Chapter Text
Jaune groaned, slamming his head against his desk in the comfort of his dorm. College was hard.
Okay, Jaune knows he really should have seen that coming. It’s practically beat into your brains from the moment you’re conscious to the moment you apply that college is really, really hard. But still, Jaune had thought that just going for a normal Associate’s degree instead of a full on four year one would have been reasonable in terms of difficulty.
Technically, you don’t even need to get a degree in fire science to become a fire fighter in Vale… but his dad had basically gave Jaune an ultimatum of ‘go to college and get that degree or I’m not writing you a recommendation to the training’, which would make it really difficult to get without being put on a long wait list with Vale’s bureaucracy.
Jaune had taken up some side classes to prepare him for the actual training, like CPR training and the like, but aside from that it was surprisingly physics and chemistry, which is… not what Jaune envisioned preparing to be a firefighter would look like, admittedly. Well, at least he wasn’t alone in his disappointment.
“Everything okay, Jaune?” Ren asked from his corner of the dorm. Vale’s dorms were, if nothing else, spacious, so at least it didn’t feel cramped sharing a room with another guy. Compared to his previous home with countless siblings, it was almost massive.
Beacon had once been a massive military fort back when Vale and Atlas weren’t quite as big as they were now, and were more aggressive than friendly. Stationed near the coast, it had served as a bastion to prevent Atlesian invasion and potentially serve as a jump-off point in case Vale invaded Atlas. Such a thing never came to pass, though… Eventually the two powers allied, teaming up in their own ambitions. So Beacon was turned into a military academy instead, training people for the following conflicts, with Atlas conquering Solitas and Vale conquering Northern Sanus. Vacuo ended up conquering the parts of Sanus that surrounded it and Mistral took over the central part of Anima. All of that happened during the great war nearly… what, 2 centuries ago now? Around that time, Menagerie was recognized globally as well, during peace talks.
And so Beacon, left without a purpose, was turned into a normal college. Still was technically a fort, but… what use would it have? There hadn’t been a conflict in centuries.
“I’m fine.” Jaune finally responded. “Just annoyed by the homework.”
“It’s stolen from the textbook. You can find the answers on the back.” Ren said.
“So that’s why you finished so quickly!” Jaune complained, prompting a smirk from Ren.
“I choose my battles wisely.” Ren commented slyly. “More wisely, clearly, then our professor.”
“Brothers… I was really worried when Nora finished before me. I thought I had missed something important.” Jaune sighed in relief, taking out his textbook and flipping to the back. Ren had been his roommate by random chance, so it was a relief they shared the same major. Ren and Nora both also wanted to become firefighters, though they were admittedly more… intense about it. Probably something personal.
Then there was Nora’s roommate, Pyrrha. Unlike the rest of the quartet, she was in an athletics course, which was admittedly useful for things the rest would be training in.
Jaune paused as he checked the clock. Almost 4, which meant it was almost time for his elective course, history. This course was the only reason he was able to rattle off the prior exposition. But still…
“Why’d I have to go and register for a class at four?” Jaune grumbled, getting up and grabbing his bag. Guess he’d have to cheat off the book later and hope the professor wasn’t trying to trap him. The dormitory itself was huge, which made it a hassle to walk around… but at least it was near the capital and had all its classes inside the fort as well, so it didn’t take long to get there.
Finally escaping the confines of the dormitory and heading out, Jaune paused, as he could have sworn he saw something in the sky. Some… massive screen, like out of a comic. A loading bar, in a circular loop. 99%..?
Jaune rubbed his eyes, and when he looked up again, nothing was there.
“...Have I been playing video games too much..?” Jaune sighed. Maybe Saphron was right, he should take a break…
—
History class was always something with Doctor Oobleck (and he would make it known that it was Doctor Oobleck, so help him Brothers) running the show. His sheer energy made it almost impossible for anyone to feel tired. Jaune had asked, and apparently he was even more energetic in the earlier hours. He was barely intelligible now!
The room has no windows, because it was closer to the center of the building, which didn’t give much in the way of a natural distraction, which was nice.
Regardless, Doctor Oobleck’s lectures were fun, which spoke well of his teaching ability, given it was a lecture at four.
