Chapter 14- The Guilds Growth

Jaune yawned as he woke up and looked around. He saw his team all still sleeping in since they were excused from their classes today thanks to their efforts of defeating an A rank Grimm pool in the city. He smiled in triumph but it slowly faded as he realized he was on the verge of losing if he hadn't had his friends come in to back him up.

He got up and went through some light stretches before preparing to go to the gym for his sparring and daily training quest to make sure he was in top shape so that he can stock up more points and to avoid that scenario of being powerless in the face of a powerful Grimm ever again. He felt the difference in power. Even when he was empowered by his skills he was just barely above it in terms of power. But it still defeated him thanks to Salems influence doubling its power temporarily while she controlled it.

He knew he needed more troops in his army skill, more power for himself, and more growth in his friends so that they can stand beside him without him needing to cover them because he was that over powered compared to them. He huffed in the mirror after a quick wake up rinse in the bathroom and nodded to himself. He swore to himself that he would help them grow. And as such he went into the accessory section of his shop to find some good gear for his friends to use in their upcoming fights. And then resolved to gain more points to upgrade them.

He found some good ones and splurged immediately to make them ready for use and for protecting his friends.

For Ruby he found a great piece.

Ruby ring of Agility Rank A (Registered user Ruby Rose)

+20 Agi

+10 Str

+5 Sense

+10% to hand eye coordination and body reactions to information

For Nora it was easy to find, something she would love while also something Ren would thank him for. Especially for the fact it would make her less likely to become injured in combat while also being very… Nora.

Pink Sapphire Sloth earrings Rank A (Registered user Nora Valkyrie)

+20 Vit

+10 Sense

+5 Str

+10% to physical dmg reduction

For Blake it took a bit of work but he managed to find something that would work best for her and her abilities. The really tricky part was finding something that she would actually enjoy wearing.

Shadow forged Armored finger-less gloves Rank A (Registered user Blake Belladonna)

+20 Sense

+15 Agi

+10 Vit

+10% effectiveness to all stealth actions

He saw how much Blake enjoyed the ninja series she always reads so he hoped she would enjoy some basic equipment he saw a silver haired one eyed ninja wore all the time in his favorite ninja anime about a blonde haired boy with a nine tailed fox in his soul.

He then turned his attention to what he could grab for Ren as he was his brother and best friend. Plus he had just enough points left to grab something for him and he had to make it his best work. He finally found something that would work pretty well for his brother While also giving him a new option for a weapon to aid him in combat.

Armored gloves of the wandering Monk Rank A (Registered User Li Ren (Arc))

+20 Str

+10 Vit

+10 Agi

+10% dmg to enemies when the users emotions are calm and leveled

Jaune huffed in pride at this growth for his friends, and was excited to see their reactions before he remembered that he spent a lot of time trying to perfect these aids for them while he still had his daily training to do. After making sure they were all safe and sound in his inventory he went to work in training until he doubled the amount of his daily exercises and spars again.

He made sure to push his knights to the limit once more and to make sure he pushed himself to his current limits with each fight.

After gaining the double rewards of 10 more stat points, 10k more shop points, he opened up a blessed box this time instead of the cursed box. The blessed box gives him something he wants from the shop instead of the cursed box which gifts him something he needs. So he opened it up with the thought of wanting something from the shop that would help him train himself and his allies in gates. He wasn't expecting a special gift to land in his lap called a gate key bundle. It held 10 E Rank Gate keys, 8 D rank, 6 C Rank, 4 B rank, and 2 A rank keys to be used at any time he wished.

Jaune was gaping at his reward before shaking and whooping in joy. He could help his friends and level up his troops with this bundle. He then looked at the points he had remaining after the upgrade splurge and the training he went through.

Current shop points: 38,251 points

He was going to gain so many points back from this bundle. He couldn't wait and he also couldn't wait to help all of his guild members out with his passive 20% growth aid when they trained and fought alongside him.

He knew this bundle of key was going to come in handy very soon. And would be a great example for their new members of what their guild will be doing every two days in vale for the foreseeable future.

Jaune looked to his stats as he looked at the new points and the upgrades he had from the A rank growth in his armor and his swords new look. He equipped everything to look at himself while wielding them all.

Level 117

Exp: 24%

HP: 110,880/110,880

AP: 40,950/ 40,950

Fatigue: 0/100%

Class: Master of Knights

Stats:

STR: 152 (+50) (+10 ally boost)

AGI: 152 (+25) (+10 ally boost)

VIT:152 (+40) (+10 ally boost)

INT: 192 (+10 ally boost)

SENSE: 152 (+15) (+10 ally boost)

Points available: 48

Current shop points: 38,251 points

Physical dmg resistance: +47%

Skills:

-???- : ?????

Inheritor: Access to system, over level 20 access to shop

Knight Master: +1 to all stats per ally under users command

Standing army: Gain ability to summon an army of knights under the users command, points available 22/192, basic unit lvl 42: 8 (3 sword, 3 bow, 2 healer) (5 pts per), commander units lvl 45: 1 (1 Great knight) (30 pts per), heroic unit lvl 57: 1 (Iron) (100 pts per)

Commander Unit: Great Knight (Passive: +5% to all ally melee units dmg, stacks with other commander abilities)

Heroic Unit Iron title holder: Iron the Shield of the Light

Arc Bloodline: +250 to AP per level

Expert sword arts lvl 3: 10 times dmg with swords

Unarmed Combat Expert lvl 3: times 10 dmg with unarmed blows

True Warriors Aura lvl 5: +50 to Str, Agi, and Vit for however long this aura is active, heals 1300 HP per minute, cost: 1000 for activation, additional 100 per minute used.

