"Beware the seeds you sow and the crops you reap. Do not curse God for the punishment you inflict upon yourself."
***
Unknown Place in the Void
In the long hall, there were tens, if not hundreds, of doors, all leading to unknown places across myriad dimensions and realities. The floor was white, and the entire place gave off a very weird feeling of surrealism and uncertainty, yet at the same time, it also conveyed the finality of choice.
The sole notable thing in the seemingly infinite corridor was one table, with one man sitting behind a rather ordinary-looking office desk, which gave this entire place an even weirder look than it was before.
He was a blonde man with a slicked hairstyle, looking around someone in his thirties, yet the feeling around him was vastly different, as if he was much, much older than he looked. His demeanor was saying so...
His attire included a beige sweater and a light blue colored shirt with a red tie. He wore a pair of brown, coffee-colored dress pants along with a pair of brown shoes. Like an average Japanese salaryman, he wore rectangular-framed glasses that only deepened the man's immersion.
He also appears to be quite fond of coffee and cigars, judging by the fact that he was constantly drinking coffee and smoking cigars, aside from reading a newspaper.
"Soul Number X-185-157-99745164994 from Dimension Code Number: Primordial Earth X-185."
He tapped on the wooden table with his finger, and a translucent figure or appearance of a man appeared in front of him, like a ghost.
"For the Merit you have achieved for your World, Dimension Code Number: Primordial Earth X-185, you have been awarded with the possibility of Gacha Karmic Reincarnation if you wish for the choice. If not, then you could enter the eternal rest of the afterlife."
The man behind the table folded the newspaper he was reading and looked up at the person who had appeared before him.
This was the usual procedure with the reincarnation for the extraordinary individuals who achieved great feats during their lives.
If they have enough Merit, then the afterlife; if they have tremendous Merit, then reincarnation; and if their Merit is out of the standards, then they obtain a chance for guided reincarnation.
"Sirius Grey, Merit Grade: Golden Law, Karma Points: 100,000,000."
Sirius Grey, as he was called during his life, looked shocked, though that would be a severe underestimation of his feelings.
"How?... shouldn't that be reserved for the Saints and others? How do you say it... Good people?"
He didn't really understand because he was very far from the definition of a good person.
Merchant of Death, they called him.
He was a weapons developer and military-industrialist who pushed the limits of Earth's weapons technology for decades and began developing various weapons that were shown only in science fiction.
When he was younger, he became obsessed with weapons and decided to bring the concept of sci-fi weapons into reality; after several years of research, he achieved his goal, and the world was really fortunate for him.
Fortunately for him, the 21st Century was filled with several Civil Wars and also World War III, which allowed him to expand his military-industrial complex because the era of peace had ended around the time when he was twenty years old, and till then, there was only war.
Which was good actually, because the Western Forces, which was a new geopolitical block that was created with the dissolution of NATO and the European Union, were buying everything that he produced.
This, in turn, further financed his research, allowing him to create even more destructive and advanced weapons that were revolutionizing how Earth functioned and society.
His company built everything, ranging from the ordinary Lasguns to large Plasma Artillery to Personal Shielding Technology that forced people to return to close combat, as the personal shields were almost impenetrable to conventional firepower.
And that didn't mention the countless human experiments he sanctioned in pursuit of advancing the evolution of mankind. When it became widely known that the shielding technology was so advanced that people were resorting to close-combat fighting with cold weapons such as swords and spears, it opened another field of technology.
Genetic Enhancement of the baseline humanity to superhuman levels. Indeed, he wasn't a genetics expert, but he was very smart and worked with many of the best geneticists on the planet. In his later years, he was obsessed with creating a superhuman or supersoldiers like in Marvel.
Soon enough, they discovered ways to create supersoldiers and superhumans one way or another. This only propelled the path of human evolution to a greater degree than anybody could have ever foreseen.
"Indeed, that should normally be the case, but at the same time, approximately fifteen years after your death, Earth was found by an advanced extraterrestrial species called Skriiin, and war broke out. While the aliens were technologically advanced and far more numerous, Earth, thanks to the technological breakthroughs of Blackstar Industries and the Earthly militaries, was far better prepared to defend against the Skriiin invasion. As a result, they defeated most of the Skriiin, captured much of their technology, and reverse-engineered it. In the end, it was thanks to that, Earth survived and was not harvested like most of the species that were conquered and destroyed by the Skriiin."
The more now-named Sirius Grey listened, the more astonished they remained. It was weird to hear that everything he had built and made, in the end, proved beneficial to mankind and Earth.
He would never have thought that this would be the outcome of all his research and his life's work, Blackstar Industries. In the end, his corporation saved the human civilization of Earth one way or another, which was a pretty weird feeling.
Part of him didn't really know how to feel about this newfound information because it seemed that he would be immortalized on Earth as some kind of hero who indirectly saved their entire civilization.
"Now, that should probably answer the question. Now, for the next, reincarnation or eternal rest?"
The man had a small wooden plate with his name written in an ornamental metal font that appeared to be gold.
Murasaki.
Rather a weird name if someone were to ask him, because he didn't think that the person who was most probably for reincarnating the individuals would have some sort of Japanese name, but he had to admit that it sounded a bit intimidating, coupled with his entire appearance.
Naturally, Sirius didn't dwell on that fact for long and chose reincarnation because he wanted to live even more and gain power.
Which was something that had been his obsession for a very long time already. That was the main reason why he sanctioned countless human experiments that were aimed at discovering the secrets of the human genome and enhancing the genetics of the baseline human.
Becoming superhuman and obtaining real power was his dream and goal, and of course...
Immortality.
Sirius was afraid of death, and he wanted to live forever, but unfortunately, Fate was cruel to him, and he died from a genetic disease that couldn't be cured even with the most advanced technology.
Now that he had the opportunity, he wanted to fulfill his goal, obtain as much power as possible, and preferably live forever.
Till the End Times.
