15 Chapter 15 - Training and Planting the necessary seeds
"Oh my gosh you wouldn't believe what Nephrite did! He took out this omega huge gun and destroyed a humongous Grimm!" Nora enthusiastically explained as if she was right next to Nephrite when he shot.
They were currently in a cafeteria and after few weeks of being in school they had created a sort of friend group.
It primarily consisted of team RWBY, NNPR and BRON but team CFVY would pop in whenever they had free time.
With Neo and Coco being besties and Nephrite helping Velvet with Cardin they quickly became friends. At first everyone thought that Fox Alistair would be close to Blake or Onyx but once they got to know him he was fighting Yang with his sarcastic jokes and bad puns in no time.
They even had a writing pun poem battle during Port's lesson though that ended catastrophically.
Everything was seemingly fine, because no students have actually died on the mission there wasn't a huge backlash and the incident was quickly forgotten.
After all, many huntsmen fight for their lives daily and people nowadays took it for granted.
The four teams even sometimes sparred with each other but unless they matched against someone they countered from team CFVY, CFVY would usually win.
It was thanks to their Aura Manipulation mastery. When Nephrite saw this overwhelming gap he asked why wouldn't institutions for younger students teach them the importance?
In the end he learned that below a certain age manipulating your Aura on a higher level was incredibly hard.
Coating your weapon or body wasn't considered hard though and so huntsmen and huntresses agreed that it would be better for the younger generations to learn just the basics of Aura manipulation and then focus on developing fighting styles than waste their time with Aura Manipulation.
It also didn't help that teaching about such subject was something no ordinary huntsman or huntress could do.
After all, Aura is an intangible thing and people's Aura differs in quality, quantity and it's 'colour'. The 'colour' is quite a blurry concept that represents people's uniqueness.
No person is the same and no Aura is the same only similar at most. This also indirectly answered another question Nephrite had about this world.
To properly nurture a student a compatible professor is needed, but how many professors are even slightly compatible with them?
In the end there was found one defining factor that was proven to be a linking point between most huntsmen and huntresses.
It was their Semblance, a representation of them and their unique self. Semblances that were speed based had usually compatible people that could understand each other.
With this in mind each kingdom built their own 'Academy'. A place that gathers every possible talent and nurtures it with the best of their abilities.
People that haven't unlocked their Semblance yet were put in the same class and were slowly testing their compatibility one by one as a better method wasn't found yet.
Once students found their compatible teachers their mastery and even Aura pool would skyrocket. This extraordinary growth usually lasted a year and this is what 1st year is all about.
2nd year students are usually tasked with getting battle experience and their speed of improvement is usually just a notch or two slower than when they were in their first years.
Then comes the 3rd and 4th year students, they are exposed to the true horrors that Grimm are capable of. Dangerous rescue missions outside Vale's walls, they could spend even months with their professors.
They were also expected to take at least one bandit extermination mission a requirement needed to graduate.
For now though this was something that they would have to worry about few years down the line.
Now they just needed to train and expand their personal skills and enjoy the semi-peaceful life they had.
Nephrite himself was training vigorously every day. His aura training didn't require a true compatibility like other students did and any training worked on his skill proficiency just fine.
He was a special case that was never seen before, usually he would train with professors he took liking to or just take classes that the members of their friend group attended to see how they trained.
It broadened his horizons quite a bit. It wasn't just an opportunity for him though, the more he understood about his friends the better he could teach them when he inevitably surpasses them.
Even if someone like Pyrrha grew at an overall faster rate than he did it wouldn't change anything as she would eventually stumble upon a bottleneck.
Nephrite on the other hand didn't have bottlenecks and as long as a skill can get even 1 EXP it could be brought to even higher heights.
'Show me Aura manipulation and Vulcan's pillar mastery skills'
[Aura Manipulation LVL: 37/40]
[EXP: 88456/136900]
[Vulcan's Pillar Mastery LVL: 13/100]
[EXP: 153014/422500]
The battles and the subsequent days where his EXP had risen much more quickly boosted his Aura Manipulation through the roof.
Even Vulcan's Pillar Mastery skill had levelled up significantly.
With his current Aura mastery he was pretty confident that he could match anyone in team CFVY. Now, he could easily coat his bullets which basically boosted their penetrative prowess to almost Graphene level.
He couldn't shatter deathstalkers and shoot Nevermores in half with his AK but he could still easily riddle them with holes that they won't ever recover from.
Fox had also helped him with the utilization of True-Sixth-Sense even more. With it he trained to fight blind in case he gets into a situation where visibility is out of question.
