'I do not own RWBY. It was created by Monty Oum, and is owned by Roosterteeth.'
'For optimal viewing pleasure, read this with the font: "Georgia" turned on.'

Note: Goodness me, this was a lot of words to write in one day, but I did it. Update 5, of my update week!

Now, unfortunate as it is, while I'm updating this now, I've got to say, I've got quite a bit of homework… Physics, chem, math, english, and a French project got dumped on me today, and I've got tests out the wazoo in the beginning of May, mid May, and mid April… Quite busy indeed.

Anyways, I'm quite happy to be back writing this… I must admit, it felt good. I'm feeling the RWBY spirit again! I still need to watch Volume 6, but with my limited free time as it is, I'm not sure I'll ever get there…

Well, here we go. The long awaited chapter.

~oOo~ The Woman Whisperer ~oOo~

Chapter XXIV

Dodging left and right, Jaune narrowly avoided the black bullets before jumping forwards and doing a sweep with the improved Crocea Mors. Nothing but a silver blur in the light, it lashed out again whipping towards his opponent before they dodged back and shot into his chest. He just let his aura tank it: It was regenerating quickly enough for him to let it.

Spinning, Jaune pushed off the ground and launched himself away, letting Pyrrha sweep in behind him, catching them off guard and knocking them off their feet. Blake stumbled, before jumping away herself, and turning to light Pyrrha up with dust rounds.

Raising her shield without worry, his girlfriend charged in towards the raven haired acrobat, sweeping with Milo towards Blake. Backpedalling, they engaged in a blisteringly quick flurry of blows. Blake was one of the few people skilled enough at swordplay to hold against Pyrrha for as long as she was.

That said, it wasn't long.

Glancing around panicked for Yang, Jaune spotted her charging back into the fray. Coming his direction, she leapt, spinning in the air before bringing her fist down, launching a fiery bolt of flame as she did so. Raising his shield, Jaune stopped the shot and fist both, before giving a grunt and pushing Yang off. Lunging towards her, he stabbed her in the stomach, sending his sword skidding off her aura and to the side.

Bursting into flame from the hit, Yang cracked a hit towards his ribs that had the audience give out a collective hiss, but Jaune just continued and cracked his elbow back. Catching her arm, he let his elbow glance off before twisting and doing an underhand cut towards his occasional sparring partner.

Despite the fact she could use the energy to charge herself up, Yang took no chances and left, blindsiding Pyrrha, giving Blake some much needed breathing room. The two of them began fighting her as one, their partnership running deep before Pyrrha slashed at Blake catching her in the thigh. Yang unloaded at her, managing to catch Pyrrha across the upper arm before punching her square in the shoulder.

In a rare solid blow to Pyrrha, Yang sent her flying backwards to the out of bounds portion of the arena. Quickly raising his eyes to the aura meter above the arena, Jaune saw that it was just him and the fiery brawler left.

"For some reason, it's always us two left isn't it?" Jaune said, making a small amount of conversation as he circled her, looking for an opening. His 'Sword Proficiency' skill tugged at him, edging him on to attack her. He considered using 'Disarm', but he had no idea what that would do to someone literally wearing their weapon.

"Now and always eh?" Yang was huffing, sweating and tired, meanwhile Jaune was as fresh as a set of boxers out of the drier. The Gamer's Body lent him it's near limitless stamina, and Jaune's aura continued recharging at a rate that was near unfair.

That was unfair.

"Well then? Come at me!" Jaune felt the audience egging them on, and raised his shield. The shape was the same, but it's capacity for taking blows was far improved. People were quiet now, waiting as Yang cracked her knuckles, then stomped, sending flames spiralling up her form.

Hair lighting, she was a raging bonfire of a woman, eyes bright red shining with energy, before she bounded towards Jaune in a single, final leap to do enough damage in a single blow to end the fight once in for all. She knew he regenerated insanely quickly: too fast for her to do anything else.

Yang's only hope to finish it was beating him faster than his aura could recharge.

"AAAAAAAAAAH!" Bringing her fist down, Yang's fire clad fists came down like the hulk, smashing into nothing more then several streams of neon light as Jaune zipped out of the way and struck her in the side. Adding to the intensity of the flames, Jaune struck her again.

"Stay! Still!" Lashing out, she tried catching him but he was already on the other side, driving the blade's point into her lower back.

"Nope." Bursting apart once more, the light he turned into spread out around her, materializing on the other side as though he'd just gone through her. He jabbed, again, and again. Pummeling Yang into submission, despite the ever increasing flames and heat, Jaune took her down, leaving her aura at fifteen percent.

Each spectator now was clapping at the lightshow, and Jaune put away Crocea Mors and his shield, before walking over to Yang and putting down his gloved hand. "Sorry Yang, but you guys took out Pyrrha, and I can't have her win streak be ended because of me… The spreadsheet nerds would go crazy."

"They'd also have to take away her cereal sponsorship!" Reaching up and grabbing his hand, Yang let herself be pulled to her feet by the other blond before he let go of her hand. "No matter how much we spar you really do surprise me! I though for sure it was over at one point."

"Yeah, I thought for sure it was over when Pyrrha took down Blake." Jaune said with a cheeky smile, getting a punch in the arm in return. Looking at Yang he walked with her back to the stands, where their respective partners were already waiting for their return.

"Really Yang, you did good today. And, you're still better than I am at hand to hand." He said, bringing up his stat window very quickly to check it's precise status. "If I could give you some aura capacity, I would… And I mean that sincerely."

