Another long wait between chapters, but for once I actually have a really, really good reason; Combat 2.0 is almost combat ready.

For those of you who don't know, Combat 2.0 is THE BIGGEST update I've ever written for Systema, ever. So, so many things have been changed, minorly and majorly, including, as I'm sure you can guess, combat! I rewrote so many scripts in the past few weeks that I've been dreaming about curly brackets and IF statements. When the update is pushed, which will be next chapter, I'll add my 'full' changelog detailing exactly what I remembered changing as a part of the update, but know that it's a hefty amount.

Anyways, I won't keep you up here any longer, enjoy the longer chapter to make up for my absence!

Thanks to Eclectic Bunny, Robert Waldron and GIGGY for supporting me this month! I really truly do appreciate it, you guys are helping me so much! Go check out Combat 2.0 if you haven't :P.

"Just to make sure, can you run that by me again? I really don't want to misunderstand, considering the circumstances. You want us to kidnap you and then fake your death?"

Weiss nodded in response to Jaune's question. "That about sums it up."

"Because if you're dead, your father can't remove you as an heir, because you're dead, and it would look weird."

Weiss nodded again.

"What's stopping your father from just naming your brother the heir right now?" Blake asked, looking over her shoulder and into the gallery.

Weiss slumped in her seat for a moment, before remembering where she was. "I've done everything I can to prove that I should remain heiress, but it's tearing me apart. The things I have to turn a blind eye to…"

She trailed off, looking out over the Atlesian skyline.

Jaune looked between Blake and Ilia. "Well, if we're going to plot a kidnapping and technically a murder, we're not going to do it out here. Is there a place we can meet, somewhere less conspicuous?"

Weiss's frown deepened. "This is the first time I've been allowed outside of the manor since I arrived. My father has had me on a very tight leash since he dragged me back here. I doubt we'd find anywhere to talk privately, seeing as the only places he might consider letting me go to would more than likely be populated with his people."

"Even Atlas Academy?" Blake questioned, shifting in her seat. "Surely you could at least convince him to allow you to continue training, even if it is just to do some practice of some sort."

The white-haired potentially-ex-heiress let out a laugh that was totally devoid of humor. "Atlas Academy would be the last place he'd want me right now. Too close to Ironwood, too close to Winter, too far from his domineering."

Jaune sighed. "That makes it a little more complicated. Then again…" He trailed off in thought for a moment. "Actually, this could work in our favor. If we make a plan without you knowing about it, your reactions would be even just a slight bit more genuine, and you'll at least have some kind of plausible deniability, in case something goes wrong, or it gets called into question later on."

Blake nodded in agreement. "Jaune's right. If you don't know what to expect, it'll be a lot more believable. The only thing is there might be some information you know that we could use. Do you think you could get Jaune into your manor?"

Weiss bit her bottom lip in thought. "Perhaps. Actually, how did you even get in here? I heard the General had brought a special group of Hunters in, was that you?"

Jaune nodded. "Yeah, Ironwood got us some invites. I owe him a favor, but that's not exactly a bad thing. Hopefully it won't be a problem when he inevitably discovers that we're behind your quote-unquote assassination."

Blake sighed. "Already another problem to add to the list, and we haven't even started planning. Off to a good start."

Jaune ignored Blake's pessimism for a moment. "Weiss, how effective do you think it would be for you to introduce me to your father as someone significant? Like, a Valean weapons manufacturer representative and designer, or, I don't know, a potential partner?"

Weiss blanched for a moment. "That could be… unpleasant, for both of us. My father knows exactly how to play these kinds of political games, Jaune, you'd have to be confident enough to convince him that he's never heard of you, but that you are significant enough to warrant meeting him. It's a fine line you'll have to walk."

Jaune cocked his eyebrow. "Your father wouldn't want to meet the person responsible for bringing Penny Polendina back to life? Surely having a world-class technician and CEO of Arc Industries would be a boon for him, and to be introduced by the daughter he's secretly trying to pull the rug out from under, well, I'd have to imagine he'd see it as a win-win."

Weiss raised one eyebrow. "That depends. Is Arc Industries a real company?"

"Not even slightly!" Jaune said confidently, a grin on his face.

Weiss slowly rubbed at her temples, sighing slowly. "It's worth a shot. I'm presuming you're going to try and pretend you're smitten with me or something, and try and convince my father to at least let me go on a date of some kind with you?"

Jaune shrugged. "It's one option. We've got to get you out of the house somehow, or at the least I need a way in to get an idea of the layout. It couldn't hurt, and it's not like I'm actually going to follow up on anything. You'd kill me, and then Ruby would desecrate my grave, and I'd definitely deserve it."

