Jaune was beyond nervous, he had never broken any sort of rule before he hadn't even had detention at school, and now he was doing something Illegal, that if he was caught, it could get him jail time.

He was putting his entire future at risk by doing this; his whole life going forward would be defined by what happened next.

Would he become a Huntsman?

Would he get caught by Beacon and sent to jail?

Or would he fail and go back home?

He knew it was perfectly normal to be nervous, but these were criminals, and he knew they would take advantage of that. He could only take deep breaths and try to act confident, so he told himself, "Fake it till you make it."

He then took a big stride towards the bar, where a bartender said to him sternly when he arrived, "We don't serve kids."

He replied, trying to stay calm, "I am not here for that, I have… another kind of business here."

The bartender looked at him doubtfully, but after a moment he simply looked over at one end of the club and did a hand sign in the air and then spoke back to him pointing towards an end of the club, "Go to that guy, he'll take you to the boss."

He replied with a quick thanks and headed towards that end of the club.

As he walked forward, he couldn't help but think that not bringing his hoddie with the bunny imprint was a good idea. He had a feeling they wouldn't have let him talk to their boss if he was wearing that.

He didn't look imposing with that, not that he would without it.

When he reached that end of the club, he saw a man dressed the same as the rest of the staff at the club guarding a door, and that man said as he reached him, "You'll have to wait for a while, the boss is busy at the moment."

He didn't mind the wait, so he just said, "It's okay. I don't mind."

As time passed, the nervousness started coming back. Jaune needed something to distract himself, so he took out his scroll, unlocked it and tried to deflect with whatever games he had downloaded, but the itch in his mind wouldn't leave, and his nervousness only increased, so after a while, he asked the guard, "So… Have you had a good day so far?"

He seemed surprised that he had asked something like that, he couldn't help but think it wasn't that weird of a question. After a moment of silence, the guard shrugged as he said, "Well, I can't complain, no troublemakers today, so that's good."

He couldn't help but be surprised as he asked back, "Shouldn't a troublemaker be kind of uncommon in a club like this?"

The guard just replied as if they were a regular thing, "You'd be surprised how many people became idiots when they drink."

He felt that it made more sense and said, "You'd think people would know better."

The guard was about to answer back, but a voice came from inside, "Come in."

The guard opened the door for him but remained outside and said, "Good luck, kid."

He said a quick 'thanks' to the guard as he stepped into the office.

There stood a man with a full-blown beard, and even though the man was sitting behind a desk, he could tell, he was massive. He had to restrain himself from gulping and taking a step back.

The man then looked up from the papers in his desk and said to him in a deep voice, "So kid, what kind of business do you have with me?"

He stood frozen in place and said a bit shakily as the nervousness took hold of his tongue, "I-I want to buy fake transcripts to enter Beacon."

He felt the urge to curse when the man gained a mocking sneer on his face as he said, "Kid, do you even have your aura unlocked?"

He could feel himself shrinking into his body and said in a small voice, "N-no."

He could feel the silence fill the room, and he felt the tension rising, making his heart beat faster than ever before in his life, would he still sell the transcripts to him?

After a neverending moment, did the man speak, "How about it, kid, I'll do you a three-for-one special."

He was shocked and could barely believe it but was also confused about the third thing he would be selling, so he asked, "Really!? And what do you mean by three?"

The man laughed a bit, most likely at his excitement, and said, "Yes. Really. As for what I am selling you besides aura and transcripts is a chance to unlock your semblance."

He was beyond excited, but he was doubtful if he could pay for it, so he hesitantly said, "B-but, what's the price?"

The man then had a serious face and said in a grave voice that left no room for discussion. "Normally, this would cost twelve thousand, but I'll leave it at seven thousand, just for you."

He was crestfallen when he heard 'twelve thousand' but seven thousand was just barely in his spending range, it would cost every bit of lien he had accumulated over the years, but it would be worth it, so he rapidly accepted it and said, "Deal!"

The man had a smile on his face as he called out-side in a booming voice, "Bring the twins over here!"

He could hear scurrying on the other side of the door and a steady reply as he assumed he would bring the 'twins.'

He was nervous now as he had to wait for whomever the twins were, but the man spoke once again, sliding a card towards his end of the desk, "Kid, transfer seven thousand liens to this account. Then we'll be ready to give you the fake transcripts, get your aura unlocked, and possibly get your semblance activated."

