. She is currently in her second year of Signal, and plans to attend Beacon Academy once she's finished her training. Her greatest asset is her strength.

What was with that HP and SP!? They were gigantic in size, it was almost insane! He was about a third of her level, yet her health was over triple what his was! And her SP was over five times the size of his! How in the heck was that fair for a level thirty-one!?

Still, he did his best to not react as he saw her profile. "So, what's your name?" he asked in an attempt to make conversation with her.

"Aw, gonna try sweet talking me blondie?" Yang asked him with a huge, teasing grin on her lips.

"While you are beautiful," he freely admitted. "Sweet talking has never been my forte, so I think I'm gonna pass on that one. I know when I'm pushing my luck."

[You have created the skill 'Flirting' through a special act!]

[By smooth talking with skill, your Charisma has gone up by 3!]

Really game? Right now? He didn't need this! And why the heck was his Charisma going up from that!?

"Oh?" Yang raised an eyebrow. "Smooth blondie, I'll give you that. The name's Yang Xiao Long, and can I ask why you're talking Xiao Long to introduce yourself?"

Jaune blinked slowly, stopping at the 20th rep as his mind slowly processed the pun that she'd just made.

[By pushing your limits, your strength has gone up by 1!]

Finally, Jaune snorted as he set the bar back in its place and sat up, smirking at her. "Okay, that was a pretty good one, I'll give you that," he offered his hand to her. "I'm Jaune, Jaune Arc. Not to be mistaken with John."

Yang grinned as she shook his hand. "Looks like my life just entered its next Arc."

An amused snort came from Jaune's lips. He'd heard people making fun of his name before, but he'd never heard his last name turned into a pun. It was pretty funny, he wasn't gonna lie. "You are pretty inventive," he told her. "I'm honestly impressed with how quick you came up with that."

[Flirting's level has gone up by 1!]

[By smooth talking with skill, your Charisma has gone up by 2!]

Jaune blinked in surprise, unable to comprehend what the heck he'd just seen. That one line got him four levels to flirting, and got him an extra two charisma! There was no way that was actually working, right? The game was just messing with him again, right?

"And here I thought you weren't gonna sweet talk me," she told him with a smirk. "So, why are you here? I don't recognise you from Signal, and you look like you're in my year, so why are you training so hard?"

"I want to be a huntsman," Jaune responded automatically, before blinking a little and elaborating. "I kinda missed out on my chance to enter Signal, and I feel like transferring now would make it way too late for me. So I'm just doing outside training and I'm going to apply for Beacon next year."

"Aw man, why didn't I think of that!?" Yang whined to herself. "I could have skipped four years and still had a bunch of fun outside of school! Man, I'm dumb!"

"Well I mean, I think what I'm doing is probably harder than signal," he told her in an attempt to help. "You have teachers and stuff at Signal. I have to teach myself all the material you guys have, and train by myself without instruction. Plus I don't really have anyone to spar with to see what needs improving, you see?"

Humming, Yang tilted her head a little. "I guess that makes sense…man am I glad I chose Signal then," she grinned at him widely. "So, you need a sparring partner? Why not me? I could use a good fight!"

"In a little while," Jaune told her. "Let me do a bit more benching first, if that's fine?"

"Go ahead. You need more weights?"

He did. And at a hundred-fifteen pounds and thirty reps later, Jaune had managed to increase his strength by another two, which meant he was sitting pretty at fourteen base strength. Yang gave him a minute to get his strength back up, which he appreciated as he took a long drink of water. It seemed longer swigs helped, as he recovered twenty of his SP from the drink.

"You all good to go?" Yang asked him, climbing into one of the sparring rings as she got into a boxer like stance, starting to bounce on the balls of her feet.

[Quest: Against the Dragon!]

Description: She's a lean, mean, fighting machine! And now you have to take her on, just make sure she doesn't kill you by accident!

Goals: Last five minutes against Yang Xiao Long

Reward: 2000 Exp, 2 New Skills

Failure: You die, sorry

Accept? Yes/No

Jaune frowned a little as the 'no' was greyed out, meaning he had no choice. He also didn't like the 'death' that came with failing this quest. But he tapped yes and climbed into the ring, standing opposite her. "Do go easy on me, will you?"

Yang laughed lightly. "Oh don't worry, I'll take it nice and-"

"Darkness Claw," Jaune's voice came, and Yang was surprised to see what looked like pure darkness forming above his hand and become ethereal wolverine claws as he charged at her, swinging towards her.

Yang quickly moved back, to dodge the attack, a grin on her lips. "Jeez, you sure are aggressive…huh?" she stopped as she saw a single strand of her golden hair land on the ground between her and Jaune. "You…" Yang growled as she blinked, her eyes turning into a crimson red, and her hair flaring up behind her. "You bastard!" she screamed as she charged at him, rearing her arm back as she punched him square in the stomach.

Jaune's eyes widened and he coughed heavily in pain as new notifications appeared before his eyes.

HP -300
AP -150

['Pain Tolerance' has gone up 3 Levels!]

['Physical Endurance' has gone up 5 levels!]

[Aura's level has gone up by 1! Max AP +100!]

Yep, he'd messed up. But despite this he managed to back up and get into a stance and prepared to defend himself against the onslaught that was coming his way.

And the whole time, he couldn't help but stare into those crimson eyes.