She sighed, before moving some hair out of her face. He wondered sometimes just how she managed having so much of it all the time. Surely, she got hot underneath it… She was hot outside of it too, wearing that outfit of hers day in, day out, but that kind of hotness wasn't quite related to the weather.

Walking up next to Pyrrha, he nodded towards his girlfriend as Yang went to join Blake. "Unlucky that Yang got you… I should've probably been a bit more aggressive, used some more aura, or my lightning, or something."

He really should've.

Pyrrha meanwhile shook her head, before taking ahold of his hand and gently tugging him towards their seat. "No, it's fine! The Vytal Tournament is in a few months, and it's probably best to keep that sort of stuff mainly to yourself."

Red hair trailing behind her, she had a point. It was likely best if he kept as much about his abilities to himself as he could, save for a few people like Team RWBY, and perhaps Team CFVY. The odds of them being together in the finals were low… The best of the best were there, and that meant it was only really likely that Team RWBY, or Team JNPR would make it.

"That said, I used my Neon powers." Sitting down next to Pyrrha high up in the bleachers, Jaune continued holding her hand, while rubbing it a bit. Hers had no glove. "Which was probably flashy enough alone."

"It'll be fine!" Pyrrha said, looking at him with those green eyes of hers. He was inclined to believe her. When somebody was being that reassuring, and being that positive in tone about it, it was hard to feel like they could be lying.

Jaune smiled at her, then looked towards Glynda, who'd taken her spot at the front of the bleachers. Coughing once into her hand, the stern faced woman looked over her students before tapping the scroll in her hands.

Projecting a schedule to the screen above the arena, she left it there as she began speaking.

"As I am sure many of you know, within the next week the students from , and Mistral will be arriving for the Vytal Festival. The Atlesian students will be arriving tomorrow, alongside General Ironwood and his…" She paused for a second, before taking a deep breath that pushed up her bosom. "... armada. I would like to remind you all that you should take this opportunity to make friends with the other hunters in training of the world…"

"If not to be better friends, then at the very least to have a leg up in the upcoming tournament." Shutting down the screen, she waved them off with her crop. "You're all dismissed, have a pleasant afternoon."

The moment the bell rang, time slowed, and Jaune saw a bright azure screen appear in front of him, the bold white text blaring out at him like it had so many times before. Like usual, there was that brief moment of thought before he began reading.

Missed me?

Yes/No

Rolling his eyes, Jaune hit 'no', and a comical colon open bracket appeared, before that screen winked out of existence, and his gained stats, and skill rank ups appeared in front of his eyes. Ever since the patch a few days ago, the Game had developed a 'battle mode', that would keep notifications out of his way if he so wished.

Having seen no direct advantage of having every single level gained in 'Sword Proficiency' shown during battle, he'd opted to turn it off for that one, and already the Game was playing games with him.

Thankfully, it still showed him his stats however, if all at once in a bit of a informational dump.

You've gained +1 Strength!

You've gained +3 to Sword Proficiency, and +3 to Shield Proficiency!

You've gained +1 Affection with Pyrrha!

You've gained +1 Closeness with Blake!

You've gained +1 Closeness with Yang!

Closing the notifications one by one, Jaune was happy to finally see some skill development. It seems like for the past few days it'd been a bit slower, but after one battle to have gone up like this was a good thing… He was generally returning to the abnormally high rate of growth, it had just taken a day or two to continue.

Walking with Pyrrha to the cafeteria, where they'd be meeting with the rest of their friends for lunch, Jaune went through a few of the settings of the Game, turning down the background music just a bit before feeling Pyrrha tug on his hand. Looking at her, Jaune raised his eyebrow before she pointed in the distance.

God damn.

"Holy shit." Looking at the skies, Jaune's eyes had followed Pyrrha's slim hand before landing upon a massive, absolutely gargantuan ship. Tracing the stylish design, his eyes roamed from the thrusters to the wings, before settling on the cockpit, and watching it 'sail' overtop them. It left a huge shadow in its wake, the white warship floating on just dust thrusters, that were making enough noise to scare some nearby geese, before they went entirely silent.

Jaune had no idea how it worked, but he was in awe of the massive unit.

"Looks like General Ironwood and the students from Atlas are a day early." Pyrrha said, bringing up the obvious sweetly. Jaune had no response other than a nod, his mouth still hanging open. He's seen amazing things since leaving home.

Pyrrha partially naked, the Game itself, a cantaloupe that was terribly deformed…

Yet, this brought awe to him. It brought back those fantasies from his childhood, of being a soldier, a professional hunter, all of it. The huge war machine reminded him of just how awesome his world truly was… The fact that they were able to have them, here, now, was testament alone to the awesome power of Dust.

"Most certainly looks like it, yeah." He said, smiling up at it. He could imagine technicians smiling and waving from their windows. "Well that is freaking awesome. I definitely can't say I've ever had the pleasure of seeing one of those before."

"Well if you're lucky, it won't be the last." She said, pulling him along gently so that they could continue walking. Keeping her emerald green eyes fixed on the skies, she eyed the blue. "Besides, he's supposed to be bringing even more than that, remember? Should be all sorts of stuff for you to go look at."

"I should ask for a tour!" He said, excited as all heck. Touring around one of those would be awesome, but he would totally understand if the insides were closed to the public… Especially a foreign public.

