Strange place. Everything feels…blocky. The landscape is uninhabited. Also keep getting these messages from someone called "The System", advising me on what to do (he advised me to keep a journal as soon as I'd woken up too, for whatever reason. Took a look around. "System" promptly told me to go punch a tree. Why bother?

I should probably have started with an introduction That's, like, what people usually do when they keep a diary, even when they're the only ones reading it.

Name's Jaune Arc. Short, sweet, rolls off the tongue, ladies…don't love it.

17 years old Huntsman-in-Training and attendee of Beacon Academy.

Or, to be more correct, deceased Huntsman-in-Training and former attendee of Beacon Academy.

Cause of "death": impaled by a huge freaking Deathstalker trying to save a jerk, bully, an absolute turd of a person and a fellow classmate by the name of Cardin Winchester during a trip to Forever Fall forest.

Yes, very confused as to what happened (I do remember a huge explosion after getting impaled) and also very pissed both at LOSERchester for throwing the sap that had attracted the damn Deathstalker, and also very pissed at myself for being so spineless and weak as to allow all of this to happen in the first place.

I am angry, and this diary seems to be the closest opportunity to vent.

Whatever. What was that about punching a tree?

So apparently, if you punch a tree hard enough it breaks into a miniature version and you can "take" it. Tree also didn't fall over. Weird. Soon as I picked up a log, two things happened: I'd been made aware of stripping a log down to planks with my bare hands, and "System" told me something about the "inventory". Turns out, soon as I think it, I get a pop up right in front my eyes. There's a whole grid and everything, and even a miniature representation of myself. Took the log out my hands, and "dropped" it into the inventory – it straight up disappeared into almost nothing. I can feel a weight on my back now – it's very miniscule and not impairing, but still noticeable. This feels more and more like one of those games I'd used to play before going to Beacon.

Should have freaking done some cardio instead.

"Blocks" don't fall down if they're not broken. They just hang midair. This place keeps making no sense and it's pissing me off, but I'll try to complain less. It's a second chance at life, and I want to make it count. The sun is high up now, and I want to make sure I have *something* prepped before night hits.

P.S: I can see the sun move. The day is going very fast. It'd taken only a couple of minutes or so for it to be noon.

P.P.S: Writing feels very quick and easy. Quill doesn't need any ink. No time to question it.

Got four planks. Made it into something called a "crafting table" (that's the name I see in the inventory). Soon as I take a closer look at it, I get another inventory-like screen where I can see short "schematics" to making things, as well as materials required. "System" advised making some tools as quickly as possible.

Made a wooden pickaxe. Thing looked flimsy as a leaf, but it still managed to gather me some cobblestone before breaking apart. I need more stuff and a plan – the sun doesn't look like it's going to stay up for long.

P.S: I may have the know-how on making stuff, but that doesn't mean it isn't effortless. Really wishing I'd done some endurance training besides what Nora'd put me through.

Got some stone tools – including a sword (did my best to shape it like Crocea Mors) and an axe (I remember watching some second-year do a practice run on the training bots with his dual axes, tried my best to recreate the shape). Apparently, if I hang items around my waist belt, they become a lot smaller; easier to carry and take them quickly, I suppose. Managed to fit 9 of them before running out of space.

P.S: Heard some animal noises nearby – going to check it out.

Yep, there are animals alright - friendly and as weird-looking as everything else around here. Found a couple of pigs and a chicken just roaming around without a care in the world – they didn't even seem scared of me going near them. It took a "friendly" guide from the "System" on proper meat harvesting to drop my mood.

I really don't want to do this.

But I also have to.

Went for the chicken first. Walked right up to it – it didn't even react, then took my sword, and swung – just like I'd practiced. Its head went off instantly. With the guide, managed to harvest a single breast and a feather to boot.

The pig…didn't go so well. I aimed for the neck the same way – the thing should have died instantly. But the damn stone edge wasn't sharp enough! The blade bit halfway into the neck – not enough to kill, but deep enough for the pig to squeal.

And it squealed. And tried to run away. And It kept running away until I managed to catch up and bring the sword down again.

Vomited right after. It may not have been a sentient living being, but it was a living being nonetheless. And I'd caused it so much pain. Took me a minute to compose myself, and grab the meat – a couple of pork cuts hacked off with this sorry excuse of a sword.

I still don't feel right.

P.S: The blood looks way too close to what I'd seen in my "world" for comfort.

Found some coal veins in a cave. They looked weirdly out of place – I may not be a specialist, but I don't think ore veins are supposed to stand out like that. Made it out with a dozen or so pieces. Decided to light the place up with torches should I have the need to spend the night here – don't think the day's going to last much longer.

P.S: After having first-hand experience with mining, I think I can safely say I sort of relate with the rioting faunus miners and their cases against the SDC. It's really tiring and sucky labor.

I have…a lot to think and write about right now.

Surviving in this world had just become so much more complicated than just finding food and building shelter. Not that Remnant was much easier – you still had to watch out for Grimm. There're no Grimm here, but the things that are…can't say which ones are worse.

