Author's Note: I own nothing, not RWBY, not the stuff I reference, not even my precious little OC. Yep, that's right, you all are free to use anything original I come up with. Bonus points if you figure out all the inspiration and references. This is meant to be entertainment, after all. Enjoy the show!

Chapter 1:

The first thought I had upon waking was one I was used to associating with hangovers.

'…ugh…Lys, what the hell did you do to yourself last night?...

Yeah, the name's Lysander. Call me Lys.

…Yes, like the word "lies", now come on, I've got a story to tell.

The first thing I felt upon waking was a very uncomfortable, cold floor with what felt like some kind of blanket between me and said floor. After the initial confusion that particular sensation brought, I tried to remain as still as possible and try my hand at faking still being asleep, while at the same time straining my ears to try and hear anything that would give me more info. This wasn't the first time I had woken up in an unfamiliar place, and I knew the worst thing I could possibly do would be to freak out like some lost kid and draw unwanted attention.

After about thirty seconds of only hearing the kind of ambient noises one would expect from an empty warehouse, I decided to try and open my eyes. It did not go as smoothly as I had planned, however. Whatever had happened to me, my vision was still swimming from the aftereffects. Maybe I had been drugged and taken somewhere?

Yeah, because what I was seeing right now scared the hell out of me.

[Greetings and Salutations, New Player!]

[Due to extraordinary circumstances, your life is now a game!]

[Start your new life by finding out where you are, and what happened to you.]

[Rewards: A sense of purpose, a chance to survive]

Now, this was a fairly worrying development.

The idea of The Game was actually something I knew about. Not because I had read that one manhwa that came out forever ago about the concept, but because it had actually been happening to people around the globe for the past ten years or so. Yeah, that was a major shock to the public.

A bunch of people suddenly developing weird and truly epic powers, all of the same type, following some of the exact patterns of some Korean comic that came out a few years earlier? That quickly got the attention of a lot of important people, especially those who wished for the power such an opportunity provided. The big disasters and calamities wouldn't happen right away, of course, as there was no real way to do something like cheat or boost levels at an absurd rate. At least the Game was well balanced, for the most part.

It wasn't that the screens the Players talked about were visible to everyone, but some of the newer, more reckless kids who got chosen panicked and tried to get help for what they thought at first was some kind of mental condition. Then some downtrodden office worker started trying to become some sort of real-life superhero, with powers to back it up. People started taking those claims a lot more seriously when a random guy started being able to lift cars and create pocket dimensions.

He didn't last very long. The world is still pretty brutal.

The Game always seemed to pick people at random, but there was always speculation that there was some driving force, maybe even a conscience, behind this mysterious power. Eventually the phenomenon became so widespread that a solid 15-20% of the global population was connected to the Game. People even started claiming they had been transported to other worlds for a time, sometimes with strong resemblances to fictional stories.

It helped when they started coming back with proof.

[For figuring out what happened to you by reasoning and not freaking out like you were supposed to, you gain +1 to intelligence, +2 to wisdom. Good for you!]

Also, The Game was well known to its users for speaking/reading like a sarcastic, snarky asshole. This only lent credence to the idea of it having some kind of sentient controller. That idea was one that actually scared me.

I waited to see if it would try to tell me anything else, but nothing was obscuring my vision after I silently willed the screen to go away. Good to see that works, I was worried I could be stuck with voice commands for a bit. While there were some Players who preferred to use vocal commands for their interactions, I never understood why. It was often seen as a status symbol for the Players who were damn near untouchable to be able to speak to the Game directly, but for the new and low-level scrubs like I was now, it would be a dead giveaway to the power-hungry. Or, just an indicator to those unfamiliar, aka the fiction worlders, that you might be crazier than is socially acceptable. Announcing to the world that particular status had all kinds of nasty consequences attached.

No, I don't care how quietly you think you can whisper, eventually someone will hear you, and then good luck keeping your secrets.

Giving myself a few seconds to come to terms with my situation, I decided to finally get up and move around. Best to check to see if anyone or anything was dangerous or a potential witness. The area I was in looked to be some kind of an old factory, with tons of rusted and broken machinery scattered about the place like a tornado had come through. I had been lying on some kind of cloth that had fallen to the floor. I think it was meant to be a tarp, as there were others of its kind covering some of the machinery. There looked to be a few rooms off to the side of where I was, which was probably the main factory floor. Seeing that nothing alive was around and the cameras were all nonfunctional and decrepit like the rest of the machinery, I decided that looking around was an acceptable idea. Not anything super invasive though, who knew if this run-down looking place was trapped or something.

I checked myself over first, seeing that my clothes at least had remained the same. My ensemble wasn't considered the height of fashion, but was something I still liked. It consisted of steel-toed combat boots, pants that looked like black khakis with a bunch of pockets down each leg, a nice breathable grey T-shirt, and my jacket. The jacket was something of an eccentricity of mine. It was a dark shade of brown with hints of red, cut into three flaps at the bottom, and a little too scuffed up and torn to still be considered a duster. Made me feel like a cowboy or something.

Eventually something caught my eye amongst all the rusty metal. A soft glimmer of light, reflecting off what I had first mistaken to be an ordinary piece of glass lying on a table. Upon a second glance, though, I immediately discarded that idea as glass does not typically look like a very nicely cut gemstone. All my finely tuned kleptomaniacal senses were telling me the thing was valuable, but I still stayed my hand. With the Game being a factor, I couldn't trust anything right now, no matter how innocuous or shiny.

Speaking of the Game, I figured I should check my status now that I had determined the area was probably safe enough for the next few minutes. With a simple thought, a new screen popped up about a foot-and-a-half away from my face.

Name: Lysander (Lys) Harlocke

Class: (?)

Level: 1 (0/100 Exp)

Title: None

Hp: 180/180 (+ 10 regen per min)

Mp: 200/200 (+40 regen per min)

Str: 12

Vit: 15

Dex: 18

Int: 15

Wis: 20

Luck: 10

Attribute Points: 0

Status effects: None

Lien: None

Looking over my stats proved to be a relaxing task, helping to calm my frayed nerves and paranoia. I was glad I was able to keep my old name, not everyone was so lucky. While being a Player was new to me, I wasn't clueless. Gaming of the non-reality-warping variety had always been a favorite hobby of mine. It was one of the things that actually kept my attention and had only gotten more interesting the longer the Game had been a thing.

My stat spread looked to be fairly well distributed, excellent for the Arcane Trickster Rogue type I thought of myself as, even if I thought the numbers were a little high to begin with for level one. Maybe some of the experiences of my life had influenced their growth. Plus, I was starting at level one a lot later than most other Players seemed to nowadays. Most Players who were chosen would manifest at least some connection to the Game by the time they were 7 or 8, not having a single stat number above a ten, all totaling about 35, but their stat growth was usually exponential from there. I on the other hand had a whopping total of 90 at level one, and I was 22 years old. Bit late for the Game to suddenly choose me.

I mentally reviewed and looked at each stats description. There were no touch controls, thankfully, everything was just a thought away. The theory behind my understanding of the Game's stats was that they were split into two aspects, Physical stats and Mental/Other stats.

On the Physical side, Strength was always self-explanatory, it referred to how much you could carry on your person, and most of the power behind all melee attacks. Carry weight typically did not apply to the Inventory, thankfully. Just how many rocket launchers and flamethrowers you could hold at once, and the kind of clothing/armor one could wear comfortably.