At the same time, he really wanted to live in another way than just conducting research on weapons or the weapons of mass destruction, like he had done for the past forty years or so.
"You can use the Merit to play the Karmic Gacha. Ordinary Spin - 1 million Karma Points, Premium Spin - 10 Million Karma Points and Super Spin 50 - Million Karma Points. Through the Gacha, you can obtain practically everything, ranging from the ability to the world where you can be reincarnated."
Murasaki said as he put down his cigar and looked at him, while Sirius was deeply thinking.
"Is there a way of getting more Karma Points, right here and now?"
Sirius asked because, even though he had 100 Million Karma Points, he was pretty tempted to go for the Super Spins for the 50 Million Karma Points... if they were so pricy, the rewards in there should be pretty great.
"Technically yes... You can choose to go into the much more difficult starting world, and depending on the difficulty, you will be awarded an appropriate amount of Karma Points. Obviously, you would be choosing the world on blind... or else it wouldn't be the fun."
Murasaki said as several pitch-black metal cards appeared in front of Sirius, each with various values.
1 Million.
5 Million.
10 Million.
20 Million.
40 Million
50 Million.
60 Million.
100 Million.
And even more.
He looked at the cards, and because he couldn't really see which worlds were there, it would undoubtedly be much greater difficulty as he tapped on the 60 Million Card. He felt that it was a bit more than 60 Million Karma Points, and it would give him one Super Spin and some ordinary Spins or one Premium Spin.
At the same time, it wasn't really that high a number, which was another kind of added bonus. He wasn't afraid of the challenge, and he was confident in his capabilities in surviving the unknown.
He also wanted to get as many benefits from this entire meeting as possible, because he felt it was either a one-time thing or immensely impossible to get here again.
"RWBY: Grimdark Verse of Bloody Evolution."
He read as soon as additional information appeared on the Card, as this was the world he would be reincarnated into.
[World: RWBY
Type: Grimdark, Bloody Evolution, Ultimate Apocalypse
Description: In the Grim Darkness of the 10th Millennium, there is only... a war. The Eldritch God of Light and the Eldritch God of Darkness both died, and their decayed forms created untold horrors and wonders as they fell to the Remnant and assimilated by the world.
The world is filled with Magic and super-evolved Grimm, with humanity fighting for their survival every single day. One's lineage decides everything, the fate of a person for the entire life.
There is no hope, there is only a war.]
Yoops...
This was really positive news.
Nevertheless, overall, it wasn't actually that bad.
Probably.
He didn't know what the hell RWBY was; he had some vague idea that some decades ago, it was a pretty popular franchise, but that was probably everything that he knew about it. Not like he had time for anything not related to his work, because Sirius Grey was a workaholic and his life was his work.
"Your Ballance is at 160 Million Karma Points. Do you wish to spin? One note of warning. Every power has a price, and nothing is free. Even the things in the highest category could have some... let's say side effects, shall we?... And it should be prudent to mention that not all things drawn from Gacha would be giving you 'easy time'..."
Sirius visibly grimaced as he didn't like the implications of Murasaki's words even a bit. He could see that there was no free lunch in the world, something he was very familiar with and knew the principle pretty well.
Though this was the first time in many decades that he was on the receiving end of negative things.
Nevertheless, he nodded as he decided to go for the Super Spin straight away, as he noticed that his Karma Points were reduced to 110,000,000.
Soon enough, the golden gramdmist wheel of the Gacha appeared in front of him and started spinning at staggering speed before it stopped at one particular thing.
[Template: Ardyn Izunia / Ardyn Lucis Caelum
Origin: Final Fantasy XV
Template Type: Complete
Using the Template, User will Template of Ardyn Izunia, including all Abilities and Bloodline Powers, not limited to: Starscourge, Armiger, Warp Teleportation, and other talents.
NOTE 1: This is a complete version, meaning it contains traces of Divine.
NOTE 2: Template's ability adjusted to the selected world. Abilities are also removed of their side effects and can be used to their maximum potential.
NOTE 3: The Complete version contains the merger of everything, including appearance, character, and ego. If the User is mentally not strong enough, he may be assimilated by the Template instead, lose his personality and become the character of the Template.]
On the one hand, there was good news: there won't be any side effects from the ability, and from the description, it sounded pretty powerful. Especially if the abilities were of Divine Origin, it then meant that this had some really serious potential.
Yet, the NOTE 3 was equally disturbing the more he read bout it.
He thought over the warning Murasaki had given him, and it was indeed true... everything came with a price... which he could accept. Even though there was a risk of getting assimilated and losing his own personality, now that he had spent one-third of his precious Karma Points, there was no real chance that he would not be using this Template.
It was already beyond precious considering the amount of Karma Points that he used on it.
He could only very vaguely remember the character, because he played the game when he was young, but that was several decades ago, and his memory of it was already pretty murky.
"We can proceed to the next spin."
Murasaki's voice sounded through the emptiness of the space, as Sirius pondered what to do next. The being's facial expression didn't change a bit, but there was a hint of amusement and interest in it as he observed the soul of Sirius Grey doing the Gacha Spins.
"Do a Premium Spin."
Sirius said as his Karma Points dropped to exactly 100,000,000 Karma Points.
[Asura-Style Slaughter Swordsmanship
Origin: World Apocalypse Online
Type: Complete, Knowledge
Description: User obtains the knowledge on the Asura King Sword Swordsmanship Style that would be automatically uploaded into his mind upon activation of the Information Card.
Asura King Sword Swordsmanship Style is a swordsmanship developed by the ??? Asura ??? on the ???. The more user kills, the more slaughter he causes, the stronger the User becomes. The entire Swordsmanship style is centered on killing and slaughter as fast and efficiently as possible.
NOTE 1: The User only obtains all information, not the experience or the skill itself, outright.
NOTE 2: If the User's mental fortitude is not strong enough, he may succumb to the slaughter aura itself and lose all of his rationality.]
