Chapter 30

[||||=LEVEL 30= ||||]

"Welcome to the final day of the tournament! We have three big fights today! Arslan Atlan versus Pyrrha Nikos and Abyss Mavros versus Kerrigan Granite! Now, you all might not know this but I personally saw our two champions today and they looked PISSED! I'm wondering if we'll get some answers soon…"

The announcer can talk as much as he wants. I used mage sight to find Kerrigan alone in his locker room. I blinked in.

"Kerrigan." He didn't even jump.

"Hello Abyss. Something wrong?" Well I hadn't actually known he was competing for one thing. I think he mentioned it once but I can't recall.

"Good job on getting this far but I'm going to warn you now… Both Pyrrha and I are absolutely pissed. We're not going to hold back on you or Arslan. I'm not going to call it hopeless-" that would be rude, after all "-but don't expect me to pull something with flair and flamboyance. If you walk into that ring I'll crush you as hard as I can. I'm done holding back."

Kerrigan frowned but nodded. "Hard to imagine what got you riled up. I've got no intention of fighting you. That Mistral contact Torchwick referred my family to… I'm here to meet with him. And I did. The tournament is an afterthought. I've no intention to fight you."

I sighed in some slight relief. I really need to fight somebody and I might really hurt Kerrigan. I'm being honest when I say that I won't hold back. I can feel a crackling, sparking feeling in me. I'm not entirely sure what it is.

"And the first match is… Pyrrha Nikos and Arslan Atlan!" I turned around to face the monitor every locker room has. It was already tuned to the arena cameras.

Pyrrha stride out of the arena with a hardened gaze entirely focused on Arslan. Arslan looked vaguely nervous.

"And… Begin!" Pyrrha stepped towards Arslan but instead of running she took off like a bullet. Arslan looked at her in shock and threw her hand out, making a fireball that flew towards Pyrrha somehow. Semblance I suppose.

Pyrrha fell to the ground suddenly and readied her spear. She threw it hard and it hissed as it flew towards Arslan. She swayed quickly out of the way and ran towards Pyrrha.

Obviously Pyrrha had a counter for this. She kept her eyes locked onto Arslan but her spear came hurling back from where she had thrown it. Arslan didn't notice, having locked eyes with Pyrrha's blazing emerald ones. The spear struck her directly in the lower back hard. Two thirds of her aura went away then.

Pyrrha ran towards Arslan once again and Arslan stumbled a little jerkily towards Pyrrha before turning around and grabbing the weapon from the ground and facing Pyrrha once more.

Arslan struck with Pyrrha's spear and Pyrrha deflected it easily and grabbed it with her right hand. She pulled on it and Arslan gave easily. She didn't know how to use a spear so it made some sense. She took the opportunity to strike at Pyrrha. All of the blows were dodged and in one case disrupted by a bash with the edge of Pyrrha's shield.

The monitor couldn't well catch what happened next. Pyrrha's spear blurred and Arslan was knocked back. She readied her semblance again but Pyrrha turned her weapon to a rifle and shot her point blank with a narrowed look.

Arslan's aura reached three percent from the shots and she stepped back quickly, as if in deference. Pyrrha mounted her shield on her back and walked away. She's sick of this tournament too…

"A-and Pyrrha Nikos is the winner!" The crowd applauded and cheered but it was somewhat confused and not very enthusiastic. The match had lasted about a minute. Not exactly dramatic either.

"And now for a battle between two best friends, but out of-" Kerrigan walked out of the gate and eyes landed on him.

"I forfeit!" Kerrigan walked back inside the gate easily to a somewhat stunned audience. I smiled slightly.

"Thanks Kerrigan." He nodded easily.

"It's no issue. I can tell that you're tired of this and have… Something going on."

"We, ahem… we are going to have a short intermission of fifteen minutes. Please stand by." The crowd talked confusedly and somewhat angrily as the announcer left his little box up high.

I blinked back to my locker room just in time. A tall and skinny man walked in looking furious.

"Are you actually going to fight?!" He nearly yelled at me. I narrowed my eyes and thought of Pyrrha.

"Obviously." I said, my voice cold. "Pyrrha will do the same with me. We'll fight and then we'll leave. If you have some questions ask them now after you tell me who you are."

"I'm Sparrow Skiff. I'm the tournament organizer and manager." Sparrow said. "What the hell is happening with you, Nikos, and now Granite?!"