Vitality was essentially what determined your health and endurance, and that calculation was usually fairly simple, being every point in vitality equaling ten extra health from your baseline. Apparently, my baseline is 30, which is actually a little low. I think the average is something like 50. The higher something's Vit was, the less you would hurt it. That seems to make a lot more of a difference when the gap between damage and Vit is greatly increased. Get it high enough, and weaker sources of damage stop being able to hurt you at all. That was what made Players so dangerous, once they were around a high enough level, no idea what level exactly, they were effectively damage-proof from everything short of a missile. The damage proof mark was collectively referred to as an AC. A decent knife could break through everything short of an AC of 5, but by the time you got around an AC of 20 or so, a Player could start tanking small caliber rounds without much hassle.

Dexterity governed the agility and reflexes of an individual, as well as accuracy and power behind all ranged attacks. Melee attacks could be influenced by Dex, but usually only as an additive to the accuracy of where you wanted to hit, and bonus damage if you hit something vital. Depending on what you were fighting and where you hit, Dex could be the difference between grazing something or cutting its head clean off.

Starting off the Mental/Other side of things, Intelligence was a measure of one's mental faculties, and how much energy someone could use for special abilities or skills that used Mp. Again, it was a simple multiply by ten scenario. I apparently had 50 base Mp. The number did not actually represent how smart someone was exactly, but still giving a good indication of how powerful their skills could potentially be. It was also generally a good measure of their perception with senses, be it the basic five or something more exotic.

Wisdom was a bit trickier. It did things like determining the regenerative rate of Mp, but also seemed to have an effect on a person's charisma to a small degree. People deferred to those who they saw as wise, I guess. Int was basically the strength of someone's mind, but wisdom was how well they were able to use that power. So, a socially awkward savant with no common sense would be high in Int, but lacking in Wisdom. I was glad to see I had a respectable balance.

Luck was even more mysterious. It supposedly influenced item drops and general fortune, but didn't have some kind of set calculation for it that anyone could ever tell. Supposedly it could also change depending on what you were doing, but that was one rumor that Players seemed to avoid talking about, and the description wasn't much help.

Attribute points were the things earned every level up that were used to increase stats. The amount given to each Player varied between 5 and 10, per level up, and again it was seen as a status symbol among Players to get more per level.

Status conditions were outside influences on stats or the person's mind or body directly. Needless to say, they could be very deadly if not taken care of, especially considering they could often stack to become worse afflictions.

The only things that didn't make sense to me was the one marked Lien, and the question marks in place of The Gamer Class. Lien was in the place where Money should have been, and that was something different from all the Game stat screens I had heard described and seen depicted. They varied quite a lot, and were customizable to some degree, but the stat screen was supposed to be a constant. Question marks typically meant I didn't know enough about something to see details, but this was my own status screen, what the hell!?

Trying to ease my worried heart, I switched over to the Skills/Perks tab looking for the reassuring presence of the two constant Skills every Player always started out with. I was expecting to see the little cartoon icons for the Gamer's Body and Gamer's Mind. What I saw instead had me breaking out into a nervous sweat. In place of the two beloved Skill icons I was hoping to see there sat only a single, unfamiliar Skill.

[ Soul of a Warlock]: A unique skill given to one who was unable to inherit Gamer's Body or Gamer's Mind. Grants access to the Game System and the effects of Gamer's Body, but has a deeper connection with increased potential at the cost of no starting inherent Mental protection, pain dampening or emotion dampening. Recommended for Hardcore Players only! Allows access to {REDACTED}.

…

So, yeah, I was panicking pretty hard right then. Why, you may ask? Well, because I was missing some of the effects that made every Player so bloody powerful! Sure, a more potent version of the Gamer's Body sounded nice, but it left a glaring weak spot in my defenses! Some of the most horrible and debilitating Status conditions were Mental in nature, and one of the major reasons Players were so formidable. It was because with Gamer's Mind they could enter a state where they could tune out pain, distractions, mental attacks of all kinds, and petty things like human emotions! While in that state, they essentially became unstoppable unless someone could beat their stats or convince the Player they weren't worth the effort.

Players were not always the kindest of people. Power corrupts, and all that.

Now consider that the fastest and easiest way to earn Exp and level up for Players is fighting and doing challenging things.

People, as it turns out, are worth a lot of Exp.

There were two other things about the Skill I was concerned with as well. The first was the portion at the end with the REDACTED text. That wasn't something I had ever heard about before, in any case. I didn't like having information withheld from me, especially in such an obvious way. That led me to the second thing I found worrying. The use of the term Warlock.

The word Warlock has a couple different connotations than other similar words like wizard or sorcerer, especially in a gaming context. The first thing is that the word itself had an original literal meaning close to "liar". Besides it being a little insulting, that wasn't what bugged me. I've always told people to call me Lys, aka lies, and it was a little unnerving of a resemblance. The second, more important fact, was that in game terms, especially like D&D, a Warlock typically had something called a Patron. Think of it like the relationship between a master and apprentice, with the student drawing power in some way and doing favors and rituals for their Patron in return.

Favors that typically were not very clean or ethical, for that matter.

…

…Huh…you know, that relationship kind of reminds me a lot of the bond…between…

Players…

…and the …

…Game…

…

…Oh, shit.

*Ding*

[Hidden Objective Complete!]

[You have discovered something potentially terrifying about the nature of The Game System! Specifically, how it relates to you. Isn't this exciting!]

[We wouldn't recommend sharing this, even amongst other Players, but hey, its your life on the line here, Lys]

…

[We look forward to working with you]

[Progress with this discovery further to unlock rewards!]

…

…Oh God, it said my name…

…

Wait, it was already doing that with the Status Screen.

…So, it took me like a solid five minutes to stop whimpering and having an existential crisis. No, I'm not proud. Eventually I decided it would be best to just keep moving forward and learn. I still don't want to end up as a stain on the floor, thank you very much. As I got up from the floor, I checked back with the status screen, and sure enough, the Class portion of my status had changed.

Class: Novice Warlock

I decided this was a good thing, even if it set me apart from other Players. Things like Classes and the specifics of stats weren't on display for every Player to read at their leisure. Usually they just got a name and a person's level and Title, if they had one. The only way to tell stats was to know the person in question really well. Stuff like animals had their stats displayed constantly. The thing I was worried about was Titles. Titles were rare, though even non-Players sometimes had them if they had done something the Game found noteworthy enough. Players couldn't immediately tell each other apart from a crowd, either, so I could probably blend in pretty well if I didn't start running around screaming "Hey look at me I'm super special and probably worth a LOT of Exp!"

Like I said before, our world is a brutal one.

Walking back to the table with the strange looking gem on it, I decided to test out another theory of mine. No one had ever outright stated how the creation of new Skills worked, but the idea was that if your stats were high enough, you could learn just about anything you could conceive of.

So, I stared at the rock.

And I kept staring.

…

Apparently, the rock wasn't intimidated.

After a good minute or two I began to contemplate my life choices. Right when I was getting to the part about the Game coming into my life, I heard a sound. Thankfully, I could tell it was coming from the Game.

*Ding*

[Skill Unlocked!]

[You have created a Skill for the first time, congratulations!]