Reading the description of the second thing that he obtained from the Gacha, made Sirius seriously twitch his brows in annoyance as he looked at the Murasaki, who was only smoking his cigar and not saying anything.
Though from the glint in his eyes, it was more than evident that the man was immensely enjoying the show. He obtained another Spin that was pretty useful yet extremely dangerous if used carelessly.
"100,000,000 Karma Points remaining."
Murasaki said as he puffed out some smoke.
"Do 5 Premium Spins."
Siirious already calculated how he would distribute the spins. Five Premiums and one Super Spin.
[User obtained a pair of Pure-Blooded Elder Gyrinxes, one male specimen and one female specimen.]
[User obtained Legacy of Magitek of Niflfheim Empire.]
[User obtained World Adjustment: Astrals.]
[User obtained Device: Rakshasa Blade.]
[User obtained Lukifer Synergy Blueprint.]
Sirius then looked through the five things that he drew out as he clicked on the first one.
Obviously, all the things that he obtained through the gacha would be given to him only after he arrived at the Remnant, with the exception of the Template, because he would need to accept it right now.
Apparently, it was a bonus from Murasaki for the nasty side effect of the Template.
[Elder Gyrinx (Pure-Blooded)
Origin: Warhammer 40K Universe
Description: A Gyrinx resembles a large Terran domestic cat, with very thick and fluffy ginger or orange fur and bright blue eyes. They can grow up to a metre in length. They are fully sentient and have an astounding ability to empathise with other creatures, forming a mental bond with their owner that is comparable to true friendship.
This mental empathy is of great benefit to the creature's owner, whose own speed of thought and action are actually improved while the Gyrinx is in close proximity.]
Well, this was nice, he always loved cats, and throughout his entire life, he always had pet cats, so it seemed that he would have a family and companions in the same one. He liked the cats very much, and felines were his favourite type of animal, together with wolves and snakes.
At the same time, having a powerful Magical Familiar seemed to be a great bonus and would be a good starting point for him.
[Legacy of the Magitek of the Niflheim Empire
Origin: Final Fantasy XV
Description: User obtains knowledge containing all information about the Magitek developed by the Niflheim Empire and all scientific research on it.]
Another piece of knowledge... and, fortunately, enough, this one came without anything negative, which was almost too suspicious if he was being truthful. However, having access to the knowledge of the entire civilization was something that was immensely useful in building his own backround.
Coupled with his superior intelligence and research background, he believed he would also be able to quickly comprehend Magitek and use it to his advantage. He predicted that this knowledge could serve as his foundation in the world of Remnant and bring him wealth and power, as on Earth.
[World Adjustment: Astrals
Origin Final Fantasy XV
Description: The Gods that walk among Us.]
He stared blankly at the description of the drawer, as this was the final thing.
"What the fuck is this?!"
He shouted at the smoking man, who suddenly grinned.
"Oh? I didn't mention it before? My mistake... well, during the draws, there are also a lot of things that are either straight negative or neutral, like the World Adjustment. Which basically means that the world where you are going changed once again for better or for good..."
Hearing that created a separate need in Sirius to really punch Murasaki, who answered nonchalantly as he kept smoking his cigar and reading a newspaper dated 1944 from Imperial Japan.
"A lot of things that could be drawn out of the Gacha could make the world more dangerous... Didn't I warn you about that earlier?"
Sirius looked at him for a few seconds, before he clicked on the two last things that needed explanation. He knew that there was no point in arguing with the being, because he wasn't in a position to argue or negotiate in the first place.
[Device: Rakshasa Blade
Origin: Final Fantasy XV / Rakudai Kishi no Cavalry
Description: A sword that has stayed at Ardyn's side for roughly two thousand years, flying forth at his command. One half of a pair, the Rakshasa Blade was forged alongside the Blade of the Mystic, beloved blade of Ardyn's younger brother Somnus Lucis Caelum. Rakshasa Blade is a crimson-red sword that excludes red miasma, which is extremely dangerous to anything alive.
NOTE: The sword has been adjusted to act as a Blazer Device. It's a soul-bound weapon that has growth attributes and could grow with the User.]
Finally, there was something good, and at least, depending on where he would be dropped, because he started to have feelings that it won't go according to the plan, he would have at least a means of defending himself.
The weapon seemed to be pretty powerful just from the description alone, and considering all of the things, especially the fact that he obtained Swordmanship Inheritance, he would be able to use it in combat state pretty soon enough.
[Lukifer Synergy Blueprint
Origin: Absolute Duo
Description: Lukifer is a red, scientifically engineered chemical that serves as the cornerstone of the Exceed transformation. Injected into the body, this advanced nanotechnology triggers profound physical and mental enhancements, allowing individuals to transcend their natural limitations. It empowers the user to manifest their soul into a Blaze, a weapon that reflects their innermost desires and will.
Lukifer does more than enhance the physical form; it connects deeply with the soul, fostering a fusion of strength, resilience, and spiritual energy. Through this process, the user not only develops heightened abilities but also steps into a realm beyond human capability, embodying the essence of an Exceed.
NOTE: Ingredients for the Lukifer have been adjusted to suit the RWBY verse.]
The last thing was equally problematic for him, because once again, it was just a piece of knowledge...
Sirius also realized that Lukifer fit perfectly into the theme of the RWBY: Grimdark, according to the description, and could be used to increase his power in a short span of time or obtain new, unique abilities.
Though the huge disadvantage was that this was only a blueprint, and he would need to conduct research, trials, and gather the resources for it by himself. Which was evidently going to be a total pain in the ass.
"Now, only 50 Million Karma Points remain. Do you wish to make the final spin?"
Murasaki asked if Sirius was finished with digesting all of the information about the things that he obtained from the gacha, and gave the man a nod.
"Super Spin."
Right now, he seriously hoped that he would get something really good and something that won't fuck him over. Soon enough, the gacha grandmist wheel stopped, as even the manager was rather surprised by the sudden development.
