Considering the dormitories of Beacon normally hold ten dozen students, it isn't too surprising that you don't see Blake that often. The times you do you rarely speak, extending her the same respect she gives you when she comes across you studying and experimenting.
Eventually Bella's habit of abandoning things she's reading or playing with wherever they lie if something more important comes up forces the two of you to speak, when you find Blake curiously leafing through the vellum pages of your journal. Unsurprisingly she's lingering on the sketches of anything and anyone you found notable enough to properly record rather than the writing she can't possibly read.
"Who's this?" Blake asks you, pointing to a drawing of your sister gambling with
another tiefling.
"My sister and Woljif Jefto. He was a street rat in Kenabres like us - except he always managed to escape just before we got in trouble. He somehow made himself indispensable to the Knight-Commander and never stopped complaining or bragging about it." You say with a wry smile, thinking back to the weeks you'd spent in the barracks or on the march. There weren't many people you knew from your childhood in the Crusade and Woljif was always good for a laugh. Even if hanging out with him meant running into people far too important for you to talk to.
You watch Blake's eyes flick up to you and down to your journal, realising what you've caught her doing. "Sorry, it was just lying here and-"
"It's fine. Not like you can read anything I wrote down." You spin the chair next to Blake so your arms can rest on its back and sit down.
Blake nods with a small smile before beginning to turn the pages. Soon she finds another drawing - Bella playing with an
elven girl and her crow.
"That's Ember and her familiar Soot. She was a street kid in Kenabres too, but had it a lot worse." You hesitate before continuing, knowing Ember never felt any need to hide what had happened to her. "Her father wanted to join the Fourth Crusade, but was unprepared for the paranoia of the inquisitors. They found him guilty of witchcraft, not caring that his family had been blessed by Grandmother Crow for generations, and tried to burn Ember beside him. Fortunately one of the knights had an attack of conscience and saved her from the pyre, but she was left alone on the streets. And since elves take an extra decade to mature, she never really grew up."
""That's horrible! They were allowed to burn a child-" Blake says, horrified anger causing her to raise her voice.
"They weren't. They just didn't care - I doubt her father received a proper trial either." You say with a helpless shrug. "There's a reason I decided to flee into the Worldwound rather than wait around and let Talaith be accused of anything similar. The inquisition's actions will be a stain on the church of Iomedae and Mendev for centuries to come, but it doesn't exist anymore.Outlawing them was one of the first things the Knight-Commander did when he took Drezen and signing off on it was one of the last things Queen Galfrey did before leaving Golarion behind."
"You weren't in danger?"
"No. I'm an assimar and thus above suspicion unless I get caught actually doing something. But tieflings, witches, shamans, anyone trying to keep the faiths of Sarkoris alive - they were all targets of the Inquisition." You pause and breathe deep before continuing. "But that doesn't matter. Ember, like Woljif, joined the Knight-Commander in his battles. Her gift for fire magic was apparently quite useful, but more importantly she did all she could to help everyone. She spent so much time telling everyone that letting cruelty and hatred control you would steal all joy from your life, that anyone so consumed deserved pity and compassion instead of scorn."
"It's a nice message. But it doesn't really hold up." Blake says with an expression of pure sorrow.
"That's what I thought, what nearly everyone thought. But Ember proved herself right, over and over again." You say, turning the page to reveal the next
companion of the Knight-Commander.
"Another tiefling?"
"No. That's Arueshalae, a succubus or lust demon. She spent centuries tormenting anyone she came across, until the goddess Desna made her experience the dreams and nightmares of her victims. After that she devoted herself to atoning for her sins, to fightingthe evil all around her. She tried to warn the crusaders about the attack that led to the fall of Kenabres and a dozen other such treacheries. But it wasn't until the Knight-Commander met her that anyone trusted her. And now she's as righteous as any angel."
"It's a nice story." Blake says eventually. "But if it takes divine intervention for someone to redeem themselves there's not really any help for anyone else."