[Observe, Lv N/A (Passive)]: A skill that lets you understand the world around you instinctively. Uses both Intelligence and Wisdom modifiers(additive). You may be able to find hidden secrets if you look closely, but be warned. Some things are not meant for mortal ken to know.

Well, more fuel onto the concern pyre it is then!

Focusing back on the sparkly crystal, I proceeded… to stare at it some more. Nothing happened, and I began to get frustrated when I felt my eyes do something weird, almost like they were dilating but in a… different direction.

And suddenly…

I Understood.

[Dust crystal, Common, Charge 0/50]: A spent Lightning Dust crystal once used to hold the fury of the elements, this battery has long since been used up.

Using a skill for the first time was a decent adrenaline rush. No wonder most Players like to show off, it literally feels like my brain just dumped half of its dopamine at once. Back to business though.

The term Dust being used with a capital D wasn't super common, much rarer when used to describe something like the gem I was looking at.

Combine that idea with the fact that my Money status had been replaced with the term Lien, and it wasn't hard to figure out what was going on and where I probably was. A fiction world.

Remnant.

Just thinking the word left an ashen taste in my mouth. This was bad. This was really, really bad. For all of the niceties and cool bits of the anime I could remember, the world that RWBY took place on was undoubtedly what would be considered a Deathworld by the Game's standards of classification. Sure, the show liked to paint the picture of a friendly fantasy romp with cool sci-fi weapons, but that was just a surface-thin lie. I could give one massive reason this world would not be kind to someone like me.

The Creatures of Grimm.

If your listening to this story, and recognized the name RWBY, you know what the Grimm are. No point in me explaining the intricacies of the terrifying murder-machines that are basically a divinely-crafted anathema to life itself that stalked like ninety percent of this wild world. To make things even worse than being trapped on a planet with those abominations, their main hunting mechanism is supposed to be something like sensing strong negative emotions. Let me just remind you again that I was panicking not five minutes ago.

And I didn't have Gamer's Mind to protect me.

It was a miracle that nothing had shown up to eat my face yet.

*Ding*

[You have successfully figured out where you are, and Welcome to Remnant!]

[You have completed the Intro, including a Hidden Objective, and thus, have gained a Quest! Make sure to get prepared before canon!]

Quest Gained: Find a Path, and Walk it Well

Difficulty: Apprentice

-Discover what it means to be a Warlock

-Get to level 3 before reaching Vale

Rewards: Materiel components, 2000 lien, and (?)]

Realizing I either needed sanctuary, a better hold on my emotions, or a lot more power, I steeled my resolve and pocketed the Dust. That little gem could come in handy at some point, even though it appeared to be out of charge. Heading over to a few of the other tables, I did a quick search for any more valuable items, and found I was in luck today. No more Dust, but off in one of the open side rooms I found a couple things that would prove to be immensely useful.

The room I had entered looked to be some kind of emergency shelter or supply room, because it was still packed full of survival equipment, rations and water, and even a few old uniforms hanging outside what I can only assume to be work lockers. Trying to pry open the lockers was a pain, especially since I was trying to be quiet, but again my efforts were rewarded as I found my first weapon.

It looked like some kind of survival knife, being about a foot long, very sharp, having a little serrated bit near the handle, and a decent gut hook on the side opposite the edge. The handle was mostly flat, too, with two holes in it where the pointer and pinky finger would go. Surprisingly, it was balanced a lot more like a throwing knife than I was expecting. Whatever metal it was made of apparently didn't rust easily either, as the blade was fairly clean. I decided to see if Observe told me more info.

[Refined Hunter's Knife, Uncommon]: A surprisingly well-preserved Tungsten alloy blade used as a last resort backup weapon by some fighters. Balanced for both handheld and throwing styles with moderate ease of use.

Durability: 24/30

Hmmm… gonna have to use this thing sparingly, don't want it to break on me when I need it.

There were a few other weapons around, mostly in the lockers, but none were in usable condition. The few ballistic weapons were broken, in pieces, falling apart, or otherwise indisposed. I still collected what salvageable pieces I could find, but I wasn't lucky enough to find enough to repair even one of the basic looking pistols into working condition. I simply wasn't that good yet with these designs. I did find a small amount of usable ammo though, ranging from what looked like basic 9mm balls to shotgun shells to some kind of large rifle rounds, similar in size to .308 caliber. The last ones were weird, though, they reminded me a lot of Black Talon bullets.

For those of you not experts in firearms, Black Talons were a controversial kind of hollow point bullet made by Winchester sometime back in the early 90's. The things were nasty, with six "petals" that would unfold upon impact, essentially acting as barbs, so getting them out of a wound was really hard without doing more damage in the process. Black Talons were pistol rounds though, whereas these things were obviously meant for something much larger.

While some Grimm did indeed have armor, these things were made to bleed something, and didn't look like they were very armor-piercing.

I really hoped these were not used on people.

After getting every item I could comfortably fit in a backpack I found packed and my new knife in a sheath on my belt, I proceeded to loot everything else of value into my newly discovered Inventory. I have said it thousands of times, pocket dimensions of nearly unlimited space are such bullshit. Most Players really don't know how to properly abuse a concept like that. Think of Doomguy's dimensional backpack, for starters, or better yet, a Fallout protagonist with an infinite carry weight mod. Kleptomania for the win. As for why I still had a physical backpack with supplies, well, wouldn't it be really suspicious for a stranger to be in the wilderness, or in my case dilapidated ruins, without any supplies? Scavenging could only do so much for so long. This was better for blending in when I eventually found people.

The old uniforms even gave me a good idea of where I was.

Mountain Glenn.

That certainly explained the hell out of the fact that I looked to be on the outskirts of a ruined city.

The old factory I woke up in was one of the more intact buildings in the surrounding area. Taking some time, I was able to find a way to a higher vantage point inside one of the taller intact buildings without attracting attention. Looking out at the rest of the desolate city I could tell two things right away. One, that there was probably still a decent amount of valuable stuff hidden in the ruins, and two, it would be a very bad idea to just waltz in there as I am now. From this height I could see pretty far both into the city proper, and to what looked like the border defenses used to keep out Grimm.

Also, I could see a lot of Grimm right now.

I vaguely remember that the Mountain Glenn settlement was somewhere to the southeast of Vale, the largest and safest city on the continent. Looking at the position of the sun, which I hoped still rose in the east and set in the west on this planet, I could tell that trying to head northwest to Vale was going to be a problem. That path took me through a decent stretch of destroyed city that looked about as inviting as the open maw of a dragon.

Sadly, it was the option that looked to be the safest,fastest and expected choice…

…

…

[Stealth, Lv: 5, (Active), Exp: 117/200]: A skill that makes it harder to detect you. Uses Dexterity Modifier. Can be augmented for increased effects by outside factors, such as moving slowly, distractions and the Notice-Me-Not Perk. Grants a [25%] extra chance to remain unnoticed.

Current Stealth Level: Unseen Adept

Mp cost per min: 10

One of the funny things about the Game's Stealth mechanics is the way it rates how well someone is hidden. The actual rating system works off of descriptions and analogies more than a hard calculation. It's actually kinda one of the more realistic aspects of the Game, as even someone with an absurdly high Dex mod will have trouble sneaking if they try to do some stupid stunt like 'crouching to stay in stealth while in plain sight of the target'. Honestly its like they think all logic just goes out the window just because they have awesome superpowers. Then they usually get shot in the face.

