AN: For those not in the know, I roll dice for Gacha items. I don't have a perfect list/table, just rough guidelines for what I'm willing to accept in Rarity brackets.
1d10 for a single roll. 1 to 5 is Trash, like LITERAL garbage. 5 to 9 is Normal, so things like clothing, snacks, maybe some mundane things like gold coins or the like.
10 is where we get creative because that's when we start getting into actual items. Admittedly I've been weirdly lucky so far.
So the plan/design is that once I roll a 10, I start working with ACTUALLY cool stuff.
I roll a 2nd 1d10 to determine rarity where 1-5 is Rare, which is some basic cool shit.
Potions of Healing, Potions of Small Plot Assistance like the Mizu Ninja Tonic, maybe like a flaregun with a small magic effect, auxiliary abilities like cooking, some fun narrative stuff, but nothing innately too powerful.
6-8 I made SR. Ijust added extra RNG by Coin Flip: Heads for immediate/whenever use. Tails means its something for potential plotlines/desperation like the Random Teleport Ticket or something that Jaune can't use unless something really specific happens, so there's a longer term time investment before it can be used. I also roll 1d4: Curse on 1s, like the Shackles of Spiderclimb being unable to be removed and forcibly taking a permanent Boot/Shoes/Ankle slot until something else gained can remove it.
9 I made SSR, but with the same 50/50 nature, just no curse. If I add a curse it'll be cuz of the nature of the item itself or for fun, but no mandatory roll.
10 is something that I REALLY want to give Jaune, which I do ACTUALLY have a list for, compared to making things up on the spot.
And this chapter starts the day after the previous one. Thus I rolled.
I got two 10s back to back for the starting roll for this chapter. That's not even including any additional days that may pass in the span of this chapter.
In the process of simulating the 3 months of daily pulls plus an additional 35 pulls from Jaune 'experimenting' I've somehow gotten 3 double 10s. (1% chance) Durindana, Command Seals to use it, and the Ring of Bullshit. The 3rd being more plot device and so BS I stripped away 2 of 3 uses by having kid-Jaune burn it on CHILDREN'S CARD GAMES (insinuating that Texas/Valean Hold Em is for kids LMAO)
So yea, this is a long af AN and idk how tf I got a 1% roll 4 times in 160 (with now 5 days passed in story thus far) pulls. Where tf is this luck in my Genshin account?
"And you're sure she'll be fine if you do this?" Qrow asked nervously as Jaune cut into Summer's arm with a scalpel.
"I'm sure. It'll literally grow back if you eat your new nutritional balance of food. Plus, if she felt it was necessary, Summer could even bulk up her muscle by exercise. And small samples like this are standard for lab testing." Jaune replied matter of factly, resuscitating the information that had been seared into his mind by the Ring of Conditional Victory. "I guess she might need to worry about infection? But we're taking precautions against that by disinfecting. Plus there are things in place to prevent it in the first place."
Including a natural resistance to it due to the nature of the artificial flesh.
"So I can get swole?" Summer laughed, "That could be funny."
She flexed, though it looked more cute than impressive.
"It'll be hard. You can bench four times your weight, you know."
Summer choked, making an odd face as her brain scrambled just enough that her eyes crossed, making Qrow laugh at his partner.
Nobody would believe that the diminutive woman sitting on a reinforced steel stool would be able bench a literal ton.
With discussions beforehand with Juniper they both agreed to not mention the various generations of Nikke technology that had been imprinted into Jaune's brain. It would be hard to explain, after all. From everyone else's perspective, Jaune had been the one to create the idea of Nikke on his own.
Jaune wasn't really comfortable with taking credit for GENERATIONS of sweat, blood, and tears by scientists from another world, but it admittedly was easier than trying to show and explain the Gacha. Less likely to be kidnapped and forced to churn out random items to some evil people too, according to Juniper.
Jaune didn't want to give his gacha items to bad guys though, so he swallowed down the guilt. Juniper was right when he said this was better than the alternatives.
Even though he felt guilty, Juniper said that by doing good with what he learned from them would be enough payment for his knowledge, but Jaune didn't really even know what that meant. How much good? When did it even out? When was the good that he was doing with this information his own? He wanted an exact number or amount, but Juniper just gave him a small smile and said that there was no such thing. That it was up to him. That that's what the world of adults was like.
Jaune thought it was too complicated for him.