"Arueshalae's not the only demon who chose to defy their nature. Ember managed to convince several others that the Abyss was the ultimate toxic influence, a corrupted parody of how normal people interact. And plenty of cultists and corrupted spirits listened as well." You say, pulling the book from Blake's hands and skipping well ahead. "A lot of people do bad things because they don't think they have a choice. I stole when I lived on the streets because the alternative was starvation. A noble might treat everyone around him like dirt, constantly seeking the most personal insults possible because he knows that anyone who gets close to him will die. An assassin might abandon his family without a word, convinced that he doesn't belong with them. A knight might surrender to the fury of a berserker under the strain of torture and resist any attempts to aid him, convinced that he's tainted beyond any chance of purification.
"But they're wrong. People change all the time, and the only thing you have to do to start your redemption is draw a line. Spare a child your barbs because she's an innocent. Turn your blade on your so-called allies because they did nothing but lie to you. Accept the help offered to you. Because once you start, all you have to do is keep going. Until you've changed and don't remember how to be who you were before." Eventually you find the page you're looking for, a folded drawing of Ember preaching in the streets of Kenabres. It'd taken you weeks to finish as you'd tried to capture as much of the crowd as possible - including the quasits, babaus, brimorak, nabasu and marilith that had chosen to believe in Ember's words.
"I don't know what you're trying to say." Blake says defensively.
"I know you're running from something. And I know you're a good person." You say confidently, despite barely interacting with her. "But whoever you left behind - friends or family who disagreed with you? There's always hope for them. People are only irredeemable if they don't want to be redeemed."
Blake looks away from you and you let her think, flipping through your journal and lingering on your own drawings. Memories of your comrades and their fates are indelibly linked in your mind - Sky Sight's glee at getting to publish something that proved Nenio wrong, Aldwin and Varin's decision to go south and join the Shining Crusade, the gravestones of Korrash, Zilth and Rory.
"Who's that?" Blake asks as you think. You glance down and blush when you see the drawings in question -
Targona on the left and
Barakiel on the right, both with a lot more detail then you'd put into any of the other sketches.
"Targona, a messenger angel that was partially corrupted by some cultist's foul experiment, and Barakiel, a guardian angel that I chose as a namesake a few months before meeting him." You say, reaching to turn the page.
"Did he pose for this?" Blake asks, tracing one of Barakiel's biceps as she examines your work.
"He did after Talaith asked him. I was too worried he'd be offended about me using his name to say anything." You admit. "Targona posed for the sketch on the next page, after the Knight-Commander managed to purify her. Said that since I had the corrupted image I should have the pure to contrast." You push Blake's hand away from the book and reveal the image of Targona's
true form, alongside your notes on the different types of angel.
"They don't really wear much." Blake comments as she examines this drawing as closely as the last.
"Some of them summon armour when they go into battle but it isn't necessary. They might all have an active and powerful aura." You realise. You'd always assumed outsiders were just tougher than mortals.
You watch as Blake starts turning the pages, aware she's reaching the end of your notes from the crusade and will soon find the notes you started taking in English - a basic phrase guide to it and Taldan and a few of your notes and thoughts on what's happened, until you'd decided to keep the rest in Taldan and Hallit. Thankfully she manages to skip past those pages to Bella's drawings of the assassins. It's a lot shakier than your work, but better than you can manage considering their features were blurred to your eyes the entire battle. Blake goes tense when she sees them, her bow twitching as she looks at the assassins.
"You know who he is?" She asks, pointing at the male assassin with a shaking finger.
"He's an assassin that tried to kill Amber. Probably would've succeeded if I hadn't showed up at the exact right time. I'm guessing you ran into him?"
"He tried to kill me." Blake confirms.
"And you're not the long lost Spring Maiden right?" You ask, wondering if Ozpin's plan has been foiled by incredible luck.
"What, no?"
"You don't have any magical abilities?" You probe, wondering why else the man might attack Blakew. When you get a negative response you frown and consider the possibilities. "Qrow didn't find any evidence of the assassins despite tracking them back to what he thought was their camp. And while you might have been a target of opportunity, I doubt that these three would attack a random traveller out of greed or bigotry."
"You think he attacked me because he's a misogynist?" Blake asks incredulously.
"I was thinking because you're a faunus, but that's just as likely."
