Jaune awoke to the sound of something sniffing him

He carefully opened his eyes, the harsh sunlight meeting him as he did.

How long have we been out?

Judging by the sun and the lack of mobs I'd say it's about mid day, so not too long.

Jaune looked down at the thing that awoke him, it was a small bunny rabbit, which didn't seem alarmed by the armed man staring down at it.

That's, weird. They don't normally go up to people do they?

No, but that's it fault, we need food to heal our wounds.

True enough jaunes arm still was pretty badly cut up, with shards of what remained of his sword sticking out of it. He also sustained multiple more blunt wounds from his shadowy friend, getting sent flying across a desert into a mountain left some marks.

He had minimal food, that wasn't anything new. But if he was to continue on to try to get out of this desert, and heal his wounds, he needed all the food he could get. It was either kill this bunny and continue on, or face the risk of starving to death.

But it's so cute!

We don't have time for this, we need that food.

As much as he didn't want to, Jaune knew it was his survival or this rabbits. Carefully he took his axe out, careful not to startle to rabbit.

He raised his blade high, closing his eyes so he didn't have to look into those innocent eyes of the rabbit. He swung his axe downward, the only conformation that he had hit his target was the pained cry of the rabbit and the feeling of a cold piece of meat hitting his leg.

Let's hope that's enough food, I don't want to kill anymore rabbits.

I doubt it's enough for our entire journey, but I'm sure it's enough to heal our wounds

Jaune snacked on his raw food, while not extremely nutritious and healthy it was something. He could try and cook it, but the only reliable method of doing that required a furnace and fuel. While he had no shortage of a furnace, fuel was harder to come by.

He had a bit of wood left over from when he was in the grassy plains that was his spawn, but he wasn't about to waste the only thing he could use to make fires and tools on cooking food.

If, no when, he got out of this god forsaken desert he would be able to use wood to cook food along with other things. But until then it was a precious

God this is boring!

What's so boring? Were just trying to get out of this desert.

Yeah but still, we're just walking! And what comes after? What will we do once we leave beacon

Jaunes walking halted as he pondered that statement. What was after this? So far he had been so occupied with escaping the desert he hadn't even thought about what came next.

He could make a home and settle down? No, that didn't fit him at all, he craved adventure after all.

Perhaps he would just continue to wander, this was a brand new world he was free to explore after all.

Jaunes train of thought was interrupted by the sound of something strange as he took his next step. He glanced down at his feet to see them sinking in the sand

Oh shit

Move!

Jaune was far too late to heed the voices warnings, as the ground beneath him gave in to his weight and fell. Jaune was now falling into a cave, a position he did not want to be in.

Acting quickly, Jaune took his pickaxe out and jammed it into the stone of the cave, slowing his descent slightly, but not enough.

Jaune felt it before it happened, the way the wood of the handle began to splinter and the slight change in the sound of pickaxe connecting with rock. The tool shattered in his hand, leaving him to plummet the rest of the way.

Thankfully, the cave wasn't too deep, so Jaune only ended up feeling like he broke every bone in his body instead of straight up dying

At this point, I wish we were dead

Agreed

Jaune pushed himself up off the cold stone ground, much to the dismay of his body.

He examined the cave he had fell into, it was definitely deep, that much was obvious. He glanced upwards to see the surface, the sun peeking down into the damp cave he was now stuck in.

Jaune placed his crafting table down, crafting himself a new stone pickaxe.

Well, do we just build up and leave now?

There's no point in not exploring this cave, it's a new opportunity that's not just desert. We should try to find some ores, the book did mention that ores can be used to build better armor

Jaune glanced around the cave, it was rather dark but the sun gave just enough light for him to see around. He was able to make out something different then stone, but he couldn't tell what it was.

He approached the strange stone, taking his newly crafted pickaxe out and raising it overhead. He swung the tool down onto the ore, creating a familiar crack that appeared on everything he could break.

He swung again and again until the block broke, going into his inventory along with the rest of his items.

