Snow had dusted across the outer platforms when they arrived at the Atlesian military's base. Personnel moved with practiced purpose as their shoes crunched against the cold white. Weiss veered off toward the command wing almost immediately, already looking to scan the corridors for a familiar figure.
"I'll find Winter," she said, smoothing her coat as if bracing herself. "I probably won't be too long. Are you two coming with me or...?"
Jaune nodded. "Nah, we're gonna go exploring again. You should take your time, we have quite a while before we need to leave anyways."
Blake gave a small wave. "We'll try not to get lost."
Weiss smiled softly and disappeared down a branching hallway, posture straightening as if she were already standing in front of her sister.
That left Jaune and Blake to their own devices.
They moved deeper into the base, passing reinforced doors, glass observation windows, and quiet workspaces filled with analysts and engineers.
"So," Blake said after a moment, hands tucked into her sleeves, "about your weakness sense."
Jaune glanced at her. "What about it?"
"I get that you reached comprehension," she replied. "But what exactly does that entail? You're not just weakening things anymore? You're somehow... seeing them?"
He slowed slightly, considering how to put it into words.
"It's not really seeing," he said finally. "Not with my eyes, at least. It's more like… a sixth sense, kind of like how we can sense auras, you know?"
Blake nodded to show her understanding.
Jaune then continued "Well, with that sixth sense comes a type of understanding. Or maybe understanding isn't really the right word. It's almost like my mind is... remembering."
Blake tilted her head. "Remembering what?"
"What it means to be weak."
They stepped into the elevator that would take them down into the underground LUCID facilities. The doors slid shut with a muted hiss, and the platform began its descent, smooth and silent.
Jaune leaned back against the wall, eyes unfocused as the floors ticked past.
"When I comprehended weakness," he continued, "It was in dire circumstances. Qrow, was being pinned down by that Sleepless Flesh bastard and Raven was barely able to protect herself, let alone Ruby, Yang and myself. Yet, even though the situation was dire... it was like my mind was quiet. I understood something that I don't think I'll ever forget."
Blake waited.
"I understood that weakness is unavoidable," Jaune said. "No matter how strong you get. No matter how much you improve. Strength changes shape, but weakness never leaves. It just moves."
He paused, searching for the right phrasing.
"Before my dad left, he used to used to say something like this. He wasn't exactly poetic, but it stuck with me. He said strength is what you show others. Weakness is what the world shows you. You don't get to choose whether you have it. You only choose whether you listen to it."
Blake absorbed that in silence.
"For a long time," Jaune went on, "I thought weakness was just something to overcome. A hurdle. A problem to solve. But comprehension changed that. Weakness isn't just an obstacle. It's a structure, almost like a constant. Every system, person and idea has it baked in. If something had no weakness at all, it wouldn't be able to change. Or break... or grow."
The elevator continued downward, lights shifting subtly as they passed deeper security layers.
"That understanding," Jaune said, tapping his chest lightly, "turned into a sense. At first, weakness was something I had to actively reach for. I needed to see my target and attach tethers. It was deliberate."
"And now?" Blake asked.
"Now it's everywhere," he replied quietly.
He closed his eyes for a moment.
"It's like standing in the rain," he said. "I don't feel individual drops unless I focus. But I know I'm soaked. I can feel the weak points of things without trying. People, objects and even the air around us has patterns. Pressure gradients. Fault lines, so to speak. And even myself. when an is about to land, I can sense which part of me is the weakest and shift away or even brace myself to limit or outright remove that weakness. It's kind of change my fighting style by a lot. Rather than muscle memory of forms or attacks, I'm now operating on instinct. So yeah... comprehension had made me really strong."
Blake nodded at his explanation, then frowned slightly. "Even... the air?"
"Yeah," Jaune said. "If I weaken the air, I'm essentially lowering the atmospheric pressure a little. At our levels it's kind of worthless, but maybe later, at Rank 2 when I have a greater aura, that might change. In any case, movement creates weakness and so does Stillness. Just a different kind of weakness. Everything is negotiating with collapse all the time. I just happen to notice."
She folded her arms. "That sounds exhausting."
"Eh, honestly not really." he admitted. "Since my rune is a part of my soul. It functions on instinct. If this was before I reached Rank 1, then it might have been a lot more problematic."
The elevator slowed briefly, then continued.
Blake's brows furrowed. "So how do you turn objects into that slurry thing?"
He smiled. "That slurry effect you've seen occurs when objects lose structure and turn into that half liquid state. I'm not melting them with heat or crushing them with force, rather, like the air example earlier, I'm weakening the bonds that tell the object how to stay solid."
Blake's eyes sharpened with interest. "Chemical bonds?"
"Among other things," Jaune said. "It's like telling the object that it doesn't have to agree with itself anymore."
She let out a low whistle. "That's terrifying."
"Sometimes," he said. "It's also strange."
"How so?"
"Well," Jaune continued, "Logically, if I weaken the structure of something like concrete enough, it should crumble and turn to dust or powder. But that doesn't happen."
Blake nodded. "It liquefies instead."