He rapidly took the card, and after a few minutes, he managed to transfer the money to the account, leaving him almost with no money but with a step towards his dreams.

He was about to speak to tell him he had transferred the money, but the door opened, and two identical women entered the room. The only difference in them is their clothes, one dressed in white another in red.

The twins looked at each other, and the one white one shook her head at the man, he felt as if he had missed something because the man behind the desk just said, "That's good then we shouldn't worry, Militia go ahead and use your semblance on the kid."

He felt panic as he said that, Jaune knew semblances were dangerous by nature so he could only speak in fear, "Wait! What!?"

The one dressed in red replied, "My semblance only activates when I unlock someone's aura for them, it causes the other person's semblance to be activated. Though if your semblance is subtle or needs a trigger, we probably won't notice what your semblance does."

He breathed a sigh of relief, but he heard an urge to suck it back in when the one in white said, "It will knock you out, though."

He saw the one in red turn to glare at the one in white, and the huge man behind the desk also made a dissatisfied sound, and for a moment, silence filled the room until he said, "S-so what happens to me when I blackout?"

The man behind the desk said, trying to comfort him, "Don't worry, there are a few rooms we don't use upstairs, we'll leave you there, and when you wake up, you'll get your transcripts."

He was finally relieved because everything went all right when he woke up, he would have a ticket towards his dreams.

Then the man behind the desk spoke, "Come on, Militia, get on with it we don't have all day."

He saw her roll her eyes and place a hand on his chest, and he could feel a slight blush coming to his cheeks that only intensified when she snorted while looking at his eyes.

She then drops any facial expression she had and closes her eyes, and after a moment, she said to him, "Concentrate, focus on any feeling on your body."

He closed his eyes and did as he asked, and for a few moments, he only felt her hand on his chest, the warmth of his hoodie, that slight itch on his nose and sweet smell that permeated the room.

Suddenly he felt a voice speaking to him, but he couldn't make out the words and a new sensation started coming from somewhere, didn't exactly know where but it was unlike anything he had ever felt before.

He felt as if warm water was spreading through him, and at that moment, he felt a multitude of feelings.

Comfortable at the sensation of his body being enveloped in water as if he was in a hot spring. Irritated as if someone was moving a limb against his will and excitement at what he knew what the 'warm water' was.

Aura.

Suddenly a feeling of intense pain came over him; it felt as if someone was moving an arm inside his organs and digging deeper and deeper.

He resisted, and that progress became slow and more painful, but a sudden realization came over him, 'Should be the girl's semblance,' he stopped resisting. His pain was immediately lessened, but a feeling the feeling of wrongness only became more intense.

Suddenly the 'fingers' in the arm touched something, and he felt his aura move differently, and everything changed.

Everything became chaotic, he didn't know what happened, but seconds later, he saw blue before, darkness came.


Melanie POV.

She watched as her sister unlocked his aura. She could see that she was straining herself, it looked as if he had rather large reserves, but when the first step finished, Militia looked noticeably better as she let out a rather heavy sigh.

Now her sister had to activate her semblance; it wasn't that she couldn't do it in a person that had their aura unlocked, but it would take most of her aura away, as she would encounter more resistance and could lead to a backlash.

But that wouldn't be a problem if she did it to a person who just had their aura unlocked.

Suddenly a body dropped to the floor, nobody even cared enough to catch it, and nobody took a glance at it after it crashed on the floor. She just asked her sister, "So, how was it?"

Her sister just said boringly, "It was weird because it was easy; he didn't resist."

She didn't doubt it; it was the first time she has seen her sisters use her semblance and took less than five minutes, she guessed it might have been even less than three.

That only reinforced her perception formed by her semblance. She said out loud, "Not surprised; his will is beyond weak, I didn't sense it until I entered the room and even then, it was as if he was a meek rabbit."

That was her semblance; she could feel the resolve, spirit, will, or whatever you call it, of another person. It would help to choose whom to scam, as weak-willed people wouldn't fight back.

Then after a moment of silence, a guard that was standing by the door asked, "Boss, do we sen-"

He was interrupted by Junior, "No, he is definitely from a rich family, and they will send a team of Huntsmen for him, and I don't want to deal with that, just leave him in the slumps."

