So passes several weeks. I spend about 2 hours a day with my team, excluding class, and spend my nights with my Suns and 'Mocha'. After midnight, I beat the absolute CRAP out of wolves, primarily with my fists.
But after about 2.5 weeks of this, Ozpin interrupts with a call.
With no small amount of trepidation, I go to his office.
"Ah. He's here." Ozpin says as the elevator opens, sipping his cocoa.
"This is the one you spoke of?" One of his visitors purrs. I blink. "He looks positively yummy."
Another of the visitors yells, "Down, girl!" before whacking her on the top of the head. "Anyway, you'd be Greyhart?"
"That's me."
"I've been told you fancy yourself a spider hunter?"
Trick question. "Arachnid. Spiders don't have stingers."
He smiles. "And why would you like to?"
"Knowledge. I want to see what's down there, and I know I can kill anything else down there."
The man blinks. "What about protecting the populace?"
"Mamarachne's dead, the specialists, assuming they're you, are here. All I do is make it a little easier and get the opportunity to learn."
He begrudgingly accepts this and sighs. "And my final question." He grimaces and facepalms, almost speaking before the seductive woman cuts in.
"Do you think I'm hot?" She smirks and I hesitate, blushing lightly.
"Um...Yes?"
"Right. That settles it, then. He comes with us." Proclaims the violette.
"Dammit, Fuschia!" Groans another of the Huntsmen. "You should never have been the leader…"
Ozpin and the woman both raise a eyebrow at him.
"Er… I mean to say-"
"Mr. Greyhart. You have my permission to join team FNCH on their cleanup operation." He sips his cocoa. "Do try to avoid disturbing any more elite Grimm."
"...There are a lot of bird teams, aren't there?"
Ozpin pointedly doesn't respond.
"Greyhart? Take the win." Cut in one of the men. "My name is Nettle."
A plucky young girl cuts in. "And I'm Cinnamon." She's a precious little cinnamon roll~ "Dammit, stop looking at me like I'm cute!"
"My name is Hedge." A scruffy looking man introduces himself.
"And I'm Fuschia. I'm the leader. I make sure things go 'bang'. I also blow things up." She purrs, winking lightly. "Cinny there is a stealth specialist, Nettle is a pikeman and Hedge is our defender."
"I...Don't have a specialty. I'm sneaky, a little speedy and I hit a little hard, but I guess my real specialty is preparation. My Semblance allows me to carry a staggering amount of supplies, and food doesn't go bad while I store it. I have Bandages, Water Dust, Fire Dust and food. And if we find anything particularly interesting down there? I can carry it. 40-60 split on anything I carry, split the 60 between you 4."
"30-70."Fuschia instantly counters.
"Agreed." I respond after a moment's thought.
She pouts. "You were supposed to insist, or try to split the difference, so I could say…. 30-70, and a favor." She winks saucily, one hand playing with her hair. I blush hard and look away, triggering a giggle. "This one's fun, Ozzie!"
"...Ozzie?" I inquire as Ozpin makes a face.
"What?! He doesn't ask people to call him Ozzie anymore?" Cinnamon blurts out. There's a brown blur, and suddenly she's wrapped her arms around Ozpin's waist. He looks like he'd rather be ANYWHERE ELSE. Then it hits me.
"Oh my god, you used to be the cool teacher!"
Hedge smirks in response, pretending to put on a cap and flip it around. "Hey, yo, wassup, I'm OZZIE!" He chuckles.
OH MY GOD, OZPIN WAS GREAT TEACHER ONIZUKA!
Meanwhile, Cinny keeps clutching Ozpin's waist. "OZZIE-SENSEI ISN'T COOL ANYMORE!" She wails.
…."How OLD is she?" I ask Nettle.
He deadpans. "Twenty three."
….What.
"She has a condition. She simply...never grew up. Acts like a kid because people keep treating her like one. She's actually way more mature than she pretends to be. She even has a boyfriend."
I...have no idea how to respond to that. Wait, there's a response! "How the hell is she in any condition to be a Huntress? Isn't puberty kind of critical to things like muscle development?"
"Aura compensates somewhat, her Semblance covers for the rest of what she needs." He replies.
"Huh. Wel-"
"OZZIE-SENSEI, I'M GONNA MAKE YOU COOL AGAIN!"
