Chapter 2

I managed to mostly ignore how adorable young Ruby looked like, an impressive feat, and instead I focused on the text that floated just above her head.

Little Red, Little Red

[Silver-eyed Warrior]

Lv 8 Ruby Rose

Ugh, she is clearly younger than her canon self and yet she is almost the same level as I am. But what was with that "Silver-eyed Warrior" thing? Was that her job or class? I know about that whole "Silver eyes" story Qrow talked about in the season three finale, but it's still a weird class to have. I would have, personally, made some weird or vague "Reaper" reference considering her future choice of weapon. Then again, I'm not all that imaginative when it comes to naming things.

Shrugging off the weird class of hers I casually used the observe skill on her to see if I could glean any useful info. One bit of information from the floating text box was definitely useful, and I could easily ignore what her stats were right now. If observe was right, and I had very little reason to doubt that it wasn't, then the Ruby Rose before me was ten years old. That means I was five years before canon, five years to prepare myself.

I could work with that…

"I'm really, really, really, really sorry!" Ruby repeated herself, apparently not convinced I didn't actually care all that much. She continued her rather fast paced and very animated apologizing, "My dad keeps saying I shouldn't use my semblance like that in crowded areas, that I'm going to hit someone, and then I did just now and I feel really bad right now!"

I finished dusting off my hoodie and replied, "Like I said, it's fine kid. I've got aura, so I'm better off taking that hit than someone else."

"Still…" Ruby trailed off, looking down sadly.

I mentally groaned at my misfortune, no one should have to see Ruby sad. And it's not helping to seal my criminal mastermind image I'm trying to build up when I really want to run up to her and hug her. Sighing lightly out loud I said, "Ok kid, you wanna make it up to me? Then how about you tell me why you were running around like that." While she was still looking down I discreetly pulled a cookie I bought from the cafeteria out of my inventory and waved it in front of her face, "Deal?"

The cookie was promptly gone from my hand with a flash of movement from the girl, she really is fast. "Deal!" she happily chirped. Once the cookie was successfully shoved down her throat she began walking down the mall's hallways, swiveling her head around as if trying to find something, me trailing along right next to her.

"So…" I prompted, trying to start the conversation.

She started, "Oh right! I'm trying to find my dad, he's a really strong hunter, and my big sis who just enrolled at Signal Academy! I lost them in the crowd a while ago after I… got distracted."

[Quest Created!]

Ruby Rose has gotten lost in the mall and needs to find her family. Keep her company until she reunites with either her father or her older sister.

Success: 1000XP, 200 Lien, increased closeness with Ruby Rose, 1 random skill book

Failure: Decreased closeness with Ruby Rose

Probably something about weapons, that is if she was a super weapons nut at her current age anyhow. She doesn't seem too different from what I know. I accepted the quest with a press of a finger, I really wanted that skill book. I mean, the quest was super easy with almost no real penalty if I somehow screwed it up.

"I see," I replied, "So where did you last lose them at? This mall is pretty big, trying to find them at random will take a while."

She blushed and rubbed the back of her head bashfully, "Ahaha... I don't really remember. I wasn't paying attention to the stores."

Well, that made things more difficult than what was really needed. But I mean you have a loud, blonde sister and her big blonde father, I doubt things will be that difficult with those two frantically searching for Ruby. "Well kid, at least your family isn't trying to tear up the mall to find you."

Ruby paled as soon as I finished that sentence and held her head in her hands, "Oh my gosh! They would destroy the mall trying to find me! They get really overprotective sometimes!"

I could tell she was panicking if her unintelligible and quick babbling about nothing was any indication. It wasn't a hard guess to make and I didn't think most of those words she was speaking were in English. I should probably stop it before it gets any worse than it already was.

"Kid! Kid! Stop the panicking," I nearly shouted, taking out another cookie and shoving it in her mouth, effectively shutting her up.

[Through the use of a special action the skill "Calm" has been created!]

[Calm (Active) Lv1: EXP 0.0%

The ability to calm someone down through the use of your words. Perhaps not as quick as a knockout, but it does leave a better lasting impression on the person you are calming down.

-When being used to calm someone down, increases calming effectiveness by 50%.