Knights Rallying call lvl 5: +26 to all stats of every person you recognize as an ally within 200ft of user, Lower the physical abilities of foes by 26 points within the area of effect. Costs 1000 AP, lasts 5 minutes.

White Knight Body Armor Rank A:

+15 str

+15 vit

+11% physical dmg reduction

White Knight Gauntlets Rank A:

+10 str

+5 sense

+8% physical dmg reduction

White Knight Sabatons Rank A:

+10 vit

+5 agi

+8% physical dmg reduction

White Knight Basic Helm Rank A:

+10 sense

+10 agi

+5% physical dmg reduction

Rank S Crocea Mors (Seal level 4)

Bonuses: +320 to dmg

+25 str when equipped

+15 vit when equipped

+10 agi when equipped

+15% reduction to physical dmg when equipped

He looked at the armors upgrades and admired how it looked on him as a whole. The main chest pieces had grown to cover all of his torso now, showing it was no longer a breast plate but now a full plate torso guard all the way down to his waist, and it even had a dragon belly scale look to it for flexibility and strength. His gauntlets had grown all the way to his elbows covering him more than before as the previous version ended at mid forearm and these also had a dragon scale pattern to them, add some retractable claw attachments to it and you would have an amazing artificial dragon arm. His sabatons had followed the same pattern going from mid shin up to his knees, while also getting the layered dragon scale look to them. And his helm now looked like a full helmet that had a dragons head design showing through now. He also now had a mouth guard covering over the bottom half of his helmet to protect his chin, mouth and nose. He glanced at the thigh guard attachments that had come from the torso portion to protect his… personal area and his thighs properly nearly going all the way down to his knees to completely protect his legs. He even had half vambraces now going from his shoulder paldrons and covering almost all of his upper arm area.

His sword had become a full lengthened Claymore reaching a full 5ft length with a 1ft width that narrowed out as it reached the tip of the blade. His hilt was a solid two handed grip but he had enough strength to use it as a single handed weapon is needed. His pommel was the kind used for bashing opponents away from himself when they got too close or came into his range. And his hilt guard was now thicker and seemed to be also a way to bash opponents away or catch blades for a blade lock or disarming move. He looked at the shield portion of his weapon and saw that the metal was now an inch thicker and the shield was now a solid 5 ft in height with around 4ft in width keeping its kite like look to it. And it felt easier to move aura energy into both pieces of Crocea Mors now than ever before. Jaune grinned as he charged his armor and weapons with his aura creating a sheen over them that made them all look fresh off of a blacksmiths forge.

He did a few moves to get used to any movement restrictions and cumbersomeness the fuller plate armor made for him or any awkward weight movements his weapons had in store. But he found that he didn't have any. The gear seemed flexible enough for him, almost tailor made for him specifically, and his sword and shield despite looking so large and heavy weighed almost no heavier than 10 pounds together. He would ask Yang and Nora how heavy they were when he got the chance to ask them to see if it was just his strength stat or if it was something special about their connection to him and his family bloodline.

He saw the time approaching 10pm so he put his gear away and headed to the cafeteria to meet up with his guild mates, both old and new, to discuss with them the meet up with Ozpin and to discuss how to introduce team SLVR to their training style and benefits.

He enters the cafeteria with a smile on his face and his casual hoodie and jeans on since they were pardoned form classes and saw his friends in civilian clothing as well. Which for most of them was just their hunter gear, minus weapons or armor pieces.

Jaune sat down and had some simply pancakes that he had to fight to eat when Nora noticed his choice in food. Causing everyone around them to laugh at their antics. After everyone had finally eaten they all made sure they had everything together that they needed and headed up to Ozpins office for the meeting with the old wizard.

They all came to the tower then realized that they miscalculated one thing. They stared awkwardly at each other then at the basic sized elevator, then back at Jaune, Yatsu, Yang, and Pyrrha for their heights. All aforementioned individuals blushed for each one being around 6ft 2in tall and up. Yatsu had the most embarrassed expression as even with Jaunes impressive 6ft 6 inch height, Yatsu still had him beaten with another half head making the gentle giant a solid 7ft tall.

So the group decided to avoid crowding the elevator and maybe causing it to become damaged by sending the tallest and most fit members of their group up the stairs while the others would take the elevator in two groups.

Ozpin was clacking away at his computer awaiting the new guild members Ruby had applied for yesterday before hearing the elevator doors ring and open. He smiled lightly with Goodwitch coming out first who came with the paperwork for the afternoon combat classes. As she was going over them they heard the elevator open up once more behind her. They both focused their attention on the elevator to see Fox, Coco, Simin, Ren, and Blake come out.

