Chapter 7: Downtime

Chapter 7: Downtime

DISCLAIMER: This story is NOT MINE IN ANY WAY. That honor has gone to the beautiful bastard Ryugii. This has been pulled from his Spacebattle publishment. Anyway on with the show...errr read.

Downtime

When I finally got back home, the place was empty even though it was getting dark. My parents had left a note on the counter, saying they'd be out late tonight, probably because of what was happening in the Industrial District, and that there was food in the refrigerator.

I ate the food and turned on the news. It was about the chaos I'd been a part of all day, though, so I turned it back off and justsat in the silence of my empty house, taking a deep breath and then exhaling slowly.

It wasstrange, really. All that chaos and rushing to try and save livesmy own and those of othersand thenit was over. Things were calm and silent and justfinished. After I'd gotten what I'd needed from the skill books, healing the injured had been simple. I used Soulforge Restoration to heal them until I ran out of MP, used Soul of the World to restore myself, and then went back to healing.

And then I left. I'd accomplished everything I'd set out to doand so much more I hadn'tso I took Tukson's car back to him and then went home.

Now I was just marveling at the day I'd had, letting it really sink in. This morning, I'd been level two. Now, I was level thirteen, simply because of a quest gone horribly wrong. Or maybe right. I still wasn't sure.

I feltnot tired, really, but strange. This morning had been so peaceful, then everything had been thrown into chaos, and just as quickly I was back to my normal life. A small part of me worried about the consequencesthat someone would find something connecting me to this, about the White Fang in general, and so many other thingsbut the rest was just wondering 'What next?'

I guess the same things I'd planned to do this morning. Keep training, keep working, keep getting stronger, keep getting better. The Soul of the World was, despite everything that had happened, honestly worth all the trouble. Up 'til now, the thing that had been holding me back the most wasmyself. I could only train so long before my body was exhausted and though I could completely recover in thirty minutes, it still took thirty minutes and I only had so much free time once you took out the seven hours from school, six hours of sleep, the time I had to spend at home, and everything else that got in the way. When I'd trained before bed, I'd spent more time trying to recover then I'd spent actually training.

My training in the woods went only a little better. I'd exhaust my MP quickly and it took a hundred minutes to recover it completely, leaving me to work on Sword Mastery until I exhausted my body too and then to rest until that recovered. I could try training harder, but that just meant I'd tire out more quickly and be forced to rest for a long time again.

I supposed I should count my blessings, since I could recover completely in just half-an-hour and I'd known mentally I was improving at a rigorous pace, but

Well, it didn't matter now. With the Soul of the World, I could restore myself in a fraction of the time, whether it was my body's stamina or my MP. I could train myself to exhaustion and then recover quickly to do it again. Because of that

I needed to redo my schedule again. I'd given heavy precedence to training INT despite already training it throughout the school day, simply because I couldn't train my physical skills very efficiently in my limited amount of time. I'd intended to improve my INT first, slowly raising my physical abilities as I did until I could switch to training them later. I'd intended to give my mental stats precedence in the beginning anyway, simply so that the decisions I made during my training would be the right onesand that was still true, in a waybut

Wisdom was high enough for me to focus on other things, for now. I wanted to get Intelligence above fifty next, but I didn't want to spend any more of my points on it then I had toespecially since I had no idea when I would even be able to get another level. Despite that, I think I was giving Intelligence enough attention by spending most of my school day reading, though I could adjust that if needed. I could devote the early mornings and the time before bed entirely to training my body, instead of trying to split my attentionwhich, thinking about it, had probably be inefficient itself.

In factmaybe it was my bloated WIS score or my newfound INT, but I was starting to wonder how efficient any of my exercises had been, studying included. I'd spent all day reading my textbooks, trying to figure things out, but even now I wasn't certain how much had truly sunken in. But with my INT at twenty-five and my Aura boosting it above thirtyI think I could train it a lot more easily too, now. My INT had been just like my other stats in that its low level had made raising it harder.

Nownow I felt like I'd be able to do better. That if I read the same book again, I could soak it up like a sponge. I'd have to try to make sure, butI think that my INT would actually increase faster now that I could learn things more easily, just as being able to train longer would do for my physical stats. At least, up to a point; I'm sure there was a point where the economies of scale tampered off, but I couldn't be certain where without actual practice.

