Systematic Hunter - Chapter 3.2 (Patreon)

With as much as a gun nut Ruby was, Daiki half expected to be forking over a good hundred lien or so for dust rounds when they finally reached their destination.

But, that was not what happened.

When Ruby dragged him to her new favourite dust shop, instead of looking over the rather large selection of dust grades, the older girl in fact made a bee line for the magazine section at the back of the store.

"Oooh, weapon monthly!" the red tipped girl clapped excitedly as she browsed over the selection, silver eyes landing on a specific magazine and wasted no time in snatching it up.

Daiki raised an eyebrow at her.

She turned to him then, massive grin on her face and showed it off to him. It was just a simple black coloured magazine with what looked like various mecha-shift weapons spread over the front, "Good for you?" he replied and resisted the urge to shrug.

Ruby pouted, "You're the top of your year in the weapon smithing classes, how are you so clueless?" she asked, planting her hands on her hips, apparently his response was lacking still, "Weapon Monthly is usually Atlas only! The foremost pioneers of weapon technology in all of Remnant! I only got these magazines before that my uncle picked up every now and then when he was off on missions in that area!"

"That's not as big as an accomplishment on my part as you think, most of my classmates come from civilian backgrounds, I was raised by two licensed huntsmen," Daiki pointed out, he was pretty good when it came to designing and building weapons and the like but it was more of a by product of his parents teaching from a young age, "Good for you though." he added.

Somehow her pout became even more pronounced, "And here I thought someone might finally understand it, with how cool your weapons are and all."

"Sorry to disappoint." he replied and couldn't help but chuckle a bit.

"Meh, well whatever," Ruby shrugged it off and lifted the magazine up and began to excitedly flip through it, going through a quick browse, "Oooh, now this looks interesting." her eyes lit up once again with excitement.

And she stopped paying attention to him.

Well, that sucked.

Not a great thing to happen during a date.

Shrugging, Daiki decided to take a look around the shop himself. Though, there wasn't exactly a lot of variety after the magazine rack.

It was a dust shop after all.

So the vast majority of stock was dust.

The selection wasn't bad at all though he noted as he paused over a glass display case, 'This place sells up to Grade 5 huh?' he noted from the selection.

Not to mention the selection included both pure dust and processed dust cyrstals.

That was pretty good for an apparently pretty new dust shop.

As far as dust went, there were nine classified grades. From one to nine, starting with one being the weakest and nine being the most powerful and each grade was exponentially stronger than the one previous of it.

Not to mention way more pricey.

Grade one dust was generally what was used for standard ammo and household appliances like lamps, televisions and such. A small case of grade one dust, generally cost around twenty lien.

Where as a small box of grade two dust, generally cost around one hundred lien. And the prices just got crazier from there.

Granted he wasn't even sure how much a grade nine dust crystal would go for, he'd never even seen one for sale, all he knew was that a single bullet of it could bring down a Goliath.

Pricey as all hell though no doubt, even if he didn't know exactly how much. The only people with access to that kind of dust were probably the likes of James Ironwood or the Schnee Dust Corporation.

'Must be nice to have a strangle hold on the worlds only energy source.' Daiki snorted.

Honestly it was almost absurd that with all the technology in this world, they had yet to discover an alternate energy source like electricity.

A source anybody with a basic high school education in physics knew how to harness more or less in the world he lived in during his previous life.

'Now there's a thought.' Daiki paused and blinked.

He had taken physics classes in his previous life and knew all about electricity. Actually, it was kind of ironic he had a lightning based semblance now that he thought about it.

In his other life, he'd planned on becoming either a mechanic or an engineer and had studied towards that goal ever since he had his first physics class when he was twelve.

With two plus years of studying physics, he was pretty confident in his knowledge of electricity and most of its applications.

Actually, even beyond using electricity as an energy source, there was actually quite a lot more he could do with his semblance with a little experimenting for sure.

He lifted his hand up and called upon his semblance, static crackling to life between his fingers, '…If I modify the charge for instance, it shouldn't be too hard to figure out electro magnetism.' he mused.

