If you're looking for the new update, it's not.
Thank kage88, because he had a copy of my chapter 19, which was deleted by an accident. So if you want, go read that.
To my readers...
It's probably good for you to read below.
I should get this out of my way...
So many of my your readers and fans have reviewed or personally messaged me regarding where and how the story was progressing.
shaespace, Forgottenkami, and the rest of you thank you for being honest with me here, whether you felt as if my story's direction suited your taste or not.
The stickler for many of you seemed to be Ruto not being stronger than Shirou and that he is lacking motivation. And that Ruto was making odd decisions with his points. So for your ease of mind, I wanted to explain why I took the direction that I did and reasons behind it.
The first thing I want to point out is the traits, Ruto possesses. They aren't there to act as fancy buffs or debuffs; they actually affect Ruto's personality. Particularly with Content and Ambitious. These are two opposing traits and some of you have argued that it should not be like this. After all, it makes no sense, right? Except ... it does.
For example, all of us are content with some aspect of our lives but not in others, and as a result, we vigorously seek to improve the aspect we do not find the "contentness" in. In my case, I am not happy with my own personality but I am completely happy with my hobbies. Anyone around me can tell you that.
The traits that you see for Ruto are his defining traits. It is what others see when they look at him. From the perspective of the clan, Ruto is ambitious and has worked hard, especially in regards to the bullywugs.
Yes, the bullywugs. Their collarbones. And over time... things became too easy. Ruto saw that he was ridiculously overpowered compared to every other creature in the Carpathi Swamp Valleys.
He became content.
He is ambitious and that had brought him up to where he is, but once he reached what he could perceive as the "top" of the world, he relaxed. It happens to all of us, and no one is exempt from this.
Ruto was not exempt from this.
He relaxed and grew complacent.
Until he saw Shirou's arsenal and the attack on his clan by the humans.
Regarding Ruto's STR focusing...
First of all, for you gamers out there, I want you to all imagine a RPG game or even an arena game.
Let's start with ... League of Legends. Sure, you heard about hybrid Jax. But then let me ask you a question:do you also give him
For the sake of argument, let's say there is a one-third tank, one-third ad, and one-third ap Miss Fortune.
Right now, all of you LoL players are shaking your head. "Nu-uh. That ain't gonna work."
Then let's talk about WoW and I'm going to pick on the druids. You cant be half Fel druid and half Guardian. Nah nah nah. No one is going to accept you into raid parties or even PvP because you're going to get everyone killed.
All rounder sounds awesome in theory but in reality makes little sense. Even if you do achieve all roundness, you need to achieve a "high" roundness. LvL 3 on all skill ain't gonna get you a job, bro. Maybe if you were LvL 20 (out of 100) on all your skills, someone might hire you as their handyman/secretary.
Look at even canon Naruto for example. Sure, the Third Hokage was known was the Professor due to his knowledge and all roundedness but how many more? Kakashi is a ninjutsu specialist, Gai is taijutusu specialist, and Kurenai is genjutsu specialist. None of them are all rounded. I will not accept arguement about Naruto being a rounded character.
Being an all-rounder gets you and your friends killed in combat. It is this mindset of mine that I applied to my story here.
Admittedly, Ruto has no limits. I don't intend to give him one soon. Maybe when he's LvL 1000 or something, yeah, but until then, I don't intend to do so. In this case, why can't he become super strong by LvLing like crazy?
Environmental constraints.
In Ruto's area, no monster, animal, or being is around or has surpassed his own LvL or combat prowess. In game terms, that's very little EXP. LvLing becomes hard after a while. And I refuse to just give him free LvLs.
You know what happens when a LvL 60 wipes out ten thousand LvL 5's? Nothing. Not a single LvL. Not even half a level. That's the situation that Ruto is in.
As for techniques.
Personally, I am not a fan of Kage Bunshin. It gives me as the author too much excuses to make Mary Sues and Gary Sues happen. It also reduces what could be more interactions with other characters.
