Chapter 42. A Long Time Coming

While Qrow is on board with my plan his mission is to deal with the bandits attacking the public airships. We went our separate ways after exchanging scroll contacts and I created a bond with him to the soul crystal that had Raven's semblance. With it being as late as it is I decide to find somewhere to sleep then check out the black market for military-grade explosives in the morning for the plan.

( The next day)

I sighed for the umpteenth time this morning while the black market had the explosives I wanted the price ate through my funds greatly. I still had more than enough lein but still, I need to add mining out a vein of dust again to help out with my future plans. Well, I got 2 months until the Hati and Skoll tribes meet up for their festival and that should be plenty of time to find a dust vein in Solitas.

Before I go off prospecting for dust I think I'll meet one of Atlas's brightest minds, Pietro Polendina. I will pick through his mind for Penny's blueprints to make the Grimm girl Lucifer a new body for her soul crystal and maybe try and find Arthur Watts as well if he's still with Atlas plus any other scientist of Atlas. Once that's done I think I will devote my time to making my personal weapon or weapons that can handle Echo Tremor during my stay with Atlas. Maybe see Weiss and get to know her and Winter if I can, plus Robin's Happy Huntresses are something to consider.

But first things, first Pietro mind and Luci's second chance in this life then weapons then lastly making connections with beautiful girls and women. It didn't take long for me to find Pietro's clinic but before I get in contact with him I will sift through his mind for the Penny project and any other advanced tech or useful info. I identified his mind from a distance and started copying the knowledge he has, moments later I was finished then started to organize the new information in my head.

First, the Penny project is in its final stages but he hasn't yet used his semblance to give his aura to her, or rather he hadn't thought of it yet. Secondly, Arthur Watts is still with Atlas working on his Atlesian Paladin project for the challenge Ironwood proposed for the next step in Military advancement. Thirdly, I now have a list of Scientists to hunt down for the knowledge in their heads.

Fourthly, Pietro has a fair bit of know-how that is geared towards helping people in various ways, for example, shoes that make you dance for entertainment or artificial limbs. Lastly, and the biggest gain is, a number of passcodes that will allow me to operate around Atlas and Mantle with little to no resistance from the security system. Overall, I gained more than what I initially thought and I think I will give him a little help with one problem he will have in the future as payment.

I entered Pietro's clinic and I soon saw him walking towards me because he hadn't lost the use of his legs yet. Pietro asked.

Pietro: Oh, welcome to my clinic how can I help you?

I look towards him and said.

Silva: You have an interesting semblance.

He looked towards me in confusion and asked.

Pietro: What do you mean?

I introduced myself to him and started explaining.

Silva: Allow me to introduce myself. My name is Silva Cloud and my semblance is copy other semblances and one of the semblances in my arsenal is to know what other people's semblances are in detail. As I said your semblance is interesting for it can give inanimate objects an aura but at the expense of your own.

As always my lie that my semblance is to copy other semblances is useful to hide how I do things by magic. Pietro looked at me wide-eyed and said.

Pietro: Fascinating... Tell me what are the limits of what you can copy? What another kind of semblances can you use?

I looked at him with a raised eyebrow and replied.

Silva: I can tell you if you can help me with a few things.

Pietro quickly replied.

Pietro: Certainly if it's within my power.

I told him.

Silva: What I'm looking for is a highly durable material for my weapon that can withstand extremely high-frequency oscillations from a semblance I'm fond of using in combat.

Pietro stroked his beard in thought then asked.

Pietro: Can you show me so that I have an idea of what I'm working with?

I placed my fist in front of myself and started using Echo Tremor. First, a light hum could be heard then it increased till you could feel the air shake from the vibrations. The feeling in the air became greater and greater then it could be seen that the air shakes around my fist. As I slowly continue to ramp up my semblance Pietro said.

Pietro: That's enough... Astonishing, vibrations intense enough to be perceived in the air its self. Tell me how was that the full extent of what you can do with that semblance?

My answer was.

Silva: It was about maybe 25% of the maximum power of that semblance.