“Now that we’ve finished the great war, I suppose I should give a brief focus on the remaining nations that were not one of the four major kingdoms or Menagerie.” Oobleck said, continuing from his last class. “Let’s see… let’s start with Anima. As stated prior, Anima holds the single major power of Mistral, but it also holds some minor powers that are not subservient to it. There is Kuchinasi south of Mistral, which was once a more powerful threat to Mistral, but after the destructions of Kuroyuri and Oniyuri, its power faded. There is also Argus in the west, which is a major shipping point.”
“There are effectively no nations outside of Atlas in Solitias. There are some that are nominally independent, but are effectively vassal states, however.” Oobleck continued. “Lastly, in between the massive gap of land that separates Vale and Vacuo, are the many nations that serve as intermediaries between those, such as Gossan or Feldspar. Now, then… I suppose with that out of the way, we should consider how society settled into what we know today following the end of the Great War-”
The lights cut off, interrupting Oobleck. An outage?
Computers and laptops shut off, as did the phones of those who weren’t paying attention. So not an outage. Some sort of attack? But why?
Before anyone could even get their bearings, two screens were shoved into people’s faces. One yellow, one purple.
[Arrogance. Or is it foolishness?] The yellow screen read.
[Does it matter?] The purple screen read.
“What the fuck…?” Someone from a few seats over whispered. “Arrogance?”
Okay. So Jaune wasn’t going crazy and hallucinating. Good to know. He couldn’t turn his phone on, and the screens flicked as new text appeared on them.
[Time for a change.] The yellow screen read.
[Is it not about time you proved yourself anyway?] The purple screen read.
A blue screen appeared as the other two vanished, much less personal than before. It seemed robotic. Prepared.
[Which Class will offer you the best chance of survival in an apocalyptic world?]
[Please make your selection now]
A flash of light blinded everyone, and suddenly there was a countdown of 15 seconds and going down. Cards with different artworks portraying different jobs and classes surrounded everyone, all with different counts of stars, from one to five.
“Hey… so am I the only one seeing these cards?” One student asked.
“Don’t touch anything!” Another student yelled. “We have no idea what these things do!”
“Don’t be foolish!” Oobleck shouted, grabbing a card. “If someone has gotten this far into it, they wouldn’t punish us for playing their game. They’d only punish us for refusing.”
As the card vanished into Oobleck’s hand, a shovel dropped, appearing from thin air.
“Wha- what the fuck..?” A student said, backing away from the shovel. Jaune snapped himself out of it quickly. Oobleck was right- it could potentially be far more risky to refuse to play a card. Jaune snapped one out of the air- the artwork of an armored knight with shining white armor, with four stars under it. What can he say, he likes the classic stories.
But the blue screen threw him for a curveball, shifting in front of him.
[Four star ‘Paladin’ selected]
[Personal Attribute ‘Rusted Knight’ activated!]
[Paladin transforms to Five star Rusted Knight]
[Paladin skill ‘Heal’ transformed to ‘Aura Amp’]
[Rusted Knight skill ‘Weapon Mastery’ learned]
Before Jaune could even begin to try and comprehend what was on the screen, an arming sword with a golden crossguard and a blue hilt appeared out of thin air, stabbing into the ground as a sheath fell alongside it. Jaune quickly collected the sheath and the sword, not that he had anywhere to put the former… others followed along, grabbing cards and having items fall into the ground from thin air. The weapons felt real. Far too real to be some hologram.
Soon enough, the fifteen seconds were up, which was… not enough time for everyone to snap out of it or be convinced to grab a card. Jaune would guess only a tenth of the students actually did. If Oobleck hadn’t reacted when he did, it would probably be even less. The screen transformed to confirm as much.
[The first round of class selection has concluded. If you failed to make a selection, try again next time.]
[Next selections:
Second selection in: 24 hours
Third selection in: 48 hours
Final selection in: 200 hours]
“...” Jaune paused, looking around. The screen had disappeared following giving the times of the next ‘selections’. If it was to be believed, that meant this at least intended to continue for the next 200 hours.
But even with the screen gone, nothing came back online. Clearly this wasn’t some extremely elaborate prank.
“...Everyone, I’d like us to come together and regroup.” Oobleck said, getting everyone’s attention. “This is a massively unfamiliar situation that will require us all to group together as one in order to ensure we come out safe. I will not pretend that I have any idea what’s happening, but if we work together-”
“Or, we stop letting a damn light show scare the shit out of us.” One student said, rising and heading toward the exit.
