Arc of Legend Chapter 1: Tempering Steel, a rwby fanfic

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Prologue - Tempering Steel

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"Wow." -Speech

'Wow!' -Thoughts

[Game Announcement]

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Steel.

A peculiarly simple substance. For most men agreed steel was a platform to launch off an extension of one's Aura, or soul. But for Jaune Arc, steel was his life. Growing up in a family of famous warriors, so much pressure was put on him he forged documents to get into Beacon Academy. He had cheated his way into his school based on his trickery, but now he was going to earn it with skill and strength.

Jaune was in Beacon Academy's library, tapping the table he was sitting at nervously as Cardin Winchester and his group of fellow bullies snickered across the walkway from him.

"Hey Jaune!" Yang Xiao Long chirped, leaning over onto the table by resting her elbows and head onto it. "What's up?"

Blue eyes felt themselves travel to her breasts, that jiggled when she leaned over to speak to him. "Um...h-hey Yang..." They nervously rose up to her lilac ones.

"What's wrong?" The power-punching blonde frowned.

"I just. I just. Did you ever want to be strong? Yang?"

"I'm already strong!" She stood up and raised her golden gauntlet wearing fists. "I can punch through anything!"

Jaune looked over to Team CRDL. "I want to put Cardin in his place. He keeps calling me Jauney boy and he has me on a leash. I want to be stronger."

"Well, why don't you train then?" Yang pursed her lips.

"That won't be enough. I want to be even stronger than someone who trains. I want to be the strongest warrior to ever live." Jaune's fists tightened when he saw Cardin bump fists with Sky and smile at Yang's rear end. "I'm done being weak."

"So...how do you plan to do that?" Yang crossed her arms and exemplified her already eye-popping bosom.

"I'll find a way. And then I'll slap Cardin's stupid smile off his stupid face." Jaune rose from his seat and walked towards the exit to the library. Normally he would've ignored Cardin's foot waiting to trip him but this time he was paying more attention to detail and jumped right over it. "Not this time Winchester."

"How did he..." Cardin squinted after him, and Team CRDL appeared to be equally confused.

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The Faunus Blacksmith saw Jaune walk into his shop. "Hello. How can I help you today?"

"I sort of need a big boost to my sword..." said Jaune as he drew Crocea Mors off his hip and placed it on the counter between them. "It's the Arc family sword and I-"

"Why would you want to improve this?" inquired the smith as he picked up the blade by its blue hilt. "There are a few scratches sure but the craftsmanship is just marvelous. Good steel too."

Jaune nodded. "The only thing I've ever wanted is to become a warrior as strong as the ones in my family." Jaune looked up with determination in his blue eyes. "I won't rest until I can earn my place in Beacon, no matter what it takes."

"Someone hurting you boy?" The smith saw the small bruises on his face.

Jaune crossed his white armored arms. "This guy I want to beat up. So can you help me out?"

"Aye." muttered the smith as he nodded respectfully. "I'll help you. But since a true hero earns his strength with sacrifice I'll put a bit of a twist on this. May I?" After Jaune nodded, the Faunus took Crocea Mors into his shop and went to work.

For hours he toiled, smacking sheet after sheet of steel into the Arc family blade. Crocea Mors, with her blue grip and gold pommel and hilt, glowed red when tempered. The smith used tongs to pull her back out from her bed of coals and dipped her into a bucket of cold water with a loud hissing sound. After the blade had cooled properly, the Faunus chipped into the golden guard of the ancient sword with a chisel. With hairy arms and a sweaty face, he dove into his blacksmith's apron and took out a glowing white gem.

He made a tiny rivet or slot for an ivory dust crystal to be placed into. Smashing the dust stone into the hilt of the sword with all his might, the smith had properly embedded the white dust piece into the sword. Showing its completion, an upgraded Crocea Mors glowed a new shade of white momentarily, appearing to become lighter yet stronger under its new tempering.

Jaune stood slightly awed at the sight of his new sword, reaching for it with a steady hand. "Is that..."

"Yes indeed it is. One of the rarest dust crystals in the kingdoms." murmured the Faunus as he scratched his beard. "I've always wanted to use it on a sword, especially a family one such as yours. The effect is simple, it amplifies the strength and speed of the user and enhances their semblance-"

"Yes!" Jaune jumped into the air with a hoot.

