"I only smoke on occasion." Sebastian shrugged and closed his eyes, enjoying the nostalgic scent. "My father was a big smoker, and I always keep some on hand if I ever get lost in older memories."
"Hm, I can understand." Roman didn't say more, but the man felt those words hit home as he thought about his own past. "Is this your attempt to get on my good side?"
"Meeting the parents is all about first impressions." Sebastian smirked back. "Make the wrong one, and it sticks with you for life."
"First impressions like entering to see you and my daughter about to do the dirty tango?"
Sebastian snorted in humor. "Nah, that's a second impression. The first time was in your warehouse."
"I didn't think you noticed me." Roman raised an impressed brow. "I barely even breathed when Neo brought you out alive and whole."
"Let's just say I'm paranoid and very aware of my surroundings."
"Say no more; the world ain't pretty to our kind if we let our guard down." Roman grinned as his eyes flickered behind Sebastian's head for half a second. "All it takes is a moment, and poof, dead."
"Exactly." Sebastian nodded and leaned back in his chair into the waiting arms about to surprise him from behind. "Isn't that right, Neo?"
The pink-haired girl pouted at her surprise attack being foiled, wrapping her arms around as she hugged him from behind, her pink and brown hair smelling of strawberry shampoo.
She poked his cheek in annoyance before going back to smiling as he turned and gave her a kiss.
"Damn, I knew you two were sweet on each other from the pictures, but that visual diabetes shit is lethal." Roman puffed his cigar happily and blew a smoke ring. "And that's some insane spatial awareness. I know for a fact Neo can give a ninja a run for its money in stealth."
"Maybe I'm just used to her by now." Sebastian shrugged while bracing as Neo hand-springed over the chair to plop down sideways on his lap, leaning back on the armrest like a queen on her throne. "She has a way of keeping you on your toes."
Neo grinned toothily and blew him a kiss.
"Story of my life." Roman chuckled and raised his cigar in greeting. "I like him, Neo. Dig up his secret source, would you? I gotta get a life supply of this stuff."
Neo frowned and drew an invisible line.
"Keep business and personal separate? Fair enough, but this is personal! Your daddy needs more of this high-quality stuff."
Neo went to argue, but Sebastian put a hand over her own. "It's fine, Neo. I'm open to exchanges." He looked at Roman and nodded. "If you want to get a supply going, I can help with that, but I don't take your usual currency."
"Oh?" Roman shot him a curious look. "What are you looking for?"
"Dust." Sebastian admitted. "The rawer the source, the better. The stores only sell the powdered versions, usually in ammunition form, and it's getting annoying to deal with."
Dust was a volatile substance in any form, but a sneeze could make the stuff go off in the powdered form. And being literally made of natural Mana, Sebastian couldn't use spells to empty the bullet casings of dust and had to do it by hand. Hours were wasted each time he had to unpack them, and it was an annoying waste of time.
"So, you're looking for Dust Crystals then, huh?" Roman rubbed his chin in interest. "Most Dust trades occur after the crystals have been processed and refined into dust. It wouldn't be hard to get crates of the powder before it's put in casings, but the Crystals are a bit more difficult."
"Is it not possible?"
"I didn't say that. I said it was a bit more difficult." Roman looked at the cigars and considered it. "The value of the crystals will mean less Dust I'd pay you in, you know?"
"We both know you hadn't thought it was worth dealing with them before I mentioned it, so don't try to be slick." Sebastian countered. "But I'm not going to haggle about it; I just want the crystals, and I can pay in goods or gold."
"Magical words right there, kid." Roman chuckled and idly noticed Neo twitch at something he said, but didn't comment on it. "I think we'll get along just fine. I've been looking for a new dealer to offload my….products on."
Neo shot him a warning look, and Roman sighed.
"Fair warning though, there will probably be people looking for the things I sell you."
"Not a concern." Sebastian waved it away lazily. "If they can find me when I'm not in Vale, they deserve my stuff for their efforts."
Neo silently giggled at some inside joke, but Roman took it as a good sign.
"Perfect!" He stood up and clutched the cigar box in his offhand like a treasure. "You should come by Junior's club sometime, have a drink with the family, and get familiar with everyone."
"You mean to show my face so I can reveal more about myself." He sent Roman a considering look. "I'll consider it." Sebastian shrugged. "I've usually got my head buried in one thing or another, but I won't turn down a good drink when the mood hits."
"A man after my own heart." Roman laughed and held out a hand. "Welcome to the family, kid."
Despite himself, Sebastian found himself smiling as he took the hand. "Thanks for having me."
Neo added her hand on top and turned it into a team bonding moment.