Blake let out a laugh. "I don't think Ruby has it in her to desecrate a grave."

Jaune shrugged. "She already petrified me once, I'd rather not push it."

Weiss glared at him. "You still owe me an explanation for that."

Jaune laughed at that. "You missed a lot, to be honest. When we get you out, we can spend as much time as you'd like catching up. Now, let's get phase one started. After you, Weiss."

Weiss rolled her eyes. "Just try not to stab him, no matter how much you'll want to. We can do that later, if you want."

Jaune feigned shock. "Me, stab Jacques Schnee? I think you'll find that's much more Ilia's speed."

The three of them all looked to Ilia.

"He's not wrong."

Stepping back inside the somewhat-noisy gallery, Jaune quickly adjusted his tie, despite it not being out of place. He allowed Weiss to lead him closer and closer to Jacques, and he found himself stopped for but a single moment as Weiss paused his progress.

"Please, no matter what happens, don't screw this up. And follow my lead," She whispered.

Jaune just nodded in reply, before bringing up his menu and quickly dumping an extra five skill points into his Charisma, just in case.

It lead to a pop-up that indicated he'd gotten a new perk, but he didn't have the time to read it as he minimized the window, focusing on the pristine-suited, white-haired, overcompensating-mustached man that stood nearly at his height noticed Weiss's approach, and subsequently his own.

"Ah, Weiss, I was wondering where you'd hidden yourself, " Jacques spoke, and already Jaune could pick up an air of control surrounding the man. "Who have you brought?"

Weiss didn't meet her father's eyes, though even if she had she would not have found them looking at her, instead those blue eyes meeting Jaune's own.

Jaune held out his hand. "Jaune Arc. Pleasure to meet you, Mr Schnee."

Jacques took it in his own, giving it a brief but firm shake. "Likewise Mr Arc. Now, what is it you do, Mr Arc? What brings you to my charity gala?"

Jaune took a moment to briefly admire the sights, or so it appeared. He was actually scanning the room to see where Ilia and Blake had positioned themselves, and once he'd gotten the idea, he turned back. "Well, it wasn't just for the company, though I'd say that's a good portion of why quite a lot of us are here."

He paused to smile, returning his attention to the man in front of him. "I was actually interested in meeting the man who had so generously decided to host an event like this for the poor accident that befell Beacon."

Jacques nodded. "And how did you meet Mr Arc, Weiss?"

Weiss looked up. "We met whilst I was studying in Vale, Father. Pyrrha Nikos introduced me."

Jacques' eyes widened ever so slightly at the name that Weiss had dropped into the conversation. "Oh? And what is it that you do, Mr Arc? I'm ever so curious to hear what someone so young could do to capture the attention of both my daughter and the illustrious Pyrrha Nikos."

Jaune's smile turned genial. "I'm in a number of different fields, but primarily advanced Dust mechanics and a few complex engineering fields. I have a few patents on some materials that are soon to change the world of industry."

That seemed to perk Jacques' interest. "Oh? Anything I need be concerned about?"

Jaune laughed. "Oh, that's not quite a conversation for an event like this, is it? I wouldn't want to spoil the surprise without due recompense."

He could see the slight frown beginning to form on the bushy-mustached face, and Jaune relented somewhat. "Of course, I'd be more than willing to share some of those secrets with the father of a friend. Perhaps it could even be mutually beneficial. Though I wouldn't want to disrupt any of my military contracts, I'm certain we could work something out."

It was a gamble, and a risky one, but he hoped the General wouldn't mind making another exception. And hell, there wasn't any reason why he couldn't see if Ironwood would be interested in purchasing some of his more exotic materials. Maybe the Atlesian Military had some kind of R&D department that would pay him for research materials?

He was getting distracted. His attention snapped back to the present, and he quickly focused on the words that were escaping the white-haired man's lips.

"Well, I would be interested to hear what it is you have to offer, Mr Arc. Perhaps, if you get in touch with my secretary, we could organize a time and place to meet and discuss."

Jaune allowed himself to shake the man's hand once more. "That would be a proper honor, Mr Schnee. Now, I'll leave you to enjoy the rest of your guests."

He turned, taking Weiss's hand in his own and gently putting it to his lips for the briefest moment. "And as well to you, Weiss. Until we see each other again."

He suppressed an involuntary shiver as the startling realization that he was going to most likely pay for that later.

How much he was gonna pay, and how much later, was entirely up to how soon they 'kidnapped' Weiss.

He stepped away from the cluster of rich people, and Weiss, though she technically still counted in that demographic, and motioned to both Blake and Ilia, the two splintering off from their positions to join him as he departed.

They were out the front door before any of them spoke, though it was Blake who broke the silence.

