12 I'm in what team

"Welcome back children."

There was Ozpin greeting us all as we came back to the school grounds. Silver hair, classy glasses. And does not look a day over… thirty five-ish? Have to admit his grey hair does make him seem older. The man has probably lived a long, long life up till now. Of that, I have no doubt. He turned his attention to me.

"You, young man… Might I ask for your name?"

"Kuzuno, no last name. Though I am sure you have already known from the cameras all over the testing grounds."

"Mr. Kuzuno then. May I invite you to my office for a chat?"

"That was the plan, sir."

"Everyone else may gather up with the rest of the students at the ceremonial hall. We will announce the teams, their names and the leaders of each team very soon."

That was all Ozpin said before he turned around and walked, gesturing me to do the same. I and Glynda followed his steps, leaving the other students wondering as to what exactly was up with the interaction. From their perspective, I was probably merely another test-taker, but Ozpin and Glynda know I was not part of the applicants who took this test.

The three of us went to the school's namesake, which was also used as the headmaster office. The large beacon tower was enormous in size, much taller than any other building I have ever seen with my own two eyes, far as I could remember. The quiet trance when we were at the elevator was quite awkward, to be honest. I wonder why we had to talk at the headmaster office of all place. Maybe to ensure they would handle me without harm were I recognized as a threat?

That would be interesting.

"Well then, Mister Kuzuno, where do you think we should start?"

"Let us start with magic."

I decided to play truth-bomb tactics here, which constitutes sharing juicy information straight away so it would be easier for me to do damage control, were I to accidentally reveal certain things I should not be privy to. After all, what is a small knowledge amiss when there are larger ones yet to be explained?

"Pardon?"

"Magic. M-a-g-i-c. You have them, Salem has them, four different gals have them, and I have them as well."

I summoned a large piece of rubble from my Dimensional Shooter.

"Unless you can explain my super strength this either counts as magic or a second semblance, whichever you prefer. I honestly do not even know what qualifies as magic and what does not." I paused. "I mean Maidens can use the elements, but so can anybody else with Dust. What qualifies as magic anyway?"

"…You are quite an interesting person, Mister Kuzuno."

"Please stop it with the Mister stuff. It makes me feels old."

"Very well, Kuzuno-kun. What do you intend to do with all your knowledge and magic?"

So Ozpin knows Mistralian culture which makes sense considering his age. There are four kingdoms in the world of Remnant consisting of Vale, Vacuo, Atlas, and Mistral.

Vale is an area filled with nature at the center of the map. West from Vale is Vacuo, located at the center of the harsh desert and is lacking in government influence making it a paradise for outlaws. East from Vale is Atlas which is filled with innovative technology and has a reputation for its strict military style. And finally north from Vale is Mistral which has eastern values embedded into them.

It seems he assumed I am Mistralian as well. Otherwise, he would not have used the 'kun' suffix after calling my name. I wonder if there is a way to use this misunderstanding to my advantage… Nevertheless--

"Nothing."

I spoke truthfully. There is not much that I want except interesting adventures or slacking around. The first is my current lifestyle while the second is something I intend to do the moment this whole world-traveling thing gets boring. It would probably take months until that happens though.

"Nothing?"

"Nothing. I am merely an amnesiac child who does not have a place to call home. As for my plans for the future, I fully intend to travel around the world since that sounds interesting."

"…You are certainly informed for someone who has no memories to speak of."

"Memory erasure is certainly a convenient ability."

"Someone erased your memories."

"I would say something rather than someone, even if it likes to call itself a woman."

[How rude]

Tell me about EXTRA points and I will reconsider.

[EXTRA points are used to upgrade Rank(EX) Skills. One for the first of the upgrades, two for the second and four for the third. Please note you may only upgrade a Rank(EX) Skill thrice. Afterward, the Skill may not be evolved unlike normal Skills]

Have I mentioned how beautiful you are lately?

[And you are shameless.]

Love you too.