"Yesterday Pyrrha and I talked. I said some things that certainly pissed her off and a lot of which probably got to her. She's angry and we're both sick and tired of waiting to fight each other. With Kerrigan he doesn't really care about the tournament. I met with him and told him that if I fought I wouldn't hold back. So he forfeited." Sparrow still looked pissed.

"… Will your fight with Nikos be dramatic?" He asked simply.

"Very. It will also be very destructive I believe. You may want to bring the hard light forcefield to a maximum or whatever setting constitutes as the best."

Sparrow glared at me a little bit before walking quickly out of the room. Not out of fear or anything but lack of things to ask me.

I waited about six or seven minutes in the locker room before I could hear the mumbling of the crowd grow again. Pretty soon everyone was there. I looked into my soul space at my weapon. My real weapon… I don't need it. Nor do I want it for this fight.

"And now… Each and every one of these seven days has led to this. The two best fighters in the tournament and for the first time in history both of them are first year students! Raise your voices for… Pyrrha Nikos and Abyss Mavros!"

I walked out of my gate and Pyrrha walked out of hers. We immediately locked eyes. The only thing I could tell was that she was utterly furious. Not with me but more like I had unearthed some bottled up frustration that's directed at me.

"Get ready for the greatest fight of this tournament! Now… Fight!"

I blinked a quarter of the way to Pyrrha and did something I've wanted to do for a while. I deactivated my net system.

Even without my trying a light crimson haze coursed around me. Not good enough. I released my aura completely, pushing it to project itself.

With a rush of air my aura swirled around me and expanded. The air around me whipped and cut at the ground. My prime affinity at work.

The crowd let out noises of surprise. They could probably feel my aura if they were close. Pyrrha's eyes widened before narrowing resolutely. She released her own aura, which was brighter than mine, and pushed it hard to fight back against my presence.

My aura was thicker and far larger than hers. Any idiot could tell that. But Pyrrha's was fiercer. Hers roared louder at mine than mine could press on her, though. It was like the reverse of what had happened with Icmant.

I had my fake dustcaster on but even if I hadn't it didn't matter. I could feel the affinities at my fingertips. I pushed them together, knowing they would be more powerful that way. I felt a small panicked struggle but it was consumed to fuel the new affinity.

*Ding!* Electrical, plasma, water, wind, and lightning affinities consumed. Two elementals consumed. Innate affinities added to total. Storm affinity formed.

By forming your storm your title has upgraded:

The Storm

-Reduces mana costs of using your storm affinity by 25%

-Increases storm affinity by 100% (After skill modifiers)

-Increases mana capacity and regen by 50%

-Wind, lightning, electricity, plasma, and water affinities are barred from you (in effect regardless of title)

- Storm of souls semblance formed! (in effect regardless of title)

My semblance… It was incredible. I understood it like it was second nature just to have it. A trigger at the tips of my fingers.

It was simple in concept. I could spread my aura and mimic and control the properties of a storm without any consumption of aura that scales with my storm affinity. The downside was that I couldn't defend myself with my aura when using it. Mage armor solves that.

By mimic a storm I mean the wind, water, and lightning. Plasma and electricity were bound together as lightning and then further bound to the storm. With training I could probably use it but it would be inefficient. Lightning is better since I can actually control it easily with my affinity.

As for my semblance, which has it's intensity controlled by my storm affinity… Well…

Storm: 1870.2 (x64)(240%)= 406,955.52

If I desired I could turn this whole arena to dust. I could cause a storm with a sneeze. I could control lightning, wind, and water on a whim. And with mana…

That storm became a hurricane. Controlling the three elements became completely effortless.

But I had told everyone that I had a space based semblance… when I get back to patch I'm going to let loose on some land and contract a storm elemental.

Even though I couldn't use my new affinity as I dearly wanted to I could do a few other things.

I smiled and brought a lightning dust crystal from my soul space. Pyrrha's eyes widened and I dissolved the dust into my aura. Lightning suffused my soul but it hardly mattered. I had a whole storm in my soul. I used that instead. I'll blame it on the lightning dust and a special technique.

Lightning from my storm affinity backed by the other components of the storm streaked through the air. The more powerful aura was focused on Pyrrha. Her control over her aura strained to defend herself as lightning struck at her soul. She couldn't fight lightning. Only endure it, which she did admirably.

I began walking towards Pyrrha and, almost like I was talking to an elemental, I pushed my emotions through my soul. I pushed my frustration at Mistral, my anger at Pyrrha's lack of willpower, and my disdain for the tournament in general.

A faint pulse of different aura swept through my haze of aura and when it hit Pyrrha she stiffened and looked to me. I met her gaze and kept walking.