The two of them continued their stroll across the Beacon grounds, happy to be free of classes again. They'd only just started for the second term again, yet already the two of them felt the strain of being a hunter in training gnawing away at them…

But it would be fine. They weren't alone in it, after all.

Entering the cafeteria and joining everyone else at the table in the cafeteria, Jaune and Pyrrha sat down next to Nora and Ren, across from Team RWBY. Making some idle conversation the two teams ate an early dinner, while listening to a tale of Weiss' childhood.

Jaune wasn't paying an huge amount of attention, but from what he could remember her mother had bought out a water park for the day, only for it to never be used… A shame really, but alas, it ended well enough for Weiss.

"Hey! Where's Blake!?" Nora asked, looking frantically from person to person, before eventually confirming that yes, her friend Ren was not in fact Blake wearing a mask. "Don't tell me she's run away again and you guys didn't notice!"

Weiss raised an eyebrow and looked around the cafeteria. "I don't think we didn't notice…"

"Ruby, where'd Blake go?" Jaune asked, looking at the team leader, his own eyebrow raised. "She was here a few minutes ago, or at least I could've sworn that she had been with us… Am I going crazy? Are we going crazy!?"

Laughing, his younger girlfriend and weapon's design partner shook her head, black and red hair swishing back and forth a bit. "Nah, she's just gone to the library or something. She said that she'd wanted to get some relaxation done."

"You're right! She did look awfully tired. Makes sense though, it was a pretty awesome fight." Yang said, leaning back and putting her arms behind her head. It made her assets do wonderful, wonderful things, and Jaune did his best to look away.

You've gained +1 Affection with Pyrrha!

You've gained +1 Affection with Ruby!

Huh. It looks like not being a perv does have it's advantages. Miss out on some sweet cleavage, but get a free point in the strange, quasi-digital-magical Game he plays almost entirely in his mind! Well actually said like that it didn't seem that great, but that was fine.

Extending his sensors, Jaune tapped into the little used 'Mood Understand' ability that the Game gave him, and hovered it over top of Pyrrha and Ruby. Both of them felt pride, though whether that was pride due to the fact they weren't outwardly jealous about Yang's ta-tas, or about the fact that their boyfriend was good enough to look away wasn't clear.

"Actually, Blake seemed kind of tired this morning too, before the fight." Weiss said, looking at her teammates for backup, before getting a bit of a guilty smile from Ruby, and a raised eyebrow from Yang.

"Have we ever considered that Blake might not be a morning person?"

"First, she isn't." Yang said, responding to Ruby before looking down at the table for a second and then back at the group. "But speaking of which, I think Weiss is right. She's been a lot more tired lately, and I don't think she's been getting enough sleep."

"I doubt she's running an illegal poker game." Weiss muttered under her breath, and Jaune was briefly confused. Why was that the first thing Weiss' mind went to? Was she running an illegal poker ring?

It seemed possible.

"Let me go find her, I'm sure I'll get to the bottom of it soon enough!" Standing up from the table, Yang shuffled out the side, before fixing her coat and looking at the rest of them. "Detective Yang, on the case!"

Waiting until she had left, Jaune looked at Ren. "I could've sworn she was trying to make a pun there, but for the life of me I can't think of what it might have been. Was I the only one that got that feeling?"

Ren nodded. "I too felt the disturbance within the force Jaune."

Jaune shrugged, before looking back at everyone. "Anyways, did you guys see Ironwood's ships going over us today? I mean, they went right over us! Pyrrha and I were there, and it was awesome."

"Aww, lucky!" Ruby said, groaning across the table before slumping her head into it. "I was inside waiting for Weiss to finish using the bathroom! Weiss! I told you that one day your bladder size would be the end of me!"

"It's not my fault!" Weiss haughtily replied back, before straightening her posture and going on about something or another. Pyrrha looked at Jaune and he looked right back, as they waited for her to finish talking.

"Moving on: Have you guys met any of the new students, or were you guys not around for when they got off?" Weiss asked, her eyes gleaming at the prospect of learning information on her possible opponents. Jaune relished the idea too, but unfortunately hadn't had the opportunity yet to spy.

"Nope." Pyrrha said, looking at the still sad Ruby. "Though apparently the students of Mistral are coming today, so that's good. Or at least, they should… But you didn't hear it from me."

Looking over at Pyrrha, Nora's eyes widened, before narrowing. "And how exactly would you be knowing that!? Pyrrha! Don't tell me you've hacked into the mainframe and stolen the secrets of Beacon right from beneath the nose of Ozpin, unearthing a secret organ-"

"It was on the schedule at the end of combat class, Nora." Ren said sagely, coming to the rescue of Jaune's girlfriend who had been backing off due to the suddenly immense inquisitive pressure. Nothing could stand in the way of Nora when she was obsessed with something.

You've gained +1 Wisdom for your amazing observation!

'Well that's good. Brings my aura recharge rate to about 400 points per second, too… That's certainly not half bad. At this rate I should be able to shoot one spinning arrow a second, and only be losing one hundred points per second… Of course, it also means I could just empty my reserves and be up to full in just under forty seconds.'

"Pyrrha, why would you bother saying it like that if everyone here saw the schedule?" Weiss wondered out loud towards Pyrrha, making her deflate just a little bit more and pout for a second. Jaune felt his heart thump once, twice.

"I-I just wanted to be mysterious, and cool."

Draping his arm over her shoulders, Jaune rubbed the arm furthest away from him, and Pyrrha generally felt better after a second or two. Looking over to Ruby, Weiss looked up from the scroll she'd pulled from wherever the hidden pockets of her combat skirt were.

