2 Chapter 2

- [Two weeks later] -

-[Julius Arc] -

He didn't know how to describe what he was currently looking at. It was simply impossible, yet it was absolutely amazing.

He watched as Rowan ran laps around the spacious compound with little effort. He had expected it to take at least a few weeks for him to get used to the weights. What happened instead was totally out of his expectations.

He had already increased the weights twice in the past two weeks. With each time he increased it, it only took Rowan a few days to get used to it until he could move as if they weren't even there.

'That's definitely not normal.' He thought as he looked at Rowan who ran at decent speed passed him, finishing another lap.

'Could he be naturally gifted…or could it be a semblance at work?' He wondered. Since the time they had that talk, he was very much aware that Rowan had unlocked his aura, not that Rowan tried to hide it.

He had felt the aura fluctuations that came from his room every evening but didn't step in to confront him, not yet. He was content with waiting for Rowan to come to him first.

- [Rowan Arc] -

He stood in front of one of the trees in the compound, subtly glaring daggers at it.

"You know, this isn't what I had in mind when I said we should take a break." Julius pointed out from behind him with a sigh.

Rowan took measured breaths as he placed on foot on the body of the tree, channeling his aura to his feet. Just as he raised the second leg to plant it on the tree as well, he was suddenly sent flying back.

[Physical Damage Resistance has leveled up]

Landing on his back, he glared at the prompt that appeared before his eyes, quickly dismissing it .

"Don't you need your hands to climb a tree?" Julius asked as he helped Rowan up to his feet.

"Normally, yes but that's not the goal here." Rowan answered, drawing a curious look from his father.

"And what exactly is the goal here?" Julius asked.

Rowan dusted off his clothes as he spoke."The goal here is to get to the top of the tree without my hands."

"Uh-huh…" He ignored the dry look he got from Julius. 'Status.'

•••••••••••

Name: Rowan Arc

Title: None

Level:1

HP: 2000/2000 [80 per minute]

AP: 3600/3600 [128 per 30 seconds]

STR: 49

DEX: 52

VIT: 40

INT: 72

WIS: 64

Points:0

•••••••••••

The past two weeks had been…interesting. He had paid a bit more attention to his mental than the rest seeing as how aura was a necessity.

Simply moving around with the weights did wonders for his physical stats, allowing him the chance to increase them both. Of course even with all of that, he hadn't neglected his skills.

'Skills.'

••••••••••••

[Physical Damage Resistance(Passive)][Level 5]

A skill that reduces the damage caused by physical trauma.

Reduces physical damage by 5%

[Hacking Mastery(Passive)][Level 3]

This is a skill that allows the user the ability to hack through difficult mainframes of information and bypass intensively difficult levels of security. They can also hack the systems of incredibly complex devices and weapons to aid them in various situations.

[Engineering Mastery(Passive)][Level 6]

This is a skill allows the user to make use knowledge of science and creativity to create various objects, structures, and machines or to make designs functional.

[Medical Knowledge(Passive)][Level 45]

The study that gives an understanding of all established and evolving biomedical, clinical, epidemiological, and social-behavioral sciences.

[Aura Reinforcement(Active)][Level 20]

A skill that allows the user to channel their aura through an object, strengthening or sharpening it beyond its usual capabilities.

[Aura Augmentation(Active)][Level 21]

A skill that allows the user to actively strengthen their physical capabilities.

Increases STR by 21%

Increases DEX by 21%

[Aura Construct(Active)][Level 23]

A skill that allows the user to create weapons and other materials made of aura, capable of reforming them with complete control and creating anything they need.

[Aura Shroud(Active)][Level 39]

A skill that creates a thin layer of aura around your body for defense.

[Aura(Passive/Active)][Level 48]

The Manifestation of one's soul. Long ago, Man, who was born from dust, learned to wield the light of their being against the soulless Grimm.

[Dishwashing(Active)][Level 10]

A skill obtained through continuous dishwashing. With more mastery, you can clean any dirty spots with more speed.

[Meditation(Active)][Level 50]

A practice in which an individual uses a technique to train attention and awareness, and achieve a mentally clear and emotionally calm and stable state. Increases the regeneration of the body.

Increases HP regeneration by 50% per minute.

Increases AP regeneration by 50% per minute.

[Physics(Passive)][Level 65]

The natural science that studies matter, its fundamental constituents and behavior through space and time, and the related entities of energy and force.

[Mathematics(Passive)][Level 60]

The science that is concerned with numbers and their properties, relations, and operations and with shapes in space and their structure and measurement.

••••••••••••

[Sword Mastery] and [Unarmed Combat Mastery] were still at level 1 unfortunately. He had spent quite a bit of time experimenting with aura to find many ways to use it.