Roman and Sebastian sweat dropped at her happy smile.
"Until next time, then." Roman waved and headed for the door. "Neo, we got work tomorrow; I'll start making plans for some Dust mines. I'm sure the White Fang would be happy with some slaver rings getting smashed; gotta watch my back for the Schnee, though." The man was muttering to himself as he walked before calling over his shoulder. "Oh, and don't forget to wear protection. Grandfather jokes just wouldn't hit the same."
Neo flushed at the comment, but Sebastian took that moment to recall the man's entrance and essentially cock blocking him.
Grinning, he leaned down to Neo's ear and whispered. "You know, he said he saw me in some pictures. I doubt he got your Scroll, so I wonder where he took them from."
Neo blinked as her mind turned back their discussion until she realized Sebastian was right.
In the blink of an eye, her form shattered in an illusion with the sound of doors being smashed open.
"Ow! Neo? What the hell are yo-! Oi! Hand's off the jacket! No! Don't look in there!"
Sebastian sat back and pulled out another cigar box. 'Petty victory is a good moment for a smoke.'
He never said anything about only having one box on him at a time.
0000
'This looks like the right place.' Sebastian stepped out of a gate into a college campus's wet dream.
A sky-high tower sitting smack dab in the middle of a campus full of buildings, pathways lined with clean-cut stone, pools, and water fountains spread throughout for ambiance.
'The perfect place to train children to become deadly Grimm murder machines.' Sebastian paused at that slightly antagonistic thought. 'Are wizards that much better? We technically do send kids as young as eleven to schools to learn how to bend matter over our knee and make it our bitch.'
Nodding to himself at the comparison, he suddenly felt perfectly at home. However, that raised the question of why Sebastian was in Beacon, and the answer to that was the same as many others.
Aura.
'These fuckers are hoarding all the knowledge of Aura.' Sebastian was sure of at least that. 'I can't find shit on the internet about how to train it, and while taking it apart piece by piece sounds like a fun project, I've got too much shit on my plate to meddle with it for now. I'll just grab some manuals and be on my way.'
Sticking his hands in his coat pockets, Sebastian hummed the tune of the British national anthem as he wandered around. 'Now, I just have to find the west side of this place. Which way is west?'
Sebastian was, of course, invisible and silenced, but he realized just then that he didn't actually have a compass spell. 'Well, shit. I didn't think this through all the way.'
It was the day after Roman's visit, and Neo had to leave for work, so Sebastian decided to be productive and grab himself a manual on using Aura. Luckily for him, as soon as he mentioned breaking into Beacon to Neo, the woman had gone straight to Roman, took his shit like the amazing little gremlin she is, and came back with a map of the school that they had for….reasons.
Moving on, Sebastian ironed out the library in the west, and that was about it. 'Merlin, damn it, am I distracted by Neo being away? I better not have puppy love issues again. That was the most embarrassing school year of dating Nym.'
Deciding to wander around and look for directions, Sebastian thought about what he had read about the school. 'One of four Huntsman academies, the only one in this country, and it's run by a guy named Ozpin. Why does that name ring a bell?'
Looking up at the central tower, Sebastian scratched his chin and hummed. 'High tower, Ozpin, ugh, this is going to bug me for a while until it clicks. It's on the tip of my tongue.'
Students came and went as Sebastian wandered, passing through the area at their own pace. 'It's a good thing it's a holiday season; this would be more annoying with a heavy student body.'
Not having an idea of where to go, he decided to follow the nearest group and soon found himself entering a large arena-like building with students sparring in separate rings.
It wasn't all that interesting, but Sebastian's gaze was drawn to the electronic scoreboard showing numerical Aura percentages of the students fighting. One of them hit the other with an electrified hammer, and suddenly their Aura bar dipped heavily. 'They know how to quantify soul energy. You have my attention.'
Sebastian's interest rose as he watched the new students walk over to a big bin full of tablets, strap some kind of strap to their arm, and sync up the tablets before heading to the sparring rings.
He looked left and right and didn't see anyone around. 'Don't mind if I do.' He nabbed a few of said devices and tossed them in his pouch. 'Alright, where's that library at?'
Sebastian made his way over to the next building, finding a cafeteria. He was about to leave when he saw a pair of human students standing over a dog-eared Faunus girl, hurling insults her way without anyone else standing up for her. 'Well, that's just rude. Hm, I could always use more data on how Aura responds to indirect spells.'
Walking up behind the two male teens, Sebastian pointed at the bigger one and cast the Confundus Charm. 'Last time, I just wanted to pass by, but what if I try to change their perception and focus?'