If you had kage bunshin, would you go out to work? To meetings?
Probably not. Most of us would lounge around in the gym or our home playing. It's the Ultimate Lazy Creator.
Please, also remember that Ruto is no longer a jinchuuriki. Without it, he no longer possesses the world-shattering amount of chakra or mana.
He now possesses at best moderately above average amount of reserves. He cannot spam either Rasengan or Kage Bunshin.
I did intend to give him those techniques back, but much later. You know when he has enough mana to start spamming? Which is what they are good for?
Anyway,that's why I wrote my story as it is. Yes, there are some errors here and there and I could do a little bit more polishing up. But I won't write a story that just skips character development.
Enjoy the chapter.
/(O-M-O)/
Day 129:
I yawned as I tossed the bed sheet aside and stood up.
Yesterday had been a one-sided massacre that the clan celebrated heartily and gleefully.
I walked out into the courtyard of our wooden fort, walked over to the kitchens, grabbed a chunk of cold meat, and sat by the benches on the side of the courtyard.
"Oh, boss, you're up already?"
I turned to my left and saw Dresa approaching me. I gave her a nod. "Just woke up."
"You realize the sun is barely out?"
I looked up to the sky and saw that, indeed, the dawn light barely filtered into our fort. I shrugged as I turned my attention back to the cold meat.
Dresa walked over to the bonfire pit, tossed in some logs, twigs, and kindling before lighting it on fire with ...
"Dresa, did you just breathe fire?"
So apparently lizard kobolds can breathe fire. Who knew?
"How are our prisoners doing?" I asked Ran, who had volunteered for the guard duty.
"Nothing much. They eat the food we gave them, at least ones who are wake, but nothing else.
After the first battle with the humans and we got prisoners, I realized that we didn't have a prison cell in our fort. So I expanded the fort -again. This time, the fort looked like a four point star with the courtyard at the center. Shirou pitched in some ideas as well, and the clan agreed to work on replacing the wooden walls with cobblestone walls instead.
Anyway.
On the other side of the fort from my personal quarters was the prison cells.
There were a total of ten rooms made with the purpose of them being cells and all of them were occupied.
6 of them were normal human foot soldiers from the first battle.
4 of them were elvish magicians from the massacre yesterday. Shriou realized that these elves could easily turn their magic against us and made runes all over the room to prevent the elves -or any magicians inside them- from using mana. How? By sucking their mana out, of course!
I personally thought that the runes reminded me too much about vampires from those stories.
While some of my clan members wanted to kill the humans and elves, I believed that to be a bad idea, especially not when I planned on establishing further cordial relationship with humans in general... just not with Shkifield. I was going to impale him on a stick and parade him around!
And speaking of elves...
"Hnn."
I wondered if Sasuke reincarnated like me and sat in the cell in front of me. And was a girl.
This elvish girl didn't respond to me at all except with those Uchiha grunts.
"So do you want to talk now?"
Shirou did say that he was capable of forcing these elves and humans to talk, but I didn't think that it was such a great idea.
She didn't respond. I shrugged and walked away, but not before mentioning to the fairies to feed the prisoners.
I set up a meeting between the "small chiefs" of the clan and myself.
Candy.
Senna.
Ran.
Dresa.
Shirou.
And myself.
Normally, I would have made a decision by myself, but I felt that it was necessary to form this council so that I know who stands where.
"You guys all know what I called you for," I told them as I sat down on my bed.
We were all in my personal quarters, which I did expand just slightly more in case it needed to be used a meeting room like right now.
It was Candy who spoke up first. "I feel that more of us need to be trained -and faster. Our second battle only went as well as it did because you and Shirou are our powerhouses. Outside of you two, we're weak."
Wow. Blunt, much?
Iskan, the new leader of the trolls and imps, nodded along with Candy. "I agree with Candy. If Shirou was not here in the first attack, this fort and the clan would have been wiped out without mercy."
