– Monday –
Jaune had his full guild in their usual training clearing in the Emerald forest. They were all there after making sure they had rested up and telling Ozpin about the events of the Penalty Quest. Ozpin of course almost had a heart attack and stroke at hearing what Jaune went through. But he almost actually fainted after hearing how Jaune put her out of commission for a solid month, maybe more, from one soul searing strike. He congratulated him and asked him what the big news was before being invited to join them in their usual spot.
Now that they are all there they were all staring at Jaune as he held up the key he earned from the gift box. Jaune proudly explains the gift is something he wasn't expecting, "I got this from the S ranked gift box, but what was most shocking was that I got a jackpot reward from it. I got extremely lucky and gained not an S rank gift. This key? It is actually an SS ranked reward!"
Gasps are heard all around as Weiss goes, "Wait! So that key is actually twice as powerful as it should have been originally?"
Jaune nods in pride as he points the key to the midair and turns it. Instead of a Grimm gate, a magic gate opens up. Ozpin sweats as he senses the amount of magic coming from the gate, it was more than double his maximum from when he was in his prime!
Ozpin shakily asks, "Wh-What i-is this g-ga-gate? It i-is so pow-powerful!"
Jaune grins as he raises the key again and soon repeats to them all what was revealed to him when he appraised the key through the system.
~Gate of heroes: SS Rank Training tool.
A Key that opens up a sub dimension to allow non monarchs to train inside. Inside the gate all training efficiency is improved by 20 times. For example 1 day spent inside is equal to 20 days worth of the same training! It affects all training, magic, skill growth, and knowledge. Up to 15 individuals can train inside at a time. The facilities can change according to the desires and will of the one who opened the gate. The gate must recharge by at least 8 hours of no use once it is closed. Can be kept open up to 25 hours as a time. Indestructible unless attacked by another SS rank or higher weapon or artifact.~
Everyone had awed expressions and excited reactions. Weiss, Ragora, and Simin were talking with each other about their magic training within the dimension so they can make sure their magic studies catch up to Ozpin. Pyrrha, Lycan, Nora, Yang, and Yatsu were all discussing how to strengthen themselves and their new magical abilities as they train within. Ren, Fox, and Vivian are all excited to see what they can do to improve their skills with their weapons and aura control. While Ruby, Coco, and Velvet were all talking about weapons, team combos, and new formations they can use as they train within this area.
As the guild members were excitedly talking Ozpin approached Jaune with an important question regarding both of their growths, "This will help them all out in their growths to make sure they are ready to fight Monarch champion level foes. But I am curious… How will we benefit from this dimension since we are technically Monarchs?"
Jaune grins as he holds up his new collection of B and A ranked gate keys. He spent a lot of points in the shop but he now has 25 B gate keys, and 20 A gate keys. Giving him and Ozpin something to do while the rest of their members are within this dimension.
Ozpin grins back at him while everyone seemed to have calmed down during their discussions as they are all now gazing at the two Monarchs. Pyrrha voices what they are all focused on, "So how are you two going to gain anything from this dimension?"
Jaune goes to answer her but Ozpin cuts him off to use his teacher voice so their allies see the clear reasoning behind their options, "Mr. Arc and I will be unable to join you all as we are Monarchs and thus unable to enter the gate. It will be up to the 15 of you to train in this dimension and grow using it during the times we can't enter. We shall grow by the tried and true method of us Monarchs. Mr. Arc and I shall be entering Gates and training within them. In the mean time you all shall be trying your best to catch up to our strengths within this training dimension for a solid month."
Lycan growls as he points at Ozpin with a scowl on his face, "Are you saying we are weak? We helped Jaune fight off an A ranked gate before! Remember that?"
Ragora goes to scold Lycan before Ozpin shakes his head at her. She stops her scold before it leaves her mouth and closes her mouth to see what Ozpin had in mind.
He gazes upon Lycan and then sweeps his gaze along the group. They all see his eyes glowing a deep green as he seems to leave his eyes on each of them for a good ten seconds before moving to the next member. After close to 3 minutes of scanning them all and apprising them Ozpin gathers their attention once more and says, "Well to be brutally honest. You are weaker than you think."
The whole group of students immediately went into argument mode to show him they weren't weak, even Jaune backed them up some. Before Ozpin sent out a pulse of magical energy making them quiet down. He then clears his throat and gives them their answers, "First, yes you did help Mr. Arc with that A ranked Gate a bit ago. There is no arguing that, however shall we also argue about how you had his full army, a platoon of militiamen, and Atlesian knights backing you up? You see they were a deciding factor. I appraised you all just now with my auric sight. A handy little spell that Ms. Scarlatina can learn in the future as she masters more support magic."
Velvet blushes as Coco pats her back and Ruby gives her a friendly smile with a thumbs up. Ozpin continues, "As such I reviewed your abilities and overall strength. I believe on average you are all on the level of a B ranked hunter. However some of you are close to or have reached A rank. For instance, Ms. Nikos is A- rank, Mr. Yatsuhashi is also A- rank, Ms. Cinarum is also in this rank. Now a majority of you are in B to B+ rank including the rest of CVFY and SLVR. RWBY is entirely in B rank. And Mr. Ren and Ms. Valkyrie are both in B- rank."
Nora goes, "Wait! I'm that weak?!"
Rend goes to comfort Nora as Ozpin clarifies, "Yes. Not due to your strength or lack of skills. I scanned your full stats and while you are strong and fast, your senses, thinking speed, and planning are all atrocious. Meaning that you have much to go through to improve yourself and break through to rank A. For Mr. Ren the opposite is true, he is very skilled, a good planner, and very efficient with his senses and speed. But his overall durability and lack of strength has lowered him to a B- rank. If you both improve in these areas you lack you will see a world of difference in combat. Understood?"
