8

It's been a week since I've been accepted as a live-in student to Taiyang Xiao Long. The house was small, but homely and well lived in. He also gave me the guest room, at least until I enroll for Beacon since Ozpin wanted me there.

Not like I was going to deny that. Beacon is where everything starts, and that's my ticket to making sure the world doesn't go to shit.

It's also been a week since I've started training, and it was fucking hell for me.

"I… Hate… You… All…" I gasped as my arms trembled. Sweat poured down my face and naked upper body like a waterfall, making a slight puddle underneath.

"Dude, you're like… 8 push-ups in…" Yang smirked while she had herself a delicious apple. The juices of the fruit splattered all over the wooden table neatly placed within the shade of their patio.

"This… Is… My… Fifth rep… You… Demons…" I pushed one last time before my arms gave out and my face met the puddle-stained ground. Damn them and their sadistic tendencies.

Hell, even Ruby was looking at me with a slight smirk as she ran around the field with a bunch of tires roped around her waist, effectively dragging the rubber along the grass.

"Hey, Ozpin asked our dad to train you, which in turn asked us to train you, so better get used to it bud." Yang shrugged as she threw the remains of her apple into a garbage bin nearby. She then moved towards a bunch of weights neatly placed in the patio, with a bunch of them with mind-boggling weights that defied human physiology.

Like, seriously? 600 kilograms? And that was just a normal routine for the bruiser that Yang was. Last I checked, the heaviest weight ever deadlifted was about 550 kilograms, give or take, and Yang here was making it look like it was a regular training session.

Jesus, these huntresses and their aura are hacks. Can't wait for me to do them as well. But first, I need to prep my body.

Back on Earth, the most pushups I could do were 20 in a single rep. Following reps would be lower, cuz I'm my stamina and endurance are dogshit.

Here, I was able to make about 40 pushups on the first try, and the consecutive reps had gone progressively lower until my fifth rep, which was just 13 pushups.

I would have never achieved this if not for my aura being unlocked, and I'm thankful for Ozpin for that.

"Oh, come on, buddy." Yang grinned as she readied herself with the barbells that totaled 600 kilograms. The same one she used earlier.

As she bent down, her tight spats constricted around her ass, making it a sight for sore eyes. Now I may be a self-respecting man that respects the opposite gender, but even that can't stop me from staring when the whole goddamn bakery was right in front of me.

"Get a good look there, buddy?" Yang smirked and I had to push down a blush creeping up my face. The dirt looked fine right about now, and… fuck it… Time to store it in my memory banks.

Yang has the looks, and she knows how to use them. Damn seductress. Luckily, Ruby is as innocent as a snowflake in the first day of winter. It kind of detract from Yang's overly sensual persona, which was a good thing.

The day Ruby becomes sensual is the day when hell would freeze over. Then again, there were a bunch of… cultured arts about the two sisters… Damned animals, at least I didn't lord them over the masses with smug grins.

That would spell doom for me in case anybody recognized my spectacular but normal face.

Anyway, tangent over, I pumped my arms full of energy, at least what was left, and struggled to get up. My arms shook and my breath felt like it was on fire, but after a time of struggle and hardships, I was finally to get my upper body vertical instead of both horizontal and diagonal.

Fuck you gravity! I hold the high ground now!

"You done?" A sudden blur of red entered my vision. I yelped and my back hit the ground, a groan leaving my lips as I felt the impact across my spine. "Oops."

Fuck you gravity. I will have my revenge…

After vowing vengeance against the freak of nature that was gravity, I shakily gave Ruby a thumbs up, my hand trembling slightly at the exhaustion it felt from the push-ups.

"Okay, well, next is to train your legs. So…" Ruby trailed off and for a second, I thought she was going to show me mercy.

But nope, she instead used her semblance to get me to a standing position, before she turned into a whirlwind of red petals. It was only in the aftermath that I learned what she was doing.

"No… No no no!" I shook. Today was not going my day, it seems.

"Yes." Ruby sing-songed and tugged on the tires that were attached to my waist via ropes. "Now, run!"

"… Can I please rest for a bit?"

"No." And my defeat at the hands of this innocent looking reaper was all but guaranteed. By the end of the session, my legs were burning, and my chest felt like a gagging engine.

Overall, second worst day of my life.

[][][]

"How'd he do, girls?" Taiyang mused as he stared at me with a quirk on his lips. In front of him, both Ruby and Yang were chuckling at my misfortune.

"To be honest, not that bad." Yang waved her arms. "Guy has determination. Just needs to build more muscle."

"He's also grouchy." Ruby pointed at me with a smile, to which I groaned and quietly kept to myself the harmless but vitriolic remarks I had about her chasing me with a high-powered sniper rifle/scythe hybrid.

"Yeah, well maybe don't chase me with that… abomination you call a .50 caliber sniper rifle." And my feelings decided to ignore my brain, my lips running off before I could cover it with my hand.

"You take that back!" Ruby rushed towards me with murder in her eyes. Even in the show, she was hyper-protective of her so-called 'baby'. It was kind of cute to watch, honestly, but when you're the focus?

Hell no, get me out of this situation!

"Yikes, welp… It was nice knowing ya, Jack." Yang saluted me and I felt Ruby creeping in closer. Looking at Taiyang, all I saw was him sighing and shaking his head, fully knowing that I had probably said something close to taboo when it comes to his red-themed daughter.

"I… Uh…" I sheepishly smiled as I shrank back, before I thought, you know what? Why the hell not? Not like the girl in front of me would slice my head off with that frighteningly sharp scythe she has. "Actually, maybe not. I have some things to say about that… farming tool you have."