Then, I'd give the time in the morning and before bed to training my body and the time during school to my mind. But how should I spend the rest? ObserveObserve was an enormously useful ability, but I think it was high enough for the moment, though I'd train it whenever I got the chance. I was thinking that avoiding Tukson's place for a long, long time would probably be a good idea if I didn't want to get wrapped up in any more of the White Fang's business, but I could go back to the library and try to gather more skill books.

On the other handbefore it had really just been Power Strike, Sword Mastery, and Observe, so I'd trained the latter after school and the other two in the evening, but nownow I had a lot of useful skills to train and not much time to do it. But how should I prioritize them?

I frowned down at the table and organized my thoughts.

Aura, I felt, was the most important for several reasons. It was an enormously powerful ability with broad utility and, better yet, I could train it just by keeping it active, meaning I could do it while also doing other things. It would wear down my MP a lot more quickly, but when that happened, I could simply meditate for a few minutes. If I was careful, I should be able to do that even while I was at school, training Aura alongside my other stats. With the partial exception of Observewhich only increased when I learned new things about something and which I'd already used on most of the schoolit was the only ability I could train any time. It also wouldn't interfere with the rest of my training, except possibly by exhausting me more quicklywhich, really, was just a way of training the Spirits of the World.

Speaking of whichSpirits of the World allowed me to raise my MP independently of my INT, though I image it was similarly difficult and time consuming. The question was, then, how much time should I spend training that? Should I do it when I exhausted myself in-between the rest of my training or set days aside for itor both?

Let me see. The most efficient way of training at first would be to train with my Aura on, using my sword and shield. I could raise Sword and Shield Mastery, Power Strike, Aura, and Aura Channeling at the same time that way, most likely, though I'd need to check the profiles off all my new abilities, since I'd been busy when I'd gotten them. I imagined I'd exhaust myself quickly if I fought that way in a real fightwhich was one of the reasons I should probably focus on them for a while, as the cost of the skills went down as the levels rose. At the very least, I wanted to get Auraor else my MP regenerationhigh enough that I could keep it on constantly even without Soul of the World, since it was hard to deal with when it cost twenty-five MP a minute.

Of my other skillsDrive had proved itself surprisingly useful and was currently the only skill I had that could be used to escape dangerbut I couldn't train it legally, yet, even if I could already drive masterfully. I'd need to go through official channels to be allowed to drive, one of my parents would have to accompany me and watch for weeks, questions might get raised about how good I was at this alreadyit could be problematic to train it further, currently, though I'd luckily already leveled it up quite a bit. Theft was the same in that it was illegal, though I was sadly aware I'd be leveling it up as well sooner or later. I'd need to level up Stealth eventually, but it wasn't a pressing need until after I'd grown strong enough. Dish Washing I figured I could safely set aside.

Then there were the abilities that would just be difficult to train. I'd need to check Aura Crash to figure out precisely what it did; if it required the use of a vehicle, I'd need to put training it on hold, too. Physical Endurance required me to get hurt and however useful the skill was, it would be hard to engineer situations where that was possible without drawing attention, though I might be able to try beating myself up.

The only other skills I needed to worry about then were 'Craft' and 'Nature Affinity' and I'd need to figure out precisely how to train both before whether I would or not. I wasn't sure where to even start with Nature Affinity yet, though, and the main issue with Craft was the matter of materials. Given that I'd originally gotten it from an art book, I might be able to improve it some if I took up drawing and cooking in my free time, but I imagined those could only take me so far. Eventually, I'd need to actually build stuff.

I knew there was potential there. Even if it was mostly in books or on TV, I'd seen some of the weapons Hunters used and I'd seen my Mom and Dad's a few times. I'd also seen some of the things technology could producelike, oh, super death bots that chased people aroundand I could admit there was definite appeal to the whole Craft thing, but it was all dependent on my resources.

Should I steal stuff so I could practice? But if I stole anything really useful and valuableweapons, Dust, etc.it'd draw attention, especially since I'd likely have to make a lot of stuff to level it up. I did not need that kind of trouble right now, but without it there was only so much I could do and that rankled.