Ren and Nora look to each other, give supportive smiles then look back at Ozpin and smile with nods. Ozpin smiles back at them and then goes about writing them training plans while discussing with each member what they need to work on.
As they plan their training within the dimensional gate, Jaune is busy arranging it to have a wide range of high level gym equipment, a training field, a sparring arena, a library, a magic testing room, and a resting area that will have the same effect and make a 1 hour nap feel like a full 8 hour sleep. He arranges it all and makes it as large as a the Vytal stadium to allow them plenty of space for their needs. After wiping some sweat off his brow from the effort he notices Velvet, Weiss, Yang, and Pyrrha were all behind him checking on him with small smiles at him.
He grins and turns to hug them which they all return to him. He then begins to speak to them about their training and to support them emotionally since he can't be there physically. "This might be the first time in a while where I won't be able to help you grow stronger. Will you all be okay?"
Yang grins at him first and nods before saying, "Don't worry Jaune! We got this! Between you doing so much to support us, your love for us, and Ozpins training plans he is helping us with? We will make sure to maximize this opportunity for us to grow stronger than ever!"
Weiss speaks up next with a loving smile at him and a nice slight blush on her cheeks, "Like Yang said. You have been doing so much to help us grow. But with out current methods we won't reach our full potential if we are stuck being shielded by you. We need this chance to stand beside you. And with this gate for training? We can manage to grow faster and catch up to you so we can help you in any fights we have coming up."
Velvet nuzzles his cheek before saying, "We got this hun. We love you and we know you love us. We won't waste this chance to grow alongside you and be by your side through thick and thin. Trust us. We can do this."
Pyrrha giggles at his worry, "Don't worry Jaune! We have each other, and we will grow faster with this gift! Ozpin's training will definitely help us grow! We will grow to break through our limits and help you in any battle we have in the future. We will make sure to be powerful enough to not only be fellow champions of the light. But also your girlfriends and lovers."
All the girls take turns to kiss him as Jaune smiles at them and hugs them close. They all enter the gate shortly after alongside their friends. They close the door to activate the training effect and Jaune turns to Ozpin as the old Wizard looks at the young Warrior with pride. He then speaks, "Your Grandfather had the same look in his eyes when he sent off Iron to different missions to help them gain strength and understanding of their abilities and limits. Trust this old mage. They will grow to meet or even exceed our expectations. You love them all, and they know that. That love will help push them to break their old limits and allow them to be able to become fully fledged champions under your light. Now shall we make sure they don't surpass those they are trying to reach? We wouldn't be proper defenders of the realm if we failed to stay ahead like our name sake as Monarchs, hmm?"
Jaune chuckles as he brings out the first of the keys and opens up a B ranked gate. Both Monarchs smile at each other and dive in with Jaunes army appearing behind them ready to destroy a new gate full of Grimm.
– Training Dimension –
The whole group had entered the space expecting to see a barracks with gym and library equipment. They were not prepared for what Jaune had designed for them.
First of all they had a large circular area that was actually double the size of Vytal stadium. Half of the place was dedicated to sparring areas with what seemed to be some sort of control panel and barrier mechanic installed within the sparring field. The other half looked like a magic training field that Ozpin had described to them from his past with golems for combat practice, target posts, and even natural elements like a lake or a fire pit to train their elemental abilities. The field was the center as across the back walls were the rest of the space. All of the spaces could look in on each other. One looked like a 10 story tall library that was filled to the brim with books of all kinds. Another ten story building seemed to be a gym with different training equipment on each floor. And yet another space seemed to be a place similar to their commons space in Beacon with rooms and relaxation areas included. A kitchen/cafeteria was included in the space while they also saw a large pool off to the side for swim training and a track and field area as well opposite to the pool area.
They turned to the door and found 4 acres of forest as well with camping gear included just outside the forest entrance for survival training. Ruby was gasping as she looked at a final building that was between the commons and gym buildings that was revealed to be a forge for them to repair their gear, an armory for supplies for their weapons, and what looked to be an arcade on top of that.
Soon everyone was whooping with cheer and excitement and heading to their own personal areas to begin their training.
Weiss, Ragora, and Simin all headed to the magic field first and once they entered they set up a timer system for 2 hours to try it out. They activated the barrier function that said it can withstand up to S rank magic attacks. The trio of practitioner mages all looked at each other bfore glancing back at the screen and finally at the field. Weiss pipes up first, "So it expects us to break through to S rank eventually huh?"
Simin looks around and then nods, "Seems that way, all we can do is try our best to think outside the box to reach that level."
Ragora flicks her hair and summons her familiar, "Then let's not disappoint and begin our practice, remember we have a maximum of 12 hours in this dimension. Which means about 10 days worth of training thanks to the keys effects. Let's make the most of it and progress as much as possible while in here!"
Weiss and Simin both nod and they all split up to look at the grimoires in the magic field training center to get a better grip of the basics they had been practicing so far.
Weiss was mastering more Ice and Water magic at the lake area and using it on the training post targets.
Simin was master Fire and Wind magic at the moving target area to better his casting speed and aim.
And Ragora decided to feel out the darkness in the shadowed area with her senses being shared with her familiar.
All three were doing their best to master the basics taught to them so far by Ozpin. And the training field came equipped with a small bookshelf full of basic and fundamental magic lesson books. If they wanted the next level books they would need to visit the library area. But the books should at least help them reach top tier D ranked spells at the very least. Intermediate books will allow them to master C and B ranked spells. Advanced are the A ranked. And finally master level spells are S and above. Super tier are those that are treated as forbidden or forgotten spells that are SSS or World ranked. They weren't touching those spells any time soon.
