The sun shone through the window of Team RWBY's dorm, illuminating the team who by now had all changed into the uniforms they quickly found in the closet. While it did cost the Academy a notable amount to have so many uniforms available, once one took into account that they were the institution responsible for teaching the warriors that spent their lives to defend all mankind against an eternal horde of monsters, they and those students tended to be pretty high up on the public funding priorities anywhere in Remnant.
Ruby looked at Memnol, the sun hadn't hit him, he was moving in his sleep and mumbling too faintly to understand, never mind that he was mumbling in draconic. His hand slowly reached up and grabbed his shoulder in his sleep, pulling the silk of the robe just slightly. Ruby took a step towards him, not paying any mind to the uncertain look she was sure, and correct, that Yang was giving behind her. Ruby kneeled down and lightly shook Memnol by the free shoulder, though that did nothing but return some more faint mumbling, which Ruby too could hear but not understand.
Ruby shook Memnol again, slightly more than she intended, as she said, "Hey, hey! Wake up."
Memnol quickly woke up and his shoulder hand flashed towards where his belt would be, if not for the fact he had put it on the desk beside him. His eyes looked around the room in a panic, then stopped entirely still for a few moments. He looked towards where the shadows fell from the sunlight, then breathed in and out slowly and steadily.
Ruby said, "Are you alright?"
Memnol said, "Yes, I should be fine, though I shouldn't have been that hard to wake whatsoever. I must have been more tired yesterday than I realized."
When Ruby continued to have a somewhat worried look, Memnol continued, "Just an off dream, nothing unusual. Thank you, Mrs. Ro-" At the slight pout from Ruby he stopped and said, "Ah yes, pardon me, I must be a touch groggy. Ruby, Thank you, Ruby."
Memnol got up from where he leaned against the wall and turned to his Haversack, pulled out his spellbook, and immediately began memorizing his spells for the day.
When he did so he rapidly noticed more than a few things. First, the process of spell preparation went by far more quickly, as fast as it would take for him to actually memorize any other equally sized piece of information, which was a few moments each at his intelligence, though it still took another memorization for each time he wanted it prepared like normal. Second, he had access to spell slots well higher than 9th, all the way up to 14th with the extra preps from his mental capability, though since he most definitely had no spells of those levels he simply filled these slots with Silent and Stilled Greater Teleports for the three 10th level slots, 11th with a similarly metamagicked Reaving Dispel, Detonate, and Dominate Monster, while the rest above were crammed with heightened silent Limited Wishes. All the other slots of his were filled with a variety of spells, slightly fewer resist-or-dies than normal, invisibilities, greater and regular mirror images, non-epic polymorphs, a pair of Mind Blanks to start and end the day overlapping, another pair of Undetectable Alignments for the same reason, his three epic slots dedicated to Perfect Polymorphs, and the rest of the usual excessive toolkit of a high-end generalist wizard. Of course, even then he managed to find it lacking, displeased with himself that he currently lacked the Geas and Polymorph any Object spells he needed alongside Limited Wish to make a construct or another servant, he lacked the Genesis he'd need to make a demiplane or two, and he kicked himself internally that he didn't even have a single thought bottle on him or the Demand spell he'd need to make one.
Once Memnol finished preparing the day's spells he thought to himself, "Is there a Mystra or Boccob equivalent here? Are there any gods in this world? If there aren't, I could likely research and create nearly anything given how this world's weave feels almost eager to be cast,".
Externally Memnol let out a "Hmm," and reorganized his mental To-Do list, shifting around the priorities of 'Artifact nonsense', 'Netherise revivalism', 'Construct shenanigans', and 'Figure out Psionics', around before he stood and got dressed. As he was dressing he telpathically spoke to the Ice Assassins, "Do any of you have alterations in your spell casting or preparation capabilities?"
The Assassins all responded along the same lines, "Spell preparation is far faster, no alteration in casting capabilities."
"Town search team, any results?" Memnol thought to them.
"I.A. Blue responding. To the apparent west is a hyper-immense city, metal towers are numerous, observation of conversations suggests these are called 'skyscrapers', likely due to their immense height. Some are estimated as high as 680 feet tall, some taller, unclimbable, though within one Dimension Door. We have not been detected in any way, shape, or form. There are multiple sources of mass-produced maps, some apparently publicly available, permission to acquire and cross-reference while creating your map?"