Sneaking my way through the ruins proved to be a challenge. The area was mostly filled with simple Grimm like Beowulfs and Creeps, but I did catch a glimpse of something bigger that I thought might have been a Goliath once down a side street. They gradually got more scattered and sparser as I moved along thankfully. As much as I wanted to, I tried to stay away from the compulsive urge to search every nook and cranny. I had the feeling looting was meant to be done after you were sure all the bad things were dead. To get the more troublesome opponents out of the way, I had begun picking up little chunks of concrete rubble and putting them into my inventory to throw as distractions. While the Grimm are still scary, the young ones are still just as smart as an animal. I still considered myself way too weak to try and fight these things in an area where they could easily call for backup.

It reminded me a lot of the style of game encounters I had jokingly dubbed "chunky salsa fights". The idea was that instead of making a single challenging foe, like a boss or something, you would just send waves of disposable trash mobs at the player to make them feel awesome cutting through them so easily. Unfortunately, my Observe told me that all the Grimm around here were at least level 5 or higher. That one Goliath was freaking level 40! Even if these were considered trash mobs, they were still much stronger than me right now and there were a ton of the bastards.

So far Mountain Glenn was giving me the impression of a high-level area, probably meant for someone strong enough to easily deal with the rank and file, but still weak enough for the Goliaths to be a challenge, like little mini-bosses. I did not want to be around long enough for whatever passed for the boss to notice me. Probably that huge dragon from Season 3, I think most of the fanbase called it something stupid like Kevin or something.

Interestingly, with the low-level Grimm I could see all their stats right away. This was what I was up against.

[Grimm Beowulf, Lv 5]: One of the myriad Creatures of Darkness. The Antithesis to life, especially intelligent life. Does not need to eat or breathe, but showcases patterns reminiscent of natural predators. The specimen observed is approx. 4 years of age, standing 7 feet tall at about 410lbs. Able to track prey great distances.

Hp: 300 (+ 5 per min outside combat)

Mp: (Locked)

Str: 18

Vit: 25

Dex: 12

Int: 7

Wis: 10

Luck: 0

Status Conditions: Distracted, Perpetual Hunger

Potential Weaknesses: Blunt Force to vitals, Fire, Electricity, Piercing to unarmored areas. Armor penetrating rounds recommended.

I think something like Crescent Rose was able to one-shot these things. No wonder everything is a gun.

It took a while, about 3 hours of hiking and dodging Grimm, but I made it outside the city before noon. For whatever reason, the Grimm seemed to stay within or near the city border, which I was thankful for. Even one lone Grimm would be a tough opponent, and I only had a small knife. As the moon rose into the evening sky later that night, I was finishing securing a little camp in the ruins of some burned down farmhouse. Seeing the moon and the broken state it was in hit me harder than I was expecting. Harder than being chosen by the Game or hiding from monsters.

This was going to be my home now.

The few Players back on Earth that had returned from fiction worlds told tales of being trapped there for years, sometimes even decades or longer. They all spoke of it as a kind of trial they were supposed to pass, and they all seemed to either end up ruling a decent portion of that world or being some kind of important figure in the canon story. That or probably die painfully, we could never be sure about the ones who never came back. One constant in all the stories was that the Game had given Quests specific to that world, and seemed to guide the Player to do specific things in that world that eventually let to the canon story resolving in some way. Interestingly, Players were typically given some kind of grace period before other Players could appear in that reality as well.

This made more sense to me as I thought about what I had learned about the Game recently. If this thing could think, it might have some kind of a plan. A plan that I was now a part of.

Now that I was far enough away from the city proper, I wanted to take a crack at unlocking my Aura, if I had one. I was really hoping I could just will it to happen like with the Observe skill, and not require another person.

The reason I didn't want to try earlier was because I had a funny feeling it would do something to attract the Grimm. Kind of like changing the overall difficulty modifier or something. Still, Aura was a powerful tool that I needed as soon as possible if I wanted to live, and even if it meant fighting; I had only gotten about halfway to level 2 from sneaking around. The Game did reward non-confrontational activities, but much, much less than combat. Granted, that might be the case because all the skills I was using were fairly low level themselves, so doing something like sneaking when my Stealth was maxed out would probably give much more Exp to my overall level progress.

To start with, I would need a fairly commonly known skill. I sat down next to the small fire I had started, and closed my eyes. I tried to calm the anxiety and paranoia that had flared up again now that I was out of an immediate threat.

It took a few minutes of listening to the fire crackling, but soon enough…

[Skill Unlocked!]

[Meditate, Lv: N/A, (Active)]: A skill that allows you to enter a trance that allows for clear thought and limited Mental protection. Can only be used when resting for a duration of up to 2 hours until upgraded with the skill [Combat Flow]. Can only be used once before a cooldown period of up to 4 hours, depending on effects used, until upgraded with [Combat Flow]. Uses Wisdom modifier to determine strength of effects. Only 2 effects can be used at the same time.

Effects: Presence Detection, Restorative Mind, Restorative Body, Elucidation

Presence Detection: Feels the environment around you for 50 meters, alerting you to the current location of Allies, Non-Hostiles, and Hostile targets. Done passively

Restorative Mind: Increases the regen of Mp at an impressive rate, currently at [x2] modifier. Also lessens or cures Mental Status Conditions depending on severity.

Restorative Body: Increases the regen rate of Hp, currently at [x2] modifier. Also increases natural resistance to the negative effects of Physical Status Conditions and Effects, such as being poisoned or electrocuted. Positive effects of Status Conditions are slightly boosted.

[Elucidation: Warlock Class Exclusive]: Temporarily increases Intelligence stat by [x2] modifier during Meditation. Can unlock {REDACTED} if used while not in combat. Can only be activated once every 24 hours with no consequence. Can also be used outside of Meditation as a Skill, or given to non-Players as a Buff (all potential effects of Elucidation included). Attempting to access Elucidation while it is on cooldown will activate it, but can incur penalties such as Exhaustion and possibly Madman's Knowledge. DO NOT attempt to access Elucidation under the effects of Madman's Knowledge, you WILL kill yourself outright.

Meditation Mp cost: 10 per min.

Elucidation Skill Mp cost: 500 Mp

Oh, wow, that was a LOT more than I was expecting. Damn, this skill sounded really useful, and that upgrade it mentioned sounded even more so. Still, parts of the skill made me pause in my excitement. The base skill itself had some decently strict cooldowns until it was upgraded. I didn't even have enough total Mp to use Elucidation as a skill yet. Particularly worrying was that Elucidation had more effects to its use that I had no idea what they did. I was starting to get sick of stuff being REDACTED.

I focused on the part about the effect called Madman's Knowledge, and sure enough a secondary screen popped up in my thoughts.

[Madman's Knowledge]: A rare penalty incurred by the excessive use of the Elucidation effect during Meditation or otherwise. Massively increases Intelligence and Wisdom permanently, at the cost of the chance for negative effects such as Vertigo (90%), Blindness (25%), Deafness (25%), Migraines (10%) or possibly direct damage or reduction of Hp (5%). These negative effects last for 24 hours, and additional negative effects can be incurred over that period if in combat.

Continued use of this effect cannot lead to Insanity, despite the name, but will alter your Understanding of the world, admittedly in sometimes hilarious ways. DO NOT think of this as simply a risky way of increasing your stats. Use of this effect more than 3 times on yourself will open the Path for invading entities, such as Hostile Players, and much worse. This Effect strains the confines of the Game System. Please, think carefully, Lys. We can only protect you so much.