While the trio of young mages were training their butts off in the magic field, Ruby, Blake, Vivian, Nora, and Ren went to the forest area to refresh their survival skills. They were all confident in them, but due to a lack of out door missions that required more than one day out in the field, they felt their skills were getting rusty. So the group had promised to help each other remember the plants that are to be avoided or that prove to be useful for survival needs.
As they set up tents to practice their camping skills and help each other get fires going, gathering supplies, and so on they all grow closer as a group. Vivian opening up about how she has a crush on Lycan and the other girls all supporting her on chasing the boy. Nora even gives her tips on how to seduce a guy by using poor Ren as the example.
Needless to say by the end of the lecture Vivian had passed out, Ruby was steaming from her ears, Ren had a nosebleed as he was the subject of all the teasing tips. And of course Blake… Was writing down a fanfiction about her two friends, but this one starred a female Barbarian who fell for a straight laced monk. (Never change Blake, never change)
Over at the pool area Coco had dragged Velvet along with her to practice their water rescue skills with each other. Both were enjoying the water and having a blast catching up with girl talk while practicing their speed and swim stroke techniques. Of course Coco asked how her massage was which Velvet answered with a "It was great!" and a deep blush. Coco being Coco didn't miss this chance and started to grill Velvet on it. Velvet had to dive into the water to 'practice' her breath holding techniques while Coco was laughing for her teasing.
Fox and Yatsu both went to the library to see what books were available. And Fox actually smiled at Jaune's thoughtfulness when it came to him, he found a section of the library that was full of braille books. Including books about martial combat, aura research, and sensory training for blind hunters. Yatsu was studying up on new martial arts techniques that used his size and strength to its fullest while also reading books about large weapon and sword combat.
Yang, Pyrrha, and Lycan were checking out the arena. They saw the panel and looked through it first. It had settings on it that allowed you to customize the arena for different areas to practice in. Not only that but you could apparently summon shadow enemies based on Jaunes army, Jaune himself, Ozpin, and many other famous hunters from history. There was also a monster option with different ranks involved. Pyrrha was using her section of the panel to see what creatures they could practice against from the C-B ranked ones due to wanting to see if their current strength matched Ozpins assessment.
Yang and Lycan were grinning like a pair of kids in a new found arcade with every game available. They were browsing the A-S ranked foes to try and prove Ozpin that they were past B rank and were solidly A rank. They found a nice looking foe called a High Orc brawler, Ranked A and pushed the start button. They rushed in and left Pyrrha behind who was comparing the notes she had for training from Ozpin to the monster list. She perked up when she heard the countdown and noticed Yang and Lycan were inside already. She gasped and rushed in to support them before asking some big questions.
"Yang! Lycan! What monster did you choose from the C or B ranked list?"
Yang grins as the monster begins to form, "Ha! We skipped the baby steps and went right for the main course! We chose an A ranked High Orc Brawler! This will be fun!"
Lycan readied his claws and yelled out, "Let me dice him up!"
Pyrrha gasped and looked on in worry before glancing at the panel inside the barrier, she saw the monster was almost done forming and rushed to it. She saw the safety protocol was turned off by accident so she turned it on to, non fatal mode. Meaning that the machine will end the fight if they either get to 5% or lower aura, or they all end up unconscious.
Pyrrha turns back to see a huge 10ft tall humanoid with rippling muscles all over its body, crimson skin, dark green tattoos all over its body and what appears to be a pair of sabaton boots, gauntlets, and a chest plate as its armor. The Orcs ugly tusks shine in the light as it grins at them and lets out a huge shaking roar at the challengers.
Yang and Lycan both get into their battle stances and rush at him, Yang charging her aura while Lycan readies two clones. Pyrrha realizes they will need long range support and prepares her rifle. She shoots off a few shots at the Orc as it counter charges but is shocked to see its reaction time as it brings up its arms and deflects the shots.
Its face is blocked by its own arms now so Lycan has his clones go in for a triple threat attack, one clone to each side and himself to its face. The plan would have worked like always… if it was a simple minded instinctive Grimm. But Yang and Lycan failed to realize a few things.
1. This is a High Orc, they are smarter and more skilled than regular Orcs you see in most games and media.
2. It has a class meaning it earned its title as a brawler.
3. It has proper armor and showed nice reaction times to ranged attacks.
4. It is A ranked for a reason.
Lycan goes with his claws out only to gasp as he sees too late, that the Orc kept a small gap between its guarding arms to keep an eye out for attacks. It whips both arms out to the side hitting and demolishing both his clones at the same time. And he flings his right arm out as a straight punch into Lycans attack. Lycan grits his teeth and turns midair changing his attack into a glide by attack. He smirks as he dodges the punch by an inch thinking he tricked the Orc, only to have his breath escape his lungs and his ribs shudder from the force of the Orcs left arm coming up into his ribs cage with an uppercut.
Lycan flies a good 10ft into the air from the blow. He comes crashing down near Pyrrha who is wide eyed at seeing his aura gauge is now all the way down to 75% from one well placed punch from this creature. She changes strategies to buy time for Lycan to recover and support Yang as she rushes in with her weapon in sword form.
Yang has reached the Orc and is wailing into him with her gauntlets and her quick dashes to disorient the Orc. The Orc seems to be trying to keep up with her and small scorch marks and bruises are appearing slowly across its body. Yang finally smirks as she sees it open itself up on the side and goes for a full power haymaker. Pyrrha sees the Orc grinning from her angle as Yang goes for the opening. Pyrrha yells out, "Yang! Its a trap!"
Yang gasps as her fist hits the Orc, only to see she hit the palm of its hand with the Orc grinning widely at her. It grips her hand so tightly that yang feels her gauntlet begin to bend and shudder from the force. She grunts in trying to break free from the grasp on her arm and even lays into the Orcs leg with her other hand and some kicks but it only seems to annoy the Orc for all the good it did.