"Annnnd we're done here." Declares Fuschia, grabbing Cinny's shoulders and squeezing until she lets go of Ozpin.
"Hey!" She whines as her leader picks her up and sets her on a shoulder, pouting. "S-see you, Ozzie-Sensei!"
Okay. I am platonically in love with their whole team.
We arrive at the Deathstalker cave. I pull out Cerberus, just to have it ready.
"Right-o. So, you slipped into the cave, killed a few Deathstalkers, and snuck past the Arachne, right?" Asked F.
"Nope. Killed my way through."
"What? I gotta have a look at this."
We enter, and FNCH are surprised to find the entrance clear of opponents. Fuschia studies the ashes lying around with a clinical eye. "Fire to clear the webs?" I grin and nod. "That was sloppy, cutie." Wait, what?
"How so?"
"Sometimes, Grimm that are old enough know what fire is. And that, by and large, the greatest producers thereof are humans. Therefore they chase fire, light...and smoke."
...Oh. "I see how that could be bad."
"Not bad. Just something you need to know. Not knowing can get your throat ripped out, chest impaled or worse." I wince.
"Well, you're refreshingly blunt."
"Blunt saves lives."
I blink. "Kay then."
We move on.
We soon reach the Mamarachne chamber. Along the way were a few small carvings, which I took pics of.
This, on the other hand, is make or break.
I study the flagstones beneath my feet.
"Definitely manmade. Cracked, but smooth and flat."
"He's right." Cinny confirms, kneeling down and spitting on a finger before running it over the ground. "Marble. Mortared together."
Fuschia hums thoughtfully.
I pull out a Fire Dust crystal and activate it for extra light, examining the walls.
On one of the walls, I discover a massive carving. It's a bit indistinct, so I use some water dust to carefully rinse it off, dislodging years if not centuries of stone dust that had covered the carvings.
Massive stone letters in a language I couldn't even come close to comprehension of stand in the middle of a ornate carving, a group of winged men facing off against a woman riding a massive dragon that, at least in the carving, was made of pure jet. The woman is holding a bow made of obsidian and shrouded in flames.
I snap multiple pictures of the mural at different angles.
[Through careful recording of ancient secrets for posterity, you have obtained…
5 Wisdom
5 Intelligence
Junior Archaeologist title
Archaeology level 1]
….Holy shit. I was going to have to find more of these.
[Quest Created:It Belongs In A Museum!
Explore the deepest, darkest corners of Remnant for cultural information, prophecies, or powerful artifacts!
Optional:Donate findings to museums
Optional:Create own museum to display findings.
Reward:Stat bonuses, information, potential artifacts, Archaeology titles and skill levels!
Optional:Reputation with scholars and museum owners, possible monetary rewards
Optional:Reputation with scholars, revenue from museum/s, reputation with visitors, ?]
Daaaaaaamn. A few more finds like this, and I'll be a regular Jee-Han!
…
I'm sure that this picture is totally unimportant and has nothing to do with any prophecies.
I hear a low whistle next to me, and glance to see that Fuschia had snuck up on me while I was distracted. "Impressive, loverboy. How did you know this would be here?"
"I had a hunch." I say. "I saw some carvins outside the cave when I went in the first time, so I figured that there could be more deeper in." She nods, seemingly satisfied.
From that chamber on, we meet with some Grimm resistance. I don't even get the chance to attack any, denying me any loot, but I still get the Pseudosouls whenever one of FNCH obliterate a Arachne.
So, this is what it's like to have a group carry you in real life.
I hand out water and protein bars liberally whenever someone looks like they're tiring. Cinny seems to be especially ravenous, devouring many a bar.
After a few hours of spelunking, we come across another chamber in better shape than Mamarachne's den.
The chamber is, however, mostly barren, except for two things.
A box and a sarcophagus next to it.
"Now, this isn't a obvious trap at all." I quip, taking pictures out the outsides of the box and sarcophagus before waving FNCH back.
"Whatcha gonna do?" Asks Cinny as she moves to cover.
"Open that safely." I state, and she pouts.
"Fine…."
Once they're clear of the room, I switch Cerberus to Claw mode and back away, shooting a lid, then a wall, before hitting the retract on both ends and letting go of the handle.
The sheer force of the retracting grapple tears the lid off of the box as the movement itself triggers a dart launcher, the undoubtably poisoned projectile striking the ceiling and rebounding at the same time as a spike trap is set off, sending three black, metal stakes flying through the air where someone opening the box would stand.