“A light show?” Jaune scoffed. “I’m holding a sword. I didn’t just happen to have that on me, you know.”
“Then you had someone else helping you! What’s your damn point?!” The student yelled. “It’s way more believable than that this is somehow real!”
Jaune understood the point, he really did. But he knew he had nothing to do with this, and he knew the sword in his hand was very real.
“Just listen-” Jaune tried to reason.
“No! I’m not wasting my time on this! I’m out!” He yelled, storming out the door. At least, he tried to.
The small, humanoid green thing jumping on him and plunging a knife through his skull sort of put a damper on that plan. Its head was round and its eyes were huge, and it wore a pleased grin at the carnage.
The student fell limp, blood splattering across the floor as the… goblin(?) pulled its knife out, displacing an eye and causing it to roll to Jaune’s foot. It caused a brief lapse in Jaune’s focus out of disgust, one the goblin quickly exploited, throwing the knife in a clean line at Jaune’s neck.
And then an instinct that wasn’t Jaune’s overtook him.
[Passive skill ‘Weapon Mastery’ is in effect]
Jaune quickly transitioned the sheathe to the forearm of his off hand, and it attached to his arm naturally, transforming into a shield and blocking the knife. A metallic clang sound rang out as the knife bounced off.
“...Huh?” Jaune said, confused. He had… definitely not known the sheathe could do that, and wasn’t trained to do it that quickly besides. How the hell had he done that? The ‘Weapon Mastery’ thing?
Regardless, the present situation didn’t afford him time to think. The goblin was rushing at him, and with no better option-
A shovel smashed into its skull, Doctor Oobleck having rushed ahead to stun it.
“Now, Mister Arc! Stab it now!” Oobleck said. Jaune quickly obliged.
It was a cleaner stab than Jaune had any reason to be able to deliver. He had never held a sword before this, much less trained in the art. But it shoved cleanly through the neck of the goblin, killing it instantly.
[15 gold obtained for killing a goblin]
…Gold? What the hell was going on?! Jaune sure didn’t see any gold.
“How odd.” Oobleck said, a brow raised. “I have received… 5 ‘gold’ for assisting in the killing of a goblin?”
Before Jaune could even think to respond, another screen appeared before him.
[Congratulations on being the 97th player to kill a monster!
Received a shop ticket (applicable to 100th place)]
The screen disappeared, but Jaune still had nothing in his hands. But, if this was a game…
“...Status.” Jaune said. As expected, a screen quickly showed itself.
[Name: Jaune Arc
Alias: VA***157
Level: 1
Personal Attribute: Rusted Knight
Gold: 15
Class: Rusted Knight
Subclass: N/A
STR: 5 (+2)
SPD: 4
CON:5
DEF: 3 (+2)
INT: 4
DEX: 3
MAG: 1
Mana: 10/10
Skills:
Aura Amp Lv.1
Weapon Mastery (passive)
Equipment:
Crocea Mors (sword): +2 STR. Effective on heretical beasts.
Crocea Mors (shield): +2 DEF.]
Typical. This was a game, so there had to be a way to check your stats, didn’t there? Though he wondered what a ‘heretical beast’ was, plus no hint of the … he closed the screen for now. There would be time to analyze it later.
The goblin then burst into blue flames, muscle melting off as nothing but a skeleton remained, which proceeded to rise. Jaune and Oobleck quickly readied themselves, but…
“Waitwaitwaitwait!” A short girl with black hair and red tips yelled out, rushing from her seat. “That’s me don’t kill it!”
“That’s… you?” Jaune asked, pointing his sword at the goblin skeleton, eye sockets now filled with blue flames.
“My class is… necromancer. I have some sort of… raise dead skill. I wanted to test it, and…” The girl said.
“...I see.” Oobleck sighed. He grimaced at the body of the dead student, before shaking his head. “As you all can clearly see, this is real. Someone has died.”
“I know you must be scared, And I don’t blame you! This is unnerving and highly unprecedented! I won’t force you to come along with me, but keep in mind the stakes! If you stay here, there is no telling if we may be attacked again.” Oobleck said. “Now, come! If you have any courage in your hearts!”