I scowled as his mention of the first attack. It brought up memories about me having to watch my comrades die.
"I'm sure Shirou could train all of you."
Shirou put up his arms. "No way. There is no way I can train them all."
I raised an eyebrow. "You've been teaching everyone how to read and write, how to grow crops well, how to show proper etiquette... What's combat added to that?"
Shirou scowled at me. "I need to train too, you know. It's not just you who's training."
I shrugged. "You're still better fit to train them. I will be training them too, you know. Just not as much as you."
Shirou paused for a moment before nodding.
"Ano..."
Everyone turned to Senna.
It must be noted that everyone loved the fairies and the greater fairies. They were always looking to help and always cheerful. It was hard to not like them when they gave you snacks between training and smiled.
"Before I came here, I was talking with a group of potential clan members. I realized when I came in here that we are no longer a small clan."
Candy nodded. "There have been many wild Vashta Nerada who are seeking to join us as well."
"How many is many?" Shirou asked the two women.
"Sixty or so," Senna smiled.
"Twelve," Candy replied.
I blinked.
Seventy-two? That was almost three-quarter of our existing number.
"And you know my requirement, right? I don't want any mindless killers or anarchists in our clan."
They nodded. They also didn't want that kind of people.
The meeting continued on for a while and we discussed other mundane subjects like potential tribes to ally with or absorb.
By the end of the day, we accepted exactly seventy five more into our clan.
Day 131:
To my surprise, I found the Sholva z'Retvoa, our contact merchant, and a whole buttload of caravan guards making their way up the mountain.
Sholva looked very nervous.
I raised an eyebrow as I greeted them. "You weren't supposed to come for another week or so," I commented as I shook Sholva's hand.
He laughed nervously. "W-Well, I heard that you were attacked by the Shkifield's army, so I rushed here as fast as possible with what troops I can afford."
I beamed at his willingness to help us so readily.
Or maybe because we were his only trade partners keeping his afloat that he came to our aid.
Nonetheless, he came with ... seventy well armed and armored cavalry. That was a substantial amount of troops.
"Your assistance is much appreciated, Sholva," I said sincerely before I led them around the fort to the site of the second battle. "But we kind of wiped them out already."
He and his men gawked at the sight before them.
Or rather, below them.
They saw a gaping wound on the side of the mountain that had been charred beyond recognition.
"But we do need help with prisoners that we were able to capture," I added. "While you were not able to help our battles, perhaps you can help us with sorting them out?"
I learned from Sholva how system of prisoner negotiation worked in the region.
Specifically, how mercenaries and nobilities could be traded.
"What about the common foot soldiers?" I asked him.
Sholva, Shirou, Senna, and I were in a table by ourselves. A table of "chiefs," the rest of the clan and Retvoan cavalry called it.
Even though Sholva and his escorts were not able to help us, we still threw a party for them for the mere gesture. It was significant to have humans helping monsters. 'I think most of the clan appreciated that.' It also reminded us that not all humans wanted to harm us and were willing to fight with us.
"Well, normally any nobles who get their hands on the common foot soldiers can exchange an oath of common fealty for life and protection."
I frowned. "You make prisoners into your servants?"
Sholva nodded. "Basically slaves."
Shirou looked thunderous. "What?"
Sholva put his hands up as a gesture of peace. "Wow, come down there. It's not like the barbaric slavery up in the north. We have laws and rules about it. Part of the oath is exactly that. The servants are servants only until they pay off the debt they procure by taking on the oath. This debt is usually the mean price of a slave of their specification," he quickly explained. "And servants are allowed to clear off any debt if their master or master's family abuses them."
"I find that it's not perfect as it sounds."
Sholva looked a bit downtrodden. "I suppose. Unless one makes a magical oath of fealty, it's hard to regulate the attitudes of the masters towards their servants."
Shirou grunted.
