A trip into the woods

After living two lifetimes, I've come to realize that time is currently my most precious resource, above even money or personal connections it's is the thing that I've been seeking to best utilize and make sure that I'm not wasting even a minute of it.

And I can say with certainty that the last 3 years were used to their fullest extent, as I not only furthered my own training and improved in many miscellaneous skills that I was working on, but I also used this time in order to make the most of the time I still had with my family.

I always knew that in order for me to reach my full potential, it was necessary for me to travel far from my home and stay away from it for a extended period of time, so I made use of the time I still had and the money my game has earned me in order to create as many memories with them as I could.

I also been keeping close tabs on how things are going in regards to Kuroyuri, Ozpin has informed me that he has put a team of huntsman to be on constant patrol of the surroundings and searching for any signs of the Nucklelavee, despite being the headmaster of Beacon and holding a seat in the council, he simply doesn't have the power to mobilize a evacuation fleet without any substantial evidence, much less in another kingdom's territory, so he has been cautious and asked Ironwood to ready one from Atlas as soon as the first signs of danger were discovered.

Summer was also released from her forced vacation and is back in action, though some precautions have been taken such as not allowing her to go on missions alone and only being given those that are relatively closer to civilization.

And in regards to Neo, not much in our relationship has changed in this time, she still sees me as a saviour and a subject of her adoration showing unwavering trust and loyalty, that makes me a bit uncomfortable since I would prefer if we had grown closer as equals then being put atop a pedestal by her.

My family as well as a few villagers that saw us together have started circulating rumors and insinuating that we are childhood sweethearts with a great romantic affection for each other, but the truth is actually very different.

Love is a selfish emotion that is based of the idea that both see each other as equals(unless you're into S&M) but her feelings towards me are that of complete devotion, a relationnship where one only gives and doesn't ask anything in return could never work out as the other party would never be comfortable with it since most relationships revolve around an exchange, be it of affection, respect or opinions.

And in regards to her current abilities, shortly after starting her dance lessons and growing firmer roots in our home, I've asked her if she wanted to be trained how to fight while making clear that it was totally fine for her to remain in a peaceful and comfortable life in Ansel. Her response was a immediate one:

{I want to remain by your side, if learning how to fight is what I need in order to not become a burden, then I'll do it!}

After receiving her confirmation, I've devised a routine based of my own in order to get her body in form as her physical abilities were still subpar and unsuitable to start learning how to fight.

And in order to speed up this process, I've asked my parents to unlock her aura, since the faster regeneration gained from it would make building up muscles much easier and with my semblance to further boost it then she would never run out of it. They were a bit hesitant at the start but after a lot of persuasion and begging they finally relented, as the second time is always easier than the first, so since I already got their permission Neo's came much easier.

While we were at home, I in addition to my mother were the ones responsible to oversee her training since mom's and Neo's fighting style are much more compatible than her's and my father's. But once I returned to the dojo, I also introduced her to my master in order for him to take her in, he was a bit hesitant considering her older age and lack of any previous experience but in the end decided to give her a chance nonetheless.

I wasn't worried about her having a hard time with the other students since they have been very obedient after I defeated every single one of them and established myself as the strongest student in the dojo. They aren't so bold as to mess with someone related to me.

Her fighting style has developed to be mostly like in canon with the addition of hand-to-hand techniques from the dojo and a few aura techniques I taught her since her small stature and great flexibility naturally benefits an acrobatic and agile fighter, so her previous dance lessons had also helped with that, as she mixed it into her fighting style. Her choice of weapon was also kept the same as I saw no reason to change something that had worked out once, so she is still welding an umbrella as her main weapon.

She has also discovered her semblance and started to work on it ever since we unlocked her aura, just like in my case, the knowledge of the nature of her semblance beforehand had made discovering her semblance almost effortless and she has been heavily incorporating its use on her fighting style.

At the Arc household there has been a few other changes as Saphron has finally got into a serious relationship with Terra and moved away to Argus thanks partly to my help by being a wingman and easing Terra into our family by acting like a bridge so their relationship has progressed at a monstrous speed and they may soon start planning a marriage.

Rouge has also left in order to travel the world alongside her band which she is the vocalist of, they've been formed 2 years ago and have found some local success so they had decided to move on to the next step and go to other kingdoms to spread their work.

But putting all of that aside, I now stand at a turning point and about to have my first contact with that I've only seen in images before.

Today I shall have my first taste of battle with the darkness that plagues this lands.

Today, I will face the Grimm for the first time.

...

Silence permeates the atmosphere as two people remained on their seats, they were inside a bullhead and the constant trembling along with the sound of the engine was all that could be felt while trapped inside the metal contraption, both people expressing completely different expressions as they prepared themselves for what's to come.

The first was Ryu-Bang which was sitting in a perfect meditative position with quite a peaceful expression, his eyes closed and seemingly unconcerned with everything happening around him, the second was Jaune which maintained a serious and expression on his face but it could be seen by the lack of color on his face that he was still fighting against motion sickness in addition to suppressing his nervousness.

"You can turn back if you think you're not ready for it, there's no shame in admitting when a task is beyond your physical and mental capabilities" The one that brakes the silence is Ryu-Bang as he questions his student while remaining in the same position.

"I'm ready master, you can trust me on this." Jaune replies with a confident voice that contrasts with his swaying body.

"I trust in your capabilities my student, but I can't help but be worried. You're young and I'm afraid we might be trying to get you to progress too quickly, this haste may bring unexpected dangers your way." He says now finally opening his eyes and showing that behind the calm facade he was truly worried about his pupil.

"I know, but sooner or later I'm going to have to face them and there's no time like the present, the sooner I face them the more time I will have to learn to deal with them for later."