"I'm not a faunus." Blake protests, receiving an unimpressed look from you.
"You have darkvision and incredible hearing, the only other conversation we've had was you complaining about a book's depiction of faunus going into heat, the only person you trust even a little here is me but that changed when I told you I'm technically human and your bow twitches all the time." You say, remembering how impossible it was for you to not disturb Blake's concentration when walking past and how she managed to read by starlight. "Plus Bella says you smell like an amurrun."
"What's an amurrun?" Blake asks, caught between panic and the instinct to deny your words.
"They're also called catfolk." You say as you flip through your journal, quickly finding the
portrait you wanted. "This is Sky Sight, a scholar from Murraseth. He joined the Crusade to fight demons and quite a few other Amurrun did as well."
Eventually Blake sighs and slumps in defeat, undoing her bow to reveal a second set of ears.
"I didn't realise you were trying to hide it. I just sort of looked at you and went 'she's probably a faunus like Velvet'. Spend enough time surrounded by a dozen different races and you'll start to notice the subtle differences." You say sheepishly.
"It's fine."
"I won't tell anyone."
"No, really. Don't worry about it." Blake insists, before turning the book back to the assassins. "He said he wasn't going to kill me, just take me back. But he fought like he wanted to kill me and probably would've if his legs hadn't exploded."
"And you didn't stick explosives to them." You guess.
"No, it was more like they failed in the most destructive possible way. All the dust rounds went off just after they detached from his thighs and then the rest of the legs exploded. I didn't stick around to see what happened next, but he looked pretty shocked."
"His legs detached?"
"They were robotic prosthetics."
"Like the clockwork limbs you can get from Absalom. Are those hard to replace?" You ask, thinking about the stories you'd heard about the Clockwork Cathedral and the wonders created within.
"They're really expensive and have to be custom made, but I get the feeling he'd be able to replace them."
"Still. It's a weakness I can exploit." You say with a smile before thinking over the events again. "I don't suppose you know of a god of technology?
Your only answer is Blake's mystified expression.
=================================
Thinking about clockwork and robotics drives you to look up all you can about Remnant's technology, wanting to understand what its limits are. This also involves reading about dust as the two seem irrevocably linked.
You read about the types of dust and how they can be mined from deep beneath the earth, as well as how various types of dust can be combined to mimic a rare type or to create entirely new variations on what is thought to be possible. Surprisingly dust combination is only possible with the powdered form and the results are generally found to be lesser in quality and power.
The origins of dust are unknown, though historians claim before its discovery that mankind was entirely at the mercy of the Grimm. What's more certain is that discovering how to trigger dust with technology was one of the discoveries that enabled Remnant's 'industrial revolution' leading to automation on a scale almost unfathomable to you, as well as all sorts of technological wonders - the airships, horseless carriages, scrolls and other communications devices, mechanical constructs called 'robots' and firearms.
Firearms are essentially crossbows that replaced the string with an explosive charge of powder and reduced the arrow down to just the head, devices you'd heard of before but had never seen in action. Surprisingly the handheld versions are called guns in English and Taldan, despite Remnant lacking a Dongun Hold to serve as the namesake.
You know from Fethrymil's scattered and incomplete notes on her travels in Tian Xia that guns on Golarion use gunpowder, or black powder, as their fuel while Remnant uses Dust, but you know nothing beyond that. Modern gurns primarily use Burn Dust, a specific mixture of air and fire, to propel their bullets, though some use the rarer Gravity Dust for greater power and speed. The bullets can be infused with dust as well, meaning freezing, explosive and poisonous projectiles are all possible.
The most impressive part about guns is that they're apparently the standard weapon for both soldiers and guards across the entire planet. Large guns called cannons or artillery have replaced almost all siege weapons, their only competition coming from self-propelled projectiles called missiles. You'll need to make the time to learn how to use a gun, though you doubt you'll ever wield one in battle. Your magic is too intertwined with how you fight for you to change now, though the combination and transforming weapons that are apparently the signature of huntsmen raises countless intriguing possibilities.