Ozpin is about to ask something but notices they quickly activate the elevators return function and it heads back down. Coco turns to Ozpin and Glynda and notices their confused expressions before realizing what exactly they were thinking about. She decided to answer, "Not enough space… Or elevators now that I think about it. Headmaster Ozpin why did you only make a one elevator and single stair case tower for your office and main computer hub? Isn't it inconvenient for large groups like ours when we are called up here?"

Ozpin was about to answer her before thinking back on his original design ideas about this place as Coco and the other students brought up a good point he didn't think about originally. His thoughts went right to, Why did I originally plan for this design again?

They all await his answer as the elevator begins to bring up the next load of students as Ozpin simply clams up, grabs his cup of coffee, and swivels in his chair and they hear a loud slurp come from the headmaster. They all sweat drop as they think at nearly the same time, He avoided the questions cause he forgot didn't he?!

The next load came up and out popped Weiss, Ruby, Velvet, Ragora, and Vivian. Everyone looks at them as the recent group who came up the elevator were about to say their greetings before a loud rumble and fast shaking steps are heard coming from the stair way. Ozpin unlocks the door from his desk as the shaking gets louder along with loud gasping and panting, and loud slamming foot steps. Soon the door all but explodes open as Lycan, Yang, and Jaune all careen into the office so fast that Jaune trips after entering the space and skids on the ground a good 5ft after the door on his chest.

Yang spins mid air from the force of her crash into the door and crashes into Weiss, who squawks as Yang crashes her into the floor dealing a solid 10% damage to her aura pool. As a result this made Weiss so angry that she blasts Yang off of herself with a repulsion glyph. Soon Yang is now found collapsed on top of Jaune who is happy he cushioned his girlfriends fall and who is more than happy to find herself on top of her drop dead handsome boyfriend, but it would be preferred if it was under better circumstances.

Lycan whooped as he came flying through and was immediately cut off as he found his head and shoulders suddenly inside a dark mouth. The dragon head familiar of Ragora gurgled a laugh out as Lycan began to panic and flail about from being inside his team mates familiar. Ragora sighs in exasperation of what Lycan roped Yang and Jaune into doing in front of their headmaster and the woman she admires most in school, Ms. Glynda Goodwitch herself.

Ozpin chuckles in a good mood while Glynda rubs her temples at the students antics. Yatsu, Pyrrha and Nora all come peaking in soon after Lycan is captured. They are motioned inside by Glynda who repairs the door with her Semblance.

Soon they make sure the room is secure and locked down to where not even a mouse could sneak in before beginning the talks with everyone. Ozpin starts by greeting the new guild members, "Greetings team SLVR thank you for your interest in joining the guild called The Hunters. It is a slowly growing group with a promising future. I hope you will do your best to keep up with them as they have been on an accelerated training program that isn't for the faint of heart. Do you still wish to join?"

Simin looks to his friends and they all nod, he turns back to Ozpin and asks, "How much harder are we talking?"

Ozpin smirks and answers honestly, "About what you helped them fight yesterday but on a weekly basis. They are training to be my personal elite squad at the moment. But there is a long term mission they are preparing for that requires them to go through such harsh training. Knowing that will you still join? Or will you go back to your classes and go on basic missions?"

Simin looks to each of his team mates to see their reactions.

Lycan looks on eagerly with a wide grin, "Oh hell yeah! You know I am more than happy to fight strong opponents and better myself! But if I can help my friends and save others with an awesome long term important mission? Then all the better sign me up!"

Ragora looks between her team mates then back to Ozpin and Jaune, "I will be more than ready to help aid in protecting the lights of the innocents. We are here to be hunters of the dark to protect that light. And if I can do so even more effectively by being in this guild? Then I am in."

Vivian shakes a bit before slapping her cheeks with her own hands and stands up, "I'm up for it! Let me help!"

Simin smirks and looks at Ozpin then all the current members of RWBy, CVFY, and JNPR. "Heh, I guess we are unanimous. Sign us up and call us ready to aid in the fight for this important long term mission. So what is the mission?"

Ozpin signs in their names to the guild and locks it under his personal fire walls and fail safes to prevent hacking or virus interference. Then folds his hands and looks at everyone one by one, "Then with that done I must ask you one more thing… What is your favorite fairy tale?"

Team SLVR are caught off guard before they begin to answer. Simin says the maidens, Lycan the champion of Light, Ragora the Maidens as well, and Vivian says the Traveling Wizard.

Ozpin nods as each answer is said and stands before summoning his cane to his hand and restoring it temporarily to his green magic gem tipped staff and flourishing it around his body as his magic cloak appears. Team SLVR all take a step back in awe and shock as they bear witness to the Traveling Wizard in the flesh as he says, "What if I told you… All of your favorite fairy tales were true?"

SLVR all slump their shoulders and then turn to the members of the Hunters guild only to gape in shock again as they see them all calm and admiring Ozpins form instead of being stricken with awe as well. They all fall into chairs that Glynda brought forward with her semblance as they process this information.

Eventually team SLVR is brought up to speed on the Monarchs, the ancient war, Jaunes status as the current inheritor of the Champion of Light legend, how Ozpin is still alive all these centuries later, and how Salem is the current Monarch of Darkness and how she came to be that way.