A faint grin began to spread over his face.

'Maybe there's a lot more I can accomplish here than I initially thought.'

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"You know you didn't actually have to buy this for me," Ruby pointed out twenty minutes later when they left the dust shop behind, cradling the weapon monthly magazine to her chest, "I was just joking."

"It's just a magazine," he shrugged, even if a pricey one, it cost twenty lien after all, "And I did agree to it first." his hands were clasped behind his head as they walked down the streets of vale.

"Sure," she shrugged before smiling at him, "But thanks anyway."

"Don't mention it." he shrugged, a bit distracted.

His thoughts were swirling right now over what he thought of within the dust shop, 'Windmills, watermills and solar panels shouldn't be too hard to make some blue prints of.' he thought.

There was of course the option of burning gas and such for electricity, but Remnant was kind of fucked up enough without introducing the likes of gas or oil as energy sources as well.

It would take a long while before it expanded outside the kingdoms to any point and would be more a supplementary energy source to dust, but, that didn't mean there wouldn't a be lot of lien to be made from it.

'I just need a decent backer to help me with it and to patent it.' he mused.

"So, where to now?" Ruby broke him from his thoughts and he looked over to the the older girl smiling brightly at him, silver eyes glinting like gems, "We already did what I wanted, what do you want to do, this is a date after all." she reminded him.

"Anything's fine as long as it's with you," he replied almost instinctually, it was cliche and maybe a bit cringe to be honest, but even still, he felt a sense of accomplishment as Ruby's cheeks took a slight red tinge, "We could go get dinner, see a movie or even hit up an arcade if you want."

"Ooh, definitely arcade!" Ruby clapped, silver eyes lighting up even further with excitement, and dropped her magazine in the process, "Oops!"

"Arcade it is then." he grinned and was content to let the girl pull him along a second later once she picked up her magazine.

…Silver eyes huh?

'I wonder if I should fill her in?' he wondered as Ruby dragged him through the streets of Vale towards the nearest arcade.

He knew after all, exactly how she could use them and if she got started on it early, she'd be able to use her eyes against Grimm later on much more easily if she had the time to practice.

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"Wooh!" Ruby cheered as she stood up from where she was leaning down, the gun shaped controller in her hand being waved around happily, "And I win again!"

They were both stood in front of a rather large gaming booth decorated with depictions of various grimm. And the title House Of Grimm emblazoned in blood red writing at the top.

On the screen 'Player 2 Wins' floated in the middle of the screen in big bold letters.

For the third time in a row.

Daiki resisted the urge to sigh. He was a decent shot, more than passable, but it wasn't exactly his speciality. It was just support for his main approach to fighting.

"Well you are a sniper and the best shot in Signal, or were at least." he pointed out.

Put them in a sparring ring, no weapons, no semblances and he'd manhandle the older girl.

"Excuses, excuses!" Ruby giggled and teasingly stuck her tongue out at him and wiggled it, "Flattery will get you nowhere, even if it's true."

"Quite the ego on you for such a shorty." Daiki raised an eyebrow challengingly at her.

"Hey, I'm not short I'm five foot three, that's perfectly respectable!" Ruby retracted her tongue and pouted at him.

"Almost an entire foot shorter than me," Daiki smugly crossed his arms, "I'm six foot one and you're an entire three years older than me."

"Tch, big dumb giant!" she stuck her tongue out at him again.

He leaned down, smug smirk on his face, "Midget who's weapon is taller than her says what?" he replied.

"…What?" Ruby blinked, before realising what she sad, "Hey, that's not nice! Don't bring my baby into….what are you staring at?"

Indeed, he'd been staring right into her eyes. The thought had been plaguing him since before they entered the arcade now.

"You have really pretty eyes, you know?" Daiki told her.

Ruby leaned back, face flushing, "…Um, thanks?" she replied, blinking in a bit of confusion before shaking her head, "Hey, don't think you can just sweet talk me with little compliments like that, I'm not that easy!"