I took a deep breath and closed my eyes, calming myself. The thing that annoyed me the most was that I was too smart and wise to not know why I felt that way. Bringing up my Inventory, I withdrew my sword and shield.

Well, 'my' sword and shield. Originally, they belonged to my great-great-grandfather Julius, but my dad had given them to me several years ago, before I first applied to Signaland before I first failed to gain entry. The idea was that I'd use them until it was time to get my own weapon. That's what my father had done when my grandfather had given it to him, just as my grandfather had done before him. It was a family heirloom, of sorts.

Butto be honest, I'd always thought of it as more of a hand-me-down. Maybe not at first, when I'd been honored to even hold it, but after I failed, after I proved again and again I wasn't good enough

It wasn't an honor to me anymore. It was just a reminder, a weight, and maybe even a mark of shame. Jaune Arc, who carried his ancestor's blade because he wasn't worth one of his own. There was a part of me, a fairly large part even, that wanted to level up Craft and was honestly considering theft to help do so despite the risks, simply so I could make my own weapon. Just to have my own weapon.

Butif I put that aside and thought about it logicallywas that wise? Was it smart? Given the risks of grand theft and the costs of buying the materials legally, it was unlikely that I would be able to afford improving my Craft for quite some timewhereas my Sword Mastery, Shield Mastery, and the various skills I had to improve it could be leveled many times in that period.

If it took, say, a year until I could make my own weapon without drawing attention, then given my rate of growth and my Sword and Shield Masteries, I probably wouldn't benefit a whole lot from a new weapon. No, more than that, I probably wouldn't need one. If I did ten percent more damage with Sword Mastery at level one and thirty percent at level five, then following that trend I should do at least two hundred fifty-five percent more damage before taking into account the bonuses from Power Strike, Aura Channeling, and the bonuses from my Aura. To say nothing of the increases to my stats from training and leaving aside the additional attack speed granted by Sword Mastery and how it would improve. Or the defensive benefits of Shield Mastery.

If I waited too long, I would have no logical reasons to stop using this weapon.

I never stopped unless I needed to and sometimes not even then. With the Soul of the World to restore my HP, MP, and Stamina on top of the odd way my body already worked, I didn't really need sleep, so when I thought I could get away with it without my parents noticing, I worked out through the night. When I thought that would draw attention, I studied or meditated instead, but either way I kept my Aura activated nearly twenty-four hours a day, only turning it off when I ran out of MP and needed to refuel.

Sleep is for the weak, apparently. I'd thought that eventually it'd start effecting me mental or give me hallucinations or something, but that didn't happenand though it was weird to never sleep, it got me forty-two extra hours to work with a week instead of wasting on sleep. That was valuable time I could spend training instead and I knew I was making amazing progress. Sure, my rate of advancement was already slowing down as my stats climbed higher and higher, buteven having just had this ability for a little over half a month, I was sure that I could have gotten accepted into Signal if I'd been like this before, even ignoring my skills. And if you included them and how they'd leveled up

I was going to be a Huntsman. That wasn't a dream anymore, or a foolish, flickering hope, or anything like that. Someday, someday soon, I would become a Huntsmen. When the time came, I'd take Beacon's entry exam and by then I knew I'd pass, I'd be ready for whatever came my way, and

"Welcome back, Jaune," My mother's voice interrupted my thoughts as I walked through, an odd expression on her face. "There's someone here to see you."

"Hi, mom," I nodded at her, frowning slightly as I jogged in place. "Here to see me?"

My mind quickly came up with a number of possibilities, none of them good. I didn't have a lot of friends, even before my power turned me into a workaholic. I mean, I was on fairly good terms with everyone in my class, but I wasn't best friends with anyone anymore. If something happened, I was usually invited, but I didn't hang out with a lot of people after school, because at school, there were three types of people: Hunter kids, Hunter fans, and everyone else.