"Haah, I can see that you've made up your mind. Very well, I won't question you on this matter again." Ryu-Bang says while releasing a sight.

"Don't worry master, I won't betray your expectations!" Jaune says while revealing a big smile and sitting a bit more upright.

"Having my expectations betrayed is far from the worst outcome that could come from this trip." The master says from under his breath before returning to his meditation.

A few minutes later a voice was heard inside the airship.

[Attention, we're approaching the landing zone. Please prepare to disembark when it's given the signal] Came the voice from the pilot of the ship.

And after a bit more shaking, the aircraft had finally landed and the ramp was lowered so we could exit it.

[We have arrived at the landing zone, be careful out there and good luck]

"We will, thank you for your help old friend." Master replied while descending the ramp.

[No problem, I will return to pick you up at this landing zone after you give me a call, till then, stay in one piece]

With this the aircraft once again takes of into the distance leaving the two alone, Jaune then uses the opportunity to appreciate the surroundings.

They were dropped at the top of a cliff that overlooked an big forest that covered everything that the eye could see. Jaune would probably have appreciated this scenery much more if he didn't already know that the forest is infested with bloodthirsty monsters.

"Your training exercise will be commencing now, I'll be letting you have a controlled confrontation with the grimm, you can be assured that I'll be watching you closely but you should still be careful as we're in their territory"

Jaune nods to his teacher's words and takes a deep breath to calm his nerves, it's common knowledge that grimm are attracted to negative emotions so showing fear or hesitation would not help matters.

"Now, follow me and stay close, we'll be making our way through the forest until we can find a grimm suitable for you to fight." After saying this Ryu-Bang jumps from the cliff towards the forest below.

Jaune then moves to where his master previously was and looked to the forest below, after a few seconds he, without much emotion being shown on his face jumped after him.

On his way down Jaune didn't show any fear and worry as he and his master had already practiced his landing strategy beforehand and combined with his aura reserves he's confident that falling from this height wouldn't kill him even if he didn't.

While on free falling, he made sure to position his correctly in order to make sure he would fall on his feet, then he retracted both of his arms and took an attacking stance.

'Breathing technique: empower'

'Aura reinforcement'

Concentrating all his strength in his arms, he patiently waited for the right moment very calmly and without any worry. As he was just a few meters from the ground he suddenly made his move and thrusted both his fists towards the ground.

'Air pressure fist'

His two simultaneous punches towards the ground were strong enough to send a strong wave of air downwards that in turn managed to reduce his current downwards momentum by creating a opposing force, as a landing strategy it wasn't the most refined but it was the only one he could think of using his current skillset.

But the force, despite reducing the speed to manageable levels it wasn't enough to completely halt his descent so he prepared to stick his landing.

When he fell, a small cloud of dust was raised and the ground beneath him had a visible mark, the position he landed on was a crouching stance with both his knees completely bent and both his arms also on the ground supporting him.

Thanks to landing with all four limbs, the impact of the fall was evenly dispersed on them and because of that, his limbs are mostly totally fine, just a bit numb.

His aura meanwhile was reduced slightly to soften the impact but in comparison to his reserves, the depletion was just a drop in a bucket and his semblance would allow him to recover it almost instantaneously.

"A passable performance, it is enough for now since we were in a hurry to come up with a landing strategy, but I hope that you come up with a better one in the future." The master quickly evaluates his apprentice's landing strategy and gives his opinion.

In truth, Jaune had already developed another landing strategy that was better than this one, but be couldn't use it since it would require to have crocea mors in hand in order to perform it and he wasn't able to bring it for this trip.

That's because despite the sword being technically already his and he having full right to bring it whenever he goes, his parents would certainly notice and inquire why he's bringing the sword with him. That's bad since he's keeping the nature of this trip hidden for obvious reasons.

That would be like telling your parents that you'll be going to the bread store and bringing a 12-gauge shotgun along. If you do that, than your parents won't help but think that you're expecting more from this trip than just buying bread. In this case if he brought hidden weapon along, his family won't help but ask what is he doing that would require it.

Then, Jaune is taken out of his thoughts as his master once again speaks with him:

"Your test will be commencing shortly, there must be a pack of Grimm nearby that we could use for your first experience. Are you capable of locating it?" The tone that he's using makes it obvious that this is a test for Jaune but he accepts it anyway and prepares to start locating it.

If they were tracking any other being, then finding it would be a piece of cake since Jaune is already very sensitive to aura and can quite easily locate it after all his training and meditation, and since all living beings have a soul then it would be very easy to do so.

But grimm are the sole exception as they possess no soul or aura, so his advanced aura detecting capabilities are completely useless, normally this would mean that you'd have to follow tracks and try to find them the lengthy way. But Jaune has another trick up his sleeve to avoid that.

Aura sonar, this technique was originally created by Ryu-Bang and named Aura waves, the technique was then abandoned and considered a failure by him due to the cost of the technique not being worth it since it would lead you to have to fight with much less aura on the field. But Jaune found it and perfected it since 'high-cost' is a very relative term to him.

This technique works much like echolocation in the animal kingdom, he sends a wave of aura that disperses around him and expands in his surroundings, as soon as it hits an object it returns to him giving him a rough idea of the terrain and the beings in it.

So Jaune saturates both his hands with Aura and strikes at the ground with his palms sending a wave of aura into the forest, then after a few minutes the waves returned to him, he then looked towards his teacher and spoke:

"There are many groups of Grimm scattered throughout the forest, the closest group is 9 o'clock from me, about 1 kilometer of distance." He seriously spoke while looking at that direction.

"Good, then let's not waste any time." The master said, not hiding how impressed he is with his student's progress.

So into the woods the two went, ready to face the creatures of darkness that awaited them.