"Wouldn't be worth it if you were," he laughed, "But I do mean it, I've never seen anybody else in my life with silver eyes."

He'd decided to just tell her. There might be some suspicion thrown his way if it came up he was the one to tell her. But, a few simple excuses should be enough to take the heat off of him from that. Especially since, nobody would have anyway of confirming or denying the excuse he'd been crafting in the past two hours since they'd entered the arcade.

"You're totally throwing me off Daiki," Ruby huffed, "It's supposed to be the other way around you know, I'm the older one here, you're supposed to be going gaga over my mature womanly charms here."

"Sorry," he laughed, standing back up to his full height, "Though if it helps, didn't I already tell you you're the prettiest girl in Signal?" he pointed out.

"You did, but maybe that's just flattery, you haven't been acting like I'm that pretty," Ruby gave him a suspicious glance, "I mean, what about Yang?" she asked.

"You're hotter than your sister, at least to me," Daiki replied without missing a beat.

"Hmm…" Ruby eyed him, studying his expression for a moment, before nodding, a small pleased smile spreading across her face, "Alright, apology accepted."

"Thanks I guess." Daiki shrugged and rolled with it.

Actually, to be honest. He wasn't the biggest fan of Yang Xiao Long. She was the epitome of a cock tease before, she strut around like she owned the place, led a bunch of buys along and then got violent if they tried anything with her.

And she got away with it because Qrow and Taiyang were teachers at Signal.

…And that dislike of her had only multiplied ever since he gained the memories of his other life. And what he learned she'd turn out like. A violent, ungrateful sociopathic, selfish, ignorant, lying, traitorous bitch.

She was even worse than that self righteous whiny former White Fang scum of a partner of hers.

"Hmm, what should we do now?" Ruby asked, changing the subject and breaking him from his thoughts, "Actually, what time is it?"

Deciding to check, Daiki reached into his pocket and pulled out his scroll and looked at the screen, "Just coming up for five." he informed.

Huh

Ruby blinked before her eyes widened, "Oh crap!" she exclaimed, "I'm supposed to be home by six, dad wants to talk to me and Yang about something tonight after dinner."

"Fair enough," Daiki shrugged, "How about I walk you to the bullhead?"

"You don't need to do that, I can get there alright myself." she shook her head.

"I want to though," he pointed out, "The date doesn't end until we split up after all."

Ruby blinked, "Hmm…" she peered up at him before shrugging a second later, "Well, okay I guess."

Moments later, they were leaving the arcade behind and heading towards the nearest bullhead station so the older girl could head home for the night.

"You know," Daiki struck up conversation as they walked, "My mom used to tell me stories about people with silver eyes."

It was time to put his little plan into motion.

"Eh?" Ruby gave him an odd look, "What do you mean stories? Like fairy tales?"

"Something like that, though real according to her," Daiki replied, "She apparently grew up with a girl who had silver eyes and her dad who had them as well."

"That's cool," Ruby grinned a little, "The only other person I heard about who had eyes like mine was my mom, hey actually! Maybe our parents knew each other!"

"Maybe," he agreed, actually that wasn't outside the realm of possibility, Qrow seemed to know of his parents earlier now that he thought about it, "Thing is, my mom told me people with silver eyes are really special."

"Well, I am pretty good with my scythe these days." Ruby's grin widened.

"True, but I don't mean like that," Daiki laughed, "What I mean is, according to my mom, people with silver eyes have a special power in their eyes that kill grimm."

"Eh, really? Like laser eyes?" Ruby cocked her head to the side and wondered aloud, "That would be awesome!"

"Actually, you're not far off," Daiki admitted, making the older girl freeze and stare at him wide eyed, "It's some kind of emotional based power my mom said, she apparently trained with this girl she knew a lot growing up. There's like light or something inside people with silver eyes apparently."

"…Awesome!" Ruby practically vibrated in spot, before latching onto his arm "How do do it? Tell me! Tell me! Tellmetellmetellme!" she asked rapidly.