The big guy blinked and turned to his friend. "Hey babe, I didn't realize you were here."
"Wait, what?" The second shorter guy stopped short to blink in confusion for all of a second before the big guy leaned down and kissed him right on the lips. "MN?!"
The cafeteria froze at the sight, and Sebastian took that moment to reach out to the girl with his mana, taking control of her leg. 'Time to learn to stand up for yourself, girl.'
Her leg came up swinging into the bigger guys junk, dropping him to the ground in agony.
The Faunus girl blinked in shock, unable to register her act. The shorter guy blinked in shock, unable to register his violation.
The two looked at each other and the male actually bobbed his head in gratitude. He wouldn't be forgetting her assistance.
'Mazel tov, you're friends now.' Sebastian took advantage of the focus on the little drama to pull a rainbow-colored vial from his pouch. 'I dislike bystanders as well. It's good I always make extra of my special energy mixes.'
A quick use of Levitation and Banishing sent droplets of the vial into the various plates and bowls of the students watching the confrontation, a grand total of eight. 'That should keep them awake for a day or two, probably, they should be able to understand things they study much better for the next day, if they can focus enough to read. It would be good to know if Aura does anything for internal fluids as well.'
Satisfied with his good deed, Sebastian moved on, unaware that he had forgotten to mask his scent and that the dog girl was staring at where he had previously stood, or of the fact that he forgot he made his energy drinks in mind with his tolerance levels.
The next area had a swimming pool, currently in use by quite a few women in skimpy swimsuits. 'Nice.' Sebastian may have pulled up a chair and enjoyed the show for a bit. 'I applaud whoever decided on the school standard bathing suit being so form-fitting.'
'Where the hell is the library?'
It took wandering around classrooms, making his way through an active workshop with teenagers working on mecha-shifting weapons of mass destruction, and an accidental trip through what Sebastian was half sure was the staff laundry rooms with some very lacy black lingerie in a basket before he found the damn place.
'Of course, it's directly behind the big tower, which I could see from the beginning.' Depressed at his lack of common sense, he made his way inside and felt his depression banished by the rows of books. 'Finally.'
Considering it was an academy built to teach students how to combat Grimm, finding the necessary section for Aura and the necessary books was the easiest part of the trip.
There were dozens of options, so he just grabbed whatever looked interesting. {Aura 101} {How to Find Your Semblance} {Aura Control} {Aura Weapon Reinforcement} {Aura Body Reinforcement} {The Relation Between Aura and Dust} {Awakening Aura Chants} {Forging with Aura} and more were added to his growing pile as he levitated them down into his pouch. 'Reminds me of the good ole days in the Hogwarts Library.'
Despite the size of the library, the Aura section wasn't actually that large, and he was soon done with his search. 'That should be it. This was remarkably easy.'
Stepping out of the library, Sebastian took another look at the central tower and felt the same itch come on. 'What the bloody hell does this remind me of?'
An odd thought popped into his head, and Sebastian's expression dropped to a deadpan. 'Oh, you gotta be shitting me.'
He reached into his pouch and pulled out his Mana-Sight glasses, casually putting them on and freezing as he looked around.
Mana strings, clearly part of some wide-scale ward, were stretched over the campus in a display that Sebastian honestly had to respect. It wasn't powerful, but it was a beautiful display of control and skill. 'Wizard of Oz. There's a wizard native to this world. And I walked directly into their domain. Just my damned luck.' Sebastian sighed in the safety of his mind as he studied the web's effects. 'I'm making sure to direct the gate to a world without magic next time.'
It took a few minutes, but Sebastian finally found the source of the strings, extending from the ground of the central tower, but going down rather than up as he first assumed. 'That's interesting. It's not a restriction ward, there's an obscuring effect in there, likely why I didn't think to check earlier, but it's more of an observation and mana gathering ward, but for what purpose?'
'What the bloody hell?' Looking deeper, Sebastian had a moment to notice an object radiating an obscene amount of Mana in the shape of a crown, something inside him telling him to reach out and grab it, before something sensed his gaze and a stronger ward flared and obscured his sight. 'Shit, I may have just triggered an intent ward. I should get out of here.'
He calmly, yet hurriedly, made his way to a shadowed area and quickly opened his gate, jumping in and closing it behind himself. 'Whatever that thing was, it was on the same level as the Stone.' Sebastian fingered his pendant, staring at the red stone that was so eager for him to use it. 'If there's a wizard in this world with something like that, I'll need to prepare better before entering their territory again.' Sebastian's eye's flashed in interest. 'Although, it felt like the wards point was to hide it, rather than use it.'