…

Well, that was fucking ominous.

Oh, and it said my name again. Yay.

So, basically, it was a permanent boost to my stats, but could only be used 3 times in total before it would force me into contact with the REALLY bad shit. Even the temp effects could probably get me killed if I used it at the wrong time. I had never heard of Players with something so broken right at the start, though. Must be REALLY special being a Warlock. From the sounds of it this was supposed to be some bootstrap way of putting me on the level where I would be ready to face other Players. Sure, this whole thing was a power trip, but I wasn't suicidal. I wouldn't be ready to face hostile Players for a long time.

In conclusion, being a Warlock is awesome, but power always has a price.

…

…Wait a fucking second.

I shifted the screen about Madman's Knowledge aside and looked back at part of the description for Elucidate.

Can be used outside of Meditation as a Skill, or given to non-Players as a Buff (all potential effects of Elucidation included)

Elucidation Skill cost: 500 Mp

On the surface this sounded like a great Skill that would be an incredible boon to any Allies I made while here on Remnant, even if they were in non-combat roles. Sure, the cost was high for now, but it would seem smaller with time. The part about it specifying non-Players, though, was more interesting. Could I give this to my Enemies? Why?

Then I looked back at Madman's Knowledge, and the part near the end about using it 3 times. It specified on myself.

The Game had a thing for wording the description of a Players abilities very specifically. Often it took an especially observant or creative Player to actually find and use all potential aspects of the superpowers they had been granted. According to this, I could use Elucidation on others, any others, multiple times. Using it repeatedly on the same individual would eventually inflict Madman's Knowledge. I wasn't sure why I would want to permanently Buff my enemies, maybe it would increase the Exp they gave, even if the temp effects were nice as potential Debuffs, but then I realized it.

Using Elucidation on something inflicted with Madman's Knowledge and still suffering the negative effects would kill it instantly.

…

Holy Shit, Warlock's were fucking broken.

The cost was absurd to me now, probably multiple thousands of Mp in cost, but it was a God-damn instant-kill move. Stacking up a buff, that turned into debuffs that only got worse in combat, that turned into a fucking nuke button was insane. Beyond insane, even. Nothing in the Game was supposed to be that cheap or powerful.

Given enough time and Mp, I could kill anything.

[Remember when we said this effect strains the confines of the Game? The concept you have discovered is what we call REDACTION. Please, Lys, use that option only as a last resort. Elucidation and even Madman's Knowledge on others should be fine, but Redacting important things, like living beings, too much will eventually break our connection]

Shaking off the unease I felt, and mentally closing all the extra info, I settled back down to actually begin. I felt the Meditation skill activate, and the option to choose the effects popped up. I chose Presence Detection as I didn't like the idea of being this exposed out in the wild without it, and Elucidation. Based on the description I had just gone over, if I just used it once and waited until the next chance it gave me to Meditate, I would be perfectly fine.

Sitting there in the light of the fire, in the ruins of someone's home, I felt no presences near me. Good.

In the next second, I opened my eyes. I felt… strange, not uncomfortable, but the same sensation I got when I used Observe for the first time, only throughout all my senses. I figured that was Elucidation at work. Looking at my status screen, I tried to see if anything had changed, and it looked like I was successful.

Name: Lysander (Lys) Harlocke

Class: Novice Warlock

Level: 1 (90/100 Exp)

Title: None

Hp: 180/180 (+ 10 regen per min)

Mp: 150/200 (+40 regen per min)

Str: 12

Vit: 15

Dex: 18

Int: 15 (x2) =30

Wis: 20

Luck: 10

Attribute Points: 0

Status effects: Meditating, Elucidated

Lien: None

One of the things I noticed when I used an Mp draining skill was that while the skill was active, Mp would appear to stop regenerating, but still counted the time lost and added Mp back as if it was regenerating after all active skills stopped being used. Guess there was a Perk or something later on that fixed that little problem. It seemed that as long as the cost didn't exceed 40 Mp per minute, the second I stopped using Mp it would all come back. Apparently, this was something else different about being a Warlock.

I was glad these weren't strictly D&D rules, saving so few spell slots was a bitch and a half.

Meditating is rather nice, I thought to myself. The gentle snapping and popping of the wood in the flames became a kind of comfortable rhythm. After a few more minutes of contemplative silence I noticed an odd sensation, much less physical than before. It didn't set off any notifications, so I wasn't sure what it was at first. The mystery feeling stayed with me throughout the remaining few minutes as my Mp slowly dropped to 0.

Then my mind flooded with info once more.

*Ding*

[Unique Skill Unlocked!]

[Aura, Lv: 1, (Unique), Exp: 0/100]: A unique skill that can only be unlocked on Remnant, due to {REDACTED}. With [Soul of a Warlock], Aura does not need to be Unlocked by another with Aura, and has a constant recharge rate until broken. The automatic recharge rate function can be disabled until Aura is fully broken, if you so choose. When broken, Aura regen is halted for at least 5 seconds, and at most a full minute, depending on the strength of the strike that broke it. Aura can be spent to recover Hp (1:1 ratio).

Aura can be trained, and requires practice for different techniques. Can be used in a variety of different ways, with the most common and natural being an energy nullification field around the body. BE WARNED, Aura does not protect against some damage types. While normally determined through adding base Vitality and base Intelligence Modifiers (x 2), a Warlock can use Wisdom as well, and includes the effects of base stat boosting Buffs, and {REDACTED}, using the following calculations. Aura calculations may vary depending on the effects of Titles, {REDACTED}, Status Conditions, etc. Aura will be added to the Status Screen as [Ap] shortly.

Baseline Untrained Aura = (Vit x 2) + (Int x 2)

Warlock Aura = (Vit x 2) + [(Int divided by 2*) x (Wis)] (Int reduced until {REDACTED})

Current Aura Points: (15 x 2) + [(15*) x (20)] = 330 Ap (180 + Buff effects)

Currently Known Techniques: Aura Shield

Current Aura Regen Rate: 5 Ap per second

…

Ok, I think I got it. The gist was that Aura acted as a second health bar that was much better at taking hits than my normal body was. The calculation bit showed me that my Aura would always be at least a little higher than someone with similar stats to me. The higher my stats got, the more the gap would widen, probably exponentially if the math played out right. Intelligence and Wisdom would be my best friends for increasing Aura, but I wasn't going to leave Vitality left far behind if I could help it. Not only did it determine my Hp, you know, the thing that kept me alive, but also determined my damage resistance. The thing was never really represented in a numerical way in the Game officially, but Players had taken to using the term AC.

AC, as I explained when going over what the stats did, was a guesswork measurement done by Players who first noticed the phenomenon. Some idiot somewhere tried to stab a Player, but did literally zero damage, despite said Player wearing no real armor at the time. Said Player was a paranoid bastard in the same leagues as me, so he decided to investigate. Thoroughly.

He was the first to coin the term AC, named after the concept used in Dungeons and Dragons. Truly, he was a man after my own heart. Such a nerd. Anyway, the AC scale was exponential in terms of damage reduced. If something did less numerical damage than your Vitality stat, it was reduced by about half per every ten points under it was. The higher the Vit, the more potent this effect. Supposedly the Player who took zero damage from a knife to the heart had a Vitality stat of around 80. Not exactly Superman, especially compared to Players who would make themselves known later, but still impressive.