"Except. It only may be equal to the ability of the wielder with his sword. It's not only about sheer strength but about skill as well, for the more skilled and well timed your attacks are, the better the stone will help you. The less skilled, the less it will work. It also-"

"Got it thanks bye!" Jaune ran out of the shop sprinting.

The Faunus sighed. "I guess he'll learn in his own way."

Jaune smiled as he ran down the street back to Beacon. 'Oh man! I can't wait to absolutely destroy Cardin with this!' He kept running. The crystal glowed whiter and a blue text box appeared in front of him.

[The Gamer]

Name: Jaune Arc

Age: 17

LV 7

Jaune stopped dead in his tracks.

The fuck?

He touched it and the blue box sprung larger.

"What in the...what is this..." muttered Jaune.

Since he had to know how this mindbending...thing was occurring, Jaune tapped the crystal newly affixed to his sword and the interface popped up again.

[Menu

-Player Information

-Stats

-System Information]

Jaune promptly tapped on 'system information' assuming it could read his finger which it happened to be able to do so.

[System Information

-Mechanics

-Skills

-Appendix]

Not a second later, Jaune pressed |Appendix|.

[Appendix:

DEX: A more |Dextrous| person will be able to be more accurate and nimble, also working in tandem with your |SPD| stat.

STA: |Stamina| determines how long you can fight for and how hard, and how long you can run at full speed. Higher |STA| increases durability and AP regeneration.

INT: |Intelligence| is the determining factor in how easy it will be to memorize new skills and information, not just related to the game itself. The more difficult problem that needs be solved, the higher the |INT| stat required.

'See that's great and all...but it doesn't tell me what the hell this is!' roared Jaune in his head.

He kept scrolling through the |Appendix| until he reached the very bottom.

[The Gamer -An ability that allows its user to become exponentially quicker in becoming smarter, faster and stronger than those around the user.]

"This crystal gave me some magical ability that makes me stronger?..." Jaune's finger shook nervously in confusion over the light blue interface screen for a few seconds before he jumped into the air. "That's the most awesome thing to ever happen to me!"

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Jaune sprinted all the way back to the library, not noticing the blue rectangles above everyone's head as he ran past hem. As Cardin approached Jaune, Jaune noticed the blue boxes hovering over his bullies head.

Cardin Winchester "Egghead Bully" -LV 10

Since all his cronies had around the same description hovering over their heads along with everyone else in the library, Jaune assumed that only he was able to see them.

Cardin and Team CRDL surrounded Jaune as he sat calmly in the library again when he came back. "Hey Jauney boy. Where's my homework?"

"Probably nowhere." Jaune leaned back in his chair and groaned, his new white Dust crystal embedded into Crocea Mors shining. "Didn't feel like doing it."

"Do you have a death wish or something Jauney?" Cardin pushed Jaune's head. "Hey I'm talking to you."

"You know Cardin...I'm done being your little errand boy, so why don't you just go away?" He looked at him with a calm look on his face.

Cardin squinted and shook his head. "I don't think so."

"Well how about this? I meet you in the forest, just you and me, and we fight?"

Cardin broke into laughter at this challenge. "Deal loser. You know I already kick your ass whenever we practice right?"

"Well, then I guess everything will be just fine for you won't it?" Jaune stood up out of his chair and picked up his book as Cardin ground his teeth together in anger. "Tonight. The Emerald Forest, you and me buddy." He walked away.

"Anyone know how he got so confident?" Cardin turned to his friends who just gave him dumb looks and shrugs. "Doesn't matter." He saw Jaune push the door open to the library. "We'll all destroy 'im."

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The whole day, Jaune ignored all of Team CRDL as if they were flies. The annoying blue boxes floating over people's heads that described everyone he knew in quirky ways became regular for him after the library. His friends began to notice how focused he began to act in class.

Jaune decided that if he indeed wanted to improve himself he'd have to start acting like he wanted to. Jaune took a quick peek at the rectangle over the heiress' head.

Weiss Schnee "Ice Cold Heiress" - LV 12

'Very clever system...very clever...' Jaune shook his head.

Jaune dodged another spitball Cardin shot at his blonde head, seeing it coming and leaning his head forward to dodge it.

Weiss kept taking notes calmly as Jaune did the same, the blonde not bothering to flirt aimlessly.

Jaune started assuming the |Descriptions| only he could see, as no other students were noting the strange boxed floating over everyone.

He saw Cardin and his group mutter to each other about something. They both made eye contact as Jaune walked ahead towards his dorm to get ready for the fight.

