CHAPTER 2

Obsidian was currently dying... Dying from being choked to death.

"I can't believe my baby siblings are coming to Beacon with me! This is the best day ever!"

'If I die, delete my hard drive...'

"Gurble gurble..."

"C-Can't breath!"

Ruby complained as she tapped on Yang's arm, to which his elder sister reluctantly let them go from her death choke. He takes a deep breath, massaging his throat as Quartz was kissing the air in his "home".

"Sweet, sweet air! I never knew how much I missed you!"

"It's just that — I'm so proud of you guys! 2 years advancement from Signal straight away to Beacon? You two must be the youngest students to ever become Beacon students!"

She squealed slightly, wanting to give the twins another hug, which they avoided by taking a large step back.

"I-It's nothing, really, Yang..."

Ruby said shyly while looking at her shoes.

"What do you mean? That's incredible! Everyone in Beacon's going to think that you two are the bee's knees... Maybe not Sid because he's older than he looks, but hey! The thought's there!"

"Thanks for pointing out my old features, sis."

"I don't want to be the bee's knees, OK? I don't want to be any kind of knees. I just want... Regular knees, you know?"

Putting her hood on to hide from the stares, Ruby complained to them both as Sid raised his eyebrow, commenting.

"Really? Cause I remember rather clearly that you were kind of showing off that Beacon ID of yours a few days ago — "

"Yeah! You were really excited; what's with all this negativity now? That's Sid's job."

"Hahaha, very funny."

"Well, after thinking about it, I don't want people to feel that I'm special."

"I mean, I don't care about people looking at me."

"Yeah, screw them."

"Not helping, Sid. Ruby..."

Yang walks to her side and reassuringly holds her shoulder, firmly gripping it as she comforts the younger girl.

"You are special, OK? You're talented, smart, kind, brave, and have an awesome personality! People would kill to have such a specialty. You too, Sid, with the abilities that you have. I mean, I have some specialties too, if you know what I mean."

She waggles her eyebrows, putting both hands on her "assets," causing the male sibling to roll his eyes while the other blanches in disgust.

"Gross, Yang!"

With a teasing smirk, Yang started to play around with Ruby while Obsidian lost focus and looked at his system interface upon getting on the Bullhead.

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CONGRATULATIONS for entering Beacon Academy at such a young age!

Reward:

Title: Beacon Student; Body, Dexterity, Stamina Increase (Lesser); Mind, Curse Increase (Minor); +1 Skill Tree Point (Rare)

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NEW QUEST: ???

[DESCRIPTION]

You've made it to Beacon! Congrats! Now ???

[OBJECTIVE] ??? ( )

[BONUS] ??? ( )

[BONUS] ??? ( )

[BONUS] ??? ( )

[BONUS] ??? ( )

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ACCEPT THE QUEST?

[ Y / N ]

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'Yep, still doesn't show all requirements until I know what's going on.'

"Damn system, this isn't what a normal Gamer system is supposed to look like!"

Reading a whole lot of fiction as a writer for inspiration, he knows that the interface in front of him was a Gamer system, at least some variant of it since it's a "nurturing" system instead. A good thing about this system, however, is that he can leave the Quest for now and wait for all the details to be filled in before accepting or denying the Quest.

'Oh well, at least we got a rainbow increase in our stats this time. Status, please.'

By thinking of 'Status', the system immediately opens a tab of his current status.

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[STATUS]

Name: Obsidian X.L. Rose / Quartz X.L. Rose

Age: 15 / 15

Title: 

Beacon Student (+0.5% Additional Increase per Reward While Operating as Students)

Sorcerer Apprentice (+0.5% Additional Increase per Reward While Operating as Apprentices)

Vessel of Possession (+200% Curse Energy Generation)

#^&*!@#@&$@#! (Access to Nurturing System)

Class: 

Huntsman-in-Training (+5% BODY, DEX, and STA Boost while in Combat)

Sorcerer-in-Training (+5% CURSE Boost while in Combat)

Status: 

BODY: Grade 2

DEX: Semi-Grade 1

STA: Semi-Grade 2

MIND: Semi-Grade 2

CURSE: Grade 2

TECH: Semi-Grade 1

Average Grade: Grade 2

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[SKILLS]

Sorcerer:

Cursed Energy Manipulation (IV)

Cursed Technique: Thread Creation (III)

Cursed Technique: [???] (III)

Binding Vow [1 ACTIVE] (I)

Barrier Techniques (I)

Self:

Martial Arts (III)

Rapid Casting (II)

Rapid Processing (I)

Massaging (I)

SKILL TREE POINTS: 1

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'So, not much changes at all.'