I knew what he was thinking. He was probably thinking about disguising himself and putting an arrow through each and every abusive master. He told me about his past life and if Shirou followed the pattern, that was what was likely going to happen.
"Does your family have servants?" I asked him as I cut a piece of venison.
He nodded. "We're a merchant family. A big portion of our business deals with moving goods from one city to another. We need a lot of muscles for that because magicians with Levitation is expensive to hire. We buy or rent oaths of common fealty. Don't worry though, our own family has even stricter policy about treating the servants."
Shirou calmed down after hearing that.
'He'd demand that we cut relations if it weren't so,' I thought to myself.
Day 132:
Our clan exchanged farewells with the well fed Retvoans and watched them leave the mountain, passing by the scorched land at the bottom of the mountain on their way.
With them gone, I turned my attention back to my clan.
With the addition of over seventy newcomers, there was a lot of organizing to be done.
And what was better at organizing hierarchy than a clan tournament?
"Gather round, gather round!" I said loudly as the entire clan stood outside the fort, away from both the fort and the crops that riddled around it. We stood at the center of the plateau, which had soft dirt.
When they had their attention on me, I grinned. "Now, I'm not a good speaker as Shirou here, so pardon me for not exactly being good, aye?" There were a few chuckles before I continued. "Now as you know, we have seventy newcomers that joined our clan!" There was a cheer. "And I thought, gee, I have to organize all of you know before anything awful happens. I'm talking about you, Arlas." There were now outright laughs.
"So I thought ... how about a tournament between all of us. We get to see who's stronger than who, or in the case of our fairies, who's better at controlling nature."
They agreed.
Day 133:
Due to the sheer size of our clan, it took us an entire day to get the tournaments done with.
And the results was like this in the general division:
1. Me
2. Shirou
3. Iskan
4. Arlas
5. Dresa
And so on...
Everyone was surprised by Dresa, actually. She threw her competitors out of the circle or just knocked them out with an uppercut to the jaw.
'Well, she was swinging that pickaxe of hers everyday, not to mention hauling rocks back and forth from the mines...' I thought.
In the fairy division:
1. Senna
2. Ruru
3. Ryunwort
And so on...
The "small chiefs" stayed the same, but now everyone knew where they were approximately in the scale.
The first thing I did after the tournament was to start training the combatants. Specifically, most of the trolls, oni, and kobolds who haven't allocated themselves something useful. Dresa had three trolls, an oni, and three kobolds with her in the mines. Senna took another four trolls to help her tend to the crops. Shirou took five to help him with the new forge and workshop he was working in, leaving me with forty-nine able-bodied fighters.
For a clan of a hundred seventy, roughly fifty fighters was not a bad number.
The most interesting event of the day, though, was not the tournament.
"Eh?" I muttered.
"W-We'd like your blessing to get m-married," Troll Xeunsu asked as he held onto Greater Fairy Ruru's hands.
"I give you my blessing," I replied with a smile, even though I was confused as hell.
The couple smiled. "Thank you!" And they left.
I stared at the spot they had stood on with a blank mind.
Wut?
Apparently, Shirou hadn't been just teaching them useful knowledge and skills. He was basically shaping up an entire culture, of which marriage was a big part of.
I asked him why he would shape a culture.
His response?
"Because I am helping you save these people from others. Because I want to see a righteous people rise up instead of bandits and thugs in the disguise of civilization."
Day 134:
Thinking about it, I decided that for a clan of hundred fifty or so, keeping our living space to only a fort, albeit constantly expanded, didn't seem like a good idea.
So after discussing new expansion with the small chiefs and with the help of most of the clan, I started to build a true city while also putting up a cobblestone wall for the fort at the same time.
Day 137:
We ran of pre-harvest logs and cobblestones to build with. We shifted our focus from construction to mining and harvesting.
Day 140:
We gathered the estimated materials needed and began to work on the city again.
Day 143:
The fort wall was complete! The city was at less than half completion.
Day 149:
And it was done.
We had a true city to call our own.
