The Games We Play

DISCLAIMER: This story is NOT MINE IN ANY WAY. That honor has gone to the beautiful bastard Ryuugi. This has been pulled from his Spacebattles publishment at threads/rwby-the-gamer-the-games-we-play-disk-five.341621/. Anyway on with the show...err read.

Examination

By raising Sense Danger to level 99, you have gained the skill 'Forewarning.'

By raising Detect Bloodthirst to level 99, you have gained the skill 'Omen.'

By raising Empathy to level 99, you have gained the skill 'Pathokinesis.'

By raising Extrasensory Perception to level 99, you have gained the skill 'Second Sight.'

I took slow, steady breaths as I rose from my meditation, attempting to adjust. With my Pericognition, the vertigo I'd have briefly felt after such a massive sensory shift was all but gone, simply because Pericognition made them run in the background rather than in the center of my thoughts—but even so, I could feel the difference already.

Putting aside the windows that had appeared before me, I frowned slightly and took a minute to make sure everything was where it was supposed to be. As I'd anticipated, another night of training followed by some meditation had been enough to improve all the skills I'd used to make Pericognition, which I hoped would come in handy when it came to keeping any eye out for danger—and for keeping an eye on Cinder.

"Everything okay?" Adam asked, lying on his bed. He'd been sleeping, as he'd spent most of the day doing to make up for the night of training before, but he'd reacted the moment I'd moved. He was the only other person in the room right now, with Autumn off with Raven and Emerald and Mercury doing minion stuff.

"Yeah," I said back, not bothering to turn around even as I flexed my fingers and looked down at them, pondering. "Just finishing up some last minute preparations."

"More skills?" Adam guessed, to which I simply nodded. "What do they do?"

"Tell you in a minute," I replied, bringing up my windows.

Forewarning (Passive) LV1 EXP: 0.00%

A more refined form of a Hunter's natural sixth sense. By honing it while constantly surrounded by threats, this skill has evolved from a natural perception of nearby threats into a more discerning awareness. So long as it is something the user has encountered before and considers a danger, their Aura can remember it and react accordingly.

This skill functions in all ways like Sense Danger except in that it is capable of noticing more than immediate sources of harm. In addition to being able to sense a nearby attack, this skill allows for reaction to previously identified poisons, diseases, dangerous forms of life, and anything else, so long as the users Aura has been exposed to the presence of the threat long enough to distinguish it from others.

Provides a general awareness of the direction and nature of the threat.

"Hm," I mused, pausing for a moment to see if anything was triggering it now. Pericognition immediately brought a list of results to my conscious mind, noting the location of a vast array of weapons, explosives, poisons, robots, and more.

I suppose that was to be expected inside of a school for Hunters. The simple fact that I hadn't been alerted before bothering to think about it meant that my Pericognition didn't consider any of those things to be an immediate threat to my person, merely things that could be potentially dangerous. Once again, I was thankful that I wouldn't have to sort through all that information to mine the few bits of useful data concealed within it; as expected, automating the process simplified things. I'd still need to pay attention while I practiced with it, however, just to make sure I knew exactly what I was doing and wouldn't let anything slip through the net. I'd need to go down the list of what I considered potentially threatening—or, at the very least, potentially noteworthy—to make sure I had my bases covered.

Still, I can't say I had any complaints about having another passive skill looking out for me. Then, next is…

Omen (Passive) LV1 EXP: 0.00%

An advanced application of the ability to determine nearby hostility through the use of one's Aura. After being constantly exposed to the bloodlust of others, the user has developed a keen senses for hatred and impending violence and my now apply that awareness to perceive it with greater clarity.

This skill functions as Detect Bloodthirst except in that it also alerts the user to the degree of a response, the distance from the source, and identifies the target, so long as they are within range.

Range: 300 meters.