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Jaune looked at his new notification instantly.

[Quest Alert! |Fighting Team CRDL|: You're done taking crap from Beacon's resident bullies! It's time to man up and use all your strength to defeat them!

Objective: Defeat all enemies without reaching zero AP (Aura Points) or dying!

Completion Award: +2000 EXP points.

Failure: +0 EXP points. Accept: Y/N]

Without hesitation, Jaune hit the |Yes| button and walked into the Emerald Forest.

"So." Cardin rested his mace on his shoulder as he saw Jaune approach, an upgraded version of Crocea Mors in hand. "You actually came Jauney boy." joked Cardin who smirked in the clearing, deep within the Emerald Forest.

Jaune said nothing, and gripped his shield strap and adjusted his stance when he heard movement behind him. The other three members of Team CRDL approached and chuckled. "Hmm..."

He yelled and turned around. "Yah!" He swung outwards with his sword and was amazed at the results. First, the swipe was so strong and fast Sky and Dove were knocked over each other like bowling pins, Auras knocked into the red instantly. Russell became frightened and fled seeing his comrades groan in defeat atop each other.

[Power Strike activated - Super Slash! -25 AP]

Cardin laughed. "I see you made an upgrade to your blade. Whatever." He tried to knock Jaune over the head with his mace when Jaune turned around, but Jaune raised his shield and was strong enough now from the Dust shard powering his Aura to absorb the blow. The system recognized a |Skill| and promptly registered it.

[Reinforced Block activated - +100% damage absorption]

The yellow-haired knight then swung downwards like he was trying to cut a block of wood in half with an ax, but Cardin held the mace with both his hands and stopped it.

Jaune grunted and pulled himself off, spinning around with a swipe using Crocea Mors. Cardin stepped back and the blade missed, lunging forwards and counter attacking with another swipe with his mace.

The blow missed as Jaune unleashed an endless barrage of strikes onto his bully. Cardin was barely left standing from their sheer power, as Jaune's white dust shard embedded into his sword gleamed bright white, fueling the blonde with strength. Jaune's sword swung again and again through the air as Cardin held his mace like a shield, blocking the metal crushing blows with ease.

His |DEX| stat became important in the ensuing strikes.

Jaune's bully made the ground quake as Jaune rolled aside with a pounding heart, avoiding the downwards and missed mace smash. Jaune went for a thrust into Cardin's arm but Cardin again avoided the quick attack. The fight continued with increasing fervor, Cardin noticing how much stronger and faster Jaune's attacks were from the last time they traded blows.

'He's gotten better.' Cardin swept through the forest air with his mace making Jaune step back. 'Much better.' Jaune returned the attack with a swipe of his own, making Cardin step back now. 'But he still can't control himself, he'll run out of Aura in time.'

This turned out to be true, eventually, Jaune was left panting and exhausted, looking at the scroll behind his shield with a sigh. 'I'm in the red.' He looked to a barely sweating Cardin. 'And he's completely fine.'

[HP: 567/600

AP: 13/500]

"Come on Jauney. We'd both know it'd end this way." Cardin raised his mace into the air and knocked Jaune away to a tree. He pressed him against the tree trunk with his shoe, laying the edge of his mace against his temple. "Buh-bye Jauney!"

Before Cardin could knock him out with his mace, Jaune rolled away and the tree trunk shook under Cardin's smashing attack. Jaune's yellow hair was dripping with sweat as he stood up slowly as Cardin tried his best to pull his embedded mace out of the tree.

When he swung again at his taller metal encased opponent, the blow wasn't powered by the new white dust shard and was incredibly weak, bouncing off Cardin's grey armor like a glancing love tap. "That's it!" Jaune laughed while panting, and checked his scroll behind his shield.

'My Aura's almost empty. That's what the smith meant by well timed! The stone is powered directly by my Aura! I just have to be defensive when my Aura's low and offensive when my Aura's high!'

Cardin dug his mace out of the tree and sprinted at Jaune with his mace. When the swing came, he rolled aside and preserved his Aura. Then Cardin tried to knock out Jaune with a single blow, but Jaune just felt his heart beat faster along with the rising of his Semblance. A white glow was emitted from his body and Cardin's mace bounced right off Jaune's shield.

"What the..." Cardin bellowed at the top of his lungs. "That should've shattered every bone in your arm!"