"Permission granted, take two copies of each of the publicly available ones and deliver the second of each to me when signaled later. Take three days to collect lost currency, coins on the ground and such. At the end, purchase samples of crystalline and powdered dust of as many varieties as possible with the unidentifiable currency, leave anything that may suggest a proper owner with a local guardhouse." Memnol thought at that group, now halfway through buttoning his shirt. While in normal conversation saying so much may have taken longer, the speed of telepathy was only limited by the speed of thought. This meant that Memnol and the I.A.s could communicate at a notable speed given their previously mentioned intelligence.
"Academy search team, your results?" Memnol thought.
"I.A. Silver responding. Initial scouting has gone mostly unimpeded, though some beings seem to be capable of detecting our presences." I.A. Silver responded.
"How was this determined?" Memnol thought.
"When we passed them some denizens showed signs, major and minor, that they mildly or overtly detected our presence. There is one non-explicit case, one variable, one explicit. We tested by deliberately going near to and away from the same entities at various ranges with and without the sound of steps." I.A. Silver thought.
"List from least to most, with identities if determined." Memnol thought.
"Lie Ren, non-explicit, exhibited awareness via a passive search for extra entities noted by actions similar to subdued common nervousness, which were consistent with our presence, when directly observing the target with minimal physical obstacles. Sound mildly increased these actions. No threat?" I.A. Silver thought.
"Correct. Continue," Memnol thought.
"Unknown male, dark-skinned with red hair, variable, exhibited similar non-explicit awareness at a larger range, though they did not attempt to look around as much as Lie Ren did, presuming greater confidence and/or confrontation aversion. Awareness became near-explicit with sound, almost immediately locating the precise location of any sound within approximately 30 feet, however, they showed no signs of tracking ability without continued auditory cues. Minimal threat?" I.A. Silver thought.
"Effective none, note for stealth reasons, continue." Memnol thought.
"Ozpin, explicit, exhibited direct and exact locational awareness upon encountering. Unable to determine distance as he was encountered upon exiting a wall, thus preventing testing. Upon encounter, Ozpin looked at the direct location of I.A. Bronze's mask and said, quote, 'I hope you're not trying to spy on other students Mr. Elodyr. Well, I suppose 'you' aren't technically him, I'd wager. Regardless, do know that you aren't allowed to spy on my students or colleagues,' unquote. Ozpin proceeded to take a drink from his cup, possibly a potion, and said, quote, 'You can find a map of the campus with your scroll, no need for a scouting party, though I must acknowledge the initiative. Feel free to print a copy or two at the library as well. You can go to one of your peers and ask what those mean if you aren't aware. Well, good evening I suppose, and a pleasant first morning as well Memnol,' unquote. Threat," I.A. Silver thought, leaving the end as a statement.
"Yes, however, he is currently our ally and employer, as well as the only other magical entity confirmed. Respect the hierarchy and do not engage," Memnol thought, putting on his greater amulet of the planes.
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"Academy search team, regroup with the city search team and follow their orders, remain hidden," Memnol added a moment later.
After Memnol finished dressing, placing the Cloak of Etherealness on again, he soon cast in quick order a Mind Blank, an Undetectable Alignment, an Absorb Weapon to hide his dagger (an Adamantine/Axiomatic/Blindsighted/Deadly Precision/Ethereal Reaver/Assassin's Dagger, to be precise) as a faint spot on his arm up his sleeve again, and a Prestidigitation to start cleaning off the light stains and wear on the clothes he wore. After everything was in place Memnol reached into a belt pocket and pulled out the scroll he received yesterday, turned to the team and asked, "Pardon me, but could one of you teach me how to operate this 'scroll'?"
Ruby stepped up to him and led him through opening it, as well as how a keyboard worked and what a few things did, the map included,
"And this is- Oh! You have a few messages here, see?" Ruby said.
"I suppose that must mean I do. Right, so if I tap this part here-" his messages opened up, "There we are! It appears that I owe you twice over now, Ruby," Memnol said, with Ruby smiling.