There were typically three ways to avoid or tank damage; have a fuck-ton of health, which in my case would be aura, have a massively high AC, like most of the god-like players back on Earth tended towards, or become a dodge tank, something that could simply never get hit in the first place. I think most of the denizens of Remnant fell strongly into that last category. Want an example? Behold Neoplolitian, or just Neo, the second scariest mute in the galaxy. Sorry, but the Meta still holds that particular title. In all the fights she was ever a part of in the show, the little ice-cream girl technically never ONCE got hit, even against Cinder, who had to resort to her stolen Maiden powers for intimidation. Remember Yang vs all of Juniors guys from one of the first trailers of the show, and how she wiped the floor with close to 40-50 armed men? Well, Yang didn't even manage to touch Neo at all, and Yang went down in just a few well-placed hits inside three minutes.

Yeah, dodge tanks were a huge problem.

I was going to find a way to incorporate all three styles if I could help it.

Anyways, back to my analysis of Aura.

The redacted info and potential weaknesses had me correspondingly annoyed and worried. I knew of things that could pass through Aura easily because of the show. Electricity was a prime example, but the scariest had to be the ability showcased by one Adam Taurus. That energy siphoning Semblance could build into a nasty retaliatory strike, which seemed to cut straight through Aura and break it instantly. Granted he had to block the incoming attacks with an object, usually that admittedly awesome sword of his, but he seemed really good at doing that. Being able to block individual bullets from automatic gunfire was laughably out of my current league, and I didn't even want to think about the kind of reaction time and reflexes that feat required.

Also… blocking bullets was something even the first-year students at Beacon seemed to be reliably able to do. Sure, that was limited to the talented kids, but they were still supposedly outclassed by at least three other years' worth of students, all the Professional Huntsmen and Huntresses, and especially the Professors at all the schools.

For all my power, I was so very far behind the curve.

With my Aura now unlocked and slowly climbing up to the max, I did one last conscious sweep of the area with Presence Detection. It worked passively, yes, but I would only really notice anything if a new Presence wandered into the range or I did a bit of focusing. I still had nothing to aid me in detecting long-range, sniper-esque opponents. I was willing to bet there would be at least a few Grimm, and plenty humans, in that category.

Thinking back on the redacted information, I was sure some of the missing info related to Semblances. Hell, the Game had redacted the basic idea of Aura, at first. I knew of a few Semblances that interacted with a person's Aura in weird ways, like Jaune's healing/Aura stim, Yang's berserker-lite Super Saiyan mode, Adam's instant Aura break, and a few others. Hell, there was one character late in the show who could turn their Aura invincible for 60 seconds at a time. Overpowered in a quick fight or ambush, but fights in RWBY usually lasted at least a minute against skilled opponents, probably because of Aura being so durable. Actually…

Just how durable was Aura?

Mine specifically?

As the Meditation effect ended, I decided to do one last thing before hunkering down for the night. I took out my knife, and checked to see that my Ap was full, which it was, having settled back down to a respectable 180 Ap without the Buffs. Carefully, I placed the edge of the knife along the outside of my left forearm. I really wanted to avoid doing something stupid like a straight stab or cutting open a vein.

Pressing down gently on the knife and sliding it slightly away from me, I was a little surprised to feel no pain. I still felt the edge of the knife, but it definitely wasn't cutting into the soft flesh like it was supposed to. I could visibly see my Aura in action, a deep purple-black color interspersed with a spiderweb pattern of bright gold. The dark Aura flowed and churned like water, while the sharp lines of light splintered and fragmented, mimicking a cracking mirror effect. One thing I noted was that the colors and patterns were something that looked oddly familiar. They reminded me of the Brothers, the two ancient gods of this world, who had abandoned the planet and its inhabitants a very long time ago after a little spat over the morality of death and its finality.

I wasn't sure if this was a good sign or not, things that involved the Brothers usually ended up being hunted down and fought over. I had never seen Aura like this in the show, it was always a single color or simple pattern, like that one cat chick from the Vytal Festival tournament, who had a basic rainbow pattern. Come to think of it, her partner during that fight, a guy named Flynt Coal, had clones that had a slight color change to their clothes and attacks. Still, those were basic patterns and palette swaps, this looked much more… alive.

Like Magic.

If that was the case, it definitely wasn't something I wanted to advertise every time I got hurt. Stopping what I was doing, I scrolled through some of the customization options I had found earlier while looking through the offshoots of the main status screen. Sure enough, Aura Color was indeed a new option.

Aura Color: Deep and Sky

…

Well that was a weird description for a set of colors. Eventually I found a much more subtle option.

Aura Color: Mojave

This new choice was much simpler, being a dark reddish-amber shade that reminded me of days wandering a virtual wasteland in my youth. Ah, who am I kidding, I never stopped walking with spurs that go jingle jangle jingle.

Some stuff just stays with you.

Going back to checking my stats in my mind and continuing to try to carve myself like a Christmas turkey, I paid very careful attention to how much force I was using and how much the Ap dropped in return. Even serious efforts to try and cut myself were only met with a drop of about 10-12 Ap at a time. Well, that was slashing damage out of the way.

Piercing did quite a bit more per hit than slashing did, while blunt force in the form of one of the pieces of rubble I had from the city did about half. I chalk that up to low Strength and high Dex. Maybe Aura had a hard time protecting from concentrated force, because it seemed to scale to the surface of the area being affected. I wasn't sure in numbers what the tensile and puncture strength of Aura was exactly, but it was definitely better than any ballistic weave I had ever worn. Aura started to give resistance at about a quarter inch from the skin for anything moving fast enough to cut or leave a bruise. I guess the extra distance helped to cushion blows like foam, pressing inward to increase durability. Must be why piercing is so effective.

Yet another reason I really didn't want to get shot.

On the bright side, most basic Grimm were slashing and blunt based, with very little in terms of fast piercing attacks. The ones that did have spikes or stingers or long fangs or… feathers for offensive moves were much too big or way too telegraphed to be a serious threat once I got enough practice.

But all that could wait for tomorrow.

Players didn't strictly need sleep, or food and water for that matter, but I still wasn't used to the idea of not needing rest and sustenance. I figured it was a psychological thing that went away with time. Plus, I wouldn't actually be unconscious exactly, more like the state you get in after a good nights' sleep where you are awake and aware but don't want to move. I used a menu option to set an early alarm and curled up beside the remains of a cobblestone fireplace.

What I wouldn't give right now for the comfort of a soft bed…

…

…

…

The following morning, a Grimm showed up.

Thankfully I wasn't swarmed with Grimm from the city or anything.

When I woke up, one of the first things I noticed was that a little Nevermore-like Grimm was perched on a tree just about 60m away from my little camp. Now when I say little, I mean it wasn't nearly big enough to fit me in its mouth. It was about the size of a vulture, an analogy I found fitting.

I checked its stats and found something I could exploit.

Hp: 70/75

Status Conditions: Deafened

My first thought? Free Exp.

Quickly, before packing any of my things, I activated Stealth and crept towards where I thought its blind spot was. Amazingly it hadn't noticed me yet. Once I was about 15m away I had my knife in my hand and let loose. I was thankful that I actually had a similar style of throwing knife back on Earth, or I probably would have missed. I watched the knife sail through the air, twirling end over end. I had taken careful aim at its wing, instead of its center of mass. I needed this thing grounded and not able to fly away, because it still seemed too healthy to take down with one knife.

