Inception Of A Grimm Soul - Chapter 2.2 (Patreon)

Stares glares and whispers followed Cobalt on his journey to the library and even for most of his stay there.

It was actually fucking annoying, annoying enough to make him want to summon Mike again just to get them to piss off and let him study in piece. Thankfully, Mike wasn't needed and a simple glare sent most of them running away.

Honestly, he was probably going to summon Mike a lot more often now anyway now that the cat was out of the bag. Mike was the first ever summon Cobalt ever gained. He was the reason why Cobalt had unlocked his aura as a child in the first place. A baby, straggler of a beowolf that had slipped into the city and come across him huddling in a cardboard box as shelter. In the struggle, with his life on the line, Cobalt's aura had awakened on instinct, enhancing him just enough to stab a shard of glass up into the at the time un-named Beowolf's head and into its brain killing it. And his semblance alongside his aura had awakened and on instinct, he'd absorbed the beowolf grimm, turning it from an it to Mike, and taking him for his own.

His semblance, he called it Shadow Monarch. the shadows of the streets and alleyways at night used to terrify him, but with Mike as a beginning, things had slowly changed for him. He'd conquered that fear, and become the ruler of anything he killed should he desire it. Thus, he named his semblance Shadow Monarch.

Cobalt looked up from the book he was reading and stared up at the ceiling wistfully. Back then, things were hard, so very hard. But he recalled fondly, summoning Mike to protect him before he got strong, and cuddling the grimm to keep warm at night.

"Well now, you made quite the stir earlier didn't you?" a voice spoke up from behind Cobalt, breaking him from this thoughts.

He turned and found a very tall and familiar clad clan in a black suit, a green scarf, with messy white hair and casually sipping from a steaming mug. Professor Ozpin, the Headmaster of Beacon Academy and the man whom had invited him to Beacon a whole year early upon witnessing his skills in person.

Most other students would probably have the good graces to be embarrassed for what he pulled, or repentant in some form at least, "They were irritating me," Cobalt was not any of those, "Especially that weakling Winchester thinking he's hot shit just because Velvet didn't want to cause trouble for his team."

"I don't fault you for finding the situation displeasing, and believe me Mr. Winchester will be facing disciplinary action," Ozpin hummed, "But, escalating violence to that degree and outright threats of murder are not in anyway a viable way to bring out equality."

Cobalt snorted, "You've got the wrong idea here Professor, I don't give a shit about equality, I just care about things that annoy me," he replied, "That pansy shit in the dining hall? That was pathetic and annoying all in one, even more so because that idiot was getting away with it because of Velvet not wanting to get her friends in trouble."

"And most of the reasons Team Coffee got into trouble for, so to did the ones harassing young Velvet," the headmaster pointed out, "The system is not perfect at all, but there reasons why we must do it like this."

Cobalt sighed, "Look professor, as grateful as I am for your offer to let me come here, I'm not changing who I am," he replied, standing up from his seat, "If people do outrageous shit that pisses me off, I'm gonna tell them to stop. If they refuse to, then I'll get violent. I don't care about diplomacy or equality or any of that nonsense. If that's unacceptable, you can expel me and I'll go." Winchester was getting fed to Mike though if he did.

"Hmm," Ozpin took another sip of his drink, peering at him over the mug, "No I don't think I will. If I expelled every student who made a death threat to another during their time here, well there would be a lot less hunters around. I am not saying to change who you are, but a little restraint would not be missed, I know for a fact that you could subdue Mr. Winchester, but chose instead satisfy your need for retribution upon him."

"I could have, and you're right," Cobalt agreed, "I wanted to punch him, so I did."

Ozpin merely nodded, "I expected as much," he noted, "But, do be careful won't you? Playing the advocate of both races, means that I also must note the faults of both as well. Not all faunus are innocent victims like Miss Scarlatina, your threats may galvanize others seeking retribution and use your name to get their way."

Hmm, Cobalt actually hadn't thought of that. But, the solution was simple, "If they do that, I'll give them the same treatment I gave Cardin." he gave his simple answer.