-Cost 0]

[Through continued use of a certain action the skill "Bribe" has been created!]

[Bribe (Active) Lv1: EXP 0.0%

You want this money? Yeah, you do. Don't worry about what I'm doing over there, just say you didn't see nothing and all this money is yours.

-When bribing someone, a 50% increase in effectiveness.

-20% decrease in the chance the bribee in question refuses the bribe.

-Cost 0]

As I dismissed the notifications Ruby chewed the treat post haste and upon swallowing she sheepishly looked up at me, "Sorry." After a few moments she tilted her head to the side, seeming to think of something for the first time, "By the way, where are you getting those cookies from?"

I couldn't help but chuckle. I waved my hands mysteriously in front of her face, making sure to keep her attention on the fancy tricks while keeping my inventory open. "Magic," I said just as one of my hands went right past the inventory screen and pulled out another cookie with a flick of my wrist.

Ruby's eyes went completely bug-eyed, I could practically see stars sparkling around them as she nearly danced in place. "You're a wizard?! That's soo cool! How do you do it?!"

I smirked and gave her the cookie, which she now looked at much more reverently, "Come on kid, I gotta keep some secrets."

She pouted at me and looked about to say something else. Or she would have, at any rate, if she wasn't interrupted before she had the chance.

"Ruby!" came a sudden ecstatic voice as a small, blonde streak shot out of the crowd of people and tackled the smaller girl to the ground in a monstrous hug. "Where did you go?! Oh, I am never letting you out of my sight!" The younger Yang pointed a finger at Ruby's face, "Mark my words."

The Spark before the Burn

Lv 13 Yang Xiao-Long

Gods above, a twelve-year-old first-year Signal student was stronger than I was now. Did Roman somehow get majorly nerfed when I took over his body just so I actually had something to do? This was complete bullshit! Barely a few hours into my new life and I already wanted to scream in rage to the heavens.

Also, why did Yang not have a class of her own? I would have thought there would at least be something like "Brawler" or "Signal First Year" under her title. Maybe a class is supposed to be special? Like Ruby being some sort of legendary super warrior and me being The Gamer? Perhaps I could figure that out some other time if I really wanted to know.

"Who's your friend?" Yang asked suspiciously, finally noticing me for the first time. I didn't blame her for the suspiciousness, I was a twenty-something year old man hanging around her ten year old sister after all.

Actually, speaking of my age, what age is Roman anyway? I don't think that was ever covered in the series or any panels and I didn't see it in my stats screen. I personally just thought he was mid-twenties to mid-thirties at the most. He doesn't really look all that old… maybe I'll try and figure it out later.

"Uh…" Ruby trailed off as she pushed her sister off of her and stood back up, scratching her cheek, "You know, I never really asked what your name was. Weird. Anyway, I'm Ruby! And this is my big sister Yang!" She stuck her hand out for me to shake after her official introduction.

I smirked as I took her small hand and shook it, at this point thinking about divergence from canon was a non-issue. But I'll have to make an effort to avoid her now. "Roman, Roman Torchwick. I'll be famous soon, so you both should remember the name."

Yang snorted and rested a fist on her hip, a surprisingly mature looking pose for someone so young, "You? Famous? I'd bet a hundred Lien you'll never get to that point. You don't look like much."

"Considering she was higher leveled than me, I guess she was allowed to say that," I thought to myself, amused at Ruby's admonishment for her sister's rudeness. I wagged a finger at Yang, "I'll hold you to that, blondie. Now, while this has been fun, I am needed elsewhere. I have things to do, perhaps we will meet again someday."

I waved a very short goodbye at the two sisters. Only Ruby seemed to enthusiastically return the gesture, Yang kinda just glared at me but gave in and waved back when Ruby jabbed her elbow into her ribs. I laughed to myself and thought, "Oh well, can't win them all."

Besides, I don't really need to be on good terms with her anyway, not with what I was going to do.

I finally started to leave the mall, pickpocketing along the way. I was paying close attention to the text box saying I completed my newest quest.

[Quest Complete!]

Ruby has been reunited with her older sister, and you kept her company the entire time. Truly, you are a gentleman.