Turns out I was exactly spot on.

-47 Hp, Critical Sneak Attack!

The notification popped right above the bird in little Borderlands-esque letters as a foot-long knife sank into its side, knocking it off its perch. It fell to the ground with a little thwomp.

-4 Hp

Okay, yeah, if an almost 25-foot fall only did 4 damage to this thing, I was not ready for a Beowulf. I had now made my sneak attack, and it was time to finish the Nevermore off. Running up to it, it actually managed to try to stand and make a threatening caw at me before I yanked the knife out of its wing, dealing another 5 damage with the gut-hook of the blade. I looked down at the thing with a little pity as it futilely tried to get up.

Hp: 14/75

Status Conditions: Stunned, Crippled, Bleeding, Deafened

Despite it being Grimm, I still felt bad about leaving it to suffer. Before it could bleed out or hurt itself more, I took the knife I recovered and quickly reached down to grab it and cut its jugular, killing it. I had hunted a few times in my life, and the last thing you wanted to do was leave something in pain, even if only because that made the animal much more dangerous. Seriously, imagine if someone had just stabbed or shot you, and you were backed into a corner. Odds are, you would want to escape or hurt the thing that caused you pain, usually both in the same motion. I tried to clean the knife out of habit before I realized that Grimm, and all the guts and blood, would fade away into smoke soon.

Then the notifications hit.

[+ 50 Exp]

[Level up!]

[You are now level: 2]

[Your Hp, Mp, and Ap are fully restored!]

[You have made your first kill, and on a Grimm with a simple knife no less, Congrats! For your fist kill, you have earned a Perk point! Spend it wisely!]

[You have earned 10 attribute points!]

[Your base Hp has increased by 10!]

To say I was excited was an understatement. I quickly flipped over to my stat screen to check out my new numbers.

Name: Lysander (Lys) Harlocke

Class: Novice Warlock

Level: 2 (40/125 Exp)

Title: None

Hp: 190/190 (+ 10 regen per min)

Mp: 200/200 (+40 regen per min)

Str: 12

Vit: 15

Dex: 18

Int: 15

Wis: 20

Luck: 10

Attribute Points: 10

Status effects: None

Lien: None

I decided to wait on spending points until I made a build plan. To do that, I needed to look at the Perks available this level, and the ones beyond. Looking back to the bird, I decided to see if I could do something like loot it. It was probably a hopeless effort, but surprisingly I got one thing out of it.

[Small Nevermore feather, Common]: Quantity: 1 Crafting Material. An undamaged feather from the uninjured wing of the Nevermore you have just slain. Grimm can be looted, but the corpse must be in good condition and very fresh. Properties: Clothing- Dex + 1, Weapons- Accuracy Bonus: 5%, Critical Hit damage + 10%.

The feather itself was about the same size as my knife. It was the solid black, unnatural color of the Grimm, and very faintly gave off a bit of smoke, like it was in the process of dissolving, but it didn't seem to be fading away at all.

Walking back to my camp, I began to pack up the few supplies I had out and cover up the embers of the fire with dirt. Covering my tracks was the paranoid option, but any experienced survivalist can tell you how much of a chance a fire has of being discovered and/or spreading if not contained or buried. I didn't even have to use all the wood I had collected yet.

Before I pulled up my stats, I had one last thing to do. Pulling out the feather from my Inventory, and my knife out of its sheath, I held the two up close to each other, waiting for a prompt. This was something I had seen Players do all the time with basic materials. Sure enough…

[Would you like to combine these items? (Refined Hunters Knife, Small Nevermore feather)]

Y/N

I mentally tapped the yes option, and set the feather on top of the knife gently. The feather began to smoke a bit more, and the knife seemed to gleam in the morning light. After about 5 seconds, the two items seemed to shimmer and flow together. The resulting object was exactly like my old knife, but one side had the imprint of the feather on it. The design of the etching reminded me of my favorite gun from an old game called Destiny. The etching on this knife looked exactly like the markings engraved on the Hawkmoon hand cannon.

[+15 Exp]

I looked at the new knife to see what had changed.

[Resplendent Hunter's Knife, Uncommon]: A surprisingly well-preserved Tungsten alloy blade used as a last resort backup weapon by some fighters. Balanced for both handheld and throwing styles with moderate ease of use. The mark of a Nevermore feather is engraved on one side, a result of Player Crafting. The mark grants an extra 5% accuracy bonus and 10% critical hit damage bonus. Material Crafting components can be separated.

Durability: 22/30

Oh, Nice.

The Crafting System for Players wasn't filled with menus like many expected at first. Working with common and Uncommon rarity materials could be done by hand with little or no tools, and could be separated and broken down at any time. Anything of the Rare, Epic, Exotic, and Legendary classes, however, needed experience for the Crafting Skill, a dedicated Workshop or Forge, and plenty of scrap material to ease the cost. The higher the Class of item, the more stuff you needed, and the more time the process took. A Legendary item would take entire days of work to get exactly right.

Say a Player wanted to make just a Rare Class item; they would need at least one Rare Material Component. Preferably, the more the better, as enough of the same Class gave the item a chance to become a higher-Class item. It usually took at least 3 of the same Class to do so, but the process needed the requirements of whatever that higher Class was in order to be given that chance.

I took a look at my current Crafting Skill.

[Crafting, Lv: 4, (Active), Exp: 35/175]: A common Player skill. Fuse two items to combine their effects, or create entirely new items from raw Components. Crafting can also extract Material Components from finished products, depending on rarity. Material Components are rated from Common, to Uncommon, Rare, Epic, Exotic, Legendary, and (?). Use of higher-grade Material requires higher Crafting Experience, Tools, a dedicated Workshop or Forge, and occasionally specific Material Components. Some Crafting can fail, but the Materials will never be damaged in the process. Crafting can be attempted at any time. Success rate is set by comparing Material rarity to Crafting Skill.

Current Success Rate: Common 99%, Uncommon 75%, Rare 60%, Epic 50%, Exotic 25%, Legendary 5%, and (?).

Hmmm…

Apparently, there was a rating beyond Legendary I had never heard of before.

Oh, I am SO leveling this up as fast as possible, I need to see what that rarity Class is. As far as I know, no Player has ever mentioned it before, and I was good at finding out what they talked about behind closed doors.

It was what I had done for a living after all. Had I mentioned that?

Helping take down Players who were a danger to others was my literal job.

Usually it was more about another High-level Player wanting a competitor gone, you know, politics at its finest, but the dirt I uncovered for the Strike teams was always legit and corroborated with multiple witnesses. It was better for everyone that those psychopaths were gone or locked up in special containment.

…

Yeah, there was a reason I knew so much about the Game and how Players worked.

…

Looking back at my new knife, I tested the ability to separate the items. A small flash of light later, and I was back to holding both a knife and feather. I looked over both to make sure they weren't damaged, and neither was. The knife was still sitting at 22 durability, so I got out one of the broken, rusty pieces of metal I had come across during my trek through the city. I Observed to make sure it was the same kind of metal. Didn't want to make the knife weaker, after all.

[Wintersteel Alloy chunk, Rare]: A small piece of steel alloy made by tempering steel with fire and ice Dust, typically produced in Dust Forges across the Kingdoms, mostly in Atlas. Lightweight and very durable, but takes longer to forge than standard metal alloys. Comprises the bulk of standard weapons, and can vary in color from red to black to silver based on quality of dust used and type of steel alloy. Resistant to temperature.