I am obviously talking about the system with my words about the memory-wiping, but from their perspective, it must have sounded like I was talking about Salem the witch. She is basically the main antagonist of the story RWBY. What is her origin? Nobody knows. What is her nature? Nobody knows. What is her power? Some kind of Grimm-related ability but otherwise relatively unknown. You get the gist of it.

The world of Remnant has a rather plain story with barely any twist. Not exactly the best story-writing and world-building but then again you have to remember the show has a very limited budget. Or at least it did around the beginning before it exploded in popularity.

Afterwards, they should have some more leeway in terms of money, and yet the later seasons of the RWBY show were described as 'shitty' compared to the earlier seasons. So basically it has a rough start and a failed endgame, and therefore an overall bad experience.

Hell, I can barely even remember what happened after season three, and for once it was not the fault of the good old memory-wiping system.

"Then what if I were to offer you a stay here for four years."

I turned my attention back to Ozpin who decided to give me a silver lining. That was a very straightforward approach he made right there. It was practically an invitation to become a Beacon student. There is no reason to refuse considering it is the path I planned to take after knowing this was the world of Remnant.

However.

"I have no money for that."

I was basically testing how much Ozpin wanted me here at this point. In all honesty, money should be easy to earn by eliminating Grimm as a part-time work while studying within Beacon, but I wanted to see how invested he was into me right now.

"That is no problem. We only require you to participate in classes and learn within the school."

So he would not mind bearing my tuition cost. Or Is there any tuition cost here in Beacon? Nevertheless, at the very least that means he is somewhat interested in my allegiance, whether am I an ally or a foe to defeat. Then again this was merely a small investment in the large scale of things so I cannot be sure of anything more than that.

"Keep your friends close, and enemy closer huh?"

Ozpin kept his expression still as if my words were meaningless to him. As expected of the veteran who fought a battle spanning in the centuries, his composure is not so easily broken. Well, I was merely playing around with my words, without any significant meaning behind it anyways.

"I will gladly accept that with delight then."

Ozpin is currently playing the long game. He is waging a war against his enemy Salem and preparing for the inevitable clash. For that, he is training chess pieces he could use within the game. But this war is a long battle spanning centuries already and most likely years to come, which means I cared about it as much as I cared for any random pebble on the ground. I am only planning to have a short-term stay here at Remnant so who cares about its long-term problems?

"Thereby I swear an oath, I will learn as much as possible from my peers."

Learning and building my foundation is my goal within Remnant. I will learn how to fight properly while also racking up as many points as I could to upgrade my Skills. After the conditions meet my satisfaction then it will be time to scurry away into another world. Simply put it will be a repeat of the previous situation at My Hero Academia.

"From your peers and not your teachers?"

"Even if I sought to learn from the teachers I will ultimately end up trying to catch up to my peers so why not do so straight away?"

Being a slow learner is a trait of mine. Besides, the other students have years of progress I need to catch up to first, so why should I bother trying to match my pace with them? They can learn how to fight giant legendary beast from the teachers for all I care, on the other hand, I will learn the way to defeat Grimm and fighting in general from them.

"You are a humble person, Kuzuno-kun."

From his perspective, I am the man who single-handedly defeated two gigantic Grimm with an attack each, so those words were more than justified. However, if it were not for my Active skills any of his students here at Beacon would be capable of defeating me with a hand tied behind their back.

"Humble? I prefer to call myself a practitioner of self-deprecation." I smiled. "Anyway, that should be about all there is to discuss is it not? The other students are still waiting for you."

"A question before that, please. How does your 'magic' take effect?"

I blinked at his question. I wonder if there was something about magic I was not privy to. As I might have mentioned before the RWBY show did not do a good job on world-building and exposition, and therefore the amount of information about what magic is even supposed to be is rather scarce.

"It is simply spatial storage. I could put things within and keep them for however long as I wish to, and can pop them back out whenever as well. The amount I can hold can be increased, but it seems I cannot teleport things that are fully 'connected' to the ground, nor sentient beings."