Plopping down at his desk, Sebastian cracked open a book and began to read, but deeper in his mind, he had already been attracted to the crown he had briefly seen. 'I'll come back for it later.'
For now, he had studying to do.
0000
Aura was weird.
This was Sebastian's conclusion after finally having a few days to sit down and study.
It was both passive and active. Similar in nature to Mana, but completely different at the same time.
Passively it existed as an invisible shroud over the skin, flowing like a constant projection of a shield charm, however, this energy didn't originate from his mana core, but from deep within, from where the soul sat at the center of the being, past the mana core and into a new space where a steady violet flame burned.
Sebastian was fascinated by it. It was him, but it was more. It was weak, but it was eternal.
And wasn't the confirmation and ability to access one's soul a marvelous concept all on its own. Unearned enlightenment monks would spend decades in seclusion to get a single glimpse of. But by the grace of a blessing from a higher being, or perhaps the conceptual rules of a plane of existence, the ability to see and use one's soul was a natural part of the culture on Remnant.
Unlocking one's Aura was as simple as someone with Aura performing a chant to jump-start another's. However, as Sebastian came to prove with Neo, the deeper the relationship between the parties involved, the more the awakening shows of another's soul. 'I doubt Roman would have seen more than my mask if he unlocked my Aura.'
Sebastian knew the flames of that cursed night were still burning deep inside him, but he never bothered to brood about it. Life moves on, and he'll get his vengeance one day, but he won't live for it. He wouldn't let those bastards control his life like that.
But if someone only saw those flames and not his true self underneath it, they might have honestly tried to kill him to prevent a monster from gaining wings.
'I had strings, but now I'm free~.' Sebastian whistled the tune as he casually spun his orbiting weapons, swinging his arms to guide his projectiles toward the dozen moving targets orbiting his spell-testing grounds.
Whereas before, the needles would pierce through their target in a clean hole, now they utterly shattered the area around where it pierced, his violet Aura glowing along their silver surface. 'Aura reinforcement is a challenge.'
Sweat dripped from Sebastian's brow at the added challenge. Not only was he having to use his hands to help mentally control his weapons with his Mana, but now he was reinforcing them individually with Aura, a skill that wasn't seemingly easy to get the hang of.
His Aura shaped around the metal sphere, reducing air drag and increasing its speed as it utterly shattered its target, rather than cratering it.
'It should have its uses when I need an extra kick, but I'll have to work on it.' Sebastian called his weapons back to his bracer, grabbing the towel around his neck to wipe his sweat. 'That should sum up weapon reinforcement testing.'
A water bottle and clipboard hovered over to him as he checked off another area. 'Next up is body reinforcement.'
Taking a deep breath, Sebastian called on his Aura and focused on his legs. Violet Aura was drawn from that flame deep inside as it collected in his legs, the process eerily similar to drawing on his Mana.
Feeling confident, he stepped forward and nearly blacked out from smashing into the wall. 'Urg, I felt that but didn't. That's so weird.'
Aura protected him, but it seemed that by using the soul for defense, the sensation still traveled through. 'Good motivation not to stand and tank damage.'
Deciding to try it far more lightly, Sebastian aimed for a fraction of the Aura usage and was amazed at the enhancement, running laps through the hall at nearly double his base speed. 'This is so cool.'
He ran for a minute before feeling his reserves run low and cut it off. 'I probably wasted a ton of Aura on that attempt.'
It would take time and steady training, but Sebastian was sure he could get a hang of things. 'Maybe I should work on something to enhance my training? Resistance training, perhaps? I think it was mentioned in a list of training methods.'
The best thing about body reinforcement training was that it pushed muscle groups in the physical body past their limits, and then allowed the damaged areas to heal, so every time he reinforced himself, his base physique would go up just a tiny bit more. 'It's still a balancing act, though.'
According to the training manuals, most hunters in training just flooded their bodies with Aura for an all-around boost, wasting a good chunk of their reserves by doing so. The process of learning specific control enhancement was a skill that the more talented or hard workers aimed for.
'The real issue is Aura reserves and recovery rate.' Sebastian pulled up his pilfered tablet and was able to quantify his Aura at something called a 100 points. '
It's amazingly advanced at quantifying how much Aura one has at a time, but I would use percentages rather than numerical value.'
From what Sebastian had read and experienced, Aura was the energy of the soul, and various factors changed the raw output of energy and the ability to use it.
'Wizards and Mana Cores are the same way. Some of us are born with more talent to control Mana, some with more reserves than others, some spend more effort on their channels, and we all have to spend multiple years learning how to use it appropriately. We would never quantify mana levels with numbers, because even if two wizards had the same exact amount of Mana and were casting the same spells, their control over it would decide who lasted the longest.'