"Well, well, well... it seems that we would see each other more... what a surprising development."
Sirius could tell that Murasaki was really surprised by this development.
[User obtained Karmic Contract.
Description: Once in a while, a user would be summoned to the Void for the meeting and could spend Karmic Points on the Gacha.]
That was the last thing he saw before Murasaki grinned, puffed out more smoke, and everything went blank.
***
Remnant, Unknown Location
The good news was that he had managed to assimilate the Template to some degree, and aside from his physical body looking very different and an occasional, flamboyant voice sounding in his mind, everything was going rather well.
One of the added benefits of the Template was that he already had awakened Magic, as in the Canon, Ardyn Izunia had Magic in his blood, which meant that he was Sirius or...
Ardyn had one too.
He would need to sort out the name, because the greater side effect of the Template was that his memories were getting rather merged together, and sometimes it was pretty hard to tell which memory belonged to whom.
Even though his willpower was enough to withstand the Template Merge, he would dare to say that it was entirely without any side effects. Adopting the name Ardyn was more apt, when even his physical body was that of the Ardyn Izunia or Ardyn Lucis Caelum when he was young.
Another piece of good news was that he got the weapon that he grew in the Gacha, together with the Armiger, Warping, and repurposed Starscourge that he couldn't or didn't dare to use right now for the time being.
Using the Magic of Lucis Royal Line was something that came naturally to him, as if it was already written in his DNA. Even though he was doing it for the first time, manipulating Mana and casting Spells were coming to him effortlessly.
The two Gyrinxes, Bastet and Maahes, were sleeping soundly on the small campfire that he managed to make. They were bigger than ordinary cats and far more dangerous than the ones as well.
Their claws were strong enough to cut through steel, and they also possessed Innate Illusion Magic, which made them pretty problematic to deal with. They were both bonded to him, and they were rather tame unless he woke them during the time when they were sleeping.
This brought the current situation.
Among all possible locations, he was dropped into the continent of Solitas...
Solitas had a cold climate, which made it mostly inhospitable to both Humans and even the creatures of Grimm. It's described as easy to get lost in, especially in its tundras. In certain areas, forests such as the Snowbound Forest are capable of growing.
And because this world was hellhole even more than usual, it was freezing there, and he was dropped in the middle of the snowy wasteland. The only saving grace of the entire thing is the fact that there were no Grimms.
So far.
Which was good.
But as Ardyn lacked Aura and he could barely control the Mana in his body, he was pretty worried that he would soon be killed by something. Another problem that there was... the area of food.
Fortunately enough, the two Gyrinxes were rather apt at finding something alive that he could eat, which led him to roasting small polar rabbits over the campfire.
The real problem was...
He needed to get out of here, but he had no idea where to go.
And this world, according to what Murasaki told him, was several times the size of Earth, so even the continents were enormous, and walking in the freezing cold was a rather foolish thing to do.
Fortunately enough, as a result of the Template Merger, he was slowly assimilating Original Ardyn's memories and started learning to control Mana. And because he had two Gyrinx Familiars, he was picking really fast on it.
It was still unknown if it was the result of his talent or the Familiar contract or both of these things combined. With the control of Mana in place, he used some really rudimentary spells, but the one he used most was the one to create fire.
Heat was of paramount importance unless he wanted to freeze to death here.
At least on the brighter side of things, if it could be even called such... when he was dropped here, he got two gifts.
One of them was a set of warmer clothes, because if not for that, he would be as good as dead. Another was a small booklet that contained information about the history and current state of things in the world of Remnant.
Which was good.
At least he won't be like the country bumpkin.
Not to mention, he knew practically nothing about the RWBY.
He just watched some episodes and read some fanfics when he was younger and his memories was very murky of that... because it was around thirty-five years ago. He remembered only something of the backround and some random tidbits of the story, but it wasn't anything significant.
The first thing that was much different from the canon was that this version of the world was much darker, much more Magical, and everything was far more powerful.
There were still only four Kingdoms.
Atlas, whose official name was The Atlesian Dominion.
Mistral, whose official name was The Empire of Mistral.
Vacuo, whose official name was The Vacuan Sultanate.
Vale, whose official name was The Kingdom of the Vale.
Apparently, in the past, there were a few more nations around the world, but they fell to the Grimm or infighting. What was interesting was that every few centuries, someone tried to establish a new Domains, but not many lasted their first century.
The reason why these four managed to survive for many, many millennia was due to their close proximity, which allowed for mutual help and development.
Then, there were some things he remembered in the canon that ended differently, or rather, were described in the booklet, and he compared them to the events in the canon.
First thing, the Great War never really happened, because the world was far bigger than in canon, there was more than enough resources for everyone... as long as they cleared out the Grimm from the way. And because of the superpowered Grimm that were now everywhere and made the canon version look tame, they couldn't afford to wage war.
Second thing, the Faunus Right Revolution never happened in the first place. Mostly because the humans had overhelming power in their hands and they also had the exclusive authority over Magic and more advanced Aura Training Methods.
There were some conflicts, mainly sparked by Faunus resisting attempts by Humans to centralize their race in Menagerie and to gain the chance to rise within the social hierarchy of the existing kingdoms.
Unfortunately for the Faunus, tensions quickly escalated into conflict, and when battles broke out across the continents of Anima and Sanus, some Nobles apparently died in the skirmishes.
And when the full might of the four nations of the Remnant put agaisnt the mashed-up rebels that consisted of the Faunus forces... the result was a grand genocide that resulted in systematically killing approximately 90% of the Faunus male population overall and 100% of the male population above age 8.
Every kingdom dealt with its population of Faunus in its own way, but Ardyn could see that none of them were nice. Atlas, for example, gave the Faunus a chance to prove their worth in a fight.
Winning means survival; losing means death... In the end, within the Atlas, most Faunus perished because they refused to heed the words of the Trifarix Council and were thus exterminated or enslaved, like those in the other Kingdoms.