Obsidian thought to himself as he pondered on what skill to put the remaining skill point in. Or he could just keep it for now, though he'd have to train said skill if he placed a point in, even if it only will take a few days.

"On the bright side, our CURSE stat is halfway there to receive its promotion; my guess is a few more months of decent training."

'What do you think? Invest or keep the skill point for now?'

"Eh, I vote to upgrade Binding Vow for more potential firepower or Curtain for the defensive capabilities that it has; our mastery of the other Cursed skills is decent enough for now and we'll eventually get a natural rank up at your pace."

'Hmmm... What to choose...?'

This was a hard decision to make, so he'll put it off for now then. Feeling a tap on his shoulder, Obsidian looked at Ruby, who had a pout.

"Hey, are you even listening to us? We were just talking about those cool weapons that we just saw!"

Blinking, he looked in front of him to see that they were already on Beacon grounds. Damn, he should seriously have more awareness when talking to Q.

"Not my fault; you're deep in your head."

'At least warn me, man.'

"Sorry, I can't hear you over the stereo."

'Jerk.'

"Nope, I was focused on the scenery doing some thinking. Like, how much does it cost to construct and maintain all this?"

His hand waved at the large castle-like building in front of them.

"By the way, are you sure you're still rocking those gloves of yours? I know you have your weird energy wires, but they aren't really enough with only 10 strands."

Yang said with a little anticipation in her tone. He shot it down.

"Yang, I'm not installing a shotgun on my gloves."

"Come on! We practically have the same fighting style; just take it from your big sister and add it! We'll be the CQC pair; doesn't that sound awesome?"

Yang moved to his back and slung her arm around his shoulder, but he didn't budge.

"I don't have you guys' miracle shield that tanks all the recoil, you know? I think I'll stick to not snapping my arms every time I want to shoot."

He then felt a presence on his other side, so he grabbed the face of said presence and looked at the Ruby with puppy eyes.

"Please? At least give me something to work with here!"

He felt his determination wavering slightly before recalling that one time he tried Yang's Ember Cecilia. The sound of the snap is still haunting him to this day.

"No means no. I do say yes about the loans that you all owe me — "

And they're gone.

"They're so bad at finance, it's kind of sad."

His mind flashes to mom doing finances at night when dad was away for a month-long mission. They missed all their debts and went 300% negative that month.

'They take it from mom; I can't do much about that one.'

Mom had some great traits to absorb... Some though, not so much.

Now that he was all alone... Ah crap, he didn't really read the fine print on what to expect on the first day.

"Where are we supposed to go again?"

"No idea."

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After asking a friendly senior who was passing by for directions, he finally made his way to the auditorium, where all the new freshman students of Beacon were supposed to gather.

"This place is HUGE."

'Yeah, it's almost as big as Signal's combat hall.'

Taking a second to find Yang (she was practically a beacon with the bright colors she was wearing), he lightly jogged to where his sisters were at, his ears close enough to hear the ongoing conversation.

"— literally exploded a hole in front of the school! There was some fire, some ice, maybe a little wind somewhere?"

Ruby suddenly went deep in thought as Yang smirked.

"Are you being sarcastic? Has my lesson finally reached my dear sister?"

"I wish! I tripped some crabby girl's luggage, and then she yelled at me, and then I sneezed, and then I exploded, and then she yelled at me again, and I felt really, really bad, and I just wanted her to stop yelling at me!"

Obsidian was about to cut into the conversation when he spotted a shade of white creeping behind Ruby. Ah, she was Weiss Schnee, right?

"Yeah, her recent songs were really good. Good on the eyes, too."

'Agreed — Uh oh, I recognize that look. This is going to be a — '

"You!"

The sudden shout caused Ruby to shriek in fear as she jumped into Yang's arms.