The fact that he didn't have access to magic was partially a relief but it also meant that he had to work harder to compensate for that. He hadn't held back on in consuming knowledge.

Technology was the back bone of Remenant. Being a master at technology would be an immense boost to his overall ability.

"-ou even listening to me?" he snapped out of his focused state upon hearing Julius' voice.

"Huh? Sorry, what was that?" He asked, prompting Julius to facepalm.

"I said that we'll be working on your combat skills." The man repeated in exasperation. "I expected it to take more time but you've exceeded my expectations." He said with a proud grin.

Before Rowan could speak, he felt air get knocked out of his system as he rolled on the floor. His HP didn't budge but his aura took a small dip.

[Physical Damage Resistance has leveled up]

"The hell!?"

"So you learnt how to use your aura to defend yourself, good. That makes this a lot easier." Julius said as a cracked his knuckles, watching Rowan get to his feet.

"Lesson one, always be on guard." Julius said, his voice suddenly very close to Rowan. The boy hurriedly raised his forearms to block the heavy punch that shot forward, sending him back to the floor.

[Physical Damage Resistance has leveled up]

"Are you trying to kill me!?" Rowan screamed as his aura took another hit. He rolled to the side as Julius' fist smashed into where he was.

"You're the one who wants to get stronger quickly. This is the quickest way!" Julius screamed as he rushed towards the boy.

Quickly getting to his feet, he activated [Aura Augmentation], his body was engulfed in a violent golden aura as he pushed towards Julius with his own fist aimed at the man.

Julius easily caught it in his palm, a bit surprised at the force in it as his knee shot upwards, catching Rowan in his stomach.

[Physical Damage Resistance has leveled up]

"Ackk!"For the second time in the past minute, he had the wind knocked out of him. The only difference was that this time, his foot shot forward in an attempt to kick at the mans side only for him literally throw him back.

He stumbled but managed to roll into a crouch as more notifications popped up.

[Unarmed Combat Mastery has leveled up]

"Impressive. Looks like you don't need me to teach you about aura. Here I come again!" Julius announced as he rushed forward once again.

Focusing his full attention on the man in front of him, Rowan ducked under a punch, raising his arms just in time to block a powerful kick that still sent him stumbling.

He grit his teeth at his quickly dwindling aura. His only consolation was that he was leveling up two skills at the same time so he wasn't too bothered by it.

Julius swung his fist, catching Rowan's jaw only for the boy to send a kick to the man's head as he recoiled backwards from the hit. Julius easily dodged the kick, allowing it to fly past his face.

[Unarmed Combat Mastery has leveled up]

[Aura Augmentation has leveled up]

Landing some distance in front of his father, he rubbed his jaw in irritation. 'You're insane old man!?' He screamed internally as he dodged into backflip, letting a fist smashing into his former position.

He shot forward, throwing a quick jab to the man's ribs. Julius blocked the jab as another one aimed at his chest. He found himself on the receiving end of a barrage of hits but he easily blocked each of them.

[Unarmed Combat Mastery has leveled up]

Seeing as how he was trying to teach Rowan despite his harsh method, he allowed himself to be 'pushed back', letting Rowan go on the offensive.

[Unarmed Combat Mastery has leveled up]

He caught the boy's small fist in his own, sending a open palm strike to his chest, sending Rowan sliding back.

- [Julius Arc] -

Though he looked unforgiving and serious while fighting Rowan, his mind was an entirely different case.

'I can't believe my eyes.' He wanted to burst into a fit of prideful laughter as he tilted out of the way of a kick that aimed for his chest.

He was a person that believed in learning from experience. If you burned food while cooking, you'd try your best to avoid doing that again. That was the approach he was going for here.

Actual combat did more good than practicing katas and forms all day.

'Still…I didn't expect this.' He didn't know what to think as he studied the boy in front of him. From the looks of it, he had gotten a handle on how to use aura fairly quickly and was actively using it to boost his strength rather than only shielding himself with it.

Some could mistake the state he was in for a semblance but he knew better than that.

It had been long since he saw someone fight like that, making him wonder how his son managed to pull it off. Even more shocking was the 'fight' that they were currently having.

When he first started his onslaught, Rowan had no form or skill whatsoever. Merely 10 minutes into the fight, he could see rapid improvement which only continued as they went on.

They had gone on for almost an hour, shocking him as Rowan didn't seem to keep track of time. It was impressive for his first fight which was why he wasn't disappointed as he saw the aura around him die down, his aura fully depleted.

At some point earlier, he noticed that he had stopped using his aura to shield himself, taking the blows directly while focusing his aura on enhancing his body.

"Let's take a break for now." Julius proposed but Rowan didn't look convinced, still sore about his surprise attack early. "I'm not going to attack you. I promise."