All pointless, as I was 10 feet away.
I smirk before stepping around the spikes to study the contents.
"Huh." I extract a ornate hammer and equally ornate tongs. Both are engraved, probably with a name. "Jeweling equipment? Curious." I muse.
I stow them away and extract a small clay tablet, before stowing that, too.
Right. Now that's empty.
I grapple the sarcophagus and pile some pillows and blankets in front of it.
I take hold of the cable and slowly drag the lid off from afar, nose wrinkling when I see clouds of blue...something scatter.
I summon Wind Dust into my palm and twist my wrist, sending out a wave of air to disperse the no doubt lethal gas.
Inside the sarcophagus….is a corpse. I don't know what I expected. It is, however, reasonably concerned.
I step forward and shove the corpse and the lid into my Inventory.
[Minor Reward:It Belongs In a Museum!
+1 Int!
+1 Wis!
Archaeology has reached level 2!]
Neato! Not as good as that giant mural and text that needed translation, but every point could be critically important. Therefore, every free point must be zealously collected!
[Y'know, skills are important, too.]
Skills? BAH! Skills are easy to gain, and you just gave me a quest that directly boosts my stats, AND a skill!
Speaking of skills…
[Archaeology level 2 25%
Determines how much information you can glean from relics of ancient times.
+1.5% Int
+1.5% Wis
+15% Skill Experience gained to ancient arts
Unlocks special bonuses when using ancient relics
+7.5% experience to any skill used with an ancient relic
+30% instead when using ancient relic and ancient skill]
….Holy shit, this skill is insane.
Unless all Ancient gear is utterly useless, this is amazing, especially since it looks like that EXP bonus will scale like mad.
10% per level, I think?
I wonder if I'll still get the bonus if I reforge a ancient weapon.
"Let's move on." Fuschia's words shake me out of my reverie. I nod and turn towards her.
The travel is surprisingly uneventful, as they continue just slaughtering Grimm… All in all, I must have collected 30k experience so far. I did manage to ping a few Arachne with my Katars, getting 3000 lien, a bundle of Spider Silk and Eye of the Spider:Chapter ⅓.
I tried using it.
[Error:Cannot use incomplete skillbooks!
Chapter 1:Owned.
Chapter 2:Rare drop from Spider-type monsters of level 50 and greater; common drop from Spider-type monsters of [Boss] rank or level 150 and greater.
Chapter 3:Rare drop from Spider faunus; rare stock at Faunus-owned bookstores]
….What.
….Speaking of Faunus, I need to check on Tukson at some point.
Soon, we reach a notable area.
"Dust deposits?!" Exclaims Fuschia as we come across a glittering crystal, surrounded by even more. "This close to Vale?"
"This must be part of why these tunnels were carved out to begin with. Then they probably ran into another tunnel, so Grimm showed up. They drew the warning I saw at the entrance...and they left."
I take a few samples of the loose gravel, or more accurately, all of the loose rock, only to discover a shining, gray-gold pickaxe head.
I blink and Observe it.
[? Electrum pick
Durability:10/1500
This ancient pickax was used by the (?) to extract Dust from the ruined mines below Vale.]
Muhahahaha! My first Ancient piece of gear! I just need to re-haft it.
I stow it away with a grin, then look up to see FNCH staring at me in horror.
"...What?"
"If you're right, you've uncovered another threat to Vale. A Grimm tunnel is a massive security threat, through which any number of Grimm could come through." Nettle states flatly. "We will finish this run, then retrieve as many things of value as possible before collapsing this cave system if we find even the SLIGHTEST TRACE of evidence to your summary, especially because it is an excellent explanation for the Queen Arachne's presence."
"Fuck." I state.
"Indeed."
We carry on, and soon we run into a abrupt end to the roughly hewn walls and find that it is now jagged instead, the tunnel abruptly turning by 120 degrees.
"And there's the tunnel. You won't find much of anything here. We should turn back." Says Nettle.
"That's not true, actually." I say idly as I study the area. "Most likely, whoever tunneled into this would have died, and I may find some of their stuff."
After some sifting(storing) gravel, I find another pick, a scrag of cloth, and a small pile of gold.
"Alright, guys. Let's go back, now." I straighten up. "We can put in a order to collapse these tunnels, right?"
Nettle nods and we set out.