"Think he recognized you?" She asked, as Jaune flagged down a cab.

Jaune shrugged. "I think that greed got in the way of whatever intelligence he might've possessed, but even if he did, I never said I wasn't Weiss's leader. For once, I'm the one holding the cards."

Blake cocked an eyebrow. "Some of the cards. We don't know everything."

"Starting to become a running theme with you two," Ilia remarked, leaning back in her seat and kicking her legs up. "At least you're working with an expert for once."

Blake glared at Ilia, and the chameleon faunus very quickly lowered her legs.

Jaune acquiesced with Blake's point, giving his friend a shrug in response. "Well, I can't read minds yet, so we'll have to play with the hand we're dealt."

Ilia sighed. "Enough with the poker metaphors, please."

"Or what?" Jaune teased, grinning.

Ilia frowned. "Or I'll do something you won't like."

Jaune's grin widened even further. "You're bluffing."

Blake groaned.

When planning a kidnapping of one of the most heavily protected people on the planet required quite a number of things.

Jaune had some of these things. Some of them Blake possessed, and some of them Ilia too had under her proverbial skillset umbrella.

One of the things that Jaune, Blake and Ilia all shared possession of was an understanding that for this sort of thing to work, they were going to need to meticulously plan this out from the overarching strategy down to the nitty-gritty details.

Another thing they knew was that if they did mess this up, and already they were realizing a large number of ways for that to happen, should things not go perfectly, they would be effectively either jailed or killed.

Both the former and the latter would last their entire lives, of course, but one was considerably shorter than the other.

As a side note, Jaune wasn't sure if regular methods of execution would work on him, but that was very clearly a morbid, unnecessary thought that really didn't need to be dwelled on. He supposed he could be hung, of course, but how long that would take to actually-

No, Jaune needed to direct his focus elsewhere. Very elsewhere, in fact.

On a particular detail he hadn't quite thought out the prior evening, to be specific.

"So you said you had a proprietary material, said as much to the Schnee, and then only just now realized that you don't actually have the material prepared?" Ilia pointed out, much to Jaune's chagrin.

"That would be about the gist of it, yeah," Jaune answered, shrugging. "At least I might actually have the materials to get to the required Crafting level, but I won't actually know until I try. I'll have to do some math too, but that shouldn't be too difficult to handle. I hope."

Blake looked up from where she was sat on one of their beds, halfway through zipping up one of her boots. "I always forget your semblance makes you do math. I'm surprised you made it this far, considering how late you always managed to hand in assignments."

Jaune rolled his eyes. "The woman wearing like thirty belts is telling me I'm bad at math. The irony is thick."

Blake finished zipping the boot up. "That's barely ironic and we both know it. You're reaching."

He was, and they did in fact both know it, so Jaune decided instead to sulk. "Stupid snow outfit, who needs that many belts and zips?" He grumbled under his breath.

Courtesy of the fact that Blake had twice as many auditory organs than anyone else in the room, with her second, feline pair being far more effective than her first, the black-haired faunus heard him regardless. "You're just jealous that I've got more belts than you do."

Twice in a row, Blake was right. "Yeah…" Jaune sighed.

"Not to interrupt this obviously very interesting conversation, but I'm going to go get some actual work done. I had an old friend in the Fang who used to smuggle Faunus out of Mantle using some of the old pre-Atlas emergency evacuation tunnels, and if they're still around, I might be able to get us a map. It'd be a good way to get out of the city, at least," Ilia interjected, grabbing her weapon from the table and hooking it onto her side. "Blake, wanna tag along?"

Blake shook her head. "I'm going to see if I can get us some kind of alibi so that when we disappear, we've got a good reason. I'm thinking we take a job or two while we prepare, so we can establish that we're willing to take them more than once. If we can do a few, one more will slip past brief investigation a lot easier."

Both Blake and Ilia turned to face Jaune. "Oh, is it my turn to say what I'm doing?"

"Seems like it," Ilia remarked.

"I… guess I'll go ask Doctor Polendina if he knows a place I can use as a workshop?" Jaune offered, unsure of his words as he said them.

Ilia glanced between the two, before settling her gaze on Blake. "I think I'm starting to understand how you guys keep getting into trouble."

Blake put a comforting hand on Ilia's shoulder. "You're a part of the group now, Ilia, it's time you take your share of the blame for when things inevitably go wrong."

Ilia's gaze narrowed. "This was your plan from the very beginning, wasn't it."

Blake didn't answer, instead slipping out the door, an irate Ilia quickly following her out, repeating her rhetorical question.

Which left Jaune alone with his thoughts. Always a dangerous prospect.

So dangerous, in fact, he was going to temporarily delay not only his plans for the day, but also his thoughts, in order to check his notifications.