Well, not really. With a fort in the center of the city, forty homes, and four workshops, it was closer to a town than a city.
The Ironwood Fort stood at the center of the town, standing above the rest of the houses we built by a full two meters or so. Built out of cobblestone and mortar that Shirou made, it was a rocky and ugly thing. But it is meant to keep people safe, not look pretty. It did, however, have some of the ironwoods sticking out at the top of the "turrets," or round cylindrical structure we decided to add with Shirou's recommendation. It provided cover for archers who were to be stationed there.
The houses, on the other hand, looked amazing. Taking in the fairy philosophy of working and living with nature, each house was built with intertwining trees, stones, and some processed wooden walls. Shaped like a flay cylinder, each house contained three bedrooms and a living room with kitchen attached.
Fairies would make sure to not have the trees intertwining with the houses grow out of control as fire hazard was another issue that Shirou brought up.
We were also going to add a second wall around the city, but decided to wait until we grew even bigger. It wouldn't do if some of our people were stuck outside when we were attacked, not would it? We also didn't have the materials for another wall, and would not have them stored for some time.
The workshops were also a big point.
I insisted on having multiple workshops so that our production would increase without having to rely on a single workshop for everything.
The first workshop was ... a bakery. Yup. It was less of a workshop and more a public kitchen where we were going to have several volunteer work at.
The second workshop was a blacksmithy. That place was going to be headed by Shirou.
The third workshop was a garden. Senna insisted on having a garden inside the city. So we cleared a large enough space and called it a workshop for her.
The last workshop was a training ground. Larger than the previous three put together, it was where Shirou and I were going to train our clan in combat.
Well, mostly Shirou. I was going to make sure everyone's stamina was up to my par.
Using [Observe], of course.
My own training was different from theirs. Unlike the most of my clan who needed to round themselves out before focusing on a skill of their choice, I needed to broaden out. Specifically, I needed to broaden out my physical attacks.
As of right now, I had three methods of attacking.
Use ranged weaponry.
Punch or kick.
Use a weapon like a sword or club.
I didn't choose to make or relearn magic or chakra related attacks because of how I was shaping up to be. The traits [Strength is Key] and [Power Overwhelming] were such shapers. Those traits encouraged me to become physically stronger and tankier. Once I reached a certain point, it gave me even better traits for continuing down the path.
I could have done something like Hokage-jiji had done, which was rounding myself out in every fashion. But there was a problem with that.
While I could train to gain the base stats and make new magic/chakra skills, I was constrained from many sides. First of all, my LvLing, the main source of base stat improvement, was becoming harder and harder because my LvL and the LvL of things I kill were growing bigger. Only reason I LvL up these days is when I perform a big massacre. And because I need to keep the bullywugs alive to act as deterrent, I can't exactly perform anymore big massacres.
With my plans of also chasing after and taking down the Shkifield, my timing was also strained.
No. With these constraints on myself, I needed to focus something that will give me an edge over the others. The most effect way to do it was through growing my STR, and indirectly, HP.
The second battle against Shkifield's army had proven to be a good confirmation about whether or not my choice in improving my STR was right. Magic failed to help my clan there because the other side had neutralized it. Shirou's Caladbolg bombardment, which normally would wipe out half an army or a city, was rendered useless because the Listed army kept most of its forces underneath a magic barrier.
So I had used brute force.
I threw boulders at them.
I say I'm on the right path.
So what was my training?
Now that I had reached a very good number of points for my STR, which was totaling over 900, I needed to find ways to make better use of it.
I needed to be able to throw bigger boulders with a single hand, stop charging knights with a swing of my fist, shake the world with a punch to the ground, and devastate armies whenever I swing my fist.
I needed to be an army killer.
And while I had tossed most of the training of the clan to Shirou, I intended to make sure that by making my comrades as tough as possible with enough END to outmatch a horse's stamina so that when Shirou gets them, he'll have no problem turning each and every single clan member into a warrior that no one can match.