A bit more useful then it's predecessor, simply because of the added specificity, I decided. In all truth, it wasn't a huge deal for me since I already had Empathy telling me how everyone around me was feeling at all times and Pericognition putting all the pieces together for me, but…well, I suppose it would make it a bit easier to do and the range was fairly nice. Not the best skill I'd ever gotten, but still a useful one.

But speaking of Empathy…from the very name, Pathokinesis must be…

Pathokinesis (Active) LV1 EXP: 0.00%

The ability to directly tamper with the Aura of another to cause shifts in their emotional state. This technique may be used to either incite or suppress emotions within a target for a variety of effects. While this skill does not allow for direct tampering with the mind of the target, large enough shifts will naturally affect the thought process.

Imposes or removes Emotional status effects on a target.

Max status level: Low.

This skill cannot cause emotions the target cannot naturally feel.

Range: 30 meters.

I'll get some use out of this, I could already tell. Granted, the effects were currently limited to [Low], but big things were built out of little things. Done subtly enough, even a small bit of fear could go a long way, making people wary who might otherwise not be. A bit of calmness here, amusement there, and a light enough touch to help a person react…yeah, I could work with this. If I kept it low-key enough, I could even surround myself in a mantle of whatever emotion I chose, at least while I was grinding it. Jian Bing could make use of caution and fear, while Jaune Arc…

Yeah. This could work.

"So far, two mild sense upgrades and some emotion control," I told Adam. "Want to be my guinea pig?"

"Not particularly," Adam said with a sigh before rising from the bed. "Let's get this over with."

I snapped my fingers and waited. After several seconds, Adam tilted his head to the side, confused.

"So, did you do it yet or…?"

"How do you feel?" I asked, making him shrug.

"Fine," He said. "I'm not feeling anything right now. The same as I did before."

"Good," I said. "That's our baseline—I was trying to make you calm. I figure I'll probably be doing that a lot for you, anyway, and while it's no Gamer's Mind, it should keep you from embarrassing yourself if anything happens."

Adam was silent for a long moment.

"Huh," He mused. "Surprisingly, I don't really want to punch you in the face. Emotionally, I mean—I still think it'd probably be a good idea."

"Fascinating," I said dryly before smiling. "In all seriousness, though, any thoughts on it? Say I'm facing an angry crowd and I make them feel like you do now—do you think they would the stop?"

"I don't know. Depends?" Adam shrugged after a moment. "I wasn't exactly angry beforehand, so I don't know how much of a difference it'd make. If they were just angry, maybe. If they had a reason to be angry, I don't think so. Like, I could totally punch you in the face right now, I'd just feel calm while doing it."

"You'd feel your hands break," I told him loftily.

"I'd use my sword then," He answered with a roll of his eyes. It seems he could feel annoyance fine still; maybe the forced calm kicked in after a point or just didn't apply. "But what I mean is…say I was on fire. You make me feel really calm about it…but I'm still on fire and it still hurts, right? And if I'm pissed off at some guy for attacking me and then get calmed down…he still attacked me. He's still a threat."

"Good, good," I said with a smile. "Couldn't have you suddenly unwilling to fight the Grimm. Now, instead of calming you down, how about we go the other way?"

"Ugh," Adam sighed. "See that right there? I'm calm, but I know this is going to suck. What are you going to do to me, asshole?"

"Well, there's always happiness," I mused. "But honestly, if you start smiling and laughing and prancing through the flowers, I'd…well, first off, I'd never let you live it down, ever. And second off, it'd be really disturbing for both of us. The effect is supposed to be Low, but I have no idea what that means, especially after all my boosts and multipliers."

"Yeah, I'll pass on that one."

"Sadness is out, too," I continued. "I mean, your life is already so pathetic and miserable, if I start adding onto it…you might start crying."

"I'd be more likely to kill myself," Adam stated outright. "So no sadness tests, either. Let's go with anger—that way, I'll be able to hit you in the face without you having any right to bitch about it later."