[Perk Acquired!]

[Male Bonding]

[Thanks to your Charisma, you now have increased CHA success with those of the same gender.]

[Quest Complete!]

[Blending Business with Charity]

[Successfully infiltrate the Charity Gala in Atlas.]

[Reward: 10x Universal Solvent]

Well, the new Charisma perk was nice, effectively a sequel to his Ladykiller perk, but his new acquisition of Universal Solvent was interesting. Well, maybe interesting was the wrong word, seeing as he didn't know what Universal Solvent was. A mystery to be solved when he read the item's description. At least, once he was done with the rest of his notifications.

[Achievement Unlocked!]

[Storyteller]

[Complete 25 Quests]

[Reward: Ritualcasting Skill]

Jaune blinked at that, and reread the notification.

"Ritualcasting?" He asked aloud, before promptly realizing that he was alone in the dorm, and that even if there had been either Blake or Ilia, or even Weiss, in here, they'd not be able to answer his question.

Another thing to add to the to-do list, something that was going straight to the top. There were more notifications, though.

[New Quest!]

[Stealing the Show]

[Successfully kidnap and falsify the death of Weiss Schnee.]

[Reward: Formation Seed or Divinity Seed]

The final notification in his list brought with it an old memory, and Jaune quickly delved into his menus, scanning through his quest log.

An older quest, though not too old, but one he'd never actually claimed the reward for. The reward for winning the second round of the Vytal tournament was still sitting in whatever place it was stored, waiting for him to make the choice.

"I still don't know what either a Formation Seed or a Divinity Seed are," He muttered aloud, frowning. Did he make the choice and just pick one, or did he wait even longer?

Well, there was a good chance he'd forget about this if he left it alone again, so Jaune shrugged, picking the one that sounded more interesting.

The Divinity Seed dropped into his inventory, and he quickly reached in and withdrew it, Observe activating as he tried to determine exactly what it did.

He'd been expecting it to be another seed like the many seeds he had in his Crafting inventory tab, but instead he found it within his Soul Orb inventory tab, which was a little unexpected.

[Divinity Seed]

[A crystalline seed used to evolve an Elemental from Gem to Divinity.]

What it did was also pretty interesting, Jaune realized. He didn't have any Elementals at the Gem stage, in fact, all of his Elementals were at the Shard stage, so that was another thing he was going to have to work on, but that would have to come later.

Another day, another thing onto the to-do list.

Jaune rolled his shoulders as he stood, stretching his arms. He had a lot to get done today, that much was clear.

Time for number one on the to-do list.

Atlas Academy had a number of unpopulated training rooms, and Jaune had managed to sequester one for himself, finding it to be remarkably similar to Beacon's own training rooms, albeit a lot more cold steel and white plating, as opposed to Beacon's more wood and stone aesthetic.

He was pacing back and forth in the center of the room, reading and rereading the skill description of Ritualcasting.

[Skill Unlocked! Importing Prior Skills and Experience!]

[Ritualcasting (Active): Thanks to the System, you can create and perform various kinds of rituals in order to achieve various effects. Level 29; 24,144/292,668 XP.]

The moment Jaune finished reading it the second time, he realized that he'd actually lost a couple skills from his skill list, and as he went into the Ritualcasting skill menu that he'd unlocked, he found those skills.

Firstly, and probably most importantly, the skill formerly known as Summoning Ritual was now in his Ritualcasting skill, known as the Ritual of Summoning. That was simple, and made sense that it had moved, and alongside it his Beastial Bound Evolution skill had moved and changed, becoming the Ritual of the Bound Beast.

Secondly, he had access to a ritual he'd never seen before, though he'd sort of expected that a little. The Ritual of Communion had a little description attached to it, and he read it aloud.

"A ritual that will allow the caster to communicate with the deceased prior System wielders?" His eyes went wider and wider with each word, as he realized what it meant. Those weird dreams he'd had a couple times, now he had a way to induce them himself?

He read a little further, only to slump where he was standing. "Must be performed at an Altar. Like, any altar? Or a specific thing I have to make?"

As usual, his semblance had no answer for him, and he sighed. He'd slate that on the to-do list for later, when he figured out what it meant by altar.

Well, at least Jaune had figured out what had happened with Ritualcasting. Onto number two on his to-do list, which, as it often tended to, involved his summons.

First and foremost, Jaune brought out Maya, allowing the feline summon to stretch and mewl as Jaune ran his hand along her back, scritching behind one of her ears.

His other hand withdrew a Greater Soul Orb from his inventory, and he placed it on the ground in front of Maya.

She pounced onto it, suddenly enveloped in bright white light, so bright that Jaune had to look away for a moment.