Rewards:

-1000XP

-200 Lien

-increased closeness with Ruby Rose

-skill book "Create Instant Dungeon" added to your inventory

I grinned in delight when I saw which skill book I got. Now that I have that skill I can grind it to oblivion, with a good high level in it I doubt I'd even have to leave the city to train. I chuckled to myself, thinking about how much I'm going to abuse the system. I immediately pulled the skill book out as I looked around to make sure no one saw what I was about to do. Certain that the coast was clear, I accepted the learn option and watched as it dissolved before my eyes. Information flooded into my head and the how-to of making and leaving instant dungeons was within my mind's reach.

I also finally got my first title too, tapping a finger to dismiss the quest success box I then tapped on the next one, right on the title. Carefully reading what it said as I left one of the mall's entrances.

[Apprentice Pickpocket]

-Obtained by pickpocketing people 100 times, you sneaky thief you.

-Pickpocketing speed is increased by 30%

-Chance of being noticed by others during your nefarious acts decreased by 20%.

-Dexterity increased by 10 when using the "Pickpocket" skill.

I whistled in appreciation at the title, while it would not help me much in combat it would help me make money so I equipped it anyway. I did notice the one hundred times I had to pickpocket people in order to get the title. Since Han Jee-Han's "Apprentice Undead Hunter" title took only half of that then whatever decides things with my power determined that since pickpocketing was so easy it takes more to get better titles in it.

Makes sense, but it does make things time-consuming. While I do have five years to prepare, I don't want to waste time pickpocketing when I could be raising my stats and level. Speaking of levels and stats, I need to get a weapon. Pulling out my scroll, I looked up the nearest weapons shop and headed straight there.

Vale is a lot busier than what the show can show us, as too many models walking around would lag things up. The streets were crowded and ripe with stealing and observing chances, since I left Ruby and Yang I probably increased my funds by another four hundred Lien. It didn't take long to get observe to level ten, it was already almost there back at the mall. It took maybe thirty minutes of walking to get to my destination. Once the shop I was looking for was in sight I forcibly squeezed myself through the crowd, getting some nasty looks in return, and strolled right in.

The interior of the shop was what you'd expect, rows of shelves filled with smaller weapons like knives and pistols. The walls had their own kind of shelves to hold swords and larger weapons, the windows to the outside had small shelves in front of them filled with magazines, and a sales counter stood right in front of the doorway. I didn't see any dust being sold, but maybe they only sold dust rounds and not the stuff straight up.

"Welcome to Marigold's Weapons Shop, our weapons are some of the highest quality! How may I help you?" The big man behind the sales counter politely welcomed me. He was rather high leveled for a civilian, level twenty but observe told me he had no Aura unlocked, so he probably just had a bit of combat training.

Putting that thought to the side I walked up to the counter, "I was looking to see if you do custom orders. I have a special cane weapon I'd like to have made."

The older man shrugged and pulled out some paper from under the counter, "Certainly, have any specifics and a design?"

And so I told him what I knew of Melodic Cudgel, even going so far as to draw what it looked like from memory. I also got a drawing skill from that, it helped make the picture look much better. The shopkeeper, Marigold was his name and I had to force myself to not laugh at it, nodded once he finished getting what he needed.

"Alright, this looks easy enough, I can have it done in two days max. But I'll need a thousand Lien up front and two when it's finished, some of the materials I'll need don't come cheap," Marigold said. I had observed him again in case he was trying to jip me, turns out I didn't need to as he was being completely honest.

I nodded in acceptance and pulled out the one grand from my inventory. I can actually make the screen appear wherever I want to, so discreetly pulling out things from it was pretty easy if used with a little bit of creativity. I fanned out the money before the shopkeeper and let him count it out, watching him nod to himself when he finished.

"Alright, everything looks to be in order. Got a name and scroll number I can use?"

"Roman, Roman Torchwick," was my reply as I wrote my scroll number on the paper between us, I needed to get used to being called that name. "Also, I would like to buy some temporary weapons in the meantime. Just a simple pistol and mace if you would."

The extra two weapons plus the ammo for the pistol took another eight hundred off of me. But It was worth it as I could just make that money back later. Actually, scratch later, I'm going to do it now. I have a lot to do and should get my momentum rolling.