He was making a great progress and he planned to expand even further. To learn to fight with one sense boosted to it's utter maximum like sound, vision etc.
And if he ever manages to do that his next goal is to seamlessly rotate between the senses. To hear everything within kilometres in one moment but also to see the bullets slowly fly through the air in the next one.
His 'job' was also met with an interesting option.
'Status'
[Name: Nephrite Antaeus]
[Current Job: Huntsman Student LVL: 30/30 {Upgradable/Promotion}]
[EXP: 0/0]
[Body: Healthy]
[Physique: 20]
[Vitality: 18.6]
[Aura Strength: 20]
[Aura Pool: 40]
[Status Points left: 13]
[Skill Points left: 6]
After maxing his Huntsman Student at a staggering speed that couldn't be compared to the other 'non combatant' jobs a prompt appeared next to his maxed occupation.
[Upgradable: Enables the function of 🌟(stars).]
[Description: 🌟 resets the level of a job and promotes it to a 'higher' tier. It results in higher-level cap, more status points, skill points and a higher amount of EXP required per level.]
[Promotion: User can promote his Job to 'Huntsman', unique achievements may give User more options.]
Of these two options the former was clearly superior but Nephrite saw a fatal danger in it too. It did not mention a limit on how many stars a job can get but what if you can't max the job before you graduate?
It would effectively cripple his growth to an almost snail level something he knew that he needs to be careful about. The only way he could see out of that hole was to become a professor at the Academy right after graduating.
That too came with many disadvantages, one of the most important ones would be the abolishment of team NNPR. Something he would like to avoid at almost any costs.
'I'll just need to be careful and not be greedy... Upgrade my job, system.' This will most probably get him ahead of the curve something he needs in order to ensure his safety and safety others.
[Upgrade complete]
[Current Job: 🌟 Huntsman Student LVL: 1/50]
[EXP: 0/25]
(A/N : Would you guys rather see the usage of 1: ⭐ 2: 🌟? I'll be using 2 for now. Oh yeah I think am going to provide the basic math for fun in auxiliary too.)
[User can now possess a second job!]
[User has received: 1x Job Template, 1x Empty Skill template, 10x stat points]
[Hint! After getting to 🌟🌟🌟 user will have a chance to create their own Semblance.]
'Now this opens up a lot of other possibilities.' Nephrite thought as he looked at everything he received.
'I guess picking the right 2nd Job is more important. After receiving it's skills I can choose a skill that would help me cover a weakness.'
He still had a few things to do before he could choose comfortably. On the very top was Blake's heritage.
Faunus and more precisely Menagerie an unassuming continent on the world's map housed in Nephrite's opinion the greatest potential.
Years ago when his business bloomed he didn't only stretch his influence outside of Vale to Vacuo, Atlas and Mistral but also Menagerie.
He realised long ago that Dust was special and if he could properly use it. Though Faunus didn't have an advanced technology they haven't even tried to truly make Menagerie their home.
But that was probably because there haven't been done real research on the environment as there wasn't actual pollution nor was it rewarding from the first glance.
But why hasn't anyone stopped and thought about using Dust in a clever way to reverse desertification was beyond him.
This is where he encountered something that went against natural laws in his old world. No presence of Earthquakes, tectonic plates nor any real Natural Disaster except floods caused by rain and Tsunamis caused by huge Grimm or potentially humans.
Even the Volcanoes did not exist in this world. It was as if they were all represented by one thing everyone used, dust...
It added another layer of mystery that this world had and Nephrite was quite eager to discover as to why everything like this happened.
Now back to dust, there exists water dust and would you know it, the largest deposits were uncovered underneath dried up lakes or rivers and even the shores of the Ocean.
With the potentially ridiculous amount of water dust hidden in the Ocean, Nephrite's plan was simple and yet required technology. Something he didn't have.
But what he did have are connections and his status as a student and a huge breakthrough that was absolutely crucial. With Blizzard's and few other scientists' help, he befriended, he created a simulation of what would happen if he used water dust and plant dust which wasn't rare at all too, to reverse the desertification.
This would not only create a good environment in Menagerie but it would also revitalize Vacuo. However that would have it's problem.
The people of Vacuo use the deserts as a natural barrier and it's the only one that protects them. If Nephrite actually changed the entire desert into plains it would be the most vulnerable place of the 4 kingdoms.
Though re-creating the once lost Oases that the people of Vacuo squandered away was very much possible.