When he looked back, Maya stood where she had been moments before, but now she was much larger, nearly the same size as the Bashenga that Jaune and Blake had faced that had lead to Jaune being able to summon Maya.

Lush black fur coated her, slightly thicker than it had been before, and the bone plating that had covered her paws now was slightly stronger, and stretched a little further up her legs.

She was absolutely still the same mentally, though, as she pushed against his side, obviously enjoying her new height as his hand found a spot to scritch once more.

He let her wander off a moment later, watching as she found a comfortable spot of floor next to one of the Dust heaters mounted into the wall, before laying down, eyes watching him.

As good an indication to do something as anything, Jaune moved onto the next proverbial item on the proverbial docket, bringing forth all four of his Elementals, watching as the complex crystalline structures formed in front of him.

They formed kneeling, as they tended to prefer, and he instructed them to rise.

He'd been neglecting his Elementals for some time, and it was something he regretted. He had the materials to make more, and apparently he'd had the materials to improve them for some time. Or, one item that he could choose to give to any of them, at least.

Well, if he got them to the Gem stage. He was gonna have to figure that out.

Searching through his inventory, Jaune withdrew a few items.

First came a handful of Dust crystals; Air, Energy, Fire, Space and Water, followed up by pretty much all of his Soul Orbs.

He was short on Soul Orbs, that was fine. He could make more. Dust was going to prove to be the harder-to-acquire item, but he was in Atlas, so it wouldn't be too much more difficult.

First came the Fire Dust, and he cleared some space, allowing the new Ritualcasting skill to map out the complex ritual circle for him, his body working on autopilot as it sketched the patterns.

He placed the Fire Dust within the center of the ritual circle, along with ten Regular Soul Orbs, and initiated the ritual, feeling the energy flow from his soul into the blinding vortex of light that formed, creating that intrinsic connection.

And then, all of a sudden, kneeling before him was Ignatius, the Fire Elemental. A sudden warmth rushed over his body, latent warmth radiating off of Ignatius, it seemed, and with that warmth came a new skill, as expected.

[Skill Created!]

[Inferno (Active): Thanks to the System, your Fire Elemental is capable of blasting a burst of fire from its body, incinerating anything nearby. Level 1; 0/12 XP.]

Jaune commanded Ignatius to join the other Elementals, and Ignatius did as it was bid, though it very deliberately stayed on the opposite end of Glacius, something that made Jaune chuckle to himself.

He moved on, though, checking the requirements for his next Elemental. He placed a Grade III Water Dust Crystal inside the ritual circle alongside his sole Greater Soul Orb, stretching out his arm and focusing Soul Harvest, creating another to place next to the former.

The ritual began anew, and Jaune shielded his eyes once more until it was complete.

When he uncovered his eyes, before him knelt Aquarius, the Elemental dripping water onto the floor.

The skill notification popped a moment later.

[Skill Created!]

[Tsunami (Active): Thanks to the System, your Water Elemental is capable of sending a torrent of water out from its body, blasting away anything nearby. Level 1; 0/12 XP.]

In much the same way as Ignatius, Jaune issued the order for Aquarius to join the others, and already he was creating the Soul Orbs he needed to create his next Elemental.

Soul Harvest leveled twice from creating the five Greater Soul Orbs he needed, but at least it didn't take too long, considering just how much latent Ambient Soul there was in the area.

He placed them into the ritual circle with the Grade VI Air Dust Crystal, the only Air Dust he had on him, and initiated the ritual.

He opened his eyes from the blinding light to witness the third of his new Elementals, Tornadus.

Unlike the rest of his Elementals, though, Tornadus was not kneeling, but that seemed to be more by design rather than choice, as it was currently levitating. More akin to a floating cloud of Air Dust Crystals, Tornadus obeyed the command to join the others without as much as a complaint, drifting over to the group.

[Skill Created!]

[Hurricane (Active): Thanks to the System, your Air Elemental is capable of emitting a gust of razor-sharp wind from its body, cutting through anything nearby. Level 1; 0/12 XP.]

Jaune slumped backwards somewhat, feeling a little worn out, but he shrugged it off a moment later, instead focusing on creating even more Soul Orbs.

It took him nearly half an hour, but after the time had passed, he was in possession of twenty-five Greater Soul Orbs.

Well, he was in possession of them until he placed them into the ritual circle, alongside a Grade V Energy Dust Crystal. Again he found himself wishing he had a lower grade crystal, but it was as it was.

The glow from the ritual was far brighter than it had ever been before, and he could make it out even through closed eyes, having to physically turn away.

He knew the light, and subsequently the summoning had finished, partly because it wasn't seeping through his eyelids, and partly because he could feel a faint vibration coming from where the ritual circle had been placed.

