Chapter Text
AN:
System messages
[Skill/Perk]
World - Location (Time)
Character/PoV of this person
'Thought speech'
"Normal speech"
Emphasized
Remenant - Somewhere in Mt. Glen (15:30)
Weaver (Hebert)
My eyes snap open staring at an unfamiliar celing - I hope that doesn't become a regular thing. The celing hangs about 3.5 meters (ca. 12 ft) over the ground I'm laying on. It looks to be made out of worn panels, with some of them missing. Soon I stand up and take a small look around me, I'm in what looks to be an abandoned office left to the elements. Some dirt, grime and decay have setteled in and the whole bulding looks like a ruin in the making. Upon closer inspection the office looks like it was abandoned in a haste, rotted files and various other office supplies thrown laying scattred across the ground. I notice what must have been a small window once, now just a hole in the wall with dusty shards under it, and approach.
What I'm met with is a sight matching the office I woke up in. Completly empty streets indicating the whole city was abandoned. The other building lie in a similiar state of utter stillness, some already having succumbed to the elements and caved in, either that or something caused them to cave in. What really sticks out to me is the black creature with a white mask and small bone spikes of the same color standing in the middle of the road. It looks vaguely like a how I imagined a werewolf to be like, while also giving me the impression of a bio-tinkers work. It's hunched on its back legs sniffing it's suroundings like a dog or wolf. If not for the fact, that the damn thing is about the size of an avarage person and built like it takes muscle stimulants of any and all kinds, I'd almost call it cute. That almost is mostly because of the bone spikes juting out behind its arms and on the back of its spine irregularly.
Skill [Observe] gained.
[Observe] lvl.1/10 - active
At the cost of 10 Mp analyze your target for information.
Information gained depends on Skill Level and the targets Level.
NOTE: Beings of extreme Power or Skill in comparison to you might be able to sense the use of this skill.
The sudden message acomanied by a small ping makes me jump slightly. A slight curse almost escapes me before I remember the moster, with an all but garanteed enhanced sense of hearing, standing on the street in front of the building I'm in. Instead I skim over the description and decide to use it on the monster.
Beowulf
Level 3
This thing is apperantly named a Beowulf good to know. It's level is around mine, I wonder If I can take it on in a fight? It still hasn't found me yet and I can ambush it before it does the opposite. I need to at least figure out my attack abilities first. I keep and eye on the Beowulf and concentrate the rest of me on Silk magic. With a thought more of the earlier silk comes out of my hand. I instantly notice changes. Its easier to produce and I feel turning it into another kind of string will be easy. With a slight thought I reinforce the strings with 10 Mp, making them more durable in the process as they start glowing like a weak nightlamp. Next I try to connect my senses with it. Instantly [Administrator] is working overtime to comprhend the imput I'm getting through the string, dropping the checks on the beowulf as a result. With a thought I pump some MP into Administrator aswell and regain sight on the Beowulf in time to see its head finish snaping in my direction. In response I cut the reinforcement flowing in the string causing it to look vaguely confused. Damn it. It was definitly the reinforcement that it sensed. How?
I pause all of what I'm doing in hopes the Beowulf will drop it's suspicion, but it's apperantly already too late as it drops on all fours and enters a lower floor. I hold back another curse the moment I hear things in the lower floor getting knocked over and rush to the central stairwell. I need to set a trap for it if I want to win. The silk in my hand is quickly turned into its sharper varinat and with skill I never had my 6 arms place string in various locations. Eventually I weave a web over the entrance to my floor. The rustling downstairs stops, before quiet steps echo up the stairwell. Shit. It must be somewhat inteligent if it's attempting to sneak up on me, but I might be able to use this for myself.
Next I add a second sticky kind of silk I came up with in the moment in hopes of immobelizing the Beowulf. As I hear it going up the same stairs with haste now, probably having figured out I know it's here, I realize it's not going to be enough. The silk may cover the entrance in a multilayered web and the Beowulfs speed is going to work against it, but the silk is still too flimsy. Thankfully I remember the [Enchanting] Skill and risk it on the strings. I concentrate on the concept of being durable and feel a massive pit in my reserves about 200 Mp open. Soon afterward I slowly move up more on the stairs preparing to make a break for it up stairs if it still doesn't work, with a bit of luck I might be able to set up a new net.