Well, that and I don't think I'm good enough with teaching, not when I had my own skill deficiencies.
(Chapter End)
(Omake and extra information beneath Char Info and Factions)
(Answers to reviews will be in the bottom as well at the wayyy bottom)
Character Status by the end of Day 149:
Naruto [Imp Ruto] [Troll Ruto]
LvL 67
The Gamer
Race: Mountain Troll
HP: 168.5(+312.5) (+1.5 HP per hour regen)
Mana: 710 (+5.9 per minute regen)
STR: 625 (+312.5(SGM))
DEX: 105
AGI: 133
END: 172
INT: 122
WIS: 119
CHA: 84
Unused Points: 11
Spirit: 36
Magic: 25
Power: 34
Control: 100
Fame: ? +20
Traits Taken + Earned:
Ambitious, Quick, Genius, Cynical, Stressed, Content, Teacher[Neutral] (Unavailable), Power Overwhelming, Strength is Key, Wroth, Strength of a Great Mountain (SGM)
Focus:
X
Racial Traits:
Beast Slaying (max)
Troll Blood (max)
Troll's Unarmed Mastery (max)
Unique Skills:
Berserker (LvL 1)
Clairvoyance (LvL 2)
Magic Resistance (LvL 1)
Observe (LvL 45) + Structural Analysis
Projection (LvL 28)
Reinforcement (LvL 3)
Sonar (LvL 29)
Basic Skills:
Archery (LvL 14)
Ambush (LvL 11)
Baiting (LvL 28)
Blade Mastery (LvL 18)
Charging (LvL 14)
Crafting (LvL 12) - Construction (Subskill)(LvL 8)
Fishing (LvL 9)
Intimidation (LvL 10)
Leadership (LvL 10)
Listening (LvL 16)
Mapping (LvL 4)
Negotiation (LvL 5)
Physical Durability (LvL 13)
Running (LvL 34)
Teaching (LvL 5)
Throwing (LvL 20)
Trapping (LvL 26)
Unarmed Mastery (LvL 9)
Carpathi Ironwood Clan:
# (reference) (important figures) (x = evolutionary stage)
30 Trolls (WoW) (Ruto, Iskan)(xx)
20 Onis (Shirou)(xx)
2 Faze (Candy)(xx)
19 Vashta Nerada(x)
3 Greater Fairy (Senna)(xx)
15 Kobold (D&D) (Dresa)(xx)
4 Mountain Dryad (xx)
27 imps (WoW + D&D)(x)
3 Hell Hounds (xx)
52 fairies(x)
Imprisoned:
6 humans (injured) + ?
Faction Standings:
? Orcs -100
Carpathi Ironwood Clan +1000
Carpathi Swamp Valley Bullywug Petty Kingdom -1000
Retvoa Trade Company +53
Nomore Tribe +600 (Vassal)
Erlen Shkitfield's Host to Reclaim Southern Carpathi -1000
Personal Standings:
Andrews Maulta +65
Sholva z'Retvoa +70
Terms:
Control: This is a stat aspect Ruto earned with [Strength of a Greater Mountain]. The number of points invested into Control directly correlates to how effectively Ruto can use whatever is at his disposable. 100 is the standard, like a hundred percent. This means that if STR was to be applied at a certain point, it would have 100% efficiency. If it were to be applied to an area, then efficiency would drop, depending on how large the area is. At the same time, narrowing the area of impact also decreases efficiency.
Review Replies + Author's Notes:
*Regarding Imp evolution. Some of you have read the Omakes and the snippets I have posted about the world around Ruto. Specifically, the one about Imp evolution. I never said the previously mentioned evolutions weren't going to happen.
Put this into my perspective. What place does a succubi/incubu have on a battlefield that Ruto's home seems to be? I could see them being useful on the long run, and may have a few in the clan in the next five chapters.
I don't write smuts, so don't expect it, if that's what you want those for!