He turned back towards his latest summon, and took in the shaking appearance of Motus.

The Energy Elemental lived up to its name simply by proxy of the fact that it seemed unable to stop its constant vibration.

The new skill notification appeared, and Jaune scanned through it.

[Skill Created!]

[Motion (Passive): Thanks to the System, your Energy Elemental passively boosts the speed and stamina of all nearby allies. Level 1; 0/12 XP.]

Well, that was certainly a useful passive skill to have in his arsenal, though that was only if Motus could keep up. Still, Jaune was certain there were ways around that particular limitation.

He was a little dizzy, now, though, and he found himself leaning against Callisto's large frame, shaggy fur and all.

Why was he nauseous? He didn't have an answer to the question, else he'd've not asked it, but all the same he felt as though he should know.

Was creating this many summons in a row a strain on his mind and body, or, even more concerning, was it a strain on his soul?

His AP hadn't been affected in the slightest, he could see that clearly from his meters, but there was a sense of disorientation that left the training room spinning somewhat.

This was a first, though he'd definitely had more summons than just this cluster out at once. Perhaps it was just the act of all of these rituals that was causing the nausea.

He took a moment to steady himself, resolving himself to finish. He had only one kind of Dust left to create an Elemental from, and he could rest afterwards.

He knelt down and placed the Grade III Space Dust Crystal and five Grand Soul Orbs into the ritual circle, before he half-crawled backwards, allowing the light to wash over him, eyes closed.

When he opened them again, the room was spinning around him, and he felt a sickness he'd not felt since before he'd gotten the System.

He nearly threw up, never having handled motion sickness all too well before, but he steeled himself, instead focusing on the unmoving form of Orbitus.

And what a form it cut, floating up to eight feet, its glassy crystalline structure appearing to contain a microcosm of an entire universe, almost as if it contained a nebula within itself.

Jaune managed to stand, resting against Callisto once more, who stood resolutely behind Jaune still, and he read the last of his new Elemental notifications.

[Skill Created!]

[Warp (Active): Thanks to the System, your Space Elemental can create a pair of linked portals nearby, which will redirect anything that passes through either of the portals. Level MAX.]

Jaune felt himself get lifted from the ground as Calliso's jaw closed on his collar, gently carrying him over to one of the benches that lined the room, and he found himself being set down on it.

The room was spinning a little less now, his semblance going into overdrive as it attempted to fix whatever was wrong, but he was still seeing the room failing to stay still.

He leaned back, eyes closed, allowing the feeling of cold steel against his back, simply waiting for the feeling to pass.

He'd pushed himself. Apparently, the new Ritualcasting skill came with a couple downsides when it came to the repeated, rapid use of rituals, or at least the Ritual of Summoning. He'd have to be careful of that in the future.

When he opened his eyes again, the room had stopped spinning, and he pushed himself to stand.

There were still tingles, still, little involuntary twitches of nausea, but they were few and far between. He could deal with them as they were, and continue with his plans.

There was still a lot on his to-do list, but luckily for him, nothing on that list would require him to perform any rituals. At least, nothing that couldn't be pushed back a certain amount of time.

He pushed sweat-drenched hair out of his face, looking over his assembled cluster of summons, realizing that, despite the fact that many of them were still unsummoned, he had a sizable force.

Jaune dismissed all his summons, aside from Electrus and Ignatius, leaving the Lightning and Fire Elementals to stand alone amongst the room.

He reached into his inventory, searching through the various item listings in the inventory tabs, until he found what he was looking for.

[Materia Crystallum]

[A cube of unidentifiable material, covered in spines of crystalline Dust. Used to evolve a Shard Elemental into a Gem Elemental.]

He withdrew the two Materia Crystallum that he had in his inventory, and handed one each to the once-again kneeling Elementals.

The cubes twitched and shook as they came into contact with the crystalline Elementals, and Jaune watched in fascination as the left cube glowed a brilliant yellow whilst the other shone a bright, vibrant red, both cubes unfolding to envelop the summons in sharp, glassy tendrils.

Then, in a blinding flash of yellow and red light, mingling to leave aftereffects of orange on his vision, Electrus and Ignatius were no longer what they had been.

Now, where Electrus had stood, just taller than him, now a twelve-foot-tall version of the Lightning Elemental was stood, humanoid in form, though still constructed of those interlocking yellow crystals, sparks flying between each shard of Dust.

Ignatius was in much the same situation. Where it had once been an amalgam of Fire Dust it was now a more humanoid form, flames licking the spaces between the crystals as it stood at its full height of thirteen feet, over double Jaune's own height. Even from where he was stood, Jaune could feel that radiating heat washing over him, like he was standing too close to a furnace.

