Story 22 Bloody Evolution Chapter 3

Prinz Eugen was definitely a beauty and she she didn't shy away from her beauty as she walked just behind and to my side to protect me as her admiral/commander as we walked through the streets of Vale.

Thankfully no one tried flirting with her or anything cringy, as I knew Prinz had a sharp tongue and could easily tear some poor teenager's heart apart who dared work up the bravery to speak to her.

But we quickly made our way to the Steel Market of Vale, which was the... Lowest class marketplace in Vale besides the rumored Black Market district that was supposedly hidden underground.

The Steel Market got its name aptly as well, not for selling steel weapons or even construction materials. No it's name was derived from it being a mostly faunus-dominated marketplace and the name came from the primary steel chains they wore in unison.

Not wearing their race chains on their necks and around their wrists was a good way for a police officer, a human civilian, or another Faunus to beat the dog-shit out of them... It was actually a law that should a Faunus catch another Faunus without their chains and be caught on Vale's many camera's dealing with it in-house. The offending Faunus wouldn't even be fined after their beatdown.

So as we came into the marketplace, I finally got to see my first Faunus's... And they were mostly women due to the purge happening but a couple of decades ago and even with their gender ratios slowly switching back to normal there was still the fact that this world had a good sixty-seventy to thirty split between the number of female to male births.

"Hmm, gotta admit they can be a bit cute with the ears," Prinz spoke ever so quietly as she leaned into me as we waited for a light to signal for us to go across the crosswalk.

And I looked over at who she was looking towards with my lips twitching into an amused smile as I nodded shamelessly.

As Prinz had picked out this wonderful specimen of a woman who had these soft cow ears on the sides of her head with a soft gentle face... And torpedo tits that looked like they could happily feed quintuplets.

I felt Prinz shift against me as we kept moving through the market place and as we followed the directions needed, I finally found what we were looking for.

[Undying Hearts Armory] 

Opening the door a short jangle rang out and a dry voice spoke out tiredly. "Hello, welcome to my store."

I looked around and my eyes landed on the veteran and I raised an eyebrow at how the old... Old as hell, man had a single rabbit ear atop his head.

And then as he moved around from behind the glass case, I heard the squeaking of metal and as he came around I saw the vet was missing both of his legs past his knees and only had a single arm with him, not even having a stump at the elbow or anything with his missing arm. 

"Hello, my name is Jake Bariss and I was hoping you could unlock our aura. And maybe we could take a look at the weapons." I asked respectfully as I was raised back home to respect veterans and this man... Was as veteran as it came honestly.

The old rabbit Faunus gave a slight hum and looked between me and Prinz with eyes colored with age before he said bluntly. "Fine, if you are willing to let me unlock your Aura's. I won't stop you." 

I held out my hand to him and I felt his grizzled singular hand grab onto my hand with his old muscles having an unseen grip of strength within them as he held my hand tightly as he coughed with a dim glow of green light surrounding his and then my form.

Then with his voice tinged with age and soul-deep exhaustion, I heard him speak within my very soul which stirred at his aura touching mine. "It is in suffering that we find power. Through endless trials, we gain the power to shape our own destiny or doom. Infinite in potential and unburdened by expectation as none exist, I release your soul, and by my hand, condemn thee to the struggle of life."

His flickering soul light of Aura retreated as he breathed heavily. Even as I watched entranced as my far brighter soul burned brightly with a gentle blue light that left my body in waves.

"So... Would you like to look at what weapons I have in stock?" He asked with clear exhaustion in his voice and I blinked away my entrancement as I nodded with a small smile before I paused an reached into my pocket to take out the first bundle of five hundred Lien cards to pass it over to him.

He paused as I handed him the money and I raised an eyebrow as he looked rather... Shocked if anything so I asked. "What? Was the ad online about your prices wrong or something?"

The man smiled wryly before taking the offered money and he coughed into his hand and I frowned at how wet the cough sounded like his lungs were filled with a thick liquid that he couldn't get rid of.

But he visibly swallowed down his coughing with him speaking somewhat hoarsely. "No, I thought you simply weren't going to pay for the Aura and just buy a weapon instead." 

My lips twitched at that and I wondered if this was a racism thing before I said calmly. "That is not the case, but I can see you are rather exhausted for the moment so I have a couple of questions if you don't mind about a weapon system."

The old man nodded and I collected my thoughts. I already had a good idea of what kind of ranged 'mundane' weapon I wanted from him as I knew Azur Lane weapon systems couldn't be mounted on my very human frame even if I could use some of their modules if they were a sword or something like that.

And there was a lot of powerful modules I could use... Like the True Longinus, in the Lance of the Golden Age. Belfast's, armored gauntlets, and what I planned to use as my main melee weapon in Zara's Fabulous Fioretto.

"So I am looking for arm-mounted automatic shotguns that can be set to shoot at a fast rate and handle long periods of firing with a high caliber." I explained making the man raise an eyebrow at my words.

For a moment he chewed on his thoughts before he spoke slowly. "You don't want it to transform into a melee weapon or anything?"