"And you're supposed to be the older one here." he snorted.

"Hey, hey this is different, this is laser eyes we're talking about here," Ruby pouted, "Don't make me put you over my knee little boy!"

"I'd rather put you over mine." he shot back.

A luminescent flush spread across her cheeks once more, but she held her ground, "You're a nasty flirt huh," Ruby huffed, "I'll remember that for later, but for now I'm more interested in laser eyes."

Daiki laughed, "Alright, alright," he said placatingly, he was honestly more surprised she was believing him from the get go so easily, but then, she was that type of girl wasn't she? "According to my mom, silver eyes are used for preserving life and protecting people and only work against the Grimm, it's kind of like a hereditary semblance I guess. I don't know all the details, but emotion wise, I think you're supposed to think of like protecting people and life and the like over actually destroying the grimm."

"Hmm…that seems weird," Ruby frowned a bit, "And hard."

"It's just a story I heard from my mom and people she grew up with," Daiki shrugged, "I don't even know if it's true or not, but if it is, it would be awesome right."

"Super awesome!" Ruby agreed, "Well, I'm not opposed to trying it out at least, you wanna help?"

"Sounds fun," Daiki nodded in agreement, "How about you come by my place when you have the time and we can train a bit together."

"Fine with me, even besides that sparring with someone almost as fast as me will be super good training!" Ruby giggled happily, "And I'll have a lot of free time now that I'm done with Signal!"

"It'll have to wait for like a week or so though," Daiki added, "I'm gonna be a bit busy over the next week."

Not only with training, but also waiting on Qrow getting back to him so he could get his hands on a Sea Feilong.

And not to mention, he had to look into drawing up some papers about harnessing electricity and maybe a few rough diagrams and blue prints for windmills and such.

'Though, the question is, who will I get to back me?' he wondered. He didn't have the money to do it solo. So he would need a backer.

And a powerful one at that so he could avoid anyone trying to hammer him down.

"That's fine, I can wait a bit I guess," Ruby hummed, "Oh, though we should totally exchange scroll numbers and keep in contact!"

"Isn't it supposed to be the guy that asks for the girls number?" Daiki teased.

"I'm a progressive gal, what can I say?" Ruby puffed her chest out pridefully.

And what a chest it was. She was definitely the sister of Xiao Long, that was for sure.

It wasn't long later before they reached the bullhead station, "I guess this is it for now," Ruby mused as he walked her right up to the bullhead designated to Patch, "Thanks for today, I had a lot of fun." she beamed at him.

"Same, for my first date ever, it was great." Daiki nodded. Well, first date in this world at least.

"It was your first date too, same!" Her eyes lit up and she laughed, "And here I was thinking with how easy you were taking it that you'd been on tons."

"Nope," Daiki shrugged and smirked, "I just had incentive to make a good impression." he added with a wink.

"It was fun, though next time, we should share a box of cookies," Ruby nodded, and paused for a moment a hesitant look appearing on her face for a few seconds, before it was abruptly replaced with resolve, "Thanks for inviting me and can't wait to get started on training with you next week." she said, before surprising him and standing up on her tip toes and pressing a quick chaste kiss against his cheek.

Before promptly exploding into a shower of rose petals that shot off inside the bullhead out of sight.

Daiki blinked, before reaching up to touch his cheek, "Huh." he uttered, the smirk on his face dimming down into a small pleased smile.

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When Ruby made it home roughly half an hour later, there was a wide smile on her face and a skip in her step.

"Looks like somebodies in a good mood," her sister Yang commented from the living room couch as she skipped her way inside, raising a blonde eyebrow at her, "Where have you been all day? Qrow came back without you and said you were off playing around in Vale or something." her sister asked, raising a bottle of water in her hand to her mouth and taking a swig of it.

"I was on a date." Ruby happily chirped back in reply and skipped on by straight to the kitchen.

The water that had just entered Yang's mouth erupted in a spray of shock, a choking cough leaving the blondes lips, "D-date?!" she sputtered, utterly stupefied.