"I see…"

Without saying another word Ozpin fixed his glasses and went into the elevator, gesturing for me and Glynda to do the same as well.

The following minutes were quiet as we all went towards the hall where the team-making ceremony is being held. There is quite a sizable amount of people here. Many more students compared to what was shown on the RWBY show. Within it, they have only shown three first-year teams consisting of RWBY, JNPR, and CRDL, the third of which being of no importance.

"Oh, Kuzuno over here!"

There was Ruby again. She waved for me to come closer. She sure is awesome for an admittedly shy person. Not that surprising though, I have always been of the opinion everybody is talkative. If they are not then you simply haven't found the right topics to talk yet.

"Hello again Ruby."

I walked towards her. Beside her were the three other members of RWBY, and team JNPR was close by as well. Basically, the whole gang was here as one group among the other students. The ceremony is just starting and some random team has been called up to the stage. Far as I remembered JNPR and RWBY are the two last teams to be called up so there was still time to spare until it happens.

"Oh, by the way, did you not find any partner at all?"

Surprisingly Ruby was the one to strike up the conversation between us. She looked at me with worried eyes while saying the line. Huh, this girl is way too caring for her own good, and I say that in the most realistic way possible. People don't usually care that much for someone they met for barely five minutes.

Unless they are a certain limbless motivational speaker. Then only a few minutes is enough for you to admire him till death.

"Nope, no such luck. I do wonder how headmaster Ozpin will handle this mess though."

I shook my head while saying those words. It seems the might have assumed I was called by Ozpin because I do not have a partner. You were supposed to find one during the entrance practice test apparently. The first person you made eye contact with within the forest will be your partner for the following four years. What possessed Ozpin to think such a system would be a good idea is beyond my comprehension.

"I mean there wasn't even a relic left for me when I got there. From what Ozpin said it does not seem like he will expulse me though so at least there is that."

"Huh, that's peculiar."

I looked towards the stage. Another team was being called up. They retrieved the black rook pieces. If I remember correctly team RWBY has the white knight pieces while the JNPR has the white rook pieces for relics. Very fitting for Ozpin to use chess pieces as a symbol for his metaphorical chess pieces in his game against Salem.

With nothing to do, I decided to investigate the strange occurrence which occurred with my Trait.

Open status.

[???

Rank 11

SP: 73

EVO: 2

EXTRA: 1

[Planeswalker]: [Dimensional Travel(4+)] [Hundred Gauntlet(6+)] [Dimensional Shooter(4+)]

[Limitless]: [OverLoad++(6+)] [Energy Replenishment++(6)]

[Underdog]: [Triumph(EX)]

[Rascal]: [Accurate Throw(2)]

[Loner]: [Unknown Phantom(4)]

[Egocentric]: [One's Own Justice(EX)]

[Vigilante]: [Guider(4)]

[Berserker]: [Juggernaut(2)]

[Murderer]: [Human Search(2)]

[Hunter+]: [Sneak(2)] [Aura(6)]

[Rank Quest: Reach Rank 12]

[Limit Quest 6: have six Rank(6) Skills.]

System, what does the + mark beside my Hunter Trait mean?

[The same with Skills, a + mark indicates the Trait has been upgraded. As you have reached Rank 10 now you may upgrade a Trait by either special actions or by sacrificing a Trait for one another. The Skill from the sacrificed Trait will be moved into the Reinforced Trait.]

Basically, it is something complicated and beyond my understanding considering my nonexistent brain cells. Gotcha.

[Afirmative. Please also note that as you may now combine Skills under the same Trait as well.]

Combining Skills under the same Trait… then would you mind combining Skill: OverLoad and Skill: Energy Replenishment?

[Warning: This will create a Skill above your Limit Quest, which means it cannot be used until you raise your Limit Quest higher]

Ignore my previous instruction then. I will be useless without those two Skills. Guess it is all about that pesky Limit Quest. But this does give me an idea of how combining Skills works. So basically it combines two lower-ranked Skills into one higher-ranked Skill huh.

