Progress: Mission

(Gray's POV)(AN:Get ready for MORE exposition in the first part of this chapter.)

I skim through one of the books in our house relating to Dust with a capital d. This one appearing a few times thicker than the others on my small bookshelf that Mom gave me. The cover is made of a light blue colored leather with white outlining. It's title says, "History of the Schnee Dust Company: Book 1" with the well-known SDC emblem on the back; a white snowflake with blue shadings in different areas.

The book told the story of Nicolas Schnee, the founder of the Schnee Dust Company, and his numerous expeditions around the world to find Dust veins. His influence became widespread through all the four kingdoms, earning him praise and respect. After years of work and journeying, he realized that his health had become an issue and was convinced by his son-in-law, Jacques Schnee, to let him inherit the company.

Though the book did provide a some of information that I was not aware of, it told the story with some holes to be filled in. Like the exploits Jacques has done in order to raise the profits of the company, through "questionable" means.(AN: For more info, check out the wiki)

I understand Jacques' motive of wanting to make his business "the best". But there is always a line to be drawn and once I see where they are on that line, I will take action. The problem is that it's fame shows to the world that the SDC is part of the foundations of humanity's defense against the forces of Grimm and uses that to keep their reputation as so.

I admit as well, that the doings of the SDC has gone to good as well as the bad. Supplying the forces of the Atlesian military, becoming the most common Dust marketers and sellers, and having multiple branches of their company all over Remnant is a huge role to play in this game of business.

But why do I also feel like I hate what he does, all the while? I know the general motives and most likely illegal practices they conduct, but there's this lingering bundle of thoughts in the back of my head, that despises Jacques' actions, roughly saying that what he is doing is wrong. Which I can agree with and- oh, my aura is faltering again.

I've been getting really good at keeping my aura steady now. A few weeks ago, I could barely move without my aura leaking, deactivating, and/or suddenly bursting into a flame with a single thought. The reason why the latter is a bad thing is that when I use it, not only does my aura become like a blazing fire around my body instead of a thin sheet of liquid, it also drains my aura around 5 to 10 times faster depending on both my mental and emotional state. The concept reminds me a lot about Nen from HxH, but I'm not complaining.

My main problem with my aura turning into a flame, which I now call Ren(That's gonna be really confusing later on), is that my aura leaks faster from my body when triggered. I'm guessing it's about my novice level mastery when it comes to aura, since, just like Hunter x Hunter, it's feels like a direct extension of Ten, the state of aura I've been practicing.

For Ten, all I have to do is focus my mind and release my aura while keeping it around me. It seemed easy enough, until it got to maintaining the state. After the first week of training, I could only hold the Ten for around half an hour or so, before losing focus and losing the state. Due to my aura reserves, which I now know are massive, there was no problem with losing any of my aura.

Now, after several weeks of mental training, I could finally keep Ten maintained enough while doing other things now, such as taking notes from the book I was just reading. Though I was still not at the level of keeping it active while doing physical exercises, it's still great progress.

The way Ten works is that it shrouds my entire body with aura and protects me from physical attacks. In this world, it seems to be a bit different. During my first encounter with that beowolf all those weeks ago, I thought my Mom was already using her aura. I was mistaken at that.

At another time, we actually encountered 4 beowolves travelling in a pack that spotted us while heading to Summer and Tai again. Her silver aura appeared as a slight glow around her body when using it, so my methods are, in fact, different. Her abilities were boosted since I saw how fast she was without her aura when training my father.

I had to confirm my thoughts so I read a text book about aura the other week, and it turns out that I was right. I used my aura in a more different manner than others and ended up assuming that the aura principles of my new body were based on Nen. It was an accident... but it was AN AWESOME ONE!

Thanks to the new insight I had towards the aura manipulation methods of Remnant, using my aura "the huntsman way" was much simpler compared to the Nen way.

Aura, for those who have awakened it, can be both an active or passive skill for the user, not counting one's semblance. Aura as a passive effect, is always on the user protecting them from attacks, albeit at a smaller scale than when it is active. It also grants a minor boost in the user's physical attributes compared to normal people. Every hit the user takes is dealt mostly on their aura as well as their body.