"Exactly," Jaune said. "No heat or pressure. But the default state seems to be… fluid. Like the laws of physics can't decide what to be once the rules are gone, so it picks the easiest option."
He rubbed his chin thoughtfully.
"I've been thinking about it. Maybe solidity is just agreement. Atoms agreeing to stay put. When I weaken that agreement without adding energy, they don't explode apart. They just stop caring enough to stay rigid."
Blake considered that. "Do you think you could push it further? Past liquid?"
"Into a gas?" Jaune asked.
She nodded. "Or something else entirely, like... plasma?"
He exhaled slowly. "I don't know. Right now, slurry is my limit for most materials. Ice and fire behave differently. Energy doesn't like being told it's weak."
"And living things?" Blake asked quietly.
Jaune met her gaze. "They're the most complicated. If I were to ever turn the full power of my weakness onto a Rank 0 human or an unawakened, they'll likely turn into a slurry as well."
With that disgusting thought, the elevator chimed softly as it reached the bottom. The doors slid open, revealing the underground LUCID base in all its humming splendor.
Jaune took a step forward, then stopped. Something tugged at the back of his mind. It was a question that refused to stay quiet.
Blake noticed immediately. "What's wrong?"
He hesitated, eyes drifting toward a branching corridor marked with research designations.
"The centurions," he said. "They're still bothering me."
"The new ones that we saw?" she asked.
He nodded. "Yeah... I don't know. They're different from the first one we saw. It feels almost dehumanizing to put the helmets over their faces now. Even though they're not really human anymore."
Blake studied him. "Honestly, you should probably let it go."
Jaune was a little surprised. When Weiss had explained what the centurions were, Blake had been more affected than he had. Yet, now... she was going in the opposite direction. How odd. Jaune wondered what the story was, but now wasn't the time to ask.
"Maybe you're right," Jaune admitted. "But, I'd like to learn a little bit more about them. Since the reveal is coming up tonight, I was thinking maybe there's a LUCID researcher here who could explain what's changed. Or at least tell me what they're testing. Surely that's not secret information, now is it?"
She glanced toward the simulation wing, then back at him.
"Maybe. But I'm gonna go ahead" Blake said. "Get some training in. You do your digging."
Jaune smiled faintly. "Alright, thanks."
"Don't overthink it," she added.
She turned and headed down the corridor toward the simulation rooms, her footsteps fading into the ambient hum of the base.
Jaune watched her go, then shifted his focus toward the research sector.
The research wing of the underground LUCID base was different from the rest of the facility.
Where the simulation rooms echoed with the sounds of controlled violence and the hum of hard light constructs, this place buzzed with quieter intensity. Soft lights illuminated wide corridors lined with glass walls, each revealing laboratories filled with motion and thought rather than combat. Consoles glowed with diagrams. Holo screens floated in midair, displaying cascading data that shifted and reformed as researchers gestured through them.
Jaune walked slowly, hands tucked into his jacket pockets, eyes moving from one room to the next.
In one lab, operatives stood patiently while researchers adjusted glowing tech which suspended above metallic platforms. Energy shimmered as they were activated and their effects carefully measured and recorded. One operative extended his arm as his rune was tested, light crawling across his skin before being safely shut down. In another room, a pair of analysts debated quietly while reviewing the feedback from a defensive rune that had failed under sustained pressure.
Further down, a line of operatives submitted imbued runes embedded in crystalline housings. Researchers accepted them and slotted them into testing arrays that began humming softly as they analyzed stability, resonance, and compatibility.
Jaune could feel it all with his weakness sense.
Everything had a fault line. Every structure carried subtle inconsistencies and even the systems meant to stabilize the dream realm technology hummed with barely contained compromise. It was fascinating and it was also faintly unsettling.
No one stopped him however, as he moved deeper.
That alone told him enough.
Eventually, the atmosphere shifted.
The labs grew larger but quieter. The hum of conversation faded, replaced by the low, rhythmic pulse of heavy machinery on standby. Jaune passed through a reinforced door and entered a large testing hall.
Centurions stood there, several of them.
They were positioned in recessed platforms along the walls, massive frames held upright by mechanical braces. Their armor gleamed under white lights, pristine and cold. Helmets concealed their faces completely, smooth and featureless save for faint seams where the plating joined. They were powered down, inert, yet the presence they exuded was undeniable.
Jaune stopped a few steps inside.
His weakness sense reacted immediately. Not with danger, but rather, complexity.
The centurions were layered beings. Something similar to human weakness that was intertwined with artificial reinforcement. It was odd, because there clearly wasn't any flesh within them. Yet... there were still limitations wrapped in engineered solutions. The result was something that did not resolve cleanly in his perception. Strong, certainly… but similarly weird.
Altered.
Researchers were sparse here. A few technicians moved quietly between consoles, checking readouts and adjusting parameters. Their voices were hushed, as if raised volume might disturb the machines themselves.
That was when he saw him, the wheelchair man. His white hair was wild and untamed, sticking out in every direction like he had forgotten to acknowledge gravity entirely. He leaned forward slightly, hands moving with surprising dexterity as he manipulated a holographic interface projected in front of him.