The hardest technology to wrap your head around is the humble Scroll, which you had believed was solely a communications device more potent than any spell you've heard of. Capable of accessing the CCT Network projected by the grand tower of Beacon and similar edifices in each kingdom to communicate with anyone anywhere on the planet, so long as they had a scroll of their own. But it is also capable of capturing images like Velvet's camera, including continuous images and the accompanying sound in video form, performing complex calculations in seconds that you would need a chalkboard and an hour to solve, detecting and tracking the holder's aura and a dozen more functions.
Despite demanding what you think is a very high price they're ubiquitous because of how useful they are, whether you're a homeless vagrant, copper pinching merchant or obnoxiously wealthy noble. Beacon supplies 'huntsman grade' scrolls to everyone who attends, a distinction made because of certain aura related functions and an incredible increase in durability.
But once you understand the scroll and how it works you get access to a whole new library, one vast beyond comprehension and accessible only through the internet, a network of scrolls joined through the CCTN. Sadly the information is often inaccurate and poorly written, but the sheer amount of it is worthy of note. As is the filth you discover when you look at novels solely found upon the internet.
=================================
"Pull." You call out, gripping the shotgun firmly in your hands. Port acknowledges you with a yell as he hurls a pair of clay disks into the air and easily shoot them down, pumping the guard with satisfaction after each shot.
"What do you think?"
"A dozen times more satisfying to fire than a crossbow." You say with a wide grin. "And it felt a lot better than the rifle you had me shooting yesterday."
"You aren't the first to dislike shooting at a target, though most complain about not needing to practise. Sadly arrogance is a common problem for young and old alike." Port says as he soberly shakes his head. "Why I once had to challenge a student to a shooting contest just to get him to take proper care of his weapon. When my blunderbuss kept working despite being coated in muck and grime while his rifle damaged itself with every misfire he was forced to admit his inadequacies."
"Is that a common issue? I assumed guns here didn't explode in your hands, unlike what I heard about goblins and their 'big boom guns'." You ask as you go through the steps of unloading and checking the gun Port had showed you.
"Most guns have been engineered to be capable of working no matter the conditions, but when you get the complex contraptions today's huntsmen prefer that reliability often goes out the window. There's a reason we're expected to design and build our own weapons from scratch." Port says with pride.
"So what's the difference between this and your gun?"
"My weapon is a blunderbuss, designed to be capable of firing anything that can fit in the barrel, while most guns can only fire specifically sized bullets." Port explains, plucking his weapon from his belt and unfolding the axe blades with a flourish, holding it out for you to inspect. "This does mean my effective range is far shorter, but the spread is wider than most shotguns. You'll find few others wielding such a weapon, but know that any who do are all too aware of its weaknesses."
"Good to know." You say as you return the shotgun to him. "Now about the defensive training you mentioned."
"Of course - prepare yourself!" Port bellows, twirling his gun and pointing it at you as you dart backwards, immediately bringing up your aura as you miss your helmet for the first time in over a year.
You swiftly learn that while you can dodge bullets you see coming it's more difficult than you expected, especially when the opponent mixes bullets and shot at random. Your armour holds up, ensuring most hits only sap a small amount of your aura and proving once more that you'll happily pay your life's savings to anyone capable of armouring your wings as the largest exposed target on your body.
=================================
The Argus Invitational technically predates the establishment of the huntsmen academies, though back then it was primarily a way for those who ran Mistral's gladiatorial arenas to swifty winnow through the hopeful youths for those few with potential worth cultivating.
Nowadays Mistral's tournaments are seen by some as a shadow of their former selves, modern rules requiring most fights end before anyone's aura is even broken let alone let the fighters risk mutilation. Apparently illegal underground rings where fights still regularly end in permanent injury and death exist, though they're rare and don't attract the same quality of warrior.
The Invitational markets itself as a way for aspiring huntsmen and huntresses to prove they belong in their academy of choice, handing out invitations to promising students from combat schools and to those who manage to pass a qualifying round against some sort of mechanical foe, ensuring that those who didn't get formal training can prove they're still equal to any of their peers.
It traditionally only has sixteen participants, keeping their identities secret until the week before the tournament and then making a grand fuss out of unveiling each name, fueling the gambling that pays for the fancy arena and giving the competitors a taste of the fame they could have if they choose to become gladiators instead of huntsmen.
