173Heya. It's been awhile hasn't it? So last chapter (which was a month ago), I said that I updated between the range of day 20-30 of the next month. Guess I skipped out on April huh? I don't want to sound like I'm making excuses for my absence, but things have been stressful if that's how I would describe it.
Just like she said, Weiss kept her promise and poured the bucket of ice water all over the sleeping blond, much to his displeasure. The annoying part was that Jaune only slept for an extra minute. Seriously, how strict could Weiss get? Despite being drenched, it gave Jaune the perfect chance to change his clothes and conceal that disgusting gash that the Beowulf gave him.
Making dinner had suddenly become a challenge for him. The left side of his shoulder was still sore as hell, making it impossible to even lift his arm. As a result, Jaune was stuck with cooking with only his right hand. Since Weiss didn't know anything about the fine cuisine of the kitchen, she assumed that some new technique Jaune was trying. Who knew making spaghetti with only one arm would be so difficult?
'Cooking' level has gone up by 1!
'I'm definitely sure that this game is insulting me.'
The moment he placed the plate of food on the table, he retreated back into his room to try and relax on his bed. Weiss, being the caring-yet-indirect roommate that she was, tried to convince him to come back and enjoy their meal together. Even if her message was covered by layers of insults, it was nice knowing that she cared.
He simply waved her off, telling her that was he was dead tired and was going to call it a day.
"Jaune, it's only 9 o'clock!" she pointed out, leaning against the doorframe to his room. His response was simply muffled moaning under his pillow. At that point, Weiss let out an irritated sigh and left Jaune alone.
Finding a comfortable position to silence the pain around his shoulder was easier than before. Jaune was going to have to treat it himself tomorrow morning without Weiss noticing. Whatever, that's Tomorrow Jaune's problem. He closed his eyes and drifted off into a dreamless sleep for the rest of the night.
He jerked his eyes wide open.
Jaune was never a morning person, but right now he felt like he just ingested 50kg of pure sugar. He tried to close his eyes and go back to sleep, but he felt so energetic right now! Was this the Game's doing? Jaune was so exhausted from yesterday that he completely forgot to find out more on the Game's mechanics.
He turned his head to the alarm clock: 5 o'clock.
. . . What?
But he was feeling so dead yesterday – why wake up so early? To make matters stranger, his body felt lighter. Which shouldn't be the case after what he went through yesterday. For crying out loud, he should be sore everywhere right now! There was no point in trying to sleep. The magical sugar rush made sure of that.
Letting out a groan, Jaune threw off his bed sheets and got out of bed. He carefully tiptoed his way into the kitchen and quietly searched the cupboards for the first-aid kit. If he managed to wake Weiss in this hour, Jaune was sure that he'd never be able to walk properly ever again once he'd embraced her wrath.
Of course, thanks to his ridiculously terrible luck, the kit had to be in the last cupboard.
He went into the bathroom and flicked the switch. He blinked a couple of times to adjust to the sudden white flash. As he laid the kit on the floor, he glanced at the mirror's reflection.
Jaune Arc
Lv 2
It was still a shock for him. To think – he, Jaune Arc, actually got the ability to live his life like an RPG. It seemed like something too good to be true. Really, it's not every day you wake up to question your sanity, only to find out after a fight with a monster that you have superpowers.
He blinked in realization. During the entire time he got out of bed and went to the bathroom – not once did his shoulder cry out in agony. He sluggishly raised his left arm, expecting a sudden jolt to surprise him. But nothing happened. Jaune then brought his right hand over to touch it. Again, nothing happened.
He immediately took off his t-shirt and looked over the area where he had apparently received his injury. To his surprise, the claw mark vanished. There were no visible scars; it was just normal looking skin.
He put his shirt back on and leaned towards the mirror, Jaune gradually took off the bandage over his cheek. A small chuckle escaped his lips. The bruise was gone!
Just like a video game, he healed overnight!
"That's insane," he muttered in disbelief. A sudden thought entered his mind as he stared at the mirror. 'No one just heals a bruise in just one day'. That would lead to too many questions. Jaune wasn't sure what Weiss' reaction would be if she saw him with a clean face in the morning, but he suspected it would involve a frying pan and a bucket of holy water.