I shook my head, as I was well aware that guns were finicky things. And I didn't trust that when swinging something and smashing it into and cutting through bone or chitin, the internals wouldn't get fucked up regardless of my aura which would naturally protect the weapon.

"I don't trust mecha shift weapons honestly," I said with Prinz snorting with amusement as her rigging poked me in the back with one of the draconic heads and the gunsmith/veteran looked at her weapon system before muttering quietly.

"Animation magic? No, the heads are moving independently, so maybe necromancy with souls bound into the constructs?" He mused before visibly shuddering and looking back at me and speaking. "That's fine, though how do you want to hook up a reload system to it if they are going to be mounted on your arms it would be difficult to reload."

To that, I already had the answer, as already with my aura I had unlocked Admiral Essences's ability to make ammo, oil, and other sea-based materials so I then explained how I wanted ammo belts going from the arm-mounted cannons leading to my back which I planned to get an autoloader system set up which would push ammo to my guns.

And the reason why I went for automatic shotguns? That was simple, even with shotguns I could have the advantage of spraying an area down with Dust or my conjured-up lead, or instead do slug rounds for more penetration. 

The old man blinked as he envisioned the plans in his own head as I had crude drawings that showed what I wanted. With him brushing his scarred and age-marked hand across his chin as he slowly nodded and said. "I see... Well, thankfully I already have such an ammo feeding system that was commissioned by a huntsmen that failed to return from a mission. So I will only charge you the material cost for it. And as for dual-arm mounted cannons... I will say five thousand Lien for the whole system."

I slowly nodded as although that was half of my liquid funds, I obviously needed a weapon. And this guy had good reviews online, plus I wanted to help the old guy out if I could.

"Alright, so when can this be done. As Beacon's initiation is in just a few days and all?" I asked more seriously.

"Hmm, that is not an issue, my granddaughters work in the back of the shop and we can pound out a couple of arm cannons without issue as it's not like it's going to be a Mechashift project." He said confidently.

After a moment of looking at him, I brushed a hand across my jaw before I nodded and then reached into my backpack to pull out five small stacks I bound up in rubber bands to denominate a thousand Lien and I placed there of them on the counter. "A bit more than half upfront alright for materials and such?" 

The old man nodded with a small smile crossing his face and then I looked back to Prinz and asked. "I assume you are exhausted with your aura and cannot unlock my partner's aura can you?" 

He grimaced slightly before saying plainly. "Yes, young man... When a man is crippled and beaten down as I have been in life. Our very souls get weak and can't do as much. But whereas a grand hero will live for centuries and can withstand being thrown through a mountain." 

He took a deep breath as I absorbed that and continued. "However, I did unlock my granddaughter's aura and they are able to unlock other people if you are willing to allow them to unlock it."

At being directly addressed Prinz just shrugged with a careless smile as she spoke calmly. "That's fine. Unless you mean to tell me that different people activating another aura will have changes to their aura?"

The old man just shook his head with his single rabbit ear bouncing in the motion before he coughed and held up a hand as he said. "Alright young lady, let me text one of my granddaughters to come."

And he took out a scroll and began doing so while I had a thought cross my mind.

'This old man is too old to have been part of the Faunus Culling, did he get caught up in the semi-regularly border conflicts between Vale, Atlas, and Mistral?' I mused before shaking the thought away as I heard the sound of rapid footfalls running up a set of stairs ringing out behind the back of the stoor.

And from around the corner came of his granddaughters and I blinked in surprise as I actually recognized her!

With brown hair, brown eyes, and matching brown rabbit ears atop her head. And with the typical faunus chains around their wrists and a collar, I recognized the girl as Velvet Scarlatina.

"Grandpa, you needed help?" She asked curiously as she glanced at us and her grandpa gave a weak smile before waving his hand at Prinz while saying.

"Dear, you need to unlock the young lady's aura and I have some schematics for you and Alice to work on for the young man's project he commissioned." 

Velvet nodded in understanding before walking a bit closer to Prinz and although she looked at bit nervous at Prinz's very alive-looking rigging, it thankfully retreated slightly to allow her closer to the German vessel, "May I hold your hand? It helps to have a bit of skin contact."

Prinz gave a small smile and she pulled off her glove and laid it out for the rabbit faunus to take her hand and as she did so and began unlocking Prinz's aura I decided to play with my Admiral Essence a bit as I knew I could use my aura as magical energy fuel to conjure up materials, ammo, and other stuff.

See I was well aware that most weapons, energy systems, and even alloy forging in this world of Remnant worked with one very important material... Dust.

Dust was essentially crystallized magical energy forced into a single elemental attribute and depending on its element you could forge weapons, make clothes, or even just use lightning dust as completely clean and pollution-free electricity.

Gravity Dust-infused boots allowed you to deny the impact of harsh falls from a high fall. Wind Dust-infused jackets could let someone glide through air... Elemental dust infusion was its own form of science and art in of its self

And this world did have flying warships that would escort massive convoys across the seas so with a mental push I felt my aura drain slightly as a heavy weight filled my hand.