They all take a good few minutes to process this information and then once they have mentally accepted this news they look to Ozpin and Jaune who are standing side by side, Ozpin in his true look, while Jaune is showing his powerful flowing aura and glowing white eyes. SLVR stand one by one as they check with each other in hushed whispers about what they should do.

Lycan steps forward first as he bluntly asks, "So the reason you told this all to us, and the fact we were accepted so quickly into the guild was that you guys need help, allies, and support for the coming war. And even if we don't join you the war will happen during our generation whether we like it or not. Right?"

Ozpin and Juane look to each other then back to Lycan and nod with serious faces.

Lycan taps his foot in thought and nods to himself, "Well count me in!" He makes everyone look at him with an 'are you serious?!' look. He notices all the faces and grins before looking towards his team.

"Come on guys! This is why I became a hunter! TO fight back the darkness! And they are saying we can end it all by helping the literal Champion of Light and the Traveling Wizard fight it off and defeat it once and for all? I say my claws are yours! What do you all say?" Lycan ends his speech while looking ready for a fight or for his friends to join him, possibly both.

Vivian looks nervous but shocks everyone as she stands next to voice her support to the cause. She begins in a quiet voice that slowly picks up volume, "IN our group I am usually the quiet one, and the one who feels like she messes up the most when things are serious or hard. But for me, I feel it! I know we can do this! And I believe we can help fight off the darkness that has been plaguing this land for so many years! I AM IN!"

Her voice echoes throughout the office leaving everyone's eyes on her as she meeps and realizes just how loud she was just then. Lycan grins at her and gives her a thumbs up while Simin and Ragora both clap at her devotion. Simin stands net and simply goes, "If my team mates are all this into supporting you then as team leader I have no choice but to join. And I can't wait to kick the darkness back so badly that we won't hear a peep out of them for at least another century!"

Ragora rolls her eyes at her team mates dramatic speeches but nods her head as she goes, "I wouldn't go so far as to make some epic or inspiring speech like my friends here but I do agree with them. I am here to help you fight this threat off. If that means helping an ancient Champion and Wizard? Then why not? We literally fight creatures made form the shadows of the heart, not that much weirder than that if you think about it."

Everyone chuckles at the bluntness of her statement and Ozpin nods his head at the sentiment. Then his face turns serious as he returns his cloak and cane to their original forms, "Be that as it may, we still need to bring you up to speed with the growth of everyone else and their training. I'm thinking of giving you all homework of a long term mission I will assign you personally to give you two weeks off from classes. Use this time to take out any Grimm gates you can around Vale. And train using those to push yourselves further than before. Can you all do that?"

The students look to each other before one by one they begin to grin and then all turn to Ozpin and nod, he gets a smile of his own and sits back down. He grabs some papers on his desk to look over and the teens all stay a minute in case he had anything else to say.

Once they made sure of his continued silence they all begin to head to the elevator, of in Yang, Pyrrha, Yatsu, Jaune, Lycan, and Noras case the stairs. Right as the students are about to enter their modes of leaving the office Ozpin announces one last surprise.

He goes, "Oh and I will send the notice to the faculty of you all being absent form your classes for two weeks for your training mission. Jaune I trust you to bring them up to speed on how you shall all be training together. Especially since that is your specialty."

Jaune says, "Understood Headmaster! I'll make sure they are all whipped up into proper fighting shape for the coming challenges!" Jaune grins at his friends who all smile, giggle or nod back at him.

Right as they are about to try to exit the office again Ozpin hits them with one more surprise, "Oh yes. One last thing. Mr. Arc… Can you explain this news report from yesterday?"

Jaune sweats as everyone looks at him oddly right before the news report is brought up to the screen.

Lisa's voice is heard first,

"Sir Huntsman! I am Lisa Lavender with the Vale News Network! Would you place let us know what happened in there? And why were you the first to go in based on initial reports? And who are all of the heroes that joined you in there? And how dangerous was the gate to force the city of Vale to deploy not one, not two, but 4 full teams of students to fight it off? A C Rank? A B- Rank? A B Rank?!"

Everyone was worried at how that might upset the viewers and how brazen Lisa was in her guessing such high ranked gates so suddenly. But Jaunes answer made them realize that he was playing a very different game than the one they usually see on the news.

"We had gotten an emergency mission from Headmaster Ozpin himself that a dangerous ranked B+ Grimm pool had appeared in central Vale park. I was deployed first as the scout for my guild to catch up and help me subdue the Grimm in the pool that were all Ursas majors, Beringals, Deathstalkers, and a Wendigo leading them. It was dangerous but we managed against the horde of over 150 Grimm. Now pardon me my guild and I need to head back and report a completed successful mission to Headmaster Ozpin."

They all gape and look at Jaune at how he down played the danger he was in all that time in there. He looked at them all and shrugged before saying, "Why make the public worry further than they already had at that point? More panic and negative emotions would have simply fed Salem and given her more power to use. I figured this way the public would know they had been in danger but it was something easily controllable. And this lessens the negative emotions flowing around downtown Vale."

Everyone grin at his foresight before Ozpin clears his throat, "That is all well and good Mr. Arc but did you need to throw shade at the council to get your message across?"

Everyone goes back to looking at Jaune with confused looks, and at the mention of the council Weiss, Blake, Pyrrah, Coco, and Ragora all look at him like he has grown a second head given how they know the political field pretty well. Jaune blushes at being called out and helplessly shrugs as the next part plays out.

