Harbinger

I'm going to die, I'm going to die, I'm going to die, I'm going to die.

I'm kind of okay with this, actually. At least there was nothing I could have reasonably done to prepare for this. Maybe if I had metaknowledge of what a flerken is I'd stand a chance but I don't and this really just isn't fair. I thought that the Dungeon was supposed to be restricted from doing stuff like spawning monsters that are way too strong for a given floor.

A concession was made in this case, to allow for a more dangerous boss with a greater reward should you succeed.​

But I don't stand a chance in a fight. This thing is nearly triple my level. It'll just sneeze on me and I'll probably die, because I'm not going to assume it's defenseless.

I wanna go home.

I sit down in the grass, the flerken still just ignoring me. This was nice while it lasted, I guess. I had sort of hoped that maybe I'd be able to make some really close friends, but it's too late now. At least I talked to some girls, that's more than I've done in a year, what with coronavirus. And Qrow. On the bright side, Ozpin will probably freak out over my sudden disappearance. Maybe he'll think Salem got me to work with her, that would be a nice last laugh.

Might as well have a last meal, I guess. I sigh as I pull my tuna out of my inventory, only to freeze as I hear mewling. Oh no now it's looking at me like it's hungry. Because I have tuna. Hmmmm.

Maybe I can bribe it with food? It's worth a shot. I hold out the plate of tuna, putting my silverware back in my inventory.

Curiously, the flerken sniffs the air and gets up wandering closer to me on weak little legs. Is this an act? How does it have that much strength?

Once it's within a certain distance, it opens its mouth and I receive all the answers I never wanted.

An infinite, yawning inferno of horror hides inside its mouth. A dark, shimmering unreality from which emerges a single long purple tentacle with another mouth at the end of it, which snatches the tuna from the plate and withdraws, making a sound that is utterly horrifying. A wet, vast, squelching slurp as the tuna steak vanishes into the gaping maw.

[+50 reputation with ???(50/100) more]

Well, I do have another one. Might as well use it too.

I flinch as the horrifying process repeats itself, this time with a second tuna steak.

[+50 reputation with ???(100/100) she has decided to adopt you as her pet]

Aww, that's nice of her.

Quest Completed: You Done-geon Fucked Up

Objective Complete: Pacify the boss and make it out of the dungeon alive

Bonus Objective Complete: Explore 100% of the dungeon

Hidden Objective complete: befriend the boss

Reward: THE ABILITY TO LEAVE, FOR NOW, Misc. Game Feature Unlocks, 1,000 credits, 4,000 exp

Bonus reward: 2,000 credits, 6,000 exp, x 3 gacha token

Hidden objective reward: soulstone

Increased difficulty reward: +1 skill points

Unlocked Game functions: base building, the credit store, Dungeon themes, difficulty adjustment​

Okay. I'm just going to pet the kitty for a moment before I deal with this to let my heart rate go back to something manageable.

"Would you like pets?" I ask the flerken, who nods her head imperiously at me. It's a bit weird to pet something I know could kill me with ease, but also very nice. Kittens are cute and floofy. "I guess I should give you a name. How about... Amber?" I'm terrible at names, I just thought of something orangeish.

Amber nuzzles my hand cutely, so I guess she must approve.

Having a happy little kitten to pet helps my anxiety fade relatively quickly, although I still have an urge to just lay in bed for a long time imagining there's someone cuddling me. I'll do that soon, though.

So most of my loot is straightforward enough. I'll look at the soulstone and figure out the new systems later, but I feel obligated to find out what getting a skill point means right away.

Skill points allow you to unlock another skill of your choice, though you won't gain an additional skill point when that skill reaches 100.​

Ohhh. That's really nice. I'll figure that out later, for now I'd like to just leave the dungeon. Being here is bad for my heart.

Just as I think it, another swirling portal like before appears in front of me.

I hold out my cupped hands, and Amber clambers into them, curling into a little orange ball. Then I stand up, and walk through, returning to Remnant.