Huh, no, that was in fact a different metal altogether. Higher rarity, too.

Pulling out a few of the other pieces of metal I had I shortly discovered I had another chunk of Wintersteel, alongside basic steel alloys and a few pieces of Tungsten alloy. I used one of the Tungsten pieces to repair my knife, and it thankfully repaired it fully using only a tiny piece of the Uncommon metal.

I fused the feather back into the knife, and another prompt opened.

[Would you like to name this item?]

Y/N

I thought about it, given the importance of weapon names in RWBY, but ultimately decided against it for now. The knife was a good beginner weapon, but I hadn't forged the thing, and could only upgrade it so far. I wanted to wait before giving it a name, if I ever used it enough to earn the right. Weapons in RWBY were highly personalized and meant something special to the user, and determined their fighting style. This was just my starter knife.

A single name did come to mind though.

But I wanted to save that name for my own special creation.

I put the knife back into its sheath on my belt and opened up the first offshoot menu from the status screen.

Status Screen

Inventory

Skills/Perks

Quests

Map

Bonuses/Hidden Perks

Customization

While the first five were fairly self-explanatory, the last two were very complicated. I wanted to include the Map in the complicated bit, just because it would only map where I had been while I was out in what it called the Frontier.

Bonuses/Hidden Perks were like the prestige version of Perks. You could only get them through completing Hidden actions that the game never hinted to beforehand. Bonuses were simple add-ons to base stats, and were very hard to get, but you could at least see what some of them did. This category included things like the Healthy! Hidden Perk which added to your Vitality by 1 point when you got hurt for 200 points of damage. The 200 was just for the first time, after that it was 500, and then 1,000, and so on.

It was one of the more useless Hidden Perks in my opinion, but most would get it automatically.

Customization changed both how the Game looked, and how the Player did, to a limited extent. My game was a nice fusion between Borderlands 2 style and the Fallout games. None of the custom options for Players changed anything stat wise, but could alter physical looks and biology to a pretty extreme extent. You would get some Players sometimes who looked straight out of a game of Spot the Protagonist. Usually the younger ones.

I hadn't messed with Physical customization too much, besides giving myself a little cosmetic muscle definition. While I could make myself look completely different, which would be great for disguises, even if I needed to do something extreme, like turn myself into a girl or frail old man. So yeah, add cosmetic shapeshifting to the list. I actually liked my own little meatsuit, though. With long dark brown/blackish hair, almost grey blue eyes, and decently skinny build, I blended in with most crowds pretty well, except for my jacket. I figured on Remnant, that would be the least of my problems.

Wondered if I could look like Salem if I wanted to, scare the shit out of some fools. That would be a fun time. Best used when I'm untouchable though.

Looking back at the Skills/Perks section, there were about a hundred, so I scrolled through the ones I could get now and a few of the interesting ones for later.

[Intense Training, Req. Lv:1, at least 10 in all stats]: A perk that adds 10 Attribute Points to a stat of your choice, and does so once when the perk is taken for the first time, and at level 5, level 10, etc. Can be taken as a Perk up to three times, each use for a different stat.

[Undying, Req. Vit 20]: Your hard to put down. Massively increases health regen rate, can be stacked with other Skills and Perks. (Regen rate x 5)

[Magic Master, Req. Int 10, Wis 20]: Decreases Mp cost for Skills that use otherworldly abilities, like Firebolt and Shatter, and increases Mp regen rate.

[Eidetic Memory, Req. Int 50]: You remember everything. Yep, even the stuff you don't want to. Can be exploited by Mental attacks based on the target's memories, but you also gain permanent limited resistance to all Mental attacks.

[Cantrips, Req. Wis 20, Int 20, Warlock Exclusive]: Casting Magic Missile at the darkness! Removes the regen penalty for Mp. Mp now regenerates even when casting spells and using Skills. Also unlocks basic magic Cantrips, such as Chill Touch, Eldritch Blast, Mage Hand, and Minor Illusion as Skills. Cantrip Mp cost may vary.

[Agile, Req. Dex 50]: Matrix style! Makes it much easier to dodge incoming attacks. Massively increases reaction time.

[Strength of 100 Men, Req. Str 50]: You're Hercules's bigger cousin! All Strength checks have lower requirements, and Increases Str by 25% passively.

[Tarantella's Fortune, Req. Luck: 25, Warlock Exclusive]: Fortune doesn't favor fools. The higher your Int and Wis, the luckier you seem to be with loot drops and random occurrences. Additive to the Luck stat. Does not affect Karma or Karmic Retribution.

[Master Craftsman, Req. Crafting Skill Lv: Max, Int 40]: A savant with machines and craftsmanship. Passively doubles effectiveness of all bonus effects items gain from Crafting, and makes working with high rarity Components easier. Unlocks (?)

[Good Reputation, Req. 5 Positive Karmic Deeds] People have come to accept your helpful nature, and may seek you out for assistance. Can lead to Extra Quests.

[Brutality, Req. 5 Glory Kills on opponents with a higher stat total than you] Rip and Tear… For every Glory Kill you preform, you will gain 25% Damage Resistance, stacking, for until you have gone 5 minutes without killing anything. Glory Kills include feats such as landing a killing blow with your hands in a vicious manner, or maiming something as you are killing it. While fun, you may disturb your Allies.

…

Yeah, those were just the low-level highlights, too.

Perks were damn powerful, but Perk points came about rarely.

Out of all the choices within my reach now or soon the one that caught my eye the most was Cantrips. I could get it with a few points spent, and what self-respecting Warlock didn't at least consider Eldritch Blast?

I took a look back at my stats.

I decided to put 5 points into Int, 2 into Dex, 1 in Vit, and the remaining 2 into Str. The dump into Int was to get the Cantrips Perk, and I needed a bit more striking power if I wanted to take down anything dangerous. I wasn't a Rogue, but sneak attacks apparently worked for any Player, and were one of the best ways to start off an engagement.

My stats were looking fairly balanced for now, and I planned to invest heavily in all of them. Specialization might have been good for actual video games, but in the Game, not taking care of your basic stats could leave weaknesses that others could exploit when they figured out your style.

So, I was just going to have to be good at everything, using my Skills and Perks to specialize instead.

I finished packing things up and began my march to the city of Vale. I was hoping to run into a few regular forest critters along the way, I needed the Exp from the kills. Maybe I could just find a stream or river or something and Mage Hand the fish out of it. I was already sick of the taste of the rations, and fresh fish sounded wonderful.

…

Time to start coming up with ideas for how to get myself into Vale, and what to do there. Also, figure out where in the timeline I was. Couldn't be that far back, Mountain Glenn was already a ruin, and the Game did mention I was before canon earlier.

…

…Oh boy, was this world NOT ready for me.

This was gonna be a fun time.

Name: Lysander (Lys) Harlocke

Class: Novice Warlock

Level: 2 (55/125 Exp)

Title: None

Hp: 200/200 (+ 10 per min)

Mp: 250/250 (+40 per min)

Ap: 232/232 (+5 per sec)

Str: 14

Vit: 16

Dex: 20

Int: 20

Wis: 20

Luck: 10

Attribute Points: 0

Status effects: None

Lien: None