The guard asked a bit hesitantly, "But what if he tells his family, wouldn't we be in trouble?"

One of the reasons Junior is a good leader is that he willing to lend time in teaching his subordinates, and this was one such case of that as he answered, "No, he wouldn't, would criminals be his first choice?"

The guard seemed to get it as he said, "No, he should have asked his family first, but they didn't want him to become a huntsman."

Junior just said as he looked at the paperwork, "That's right, now get moving. I have other things to do tonight."

The guard rapidly placed the body under his shoulder and moved out of the office.

After the guard left, her sister said, "That was so disappointing. If only I could practice some other way."

Junior reassured her, "Don't worry if you keep practicing your semblance grows strong enough, and you'll eventually be able to practice with people who already have their aura unlocked, then it will grow in no time."

After a moment of silence, the tension rose in the room, and Junior looked towards her and said harshly, "You made a rookie mistake, Melanie."

She just waved him off as she replied, "Junior, you don't get it, when I said he had a weak will I meant it, it was one of the weakest I've felt, so I wanted to mess with him a little."

Junior looked at her sternly and said, "Nevertheless, you made a mistake that you could have easily avoided, so you'll do this." He then grabbed a file from his desk and tossed it to her.

She was annoyed but didn't argue, she skimmed the file and complained, "Getting blackmail for a police officer? This job is grunt work!"

He looked at her and simply said, "Yes, it is."

She didn't miss her sister's smirk as she stormed off the room.


He could feel himself waking up and as he did a smell entered his nose, it was horrible, it wouldn't even compare to garbage, and like his sense of smell awaked so did the others, he could tell that he was laying down in an uneven surface with it poking at his back.

His body felt beyond sore, and he was trouble opening his eyes. He was trying to remember what had happened, but it was hard to concentrate on his body aching as it did. Slowly he took a deep breath, trying to ignore the horrible smell and focus on his core; at that moment, something came to life, and he was finally in a sitting position.

That unfamiliar sensation brought his jumbled memories back.

'I failed…nothing new.'

He instantly knew what happened.

He was scammed.

On his transcripts, at least, he could tell he had aura, he could feel it around his stomach, it felt as if he had a ball of warm water.

He remembered that aura could heal your body, he tried calling to it, again and again, but it didn't respond.

Eventually, he gave up and sighed as he tried to stand up, despite the protests of his body. Finally, he managed but immediately stumbled, and he barely managed to catch himself with a wall.

His mind was telling him to rest more, but his heart would move his body, telling him that he wouldn't stay in a place that destroyed the last hope he had of achieving his dream.

So he moved.

His eyes scanned the place as he walked with one hand on the wall. He could barely see, but it didn't take long to realize that he was in an alleyway, he took a glance back and saw a mountain of trash, that probably hasn't changed for years.

He wondered why they gave him false hope before throwing him in the trash, but he wasn't in any condition to wonder that he only had a single goal right now.

Get to his room.

He stepped out of the alleyway and could see the sun starting to show itself.


His mind returned to him when he stepped inside his room, he didn't know exactly how he got there, but he didn't care right now, he wanted to sleep.

He headed straight to his bed and flopped down, barely getting his feet inside the bed. He closed his eyes and tried to fall asleep.

Except he couldn't, the foul smell radiating from his clothes keeping him up, he didn't know precisely how long it took before he decided that he would shower first before he would go to bed.

His body ached and screamed as he stood up from his bed and took some of his clothes that were in a chair, he knew they were the dirty clothes he needed to wash, but everything was clean compared to what he was wearing.

He lived in a dorm room of the Pharos combat school, so he didn't have a private bathroom; he could only hope nobody was up.

He took the towel that draped over the chair and stepped outside his room, going towards the men's bathroom that was at the end of the hall.

He managed to take his clothes with much dificulty and headed towards the showers, only to stop when he saw himself in the mirror.

He had many bruises, especially near his ribs, many were already purple, and their sizes ranged from apples to melons. He then turned around and found dried blood and cuts from his back.

He stared blankly at his back, and finally, things clicked.

It was no wonder he felt like shit since he woke up, they had decided to beat him up.

He could guess what they did.

They carried him off to the slumps and dropped him in an alleyway where they decided to throw him in the garbage, proceeded to beat him up and judging by the bruises on his front and cuts on his back, he could guess they beat him up, and that resulted in something in the garbage started to cut his back.