"And we're just gonna put it in a mason jar with sugar and water? Really?" Summer shook the jar with the muscle sample, the long bright red strand floating in the water. "Nothing else?"
"It's enough." Jaune shrugged, taking the small square patch of skin with a pair of forceps and placing it into a separate jar. Unlike a human body, Nikke didn't bleed, though there was some clear sugar and saline solution under the skin that leaked out. It did technically self-disinfect but Jaune figured it didn't hurt to manually do it to give Summer and Qrow some peace of mind.
It was so weird that he had bedside manners as well. Honestly now that he wasn't worried for his own safety in the middle of a bandit camp and had a quiet place to think, he kept feeling like he was even more of a freak than a hero. Nothing that he could do was really his. He had just kind of been given everything. It was… it was hard to feel happy or proud of anything he'd done. As if he hadn't earned anything that he currently had.
He took off his disposable surgical mask.
"Well that's all." He smiled as he screwed the lid on the second jar. "If they can't figure out what they need from these samples, I can't help them."
Qrow snickered.
"You know these will be going to the brightest minds in all of Atlas right?" He gave Jaune's head a rough tussle, to the boy's displeasure. "Those eggheads will chomp at the bit for this and be reverse-engineering it all in a couple of years."
"I mean they'd need the coding know-how alongside-" Jaune paused as he wasn't sure how to explain nano-machines or the fact that the coding language was from another world and wildly different from their own. Superior too, judging from what he figured from taking apart his new Scroll's OS, purchased when they had teleported to Vale yesterday to meet the Headmaster of Beacon (also wow, how cool was that?!), when he couldn't really fall asleep the previous night. "-something else to make them do exactly what they're intended to do, but if they can figure out their own stuff with this as a guideline that's good." Jaune said, and he meant it.
He had to give Trivia and Neo his Scroll number before they let go of him, scribbled on a spare napkin in Taiyang's pocket, although they hadn't messaged him back at all yet.
He knew a bunch of stuff and could explain things, but he knew that he was just a kid and not nearly as smart as the adults around him thought he was. If he tried to teach anyone it'd probably be full of holes in logic that his brain naturally bypassed to make things work. If anybody would do good with this technology it wasn't going to be him. All he could do was maintain and replicate the technology, he definitely couldn't make anything truly original based off of it. That was probably beyond him.
He was more preoccupied with how to convince Qrow and Raven to help with today's Gacha item.
SSR Rarity Ability: Summon Shadow Exchange Minion
Origin: Shadow Monarch Ashborn of Chaos Dimension #KRWTSL0012
Description: If all things are born of Chaos, light and darkness are the first concepts to begin it all. Following the closest is Shadow. Thus the Monarch Ashborn was created by one of infinite 'Creators'.
As there are an infinite number of theoretical branching timelines, one was selected that would be pruned from the flow of time. In such a pruned timeline the Monarch Ashborn's essence was captured and repurposed for the utilization of the Trans-Dimensional Ultimate Gacha.
In exchange for a certain amount of energy in any form and the sacrifice of a lifeform, a Shadow Exchange Minion can be summoned, allowing its summoner to exchange positions with it at any given time. The exchange ability costs nothing and does not consume the Minion.
By that logic, if Jaune could be allowed to briefly visit every major Kingdom, he'd have the means to go and visit them all whenever he wanted! He could be a globe trotting hero like in the stories!
He'd have to get some pet mice or something to sacrifice for the ability, but they were pests anyways according to Mo-
He shook his head. He'd have to figure out how much Aura he needed for a summon! Jaune hoped it wouldn't need any Command Seals for their prawns or prana, or whatever it was.
It had been five days since he last used one for Durindana and it was still roughly a third of the way from charging back to full!
A Command Seal would take, like, a week for him to charge back up! Big Brother Juniper said it was because he didn't have magic, but Jaune knew the truth.
The Gacha was, what Raven would call, a punk-ass bitch.
"So he wants to see what the other Kingdoms are like?" Juniper watched Qrow chuckle as he rubbed his goatee. "Alright, shit. I'll ask Ozpin to keep me off books for a bit so I can play babysitter. Summer will have to get Raven to port us around a little for convenience and save us some travel money, but that shouldn't be an issue for our dear leader."
"Good luck." Taiyang laughed, "I had to pull a twelve year old girl off him back at the mall. He's going to be a handful. She wouldn't even leave without getting the number to his new Scroll."