Ozpin sighed, but a small smile spread across his face and he shook his head, "I suppose that will be the best I get from you," he replied, before shrugging lightly, "Very well. As for your punishment, you are barred from student gym for the next week, I know how much time you like spending there after all, that should be sufficient. Good night Mr. Stone."

The headmaster turned on his heel and walked away then and Cobalt's eye twitched. Ozpin truly was a very smart man. Detention, he wouldn't have cared, it would just have been extra study time anyway. But now, a whole week without being able to use the specialised equipment for his training!?

With a huff, Cobalt sat back down at the table he was previously seated at, determined to get some studying done. 'When I face Winchester in combat class, I'm gonna break his fucking legs.' he vowed.

"Was that Professor Ozpin?" a certain white haired girl asked, walking up to his table.

Cobalt resisted the urge to sigh and smack his head into the table. He just wanted to study for crying out loud!

Cobalt looked up from his book to meet her eyes, "No that was his evil moustache twirling twin, hellbent on destroying all good in the world and spitting on puppies." he sarcastically replied, rolling his eyes.

"Hmm, sarcasm, cute," a fine white eyebrow rose up at his words, "I suppose then he was handling your punishment for that absurdly brutish display in the dining hall?"

"What's it to you Schnee?" he asked, annoyed. He almost regretted pulling the shit he did now considering how much it was going to cut into his preparations for getting stronger and studying.

"Schnee? I thought I was Weiss after combat class?" she questioned, sardonically. She shook her head then, "As for what it's to me? Well, nothing too much. I thought it was quite admirable what you did, though incredibly brutish and ill thought out, violence isn't always the answer you know."

Well, some praise was better than no praise, "I know it isn't," Cobalt shrugged plastering a smirk across his face, "Violence is the question, and the answer is yes."

"How very witty of you," Weiss snorted, crossing her arms, "Trust me on this matter, violence will only get you so far. But I'm not here to discuss any of that."

Despite what he may broadcast, Cobalt knew that already, but it would take care most of his problems at a combat school, "Then why are you bothering me?" he asked, "I'm trying to study." at this point, he'd be better just taking out a bunch of books and bringing them to his dorm where he could get some peace and quiet.

The older white haired girl pulled back the chair at the opposite end of the table from him and sat down, "I'd ask if I could join you, politeness and all that, but I'm sure you don't care abut that," she said, and she was spot on, "As far for why I'm here. It is simply to follow up on that advice you gave me earlier, and..to ask about your semblance."

Alright, that was a better reason than the gawking all the other idiots were doing Cobalt could respect someone wanting to better themselves, "Alright," he sighed once more, closing the book in front of him over, he'd come back to it later, "What do you want to know?" and if he was lucky, she'd actually get good enough to be a worthy sparring partner. There was only so much he could learn and improve on fighting Mike and the Alpha Pack, the group of Alpha Beowolf summons Mike led over and over again.

A slight smile appeared on the girls face at his acceptance, "Thank you," she dipped her head politely, "I want to ask if you could expound open what you said earlier about learning to use my skills more and gain more experience."

"It's as simple as I said," Cobalt shrugged, it really was that straightforward, "The more you fight, the more your skills will become second nature rather than something you need to focus on. The more opponents with differing fighting styles you take on, the more you'll experience and instinctually learn to respond to and counter without having to think it through and come up with a plan."

"I see," Weiss hummed, "You said I should spar with my teammates and fight grimm in the Emerald Forest, but how should I go about that?"

Cobalt blinked, confused, "...Just that?" he answered, "Ask your friends to spar with you and fight them multiple times each a day. Hell, you're close to Nikos' team right? Ask them to spar with you as well. That's seven different people with different fighting styles, and as for the Grimm literally just go out into the forest and fight and kill as many of them as possible before you get exhausted and then come back, and then repeat that over and over." that was how he got good, he'd been fighting his way up from scraps on the street as a toddler and hitting up any spots where grimm tended to get in near the City of Vale, granted it was mostly all general Grimm that ended up getting in, as much as he'd have loved to get find the stronger and older variants.

"It's that simple?" Weiss asked, cocking her head to the side curiously.

"It's that simple." he confirmed, "To get combat experience, take part in combat as much as possible, training and going through stances and such will only get you so far. Live combat will force you to think less and act more on instinct."