All Pyrrha could do was defend herself through her slightly dwindling aura as I approached her.

I stood maybe five feet from her when I stopped. Without any pomp I drew all my affinity into myself and held my aura within me. Pyrrha relaxed in relief but immediately fell into a fighting stance.

I rolled my eyes and warped the space between us to expand immensely. A whole mile was between us from what was once a few feet. Air funneled straight in.

Pyrrha looked at the new space in confusion before she moved slightly to get out of the way. I snapped the space back in place and a shockwave slammed through the air and into her. I sidestepped the shockwave at my side of the warp and blinked next to her.

"I don't like actual fighting." I said easily. "I prefer dust and my semblance. You just saw the results of both. If anything making my own style was a hobby for me. I don't care for getting up close at any rate." Pyrrha glared at me.

"I will, however, make an exception here." I said neutrally. "You made a style that's actually deadly. Use it."

Pyrrha gritted her teeth and leapt at me. A sweeping strike shot a blazing arc of fire at me. I tanked it on my aura. A stab at me released a bolt of true lightning. I teleported out of the way. She found me easily and pivoted to me. More bolts were sent my way.

"Impressive." I said honestly. "Now… Time to fight." I dashed at Pyrrha and drew my sword, dishing out several quick slashes. Pyrrha blocked them with her shield and parried one with her xiphos.

I saw Pyrrha's shield arm tense and some mechanism on it click. I was actually caught off guard as she shield bashed and wind dust released a shockwave of her own.

I landed cleanly on my feet and looked up. Instinctual flared but I wasn't fast enough. Without a moment to even comprehend what happened a huge pain struck into my face. I was knocked back further and I hissed and blocked out the pain.

I gingerly touched my face… Scorched… she predicted where and how I would land and shot a lightning bolt from her weapon at that time.

This is why she is interesting. Why she's worth the effort I'm putting into her.

A laugh bubbled up in me and I let it loose. Pyrrha's eyes narrowed as she was tense behind her shield.

"That was a clean hit. I didn't expect that." I smiled as I looked at my aura. Sixteen thousand AP gone in one hit. Almost a sixth of my aura gone.

"Good job." I said. Then I blinked behind her. I let loose with a flurry of slashes and hacks at her. I landed one good hit at the middle of her back and she whirled around and matched my speed perfectly.

I grinned and got more serious. I was fighting at my full speed including enhancing myself with aural reinforcement and yet she was keeping up, albeit barely. Good. That she can keep up with me speaks of mountains of talent and dedication. However, I want to fight her. That means bring out stops. I can't go to the point of throwing hurricanes her way but this little clash of steel isn't enough to satisfy me. Or her, probably.

I reached for my semblance and felt the wonderful sensation of it activating. It was like a release switch for a tension that I didn't know I had. My aura rumbled and I felt it spread around me again, a thin haze of dark red settling over everything. I felt the urge to throw the whole of my affinity into it but that wouldn't do. I took out an air crystal from my inventory and suffused it with my aura. It helped very little with my gale but I just needed it to trick people anyways.

A thick, strong, and very fast wind flew around me, pushing Pyrrha back and buffeting her with wind. If her feet left the ground she went flying. She wizened up and used her polarity to stick to the ground while we continued to trade blows.

Typically I made an opening and she would retreat a little throwing an arc of fire or a bash of air to hold me back. I would blink up to her and we repeated the process. Pyrrha might sometimes see an opening of mine or something of that sort but with my storm blowing her so harshly it was all she could do to keep up her current pace. Good thing since I was relying on mage armor.

"Why haven't you made a railgun yet?!" I yelled over the storm. Pyrrha got distracted by that thought but I let her think on it for a moment rather than attack her. I want her at her full potential.

Pyrrha frowned and I took a pair of brass knuckles out of my inventory. I pressed them to a little ball and crushed them to a ball and tossed it to Pyrrha. My storm didn't blow them away, it being my will that it didn't.

She focused on the knuckles intensely but nothing happened. "Make a narrow cone of weak magnetic force at the tip and extremely strong force at the end." I instructed. "Make an incredibly repulsive force at the beginning as a hammer of sorts to the rail gun." I know that's something along the lines of how a railgun works. Pyrrha concentrated and her eyes widened as she seemingly figured it out.

A look towards me and a huge boom was all I recieved before a huge amount of damage was done to my aura. Eighty thousand AP damage. I was at about a fifth of my normal aura. Very faintly I could hear an announcement. "Abyss Mavros is at twenty percent! Pyrrha Nikos wins!" I rolled my eyes.