Jaune wasn't entirely sure if he wanted to know where the pockets were, actually.

"Well, apparently Ruby and I have to go back to our dorm… So I guess we'll see you guys later?" Weiss said, looking over to the younger team leader before looking back at the table. "Yang says: Don't tell JNPR I-"

"Oh I guess I can't say." Weiss said, before looking at Ruby, and pulling her away from the table. Letting herself be pulled by her heels, Ruby waved goodbye to Team JNPR as they finally left, exiting the cafeteria. A blond guy and a blue haired boy came in just after them, before heading to the line for food.

'Huh. Their loss, I guess.' Jaune thought, clearly referring to Team JNPR's company as some grave thing that they were losing. Looking at the rest of his team, Jaune patting his hands onto his thighs.

"Do you guys want to go do anything?"

Ren's face puckered a bit. "We should really begin our homework."

"Ugh! Boring! Can't we go do something fun! Oh! Let's see if we can go steal a tank!" Nora said, very clearly wanting a chance to go and steal some secret Atlas military tech. "That could be something fun!"

"I don't think we should be doing anything illegal." Pyrrha said much to the disappointment of Nora. Slouching, the pink haired thunder-lord figured that if it wasn't a tank, it just plain wasn't fun. Ren mouthed a 'thank you' behind her back, and finished up his food before placing down his cutlery.

"Well, if we're not doing anything, I might go check out the ships or something… Anybody want to come?" While Pyrrha may have shared his enthusiasm earlier, she seemingly was not overly eager to join him. His feelings were hurt.

You've gained +1 Oof point!

The fuck is that?

"Alright then, that's fine, I'll go myself." Standing up from the table, he looked at everyone else. "I'll see you guys later… Love you!"

"Love you too!" Came Nora back, before hitting Ren on the back of the head, making him wince terribly. Already there was a welt. "He said 'love you' Ren, you've got to say it back otherwise you'll crush his feelings!"

"I… I love you?" Ren said, continuing for Nora's sake.

"Really I mean, I was talking to Pyrrha, but I love you guys too." Jaune said, looking down at his team. It was true, for the most part… Though, he didn't love Nora or Ren quite the same way he loved Pyrrha, that was for sure.

"See you later!" Smiling at him so brightly she said 'I love you' without saying it, Pyrrha's happiness radiated over to him, and Jaune left the cafeteria whistling a happy little tune. Entering into the generally warm, early spring weather, he shrugged.

~oOo~ The Woman Whisperer ~oOo~

After a brief little look at the docked giant supercruiser of Atlas (Jaune somehow had not obtained the name of the ship type, despite his insistence that he must know), he returned to the room to find Pyrrha lounged on his bed in her pajamas, doing homework with the rest of the team.

Due to his bed's location near the window, it was the ideal place to study.

Natural lighting, a nice pleasant breeze that brought with it the spring wind and everything that came with it, and a view out onto the inlet of Vale, Jaune loved his bed… Unfortunately, just because he loved it didn't mean that he would kick his girlfriend off.

That would just be cruel.

He's not a monster, guys!

Sitting down at his desk, Jaune turned as Nora called his name. Or at least, what might as well have been his name after their months together. "Fearless leader! Aren't you going to study with us? You know that the notes you make are the veeeery best!"

Nora wasn't quite wrong there. Jaune had recently tried taking very comprehensive notes in an effort to slowly grind away at raising those intelligence points. Unfortunately, it hadn't quite been as successful as he'd hoped, but it had ended up impressing Weiss, and at the end of the day that's all that mattered.

Impressing girls.

"Alright, I'm down for that. Let me just clean up my equipment after today, and I'll join you guys for sure!" Jaune said, before placing Crocea Mors onto his desk and standing up to slip out of his armor. Putting the individual pieces on his chair and desk, Jaune took to standing as he looked over his gear.

His new, gear.

Finally, as was long overdue, over the last day of the break Jaune had painstakingly crafted his pieces of equipment to the highest standard he could possibly manage. Along the way, he maxxed out his 'Creation' skill, and got a title for his troubles.

Artisan: You have become a true maker of items! There are few items that can match the quality of those that you produce, including those perfected by machine! Your hands are the machine!

Tools used never degrade.

Items created are always bumped up by one level of rarity, no matter how badly you f*ck up!

When equipped items you create have the chance to develop their own, special skill!

It was a good title, and his most recent new one… For some reason the Game very rarely gave out titles if ever, but this one was worth having. While he'd only unlocked it after crafting his new shield, that did mean that Crocea Mors 2.0 and his new armor had been of the second highest quality possible.

The rankings were as such: Uncommon, Rare, Epic, Mythic, Legendary. His gear would've been Epic, which is still a significant step up from the low rare, high Uncommon ranking they were before, but with the Artisan title equipped, he'd managed to squeeze out every last drop of power.

And boy, was it worth it. Inspecting Crocea Mors, the blade leapt to his hand like a video game weapon, being instantly unsheathed. Inspecting it like you would inspect the skin of a weapon in a game, he beheld the glorious weapon.

Crocea Mors

Rarity: Mythic

Material: Whitesteel

This is a sword which has been used throughout the ages in various wars, by most male hunters in the Arc line of hunters! It's been bathed in blood, sweat, tears, magma and other bodily fluids!

+40 Slash Damage!

+40 Puncture Damage!

+4 Open Runic Attack Slots!