This year the tournament has announced that thirty-two prospective huntsmen have been invited, which you assume is because of Ozpin leaning on them to include you in the most obvious way possible. This means that it'll be spread across two days instead of one and a dozen other minor things that are apparently causing a commotion in the newspapers and equivalents on video and radio.
As a participant you've received a copy of the rules - fights end when a fighter's aura has been reduced to ten percent or less, marked by red on the bar scrolls use to show aura, or until time elapses, with five minutes allotted per fight on the first day and ten on the second. Breaking someone's aura if it wasn't already in the red isn't banned, though it could lead to some sort of penalty if the judges believe it to be deliberate.
The usage of weapons, dust or a semblance undeclared to the judges is banned, though that information isn't made available to other competitors and there's a well known exception for someone who manifests their semblance for the first time in the tournament. You'll be ignoring that since the whole point of this is to use your magic in a public manner and you'll have to trust that Ozpin will sort things out behind the scenes since it looks like no one will know unless a judge says something.
There's a height limit to the arena, banning you from simply flying out of your opponent's reach and wearing them down while they can't respond which feels off to you - it might not be your style but even if you didn't have your wings or your new Earthbind spell you'd be able to respond to someone using such tactics against you, as anyone at this tournament should be able to as well.
Reading between the lines they won't approve of you enhancing yourself or your hammer before the battle, which is very reasonable, if a little inconvenient.
The rest of the rules are minor, though the outline of the tournament is welcome - there's an opening ceremony, a gap of a few minutes between each fight and a more substantial gap between rounds. The seeding of the tournament is a secret, though from reading what people say online you suspect it's often used to make sure the flashiest and strongest competitors have the best chance of reaching the finals. The finals surprisingly involve two fights, as determining third place is considered almost as important as determining who wins the thing.
The prize is money and the offer of some deal you don't really follow or care about, with lesser amounts offered to anyone who reaches the semi-finals. You suspect anyone capable of getting into the tournament will be able to attend whichever school they wish as CFVY's year is apparently considered small with 104 students, but you don't exactly understand the appeal of the whole thing - is it really that grand a spectacle if you don't know how to fight yourself?
When you turn to previous contestants one name dominates - Pyrrha Nikos, the Invincible Girl. She'd won the tournament three years in a row, as well as numerous other tournaments you've never heard of. Apparently she's dominated since she started attending Sanctum Academy in Argus and is incredibly popular in her hometown. Her semblance is unknown but her skills are impressive - the grace obvious in her every movement tells you she's probably spent more time honing her skills on the training grounds than you, though you suspect you have more experience in fights against non-human foes. The Invitational is the last tournament she's expected to attend before entering one of the academies, with most expecting her to return to tournaments after completing her education.
Other contestants likely to return include include Sage Ayana, a tattooed Mistralian boy with impressive muscles, a sword as large as Yatsuhashi's, no armour beyond a single spherical pauldron and a semblance that involves him striking an impressive pose for several seconds before moving blindingly fast, Arslan Atlan, a girl from Vacuo that fights like a Jalmeri monk with a rope dart to make fighting her as difficult as possible, Ciel Soliel, a girl from Atlas with incredibly precise fighting style revolving around a gauntlet-sword that can also shoot lasers and Ailill Galloglass, who hails from Vytal and proudly wears the green and orange of his homeland. His sword is comparable to Sage's, though it splits down the middle to reveal a large gun and its hilt can extend to become a ludicrously huge polearm. His semblance is the only one public and is called Claimoh Solais, allowing him to extend his slashes beyond the edge of his sword in a wave of cutting light, though you suspect it is more limited than he makes it look.
=================================
You step into Velvet's overhead swing, deflecting the glowing copy of your own hammer by striking the handle with your wing, and thrust forwards with your weapon, striking your opponent square in the sternum.
Velvet responds by twisting her hammer and swinging it into your knee, lightning spreading from the impact and coursing along your armour, forcing you to endure something you've inflicted on countless foes in the past.