MP: 354/750
Not a few seconds later I see the black mass that is the Beowulf crash into the web. The web stretches and a few strands snap under the force with a handfull of small holes being punched into the web from the spikes, but it ultimatly holds. Its not the only one damaged though, as the Beowulf takes damage from the sharp strings cutting into its hide. Mostly it only has a few deep cuts across its body with a dozen or so superfical lacerations, but one arm, that it tried to slash the web with it seems, is defenitly useless now, considering that its bending in a direction it shouldn't and is bleeding black blood heavily from a giant slash.
Just for a moment we both still before it howls, in agony or rage I don't know, and starts moving eratically. The sticky strings hold for now but I know they won't hold forever with something that size in them.
Instantly, with a remarkable lack of self preservation, I spring into action. Instantly bolting down the stairs and reinforcing the web with my magic, causing it to glow again. The Beowulf's struggle only grows more frantic in response, as I concentrate on trying to place my consciousness on a string mostly behind it. It works, my perspective shifting behind the Beowulf. I reach out to [Silk Magic] and force it to shot the string, making it attach to the opposing wall. The Beowulf tries to lean out of the web then and cuts itself deeply on the string before it snaps. The new gash makes it spasm and intangle more with the front web. By the time it recovers from that I've replaced the string seven times over. It attempts to pull itself out again, the exact same way at that. As a result it repeats the earlier reaction with one, or well three, exceptions: The stings that didn't break.
The next minute feels like a rollercoaster as I gradually tangle the Beowulf in a cocoon of sharp and sticky strings.
The Beowulf doesn't stop its struggle either, even changing it's approach a few times and I have to reinforce my side of the cocoon several times just to make sure it doesn't break trough and rip me apart. [Administrator] was a major help in staying alive in that regard, allowing me to work on both sides somewhat equally. Finally it stops after ripping off its badly damaged arm and a leg through the repeated contact with the sharp strings... and starts dissolving into smoke?
MP: 176/750
Grimm slain. +150 exp
You have leveled up!
All stats +1. +2 free Stat points given.
Several Skills have leveled.
[Silk magic] and [Weaving Mastery] have leveled up (X3 each)
[Administrator] has leveled up (X1)
MP: 206/780
So that was one of the Grimm the world's description mentioned? Is that smoke the negetive emotions that they are made of? I stop reinforcing the coccon and open a small hole rather easily by just absorbing that section into my Silk reserves. I try to touch some of the smoke, but nothing really happens except what you'd already expect from smoke, guess it's pretty harmless in this form. Still I should probably be more carefull around it- it's not paranoia if its actually out to get you, if it reforms that is.
As for the levels those are great, sice I still have no idea where I am right now, I need every bit of power possible. I can already imagine more optimal ways I could have spun that web in order to trap the Beowulf faster and the silk magic seems to come easier and cheaper to me, that and I think I can now "shoot" the string out of my palm like I did to trap the Beowulf. It wont be strong enough to act as a silk-gun ability, but it'll help with making webs massively. [Administrator] is also slowly making its bid for my favorite skill as I can have this entire line of thought while making sure there isn't any reinforcements coming, take notes, [Loom].
Geting back to the matter at hand, I dont see any new additions to the clusterfuck that is my life right now, so I take time to think over what I did right and wrong. The conclusion: I need to get more used to my powers and the abilites they give me.
I don't know how it is for parahumans, but apart from the basic knowledge my skills give me I have almost no idea how to actually use them in combat. I'm not magically used to them and [Enchanting] almost slipped my mind during the preparation for the fight. Without it, I'm sure the Beowulf would have torn through the unenchanted web. Then there's also [Loom]'s teleport which I didn't even consider. Sure it's costly but it might have alowed me to escape a worst case scenario by throwing an enchanted piece of debris out of the window.
I sigh and decide to leave it at that for now. I need to find food, water and shelter or at least some remains of them if I want to survive in the long term. It shouldn't hurt to look trough the building since its empty. Any other Grimm in or near here would have been attracted by the fight afterall. Before going searching, I absorb the cocoon into [Silk storage], it's finished absorbing at two thirds of the skills capacity. Then I begin the search for anything interesting.
Around 20 minutes of searching nets me almost nothing. No food or safe water. All containers either broke down or got contaminated, not that there were many to begin with in an office building. Though I did notice something: I haven't felt hunger since I got here. Maybe the System changed my digestion? "System, did something change about my need to eat or drink?"