This weapon is unbreakable. The only thing you can do now, is lose it.

Jaune must admit, that his understanding of video game equipment was for the most part limited. It was good enough to tell that he had been very, very lucky with his weapon roll. The unbreakable perk on the weapon would be incredibly useful in his line of work. Technically, he could attach it to the front of a freight train, and the train/bonding item used would break before the sword took so much as a scratch.

That was awesome.

Furthermore, there was puncture and slash damage as an extra bonus, that he didn't have before. Playing around with it in an Dungeon of his own design, he'd found that while before, Crocea Mors had cleaved through enemies in a bit of a brutal fashion, it now did so much more gracefully. Rather than cleave, it was a bit of a nicer slice.

Lastly of course, was the four runic attack slots.

Jaune had done some digging, and while he hadn't found anything concrete, he had found something. Upon bringing the very few runes Ren had managed to find in his research near the blade, he was prompted with the option of attaching them to the weapon. Figuring that it was best not attaching them until he had something worthwhile putting there, Jaune knew at the very least that runes were indeed a thing, and findable now.

Unfortunately, the weapon didn't have a special skill he knew of… Odds were good that if he managed to improve it to a Legendary ranking, that it would most certainly get an skill of its own.

Admiring his work, Jaune took it all in.

Gone was the silvery gray metal that had made it great before, replaced instead with a pure, stark whitesteel that shone in the light. Smooth, and free from notches, the blade had also been made longer to give him slightly more reach, which was easily doable thanks to it's lighter weight.

Removing the hilt had been easy, and Jaune had replaced the old worn out handle with a nice wood he'd found in Vale, while using an alloy of gold and whitesteel for a lustrous, glorious and amazing crossguard and pommel.

Wrapping the hilt in a deep red leather, that he'd then bound through the Game's ability to do so, Jaune had been immensely satisfied when finishing. There was nothing quite like finishing an item with your hands, and the work had been very calming to do as well.

Jaune should do it more often.

Giving it a quick clean that was affected by his 700% faster cleaning speeds, Jaune made it 700% cleaner than it was before. That 'Housekeeping' skill really probably shouldn't've worked on the sword that way, but Jaune was hardly complaining.

He expanded his shield next, hitting the hidden button. It expanded with a quick pop, and with great force, coming out far more nicely than it did before. There was less to say on the shield front, but it was no less impressive looking.

Aegis

Rarity: Epic

Material: Whitesteel

While before it was made as an afterthought, you've truly made it your own! Thanks to using gravity dust in the smelting process, this shield does in fact make the blade and shield lighter when sheathed!

+Unbreakable!

+Courage Against Impossible Odds

+E̜̞n͚͎͚̗e̲͔̦ͅm҉͇͚̻̦̪̗̟íe͔̬̘̲̺̺͍s̱̯̖̖̫ ̹͎̺͟w̫̤̪̠̣͢i̼̤͓͚̼ll̖̯͎͉̞͓̝͜ b͚̱̤͈̮̻̥e̻̤̱m͉̙̣̜̰̥o͏̗͈͔̤͕a͇̼͍̥͜n̲̰̫̙ ͕̻̺t̼̦̻h̫̤̦̯e̸ ̶̝͎͈̯̟̣̹f̭̩̘ͅa͚̞̜c̡e̢̟ ̨͓̥̱͖̟̲̩o͎̣̮̠̰̙f͇̩̬̰̤ ͈̤͕̦̫͕t͈͙̝͈̜h͏̬̜̜͚̰͔̖i͈͚̫s͍̦͍͈͕ ҉̰̦s̨̻͚͔̬h͈i̞̯̦͓e̢͓ld̸̜̟̝͎̞̞.̪̥̘͜

Jaune couldn't ever figure out what the last line said, but he was curious as to what was causing the Game's serious visual glitch there… Alas, while the game may be having a visual glitch when displaying the text box he was so used to, his eyes had no problem beholding his creation.

White and powerful, the shield was larger than before, and accented by the new same gold-whitesteel alloy he'd used for the cross guard and pommel. Re-centering his family's crest, Jaune had made the shield far more impressive, and thanks to his intelligence, managed to add gravity dust to the mix and make it weigh less.

When the sword was sheathed in it, the pair were basically weightless, and looked good as hell.

Giving that too, a quick clean, he left it shiny and more polished than a hall full of Poles (the people), before putting it back into scabbard form and putting away Crocea Mors. They connected with a magnetic click, and Jaune popped it into his recently re-sorted out inventory.

And now last, but most certainly not least, was Jaune's armor. What he'd arrived at Beacon wearing was really quite paltry, so a majority of the material went to simply creating the armor pieces. Now, rather than a grand total of eight plates, it was more plates, that covered more, and were more solid.

Armor of Beacon's Champion

Rarity: Mythic

Material: Whitesteel, Harambe Hide

Using the material of the slain Beringal Harambe, and the whitesteel you so love, you crafted armor that will truly be remembered among the Arcs for generations. If this alone is your legacy, it will have been one worth having.

+ 1 Runic Stat Booster Slot!

+ Impervious to Heat! (The Armor, not you.)

+ Random Chance to Restart Aura on KO

+ Reduced panic to all civilians within range!

While Jaune hadn't had time to go and acquire any runes yet, he was sure that this one slot was worthy of the mythic rating. If it boosted any one stat by twenty points, and he put it into Intelligence, that meant he would be nigh unkillable from just the sheer amount of aura it helped him achieve.