Take for example, a heavy punch. Someone without their aura will take the full force of the blow and suffer a lot of pain. But when an aura user(while passive) takes on the power of the punch, their aura takes most of the damage while the user suffers a lot less pain and less injury.

An active aura shows itself as a light glow around the user's body and can be used in various defensive and offensive techniques.

When active, it boosts the user's physical capabilities as well as provide even more protection against attacks with the cost of even more aura expenditure depending on output. On another note, it also becomes easier for others to feel it because of the leakage.

So what does that leave me with? Well I'll tell ya. OP level aura control. That's right.

The great flaw of the current active aura manipulation for huntsmen is that it increases the amount of aura you have to use in order to bring out more power, but in doing so, you end up with a technique that wastes too much aura due to it leaking out of the body faster. The upside with my methods of aura control is that it takes more mental energy instead of aura energy. Which means that the more I train my mind, the more efficiently I can use my aura. It still has the same effect when it's passive, though I doubt that would be a big problem considering my aura reserves.

I close the SDC history book and get up from my kid sized wooden chair. I stretch a bit and let out a yawn. With a body this young, flexibility is visibly present as I could do splits with ease. 9:20 PM. It took me a few seconds to calculate the time on that analog clock above my door.

I jump on my bed and tuck myself in, tired from mental exhaustion of both studying and maintaining an aura cloak for almost three and a half hours. My parents already entered their bedroom, which is right next to mine, an hour ago. I wonder what they think of their child asking for books pertaining to multiple topics of Dust?

There are still some things I have to do that may or may not end up in me getting severely injured in the few following years. Since my body is in no shape to do any real combat, I'll formulate a few ideas to compensate it. I already know that Summer's death is a key point in Ruby and Yang's development, and I don't think I could go against fate right now, as I am pained to think about it.

Oh. I almost forgot another thought. Tial will be leaving for his mission tomorrow. Acosador ruins, was it? Sounds like a creepy place, and as a reincarnated anomaly who greatly cares about this world's future, I am going to support him.

...

(3rd person POV)

Nearly 2 months of hard work has been leading to this day. The teal themed huntsman spent day and night training for this. Blood was spilled, sweat was dried, and tears were shed after the many days of conditioning both his mind and body.

He stood with his family at the docks, dressed in his own unique huntsman uniform. He wore a black, long sleeved shirt with teal linings, dark green pants with multiple pockets, black shoes, a pouch strapped to a brown leather belt, and a light gray scarf around his neck to finish off his attire.

The bullhead heading to Vale landed, and he got on shortly after. Saying his "see you later"s to 2 precious people he hold dear.

Once the pilot was announcing takeoff, the large aerial vehicle's engine roars as it takes off for the city. The view of Patch went from a big patch(hehe) of land to a distant spot of green as the public air transport flew over the ocean.

The memory of the day he saw the mission crept in his mind. There seemed to be no suspicion when you observed it at first glance, but the more you think of the context behind it, the more it alarmed the more experienced huntsmen.

He was skimming through the mission boards to look for a relatively quick mission after stocking up on dust rounds for his weapon, when he came across a small crowd of people eyeing a specific description on one of the screens. Usually, mission boards feature short descriptions of the task, showing the basic information of it; the mission type, the mission site, and how soon it will start. Only one licensed huntsman can be assigned to one mission. This description however, was detailed as a high-class mission from the SDC.

High class missions were given more specifics on the task and have requirements set for them. They also require more than one huntsman to participate in the mission and given a higher pay as well as more preparation time. These assignments are rarely published and are normally handled by experts with a lot of experience under their belts such as himself.

The slight commotion lasted for a few minutes but soon died down, leaving 3 people in front of the board.

2 were in deep conversation with each other while the last was just analyzing it with a blank stare. He went to the one eyeing the info, hoping to know more about this particularly high paying job.

The man had quite fair skin, white hair reaching down to his ear lobes and deep yet calm cobalt eyes. His attire consisted of an open white long coat reaching down to his knees with a noticable emblem on his back in green(a rook piece with a sword stuck in it), a white shirt, gray slacks, and black combat shoes with white lacing.

He introduced himself as Zaffre Castleton. His demeanor, a calm and laid back individual but with a hint of seriousness, and his lightly defined face made him look like a recent graduate of a huntsman academy.

With him was his partner and a former colleague.