It's such a relief to be back in Roman's panic room. I say screw caution and just sit down on Roman's cot as I take some nice deep breaths of basement air. Ah, you can just smell the particles of the drywall I broke as they float into my lungs. Feels like I did all that a long time ago.

The kitten in my hands is deposited in my lap so that I can take out my scroll, though I'm not entirely sure who to text, only that I could really use someone to talk to. Before I know it I'm texting Qrow.

Sil: Qrow help I need someone to talk to

Qrow: it's been ten minutes

Sil: I'm serious please just get in my house I don't want to be alone right now

Qrow: okay

Only ten minutes? Time stops while I'm in there?

It does, but he doesn't mean literally ten minutes.​

Oh. Okay. That's nice. Very handy.

Wait, shit. I'm still in the panic room. I'd rather he not find out about that part. I quickly pick Amber back up and rush out of the basement, encountering Qrow in the back room.

"Hey kid-oh."

I can't help it. The moment I hear Qrow's voice I start crying, heaving with sobs as I clutch Amber to my chest. It's more than a matter of almost dying in the dungeon. It's about a long time of being unbearably lonely and lost. Of feeling utterly powerless to do anything for myself or anyone else in the world.

My hands grope forward blindly, and when I find a bony shoulder I grab onto it and move forward, hugging Qrow as I sob into his scratchy grey vest. He stiffens for a moment before slowly hugging back, letting me cling to him as I slowly wring myself dry of tears.

Eventually I'm just sobbing and hiccuping and dryly heaving to catch my breath, my face streaked, eyes sore and dry as I finally begin to get my breathing back under control. I back off from Qrow with a mumbled apology. "Sorry."

"There's no need to apologize. You clearly needed it." Qrow lets his arms fall to the side as he watches me, concerned.

[+10 reputation with Qrow "I can't stand kids" Branwen(80/100)]

"No. I didn't ask for permission. I hate it when people hug me without asking. I shouldn't have done that." I say, looking down at the flerken that's taken refuge in my cleavage. Well, I guess I don't mind since she's a girl.

"It's fine, Sil. Having two nieces has taught me to enjoy surprise hugs." His reply is firm and final.

"Okay." I frown. Even if he's fine with it, I'm still disappointed in myself. "I'm going to make some tea. We can talk then."

"I prefer coffee."

"I'm making tea." I don't even know how to make coffee.

I climb up to my kitchen on shaky legs, Amber still a soft, warm little ball safely nestled into my chest. Qrow follows behind, but we don't speak further until the tea is done. Chamomile, of course.

"So..." I begin as I pour my tea into a mug, not entirely sure how much I'm willing to reveal. "I almost died. I was sure I was going to die. I'm only alive because I decided to have fish for dinner."

"I see." Qrow nods slowly. He's settled for drinking from his flask, and he takes a short swig before he answers. "Oz has always been better at this kind of thing than I am."

"I don't trust Oz." I shrug, and take a sip. The warm tea runs smoothly down my throat and settles in my belly, helping soothe me. "I think I trust you."

Qrow is silent, staring at me with an unreadable expression. "That's generally a bad idea."

"I doubt it." I give him a gentle smile and have some more tea. "Don't get me wrong though. I'm not going to give up because of this. It's not like I expect you to give me some kind of inspirational speech. I just... feel the need to talk about it."

"You're saying you want me to be your therapist?" Qrow rolls his eyes.

"What else are friends for?" I smile halfheartedly. "If not to talk about feelings and have fun? I'm actually genuinely asking because I'm not used to having friends."

"Look. I'm not the kind of guy that sticks around, even if I am spying on you for now." Qrow says, his voice sharp with reproach. "I keep my distance because otherwise I'm putting you in danger. We can't be friends."

"You don't need to worry about your semblance around me." I fib, since he is still plunging my luck into the negatives when we're together, but he won't eventually.

"What?" He blinks once, expression blank.

"I can measure people's luck. My luck is high enough that being around you doesn't make it negative. It's just less good."

"That sounds like complete bullshit."