After a few moments of reading, he took his cloak back off before folding it and placing it into the Haversack, the Robe soon followed, as did the spool of rope and caltrops bag.
"Hot in those?" Yang asked, making conversation for its own sake.
"Not particularly, apparently barring those my equipment is appropriate enough until my measurements can be taken for a uniform, though I see someone in this room lacks compunction in that regard," Memnol said, as Ruby was still wearing her cape.
Memnol added, "Oh, the other is my schedule by the looks of it. Tell me, do you know which room is the one for Oobleck?"
"Hey, that's our first class too! He should be right here," Ruby said, pointing to a part of the map Memnol had opened up.
"Actually," Blake said, "When is our first class?"
"Eight O'Clock," Weiss said.
"What time is it now?" Memnol asked, having put the scroll away.
"Seven fifty-five!" Yang said, shock on her face after looking at her own scroll.
At this Ruby burst from the room and used her semblance, rushing past the also running team JNPR. The rest of team RWBY and Memnol left too, Weiss closing the door behind them.
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The teams soon caught up, Ruby was already sat down and Memnol was breathing heavier than Jaune.
Oobleck-(A-Hem!)- Dr. Oobleck started speaking at a breakneck pace, "You're all just in time! Take a seat with your team."
There was a general shuffle around the class as some chatter died down and many people took their seats. Memnol went towards the back and thought, "Ah, there's the corner most seat- and it's taken by a woman. The one with rabbit's ears? I suppose it didn't quite process until now, not the weirdest entity I've seen certainly, but I suppose I was wrong to presume this was a solely human territory. Perhaps it's Humanoid, that would be… oddly familiar for a new cosmology. I'll have to get answers from her after this lesson." His mind shifted to the various conditions Ozpin sent him to read and some to delete, among them his attendance of classes like other students. "A touch odd to give your hitman busywork, but 'every wizard has their Weird', as the phrase goes. Although I suppose hitman isn't solely accurate, nor do I actually have Weird anymore. I must admit however that I can't complain about easily given knowledge,".
Oobleck said, "Now then! Given that today is your first day for many of you, the second day if you count initiation, let us begin with introductions and expectations! I am Doctor Oobleck, and I will be your Professor of History, though later in the class, we will be discussing contemporary issues as well. For now, however…"
Memnol left only a comparatively mild part of his mind towards Oobleck and took out a worn parchment book from his haversack and some wells of regular and specialized research ink. He considered researching Genesis before halting and sharply glancing towards Velvet in the corner, then putting away the expensive inks and began sketching with mundane inks.
Near the end of the introductory class, Velvet looked over with curiosity at the sketches Memnol had been rapidly creating and setting aside throughout the class. She was more than surprised when she spotted one of them to be a very accurate depiction of her faunus ears, another of her human ears, then a number of sketches that looked, well, anatomical. The class had ended and RWBY was walking over as Velvet was trying to discreetly look at the diagrams with theoretical ways her faunus ears could connect to either her brain, her other ears, both, or neither. She even swore one of them looked just like an actual X-Ray she saw when she was younger. She saw Memnol was working on another sketch and went to quietly sneak just past him.
However, Memnol got up suddenly and blocked her path, looking at Velvet rather sharply, causing her to flinch and look down by the intensity of the look.
Memnol said, "What are you? I presume by the second set of ears that you aren't fully human, though you are clearly humanoid."
RWBY tensed slightly, Blake even more than them. Oobleck simply listened as he continued to scribble at the blackboard as cover, though he was considering intervening in the worst case, and Velvet quietly said, "Sorry? What do you mean?"
Memnol said, undertoned with menace and impatience, "I asked what you are. Your race."
Velvet thought he might be messing with her some way with his, but having a timid streak before being interrogated by a man who unhesitatingly claimed to have ripped apart his own soul within her accidental earshot, she answered at just above a whisper, "F-Faunus. I'm a faunus."
Memnol's voice lost the menace as he said, "Faunus? Tell me, what are the variations among faunuskind? Do all faunus have similarly colored ears? Is either set of ears vestigial?"
Velvet looked up and more than a touch confused, "Um, both of them work just fine. Excuse me, but do you not know what faunus are?"