He tried once again to activate his aura to heal his body, but no matter what he did, it didn't respond.

He just gave up after thinking that someone might come in and look at his bruises and cuts, so he decided to go into the showers.

He realized it was a mistake the moment the water came down.

Agony started to spread across his back, for a moment, he screamed, and he went to his knees. The pain was paralyzing, so the hot water flowing through his back wasn't stopping, and only after a moment did he move to cut the flow of water.

Even if he turned off the shower, the pain wasn't stopping, he wanted to scream out, but he knew he couldn't. If somebody came, he was screwed.

How could he explain his injuries?

'Yeah, I just fell down the stairs'

'I have too many bruises?'

'It was a long flight of stairs.'

'The cuts on my back?'

'The stairs were filled with small knives.'

Yeah, no, that wasn't going to work.

So he chewed on his cheek, trying to distract himself from the pain until he bit too hard, and he could feel the taste of blood in his mouth. He swallowed it, trying not to leave any more blood on the showers.

The pain was receding and becoming into something bearable, and he finally managed to control it by trying to control his breathing.

After a few more moments did he managed to stand up and grab the towel that was outside of the shower stall.

He carefully dried himself, but he still felt pain when the tower brushed his skin, but he needed to get the blood of him. Finally, after his towel gained a new color, did he decide that it was enough.

He looked behind and saw a few splashes of blood on the shower floor, he hesitated, but he couldn't leave it like that, so he sighed and stepped inside the shower turned the water on and rapidly stepped back, after making sure no blood was left did he stop the water.

He put on the clothes he brought, blue pants and a green shirt, then he grabbed his shoes and went to his room.

He immediately fell on his bed, and the smell came back, probably because he laid in the bed with smelly clothes, but it was better than before, even if he didn't use soap or shampoo.

He laid face down on his bed, his right cheek on the pillow, and with his eyes closed, waiting for sleep to take him.

It didn't.

The thoughts he was running away from appeared in his mind now that he couldn't find any excuse.

He momentarily gave up on sleep and opened his eyes as he thought.

'They probably never would have given me the transcripts.'

He could see it now, thinking back he would have probably looked like a lamb in the chopping block the moment he stepped inside the club. He played right into their hands; he could see it.

How they made him wait despite nobody other than 'the boss' being there, they were probably making him nervous, which it did as he talked to guard.

He didn't even talk that much to the guard, and he was called to meet him right away.

How he asked,' Have you had a good day so far?'

Just why?

Why would he ask that?

That was beyond dumb, he was screaming,'Please, come rob me!"

That thought was reinforced when he remembered the guard's surprised face when he asked that as he had never heard those words before.

That made him thought, why would anyone ask a guard of a criminal something like that?

What was he expecting?


Have you had a good day so far?

Yeah, a good one, we have robbed quite a few people tonight.

Oh, yeah?

Yeah, a few fat cows, we also sold so many drugs tonight, like you wouldn't believe, so many new drug addicts.

So business is booming?


What was he thinking!?

He wasn't, and that was the problem, he should have seen the signs, how they tensed up when one of the twins, said that he would be unconscious, they probably thought that he was going to back out.

He quickly saw the problem with that.

He already had transferred the money so that they could've just kicked him out of their club.

Why bother unlocking his aura?

He could only think that they stood something to gain when the girl used her semblance on him.

What exactly?

He didn't know.

He knew that they used him and threw him away like trash.

He also knew that they did to send him a message.

'We could've killed you, but didn't, because you are not worth the trouble.'

They were confident that he wouldn't pose a threat, so they let him go.

He wasn't furious at them. They acted like the criminals they were, and he didn't know why he expected anything else.

After a moment of silence, did he think of the implications of the lack of anger.

How come he wasn't angry at someone who destroyed the only chance to accomplish his dreams, took all the money that he was saving since he was nine years old, beat him up, and tossed him the trash?

He recalled the first thought after he remembered last night.

'I failed…nothing new.'

He never expected to succeed.

He stole a weapon from his home, run away to a completely different continent- just to make sure his family didn't catch him- and didn't even expect himself to succeed.

Suddenly something became even more evident.

Why did he even have to get fake transcripts in the first place?

Because he thought that if it were up to him, he would never pass the test. So he bet everything in getting fake transcripts.