"As bullshit as the fact that I can just casually store food in an extradimensional space and do magic and stuff?" I chuckle a little before doing my best to be serious. "Look man, the Salem and Oz stuff isn't all I know. I know about your semblance, and I would never screw with someone over something like that. I swear." I mean it. I really do. I was really happy to see Qrow and Clover together in v7 because I know what it's like to blame yourself way more than you should because of something out of your control.

[+20 Reputation with Qrow Branwen(100/100) you're not hurt by his semblance?]

Relationship Perk gained: Harbinger

Your bond with Qrow Branwen is now great enough that his semblance no longer targets you. For reaching maximum reputation, fighting side by side with Qrow will now temporarily reduce the luck of an opponent by 1 for each blow they receive from your weapons.​

"You better not be lying to me, kid." Qrow sighes, a smile twitching at his lips.

"Your semblance just stopped affecting me entirely."

At that Qrow nearly chokes on his own alcohol, spilling his flask all over the table and himself. Oops, I didn't mean to do that. "What?" He chokes the word out between coughs.

"Uh, yeah." I can't do anything but shrug, just as surprised as he is for once. "I do know that it's because we're fairly close now. I... I don't know if this might extend to other people as a quality of your semblance or if it's just me. We need to test it."

"We will, but not right now. That's not what we're doing right now."

"It's not? What were we doing?" Damn, I got totally distracted from something, didn't I?

"We were talking about you almost dying."

"Ohhh, yeah. I forgot about that." My mood slowly sinks as I say it, along with my posture. "I... don't remember what I wanted to say. There was something specific. Oops."

"You forgot?"

"Yeah."

"How do you forget something like that?"

"ADHD."

"Oh, yeah, that would do it." He just nods understandingly.

"Yeah. Well, the crying helped a bunch. And talking to you in general. So, thanks Qrow. Really." I'm staring at the table as I say it, my hand at the nape of my neck. I'm really not used to this sort of thing. This sort of thing being long close conversations that help me or someone else get some kind of emotional catharsis. "Let me wash my face off a bit and then we'll go visit Yang and Ruby. Find out about your semblance."

"If you think you're up to it I won't try to stop you." Qrow says, giving me a Look. "And we can stop by a pet store on the way."

"What for?"

"For your new cat."

"Oh no, Amber isn't a cat, she's a flerken. And she's not mine, I'm hers."

Qrow looks at Amber. He looks at me. He looks at Amber, suddenly sad. "You named her Amber?"

"Yeah. I'm bad at names so I just sort of thought, what's a thing that's orange? I didn't really mean to name her after Fall."

He sighs the way he has been lately whenever I come up with some new bullshit. "And what's a flerken?"

"I don't know. But I do know that she could kill me as easily as look at me, and she has impossibly large purple tentacles inside her mouth. And not the fun kind of tentacle either."

Qrow grimaces. "I did not need that mental image."

"Yeah, me neither." I nod agreeably, regretting saying it just as much as he probably regretted hearing it. "Anyway, the point is that she eats people food, and maybe also people if she feels like it, and she's also just as intelligent as us, so I don't need to bother with kibble or whatever."

"What about a litterbox?"

"Hmmmm. That's a good question. Amber, do you poop?" I look down at her, retrieving her from between my tits.

Amber shakes her head no.

"We don't need to worry about it." I deposit her on the table in front of Qrow. "Alright, now you two get along while I'm washing up, you hear?"

"Right." Qrow says, eyeing Amber warily as she looks up at him with big old kitten eyes. Dang, I am going to love the shit out of that not-a-cat.

"Oh, wait, one more thing I need to tell you." I turn on my heel, pulling Angmar out of my inventory and pinching it between my thumb and pointer fingers to display to him. "If you ever see me wearing this ring, make me take it off. Beat me unconscious and rip it off my finger if you have to. Don't let me or anyone else wear it. It's super cursed. I might end up putting it on if I feel like I'm in a situation where people are going to die if I don't, but if I do make sure I take it off afterwards."

Qrow studies the ring intently for a moment before slowly nodding his assent. "Okay. Sure. Why not? A cursed ring is the least weird thing that's happened this week."

-----------​

"Heyyyy." Velvet whines a little as Coco drapes herself around her shoulders, not really against the warm embrace so much as embarrassed about Yatsu being in the room with them right now, even if he is just on his bed reading a book about Faunus rights movements.