I stuck the mace in my right hand slot in my inventory and put the pistol in my left hand slot for easy equipping. That done, I started to make my way back to the warehouse I woke up in.

Experimentally I pulled my mace out of my inventory, watching as it materialized out of the small box. It was a simple weapon I noted as I twirled it around with my hand, kinda Like Cardin Winchester's mace but much smaller. I used observe on the mace, keeping in mind the thinning crowd as the scenery changed from the commercial district to the industrial.

[Steel Mace

-Quality: Common

-There is nothing particularly special about this mace. It's the kind of weapon a person on a budget would buy.

-Spiked: 30% armor penetration]

The armor penetration is useful, which was why I bought it and not it's slightly cheaper non-spiked cousin. I needed to get blunt mastery and any shooting skill leveled up, because if my hunch was correct then my soon to be made cane would probably benefit from both of those skills. Better to get some basic stuff out of the way.

[By thinking and carefully planning ahead, your INT has gone up by one!]

"Yeah, yeah, yeah," I muttered and swiped the message away. I strolled through the warehouse's destroyed door until I found myself standing in the middle of the storage bay. "Welp, no better time than now to train my skills."

I raised my left hand into the air, gathered Aura in my hand, and shouted, "Create Instant Dungeon!"

[Create Instant Dungeon (Active) Lv1 EXP: 5.0%

You can make your own dungeons with this skill, higher levels will allow for more advanced Grimm to be spawned.

Available Dungeons List:

1. Empty Dungeon - No Grimm]

The world shimmered around me, I looked around to see if anything changed but it looked just like the real world. I shrugged, "Time to get basic skills first then, I'll aim for Grimm spawning later."

There were a few large leftover boxes from whatever failed company used this warehouse last. I gathered them all in one location off to the side and put one in the middle of the room. Gripping my mace I swung at the box, lightly enough to not destroy it in one go but not light enough that it would not register as an attack.

The box still splintered from the impact, I'd guess that it would not last for more than two more hits. I repeated the action until the box was completely destroyed.

[Through the continued use of a certain action, the skill "Blunt Mastery" has been created!]

I grinned and checked to see what it did.

[Blunt Weapon Mastery (Passive) Lv1 EXP: 0.0%

Let's you use blunt weapons such as clubs, maces, staves, and canes better than you could before.

-10% Increase in attack damage with a blunt weapon.

-5% increase in attack speed with a blunt weapon.

-5% increase in defence if a blunt weapon is used to defend.]

It was basically like the comic then, besides the extra increase in defense if I used the weapon to defend myself with. Makes sense as people in RWBY tend to use weapons to defend themselves with, hell Cardin and the real Roman deflected bullets.

I put my mace back in my inventory and pulled out my pistol, I made sure it was loaded before pointing it at one of the boxes. I fired the pistol at the box and when I didn't get an instant skill creation I repeated the action until the skill creation text popped up.

[Firearm Mastery (Passive) Lv1 EXP: 0.0%

Allows for better aiming and faster reload time with all firearms.

-10% Increase in attack damage with a firearm.

-5% Increase in attack speed with a firearm.

-10% Better aiming with a firearm.]

Already, I can see myself getting stronger. Once I put away my pistol I had only a few things left to do. One was leveling the Dungeon skill to level two, I think I could get the lowest level of dungeons besides an empty one at that level. The second was creating a meditation skill to recover MP and HP faster. Once both of those are achieved, I'm basically going to be set.

In hindsight, I'm so glad I broke canon a bit and met Ruby before the first episode.

Name: Roman Torchwick

Class: The Gamer

Level: 10 (Next Level: 2000/5500)

Title: Apprentice Pickpocket

Bounty: 0 Lien

HP: 760

MP: 734

STR: 18.2 [Base 14 + 4.2(30%)]

VIT: 26 [Base 20 + 6(30%)]

DEX: 31.9 [Base 22 + 3.3(15%) + 6.6(30%)]

INT: 23.4 [Base 18 + 5.4(30%)]

WIS: 14.3 [Base 11 + 3.3(30%)]

LUK: 11

Elemental Affinity: None

Attribute Points: 10

Lien: 1280

Status Effects: Inactive Aura(Toggled Off)