Notifications popped up a moment later, and Jaune tore his eyes away to read them.

[Electrus and Ignatius have become Gem stage Elementals!]

[At the Gem stage, Elementals gain the ability to constantly grow Dust Crystals from their bodies, with the elemental type corresponding to the Elemental. At the Gem stage, it takes 48 hours for a crystal growth to reach the harvestable stage, though every additional 48 hours after the growth has reached maturity will increase the Dust Crystal's grade.]

Well, that was a very nice benefit, on top of the other benefits he imagined he'd be accruing with the evolution they'd undergone.

He was definitely surprised by the next notification, however.

[Quest Complete!]

[Soul Trainer]

[Have 12 Stage Two Summons.]

[Reward: Ritual of the Bound Sentient]

Well, as much as he wanted to try out that ritual, he really didn't think that was a good idea. Just creating the Elementals had done something to him, doing anymore rituals was just asking for trouble.

Jaune dismissed Ignatius with a nod towards the hulking crystalline figure, and it vanished in a cloud of warm smoke, leaving only Jaune and Electrus remaining in the large training room.

Jaune faced Electrus, withdrawing his final item.

"I don't know what this will do, Electrus," Jaune said, offering the Divinity Seed to the crackling figure. "But you've been with me the longest of all my Elementals. It's only fair you get to try it first."

Electrus took the Divinity Seed from Jaune's palm delicately, large Dust crystals that formed something akin to fingers clasping the seed with surprising care, bringing it close to what Jaune assumed was the Elemental's core.

The seed sprouted as it neared, clear crystal vines shooting out from the center and pulling the seed inwards, into Electrus's own form.

Electrus twitched and crackled, lightning firing out to strike against the ground, sending showers of sparks in its wake.

The crystalline vines became larger and larger, wrapping around the Elemental until Jaune could no longer make out anything within the glassen cocoon that it had formed, distorting the image to the point where it was less an image and more a yellow glow that emanated from the inside, casting shadows across the entire training room.

Like a fair number of things in Jaune's life, it ended just as suddenly as it had begun, as after a few moments the glassy cocoon began to crack and splinter, fragments falling to the ground to shatter and turn into ash.

Jaune was too busy staring in amazement to care about the fragments of the cocoon, as the results of the metamorphosis were far more mesmerizing.

What he had been expecting was very much not what was now seeing, and as he looked, he found himself unable to properly comprehend what had happened.

Instead of the crystalline structure of a larger Elemental, instead there was a humanoid figure of yellow-tinged skin and strands of hair made of crackling lightning.

When she stood, Jaune could do naught but stare as she opened her eyes, and where there should have been typical eyes, there was instead a glow of bright yellow ethereal power.

"I am ready to serve, Master."

Woah, no way, something that's been in the System since I originally implemented Elementals finally coming up, eighty-one chapters in? What are the odds? Also the new Ritualcasting skill that I developed to replace Enchanting, which had always been a WIP skill that had never seen the light of day. Combat 2.0's motto is basically 'out with the old, in with the new'.

Anyways, lemme dive right into reviews!

DJArchangel13: Here's hoping that clarified it a little, but if it wasn't good enough to clarify send me a PM and I'll happily explain it in a way that doesn't rely on character dialogue, as my dialogue writing skills have slipped a little recently.

ImHellaUgly: That depends on how Blade Tether works. For the sake of not spoiling it, I won't confirm nor deny whether or not that will or will not work, but regardless, that is absolutely a great idea. Like a giant chain-mace, in a sense.

Dragon lord Syed 101: Don't worry, I'll definitely be slowing it down now! (I'm kidding)

Harbinger of Mayhem: Ooh, summon merging. That sounds like a concept for an entire story on it's own, but I may make that a feature later on. Who knows?

Argus456: No matter what Weiss claims, she isn't actually a paragon of rational thought at the best of times, canon or Systema-wise. I'm not totally winging it, though, for once, and I do have a few ideas when it comes to cover stories and alibis and the like. Hopefully it all works out as planned for Jaune and Co.

NyaNyaKittyFace: Sometimes I like to lure people in with the reasonable chapter titles and then just whip out a good ol' terrible one. Really shakes up the expectations, and who the hell is gonna guess what a chapter is about if that's the name!? Well, unless I wrote about a bunch of cannibals at a fancy dinner party, but still. Also I'm absolutely living for writing Weiss as secretly just as insane as the rest of her team. Never has irrationality had such a pale visage!

jedimasterb10: I wasn't thinking Thrawn when I wrote the suit, but now that you mention it, it really is pretty Thrawn-y. Though when it comes to outfits, we're nowhere near done. Disguises are a pretty crucial part of kidnappings, or, well, as far as I know. Not entirely too experienced with kidnapping people, might have to do some research :P

armentho: Well, if Weiss isn't actually dead, then the title being passed onto Whitley would be invalidated in a court of law, by the nature of the argument stipulated in the will, in the event of Jacques untimely death. That being said, that's only if Weiss's plan actually works the way she's hoping it does. And Jaune will probably see the team from Operation Kingslayer, though under what circumstances I guess we'll have to wait and see.