"You know, I've been hearing things lately Velvs." Coco's hands begin to gently rub Velvet's shoulders and neck, hitting all the places that relax her. She's probably doing it specifically because Velvet tenses up, worried about what's coming next. "That Cardin was being himself again, and out of an entire fucking cafeteria of so-called hunters in training, it took someone from outside the academy to give him the treatment he deserves. And that he went back to pulling that shit a while ago and you didn't tell me." Velvet knows the hint of anger in Coco's voice is directed squarely at Cardin, but she can't help the instinctual shock of fear that it sparks in her, even as she suppresses it.

"I'm sorry." Velvet can feel her ears falling along with her spirits, recoiling at the painful memories of Cardin's harassment that Coco evokes by just bringing up the subject.

"Hey, no, don't apologize." Coco cups Velvet's chin and turns her so they face each other, matching brown eyes gently peering into one another's heart. "I just don't like seeing you suffer in silence. Please, I promised I wouldn't do anything like what I did last time again without permission."

"I know. I should, and I really do want to." Velvet sighs, her head leaning gently into Coco's hand. "But it's hard to admit." It's the kind of situation that just makes her ashamed of herself, both because it gets to her head and she knows that she should be telling Coco more than she does.

Coco smiles sadly and presses a soft kiss against Velvet's forehead. "It's okay. I know that I can't really understand what it's like, but please just try to remember I'm here for you, bun."

"Yeah. Come down here?" Velvet tugs Coco down onto the team couch with her, easily settling into her lap. It's a natural place for her to rest, and a warm, familiar one.

"Well, if you don't feel up to talking about the little rat, how about your nice knight in shining armor?"

"She was pretty." Velvet blushes, nuzzling into Coco's chest. "But I mean, it really isn't that big a deal, she isn't a student, she's probably just training for a practical licensing exam. I don't even know what her name is."

"How pretty, hmmm?" Coco teases, gently running her hand along Velvet's outer ear. "Pretty enough that you'd like to date her too?"

"Come on, you know that's not how my brain works." Velvet swats Coco's shoulder in playful reprimand. "Besides, I don't even know her name, and she could be perfectly straight and monogamous anyway."

"So you are at least a little interested, aren't you?" Coco smirks victoriously.

"Okayyy, yes. But it's only a little. There's really no reason to try seeking her out or anything. She's just a person I happened to meet, that's all. We could easily never see her again." Velvet says, doing her best to drop it.

"Are you saying that because you don't think you'd like her or because you're afraid of bothering people when you approach them?" Coco says, cutting through Velvet's anxieties as usual.

"The second one." Velvet sighs.

"Alright then, if either of us see her again let's try to make a new friend then, yeah? See what happens?"

"I... yeah. That sounds nice."

-----------​

It only lunchtime by the time we get to Beacon, what with the whole time not passing in the dungeon thing, and I'm also fucking starving because it's been longer than just three hours since breakfast for me, so we swing by the cafeteria first, hoping to catch Ruby or Yang in the middle of their lunch. We don't see any of team RWBY around right away, so we just end up sitting on our own, him with a hoagie and me with a big stack of pancakes. Because breakfast for lunch. And dinner, when possible.

A few minutes into digging into my post-near death experience meal, someone actually sits next to me, which is another completely original experience of being here on Remnant. It's Coco Adel, of all people. And she's radiating top energy like a... well, like a radiator.

"So, you're the one who stood up for Velvet the other day, yeah?" She says, sliding close enough to me that it could be considered intimate but not so close as to be uncomfortable. She's wearing sunglasses, even though we're indoors, a fact that reminds me that she only wears those so she can freely ogle girls. It's literally canon. I agree with the sentiment, even if the author of those CFVY books is an awful person.

"Um, yes?" I end up making it sound like a question as I cower a little under her attention. Good cowering though. I really do not know how to handle positive attention from aggressively gay girls, but I also know that I really like it.