"A week with this thing on wouldn't raise suspicion." He placed the bandage back on. Well, he had 3 hours to kill before he had to make breakfast. He could play video games in his room and let time fly by. But in his current energetic state, it felt impossible to sit down for even five minutes. "What should I do now?"
And then genius struck him. This was the perfect opportunity to test out his new ability! If he was going to play the game his way, he might as well get fully adjusted beforehand. 'Okay! I'll just head to my room and - . . . dammit'
Jaune remembered that the system revolved around his voice. Even if he could whisper the commands, the excess energy in his system would eventually force him to scream in excitement. God, why did he have to be one of those gamers who got hyped up so easily?
He ran a hand through his messy hair as he thought of a solution. "I could always go outside. . ." he muttered. Actually, that sounded like a good idea. He could maintain his excitement by walking around the town and he wouldn't wake up the entire population either. "Aw what the heck," he decided, "I got energy to burn off anyway."
The island of Patch was blissfully quiet at this time of the hour. The only thing apparent to him was the tapping of his shoes against concrete. The dark sky was covered with clouds, making it impossible to see any hint of blue. It would probably take another hour for the morning sun to rise. The air around him was fresh and the faint rustling of nature filled his ears as a soft gust of wind flew past him. Yeah, this would make the perfect scenery for a zombie-apocalypse game.
Jaune didn't have a particular destination in mind. Just wandering around seemed enough to calm his morning nerves. Well, time to get to work. "Status."
Name: Jaune Arc [Conditions: Normal]
Title: N/A
Class: The Gamer
Lien: 125
Level: 2
Exp: 25/ 50
HP: 65/65
MP: 10/10
ATK: 19
AGI: 7
CON: 9
INT: 10
WIS: 8
LUK: 1
Points: 0
"Huh? I never noticed that before." His eyes were over the Experience section. 25/ 50. Killing that Beowulf must have granted him that amount. "So it's either completing quest or killing mobs – just give me some rare candy that instantly levels me up and I'm good to go."
Now onto the more serious matter on hand. His Attack stat: a pathetic 19. With his battles against Cardin and the Beowulf, Jaune was positive that his increased strength wasn't significant enough. And that was just stupid. During the early stages of any RPG video game, a glass cannon character would have been able to one-hit the mobs. Granted, accidently killing Cardin would be overkill for his morals, but it would be appreciated if the Game followed basic logic.
So far, repeated physical effort was the only thing that raised the stat. But there had to be other ways to increase it. Would running work, or would that increase his Agility instead? Or would that activity increase both? 'I guess it wouldn't hurt to try.'
He transformed his leisurely pace into a swift jog. He set his checkpoint all the way to the building of Signal, which would take him about half an hour to get there at his current speed. His mind didn't wander as his full attention was getting to the imaginary finish line. His breathing had become a metronome of consecutive inhales and exhales. He could feel the beads of sweat fall from his face as he embraced the morning breeze rushing against him.
Under normal conditions, Jaune would have collapsed from exhaustion in less than 10 minutes. But right now, even more energy began to pump through his veins. If this is what a morning person feels like every time the sun rises then Jaune definitely could get used to this.
Running for a considerate amount of time has increased you AGL by 1!
He broke into a sprint after reading the message, the motivation it gave him driving him to do better. The feeling of exhilaration grew bigger with each passing second. Time seemed to slow down, or rather Jaune seemed to lose track of time. He wasn't sure if a minute or 15 minutes had passed. The edges around his field of view began to blur. The houses and trees he dashed by looked like blobs of distorted colour. His breathing had increased dramatically and his leg muscles grew lighter with each leaping step he took. The only sounds that rang through his ears were his rapid footsteps, his breathing, and that increasingly loud barking. Wait . . . barking?
Jaune's suddenly lost his balance as something tackled him to the side. He groaned in pain as he collided onto the pavement. He felt a light weight on top of his body. He could feel it shuffling towards his neck. 'Dear god, was another Beowulf attacking me?! But that doesn't make any sense, I didn't notice any floating glowing orbs at all-'
His thoughts were cut off when a spongy-yet-wet substance slid off of his cheek. 'Smells like...cookies. Oh it's just-'
"Zwei, no!" a high-pitched voice squeaked at the corgi on top of him. "How many times do I have to remind you? NO ASSAULTING THE MILK MAN!" The milk man? Monty Oum, that sounds like the name of a serial killer from some cheesy horror movie.
