Mission start part 2

The Games We Play​

Mission Start (Cont.)​

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The remaining week and a half was a blur of preparation and practice. I hadn't been kidding before when I said we had a massive advantage simply by virtue of being the ones planning the attack—because that meant we were planning for the situation. Not only were they not expecting an attack like this, but the counter measures that the Schnee Company was taking had to be spread out to cover everything, rather they focused on stopping the plan we were enacting. More than anything else, the fact that we could make decisions and focus our attack was our greatest advantage, followed closely by the time we had to prepare.

So we made plans and back up plans and contingencies. We examined everywhere we thought might be relevant while it was still mostly empty, examining everything we could and making maps and marking short cuts and places good for disrupting pursuit. We found manuals and guides for me to eat and I used that knowledge to refine whatever I could. I practiced with Blake, sharpening my stealth and infiltration skills as much as possible, and I worked with Adam on my combat skills. I grinded my passive skills around the clock, now able to maintain them constantly thanks to the improved MP regeneration I gained from having more Aura and the improvement granted by Wisdom.

And, of course, we all trained, like we were doing now.

Adam and Blake flickered around the King Taijitu, blades cutting lightly into scales with each strike as they kept the beast distracted while I stood on the wayside wearing Lycaon. Both were members of the Party I'd made, partially for the passive benefits it offered and partially because the concept worked well with the Beowolf mask. We didn't say a word and we didn't have to, as used to this as we now were, so I simply stood back charging a Magic Missile as they kept both heads busy. Once I'd charged the attack fully, I slid into a throwing stance and paused for a beat.

Adam hit the white head with a sudden strike, knocking it into alignment while Blake shifted into a stream of images and flowing shadows that led the black head into my path and then was gone, my Magic Missile shooting through the space she'd inhabited mere moments before and driving deep into one of the dark creature's red eyes, through his head, out the back, and then into the skull of the other head. The creature's massive body convulsed for a moment before falling slack, black smoke slowly rising from it.

"Thanks," I said, rolling my wristed absently. Adam grunted while Blake just looked silently on at the smoking corpse. They'd been helping me this way for some time now, occasionally distracting larger targets while I charged my best attacks, allowing me to gain experience more quickly by relying on my much higher level party members. Most of the time it wasn't needed and I just fought any Grimm I encountered, but when one of the more massive creatures of Grimm lurked out of the shadows…well, it was better safe than sorry. I'd already gained three more levels this way, bringing myself up to level twenty-three—not bad given I'd been level thirteen less than two weeks ago. Adam and Blake were still at forty-two and thirty-six, though Blake might be getting close to thirty-seven.

Either way, though, the two were monstrously strong and I was glad to have them at my side.

"You get anything this time?" Adam asked after a minute.

"This is the first time I killed a King Taijitu," I said. "So there should be something; a mask at the very least."

"There," Blake murmured and I followed her gaze to see, unsurprisingly, a mask on the ground, with a book underneath it and some lien to the side. Walking over, I picked up the mask—

You have obtained the item 'Janus.'

—And placed it in my Inventory to experiment with later. Observation had turned up nothing but question marks, which didn't really surprise me, but considering that I could only wear one mask at a time, I'd stick to Lenore, as probably the strongest mask, and Lycaon, for its effect. Then I picked up the book and ate it.

You've obtained the skill 'Double Strike.'

Cool, though sadly there wasn't time to truly train it before the mission. The downside of random item drops. I picked up the twenty thousand lien and tossed it to Blake, since I didn't really need it and they had done most of the work anyway.

"What next?" Adam asked.

"Home," I said, which seemed to surprise him. "I'd…"

I sighed.

"Well, I'd hoped to get to twenty-four, but…I guess that's not going to be possible before the mission. My stats probably won't improve in the time we have left, either. We've done all we could out here so let's go home and put you two to bed."

Adam cast me what was probably an annoyed glare.

"Just because you don't have to—"

"Hey, it's not my fault you two aren't awesome enough to go without," I said, smiling even as I wrinkled my nose mockingly. "Such a waste of time. There's not supposed to be any rest for the wicked you know but there you guys are, whiling away the hours. Lame."