"Putting aside the fact that it doesn't work if you tell me about it beforehand, I'll feel so bad when it doesn't hurt in the slightest," I said. "I'll start wondering what you've been doing with your life."

"Anger," Adam said again, nodding resolutely. "Anger is good."

Snorting once, I snapped my fingers again, drawing us into Naraka and then bringing on the anger.

Adam's hand dropped instantly to the hilt of the sword I made appear beside him and I saw power gather. His Aura, a bright red-white, seemed to pull in energy from its surroundings, leeching tidbits from the air, the earth, and anything else it could touch, building steadily even as he channeled his own power. The length of his sword glowed as if it had shed its own form and become nothing more than burning, writhing energy.

I stood in front of him without moving, staring at him calmly and unconcerned. I waited as he gathered his power, noting his improvement from the rising glow. Truthfully, he'd improved greatly over these past few weeks, partially because of the stat increases, but also because of how hard he'd pushed himself during the nights of constant training. Even if it allowed him to sleep throughout the day, his training regime was pretty ruthless to a person whose biology was still mostly normal, going all out the entire night. He emptied his Aura, exhausted his body, and repeated the same sword strokes hundreds of thousands of times.

He'd come a long way. I just had no idea whether or not it'd be enough.

But this was as good a time for a status check as any, I suppose.

"Ready?" I asked as I saw a slight tension in his shoulders, a sign of his preparations. When he didn't answer but just watched me steadily, I smiled and shrugged. "Aim…F—"

Adam finished drawing his sword and slashing it long before the sound of the word had much time to travel. Before my eyes, it was a burning red slash that cleaved the space between us, wickedly thin, impossibly sharp, and holding nothing back.

Flashing a smile, my arms snapped up of their own accord, rising to block the oncoming attack with my forearms. I felt most of the attacks force halt before it even truly reached me, leaving a fraction of its power to crash against Midgardsormr's Skin. Even so, that fraction was still part of an attack that could cut down a herd of Goliath's and I felt the whole of it focused into an area too thin for a normal blade to achieve. Too either side of me, unhindered by anything in its path, the rest of his attack blew past me and crashed into the walls of our room at have. The mighty stones were torn apart as if they weren't even there, destroying our room and continuing on a path of destruction that cut through Haven like an invisible giant's sword. Blowing a path to the surface in any instant, a flash of red continued into the sky, clipping off the top of a building as it passed and then opening a trail across the sky.

I held on in the wake of that force, feeling its pressure against my skin even as it drove me steadily back across the ground. When I felt the ground beneath my feet vanish away, I pushed against it with my mind instead, forcibly keeping myself from being blown away like a leaf in a storm. Something to keep in mind in high-level combat was that however powerful your Aura made your body, it didn't necessarily make you weigh more. Even an attack that couldn't harm you could blow you away if you weren't careful, because 'harming' and 'lifting' were two different things. I didn't away that to happen, but…

Certainly, the pressure was a bit impressive. After a second, I felt my skin crack as the strike broke through my reinforced flesh. Though it didn't show visibly, I could feel the attack grind a ways into my skin, leaving edges that were too rough and broken to be human—and my smile widened.

"—Not bad," I admitted quietly before planting my feet firmly on thin air. Letting my power unfurl and flow through me, I pushed harder against the attack, this time looking not to hold it at bay, but to overcome it. The edge of the attack bit deeper into my skin as a result of the opposing forces, but stopped against the bone. One of the improvements of Midgardsormr's Skin over its predecessor was the depth of the transformation, which grew as the skill improved—and now I was adamantine down to my literal bones. Faced with the deeper, harder materials of my body, the attack's advance halted and with a sensation like breaking glass, shattered outright. Throwing my arm to the side, I ripped through the projected energy as if I were brushing it aside, hand already clenched into a fist. "My turn!"

Riposte (Passive) LV1 EXP: 0.00%

The ability to follow up a successfully defense with an immediate and powerful attack.