[+10 reputation with Coco Adel(10/100) for temporarily getting Cardin off her girlfriend's ass]

"I'm Coco, her girlfriend. She never got your name, however."

"Uhhh..." What is my name? "R-er, no, shit. Qrow, what's my name?" I turn pleadingly to the old man who's barely restraining laughter at my useless lesbian self. I have an excuse damnit, it's still a really new name for me. And I've literally had three other ones before. Four, technically.

"Sil. It's Sil." Qrow gives me a smug look that feels like it's making up for all the times I've delighted in his suffering by my hands.

"Well Sil, what are you doing here in Vale?" Coco is smirking at me so hard, ah geez.

"Living here?" I'm not exactly coherent enough to be more specific than that right now. Way too busy thinking about how close Coco is and probably blushing.

Coco smirks as she backs off a little bit, visibly turning down her aura of suave confidence. "Really? Why are you here at Beacon then?"

"I'm helping Qrow with a personal thing." I gesture to Qrow, who nods in confirmation as he chows down on a second sandwich.

"You seem to be making a habit of helping people out then, hmm?"

"I do what I can. It's not that much yet, but I'm getting there." I shrug. Now that I've got food in my stomach I'm starting to just feel emotionally fatigued, there's only so much whiplash and gay panic I can handle, even if that's how my moods normally work. Plus getting to know new people is work. "Hey, uh, so I get that you're trying to start a conversation with me or something, but I've had a really rough day today, and I sort of want to just get this done and take a nap at my home now that I've eaten. So, uh, rain check?"

"Sure." Coco nods in a businesslike manner and puts a folded piece of paper on the table next to me. "Here are my and Velv's numbers. Text us sometime."

"I will try." I say, earnestly. Initiating conversations with people via text is hard.

"Don't try, do." Coco says, momentarily lowering her sunglasses for a wink. I watch dumbfounded as she gets back up and walks away, meeting up with Velvet, who was watching us from a distance, and gives me a small wave before walking to another end of the mess hall.

"Was she like... flirting with me?" I ask Qrow, mostly lost.

"Eh, half flirting half feeling you out." Qrow says, seesawing his hand demonstratively.

"Ah." Well, I guess she and Velvet must already be polyamorous and have decided that I have their interest. I'm very okay with this, even if I wasn't deliberately trying for it.

Although, there is also the fact that that reputation notification said it was only a temporary assist. And if that's the case, does that mean Cardin is just going to end up bouncing back and harassing Velvet even more? Shit. I'd really like to do something permanent about that. But it's really not my place to get involved, I'm just someone looking in from the outside. Velvet probably has her reasons for not just beating the shit out of Cardin like she's perfectly capable of doing if she wanted to. Even beyond him being some privileged rich kid. Which makes me worry. This is frustrating. And there's nothing I can reasonably do about it, yet.

"I'm going to text Yang and Ruby and ask them if they're busy." I say, pulling out my scroll.

"I already did, they were already on their way here for lunch." Qrow says. It's not surprising that he thought of it before me.

I therefore take the time to add the two numbers to my scroll, but not message them yet.

"Yo, drunkle Qrow, what's up?" Yang comes up from my side and fist bumps Qrow from across the table, so I use Observe immediately.

Name: Yang Xaio Long

Race: Human

Age: 18

Level: 53

STR: 133

DEX: 83

END: 73

INT: 67

WIS: 110

LUK: 34

"She's not affected either." I say, grinning at Qrow like a fool. I check Ruby too. "And neither is Ruby."

Qrow, for his part, does a great job of keeping his composure over someone telling him that he doesn't have to be afraid of hurting the people he cares about just by virtue of being in their presence like he's thought for nearly his entire life. I mean, the way Qrow's semblance worked was always weird. Your semblance shouldn't be able to hurt the people you care about. Passive or not, it's still literally coming from your soul, so it has to reflect your intention to some degree.

[+3 affection with Qrow Branwen(3/100)]

"I'm just gonna go home now. You take your time, yeah?" I say, getting as I'm getting up from my seat. I'm glad for Qrow, and this is totally a conversation for him to have alone with his family. Assuming he even wants to tell those two. At the very least I'm sure he'll want to spend some time with them now.

