Miss Goodwitch folded her arms behind her back. Her expression was steady and unreadable. She turned back toward him.
"Now then," she said, resuming her lecture-like cadence, "let's talk about the Nightmare System."
Jaune tilted his head. "The stat nu."
Miss Goodwitch nodded. "Indeed. That is its most common na among awakened individuals. Nightmare System. Or simply, 'the System.' You've already seen your own by now, so you have a preliminary understanding of what it is."
Jaune nodded, affirming her words. "Yeah. When I first… woke up here, there was a UI that showed my stats. Body, Will, Aura. And then so kind of not-very-helpful tutorial, that tracked my progress. Honestly, it felt kind of like a video ga HUD. Just—y'know. In my head."
"Quite," she said, allowing herself a faint smile. "And have you ever wondered why it takes that form?"
Jaune scratched the side of his cheek. "I figured it was just sothing that governed the Nightmare Realm. Like, the rules or whatever. You know, how the whole place works."
Miss Goodwitch's smile widened ever so slightly—though it didn't quite reach her eyes.
"That's what most people assu at first," she said. "And they're not entirely wrong. But it's also far more complicated than that."
She flicked her wrist, and the war table lit up again—this ti displaying a wirefra diagram of the Nightmare System itself. A red interface, resembling Jaune's own ntal UI, hovered above the table in holographic form. Data strands stread across it like orbiting satellites. At the center were three red marked words with the titles: Body, Will, and Aura.
Goodwitch paced slowly beside it.
"The Nightmare System doesn't exactly govern the Dream," she said. "Not in the way we understand governance, at least. It's not a ruler nor does it make rules. It isn't an architect and it certainly didn't create the Nightmare Realm. It especially, does not it maintain its structure, either."
She paused, then tapped the hologram. The red crystal shimred, distorting briefly into a series of branching lines that split and expanded into a vast network.
"In truth… we don't know what it is. Not exactly."
Jaune's brow furrowed. "You don't? Then...?"
"We observe it," she clarified. "We study it and catalog its capabilities. Much of what we understand about the Nightmare System has been deduced—through centuries of trial, error, and field research. As far as we know, no one programd it and no one controls it. But it exists, and it acts with intent."
Jaune blinked. "Intent? Like—it has a will?"
"We suspect it does. But not a will in the way humans understand it. It does not speak or answer questions. But it responds to actions. And more importantly…" she turned to look directly at him, "…it rewards them."
Jaune tilted his head. "Rewards… the runes, huh?"
Goodwitch nodded. "That's one way to put it. The Nightmare System… plunders. It is a chanism that steals the essence from the creatures of Grimm and transfers that power to the awakened. Every ti an operative defeats a creature in the Dream, the System harvests their existence and transfers it to the person who kills it. Grimm are essentially made out of rune fragnts, to a degree. In any case, it takes those fragnts and grants them to you, and in turn, you get stronger."
Jaune leaned back slightly in his seat, processing that. "So… it's helping us?"
"To an extent," Goodwitch said. "But help implies intention. We don't know if it's aiding us… or simply functioning according to so alien script that we don't understand."
He crossed his arms. "It still gave fragnts that I used in my stats. That's helpful, right?"
"Yes," she said. "The System assigns three core trics: Body, Will, and Aura. Body governs your physical prowess. Will, contrary to what you might understand, is actually the level of control that you have over your rune skill. Creation, manipulation, transference, etc. All of that is governed by Will stat. Aura, we've already discussed that. It is both your barrier against manipulation and your fuel source for manipulating Runes. In addition to that... Aura, also allows you to... exert pressure on the dream."
"Exert pressure? I don't understand."
"Its hard to properly explain, and can only be felt on an individual basis. But essentially, at a higher rank, your Aura allows you to essentially distort reality in a sense that will allow to do... interesting feats. Defying gravity, ignore so laws of physics, and many other things."
Jaune paused his thoughts to wrap his head around those ideas for a mont.
"And... is this only... in the dream realm... or also in the waking world too?"
Goodwitch nodded approvingly at his question. "In the waking world too. But I'll get to that part in a second."
She tapped the interface again. This ti, the hologram zood in on a smaller cluster of glyphs that spiraled outward from the Aura node—each one faintly etched with glowing runes.
"Let's first talk about Rune skills and what exactly they are. This is also what ties into Rank ups. Rune skills, regardless of type, all follow specific rules. There are two types of Rune skills which are then further divided into more categories. Internal rune skills and external rune skills."
Jaune stayed silent, invested in her explanation.
"You ntioned earlier to Commander Ozpin that operative Raymond Red, had healed your wounds in Ansel, after you battle with the Ursa. Is that correct?"
Jaune nodded.
Glynda grabbed sothing from the side. It was a tal wristband of sorts that had three distinct glowing runes carved on it. Jaune stood up abruptly to examine the wristband. It was practically a carbon copy of the one that Raymond had used on him. The green rune, had healed him, the blue, generated a shield around him and the red one was what Raymond used to launch him like a cannonball into the air over a great distance to escape that masked man's weird rune.