Slowly but surely, Rowan's shoulders lost their tension. Watching his son sit on the floor in a crosslegged meditation pose, he raised a brow before realizing something.

'He doesn't look even a bit tired!' He thought, looking at the anomaly in the form of his own son in surprise and wonder.

'Rowan my boy, it seems you have much more potential than I realized.' He thought with a strange glint in his eyes.

- [Rowan] -

••••••••••

HP: 1250/2000 [80 per minute]

AP: 20/3600 [128 per 30 seconds]

••••••••••

Sitting on the ground, he activated [Meditation] to regenerate his health and aura faster. He couldn't help but be grateful that his system didn't come with a stamina bar, leaving him with virtually unlimited stamina.

He quickly looked through the notifications that popped up while he was busy. [Physical Damage Resistance], [Aura Shroud] and [Aura Augmentation] had risen to level 18, 41 and 27 respectively while [Unarmed Combat Mastery] had shot up to level 19.

At some point, he had to cancel [Aura Shroud] to save more aura to use [Aura Augmentation]. If not for the rate of his aura regeneration, his aura would have been depleted long ago.

Naturally, he need a full 14 minutes to fully regenerate his aura but meditation lessened that time to barely 10 minutes…

"Alright, break's over!"

…just in time for Julius to pick up where they left off. He sighed as he picked himself off the ground.

"Let's take it from the top." The man said with a feral grin that spoke of promised suffering.

- [Few Days Later] -

Rowan laid on the bed with a curious look and excited look on his face. The reason of his excitement was very simple.

Julius was especially busy today, giving him the day off while he sorted things out. Rowan had taken that time to grind some aura skills. He was projecting a circular shield in front of him when a notification popped up.

[Aura has leveled up]

[Due to 'Aura' reaching level 55, you have unlocked your Semblance!]

He had always wondered when he would figure out his semblance or if he would even get one given the nature of his powers.

'If I remember correctly, Jaune's could amplify aura. I wonder what mine will be…' he thought as another notification popped up right after the previous one.

[You have gained Semblance 'The Author']

[The Author(Active)]

Due to your identity as an outsider, you have gained the ability to view things from a different perspective. You can discern heavily concealed truths with a single glance, from that of the target's true Name to special ability.

What he immediately noticed was that unlike his other skills, this one couldn't level up or at least it looked to be that way. There was no level indicator like his other skills had.

'Aura is the manifestation of the soul…a semblance is more or less a tangible projection of one's character.' He recited, coming to the conclusion of how he acquired such a semblance.

'But still, it's not a combat ability nor a support ability.' He thought with a slightly disappointed sigh.

It was more or less basically the cliché 'observe' skill that he remembered reading about in his previous life.

In all honesty, he should be happy that he even had one. Given the nature of his soul, it wasn't supposed to be possible, it was something that danced around his mind a lot. Now he had his answers.

'Might as well test it out.' He thought, exiting his room. As soon as he left the room, he found himself face to face with an older girl with the Arc blond hair and blue eyes.

"Oh good, you're here. Mom and I going shopping and you're coming with us." She said with a smug look on her face.

"Nope. I'm busy, go and find someone else to torture." He said, only for her to look even more smug than before.

"Too bad. Mom said you're coming with us so you don't really have a choice." She said, intentionally ignoring the glare he gave her.

She waltzed away from the front of his room as Rowan took the chance to activate his semblance.

Character Name: [Judith Arc]

Title: [The Eldest Arc]

Age: [22]

Character Type: [Human]

Status: [Alive]

Affiliation: [Arc Family]

HP: [100%/100%]

AP: [Locked]

MP: N/A

Semblance: [Locked]

Status Ailments: [None]

Current Emotion: [Happy]

Thoughts: [Dresses] [Nail fixings]…

Relationship Status: [Siblings]

Special Skills: [None]

Secrets: [Wrecked Dad's car] [She's lesbian]…

Overview: [Judith Arc was born to five sisters and two brothers. She is a smug and prideful person with a quick temper. She's the first child of the Arc family. Her pride coupled with her temper usually gets her in more trouble than she can handle. She's used to getting what she wants and throws tantrum when she doesn't. She has no current ambition.]

He could barely keep his eyes from widening at the sheer bundle of information in front of him. 'This is much more than an observe skill!' He realized in awe.

'I take back my complaint. Information is power.' He thought with a satisfied grin on his face before pausing.

'From what I remember, semblances can evolve yet mine doesn't have a level indicator like my skills. Could it be stuck at this level?' He wondered before refuting that as he remembered one crucial detail. 'I got this when Aura reached level 55. Does that mean that there's a possibility that if I get it high enough to a certain point, it can evolve?'

A smile surfaced on his lip as a look of determination appeared on his face.

'There's only one way to find out.'