Pyrrha didn't look surprised when I blinked at her but she was surprise by how I attacked. I expanded the space and, with my newfound control over the elements of the storm, shoved the whole thing in the expanded space. Not even a little bit out of place. My affinity was too high to do otherwise. But that's not quite enough. So I made more dense storm clouds. More lightning. I shoved it in the very compressed storm until I couldn't hold any more.

The audience stared at us in shock. The storm had given them vague glances at us and the clashing of weapons and certainly the boom but to see the shape we were in… I had a first degree burn over the left side of my face. There was also a large bruise on my chest. Pyrrha looked beaten and bloodied with numerous bruises on her arms and a few on her face.

Pyrrha looked at the budding storm/shockwave with shock. "Shit." She said.

"Well spoken." I agreed. Then I released the storm. The space snapped down as the storm strained out. It was compressed to the size of a thimble and it exploded outwards in a surge of true lightning, water stuffed clouds, and winds with speeds I could only guess at. It was likely around two hundred or even three hundred miles per hour. I don't truly know.

Pyrrha slammed down to one knee and braced her shield up to cover her face. I know that she used her polarity to push herself down to the ground where she wouldn't be thrown around.

Sadly Pyrrha's tactic was flawed. Lightning slammed into her shield and coursed through the metal and into her arms. She gritted her teeth and bore through it but her aura took a lot of damage. At ten percent roughly. Lower than even I.

Needless to say that I was completely unaffected by my storm. My affinity for the storm made it feel like the wind was a gentle caress, the water a cooling humidity, and the lightning a light tickling. I ran towards Pyrrha, stunned and blinded as she was, and drew my shortsword. I activated something I rarely use, my electrical augmentation, and felt my bio-electricity amplify and course through me towards the metal. But obviously I wasn't going to half-ass it. I commanded the lightning to my sword and it obeyed, the electricity going into and staying in the sword.

I leaped and fell down onto Pyrrha. My sword slammed through her shield in a stab assisted by my fall and body weight and the electricity freely flowed through the shield into her.

Pyrrha gasped and would likely have screamed but it was soundless. She collapsed with her aura shattered. I let the storm dissipate in a few seconds and the audience looked on in shock.

I kneeled down and put her weapons, Milo and Akouo, I recall, in my soul space. I then picked up Pyrrha princess style and made a portal to walk through to her room. I left her on her bed and smiled.

For that entire fight I hadn't used a single point of mana. If I had she would be crushed… but would that really have been a victory? Just crushing her to a paste with my overwhelming power? I don't think so.

This is what I need. People who can do what damn nearly is impossible. Despite being weaker than me by bounds in her semblance and using dust, despite never living to her full potential yet, and despite her flaws she fought me at my full physical and aural strength… and nearly won. If she had seriously trained in making a railgun… well that would kill me if I fought with my current restrictions.

Pyrrha Nikos

Titles:

Level – 189

HP – 8774/9321.5

AP – 0/25,440

MP - [Locked]

STR - 217 (+415%)= 1117.55

VIT - 181 (+415%)= 932.15

DEX - 233 (+415%)= 1199.95

INT - 186 (+0%)= 186

WIS - 212 (+0%)= 212

LUK - 16 (+0%)= 16

Semblance: Polarity - Control over magnetism. Use consumes aura.

Perks:

Legacy of champions - Your legacy leaves you destined for greatness. Your ancestors shaped their lives to conquer giants, change seas, and prove themselves a champion of the people.

-2x physical stats when facing an enemy considered far stronger than you and 100+ levels above you.

-Combat skills level 5x faster. Boost increased to 25x faster when facing an enemy considered far stronger than you and 100+ levels above you.

-+200% Aura capacity

Bio: Pyrrha Nikos is an acclaimed child-prodigy hailing from Leonidas Nikos and Helena Nikos. She was trained to be a huntress from a young age, it being expected of her, and excelled at it.

She has always had minor confidence issues and a weak willpower to make choices for herself except when faced with a steep challenge. Her parents have noticed the first and attempted to negate it by constantly challenging her.

Recently she entered the Mistral regional tournament on the urgings of her parents and to investigate a boy who had caught her attention, Abyss Mavros. She now has extremely complex conflicting feelings on multiple matters.

Interesting… But that still leaves an open question here. Cinder. She was on Ozpin's level. Beyond, even, since she killed him and became the fall maiden. So… How? How did she lose? Did Cinder just outclassed her that much?...