Lo and behold was a twenty-pound flak cannon round filled with a mixture of Fire and Wind dust that when shot would explode in the air creating a brief pressure bomb to blow a large amount of flyers out of the air.

And then as I held the large flak cannon round... I realized I fucked up as I realized that the round was here to stay as the things I made weren't temporary constructs.

Thankfully though, the old man's attention was on Velvet and Prinz's aura awakening as Velvet's coffee brown gentle light pulled out Prinz's dark red aura that was even brighter than Velvet's own aura.

I then went into my backpack to grab some more money... And put away the large round into the backpack so I could bury it somewhere or something.

And once I came back up with a perfectly innocent face I handed the other five hundred over to the man while I grimaced at the realization that I was down to less than a thousand Lien left now.

"So how long do you think it will take for you and your granddaughters to do my commission?" I asked as the two ladies separated with Prinz holding up her glowing hands to inspect with them with a raised eyebrow.

The older man shrugged and said calmly. "Oh we can have it done and everything, within two days without any issue. Now will that be all young man?" 

After a moment of thought, I looked at Prinz and she spoke with some amusement. "I think that will be all. Jake let's head on back to the hotel for now then."

And I gave Velvet one last glance as I wondered what her life was like here working as a gunsmith and I shook my head as I walked out of the store with Prinz following me close behind as my guardian.

-

As the door closed behind this last couple months' best customers the old man gave a slight hum of thought before looking at his granddaughter who was looking out towards the door in which the two humans had left. 

"Hmm, you thinking about it Velvet?" He asked quietly and Velvet bit her lower lip as her rabbit ears dipped down lowly.

"I... I am not sure Grandpa, they didn't seem to think any less of us. But it's a huge jump to make." 

Andros Scarlatina was an old man, he had fought alongside Vale's military back before the night of the Dark Knives and the resulting Culling and he knew the truth of the world. Faunus kind would never... Never be able to be equal to humans if they didn't have the chance to distinguish themselves in armed combat against the Grimm.

Andros sighed and said bluntly. "Velvet, I am literally dying here, I will be dead within the next couple of months at the absolute most, and when that happens I don't want you and Alice to be homeless as we certainly don't get enough business for you to rent this property when the Royals strip our name of being a Grand Knight."

Prices for housing especially in Vale were rising due to the influx of people fleeing into the main city after a new variant of Creeps had developed the ability to silently dig under walls before detonating and destroying the first and main line of defense for the frontier towns.

But just as Faunus's couldn't properly serve in the military or become huntsmen anymore to gain their own titles of nobility. That didn't mean they couldn't become a noble's vassal and have a lower equivalent rank and have similar rights.

And that was the Faunus's latest plan now. To show that they were not weak, they didn't just stab humanity in the back. They had the right to fight for their own place in the world as they had learned the hard way that conflict between the two races of humanity and faunus was only a lose-lose. 

Velvet's face went still before she swallowed down her words and said quietly. "It's just a bit scary you know."

But Andros just snorted and said chidingly. "You youngins are too scared to put yourself out there. When I joined the Valian Guard, I was put in a squad of thirty men and women I never met and we quickly got over all forms of body shame when we had to shower next to each other and we would be forced to run and exercise to the point that we were vomiting on our teammates."

Velvet's face curdled at her grandfather's crass words and she covered her face as she sighed. "No more tales about you snagging Grandmother with your vibrating semblance Grandfather... I swear the reason why Alice hides away in the machine shop is that she is being traumatized by your old tales of 'glory'." 

There was a moment of silence before Velvet took a breath and spoke more seriously. "Why him though? His... The attendant looked like she was actually a mage."

And Andros smacked his lips before he gave his granddaughter a look as though she was stupid before he said frankly. "Velvet my dear, you know exactly why hehe... He is a man of good taste and was looking at your ears like he wanted to take a bite."

The old man chuckled louder as he looked up into the ceiling of the old shop and said. "Ahhh... The gaze of an ornery human who knows exactly what they want. Reminds of my Marybeth."

A groan rang out as Velvet whispered pleadingly. "Grandpa I love you... But if you try to tell me the story about how grandma had a fetish for rabbit boys and girls I am going to smother you with your hypoallergenic pillow as you sleep." 

But Andros just shook his head as he smiled knowingly as Velvet shifted slightly at the thought of being in a similar position. Though he spoke more seriously. "Not just that Velvet, but while you were busy unlocking his retainer's aura. I saw that he had a micro Manifestation type magic."

Velvet's face tightened into a more serious expression as she looked at her grandfather and asked. "He is too pale of skin to be a descendant of the Vacuo royal family though? How do you know?" 

He explained how he watched Jake create an anti-air flak cannon round that he recognized from the years of his own service, and how it wasn't just a construct of mana or aura to a temporary construct.

No Jake had a similar ability as the Vacuo's royal family in turning magical energy, aura, or other states of energy into solid matter. 

And that was huge, to say the least in this world ruled by careful rationing of war materials and the ever fervent delving into the world's dangerous underground to mine up Dust.