Jaune's azure eyes shifted to the voice. He saw a petite girl wearing black sweat pants with a white loose tank top which showed off her bare shoulders. The weak lighting made her creamy skin pop out more in contrast to the background. Her black shoulder-length hair was so disheveled that Jaune could easily pick out the red tints sticking out. Her silver eyes, filled with worry, stared directly at him. But what stuck out to Jaune the most was the crimson scarf wrapped around her neck.
Red Prodigy
Ruby Rose
Lv 6
Yang's adorable little sister and Jaune's first friend at Signal, Ruby Rose. She was a kind, yet innocent girl. But don't let appearances fool you. Despite the fact that she was two years younger than him, Ruby was in the same grade as him. Just like her title stated, Ruby was a prodigy. At first, their classmates looked down on her as someone who didn't deserve to be here (ironic in his case, isn't it?). But Ruby quickly diminished their doubts as soon as she displayed her talents in both physical and mental subjects. Heck, Jaune was sure that Ruby would have graduated a year earlier if her social skills were satisfactory.
And then there was that red scarf. From the time he met her, Jaune could only recall a couple of times where she never had that wrapped around her neck. Even then, it would take mere seconds before she would put it back on. The condition of the accessory was perfect, almost as if she just bought it yesterday from a classy store. But despite their time as friends, she never told him why she wore it all the time. It didn't bother him, really. If he died not knowing her reason, he'd be fine with that. Maybe that's why her title was named like that.
But on a more serious note: Does everyone on this island out level him!?
"I-I'm so sorry, Mr. Milkman!" she pried the dog away from Jaune's face. As Jaune got up, he noticed that Ruby was rambling an apology to him, "ImsosorrypleaseforgivemeitwasyangsfaultpleasegivememilkIjustwanttogrowup!" Quite fast too. He shifted his view to the right and realized that he was standing in front of Ruby's house. How fast was he running?
"I . . ." Jaune didn't really know what to say right now, and he wasn't sure if she could hear him. Once Ruby Rose starts rambling, it was hard for her to calm down. It made it even harder to get her attention because her eyes were pointed to the ground. Shrugging at the situation, he tapped Ruby over the shoulder.
She looked up and her eyes widened, "…Jaune?"
"Hi. I'd say good morning but the sun is playing hide and seek right now."
"J-Jaune?!" she pointed an accusing finger at him, "T-there's no way you could be Jaune!"
Jaune raised an eyebrow from confusion, "What?"
"The real Jaune would never be able to wake up this early, let alone go outside!" Zwei, who was wrapped around her arms, happily barked along in agreement. Jaune's eyes narrowed at the dog. 'Traitor, stop trying to encourage her.'
He looked back to Ruby. He gave her a smug smile, "You caught me. I'm actually the milkman. And I'm here to deliver milk to –" He brought up his hands in a way to mimic an imaginary clipboard and pen "– a Ms. Craterface?"
Ah, chemistry class with Ruby, the incident where their friendship blossomed.
Ruby stumbled back at the name. "W-Wha-? Jaune, it really is you!" She let out a small yelp as she pinched herself. "And I'm not dreaming either!"
Jaune laughed at her antics. "But why are you outside so early? School doesn't start for another 3 hours." She asked. 3 hours? Was he outside for an hour? But it only felt like a couple of minutes!
"I think your hyperactive energy is contagious, Ruby. I woke at 5 in the morning feeling like I just ate an entire plate of Yang's cookies and you know how much sugar she puts in those things. They're practically heart-attacks condensed as sweets."
She rolled her eyes at the comment. "C'mon Jaune, they're not that sweet." Of course she'd say that. Nothing was never too sweet for her. She noticed the bandage on his face. "Hey, what's with the bandage?"
He sighed. "Long story short, I stood up for someone and the bully pummeled me. But it's fine now, your uncle saved the day." Her eyes lit up like fireworks.
"Wow, Jaune that's amazing! You're a hero!"
"W-Well, I wouldn't stretch it that far," Jaune mumbled while scratching the back of his head. This was another characteristic of Ruby. She was obsessed with heroes. Like, it didn't have to be a knight in shining armor or a hobo with an arm. If you saved someone out of heroism, Ruby would surely make a big deal over it.