"What, he get in a fight?"
"No, he stopped some older girls from bullying her. Listened on to them for a bit before realizing what they wanted, and forced Yang and Ruby to hang back before jumping to her rescue like a little white knight. I had to step out of hiding and scoop up the tykes before they ran in to join him. Ozpin's right, that Spirit of his must have taught him how to fight. Kid knows how to handle a spear as well as I do."
"Hey, that's good news for you, right? Keep him away from Yang and Ruby and you don't have to fear calling him your son in a few years." Qrow chuckled, dodging a lazy swipe from Taiyang.
"Oh hush. They're just kids and Jaune's the kid that saved Summer. Yang's probably just possessive because of that and me being a drunk moron when I thought she was dead."
"You can't hold yourself ac-"
"But I can. And I will. I should have been better. Hell you held yourself together better than me."
"That's cuz I'm just always drunk. That don't count." Qrow waved him off, "Ok, ok. Yang's just protective of the kid that kept her family together, but that's how these kinds of stories start ya know."
"You need to stop watching so many chick flicks with Summer." Taiyang laughed as he rolled his eyes.
Juniper blinked at the insinuation. Qrow watching romance movies?
"Hey, they're not that bad. You've seen a few too and I've seen ya cry at 28 Dresses."
"That's a masterpiece, that doesn't count."
Both men shared a chuckle as they took a drink from their cups, filled with the Dom Perignon that was sent out by Jaune's family, enjoying the taste of fine fermented Mistralean grapes.
It made Juniper also wish for a taste, only ever having had a sip when he was but a child. Once he had worked at Atlas, he had also had a drink with Qrow here and there, though he had never really been nearly as prolific as the older Huntsman.
He missed home.
And he'd never really have the chance or ability to go back. He could visit alongside Jaune, but they were Jaune's family now. He'd never be able to hold them in his arms, or laugh alongside them. The worst part was that when the topic was brought to Jaune, the boy was too scared to try for now, which gave Juniper a dark relief, that he wouldn't have to feel that pang of jealousy.
Still, he'd make sure Jaune would visit his family eventually. They were important to both Juniper and Jaune. He was sure even Jaune knew he couldn't take shelter with the Rose-Branwen-XiaoLongs forever.
"Oh and he mentioned he wants some mice for some reason." Qrow let out a lip-smacking sigh of satisfaction as he finished his cup. "Like for some pets, but I think he wants to run some kind of experiment."
Qrow always did have good instincts.
"I'll pick some up from the Preparatory Room, alongside a sling cage." Taiyang on the other hand was still nursing his wine as Qrow went to pour himself another cup. "Ease up on that, Summer and Raven still haven't even gotten a taste yet."
"I'll leave enough, don't ya worry."
Currently Summer alongside Jaune, Ruby, and Yang were off at Signal's firing range to record and allow Summer to get a better feel for S'more. It was strange that Summer, who seemed for the most part to be the most stable member of Team STRQ, named all of her weapons after dessert-like treats.
She had gone as far as to go out of her way to repaint one of her double barrel HMG's barrels a stark white with clear coating to help keep it clean and parts of the body of the gun in a gingerbread brown to match her new name for the monster of an SR Tetra Experimental Double-Feed Anti-Rapture HMG.
Juniper supposed Ruby must have had her love of weapons inherited from someone.
The two men had snuck off to the staff room to enjoy a drink together while Summer kept the children entertained, though Juniper was a bit surprised to hear that Qrow hadn't started working at Signal quite yet. Actually he wondered if the only reason Qrow did so was so that he could keep an eye on Ruby and Yang once they lost Summer.
He wondered if he'd ever even start working as a teacher anymore.
That would be a little problematic, as Ruby truly only had a real talent for the scythe and would need her 'Drunkle' for guidance.
More things that Juniper would have to try to fix somehow, all while being unable to directly affect the world.
"Do you think Jaune has ever killed any mice or rats to prepare himself for fighting Grimm?"
Qrow gave Taiyang a weird look.
"That's more of a training school exercise that I've never experienced so I couldn't tell, but he grew up on a vineyard, right? He's probably helped get rid of a few pests here and there. Plus Raven said that spear of his blew up the Desert Ow… oh huh."
"I didn't think much about it initially. Just… I was so happy to have Summer back. But when I think about it, it's weird. He's not shook up over it at all. He's a good kid and already treats Ruby and Yang like they're his own sisters. I think whatever that Spirit of his did might have screwed him up."