"Oh Gods, it's happening again!"

"You're lucky we weren't blown off the side of the cliff!"

The lady said as she waved her index finger aggressively at Ruby, with Yang staring at the Ruby in her arms deadpanned.

"Oh, wow, you really did explode."

'— Disaster. Sigh...'

"It-It was an accident!"

Ruby scrambled to the ground as she made a praying gesture at Snow White, hoping that the girl would forgive her. Instead, she holds up a pamphlet with the words "DUST for dummies" printed on the front and gives it to Ruby, who looked at it confusedly.

"This is... ?"

"The S.D.C. is not responsible for any injuries or damages sustained while operating a Schnee Dust Company product. Although not mandatory, the Schnee Family highly encourages their customers to read and familiarize themselves with this easy-to-follow guide to Dust applications and practices in the field."

Weiss recited off the policies printed on the pamphlet off her own memory, going faster with each word until it reached Ruby-level fast.

"Huh, so that's what it feels like..."

His twin mutters in realization when Weiss looked at her. And he means, really got a good look at her.

"You really want to start making things up to me?"

"A-Absolutely?"

Weiss then points at the pamphlet in Ruby's hand.

"Read this, and don't ever speak to me again."

"Damn, this girl has some sharpness to her tone."

Yang, who was standing on the sidelines, immediately moved between the two as a mediator.

"Look, um, how do I work with this? It sounds like you two just got off on the wrong foot. Why don't you start over and try to be friends, okay?"

Yang tried her darn hardest, with Ruby quickly acting her part when she saw the chance to get a friend.

"Y-Yeah! Great idea, sis!"

Putting the pamphlet away (more like throwing it away when Weiss didn't see it), she held her hand out and cleared her throat.

"Hello, Weiss! I'm Ruby! Wanna hang out? We can go shopping for school supplies!"

Weiss, seemingly enthusiastic, smiled.

"Yeah! And we can paint our nails and try on clothes and talk about cute boys, like tall, raven haired, and..."

Her eyes met his as she suddenly stopped speaking, pale blue eyes stopping at his face for a second before she coughed into her palm, refocusing her attention back to Ruby.

"Hmm, I didn't think you had it in you."

'??? What're you talking about?'

"Eh, it's nothing for now."

That's random. Anyway, Ruby, not noticing the sarcasm that's clearly evident from a mile away, lit up.

"Wow, really? I mean, ew to the last part, but really?!"

Weiss then dropped her enthusiastic mask and stared into Ruby's soul.

"No."

... 

"That was cold. Heh, get it? Cold."

'Right, time to salvage Ruby's first potential friend — '

Before he could try and save their relationship from failing, the sudden sound of a speaker ringing caused everyone to shift their attentions to the main attraction of the auditorium, where the podium was.

'Welp, it was nice knowing the link that I could have saved. Sorry, Ruby.'

Ozpin, who tapped on the microphone, waited a second to get everyone's attention before speaking.

"I'll... keep this brief. You have traveled here today in search of knowledge, to hone your craft and acquire new skills, and when you have finished, you plan to dedicate your life to the protection of the people."

His eyes roamed throughout the auditorium.

"But I look amongst you, and all I see is wasted energy, in need of purpose, direction. You assume knowledge will free you of this, but your time at this school will prove that knowledge can only carry you so far. It is up to you to take the first step."

And with that, Ozpin took a step back and walked out of the auditorium. The Huntress from before, Glynda Goodwitch from what he found, spoke in the mic before following Ozpin.

"You will gather in the ballroom tonight; tomorrow, your initiation begins. Be ready. You are dismissed."

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NEW QUEST: Survive Initiation! [updated]

[DESCRIPTION]

You've made it to Beacon! Congrats! Now to secure your spot in the yearly Initiation. Prove that you deserved to be here!

[OBJECTIVE] Survive Initiation. ( )

[BONUS] Clear the Initiation in under 30 minutes. ( )

[BONUS] Clear the Initiation in under 10 minutes. ( )

[BONUS] Kill 50 Grimm while surviving the Initiation. ( )

[BONUS] Kill all participants of the Initiation. ( )

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ACCEPT THE QUEST?

[ Y / N ]

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"Another ominous bonus objective."