My words seemed to freeze the air around the room. Eyes glancing at both Yang and Taiyang, both of them looked deer in headlights, before their faced morphed into amusement/pity.

Looking back at Ruby… Maybe I shouldn't have said that to her face. What was that I said about her being as innocent as a snowflake on the first winter day?

Yeah, fuck that. She's Lucifer incarnate when someone wrongs her baby.

[][][]

"Ohhh… My back… My brain…" I groaned as I plopped my face onto the mattress. Ruby did not go easy on me. In fact, the moment I said that about her baby, she literally dragged me into a nearby room to 'educate' me in regard to her mechashift weapon.

God, I can still see the damn diagrams behind my eyes. I'll probably forget it tomorrow, but that's fine. At least I finished the quest that popped up when I first started training earlier in the week.

[Quest Complete]

[I'll be back… With Weapons…]

[Objective: Survive a week training with the Rose-Xiao Long family]

[Bonus Objective: Impress them]

[Rewards: 1 perk point, 1 item roll, 10 stat points]

[Bonus Rewards: 2 perk points, 2 item rolls, 20 stat points]

"Come to papa." I grinned as I saw the rewards come rolling in. Get it? Rolling in? I'll stop now.

Anyway, horrible pun aside, which I'm sure Yang would get a kick out of, it's time to put my RNG to the test again.

Bringing up the System window and summoning the dice for perk points, this time I saw two of them simultaneously. Probably time efficiency or something.

Shaking my head, I grabbed the two dice and hoped to high hell that I get some good rolls.

[Rolling]

[70]

[Survival]

[Uncommon Perk Received!]

[Efficient Digestion - Your body hungers for food, yet your stomach says otherwise. You now gain more nutrients from food you eat and liquid you drink. No need to eat a full course meal to bloat your damn gut. Really, you need to slim down, fatass.]

"Fuck you." I growled as I glared at the screen. Sighing, I get ready for another roll and let it rip.

[Rolling]

[82]

[Survival]

[Rare Perk Received!]

[Sleep is for the Weak - Sleep? What's that? Is it tasty? Your body no longer needs sleep to function at full capacity. Instead, sleeping grants various bonuses to stats and health depending on how long you slept for. You can also immediately sleep without waiting to tire in the blink of an eye, as well as instantly wake up if your body instinctively feels a threat nearby.]

Well… Goddamn, that's actually a very nice perk. Now if for some reason I get into an extended fight that lasts days, I could literally keep on going so long I have stamina. Speaking of which, I need to get a perk related to stamina. Please, RNGesus, if you can hear me. Grant my plea!

[Rolling]

[47]

[Magic]

[Common Perk Received]

[Pure Water Dispenser - You thirsty? Have some wotah. You can dispense pure water from your fingers. Max output is that of a running faucet.]

Well… At least I won't have to worry about water if for some reason I get stranded in the middle of nowhere or in the desert. And with the max output being that of a running faucet… Yeah, combat-wise, this perk is next to useless, maybe except for surprising an enemy.

But then again, if they have aura and have unlocked their semblances, dousing them in water isn't gonna help that much.

Okay, last but not the least, item rolls. You know what? I'll just roll them all at once.

[Rolling]

[20]

[Production]

[68]

[Combat]

[52]

[Survival]

[Items Received! They have been deposited into your inventory for safekeeping.]

[Blacksmith's Hammer - Just an ordinary hammer used to shape metal during forging. Can be used as a weapon if needed. Maybe craft your weapons on the corpses of your foes?]

[The Battleaxe of Morthal - Thanks for getting rid of the vampires! And being our wonderful subservient dog!]

[Solar-powered high intensity flashlight - Bang, get blinded by discord light theme.]

Okay… Not gonna lie, the items' description made me laugh. Playing Skyrim, a heavily modded one, it's no wonder you felt like a dog when you do… minor tasks for everyday civilians. You're the fucking dragonborn, why the fuck do you need to lower yourself just to get a shiny axe?

And then the discord joke. Never gets old.

Still, probably not a good idea to show these things to my current housemates. For one, they could be suspicious, and in another, goddamn horny. I swear, Ruby is probably weaponsexual. She might as well be humping her weapon every night because that's how obsessed she is with weapons.

Not like it happens, that's probably a headcanon thing, which is pretty gross in my opinion. Damned internet and the disgusting people on the internet. Maybe that includes me because browsing through cultures sites was a hobby of mine.

Anyway, all that was left was to distribute my stats.

Name: Jack Alano

Title: Unlucky Sunovabitch

Race: Faunus (Tiger [Retractable Claws])

SP = 40

STR: 8

VIT: 10

END: 12

AGI: 8

DEX: 10

INT: 9

WIS: 3

Huh… I forgot about those 10 points. Also… They increased? I guess the training is paying off. Note to self, gotta be attentive about my status page.

So… What the hell should I do here? Go all the way of the tank build? That could probably work. And since Aura passively buffs every one of my physical stat - even though it won't show in the status page - I'm probably speedy than most normal people.

But I must keep in mind that most of my enemies would also have their auras unlocked, and if that wasn't enough, the Grimm are literally the Zerg in StarCraft. Ain't no way I'm winning against that if I ain't OP.

But… Hmm… Actually… Maybe… Maybe this will work…

Name: Jack Alano

Title: Unlucky Sunovabitch

Race: Faunus (Tiger [Retractable Claws])

SP = 40 -> 0

STR: 8

VIT: 10 + 20 = 30

END: 12 + 20 = 32

AGI: 8

DEX: 10

INT: 9

WIS: 3

There we go. Now if I'm doing this right, I'll have more energy to spare during training, which I can use to further my other stats. And since I have about a year before canon starts…

Let's just say I'll be grinding my stats for the next months or so. Hope this works.