Nigh unkillable maybe wasn't the right term… But pretty damn tanky.

The impervious to heat bit was nice, but not overly useful. It was rare Jaune was fighting Dragons, rare to the point that the amount of Dragons he'd fought was literally zero. The random chance to restart his aura too was good.

As Jaune had found out in a Dungeon, in the same patch that introduced the 'Do Not Disturb' while battling mode, he'd been introduced with a cool down that would stop his aura from instantly regenerating on empty.

Finally, was the reduced panic. That skill was good for a multitude of reasons!

If he were to use it at the same time as the Beacon's Beacon nickname, he could reduce panic by what was at least sixty percent… As a hunter, that was literally one of the most valuable things you could possibly do.

Reducing panic was a huge part of their job, bringing hope was important. The less negative emotion, the less grimm came charging at the gates. The less grimm, the less panic, and so on and so on. If he could reduce the terrible emotions being released simply be existing in the vicinity, that was amazingly helpful, and could very well turn him into one of the most valuable hunters out there.

That one skill alone would make him that valuable.

Were people to know of his Gaming Semblance, they'd go bonkers. He'd be in demand everywhere.

Yet, Jaune wasn't sure if that's what he wanted.

Shaking his head and continuing admiring his own work on his armor, Jaune looked at it all. Stark, almost blinding white, the armor was bright in the way hunters were expected to be. He didn't have the fiery blonde hair of Yang, but he still stood out.

Outlined in golden-whitesteel alloy, it was a very tough armor, and covered all the important bits while also allowing him a full range of movement. He had shoulder pads, and bracers, as well as plates on his legs. One large breastplate covered his chest and back. Any open space would be covered by his aura, but even then he'd made all black under-outfit that he could instantly equip from his inventory.

Why all black? For contrast of course!

Putting it all in his inventory, Jaune was about to take his books out of his inventory when Ren looked over at him from his books. Noticing that they were looking at him, Jaune raised an eyebrow before speaking up.

"You guys need something?"

"Nothing in particular, you were just zoned out for a second." Pyrrha said, before looking down at the snack bowl they must have acquired during the time he'd been gone. A big red thing that was filled with nothing but crumbs now.

"But I guess you could go fill this before joining us… You know, for posterity." Pyrrha continued, and Jaune raised an eyebrow, before she blushed. "I may not have used that word right there. But could you? Please?"

Fluttering her eyelashes at him despite the fact he was already coming over, Jaune picked up the bowl before looking over to Pyrrha. "I'll get it filled, but if I don't get any when I'm back I'll get proper cross."

Taking it with him, Jaune left the room quite quickly, marching down the halls. He had a couple options. Spinning the bowl in his hands, Jaune timed it terribly, and as he turned the corner into the big, main hallway of the dormitory building, bumped into someone.

Dropping the bowl, it rolled away beyond his reach, behind the three people that now stood in front of him in the hallway. Looking up from his feet where his gaze had been dragged, Jaune laid eyes on quite the beautiful woman.

He would have to avoid being too crass here, but: GODDAMN! That's a good looking woman.

She had ashen-black hair that was almost like Blake's in a way which flowed past her shoulders, framing a gorgeous face and fair skin. Bright, amber eyes looked at him, partially glittering with amusement, and something else Jaune couldn't quite identify.

Wearing some lipstick, and some violet eye shadow, she accentuated her own natural features very well, like someone who knew what she was doing. Jaune only knew that much thanks to his sisters. Feeling a chill run down his spine, Jaune looked at the woman, taking in the interesting and unusual uniform.

It was a conservative dark gray outfit with a long-sleeved, collared top with a white armband around her right arm. With them she wore some black tights, that showed off her quite nice legs beneath the skirt. Despite the outfit, her figure was clearly that of a good looking woman.

Jaune was quite frankly, blown away.

Looking to the right of her, Jaune noticed one of her other companions, and was a bit shocked as to how he didn't notice them before. With bright, minty green hair like that they were very clearly not afraid of attention, and it was actually quite the pleasant contrast to her darker skin.

Red eyes peered at him, that sort of reminded him of Yang's when she was angry, but without the swirling flames. She looked very similar, however she wore knee high white socks rather than black tights.

She too was good looking, and exotic in what seemed to be more ways than one.

And finally to the left of the woman, was a teenage boy probably two or three years older than Jaune himself. He was a bit disappointed to see that it was not yet another beautiful lady, and instead just a gray haired, good looking gent.

Nothing wrong with complimenting another man's looks. Nothing wrong at all.

Nothing wrong with that. At all.

"Whoops! So sorry about that." Jaune said, breaking out of his stupor. That information had taken less than a moment to go straight to his brain, yet he still felt awkward. "Are you alright?"

"Yes… I believe I'm entirely fine." Her voice purred out, like music to his ears. What was it about this woman that made her so alluring? "Are you alright?"

"Oh for sure, thanks for asking." Looking up and down at their uniforms again, Jaune's eyes eventually came back to their face height. "I figure Atlas' uniforms would be white, so you guys are students from Mistral then?"

She looked briefly surprised, and the green haired girl at her side blinked. "Yes, in fact. Very well done… Now that that's out of the way, I must say, it appears as though me and my team have become terribly lost. Which way is it to the guest dormitories?"

Thinking for a second, Jaune drew a mental map of the school before outlining the route. It was a long way, and would take far too long to explain without guiding them step by step, and then writing them a pamphlet.