That's actually probable. Ozpin is mainly powerful because of his magic and skill. Take away the magic somehow and beat his skill with physique or superior skill somehow though I doubt being more skillful that him is possible without a cheat like the gamer… But Cinder had the powers of the fall maiden. She had magic and he didn't.

It's possible I suppose for Cinder to have canceled out Ozpin's magic with some sort of rare artifact of some sort and thus take away his greatest strength… and with Pyrrha Cinder had magic and was actively using it. I would guess for that to be how she killed Pyrrha.

Of course Cinder could be just THAT powerful. Dust knows Ashaya was powerful with that boon of hers. Getting shot point blank with Summer's gun and still she was able to kill her.

With all that I have to worry about already what's one more thing to look after?

[|||| == ||||]

"I see you're up."

"Ugh… Dad?"

"Yeah. Can you see okay?"

"I feel like I got tossed into a workout for ten hours straight, my muscles got ADHD, and I got beat up."

"The muscle thing is from your nervous system getting fried by Abyss. You'll heal after a few days with your aura but you'll be jittery and sore for a while. The workout thing is from pushing your limits more than normal and you were beat up. Well nothing permanently hurt you."

"Oh…"

"Abyss is going to go see if his friend Kerrigan wants to be teleported back or take it the normal way. Raven and Ruby left a note for Abyss and snuck off somewhere with their luggage and I've been here with you for the past six hours… Oh, and Abyss made some casserole to one-up me. Want some?"

"Thank you but I'll have some later… um, dad? I… I don't want to be in Mistral anymore."

"Huh?"

"I talked yesterday with Abyss and we… Spoke. There's nothing for me in Mistral worth staying for. I think I want to travel."

"I… you… I see. Sort of. You've run out of challenges?"

"I haven't had a real challenge in a while dad. Sanctum is… boring now. Maybe I'm young but I know that there's more to the world than Mistral with more to offer than this place."

"You know what? I CAN understand that. Your mother's the same way."

"She is?"

"She loves new people. The feeling of seeing a new sight. A new challenge every day."

"That's what I want."

"Yeah I can see that… I was given the prize money for the tournament. Four hundred fifty thousand lien. Being a gladiator pays off more than well. Use the money to travel."

"R-really?!"

"Did you think I'd object?"

"Uhm… yes?"

"I would if you were traveling alone."

"Abyss isn't coming with me."

"Yeah. I am."

"What?!"

"It wasn't obvious?"

"No! Where did this come from?!"

"Years of your mother being absent most of the year and the lack of… Well anything to do in Mistral."

"Oh…"

"Uh huh. I haven't been traveling in a long time. I don't really care to do so anymore. But I do want to raise you right and you're completely right that Mistral… Mistral doesn't have much for our family. The only thing here is the old compound."

"... So when can we leave?"

"As soon as you can walk, you know where we're going, and we know we won't go broke in the next few years. After that… Well my pseudo retirement is pretty boring anyways. Maybe your mother will catch up to us."

[|||| == ||||]

"You're sure you don't want a portal back?" I asked. Kerrigan nodded.

"I've still got a few things left to do here. I'll be back to school the day after tomorrow. It's the latest we can get there anyways."

"Well I'll see you back there soon. I'm getting out of Mistral today. I'll see you soon." Kerrigan nodded.

"Goodbye Abyss. And to say good job at the tournament would be an understatement." I smiled and made a portal back to the Nikos residence's living room. My eyes narrowed a little at note on the counter. I glanced at the name to make sure it was for me and saw that it was. Now what's this about?

Abyss,

Ruby and I are going to Atlas to do a few things. The special project. It's rather private and sensitive so unless it's an emergency don't contact us. We'll be back within a week. Perhaps a month at most.

I've called Roman and he's doing fine. Vale's quiet at the moment and the harvest has just started for the sap. Sales are above our already high expectations. Whatever it is you're working on as a new good would be helpful to have. Additionally, Roman is concerned about lack of variety. We're currently dependant on red bloom sap, which people might lose interest in as it becomes more of a common good than a luxury. Other companies whose profit margins have been damaged by our sales have tried undercutting us by taking sap from forever fall and selling it but the attempts have failed due to being too small scale or something or other.

Sales from the sap being used to make grimm traps due to it's attractive properties is being contained to private sales to the huntsman academies so as to avoid selling to people of ill repute.

We'll see you in a while. The tribe knows I'll be gone as well. You're in charge with Vernal as third in command with Moss watching her to make sure she doesn't do anything stupid.