Immediately counterattack.

100% increase to attack speed.

Damage increases relative to damage received.

I brought my hand down at once, diving to the floor below with all the speed I could muster even as I released the power contained in my fists. For something like this, I normally had to hold back, fearing the possible effects on bystanders and…well, anything else that happened to be nearby.

But in Naraka, the rules were different. And Adam could handle it.

My fist hit the stone floor and forced rippled outwards in all directions.

Devastating Blows (Passive) LV1 EXP: 0.00%

A skill to cause massive damage with physical attacks. Whether naturally or through extensive training, the user has learnt to unconsciously use his Aura to penetrate the defenses that surround his foes. Upon being used, a fraction of the force of the attack can ignore both physical and supernatural protection, wreaking havoc upon the enemy within.

All physical strikes possess 5% defense penetration.

May cause internal damage.

Divine Strength (Passive) LV1 EXP: 0.00%

An inborn ability to reinforce one's body with Aura, strengthening it beyond the limits of flesh. Because of the flow of energy within one's body, the output of the user's muscle fibers greatly exceeds the normal, enabling them to exercise unbelievable strength.

100% increase to Physical Attack Damage.

100% increase to lifting capacity.

100% increase to jumping distance.

Physical attacks may knockdown or knockback targets.

Low chance of stunning foes.

Sacrifice to Vanagandr (Active) LV1 EXP: 0.00% MP: 2000

An ancient technique created by Prince Hrafntyr to defeat and subdue the rampage of Prince Wolfram. In exchange for the sacrifice of his arm, Hrafntyr enhanced his strength beyond the limits of human capacity and subdued the son of Lucia.

Increase Strength by 2000%.

This technique provides no resistance to damaged caused to the user by his own attacks, nor does it protect the users limbs from the force exerted. External shocks may inflict Aura Confusion, generally resulting in the removal of a random number of limbs as a result.

Additional 2000 MP consumed per minute.

Unlike Sacrifice to the Wolf, which could be maintained for long periods of time with a comparatively low risk, Sacrifice to Vanagandr was all about focusing a truly massive amount of energy to a comparatively small area and releasing it in the form of a devastating attacks. Each strike carried with it a risk, because if the path created to release that energy is not handled carefully, the energy is liable to create its own way out, even if it means tearing apart the user's body to do so. It was a dangerous technique that had obviously been born from necessity and even when weakened and purposefully refined, it was a dangerous technique that had been left behind by time.

But when it works…when it's supported and enhanced by other skills and cared upon a shockwave directed at the floor…it's pretty impressive to see the results.

When I punched the ground, Haven collapsed. I felt loadbearing areas crack and then shatter, floors ripple and writhe before exploding outright, and entire sections collapse inwards. Not just the tunnels but the entire Zggurat atop it shuddered and began to sink inward, breaking apart under the touch of the various stresses. Above me, I could sense Adam reacting, gathering his power in lightning fast slashes that destroyed rubble and walls alike as they got in his way. Without so much as a flash of fear, he navigated through the openings in the collapsing building, making his own when there were none to be found, and hopped quickly from falling rock to falling rock as he rose counter to the fall and used it to reach the surface.

Far beneath him, I noted the path he'd taken and then took a more direct route.

When I used Bai Hu's Lunge, what little was left of the floors that had not already been destroyed was obliterated. With the force granted by the skill, I pierced through everything in my path like a bullet, letting stone break harmlessly against my skin even as it assisted me in slowing down. Only when I could see the sky did I bother making adjustments, using a single Yellow Road and some quick calculations to shift towards Adam's path. Landing beside him as he touched down on the ground around Haven, I matched his pace with ease.

"So you're pretty mad, then?" I asked casually.

"I'm filled with a bottomless well of eternal, burning hatred," Adam replied blandly. "It doesn't have anything to do with your skill, though."