Blake sighed, storing Gambol Shroud behind her back as she started walking back to the ship. Knowing from experience how this would end if we didn't shut up, we followed her.

"But seriously, you two should get some rest before the mission," I said. "Everyone's clear on what needs to be done, right?"

Adam and Blake didn't even justify that question with a response, not even glancing at me. Over the week, we'd gone over the game plan something like fifty million times to the point that the two of them were probably going to have dreams about it. I lifted my hands placating at the utter lack of response.

"Once Blake does her thing, you two are gonna have ten, fifteen minutes to get to the ship before I finish reprograming everything. If you can't make it by then, I might have to leave without you," I said before pausing and looking at them both. "But seriously, make it there by then. I really, really don't want to have to do this alone. There's a little room for error, but if anything happens…"

"Prioritize the mission," Adam nodded. "Whatever happens, it'll be okay."

I shrugged at him, pretty sure that was a lie. If Adam and Blake didn't make it there in time, the only options I'd have were to abort the mission or go without them, at which point I'd be…well. I'd be flying solo. Which would be really bad, because a not insignificant part of the mission relied on them crushing anything that got in the way. If I didn't have my massively higher leveled friends along for the ride…

Well, I'd just have to hope it didn't come to that. We had a plan, we'd prepared for everything we could—hell, I'd leveled my luck up massively. I'd done everything in my power to make this plan go well, now all I could do was hope it would be enough.

And, of course, back hope up with everything I possibly could.

"Yeah," I said, nodding firmly as the Gamer's Mind kept me calm. "I'll wake you up when its time, okay? And hey, jokes aside, I'm thinking about catching a little sleep, too."

Adam gave me a slight frown but I saw understanding gleam in Blake's eyes as I sent the former a cryptic glance.

An hour and a half later, I stood in the woods by my house once more, black cloak around me, hood and mask covering my face. Dreary Midnight shifted slightly as a breeze rustled the branches and it felt fitting.

"I, Jaune Arc, call upon the ancient contract of ages past to summon thee," I said. In my disguise, my voice shifted to something calmly, firmer, assisted further by the confidence and power I'd found and clad myself in. "I hope that you heed my call. Come, Air Elemental!"

In Crocea Mores, there had been only a shift in my reflection and a slight rattle, so I wasn't certain what to expect from my second summon every. Not what I got, certainly. For a moment, the forest continued to rustle in the wind before the sound grew suddenly louder as the air rushed forth to spin within the circle as a miniature cyclone that sent my cloak flapping back in the wind. The air spun faster and faster until I had to brace myself against it and—

And then it was gone, leaving behind a pretty little girl with white hair and a light green dress, almost visible currents of air writing around her.

By the way, when I said 'little girl,' I meant she was maybe fifteen centimeters tall, tops. Yeah.

Still, as someone who'd spent so much time disguising myself, I knew that appearances could be deceiving—meaningless, really. As such, I knelt smoothly by the edge of the circle and saw her smile up at me.

I am here. She said and it actually took me a moment to realize she hadn't actually spoke, he voice seemed so real. More than that, she spoke easily and normally, more so then Crocea Mors had been able to before we'd made our contract. I figured the shift had had something to do with the rest of the ritual and had suspected something similar from other Elementals, but…

Then again, she was an Air Elemental and sound was a vibration through a medium such as, well, air, so perhaps it made sense.

I took a deep breath and felt something in that same moment, like something touching my lungs. It wasn't a physical sensation, thankfully, but it was still strange. I held the breath for a moment despite that and spoke.

"I'll begin in accordance to the ancient rituals. My real name is Jaune Arc. You have heard my true name; please tell me yours."

I came apart at the seams. I flew apart into a billion pieces—maybe a trillion pieces—each shifting and shaking wildly as I moved quickly. I rebound off of myself countless times in a dance that should have been, was, chaotic and yet came together as something else. I was gliding over mountains and hills, through the forests and across the seas, and it was…

It was amazing.