The ore was a dark black, it looked rather unimpressive and lumpy. Jaune groaned internally, he was hoping for something more, but it was better then nothing 

Coal, great.

Well now we have more fuel, might as well mine more of it.

Jaune heeded his voices advice and continued to mine the black ore, until eventually there was none left in the vain he had mined. Jaune ended up with 22 coal, not a ton, but enough to get him through.

Well, let's make some coal armor!

Are you stupid? You can't make armor from coal.

Why not?

Well-because it doesn't make sense!

And anything that has happened does?

You can't actually be considering trying to make coal armor are you?

Maybe~

God dammit

Jaune couldn't believe he was actually going to try this, it was so stupid. Armor made out of coal? Even if it was possible, would it even be durable?

Jaune placed some of his coal in the shape of a helmet in his crafting table, only for nothing to happen. He took the coal back and broke the crafting table, and continued into the cave

Well, in my defense, it was a good idea My ok
No, it was a fucking stupid idea

Jaune rolled his eyes at his stupid idea, and silently thanked whatever god there was that no one was there to see it.

He continued down the cave, carefully looking at the stone that surrounded him, hoping that he would find something other then more stone, but no luck.

We can't see anything in this light!

How many sticks do we have left?

5, why?

Make some torches, we should be able to see more then just complete blackness.

Jaune did as he was told, placing a stick with a coal on top into his crafting grid. This combination created a torch, its light bathing the dark cave around him.

Well, at least we can see now

Jaune glanced around his new illuminated area, noticing immediately the ores he would have missed if he hadn't made that torch.

Just to his left, was a dull looking grey stone, that definitely was different from the normal stone and coal Jaune had found.

He slowly approached it, as if he expected the stone to jump out and attack him. He placed his torch down to shine light as he mined the ore.

Iron ore.

Looks like it's still in stone form, perhaps we must smelt it. Mine the rest, if I remember correctly it can be used to create armor.

Jaune did the same as he did with the coal, mining the entire vain of 8, all of which came out in a stone form.

So know we smelt it?

Yes, we do, and use the coal to do so

Jaune tossed his 8 iron ore and coal into his furnace, the fire began to rage, as the stone was melted off of the ore.

This is gonna take awhile

Might as well keep looking for more, no point in standing around.

Jaune picked up his torch, leaving his iron to smelt. He quickly found another vain of iron, only of 5 this time, and tossed it in with the others.

The third vain Jaune found was another 8 vain, which he mined and placed with the others. Jaune counted himself lucky, finding this cave and so much iron, there was definitely a worse place to be right now.

The fourth vain Jaune found was only a four vain, it seemed Jaunes luck had ran out.

When Jaune went out looking for a fifth vain, he ended up finding nothing but zombies. His luck had now officially ran out, and returned to his makeshift camp where his iron waited for him.

He took the iron out of the hot furnace and placed it on the crafting table

What do we make?

Armor, if we have extra then we also make weapons.

Jaune placed the iron onto the crafting table in the shape of a helmet, boots, leggings, and chestplate. He was now equipped to take on whatever this world would throw at him, but something was missing.

Wearing this armor, it feels, wrong.

How so?

I feel, bare, like I'm missing something

Jaune thought about it, why did wearing this armor feel so, off? Perhaps it was the material? Or how he put it on? No, it was something a little different

Jaune took the cactus he had collected, crafting it into some green looking leather, and fashioned himself a new sweatshirt, green in color just like the cactus it was made from.

Jaune slipped on his brand new sweatshirt, then placing the armor over it, he now felt more comfortable in it. Jaune noted to himself how similar his new getup was to his old beacon attire.

Beacon, his mind didn't often wander back to that place, it felt almost a lifetime ago. He wondered how they were doing

—————————-
Remnant-beacon academy

The camera pans to a flaming beacon, with Grimm of all sizes scaling it. Vale itself was also in ruins, with destroyed atlas drones and mechs littering the ground. Beacon and vale had fallen due to an unknown source, what Kingdom would be next?

—————————-

Jaune was sure they were fine without him