"Uncle Qrow, what's she talking about?" Ruby asking her uncle is the last thing I hear before I'm out of earshot.

Once I've had a lovely, refreshing nap, it's time to get down to business again. Which is weird, because before naps used to just make me feel worse once I woke up, but whatever. It's not like I'm complaining.

Let's crack those shiny little gacha crystals from the dungeon first. Mmmm, dopamine.

[You have received a ring of minor sneaking

You have received a Goa'uld Zat'nik'tel

You have received the Revolutionary Girl Utena Complete Collection Director's Cut on Blu-ray]

Oh shit, I love Utena. Nice. I wonder if Blake would like Utena? Probably. Maybe Weiss too, what with the sword lesbians. Once I figure out a way to explain that Faunus don't exist in the universe it was made in anyway. The zat gun is pretty damn good too, although I doubt it'll knock someone properly unconscious if they have aura. Probably give them muscle spasms for a few seconds though. Should be good for nonlethal takedowns of White Fang grunts. I'll have to test just how effective it is under different circumstances. Probably with Qrow as a vic-er, guinea pig. And, hey, a buff is a buff.

Next on the list of stuff from that dungeon is... ohhh, the skill point. That is a tricky choice. Obviously, it's going into a kind of magic. Or should I put it directly into engineering? I could theoretically get mass production underway more quickly, but I wouldn't be making the best possible stones that I could be making. I don't want to start selling them until I've gotten the skill to 100, so that's pretty much unnecessary.

In that case, which magic? Hmmm. I do feel like I could use the raw damage output I could get out of fire magic, given that earth magic feels like the kind that deals the least direct damage. And that fire spellstones would be the second best kind I could sell, in terms of raw damage to Grimm. But... arcana is what has wards. I don't want to risk a dungeon again anytime soon. I don't strictly need to be as good as possible in unexpected situations. I don't have any reason to think that anyone is going to come after me or that there's an imminent threat to all of Vale. What I want is to make sure that if Roman and Neo end up coming to this particular safe house, I don't get my throat slit in my sleep. And, I'll need those wards to protect my future business against the inevitable fact of thieves. And when it comes down to it, I want a place where I can be reliably safe. A domain in which I possess absolute mastery. Wards can do that. Probably. They can at least help.

I'll take arcana.

Skill Unlocked: Arcana(1/100)​

Spell Gained: Detect Magic

Allows you to detect and analyze nearby magic in all forms.

Range: 20m

MP: 10/sec

Whoa. Arcana is different from geomancy. Inherently so.

It's not just a matter of the skill giving me the ability to manipulate raw force on an instinctual level. Where geomancy is only slightly more structured than the magic of a Maiden that lets them manipulate the elements however they can imagine, this magic is erudite in nature, rather than instinctual. I think that it's a good thing I took this. I'm guessing it must be the basis of magics that aren't mainly varying forms of evocation.

At level 1 it's only the most basic of theory, but it's still absolutely fascinating. It's the beginning of the ability to identify the nature and function of any kind of magic just by looking at it, after all. Fortunately, the knowledge and understanding pop into my head on their own, and there's nothing that I need to study to pick it up.

The thing about arcana is that I'm going to have to actually spend a bunch of time to design and craft any new spells that I want to make, which might be a bit of a pain, but is so worth it. Also, because wards are a part of this, I'm going to be able to grind it without fighting anything. At least a bit. I'm all for that.

It is also a matter for another day, because I am completely taking the rest of today and tomorrow off of doing magic or fighting of any kind. Just going to watch a bunch of Utena, and probably hang out with someone who wouldn't mind my presence. I just cannot do things right now.

Okay. Last thing before I pop Utena in the old DVD player. If there's one thing I appreciate about Roman it's that this place came with a big-ass wall mounted TV at the exact right angle to watch from in bed. I'm going to just read the description on the soulstone in my inventory.

[Soulstone

When used on a willing non-humanoid of equal or lesser level to the user, creates a familiar bond between the two.]

Hey, that's pretty nice. I'll take it. Now I can just take some time to relax.