Memnol said, leaning forward ever so slightly, yet causing Velvet to step back, and looking her in the eye, "I may or may not, that is not your concern. Answer the rest of the questions."
Velvet said, her voice wavering as she gave the textbook definition, "T-there are many variations among individual faunus, the f-faunus are people who have at least one animal trait in addition to human. W-while some Faunus have fully functioning animal traits such as tails and ears, others do not."
Memnol leaned back away and said, "So, aside from the animal trait, they're identical to standard humans? All the way to viable offspring?"
Velvet nodded and said, "M-Mostly. W-we can also see in the dark, and some of us have, better, senses. It- it's person to person. A-and yeah, humans and Faunus can have kids, my dad is human, actually,".
Memnol said, "Well, I suppose under my known classification system you'd simply be a subtype of humanoid at that point then." He turned away and stepped into line with team RWBY. He noticed their generally displeased looks, though Weiss seemed aloof as usual, and thought, "I should toss her something for the information to stay in their graces, even if she didn't so much as try to bargain. At least she has some understanding of hierarchy,". He turned around and said, "I suppose I must thank you for the assistance, hold still,". Velvet froze as Memnol waved a few gestures of him running his hand through his hair and speaking gibberish saw him cast Limited Wish. Memnol said, "There. For the next year your hair will remain however you desire, never tangling, knotting, or matting, never out of place in the morning or any other time, and never obscuring your sight unless you wish it to,".
Memnol met up with the slightly appeased group, though Ruby seemed iffy and Blake was still peeved.
Yang said, "There's a, what was it called,"
"Piece," Memnol said.
"Yeah! There's a piece to give someone a good hair day?" Yang finished with a glint in her eye.
"In a sense," Memnol said, "Well now that that's over, I need to go and check something, pardon me."
Team RWBY went on to their next class, one Memnol didn't share with them. Once the group had split Memnol walked just around an empty corner and activated his Amulet. Easily having the intelligence to use it he aimed to shift to his equivalent location in the ethereal plane-
And nothing happened.
"Well, that throws out roughly all of my plans. How else do I get more effective time than the material plane? I can't just wish for more time. Wait, maybe, just maybe, I can, though not so directly and not by my own Wish. I suppose it'll be necessary to take that form, even if I despise it so," Memnol thought.
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RWBY arrived at their combat class another class later, They saw Memnol sitting in the back, eyes glued to his spellbook and with intense concentration writing into it. The Team went to sit by him, Yang walking a touch faster than the rest, placing herself between Memnol and the rest of the team. Memnol didn't seem to acknowledge their presence as he continued writing in the book.
The class went on mostly as normal, though just by the end Goodwitch tapped on her scroll and said, "The first duel will be between-" another tap and pictures began flashing by on the screen, before they settled in order, "Team CRDL, and Team Reserve- oh. Correction, Cardin Winchester and Memnol Elodyr."
Cardin asked as he got up to go get his weapons, "Wait, why not the whole teams?"
Goodwitch said, "Because Memnol is the only member of Team Reserve."
Blake said, "Didn't Ozpin say he was on the general reserve during the ceremony?"
Goodwitch said, "Yes, he is on the general reserve, meaning he has no single team or teams he is assigned to aid."
Weiss said, "Oh, I think I understand how it's set up,"
Ruby said, "Really, how?"
Weiss said, "Well they're not going to have more than three students on the reserve at a time, so rather than make a whole new system, they just put him in a placeholder team."
Glynda said, "Good deduction and quite correct, well done. Now you two prepare for the match then stand on your sides of the arena, ten feet each from the center,".
At this Cardin left for his weapon locker, while Memnol stopped writing and put his book away, and walked to the arena. The class was mildly interested to see the first fight of the year and more of them took notice when Memnol took out his Robe and bag from the haversack. He put them both on, then to the mild surprise of the crowd, started laying down caltrops in five 5-foot squares in front, diagonal to, and directly flanking where he now stood. He mentally signaled to one of his guarding IA's to slip their sap into the haversack which he then removed, no longer invisible from being held by the IA. He stood waiting when Cardin came back in and took his place on the other side of the ring.