"Wait! Final question! What is your guild? I thought the guild system was abolished back around 20-30 years ago due to it not being cost effective?"

"Well it was abolished due to cost concerns for the councils pockets, and also their standing among the public. After all can't have the guilds holding more power than the council, right? So Ozpin decided to allow for one guild to form in Beacon and I am a member of it. We are called the Hunters Guild. And we will be here to defend Vale with everything we have. You can thank Ozpin and Beacon academy for their swift response to this threat. See you on the news."

Jaune then hears and sees the final part and the ending wrap up to the report he didn't have time to listen to after his impromptu interview.

"You heard it here folks! The guild system is back! And we have a powerful new guild here to help us in our times of need! The Hunters Guild! Hosted by Ozpin of Beacon academy himself! And we have them to thank for defending the city while the council was sitting on their hands hoping the mess wouldn't hurt their already deep pockets! Is this a warning about the councils need for even more power? Or is this the start of a new system to balance the overwhelming control the council has of the city? This is Lisa Lavender signing off after interviewing our cities new group of protectors The Hunters!"

At this point everyone has Jaune locked in their sights at what he just did to have the council now have their eyes on them and the academy. He shrugs helplessly under the scrutiny and simply says, "What can I say? With the taking so long to make a move I got mildly pissed at them! So I figured make a small warning to them that Vale is watching their movements in the future for the sake of the citizens lives! Is that so bad?"

Ozpin chuckles as Jaune rushes to defend himself and says, "No it is not, but the method could have been handled… more subtly. I hope you enjoy yourselves with your training, and just know that the council may try to recruit you or cripple your standing in the city in the coming weeks so that they can belittle your image and regain their image in the eyes of the people. So be ready for fake members popping up or damage to the city that was blamed on you all fighting villains or Grimm in the city that didn't even happen. The council has controlled Vale for so long that I fear they will use any method they can if it means regaining their fragile sense of control."

The students gulp nervously but they all nod at that warning knowing they should take it to heart given the councils power and connections.

After that warning Ozpin then smiles and says, "You had best become strong enough to ignore their methods and simply do what your do best. Defend the weak and protect the light of the soul. Off to training planning with you now! Go on!"

With that the students head off to plan their next moves for training and growth, Glynda heads off as well to deal with the paperwork that Ozpin just stuck her with when it comes to excusing 16 students from their classes for a week. Ozpin looks out the window and says to a crow that was standing next to it, "Keep an eye and ear out for whatever the council may do in response to this provocation. We need to make sure we know who is corrupt and who isn't on the inside. Understood?"

Qrow nods his bird head and flies off with aloud caw as Ozpin sips his coffee and hopes for a better future to come soon.

– JNPR Team Dorm –

Jaune breaks down what his gate ability does and how it improves training speed by a whooping 20% when used efficiently. Team SLVR are all left gaping and think realize one thing, "So that's how you improved so fast in class after only one rehab month! Dang! You are practically a cheat character in a video game at this point!" Lycan yells out in both awe and realization.

Jaune blushes at the accusation and he rubs the back of his head while going, "Yeah, you kind of have a point there but I do think that I actually use it realistically given the circumstances. Think about it if I don't push myself to grow fast, will there even be someone who can hold back Salem? I don't think anyone besides Ozpin can understand let alone comprehend her power. If we don't do something to fight back her darkness with everything we have, we will either be at a stalemate or lose too much ground."

Everyone nods their heads sadly at this as Blake speaks up next, "Especially if we can just convince the White Fang about this ongoing war. They would help to ensure there is a world left to fight for. At least… I hope they would. With Adam leading the Vale branch I'm sure he would rather fight alongside the Grimm than fight alongside us to protect the world from the Grimm. He would rather use the Grimm to help Faunus eliminate humans."

Blake looks ashamed at this admittance while Yang gets a thought in her mind that she can't help but ask, "And Adam is who? You mentioned him once but didn't want to elaborate before. But now? I think we should know who this guy is."

Blake sighs as she looks at everyone who are all asking the same question with their eyes. She gives off a sad forlorn sigh and admits, "He was my commanding officer in the White Fang, and a man I had a crush on at first. He helped teach me more advanced combat abilities compared to the basics I knew from my parents training me. And as we went on more missions together he seemed to honestly care for the Faunus creed of freedom and equal treatment. But after those first 3 years working together something in him switched gears."

Blake begins to tear up as Velvet comes over to comfort her. Yang holds Blakes hand while everyone gives her a supportive silence. She takes a few needed breaths before continuing, "It happened about 3 missions before I abandoned the Fang group. We were on our way to free a female faunus from an abusive high ranking figure in Atlas. She was only a deer faunus with fur like hair and a small tail as her markings. We made it into the mansion she was residing in and found her holding a small child to her chest breast feeding them. We thought it was her child and Adam went to help her and the child escape. But when Adam turned the child over he saw the child was fully human. The deer faunus was the wet nurse to help the baby feed since his mother was sick. Adam flew into a rage and got ready to cut down the baby and the deer faunus who was 'aiding' the humans. She shielded the child with her body and I managed to convince Adam to leave before security found us as it would make our silent mission have footprints at that point."

