Chapter 3 - Growing up

A month flew by as Red buried himself in endless amounts of books.

His knowledge expanded in both practical and theoretical sense. The amount of insights the old man also shared, he couldn't describe with simple words.

He didn't doubt that the old man imparted him something of an incredible value.

And certainly not because he found him randomly on the street.

On the contrary, compared to a lot of people he met when going out with the old man.

He disliked everyone around. Many times, his gray like ash eyes held undisguised disgust when looking at the young in the slums.

Red didn't dig deep into this mystery. No matter what kind of vision that old man held, he must have his reasons.

Him being a benefactor alone made Red a bit helpless. His help over the month proved nothing more than an assistant, at best.

While his learning ability didn't fall behind many smart people.

It couldn't catch up to the decades of pure sweat and hard work combined with a lot of talent.

That old man's strength exceeded anything Red imagined being possible.

After asking around and reading quite a bit. He realised that he must have awakened something called an aura.

On this planet, unlike in the Pokemon world. The aura seemed to have more magical properties, although they did share some similarities.

He himself mastered quite a bit of aura during his prime, which kept him young and at a peak condition for many years.

However, the aura in the Pokemon world lied more on the spiritual side.

The one he got exposed to here seemed to lean heavily on the body and soul instead of the pure mind.

He hasn't seen anyone meditating or keeping Zen in order to attain an aura.

Red hoped to awaken both, nevertheless even with the decades of training and a lot of experience.

He couldn't even begin to grasp where his aura had gone.

It hid somewhere deep, however; it seemed locked behind something much greater that he couldn't control at the moment.

Whenever he approached it. He felt a strong push to ignore it, leave it be, and never touch it again.

Helpless, he decided to look at the Remnant's aura.

The old man told Red that he wasn't ready to accept such power. It came with quite a lot of responsibilities he couldn't bear.

Over the month, though. Red's determination and seeming thirst for power and knowledge moved the old man.

Every time he looked at Red. He saw something different in that boy.

Sometimes as old as a sturdy tree and other times tiny cracks of adolescence appeared.

He learned to hide it quick, but the old man spotted them without a hitch.

So, he gave Red an ultimatum. If he manages to learn most of his craftsmanship and successfully makes a transformative combat ready weapon.

Then he'll not only awaken his aura but also teach him combat.

He dismissed the idea of going to a combat academy for young, saying that only wimps would come out of that place.

Too much sunshine and rainbows for the real world.

He wouldn't stop red if he wanted to join, but the amount of power he desires, he would never be able to get in an academy other than the top 4 prestigious academies.

Those that he wouldn't be able to attend for many years due to his visual age.

Red didn't argue with the man and accepted the challenge. With his research and trust in that old man, it became a no-brainer.

Maybe he had ulterior motives, nevertheless the amount of care and devotion he gave to Red, he couldn't ignore and scoff at just like that.

Traces of magic seemed to exist, but he doubted that the old man could possess him like some kind of gengar.

Aside from the new forging challenge. Red took on multiple hobbies.

He wanted to keep his mind and body in a peak state in order to learn the most he could at all times.

If he overworked his young body for some meagre benefit. Then he'd suffer for no reason.

Thanks to the training and references he made, his own body seemed very talented compared to the usual huntsman in training.

The world itself seemed much lighter compared to the Pokemon world.

To his surprise, the metrics seemed the same whilst some other parameters became different. Like the gravitational strength.

Some other things outright lost its logic. But that might be due to some hidden powers he didn't know about.

His favourite activity after reading became fishing. Every morning, Sunday, he woke up early and left the shop with a fishing rod.

Not far away from the docs and away from the usual beaches. He found a nice secluded spot for fishing.

The view and breeze calmed his mind and occasionally he spotted a ship coming in.

Red noted down the existence of one very common logo. The snowflake owned by the Schnee giant.

Geopolitics seemed very complicated and he couldn't understand how humans and faunus held on so long against Grimm.

If the descriptions and their power matched. Then the strife of the both races must have created golden opportunities for their growth.

Yet, from the records of the Great War preceding the Faunus revolution. The scuffle between the four kingdoms didn't mention many Grimm.

To combine and defend against the attacks of Grimm when they invaded the battlefield seemed like a fairy tale more ridiculous than the tale of the Twin Gods.

Geography alone would guarantee that the casualties of the two sides would never be the same.

The following Faunus revolution made even less sense.

Although endowed with more handy traits than the general human. The amount of huntsmen and powerful people with an aura on the side of humanity exceeded faunus many folds.

Not to mention the disparity of technology, food supplies, etc.

Just one major lost battle couldn't justify the entire war turning into what it was.

A higher form of power must have interfered.

Red wanted to know what kind of power that was and if it held something more extraordinary than just an aura at its disposal.

He interacted with gods many times before. Hell, he got destroyed by an abomination that artificially approached gods.

Unlike many others. Red also began to look into great world talents.

Something seemed off with the entire world, but he had nowhere enough information to be sure.

...

Red shook himself from his daze as he felt a small tug. Slowly, but surely, he reeled it in and grinned at the majestic creature before him.

An almost meter and a half long fish.

He decided to not let it go free and wanted to give that old man a treat.

The first few days of blacksmithing didn't involve much muscle work as that old man almost steamed Red's brain.

Info dump after info dump fried his brain, as he loved these moments even more.

He threw the fish into a bucket half filled with water and after a few hours of unsuccessful fishing; he made his way home.

The Sun flew down and night overtook the skies.

Red got home and presented his fish to the old man, receiving a wide grin in return.

Aside from the day of fishing.

He also began to roam the streets. Under the persuasion and warning from the old man.

His destinations got limited to the general safe and tourist areas.

Slums became a no go and other dangerous places as well. Red didn't care much and often left the house to roam the streets.

With the allowance in a form of the so called 'salary' that the man gave him.

He could sit down in a pretty nice restaurant for a snack whenever he wanted, which proved useful.

So much gossip gave him the latest news. Without a scroll, as the man claimed that he had to grow older for, it became the go to information source.

From the men laughing and discussing their jobs. To ladies flexing their children and how far they've got.

Often than not, the loudest proved to be the parents of huntsmen and huntresses in training.

He had overheard a conversation on Semblances. Even after digging through many books, he didn't find anything useful.

They existed, a superpower often associated with aura.

More information he couldn't find for the life of him and the old man refused to say more.

Red's life became very stale. Something he didn't complain about and continued to train with all of his might.

A year and a few months later, the old man broke his routine.

"Ya should socialize with kids your age more. Look at me, ya gonna end up like me in no time. Here, you gonna attend this from now on." The old man said and threw at him a piece of crumpled paper.

Opening it, Red's eyes widened a bit.

A training camp that opened every Tuesday for the entire day. It held one purpose.

To teach and help other kids that are interested in weapon creation to grow closer and better together.

Red opened his mouth, but the old man cut him off.

"Nay, this is different. Those stupid academies will suck all of your time. In this one, your primary goal isn't to get better, you have me. Just make some comrades, connections are very important." He said and Red nodded.

Red hung around for a bit before leaving to go roaming somewhere again.