Those who accepted and fought in the gladiatorial matches were usually killed, because Atlesian pitted them against truly powerful Magical Beasts or powerful Grimm that the Faunus had no chance of fighting.
Everything for the amusement crowd.
Still, Ardyn found a lot of things about the entire events of the Faunus and their development extremely sketchy. He could recognize a cover-up when he saw one, and this was certainly a cover-up of the real events that had happened.
The Atlasian Dominion was a highly militaristic Kingdom that wasn't ruled by a Monarch, but rather by the Council of Three, also known as the Trifaris Council.
The only things that mattered in the Atlesian Domion were power and merit.
Everything else was secondary.
The more Ardyn read about the situation of Faunus, the more disturbing it was on some level.
Overall, most of the Faunus were either slaves in both Mistral and Vacuo, where they were just goods and not people... while in the Vale, a special class of under-privileged pseudo-citizens who were on the lowest of the low on the social ladder.
Atlas used them as disposable numbers; they were put to the hardest work that was not suitable for the Magic Golems, or they served other purposes in the Armed Forces in the Death Battalions.
Menagerie became a Special Administration Zone that technically didn't belong to anyone, but Atlas had a military presence there and was overseeing the continent from time to time, aside from conducting expeditions into the depths of the continent for rare resources.
Another thing that was different was the Magic.
Because of the fall of two Gods in this world whose Divine Blood, Flesh, Essence, and Souls served as nourishment for the world, this world was immensely Magical. Yet, the Magic itself was rare among the common people.
Magic was only passed through the Blood. While everyone could get their Aura Unlocked, for obtaining Magic, one needed to be born with it. Most Mages across the world came from the Aristocratic Bloodline Lineages that could trace their lines to ancient times.
Some of their ancestors were among the very first humans who, according to legend, drank the Blood of God of Light to obtain Magic in the first place. But such a thing was just a legend, and it wasn't really confirmed truth in the first place.
Ardyn spent two hours reading the information about the world and learning, before he decided to go out and obtain two things.
Food and wood.
That was of paramount importance right now, as the cave where he was dropped was relatively safe. Once he gathered some food and wood, he could try to see any signs of the civilization, because sooner or later, he would need to leave.
As he stood up and adjusted his clothes, he took his sword, the Rakshasa Blade, which was an ornately crafted sword with a crimson blade. Certainly, it was a piece of art that had to be told...
Rakshasa Blade wasn't an ordinary weapon though... It was a Device from an anime called Rakudai Kishi no Cavalry.
Even though he never heard about it, the fact that it was a crystallization of his soul or somehow connected to it or whatever, it was a powerful growth-type weapon that could grow alongside him and had even some special abilities that he would need to uncover.
Because of the memories of the original Ardyn, he had enough knowledge of how to use a sword and defend himself in case he was attacked by some Grimm.
Having memories didn't mean having the skill or the muscle memory to execute the moves perfectly.
Fortunately enough, it seemed that his area was devoid of them, but that was only for the time being.
That could change at any given moment.
"Bastet, Maahes, come on... we are going on the exploration, so I am counting on you..."
The two Gyrinxes woke up as they looked at him with a pretty annoying expression because they were sleeping rather comfortably next to the campfire that he made. Their fur was thick, so the cold wasn't really a problem for them, unlike for the other kinds of smaller cats.
Ardyn ironically needed their help in tracking the prey because they were experts in that, and they would also prevent him from getting lost in this place. Outside of his cave, it was primarily just the snow, frozen landscape, and that was it.
He adjusted his clothes as he followed after the two Gyrinxes, who sprinted into the action, and all three of them went to search for something to eat. The rabbits from the morning were already eaten, as even the two overgrown cats needed to eat.
And they ate a lot.
Thus, they also helped in gathering the food.
As Ardyn left the safety of his cave, where he was dwelling for the time being, he was rather pleased that it was still daytime and the weather was rather nice.
"So where now? We have a few hours until it will be dark..."
He knew one or two things about surviving in the wilderness... a perk of the older times, when he was starving his company and smuggling weapons. Often, personally, and even more often, to various destinations that were not the most hospitable around.
He muttered as he followed after the Gyrinxes into the frozen wastelands. The two felines were perfect trackers and hunters, so the possibility of coming up empty or getting lost was pretty close to zero.
Even then, finding something that was actually alive in this place was pretty hard. With bits of Mana that could be learned how to control, albeit in a pretty crude manner, he was constantly creating a small flame that was generating at least some warmth.
For one hour, he kept walking across the snowy landscape as the two large cats finally caught the smell of blood. Which means that there was injured prey somewhere or injured humans...
Well, he shrugged as he decided to follow after Bastet and Maahes.
If it came to the worst, he could use the Armiger.
Armiger, or also Armiger Arsenal, and sometimes referred to as the Power of Kings, was a Magic that only those of Lucian Royal Blood could use. It allowed one to conjure Magical Weapons, the Royal Weapons of the previous Kings of Lucis, and control them to the user's wishes.
The only thing that Armiger required was Mana, and unbeknownst to Ardyn, he had more than enough Mana to sustain the continual use of the Armiger for some time. He could also use Warp, even though it was something that he had totally no experience with, and Warping in combat without prior training seemed to be...
Pretty dangerous.
After following his two familiars, he arrived at the plateau, which was the source of blood.
Much to his surprise, it wasn't food or prey... instead, it was a crashed airship of some kind. Not really big, but still big enough to transport a good number of people. His mind quickly raced, because if he needed to either quickly go in, scout the ship, and disappear, or disappear outright.
In the end, the airship was pretty tempting for him, so even in the risk of Grimm that could be lured here, he decided to go in and scout the remnants for the supplies, weapons, or anything...
The best thing would be if he could get his hands on some communication device or whatever.
"Is there anyone alive?"
He asked the cats, as one of them looked toward the vehicle and gave him something that looked like a nod of agreement, but it raised its right front paw and tapped on the ground.