Weiss yelped at that news and asked in a frightened voice, "He was ready to kill a baby?! Just because they were born human?!"

Blake nods sadly much to the shock of everyone else and continues her story, "It got worse from there, we were then transferred to Vale to help here thanks to our mission record having a 90% success rate. And he got worse, next came the male mouse who was proposing to a human female and who said yes. I figured to leave them alone since he was fine and making a bridge to connect the two races, but Adam was ready to kill them both. I had to drag him away while he was screaming about the mouse male disappointing the race. And the next one was worse still, he was ready to blow up a small clinic that treats humans and faunus equally but was run by a human couple with their three adopted faunus children. Then finally came the train incident I told you about. I left him and the Fang then after using my half of the activation device to disable all the bombs on the train."

Everyone nods sadly at this and Weiss decides to address the last of the elephant as it was leaving the room, "Why didn't you tell us this when we learned you were a faunus? We could have helped you work through this!"

Blake looked at Weiss with a reserved look on her face, "To be fair you had just given me a chance to get to know me more as a person, how could I tell you, 'Oh and by the way I almost helped end the lives of so many innocent people thanks to my crazy ex partner' on top of that? I don't think it would have worked out too well."

Weiss blushes as she realizes that yes that would have been too much to unpack after their fight on the docks with the white fang all those weeks ago. She shrugs in defeat and comes over to give Blake a hug of support to show there are no hard feelings about hiding this information from them and that she was more than ready to help her in the future as team mates.

Jaune smiles at the stronger bond that has been formed from this and realizes that they may need to tackle the issue of the White Fang in Vale if they want to make a standing army with a stable foundation and to lessen possible troops for Salems forces.

Jaune snaps his fingers in realization as an idea hits him and he goes, "Guys! I know what we need to do!"

Everyone perks up at that and pay attention to Jaune as Pyrrha asks the question, "What is it that we need to do? Something to do with the White Fang?"

Jaune nods and lays out the plan, "Think of it like this, first we have two weeks off from school right now to train right?"

Everyone nods.

Jaune continues, "Let's use the first week to gain strength and get our team combination attacks down pat. Understood?"

Another round of nods in response.

Jaune then lists it all down at once, "So lets gain strength this first week, then the second week let's find a hub of White Fang activity and make a ruckus. Then we can draw them out to force their location into the open and then capture them for the police to take in and remove them from the equation of threats for the future!"

Everyone nods in acceptance and eagerness to remove a threat like the White Fang from the streets of Vale before Ruby raises her hand in excitement.

Everyone quiets down as Jaune addresses Ruby with a nod, she then asks, "What kind of ruckus? We can't exactly start a fight in the middle of the city for no good reason after all, right?"

The group then turns to Jaune and see his grin on his face, "Well luckily Ruby we won't have to worry about that since no one but us knows about my ability. I just need to summon a few Arma Gigas looking enemies for us to 'subjugate' and we can handle it from there once we draw them out. Sound fair?"

Pyrrha perks up at that and giggles as Nora joins in with an evil cackle at the plan, and after them soon the rest of the group joins in with chuckles and giggles at the plan. No one would be the wiser once they draw out the Fang. But Blake was the only one still hesitant as she had a thought about the leader of the Vale Branch, her ex commander Adam.

Blake goes, "Jaune I would assume that you or Pyrrha are the ones who are going to try and take on Adam once he shows up right?"

Jaune nods and Pyrrha corrects her, "Well I would probably back him up but yes we would be the only two probably strong enough to fight him as we are right now. Maybe more of us can join against him after this next week of training together but for now yes Jaune and I will fight him. What's wrong?"

Blake then thinks to Jaunes speed, power, reflexes and other abilities she has seen him use and goes, "I think you are just below him in terms of power, speed, and durability. He is a branch commander for a reason, I have seen him fight fourth year hunters form the academies during missions and floor them. I think he may be a prodigy that makes his strength, in terms of stats that is, between 200-250 on average. How close are you to that level?"

Jaune gulps and looks at his stats once more along with his skills.

Level 117

Exp: 24%

HP: 110,880/110,880

AP: 40,950/ 40,950

Fatigue: 0/100%

Class: Master of Knights

Stats:

STR: 152 (+50) (+10 ally boost)

AGI: 152 (+25) (+10 ally boost)

VIT:152 (+40) (+10 ally boost)

INT: 192 (+10 ally boost)

SENSE: 152 (+15) (+10 ally boost)

Points available: 48

Current shop points: 38,251 points

Physical dmg resistance: +47%

Skills:

-???- : ?????

Inheritor: Access to system, over level 20 access to shop

Knight Master: +1 to all stats per ally under users command

Standing army: Gain ability to summon an army of knights under the users command, points available 22/192, basic unit lvl 42: 8 (3 sword, 3 bow, 2 healer) (5 pts per), commander units lvl 45: 1 (1 Great knight) (30 pts per), heroic unit lvl 57: 1 (Iron) (100 pts per)

Commander Unit: Great Knight (Passive: +5% to all ally melee units dmg, stacks with other commander abilities)

Heroic Unit Iron title holder: Iron the Shield of the Light

Arc Bloodline: +250 to AP per level

Expert sword arts lvl 3: 10 times dmg with swords

Unarmed Combat Expert lvl 3: times 10 dmg with unarmed blows

True Warriors Aura lvl 5: +50 to Str, Agi, and Vit for however long this aura is active, heals 1300 HP per minute, cost: 1000 for activation, additional 100 per minute used.