-Raven

Oh? Well alright then. I didn't expect them to be gone but that's fine… it might be a bit lonely though. I'll be busy settling in Poledina though. Come to think of it…

I recalled what number Ironwood called to reach Poledina and ran it through my scroll.

"Yes?" He asked.

"Poledina. It's occurred to me that I don't actually know what you might need as a lab. Could you make a list for when I arrive?"

"Oh! Sure. You don't have a lab set up already?"

"I do." I lied. I should get on Roman about that. It shouldn't be hard to find a lab sort of setting. "But we don't have any specialty equipment or other staff besides you. Do you need assistants, for example?"

"That would be nice to have. We've an employee doing a trial run to see if this sort of thing is for him and he's sort of like an intern but an assistant would be quite useful. I'd also need a supercomputer or a high powered one at least. A server for storing data as well and… well a workshop with whatever sort of tools you can get. I'll make a list."

I frowned. "A supercomputer might be a hard catch for us. We can get several high powered ones easily but an honest supercomputer would be hard. Do you just need processing power or is it something more specific?"

"Processing power is the only real factor. I can actually make a supercomputer. It would only take a week or at most three so long as I have the right materials. Oh, and plenty of wires and such."

"Make a list please. I can get you the server and whatever it is you need but you might have to make a supercomputer yourself. We can provide whatever else you may need but a high profile good with a market as discreet as those would be very difficult. We have neither the right connections for it or the reputation to properly contract the creation of one."

"Oh I know like thirty guys with a free one." He said flippantly. I face palmed. Was Poledina really just going to throw me at a guy who would just sell a supercomputer? "Hold on. I've got their numbers on my scroll… Uh, can you write this down?"

"Of course. I've got a pen and paper ready." I lied. I didn't need one, my memory being photographic with selective memory.

'Oh good! Well here are the numbers." Poledina rattled off about ten numbers and I memorized them all easily.

"Alright. I'll get one for you within the week." I assured him.

"I'll need a few days to settle into the lab and make sure everything is there. Don't worry about having it ready to go and everything."

A sly thought began forming in my head. "Poledina are any of those sellers in Vale?"

"Why yes. About four of them. Vale has a good market for tech though Atlas' is better. In Vacuo it's nearly nonexistent. Mistral is… alright. Not good but they can work sometimes."

"Good. Do you mind if it takes about a month to get the computer or is it a critical necessity?"

"Nah I can write code on my laptop fine. I just can't use it without a supercomputer. I can also focus on Penny's chassis and wiring just fine for a while. It's best to have a supercomputer though so I can get started on transferring the code and run a few things that'll take a while to process."

"Got it. You'll definitely have it within a month then." I confirmed. SubI is going to be thrilled.

"Uh sure. I'll get a list of smaller stuff for you. Get me a bunch of metals of all kinds too please."

"I've got plenty. Don't worry about those. I'll see you… probably sometime today actually. I'm getting to the general as soon as I meet a friend and track him down."

"Oh good. I'll see you then." I hung up on Poledina then. I really like the guy. He's agreeable and smart. I had worried that he would be some sort of eccentric but maybe that only applies to Penny… Having a robot call you daddy is pretty weird. Oh well. He could be making a wife. That would be pretty weird.

I sighed and made an email to Roman to get a private workshop with a variety of lab setting tools primed towards robotics and computers and instructed for some profits to be set aside for the purchase of a supercomputer from a seller I have in contact. I made sure to underline that price was not an issue and sent a few warnings to make sure he got the message. Since profits are good it should be fine.

I frowned and it occurred to me that money was not infinite… I should really make the purity trees now. White blossoms, I'll call them. I've had successes but not constant successes like when I grew the red blossom trees from cut off roots. Perhaps… could an origin affinity make the growth concrete? I was making a lifeform from nothing after all. Hm…

I mentally sighed and got to forming a corruption affinity with my parallels. It shouldn't take long. The email was altered to inform Roman that a new crop was in the makings and I turned off my scroll.

I listened for a moment and heard Pyrrha upstairs sleeping… how late was it? A glance to the clock showed it was only ten o'clock… I suppose I really tired her out, huh? I'll visit her tomorrow then. After I fetch Poledina.

A flash of mage sight and I had a portal right into a hotel room where Ironwood was. His hand snapped to his gun at the noise but he brought it away when he saw the portal I stepped through.

"Ready to go?" I asked.