Once.
Ardyn figured out that it must mean that only one survivor was there.
"Let's go... like they said, no risk, no gain."
He said with a laugh as he approached the crashed airship. The first bad sign was that the entire place was littered with corpses, because there were at least ten dead soldiers all around the place, which was bad.
"This would lure here Grimm faster than anyone could think..."
He grimaced at the thought as he carefully entered the aircraft. As was predicted, all the people he found were already dead, which wasn't really that surprising, actually. It seemed that they were most probably attacked by some kind of aerial Grimm and went down...
The first priority that he had was to gather supplies from the ship, then find a way to transport the supplies, and also find the survivor of the crash that one Gyrinx pointed out.
"Bastet, scout the perimeter and see if there are any Grimm approaching. Maahes comes with me."
Bastet gave him an annoyed meow as she then sat down and started scouting the surrounding area with her Magic, while Ardyn and Maahes entered the wreck of the airship...
Whatever attack the ship has most probably left, as neither of his familiars sensed anything hostile in the area, and by looking at the state of the airship. It was more than evident that nothing here really worked, so any hopes to call for help were null and void.
"Meow!"
Suddenly, he heard meowing as he turned around and saw that Maahes was pointing at one of the corpses that was in the seat. It was probably a male... hard to tell as the skull was entirely crushed together with good parts of the upper body.
"What are you pointing at?"
The male Gyrinx jumped on the corpse and pointed with its front paw at the bracelet that it was wearing.
"This thing?"
He took the bracelet from the corpse of a young man, as he was dead and wouldn't really need it anymore. As he held the bracelet in his hand, he suddenly saw some kind of Runes.
Then the information from the booklet that he received as his starting gift jumped in.
Dimensional Equipment.
A very rare object, enchanted and engraved by the Master Mages in Spatial Magic, as it was equipped with the capability of storing things. Obviously, it wasn't really big and nothing alive could be put there, but for Ardyn, it solved a problem with a lack of transportation means.
He put the bracelet on his hand and tried directing his Mana toward the bracelet, as he soon gained access once the piece of equipment was activated. It seemed that he was in luck, because there were some supplies there, medicine, food, fuel, and other necessities to survive in the frozen wasteland of the Solitas.
Aside from that, there were some Lien cards that he would check at a later date and some miscellaneous things that he would need to sort out at a later date.
"Where is the survivor?"
He asked his Gyrinx, as the cat jumped down from the corpse, and led him to the place where it sensed the life signs. He followed after the male Gyrinx, until they arrived not far from the crashed aircraft.
"So I was right... It was an aircraft transporting students from Atlas to some mission, most probably... if it went down, they would conduct a search for it."
The only survivor of the entire aircraft was a young girl, about 160cm tall, with light-blue hair and pale skin. She was out of cold, wearing some sort of Power Armor or something like that, which he managed to recognize at a glance.
Even though the technological trees of Earth and Remnant couldn't be more different, some concepts remained similar or even the same. Power Armors were a real thing on Earth, too, because they were also produced by his corporation en masse.
"Certainly... she looks some from the powerful backround... these pieces on her are probably far more valuable than the entire aircraft."
Ardyn said after he lightly skimmed over the power armor that she was wearing... or rather, its parts that were not damaged or outright destroyed. It was very clear that compared to the equipment of other students or even soldiers, it was far inferior.
"Damm... bringing her together with me back would be a pain in the ass... dammit..."
He wanted to kick the ground, only to realize that there was only snow here.
Seeing that there wasn't much choice, Ardyn decided to drag the unconscious girl to the cavern where he was staying, because the place was dangerous and would soon be swarming with Grimm.
He was rahter satisfied with the loot he got from the crashed air vehicle, because he had enough food, fuel for the fire, and other useful things like sleeping bags, and even something that seemed to be Ward, who had created a Magical Barrier that hid his scent and presence from the Grimm.
Which could be pretty useful.
After he was finished with that, he brought his two Gyrinxes, picked up the unconscious girl as he carried her on his back, and they headed back to the cavern. Fortunately enough, figuring out how to use Mana to temporarily strengthen his physique wasn't that hard.
If not for that, he would be in greater problems, because due to the power armor that she was wearing, she was heavier than a normal person of her proportions should be. Suddenly, as they were nearing the cavern thanks to the excellent tracking skills of the two Gyrnixes, both cats suddenly stopped and meowed at him at the same time.
In a split second, several creatures appeared around them. All of them looked like wolfish in overall appearance, with a bone-like mask with red markings as well as the bone-like spikes protruding from their arms, back, and knees. Their hands and feet are also tipped with long, sharp, white claws.
They were the Grimm...
He didn't know what type of Grimm, though... that would be too much for him.
He looked around and counted thirty-two. Which meant that this was a pack; he didn't really know the size of the pack, but nevertheless, there were too many of them.
Ardyn then closed his eyes for a second as he decided to use the Armiger.
In a split second, thirteen weapons made from the crystallized Mana appeared around him as they floated around his person in a protective manner. It was rahter surprising, because when he used the Armiger, it was like a second nature for him.
He also noticed that the consumption of Mana was minimal for maintaining the Amriger, and in an instant, the thirteen weapons sprang into action as they shot towards the creatures of Grimm with lightning speed.
These weapons were controlled by him through his mind as they pierced through the first Grimm with no resistance, and within several seconds, 32 Creatures of Grimm were dead as they were killed instantly, as their bodies started dissipating into the dark particles.
"Meow! Meow!"
Basted started meowing like crazy, and through their bond, he could sense that she was excited. He went to the place where she stood, as there was something on the ground that made her excited.
It was a tiny crystal.
Pitch-black and actually held quite a bit of Mana... yet the Mana in that place was...
Corrupt.
In a vastly different manner than the Starscourge that Ardyn felt in his body, which has transformed into a special Ability that could be controlled. He picked up the crystal and looked at it for several moments before he stored it in his pocket, along with several other items, since there were five of them on the ground.