The User is capable of eating and drinking, however it is not necessary.
This is mostly thanks to the [Weaver] race being able to work of minimal nutrients for extended periods of time, but was also enhanced by [Corrupted Divine Silk Core].
It's integration has allowed for the minimal nutritional needs to be fullfiled by simply using MP once a day. This will be automatically done while at rest or at an hourly rate and costs 240 MP per day.
Alternetively the User can also consume regular food to not pay the MP cost.
There goes one of my major concerns. The total cost is a bit much, just under a third of my current MP to pay at once, but 10Mp an hour is actually pretty cheap. "Set it to the hourly cost- and why didn't you inform me about this?"
Understood.
-10 MP
MP: 392/780 MP
User didn't ask for this information. It was deemed nonessential, since the User could simply ask for it.
"Is there anymore information of this kind?" I understood what it meant, but it didn't mean I had to agree.
The User does not need to excrete waste anymore.
"Are you messing with me?" It didn't answer. I bet it is. "If there'll be any more changes like this tell me. I swear if you hide something important from me I will find a way to pay you back."
Then I went back to searching, this time being more thorough, since I'm no longer under time pressure of eventually dying of hunger or thirst. I find most written documents have dissolved from the elements and only some few signs in the buildings seem readable, apparently written in the local language - Valean, that's what the system tells me anyway.
Thankfully I can learn both reading and speaking by observing a hundred different pieces of written media and by listening to 100 minutes worth of talking respectively, not ideal but manageable. Assuming this building isn't an exception, the former is going to be pretty easy since the seven signs I found thus far counted as separate pieces of media, even the duplicates. The latter though is going to be a pain, maybe there's a voice recording of some sort around here? I can just repeat that one till I've learned the language. Either that or I just listen in on people talk while just awkwardly standing nearby. That'd be embarrassing beyond words and is sure to cause misunderstandings.
I've been regularly checking the outside and I'm certain I saw some giant kind of Mammoth Grimm on the horizon for a bit. I had no clue how powerful it was compared to me so I decided to not [Observe] it just in case it would notice. Other than that it's only been more ruins with a few Grimm in the far distance prowling along the streets and alleyways.
I did notice something of use towards the end of my second search. Pretty sure I checked the direction already, but that was in a hurry and It's hard to make out from afar.
A few distant buildings have collapsed from explosions, claw marks the size of lampposts and bullet holes with some arrows scattered inbetween them. It might be a good opportunity for food or hopefully weapons. Sadly I cant go gun-ho and rush to it. I have no idea how many Grimm are near it, at least from my position, while my strings are good they aren't really fast or efficient to set up. It cost me a good two thirds of my Mp reserves to kill a Grimm, granted that was because I didn't have anything at all in my [Silk Storage] at the time or I would have used it first. But it still meant I couldn't realistically take on more than 2 Grimm at a time.
A part of me just wants to stay here and barricade the building, so nothing can get in. I consider it for a bit too, but ultimately decide against it because of two reasons: First I have no clue on whether or not I can fend off the Grimm for however long it takes someone to show up and help. Secondly I think this city is abandoned because of the Grimm, for a while at that from the decay, so help might actually never come.
With that debate out of the way I come up with a way to scout ahead. It relies on my MP infused silk, I can both see trough it and Grimm seem to be attracted by it. If I extend a string a good distance away from myself I might be able to sense through it and scout the area. If it gets ripped apart before I can look through it I'll know there's too many or too dangerous Grimm near it and stay clear of the area.
'The issue with that idea is getting it that far away from me and not being followed back.'
It'd be ideal if I could just infuse silk without contact, but a quick attempt shows me I can't, not with the current Skill level of [Silk Magic] anyway. So I learn how to do the next best thing with my current options I make a giant yarn the size of my head, costing about 50 MP, if my theory is right the Grimm would go to the biggest concentration of MP first, thinking it's me. Instead it'll be the yarn and once they realise I'll cut the flow and absorb the thin line connecting me and the yarn, stopping them from following me back.
'That solves the first issue of being followed, as for the second...'
I lift the yarn and concentrate on [Enchanting] with the picture of a feather in my minds eye.