The Orc finally grabs Yangs leg as she shot out a round house kick and picks her up. She continues to fire off shots from her free arm as the Orc raises her up. Pyrrha shoots out her shield like a discus and nails the Orc in the face. She perks up hoping to see its grasp on Yang loosen, but instead it seems to tighten even though the Orc now sports a red bruise and a slightly bleeding nose.
He brings down a yelling Yang and slams her back hard onto his knee. Yang screams out bloody murder as her bones and joints are creaking and popping from the force of the strike and how it is still continuing to try and snap her in half over its knee. Yang lets out a long blood curdling scream of pain before her mind clears up as her aura begins to try to repair the damage.
Yang begins to think back as Pyrrha has reached them and is trying to break the Orcs grip on her body with some slashes to its back and biceps, leaving on scratches at best.
Damn it! I really am only so strong! Ozpin was right… I still can't protect my new loved ones, my sister, our family, our guild! I am still too weak! Dad said my mom left us due to thinking I was weak and she wanted me to grow strong. But I am still too weak! She was right about me… I am… not worthy of being loved.
He vision gets covered in spots and she lets out a fresh scream as her aura dips to below 20% with Pyrrha finally snapping her from the Orcs grip on her.
Yang rag dolls to the ground as she can barely move form the pain she just endured. Lycan rushes past her to give her more time to recover and begins to help Pyrrha with hit and run tactics. Yang lets out some tears as she sees this while trying to regain feeling to her limbs, Even now… I can't help them… I'm too weak, too broken, too useless. I can't make a difference. Maybe Juane should leave me out of our relaitonship… I'm not worthy of his love or the love of our friends… I'm just…
Suddenly she gasps as she remembers the massage date, her cheeks flush a little but she remembers every word of love, how much Jaune talked about his feelings for her, and the feelings he had for the others. And how he doesn't hold more affection for any of them than the other given how he treated them, pampered them, and loved them in his own way. Then the nickname he gave her came to mind, "My Golden Dragon"
Yangs heart starts beating faster, Lycan flies by her from enduring another solid punch form the Orc while Pyrrha is holding her shield and sword in a cross guard to hold off the hammer strike the Orc is trying to crush her with. Yangs body begins to pulse with energy as flames lick across her skin and her gear, her bangle glows with a golden light from her topaz as her eyes gain not a lilac color, not even her crimson color, but the color of golden flames behind them.
She stands finally as she feels like her entire being is twice as powerful than before while flames coat her body from head to toe. She grins and slams her knuckles into each other as the Orc notices and looks at her with interest, while Pyrrha is panting hard while looking at Yang in awe.
"Yang?! What the heck happened to you?"
Yang grins widely and readies her stance, "I just realized how much my own heart was holding me back! SO let's show Jaune how much he means to us by actually growing stronger here!"
With that final proclamation shouted out she shoots out from her spot right at the High Orc. Pyrrha dives out of the way as Yang is fully coated in her golden flame aura looking like a comet coming at the Orc. It readies its gauntlets to deflect her, but she actually catches its arms and flips over it like a gymnastic beam. The Orc goes to track her but gets another shield in the face from Pyrrha, while Lycan landed 10 knife claws into its shoulder. The High Orc prepares to smash them next only to have a huge explosion of fire crash against its back making it roar out loud. He now has a third degree burn all across his back as he turns with a snarl at Yangs location only to turn in time to see her flying at him with both fists out and ready to smash his face in.
The High Orc goes to block the strike but finds his right arm being restrained by his own gauntlets that are now glowing black. He glances to Pyrrha who is straining to hold back his immense strength. He goes to use his left arm only to find Lycan has summoned his clones again and all three bodies have wrapped themselves around the limb. Lycan grins and says, "I may be down to like 30% but I can still mess with you even at that level!"
The High Orc grunts trying to free his arms but fails as Yang smashes right into his face, breaking both tusks, dislocating his jaw, and smashing his nose to a pulp. She finishes flying by him and lands harshly on the ground from her aura burning out. She sees she is barely at 7% aura left. She looks at the Orc as Lycan is slashing his face to ribbons while Pyrrha is using her sword as a midair buzz saw and cutting the enemy in half.
Yang slumps to the ground as the two remaining fighters finally finish off the Orc and they all fall to the ground in exhaustion and pain. Yang finds she is rubbing her back from the spine breaker she endured, while Lycan is massaging his cracked rib cage. Pyrrha is the best condition out of them but is still rubbing her shoulders, elbows, and hips from enduring all those smashing blows from the Orcs strength.
Yang notices they are all alive and managed to beat the High Orc (Barely). She grins and goes, "Who wants a rematch with him?!"
Lycan grins in excitement before he gives a thumbs up then falls to his side in exhaustion going, "Give me a bit… need to get over the cracks in my bones first."
Pyrrha humphs and asks the sparring center for a water battle which it supplies. She drinks a bit from it before splashing it on Yang making the blonde brawler sputter and spit, "Well I will only say yes under one condition." She is suddenly up in Yangs face barely an inch away from each other as she goes, "YOU. WON'T. USE. A. RANK. UNTIL. WE. ARE. READY! Am I understood?"
Yang swears she feels a parental aura coming from her and she flashes back to her dads lectures to her and her sister from the many mistakes they made in training. Yang meekly kneels despite her injuries and mutters, "Okay."
Pyrrha has the aura dissipate and helps Yang and Lycan up and begins to drag them to the infirmary center, "Well let's get patched up and then we are using the library and a weaker sparring opponent, I believe we have some improvements to do."
Lycan nods and Yang sighs while nodding, both fighters are humble enough to realize their fighting styles need work, and Yang realizes she will need more book smarts and magic lessons to get the hang of her new golden flame aura ability.