"Well... they dropped dead far too easily..."
He pondered over the Grimm that attacked as part of him thought that they were too weak, but at the same time, he also knew that Armiger was very powerful. From the memory of Original Ardyn, his Armiger was something that was polished over two millennia.
Its power was frightening.
At the same time, because of his relatively weak physical capabilities, Aura would not have been strengthened. If one of those Grimms had gotten close to him, the outcome would have been vastly different.
"Meow!"
This time, it was Maahes who meowed as the male Gyrinx pointed somewhere, and when he looked in that direction, he was almost frozen in space.
"Fuck! Now!?"
It was a damned snowstorm that was encircling this entire region, and it was getting dangerously close to their location.
"We need to hurry!"
He hushed his cats as the two Gyrinxes also started running at a faster pace, with Ardyn using the Mana to strengthen his physique so he could achieve faster speed.
With the two Gyrinxes showing the way, they quickly reached the cave where he woke up after he was dropped into the fucking world. The first thing he did when he arrived back was to put the unconscious girl in the previous resting place by the campfire, and he then placed some lights that were specifically created for harsh environments like this.
He also took out some of the fuel rods that were in the Dimensional Storage of the dead student. The rods were basically super-compressed pieces of coal and wood together through some Magic and Technology.
They were apparently used by the people of Solitas as a source of heat; because of their compressed nature, they could burn for a prolonged amount of time and generate a lot of heat.
"Maahes, remain here with her and watch over her... if we are lucky, they will send out a search party for her, and we can reach civilization and probably not freeze to death. Bastet, come with me... we need to seal the entrance."
Once that was done, Ardyn left toward the entrance to seal it somehow, and also lay down the Ward that he looted. Right now, his priority was getting out of the Solitan wastelands, which were frozen hell.
***
Unbeknownst to Ardyn, his guest, whom he rescued from the wreck, woke up around half an hour ago. Over the past thirty minutes or so, she had been observing him and was prepared to strike if he proved hostile.
'At least one Noble Arte, Mana comparable to the 2nd Limit Removal despite not even having Mana Core condensed... which means that his Bloodline must be terribly strong in Mana... The lack of Aura is even more obvious, so it's rather mind-boggling what he is doing here...'
She woke up some time after they started returning to the cave, and she was rahter intrigued by what she had seen.
The first thing that was surprising was that the man who brought her was maximally a year or two older than she was. She was also pretty sure that he had at least one Noble Arte, which was pretty surprising because people with the Noble Artes were rare.
Only those of the very well-established and old Magic Lineages had Noble Artes as they represented the crystallization of their Magic. Mages in Remnant were rare... very rare, because the chances of a Mage being born in the common population were something around 1:100,000.
Only thanks to Mages, the world didn't fall to the Grimm, as Magic was the ultimate weapon of humanity against the Creatures of the Grimm. Among the Huntsmen, all Mages were also Aura Masters at the same time, and their levels of Aura Mastery weren't low.
Thus, they were incomparably stronger than Aura Master on the same fundamental level.
'Fisherman, Sorcerer, Anima... three Positions, two Specials... Still, from the circulation of Mana it's clear that he doesn't have any formal training and is doing it on pure instincts and talent... which means that his own aptitude must be frightening. With proper cultivation, Atlas could obtain another Holy Saint.'
Another reason why she wanted to recruit him was because if he matured a bit, he would be a very powerful person, and she loved fighting powerful people. Not to mention, the Khun Family could benefit from having a relationship with someone who could reach such a level of power.
Aside from that, she felt the Noble Arte that he used familiar, even though she couldn't tell the reason why it seemed to be familiar.
She knew that the man saved her most probably because he wanted to get away from this place, and he could tell based on her armor and appearance that she looked important.
Which she wouldn't deny.
She was one of the direct children of Khun Eduan, one of the Holy Saints of the Atlesian Dominion and also one of the strongest Huntsmen and Mages in the entire world.
Khun Maschenny was also the Heiress Apparent of the House Khun, one of the Great Families of the Atlesian Dominion, and one of the most talented people in the entire generation.
Not to mention, she was her father's favourite child and the child of his favourite wife.
She knew that sooner or later, someone would send a search party for them as they were here for an official mission from the Alsius Thors Military Sentinel Academy, where she studied. She was just a first-year, but because of her personal power, she was already allowed to go on missions.
'Someone with this potential would be a very valuable team member of the Imperial Smelting Trial next year.'
She pondered for some time, searching for the possibility of the recruitment because it wasn't uncommon among the Aristocratic Houses of the Remnant to Sponsor people either when they were going to study or in another way.
There were many reasons for doing it, mainly to recruit outsiders to serve the Family, while some of the most brilliant ones would even marry into the said Family if they were exceptional and strong enough to create an even stronger future generation.
The Great Family of Khun was also sponsoring a lot of people from time to time, yet compared to other Houses on a much smaller degree. Mainly because their Family was very large, and there were many members of the Family.
Much was attributed to her father, who was a notorious womanizer and had a ton of wives and even more children. Compared to the other Great Families of Atlas, the Royals, as they were called within the Dominion, were huge.
Neither the Arie Family, the Po Bidau Family, the Schnee Family, nor the Lo Po Bia Family had as many members as the Khun Family.
'My Aura is regenerating very slowly, and my Mana is mostly depleted. Right now, my core is in severe Magical Exhaustion. Fortunately, my storage is untouched, and it should have sent out a distress signal. Hopefully nothing bad will happen until they arrive...'
She was rather tired from her Aura reaching null, and her Mana was also depleted, having been forced into the severe Magical Exhaustion, which could be pretty fatal for most Mages... fortunately, enough she wasn't the most.
Due to her Lineage, she could handle the Magical Exhaustion better than most, but the freezing colds of Solitas were strong enough to break through even the Aura of the most powerful Huntsmen if they were not careful.