As Pietro looked lost in thought I took out one of the clear color soul crystal that I extracted from a criminal from the Menagerie after I broke his mind and spirit. I then told Pietro.

Silva: I'm not asking for this for free so let me a least give you this, I think you will find it interesting.

Pietro looked over to me and I handed him the soul crystal then told him.

Silva: This is something I call a soul crystal and before you ask why first infuse the crystal with your aura and watch.

Pietro did as I asked and soon the originally clear color crystal turn into the same green color as his aura. Pietro looked at it completely enthralled and I then explained.

Silva: Now I'm sure you have questions but first I will tell you about this crystal. I can make these crystals in very limited batches with a semblance I copied and I have done my own experiments on them and I think with your semblance you can get some use out these crystals. I don't know the full extent of what these crystals can do but I'm sure a scientist like you is better equipped to discover its secrets than me.

Pietro looked towards me and said.

Pietro: Come back here in a month and I should have the material you need. Oh, and here is my contact number for my scroll if you need anything else because I think this crystal can really help on a project I'm currently working on.

I thanked Pietro and gave him my number so that he contact me. After we talked a little I left his clinic and started wondering what to do next.

(The next day)

After wondering around Mantle for most of the day I'm standing in front of a building called.

Silva: The Grey Wolf Combat Gym...

I couldn't help but call it loud because this the first time I've heard of a combat gym. Curious about it I decided to enter and see what it's about. When I entered I surveyed the interior and saw that aside from some workout equipment there was an arena off to the side that a couple of people we're fighting in.

Liking what I was seeing I decided to register to this gym. It didn't take me long to find a counter with a receptionist and ask.

Silva: Hello, I like to know if this gym requires membership?

The male receptionist in the gray uniform replied.

Receptionist: We do accept memberships but only for license huntsmen/huntresses and students currently in combat schools or the Academy.

Hearing this I explained my situation.

Silva: While I'm mainly homeschooled I do intend on joining one of the huntsmen Academies in the future. Is there any way of still joining this gym?

The receptionist looked pensive for a few moments then said.

Receptionist: We do offer a test for some of the less standard huntsmen/huntresses if you're interested.

I told him I was and he told me to follow him to a waiting room near the arena. He told me to wait for a bit till he got back and ten minutes later he came back then told me what this test is.

Receptionist: Your test is to fight some of our gym members in standard tournament style and win. The more you win the higher level your membership will be and I will explain the benefits of your membership after you win. Please head to the arena.

I made my way to the arena excited about who I may be battling against because I'm liking this gym more and more. When I entered the arena the same receptionist from before announced.

Receptionist: Good day members of our humble combat gym. Today we have a potential new member that wants to join our gym. He is a nonstandard huntsmen-in-training that has been mostly homeschooled, Silva Cloud and for his first match, we have a student from the combat school here in Mantle. Pflicht Academy's Jay Greymore.

A blue-eyed grey-haired guy came in from the opposite end of the arena with an ax and shield combo. He looked about my age and he then said.

Jay: Ready to lose homeschool...

I shrugged and got into my stance without drawing my sword and he didn't look happy about that so he then demanded.

Jay: Hey homeschool draw your weapon.

I curtly replied.

Silva: Make me...

When the match started with the ringing of a bell Jay charged at me with his ax held high and when he was about to hit me I deflected it with the back of my hand. I then gave him a punch right in the face followed by a sweeping low kick to knock him off balance. After he fell down I got ready to pound him and he then raised his shield to protect him. I kept on beating away his shield leaving fist-shaped dents into it until it finally broke.

Jay seeing his shield break under my fists tried to get away but I stepped on his leg to hold him in place. He raised his arms in defense as I struck at him till his aura meter finally turned red. I let him go as he got away from me I turned to the silent crowd and said antagonizing them.

Silva: Next...

( Chapter bonus) ( Pyrrha POV)

It has been only a week already since Silva left for Atlas and I already miss him. Classes went back to normal with everybody keeping their distance from me because they feel they aren't worthy of talking to me. I sigh thinking back when I first met Silva, he made me take those mochi and ran off making me chase him trying to give it back.