"Hmm, I suppose that won't be too hard to accommodate into my schedule, though I will perhaps need to bring someone with me to the Emerald Forest just in case it seems I will get overwhelmed, perhaps a team outing?" she tapped her chin as she mused about her plans out loud, she shook her head after a moment and gave Cobalt her attention once more, "Now about your semblance."

"What about it?" Cobalt asked, raising an eyebrow at her. Other than how amazing his semblance was, he didn't really see what she could be interested in it for. Perhaps maybe to test out fighting his summons?

Ah, how how wished he hadn't just rushed the initiation test. He'd upon being launched propelled himself as far as possible towards the end of the forest using his weapons and then summoned Mike and the Alpha Pack and had them sniff out the temple ruins where the relics had been located and rushed back, being the first to do so and having not even encountered a partner upon the way.

If he had stuck around, he could have possibly gotten his hands on an Elder Deathstalker and a Giant Nevermore, they would have been quite the boon to his forces, especially the Giant Nevermore, a massive flight capable mount like that would be amazing to have. God he couldn't wait to take some missions outside the kingdom, where more types of grimm roamed, like the massive Goliath Grimm! The second he saw one of those he was going to go all in and kill it with everything he had!

"It's similar to an aspect of the Schnee family semblance," the white haired girl revealed, peaking Cobalt's interest, "I do not know the limits of your semblance, but as far as summoning speed goes, it is quite a bit superior to my families semblance when it comes to summoning foes we have defeated. I was hoping to compare notes with you, I am having trouble using that aspect of my semblance and thought you may be able to provide aid on that front."

Interesting, so her semblance not only allowed to make glyphs that effected gravity itself, augment with dust, use as platforms and boost her speed, it also allowed her to summon defeated foes like his own?

What an absurdly overpowered semblance.

"Your semblance is utterly bullshit overpowered," Cobalt snorted and despite his profanity, Weiss preened under the compliment, "Well sure I don't mind helping you I guess, I don't see why not, though there is something I'd like you to do for me in return." there was a certain skill she had access to that was expensive to train, especially without those with knowledge on the skill giving training for it. She had the knowledge and the resources to let him train with it.

He had a nice little nest egg that he'd built up working for Junior for just over two years that could have let him get some training done with it without help, but while the skill would be helpful, it wasn't the be all and end all and not something he'd considered using up his nest egg for when he could invest it or something instead.

Cobalt had actually been pondering what to invested his nest egg in for a while now. That clown Torchwick was causing quite the ruckus recently stealing dust in mass amounts and stocks in local dust companies was lowering rapidly while dust itself went up in prices. He had no idea why, the guy usually preferred to keep a real low profile, but that might not be a bad idea to take advantage of, or he could even invest in Junior's clubs, there could be a pretty lien to make there.

"As long as it isn't something nefarious, I don't see why not, it would be uncouth of me to expect help from you without giving anything in return." Weiss nodded in acceptance.

"Nothing like that," Cobalt waved her off, "I'm just not well off, so I can't afford the tutors or the dust. What I want to learn is some dust casting, and like I said, you're top notch when it comes to it, best I've ever seen and on top of that you've got pretty much exclusive access to as much dust as you want right? So, I want you to teach me how to dust cast."

"Hmm," Weiss hummed, narrowing her eyes at him and studying. She kept that up for a moment before shrugging, "Very well, I don't see why not. I have plenty of low grade dust crystals that I use for practice, it shouldn't be a bother, though if I'm providing them and dust casting training, I want you to specifically oversee the other training you said I would have to do to cover my lacking abilities."

It was amazing how she could casually write off even dust crystals like that. Even the lowest grade basic element dust crystals ranged from twenty to thirty lien per one.

"The physical conditioning?" he asked, quirking an eyebrow.

"Indeed." the white haired girl nodded primly.

"That's fine," Cobalt smiled, "That's what I'm best at, I doubt you'll find anyone at this academy in better physical condition than I am." While he'd be unable to use the equipment of the student gym himself, it should be fine for him to coach her through it.

Hmm, he should probably teach her some basic close combat quarters techniques while he was at it.

"Then we have an accord." Weiss smiled happily at him.