"Considering how long it would take to explain, maybe it's best I just take you." The woman tilted her head for a moment before figuring his offer was reasonable. "Perfect. Well, I, am Jaune Arc. It's a pleasure to meet the three of you."

Reaching out a hand to first the gray haired chap, he met a firm grip with a firm grip, and they shook on it. "I'm Mercury. It's good to meet you, man. Thanks for guiding us out of this maze of a school you guys got goin'."

"No problem."

Moving his hand then to the middle woman, he took her hand in a firm handshake, but was a bit more gentle than he might've been with Mercury. "Cinder Fall. It's good to meet a student from Beacon, finally."

"I'm sure it is. We're a wonderful bunch." Jaune said a bit cheeky, having re-stabilized his confidence. Looking now to the final woman, he stuck out his hand and she took it, shaking his hand with really good technique.

"Emerald. It's nice to meet you!" She was cheery and seemed to be a bit more open than others of the group. Bobbing her green hair, she nodded before gesturing behind them. "Now, shall we?"

Thankful she'd correctly assumed they were going the direct opposite direction, Jaune slipped in front of them and picked up the bowl, tucking it under one arm as he walked along. For the most part they were quiet, before Emerald started talking.

"It's a wonderful school you have here… The gardens seem quite pleasant." She said, breaking the ice with the scenery. "Haven doesn't have gardens pretty much at all."

"Our climate is awfully nice for most of the year." Jaune said, replying easily as he continued. "And the weather for this year's Vytal Tournament is looking like it'll be good, which is always nice. Sometimes we get storms that time of year, but that's not too often."

Humming behind him, one of them continued as they wove through the halls of the dormitory, before going up some stairs. "I assume you guys are here to compete, and not simply sightseers?"

"That would be correct." Mercury said, coming up to join Jaune in front of the two ladies. Jaune couldn't help but notice a very, very slight noise when he walked. "We're here to kick ass and chew gum, and I'm all outta gum."

Putting one hand in his pocket, Jaune opened the gateway to his inventory and popped in some fresh gum before taking out his hand. "Well then, I'll just have you give you some."

"Oh!" Taking one when offered, Mercury popped it into his mouth and began chewing before Jaune turned back to the ladies, letting his feet guide them on autopilot. Emerald took one, while Cinder did not.

Well, to each their own.

"My team will be competing too, and after this, I'm honestly not sure if I'll enjoy beating you guys." Jaune said, taking them up the final set of stairs and taking them towards the final hallway of which they would need to traverse.

"And what pray tell is it that makes you so confident you'll win, Jaune?" Cinder said from behind, and he felt chills run down his spine. "Our team is quite competent. Most of those from Mistral are."

"That's fine, but my team has Pyrrha Nikos. Team JNPR is our name, and err… I guess we don't really have a game, but we're really, really quite good." Jaune said with a puff of pride. "Our team's been doing well in almost everything we've been assigned this year. We haven't had a field operation yet, but that starts after the dance."

"Dance? Do you know if we're allowed to come?" Emerald said, with a hint of… What wasn't quite excitement, but was instead something more akin to curiosity.

"Probably! My friend Weiss is organizing it, and I'm fairly sure she was making it so that you guys could come too." Jaune said, looking over the minty haired girl as they arrived at their destination. "She wants all students to enjoy themselves, including you visitors."

"Well, that sounds very pleasant." Looking around, Cinder gave him a sly smile, and Jaune felt his heart reach up into his throat. There was just something about her! "Now, thank you very much for guiding us to our destination. I hope we didn't trouble you at all."

"Hey, I offered, and that's the way I am." Jaune said, looking at them. Really, it had cost him nothing but his time. "Now, I hope the all of you have a wonderful evening, and enjoy the rest of your stay at Beacon. If you see me around, don't be afraid to say hi!"

"See ya!" Mercury waved, as Jaune turned around and left them.

Jaune felt his aura fluctuate in the tiny, one mana point way it did before two azure blue screens, with white blaring font appeared in front of him, proclaiming something that he was actually quite happy seeing.

You've gained +4 Closeness with Cinder!

You've gained +4 Closeness with Emerald!

Y͕̼͇̞̜̝̬o̰̖̝̳u̟͇̲̞̦͝ͅ'̯̘͉̼̠v̷̰e ̙͞g̪̺̝̬͔ạ̷̩͓̝͍̭i̦̰n͙̫̯̗͠e͙d̥͠ ̤͚͍͕+͈̤̤̭̻̤̤1̺̗ ̪̤̲͠C̺͖l̼̭͇̺͎̙̻o̤̟̗ș̪͍e̴͖͎̱n͏̫͙͇͉̘̘͖e̼̭̰͉s̵͍̯̘̘s̪͔̰͉͖̰̗ ̼͘w̴̥͚̭i̢̞̬͖̼͍̞̦t̫̙͟h̭͈͖͈̺̮ ̭̟͔̜̮͎̲A̱͉̬̮̹͉m̱̭̣b͚e̷̙̥̖̞ͅr̢͖!̮̦͓͞

̻̟̮̪̮͟

Noticing the visual glitch that seemed to be on the line below that of Cinder and Emerald, Jaune shrugged. That patch must've broken things more than he realized. Leaving the guest dormitories, Jaune began his quest to get that bowl filled up.

~oOo~ The Woman Whisperer ~oOo~

Note: Please, let me know what you all thought! The more of your opinions I know, the better the next chapter can be… Besides, I need to know: How rusty did you guys find it? I want to do better in keeping the plot flowing from now on, and will be trying my best to generally speed through Volume 2, since it shouldn't really take that long.