You can't help but fall to your knee with a gasp of pain, but almost immediately start to channel your magic into your hammer. An incantation forced out despite you biting your tongue and a short swing forces Velvet back when a torrent of water erupts from your hammer.
You grin savagely as Velvet's copy of your weapon visibly flickers, focusing on a spell you've only just mastered to take advantage of this.
'I'll never be satisfied' you say in Thassilonian, time slowing as Haste takes effect.
You leap forwards, using your wings to gain height for the overhead swing that Velvet barely manages to dodge. Instead of letting your hammer hit the ground you transition into a strike with the butt and follow it up with a sideways sweep, your spell speeding your movements so both hit before you land.
A flash of light herald's Velvet manifesting a new weapon, one you try and render irrelevant by hitting Velvet with a Shocking Strike. Sadly Velvet lets you hit her so she can immediately unload Coco's minigun on you at point-blank range, managing to keep her aim mostly straight even as she's electrocuted.
You manage to dodge sideways and keep ahead of the bullets after the first few strike your breastplate with the force of an angry giant, silently marvelling at how easy aura makes it to ignore the force behind the bullets as you exploit your enhanced speed.
Unfortunately Velvet's spent years exploiting superior mobility and unknown fighting styles to always catch her opponents off guard, managing to keep you back for the ten seconds left in your spar.
"That counts as an unqualified success for both of us I think." You say with a grin.
"Your spell made Anesidora's copies last a lot longer, the modifications I made to integrate dust into the copies worked a lot better because of it and you're getting better at dodging instead of just enduring bullets." Velvet confirms. "But you know no one's going to have a gun like Coco's at the Invitational right? Those tournaments usually try to select people with flashy melee fighting styles, since a lot of people focusing solely on powerful ranged options aren't great when someone manages to close on them."
"It's the sort of gun you'd see on an airship right? Preparing for the worst case scenario is a vital part of success." You reason, not wanting to mention your request for how Velvet fought you was grounded on not wanting to waste her copies of anything she can't easily replace. "Still feels weird to be essentially fighting myself."
"As close as I can get. Still can't fly or copy more than one or two of your spells." She corrects you, tilting her head as she considers her options.
"Can't wait to figure out Fly. I'll finally be able to practice aerial combat without bothering someone who has a thousand better things to be doing." You rub your hands in anticipation, your only training in aerial combat coming from Fethrymil or Hengrei. "You watch a lot of tournaments for your semblance?"
"I used to. It doesn't work great unless I shell out for a copy of the recording or have really good seats and I normally can't get a good picture of their weapons, but I know dozens of ways to fight without a weapon. I'm just hoping Dad's hinting at what I think he is when he wants to invite the team up to Atlas for Christmas."
"You think he's going to upgrade your weapons? Because I'm not sure what that'd entail beyond giving you all a bunch of dust." You ask. Maybe Yatsuhashi could integrate a gun into his sword or Fox could pick up stronger guns or Velvet and Coco could pick up backup weapons, but none of that fits with how they approach fighting.
"Don't worry about it. Unless you want to attend the Vytal Festival Tournament as well." Velvet says with false reassurance.
=================================
The subject that frustrates you the most in the lead up to the Invitational is the Etheric Crystal, an enigma that defies your expectations of it at every turn.
Ozpin is true to his word, granting you an old shed quickly converted into a sparsely furnished office to use as your personal research and work space. It's located far away from what you'd thought were the limits of the school grounds, right next to a small copse of evergreens and a stream that runs off the cliff to join the Smoky Scar River that the Kingdomof Vale was built around.
It only has a few shelves, a small table and a stool within, but that's all you need to get to work - you don't know how to seal off the shed so the energies of the Material Plane can't get inside but that shouldn't matter - theoretically it should be repelled by the energies of the Ethereal Plane.
Two weeks of meditation producing no tangible results is frustrating but somewhat expected. It's reassuring to know that the barrier between the planes isn't dangerously thin at Beacon, even if it makes your task harder. Bella's the one who realises the problem - since the crystal absorbs aetheric energies you can't use it to create them. What you need is the tuning fork.