[Semblance |Aura Amplification| activated! +200% to damage absorption and damage output range. Remaining time until deactivation: 00:03:00]

"Guess it's just my semblance." Jaune adjusted his stance and waited for his Aura to refill.

'I know what my strategy is now. I can activate my Semblance at will now, for some reason it's more responsive. I get what Pyrrha said to me, I can activate it when I want! I know what to do! My Semblance can just stop attacks when I run out of Aura, and then when I recharge my new dust shard can crush whoever I'm up against!'

Cardin ran at Jaune and tried to hit him over and over again with his mace to no avail because Jaune's Semblance was absorbing every strike. When he ran out of Aura after so many failed attacks, his friends Sky and Dove rose from the ground and drew their weapons.

Sky's halberd and Dove's bronze short sword were raised as Cardin panted and roared. "How in the ever-loving fuck could you stop all that?!"

"It's my Semblance. Guess it's just that strong."

"Get him!" Cardin yelled when he recovered.

The bullies of Team CRDL came at him with all they had, but Jaune just stood there as his white aura shone and weapons rebounded off him. Sky's halberd bounced off his shield when Jaune timed a block correctly and made his white dust shard glow brighter. Dove's sword was smacked away as Jaune's upgraded family sword glanced it aside, and he came charging forwards to swing at him.

Jaune pivoted into his attack, sending as much of his Aura into the blow, his semblance powering it too. Crocea Mors glowed white like the rest of his body and sent Dove flying out of the Emerald Forest with a swing landing on his arm, not a moment after his sword was blocked.

Sky and Cardin ganged up on him, angry from the defeat of their comrade, they tried to bury their weapons into his body but both just bounced off like they were nothing, stopped by Jaune's Semblance like Cardin's attacks were. Eventually, it powered down after taking so many strikes from his bullies and Jaune was confused as he saw the white aura fade into nothing.

[Semblance deactivated. Cooldown time remaining: 05:00:00]

'Huh? It can take a limited number of hits? The interface says its on a timer. Well maybe I just need to train with it more often and it can get better, I'm only just using it now.'

The two bullies saw the white Aura shield that was Jaune's Semblance disappear and knew he was vulnerable to attacks. Jaune stepped back and raised his shield, blocking a hack from Sky's halberd while Crocea Mors in his right hand was raised and stopped a downwards slash from Cardin's mace. Continuing, the two bullies buried attack after attack into Jaune's defense in that forest clearing, but they soon became tired as Jaune's skill and timing were shown off in spades.

[You've developed your skill at |Basic Melee Defense|: 20(+5)/100]

Every attack sent to him from Sky or Cardin reflected off his shield if it was blocking Sky's halberd, or Crocea Mors if it was Cardin's mace. One after the other, the two bullies found themselves facing an increasingly strategic opponent.

Jaune looked upwards with a smirk, Sky and Cardin barely able to stand from how tired they were. "My turn." coldly murmured the white armored blonde. His brown gloved hand curled into a fist and he saw the scroll in his left hand holding his shield. His high |STA| stat showed off as his aura was regenerated quickly.

[HP:489/600

AP: 349/500]

'I've recovered my Aura now, which means the new dust shard should be working at its most efficient!'

Jaune yelled as he slashed across Sky's chest and sapped all his Aura in a single shot from its powered strength, making the bully fall to the ground. He kicked Sky away to a tree with his boot as Cardin was too tired to move. He grunted, bashing his white shield right into Cardin's face and breaking his nose, bloodying it as well. As the bully laid defeated against a tree, Jaune pressed his boot into Cardin's armored chest, glaring into his eyes angrily.

Humbled and defeated, the bully relented with a sigh. "I...I'm sorry...Jaune..." Cardin gulped. "For pushing you around and all that."

His fellow Beacon student left him there on the forest floor like he was nothing as he strode away. He then left a defeated Sky and Cardin there on the forest floor and began his walk back to his dorm with a confident new stride, which included a straighter posture and sheathed weapons.

As he walked out of the Emerald Forest, he received a few notifications.

[Congratulations! You have successfully completed the quest |Fighting Team CRDL|, and have leveled up as a result!]

[LV 7 -LV 10 (123/2000 EXP)]

[You have currently 15 skill points ready to be invested in your |Stats|, would you like to use them now? Y/N]

After hitting |Yes|, Jaune read the new pop up on his |Player Information|.