—
“Nice speech, Doctor.” Jaune said as he, Oobleck, and Ruby walked down the hall with only Ruby’s skeleton in tow.
“I really thought it would rally them more…” Oobleck sighed, gripping his shovel tightly.
“I thought it was a good speech…” Ruby whispered quietly. The three had exchanged basic information with each other, hence why Jaune knows Ruby’s name now.
“Well, we should get moving either way. If someone is controlling this, it’ll only be a matter of time before they send more monsters at the classroom.” Jaune sighed. Looking outside the window didn’t ease any concerns. All around were monsters, mostly goblins, chasing and murdering students. He hoped Ren, Nora, and Pyrrha were okay…
They probably were. They were tough.
“Right, right…” Oobleck nodded. “Well, if it’s just the three of us, the three of us it is. I suppose I’ll tell you what class I am. I am an excavator, though quite frankly, I think I should have gotten something better than a shovel. I have no means of attack besides striking people with a shovel.”
“Well, like I said, I’m a necromancer. I don’t have a weapon, and right now, I can only raise the dead…” Ruby said. “But my goblin has a knife!”
“I… Well, I picked the paladin card, but my ‘personal attribute’ turned it into a rusted knight class. I don’t have some damaging skill, but I have a passive ‘weapon mastery’ skill, plus I think aura amp is a healing skill, since it evolved from heal.” Jaune said.
“Ah, personal attribute… I haven’t been able to ascertain its meaning. Not yet, anyway. Mine is ‘Mountain Explorer’. It’s quite odd, I’ve never explored a mountain before.” Oobleck explained. “Are you able to figure out what yours does?”
“Aside from apparently changing my class, not much. Maybe it only works if you pick certain classes?” Jaune suggested.
“If so, I can’t imagine why mine wouldn’t activate as well. I would argue ‘excavator’ has enough overlap to trigger a reaction.” Oobleck said, pinching his brow. “But I guess we’re all guessing here.”
“My attribute is ‘Red like Roses’... what is that even supposed to mean?” Ruby sighed.
“...Well, we’re an odd bunch.” Oobleck said. “But I guess we’re a party now.”
And the moment he said it, more screens appeared.
[Synergy ‘A knight and mage’ activated!]
[Synergy ‘Unlikely Allies’ activated!]
[Synergy ‘A difference of faiths’ activated!]
“What is happening..?” Jaune groaned.
—
Summary:
Stats:
[Name: Jaune Arc
Alias: VA***157
Level: 1
Personal Attribute: Rusted Knight
Gold: 15
Class: Rusted Knight
Subclass: N/A
STR: 4 (+2)
SPD: 4
CON:5
DEF: 3 (+2)
INT: 4
DEX: 3
MAG: 1
Mana: 10/10
Skills:
Aura Amp Lv.1
Weapon Mastery (passive)
Equipment:
Crocea Mors (sword): +2 STR. Effective on heretical beasts.
Crocea Mors (shield): +2 DEF.]
[Name: Ruby Rose
Alias: VA***153
Level: 1
Personal Attribute: Red like Roses
Gold: 0
Class: Necromancer
Subclass: N/A
STR: 3
SPD: 5
CON:3
DEF: 2
INT: 4
DEX: 4
MAG: 4
Mana: 15/20
Skills:
Raise Dead Lv.1
Equipment:
None]
[Name: Batholomew Oobleck
Alias: VA***047
Level: 1
Personal Attribute: Mountain Explorer
Gold: 5
Class: Excavator
Subclass: N/A
STR: 6 (+2)
SPD: 7
CON:2
DEF: 2
INT: 7
DEX: 5 (+2)
MAG: 0
Mana: 0/0
Skills:
Dig Lv.1
Equipment:
All-purpose shovel: +2 STR/DEX]
Synergies
[Name: A knight and a mage
Requirements: Armored melee class and mage class, 2 players
Buffs: +1 STR to ‘knight’, +1 MAG to ‘mage’]
[Name: Unlikely Allies
Requirements: A ‘holy’ class and a ‘heretical’ class, 2 players
Buffs: +4 CON/INT
Debuffs: Skills cost more mana]
[Name: A difference of faiths
Requirements: One ‘holy’ class and one ‘modern’ class, 2 players
Buffs: +5 max mana capacity, +1 INT]