By channelling the Ghost Sound cantrip through the tuning fork you're able to create a constant ethereal murmuring that you can use to truly focus on the Ethereal Plane - the weightless sensation, the way all sense of time slips away, the unreal shapes shapes that constantly rise up in the fog and vanish before you touch them. You try letting yourself slip into sleep a few times in an attempt to get closer to the Ethereal via the Dimension of Dreams, but you only need so many bruises from falling off the stool to dissuade you.
The clouds of mist you create as you meditate is proof that you're doing something, but you don't realise what until a day comes where you stretch your wings without thinking and you don't brush against the wall. You have to go looking for a tape measure to confirm your hypothesis, but the initial hypothesis can be proven by just walking around the shed with your hand on the wall - the interior has expanded to more than twice the area of the shed.
Extradimensional spaces aren't your specialty - you've seen a few bags of holding and suspect that the people of Remnant have figured out a technological way to mimic the phenomenon from an examination of Coco's weapon, but can't exactly cast Rope Trick, not that you'd ever considered it before.
But this is a good start. Just this makes the Etheric Crystal incredibly valuable, potentially allowing for any room to be similarly expanded. The etheric mist you've been creating lingers within the room far longer than it should, proving that you can probably create aether within it - which should let you create things from aether, as well as test what you think the crystal is meant to do.
You might even figure out how to replicate the effect on a smaller scale and create a bag of holding. Now that'd be endlessly useful.
=================================
Shayla has learned the Ghost Sound, Bullhorn, Obscuring Mist, Earthbind, Haste and Magnetic Acceleration spells.
Bella has learned to conceal herself with an Illusory Disguise
=================================
The end of July and the Argus Invitational have come. Shayla has prepared for this as best as she can, knowing at this point all she can do is have faith in her own capabilities and trust Ozpin's plan.
How shall you fight in the initial round of the tournament? Be aware that the choices made here will last until the first day of the tournament ends and Shayla can change the spells she's prepared.
[ ] Be the unforgettable angel - with shining eyes and wings do battle with grace and strength in equal measure. Make sure no one forgets seeing you fight.
[ ] Fight as a relentless force - force your way through any attack of your opponents and make every blow you land count. Hold nothing back in battle because the only way to see tomorrow is to guarantee victory.
[ ] Hold back as much as possible - attack with cantrips and conflux spells and save your spell slots for when they're truly needed, leveraging your other advantages.
Which of Shayla's Studious Spells has she prepared? Choose two:
[ ] Magic Weapon - Only useful for empowering an ally as Shayla's hammer is already magical
[ ] Shattering Gem - a gem orbits the target, capable of intercepting an attack and visiting retribution on the attacker.
[ ] True Strike - A brief glimpse of the future guarantees a single blow will strike true.
Which spells has Shayla prepared in her Second Level Spell Slots? Choose two:
[ ] Gravitational Pull - Alter gravity to pull someone towards you
[ ] Hydraulic Push - A torrent of water bludgeons the foe and forces them back
[ ] Shockwave - A tremor ripples through the earth, knocking people to the ground.
[ ] Heat Metal - An object becomes red hot and unbearably painful to touch
[ ] Invisibility - The target becomes invisible for ten minutes or until it takes hostile action
[ ] Mirror Image - The illusory copies of you make it hard to follow your movements
[ ] Telekinetic Maneuver - Psychic force sends an object flying away or steers the opponent as you wish.
Which spells has Shayla prepared in her Third Level Spell Slots? Choose two:
[ ] Earthbind: You briefly steal the ability to fly from an opponent.
[ ] Haste: You distort time to accelerate the movements of yourself or an ally.
[ ] Magnetic Acceleration: You magnetise an object to launch it at an opponent at speeds akin to a bullet.
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This update fought me. I think I rewrote the section with Blake five times and I'm still not thrilled with it - there's a long conversation on (fake) books I'm cutting to reuse later that just didn't fit here - but most of the rest I wrote in one night.
We're finally approaching the tournament and the end of Arc 1. I'm still surprised no one guessed what the Divine Mission is in reference to, but I haven't exactly made it that important to the narrative and I'm not an objective opinion on how easy it is to solve. It still feels super obvious to me though.
As always ask me any questions that come to mind.