As they lie in the infirmary Yang and Lycan are in pods that help in rapid healing for advanced injuries that is charged with a copy of Jaunes healing spell. Both of them ask Pyrrha to hunt down books for aiding them in applying new strategies to their current abilities. Pyrrha happily goes to the library as she sees team CVFY all head to the arena and begin to train with Fox and Yatsu research to a variety of opponents from the C to B ranked lists. Their opponents seem to be a mixture of Werewolves, Stone humanoids, and what appears to be some sort of dragon humanoid captain.
They were struggling a bit but were slowly applying the books knowledge into their movement sets. Soon they were able to finish off the remaining mobs and were left with the dragon humanoid captain. They were fighting him off despite his skill with a halberd and tower shield with some breath attacks mixed in.
Pyrrha left them to it after watching them begin to get the upper hand against it. She glanced at the magic field and saw all the mages in there were half way through the books that they chose for their elemental training. Thinking to herself she glanced all over the training dimension they were in while seeing the survival group come out of the forest and head over to the gym, This place is amazing! We have only been here about 2 hours so far, but we have made so much progress! It really is as if we have spent 20 sessions of 2 hours each working on our training already! This place will definitely help us grow. Now we need to make sure we don't become complacent in here. If we do then we will limit ourselves by failing to push further than we have so far. I know I definitely want to break through to S rank to stand proudly by Jaunes side. Which means…
She glances at the magic field again and at her hands as she has her semblance flow rthrough her palms and lifts a few rocks around her new magic skill, I need to make sure I don't neglect any aspect of my training! I will make sure I tackle everything on the list Professor Ozpin gave me! I will make Jaune proud to call me his girlfriend and lover!
Pyrrha blushes red as she has that thought flow through her mind before remembering yesterdays massage session. She then turns into a beet red steaming mess and squeals quietly to herself before calming down and heading back to the library. Only as she glances at the magic field once more she notices Weiss staring at her with a small smile of teasing on her face. Pyrrha blushes again and notices Weiss mouths something to her form behind the barrier, 'Massage memories?'
Pyrrha goes tomato red before Weiss giggles behind her hand and winks at Pyrrha before also blushing deeply while remembering her own time. Pyrrha gives her a smile of return teasing causing Weiss to quickly pretend she was reading something in her magic tome again and returns to her magic training.
Pyrrha chuckles and heads to the library to find the books Lycan and Yang need.
– A rank Gate –
Jaune and Ozpin had been tackling every B ranked key he had so far and had cleared all 25 of them in a 4 hour period. Both Monarchs were resting. Jaune checked the time and saw the hours that had passed before looking at the training dimension door. He glances at Ozpin who is resting with his favorite beverage. Jaune looks to his own growing stats as he had leveled up about 8 times from the gates with his army gaining a few as well. Ozpin even said he had finally felt like he had reached 49% of his power once again after the long Gate grind.
Jaune smiled at Ozpins excitement at his slowly returning power then counted all 20 A rank gate keys.
However as he counted the keys his eyes wondered to the S ranked gate key he gained a while back. The Cursed Tower key, He had a guild with 15 members besides him in it now. He was near level 200, double the recommended minimum. But he was nervous given how it had 100 floors to it. His friends might be able to survive the first 20 floors as they were between Ozpin, himself and his army his friends would be able to follow them up a decent amount. But this unknown dungeon comes with a set of problems.
How many floors until you can take a break? Can you leave at any time and come back? Or is it a locked Dungeon that must be completed until the end? Would all enemies be a minimum of A rank or higher? Or would they start off in the E to D ranked strength and grow stronger? And how many boss monsters would be in such a long dungeon?
There were too many unknowns, he would do well, and so would his army and Ozpin at this rate. But he would need to make sure his friends were all ranked A at the very least before he allowed them to go in. Otherwise, even between two budding Monarchs they would probably die by floor 50 with their current strengths.
Jaune stands up with determination and an A ranked key in hand as he says to himself, "I won't let any of them die."
He then addresses Ozpin as he opens up the A ranked gate and summons his army behind him, "You ready to break through the 50% limit and regain even more power Ozpin?"
The ancient Wizard looks Jaune over and sees his aura is resolute and hardened for the training ahead of them. But he sees something he has missed seeing from a vessel fo the Monarchs. The look of protectiveness for their loved ones. He hadn't seen such a look since Auriville Arc. Such a good and honest man with goo intentions who was taken from them all too soon. Chuckling he gets up while finishing off his coffee and addressing Jaune, "Indeed I am Sir Jaune! Let us grow stronger and give Salem a good old lesson for her to learn when you mess with those under the protection of Monarchs!"
Both men enter the gate with the army and even Iron is hit with nostalgia from this interaction between Jaune and Ozpin. His mind flashes back to the previous incarnation of Ozpin and his good friend Auriville as they walk side by side before it goes back to the current day. He chuckles to himself as he joins both monarchs in the gate to make sure they grow well and practice their powers properly.
– Training Gate –
Everyone was currently in the commons resting in diferent beds from over 6 hours of training non stop in the facilities. They were addicting as they could literally feel and see the changes their bodies were going through. Yang had managed to call her flame aura at will now after 3 hours in the magic field with Weiss and Simin helping her. Pyrrha had managed to get the basics of her geokinesis magic down as well with Ragora helping her out with it thanks to her understanding of manipulating a specific element.
