Chapter One:
A few things became apparent as I opened my eyes again. First, I really shouldn't go through portals with my eyes closed. It was hard to deal with the intrusive thought that came up, I'd seen or read about people using portals to cut people in half too many times online.
The second thing was the new body, and what that meant.
Jaune Arc probably isn't the best choice for a local insert, aside from his Aura reserves and role as a comedic relief, he's just kinda… there. On the other hand, I felt I could hardly do worse than Jaune had.
That brings us to the next important point. [Curated Adventures] and [The Hero of This Story] could be used together to 'Aim' much more narrowly than expected. Hell, I hadn't even been focusing on a genre, I had wanted somewhere with a power system like RWBY's. Aura is powerful as an early powerup, and Jaune had been able to both do a lot of good and meet a lot of interesting -hot- people.
Probably shouldn't expect my luck to hold out so well on further jumps.
Back to Aura. I had it. Guess I didn't come in too early. Let me think… Oh. I was a bit off on my earlier statement. I certainly made it to a RWBY universe, but it wasn't canon. Jaune Arc here is somewhat competent, the Arc Family is a bit better known, and holy shit I had Fate Expies in my family. Saphron still exists as normal, but now I had Mordred, Artoria, and Jeanne as sisters. My father is out of the picture, has been for a long time. My mother, on the other hand… Morgan is very interesting. Jaune hadn't noticed, but she dotes on him a bit more than a mother should.
I'm pretty sure I didn't pick [H Protagonist], did I really luck out on a Lewd RWBY universe? Maybe it's Gorem's doing? Dude offered me a bunch of shit without asking for anything. Maybe it's a jumpchan situation, and he wants some sort of entertainment?
'Eh, I can think more about it later.'
It only takes a passing thought to activate [One More Run].
[Jaune Arc – Level 1/10]
[Strength – 1]
[Agility – 1]
'It did say it was barebones… Still, I would've expected some sort of stat corelating to Aura, maybe I'll unlock it on a reset? Same with my other abilities, the system doesn't even recognize them.'
I shrug, collecting Crocea Mors. Thankfully, no-one's in our dorm room at the moment, so I can use my [Door to Home]. It looks like a mirror of my dorm for now, except for a set of stairs leading down into the dungeon. It has ten levels, each floor is optimized for my level, so the first floor fits me now, and when I reach level two I just need to go a floor deeper.
Despite that, there's no way I'm going down there alone. [Shadow Monarch] comes in handy there, summoning knights in armor formed of shadows. They're weak, but they'll take a hit for me, and that's all I need them for.
The stone stairs are old, and they crumble slightly with each step I take on my way down. Considering this place came into existence this morning, I can only blame my subconscious for wanting an 'authentic dungeon crawl experience'. Despite the snark, I can't keep the smile of excitement off my face. Once my party reaches the bottom, my dreams are answered. Skeletons, Slimes, and Goblins. I can only see one of each right now, but even that much could be a danger.
The Goblin is the first to notice us, and he draws his dagger with a screech. The skeleton reacts next, pulling an arrow from his quiver and slotting it to the bowstring. The Slime is hopping around, and everywhere it lands, it leaves a bit of itself behind. The smoke that appears from the stone beneath it is warning enough.
An arrow whizzed through the air before I even unsheathe Crocea Mors. One of my Shadow Knights takes the blow, and a good amount of that shadow that constitutes it disperses. I quickly command half my knights to harass the skeleton while several of the others attack the slime. The few remaining knights and myself face off against the goblin.
The fight is ultimately short lived. The goblin took two of my knights before he was knocked in the general direction of my blade. A quick thrust and he was dead. The knights who were harassing the skeleton managed to dodge most of its shots, and block the ones aimed for me. Once it ran out, they dogpiled him.
The Slime was, as always, the surprise. The acidic quality of the slime was hell on my knights. Any knight to get close would find its shadow disperse upon contact, and it had been dropping acid-slime all over the corridor. In the end, I had to collect the Skeleton's bow and as many of the arrows as I could scavenge, taking pot shots from a distance. While they would puncture, they didn't do a lot of damage. The slime looked like it was more a collection of arrows than it was a slime before it got sluggish enough to repeatedly stab it with Crocea Mors. Even then, I didn't do it myself. The acid was too dangerous to handle, so I gave my sword to a Shadow Knight and had it do the deed.
Two goblins, three skeletons, and another slime later, and I reached level two. I had also noticed that the Shadow Knights who survived the first battle to now were noticeably stronger than those I summoned later.
[Jaune Arc – Level 2/10]
[Strength – 3]
[Agility – 2]
Time drifted differently in my new home, so an hour here was almost instant outside.
I took a break to play with [Shadow Monarch] a bit before attempting Floor Two. One way or another, I would reach Level 10 tonight and see what new goodies the system has for me after a Reset.
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Author's Note:
Time for a Mass Drop. If you kept this story in your library all these years, THANK YOU!
If you're new, I don't know if people do snippet threads here, but I thought I'd give it a go.