Then try sacrificing the Trait: Rascal to upgrade Trait: Hunter+

[Nuh-uh. You need to sacrifice either TWO Traits or another single + Trait to upgrade a single + Trait]

Jeez, then put Trait: Loner into the mix as well.

Wait, no. Eureka!

Do not do that, instead sacrifice Trait: Loner to upgrade Trait: Vigilante

[Rascal has been sacrificed to upgrade Loner into Loner+]

[Skill: Accurate Throw has been moved to Loner+]

[Skill: Hide has been derived from Loner+]

Yup, as expected I gained a free Skill from upgrading a Trait. And now we sacrifice Loner+ to upgrade Hunter+!

[Loner+ has been sacrificed to upgrade Hunter+ into Hunter++]

[Skill: Unknown Phantom has been moved to Hunter++]

[Skill: Accurate Throw has been moved to Hunter++]

[Skill: Hide has been moved to Hunter++]

[Skill: Vicious Strike has been derived from Hunter++]

Yup. Whenever a Trait is upgraded not only would all Skills from the sacrificed Trait be transferred to the upgraded Trait, but there would also be a new Skill derived from the Trait, given as rewards from upgrading said Trait. So this Trait-Upgrading system is a way to create more and more Skills, along with lessening the number of Traits I have without lowering my Rank.

A Trait+ is worth two Traits. A Trait++ is worth four and Trait+++ is worth eight. By doing things the convoluted way I did I managed to gain the Skill: Hide. Now it is finally time for some Skill Combination.

The Skills I have under Trait: Hunter++ is now Sneak(2), Aura(6), Unknown Phantom(4), Accurate Throw(2), Hide(2), and Vicious Strike(4).

Firstly combine Unknown Phantom and Sneak.

[Unknown Phantom and Sneak have been combined to create Skill: Unknown Existence(6)]

Unknown Existence. The Skill lets me hide my presence even better than Unknown Phantom. At this point I can temporarily stop my bodily function such as breathing, blinking or even the beating of my heart for minutes at a time. This is an extremely useful Skill for sneaking around. How it is possible for me to live without my heart beating is completely unknown to me.

Next, combine Accurate Throw with Hide

[Accurate Throw and Hide have been combined to create Skill: Hidden Throw(4)]

Now my Throw gets a plus on sneak check, which means I can snipe an enemy from faraway unnoticed by throwing projectiles. That went as I predicted, but there is still one step left so this Skill can become something godly for me.

Combine Hidden Throw with Vicious Strike.

[Hidden Throw and Vicious Strike has been combined to create Skill: Vicious Hidden throw(6)]

[Limit Quest 6: Clear]

Oh, the quest is cleared already. That was nice.

This Skill the same as Hidden Throw gives me a bonus sneak on my throws, but it also gives extra damage when I successfully throw a projectile at an enemy while their guard is down. Originally this Skill only doubles my damage with a surprise attack, but maybe because its effect is limited to throwing surprise attack and increased Rank, now its effect increases fivefold and all sneak throws I do will have its strength multiplied by ten.

Combined with Overload 100% that means I can do damage worth one thousand times my normal strength on sneak throws.

That was… Ridiculous. That practically means no enemy can survive me long as I successfully ambush them. Of course, that was excluding overpowered seemingly omnipotent characters such as ones from Dragon ball Super or DC universe.

Superman can bench-press the earth and Flash can move faster than light speed. How the hell I am supposed to beat those crazy overpowered characters I do not know, but I will find a way. That is my oath as the Underdog.

"Psst, Kuzuno, you got called along with us!"

Ruby broke my concentration by half-murmuring in secrecy and half-shrieking in joy. So it is time for RWBY to get up to the stage. However, why would I be called up along with them? Could it be that Ozpin…

"Ruby Rose, Weiss Schnee, Blake Belladonna, Yang Xiao-long, and Kuzuno. Due to excruciating reasons, you all shall be put under one banner as ream RWBYK (Rubik). Led by Ruby Rose."

To hell with you too Ozzy.