Lycan had spent time learning more martial arts to incorporate into his style from Ren and Fox. While both boys were able to refine their techniques from teaching Lycan as well. Yatsu had finally gotten the hang of the new large weapon combat techniques he read about while Velvet had copied his movements to learn them for when she had to use copied weapons of large size as well. Coco had learned more kicking arts to help with her unarmed style while also helping the others perfect their team combos by helping Ruby. Ruby had managed to get her hands on the forge and learned the mechanisms there and was able to repair the weapons and armor of all her friends from their time sparring each other or the artificial monsters in the sparring field. She also got her hands on some raw ores there and was currently making new armor pieces to help protect her friends from more powerful opponents.
Nora had been working on a new hobby to help herself in combat and was currently sleeping off the fatigue of learning parkour and gymnastics back to back with the help of Velvet and Vivian. Both girls had good amounts of experience for the basics of each style while Blake promised to help them all once they had fully mastered the basics so she could teach them the intermediate and advanced movements of each 3D movement style.
In the end though everyone was currently resting for an hour on the beds to recover from 6 hours of training. But they were all shocked that they indeed felt as though 1 hour of rest felt as if they had just slept a full 8-10 hour night of sleep. This place was scary efficient.
Coco pipes up after they all gathered in the kitchen to cook a nice meal for them all, with Ren, Yatsu, and Vivian all working together to cook a nice meal for the group. "You know… this place is amazing. I feel like we should try to pay back Jaune somehow from letting us use this place. We have progressed so much in only 6 hours. It really does feel like we have trained for a month now together here from how far we have developed our skills."
Everyone nods and even vocal confirmations are heard from the kitchen from the meal prep team. Weiss then voices her thoughts next, "Yeah but how would we pay him back for such a great opportunity? He isn't hurting for gear, he has all of us as friends, and we only have so much free time to go out and hang out with him somewhere. We just don't have anything he needs at this moment."
Everyone thinks before all at once Yang, Weiss, Velvet, and Pyrrha all realize there was indeed something they could do for Jaune. Resulting in all four of them blushing crimson much to the interest of the rest of the group.
Blake smirks as she decides to get a jab in at both of her teammates this time and not let this chance slip by, "Girls~? Something you want to share with the rest of the group?"
Yang and Weiss both glare at her for calling them out while Pyrrha and Velvet are both looking away from them all, much to their dismay Coco was grinning evilly at Velvet and Nora was grinning with glee at Pyrrha making both girls face the table again and have steam escape their heads. Yang shrugs and tries to look nonchalant despite her face being so red she could be mistaken for a tomato, "Well it's an idea, and a promise we made to Jaune. No doubt he would be happy with it, but it is between us as his girlfriends and him. We don't want to involve the rest of you as it would be from us specifically."
Velvet accidentally shoots them all in their feet with her next denial, "Yeah! It is between us as his girlfriends so you all trying to join in to repay him with us wouldn't work! It is something private after all!"
Everyone goes wide eyed, and even the kitchen noises seem to go silent as Yang, Weiss, and Pyrrha all go wide eyed at Velvet for letting so much slip from her flustered state. Meanwhile Lycan, Nora, Coco, and Ragora all grin slyly to each other before looking at her all at once with the troll face on their faces making Velvet gasp and realize what she just implied.
Coco decides to say it first, "My~ my~ Bun bun~ Already thinking of giving your mom grandkids are we~?" Velvet sputters out denials while failing to reduce her blush, in fact at this moment she goes neon red. "Well we won't judge, but one favor? Make sure you lock the door and sound proof the room. We don't want to know the… finer details of that kind of repayment okay~?"
Velvet is now unconscious on the table with her forehead leaving a dent in the surface from the implications and out right embarrassment she felt from being called out that way. Everyone giggles or chuckles at the poor Bunny Faunus, and of course Weiss, Yang, and Pyrrha also blush while going neon from the implications of how they will also be pursuing that level of intimacy with Jaune at some point soon. After all life is too short in their lifestyle to not try to show how much you care for each other.
Everyone giggles or chuckles at the adorable rabbits reaction while Blake continues to write notes in her journal for new fanfics.
They all finish their meal after it is done and return to their training.
Weiss has finally mastered all basic ranked Ice, Water, and even Wind spells. She has moved onto the basic Fire, Lighting, Light, and Earth spells to widen her repertoire. Simin has master the four basics of Fire, Earth, Ice, and Wind. He decides that instead of widening his approach like Weiss is, he will focus on specializing these four elements to be his strongest spells, so he grabs an intermediate ranked book from the library.
Ragora has managed to learn the basics of both offensive and defensive Dark spells. She has also learned how to apply support spells to her familiar and how to cast through it. She has now begun to use the opposite element of Light to allow her to give her enemies a shock when they assume she only has one type of spell element in her roster. She giggles at being able to create a spot light to blind their enemies or burn them with a concentrated beam of heated light. The possibilities were endless with her mind.
While the mages were focusing on their training, everyone else decided to join them to focus on learning more about the magical abilities they all have. Nora had finally learned how to coat herself in Lightning to empower herself and her semblance further. Making Yang push herself even further to master her golden flame magic. Coco and Fox had been training their sensing magic for accuracy and to avoid being snuck up on by enemies.
They soon also have Yatsu learning more about his stone body magic that enhances his semblance of hard body to new heights. Ren was aiding him as he was helping the big guy remain calm with his support magic and semblance working together to aid the large swordsman. Velvet was learning from an intermediate book on some more advanced healing spells so she can hopefully repair heavier damage to her friends. When she thought back to how long it took her to heal Jaunes injuries when he came back through the gate, she shudders at the memory.
Ruby was learning more about Silver eyes from the books here and had finally learned how to use them further to where he eyes glowed some and she was able to pulse out a weak burst of cleansing light from them that went out 30ft before fizzling out. She nodded other self and looked up more tips for making it stronger so that she can make sure it is of better use in the future.