Aura was in the same boat as Mana. It had its own energy reserve and channels to flow through, and it could be spent with usage. 'Its main purpose is defense as well, which is interesting because most Magic is meant to be cast outward; they are similar yet so different.'
Shaking off those thoughts, Sebastian focused back on the topic. 'Aura Reserves are mostly set in stone for Hunters, although they can grow slightly through age, heavy training, dramatic life changes, and life and death struggles. Although, the growth is very slight, and the Recovery rate seems to be a fixed percent of the max Reserve.'
Sebastian watched as his Aura refilled on the device at a rate of 1% a minute. 'Not bad, but not great.'
He had a few areas to train in but couldn't do anything for raw power by himself. 'There's gotta be a better way.'
His eyes fell to his pendant as he considered things. 'Maybe I can try another Tear? Enough time has passed since my last use, so it should be fine.'
One of the things Sebastian noticed in his experiments was that mutations occurred when the Tear didn't have anything else to alter. By damaging his channels, he gave the Tear a place to expend its energy; although the improvements had slowed down dramatically, now that he had something new, he was sure the Tear would focus there.
Curious about the possibility, Sebastian returned to his workshop and dropped into his cushioned Throne of Agony, hitting the switch to recline it. 'Bottoms up.'
He rolled a single drop on his tongue and immediately felt the familiar soothing darkness spread through his body.
The Tear's energy rolled over his mana channels, stopping to work but ultimately moving on without anything to repair. Then, as Sebastian hypothesized, it fell on the new ethereal Aura channels spreading from his soul to his skin.
Sebastian's mind imagined these channels in a violet color, compared to the blue of his mana channels.
The new channels were much smaller and thinner than their blue counterparts, as the Tear's energy fell on them like a wave, firming and strengthening their connection between his soul and body. It flowed down the channels and solidified their presence, and for just a moment, Sebastian thought he saw something flicker in his soul in response before it passed.
'I think I get it now.' Without injuries, Sebastian's body had no reason to put him under, so he was able to watch the process with an observant eye. 'That's why I've been hitting a limit with the Tears. I knew unlocking Aura was the next step.'
God's Tears were a miracle in itself. They could heal grievous metaphysical wounds to Mana Channels that the best potions back home couldn't; Sebastian was even aware that the Tears had banished the lingering curse damage in the burn marks along his legs. Now, with its work on his Aura Channels, he was closer to the idea of what its purpose was.
'It raises my potential ceiling.' Sebastian concluded. 'Wizards can only channel so much Mana at once before burning out, but the Tear has raised that ceiling. It's adapted my Mana Channels to handle higher loads, and now it's doing the same thing with my Aura Channels.'
Even as he thought about it, he watched his Aura Channels expand ever so slightly, shifting as they became firmer and more flexible.
'The Tears don't increase my power directly, but my very existence. They are bringing me closer to its origin.' A single tear still had more energy than Sebastian's body could safely absorb, and each time he used it, he watched it break down into weaker qualities while expanding its quantity. 'But my Mana Channels have hit the plateau of my existence; they need something more to grow to the next stage.'
Sebastian turned his inner eye to his Mana Pool before he noticed a difference. 'It's not under as much stress as before.'
The only way to expand his Mana Pool was to use the stone's dense energy to push the boundaries of his core, but lately, Sebastian had begun to feel his core feel 'full' for lack of a better term. 'Bloated, perhaps.'
It was a sixth sense that told him he was approaching his limits. But now that his Aura awakened, he felt those limits expand. 'It's connected. My Aura Reserves must be reinforcing my Mana Core, and perhaps vice versa?'
Sebastian furrowed his brow as he tried to compare them. 'No, my Aura Reserve is barely a third of the size of my Mana Pool; it's too small to be reinforced. Wait, that could be it…' His mind quickly theorized a potential growth path. 'If I can grow my Aura Reserves, it could help expand my Mana Pool, and then perhaps I'll…'
A smile grew on his lips as he finally found a path forward again. 'The only question is how to grow my Aura. Nothing in the books spoke of a sure-fire way to increase them, but I'm not limited to Remnant's knowledge, am I?'
Sebastian's eyes opened as he looked at his prized creation, the Arch. 'If Remnant doesn't have what I need, somewhere else certainly should, right?' The familiar crazed glow of desire to complete a project appeared in Sebastian's gaze before the mental image of Neo flew by, and he calmed himself. 'I'm not in a rush.'
Chapter end.