For a moment, I was flying and it was almost indescribable. Like anyone born on Remnant, I knew there were limits to where I could go, what I could do. So much of the world was hostile and cruel and so little of it was safe. Before my first trip beyond the limits with Adam, I'd never left the safety of Vale before and I knew plenty of people who hadn't left it in their entire lives. That was just how the world worked. The Grimm were a constant threat, an ever present danger, and if you wandered too far from the kingdoms…well, there were worse things than Nevermore and Deathstalkers. What would you do if you ran into a Nemean or a Leviathan?

Die, in all likelihood. Especially if you ran into a group of them.

We didn't let that stop us from living our lives. In the Great War, we had carved out civilization with Dust and Hunters and even now we could live in safety. With the trade routes and communication towers, we could reach out to other kingdoms, stand together against the darkness. Slowly but surely, we were growing, pushing the boundaries.

But…for now, we still had to stay within the kingdoms.

The wind, though, was free. Across skies beaten by massive dark wings, through fields stalked by beast like mountains that walked, and even in the Darklands to the North, the wind flew without a care for man or beast or the titans of Grimm. It feared nothing and went anywhere, everywhere.

For a moment, I was jealous but the feeling passed, because that freedom…it shared it with me.

I saw the circle, my body absent from its side. The trillion pieces of me began to drag slowly together, pulled back in by some terrifying gravity, and it hurt. Not so much the feeling of returning to freedom, though that was far from comfortable, but the loss that came with it was hard to describe. I felt like I'd been standing on top of the work and someone had decided to throw me off and see how far I'd fall. I fought against that pull, tried to resist it—

And then, there she was, standing on the back of my hand, forehead leaned against my arm. I was whole again, just like that, shrouded in the mask and hide of a Nevermore.

It's okay. She murmured and the feeling of simple, honest joy returned. I gasped for breath then, before my heart suddenly slowed. I am here. My name is Levant. You are Jaune Arc?

"Yes," I said, opening my eyes.

Let us fly together someday, Jaune Arc.

"Yeah. I'd like that." I told her. "Maybe even someday soon. You and me and Crocea Mors."

She looked up at me.

We are one, as the ancient contract dictates.

"Our souls are one."

I am Levant.

"I am Jaune Arc."

Until our souls meet their ends—

"We will be forever one," I swore for the second time.

Call me and I will fly for you. She said. Even if—

I don't remember what else she said, because I was already falling. I slept in the grass that night and dreamt of storms washing across the world. It stirred the seas in its passing and left forests uprooted in its wake. Mountains were ground down—not all at once, but by time, by a hundred years or a thousand or more, each storm fading only to be reborn. I felt power there in the heavens, power I'd never even dreamt of before, and marveled at it whilst I flew on dark wings.

But when I woke up a short while later, I was ready.

XxXXxX​

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"Just one?" The woman at the front desk asked.

"Yup, just me," I said, adjusting my cap. I was in disguise which I think, technically speaking, meant I was disguising the disguise that disguised the disguise that was disguising me, which I found amusing. I slide the woman some lien over the counter and took the ticket she offered me, as well as the currently empty name tag and printed schedule. "My friends are just gonna watch the flight."

She nodded absently, probably tired and bored and trying to pretend not to be. I felt a little bad for her, both for the tedious job and what was going to happen soon.

"Can I help you with anything else, sir?" She asked as I glanced over the schedule and the map on its back. She glanced at the map pinned to her desk. "If you'd like, I can direct you towards wherever you'd like to go. There are several presentations scheduled to start soon."

I pretended to think about it for a moment before shaking my head slowly.

"Nah, that won't be necessary. To be honest…" I said, tilting my head to the side. "I'm only interested in the ship."

XxXXxX​

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Name: Jaune Arc

Class: The Gamer

Level: LV23

Title: The Tiger

HP: 1250/1250

MP: 2150/2150

STR: 41+26.7 (65%) = 67.7

VIT: 42+27.3 (65%) = 69.3

DEX: 41+26.7 (65%) = 67.7

INT: 60+39 (65%) = 99

WIS: 60+39 (65%) = 99

LUK: 33

Status: Metal Element Affinity 10, Air Element Affinity 10.

POINTS: 20

MONEY: 49800 Lien

XxXXxX