"The flight's in twenty minutes. I was going to get a hold of you through your company. Mind if we trade scroll numbers if we need to contact each other?" I shrugged and drew out a business card I had had Roman make. It was just my symbol on one side in detail and my number on the other. Ironwood raised an eyebrow on the picture.

"Rather detailed for an emblem."

"That's the more detailed one. I have a simpler one on my armor and weapons." He frowned.

"Why isn't there one on the gun?"

"I only recently got the gun. As for why I brought it into the tournament… well I don't really care if my emblem's on the gun or not. Nobody is going to see it, after all." He turned back to his bed, where his suitcase lay mostly packed without asking anything else.

"After your arrival at blacksite A9 you're expected to make your own way back. Essentially we're tossing you into the wilderness."

"That's fine. I'm just going to teleport anyways." Ironwood rolled his eyes still facing away from me.

"That's expected. You're to stay within eight feet of me at all times. Further distance will consider you as a hostile and you will be fired upon. I'd say no weapons allowed on site but that hammerspace of yours negates the purpose of it. But don't carry a weapon publicly or you will once again be counted as a hostile. Don't touch anything, don't look too closely at anything, and don't DO anything unless permitted specifically be me. I don't want you so much as taking a bite of a muffin without the action being approved by me. That you're not drugged to unconsciousness and blindfolded before being transported this site is a mercy, considering the levels of secrecy around project P.E.N.N.Y."

"Mm hm." I hummed dismissively. "Now, I'll wait for you until it's time to leave. Just get me when you're done. I've got nothing left to do here in Mistral."

[|||| == ||||]

"Don't look at me like that."

" …"

"I'm not a workaholic. I'm just… breaking out of a habit of constantly working."

*Sigh*

"Well what was I supposed to do?! I barely had time to smoke my cigars with the bosslady's training sessions, the paperwork of managing a criminal empire, and managing a company that has half of remnant's businesses wanting in on my monopoly!"

*Eye roll*

"It's my excuse and I'm sticking to it, okay? But now… well now I'm looking back at when I used to lay back and read a book and think I used to be some sort of youngster filled with energy just for reading a dust-damned book. I could have been using that time for making contacts or training or… well anything!"

"…"

"Yes you're a hip young person. That you find the time for ice cream is… hey hold on… you don't do anything do you? I mean, sure you show up and kick some ass but I do all the paperwork… don't look away! Why am I chained to a desk?"

*stare*

"I don't enjoy being chained to a desk!"

*Smirk*

"I don't enjoy being chained up at all! Don't turn the conversation to innuendos! Now give me a good reason why you can't help-"

*Ding*

"Oh for dust's sake what now?… A… supercomputer? And a lab? Boss finds the weirdest stuff. Well Fenrir can handle that. But seriously, your idleness is a bit of a problem."

"?"

"Hm… yeah you suck at managing stuff. Stabbing stuff is unneeded… what else can you do?"

*Schtich*

"Stabbing more stuff isn't an additional skill on a job description, Neo."

*Shrug* *Schtick*

"Yeah I figured. Go find Frodo or the seven dwarves and frolic or something. I have nothing for you to do unless you want to stab some trees with the faunus guys in Patch, the most boring place on remnant."

*Glare*

"Oh come on. That was pretty good… yeah I see that little grin. I won't use it again but that's been sitting in me all day. Just had to get it out. Now I'm off to try to learn how to be idle again… I should probably figure out everything about these science guys… damnit. I'm going to be a workaholic forever at this rate."

[|||| == ||||]

"So you're Poledina." I stated. The man was… tall. Really, really tall. Not big though. He was like slenderman if slenderman was a redhead with a penchant for flowing lab coats. There was also an automatic handgun in his jacket.

"Yes! And you're Abyss?" Poledina's eyes glinted. It was… uncomfortable. He kind of loomed over me. The man had to be at least seven feet tall. Being about four nine, about average for my age, he leaned over a little to make eye contact comfortably. I had to look pretty high to see him. Is it strange that just now I realized how odd it is for a grown man to be working under me?

"Yes." I stated.

"Oh good! I've got my research all stored over there." Poledina pointed to some duffel bags. Three of them.

"That's it?" I asked in some faint surprise.

"One is filled to the brim with flashdrives." Poledina explained. "Seriously, to the brim. All of it's Penny's future coding to be debugged and such. Subroutines and automatic processes to be directly coded to run and keep Penny functional. The second holds miniature versions of our current models of Penny's parts. Technically making a body to work was easy. It's holding and creating a soul that's the hard part. And the final one has my personal belongings. Clothes, textbooks, toiletries, and the like."