That was right.

He remembered a week ago when he saw the requirements to enter Beacon. He didn't even look at them a second time; there was no way he could pass.

So it was better to bet on fake transcripts, but it wasn't as if those transcripts would give him the skills to become a huntsman in training.

Had he even practiced with Crocea Mors?

Not once.

'Fuck, that's depressing.'

He could feel his aura responding and surging inside his body and crushing against itself.

But he didn't care about his aura right now.

Why did he even want to become a huntsman?

He didn't know what to answer at first, but he then remembered what he felt when he left home.

Guilt.

He was a burden for his family, he was always taken care of, and they always went out of their way to help him.

He wanted someone, anyone to need him.

If he were a huntsman, there would always be someone that would need him.

The crashing of aura inside his body was intensifying; there were two opposing sides crashing like waves into one another.

Then the question that mattered popped in his mind.

"Should I give up?"

He instantly knew the answer.

No, if he did, he would prove to his family, the criminals, and himself, that he was worthless because he couldn't help anyone.

It didn't matter if he was able to enroll in Beacon or not; right now, it wasn't about that.

This was his chance to prove to himself that he didn't need anyone to care for him.

This was also his chance to be able to change himself into becoming someone that could be proud to be.

He knew that in four months and the classes in Beacon began, he wouldn't be the same, for better or worse.

He will be worth something.

When he reached that conclusion, his aura calmed down and settled in his stomach, finally becoming calm once again.

At that moment, a blue screen appeared in front of him, with two spaces to be filled.

[Semblance:]

[Price:]

[Time: 24:00]

And a small square in the bottom right corner, [LIst of predetermined Semblances.]

After a moment of spacing out and looking at the blue screen in front of him for a few moments, he reacted.

The first thing he checked was to see if there was a scroll around his bed, showing him that blue screen, but the screen stayed in the same position despite how much he moved.

Finally, the ache around his body made him give and just focus on the screen.

Only then did he realize that this was probably his semblance. He remembered the boss of the club, saying that he would also get a chance of activating his semblance.

So his semblance would grant him another semblance for a day?

That seemed weird, but he just put it in the back of his mind and pressed [LIst of predetermined Semblances.]

It asked [Set Price: High to Low or Price: Low to High?]

He wanted to see what was the limit of his what his semblance was capable of so he just set it [High to Low]

His jaw dropped instantly as a list appeared in front of him.

[The First Step to Godhood]

[Checkpoint]

[The Gamer]

There were many more, but the first one instantly caught his eye.

Could he become a God?

He was just speechless, he then used his finger to click it, and the other names disappeared and more information displayed below the first one.

[The First Step to Godhood]

[User becomes unbound by the shackles of mortality, he is capable of manipulating his energy to step further in the path of Godhood, this would increase his longevity, but if he ever were to lose control, it would result in the user exploding, erasing his soul from existence.]

[User has a single day to take the second step; if this does not occur, the user dies.]

[As the user walks further down this path, he would need mastery over a 'concept' whatever that may be. (Examples: Space, Time, Fire, Thunder, Life, Death, Slaughter, Justice, freedom)]

[Semblance becomes permanent]

[Aceept]

[Decline]

He only had one answer to that.

Nope.

He was never taking this semblance.

That was just asking to die.

No, it was even worse, erasing his soul from existence? He didn't know what that implied but, that made it even scarier

He was confident that he would die the moment he accepted; his aura has never moved the way he wanted it.

Lose control?

He doesn't have any.

Besides, it said 'The First Step,' just how many would there be?

Ten?

A million?

He had no way of knowing, and wouldn't it become increasingly harder?

That took away much excitement he was feeling.

He would only take as much power he was willing to pay.

He could see more semblances later; right now, he wanted to sleep.

Although...

He quickly went back to the original window and was about to type, but there weren't any keyboards.

He guessed it was his semblances, so he just had to think about it to type.

After a moment, it appeared.

[Semblance: Passive: Improve Sleep Quality. Doesn't reduce the amount of time slept.]

[Price: For 24 hours temporarily loses 1% of Aura reserves.]

[Time: 24:00]

[Accept]

[Decline]

He accepted and immediately closed his eyes, and in a few minutes, he finally fell asleep.


A/N: Next chapter, on the more practical side of things. How he'll train, make a living. I'd like to hear your thoughts.