Hunter kids were, well, kids like me, who had Hunter parents. My Mom and Dad had a lot of friends and when I was younger I'd hung out with them a lot and they'd been, I guess, my friends. But, the thing is, because they were Hunter kids, pretty much all of them went off to one combat school or another and we'd sort of fallen out of touch after Ihadn't. Hunter fans were the ones who thought Hunters were awesome, which was pretty much everyone, including me, butthere's justthere's just something uncomfortable when the hottest girl in school agrees to go out with you, but only because she wants to go to your house and see your parents.

And I got that. My parents were cool. Hell, my life goal was to become a HuntsmanI understood how they all felt. And I also got that underneath that desire to ogle my awesome, celebrity parents, there were probably a lot of nice people who could be really good friends. But

Also, bringing people to my house was always an experience. There was a hallway covered in pictures of all the different types of monsters my parents had killed one-on-one; they'd been competing since pretty much forever, before they'd gotten togetherapparently that was how they'd gotten together, actually. But the whole thing could substitute as an encyclopedia of the Grimm. Literally. Mom said that she and Dad had once gotten an actual encyclopedia and then gone on a trip around the world to make sure they'd gotten one of each, including the ones that lived underwater.

Did I mention I'm not afraid of people threatening my parents?

And as for the final categoryit was my teachers, pretty much. Who I hadn't given any reason to make a house call, unless this was about my grades suddenly improving and they were suspecting me of cheating or somethingwhich, surprisingly, was the best possibility I could think of. If they thought I was cheating, it'd be relatively easy to prove I was just smart.

But if it wasn't anyone from school

It could be the police or someone like them, finally connecting me to my thefts or the White Fang thing, or

I walked passed my mom and into the dining room, a dread filling my stomach as if I already knew what I would find.

"Oh," I said as I saw him, letting out an already exhausted sigh. "Hey Tukson."

"Hello Jaune," The bookkeeper replied, nodding at me from where he sat, drinking coffee with my dad.

"Tukson here was telling us about how you did some work for him?" My dad said with a smile. "Why didn't you tell us you got a part-time job?"

"It was only a one-time thing, really" I said, dragging my eyes away from the Faunus to look at him. Now that I was here, facing him, I was kind of surprised at how calmly I was taking this. It had gotten to be something of a trend.

"There was a book he said he wanted to buy," Tukson explained. "I said I'd give it to him if he ran a delivery for me. Well, it's more like he talked me into it; you have a very convincing son, Mr. Arc."

"Jacques, please," My dad replied immediately before turning to my mother, teeth gleaming. "First time he does real work and he asks to be paid in books. His mother's son, eh?"

Mom rolled her eyes.

"What do you need, Tukson?" I asked politely.

Tukson scratched the back of his head, smiling at me apologetically. I wondered if it was fake and used Observe on him; he was actually sorry. Or, at least, sorry about something, it might not have anything to do with me.

"Blake asked me to invite you to the shop, if you wanted," He said. "She didn't know your number, so I guess now I'm running deliveries."

"Blake?" Mom wondered.

"My niece," Tukson answered, though I was pretty sure that part was a lie. "She's about Jaune's age; he helped her out while he was working for me."

"A part-time job and a girl" Dad began before falling silent at a glance from mom.

"What's Blake need?"

"She wanted to ask if you'd be interested in helping her again."

Of course.

I was trying to think of how to reply when my dad was at my shoulder, rising from his chair and coming beside me so quickly I hadn't even been able to see him move. He leaned down to whisper in my ear.

"Son, when a girl asks you if you want to come over and help her with something, the answer is yes," He told me seriously, before suddenly letting me go as mom placed a hand on his shoulder.

I looked at him and then back at Tukson, unsure. A part of me didn't want to get wrapped up in anything involving the White Fang, remembering what had happened last timebut the other was thinking of last time too, of how I'd gone from level two to thirteen in a few hours. I hadn't leveled up once since then, though I'd improved my stats a great deal; even though the quest to heal the White Fang had gotten me nearly seventy percent of the way to the next level, the experience I got on a day to day basis wasn't getting me anywhere fast. The difference between getting to level two and to level fourteen, I suppose. And whatever she was, I guess Ikind of trusted Blake? At the very least, I didn't think she would be here for no reason.

"I guess it wouldn't hurt to stop by after school and see what she needs, right?" I wondered out loud as much as to Tukson.

The smart part of me told me to stop trying to lie to myself.