Knights Rallying call lvl 5: +26 to all stats of every person you recognize as an ally within 200ft of user, Lower the physical abilities of foes by 26 points within the area of effect. Costs 1000 AP, lasts 5 minutes.

White Knight Body Armor Rank A:

+15 str

+15 vit

+11% physical dmg reduction

White Knight Gauntlets Rank A:

+10 str

+5 sense

+8% physical dmg reduction

White Knight Sabatons Rank A:

+10 vit

+5 agi

+8% physical dmg reduction

White Knight Basic Helm Rank A:

+10 sense

+10 agi

+5% physical dmg reduction

Rank S Crocea Mors (Seal level 4)

Bonuses: +320 to dmg

+25 str when equipped

+15 vit when equipped

+10 agi when equipped

+15% reduction to physical dmg when equipped

Blake nods as he finishes recounting this to her and the rest of their friends whistle in appreciation at how strong he has gotten after revealing how none of his stats were past 15 at level one. He has come a long way from his beginner status. Blake agrees that this week they will have to train like hell to make sure Jaune stands a good chance of exceeding Adams strength.

Soon they all refocus on Jaune as he reveals his key bundle and what they will do each day this week.

– Tuesday –

Jaune had led the guild members out to the Emerald Forest after their morning training in the gym and explained how the keys work and how many gates they would be letting team SLVR tackle today. He told them how by themselves to catch up to his troops and friends they would be put through 10 E Rank gates today, then 4 D Rank gates to wrap up their catch up training for the day.

Lycan was more than ready for this while his team mates were all eager to test themselves and hopefully feel a difference in their abilities. Jaune opened the gate and went in with them to explain how the gates work and to help them get through the weird feeling of having your fears drawn out as you pass through.

On the other side the team members all shiver as they fight their fears back from the gate trying to draw them out, thankfully they didn't feel too much of a backlash thanks to the weakness of the gate.

Jaune explains how this would be a Creeper gate and suddenly Lycan charges past him and cuts down a creeper that was already charging them. Jaune chuckles and lets him know there are 18 more creepers in this gate plus an Alpha who leads the pack. Team SLVR nods and get to the work. Soon within 2 minutes all Creepers are down and the gate begins to fade. Jaune gets no shop points since he didn't participate but he does get the stat point for his allies wiping out the gate. He shrugs and figures stat points are going to help him bridge the gap between himself and Adam the best right now instead of shop points. Besides he has many higher ranked keys left in his inventory for upcoming training.

Soon team SLVR are excited to continue the catch up training as they did feel a little stronger from simply defeating a small pack of creepers.

Jaune guides them through the remaining 9 E rank gates that were all full of Beowulves, Creepers, or skull walkers (Team Dark trailers initial enemies, quadruped enemies that looked like humans have 4 spider legs with claws.)

Team SLVR had no worries and gave no quarter. All the Grimm were eradicated under the watchful eyes of Jaune as he kept them updated of the enemies numbers and their abilities.

Team SLVR wiped out all E rank gates in just under an hour. Jaune chuckled as the team members were all cheering and feeling their abilities grow bit by bit as they conquered each gate. Soon he looks at the D rank keys and smiles to himself as he hopes the team was ready for the jump in difficulty.

He opens the next gate after making sure Simin had checked on all his team mates and had rested properly. After the check in was done he opened the first D rank gate for Team SLVR. They entered in and got ready for any enemies. Jaune let them know this gate was full of Ursas and an Ursa Major. They all grinned and readies their weapons. Soon 40 Ursas appeared and the team broke out into their usual formation of Lycan in front with Ragora and Simin flanking him to avoid him becoming surrounded with Vivian providing long range sniper support.

They only take 5 minutes to defeat all enemies and were sweating lightly at the increased enemy numbers. Jaune asks if they want to go to the next gate now or wait, but they were riding their earlier high from the 10 gates cleared at once so Jaune simply shrugged and let them go. As they were exiting the team members were all noticing they felt a little lighter and stronger than when they were clearing the E rank gates. It wasn't by much but it was much more noticeable. Soon Jaune prepared his next gate and let them in.

They had a bit more trouble in this one as this was an Alpha Beowulf filled gate. The head leader was a supreme Alpha Beowulf. He was covered in more bone armor, with natural bone spears on his arms and a spiked bone helmet protecting his head. Lycan readied his claws as he remembers getting ready to face a Grimm like this last time he was in mt. Glenn but got interrupted thanks to a battle android. He charged and clashed with the supreme Alpha but managed to slash it to pieces and kill it within a minute and a half.

Lycan wiped some sweat from the quick but harder fight he just endured and gave a thumbs up to his friends who were watching on the side lines giving him his rematch. Jaune clapped and told them that there were 6 D ranked gates left, he asked how their stamina was doing and they said they were ready for more.

Jaune chuckles and then decides to make a competition between his guild members.