Actually it was more likely that it was whatever the ninja potion did, Juniper wanted to complain. It really wasn't his fault.
Jaune had a Kunai from Ninkai of Normal rarity in his Inventory that came from Mizu. And he felt it was pretty safe to assume that any 'positive traits' that were unlocked included a sense of ruthlessness or maybe even broke whatever in Jaune that might have had an issue with murder. It was also another point of concern, but at least Juniper's influence should keep things hopefully curbed and away from any dangerous spirals.
"Maybe? I feel that he just hasn't realized or had time to process it. He's had a lot on his plate, that kiddo." Qrow savored his second cup a bit more slowly. "You said it too, he's a good kid. You're worrying over nothing 'cuz you're way too conscious about how well he gets along with your daughters."
"My feelings of trepidation at that is just only half a joke. How are other boys going to compare to the boy that saved their mom? Who else are they going to notice as they grow up? I'm just preparing myself for the worst, Qrow."
Qrow rolled his eyes with a snort.
"I still think you're crazy."
"The only good thing is that he'll raise standards so high he's the only one I have to fear!"
But Taiyang was smiling conspiratorially, face full of cheer.
They laughed together as the door to the staff room opened up to little Ruby running in with a child-sized set of shooting-range earmuffs on her head.
"Daddy!" She leapt into Tai's arms, who almost dropped his cup of expensive wine, "Mommy's new gun is AMAZHINE!"
Taiyang spun her around and gave her a kiss on the forehead, gently pulling one side of the earmuffs off and Qrow looked on with fondness.
"That so? How amazhine?" He asked, mimicking her mispronunciation.
She spread her arms a wide as she could, her pale arms a stark contrast for her cute black tee with a little red rose painted on it.
"Thiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiis amazhine!"
Juniper just smiled at the sight.
"Congrats, Rubes." He whispered, "I'll… I'll make sure things are better for you this time around. You, Yang, everyone."
He wanted to cry, but no tears could be produced from his fleshless form.
"Remarkable. True synthetic flesh. These muscles are capable of regeneration. Of development and growth! The skin! Capable of self repair and healing! And yet the samples both are alive merely by being kept in a simple solution of sugar and water! It's mere sugar and water, General!"
Ironwood gave a taut smile as Dr. Polendina gushed over the samples Ozpin had sent over.
"Is it possible for me to request a business trip in order to take a flight over to Patch? You said that the inventor was young, yes? I suppose they don't realize just how groundbreaking all this is! We should even commission him for a new arm for you, if not the whole of your prosthetics!"
"Calm down, doctor." Ironwood sighed, Mettle pulsing below his skin with a dull humm of purpose, allowing him to ignore the pain of his fairly new mechanical replacements, still too fresh even after a week and a half. "I just had this all installed weeks ago with the best of Atlas's technology that you could bring to bear after the Paladin incident."
He tapped his right arm with his left finger, which was still flesh and blood, to a dull metallic sound.
"I'm sure it will do."
"Oh, it will do, but I'm sure to a man like yourself, it will forever feel like a limitation. Something that binds you down, it's not the same as your original body, but with this!" Dr. Polendina held up the mason jar with the long, crimson strand of some sort of artificial muscle. "This would make it all seem and feel like flesh and blood again!"
There was a part of him that did definitely yearn for that. Mettle kept him from focusing on the fact that there was a constant tightness in his chest when he breathed, that despite coating it in Aura to prevent damage to the motors, his right leg couldn't just bend fast enough to keep pace with his left. That his dominant hand was more automated than the general populace would ever be allowed to believe and he'd have to aim more with gut instinct and by twisting his torso, rather than with his arm.
"I trust Ozpin with my life, but these are all the inventions of a child. It's unproven technology."
Dr. Polendina shook his head.
"No, it's more than proven enough. These aren't concept samples, General. They're already completed final products. So complete it feels like generations of technology had been developed to reach a zenith. That and your good friend Headmaster Ozpin has sent me proof of it working in concept! You do know of Qrow Branwen, yes?"
Ironwood nodded.
Qrow was a good friend, though a bad drinking partner. A bit of a lush and obviously in love with his best friend's wife, his Huntress Partner, even though he kept his distance out of respect for her relationship and fear of his own Semblance.