She pouted in response. "C'mon Jaune, there's no need to be humble! So after the bully was taken care of, did the person say thanks? Oh! Oh! Was the person a girl?" She gasped at her declaration and let out a shrill squeal. "Did she kiss you and offer her hand for marri-"
Jaune placed his hands over her mouth. "Ok, let's not over exaggerate this! Yes, she's a girl. No, she didn't do that. Calm down and..." he glared at her for a second before continuing in a whisper, "...You're fantasizing about me in a wedding aren't you?"
"mmmf...mfmmf...mmmmf" she muffled through his hands. His eye twitched slightly when he felt an increasing heat around her cheek.
"I'll take that as a yes." He put his hands down. "I have a question for you, Ruby. What are you doing up so early?"
Zwei let out a bark and looked up at Ruby. She smiled back and gently let him down. "Well, I'm usually awake around this hour. Unlike the rest of my family, I'm the only one who's a morning person. Seriously Jaune, how could they just lie there in bed when there's so much to be done!"
"So what exactly needs to be done?" He raised an eyebrow.
"Why, morning exercise of course!" She cupped her hands into his, her silver eyes glittering sparkles. Judging from her expression, Jaune knew what was going to happen next. Why did he have to ask her? "Hey, I got an idea! Why don't you join me on my jog? I mean, I saw you running like a madman before Zwei jumped on you. And we have so much time too! C'mon, the more the merrier right?"
"Well..." Like all his interactions with the hyperactive teen, Jaune had no idea what he was getting into. Wasn't the whole point of going outside in the first place was to further discover the hidden depths of his new found abilities? Sure, 2 hours may seem like a lot of time but...
Quest Available!
Rise and Shine! : Every morning person needs their exercise. Ruby Rose is no exception! Join in her run and keep up with her!
Time Limit: 30 minutes
Completion Reward: 75 Exp
Failure: None.
Quest Conditions: Stay within 10 meters with Ruby Rose!
[Accept] [Decline]
... It's more than enough for a friend!
75 Exp. That's the most he's seen so far! He could level up with this quest, plus gain another 50 additional EXP as well! If she asked him to run with her in the past, he would have declined due to his pitiful endurance. But with what he just did now – how hard can that be? "I accept your invitation Ruby."
And just with that one word, the [Accept] button was pushed by an invisible force, and the Quest screen closed itself.
"That's fantastic Jaune! I knew there was an early bird in you!" Ruby cheered with her fist raised high.
Or a supernatural force. He inwardly smirked.
His eyes slightly widened at the new entity above Ruby's head. The title was still present, but above the text was a downward arrow pointing at her. Above the arrow was a number: 0.5 m. He assumed that it represented some sort of distance indicator.
"So where are we running?"
"Well, I usually just go around the neighborhood and get back here by half an hour." She answered while pointing her finger in a direction to which he could only assume was where they'd start their run. She gave him a smirk, "So, you ready to start?"
"Wait, shouldn't we stretch first-" But Jaune couldn't finish his sentence as the young girl went for a mad sprint in the designated direction. To his shock, Zwei had also abandoned him and was somehow keeping up with Ruby. Seriously, what are they feeding that corgi?
"C'mon Jaune, keep up!"
Warning!
You are too far away from the quest target! Time before failure: 10 sec
"Oh come on!" he cried out, putting all his energy into legs as he sprinted towards her. Morning exercise she says. The more the merrier she says. 'How hard can it be?' he says. Fate really wasn't on his side today...or any day, really.
Once again, the sound of wind howling was the only thing his ears could pick up as the image of a red scarf grew closer and closer. It had taken Jaune a surprisingly short amount of time to return to this stimulated state of adrenaline; strange, but as long as he completed the quest, he couldn't care at this point. The Warning screen closed itself once Jaune got into the appropriate distance with Ruby.
"When you said that we were running, I didn't actually think that we would be running!" he complained through short breaths. Morning runs were supposed to be like lazy jogs, not tournament marathons!