Exiled Soul Nomad: When the guy who can phase through objects, walk on walls, summon Grimm and store things in a portable dimension realizes he's the least weird of the group, something may have gone seriously awry.

paradox0.5white: I'd say if you spend a year in the same room as three other friends, doing everything together, including fighting for your life constantly, you grow closer than normal people. That was a really long-winded way to say 'I agree', but eh.

EmporerCookies: Lmao, if only. That'd be a hell of a change of pace. Hero of the people to mass-murderer in less than a moment. Fun concept, though.

razmire: Regardless of whether or not Weiss 'dies', she still would have no control over the company until Jacques dies. As it stands, Whitley has no control, and neither does Weiss, but her plan is more or less relying on reappearing as alive once Jacques is dead, to reclaim her position as heiress over her brother.

IHateGenericCereal: That's absolutely going to be a chapter title, btw. Unless it doesn't fit, but I'll figure that out when the time comes.

HINDOOM: That's what Combat 2.0 has done! Instead of increasing the HP of Grimm steadily, it has instead made individual Grimm, regardless of level, more resilient to damage as a baseline, therefore making them stronger as a concept as opposed to just repeatedly increasing their power. It also changed a metric ton of other things to lessen powercreep, too!

TioChr: I'm really glad you took the time to point this out, and you've made a lot of statements that I actually do agree with. You're absolutely right when you say that Systema really doesn't have anything in the way of written romance, at least, on a more stereotypical level. I'd say that it has 'romance' in the concept of having people dating each other, but there's really not been any 'romance genre' romance, and though you and I agree on the fact that I'm not experienced with writing romance, it also comes from the fact that romance was never even an intended part of Systema. I started this project as a way to test some writing ideas, but even before that, the System, as it exists within the spreadsheet, was originally written as a D20 system for tabletop RPGs. I'd wanted to try writing one, and I based the System off of a previous D20 system I wrote a good few years ago, but when I realized it adapted a little better to a LitRPG (or Gamer, whatever), I decided to try writing Systema. The rest has been history, naturally, but I never even had a plan to write romance. I agree that there should have been more conflict between characters, though then again I'm not even sure how I'd work that out plot-wise, because almost all the conflict in Systema has been external. When I started I wanted to take Systema a different direction from canon and a number of the other Gamer-fics out there, and make the Grimm an actual major threat that remained a major threat. This isn't all I have to say on the matter, if I don't cut myself off here I could probably wattle on about this stuff for hours, but I do really appreciate that you wrote your review, and you are right, there is a lot I'd like to do better in the future. And, hopefully, as Systema continues, I'll be able to do just that.

Perseus D. Uzumaki: Like I said to TioChr, I definitely could have done better when it came to character interaction in the past. It never really hit the mark I now see it needed to, and I'm hoping I can do that in the future. Having Ilia in the group is actually a major benefit to that, because with AWBN, there was never really that voice of objection that was needed to spark conflict and create dynamics. Systema's gonna go on for a while yet, though, so here's hoping I can make a marked improvement in the future!

Whew, that was a lot. If I didn't get to your review, it's because Christ alive look above, if I stuck yours in too we'd be double the length of the actual chapter :D. I really do appreciate them all, though, don't get me wrong, I love reading anything and everything y'all have to say, it's great to see so many people taking an interest in this no-longer-little project of mine!

I have a Pa Treon in case you're curious enough to want to check out all the stuff to do with Combat 2.0 or anything else that's in the spreadsheet, or if you just want to help support me and my writing, I'd really appreciate it either way!

And, as always, see you next chapter!
~AFatFlyingWhale

[Jaune Arc]

[Level 75]

[Professional Huntsman, Soul Tamer Expert]

[XP: 141,770/5,062,500]

[HP: 908/908 (2.95/s)]

[SP: 1,730/1,730 (11.8/s)]

[MP: 2,080/2,080 (24.8/s)]

[AP: 4,626/4,626 (1.18/s)]

[STR: 55]

[END: 59 (54)]

[AGI: 50]

[INT: 50]

[WIS: 52]

[CHA: 75]

[LCK: 51]

[Stat Points: 40]

[Lien: 711,035L]

[Corruption: 2/100]