"He is one of Ozpin's best men." Ironwood replied simply.
"His Huntsman partner apparently underwent a dreadful incident. And she didn't simply get a simple prosthetic. No. A drastic decision had to be made to save her and, well, there's no simple way to say that they transplanted her whole brain! Her prosthetic is effectively full body. It's the closest thing in existence to the PENNY project and proof that my concept isn't a dead end, as Atlas had already proven that the brain was not required to maintain Aura! That you were indeed correct to support my theory instead of…" Dr. Polendina became a bit mournful, "Over my old rival Arthur."
They both spent a moment of silence for their fallen colleague, who under the rampage of the prototype Paladin mechs a few weeks back had died a most gruesome death. There was little more than blood and mangled pulp left of him after that. Ironwood had been especially ashamed that even though he had lost the right half of his body in the attempt, he had been unable to save the confident scientist who had been the leading mind behind the majority of Atlas's cyberware and digital infrastructure.
Ironwood did indeed eventually break the silence.
"And you're saying that… a child managed such a thing?"
Dr. Polendina pulled up a series of images from the holo-projector in his wheelchair.
Ironwood felt the grip of horror as the image of Summer Rose's original body appeared. The good doctor had added personal scribbles and notes observing the cutting of the skullcap, the nature of the supposed poison, which samples had been drawn out and provided alongside the muscle strand and skin of what was codenamed Nikke after some legend of a long-lost minor goddess of victory. He was assured that vials of the anti-venom would be created and spread for both Atlas and Vale's upper echelons for operational safety as now that the Faunus criminal known as Tyrian Callows was known to be one of the Queen's pieces.
And the new body that Summer Rose-Branwen-XiaoLong now inhabited.
Short recordings of her utilizing Aura effectively with surprisingly zero visible issues. Lifting massive weights, even tearing a tree stump from out of the ground with some Aura to assist, with merely her bare hands.
Then there was her weapon.
It seemed her original Huntress weapons pair Peppermint & Bark were lost in the same skirmish that cost her life, though it had been replaced by a weapon that the young inventor of the Nikke had provided that would utilize the maximum of her physical capability.
It shared similarities with the kind of heavy firepower that the turrets of the walls of Vale and Mistral were prideful of as they showed it's firepower at a shooting range. A slower fire rate mode for accuracy where it thudded out 50 Cal x 12.7mm rounds in alternating barrels to ease it from overheating, but after an application of Ice Dust coolant spray, it roared like a beast as both barrels ripped away at full firing capability.
And despite the somewhat… stimulating imagery of Summer Rose's new body's various feminine body parts rippling with recoil (to seemingly no pain) the Huntress was able to maintain near perfect accuracy even at three kilometers, double a normal HMG's effective range as she squealed with glee as she unloaded over 1500 rounds per minute using the gun's strange double-feed system as she hip-fired it like a minigun or flamethrower.
Ironwood wanted an army. No he'd even settle for a single squadron!
If it was possible to deploy even a squad of a dozen heavily armed Nikke in any hotzone, despite the clear potential for ammo-shortages, it was possible to deploy a defensive wall anywhere. Imagine if even somewhat inferior models could be crafted in larger quantities!
"I… I think I might have to call Ozpin back." He swallowed, his throat felt dry. He didn't feel great at the idea of potentially manipulating a child, but if this was what he might expect from the child's cooperation, he'd do what he must for Atlas.
"So on the topic of a business trip-"
"Done. Just pack your bags, Doctor."
Did any of his men have daughters around the boy's age? First he'd have to send some personal gifts to-
Ironwood paused in a moment of genuine introspection.
Had he just begun to contemplate a honeytrap for a child? He-
He shook his head.
It was not just for Atlas, it was for the world. Only Atlas had the infrastructure to maximize the boy's genius. This was for a good, righteous cause. If Ozpin didn't trust Ironwood to help secure the future, he wouldn't have shown him the fruits of the boy's potential.
And even if the boy was obstinate in his youth (how young was he, actually?) and such a thing couldn't be managed right now, he was a boy. The older he got, the easier it would be to tie him into Atlas. Yes, that would have to be the tentative plan for now.
Mettle dulled the pain of the artificial lung in the right side of his chest as he took in a deep breath.
And perhaps he should see about starting with possibly getting an upgrade after all. It was an odd feeling that the most cutting Atlesean tech, for the first time in his life, suddenly felt wholly insufficient.