-50MP
It works and the yarn almost feels like it weighs as much as a small softball despite being the size of my head.
Not much later I'm standing on top of the office's roof, having found a way up there earlier, yarn in two arms and a string attached to it in a another hand. I already trapped the entrance to the roof with another web, just in case. Everything prepared I lift the yarn above my head, angle my elbows to get the ball behind my head and throw with all my might. The yarn goes flying, the attached string rapidly lengthening as it flies- and boy does it fly. I knew my strength stat was at 25, but I had no idea just what that ment in comparison to a regular human. But as I see the yarn fall out of my sight about a hunderd meters (300 ft) away from me, slightly further than the world record softball throw, I understand that I'm strong now, minor brute rating strong.
It takes me a while to snap out of that realisation, before I finally start pumping MP through the string. Instantly I feel my perspective baloon outwards, causing me to overload [Administrator] to match. I gain several lines of sight, literal ones even, considering that I can look out of the connecting string just fine. It takes my enhanced mind no time at all to sort through the various perspectives for the most outstanding details. Its not really complete awarness or scans of the suroundings, I'm nowehere near that level of multitasking yet, more of a few cursory glances, looking for brightly colored things, obvious Grimm or great disturbances of the architecture.
Soon I find what I'm looking for, the battlefield. Honestly, I feared missing it, but for a moment I feel my luck finally worked for me this time. Then I see the actual battlefield and wish I missed. With pilling notifications of [Gamer's Mind] negating various kinds of mental breakdowns as I take a long look at it. The yarn landed somewhere in the caved in part of the building, giving me a both a view of the outside and the inside. Bullet casings are spread across the floor positively everywhere, signs of heavy combat not only visible outside the half collapsed mall, as I recognize it, now but also inside. Some of the doors and shop windows are boarded up, some not, lastly some were also visibly the former before becoming the later. That's not what's causing me to freak out so bad - some part of my mind tells me I've seen similiar if less extreme scenes before - it's the human skull looking right at me.
(AN: Its about to het a bit dark here, be warned)
I can't bring myself to look away. Eventually I manage to pull myself together enough to extend a string out of the yarn. The smart thing to do would be exploring another direction kr just cutting the conncetion already. So instead of what's probably the best rational choice I only get a closer look to the skeleton as I extend the string twoards it. The skeleton's wearing extremly tattered and worn clothing, damaged so badly they barely even rags at this point. One of its arms is missing and not to be found anywhere in the suroundings. The rest of its bones are scattered near it in a disorderly fashion. Around it bullet casings are scattared, pointing at a fight of some sort. A distant, more clinical thought takes control in an attempt to supress the morbid scene: 'Where is the gun?'
On autopilot I extend more and more strings form the macabre sight to find the gun, but it still seems to be missing. That's when it finally clicks. The gun must have been in the missing arm. I think back to the Beowulf, it's jaws seemed strong, could it have eaten the hole arm, including the gun? Maybe a stronger version of it or another type? I'm snapped out of the ruminations as a thread comes across another corpse, this one with a pulverized ribcage. I know already know this battlefield will give me nightmares later. The skeleton is crumpled against a wall with a visable crater above it. A shudder wracks my body as I think about just how strong a human has to be thrown to crater a concrete wall. The rest of its bones show that same strain, though the ribcage seems to have been the first point of contact for both whatever hit it and the wall.
I gradually forget why I even wanted to scout out the place at first as I begin to see more and more skeletons scattred about, steadily becoming more frequent twoards the middle of the mall. I find some that are mostly intact and realise they must have been soldiers, judging from the insignias and heavily damaged weapons. Finally I reach the center of the mall and see what they were trying to protect, a stairway downstairs. Another quick extension shows an absolutly wrecked subway station. The earlier signs of combat have multiplied here as have the skeletons. 'A last stand?' I begin to carefully scan the skeletons for any clues as to what happened her only to see something vile, a skeleton, a small skeleton. '...no, a... a failed evacuation.'