Hovering above the console was a three dimensional avatar.
She looked about Jaune's age. Maybe a little younger. Her form was clearly artificial, but detailed to a degree that made her presence feel almost physical. Orange hair fell in soft, stylized strands around her face. Her green eyes were bright and expressive, her movements fluid and lively as she gestured animatedly while speaking.
Jaune slowed. He had seen this man in the dream realm while he was chatting with Ironwood. Briefly. From a distance.
Pietro Pollendina.
One of the lead researchers behind the centurion project.
Jaune hesitated, then took a few steps closer. He did not want to interrupt, but the man seemed relaxed, even cheerful, as he spoke with the avatar.
"…and I'm telling you, Penny, if we reroute the stabilization through the tertiary node, the resonance smooths out completely," Pietro said, eyes alight with enthusiasm.
The avatar crossed her arms. "But that increases power draw by twelve percent. That's inefficient."
Pietro laughed softly. "Everything worth doing costs something."
Jaune cleared his throat lightly.
Pietro froze.
He turned his wheelchair with practiced ease, eyes lifting to meet Jaune's.
The effect was immediate.
Jaune felt it like a sudden exposure. As if the invisible layers he carried were peeled back for just a moment. His weakness sense flared in response, instincts screaming that something was looking directly at the structure of his body.
Pietro's expression shifted rapidly.
Surprise.
Then pure, unfiltered curiosity.
"Well," Pietro said slowly, eyes scanning Jaune in a way that had nothing to do with his physical appearance. "That is… fascinating."
Jaune blinked. "Uh, hello, sir?"
Pietro did not answer right away. His gaze sharpened, pupils dilating slightly as if new information was flooding his perception.
"Two meta runes," Pietro murmured. "And one of them… at the refined level."
Jaune stiffened.
"What?" he asked before he could stop himself. "Refined? How do you know that? And what do you mean by refined?"
Pietro's attention snapped fully to his face, amusement flickering across his features.
"Oh, you noticed that, did you?" he said. "Your meta rune must have given you a passive sensory perception ability as well. Very good."
Jaune's heart beat a little faster. He had not expected this. Not here. Not from someone he had never met.
"Do I—do you know me?" Jaune asked cautiously.
Pietro waved a hand dismissively. "Oh no, no. This has nothing to do with me knowing you."
"One of my runes," Pietro said, "is called Insight."
Jaune stilled at the name.
"It allows me to perceive properties beyond surface level," Pietro continued. "Structures, systems and even energetic patterns. I can analyze materials, technology, constructs and even the hidden runic frameworks which are embedded in a person's soul. Those usually occur when a person reaches rank 1."
Understanding flickered across Jaune's face.
"So you can… see my runes?"
Pietro smiled. "In a manner of speaking. I don't experience them the way you do. But I can identify their classification, function, and degree of integration."
Jaune exhaled slowly.
"That explains it," he said.
Yet even as he spoke, a thought clawed its way forward.
Insight.
The name echoed uncomfortably. His father's rune had been called the same thing. Jaune felt his jaw tighten for just a moment.
Pietro tilted his head slightly, studying him. "You handled that realization quickly. Most operatives get… a little defensive."
"I'm used to weird stuff," Jaune replied honestly.
Pietro laughed. "Ah. Yes. I imagine you are."
The researcher leaned back in his chair, folding his hands together.
"So," he said, "what brings you down here, Mr…?"
"Arc," Jaune said. "Jaune Arc."
Pietro's brows rose slightly. "Arc. Hm. Strong name."
Jaune shrugged. "I was curious about the centurions."
That earned him a long look.
Pietro's expression did not harden, but something behind his eyes sharpened.
"Curious how?" he asked.
Jaune met his gaze steadily. "Well, I saw a couple when I was out on patrol in the dream realm yesterday and the day before. It seemed yesterday's one was a different model? It had a helmet on and looks a bit different up top, now too."
For a moment, Pietro said nothing.
Then he smiled faintly.
"Curiosity is rarely punished in my lab," he said. "Not when it comes from a place of genuine concern."
He extended a hand. "Pietro Pollendina."
Jaune shook it. The grip was firm. Jaune's curiosity about the man's situation was growing bigger and bigger. This man was a rank 2. Why he was in a wheelchair was anyone's guess.
Before Pietro could continue, the avatar hovering above the console leaned forward, eyes sparkling.
"Salutations!" she said brightly.
Jaune blinked and looked up at her.
"Uh. Hi," he replied, lifting a hand in a small wave.
"I am Penny," the avatar said, beaming. "Penny Pollendina!"
Jaune glanced between the two of them, confusion evident on his face.
Pietro chuckled softly.
"Yes," he said fondly. "This is my... daughter."
Jaune stared at the holographic girl.
"Oh," he said. "That's… uh... wow."
Penny tilted her head. "Is that a good wow or a confused wow?"
Jaune smiled sheepishly. "A little bit of both."
"He is very interesting, father," Penny said decisively.
Pietro smiled wider.
.
.
AN: Advanced chapters are available on patreon