"Running?" she glanced over to see him through the corner of her silver eyes. "Jaune, this is my jogging pace!" Jaune almost lost his footing when Ruby explained that to him. For a second, he assumed that she was joking around. But, the way she projected her voice. It sounded excited, filled with enthusiasm; which is what Ruby usually sounds like. And that was what made it so wrong in this situation! She sounded normal. How much cardio had this girl been doing?! Hell, her agility stats must be off the charts if this was her jogging pace!
Recovering your momentum has increased your AGL by 1!
Pushing himself a little further, the blond increased his speed until he was now running side by side with her. 'It's ok, all I have to do is keep up with her and make sure that she doesn't outrun me.'
Well, THAT was the plan until he heard a soft giggle from beside him. He wasn't going to turn his head; Jaune wasn't going to risk tripping and screwing the quest up. He needed the EXP because he needed to get the points to evolve his ATK stat! "Oh, I get it! You wanna race me, don't you?"
"W-What, no!" he protested...only to realize that she was now ahead of him in a blink of an eye.
A normal person would have given up after witnessing that acceleration. Good thing Jaune Arc wasn't normal. No, he simply forced himself to try even harder. There was no way he could get close to her at his current level. But that's fine. All Jaune had to do was to stay within the 9.9m mark, and he'd complete the quest.
With the sound of feet hitting against concrete, Jaune chased the girl and dog through the neighborhood of Patch. His determination to level up was the only thing that kept him going.
He didn't know how he achieved it, but Jaune had made it. Granted, his lungs weren't doing so well. And more or less he felt like he had been stabbed from the inside with a fork dipped in acid. Where did that morning energy suddenly disappear to? It's as if the Game wanted him to suffer at the most unexpected of times!
Of course, Ruby had gotten there before him. But racing her was never his intention. Barely keeping up while making sure that he stayed at the edge of the quest's boundary; that was where his priorities lied.
Jaune was currently lying down in front of Ruby's house, limbs spread out while his chest pushed inward and outward to regulate his desperate breathing. The only comfort he had at the moment was the tickling sensation of grass interacting with his backside.
'Now all I have to do is to wait for the completion screen to pop up and-'
His thoughts were abruptly cut off as a glass of water was spilled all over him. Needless to say, he got up and glared at the girl who was responsible.
"Aw don't give me that look, Jaune." Ruby pouted, "You looked like you were going to pass out!"
"And who's to blame for that?" He raised an annoyed eyebrow at her.
Ruby let out a nervous chuckle. "In my defense, I felt really excited when I saw you close to me. Seriously Jaune, I'm impressed! I never knew you were capable of running that fast. I mean, it would take you a million years before you'd outrun me! No offense, but I always assumed that you were a slow runner since you're a shut-in – I mean dedicated gamer."
Now his eye was twitching. "Why you little-"
Quest Completed!
Received Reward!
"Okay, never mind! I forgive you!" He yelled, all animosity in his expression disappearing.
You leveled up!
Would you like to edit your stats now?
[Yes] [Later]
"Wh-What?" Ruby jumped back from his sudden outburst. "Jaune, are you okay?"
"Hmmm...ask me that question later, Ruby. You know, maybe after I don't feel like kicking the bucket." He'd edit his stats later. No need to look crazy in front of his friend.
"Wait a second..." She narrowed her eyes at him, "why did you add so much emphasis on the word "later"?"
"I-I have no idea what you're talking about?" He lied.
"Is this some kind of inside joke between you and Yang?"
"I'm sorry what?"
"Yesterday, she said it the same way you did when I asked her to check our food inventory-"
She was immediately cut off when Jaune's hands found themselves firmly gripped on her bare shoulders. "J-Jaune?"
"Say that last part again." He said in a serious voice.
"Um...I asked her to check our food inventory?"
Jaune's body trembled as he processed the last word that Ruby spoke. He slowly brought his hands to his face and a faint laughter emitted from his lips. "I..n..vent...ory"
"Jaune, a-are you sure you're alright? We can go inside and-"
"OH MY GOD, I'M AN IDIOT!"
Realizing your level of obliviousness has increased your INT by 1!
'SHUT UP YOU STUPID GAME!'
I usually add something at the end here. So uh...thank you for the 400 followers. I didn't really expect it to grow that much. Next chapter is going to do with grinding and an actual introduction to the plot. Might be uploaded at the end of May, but who knows with my schedule.
Hope you enjoyed the chapter, and have a wonderful day!