"And the satchel?" I asked.

"My laptop, a few journals, pens and a few mechanical pencils, ammo for my handgun, and a few papers that I want safe." I flashed mage sight and yeah that's all that's there. I guess it makes sense for Poledina to be armed. The handgun isn't mechashift but it can change to fire lasers. Well I think that's what the battery and focusing crystal in the gun is for.

"Hm. Fine then." I took out the handgun I had runed to become basically a railgun and had to keep myself from rolling my eyes at Ironwood's intensely appraising look towards it. "Do you want proof that this is the one?" I asked him. He nodded.

I flashed mage sight and made a portal to the firing range, which was conveniently empty. I walked through easily and Ironwood scowled an followed. Poledina stayed. Presumably to wait for us. "Are you capable of creating a portal into here whenever you want now?" He growled.

"I don't care to do so but yes." I said honestly. He closed his eyes and collected himself. Ironwood seems to have more anger issues than in the show. Or maybe my constantly being a total pain in the ass for him has something to do with his problems keeping a cool head.

"Damnit." He muttered. I lost a little control and actually rolled my eyes and loaded one of my personal bullets into the gun. I aimed downrange and fired easily. The round boomed and tore through the paper target set up downrange easily and Ironwood nodded approvingly.

I had to keep back an evil cackle as I took some motion mana and scratched a small line through the runes in the barrel. Motion mana leaked out and the runes failed, becoming inert. Not that Ironwood could tell. And the gun wasn't even that big of a deal with the bullets being the ones actually infused with mana. Not that anybody would ever believe that. Bullets didn't make themselves spontaneously go faster, after all. Velocity was entirely dependant upon the dust in the bullet and the gun itself. And how could a measly bullet go to triple the speed it had before while looking exactly the same? Thank you Ironwood for being conventional.

Even if Ironwood somehow figured out that I had runed the gun or used magic at all what was he going to do? He was with Ozpin's group. It was something like an agreement between them to not reveal magic publicly, given that Ironwood hadn't already. Neither had the other headmasters.

In other words, I traded Ironwood a gun he couldn't use in exchange for Poledina. I almost feel bad.

"Now I believe our business is done?" I asked Ironwood. He looked away in thought for a moment as he tucked the gun into his jacket.

"Yes." He said simply. "I'll direct Poledina's documents and contract to your uncle." I shrugged and made a portal back to Poledina.

"Ready to go?" I asked him. He nodded. "Good. Let's go then." I made a portal to the outskirts of Vale. Roman had rented a warehouse that was stocked with lab equipment and 'some sciencey robotics things', as Roman stated it. A link showed a list from the seller and it had about three quarters of what Poledina asked for. I plan on handing Poledina a note to my bank account under Mystic Mavros with a budget and letting him go wild.

I was actually impressed with his speed. It had only been maybe sixteen hours with the long flight since I had messaged him. I expected it to take a few days. I pulled up my scroll and looked at the message.

"The lab has an apartment right next to it. You have the warehouse with a lab and some equipment already stocked in a few boxes. You'll have to unpack it and sort it yourself but I would guess you would do so already. As for an assistant we're still looking. If you have anyone you want specifically that's hireable send Mahagony a message. Here's his scroll number." I showed Poledina the message with the address and Roman's number displayed.

Poledina took my scroll and copied the address into a sort of notepad app and his number into speed dial. "Got it. Thank you, Abyss. It will be a pleasure working with your family's company." I nodded.

"Take care." I didn't make a portal and instead blinked into the apartments. I got barely a moment of peace to savor the feeling of being back home.

"Oi. Abyss." I frowned at the voice. Vernal.

"Yes?"

"Raven put you in charge if anything happens. Oh, and welcome back asshole."

Love you too Vernal… I really hope Raven comes back soon.

[|||| == ||||]

"I'm looking for Dianthus Null."

"You've found her. What do you want?"

"I don't want anything. My niece needs to become a maiden. I'm sorry."

"WHAT?! No! What the?! You're a maiden too! Why would you-"

*Schtick*

"O… Why… you bitch…"

"Ruby. Come here."

"… So you're the niece then?"

"I… yeah. I'm sorry auntie stabbed you but… well there are worse ways to die… right?"

"Fuck you."

"Sorry… really I am…"

"Ruby. Quit stalling. I know you hate this but you said it yourself. This is the only way. One day you will likely have to do worse."

"Y-yeah… I'm sorry. *sniff*"

"… I hope this power is the death of you you little-"

[|||| =NEXT LEVEL= ||||]

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