Anyways…

Announcement: I'm looking for one more Beta-reader, so anyone who likes my writing and knows grammar, and is interested in being apart of the creative process should feel free to shoot me a PM and let me know they're interested! Discord server for the betas should be made by Sunday night.

Well, drink a Pepsi, play some Warframe, get confused towards a girl being nice to you, believe you're going bald (thanks Random O' Panda), and have a wonderful evening!

Review Responses:

WarrenDSherman: Love you, man! (WRITE MORE NO GODS NO MASTERS!)

Derone97: Here I am, doing it again. I'm bad.

alrickit: Once again, apologies! How did you find the gear? Suitable?

Random O' Panda: Thanks! Mama Mia jokes should be made in all fandoms.

Zaralann: Because Neo's never introduced herself. (And kinda never will.) I planned out the Breach a week ago, it is well planned out.

Dragon of the Blazeing Stars: Goodness me! Kinda late now, but I wear I will put that joke in.

lordrednight: I will try to speed through Volume 2! I want to dawdle less, since I feel a bit like I need to learn to balance downtime and action a bit more. Still getting the hang of it.

Trey of the rebellion: Awkward, since I just came back, again.

Desdelor97: Thanks, man!

Benthino: Just like Aegis! Thanks, man.

readerjunkie: Thanks very much!
18Dragon: Thanks!

DuplicateUserName: !?

Yexius: Weiss included, will be in later chapters as well. (Dance Arc, Breach, the whole Paladin thing.)

ronald hibbard the first: Haha, thanks! I show my Canadian-ness wherever I can.

Josh Spicer: That… Is correct.

NyaNyaKittyFace: That was the original intention, but it never quite worked out! I will make that a joke at some point. The dance maybe? Contrast is needed. I only just learned to dress myself, apparently. (I now wear gray, and black. Instead of just black. I'm not emo.) Not seeing it forged, but is the gear itself good enough?

itsMARWIE: Yay-YEET!

Zen-Aku The Spirit Of The Wolf: Thanks!

Guest: Of course!

R-king 93: Nope. Just a coincidence.

TypedSomeWords: I agree, and I've come to realize that. He understands he can switch clothes with the inventory in this chapter. I had Pyrrha in a bunch of this chapter. I agree on that too. I've changed, what can I say. Yes. Also, yes. Sounds good!

Adoravke: We'll see how it goes.

Guest: Thanks! It was very clunky, and I could've done it better… Goodness, if there's any one regret I have it's thinking through that entire two chapters wrong. Won't change it now, I feel like it's too late, but still. I could've done it better.

Shoytahn: Thanks! Probably my bad, on the parkour/hardcore thing. (You're right.)

X3Runner: Thanks! You're probably right on Coco. I will consider it.

psp reader: Yup and you're welcome!

Bartholemeow: (Love your name) Not the only one. I despise the way I handled it.

korben600: Thanks! I try.

SrChangeling1: Thanks man! Hope to see you too.

Anubis the shadow: Thanks! Blake in V2 has a larger roll. (Yes, curiosity and cats indeed.)

N: Still kicking! But sometimes it's hard.

Monkeyboy0118: Thanks! Hope you enjoy 'till the end.

ChaosJeff: Yup, and she has that.

Red626: Me too!

Bucky: Thanks very much. Amber, I have plans for. Stats can go far beyond 100.

PolishFreelancer115: 'Sup new beta! (One of them.)

Silverswordmaster: Sorry! Haha, if you like plot try OKTRTA.

lucasrosa94: Thanks!

Crofty666: Haven't seen V6 yet! No spoilers! Too late, spoiled.

SirenAtlantica: Come Sunday it will, but will probably be open here once next chapter comes out.

Neo Infinity: The webcomic went on a long time.

CelebTil: Thanks!

HelpingHand: I will try being better.

TigerJacob: Yeah, this isn't perfectly executed. But, I will continue!

Tryson: Thanks! I could, but he needs runes first.

Now, don't know if any of you guys like Cage the Elephant, or PUP, but PUP got a new album today, and Cage the Elephant gets one in two weeks.

-DragonManMax

Stat Shit:

Name: Jaune Arc

Level: 42

Title: Artisan

Nickname: Beacon's Beacon

Perk: Room Service!

HP: 1740/1740

AP: 15000/15000

Basic Stats:

STR : 89

DEX : 84

VIT : 87

INT : 75

WIS : 80

LUK : 56

Romance Stats:

Charm: 59

Looks: 55

Wit: 51

Stat Points: 133

Lien: 15023

Name: Pyrrha Nikos

Affection: 63/100

Relationship Status: Your Amazing & Loving Girlfriend!

Gifts Received: Mood Understand, Arkos Charm

Name: Ruby Rose

Affection: 66/100

Relationship Status: Your Adorable & Loving Girlfriend!

Gifts Received: Mood Understand, Lancaster Charm

Name: Blake Belladonna

Closeness: 46/100

Relationship Status: Enjoys Your Friendship

Gifts Received: Mood Understand

Name: Yang Xiao-Long

Closeness: 46/100

Relationship Status: Values Your Friendship Greatly

Gifts Received: Mood Understand

Name: Cinder Fall

Closeness: 4

Relationship Status: Acquaintance

Name: Emerald

Closeness: 4

Relationship Status: Acquaintance

In an effort to condense things, I'm keeping it limited to those changed this chapter.