- [Two Weeks Later] -

Rowan dodged a jab to his chest, his hand quickly shooting out to aim a punch at Julius who blocked it with his other arm.

He immediately spun into a low roundhouse kick, that Julius jumped over. Planting his hands on the ground, his lower body left the ground in a show of acrobatics as he pushed himself into the air.

The heels of his feet slammed into Julius' forearm as he managed to block it. Seeing as how he was still airborne, the force of the attack pushed him back a bit.

Landing back on the ground, Rowan immediately pushed forward towards him. He parried two fast jabs, quickly crossing his arms as Julius's knee made contact with his forearms.

Shifting into back a bit, he flipped backwards, dodging another low kick and delivering one to his opponent as his foot just barely scrapped Julius's chin.

Coming back to the ground, they rushed each other once more, neither side letting up as they traded hits. This went on for a few more minutes before they separated, now standing opposite each other, their eyes not leaving their opponent.

'I still can't believe it. Around three weeks ago, this kid couldn't throw a straight punch. Now look at him.' Julius thought with pride, examining Rowan who stood before him.

To the untrained eye, he was simply standing there without any form of defense and many openings. The seemingly unguarded manner in which he stood was completely guarded as Julius had come to discover.

The moment you went for one of the openings, you'd then realize that it was a feint. A form full of traps.

'I know I didn't teach him that. To think he'd have his own form already.' He thought as he dropped his stance. "Let's stop here for now." He said, prompting a raised brow from Julius.

"You've come far, farther than I thought in such a short period of time actually. I can confidently say that your hand to hand combat skills are leagues ahead of your average signal graduate." He praised.

"I sense a but coming." Rowan commented, causing Julius to crack a smile as he continued.

"But, now we have to move on to the last part of your training." He said as Rowan's eyes widened a bit.

"Last part?" He questioned, receiving a nod from his father.

"Yep. You're more than decent with your bare hands and you know more about aura than even I do. The only thing remaining is weapons training. You don't plan on fighting Grimm with your bare hands, do you?" He joked as Rowan realized something.

'A month had passed since I woke up here and there's still a month to go till beacon. Time really does fly…' he thought as Julius went over to a brown bag he had brought with him when they started sparring.

His mind wasn't on the bag at the moment as he remembered what he had found out. He had used [The Author] on Julius and it was more than a bit shocking.

Character Name: [Julius Arc]

Title: [Warrior]

Age: [45]

Character Type: [Human]

Status: [Alive]

Affiliation: [Arc Family] [Ozpin's group]

HP: [100%/100%]

AP: [100%/100%]

MP: N/A

Semblance: [Berserker]

Status Ailments: [None]

Current Emotion: [Pride]

Thoughts: [He's proud of his son] [Food]…

Relationship Status: [Parent]

Special Skills: [Unarmed Combat Mastery] [Sword Mastery] [Shield Mastery] [Aura Slice]…

Secrets: [He wanted more male children] [He knows about Salem]

Overview: [Julius Arc was born a single child. He along with his children are descended from legendary warriors. Though he didn't attend a huntsman academy, that didn't stop his power and skill from being recognized by Ozpin. He is a cheerful and confident man who has no problem in communicating and inspiring others. His weapon of choice was Crocea Mors before he handed it down to his son. He is happily married with eight children.]

'He's knows about Salem. He's part of Ozpin's inner circle. No wonder Jaune was allowed into beacon. You can't expect me to believe that Ozpin would allow someone with obviously no training to enroll into beacon, much less lead a team.' It all made sense now. It was why he was so confident in Rowan being allowed to take the exam despite not having been to a combat school.

He put those thoughts away as Julius tossed him an item. He caught it on instinct, his eyes widening in surprise as he saw what was in his hands.

"I saw the wooden swords in your room. It doesn't take a genius to know that you'd want a sword." Julius said in a smug tone.

In Rowan's hands was a delicately made katana. Its sheathe along with the grip were black with gold lining. The katana lacked a guard, something he was grateful for as it was simply uncomfortable.

Slowly unsheathing the katana, he marveled in the wonderful craftsmanship. The metal of the obviously sharp blade shone in the light.

"How did you get this?" He couldn't help but ask, causing Julius to smirk.

"We always had it. Crocea Mors might have been passed down from generation buts it's far from the only weapon we have." He clarified. "Now before you can start using that, you have to understand the basics."

Once again, Rowan found himself catching another sword. The only difference was that this one was completely made out of wood. Placing the katana to rest at the foot of the tree to the side, he moved back to face Julius who now also held a wooden sword.

"Please don't tell me it's going to be the same as last time." Rowan almost begged, seeing the cruel smirk on the man's face.

"It's the same as last time." Julius said, bursting forward to give Rowan the thrashing of his life, only this time he'd use a wooden sword.

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