The ensuing silence after the realisation is universal in all my shared thought processes. After a few long moments of silence I finally manage to catch myself from spiraling further with the help of [Gamer's mind], Just in time to find that a Grimm, a Level 5 Beowulf, has arrived near the yarn. Immediately after absorbing the connecting string, I take a step back, as if that could unmake the scene I just saw... No matter how jard I wish, it doesn't work, I'll never forget those skeletons, those innocents. I knew what was responible for this, the Grimm, one of them even had the audacity to show up to the place. A deep, thorny and agitating feeling I haven't porperly felt before blooms in my chest, hate, malice - whatever you want to call it. It's supressed like the others, but that doesn't mean I can't feel it. A deep part of me swears right then and there: 'I'll find a way to get rid of these things, so no one has to suffer this again.'
"System, what is required to end the Grimm?"
Removing the Grimm is nearly imposible due to them being deeply routed in this plane of existence.
In order to get rid of the existence of the Grimm you would need to overrule the God of Drakness and God of Light, a feat only realistically achivalbe with divine authority equaling it.
Warning: Overruling their authority might be seen as a challenge and will likely cause them to return.
I stare at the screen and comprehend the information it gave me. First of the Gods of this world were real and they were scum. With all the power and authority of godhood they decided to create something as disgusting as these Grimm and then they didn't even stay on this world to see the havoc their creations caused. Worse, they are egotistical enough to return if they thought they were challenged on a world they literaly abandoned. That's the type of thing I'd expect Jackslash to do, not a God of LIGHT. My fury briefly flares, but it subsides not long after reappearing again. 'That seals it, if the system properly explained itself, I can grow to the level required to punish these two.' "Give me a quest related to it."
Generating Quest(s)...
...
Quests:
[Acension]
You have decided to eventually become a Goddess. You already have the most important part: a divine core. Now it's up to engrain yourself and what you stand for properly in it, as well as gain the necessary energy to ascend to Godhood.
-Restore the divine core back to full power
-Find your divine domains
Reward: Divine Evolution(s) become available
[A Grimm-Tale no more]
You have through your hatred for them come to the decison to kill all Gimm and prevent them from ever reforming. To do so you must overrule twin Gods of Light and Dark - can you do it?
-Overrule the Brother God's Power over Remnant
Reward: Divine Domain of related to the task
[Divine Retribution]
You have sworn to bring the Brother Gods to justice of your own choosing.
-Defeat the Brother Gods in combat and bring them to justice
Reward: ?
I didn't even feel incensed by it blatantly reading my thoughts this time - the quests were exactly what I wanted, they might be stupidly far away from me, but I'll strive to enact them, no matter how long it takes.
Doesn't mean I should waste time tough and with how long I've hidden in this office building it's time to leave. There were no Grimm nearby in a straight line from here to the battlefield, except for the one that found the yarn - I was able to check that much before cutting the connection. I soon leave the building with caution and make my way to the battlefield, I have a Grimm to kill, weapons to find or repair and burial to begin the preperation for. I sigh, 'My life isn't going be be easy anytime soon.'.
I don't own Worm or Parahuman in general, same goes for any other fictional world, like RWBY or Silksong, that will appear (directly or indirectly) in this story. All stories belong to their respective owners you can (probably) find by googling: [INSERT STORY/GAME NAME] owner. This is purely for my own amusement / need of a hobby. Plus whatever reasons others find to read this. Mentioned were: Worm/Parahumans (Earth Bet) and RWBY (Remnant).
End AN:
...and CUT!
That was Chapter 2: 1.2 Registration, about 4.000 to 5.000 words, which'll be usual chapter length for the forseeable future. I'll try to update every 1-2 weeks depends entiredly on my schedule.
I had some trouble getting the emotional parts of this chapter across properly, my main problem at first was that Weaver is pretty directionless right now, with only her morals to guide her. That'll obviously cause her to hate or fight the Grimm and by extension the Brother Gods for creating them. She sees the Brother Gods more akin to Nilbog or Bonesaw, people with great potential who turned to violence when they might have been able to help the world immensly. They were Parahuman long before her and have fearsome, untouchable power/rep. She is essentially already used to the concept of hating people with so much power it ain't even funny like the Siberian. Both because she knows there's always a bigger fish, like an Endbringer for example, and because of the numerous times capes have been stoped by others or even regular humans. Thus the personal quest to bring the Brother Gods to justice, to her they are just people with god-like powers, not actual gods (in the untouchable/unbeatable sense).
Next chapter should be a bit more Combat focused with a doze of power study and her finding her future main weapon, if it goes as planed.
Hope you like it, as always, constructive critizism and grammar checking is welcome.