Blake was with Ragora learning how to use her shadow stealth magic in tandem with the Dark magic Ragora was mastering. Soon Blake was learning how to use her abilities left, right and center, quite literally as she was appearing and disappearing all over the field after a solid hour of practice. But she could tell that she had much more room to grow to her full potential given how she took a solid minute or two to disappear and reappear.
Vivian was learning more about her gravity magic to combine it with her Glyphs while Lycan was trying to understand how his concentrated magic could be used to empower his clones for better durability or even harder hits.
All in all everyone was doing their best for their remaining time in the training gate. However one question came up from a small interaction between them that resulted in a big question being asked.
Ruby was reading more about silver eyes as she said to Weiss who was sitting next to her on a small magic break, "Man! This book is so great! I can't help but love it!"
Weiss smiled at Ruby while she was gulping down some water, "Indeed! The magic books are so detailed and precise in their instructions! It feel like something Professor Ozpin would write for his magic students to learn from!"
Ruby nods her head rapidly before going back to her book, "And this book is written like how my mom used to tell stories to Yang and I before bed! I can't get enough of it! And it makes it super easy for me to follow along with the instructions!"
Weiss frowns at that before glancing over Ruby's shoulder to see the book, it DOES read like a childrens fantasy novel, complete with instructions on how to improve your control and even seems to be speaking to Ruby as if the writer had known her. She grows concerned and asks, "Hey Ruby? Who was written down as the author to this book?"
Ruby perks up and wonders that too, "You know? I didn't even check! Must be another silver eyed user! Let's go to the front and see… OH MY OUM! YANG! GET OVER HERE!"
At her yell everyone stopped their training or reading and stared at the red cloaked reaper in worry at her tone of voice, Yang sprinted over while asking, "What's wrong Ruby!? Did you hurt yourself?! Did Weiss do something?!"
Weiss lets out an indignant "Hey!" Before Ruby shakes her head and shows Yang the silver eyes book she was reading, "Yang! Read this paragraph here and tell me if it sounds familiar!"
Yang reads it before her eyes start to widen as she finishes the paragraph, she looks at her sister and says, "That's a lot like how mom used to tell us stories! Down to the little tone shifts and descriptions!"
Ruby nods sadly before tearing up a bit as she flips to the title page and shows Yang the Writer of the book.
Instructions on how to use your Silver Eyes.
An adventure manual written by: Summer Rose
Yang and Ruby both tear up and hug each other close at having found something of their mother. Weiss then checks her magic book and finds it was written by Ozpin himself under another name called Ozymandius.
Yatsu checks his large weapon combat book and finds it was written by a famous Buster Sword user they learned of in history class named Gregory the third, also known as the King of Vale who was a master of many weapons in his time.
Fox and Ren looked at their martial arts books and found more great names spread throughout them. Soon every book they read was checked and found them to be written by famous people of their world, whether they are alive, or long since dead. Ren even found an archery book written by his father and mother. Weiss found a book about her Semblance written by a younger version of her mother which made her cry at the depressing implications of her mothers younger life before her descent into her drinks.
Once everyone had found books by their parents or siblings they had cried and took a few minutes to process all these discoveries.
Then Lycan wiped his nose after finding a martial arts book written by his deceased sensei who was like a grandfather to him. He asked, "How did this dimension find all these books? They are written like they were made for us from the very minds of those who they are written by. How is that possible?"
Everyone wondered the same until Velvet perked up with a thought as she had found a copy of her Fathers travel diary and was holding it close to her chest, "Maybe it is due to the rank of the key? It is SS rank, maybe it was able to use Jaunes desire for us to grow stronger and focus it into a way to harness the knowledge of those we care for and would learn the best from? It would make the most sense."
Everyone pondered that before they all nodded and agreed that this was the best explanation they had. After all they had glimpsed S ranked gear before with Jaunes blade being that rank or near it, and this key was supposedly almost SSS or even that legendary rank. They all shudder to think what the key could do if they upgraded it. But they all smiled at each other when they all agreed not to look a gift horse in the mouth and went back to reading their loved ones books for their remaining time. Unknowingly helping themselves using the training effect of the gate to work through some repressed emotional baggage and give themselves mini therapy sessions through the writing.
As they finish reading their parents love notes to them, or in other cases the true feelings of their parents who were either dead, or gone in some cases from their lives they all began to enjoy closure from the lack of their parents in their lives.
Yang though couldn't help but go crimson eyed at her mothers lack of care for her in the earlier sections of her lessons in how to combat enemies. But her eyes softened a little as she read how her mother did regret leaving true love with Tai and leaving her daughter behind. She seemed to regard it as her teachings to stay strong and avoid family attachments, but her true thoughts were leaked in the diary. She was afraid.
She was afraid of the war against Salem once she had learned of it while she was pregnant with Yang. After Yang's birth… she left, hoping to gain enough strength to live as long as she could and to find a way to protect Yang and Tai from a distance so she wouldn't paint a target on their backs from her involvement with Ozpins faction. But her plan wasn't explained very well and thus everyone simply sees her as a cold hearted mother who doesn't care about the family she abandoned. When that couldn't be further from the truth. She does miss Yang and according to her diary of her mind Raven was hoping to find a way to bring Yang with her and protect her under her tribes power and influence.
Yang was crying into Ruby's shoulder by the end of the diary from the honesty and was hoping she could find a way to speak to Raven. First step was to slap her mother for leaving her dad. The next step was to punch her once for leaving her behind as well. And the final step was to hug her and tell her that they had a chance to end the war with Salem.
Ruby had also cried form her mothers diary, as her final entries were from how she had suffered under Salem's cruel experiments to make her Grimm resistant to the Silver Eyed warriors powers. But in the end she died after a full year enduring the mad experiments while Ruby was only 12 years old.
Many people were not much better off. But the readings of their parents final moments or those who were important to them all helped them.