And Nephrite believed that there was only one person with the sufficient power and connections to make this truly happen.
Ozpin, the ever so immortal headmaster had connections everywhere especially in other Academies.
...
'Alright let's do this.' Psyched Nephrite himself up and pressed the button to travel to the highest place in Beacon Academy.
Headmaster's office...
*Ding
Not long after he arrived and he could see Glynda with Ozpin sitting there. It was a weekend after all...
"Welcome Mr. Nephrite please sit down and tell us why you wanted to speak with us." Glynda offered him a chair to sit on and Nephrite thanked her before inhaling a long breath.
"I have a proposition for you Headmaster Ozpin. Please look at this and tell me what you think." Nephrite said as he handed him the cut down video of their experiment that took them few weeks.
At first Ozpin didn't expect anything grand maybe a video of bullying that happened on his campus or some small invention. But the more he watched the more was he surprised.
Glynda was watching too and she was shocked. If what the video implied was true then it would bring a huge revolution to the world as they know it. No one had even attempted something like this not even Atlas as far as she knew.
"Is this really possible Mr. Nephrite?" Ozpin looked at him with a serious gaze.
"It is and I would like to discuss the potential use of this technology and it's implications." Ozpin nodded and Nephrite slowly explained everything.
...
"So what you are saying is that you could make Menagerie fully habitable?" Glynda asked, she may seem strict but she was a really kind woman that despised racists and supported Faunus.
If she wasn't kind at heart would she spend weeks rebuilding Vale and Beacon alone? Wasting her every ounce of energy for the people earned Nephrite's trust. Even if there were some changes to her personality it couldn't be too far apart.
In that Nephrite was fully confident.
"Headmaster Ozpin what do you think about creating a truly equal organisation. An organization fully focused on purging Grimm from the world. Faunus and Humans with no fear of each other fighting together to liberate the world?"
"That would truly be a nice idea, only if humans could get along with Faunus." Ozpin countered not yet accepting his proposal. He had an Academy that he needed to take care of.
"What if it's the other way around? What if the humans have to get along?"
"You mean..." Ozpin quickly caught on.
"Precisely, Menagerie if it could be fully terraformed a place could be certainly negotiated. A piece of land where both Faunus and Humans have to live in harmony. A gathering point for the true elites of the world no matter the race with one goal. To destroy the Grimm once and for all..."
In the end after discussing this topic in more detail they had come to an agreement. Ozpin would use his connections to provide the necessary technology from James and mainly the Faunus scientists.
They also came to an agreement that if Menagerie was to be fully terraformed then they wouldn't fully terraform Vacuo only bring back the Oases.
'Good, the first part of the plan is complete.' Thought Nephrite as he rode the elevator back down.
His scroll flashed and vibrated, indicating that he got a notification. He opened his scroll and read it's message.
'It was a high time to meet Blake anyways.' He thought as he read the message. Like in canon, Weiss had a scuffle with Blake and Blake ran away.
A day later he managed to find Blake walking around with the representation of Sun Wukong from myths. Sun Wukong...
Soon enough they had managed to find a café and they entered. Nephrite waited for 10 minutes before strolling right in.
The Café was separated into two floors. "I'll take a coffee with 2 shots of milk and 4 cubes of sugar upstairs." The lady nodded and told him that she would bring it up.
Nephrite paid and thanked her before slowly walking up just to see Blake talking with Sun.
"Hey! My favourite runaway cat friend is here." He blurted out with a wide smile as he waved at them, Blake quickly noticed his presence. Her face turned into one of horror as one of her friends casually mentioned her secret that no one should have known about.
"Don't worry Blake I knew that you were a Faunus since the day we've met." Nephrite smiled as he introduced himself to Sun.
"Name's Nephrite Antaeus nice to meet you." He put out his arm for a handshake.
"Ahah likewise my name is Sun Wukong." Sun laughed awkwardly at the casual dismissal of Blake's heritage that she tried to hide.
"How do you know?!" Blake almost screamed gathering the attention of the entire café. She quickly sat down in embarrassment.
"Do you seriously think that the surname of the chieftain that rules over Menagerie is so unknown? Pfffft." Nephrite almost started laughing.
"Wait you are a princess?!" Sun almost jumped from his seat.
Blake was seriously confused and shocked but before she could gather her thoughts properly Nephrite cut in once again.
"For the sake of Faunus kind I believe that we need to seriously talk." Nephrite said seriously as he thanked the waitress for bringing him his coffee.
It was time to contact the Chieftain so this revolution could truly begin...