He opens up 4 D ranked gates and assigns each team one gate. Who ever completes their gate first would get the next dibs on a shop exclusive accessory that Jaune would prepare for them. After seeing the boost Pyrrha, Yang, Velvet, and Weiss went through everyone readily agreed.

They all got into their team formations and prepared o jump in due to a 5 second count down. Once Jaune called it they all leaped into their assigned portals. Unknown to each team leader Jaune assigned a little guard for them should they need it. For Team SLVR he put Iron into Simins shadow, Ruby had Great Knight waiting in hers, and Coco had a powerful Knight waiting in hers.

However his fears were unfounded, each team eradicated the D ranked gates in under 3 minutes. His team was the fastest thanks to his abilities being so high and with Pyrrha aiding as his right flank. Ren and Nora had both improved in their speed and accuracy as Ren has gained some good strength from their combined training together.

Jaune saw RWBY come out next, shortly followed by CFVY and finally team SLVR. The teams all looked at each other and were disappointed to see JNRP had won anyway. Jaune chuckled as he shook his head and told them, "Hey don't worry guys, we have another training day tomorrow, this time against higher ranked gates. Sound good?"

Everyone nods their heads and go back to rest up from the training as, while it wasn't too hard, it still took a decent amount of their energy to complete. On their way back Jaune gave Ren, Nora, Ruby and Blake their gifts, his claim was that his team was first and team RWBY was runner up. They all loved the accessories and all equipped them right away. Feeling the boost they were excited for tomorrows tests in the remaining D and C ranked gates.

Jaune lay in his bed while thinking of how well they were doing in the gate leveling, hoping they would be able to grow fast enough to match or even exceed Adam. Jaune looked at the remaining keys in his bundle before focusing on the B and A ranked keys. They would help him the most. And help him gain new understanding of his limitations.

He opened the daily gift and found something new. An accessory called the Knights ring. It was already C ranked but had a nice effect added to it. Jaune put it away in his inventory to look at in more detail later this week once he had stocked up enough shop points to make the ring become A ranked.

– Wednesday –

The next day they returned to the forest to continue their gate training. Team SLVR cleared the last 2 D ranked keys with little issue as Jaune was there ready with his army should anything happen. Soon they all come out and look at the next Key Jaune was holding in his hand. Team SLVR's first C rank gate, Jaune said his entire team wold play back up should things get too dicey there and team SLVR didn't argue as they felt the change in difficulty from E to D, now they were going further.

They all entered the C ranked gate and found the mobs to be Superior Alpha Beowulves, and the leader was revealed to be a Terrortula. They charged in with their formation slowly but surely getting through each Grimm one by one. After wiping out the first 40 of the 80 Grimm in the gate they began to feel the fatigue as the Grimms were showing their survival skills in combat. Jaune was about to step in when Lycan yelled out, "Don't help us! If we can't even pass this kind of gate, then how could we feel like we can stand beside you all in combat? Let us finish this ourselves!"

Jaune backed down and watched as team SLVR brought out all their combos, using their Semblances to each up the pressure and allow them full use of their combos. With them going all out the remaining Grimm were quickly eradicated albeit with some resistance as they were stronger than the average Grimm.

Soon team SLVR come out with some panting members and a sheen of sweat visible on their skin from the effort.

Everyone gives them water and wet towels to wipe the sweat off as they ask them how it went.

Everyone tells it a little differently but they all admit that this training will be beneficial especially with them feeling a boost to their abilities at least 1.5 times that of the feeling they got from the Rank D gate. Jaune nods and says, "Yeah each gate goes up at a large amounts in difficulty, its not as simple as 1, 2, 3 in level, its more like, E rank is level 1-3 of a dungeon, then D is floor 4-8, then C is 9-15, then B is 16-30, then A is 31-50, then S is 51+. I haven't experienced S rank myself yet, but it does have a high difficulty compared to the A rank we fought in the park yesterday."

Everyone goes slightly pale at that news before they square their shoulders and school their features to show they are ready for the upcoming fight. Jaune smiles at them and after a solid hour of rest he opens the next C rank for team SLVR to tackle. They all nod to each other and head in to find a small army of Deathstalkers with an Alpha Deathstalker leading them. They charge in with their armored enemy countermeasure formation in use to fight them off.

It takes them a good 20 minutes of constant fighting but they manage to pull out another win. This time SLVR says they will need to wait for at least 2 hours before they feel they have recovered enough aura to tackle another gate. Jaune nods and turns to everyone else to ask what gate they would like to train in.

Everyone decided to check to make sure they weren't getting rusty by challenging a C rank before attempting anything higher.

The full team goes in while SLVR stays outside to rest and the teams use only 15 minutes to eradicate the gate full of Gargoyles. They all come out stretching and tell Jaune to prepare a B ranked gate for them to challenge themselves in. He nods and places the key into the air to activate the gate. It opens with an ominous feeling coming out and Jaune hears the system warn him.

~Careful Player Jaune, Salem was able to influence the gate a bit, it is actually a B+ gate instead of a typical B. Be wary while inside. Prepare all your forces.~

Jaune nods to himself and summons his full force, and tells SLVR they will need them for this one. Everyone gulps and they all enter the gate together. It closes behind them while an ominous chuckle is heard throughout the now empty forest that sounds feminine and ancient.