Fox was enjoying the braille story of his parents lives when they were sad he was born blind but was able to find his power through aura to see again in his own way. Yatsu was happy to read the thoughts of his family back home in Mistral about how proud they were of him and how they are looking forward to seeing how many people he can save in his career. Coco was enjoying the notes of new clothing and fashion from her mothers notes. Velvet was crying a bit at seeing how proud and happy her mother was of her daughter taking up her fathers mantle to protect others.
Ragora was in tears being hugged by her team after reading about her family who died when she was young. They were so happy at her birth up until they died, she never left their thoughts even when they had died defending their town from a strong Grimm attack. Simin was smiling at his book about his parents wanting him to do them proud as dust mages, something he was ready to prove that he went beyond. Vivian was mixed as her father was proud of her achievements in school but her mother was not happy with her for choosing such a dangerous lifestyle despite her smarts. She was happy her mother was just worried out of the love she held for her, but the way she presented it was going about it wrong. Lycan was laughing at his Sensei's words and thoughts of a younger even more hot headed Lycan when he was training and how happy he was to have an honorary grandson.
Pyrrha was being comforted by Ren and Nora as she read her fathers last words to her and her mother before he was taken over by that mimic Grimm. Nora and Ren were both in tears and crying softly to each other while comforting Pyrrha as they reread the thoughts of Ren's parents as they died to the Nuckelavee. The twin archers never had their adopted children leave their mind even in their final moments making it extra special that they were now together as a couple.
For Blake she was crying softly with a happy smile to learn from her parents, her father didn't like that she went to join a now terrorist organization, but he was proud she kept up the fight. He gave her tips and tricks for sword work and for unarmed combat. Her mother was giving her small blush attacks about how she was so proud of her little kitten and how she gave tips and tricks on sword styles she knew as a younger more energetic woman. But also how she wanted at least 5 grandchildren. Blake was blushing at that one quite a lot but didn't argue as it showed how much her parents still loved her and show her that she still loved them so much.
Weiss was going through a rough roller coaster. She read a book from her mom, then her sister, then her butler. Klein's was honest at how he saw greatness in her to bring the Schnee name to new heights and out of the racist shadow it had grown behind it. Her sister was all about the new ways to train her summoning ability and master new tricks and combat styles with her dust magic and her rapier. It also had notes about how proud she was of her sister for growing so much, becoming so pretty, and having such a noble goal for the future. But her mom's notes broke her, after going through the tips her mother discovered about their hereditary Semblance, and then about what wines are best for parties or for getting drunk to forget emotional pain, she found them. The last few pages were about how she wanted to do better with her children, but because of her husband, she never found the courage or urge to improve. She loved all her children so much but felt so powerless. A bird in a cage who was never allowed to fly again after being placed in its shackles. Weiss almost ruined the book from the tears that flowed from her eyes at all these people in her family that support and love her when she thought she was honestly alone with just her sister, and maybe Klein. Having confirmation of her mothers love broke the dam and she gushed out while being comforted by a still crying Ruby, Yang, and Blake.
After they had all gone through these sessions with these books they all heard a ding from the gate itself and heard this, shocking them, ~Due to the guild members efforts to understand their parents and loved ones, their mental limiters on their abilities and powers have been unlocked. You will now enjoy your growth limits being widened. Train hard and you will be able to reach SS rank eventually, while others of you could manage the SSS rank in time. Have fun reaching such heights and good luck on your war against Salem!~
While shocked the friends all looked at each other then at their books before nodding to each other and putting the books back in the library. They all agreed that they would ask Jaune to use this gate every day they can to make sure they can enjoy the benefits and reach such levels of power to help him in the coming fights.
They all soon notice the time limit says they have been there for now 10 hours after putting their finishing touches on the updated training plans to allow for their new growth limit. After checking that they have all their belongings and Ruby has her new notes for the forge they all head out the gate to check how Ozpin and Jaune were doing.
Thanks to them having been in there for 10 hours it was now sunset at around 9pm. They couldn't believe that they had indeed only trained for half a day given how they felt so much stronger than normal after it. They check around for Ozpin and Jaune and notice that both Monarchs are on the camping cots dozing while covered in scorch marks, cuts, bandages, and even a crack in their respective weapons.
They rush over to see what happened to them then they all face fault when Jaune revealed what he and the old Wizard had been doing for the entire 10 hours of their time in the training gate. Jaune cheekily looks at them all and reveals, "Well we kind of… sort of… cleared 25 B ranked gates in a row, followed by 10 A ranked gates… yeah…"
Needless to say his friends were all concerned at him before he revealed that they were both simply trained of mana (for Ozpin) and aura (For Jaune) due to the back to back gate fighting they both endured. However Jaune had grown another 20 levels while Ozpin had managed to break through to 53% of his total potential. His growth was slowing as he gained more power back, but the fact of the matter is he has never felt more powerful since his reincarnation than now.
Everyone gives sighs of relief and ask that Jaune and Ozpin take it easier tomorrow when they use the gate again. Both Monarchs look at each other before grinning and nodding to their guild mates.
Then they reveal what they discovered about the library of the training gate and shocked both Ozpin and Jaune. He was happy to see his friends learn of this as it was something he knew they needed to grow more. While Ozpin was happy to find out the true ends of many of his former allies and finally get closure. He was sad they were gone but happy to know that they would be proud and are proud of their children's progress to continue the fight against Salem and her army.
They all agreed that they had endured enough training for the day and went on their ways to rest up and recover before they come back to train further for their upcoming attempt to take Adam out of the picture of rallying the White Fang against them and breaking up humanities chances against the Grimm threat.
Thursday would be a telling day indeed about their growth, their efforts, and if they could stop such a powerful and dangerous faction from destroying everything they hold dear.