To begin, I'd wandered out of that cave and straight into a huge plain – had to be a hundred couple of meters at least. Lots of animals – horses, pigs and the like. Used the axe to slaughter some of them instead – it had been considerably more quick and merciful; good thing I watched that second-year and his axe techniques – not even close to being a proper form, but good enough for now. Found a river with some salmon swimming around too; it wasn't quite the same kind of fishing my Dad used to take us to, having to catch up to fish and skewer it. Afterwards I managed to find another cave in the spruce forest on the other bank of the river. This one was considerably deeper than the one I'd lit up before. Managed to find some other kind of ore too – turned out to be iron.

"System" then "helpfully" noted that I would not be able to use iron as is, and would have to make a furnace of some kind to create proper ingots to work with. In hindsight, I should have stayed in that cave – it was nighttime when I came crawling out.

"Creepy" didn't even BEGIN to describe the atmosphere – nighttime, thick foliage around, no sounds and not a soul in sight.

Until I heard footsteps.

Turned around more quickly than I ever had in my previous life – all to see some sort of green…thing walking towards me. Weird humanoid-shaped torso, no arms, four crook-ish legs and a "face" set in a permanent grimace. Decided not to attack it at first – perhaps clung to some naïve hope that it'd be friendly enough to help me out. Foolish notion, now that I think about it.

Soon as this green guy came close to me, he started hissing and bloating himself. I must have run faster than even Ruby with her semblance. Turned around just to see this thing literally explode itself. No gibs or guts or any of that gory, disgusting stuff, thank the Brothers. Managed to find my way out of the forest and into the river side, only to run into another member of the local hostile fauna: a giant f-ing spider. Tried to sneak past him (he was facing away from me), but I'm no Ren or Blake; no I'm just your local clumsy idiot. Of course I'd managed to step on a twig and crack it loud enough for the Godsdamned thing to zero in on me. Having to fight it brought me to two very important conclusions:

One: I don't have Aura anymore

Two: Getting bit hurts like a bitch.

Sure, being a huntsman (even in training) means loads of guaranteed pain, and a whole mountain of probable. Thing is, one of the first thing you're taught (and reminded) about Aura is that it's not only, essentially, a force field to shield you from harm, but also a rather potent painkiller, focused or not. The stronger the Aura, the better the effect. I suppose it really puts it into perspective how quickly Huntsmen (probably) become reliant on this painkilling aspect, and how crippling it is to lose it. The bite on my arm wasn't deep or threatening, but the hurt was almost enough to completely disorient me. It took every bit of my willpower to not lose it there and then, to fight through the pain and kill the freaking bastard instead

(Come to think of it, even getting stabbed by a Deathstalker hadn't hurt that much – maybe it was shock, or maybe it was Aura? Could've sworn I saw myself glow really brightly before blacking out.)

Spider insides aren't really pleasant to look at, but I suppose I was in too much of a shock to pay it any real attention.

What I DID pay attention to was the incredibly fast speed at which the bite had healed itself – the wound had become closed pretty much before my eyes.

Three: I now have absurd-rate healing factor now and it is EXHAUSTING.

Not even kidding, the bite hadn't even gotten closed yet and I was hit with such a wall of fatigue I almost collapsed. I guess there's a silver lining in this whole thing – if I ever get wounded bad, I can just sleep it off.

SO then I make to the river, only to hear a groan behind me. Turn around, and what do I see? An honest-to-Gods ZOMBIE, like straight out of those cheap horror flicks I'd seen with my family so many times. Except this time, the thing was real, and DISGUSTING. Bloated, green flesh that was falling off with every step and smell that could send you straight into coma. The body fell apart after I killed him, which just made the sight and the smell worse. I hope the fish didn't mind a little vomit in their territory.

(Maybe Yang had a point calling me Vomit Boy, but then again I don't think she would fare at keeping her lunch any better.)

Made a campfire on the other side, in the plains. Barely any cover, though, had to build a quick shelter out of cobblestone. "Building" was a simple as pulling some cobblestone from my belt and willing myself to "put" it down. In other words: remarkably and confusingly simple.

At least I'll have some sort of roof over my head; isn't that one of the first things taught in Outdoor Survival class? Wish I'd paid closer attention to it.

Food wasn't as simple of an affair: I had to judge how well the fish had cooked on the campfire by myself. Thank the sisters for making me learn to cook along with them: this trait alone elevates me from "Utterly useless" to "Slightly less-than-useless".

I think I'm going to stop writing here. So far nobody's tried to kill me again, and the sun seems to be rising fast.

P.S: Just remembered the "spruce forest" is called a "taiga". IIRC from geography classes those are prevalent southwest of Vale? I THINK?

P.P.S: All these memories of my family, and only now does it truly hit me – what I've done. My team'll probably be really sad (maybe RWBY too, Ruby especially, but I'm not too sure; Weiss might even be relieved), but my family…I don't know how they'll manage. Worst of all, my dad was probably right to insist on a different career choice. No way I'll know for sure now, but I hope Cardin survived; else this stupid death would have been for nothing.

I don't think any amount of apologies will make up for what I've done, and how I've failed, and even if they did, those deserving them would have no way

no way to get them

But I'm going to say it anyways:

I am so, so sorry.

this thing is probably going to fall apart soon, even if I do have a few ideas going forward

never watched the show but i'll, uh, do my best to write characters.

do appreciate reviews pointing out any flaws, cause g-d knows im completely helpless on my own