"This, is standard gear given to squads in the dream. The red rune represents Amplification, the green is Heal, and the blue is Barrier. These are examples of external Runes—aning they're not tied to a person's Aura directly. External runes can only be created by individuals who do not currently have a Rune Skill linked to their Aura.
Creating one of these external Runes requires a significant cost: 100 Rune Fragnts. Once crafted, the user can inscribe their Rune onto an object, imbuing it with a single-use effect. However, because the Rune is not bound to a living Aura—what we often call a 'human anchor'—its effect can only be triggered once.
Afterward, the Rune dissipates, and the creator loses access to it entirely. If they wish to use that Rune again, they must recreate it from scratch, paying the full cost of 100 Rune Fragnts once more."
"Huh... so it's mass produced...?
"Of sorts. You'll find out about the technicalities of our operations in the Nightmare realm, later."
Jaune nodded to show he understood.
"Now, let's move on to Internal Runes. As ntioned earlier—and hinted at by the Nightmare System itself—it takes 100 Rune Fragnts to forge a Rune Skill. However, the process is far more complex than it seems.
Not all Rune Skills are created equal. Their power and nature are determined by two key factors: the strength of the individual crafting the Rune, and the accumulated experiences they've gained. When a person initiates the process of Rune creation, the resulting ability is shaped by their intent—but more importantly, by who they are. In any case, rune skill creation is based upon imagination.
In theory, you could attempt to forge a Rune of godlike power—say, sothing absurd like a 'Godhood' Rune. But in practice, such a Rune would almost certainly fall short. The Nightmare System will still produce sothing, of course, but it will reflect your limitations. If your strength is lacking or your experiences too narrow, the result will be a drastically weakened, distorted version of your intended concept."
Jaune humd. "I see... so that's how people do all the crazy stuff out there."
"Exactly. Everyone's runes are unique in a sense, but they stem from the sa source: the Nightmare System. Or, more accurately, the essence extracted by the System."
He stared at the projection for a long mont. "You think this… thing, this system—do you think it's alive?"
Miss Goodwitch was quiet for a mont.
"I think it's aware," she said softly. "But whether it is alive… that is another matter. The System doesn't seem to care about us. It empowers us, yes, but not out of kindness. It gives strength to those who survive and nothing to those who die. It does not mourn or hesitate. It simply functions."
Jaune's throat felt dry. "Sounds cold."
"Cold… but fair," she replied. "In the Dream, only those who fight grow stronger. That's why operatives train endlessly—to push their stats higher, unlock new Rune fragnts, and survive."
She stepped away from the hologram and gave Jaune a long, steady look.
"You said it resembled a ga interface. That's an apt comparison. We believe the System may have shaped its interface to reflect the expectations of the user. Humans are more familiar with digital systems than ancient mysticism. It adapts… to your mind."
Jaune slowly nodded. "So modern gas might've taken inspiration from it?"
"It's hard to say which ca first. But there have been awakened individuals for as long as written history. It's entirely possible that many of our myths, legends and even ga design philosophies, were subconsciously influenced by echoes of the Dream."
He looked at his hands. They still felt normal. Mortal, really. But he'd seen what his Body stat let him do. Sprinting faster than Olympic sprinters. Lifting cars like scrap. It was like cheating.
"And all of this… all of it's real?" he asked, not quite able to stop the disbelief creeping back into his tone.
"As real as anything," she replied. "Though it only manifests in the dream realm, at least... at your level of strength. In the waking world, the System lies dormant at Rank 0. Your stats—your strength, your speed—remain bound to the Dream. You are still human while awake. This is due to the rules of reality clashing with the rules of the Nightmare Realm"
"Rules and ranks, huh?" Jaune muttered. "So higher Ranks are not subject to the sa rules?"
"Exactly. When you rank up to rank 1, around 10% of the dream-self's body is brought out into the waking world. At Rank 2, you will have around 50% of your dream self's prowess. And finally, Rank 3. At Rank 3, which is also the highest rank achievable, you can bring out 100% of your dream self's strength, clashing against the formless rules of reality.
The war table dimd once again. Miss Goodwitch stepped away from the screen and walked to a nearby cabinet. She pulled out a slim black dossier and slid it across the table toward him.
"This contains a breakdown of everything we currently understand about the System," she said. "Read it when you have ti. It's still incomplete, of course, but it may help answer more of your questions."
Jaune picked it up slowly, flipping through a few pages. Diagrams. Notations. A chart listing the average stat progression per year of activity. There were even notes on unusual anomalies—people who broke the mold, or went insane, or vanished entirely.
He closed it.
His mind buzzed, overloaded with knowledge, tension, and an undeniable sliver of awe.
"…This is a lot," he finally said.
"Yes," Goodwitch said. "It always is."
.
.
AN: I think the internal and external rune explanation could use a bit more work. Essentially, once an awakened creates an [Internal Rune], only then, can they imbue it into an object, making that rune into an [External Rune]. External Runes are one ti use and cannot be reabsorbed. Which ans, if a person wants a new rune, they need to gather 100 rune fragnts and forge a new [Internal Rune]. Hope this makes sense.
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