Surprisingly, Zaffre said they were all qualified to take part in the mission, saying that he and his two teammates had more than enough completions registered in his license.

He too voiced his suspicions about the new subject, but said that the mission would be a good opportunity to raise his skill with a Dust blade. The whole time Tial and him were talking, the other two were listening to them while sharing a bit more small talk.

One of the two then suddenly sparked an idea in his mind, putting a fist to his palm, the dark red haired huntsman named Blaise asked Tial if he could join them to complete one of teams for the task if they were to join.

Tial looked to be unsure of the decision but asked for their contacts in case he changes his mind.

They shook hands and the wondering father went back to his home with a new thing to think about.

After he confirmed his decision with Titania, he signed his license and contacted the team the next day.

Which leads him to now.

Tial met up with Zaffre at the bullhead docks and saw a few other people(visibly huntsmen) waiting as well.

Some time passed and now he was standing along with 19 other huntsman, ready for the job. Beside him were Zaffre and his partners, who were also listening to the middle aged advisor wearing an Atlesian uniform in all white.

"Good day, huntsmen and huntresses. You are to be deployed at Acosador Ruins, in a far south west region of Sanus, clear of Vacuan land. Your job is to exterminate all signs of Grimm within a 5 mile radius of the ruins and investigate and map out a cave system in the center parts of it. You will all rendezvouz at the drop site in 2 weeks time after doing so. We will be arriving to the location in approximately 7 hours. I suggest you all relax for the time being."

The alloted time passes and now the aerial vehicle was hovering several meters above a clearing in the forest several miles away from.the actual ruins with the hatch open. Dropping off closer to the mission site would be too risky with the amount of Grimm they have seen from above.

Tial and Zaffre and co. were assigned to be the second team responsible for mapping the underground labyrinth.

And so, the first day began…

Each team of four assigned themselves to different regions of the area.

The ruins that they have been expecting to be situated in was comparable to an abandoned medieval aged city.

Rubble lay wasted next to broken walls, the dirt was slightly ashen. Some buildings were still standing, but looked to give out the moment someone touched them. Though not very noticable, there were subtle signs that a battle took place that tore down this city to what it is now.

All five teams split up to monitor their assigned territories.

Tial's team headed out for the center part of the endless sight of rubble. Everyone had their weapons drawed out that's for sure.

Tial had a pair of black metal tonfa with pistols in it's structure. He had this weapon for the sole reason that a mechashifting tool took time to deploy and needed more maintenance to keep it in shape. It was precious time he didn't want to use up. Though the compactness of a mechashift was somewhat convenient,

Zaffre had a long sword with a crossguard that had an ice Dust magazine loaded into it. The schematic of the weapon making it so that people with fine Dust manipulation could channel it's elements through the blade of it.

He also seemed to share the same ideal as Tial as they were taking a break in what used to be a house.

"I like to keep my fighting style as all-rounded as possible. I found simple weapons that didn't use Dust to be… lacking in versatility." Zaffre explained as he showed him the sword. It's blade held a somewhat weak luster in the mid afternoon sun.

"So you add in the use of Dust to make up for the lack of power a basic weapon provides?" Tial asked.

"In every sense, yes. Though I have little problem in handling a regular non-mechashift, I created my sword for the sole purpose of using Dust as my primary resource of dealing damage. Without Dust, my sword will tend to be very brittle, hence why I have a secondary." Zaffre then pulled out a shorter sword from his back that, unlike his primary weapon, gleamed in sunlight.

"For my style, I'm more up close and personal and I often use my ranged for when I need a short retreat from the enemy. I like to think my weapons are simple and rely more on my own skill and aura control." Tial explained.

"I see. We should set up camp in that clearing we saw earlier. The cave system should be about 16 miles away. I'm surprised that the amount of Grimm we've encountered thus far was in a small number."

"Maybe they're more concentrated on the inner parts of the city? It could explain why the place is pretty quiet other than the occasional rat squeeking around here."

"I never understood how they live around here without any food. Such resilient rodents."

…

On the second day…

"Tial, Blaise. Draw them all in a single direction towards me." Zaffre called on to Tial and the other huntsman were busy dealing with a large amount of Grimm more focused towards them.

Only a few minutes ago, they had been attacked by a pack of beowolves lead by two Alphas.