[The Gamer]

Name: Jaune Arc

Age: 17

LV 10 (123/2000 EXP)

HP: 489/630

AP: 411/500

Skill Points: 15

STR: 23/100

SPD: 16/100

DEX: 24/100

STA: 19/100

INT: 11/100

WIS: 12/100

LUK: 9/100

Jaune remembered how in combat, his |STA| stat was very useful in powering his aura and regenerating it as well. His |STR| allowed for stronger strikes to be both given and blocked, and his |DEX| might've made it easier for him avoid hits, so he placed five points into each of those three |Stats|.

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Jaune already enjoyed the system for helping him get stronger, but he also started enjoying it for the funny way it had of describing his friends. He decided to start glancing at the various blue boxes above their heads as they sat around a breakfast table in the Beacon Academy mess hall.

Ruby Rose "Cutesy Scythe Wielder" -LV 11

Lie Ren "Quiet Ninja" -LV 9

Yang Xiao Long "Busty Pun Lovin' Boxer" -LV 10

Cardin and his gang were feeling particularly angry about losing to Jaune and picked on Velvet when she sat by herself. "Hey Faunus girl. Nice ears." Sky tugged on them as the rest of Team CRDL laughed.

"Hey." Jaune walked over to them crossed his arms. "Do I need to teach you all a lesson like I did last night?"

"N-no Jaune!" Cardin stuttered with the same bruise Jaune gave him on his right eye, afraid of calling Jaune Jauney in fear of him now. His friends nodded and almost sprinted out of the cafeteria.

Jaune sat down next to Velvet and frowned. "I'm sorry they've treated you like that. But I don't think they're going to do that anymore."

"What did you do to them Jaune?" asked Velvet.

"I taught Cardin and his gang a lesson." He stood up and walked back to the table with all his friends from teams JNPR and RWBY. "I've got a test on Evermore anatomy to study on but uh...Pyrrha?"

Her green eyes lit up. "Yes?" She looked up from her breakfast with her beautiful smile.

"Do you want to train tonight?" Jaune held his book.

"Of course." Pyrrha nodded to him.

"Great, I'll see you then Pyrrha. See you all later." Jaune walked away with a new straighter posture right out of the cafeteria, smiling back at some girls who waved to him along the way.

"Is it me, or has Jaune gotten a lot cooler?" Ren asked all the other Beacon students at the table, after looking at his leader curiously.

"No, it's not just you." Ruby shrugged.

"Agreed." Weiss and Pyrrha sighed dreamily at that blonde warrior that now walked around Beacon more confidently, doing so now right out of the cafeteria. Jaune tapped the crystal embedded into his sword and read up a bit more on it in the interface's |Appendix|.

|Crystal of Duality: This crystal will grow increasingly better in effectivity along with the strength and skill of its user, and it powers and is powered directly to and by the power and Aura of its wielder. It is said that white versions of these crystals never stop enhancing abilities, and will have an infinite amount of power to help heroes as they become stronger. More importantly, the crystal of duality is the only shard embedded with the power of the |Gamer|. The crystal will make users stronger substantially, but will be enhanced itself when the wielder becomes stronger based on his own merits without the help of the shard.|

Jaune really enjoyed his new |Gamer| power that his crystal gave him, but he also knew one thing while reading this on his new dust crystal: It was going to send him down a path to becoming the strongest hunter he could be, helping him greatly along the way. But he also knew it would take a lot of hard work to improve himself to the point he wanted, and enhance his new crystal and thus himself along with it. The Gamer power would only help, as it was the thing Jaune enjoyed most in his life at the current moment.

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Author's Note:

So I read enough Gamer fics to know that the |System| has a decently funny sense of humor, and this will basically be the slowest way to get Jaune OP and have a harem. Yeah, so there's Romance Game elements. Qrow is fucking awesome and I'll be trying to introduce him as soon as plot permits.

A couple of important notes. One, Jaune can become OP because his stats can go over 100 indefinitely. Second, the Gamer power cannot be stolen from him, since the moment he got the Shard it was his, thus it is permanent. If he loses his sword or the shard, it will just be harder to access the menu but he can still develop a skill or level up to access the system and invest skill points.

I will be deviating from canon in the sense that things will happen but quite differently than they would have if Jaune didn't have more control over them. But this will NOT be a beat for beat copy of the entire show, because that would be very boring. If you like my stuff, check out my writing schedule on my profile along with my stories, one of them is a Sword Art Online one. Thanks for reading, see y'all next time.