Among the five continents that were designed as Safe Zones for humanity, Sanus and Solitas were the most dangerous in terms of flora, fauna, and the overall environment that was primarily hostile to everything that was alive.
Surviving on the Solitas was an art of itself and not something that everyone could do.
That was the reason why the Solitas was more powerful and more perfect than the other kingdoms.
Their armies were the biggest, strongest, and best-equipped in the entire world. Atlesian Dominion was the most technologically and magically advanced nation in the world, as approximately 80% of technological and magical advancements originated from Atlas, one way or another.
'Still... I have a strong feeling that I have seen this Noble Arte somewhere...'
She pondered as she carefully eyed the cat-like creature sleeping next to the campfire. The cat-like creature had a lot of Mana in it, she knew that it was the man's Familiar. The fact that he had two of them, was rather peculiar.
As the two seemed to be a pair.
She noticed that the man who brought her here must have also looted a good part of the Bullhead that they used to travel.
Unfortunately, during the travel to Dormir, they were ambushed by the Frost Wyvern, which destroyed the aircraft and sent it crashing down. Frost Wyvern were very powerful and rare Magical Beasts that lived in the frozen mountains of Solitas, and seeing one of the down here was rare.
Maschenny was glad it was just a Wyvern and not a full-fledged Dragon, or else she would already be in its stomach.
***
It took Ardyn around half an hour to seal the entrance to the cave with some stones and then activate the Ward that he looted from the crashed vehicle, as it was a rather arduous process, but because it involved Magic, he quickly understood the principles behind.
Interestingly enough, during times like this, the assimilation of the Template's memories was getting much faster. Even though it was more than clear that the Magic System from Ardyn's memories was much different from what was here, it was undeniably true that some principles remained the same.
When he returned, he checked on the girl and saw that she was still sleeping, so he just sat by the campfire as the two Gyrinxes cuddled with him for more warmth as he enjoyed the heat generated by the fuel rods.
The two felines were already growing hungry, as they had eaten a lot... fortunately, after they returned to the cavern, two of them managed to hunt a rabbit, which he began roasting for them, as he would eat the food he looted.
There was a lot of it, and none of it was suitable for the felines, so he left the rabbit to them, even though he was tempted by the roasted rabbit himself. Both Bastet and Maahes were eagerly waiting for the rabbit to cook, as they preferred their meat cooked rather than raw.
They were a bit eccentric creatures.
It wasn't like they wouldn't eat the raw meat, but when there was a possible different option, they would go for the cooked. He lightly looked at the sleeping Huntress as he grinned and tapped Bastet on her head.
Among the pair, she was the one who was more mischievous and prone to causing mischief, as he learned during this day. The female Gyrinx gave him a nod of her head, as she jumped down from his arms and strode towards the Huntress.
And then she smacked her tail across her face.
But contrary to the hopeful expectations of the female Gyrinx, the reaction was zero... though the feline was able to sense the faint movements on her face, so she jumped on her legs and started hitting her nose with her right paw.
Now there was more reaction than previously, as Bastet continued annoying the seemingly unconscious girl until it was already enough, as the girl suddenly 'awoke' as she hushed at the feline, who jumped back to Ardyn happily.
Finally satisfied with the outcome.
"When did you notice?"
She realized he knew she was only pretending to be unconscious, something she hadn't accounted for because she thought her act was flawless.
"When the Grimm we were ambushed... your heartbeat and Mana reacted instinctively to the ambush, my dear... You need to work on your acting skills."
He explained with a grin and a somewhat patronizing tone of voice, as he knew that she was awake for most of the time. Even though he was aware that she had just woken up, he knew that during his fight with the Grimm, she was awake.
Since then, she had only been pretending to be asleep.
He had to admit that her acting was good, but the problem was... with the Template's memories merging with his own, he knew a liar and a pretender when he saw one. In the end, Ardyn Izunia could be considered as one of the best con artists in the entire world.
"Ts... You are pretty suicidal to be in this place without even Aura awakened... and don't talk patronizingly to me, or else once I recover, you will know real pain."
She said as she didn't really like his patronizing tone of voice, but Ardyn didn't really care as he kept smiling. Still, she found it rather fascinating that there was someone brave enough or foolish enough to wander into the Solitan frozen lands without even his Aura being unlocked.
"You are not really grateful for someone who didn't leave you freezing in the snow."
Ardyn said, gritting her teeth, but quickly came back with a perfect answer.
"Like you didn't save me only because you want to hitch a ride from this place, which also leads to the question... who are you?"
While the first part of the sentence was rather carefree, Ardyn noticed that there was something underlying in her tone of voice when she asked who he was... as he needed to come up with a satisfactory answer.
And fast.
Obviously, there must have been a reason why she was asking that with a great deal of wariness, because his instincts and experience were telling him that there must be a deeper reason for the well-conceived hostility.
"Ardyn Izunia and for the rest, I cannot answer as I don't remember almost anything, My Lady. But it's my utmost pleasure."
He stood up as he gave her a typical bow that was common among the Lucian Nobility, as she stared at him for several seconds, and she gave him a very slow nod, but she still held up her guard around him.
As Ardyn sat down, Maschenny took something from the Dimensional Storage on her hand and slipped it on the ground. It was a small crystal in the shape of a ball.
"Khun Maschenny."
She stated simply, observing his reaction, but there was none... which was pretty interesting because, not being a boastful type, she was pretty famous across the four Kingdoms and outside settlements of humanity and faunus.
"Could you please pass me that?"
She said to the unknown man as he reached out to the crystal-shaped ball and picked it up, while feeling some sort of Magic from it penetrating into his body and then disappearing as fast as it emerged.
"Here."
He passed her the crystal ball, which she stored in her armor pocket, while looking more relaxed.
"Was that some kind of test?"
He asked as he watched Bastet come to the now-introduced Khun Maschenny and jump on her lap.