After chasing him around upper and middle Mistral he turned around and asked if anyone told me that I was really stubborn. This surprised me because this is the first time anyone aside from mom saying that to me. He then asked me to follow him if I'm that insistent on giving the mochi back and when we reached a back alley he summoned a Nevermore.

He told me to hop on and I did then we took off I enjoyed the feeling of flying in the air it was completely different from riding in an airship. When we landed atop a mountain that had the most beautiful view of Mistral I've ever seen he then threatens me to share the mochi with him or he's leaving me here. This was another first for me, so I set down and we talked for a while.

I enjoyed talking with him because with all the time I put into training I had little time for friends which I regret. After he dropped me off at the hotel I'm staying at I met him the next day. I saw him with a pair of twins and from the looks of it their close I stopped him and the twins went off without him. I wanted to ask his relation to them and he told me that they are his girlfriends and that he would like to date me as well. I was surprised, to say the least, and he then proposed a bet between us and I didn't disagree.

I lost the match to him but it didn't bother me because it was a close one which was another first for me. Most of the time when I spar with my classmates I usually win but this fight with him showed me I have a lot to learn. I met the twins Melanie and Miltia for the first and talked in length with them about Silva's harem idea. I wasn't sure about how to feel about it even after talking with the twins but I was a little interested in Silva so I decide to take him up on that date before he leaves on his journey.

The dates with Silva were fun and he even pointed out possible applications with my semblance after talking with him. Once he left I trained for the next regional cup until Miltia called and told me about Silva's situation with having a bounty on him. I was worried about him even after Militia's assurances that he will be fine and I didn't hear anything for over 2 years.

During that time I won the regional cup twice but after that people started to give me distance because they thought I was special. Over time I started to hear rumors about someone being called the Champion of Anima as I heard these rumors more and more. I decided one day to check these rumors and found out about cults, cannibals, and bandits dying at the hands of a silver-eyed white tiger Faunus.

This made me hope it was Silva because that would mean he's alright so I looked more into these rumors until I heard that Silva and the Champion of Anima were one and the same. I felt relieved that he was alright if the rumors are true. As time went on I wondered if I would meet Silva again and whether or not he would treat me the same as before or like everybody else putting me on a pedestal.

One day, someone actually asked to sit next to me during class which made me happy because it felt like someone was finally seeing me and not that Untouchable Goddess of Victory. I turned to find a familiar face, Silva. I was surprised but happy to see that he was alright, the next moment a couple of my classmates tried to stop Silva but he slammed their heads together and what happened next shocked me. The air turned heavy and tense then my classmates plus the teacher turned pale from the pressure Silva was radiating.

I was amazed at what he was doing because I didn't know how he was capable of this. The next moment he lifted me off my seat like a Princess and carried me out of the classroom, much to my embarrassment. After he finally put me down I felt a little angry at that stunt he pulled and he just shrugged it off. I lead him to my home because I felt too embarrassed to go back to class, while Mom was surprised at me going from school early she didn't mind too much.

When I went to my room to get changed, Silva gave me a gift which made me a little less angry at him. When I opened it revealing a beautiful red kimono all my anger vanished, after changing into it I showed Silva around Argus. He told me about his journey which matched the rumors I heard about and showed me the semblances he copied. When we head back home he followed me back to my room and changed into his shorts revealing his scars.

The size and number of them surprised me and I couldn't help but touch them. He dragged me into my bed and told me about his scars till he got a call on his scroll. He told me he will be right back as he opened a portal and someone came through it tackling him to the floor. This was how I met Tsukuyomi or rather Yomi as she told me to call her, she was beautiful and interesting. As I got to know her she told me about her and Silva's nighttime activities which made my face heat up. I got curious about how those activities compare to just pleasuring by myself, so I asked Silva the night before he leaves to try it.

It was very different than when I just do it by myself in a good way. When Silva left the next day I felt sad seeing him go but he did tell me he's just one call and portal away from seeing him again. Maybe I should see about going to Atlas for a bit with Mom and spending time with Silva.