Obsidian muttered as the students disbanded, staring at the last bonus objective.

"It's like the system is begging you to kill everyone alive. Weird."

Tapping to accept the Quest, and enjoying the little jingle it does whenever he accepts a Quest, he looked at Ruby, looking dejectedly at the back of Weiss Schnee with Yang comforting her before sighing with a smirk growing on his face.

He had some teasing to do.

"You won't believe what I just enjoyed — "

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Thank goodness they separate the sleeping quarters by gender, or else he'd have to knock out all the guys who are currently checking out his older sister, god forbid his twin.

Last night before he went to bed, he saw his siblings walking up to a raven-haired girl with a bow on her head. Obsidian could already sense the headache that was about to happen, and honestly, not going to pull the pin of that grenade.

So, he just went to bed, using his Cursed Energy Manipulation to knock himself out into Morpheus' grasps.

Moving a few hours forward, he woke up from the internal alarm that Quartz always set before getting up. Regulating CE (Cursed Energy) was a good way to remove the drowsiness and wake up instantly.

Grabbing his duffle bag, he beelined to the men's restroom and got to work setting up for the morning... That was supposed to be what he was doing, but he was temporarily distracted with the girl in the men's restroom talking to a boy brushing his teeth.

One look at the guy's face, and Obsidian instantly knew what he was about to step into. So, with a look of pity for the guy, he tactically snuck around the two people and dipped into a more private area to start the day.

Eventually he woke the girls up (with some difficulties, especially when one could punch his lights out with one sudden swing of an arm), got them some breakfast (made sure that they got stuff that was healthy instead of cookies and fizzy drinks), and now here they are, grabbing their equipment for Initiation.

He had already got his equipment on his body earlier before waking them up, so he simply waited for his siblings to finish preparing.

His combat outfit was simple: a gray jacket with black and red streaks that looked like lightning sparks in the center, with an inner t-shirt and baggy combat pants.

He requested to make them loose enough to move around in without anything disrupting or tightening up his body while he fights. The cloth that his clothes were made out of is slash and stab resistant and slightly thick enough to briefly disperse some blunt force coming his way upon impact.

"Wonder what those two were worked up for."

Ruby mutters, looking back at the duo that he met in the bathroom earlier as she unlocked the locker to grab her equipment.

"Who knows? Anyway, you seem awfully chirpy this morning!"

Yang said behind Ruby as she made sure that her Ember Cecilia was snug on her arms. Ruby grins in excitement as she hugs Crescent Rose in its compact form.

"No more awkward small talk or "getting to know you" stuff! I get to let Crescent Rose loose and beat up some Grimm!"

"Huntsmen work is usually done in pairs of four, meaning we're going to get teammates."

Obsidian gave his two pieces as Yang agreed.

"Yeah, exactly! No more procrastinating, Ruby; you'll have to grow up, meet new people, and work together to make the dream team."

Ruby simply groaned as she sheathed Crescent Rose to its magnetic hook behind her back with all the ammunition and first aid along her belt hanging over her waist while Yang did one last diagnostic with her Ember Cecilia, letting the gauntlets shift around to work out any last-minute kinks.

"I don't need people to help me grow up! I drink milk!"

The girl said as she puffed her chest in pride of drinking milk, causing Obsidian to facepalm as Yang chuckled.

"And as for my other teammates... I'll just make a team with you guys, and maybe Jaune. There, four people!"

"And if the choices are random? There's over 50 participants in the Initiation, the chances of getting each one of us is less than 1%."

He told his twin with his hands crossed, waiting for a response from a stuttering Ruby.

"Would all freshman students please report to Beacon Cliff for Initiation? I repeat again, all freshman students report to Beacon Cliff immediately."

"You heard her! To the Cliffs!"

In an instant, petals sprouted from thin air as Ruby ditched them both, using her Semblance to zoom towards said location. Yang looked at the trail of petals on the ground before she blew a stray petal on her nose away, smirking at the teasing that they just did.

"Well, that was fun. Come on, Sid, we got an Initiation to pass!"

Her pat to the back almost caused him to fall face first to the ground if not for his reaction time, causing another bark of laughter to come out of Yang's mouth before he got dragged via the hood of his jacket by his elder sister without any consent.

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