Their sizes were much larger than the average ones, with rib-like bone armor on their chests and more on the backs, shoulders, and limbs.

One of them stood quickly on it's hind legs and roared at the direction where the four huntsmen failed to hide. Indicating that the Alpha beowolf's senses were far more keen than it's regular counterpart.

The two more tactical black beasts stood it's ground while the more expendable infantry of the pack.

The snarling small horde rushed against the team of fully trained warriors and later ended up as inanimate smoking black lumps on the ground with bullet wounds, limbs that turn in the wrong way, mutilations and other horribly painful looking damage.

One fresh huntsman graduate would be able to protect a village from a Grimm attack, capture a wanted criminal, and escort a client to another kingdom all in the same month. With a 4 man team of them, a small group of 40 wolf like monstrosities was considered child's play.

Seeing that their was getting slaughtered, the Alphas that were observing the massacre both howled in unison. The sound even making the hunstmen freeze up for a split second.

Now they were not only fighting more beowolves, but other non-beo Grimm decided to tag in as well.

Wielding jet black dual pistols, the redhead hurried to the swordsman's side, dodging a few lunges from the more agile Grimm. Skidding to a stop a fair distance behind him, he started to unload onto the new horde of monsters ready to maul them. Tial also arrived beside him and did the same.

There were now multiple species of them rushing over to the three. Boarbatusks, Beowolves, Ursai, and a few Deathstalkers were all in Zaffre's "splash zone".

Boarbatusks take the shape of large black boars with long hard tusks and a heavy amount of armor around their body, excluding their undersides and legs.

Deathstalkers are giant scorpion Grimm that have strong white exoskeletons and seem to have very few weakpoints if one is not capable enough.

His blade was drawn to his side, ready to swing in an arc, letting out a visible cool air, the surroundings close to him freezing as the sword glowed with a shining sky blue glow.

With low shout, he swung his swords from the ground, making an upwards arc. The tip of the sword crackled and a giant iceberg formed in front of him the next second.

Almost all of the creatures were dealt with, a few struggled a bit to get around the newly formed ice blockade that destroyed also destroyed a few stone buildings in the process.

The other member of the mission squad, Venta, arrived to the rest of the team after luring away a group of Grimm of her own.

The team decided to retreat and camp at a good distance away, closer to the caves that they were supposed to explore, knowing that the giant shard of ice appearing out of nowhere will most likely draw even more attention.

…

On the third day they set up a camp near the caves, in one of the more intact buildings to better hide during the night.

Eight days after that, they successfully created a detailed map of the cave systems using a 3D animating function on all of their scroll and killed hundreds of Grimm close to their location. Unsurprisingly since this place was sought out after the SDC, the place was a rich abandoned Dust mine holding lots and lots of it in the deeper parts of the mine and other mineral resources.

In all of their expeditions, there were no Grimm that stayed inside the cave. This allowed the group to more observe the place.

At the third to last day of their jobs, the group of huntsmen were now very deep into the mines. There were little to no more supports holding up the deep part of the tunnel they were in, but they doubt it would collapse anytime soon due to the strength of the walls that was mostly hard stone.

It must have taken a huge effort to dig through this stuff, but in return, the amount of Dust lit up almost every turn they make. Instead of a pitch dark cave where they had to bring lanterns, the place was always dimly illuminated with the amount of Dust present in the walls, waiting to be harvested. They still brought lanterns for better vision though.

At this point of the journey, Tial was thought about the rumors he heard. If the mission was really like this, how could this be the second time teams of huntsmen were assigned to do this? It didn't make sense. The progress they made the past several days went smoothly. Too smoothly to be honest. One odd occurence that happened a few times was when the Grimm would visibly retreat when the team entered the cave. It was strange. Very strange. He'd never thought he'd see regular gullible beowolves be so cautious against the entrance of a Dust mine before.

Still in his thoughts, Tial was interrupted by he questioning hum of the other member, the black-haired, green eyed, spear wielding Mikael.

"That's strange. I didn't expect a hallway to be here, deep in an abandoned mine. What do all of you think?" Zaffre said in his calm and casual tone.

The cave made it look like the ones digging just happened to open up the side of a hallway, moderately lit with more Dust crystals and… an ominous low groaning that sounded not too far away.